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Friday, March 29, 2013
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Gay marriage equality box spreads on social media
NEW YORK (AP) ? Bud Light said it with beer cans and Martha Stewart with red velvet cake as companies and celebrities from Beyonce to George Takei joined millions of social media users in posting and tweaking a simple red logo in support of gay marriage.
A square box with thick pink horizontal lines (the mathematical equal symbol) was offered for sharing this week by the Human Rights Campaign as the U.S. Supreme Court took up arguments in key marriage rights cases.
The image, replacing profile pictures on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest and elsewhere, is a makeover of the advocacy group's logo, usually a blue background with bright yellow lines. The HRC made it available in red ? for the color of love ? on Monday and estimated tens of millions of shares by Wednesday.
"It shows the enthusiasm and the passion," said Fred Sainz, a spokesman for the nonprofit in Washington, D.C.
Like viral campaigns of yore, supporting breast cancer awareness (pink), President Barack Obama (change your middle name to Hussein) and even Arab Spring (green), a bit of fatigue set in on some social media streams by those questioning whether such efforts serve to change any minds or, put simply, are plain annoying.
"My Facebook feed is a cascading aesthetic nightmare. Thanks, equality," Washington Post writer Dan Zak wryly grumbled on Twitter.
A photo of Justice Anthony Kennedy made the rounds with the quip: "Before we make a ruling, did enough people change their Facebook profile picture?!"
None of that mattered to the masses of same-sex marriage supporters. Some swapped matzoh for the pink lines as Passover got under way, or added frowny Internet star Grumpy Cat, who explained marriage equality would make her happy.
Bert and Ernie showed up against the red background. (They're best friends with no plans to marry, according to Sesame Street.) Another version featured Paula Deen atop the red square and lines turned a shade of yellow akin to her favorite fatty ingredient and the tagline: "It's like two sticks of butter y'all."
Takei, a noted punster with nearly 4 million followers in Facebook, turned the equal sign into the division sign for those opposed to marriage equality.
Beyonce, with more than 44 million followers there, played it straight, leaving the logo alone and adding a personal message: "It's about TIME!!! (hash)EQUALITY (hash)MarryWhoYouLove.
Fergie let the image speak for itself on Twitter, adding: "No words necessary." Montana Sen. John Tester, a Democrat who endorsed same-sex marriage on Tuesday, put the logo up as his profile on Facebook while the clothing site Bonobos swapped its usual Facebook pic for the red square using fancy white pants for the equal sign.
Martha Stewart's Facebook page used a slice of red cake with white icing to make the image and the HBO page for "True Blood" added fangs.
All in good fun?
"There's a lot of serious conversation going on and there's an awful lot of important concepts that the Supreme Court justices are discussing," Sainz said. "What this logo going viral means is individuals have reduced it to a very straightforward concept."
Steve Jones, a professor of online culture and communications at the University of Illinois at Chicago, wondered whether all the mash-ups muddle the message.
"Once you throw it together with something like Grumpy Cat it's fun," he said. "But was this message intended to be fun?"
___
Associated Press writer Barbara Ortutay contributed to this report.
___
Follow Leanne Italie on Twitter at http://twitter.com/litalie
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gay-marriage-equality-box-spreads-social-media-185401100.html
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James Holmes offers guilty plea in exchange for life in prison
The man accused of killing 12 people and injuring dozens more in a Colorado movie theater last summer may plead guilty, according to documents filed by his attorneys Wednesday. If prosecutors agree to life in prison without parole instead of the death penalty, the case could be resolved as early as Monday.?
James Holmes, Aurora theater shooting suspect, sits in the courtroom during his arraignment in Centennial, Colo. Holmes' attorneys are prepared to enter a guilty plea for him if the prosecution team agrees to a life in prison sentence instead of the death penalty.
RJ Sangosti/Denver Post/AP
EnlargeDefense attorneys for the former graduate student accused of killing 12 people at a Denver area movie theater last July have offered to have him plead guilty in exchange for a life prison term, according to court documents filed on Wednesday.
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Public defenders for?James Holmes, 25, said in the?Arapahoe?County District Court filing that prosecutors have so far not accepted the offer, which would spare their client the death penalty in one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history.
Holmes faces multiple counts of first-degree murder and attempted murder stemming from the July 20 massacre at a showing of the Batman film "The Dark Knight Rises" in?Aurora,?Colorado?that also wounded 58 people.
Arapahoe County?District Attorney George Brauchler has said that he would formally inform the court during a hearing scheduled for Monday whether his office would seek the death penalty against Holmes.
Brauchler has not made his decision public, but in February announced that he had added a death penalty lawyer to the prosecution team.
All three of?Colorado's death row inmates were convicted and sentenced in?Arapahoe County. At a state legislative hearing earlier in March, Brauchler testified in favor of keeping the death penalty on the books in?Colorado.
A spokeswoman for the?Arapahoe County?District Attorney's Office could not be reached for comment on Wednesday afternoon.
"Prior to arraignment, Mr. Holmes?made an offer to the prosecution to resolve the case by pleading guilty and spending the rest of his life in prison without the opportunity for parole,"?lawyers for Holmes?say in the papers.
Holmes was arraigned on March 12. At that hearing,?Arapahoe?County District Judge William Sylvester entered a not guilty plea on his behalf after defense attorneys said they were not prepared to enter a plea.
Insanity defense?
In Wednesday's pleading, defense lawyers said that if prosecutors agree to take the death penalty off the table for Holmes?the case could be resolved at Monday's hearing.
Attorneys for the former?University of Colorado?neuroscience?graduate student, who surrendered to officers outside the theater minutes after the shooting rampage, had been expected to mount an insanity defense on his behalf at trial.
"As previously stated in court, counsel for Mr. Holmes?are still exploring a mental health defense, and counsel will vigorously present and argue any and all appropriate defenses at a trial or sentencing proceeding as necessary," defense lawyers said in the court papers.
"Nevertheless, Mr. Holmes?is currently willing to resolve the case to bring the proceedings to a speedy and definite conclusion for all involved," the defense said.
Lawyers for Holmes?have said in court filings that their client has been hospitalized twice since his arrest, once after hitting his head against a cell wall.
Holmes was also held in restraints for several days at a psychiatric hospital in November after jail officials determined he was a threat to himself, according to his defense team.
In a separate written ruling on Wednesday, Sylvester denied a request by Fox News journalist Jana Winter to postpone her testimony, scheduled for Monday, about confidential sources she cited in a story about the shooting rampage.
Sylvester ordered Winter to take the witness stand as he tries to determine who leaked information to the New York-based journalist despite a gag order he issued in the case.
Winter's attorneys sought a delay while she filed an appeal of Sylvester's ruling on the grounds that she was protected against revealing her sources by New York's shield law for journalists.
(Reporting by Keith Coffman and Chris Frantz; Writing by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst, Tim Dobbyn and Cynthia Osterman)
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Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Russian PM lambasts deal to rescue Cyprus
MOSCOW (AP) ? Russia's prime minister has slammed a deal that saves Cyprus from bankruptcy but forces big losses on many bank deposits, a large chunk of which are held by Russians.
Cyprus secured a 10 billion euros ($13 billion) bailout early Monday on the condition it scales back its banking sector and forces hefty losses on a number of big deposits to help pay much of the bill.
Dmitry Medvedev says the move is tantamount to theft.
Moscow has been worried about the crisis in Cyprus with Russian citizens holding as much as 20 billion euros ($26 billion) in Cypriot banks.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russian-pm-lambasts-deal-rescue-cyprus-105246907--finance.html
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Tuesday, March 26, 2013
UK-Odd Summary
"Panda-monium" as giant pandas arrive in Canada from China
TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada got a taste of international panda diplomacy on Monday with the arrival of two "Very Important Pandas" at the start of a 10-year loan to two Canadian zoos. Speaking as the two giant pandas arrived in Toronto from China, Chinese Ambassador Zhang Junsai - who gave the animals the VIP designation - noted that when he started his posting in Canada two years ago, he was greeted only by the Canadian director of protocol.
Punxsutawney Phil charged with fraud for early spring forecast
CLEVELAND (Reuters) - With a snow storm expected to batter the Plains, Midwest and East Coast this weekend, a spring-deprived Ohio prosecutor is taking out his frustration with the long winter on a famous prognosticating groundhog. "I decided it was about time we indicted Punxsutawney Phil afor fraud," said Mike Gmoser, prosecutor in Ohio's Butler County, in an interview Friday.
Harvard stripped of quiz tournament titles
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (Reuters) - Harvard University will be stripped of four national quiz championship titles after organizers found a competitor from the Ivy League school inappropriately accessed information about questions used in the tournament. The National Academic Quiz Tournaments said that a security review found that Harvard competitor Andy Watkins accessed pages on its administrative Website just before the 2009, 2010 and 2011 Intercollegiate Championship Tournaments or "Quiz Bowls".
100,000 Portuguese sign petition to keep ex-PM Socrates off TV
LISBON (Reuters) - Portuguese state television channel RTP's plan to give former premier Jose Socrates a weekly commentary spot has sparked outrage, with 100,000 people signing a petition citing his "bad management" that led the country to take a bailout in 2011. "We, citizens and tax-payers, declare that we reject the presence of former Prime Minister Jose Socrates on any programme at RTP, television paid for by public funds of taxpayers suffering from the bad management of this gentleman," the Internet petition said.
Swiss court jails "healer" for infecting 16 with HIV
ZURICH (Reuters) - A self-styled healer was sentenced to 12 years and nine months in jail on Friday after a Swiss court found the acupuncturist guilty of infecting 16 people with HIV. A Berne court found the man guilty of causing bodily harm and spreading the virus which can cause Aids, court secretary Rene Graf told Reuters. He did not give any further details.
Tunisian rapper gets jail term for calling police dogs in song
TUNIS (Reuters) - A Tunisian court has sentenced a rap singer to two years in jail in absentia for insulting the police in a case likely to fuel debate over free speech under the Islamist-led government. The singer, known as Weld el 15, is on the run. Two of his associates, singers Mohamed Hedi Belgueyed and Sabrine Klibi, were in court when they received suspended sentences of six months each, a Justice Ministry source said on Friday.
Russian serial killer sentenced to life for nine murders
MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian serial killer who butchered his nine victims with a knife and hammer, and said he ate the hearts of two of them, was sentenced to life in prison on Friday. Prosecutors said Alexander Bychkov targeted alcoholics and the homeless out of disdain for their way of life, lured them into deserted areas, killed them, dismembered them and hid the body parts.
Manual to "goblinproofing" chicken coops named Oddest Book Title
LONDON (Reuters) - A book offering advice on how to protect chicken coops from goblins has won the Oddest Book Title of the Year award, organisers of the contest said on Friday. "Goblinproofing One's Chicken Coop" by Reginald Bakeley and Clint Marsh attracted 38 percent of 1,225 online votes to beat craft manual "How Tea Cosies Changed the World" with 31 percent to win the 35th annual Diagram Prize.
Yoko Ono tweets against guns showing Lennon's bloody glasses
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Yoko Ono has taken up arms against gun violence with a raft of Twitter postings, including a photograph of blood-stained glasses apparently worn by John Lennon when he was shot and killed more than 30 years ago. "Over 1,057,000 people have been killed by guns in the USA since John Lennon was shot and killed on 8 Dec 1980," Ono, the former Beatle's widow, tweeted.
Would-be thieves camped out above Toronto-area bank
TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto-area police say they have foiled a Hollywood-style heist, arresting five men they say camped out in vacant office space above a bank branch and, under cover of night, cut through a thick concrete ceiling to gain access to the vault below. Halton Regional Police arrested the men with C$300,000 (193,055.28 pounds) jammed into two hockey bags after discovering them hiding in a field not far from a Toronto-Dominion Bank branch in Burlington, Ontario.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uk-odd-summary-193223081.html
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The CIA's Secret Role in Syria, Newtown Aid, and Florida Gulf Coast's New Fans
Behind the?New York Times?pay wall, you only get?10 free clicks?a month. For those worried about hitting their limit, we're taking a look through the paper each morning to find the stories that can make your clicks count.
RELATED: Snow Returns to the Midwest, Bloomberg Gets Angry, and Truffles
Top Stories: Exiled?Russian oligarch?Boris Berezovsky's death remains unexplained, but an?embarrassing?court verdict loomed large over his final years: "He had lived large for so long, it seemed, he did not know how to live small."
RELATED: Ballots, Online Malls, and Serena Williams
World:?The C.I.A. is aiding in "expanding a secret airlift of arms and equipment for the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad."??
RELATED: Drone Denials, Inside the God Particle, and the Rise of Amazon Primetime
U.S.:?Tennessee's "health care lottery of sorts" has residents?hoping to get coverage calling frantically in a short window of time.?
RELATED: Medicaid, Hungry Bears, and Buck Showalter
New York:?There are varying views as to what to do with the millions of dollars of aid that flooded into Newtown following the tragic school shooting.
RELATED: Homs, The Islanders, and Picasso
Business:?European Union leaders made a deal on a bailout?package "intended to keep Cyprus in the euro zone and rebuild its devastated economy."?
Media & Advertising:?Ads not just for social media or young people are using the language of social media.?
Technology:?The Department of Homeland Security is looking to?recruit young hackers.
Sports:?Playing with excitement, Florida Gulf Coast University?is making even Duke fans cheer as they make history in the N.C.A.A. tournament.?
Opinion:?Bill Keller on the question of states "veering off the mainstream, especially on these issues of personal liberty."
Television:?Steve Harvey's?show "has been the surprise hit of daytime TV."?
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cias-secret-role-syria-newtown-aid-florida-gulf-121611758.html
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