Tunisia's newly elected assembly gets to work

The head of the Tunisian Islamist movement Rachid Ghannouchi, right, arrives at the former National Assembly near Tunis Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011 where Tunisia's newly elected assembly is holding its first meeting, tasked with shaping a constitution and a democratic future for the country that sparked the Arab Spring uprisings. The moderate Islamist party, Ennahda, has the most seats in the Constituent Assembly. Its members were elected last month in Tunisia's first free vote. (AP Photo / Amine Landoulsi)

The head of the Tunisian Islamist movement Rachid Ghannouchi, right, arrives at the former National Assembly near Tunis Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011 where Tunisia's newly elected assembly is holding its first meeting, tasked with shaping a constitution and a democratic future for the country that sparked the Arab Spring uprisings. The moderate Islamist party, Ennahda, has the most seats in the Constituent Assembly. Its members were elected last month in Tunisia's first free vote. (AP Photo / Amine Landoulsi)

Workers prepare the assembly room Monday Nov. 21, 2011, inside the former National Assembly building where Tunisia's new Constituent Assembly, elected in the first elections of the Arab Spring, will convene for its first meeting Tuesday. (AP Photo/Hassene Dridi)

A soldier stands guard Monday Nov. 21, 2011, outside the former National Assembly building where Tunisia's new Constituent Assembly, elected in the first elections of the Arab Spring, will convene for its first meeting Tuesday. (AP Photo/Hassene Dridi)

Workers prepare the assembly room Monday Nov. 21, 2011, at the former National Assembly building and where Tunisia's new Constituent Assembly, elected in the first elections of the Arab Spring, will convene for its first meeting Tuesday. (AP Photo/Hassene Dridi)

Workers prepare the assembly room Monday Nov. 21, 2011, at the former National Assembly building where Tunisia's new Constituent Assembly, elected in the first elections of the Arab Spring, will convene for its first meeting Tuesday. (AP Photo/Hassene Dridi)

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) ? Tunisia's newly elected assembly held its inaugural meeting Tuesday, ready to start shaping the constitution and the democratic future of the country that sparked the Arab Spring uprisings.

A moderate Islamist party, Ennahda (Renaissance), won the most seats in the Constituent Assembly, and it has announced a coalition with a liberal and left-of-center party to make up the interim government. The coalition holds a comfortable majority of 139 seats in the 217-member body.

Lawmakers were elected last month in Tunisia's first free vote ? the first resulting from the Arab Spring protests.

Tunisian protesters drove out their longtime president in January, setting off revolts in other Arab countries. Tunisia's new assembly is being watched as an example amid violence in Egypt ahead of its elections and escalating tensions in Syria.

Tunisia has been spared the violent clashes of its North African and Arab neighbors, but there has been some continued unrest. Outside the assembly building in a suburb of Tunis, 1,000 people demonstrated Tuesday from dozens of different associations, many representing women calling for their rights to be guaranteed in the new constitution.

Under dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia had some of the most progressive laws for women in the Arab world, something its secular elite fear might be lost under an Islamist party.

Ennahda, as well as its coalition members, has promised to maintain women's rights.

Newly elected Ennahda candidate Souad Abderrahim, an outspoken professional who does not were the traditional Islamic headscarf, was heckled Tuesday by demonstrators demanding that she resign.

Abderrahim raised a firestorm of criticism earlier by calling single mothers a "disgrace," she later retracted her comments and described them as victims.

Also protesting were relatives of those killed and wounded in the monthlong uprising that began in December, calling for justice against the security forces.

"We will seek to ensure that the national constituent assembly will complete its tasks, write a new constitution for the country and call for new elections within a period that should not exceed one year," said the statement signed late Monday by the new coalition.

The coalition will present the assembly its candidate for interim president, veteran rights activist Moncef Marzouki who heads the liberal Congress for the Republic Party.

He will then appoint a prime minister, Ennahda's number 2, Hammadi Jebali, and Mustapha Ben Jaafar of the Ettakatol Party as the leader of assembly.

The North African country of 10 million has been essentially a one-party state since it won its independence from France in 1956, yet it was able to organize a successful election accepted by all participants in just four months.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-11-22-ML-Tunisia-New-Assembly/id-e4252fec37f04f0eb0fe364003528e0d

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EU bans naked body scanners because of cancer risk, US continues ...

Jonathan Benson,
Natural News
November 21, 2011

The European Commission has issued new guidelines for the use of naked body scanners at European airports. Only scanners that use millimeter wave technology, a type of low-energy radio wave that does not cause radioactive damage, will be permitted for use in the EU ? the backscatter X-ray variety commonly used in the US will be off limits due to safety concerns.

Unlike the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which continues to insist that the backscatter machines are safe, EU regulators have admitted that this is not the case. Not only are these ionizing radiation machines now restricted throughout Europe, but the use of even millimeter wave machines also continues to remain optional for nation states that choose to use them.

?In order not to risk jeopardizing citizens? health and safety, only security scanners which do not use X-ray technology are added to the list of authorised methods for passenger screening at EU airports,? says the commission?s press release announcement. ?All other technologies, such as that used for mobiles (sic) phones and others, can be used provided that they comply with EU security standards.?

This approach to public safety is a far cry from the one US regulators are taking. Even though backscatter X-ray machines are not at all necessary, the TSA, under the umbrella of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), continues to bend over backwards in support of the machines, even when this includes openly denying the fact that they can cause cancer (http://www.naturalnews.com/030607_n?).

One would think that the US, which is supposed to be the ?land of the free,? would be more likely than the EU, which is largely socialist, to protect its citizens from cancer-causing radioactive devices. But not only does the EU not force its citizens to go through naked body scanners like the US does, but it has also now taken a proactive approach to protecting citizens? health by banning these radioactive devices from airports.

Most Americans seem to have no problem complying with unconstitutional mandates to walk through radioactive naked body scanners ? in fact, many still think the procedure is done for their own safety. And as long as the population at large continues to accept this tyranny in the name of safety and security, freedom and liberty will continue to rapidly disappear at the hands of the nation?s rogue federal government.

Sources for this article include:

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressRelease?

http://gizmodo.com/5860169/eu-bans-?


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NASA's Chandra helps describe the birth of a black hole

Friday, November 18, 2011

New details about the birth of a famous black hole that took place millions of years ago have been uncovered, thanks to a team of scientists who used data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory as well as from radio, optical and other X-ray telescopes.

Over three decades ago, Stephen Hawking placed -- and eventually lost ? a bet against the existence of a black hole in Cygnus X-1. Today, astronomers are confident the Cygnus X-1 system contains a black hole, and with these latest studies they have remarkably precise values of its mass, spin, and distance from Earth. With these key pieces of information, the history of the black hole has been reconstructed.

"This new information gives us strong clues about how the black hole was born, what it weighed and how fast it was spinning," said author Mark Reid of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) in Cambridge, Mass. "This is exciting because not much is known about the birth of black holes."

Reid led one of three papers -- all appearing in the November 10th issue of The Astrophysical Journal -- describing these new results on Cygnus X-1. The other papers were led by Jerome Orosz from San Diego State University and Lijun Gou, also from CfA.

Cygnus X-1 is a so-called stellar-mass black hole, a class of black holes that comes from the collapse of a massive star. The black hole is in close orbit with a massive, blue companion star.

Using X-ray data from Chandra, the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer, and the Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astrophysics, a team of scientists was able to determine the spin of Cygnus X-1 with unprecedented accuracy, showing that the black hole is spinning at very close to its maximum rate. Its event horizon -- the point of no return for material falling towards a black hole -- is spinning around more than 800 times a second.

An independent study that compared the evolutionary history of the companion star with theoretical models indicates that the black hole was born some 6 million years ago. In this relatively short time (in astronomical terms), the black hole could not have pulled in enough gas to ramp up its spin very much. The implication is that Cygnus X-1 was likely born spinning very quickly.

Using optical observations of the companion star and its motion around its unseen companion, the team made the most precise determination ever for the mass of Cygnus X-1, of 14.8 times the mass of the Sun. It was likely to have been almost this massive at birth, because of lack of time for it to grow appreciably.

"We now know that Cygnus X-1 is one of the most massive stellar black holes in the Galaxy," said Orosz. "And, it's spinning as fast as any black hole we've ever seen."

Knowledge of the mass, spin and charge gives a complete description of a black hole, according to the so-called "No Hair" theorem. This theory postulates that all other information aside from these parameters is lost for eternity behind the event horizon. The charge for an astronomical black hole is expected to be almost zero, so only the mass and spin are needed.

"It is amazing to me that we have a complete description of this asteroid-sized object that is thousands of light years away," said Gou. "This means astronomers have a more complete understanding of this black hole than any other in our Galaxy."

The team also announced that they have made the most accurate distance estimate yet of Cygnus X-1 using the National Radio Observatory's Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA). The new distance is about 6,070 light years from Earth. This accurate distance was a crucial ingredient for making the precise mass and spin determinations.

The radio observations also measured the motion of Cygnus X-1 through space, and this was combined with its measured velocity to give the three-dimensional velocity and position of the black hole.

This work showed that Cygnus X-1 is moving very slowly with respect to the Milky Way, implying it did not receive a large "kick" at birth. This supports an earlier conjecture that Cygnus X-1 was not born in a supernova, but instead may have resulted from the dark collapse of a progenitor star without an explosion. The progenitor of Cygnus X-1 was likely an extremely massive star, which initially had a mass greater than about 100 times the sun before losing it in a vigorous stellar wind.

In 1974, soon after Cygnus X-1 became a good candidate for a black hole, Stephen Hawking placed a bet with fellow astrophysicist Kip Thorne, a professor of theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology, that Cygnus X-1 did not contain a black hole. This was treated as an insurance policy by Hawking, who had done a lot of work on black holes and general relativity.

By 1990, however, much more work on Cygnus X-1 had strengthened the evidence for it being a black hole. With the help of family, nurses, and friends, Hawking broke into Thorne's office, found the framed bet, and conceded.

"For forty years, Cygnus X-1 has been the iconic example of a black hole. However, despite Hawking's concession, I have never been completely convinced that it really does contain a black hole -- until now," said Thorne. "The data and modeling described in these three papers at last provide a completely definitive description of this binary system."

###

Chandra X-ray Center: http://chandra.harvard.edu

Thanks to Chandra X-ray Center for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/115333/NASA_s_Chandra_helps_describe_the_birth_of_a_black_hole

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The Rumors Are True. I Am Leaving TechCrunch.

This won't come as a surprise to a lot of people, but I am leaving TechCrunch. My departure is something people have speculated about since Michael Arrington's ouster two months ago, but it wasn't an easy decision for me. This isn't a knee-jerk reaction out of loyalty for my friend, nor is it about making a big "F-you, AOL!" statement. I've spent the bulk of my maternity leave agonizing about whether to stay or go-- the first half of it trying to find a way to stay and feel good about it, and the second half standing firm in my decision to leave, despite a lot of persuasive arguments to stay.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/MDorxb4Oaos/

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6 Tools to Scare the Sh*t Out of Your Rando Craigslist Roommates [Toolkit]

So you just moved in with roommates from Craigslist, and they seem nice enough, right? Wrong. Living with strangers is awkward. You have no choice but to make them think you are a complete weirdo—how else are you going to know if they suck? These tools should help. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Yr3mkQef_DM/

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Occupy protesters march nationwide; 200 arrested

An Occupy Wall Street protester yells as he is arrested by the police after blocking an intersection near The New York Stock Exchange in New York, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2011. Two days after the encampment that sparked the global Occupy protest movement was cleared by authorities, demonstrators marched through New York's financial district and promised a national day of action with mass gatherings in other cities. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

An Occupy Wall Street protester yells as he is arrested by the police after blocking an intersection near The New York Stock Exchange in New York, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2011. Two days after the encampment that sparked the global Occupy protest movement was cleared by authorities, demonstrators marched through New York's financial district and promised a national day of action with mass gatherings in other cities. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Police officers arrest a demonstrators affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2011 in New York. Two days after the encampment that sparked the global Occupy protest movement was cleared by authorities, demonstrators marched through New York's financial district and promised a national day of action with mass gatherings in other cities. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

A police officer arrests a demonstrator affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement as they block the entrance to the New York Stock Exchange on Broad Street, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2011 in New York. Two days after the encampment that sparked the global Occupy protest movement was cleared by authorities, demonstrators marched through New York's financial district and promised a national day of action with mass gatherings in other cities. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

New York City Police officers assemble at the intersection of Wall Street and Broad Street in front of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2011. Two days after the encampment that sparked the global Occupy protest movement was cleared by authorities, demonstrators marched through New York's financial district Thursday and promised a national day of action with mass gatherings in other cities. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Dallas Police on horseback line up opposite Occupy Dallas protesters at their campsite before evicting campers early Thursday morning, Nov. 17, 2011 from their campsite across from Dallas City Hall. Protesters were given repeated messages to leave the premises and were told they would be allowed to return to collect their property if they left voluntarily. A handful of protesters decided to stay behind and were arrested. (AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News, Patrick T. Fallon) MANDATORY CREDIT; NO SALES; MAGS OUT; TV OUT; INTERNET USE BY AP MEMBERS ONLY

(AP) ? Occupy Wall Street protesters clogged streets and tied up traffic around the U.S. on Thursday to mark two months since the movement's birth and signal they aren't ready to quit, despite the breakup of many of their encampments by police. Hundreds of people were arrested, most of them in New York.

The demonstrations ? which took place in cities including Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Boston, Washington and Portland, Ore. ? were for the most part peaceful. Most of the arrests were for blocking streets, and the traffic disruptions were brief.

Chanting "All day, all week, shut down Wall Street," more than 1,000 protesters gathered near the New York Stock Exchange and sat down in several intersections. Helmeted police officers broke up some of the gatherings, and operations at the stock market were not disrupted.

As darkness fell, a coalition of unions and progressive groups joined Occupy demonstrators in staging rallies at landmark bridges in several U.S. cities to protest joblessness.

In New York, a crowd of several thousand people, led by banner-carrying members of the Service Employees International Union, jammed Manhattan's Foley Square and then marched peacefully across the Brooklyn Bridge on a pedestrian promenade.

As they walked, a powerful light projected the slogan "We are the 99 percent" ? a reference to the Americans who aren't super-rich ? on the side of a nearby skyscraper. Police officers dressed in wind breakers, rather than riot gear, arrested at least two dozen people who walked out onto the bridges' roadway but otherwise let the marchers pass without incident.

The protests came two days after police raided and demolished the encampment at lower Manhattan's Zuccotti Park that had served as headquarters of the Occupy movement and as demonstrators and union allies tried to regain their momentum.

"This is a critical moment for the movement given what happened the other night," said demonstrator Paul Knick, a software engineer from Montclair, N.J. "It seems like there's a concerted effort to stop the movement, and I'm here to make sure that doesn't happen."

At least 200 people were arrested in New York. Some were bloodied during the arrests. One man was taken into custody for throwing liquid, possibly vinegar, into the faces of several police officers, authorities said. Many demonstrators were carrying vinegar as an antidote for pepper spray.

A police officer, Matthew Walters, needed 20 stitches on his hand after he was hit with a piece of thrown glass, police said.

In Los Angeles, about 500 sympathizers marched downtown between the Bank of America tower and Wells Fargo Plaza, chanting, "Banks got bailed out, we got sold out!" More than two dozen people were arrested.

Police arrested 21 demonstrators in Las Vegas, and 20 were led away in plastic handcuffs in Portland, Ore., for sitting down on a bridge. At least a dozen were arrested in St. Louis in the evening after they sat down cross-legged and locked arms in an attempt to block a bridge over the Mississippi River. More were handcuffed for blocking bridges in Philadelphia and Minneapolis.

Several of the demonstrations coincided with an event planned months earlier by a coalition of unions and liberal groups, including Moveon.org and the SEIU, in which out-of-work people walked over bridges in several cities to protest high unemployment.

The street demonstrations also marked two months since the Occupy movement sprang to life in New York on Sept. 17. They were planned well before police raided a number of encampments over the past few days but were seen by some activists as a way to demonstrate their resolve in the wake of the crackdown.

Thursday's demonstrations around Wall Street brought taxis and delivery trucks to a halt, but police were largely effective at keeping the protests confined to just a few blocks. Officers allowed Wall Street workers through the barricades, but only after checking their IDs.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said police had been expecting as many as 10,000 protesters based on what activists had been saying online. But he said there had been "minimal disruption."

"Most protesters have, in all fairness, acted responsibly," he said after visiting an injured police officer in the hospital.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said officers confiscated metal devices that some demonstrators had apparently planned to use to lock themselves into the entrances to Wall Street businesses.

The demonstration that drew thousands of people to Foley Square in the evening was a rarity in the Occupy movement: Union organizers obtained a permit from the city, and speakers were allowed to use a sound system.

Among the demonstrators arrested in New York was a retired Philadelphia police captain, Ray Lewis, who was taken into custody in his dress uniform. Others included actor and director Andre Gregory, who said he hoped the movement would lead to national action on economic injustice.

"It's a possible beginning of something positive," he said.

Some onlookers applauded the demonstrators from open windows. Others yelled, "Get a job!"

"I don't understand their logic," said Adam Lieberman, as he struggled to navigate police barricades on his way to work at JPMorgan Chase. "When you go into business, you go into business to make as much money as you can. And that's what banks do. They're trying to make a profit."

Gene Williams, a bond trader, joked that he was "one of the bad guys" but said he empathized with the demonstrators: "The fact of the matter is, there is a schism between the rich and the poor, and it's getting wider."

The confrontations followed early morning arrests in other cities. In Dallas, police evicted dozens of protesters near City Hall, citing health and safety reasons. Eighteen protesters were arrested. Two demonstrators were arrested and about 20 tents removed at the University of California, Berkeley.

City officials and demonstrators were trying to decide their next step in Philadelphia, where about 100 protesters were under orders to clear out to make way for a long-planned $50 million plaza renovation at City Hall. Union leaders pressed the demonstrators to leave, saying construction jobs were stake.

___

Associated Press writers Colleen Long, Jennifer Peltz, Meghan Barr in New York contributed to this story.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-11-17-Occupy-Protests-Anniversary/id-4a010abb1e444fe894425593eb4e87af

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Newspaper owners team up in deal-finding venture (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO ? A group of newspaper publishers and other media companies are teaming up to sell more advertising aimed at people looking for online deals.

Eight companies formed a joint venture that has acquired Find n Save, a search engine focused on discount offers made by merchants in cities across the U.S. The venture acquired Find n Save as part of its purchase of Travidia, an online shopping service. Financial terms of that deal weren't disclosed in Thursday's announcement.

The joint venture's initial owners include: Advance Digital, part of Advance Publications Inc., whose newspapers include The Plain Dealer in Cleveland; A.H. Belo Corp., owner of The Dallas Morning News; Cox Media Group, owner of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and more than 100 radio and TV stations; and Gannett Co.; owner of USA Today and more than 80 other newspapers as well as more than 20 TV stations.

Discussions are being held with other media companies interested in joining the venture.

Find n Save is tapping into the coupon craze that helped turn Groupon's daily-deal service into a hot commodity. Although it's still losing money, Groupon Inc. is growing so fast that the 3-year-old company already has a $15 billion market value.

Unlike search engines such as Google, Find n Save specializes in showcasing discounts offered by advertisers within local markets. A consumer can type, say, "burrito" into a search field, and receive a list of nearby Mexican restaurants and the deals they're offering.

The search engine makes money from the advertisers in its database. Other ads can be placed by companies looking to connect with people whose search engine requests have signaled their interest in certain products and services.

The participating newspapers will share in the revenue and contribute daily deals covering their markets to Find n Save's index.

Find n Save currently tracks local deals in 19 of the top 50 U.S. markets. The joint venture plans to add 21 more top markets to the list during the next month. By the end of 2013, the joint venture expects more than 400 newspapers to be affiliated with Find n Save.

Newspapers have been mining the Internet for more revenue to offset a steep decline in print advertising that has triggered bankruptcies and massive cutbacks during the past three years. The drop has been driven by the Internet's appeal to advertisers looking for less expensive ? and in some cases, more effective ? alternatives to print advertising.

The joint venture overseeing Find n Save will be run by acting CEO Christopher Trippe, who helped newspapers put together a partnership with Yahoo Inc. that began five years ago.

The venture's other partners include Hearst Corp., whose newspapers include the San Francisco Chronicle and 14 other dailies; MediaNews Group, owner of the San Jose Mercury News, The Denver Post and more than 50 other newspapers; McClatchy Co., owner of The Sacramento (Calif.) Bee, The Miami Herald and 28 other dailies; and The Washington Post Co., publisher of the largest newspaper in the nation's capital.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111117/ap_on_hi_te/us_newspapers_shopping_search_engine

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