China to hold Gu Kailai murder trial on August 9: sources

BEIJING (Reuters) - China will open the murder trial of Gu Kailai, the wife of ousted Communist Party Politburo member Bo Xilai, on August 9, two sources said on Friday, a case at the center of a scandal that has rocked the government and could bring Gu the death penalty.

Both sources requested anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the case, and provided no other details.

China only last week formally announced Gu's indictment on charges of murdering a British man in November.

Gu will face trial in Hefei, provincial capital of Anhui in eastern China, though she is accused of murdering businessman Neil Heywood in Chongqing, a southwest municipality that her husband Bo turned into a showpiece for his controversial policies.

British diplomats have requested access to the trial. CNN reported that two family members would be allowed to attend and that the trial was expected to be speedy.

Bo, who was dismissed as chief of Chongqing in March, has not been named as a suspect in the murder case, but he is separately under investigation by party authorities and could also face trial at a later time.

Political observers have said a failure to forge a unified stance on handling the divisive Bo case could affect the Communist Party's focus on working out leadership changes that will be decided at the 18th national congress later this year.

Bo, 62, was widely seen as pushing for a spot in that new leadership until felled by the scandal brought to light by his former police chief, Wang Lijun.

Bo, also a former commerce minister, had used his post in Chongqing since 2007 to recast the sprawling, haze-covered municipality into a showcase for his mix of populist policies and bold investment and spending plans.

Wang, 52, spearheaded Bo's controversial campaign against organized crime, a plank in Bo's barely concealed campaign to join the topmost ranks of the party. Critics said the campaign involved widespread abuses of police powers.

But Wang said he came to fear for his own safety after a split with Bo in late January over allegations that Bo's wife Gu was involved in the suspected murder of Heywood, sources familiar with the later Chinese investigation have said.

(Reporting by Chris Buckley; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Mark Bendeich and Nick Macfie)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-hold-gu-kailai-murder-trial-august-9-105403880--business.html

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Obama and Romney trade barbs over economic plans

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney campaigns at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds in Golden, Colo., Thursday, Aug. 2, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney campaigns at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds in Golden, Colo., Thursday, Aug. 2, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

President Barack Obama greets supporter at a campaign event at Rollins College, Thursday, Aug. 2, 2012, in Orlando, Fla. Obama is campaigning in Florida and Northern Virginia today. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

This photo taken Aug. 2, 2012 shows Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney campaigning in Golden, Colo. Undecided voters in swing states hold the key to the presidential election, but there?s no obvious recipe for winning them over. Friday?s new jobs report, even if dismal, might do little to help challenger Mitt Romney with this group. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

This photo taken Aug. 2, 2012 shows President Barack Obama greeting people outside Lechonera El Barrio, a local restaurant in Orlando, Fla. Undecided voters in swing states hold the key to the presidential election, but there?s no obvious recipe for winning them over. Friday?s new jobs report, even if dismal, might do little to help challenger Mitt Romney with this group. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney campaigns at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds in Golden, Colo., Thursday, Aug. 2, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

GOLDEN, Colo. (AP) ? Mitt Romney promised Thursday that his economic program will create 12 million new jobs in the next four years, and likened President Barack Obama to a "dog trying to chase its tail" when it comes to strengthening the sluggish recovery.

Firing back instantly, Obama said his rival favors "trickle-down fairy dust" that has failed to fix the economy in the past, and unleashed a new television ad with a scathing summation of Romney's tax plans: "He pays less. You pay more."

The two men campaigned in battleground states hundreds of miles apart, the incumbent in Florida, his challenger in Colorado, both on a mission to convert undecided voters to their side in a race dominated by the economy.

For Romney, the day meant a return to domestic campaigning after a weeklong overseas trip. Aides say he intends to disclose a vice presidential pick before the Republican National Convention opens on Aug. 27 in Tampa, but the former Massachusetts governor gave no indication during the day that he has made a decision.

Instead, he unveiled what aides called Romney's plan for more jobs and more take-home pay, coupled with a self-generated report card that said Massachusetts enjoyed better economic times when he was governor than the nation has under Obama.

In remarks in Golden, Colo., he said his economic policies would lead to creation of 12 million jobs over the first four years, and help make North America energy-independent, a pledge that aides said included Canada and Mexico as well as the United States.

Romney pledged expanded international trade, particularly with Latin America, and vowed to confront China over its own policies. "I'm finally going to sit down with the Chinese and they're going to understand that if they cheat there are going to be consequences, because we're not going to let them walk all over us," the former Massachusetts governor said.

He said he would help small business owners, improve the education system and cut spending to reduce the deficit, but he offered relatively few specifics.

Romney has previously he wants to extend the tax cuts due to expire on Dec. 31 and grant a new 20 percent cut in tax rates in addition to stimulate growth. He has also said he will reverse some of Obama's proposed defense cuts, and simultaneously reduce spending on other programs in a way that deficits would gradually subside.

But he has so far refused to identify which existing tax breaks he would curtail to accomplish his goals, and generally avoided naming individual programs he wants to cut or eliminate.

In his remarks during the day, Romney said he wants federal education funds that aid the disadvantaged and disabled to be tied to the student rather than flow to school districts, as is now the case. But he did not specify how much he would cut from them to achieve his goal of reducing federal deficits.

He also criticized Obama for signing legislation that cut $500 billion from Medicare over a decade. But he didn't say whether he would restore the funds, and he has spoken favorably in the past of a House-passed budget that left the reductions in place.

In his remarks, Romney said Democrats have a different view. "They think we should just raise taxes. ...The problem is when you raise taxes you lower growth," he said.

Obama's approach is "like a dog trying to chase its tail, you just don't ever get there," he added. "So the right answer is not to raise taxes. The right answer is to cut taxes and cut spending."

Obama and other Democrats support extending existing tax cuts except for individuals making more than $200,000 a year and couples with incomes over $250,000 ? and their disagreement with Romney and the Republicans on this point has emerged as arguably the most fundamental one of the campaign.

It's an argument that Obama seems eager to have ? using campaign appearances and paid television advertising to do so.

For the second day in a row, Obama cited a study by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center that says Romney and other millionaires would receive a tax cut of approximately $250,000 a year if the former Massachusetts governor gets his way.

"This analysis also found that if Gov. Romney wants to keep his word" about reducing deficits, "the average middle-class family with children would be stuck with a tax increase of more than $2,000," he added.

The president's new campaign ad was delivering the same highly personalized message. It says that Romney has paid a lower proportion of his income in taxes than many people of lesser means and adds:

"He pays less, you pay more," the ad says.

Romney's personal wealth has been estimated as high as $250 million, but he has not so far made public any detailed disclosure of his holdings. His aides have sought to dismiss the report as a partisan attack by former aides to the president.

But Obama, picking up on what his own campaign staff said on Wednesday, told an audience in Orlando, Fla., that the Tax Policy Center was headed by a former aide to President George W. Bush.

Romney too rolled out a new ad, giving a less-than-warm welcome to Obama on a day Air Force One touched down in Florida. It notes that the state still suffers from high unemployment, record home foreclosures and an increase in poverty.

"Barack Obama: What a disappointment," it says.

___

Associated Press writers Beth Fouhy in New York and Philip Elliott in Washington contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-08-02-Presidential%20Campaign/id-c35f949622214cb4b78d276a19177777

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Tips For A Trouble Free Vacation Every Time | articlereference.net

Be aware of scams that attempt to prey on unwary travelers. In many poorer areas of the world, it is safest to assume that anyone begging for money or trying to stop you for just about any reason could be a pickpocket. Don?t ever show or hand over your wallet to anyone, even if they claim to be police officers.

Bring back toiletries from the hotels that you stay at while traveling. Things like soap, shampoo and lotion can be some of the best souvenirs of your vacation, and they are completely free. Since your room rate includes the cost of these items, don?t feel bad for taking them home with you. Use them to remember the great time you had while you were away.

If you are traveling with a group, be sure to book in advance. Booking in advance will make it more likely that your group will be seated together. If you are traveling with children, you certainly do not want to leave seating arrangements to chance. Book early and confirm your seating arrangement.

Don?t hoard your frequent flyer miles. It?s hard to know if those miles will be worth anything in the future, especially since many frequent flyer programs expire miles if they have not been used in eighteen months. If you don?t want to use them on flights, most programs also offer magazine subscriptions and product discounts.

A great travel tip is to make sure your important items are within reach when you?re planning to go on a road trip. A lot of people make the mistake of putting their important items in first, which makes them very hard to reach because they?re underneath a lot of stuff.

Invest in a waterproof wallet. You no doubt need your wallet and its contents safe. While traveling, it can be easy to forget about what you have in your pockets. Having a waterproof wallet is a great idea for anyone who plans on going to the ocean or sitting poolside.

While traveling to a foreign country is an exciting experience, it can also be risky if you aren?t familiar with its laws and customs. For that purpose, the State Department of the United States created a website (travel.state.gov) that you can visit to find out a wealth of information on the country to which you are traveling, including facts on crime, health conditions and popular attractions.

Vacations should be fun, not another source of irritation. The tips in this article will help you get through the annoying aspects of traveling, and enjoy all the best parts of it instead. No one should have to spend their vacation worrying. Enjoy your trip, and have a great time!

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Source: http://articlereference.net/travel-leisure/tips-for-a-trouble-free-vacation-every-time-2.html

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Mens Risk Pertaining to STDs | ArticleWebby.com

Thursday, August 2nd, 2012. Author : Frank2l3Bowden29. 2 views.

In order to better understand exactly what STD?s are, it is very important note that men and women tend to be effected very in another way from each other. A good STD stands for sexually transmitted diseases, and there are several various kinds of STD?s out there that can be developed. For men, the Sexually transmitted disease symptoms can be a touch easier to detect compared to those of women. The reason is that a mans genitals are totally external which makes graphic inspection much easier. Females, on the other hand, have a much harder time seeing what?s wrong with them as their erotic organs are internal. Both male and female members should understand the dangers involved when it comes to unguaranteed sex and the probable contractions of STD?s.

For men, the risk of an STD is high because STD?s are very rampant. Chlamydia is one of the most common STD?s that adult men contract. Men usually suffer more severe signs or symptoms then women due to the anatomy of the men genitalia. The signs usually appear around 3 weeks after the first initial contact with the disease. The first sign of the sickness is infection and it has been said to think that a burning experience on the genitals. Discomfort and swelling can take place on the penis along with testicles which can cause excellent discomfort. Clear launch is also another symptom of this disease, so it is vital that you be aware of this too.

Two STD?s that are typically confused for each other is Gonorrhea and The problem as they share the same symptoms. The interesting thing about Gonorrhea is always that people can be contaminated with it without showing signs of the disease. Which means symptoms often are not experienced until for a long time down the road as compared to the rapid symptoms that Chlamydia shows. Gonorrhea also is distressing as there is pain associated to urinating and throughout sex. A heavy bloody discharge can also be very common for this Sexually transmitted disease which can be very painful.

While there are many std?s out there, the most important thing to keep in mind is that once you have this, you keep it eternally. While there are therapies out there that can reduce flare ups and support the symptoms, there is nothing available at this point that can entirely cure someone of these types of diseases. The top practice for preventing this sort of contraction is by exercising safe sex guidelines and to make sure that any condom is used. This training will help men to lessen their risk of contracting these kind of disease.

If you?re at risk for STD?s don?t gamble with your wellbeing, get male std tests. For more information on std test for men visit our website!

Leave a Reply for ?Mens Risk Pertaining to STDs?

Source: http://www.articlewebby.com/health-fitness/mens-risk-pertaining-to-stds/

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Inside North Korea, more cellphones and traffic lights, but real change lags

A visitor to North Korea finds more signs of modernization in Pyongyang as Kim Jong-un consolidates power. But it's hard to tell if reform is afoot in a country that remains deeply impoverished and isolated.

By Donald Kirk,?Correspondent / August 1, 2012

A North Korean sailor stands on the deck of the USS Pueblo, the US spy ship captured off North Korea in 1968. It?s now moored in Pyongyang.

Don Kirk

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A sense of incipient change is in the air here as North Korea's traditional rhetoric about nuclear war contrasts with signs of a desire to reform a society that remains dangerously impoverished, underfed, and undeveloped.

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True, over the past few years, Pyongyang has shown signs of modernizing: Eight or nine glistening high-rise apartment buildings form a new skyline in the heart of the capital, and a concert hall opened last month featuring the Pyongyang Symphony Orchestra performing compositions in praise of new leader Kim Jong-un; his grandfather, Kim Il-sung; and his father, Kim Jong-il. Traffic lights are replacing the legendary traffic ladies at key intersections, and taxis with checker designs on the front doors line up outside hotels and restaurants.

Together with visits from high-profile foreigners, the impression is that of a gradual opening, at least for a sliver of the city's elite.

Such signs, however, belie a longstanding commitment to the policy of juche, meaning self-reliance, and, more important, songun, or "military first." The result has been the deification of the Kim dynasty in a system in which the military has held sway while the economy has plunged ever deeper into an abyss of widespread hunger, disease, and neglect.

"We have nuclear weapons," boasts a North Korean Army captain at Panmunjom, the site of the signing of the Korean War armistice in 1953 along the line between North and South Korea. "They guarantee that we will be safe from nations far away from Korea. We Ko-reans never invade anyone, but we have strong capabilities."

Now outsiders are scrutinizing Kim Jong-un for any glimmer that he may be opening the country. Yet the veneration of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il is so total that it's not clear if Kim Jong-un, believed to be still in his late 20s with no previous experience in governance, can or even wants to reverse the pattern his grandfather and father set before him.

A visit to the North

Life may be marginally more open here than a few years ago, but visitors aren't permitted to talk with ordinary people or walk into stores or markets to see if the shelves are as empty as they appear from quick looks through the windows.

New statues of Kim Il-sung, who ruled for nearly half a century until his death in 1994, and his son and heir, Kim Jong-il, who died last December, stand tall over Mansudae, a promontory with a sweeping view of much of the city. Korean and foreign visitors line up in front of them to pay respect; one or two bow and place flowers at the bronze feet.

In the end, a visit here turns into a game in which authorities keep watch over foreigners with the same consummate skill they show in controlling their own people.

At any of the two or three hotels where foreigners are consigned, they can eat, drink, and buy souvenirs when not gazing at monuments, traipsing through museums, and seeing such sights as the Pueblo, the US Navy spy ship captured off the east coast in 1968 and moored here on the Daedong River.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/9kfmKaZwIDM/Inside-North-Korea-more-cellphones-and-traffic-lights-but-real-change-lags

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Stanford's women's soccer lands starring role in launch of Pac-12 ...

By Kathleen J. Sullivan

When Cardinal women's soccer takes to the field Aug. 17 for the first official game of the 2012 season, fans will be rooting from the bleachers of Maloney Field and from living room couches across the country by tuning into the Pac-12 Networks.

Jim Shorin / Stanfordphoto.com

Pac-12 Networks will provide live coverage of 12 Cardinal women's soccer games with the first broadcast on Aug. 17.

The match between Stanford ? the 2011 NCAA Champions ? and Santa Clara University will be the first live event broadcast by the Pac-12 Networks and the first live feed of a Pac-12 Conference game.

The historic broadcast represents a sea change for fans, who will be able to watch women's soccer and more than a dozen other varsity sports this year on the new channel no matter where they live in the United States, said Patrick Dunkley, deputy director of Stanford Athletics.

"Traditionally, people have been able to watch Stanford football games and some men's and women's basketball games live on television, as well as a smattering of other sports ? maybe one regular season men's or women's soccer game," he said. "Now the majority of Stanford sports will have events televised live."

During fall quarter, Pac-12 Networks will provide live coverage of more than 40 Stanford events:

The Pac-12 Networks consists of one national and six regional television networks, including a Bay Area Network focused on Stanford and the University of California-Berkeley. The networks, which will provide access 24 hours a day, seven days a week to Pac-12 teams and universities, are fully owned by the Pac-12 Conference and its member institutions.

The upcoming broadcasts will provide an unprecedented level of media coverage for women's sports, as well as several men's and women's sports in which Stanford regularly excels that have traditionally not received robust exposure, said Kevin Blue, Stanford's associate director of athletics and liaison with Pac-12 Enterprises, the media company that created the new channel.

"The winter and spring broadcast schedules haven't been determined yet, but it is safe to assume that there will be significantly more coverage of many Stanford sports, including women?s basketball, softball and baseball," Blue said.

So far, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, Bright House Networks and the National Cable Television Cooperative have agreed to carry the channel.

Still, Blue said, there are some prominent video providers missing from that list.

"We're asking Stanford fans that have DIRECTV, AT&T U-verse or the DISH Network to call and request the channel if they want to watch our teams," he said. "There has to be enough demand from customers for a provider to sign up to carry the channel."

Visitors to the Stanford Athletics website will find a promotional video for the channel that begins with an aerial view of Stanford Stadium and follows with a fast-paced slide show of Stanford athletes and teams.

The website includes online forms that Stanford fans can send to their video providers asking them to carry the Pac-12 Networks. Fans also can tweet their support using the hashtag #IWantPac12Networks.

On campus, preparing for the upcoming broadcasts has been a team effort of the Department of Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation, which supports 35 varsity sports, and Information Technology Services, which manages the central information technology infrastructure and provides services and applications for use in academic and business activities.

Together, they have helped representatives of Pac-12 Networks assess what needs to be done to prepare various venues ? including Maloney Field, Varsity Turf, Avery Aquatic Center, Maples Pavilion and Stanford Stadium ? for the fall broadcasts.

Liz Goesseringer, IT Services Business Partner, explained, "Using our existing fiber infrastructure, we've provisioned a network to stream video from selected sports venues on campus to PAC-12 equipment installed in our campus data center, which connects to the PAC-12 Enterprises headquarters for broadcast." In addition to featuring live broadcasts of sports at Stanford, the Pac-12 Networks also will provide glimpses of academic life on the Farm.

"The Pac-12 Networks will produce profiles of Stanford's scholar-athletes that will show what the students are doing inside and outside the classroom," Dunkley said.

"Young people who are considering applying to Stanford will have the opportunity to get a better understanding of student life at Stanford by showing what the university is about ? and what it has to offer."

Source: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2012/july/pac-12-network-073112.html

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Syrian aircraft strike Aleppo, rebels claim successes

ALEPPO, Syria (Reuters) - Syrian combat aircraft and artillery pounded two areas of Aleppo on Tuesday as the army battled for control of the country's biggest city, but rebel fighters said troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad had been forced to retreat.

Heavy gunfire sounded from the Salaheddine district in the southwest of the city, scene of some of the worst clashes.

Large clouds of black smoke rose into the sky after attack helicopters turned their machineguns on eastern districts for the first time in the latest fighting and a MiG warplane later strafed the same area of the city.

The army said two days ago it had taken Salaheddine, but Syrian state television said on Tuesday troops were still pursuing remaining "terrorists" there, in an indication that the army did not after all have full control of the area.

A rebel commander in Aleppo said his fighters' aim was to push towards the city centre, district by district, a goal he believed they could achieve "within days, not weeks".

The rebels now control an arc that covers eastern and southwestern districts.

"The regime has tried for three days to regain Saleheddine, but its attempts have failed and it has suffered heavy losses in human life, weapons and tanks, and it has been forced to withdraw," said Colonel Abdel-Jabbar al-Oqaidi, head of the Joint Military Council, one of several rebel groups in Aleppo.

It has not been possible to verify independently who controls Salaheddine, a district that lies on a major road that the army could use to bring reinforcements into the city.

Oqaidi told Reuters late on Monday more than 3,000 rebel fighters were in Aleppo, but would not give a precise number.

The battle for Aleppo has become a crucial test for both sides in the 16-month-old rebellion. Neither Assad's forces nor the rag-tag rebels can afford to lose if they hope to prevail in the wider struggle for Syria.

The fighting has proved costly for the 2.5 million residents of Aleppo, a commercial hub that was slow to join the anti-Assad revolt that has rocked the capital, Damascus, and other cities.

While rebels say they will turn Aleppo into the "grave" of the Assad government, thousands of residents have fled and those who remain face shortages of food and fuel and the ever-present risk of injury or death.

"We have hardly any power or water, our wives and kids have left us here to watch the house and have gone somewhere safer. said Jumaa, a 45-year-old construction worker, who complained it was nearly impossible to observe the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

"I would say 99.9 percent of the people aren't fasting. How can you fast when you hear mortars and artillery hitting the areas nearby and wondering if you will be next?" he said.

Makeshift clinics in rebel-held areas struggle to deal with dozens of casualties after more than a week of fighting.

Up to 18,000 people have been forced to leave their homes in Aleppo and many frightened residents were seeking shelter in schools, mosques and public buildings, according to figures given by the U.N. refugee agency in Geneva.

The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said more than 100 people, 73 of them civilians, were killed in Syria on Monday. It said five rebel fighters died during clashes with Syrian forces in Salaheddine.

Rebel fighters, patrolling parts of Aleppo in pick-up trucks flying green-white-and-black "independence" flags, face a daunting task in taking on the well-equipped Syrian army, even if the loyalty of some of its troops is in doubt.

Armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles, machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades they are up against a military that can deploy fighter jets, helicopter gunships, tanks, armored fighting vehicles, artillery and mortars.

Rebels have captured a small number of tanks and armored vehicles but they do not seem to have used them in combat yet.

Against a background of divisions among major powers over Syria, U.S. President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan discussed in a telephone call how they could work together to speed up political transition in Damascus.

"They took up the co-ordination of efforts to accelerate the process of political transition in Syria, including Bashar al-Assad leaving the administration and the meeting of the Syrian people's legitimate demands," Erdogan's office said.

Erdogan, who once enjoyed close ties with Assad, has become one of his fiercest critics and has demanded he step down.

Turkey hosts more than 44,000 Syrian refugees, many of them in border camps where they complain of poor conditions.

Amid growing concern about security on its frontier, Turkey sent at least four heavily armed military convoys to the border with Syria on Monday, although there has been no indication that Turkish forces will cross over.

(Additional reporting by Yara Bayoumy in Beirut; Writing by Giles Elgood; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/aleppo-rebels-stand-firm-regimes-grave-005526632.html

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