Thursday 20 November 2014

Dunya TV

Dunya TV

First humans settled on Tibetan Plateau 3,600 years ago

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WASHINGTON (AFP) - Researchers said Thursday that people likely moved to the Tibetan highlands 3,600 years ago, in an indication of when humans first settled at high altitudes.Humans were able to permanently settle as high as 3,400 meters (11,000 feet) on the plateau -- which is known as the roof of the world -- by growing altitude-resistant crops and raising livestock, according to a study published in the US journal Science.They survived on wheat and barley imported from the so-called Fertile Crescent in the Middle East and on transplants from China such as broomcorn and foxtail millet, said the researchers from Britains Cambridge University, China and the United States.The scientists analyzed animal teeth, bones and plant deposits for the study.Year-round survival at these altitudes must have led to some very challenging conditions indeed, said lead researcher Martin Jones from Cambridges Department of Archaeology.This poses further, interesting questions for researchers about the adaptation of humans, livestock and crops to life at such dizzying heights.Sporadic human presence was detected on the plateau as early as 20,000 years ago, while semi-permanent settlers arrived 5,200 years ago.Researchers said early humans likely first traveled to the plateau to hunt animals, but the discovery of altitude-resistant crops allowed them to plant their roots there.The researchers examined the remains of pigs, sheep and cattle as well as plants at 53 sites across the northern Tibetan plateau.Jones said the findings could have an impact on modern-day food security, as most of our foods today are grown in the lowlands.The more we learn about the rich ecology of past and present societies, and the wider range of crops they raised in the worlds more challenging environments, the more options we will have for thinking through food security issues in the future, he said.

Cricket: Australia forced to chose team early 'for marketing'

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SYDNEY (AFP) - Australian selector Mark Waugh says his panel will name the team for next months opening Test with India early for marketing purposes.The former Test batsman made the admission during a cricket television show on Fox Sports late Thursday where he was asked why the first Test squad was being picked almost two weeks before the December 4-8 series opener.The scheduled squad announcement comes a day before a round of four-day Sheffield Shield matches that would have given selectors scope to check the form of several Test hopefuls.Instead, the selectors will make their decision this weekend, which also means they have to make an early call on captain Michael Clarkes fitness from a hamstring injury.Waugh said it was a situation the selectors would rather not have.Were sitting down on Saturday to pick the first Test team, Waugh said on the programme.It doesnt actually allow us to look at the second (next) round of Shield matches.Waugh, who joined the national selection panel in May, was asked why selectors couldnt request more time from Cricket Australia before making a final call on the Test squad.Ideally you would like to see the second round of Sheffield Shield matches, but thats not a decision the selectors have made, Waugh said.Cricket Australia have made that. Its for marketing purposes.Cricket Australias performance manager Pat Howard said the early selection of Australias Test squad was to ensure the best possible preparation.If the selectors feel they need more time to select the squad that option is always there, Howard said.He said Australia were following the same preparation which culminated with a 5-0 home Ashes victory over England last season.Howard said he had since spoken with Waugh, who admitted he used the wrong word, stating the early selection of the team was for marketing when he should have said logistics.

Texas woman sues family after her dogs kill neighbor's pet beagle

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HOUSTON (Reuters) - The owner of three pit bulls and a pit-bull mix is seeking up to $1 million in damages after her dogs entered the Houston-area property of her neighbor and fatally attacked her neighbors 10-year-old beagle.Emerald White said she was trying to retrieve her four dogs from her neighbors yard when the beagle attacked her, causing her dogs to attack, the lawsuit said.The beagles owners, the Baker family, said the pit bulls broke into their yard and started the incident that left their beagle, Bailey, dead a few minutes after the attack ended in the Houston suburb of Texas City.Whites attorney, Paul LaValle, told local broadcaster KHOU-TV: I’m getting the hate mail and the death threats. They have a very good PR campaign working for the family that owned the beagle.Whites lawsuit said her neighbors were negligent and that she suffered from mental anguish, disfigurement, pain, loss of earnings and a fear of future disease because of the beagle attack.The Baker family told KHOU-TV it had no plans to sue White because it would not bring their dead pet back.Bailey ... laid up next to the house and died, Steve Baker told the broadcaster.

Fed to review its oversight of big banks

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WASHINGTON (AP) - The Federal Reserve said Thursday that it will review how it oversees the biggest U.S. banks amid criticism that it has grown too close to the financial institutions it is charged with regulating.The Feds announcement came a day before a Senate subcommittee is scheduled to hold a hearing on whether Fed examiners, particularly in the Feds New York operation, have become too cozy with the big banks they oversee.The central bank said the review will examine whether its decision-makers get the information they need to make good decisions in their inspection and oversight of banks. It also will look at the Feds internal culture, and whether dissenting views related to oversight are stifled.William Dudley, the president of the New York Fed, says in testimony prepared for Fridays Senate hearing that the Fed already has made important changes to its bank supervision process. Among them is the reorganization of the New York Feds supervision group in ways that promote unbiased analysis and professional objectivity, Dudley says.At the same time, the New York Fed has devoted attention and resources to the reform of banks culture and conduct, notes Dudley, who recently gave a speech calling Wall Streets ethical culture unacceptable.We understand the risks of doing our job poorly and of becoming too close to the firms we supervise, he says in his testimony. We work hard to avoid these risks and to be as fair, conscientious and effective as possible. Of course, we are not perfect. We cannot catch or correct every error by a financial institution, and we sometimes make mistakes.The issue gained a high profile recently when conversations between New York Fed supervisors, secretly taped by a former employee there, were played on the radio program This American Life. The tapes were made by Carmen Segarra, a former Fed bank examiner who sued the New York Fed last year, alleging she was wrongfully terminated because she refused the change the results of her investigation into Goldman Sachs.Segarras lawsuit said the New York Fed interfered with her examination of Goldmans legal and compliance divisions, and directed her to change her findings. She says she refused and was fired three days later, in May 2012.The New York Fed hasnt commented specifically on the lawsuit but has said its personnel decisions are based exclusively on individual job performance and are subject to thorough review.Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, who heads the Senate Banking subcommittee on financial institutions that is holding the hearing, said in a statement Thursday, Its past time that the Federal Reserve shows, with actions, not words, that it will protect consumers rather than Wall Street.Brown said the regulators closeness with banks in the years preceding the financial crisis helped fuel the meltdown that touched off the Great Recession.

Scientists study rare tapeworm living in man's brain

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LONDON (AFP) - Scientists in Britain removed and studied a rare tapeworm that lived in a mans brain for four years, researchers said on Friday.The parasite travelled five centimetres (two inches) from the right side of the brain to the left.The tapeworm causes sparganosis, an inflammation of body tissues that can cause seizures, memory loss and headaches when it occurs in the brain.Surgeons removed it and the patient is now systemically well, the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute said.It was the first time the tapeworm, Spirometra erinaceieuropaei, was reported in Britain. Only 300 cases have been reported since 1953.The tapeworm is thought to be caught by accidentally eating small infected crustaceans from lakes, eating raw amphibian or reptile meat, or by using a raw frog poultice which is a Chinese remedy for sore eyes.We did not expect to see an infection of this kind in the UK, but global travel means that unfamiliar parasites do sometimes appear, said Effrossyni Gkrania-Klotsas of the department of Infectious Disease at Addenbrookes NHS Trust.The team managed to sequence the rare parasites genome for the first time, allowing them to examine potential treatments.Our work shows that, even with only tiny amounts of DNA from clinical samples, we can find out all we need to identify and characterise the parasite, Gkrania-Klotsas added.The doctor said the DNA study underlined the importance of a global database of worm genomes, to help identify and treat parasites.

Football: Van Gaal relaxed ahead of Welbeck reunion

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LONDON (AFP) - Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has no regrets about selling Danny Welbeck to Arsenal, he said as the England striker prepares to face his former club on Saturday.Welbeck, 23, has scored 10 goals in 20 appearances for club and country since being allowed to leave Old Trafford for $25.1 million on transfer deadline day in September.The Manchester-born forward will come up against his old team-mates for the first time when United visit the Emirates Stadium for the stand-out Premier League clash of the weekend.Dutchman Van Gaal attributes Welbecks success at Arsenal to being a regular in their first team, after he was made to wait for opportunities during his time at United.I think that a player who is playing mostly fixed in the team, he develops and always will, Van Gaal said.He takes all the benefit from playing every week. That was a question mark with Manchester United. Its good to see hes doing what I thought.Van Gaal accepted that Welbeck would enjoy scoring against his old club, much like Uniteds ex-Arsenal forward Robin van Persie has when he has found the net against the team he left in 2012.This is the football world, Van Gaal said. Van Persie has scored already three goals against Arsenal as a United player. Thats life, believe me.United will have goalkeeper David de Gea available at the Emirates, despite suffering a dislocated finger while on international duty with Spain.Angel di Maria and Michael Carrick have also recovered from minor injuries, but left-back Luke Shaw is a doubt after being hurt during Englands 3-1 friendly win over Scotland.Van Gaal last faced Arsene Wengers Arsenal in 1999, when he was manager of Barcelona.- Giroud returns -The teams drew 1-1 at Camp Nou before the Catalan club won 4-2 at Wembley Stadium -- Arsenals adopted home in Europe that season -- in the Champions League group stage.Van Gaal, 63, says he is aware of the rivalry between his current club and Arsenal.Its the first time Im sitting on the bench against Arsenal as United coach, Van Gaal said. I have faced them when I was with Barcelona, then Wenger was on the bench.The way they play for such a long time, he has an attacking way of playing, playing for the fans. The rivalry is normal in sport. It should be abnormal when its not like that.Wengers players, meanwhile, will want to show their manager that he was wrong to write off his teams title hopes.Arsenal signed off for the international break by losing 2-1 at Swansea City, prompting Wenger to declare that no club currently looks capable of overhauling leaders Chelsea.It was the second time in a week that Arsenal had conceded a lead, after they let a 3-0 lead slip to draw 3-3 with Anderlecht in the Champions League, and it left them 12 points adrift of Chelsea in sixth place.Olivier Giroud will return to the Arsenal squad for the first time since breaking his leg at Everton in August to provide competition for Welbeck up front.Welbeck continued his run of scoring form for England with two goals in last Saturdays 3-1 win against Slovenia, taking his tally to five goals in five games for his country.But with Welbeck having netted only once in his last seven club appearances, Girouds unexpectedly early return could prove timely.Mikel Arteta also returns to the squad after missing the trip to Swansea with a hamstring problem.Giroud and Arteta are both available, said Wenger. Its just a question of how ready they are. But they are available.

RugbyU: Waratahs in talks with Toulon for glamour club game

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SYDNEY (AFP) - Australias NSW Waratahs are negotiating to play in a billed World Club Championship game against French giants Toulon just a week before their Super Rugby title defence kicks off, reports said Friday.The Waratahs are in talks with the Top 14 champions about playing the game in Toulon on February 5 or 6, before making a dash back to Sydney to prepare for their Super Rugby season opener against Western Force on February 15, The Daily Telegraph said.The newspaper said because it would be the Wallabies-studded Tahs final pre-season game they would field a strong side featuring nearly all the players who took the 2014 Super Rugby title.The match throws up the possibility of Kurtley Beale v Matt Giteau, Israel Folau v Leigh Halfpenny and Adam Ashley-Cooper v Drew Mitchell if the negotiations can be finalised.Waratahs captain Dave Dennis said his side would only make the long trip if they felt it would not hamper their preparations for their opening Super 15 match in Sydney.It still can happen, its a possibility, at this stage if it was to happen it would be our last trial, Dennis told the newspaper.It would have to be a Thursday or Friday game over there so we have time to travel back and start our normal week for the Force.Weve got a Sunday game so were going to have to get back by the previous Saturday or Sunday to start a normal Monday week.Obviously there is a bit of a gamble there. It is a great opportunity for us as a club, but you want to be in the best position to win the first round.Weve got to get that balance, so thats where it was all left when I last spoke to Cheik (coach Michael Cheika).Dennis said Cheika was in France last week as coach of the Wallabies and may have had the opportunity to talk to Toulon officials.From the players point of view theyd want to go, and from a rugby perspective fan point of view it would be good, Dennis said.Hopefully it can still come to fruition.Toulon boasts a whos who of rugby stars on their past and present rosters, including Giteau, Leigh Halfpenny, Mitchell, Bryan Habana, Bakkies Botha, Carl Hayman, Ali Williams and Juan Smith.

A third of women globally victims of domestic violence: WHO

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GENEVA (AFP) - Current efforts to prevent domestic violence are insufficient as a third of women worldwide are physically abused, according to a series of studies by the World Health Organization published on Friday.Between 100 to 140 million women are victims of genital mutilation and around 70 million girls are married before 18, often against their will.And some seven percent of women risk being raped in their lifetimes, the study said.The violence, exacerbated during conflicts and humanitarian crises, have dramatic consequences on the physical and mental health of the victims.No magic wand will eliminate violence against women and girls. But evidence tells us that changes in attitudes and behaviours are possible, and can be achieved within less than a generation, said Charlotte Watts, professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and co-author.The study says even in places with tough, forward-looking laws many women are still the victims of discrimination, violence and lack adequate access to health and legal services.Early identification of women and children subjected to violence and a supportive and effective response can improve womens lives and well-being, and help them to access vital services, said Claudia Garcia-Moreno, a WHO physician.The studys authors said a real dent can only be made in the violence against women if governments put more resources into the fight and recognise how it serves as a brake on economic growth.World leaders should also change discriminatory laws and institutions that encourage inequality and thus set the stage for more violence.Finally, the authors wrote, governments need to encourage research and rapidly put into place measures that have been shown to work.We now have some promising findings to show what works to prevent violence. Our upcoming challenge is to expand this evidence on prevention and support responses to many more settings and forms of violence, said Cathy Zimmerman, a doctor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Australia tackles Obama on his Great Barrier Reef fears

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SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia has sent US President Barack Obama the facts about the Great Barrier Reef after he voiced fears it would not be there for future generations, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Friday.Obama expressed concerns that climate change threatened the natural wonder off Queensland state in a speech during the G20 summit in Brisbane at the weekend.But Bishop hit back at his comments, saying there was an issue with his position and that he may have have overlooked Australias commitment to preserving the coral structure which teems with marine life.She said the federal and state governments spent Aus$180 million (US$155 million) a year preserving the reef which is a major tourist attraction.Australia knows better than anyone the importance of preserving the Great Barrier Reef, the minister told Sky News from New York where she is chairing UN Security Council meetings.Her office had sent Obama a briefing on the governments conservation efforts and wanted to reassure the White House that the Australian government takes (the reef) most seriously.I dont believe that he had been briefed, she said.I thought it was important that he had the facts and the details of what we are doing to support the preservation and conservation of the Great Barrier Reef.Bishop denied Canberra had been embarrassed by Obamas comments.In the briefing, she pointed out that mining, drilling and gas exploration were banned by law and that the government had halted the dumping of dredge waste in the reef marine park.Obama raised climate change at the G20 despite Australias efforts to focus on economic matters and warned the incredible natural glory of the Great Barrier Reef is threatened by warming.He said Saturday he wanted to visit the the reef with his daughters.And I want them to be able to bring their daughters or sons to visit and I want that there 50 years from now.Since coming to power a year ago, the Australian government has axed a carbon tax designed to reduce emissions and spoken of the importance of coal to provide energy.Australia has come under scrutiny from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization over the reefs health.UNESCO threatened to put the reef on its World Heritage in danger list, but has delayed taking action until February 1, 2015 to allow Australia time to act.

Mexicans march again for 43 missing students

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MEXICO CITY (AFP) - Tens of thousands of people angry at the presumed massacre of 43 students marched in Mexico City on Thursday, many chanting for President Enrique Pena Nietos resignation in another day of nationwide protests.Parents of the 43 male college students, who reject claims their sons are dead, led the march along the capitals main boulevard toward the historic Zocalo square.It was the latest protest over the governments handling of a crime that has infuriated Mexicans fed up with corruption, impunity and a drug war that has left more than 100,000 people dead or missing since 2006.The case has turned into the biggest challenge of Pena Nietos nearly two-year-old presidency, on top of another scandal over a mansion his wife bought from a government contractor.Mexico is used to tragedy, robberies and corruption, and we need to begin to exercise our rights as citizens to get the government working, said Lili Correa, 46, wearing the black color of the protest.The demonstration coincided with the anniversary of the start of the 1910 Mexican revolution. The government canceled the annual parade.Before the march, masked protesters threw firebombs and used tubes like makeshift bazookas to launch firecrackers at riot police, who hit back with tear gas to disperse the group on a street near the airport.The clash came after hundreds of protesters blocked the main road to the airport for an hour, while police vehicles picked up passengers walking with their suitcases along the road.Thousands of people also marched in the cities of Ciudad Juarez, Puebla and Chilpancingo, the capital of Guerrero, the violence-plagued southern state where the students vanished nearly two months ago.Thousands more marched in Bolivia and some 200 took to the streets in El Salvador.Mexico and Real Madrid football star Javier Chicharito Hernandez tweeted a picture of himself wearing a black hoodie and the hashtag WeAreAllAyotzinapa, referring to the young mens Ayotzinapa teacher-training college.The goal is to unite and mobilize the country, to lead it toward change, said Omar Garcia, who attends the college.- Parents want sons alive -With the annual parade called off, Pena Nieto led a ceremony with top officials at the Campo Marte military field, where he and the defense minister denounced violent protests.Mexico is hurting, but the only path to soothe this pain is through peace and justice, he said, hours after making his personal assets public to quell conflict of interest allegations over his wifes mansion.Defense Minister Salvador Cienfuegos said violence only leads to national failure, social backwardness, ungovernability, instability.The crisis erupted after the mayor of the city of Iguala ordered police to confront students on September 26, sparking a night of violence that left six people dead and 43 missing, authorities say.Prosecutors say corrupt police delivered the 43 young men to members of the Guerreros Unidos drug gang, who confessed to killing and incinerating the students.Officials stopped short of declaring the students dead pending DNA tests. Federal police teams continue to search for them in Guerrero.Buses carrying parents of the missing young men joined the march after a week-long tour of the country to voice their anger over the governments handling of the case.Highlighting their deep distrust of the government, they refuse to believe the students are dead and say they will only trust DNA test results from independent foreign forensic experts.We are moving forward, until the end, until they reappear, Epifanio Alvarez, father of a missing student, told AFP.The situation is bad. There are many missing people all over the country.

NHL: Kings star Voynov charged with domestic violence

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LOS ANGELES (AFP) - US prosecutors have charged Russian defenceman Slava Voynov with alleged spousal abuse in connection with an incident last month at his Los Angeles home.Prosecutors announced Thursday that Voynov has been charged with one count of corporal injury to spouse with great bodily injury for an alleged attack on his wife at their Redondo Beach home.The 24-year-old Voynov, of Chelyabinsk, is under indefinite suspension by the National Hockey League. The Los Angeles Kings defenceman last played October 19, the night of the alleged attack.According to court documents Voynovs wife suffered serious injuries during an argument at their home. She was treated in hospital for injuries to her eye, cheek and neck. Voynov was interviewed by police at the hospital and then taken into custody on suspicion of domestic violence.Voynov is scheduled to appear in a Los Angeles courtroom on December 1. He is presently free on bail.The NHL immediately suspended Voynov indefinitely following news of the incident and said it would continue with that through the duration of the case.We are aware of the actions taken today in California, which we will review and evaluate before making any decisions, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said Thursday. Until further notice, the current terms of Mr Voynovs suspension remain in place.The Kings said they back the NHLs lengthy ban of Voynov. Voynov was the Kings second round pick (32nd overall) in the 2008 NHL entry draft and helped them win the Stanley Cup last season.We maintain our support of the NHLs indefinite suspension of Slava Voynov, the Kings said in a news release Thursday.Voynov played for Russia in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics and won two gold medals with Russia at the World Junior Hockey Championships in 2008 and 2009.Voynovs wife, Marta Varlamova, has previously said she doesnt want her husband to be charged because she doesnt believe he was trying to hurt her.

Britain's UKIP set for landmark poll win

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ROCHESTER (AFP) - Britains anti-EU UK Independence Party (UKIP) was set to claim its second seat in parliament, as votes were counted early Friday in the town of Rochester, foreshadowing a possible political upheaval at next years general election.The by-election in southeast England on Thursday was called after MP Mark Reckless defected in September from Prime Minister David Camerons Conservative Party to UKIP, which wants strict quotas on immigration.Speculation over further defections to UKIP swirled after Reckless suggested two more Conservative lawmakers could switch, piling pressure on Cameron six months from the May general election.Furious campaigning by the Conservatives to keep the once-safe Rochester and Strood seat failed to steal back momentum, and experts portrayed the election as a historic moment in British politics if surveys indicating a UKIP win are borne out.As election officials piled ballots on tables to be counted, UKIP leader Nigel Farage said he was confident of a win, with results due in the early hours of Friday.I feel our vote is solid. I think we are going to win but I think its maybe closer than people think, Farage said.If we win this, looking forward to next years general election, all bets are off and the whole thing is up in the air.Cameron vowed to throw everything at the battle, and a defeat would deal a blow to his reputation after he spearheaded the campaign, with the potential to turn into a full-blown crisis if the result triggers further defections.The by-election comes a month after the Conservatives lost a previously safe seat of Clacton to another defector, Douglas Carswell, hading UKIP its first ever seat in the national parliament.The prime minister has already promised a referendum on Britains EU membership if his party wins next years general election and has taken a harder stance on immigration in a bid to stem the flow.- UKIP living in the past -Experts said the vote could prove a key moment in the history of British politics.UKIP was not supposed to win this by-election, explained Matthew Goodwin, politics professor at Nottingham University.Rochester would be a far more serious blow to the Conservatives than Clacton, filled with the types of voters who have fuelled UKIPs rise since 2010 -- older, white, working-class and struggling voters who have few qualifications, Goodwin explained.Reckless won 49 percent of the vote in Rochester in 2010 when he ran as a Conservative.The growing support for UKIP is likely to make it harder for either the centre-right Conservative party or the centre-left Labour party to win an outright majority in what is set to be a closely-fought election in May.In a sign of anger at both the main political parties, seen as out of touch by many voters, the by-election also caused embarrassment for the Labour party, which was expected to be out of the spotlight.Labour lawmaker Emily Thornberry was forced to resign from the shadow cabinet after posting a Tweet seen as condescending towards working-class voters, showing a house festooned with English flags and the caption Image from Rochester.Im wondering if this could turn out to be the by-election that nobody wins, said political commentator and columnist for the Daily Telegraph Dan Hodges.I think what youre broadly seeing is the voters using by-elections as a means of expressing their discontent at all the mainstream parties.Yet on Thursday Conservative candidate Kelly Tollhurst maintained that she could pull off an unlikely victory in Rochester, and called upon voters of all stripes to lend her their support.Its a two-horse race and the reality of it is if we dont want to wake up to a UKIP MP on Friday then people who would normally be voting for Labour, the Lib Dems and or anyone else, need to be voting for me, she said.Eric Pickles, the Conservative communities secretary, dismissed the warnings of further defections to come.I dont think there will be any, he said during a campaign trip to Rochester.We have brought the economy back from the brink. At times when we talk to our friends in UKIP it sounds as though the only thing they really like about our country is its past.

Obama lifts deportation threat hanging over 5 mn migrants

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WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Barack Obama will offer five million undocumented migrants protection from deportation Thursday, allowing families to come out of the shadows and seek work permits.In a move that infuriated Obamas Republican critics, the White House said nearly all undocumented people living in country for more than five years and who have a child who is a US citizen or legal permanent resident can apply for three-year work authorization.The president will also broaden the program he launched in 2012 that provides temporary residency to young undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States before the age of 16.Obamas executive order shifts from a dragnet approach to re-prioritizing the deportation focus on convicted felons and those who pose a danger to societyIt will affect about 44 percent of the 11.3 million people -- mostly from Mexico and Central America -- living in the shadows.Those living and working illegally in the country and who meet the criteria can apply for deferred deportation from next spring, the White House said.For much of this year Republicans have warned that unilateral action on immigration would be an illegal and unconstitutional amnesty of millions of undocumented people.But Obama shot back, saying he was taking needed action while congressional Republicans dithered.Mass amnesty would be unfair. Mass deportation would be both impossible and contrary to our character, Obama said, in excerpts of a primetime speech sent to reporters before he was to deliver it to the nation at 8:00 pm (0100 GMT Friday).What Im describing is accountability - a commonsense, middle ground approach: If you meet the criteria, you can come out of the shadows and get right with the law, he said.If youre a criminal, youll be deported. If you plan to enter the US illegally, your chances of getting caught and sent back just went up.Since 1986, when then-Republican president Ronald Reagan granted a sweeping amnesty, all attempts at major reform of the countrys immigration system have failed.Faced with a congressional stalemate, Obama -- who made immigration one of his priorities on taking office in 2009 -- has decided, with two years left in the White House, to take the matter into his own hands.Under the new rules, those applying for deferred action must have a clean criminal record, pass a background check, and pay taxes.The plan expands the program allowing temporary residency cards for minors to include those of all ages, provided they arrived in country prior to January 1, 2010, instead of the previous date of 2007, and were 16 or younger when they entered.And it also eases legal immigration rules for high-tech workers and students in STEM fields -- science, technology, engineering and mathematics.Obamas order may not, however, provide a clear path to eventual citizenship or permanent residency for migrants, an idea that may have to wait for another president or another generation of lawmakers.The White House has long sought to pass a broad immigration reform package that would offer a path to citizenship for young migrants that grew up in the United States.A new immigration law did pass the then-Democratically controlled Senate last year, but the Republican House of Representatives blocked it and failed to agree on its own alternative proposal.- Republican ire -Republicans, who will control both the House and Senate in January after a huge win in this months midterm elections, say Obama is going too far.Incoming Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell warned Thursday that the new Congress will exact political retribution.If President Obama acts in defiance of the people and imposes his will on the country, Congress will act, he said.President Obama is not above the law and has no right to issue executive amnesty, Senator Rand Paul added on learning of the plans details.His actions blatantly ignore the separations of powers and the principles our country was founded on.Democrats counter that Republicans have blocked other attempts at reform.According to an opinion poll by NBC and The Wall Street Journal, 48 percent of Americans disapprove of Obamas immigration plans, against 38 percent who back them.- Storm brewing on Capitol Hill -The political firestorm unleashed by Obama does not bode well for relations between Congress and the White House in coming months.Republicans cannot block a presidential decree, but they can make Obamas last two years extremely difficult -- by blocking his choices to fill ambassadorial and administration posts, as well as judgeships.But with the 2016 presidential election on the horizon, the debate within the party on immigration will be lively, as Republicans can ill afford to ignore Hispanic voters, 70 percent of whom voted for Obama in 2012.

Google, Rockstar agree to settle patent litigation: filing

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Nov 20 (Reuters) - Google Inc has agreed to settle litigation with patent consortium Rockstar, though terms of the deal were not disclosed in a court filing made public this week.Rockstar, which counts Apple Inc as an investor, outbid Google and paid $4.5 billion in 2011 for thousands of former Nortel Network Corp patents as the networking products supplier went bankrupt.In October last year, Rockstar sued Google and several handset manufacturers whose phones operate on Googles Android operating system. Rockstar accused Google of infringing seven Nortel patents, all related to search engine technology.Google and Rockstar have agreed to settle all matters in controversy between the parties, according to a filing in a Texas federal court on Monday. However, the document does not say whether Rockstar has also settled with handset makers including Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.A Google spokesman declined to comment on Thursday, and Rockstar representatives could not immediately be reached. Samsung and Apple spokespeople were also not immediately available.Google and Rockstar have reached a term sheet, which will be reduced to a definitive agreement over the next few weeks, the court filing said.On that same day, Rockstar sued several handset makers over a different batch of patents. Google then asked a California judge to rule that devices using the Android platform had not infringed the patents cited by Rockstar against the handset makers.Google succeeded in halting the Texas proceedings against the handset makers while its California case plays out.

Google, Rockstar agree to settle patent litigation: filing

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(Reuters) - Google Inc has agreed to settle litigation with patentconsortium Rockstar, though terms of the deal were not disclosed in a court filing made public this week. Rockstar, which counts Apple Inc as an investor, outbid Google and paid $4.5 billion in 2011 for thousands of former Nortel Network Corp patents as the networking products supplier went bankrupt. In October last year, Rockstar sued Google and several handset manufacturers whose phones operate on Googles Android operating system. Rockstar accused Google of infringing seven Nortel patents, all related to search engine technology. Google and Rockstar have agreed to settle all matters in controversy between the parties, according to a filing in a Texas federal court on Monday. However, the document does not say whether Rockstar has also settled with handset makers including Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. A Google spokesman declined to comment on Thursday, and Rockstar representatives could not immediately be reached. Samsung and Apple spokespeople were also not immediately available. Google and Rockstar have reached a term sheet, which will be reduced to a definitive agreement over the next few weeks, the court filing said. On that same day, Rockstar sued several handset makers over a different batch of patents. Google then asked a California judge to rule that devices using the Android platform had not infringed the patents cited by Rockstar against the handset makers. Google succeeded in halting the Texas proceedings against the handset makers while its California case plays out. Earlier this month Cisco said it had signed a term sheet with Rockstar and would take a $188 million charge related to that agreement.
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