Syrian troops open fire in Homs as observers visit

A Syrian woman, left, speaks with an Arab league observer, right, who attends with other observers a mass prayer for the people and army soldiers who were killed during the violence around the country, at the Holy Cross Church, in Damascus, Syria, on Monday Jan. 9, 2012. Thousands of Syrians attended special prayers held in Damascus for the more than 5,000 people killed since the uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime began in March. The prayers was attended by Christian and Muslim religious leaders.(AP Photo/Muzaffar Salman)

A Syrian woman, left, speaks with an Arab league observer, right, who attends with other observers a mass prayer for the people and army soldiers who were killed during the violence around the country, at the Holy Cross Church, in Damascus, Syria, on Monday Jan. 9, 2012. Thousands of Syrians attended special prayers held in Damascus for the more than 5,000 people killed since the uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime began in March. The prayers was attended by Christian and Muslim religious leaders.(AP Photo/Muzaffar Salman)

An anti-Syrian regime protester chants slogans during a demonstration outside the Arab League as the body meets on the situation in Syria in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Jan. 8, 2012. Arab League ministers responsible for monitoring the Syrian crisis say they need more observers and greater independence on the ground. Ministers at a meeting in Cairo said those are conditions for successfully carrying out an observer mission aimed at pressuring Damascus to stop its 10-month-old crackdown on protesters that has killed thousands, according to a statement Sunday. (AP Photo/Mohammed Abu Zaid)

A Syrian man riding his bicycle passes in front of pro-Syrian regime protesters waving their national flags, as they gather outside the Holy Cross Church where a mass prayer was taking place for the people and army soldiers who were killed during the violence around the country, in Damascus, Syria, on Monday Jan. 9, 2012. Thousands of Syrians attended a special prayers held in Damascus for the more than 5,000 people killed since the uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime began in March. The prayers were attended by Christian and Muslim religious leaders.(AP Photo/Muzaffar Salman)

A Syrian woman weeps as she attends a mass prayer for the people and army soldiers who were killed during the recent violence around the country, at the Holy Cross Church, in Damascus, Syria, on Monday Jan. 9, 2012. Thousands of Syrians attended special prayers held in Damascus for the more than 5,000 people killed since the uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime began in March. The prayers was attended by Christian and Muslim religious leaders.(AP Photo/Muzaffar Salman)

A Syrian woman, lights a candle for the people and army soldiers who were killed during the recent violence around the country during a mass service prayer at the Holy Cross Church, in Damascus, Syria, on Monday Jan. 9, 2012. Thousands of Syrians attended a special prayers held in Damascus for the more than 5,000 people killed since the uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime began in March. The prayers was attended by Christian and Muslim religious leaders.(AP Photo/Muzaffar Salman)

(AP) ? Syrian troops fired on protesters Monday in the restive city of Homs as Arab League observers toured the area to see whether President Bashar Assad's regime is abiding by its pledge to halt the 10-month-old crackdown on dissent, activists said.

In the capital Damascus, thousands held prayers for those killed since the uprising began in March. Christian and Muslim religious leaders attended the service, and throngs packed the city's Holy Cross church, its yards and a nearby street.

"Enough killings in our beloved Syria," the country's top Sunni clergyman, Grand Mufti Ahmad Badreddine Hassoun, told the crowd at the prayer service. His son was shot dead in October.

The 165 foreign monitors are supposed to be ensuring that Syria complies with the Arab League plan stipulating the regime stop killing protesters, remove heavy weaponry, such as tanks, from all cities, free all political prisoners and allow in human rights organizations and foreign journalists. Syria agreed to the plan on Dec. 19.

However, the crackdown has not stopped and opposition activists say around 450 people have killed by the regime since observers began work on Dec. 21. On Monday, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said security forces shot dead four people around the country and returned the bodies of 10 other people to their families in several Homs neighborhoods.

Syrian state TV said that Assad will deliver a speech at noon Tuesday addressing "local and international developments." Assad has few public appearances since the uprising began, and it will be his first comments since Syria agreed to the Arab League peace plan last month.

The U.N. estimated several weeks ago that more than 5,000 people have been killed in political violence since March. Since that report, opposition activists say hundreds more have died.

On Sunday, the Arab League repeated its demand for the Syrian government to immediately stop all bloodshed.

It was not immediately clear whether the foreign observers witnessed the regime forces opening fire in the Khaldiyeh neighborhood of Homs. Several people were reported wounded.

Majd Amer, an activist in Homs, said the shooting started after thousands of protesters surrounded a group of observers, urging them to go to Khaldiyeh, where anti-regime protesters are known to be active. The observers' Syrian escorts wanted to take them to the nearby Abbassiyah neighborhood, where many regime supporters live, he said.

"Sporadic shooting was heard for a few seconds," Amer said.

The opposition has accused Syria of trying to mislead the activists by showing them areas where regime support is strong.

Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby said Sunday observers will continue their monthlong mission in Syria, despite claims by activists that the mission is giving cover to Assad's crackdown on protesters and delaying further action against the regime in forums such as the U.N. Security Council.

Some members of the Syrian opposition criticized the Arab League for not withdrawing the observers.

An opposition group called the Syrian Revolution General Commission said the Arab League stance "equates between the victim and the executioner" and called for the League to refer the issue to the U.N. Security Council.

But Abdul-Aziz al-Kheir, a spokesman for the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change in Syria, said the presence of observers has reinvigorated the uprising in the past two weeks and decreased the number of protesters killed.

"Any talk of foreign intervention is an illusion, the Arab League initiative is the only way forward," he said after meeting with Elaraby in Cairo Monday.

Adnan al-Khudeir, head of the Cairo operations room that the monitors report to, said more observers will head to Syria in the coming days and the delegation should reach 200. He said the mission then will expand its work in Syria to reach the eastern province of Deir el-Zour and predominantly Kurdish areas to the northeast.

The regime's crackdown has led to worldwide condemnation and sanctions, weakened the economy and left Assad an international pariah just as he was trying to open up his country and modernize the economy.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Monday that the Syrian conflict is sliding toward "civil war" and said it must be stopped. At a joint news conference in Ankara, Norway Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said there is a need to increase international pressure to force to step down because of massacres by his regime.

The Syrian government says that the turmoil is not an uprising but the work of terrorists and foreign-backed armed gangs.

Activists and observers deny that.

___

Associated Press writer Albert Aji contributed to this report from Damascus.

___

Bassem Mroue can be reached on http://twitter.com/bmroue

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-09-ML-Syria/id-2f63bf21066342c88d4dbfaf7abe64f5

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London 2012 Olympics: top-end tickets to the Games available at face value as exchange opens

The exchange could prove invaluable to those who missed out on tickets on the previous sale periods last year but are still desperate to see the Games in person.

However, some users reported issues with actually completing a purchase on the site, echoing previous sale periods which were blighted by technology problems on the site, despite it being run by global ticketing giants Ticketmaster.

David Goddard contacted Telegraph Sport to complain about his inability to buy the tickets he wanted. "I have been trying for the past 30mins to buy tickets. I can select the session and quantity but they are never available once i go to reserving," he said.

"I'm really frustrated and am finding the site really hard work just like it was when first applying.

"I have been trying for opening and closing ceremony tickets and diving and equestrian, all of which it says are available. I have tried for all price ranges and quantities."

Locog said there was no issue with their ticket website, stressing that it was a "live system" and that because demand had been "steady", users could not guarantee they had tickets until they completed their purchases.

"There is certainly no issue with the system," said a Locog spokesman. "If someone selects a ticket and then cannot purchase them it would be because someone else has selected those tickets at the same time and it has processed quicker. That's how most ticket systems operate.

"It's exactly the same system we've always used. There's been tickets sold already and we know there's been tickets across quite a wide range of sports.

"We were never expecting a massive amount to go on because these are only tickets that people can't or don't want to use anymore. We have seen a steady stream going on the exchange. The demand is exactly in line with what we expected."

  • SUCCESS STORY: FAN SECURES OPENING CEREMONY TICKETS
    Amid stories of frustration with the ticketing system, was one slice of good news courtesy of Martin Whelton. He contacted Telegraph Sport to declare he had been lucky enough to get hold of opening ceremony tickets this morning.
  • "I managed to secure an opening ceremony ticket at the top price shortly after sales opened," he said. "To be honest, I am shell shocked at how easy it was as I'd I understood tickets were like goldust. I even rang up customer services at Locog to see if there had been some error half expecting it to have been some kind of mistake, but clearly not.
  • "Yes I have paid a crazy price, and some friends will thank I'm mad but they way I see is that it's worth it as the Olympics will only come to London once in my lifetime and you only live life once. I doubt I will be applying for any further events but that's the one to attend."

Those who bought tickets directly from Locog before today will be able to resell their tickets until February 3 and will receive the full face value of the tickets if a buyer is found.

Should ticket holders fail to offload them in this period, Locog have promised that there will be future exchange windows, when the demand could well be higher as Games excitement builds.

Tickets available for purchase during the resale period will be sold on a first come, first served basis to London 2012 ticket account holders.


Diving tickets were available for sale when the exchange opened

Locog chief executive Paul Deighton said: "We asked people to buy tickets more than a year out from the Games and mindful of that, we promised that we would create this system for people whose circumstances may have changed to enable them to resale their tickets legally and safely.

"I?m convinced that most people will want to hold on to their tickets, but we are pleased to offer this resale programme which will give those who wish to use it, an opportunity to securely sell their tickets to others who wish to go to the Games or purchase more tickets and help us to achieve our aim of having full venues"

Police have reminded users to only purchase tickets through official sources and stressed the importance of using Locog's website checker before completing a transaction.

Detective superintendent Nick Downing, head of the Metropolitan Police?s Operation Podium, said: ?Locog?s resale platform is an ideal system that enables those who can no longer use their purchased tickets to sell them on to Games fans, while giving those fans the peace of mind in knowing that they are buying from genuine and authorised sellers"

Football and Paralympics tickets are on sale until Feb 6, 2012, while contingency tickets for other events will be made available for sale in the spring.

How do I sell my tickets?
Ticket holders can log on to their account at tickets.london2012.com and nominate which tickets they wish to resell.

Do I get my money back straight away?
Only if a buyer is found. Otherwise the tickets will be returned to your account and you will be able to put them up again in future exchange windows.

Am I allowed to give tickets to friends and family?
Yes. Locog are relaxed about tickets being passed on this way.

How do I buy tickets through the exchange?
Those without tickets are advised to log on to their accounts or register a new one and look for any spares. Tickets will be sold on a first come, first served basis. These tickets will only be available if put up for resale by another ticketholder.

I bought my tickets abroad. Can I sell them on the exchange?
No. Consumers who bought their tickets overseas via Authorised Ticket Resellers should contact the vendor to discuss options.

Have you bought or sold tickets on the exchange? Email olympics@telegraph.co.uk with your story

Source: http://telegraph.feedsportal.com/c/32726/f/568303/s/1b9292b4/l/0L0Stelegraph0O0Csport0Colympics0C89968120CLondon0E20A120EOlympics0Etop0Eend0Etickets0Eto0Ethe0EGames0Eavailable0Eat0Eface0Evalue0Eas0Eexchange0Eopens0Bhtml/story01.htm

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Helix Energy Solutions Replicates Data and Content to Geo-Distributed SharePoint Farms & Sea Vessels with DocAve

Posted:? 06 Jan 2012
Published:? 06 Jan 2012
Format:? PDF
Length:? 3? Page(s)
Type:? Case Study
Language:? English

ABSTRACT:

With personnel spread throughout offices across the globe and ships at sea, Helix required a software platform upon which employees could collaborate, communicate and access up-to-date content from the organization. Helix chose Microsoft office SharePoint Server 2007 and its employees quickly adopted the platform, utilizing it heavily for their day-to-day business operations. Helix uses SharePoint for collaboration, document storage and designing its intranet web site. The company also uses the platform on four of its ships, which regularly travel across the globe, from the Gulf of Mexico to the North Sea and beyond.

Read this comprehensive case study to learn how Helix created SharePoint server farms to handle their massive amounts of data that is needed by its employees around the globe.


BROWSE RELATED RESOURCES

Content Management | Data Migration | Data Replication | Data Storage | Enterprise Content Management | SharePoint

View All Resources sponsored by AvePoint, Inc.
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SearchsecurityAU-ResearchLibrary/~3/y0c-Sk-bT58/1325788435_92.html

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Hawaii hit by number of endangered seal killings

In this Dec. 15, 2011 photo, a nearly blind, endangered Hawaiian monk seal swims at the Waikiki Aquarium in Honolulu. Hoailona, also known as KP2, has spent the past two years at a California research lab. He was first rescued when federal officials found him suckling on a rock three days after his mother abandoned him on Kauai. Hawaiian monk seals are so rare and under so many environmental threats that they're on a path to go extinct in 50 to 100 years. As if that wasn't enough, anonymous humans appear to have deliberately killed at least three and maybe four seals on two islands in the past two months. (AP Photo/Audrey McAvoy)

In this Dec. 15, 2011 photo, a nearly blind, endangered Hawaiian monk seal swims at the Waikiki Aquarium in Honolulu. Hoailona, also known as KP2, has spent the past two years at a California research lab. He was first rescued when federal officials found him suckling on a rock three days after his mother abandoned him on Kauai. Hawaiian monk seals are so rare and under so many environmental threats that they're on a path to go extinct in 50 to 100 years. As if that wasn't enough, anonymous humans appear to have deliberately killed at least three and maybe four seals on two islands in the past two months. (AP Photo/Audrey McAvoy)

(AP) ? Two Hawaiian monk seals were found bludgeoned to death on a remote coast of Molokai ? one was killed in mid-November and the other shortly before Christmas. Earlier this month, a dead seal showed up on Kauai. A fourth possible killing on Molokai is also under investigation.

No one knows who is killing the seals ? a critically endangered species ? or why.

But the deaths are coming as the federal government steps up its efforts to protect the seals, leading to simmering resentment among some fishermen who fear new regulations will trample upon their right to fish. The killings are also happening as the misguided notion spreads that the animals aren't native to Hawaii and don't belong here.

"It's really serious. This attitude, this negative attitude toward the seals has overpowered the concern that this is a species that's going to become extinct," said Walter Ritte, a Molokai resident and longtime activist who has sounded an alarm about the killings.

Like pandas, the seals are adored by many humans for being cute, though their lazy demeanor and pudgy appearance belies the strength of a wild animal. Also like pandas, the animal is dangerously close to disappearing. There are only 1,100 left in the world, and scientists say the seal is on course to vanish in 50 to 100 years.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration last year proposed two initiatives to give the seals a better shot at surviving.

One would temporarily bring a few seals from the remote Northwestern Hawaiian Islands ? where competition for food and predators mean only a dismal 20 percent of seal pups live to be adults ? to the main Hawaiian Islands.

There aren't as many sharks to prey on seal pups, or large fish to compete with seal pups for food, around Kauai, Oahu, Maui and other places in the main Hawaiian Islands. This gives seals in this area, which is also where the state's 1.4 million people live, an 80 percent chance of living to adulthood.

NOAA is also proposing to expand federally protected zones ? or critical habitat ? for the seal to include parts of the main Hawaiian Islands. Parts of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands have been designated critical habitat since the 1980s.

Neil Kanemoto, a lifelong recreational fisherman, said he didn't know who was killing the seals. He pointed out the last person to be convicted of killing a seal, a 78-year-old man who shot a pregnant monk seal on Kauai in 2009, was not a fisherman.

But he said fishermen and locals are unhappy with the new regulations NOAA wants, and the agency wasn't doing enough to work with local people to manage the situation. People may end up taking out their frustration on the seals, Kanemoto said.

"The point is, don't shove this down people's throats," he said. "They're making it an issue, and as a result, the poor monk seal may ? I'm not saying it is ? may fall victim to repercussions from locals."

He said he wouldn't be surprised of if more seals were killed.

"It's not going to end. My position is, if the feds keep pushing in this way, it's going to increase," Kanemoto said.

Ritte said part of the problem was that older people, who didn't see many seals growing up or hear about them from their elders, are spreading the word that the seals don't belong in Hawaii.

A NOAA report released last year showed 35 percent of those surveyed at beaches and popular fishing areas on Kauai and Molokai believed the seals aren't native to the islands.

This is contradicted by archaeological digs that found monk seal bones in a human trash pit dating between the 15th and 18th centuries. The Hawaiian creation chant, the Kumulipo, also mentions a creature like a monk seal ? "a rat running beside the wave."

By the early 1900s, however, most monk seals in the main Hawaiian Islands had been hunted and killed for their meat and fur. Even until a decade ago, it was rare to encounter one in the main islands.

Ritte said the seals have been showing up regularly on Molokai, a rural island of just 7,000 people, for about the past seven years. They've started to compete with subsistence fishermen who are already catching less because pollution runoff and overfishing have depleted fish stocks in the area.

The issue is serious on Molokai, where the unemployment rate hovers over 15 percent and where people get one-third of their food from hunting, fishing, and gathering.

"So here you have a fisherman. He's been walking two to three hours to get to his fishing grounds over rough terrain. And then he runs into these seals. And it causes him to get only half his catch and a quarter of his catch," Ritte said. "I think that is the essence of why."

He said the NOAA's proposals are making things worse.

"It's like fuel to the fire," he said.

NOAA says moving a few seals to the main Hawaiian Islands was the only feasible and effective way to address the high mortality rate for seals in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Further, it says critical habitats aren't intended to prevent public access to beaches and oceans. The agency says it wants to continue talking to fishermen and to address their concerns.

Ritte believes no one would kill the seals if they understood the animals have been in Hawaii for millions of years.

He said the state and federal governments and environmentalists need to get the word out quickly that the seals belong here. Usually he would say everyone should focus on educating the children, so they'll grow up knowing better. But he said that approach may not work this time.

"I don't think we have that luxury because the seals might be gone by then. So we need to hit this generation. That's going to take a lot of effort," he said.

William Aila, the head of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, said the state was preparing a monetary award for information that leads to the conviction of those responsible. He said the department would also link its website to a page with information on the deep roots monk seals have in Hawaiian tradition.

"We have a responsibility to do our part to help this species recover," he said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-07-US-Monk-Seal-Deaths/id-b1d41ace848c4b0c9a452fef896aa530

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Ron Paul-Supporting Solider Cpl. Jesse Thorsen Could Face Legal Trouble

DES MOINES, Iowa -- An Army reservist who took the stage at a political event for Ron Paul and expressed his support for the Republican presidential candidate could face legal troubles, the military said Thursday.

Cpl. Jesse Thorsen, 28, stood at a podium at the Paul rally in Iowa on Tuesday night wearing his military fatigues and said meeting the Texas congressman was like "meeting a rock star."

"His foreign policy is by far, hands down better than any other candidate's out there," Thorsen told the cheering crowd.

Army Reserve spokeswoman Maj. Angel Wallace said participating in a partisan political event in uniform is a violation of Defense Department rules and the military is reviewing whether Thorsen could face legal ramifications. Soldiers are permitted to vote, participate in some political activities and express opinions about candidates as long as they are not in uniform and speaking in an official capacity, she said.

She said Thorsen was not on active duty at the time of Tuesday's rally, but it was not immediately clear if that would have any bearing on the case.

Thorsen "stands alone in his opinions regarding his political affiliation and beliefs, and his statements and beliefs in no way reflect that of the Army Reserve," Wallace said in a statement.

A telephone number for Thorsen could not immediately be found.

At Tuesday's rally at Paul's headquarters Ankeny, Iowa, Paul called Thorsen to join him on stage. Thorsen then shakes his hand before he steps to the podium.

Drew Ivers, a spokesman for Paul's Iowa campaign, said the Thorsen's appearance at the rally was spontaneous and not planned by the campaign.

In a separate interview with CNN on Tuesday, Thorsen said he had served in the military for the past decade.

"I'm really excited about a lot of his ideas, especially when it comes to bringing the soldiers home," he told CNN. "I've been serving for 10 years now and all 10 years of those have been during wartime. I would like to see a little peace time Army."

Paul, who finished third in Tuesday's Iowa caucuses, has said if he is elected, he would bring all or nearly all troops home from Afghanistan and other foreign posts.

While he billed himself as serving for 10 years, it was unclear if that service was continuous, and it appears to be punctuated by at least one criminal case.

According to the military, Thorsen had deployed once to Afghanistan in 2009 after first joining the Florida National Guard in July 2001 and the Army Reserve in 2009. The military said he is with an engineer company out of Des Moines, and his unit falls under the 416th Theater Engineer Command out of Darien, Ill.

Court records show that Thorsen was arrested in Lee County, Fla., in December 2004 for three felonies: burglary, theft of a firearm and possession of burglary tools. Details were not available late Thursday.

He pleaded guilty to all three charges the following July but adjudication was withheld, meaning he would have no record. He was sentenced to probation and ordered to pay $660.50 He made regular payments through April 2006 totaling $630.50 but then stopped, the records show. In May 2006, he was ruled in violation of his probation and was arrested three weeks later in Tampa, spending three days in jail. In August 2006, he appeared before a judge in Lee County, who reinstated his probation. His probation ended in March 2007.

____

Associated Press writers Mitch Stacy in Tampa, Fla.; and Robert Burns in Washington contributed to this report.

Earlier on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/06/ron-paul-soldier-jesse-thorsen_n_1189025.html

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Japan PM weighs cabinet reshuffle: Nikkei (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is planning to revamp his cabinet as early as this month to remove two censured ministers whose presence blocks a budget deal with a key opposition party, the Nikkei business daily reported.

The opposition, which controls the upper house of parliament, voted to censure defense minister Yasuo Ichikawa and consumer affairs minister Kenji Yamaoka on December 9.

Besides a supplementary budget, Noda's government is looking to advance a package of tax and social security reforms in the coming legislative session and needs the cooperation of the New Komeito party, the Nikkei reported.

Noda reckons he needs to break the political deadlock before the Diet reconvenes on January 23, Nikkei said.

(Reporting by Shounak Dasgupta in Bangalore)

(This story corrects the consumer affairs minister's name in second graph)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/japan/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120106/wl_nm/us_japancabinet

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Trouble followed German mother, son in 3 countries

FILE - In this courtroom sketch, Dorothee Burkhart appears in federal court on fraud charges Tuesday Jan. 3, 2012 in Los Angeles. Burkhart is the mother of suspected Los Angeles arsonist Harry Burkhart. Burkhart is scheduled to again appear in federal court Friday Jan. 6,, 2012 on fraud charges. (AP Photo/Bill Robles, File)

FILE - In this courtroom sketch, Dorothee Burkhart appears in federal court on fraud charges Tuesday Jan. 3, 2012 in Los Angeles. Burkhart is the mother of suspected Los Angeles arsonist Harry Burkhart. Burkhart is scheduled to again appear in federal court Friday Jan. 6,, 2012 on fraud charges. (AP Photo/Bill Robles, File)

En este boceto de la corte, el alem?n Harry Burkhart es sujetado por los guardias, en un momento en que tat? de levantarse durante su audiencia en la corte superior de Los Angeles, el mi?rcoles 4 de enero del 2012. Est? acusado de perpetrar varios ataques incendiarios a finales de diciembre (AP Foto/Mona Shafer Edwards)

Judge Upinder Kalra presides over the arraignment of Harry Burkhart, a German national suspected of starting a rash of arson fires in the Hollywood area, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012 in Los Angeles. Burkhart a German man was charged Wednesday with 37 counts of arson in connection with a rash of fires that terrorized Los Angeles over the New Year's weekend. (AP Photo/Luis Sinco, Pool)

(AP) ? Wherever Dorothee and Harry Burkhart went, trouble followed the mother-and-son duo.

Arsons in Los Angeles, Germany and possibly Canada. A daring escape through a German hospital window. A claim that fascists were trying to kill them. Skipping out on a bill for a breast augmentation surgery.

The 24-year-old Harry Burkhart became an internationally known figure after he was arrested this week in dozens of Hollywood arsons that left a string of torched buildings and cars and caused millions of dollars in damage. Authorities said they believe the motive behind the fires was anger at the U.S. government for arresting his mother on a German warrant.

But it's not his first encounter with an arson investigation. He is suspected of starting an arson fire late last year at a German house that belonged to his family, shortly before the Los Angeles fires. And Vancouver police said this week they are looking to see whether the Burkharts were living in the area when there was a series of suspicious fires.

A phone message left for Vancouver police was not immediately returned Friday, and the Burkharts have not been officially linked to any fires there.

The Burkharts' strange personas and odd behavior were noted at each stop as they hopscotched from their native Germany to British Columbia and finally California, and Los Angeles police believe, ultimately led to Harry Burkhart's arrest.

His anti-American outburst last week during a detention hearing for his mother cemented his likeness in the mind of a deputy U.S. Marshal, who recognized him after police began circulating a video showing the man wanted in the arson spree.

Court documents show Dorothee Burkhart's legal problems date back to at least 2000, when she rented out apartments in Frankfurt but failed to return the security deposits. She engaged in that scam several years later, according to German officials, and also didn't pay about $10,000 for a 2004 breast surgery.

She was arrested in mid-2007 and was taken to a hospital in Frankfurt for cardiac problems. She escaped out a window after prison guards took off her handcuffs and allowed her to use the restroom, said Michael Koch, who was appointed as her public defender. The 53-year-old is being held on a provisional arrest warrant.

She and her son landed in Vancouver shortly after her German escape. The pair applied for refugee status in Canada, contending they would be tortured and killed if they were sent back to Germany, The Vancouver Sun reported.

She told immigration officials that a right-wing fascist group had infiltrated the German government and police were after them because of their Russian origin, the paper said. The refugee claim was denied two years later.

In medical records from March 2010, a doctor said she suffered from severe post-traumatic stress disorder and panic attacks and her son suffered from autistic spectrum disorder since his childhood.

The younger Burkhart's name surfaced as a suspect in the German arson case after he filed an insurance claim shortly after the fire, Marburg prosecutors' spokeswoman Annemarie Wied said.

A search of his Hollywood apartment following his arrest turned up news articles about the Los Angeles fires along with some car fires in Frankfurt last September. German authorities said there was no active investigation of Burkhart in Frankfurt.

Twelve days after the German house fire, Burkhart was in Los Angeles, according to court documents, visiting the German consulate with his mother to try to renew his passport. His nonimmigrant visa is set to expire Jan. 18, authorities said. His mother last entered the country lawfully in January 2007, and she left four months later.

It's unclear if either Burkhart worked. A website offering appointment-only sensual massage is registered to Dorothee Burkhart, though her name is not mentioned on the site.

Their lives unraveled last week when the younger Burkhart caught the attention of court officials at his mother's hearing, yelling "F--- the United States!" or "F--- all Americans," authorities said.

At each of their subsequent court appearances, both Burkharts made a spectacle. Dorothee Burkhart constantly asked for her son, apparently unaware he had been arrested. She also wondered if the Nazis knew where she and her son lived.

The next day in court, her son was surrounded by sheriff's deputies as he alternated between sitting and standing. He often arched his head and body backward, looking up to the ceiling with his mouth agape.

On Friday, the elder Burkhart was ordered to return to court Tuesday with the hopes she will have hired an attorney. During a hearing, she denied the charges against her and suggested Nazis, not her son, were responsible for the recent rash of fires.

"One little mentally ill child cannot do fire like this," she said in broken English.

She stood up at one point and claimed she had been abused while in custody.

"Ma'am, sit down. This is not a show," said U.S. Magistrate Judge Margaret Nagle.

Her son has been charged with 37 counts of arson and is expected to return to court Jan. 24. He's being held on $2.85 million and could face additional charges, prosecutors said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-06-Los%20Angeles%20Arson/id-034078d2dca04e78b91bcf5aeabfe12e

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How Did Mortgage Rates Respond to The Jobs Report?

2012-01-07 ? mortgagenewsdaily.com

"Mortgage Rates are simply on a tear... New records were set yesterday and again today--granted, by only small margins each time and only with respect to borrowing costs. The actual interest rates that constitute the best combination of monthly payment and fees for the best-qualified borrowers planning on keeping their home/mortgage an average amount of time have not changed. But if it weren't for the widespread phenomenon of lenders pricing in the effects of the tax cut extension, rates would be even lower."


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Source: http://implode-explode.com/viewnews/2012-01-07_HowDidMortgageRatesRespondtoTheJobsReport.html

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California school workers win lottery prize - again

LOS ANGELES ? A group of employees at a California school district who won a $12 million lotto prize last year has done it again and now stands to collect another pot worth more than a quarter of a million dollars.

State lottery officials announced Friday that the same Montebello Unified School District workers who won $12 million last February have won a MEGA Millions prize worth $262,743.

The group, which now consists of 16 members, has been playing together for over two years and is a mixture of part- and full-time clerical workers.

The winning ticket was sold at Arrow Liquor in Commerce. The MEGA Millions draw was Dec. 2, and the group claimed its winnings Friday.

? Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bostonherald/news/national/west/~3/RDausLMkVy0/view.bg

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GarethCliff: RT @BBCAfrica: More than 40 heads of state are beginning to arrive in South Africa for celebrations marking the formation of the #ANC 10 ...

Loader More than 40 heads of state are beginning to arrive in South Africa for celebrations marking the formation of the 100 years ago

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