Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/04/google-voice-future-uncertain/
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Thursday, April 18, 2013
Will Google Hang Up on Voice?
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Rights questions remain in top court ruling for Shell
By Lawrence Hurley
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a closely watched ruling that left many questions unanswered, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday that federal courts do not have jurisdiction to hear lawsuits against foreign corporations accused of aiding in human rights abuses abroad.
In one of its biggest human rights cases in years, the justices ruled unanimously that a federal court in New York could not hear claims made by 12 Nigerians who accused Anglo-Dutch oil company Royal Dutch Shell Plc of complicity in a violent crackdown on protesters in Nigeria from 1992 to 1995.
The ruling immediately sparked another debate, not least in concurring opinions written by justices in response to Chief Justice John Roberts' majority opinion, about exactly what claims can still be made under the Alien Tort Statute. The 1789 law had been dormant for nearly two centuries before lawyers began using it in the 1980s to bring international human rights cases in U.S. courts.
What is clear is that the ruling is a major win for such non-U.S.-based multinational companies as Royal Dutch that do business in the developing world and become embroiled in local political controversies. Those companies, which are still subject to suit in foreign courts, fear U.S. courts because of the possibility of large damage awards.
The ruling is likely to affect other cases, including those involving similar claims against Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto Plc over its conduct in Papua New Guinea, and against Exxon Mobil Corp over its activity in Indonesia.
Esther Kiobel, the named plaintiff in the Royal Dutch case and now a U.S. citizen, brought her lawsuit in 2002 on behalf of victims of the crackdown in Nigeria, including her husband, Barinem, who was executed in 1995.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion that a presumption against extraterritorial application of federal laws applies to the Alien Tort Statute.
The court did not decide the question originally before it in the case: whether corporations can ever be liable under the statute.
DIFFERENCES OF OPINION
Although all nine justices concurred with the outcome, only four agreed with the chief justice's reasoning. Justice Stephen Breyer wrote a separate opinion in which he was joined by three other justices.
Roberts wrote that "nothing in the text of the statute suggests that Congress intended causes of action recognized under it to have extraterritorial reach."
He also said the ruling leaves open some lawsuits under the Alien Tort Statute, including against corporations, as long as there is a sufficient connection with the United States. The claims must have "sufficient force to displace the presumption" against extraterritorial application, he added.
Addressing liability of companies that are either based in the United States or have considerable interests there, Roberts said that "it would reach too far to say that mere corporate presence suffices."
Justice Anthony Kennedy and Justice Samuel Alito wrote separately in agreement with Roberts, with both making clear that the court had not resolved for good the question of under what circumstances individuals and corporations can be liable.
Kennedy said the court had been "careful to leave open a number of significant questions" concerning certain claims, although he did not elaborate exactly what they might be.
Alito said he agreed with the chief justice's opinion "as far as it goes."
In Alito's opinion, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, an Alien Tort Statute claim can proceed if there is U.S.-based conduct that can overcome the presumption against extraterritoriality.
In his concurring opinion, Justice Breyer said he would not have applied the presumption against extraterritoriality. Regardless, he noted, in the Shell case, "the parties and relevant conduct lack sufficient ties to the United States."
Sandy Weisburst, one of Royal Dutch's lawyers, said the ruling was a "vindication of Shell's primary position in this case." Future cases against other defendants would, he said, determine "when is there sufficient U.S. conduct" to give U.S. courts jurisdiction.
Paul Hoffman, the lawyer representing the plaintiffs, said it "seems pretty clear" that corporations are covered by the statute and "there will be corporate cases in the future" in some circumstances.
The case is Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 10-1491.
(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley and Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Howard Goller, John Wallace and Steve Orlofsky)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rights-questions-remain-top-court-ruling-shell-170905599--finance.html
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KidDIY: 2013 National STEM Video Game Challenge aims to shape future of innovation
The New York Hall of Science is hidden away in the Corona corner of Queens, N.Y., a primarily Hispanic neighborhood below the city's 7 subway line. Pupuserias and bodegas line pedestrian-filled 111th Street as it leads to the open swath of land occupied by the hall, making the sudden appearance of Cold War-era space rockets all the more jarring -- they jut into the sky, taking advantage of Queens' lack of skyscrapers. Not that 50-year-old rockets are at home anywhere in New York City, but they serve as a fitting backdrop for the day's event: the culmination of the 2013 National STEM Video Game Challenge.
The challenge aims to enable America's youth of today to become tomorrow's innovation leaders. In so many words, the US government is hoping these kids won't just go on to create the next big shooter franchise, but, say, the next iPod. Or the next SpaceX, perhaps.
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/yxzWOrur0tY/
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Steve Carell Enthusiastically Endorses 'Anchorman 2': 'It's Pretty Good'
In the few weeks that "Anchorman: The Legend Continues" has been filming in Atlanta, the actors have been tight-lipped on what exactly will happen when Ron Burgundy and the Channel 4 News Team reassemble this December. Things weren't any different on Sunday at the 2013 MTV Movie Awards when MTV News' Josh Horowitz got a [...]
Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2013/04/16/steve-carell-anchorman-2-pretty-good/
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Monday, April 15, 2013
Amtrak derails near Oakland, delay but no injuries
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) ? Amtrak says a passenger train carrying nearly 200 people has derailed near Oakland, but there were no injuries.
Spokeswoman Christina Leeds says the train was en route from Los Angeles to Vancouver, Canada, when the front wheels of an engine went off the track about 9 p.m. PDT just north of Fremont, about 20 miles southeast of San Francisco.
Leeds tells The Associated Press that the train was traveling very slowly and none of the 11 passenger cars derailed.
She says there was "very minimal impact" to the train's 164 passengers. There are also 14 crew members.
Leeds says that the lead engine was removed and the train got under way again about 12:30 a.m. PDT Sunday, under power of the second engine.
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Syrian government airstrikes kill at least 25
FILE - In this Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013 file photo, a Syrian woman stands amid the ruins of her house which was destroyed in an airstrike by government warplanes a few days earlier, killing 11 members of her family, in the neighborhood of Ansari, Aleppo, Syria. President Bashar Assad has exploited his greatest advantage on the battlefield _ his air power _ to push back rebel advances and prevent the opposition from setting up a rival government in its northern stronghold. Along the way, fighter jets and helicopters bombed bakeries, makeshift hospitals and residential areas, according to a new report by a U.S.-based rights group released Thursday, April 11, 2013 accusing the regime of committing war crimes with indiscriminate airstrikes that have killed more than 4000 since summer. (AP Photo/Abdullah al-Yassin, File)
FILE - In this Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013 file photo, a Syrian woman stands amid the ruins of her house which was destroyed in an airstrike by government warplanes a few days earlier, killing 11 members of her family, in the neighborhood of Ansari, Aleppo, Syria. President Bashar Assad has exploited his greatest advantage on the battlefield _ his air power _ to push back rebel advances and prevent the opposition from setting up a rival government in its northern stronghold. Along the way, fighter jets and helicopters bombed bakeries, makeshift hospitals and residential areas, according to a new report by a U.S.-based rights group released Thursday, April 11, 2013 accusing the regime of committing war crimes with indiscriminate airstrikes that have killed more than 4000 since summer. (AP Photo/Abdullah al-Yassin, File)
This citizen journalism image provided by Aleppo Media Center AMC which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows destroyed homes in a government airstrike and shelling, in the neighborhood of Marjeh in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Thursday, April. 11, 2013. A U.S.-based rights group on Thursday accused Syria of war crimes by indiscriminate and sometimes deliberate airstrikes against civilians, killing at least 4,300 people since last summer. (AP Photo/Aleppo Media Center AMC)
This citizen journalism image taken on Sunday, April 7, 2013 provided by Aleppo Media Center AMC which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows Syrian citizens searching for bodies in the rubble of damaged buildings that were attacked by Syrian forces airstrikes, in the al-Ansari neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria. More than 70,000 people have died since Syria's crisis erupted in March 2011. The Syria-based Violations Documentation Center says nearly 9,000 government troops have been killed in two years of fighting between President Bashar Assad's forces and rebels trying to topple him. (AP Photo/Aleppo Media Center AMC)
FILE - In this Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012 file photo, an elderly Syrian man smokes a cigarette as he stands next to a residential building destroyed in a government airstrike, in Maaret Misreen, near Idlib, Syria. A U.S.-based rights group on Thursday accused Syria of war crimes by indiscriminate and sometimes deliberate airstrikes against civilians, killing at least 4,300 people since last summer. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen, File)
BEIRUT (AP) ? Syrian government warplanes carried out airstrikes on a rebellious neighborhood of the capital as well as a village in the country's northeast Sunday, killing at least 25 people, including 12 children, activists said.
With its ground forces stretched thin, President Bashar Assad's regime has relied heavily on its fighter jets and helicopters to try to stem rebel advances in the country's civil war. The air raids also frequently hit civilian areas, drawing criticism from the international community.
A Human Rights Watch report last week accused the Syrian government of committing war crimes by using indiscriminate and sometimes deliberate airstrikes against civilians, killing at least 4,300 people since the summer.
On Sunday, government jets bombed rebel-held areas in the predominantly Kurdish village of Hadad in the northeastern province of Hassaka, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. It said at least 16 people were killed, including two women and three children.
A Hassaka-based activist who was in Hadad when the planes struck said the bombs sent huge plumes of black smoke billowing over the town. He spoke on condition that he be identified only by his nickname of Abu Qasem ? by which he is widely known among his comrades ? out of fear of reprisals.
Another airstrike on the Damascus neighborhood of Qaboun killed at least nine children, the Observatory said.
The government frequently targets Qaboun, where rebels pushed in early this year. The district has been ravaged by heavy street clashes and shelling since then as the military tries to expel the anti-Assad fighters.
The Observatory, which relies on a network of activists on the ground, also reported that four civilians died after being tortured in a jail in the town of Zakyeh. It did not provide any further details.
In the southern city of Daraa, the Syrian army shot and killed a man, the Observatory said.
Rebels have made significant gains in the surrounding province of Daraa in recent weeks, capturing military bases and territory that could provide anti-Assad fighters with a staging ground for an eventual assault on Damascus.
The push in the south has coincided with what Western and Arab official say are U.S.-backed training of opposition fighters in Jordan and an influx of foreign-funded weapons into the south. The rebel advances have given the opposition momentum and put the government on the defensive in the two-year civil war that the U.N. estimates has killed more than 70,000 people.
The fighting has spilled over on several occasions into neighboring states, including Lebanon, Turkey and Israel, stoking fears that those countries could be dragged into the conflict.
On Sunday, two rockets fired from Syria exploded in the Lebanese border village of al-Qasr, killing one person and wounding two, a Lebanese security official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters.
Two more rockets landed a nearby village of Hawsh, but there were no reports of casualties.
There has been heavy fighting near the frontier in recent days as Syrian government troops try to regain control of the strategic area from rebels.
Also Sunday, the main Western-backed opposition bloc expressed concern about the Islamic extremist rebel faction Jabhat al-Nusra's pledge of allegiance to al-Qaida last week.
In a statement, the Syrian National Coalition urged Jabhat al-Nusra, one of the most powerful and effective rebel groups, "to stay within the ranks of nationalistic Syrians, to continue its efforts in fighting the Assad regime, and in supporting and protecting the freedom of all Syrian sects."
Jabhat al-Nusra's pledge of fealty sparked concern that the allegiance to al-Qaida means the group will be beholden to non-Syrian interests.
But the broader rebellion desperately needs the extremist group's fighting skills in its battle to oust Assad. Jabhat al-Nusra itself has sought to ease concerns by saying it remains dedicated to the Syrian uprising's cause of toppling the Assad regime.
In the northern province of Aleppo, three journalists working for state TV were wounded in a car bombing Sunday, the SANA state news agency said. Correspondent Shadi Helweh and two cameramen, Yehia Mosseli and Ahmed Suleiman, were hospitalized with shrapnel wounds, the agency said.
The journalists were reporting on Syrian soldiers who were trying to stop two suicide attackers attempting to detonate a car bomb near a security headquarters in the province. SANA said the two attackers were killed, and the journalists and several other civilians were wounded.
___
AP writers Jamal Halaby in Amman, Jordan, Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.
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Sunday, April 14, 2013
Despite tension, NKorea lets in tourists, athletes
South Korean members of the Abductees Family Association with their national flags hold an anti-North Korea rally in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, April 14, 2013. As the world watches to see what North Korea's next move will be in a high-stakes game of brinksmanship with the United States, residents of its capital aren't hunkering down in bunkers and preparing for the worst. Instead, they are out on the streets en masse getting ready for the birthday of national founder Kim Il Sung - the biggest holiday of the year. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
South Korean members of the Abductees Family Association with their national flags hold an anti-North Korea rally in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, April 14, 2013. As the world watches to see what North Korea's next move will be in a high-stakes game of brinksmanship with the United States, residents of its capital aren't hunkering down in bunkers and preparing for the worst. Instead, they are out on the streets en masse getting ready for the birthday of national founder Kim Il Sung - the biggest holiday of the year. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
South Korean members of the Abductees Family Association attend an anti-North Korea rally in Seoul, South Korea Sunday, April 14, 2013. As the world watches to see what North Korea's next move will be in a high-stakes game of brinksmanship with the United States, residents of its capital aren't hunkering down in bunkers and preparing for the worst. Instead, they are out on the streets en masse getting ready for the birthday of national founder Kim Il Sung - the biggest holiday of the year. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Runners rest inside Kim Il Sung Stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea on Sunday, April 14, 2013. North Korea hosted the 26th Mangyongdae Prize Marathon to mark the upcoming April 15, 2013 birthday of the late leader Kim Il Sung. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
Visitors buy the North Korean goods at the Imjingak Pavilion near the border village of Panmunjom, which separates the two Koreas, in Paju, north of Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, April 14, 2013. As the world watches to see what North Korea's next move will be in a high-stakes game of brinksmanship with the United States, residents of its capital aren't hunkering down in bunkers and preparing for the worst. Instead, they are out on the streets en masse getting ready for the birthday of national founder Kim Il Sung ? the biggest holiday of the year. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
North Korea's town Kaepoong is viewed from the unification observation post near the border village of Panmunjom, that separates the two Koreas, in Paju, north of Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, April 14, 2013. As the world watches to see what North Korea's next move will be in a high-stakes game of brinksmanship with the United States, residents of its capital aren't hunkering down in bunkers and preparing for the worst. Instead, they are out on the streets en masse getting ready for the birthday of national founder Kim Il Sung ? the biggest holiday of the year. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) ? Despite North Korea's warnings that the threat of war on the Korean Peninsula is so high it cannot guarantee the safety of foreign residents, it literally trotted out athletes from around the world on Sunday for a marathon through the streets of its capital ? suggesting its concerns of an imminent military crisis might not be as dire as its official pronouncements proclaim.
As it prepares to celebrate its most important holiday of the year, the birthday of national founder Kim Il Sung on Monday, the mixed message ? threats of a "thermonuclear war" while showcasing foreign athletes and even encouraging tourism ? was particularly striking on Sunday.
Pyongyang crowds lined the streets to watch athletes from 16 nations compete in the 26th Mangyongdae Prize Marathon in the morning and then filled a performance hall for a gala concert featuring ethnic Korean performers brought in from China, Russia and Japan as part of a slew of a events culminating in Kim's birthday ? called the "Day of the Sun."
After racing through the capital, the foreign athletes and hundreds of North Korean runners were cheered into Kim Il Sung Stadium by tens of thousands of North Korean spectators. North Korea's official media said the marathon was larger than previous years and that enthusiasm was "high among local marathoners and their coaches as never before."
"The feeling is like, I came last year already, the situation is the same," said Taiwan's Chang Chia-che, who finished 15th.
Showing off foreign athletes and performers as part of the birthday celebrations has a propaganda value that is part of Pyongyang's motivation for highlighting the events to its public, even as it rattles its sabers to the outside world. In recent weeks, Pyongyang has said it could not vouch for the safety of foreigners, indicated embassies consider evacuation plans and urged foreigners residing in South Korea to get out as well.
But there does not appear to be much of a sense of crisis among the general population, either.
Pyongyang residents are mobilizing en masse for the events marking the birthday, rushing to tidy up streets, put new layers of paint on buildings and erect posters and banners hailing Kim, the grandfather of the country's new dynastic leader, Kim Jong Un.
Pyongyang's statements are commonly marked by alarming hyperbole and it has not ordered the small number of foreigners who are here to leave. Several embassies in Pyongyang refused to comment on the suggestion they consider evacuating, referring questions back to their home countries. But there were no reports that any diplomatic missions had actually left.
Even so, its warning has heightened concerns in a region struggling to assess how seriously to take North Korea's recent torrent of angry rhetoric over ongoing U.S.-South Korea military maneuvers just across the border. Officials in South Korea, the United States and Japan say intelligence indicates that, fresh off a successful nuclear test in February, North Korea's leaders are ready to launch a new medium-range missile.
North Korea has also taken the unusual move of suspending work at the Kaesong factory complex on its side of the Demilitarized Zone, a major source of foreign currency and one of the last remaining symbols of inter-Korean rapprochement.
On Sunday, it rejected South Korea's proposal to resolve tensions through dialogue. It said it has no intension of talking with Seoul unless it abandons what it called the rival South's confrontational posture.
Secretary of State John Kerry, in the region to coordinate the response with U.S. allies and China, warned North Korea not to conduct a missile test, saying it will be an act of provocation that "will raise people's temperatures" and further isolate the country and its people.
Kerry was in Tokyo on Sunday after meeting with Chinese leaders in Beijing on Saturday. In Tokyo, Kerry and Japan's foreign minister, Fumio Kishida, opened the door to direct talks with North Korea if certain conditions are met. Kerry said the U.S. was "prepared to reach out" to North Korea, but that Pyongyang must first lower tensions and honor previous agreements.
North Korea has issued no specific warnings to ships and aircraft that a missile test is imminent, and is also continuing efforts to increase tourism.
"We haven't experienced any change," said Andrea Lee, president and CEO of Uri Tours, which specializes in bringing tourists to North Korea. "They have been encouraging us to bring in more people."
Lee said about 2,000-3,000 Western tourists visit North Korea each year and that the level is rising, though the recent tensions have sparked a significant number of cancellations. Air Koryo, North Korea's flag-carrier, announced it is planning to add more regular passenger flights to and from Beijing, another sign that Pyongyang ? while certainly not ready to throw open its doors ? wants to make it easier for tourists to put North Korea on their travel itineraries.
"I never considered canceling," said Sandra Cook, a retired economics professor from Piedmont, California, who planned her trip in November, before the tensions escalated. "I think it is a particularly interesting time to be here."
With Lee as her guide, Cook and several other Americans and Canadians toured the North Korean side of the DMZ, Kaesong and a collective farm. She said that aside from the North Korean DMZ guides' harsh portrayal of the "American imperialists'" role in the Korean War and on the peninsula today, she was surprised by the seeming calm and normalcy of what she has been allowed to see.
"The whole world is watching North Korea, and there we were yesterday peacefully strolling along the river in the sunshine. It's surreal," she said. "If you didn't know about the tensions, you would never know it. You would think everything is fine. The place feels so ordinary."
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