Gitmo legal vacuum territory: Voice of Russia

In its ten years, the American military prison at Guantanamo Bay has handled almost 800 suspected members of Islamist terror groups such as Al Qaeda and the Taliban. They came from 23 countries on all continents. The youngest was 25, and the oldest was 62. Six of the prisoners have been convicted, 8 have died, and 171 continue to languish at Guantanamo without charges against them being laid. ?

We have an opinion from Russian international law expert Dr Sergei Maximov:

"The Guantanamo prison is holding suspects in crimes against the United States. Jurisdictionally, however, it is located in Cuba. An exterritorial jail where inmates are indefinitely held without charge is something that cannot be taken lightly by the international legal community."

The Americans have many times acknowledged numerous instances of ill-treatment and torture at Guantanamo, such as sleep deprivation, exposure to extreme temperatures or loud music and even water-boarding. To shake off accusations of this kind, the Bush administration allowed 537 of Gitmo?s inmates to walk free. Obama, when he took charge, pledged to do away with Gitmo within one year by transferring some of its inmates to jails in the US and extraditing the others to their countries of origin. The Congress, however, blocked the Gitmo closure, and the President chose not to veto the blocking motion.

Speaking to the media Sunday, officials at the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Guantanamo Bay and the exterritorial American jails in Afghanistan, where at least 3 thousand inmates are being held, represent a gross violation of international law by the US. The diplomats also criticized the latest American counter-terror laws for upholding exterritorial justice. They called attention to the fact that Washington is flouting its obligations under the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by illegally imprisoning people, mistreating them and denying them access to regular justice. By enacting the latest American counter-terror laws, President Barack Obama has given his services a carte blanche to go on this way.

Source: http://english.ruvr.ru/2012/01/15/63902000.html

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Eric James Borges, Gay Teen Filmmaker, Commits Suicide One Month After Producing 'It Gets Better' Video

Just one month after filming an "It Gets Better" video in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth, a California-based gay teen filmmaker has taken his own life.

Nineteen-year-old Eric James Borges, who went by EricJames among friends, worked as an intern with The Trevor Project, and as a supplemental instructor at the College of the Sequoias, according to Queer Landia blogger Jim Reeves.

"A brief introduction left me with the impression of a fine young man, and I regret that I did not get to know him better," Reeves writes of his experience with Borges.

Borges spoke frankly of being tormented throughout his adolescence and young adulthood in his video. "I was physically, mentally, emotionally and verbally assaulted on a day-to-day basis for my perceived sexual orientation," he said. "My name was not Eric, but 'Faggot.'" He claims his mother performed an exorcism on him in an effort to cure her son of his homosexuality before eventually kicking him out of his home.

View "Invisible Creatures," a short film Borges produced last fall, below:

"; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/12/eric-james-borges-gay-teen-filmmaker-death_n_1203123.html

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'Glee' Star Chris Colfer Teases Michael Jackson Tribute Episode

'I sing part of 'Black [or] White.' I'm the 'white' in 'Black [or] White,' " actor reveals on the Golden Globes red carpet.
By Amy Wilkinson


Chris Colfer
Photo: Frazer Harrison/ Getty Images

Fox's song-and-dance series "Glee" is no stranger to a star-studded cameo or two, with the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, John Stamos and Kristin Chenoweth all walking the halls of McKinley High during the past two and a half seasons. And as the show returns from a month-long hiatus, Gleeks aren't the only ones anticipating a few more famous faces. As star Chris Colfer told MTV News on the Golden Globes red carpet, there's plenty to look forward to when New Directions warble again January 17.

"Well, the Michael Jackson episode ...," Colfer answered when asked about his most-anticipated upcoming episodes. "We have a Spanish episode coming up with Ricky Martin. We have a Valentine's Day episode coming up, so that's going to be fun."

Martin is slated to play "the hottest Spanish teacher ever in the history of Ohio," according to TVLine. The actor/singer recently tweeted a joyful picture from his first day on set.

As to how the King of Pop's prolific songbook will manifest itself in the January 31 tribute episode, Colfer explained, "Well, I sing part of 'Black [or] White.' I'm the 'White' in 'Black [or] White,' and I sing 'Ben,' that famous song he wrote for the rat."

The rodent in question is the pet of a young boy named Danny in the 1972 film "Ben." Jackson sang a version of the theme song that appeared in the movie's closing credits and was later included on his 1972 album also named Ben. The track "Black or White" was the first single off of Jackson's 1991 album Dangerous.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677345/glee-chris-colfer-michael-jackson.jhtml

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Deposits will be protected, says finance minister - The Nation

Home ? business ? Deposits will be protected, says finance minister

Seetalavajit Sabayjai
Sucheera Pinijparakarn
The Nation January 14, 2012 1:00 am

Thirachai said yesterday that he would soon ask the Cabinet to approve his proposal to provide adequate funding to the Deposit Protection Agency (DPA) if part of the agency's funding is used to pay off the Bt1.14-trillion debt of the Financial Institutions Development Fund (FIDF) left over since the 1997 financial crisis.

His comments came after critics sharply attacked the debt executive decree, saying it would hit the funding of the DPA and warned that inadequate funding would pose serious trouble if some banks fail and investors lost their deposits. The DPA was created to provide compensation to depositors, at up to Bt1 million per savings account.

Thirachai said the DPA currently has accumulated premiums collected from commercial banks of about Bt80 billion.

Thirachai assured banks that the premiums would not be high, as the government does not want to increase the cost for banks, which could result in banks passing on the cost to customers. "A premium rise by 0.2 per cent, or total premium not exceeding 0.6 per cent of total deposits, is adequate to pay off the debt of the FIDF in 25 years," he said.

Also, as the baht has started to depreciate against the US dollar, the central bank will make profits from its market operations, he said. The profits would also be used to pay off the debt.

Meanwhile, the Bank of Thailand (BOT) said it would raise with the Finance Ministry concerns about the banking industry's distorted structure if commercial banks are required to contribute higher fees, which are planned to service the FIDF debts.

The move follows a meeting of the Financial Institutions Policy Committee (FIPC) yesterday.

The central bank will have a discussion with the Finance Ministry after a meeting of the Thai Bankers' Association (TBA) next week. The central bank will also propose ways to repay the interest burden and principal then.

The BOT governor and the TBA met on Thursday to discuss the planned executive decree related to the FIDF debt and the part relevant to commercial banks.

"The commercial banks expressed their concerns over this issue and we brought it before the FIPC, which passed a resolution that we should give their opinion to the Finance Ministry," BOT Governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul said.

This is about advantages and disadvantages between commercial banks and state-run specialised financial institutions (SFIs), he added.

There is already a problem, as commercial banks are required to contribute 0.4 per cent of their deposit base to the DPA while SFIs are not.

"We need to have a level playing field [in the banking industry]," Prasarn said.

TBA president Chartsiri Sophonpanich said on Thursday night after meeting Prasarn that any action had to take into account the impact on the competition of commercial banks. Some bankers were worried that the increasing cost from the rising premiums levied on them could make them less competitive than other banks in the region, especially with the 2015 Asean Economic Community bringing about full liberalisation of the financial market.

Meanwhile, in a related development, bank lending in response to last year's severe flooding has increased more than expected and it will boost growth in the first quarter, said Thirachai.

Thirachai said economic recovery will begin in the first quarter of this year and gross domestic product is expected to expand 2.6 per cent. The full year's growth is forecast to be 5 per cent. Since late last year, new bank lending has increased to almost Bt200 billion, at a pace faster than expected, he said.

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Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Deposits-will-be-protected-says-finance-minister-30173725.html

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The Best Everything at CES [Ces]

Well that about does it for CES. We managed to escape Las Vegas with our lives, most of our belongings, and almost none of our dignity intact. But for all our bellyaching, CES is fun. We saw some amazing things out in the desert this year. Here's a quick rundown of the best: More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/i6cQ_zeZOnk/the-best-everything-at-ces

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Anger at squalid housing unleashes Algeria protest (Reuters)

LAGHOUAT, Algeria (Reuters) ? Every time it rains, Fatina Binoun takes her three young children to stay with relatives because she is afraid the downpour will bring down the walls of her decaying house.

Binoun, 30, and her husband live in a rented two-storey building in the Algerian town of Laghouat, on the northern edge of the Sahara desert about 400 km (250 miles) south of the capital.

A crack several cm (inches) wide runs up the corner of the house. Inside, the rooms are cold and damp. The kitchen ceiling is falling down. The authorities cut off the gas supply, saying they feared an explosion if the house falls down.

Binoun's husband earns about 18,000 dinars (200 euros) a month repairing mobile phones, not enough to rent better accommodation.

The family applied to the local authorities to be re-housed under a state program which provides new apartments, free of charge, to needy families. But that was 12 years ago.

"They (local bureaucrats) ask for money," said her husband, 36-year-old Sid-Ali Touati. "If you give money you get an apartment. If you do not give money, you do not get an apartment."

Algeria is a major oil and gas exporter with more than $150 billion in foreign currency reserves accumulated over years of high energy prices.

Yet despite its wealth, the government has been unable to build new homes fast enough to satisfy millions of families who live in inadequate accommodation or to provide jobs for the millions of unemployed.

It was anger over miserable living conditions in a provincial town in neighboring Tunisia that set off the first "Arab Spring" revolution.

Leaders in Algeria, which has many of the same problems as other countries swept up in the upheavals around the Middle East over the past 12 months, worry the same scenario could be repeated in their country.

PROTESTS

In Laghouat, a provincial capital of 200,000 people, anger at living conditions has already touched off unrest -- several hundred people have been protesting for the past week outside the offices of the regional governor.

Local human rights activists said police used truncheons and tear gas to break up the protest early on Tuesday. More than 40 protesters were arrested, though most have since been released, activists said.

On Wednesday the protesters were back in a square about 300 meters (yards) from the governor's office. Lines of police, in riot gear and carrying truncheons and shields, blocked the road to prevent them from getting closer.

The spark for the protests was the re-housing of dozens of families from a shantytown on the edge of Laghouat to a new apartment complex paid for by the state.

Thousands of families across the country have already been moved to new accommodation under the scheme, part of a state program to build 1 million new housing units by 2014.

But in Laghouat, thousands have been on waiting lists for years and the protesters say the latest resettlement is symptomatic of a process that is riddled with corruption.

They said people who paid bribes or had connections with local officials were given new apartments, while families in greater need were left off the list.

According to a list seen by Reuters, many of the people allocated new apartments were not from Laghouat, and multiple apartments were given to members of the same family.

"The system is corrupt," said Mohamed Mamir, a 45-year-old unemployed man at the protest. "Local officials ... give housing to their own cousins."

An official at the headquarters of the regional administration told Reuters the wali, or governor, and his chief of staff were out of the office and unavailable for interview. The official said no one else was able to comment.

Yacine Zaid, a local human rights activist who has been monitoring the protests, said that late on Wednesday the wali passed a message to the protesters to say the list would be changed. It was not clear if that meant the authorities would evict people from the apartments they had just been given.

ENERGY WEALTH

The anger in Laghouat is heightened by the fact that the region itself is rich in resources. To the south is Hassi R'mel, a massive natural gas field.

"We supply (gas) to Europe, to Spain and Italy, but there is a contradiction," said Faisal Bessegur, 35, an unemployed man. "In Laghouat we have injustice, the problem of housing, corruption and unemployment."

More than most of its neighbors in north Africa, Algeria is a tinder box. The country is emerging from a conflict between Islamist militants and the security forces which is estimated to have killed about 200,000 people.

The violence has subsided following a security crackdown and an amnesty for militants who laid down their weapons, but a rump of insurgents affiliated to Al Qaeda still mounts sporadic ambushes and suicide bombings. Many of the tensions that started the conflict 20 years ago are still unresolved.

The protesters in the square said they were not interested in overthrowing the government, however, and just wanted the wali to step down. To underline the point, they waved posters of the 74-year-old president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

But the risk remains that protests like the one in Laghouat could spread to any of the dozens of other towns which face similar problems of poor housing and unemployment.

Algeria will in May hold a parliamentary election, its first since the Arab Spring, which could act as a catalyst for a nationwide outpouring of frustration over these issues and a perceived lack of democracy.

"I have lots of people calling me from other towns, asking me what is happening here," said Zaid, who is the local head of the Algerian Human Rights Defence League. "They (the authorities) are afraid that this could spread."

MAKESHIFT SHELTERS

The operation to re-house residents from the shantytown at the edge of Laghouat left some people even worse off than they were before. As soon as residents were rehoused, bulldozers were sent in to demolish their old homes but a handful of people did not qualify and so were left with nowhere to live.

Although it is on the edge of the Sahara, Laghouat is on a high plateau and bitterly cold, especially at night.

On Wednesday morning, 67-year-old Haniyah Ziyani was tending a fire in front of a makeshift tent assembled from blankets, tarpaulin sheets and some oil drums. Inside was her 34-year-old mentally-handicapped daughter.

Ziyani wept as a bulldozer worked about 100 meters away, clearing the rubble.

Asked why she had not qualified for re-housing, she said: "They demanded bribes. I do not even have money for food. How am I going to pay a bribe?"

A short distance away stood Bouzid Beli, 75. His home now is a tarpaulin supported by a wooden pole, with some sheets of corrugated iron around the side. The bed was a few blankets laid on the bare earth.

He had the same explanation for what happened: corruption.

"It's very cold," he said, shivering and fighting back tears. "I have nowhere to go."

(Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120112/wl_nm/us_algeria_housing_protests

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Facebook Launches Turntable.fm-like ?Listen With? For Simultaneous Music and Chat

Facebook Listen WithLook out Turntable.fm, Facebook has?just launched its own simultaneous music listening group chat room feature. New "Listen With" buttons in Chat and news feed stories allow you to select a friend as your personal DJ. When clicked, you'll instantly launch Spotify or Rdio and start hearing whatever that friend plays in real-time. Other friends can also join your group chat listening room where you can discuss and rave over what you're hearing, just like if you were listening together in person.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/nilZ0XQhbhg/

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Against business? GOP split on Romney's practices

FILE - In this April 21, 1988 file photo, President Ronald Reagan speaks in Springfield, Mass. What gives? Some of Mitt Romney?s rivals are waging a fierce attack on him that you?d never think would come from the mouths of Republicans who claim Ronald Reagan as their hero. They?re blasting the GOP front-runner for aggressive wealth-creating business tactics, a criticism that has the party in an uproar. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds, File)

FILE - In this April 21, 1988 file photo, President Ronald Reagan speaks in Springfield, Mass. What gives? Some of Mitt Romney?s rivals are waging a fierce attack on him that you?d never think would come from the mouths of Republicans who claim Ronald Reagan as their hero. They?re blasting the GOP front-runner for aggressive wealth-creating business tactics, a criticism that has the party in an uproar. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds, File)

(AP) ? What gives? Some of Mitt Romney's rivals are waging a fierce attack that you'd never think would come from the mouths of Republicans who claim Ronald Reagan as their hero. They're blasting the GOP front-runner for aggressive, wealth-creating business tactics.

The criticism, mostly from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, didn't seem to matter much in New Hampshire, where Romney claimed a comfortable primary victory. Gingrich was fourth and Perry was sixth.

But the sniping may have more resonance in next-in-line South Carolina, which is far more economically depressed, and in Florida. Both states are struggling with high joblessness and weak housing markets. South Carolina's primary is Jan. 21, Florida's is Jan. 31.

Trying to tap into populist sentiment, Gingrich and Perry are accusing Romney of being a fat-cat venture capitalist during his days running the private equity firm Bain Capital, laying off workers as he restructured companies and filled his own pockets.

A group backing Gingrich is airing TV ads in South Carolina showing distraught people who say they lost their jobs to Bain's restructuring practices while Romney was at the helm.

Jon Huntsman, a former Utah governor and ambassador to China, at first joined Gingrich and Perry in the attacks on Romney. But on Wednesday after his third-place finish in New Hampshire, Huntsman backed away in part from such criticism while continuing to assail Romney's four years as Massachusetts governor.

The Bain Capital attacks are nearly identical to criticism once leveled at Romney by one of the nation's best-known Democrats, Ted Kennedy, when Romney tried to claim Kennedy's Massachusetts Senate seat in 1994. Whether that tactic helped or not, Kennedy, who died in 2009, did hold on to his seat.

To hear such accusations now from Republicans ? historically the party of business and free enterprise ? is particularly notable.

"It's like watching dogs walk on their hind feet. It's not impossible, but it certainly looks odd when you see it," said economist Bruce Bartlett, who worked in the Republican administrations of Reagan and George H.W. Bush. "I don't think they seriously believe there is anything wrong with what Romney did. I just think that they're trying to use any card that they can find in the deck that might give them an edge. It's simple expediency."

Romney has shrugged off the fusillade.

"We understood for a long time that the Obama people would come after free enterprise." he told reporters as he flew from New Hampshire to South Carolina on Wednesday. "We're a little surprised to see Newt Gingrich as the first witness for the prosecution."

Romney has repeatedly touted his business career as giving him the right credentials for dealing with a tough economy and the know-how to produce jobs. However, in the process of restructuring companies to make them more profitable, many workers indeed were laid off. The criticism from fellow Republicans now threatens to undercut Romney's central argument that his private-sector experience best positions him to defeat Democratic President Barack Obama in the fall.

Gingrich, mounting the fiercest attacks, denies he's arguing against capitalism.

"I am totally for capitalism. ... I do draw a distinction between (it) and looting a company," says the former House speaker. He also asks, "Is capitalism really about the ability of a handful of rich people to manipulate the lives of thousands of other people and walk off with the money?"

Gingrich was a little more subdued on Wednesday. Without naming the former Massachusetts governor, Gingrich said at a campaign event in Rock Hill S.C., that he wants "free enterprise that is honest. I want a free enterprise system that is accountable."

Perry, meanwhile, who earlier called Romney a "vulture capitalist," struck a defensive tone on Wednesday. At a stop outside Columbia, S.C., the Texas governor said, "I understand restructuring. I understand these types of things." But, he added, "The idea that we can't criticize someone for these get-rich-quick schemes is inappropriate from my perspective."

Huntsman in the past has asserted that "Governor Romney enjoys firing people. I enjoy creating jobs." But on Wednesday, he presented himself to South Carolina Republicans as a pragmatic problem solver who disdains partisan posturing.

"If you have creative destruction in capitalism, which has always been part of capitalism, it becomes a little disingenuous to take on Bain Capital," Huntsman told reporters in Columbia. Instead, he said Romney should be judged on his record as governor when "he didn't deliver any big bold economic proposals."

The next two weeks are what Romney's foes are interested in, with the key primaries in South Carolina and Florida. The Bain Capital attacks have opened a rift among Republicans, with many conservative groups and personalities urging Gingrich and the others to tone it down.

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh said Gingrich's language was "out of bounds for those who value the free market." Club for Growth President Chris Chocola called the attacks "disgusting." Steve Judge, CEO of the Private Equity Growth Capital Council, cited "a lot of misinformation" from both parties ignoring benefits to the economy from firms such as Bain.

The harsh attacks on Romney reflect the tea party influence on GOP politics, residual anger against financial practices that led to the 2008 economic crisis and government bailouts and a widespread desire among conservative Republicans to find an alternative to Romney. They also come as the Republican Party becomes increasingly blue collar.

But one rising tea party star who has endorsed Romney, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, said she doesn't like the criticism of his business practices. "It's a sad day in South Carolina and across this country if Republicans are talking against the free market. Let me tell you that," she said.

Romney was defended on Wednesday by Democrat Steven Rattner, a financier who helped lead the Obama administration's bailout and restructuring of Chrysler and General Motors. He told MSNBC that, while he intends to vote for Obama, "I think these attacks are unfair. I think Mitt Romney not only had a very successful (business) career, but Bain Capital is a terrific first-class firm managing money, mostly for endowments, for pension funds. ... And he did it in a perfectly honorable way."

Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who finished second in New Hampshire, and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who finished fifth, have avoided slamming Romney for his Bain record. Santorum even defended Romney at a town hall meeting Wednesday night in Columbia, S.C.

"It's this hostile rhetoric, which unfortunately ? and I don't want to stand here and be a defender of Mitt Romney ? but unfortunately even some in our own party now, even some running for president will engage in with respect to capitalism," Santorum said. "It's bad enough for Barack Obama to blame folks in business for causing problems in this country. It's one other thing for Republicans to join in on this."

Paul told The Washington Times that "it astounds me" that Gingrich and the others would rip Romney's work as a venture capitalist. "Either they are totally ignorant of economics," he said, "or if they know economics it's just demagoguing for narrow political points."

"It's strange for Republicans to go after a colleague who's successful in business. The arguments by Newt Gingrich could be made by the far left of the Democratic Party," said James Thurber, a political scientist at American University.

Romney has said that, on balance, he took steps that led to the creation of 100,000 jobs.

However, that claim comes from activities concerning only three companies, all of them successes: Staples, Domino's and Sports Authority. And it counts many jobs that were created after Romney left Bain in 1999. And it ignores job losses at many other firms that Bain invested in or took over.

___

Associated Press writers Kasie Hunt, Charles Babington, Jim Davenport and Shannon McCaffrey in South Carolina contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-11-Free%20Market%20Fight/id-6f0a0393c101401b82515cc20b2ba053

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Visual-effects pioneer Trumbull to receive Oscar (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? Hollywood filmmaker and visual-effects master Douglas Trumbull is receiving an honorary Academy Award.

The Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences announced Wednesday that it will present its Gordon E. Sawyer Award to Trumbull, whose pioneering visual-effects credits include "2001: A Space Odyssey," "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" and "Blade Runner."

Trumbull worked on last year's Brad Pitt-Terrence Malick drama "The Tree of Life," which featured grand images of the cosmos and the age of dinosaurs.

The honorary Oscar will be presented to Trumbull at the academy's scientific and technical awards ceremony Feb. 11.

Trumbull is the 23rd recipient of the Sawyer Award, which honors technical contributions to Hollywood.

___

Online:

http://www.oscars.org

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120111/ap_en_mo/us_oscars_douglas_trumbull

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