Chinese FX investments to focus on US real estate | ForexLive

Last week,?we reported China is diversifying its US currency reserves out of Treasuries and into other assets. As part of the shift, they opened an investment office in New York.

The fund, SAFE, controls $3.4 trillion and?is focusing on US real estate, according to Bloomberg sources.

China may acquire properties, invest in real estate funds or buy stakes in
property companies, they said

Categories: All, Americas, Mkt Talk, Regions | Tags: China | Permalink

Source: http://www.forexlive.com/blog/2013/05/27/chinese-fx-investments-to-focus-on-us-real-estate/

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Raising the bar in property management | Surf Coast Times ...

Julie Collett and Whitford sole director Michael Ferris.

Whitford Torquay had expanded their team with the employment of a new and experienced property manager.

Julie Collett joins Whitford with nearly 15 years of experience in property management in Melbourne, where she managed a large portfolio. Her desire to live and work on the beautiful Surf Coast has driven her ambition to relocate here with her family. Julie is looking forward to a long career with Whitford.

?I am extremely excited to be joining a great team of people all working toward the same goal in raising the benchmark in real estate,? she said.

?I look forward to a long and thriving career here.?

Julie is a recent sea changer, having holidayed here over the years with the intention of moving to Torquay one day.

?I have always intended to move down here with Matt and the children and was just waiting for the perfect job to come along, and now I have it.?

Sole director Whitford Torquay Michael Ferris said Julie is passionate about real estate and has a proactive approach towards the day to day management, solving issues before they become a problem.

?Our focus is the improvement of property management which has previously been overlooked in terms of level of service, quality of marketing, landlord feedback, inspection commitment, rent reviews and maintenance savings.

?I know from personal experience that there is a lot to be desired when you start your search for a rental property, the photos are minimal and of poor quality, the agent opening the home for inspection often seems complacent and lacks the enthusiasm you receive when you are looking to buy and that shouldn?t be the case.

?Negotiation, sales, presentation and marketing are all services we look forward to offering within our property management department and Julie is ready and willing to help you make the most of your investment portfolio.?

If you feel your investments could be better managed, call 0455 335 557 to speak with Julie.

Source: http://www.surfcoasttimes.com.au/mycoastalproperty/industryinformation/2013/05/27/raising-the-bar-in-property-management/

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Senator: Fire commanders allowing sex assault (The Arizona Republic)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/308409528?client_source=feed&format=rss

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PFT: Jones wants everything from $100M Romo

Getty Images

As Browns owner Jimmy Haslam periodically opts to talk confidently about the legal issues embroiling the truck-stop company he runs, the prosecutors assigned to the case have remained eerily silent.

Eventually, they?ll speak via indictments and, ultimately, evidence introduced at trial.? Haslam?s tightrope routine, balancing his company?s business interests against his personal legal predicament, has created the impression that, yes, something happened but that, no, he?s not responsible for it.

Whatever happened, David Lewen and Francis ?Trey? Hamilton are working to get to the bottom of it.? As explained by John Caniglia of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the pair of young, aggressive prosecutors quietly are leading the investigation.

?They?re excellent prosecutors, very knowledgeable and very diligent,? said Hugh Ward, a defense lawyer who previously worked with both men in the Knoxville U.S. Attorney?s office.? ?Both are good people, personally.? They?re top of the line.?

Lewen, 37, has prosecuted drug crimes involving complex hierarchies.? Hamilton, 41, prosecutes white-collar crime, like the ones that eventually could be alleged against multiple employees of Pilot Flying J.

John Sammon, a former IRS agent and retired federal prosecutor, explained the key similarity between complex drug crimes and white-collar prosecutions:? ?You work from the bottom to the top.?

With one Pilot Flying J employee already quoted in an affidavit as saying Haslam knew about the alleged rebate/discount scam, the prosecutors could be searching for and/or piecing together evidence that would prove conclusively that Haslam or other key employees at the precipice of the Pilot Flying J pyramid either condoned the alleged fraud or ordered it.

And that possibility should send a chill from the bottom to the top of Haslam?s spine.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/05/25/jerry-jones-i-paid-romo-100-million-so-i-want-everything/related/

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BXR Motors Building Custom Hybrid Supercar | CleanTechnica

This post first appeared on Gas2
by Christopher DeMorro

High-performance hybrid supercars are all the rage among the wealthy right now, despite the failure of companies like Fisker Automotive. One particular car design that caught my eye is the BXR Motors Bailey Blade EVR, a performance plug-in hybrid with some serious potential. Is this the Fisker 2.0?

Yes, and no. While the drivetrain in the Bailey Blade EVR (currently still a one-off custom car) utilizes a similar turbocharged gas engine and an electric motor, there are some key differences between Fisker and Blade. For one, the Blade has an estimated curb weight of just 2,800 pounds, about half what the Fisker Karma weighed.

Then again, the Blade EVR also claims to have a battery pack with 200 kWh of capacity. I am going to assume that is a misprint, and is actually more like 20 kWh. The pure-electric Tesla Model S has a 85 kWh battery pack; a 200 kWh battery pack would be as big as the Blade EVR itself.

The combined output of the turbocharged 2.5 liter gas engine and single electric motor is said to be 500 horsepower and around 850 ft-lbs of torque, enough for a 0-60 mph time of just 4.5 seconds. Top speed is estimated to be in the 175 mph range, way faster than the Fisker could ever hope for.

But what might really give the Bailey Blade EVR a chance to succeed is the fact that there will be a concentional, gas-powered model as well. Using either a supercharged or turbocharged Ford 5.0 V8, having both a conventional and hybrid model gives BXR Motors more flexibility than Fisker had. As Bob Lutz has shown, some Fisker owners are more than ready to give up their hybrid drivetrain for a simpler and more-powerful V8 engine.

The gas-powered Blade XTR will come first, with a debut tentatively slated for the November SEMA Show in Las Vegas. If the reception is warm enough, there could be a new plug-in hybrid performance car to fill the hole left by the Fisker Karma?and I for one wouldn?t mind. Can BXR build a better Fisker?

Source:?BXR Motors

Important Media Cross-Post (115 Posts)

CleanTechnica is one of 18 blogs in the Important Media blog network. With a bit of overlap in the topics we cover, we sometimes repost some of the great content published by our sister sites.

Source: http://cleantechnica.com/2013/05/25/bxr-motors-building-custom-hybrid-supercar/

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FDA warns of infections tied to Tennessee pharmacy

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Government health officials are investigating cases involving patients who suffered complications after being injected with potentially contaminated medications made by a Tennessee specialty pharmacy.

The Food and Drug Administration said Friday the problems involve seven patients who received steroid injections from Main Street Family Pharmacy, a compounding pharmacy in Newbern, Tenn.

Tennessee health officials said the pharmacy has agreed to recall all of its sterile products, which are generally injectable prescription drugs. Officials from the FDA and the Tennessee Department of Health have been inspecting the Newbern pharmacy since Wednesday.

"The pharmacy staff and management have been cooperative," state regulators said in a news release.

An employee reached at Main Street Family Pharmacy on Friday afternoon could not immediately provide comment.

The injections contain methylprednisolone acetate, the same drug at the center of last year's deadly outbreak of fungal meningitis. More than 55 people have died and over 740 others have been sickened after receiving contaminated injections from a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy. The steroids are typically used to treat pain.

Federal authorities have identified five cases in Illinois and two more in North Carolina. The Illinois patients received injections at the Logan Primary Care clinic in the town of Herrin between Jan. 3 and Feb. 21., according to Illinois health officials.

All five patients from Illinois had skin infections in the hips and buttocks while at least one patient in North Carolina appears to have a fungal infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"There's no indication at this time of meningitis or other life threatening infection," said Joseph Perz, a health-care epidemiologist helping to lead the CDC's investigation.

The FDA recommends doctors stop using any sterile drugs distributed by the pharmacy immediately.

Main Street Family Pharmacy is a compounding pharmacy, which means it mixes custom formulations of drugs based on doctors' specifications. Compounding pharmacies have long operated in a legal gray area between state and federal regulations. Since last year's outbreak, the FDA has stepped up inspections of compounding pharmacies across the country, triggering several national recalls of potentially contaminated medications.

The Tennessee Department of Health said it's too early to tell how many people may have received the injections under scrutiny. According to pharmacy records the drug was shipped to medical facilities in 13 states: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Kentucky, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas

The Main Street Family Pharmacy was licensed by the Tennessee board of Pharmacy in 1985, and later licensed as a manufacturer and distributor in 2010.

Compounding pharmacies have long been overseen by state pharmacy boards, with regulations varying widely from state to state. Over the last 20 years some compounding pharmacies have grown into larger business, operating more like manufacturers by shipping thousands of doses of drugs across state lines. The FDA has occasionally tried to assert its authority over these operations, though it has repeatedly been challenged in court by pharmacy owners.

Legislation moving through Congress would give the FDA direct oversight over these so-called compounding manufacturers, with the aim of preventing future national outbreaks tied to compounded medications. While Republicans and Democrats in the Senate have coalesced around a bill, the House has not reached any such agreement.

___

Mike Stobbe contributed to this story from New York

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2013-05-24-Contaminated%20Injections/id-dd5b9b294c7442728f99d56abb7edb41

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GOP's Walker touts state ties during trip to Iowa

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Scott Walker tried to introduce himself to Iowa Republicans Thursday as so many would-be presidential candidates often do ? one of their own.

After all, the Wisconsin governor weighing a 2016 bid for president spent seven years as a young child living in Plainfield, a tiny town in northeast Iowa Walker referred to a half-dozen times during a 40 minute speech at a Republican fundraiser.

More broadly, the rising GOP figure prescribed what he characterized as a Midwestern approach to politics and the way for Republicans, back-to-back White House losers, to win again.

"I would encourage us all to be more optimistic, more relevant and more courageous," Walker told 600 GOP activists in a suburban Des Moines hotel ballroom. "I think when we do, we win in Iowa, we win in Wisconsin, and all across this great country, and we transform this place we live in."

The first-term governor, who has won party acclaim for taking on unions and overcame a contentious recall election, has been raising his national profile with speeches to national Republican audiences in recent months and headlined fundraisers in New York and Connecticut this week.

Walker was making his first visit Thursday to the state that has traditionally held the first presidential caucuses. He was the keynote speaker at the Polk County Republican Party's annual spring fundraising dinner and also met privately with leaders at a separate fundraiser before the banquet.

The audience applauded when he noted during the speech how he won a larger victory in defeating Democratic Mayor Tom Barrett of Milwaukee during the recall vote last year than he did in his 2010 election. They cheered again when he described the budget surplus Wisconsin has today, compared with the $3.6 billion deficit in place when he took office.

"Scott Walker is a great example of a courageous governor who made the tough decisions and has the state going in the right direction," said Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, a Republican who attended the event.

Walker opponents, including some who traveled from Milwaukee, said earlier Thursday that Walker had overpromised the number of jobs he would bring in. Wisconsin's unemployment has dropped during his time in office, albeit less dramatically than in other Midwestern states such as Michigan and Ohio.

Walker kept returning in his remarks to his time in Iowa, as a boy, and the son of a Baptist minister. Walker moved to southern Wisconsin when he was 10.

He ticked through the name of a former teacher, a neighbor and the state legislator-turned congressman, "a farmer down the way from us named Chuck Grassley." Grassley is now Iowa's senior U.S. senator, serving his sixth term.

Should he decide to run for president, Walker's Iowa ties and evangelical upbringing could serve him well in Iowa's Republican caucuses, where Christian conservatives make up an influential bloc.

Walker didn't touch social issues. Instead, he urged the party to reach out to voting blocs Republicans have struggled to win, such as Latinos. Walker trumpeted his success winning Hispanic-leaning precincts when he was Milwaukee County executive before being elected governor.

"We've got a message of opportunity and optimism. We've got to be willing to go to places that Republicans typically don't go," he said.

It's a style that works for Connie Schmett, a Des Moines-area Republican who contributed money to Walker's recall campaign and attended the event Thursday.

"He's like your brother, your neighbor," she said. "I've seen a lot of these guys. And he just seems like a good guy."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gops-walker-touts-state-ties-142902236.html

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No quick fix for downed bridge on holiday weekend

MOUNT VERNON, Wash. (AP) ? Washington state officials are scrambling to find a temporary fix for a bridge that collapsed on an important interstate highway and, incredibly, left just three motorists with injuries. Whatever the solution, it won't come in time to help with Memorial Day's highway hoards.

Transportation experts are also working to find out whether the spectacular disintegration of the heavily used span over the Skagit River, 60 miles north of Seattle, was a fluke or a sign of a bigger problem.

A trucker was hauling a load of drilling equipment Thursday evening when his load bumped against the steel framework over an Interstate 5 bridge. He looked in his rearview mirror and saw the span collapse into the water behind him.

Two vehicles fell into the chilly river. The three people in those vehicles were not seriously hurt.

As authorities try to find a temporary span, motorists will have to use alternate routes during the holiday and for weeks to come.

"You cannot overstate the importance of this corridor to Washington state," Gov. Jay Inslee said. Traffic on I-5 and surrounding roads was backed up for miles, a situation the governor said would continue indefinitely.

Officials were looking for a temporary, pre-fabricated bridge to replace the 160-foot section that failed, Inslee said Friday. That option could be in place in weeks. Otherwise, it could be months before a replacement can be built, the governor said.

The collapse came on the north end of the four-lane bridge near Mount Vernon, about 60 miles north of Seattle.

"He looked in the mirrors and it just dropped out of sight," Cynthia Scott, the wife of truck driver William Scott, said from the couple's home near Spruce Grove, Alberta. "He was just horrified."

The truck driver works for Mullen Trucking in Alberta, the Washington State Patrol said. The tractor-trailer was hauling a housing for drilling equipment southbound when the top right front corner of the load struck several of the bridge's trusses, the patrol said.

Scott, 41, remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators. He voluntarily gave a blood sample for an alcohol test and was not arrested.

The truck made it off the bridge, but the other two vehicles went into the water about 25 feet below.

Bryce Kenning, of Mount Vernon, said the bridge seemed to explode in front of him. The 20-year-old slammed his brakes, but there was nothing he could do.

"It was like time was frozen ? like a roller coaster where you're not attached to the tracks," Kenning said in a phone interview.

Ed Scherbinski, vice president of Mullen Trucking, said in an interview with The Associated Press that state officials had approved of the company's plan to drive the oversize load along I-5 to Vancouver, Wash.

Mike Allende, a state Department of Transportation spokesman, confirmed the truck had a permit.

"We're still trying to figure out why it hit the bridge," Allende said.

State officials approved the trucking company to carry a load as high as 15 feet, 9 inches, according to the permit released by the state. However, the southbound vertical clearance on the Skagit River bridge is as little as 14 feet, 5 inches, state records show. That lowest clearance is outside of the bridge's vehicle traveling lanes, Transportation Department communications director Lars Erickson said Friday. The bridge's curved overhead girders are higher in the center of the bridge.

The bridge has a maximum clearance of about 17 feet.

The permit specifically describes the route the truck would take, though it includes a qualification that the state "Does Not Guarantee Height Clearance."

It's not rare for trucks to strike bridges in Washington state. The state DOT said there were 21 bridge-strikes involving trucks last year, 24 in 2011 and 14 in 2010.

Officials performed a special inspection six months ago on the bridge that collapsed because there were indications it had been struck by a different vehicle.

A report released Friday said the checkup was done due to "impact damage," and inspectors identified tears, deformations and gouges on the northbound side of the bridge.

In that Nov. 29, 2012, impact, an overheight truck struck a metal overhead truss on the bridge, DOT spokeswoman Broch Bender said. An inspection crew determined the bridge to be safe, with only minor repairs required. She said those minor repairs were added to an existing list of bridge maintenance items to be completed at a future date.

There are no signs leading up to the Skagit River bridge to warn about its clearance height. State Transportation Secretary Lynn Peterson said that under federal and state standards, the clearance is tall enough to not require signage.

Inslee said it will cost $15 million to repair the bridge. The federal government has promised $1 million.

The bridge is used by an average of 71,000 vehicles a day.

A Federal Highway Administration database lists the bridge as "functionally obsolete" ? a category meaning that the design is outdated. But it was not classified as structurally deficient.

___

Baker reported from Olympia, Wash. Associated Press writers Donna Gordon Blankinship and Gene Johnson in Seattle, and Terry Tang in Phoenix also contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/no-quick-fix-downed-bridge-holiday-weekend-082217341.html

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Anthony Weiner logo appears to feature Pittsburgh skyline

Ultimately, many of the photos and cellphone records of Trayvon Martin released online Thursday by George Zimmerman?s defense attorneys ? indicating that the slain teenager smoked marijuana, got into fights at school, and had an interest in, and perhaps access to, guns ? may be ruled inadmissible in court. But they are already making the rounds in the court of public opinion, which can influence everything from fundraising efforts to the mind-set of potential jurors in Mr. Zimmerman's murder trial.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/anthony-weiner-logo-features-pittsburgh-skyline-193243770.html

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PFT: Ryan thinks he's perfect fit with Saints' 'D'

AP

Though it took him a little longer than his self-proclaimed five minutes, Rob Ryan found a job this offseason.

And considering his personality, it might have been in the perfect spot.

Ryan talked to reporters in New Orleans for the first time Thursday, and said he was fortunate to land with a team that had the worst defense in league history last year, because they both have something to prove.

He referred back to his firing by the Cowboys, and the Super Bowl he won in New Orleans as a member of the Patriots staff, calling himself ?lucky? to be where he was.

?These guys have been well-coached before. They?re smart. They?re just ready to win,? Ryan said, via Mike Triplett of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. ?I think we all have a chip on our shoulder after last season. . . .

?I know everybody is on the same path. That big sign that used to be up there [in the Saints' indoor practice facility] ? ?Do Your Job? ? I?ve heard those words before. I plan on doing it. I?ve got two Super Bowl rings, one of them won out here in sweet, live ass New Orleans as part of a great organization.?

Yeah, he should fit right in.

The Saints could use a shot of confidence, after allowing a league-record 7,042 yards last year. Ryan can provide that.

He admitted he ?got my feelings hurt? when he was fired, but said he was ?very fortunate? to land with Sean Payton, and he clearly enjoys the challenge ahead of him.

?I like his passion,? Payton said. ?You know, he?s someone that I spent a lot of time researching and arriving at that decision, guys that I know very well that have worked with him.

?I like the way players respond and I think he?s a perfect fit for what we?re looking for.?

Now all he has to do is find enough players to adapt to his scheme, and he might finally end up a coordinator for a team with a winning record.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/05/24/rob-ryan-thinks-hes-a-perfect-fit-for-saints-defense/related/

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How Come Sony Stans Hate Microsoft and The Xbox So Much

it would be the exact same had sony had as !!ty a conference [pic]

only reason u didnt see it as much during the sony reveal, is cause sony didnt disappoint like MS did yesterday [pic]

i mean u can lie to yourself and make all the excuses u want in order to excuse MS and what u know was a disappointing reveal (+ all the disappointing facts revealed afterwards) and say people were gonna hate regardless of what MS did, but that's not true..alot of MS stans are voicing their disappointment as well [pic] it wasnt that great, deal with it

Source: http://slumz.boxden.com/f13/how-come-sony-stans-hate-microsoft-xbox-so-much-1929061/

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House panel moves to curb military sexual assaults

FILE - In this June 2, 2012 file photo, House Armed Services Committee member Rep. Niki Tsongas, D-Mass. speaks in Springfield, Mass. Determined to check the growing epidemic of sexual assaults in the armed forces, a House panel is poised to approve a series of revisions to longstanding military law. They include stripping commanding officers of their unilateral authority to change or dismiss a court-martial conviction and requiring that service members found guilty of sexual offenses be dismissed or dishonorably discharged. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)

FILE - In this June 2, 2012 file photo, House Armed Services Committee member Rep. Niki Tsongas, D-Mass. speaks in Springfield, Mass. Determined to check the growing epidemic of sexual assaults in the armed forces, a House panel is poised to approve a series of revisions to longstanding military law. They include stripping commanding officers of their unilateral authority to change or dismiss a court-martial conviction and requiring that service members found guilty of sexual offenses be dismissed or dishonorably discharged. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Members of a House panel angry over the growing epidemic of sexual assaults in the military took a key step toward tackling the problem by passing legislation Wednesday that would strip commanding officers of their longstanding authority to unilaterally change or dismiss court-martial convictions in rape and assault cases. Lawmakers believe the revision will lead to a cultural shift and encourage victims to step forward.

The legislation, which will be folded into a broader defense policy bill that the full House will consider in the coming weeks, also would impose harsher penalties on service members found guilty of sexual offenses by requiring that they be dismissed or dishonorably discharged.

The moves by the House Armed Services military personnel subcommittee reflect outrage on Capitol Hill over the poor results military leaders have achieved in their efforts to combat sexual assault in the ranks.

A Pentagon report released earlier this month estimated that up to 26,000 military members may have been sexually assaulted last year and that thousands of victims are still unwilling to come forward despite new oversight and assistance programs aimed at curbing the crimes.

The report showed the number of sexual assaults actually reported by members of the military rose 6 percent to 3,374 in 2012. But a survey of personnel who were not required to reveal their identities showed the number of service members actually assaulted could be as high as 26,000. That figure is an increase over the 19,000 estimated assaults in 2011.

Congress has repeatedly challenged the military to take more aggressive steps to curb sexual assault. But the new figures convinced lawmakers that military leaders have not done enough and that swift legislative action is needed. President Barack Obama has weighed in as well, declaring that he wants to eliminate the "scourge" of sexual assault.

The subcommittee's vote came after a string of incidents that raised fresh doubts about the military's commitment to tackling the problem.

The Army said Wednesday that a soldier has been charged with secretly photographing and videotaping women at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, including in a bathroom. Sgt. 1st Class Michael McClendon is facing charges of dereliction of duty, mistreatment, entering a women's bathroom without notice, and taking and possessing inappropriate photos and videos of at least a dozen women who were naked or in various states of undress.

Just before the Pentagon's report on sexual assault statistics was released, the Air Force officer who led the service's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response unit was arrested on charges of groping a woman in a Northern Virginia parking lot. Lt. Col. Jeffrey Krusinski was removed from his post after the Air Force learned of his arrest.

Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., the military personnel subcommittee chairman, said the proposed changes are significant and will give assault victims the confidence to report crimes.

Rep. Michael Turner, R-Ohio, who along with Rep. Niki Tsongas, D-Mass., wrote several of the provisions included in the subcommittee's bill, criticized the Defense Department's approach to the problem.

"I think the leadership of the military is confused," Turner said. "They believe as long as they have programs where they say sexual assault is wrong that they've done enough. No. They have to support the victim, and they have to support vigorous prosecution."

Turner and Tsongas are co-chairs of the Military Sexual Assault Prevention Caucus.

Separately, the Senate Armed Services Committee is taking up a series of sexual assault prevention measures next month. A final plan will eventually be produced after any differences between the House and Senate are resolved.

Sens. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, plan to introduce legislation Thursday with several of the same provisions drafted by Turner and Tsongas. The McCaskill-Collins bill also includes additional measures to protect the victims during the legal process. For example, lawyers for an alleged assailant must coordinate any interviews with the victim through the prosecuting counsel.

The push to eliminate a commander's ability to reverse criminal convictions of service members is rooted in a case that stoked anger among congressional lawmakers. Lt. Col. James Wilkerson, a former inspector general at Aviano Air Base in Italy, was found guilty by a military panel in November 2012 of charges of abusive sexual contact and aggravated sexual assault. Wilkerson was sentenced to a year in prison and dismissal from the service, but Lt. Gen. Craig Franklin, commander of the 3rd Air Force at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, reviewed the case and overturned the jury's verdict of guilty.

Franklin explained in a six-page letter to the Air Force secretary that he found Wilkerson and his wife, who both denied the charges, more believable than the alleged victim.

The authority wielded by Wilkerson and other senior commanders who are responsible for establishing courts-martial leaves victims of sexual assault wary of coming forward because they fear no one will believe them, according to lawmakers advocating the change.

But that clout has been embedded in the military justice system for decades and stems from the longstanding belief that military commanders must be directly responsible for good order and discipline in their units. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has said it's a mistake to strip commanders of their authority.

"For Congress to reach down and change 200 years of tradition because people don't like what the commander did in Aviano, I think sends a terrible signal to the military justice system," Graham told reporters earlier this month. "The issue here is why are there so many assaults and why is it so hard to get people to come forward."

McCaskill is holding up the nomination of Air Force Lt. Gen. Susan Helms, tapped to serve as vice commander of the U.S. Space Command, until McCaskill gets more information about Helms' decision to overturn a jury conviction in a sexual assault case.

According to the military personnel subcommittee's legislation, commanders would no longer have the discretion to reverse a court-martial ruling, except in cases involving minor offenses. Commanders also are barred from reducing a guilty finding by a court-martial to guilty of a lesser offense.

The subcommittee's draft proposal also requires an individual found guilty of rape, sexual assault, forcible sodomy or an attempt to commit any of those offenses receive a punishment that includes a dismissal from military service or a dishonorable discharge.

The subcommittee's legislation eliminates the five-year statute of limitations on trial by court-martial for sexual assault and sexual assault of a child. It also establishes the authority for military legal counsel to provide legal assistance to victims of sex-related offenses and requires enhanced training for all military and civilian attorneys involved in sex-related cases.

The panel's bill contains a provision that extends federal whistle-blower protections to victims to ensure they don't face reprisal for reporting incidents of sexual assault.

___

Follow Richard Lardner on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rplardner

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-05-22-US-Military-Sexual-Assault/id-df75f78db4144dd0b6a06e66a7b85eeb

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Jet Stream Causing Tornado Outbreak

[unable to retrieve full-text content]First, the jet stream caused a cold snap by bringing Arctic air farther south than normal, but when it shifted north, it allowed tornado-causing moist air to move into the Midwest

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/22/science/jet-stream-causing-tornado-outbreak.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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FBI identifies Benghazi suspects, but no arrests yet

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The U.S. has identified five men who might be responsible for the attack on the diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, last year, and has enough evidence to justify seizing them by military force as suspected terrorists, officials say. But there isn't enough proof to try them in a U.S. civilian court as the Obama administration prefers.

The men remain at large while the FBI gathers evidence. But the investigation has been slowed by the reduced U.S. intelligence presence in the region since the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks, and by the limited ability to assist by Libya's post-revolutionary law enforcement and intelligence agencies, which are still in their infancy since the overthrow of dictator Col. Moammar Gadhafi.

The decision not to seize the men militarily underscores the White House aim to move away from hunting terrorists as enemy combatants and holding them at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The preference is toward a process in which most are apprehended and tried by the countries where they are living or arrested by the U.S. with the host country's cooperation and tried in the U.S. criminal justice system. Using military force to detain the men might also harm fledgling relations with Libya and other post-Arab-Spring governments with whom the U.S. is trying to build partnerships to hunt al-Qaida as the organization expands throughout the region.

A senior administration official said the FBI has identified a number of individuals that it believes have information or may have been involved, and is considering options to bring those responsible to justice. But taking action in remote eastern Libya would be difficult. America's relationship with Libya would be weighed as part of those options, the official said, speaking only on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the effort publicly.

The Libyan Embassy did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Waiting to prosecute suspects instead of grabbing them now could add to the political weight the Benghazi case already carries. The attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans weeks before President Barack Obama's re-election. Since then, Republicans in Congress have condemned the administration's handling of the situation, criticizing the level of embassy security, questioning the talking points provided to U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice for her public appearances to explain the attack and suggesting the White House tried to play down the incident to minimize its effect on the president's campaign.

The FBI released photos of three of the five suspects earlier this month, asking the public to provide more information on the men pictured. The images were captured by security cameras at the U.S. diplomatic post during the attack, but it took weeks for the FBI to see and study them. It took the agency three weeks to get to Libya because of security problems, so Libyan officials had to get the cameras and send them to U.S. officials in Tripoli, the capital.

The FBI and other U.S. intelligence agencies identified the men through contacts in Libya and by monitoring their communications. They are thought to be members of Ansar al-Shariah, the Libyan militia group whose fighters were seen near the U.S. diplomatic facility prior to the violence.

Republican lawmakers continue to call for the Obama administration to provide more information about the attack. The White House released 99 pages of emails about the talking points drafted by the intelligence community that Rice used to describe the attack, initially suggesting they were part of a series of regional protests about an anti-Islamic film. In those emails, administration officials agreed to remove from the talking points all mentions of terror groups such as Ansar al-Shariah or al-Qaida, because the intelligence pointing to those groups' involvement was still unclear and because some officials didn't want to give Congress ammunition to criticize the administration.

U.S. officials say the FBI has proof that the five men were either at the scene of the first attack or somehow involved because of intercepts of at least one of them bragging about taking part. Some of the men have also been in contact with a network of well-known regional Jihadists, including al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.

The U.S. has decided that the evidence it has now would be enough for a military operation to seize the men for questioning, but not enough for a civilian arrest or a drone strike against them, the officials said. The U.S. has kept them under surveillance, mostly by electronic means. There was a worry that the men could get spooked and hide, but so far, not even the FBI's release of surveillance video stills has done that.

FBI investigators are hoping for more evidence, such as other video of the attack that might show the suspects in the act of setting the fires that ultimately killed the ambassador and his communications specialist, or firing the mortars hours later at the CIA base where the surviving diplomats took shelter ? or a Libyan witness willing to testify against the suspects in a U.S. courtroom.

But Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon, the Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said he is concerned the Obama administration is treating terrorism as criminal actions instead of acts of war that would elicit a much harsher response from the United States.

"The war on terror, I think, is a war and at times I get the feeling that the administration wants to treat it as a crime," McKeon said Tuesday.

Administration officials have indicated recently that the FBI is zeroing in.

"Regardless of what happened previously, we have made very, very, very substantial progress in that investigation," Attorney General Eric Holder told lawmakers last week.

That echoed comments made by Secretary of State John Kerry to lawmakers last month.

"They do have people ID'd," Kerry said of the FBI-led investigation. "They have made some progress. They have a number of suspects who are persons of interest that they are pursuing in this and building cases on."

But options for dealing with the men are few and difficult, U.S. officials said, describing high level strategy debates among White House, FBI and other counterterror officials. Those confidential discussions were described on condition of anonymity by four senior U.S. officials briefed on the investigation into the attack.

The U.S. could ask Libya to arrest the suspects, hoping that Americans would be given access to question them and that the Libyans gather enough evidence to hold the men under their own justice system. Another option is to ask the Libyans to extradite the men to the U.S., but that would require the U.S. to gather enough solid evidence linking the suspects to the crime to ask for such an action.

Asking other countries to detain suspects hasn't produced much thus far. In this case, the Egyptian government detained Egyptian Islamic Jihad member Muhammad Jamal Abu Ahmad for possible links to the attack, but it remains unclear if U.S. intelligence officers were ever allowed to question him.

Tunisia allowed the U.S. to question Tunisian suspect Ali Harzi, 28, who was arrested in Turkey last October because of suspected links to the Sept. 11 Benghazi attack, but a judge released him in January for lack of evidence.

Finally, the U.S. could send a military team to grab the men, and take them to an offsite location such as a U.S. naval ship ? the same way al-Qaida suspect Ahmed Warsame was seized by special operations personnel in 2011 in Somalia. He was then held and questioned for two months on a U.S. ship before being read his Miranda rights, transferred to the custody of the FBI and taken for trial in a New York court. Warsame pleaded guilty earlier this year and agreed to tell the FBI what he knew about terror threats and, if necessary, testify for the government.

The U.S. has made preparations for raids to grab the Benghazi suspects for interrogation in case the administration decides that's the best option, officials said. Such raids could be legally justified under the U.S. law passed just after the 9/11 terror attacks that authorizes the use of military force against al-Qaida, officials said. The reach of the law has been expanded to include groups working with al-Qaida.

The option most likely off the table would be taking suspects seized by the military to Guantanamo Bay, the facility in Cuba that Obama has said he wants to close.

"Just as the administration is trying to find the exit ramp for Guantanamo is not the time to be adding to it," said Morris Davis, the former chief prosecutor for Guant?namo.

Beyond being politically uncomfortable, it's less effective, he said. "There've been a total of seven cases completed since 2001," with six of them landing in appeals court over issues with the legitimacy of the charges.

___

Online:

FBI notice: http://tinyurl.com/cmdqnvx

Follow Dozier on Twitter at http://twitter.com/kimberlydozier or http://bigstory.ap.org/tags/kimberly-dozier

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fbi-ids-benghazi-suspects-no-arrests-yet-180357480.html

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IMF calls on Britain to do more for growth

LONDON (AP) ? The International Monetary Fund has called on Britain to do more to support the economic recovery, urging the government Wednesday to speed up investment in infrastructure and come up with a plan to privatize its bailed out banks.

In a review of Britain's policies, which had been hotly anticipated after the IMF last month criticized the government's focus on budget austerity, the IMF applauded the greater "flexibility" shown by Treasury chief George Osborne.

But it warned that more needed to be done for the economy, saying the government "should capitalize on the nascent signs of momentum to bolster growth."

Infrastructure projects ? such as building social housing ? could create jobs and stimulate economic activity. But that alone is not enough, given that the economic downturn has been one of the most prolonged since the Great Depression.

"Our view is there is no single silver bullet," said David Lipton, the IMF's first deputy managing director and previously a top economic adviser to President Barack Obama.

The IMF also urged the government to develop a clear strategy for two banks which received government funding to stay afloat ? even if it requires another capital infusion. The government plans to return the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds to private ownership ? but when and how remains unclear.

"Any strategy should seek to return the banks to private hands in a way that maximizes the value for taxpayers, strengthens confidence and competition in the sector, and minimizes outward spillovers," the IMF said in its statement. "In this context, if a sovereign backstop is required to meet a capital shortfall, it should be provided."

The IMF made headlines in Britain last month when it criticized Osborne's plans to reduce debt quickly, at the expense of economic growth.

The government's spending cuts and tax increases in recent years have damped growth as companies and consumers were unable to plug the gap left by the retrenching state. That contributed to pushing the economy into recession twice since 2008.

While the Washington-based IMF on Wednesday called for the government to do more, the tone of its report was decidedly less heated than some had predicted.

The assessment came just hours after minutes to the Bank of England's last meeting in May showed policymakers remain reluctant to offer more monetary stimulus to the economy.

The minutes showed the nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee unanimously approved keeping the base interest rate at 0.5 percent but disagreed on pumping more money into the economy. Since 2009, the bank has injected 375 billion pounds ($579 billion) into Britain's economy in a program known as quantitative easing.

Under the program, the bank buys government bonds from financial institutions, hoping they will lend to businesses and individuals. Governor Mervyn King and two other members pushed for an increase of 25 billion pounds, but were outvoted.

The continued fragility of the economy was made clear in new figures on retail sales, released Wednesday, which showed a sharp 1.3 percent drop in April compared with March. That was much worse than the 0.1 percent rise analysts were expecting.

Samuel Tombs, an economist with Capital Economics in London, noted that the Bank of England's minutes showed a greater concern about the impact that stimulus could have on inflation expectations.

The IMF noted in its report that inflation was easing, which should allow the Bank of England's policies ? which it described as "vigorous and appropriate" ? to remain accommodative for the time being.

It acknowledged, however, that the impact of such easy monetary policy is being hindered by the fact that the banks are still cautious about lending. To address that issue, banks should be made to improve their balance sheets, which would reduce risk and encourage them to lend more.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/imf-calls-britain-more-growth-153135002.html

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Everything New Is Old: Benghazi & Co. (OliverWillisLikeKryptoniteToStupid)

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Power of Moore tornado dwarfs Hiroshima bomb

An aerial view of a street lined by homes destroyed by Monday's tornado is shown Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Moore, Okla. At least 24 people, including nine children, were killed in the massive tornado that flattened homes and a school in Moore, on Monday afternoon. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

An aerial view of a street lined by homes destroyed by Monday's tornado is shown Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Moore, Okla. At least 24 people, including nine children, were killed in the massive tornado that flattened homes and a school in Moore, on Monday afternoon. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

A demolished home with the car flipped over is all that remains left behind in the damage from the tornado that hit the area near 149th and Drexel on Monday, May 20, 2013 in Oklahoma City, Okla. (AP Photo/ The Oklahoman, Chris Landsberger)

A local resident allowed by security officers into an otherwise sealed off neighborhood walks past the rubble of destroyed homes, one day after a tornado moved through Moore, Okla., Tuesday, May 21, 2013. The huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds up to 200 mph. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

WASHINGTON (AP) ?

Wind, humidity and rainfall combined precisely to create the massive killer tornado in Moore, Okla. And when they did, the awesome amount of energy released over that city dwarfed the power of the atomic bomb that leveled Hiroshima.

Meteorologists contacted by The Associated Press used real time measurements to calculate the energy released during the storm's life span of almost an hour. Their estimates ranged from 8 times to more than 600 times the power of the Hiroshima bomb.

Scientists know the key ingredients that go into a devastating tornado. But they are struggling to figure out why they develop in some big storms and not others. They also are still trying to determine what effects, if any, global warming has on tornadoes.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2013-05-21-Oklahoma%20Tornado-Science/id-ecd811959e194bbaa157cd0b67a317cd

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China's Xi will meet Obama earlier than expected

BEIJING (AP) ? China's new leader Xi Jinping will confer with President Barack Obama next month in California, months earlier than expected, as both sides seek to stem a drift in relations, troubled by issues from cyberspying to North Korea.

The June 7-8 meeting at a retreat southeast of Los Angeles, announced Monday by the White House, underlines the importance of the relationship between the countries as they work out ways for the U.S.-led world order to make room for a China that is fast accruing global influence and military power.

President Xi has said China wants its rise to be peaceful, but that Beijing will not compromise on issues of sovereignty ? a stance that has aggravated disputes over contested East and South China Seas islands with several countries, including staunch U.S. allies Japan and the Philippines.

Among the other pressing items on the presidents' agenda: the spotty global economic recovery, U.S. allegations of persistent Chinese cyberattacks and espionage and Washington's desire for China to do more in international efforts to curb North Korea's nuclear program.

Washington has also criticized Beijing, along with Russia, for blocking tougher U.N. Security Council measures aimed at ending the bloodshed in Syria. China, for its part, has repeatedly lashed out at the U.S. military's ongoing strengthening of its presence in Asia, what it considers Washington's support for Japan in its island dispute with Beijing, and the U.S. questioning of China's human rights record and military buildup.

The meeting will be "of great significance to strengthening strategic communications, increasing strategic mutual trust ... properly handling disputes, developing cooperative relations and building a new type of big-power relationship," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said.

The issues are so many that the agenda was becoming crowded for any Obama and Xi meeting.

The two leaders have spoken by telephone since Obama was re-elected and Xi elevated to Communist Party chief in November. Xi was named China's head of state in March for the first of what are expected to be two five-year terms.

The two met previously in February 2012, when Xi traveled to the U.S. as vice president and leader-in-waiting.

But before Monday's announcement, their first face-to-face meeting as leaders of their respective nations had not been expected until September in Russia, on the sidelines of the summit of the Group of 20 large economies.

"They needed more than 20 minutes on the sidelines of another meeting," said Bonnie Glaser of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "If they want to see U.S.-China relations on a solid footing, to manage the differences and find issues to cooperate on ? North Korea, Iran, climate change ? it has to start at the top. U.S.-China relations are not managed from the bottom up but from the top down."

The White House, in its statement, said the two presidents will "discuss ways to enhance cooperation, while constructively managing our differences, in the years ahead."

The decision to hold a working visit instead of a pomp-filled state summit underscores the government's decision to put protocol aside to focus on substance. Xi will make the stop-off in California after traveling to Trinidad and Tobago, Costa Rica and Mexico.

"The engagement has become more flexible, and that helps keep the contact at the highest levels, which is conducive to understanding each other's viewpoints and taking more effective measures," Zhu Feng, deputy director of the Center for International and Strategic Studies at Peking University.

The Foreign Ministry's Hong pointed to cooperation on issues including climate change, energy security, North Korea, and Iran. Disputes also exist, he said, without offering details, and require "proper handling and active controlling by both sides."

U.S. diplomats have said that Chinese officials had wanted Obama to come to Beijing late this year or early next. His last visit was in 2009. Xi's predecessor as president, Hu Jintao, was given a formal White House welcome in 2011.

To prepare for the California meeting, Obama's national security adviser, Tom Donilon, will go to Beijing on May 26-28, White House press secretary Jay Carney said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chinas-xi-meet-obama-earlier-expected-032851953.html

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Who Would You Rather: Hangover III Edition!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/05/who-would-you-rather-hangover-iii-edition/

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'Star Trek' beams up $70.1M at box office

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? "Star Trek: Into Darkness" didn't warp past its predecessor.

The sci-fi sequel directed by J.J. Abrams earned $70.1 million in its opening weekend. The original "Trek" reboot starring fresh faces as the crew of the Enterprise opened with $75.2 million in 2009.

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Hollywood.com, are:

1. "Star Trek: Into Darkness," Paramount, $70,165,559, 3,868 locations, $18,140 average, $83,701,981, one week.

2. "Iron Man 3," Disney, $35,770,094, 4,237 locations, $8,442 average, $337,661,977, three weeks.

3. "The Great Gatsby," Warner Bros., $23,939,228, 3,550 locations, $6,743 average, $90,682,832, two weeks.

4. "Pain & Gain," Paramount, $3,237,689, 2,429 locations, $1,333 average, $46,712,183, four weeks.

5. "The Croods," Fox, $3,024,602, 2,373 locations, $1,275 average, $177,024,785, nine weeks.

6. "42," Warner Bros., $2,812,115, 2,380 locations, $1,182 average, $88,816,627, six weeks.

7. "Oblivion," Universal, $2,337,050, 2,077 locations, $1,125 average, $85,588,010, five weeks.

8. "Mud," Roadside Attractions, $2,229,546, 960 locations, $2,322 average, $11,656,971, four weeks.

9. "Peeples," Lionsgate, $2,159,980, 2,041 locations, $1,058 average, $7,867,757, two weeks.

10. "The Big Wedding," Lionsgate, $1,210,204, 1,443 locations, $839 average, $20,308,188, four weeks.

11. "Oz the Great and Powerful," Disney, $871,165, 535 locations, $1,628 average, $231,351,161, 11 weeks.

12. "G.I. Joe: Retaliation," Paramount, $580,176, 409 locations, $1,419 average, $120,522,043, eight weeks.

13. "The Iceman," Millenium Ent., $464,147, 165 locations, $2,813 average, $762,885, three weeks.

14. "Olympus Has Fallen," FilmDistrict, $429,867, 466 locations, $922 average, $97,332,548, nine weeks.

15. "Scary Movie 5," Weinstein Co., $420,253, 508 locations, $827 average, $31,206,376, six weeks.

16. "Jurassic Park," Universal, $340,260, 428 locations, $795 average, $45,299,680, seven weeks.

17. "The Place Beyond the Pines," Focus, $306,969, 317 locations, $968 average, $20,627,976, eight weeks.

18. "Escape From Planet Earth," Weinstein Co., $244,552, 693 locations, $353 average, $55,612,398, 14 weeks.

19. "Jack the Giant Slayer," Warner Bros., $231,339, 250 locations, $925 average, $64,789,196, 12 weeks.

20. "The Company You Keep," Sony Pictures Classics, $225,469, 223 locations, $1,011 average, $4,510,500, seven weeks.

___

Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/star-trek-beams-70-1m-box-office-220158867.html

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Nigeria says switching to foreign debt to lower costs

By Chijioke Ohuocha

LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria will increase the amount it borrows overseas to around 40 percent of all debt over the next three to five years, from 12 percent currently, to lower its cost of funds, the head of the debt office said on Monday.

DMO Director General, Abraham Nwankwo, said he expected Nigeria's debt to GDP ratio to fall to 17 percent over the same period from 21 percent, as Africa's second-biggest economy switches into cheaper foreign debt.

Nigeria is one of several African countries seeking to ride the wave of cheap money generated by ultra-loose monetary policy in the West and Japan.

"Nigeria has developed a medium-term debt strategy ... which will improve the portfolio mix and reduce our average cost of funds," Nwankwo told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Nwankwo said foreign debt was currently 800 basis points cheaper than domestic debt, noting that a proposed $1 billion Eurobond issue was part of the strategy to move towards cheaper foreign loans.

Total domestic debt stood at 6.49 trillion naira at end-March, 2013 while foreign debt was $6 billion. "We have to look at the optimal portfolio mix, cost structure, market development and source of funding," Nwankwo said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nigeria-says-switching-foreign-debt-lower-costs-115443070.html

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Video shows kidnapped Egyptian security officers

CAIRO (AP) ? Seven men purported to be the members of Egypt's security forces kidnapped by suspected militants last week appeared in a video posted online Sunday and urged the government to secure their release by meeting their captors' demands.

The video, posted on YouTube, is the first sign of the six policemen and one border guard since they were abducted by gunmen on the road from the Sinai Peninsula to Cairo on Thursday. Egyptian security officials said they believed the men in the clip were the missing personnel and that authorities were treating the matter seriously. The father of one of the captives identified his son in the video.

The kidnappings have embarrassed President Mohammed Morsi's government, and are seen as a test of his administration's ability to restore security to the volatile peninsula. They also have renewed a national debate on how best to tackle the troubles in northern Sinai, which borders Gaza and Israel. While many called for a swift security response, some argued that such a move would spark a backlash.

Authorities have been in contact with the kidnappers through mediators. The kidnappers have demanded the release of several militants held in Egyptian jails, including some convicted during Mubarak's rule, officials say.

In a statement Sunday, the president said that there is "no room for dialogue with the criminals" responsible for the kidnappings. The statement followed a meeting Morsi held with politicians from largely Islamist groups to brief them on efforts to secure the captives' release.

The president wrote on the social media website Twitter Sunday evening that "all options are on the table" to free the men and that the government will "not succumb to blackmail."

Sinai has been wracked by lawlessness since the 2011 uprising that ousted longtime leader Hosni Mubarak. Criminal gangs, militants and local tribesmen disgruntled with what they say is state-sponsored discrimination have exploited the security vacuum to smuggle weapons, attack security forces and kidnap tourists to trade for relatives held in Egyptian jails.

In the video released Sunday, the men, blindfolded and holding their hands on their heads, introduce themselves one by one.

One of the men identified himself as Cpl. Ibrahim Sobhi Ibrahim and asked Egypt's leaders to free jailed Sinai militants.

"The demands of the brothers, Mr. President, is the release of political prisoners from Sinai," he says. "Please, Mr. President, release them quickly. We can no longer tolerate torture."

The video closes with the men pleading to the camera: "Rescue us, Mr. President. We can't take it. Rescue us, people." At one point, the tip of a rifle appears over the head of some of the captives, before it is swiftly pulled back off the screen. There were no visible signs of torture on the young men.

It was not immediately clear who posted the video, which was uploaded to a YouTube account created Sunday. Later YouTube took it down, saying it violated its policy on violence.

An Egyptian security official identified the captives in the video as the missing personnel. He said a copy of the video was sent to security agencies, but it was not immediately clear by whom. Another security official in Cairo said families and friends of the captives were called in to identify their relatives.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.

The names of five of the missing also correspond with names previously obtained by The Associated Press.

Security officials say they believe the assailants carried out the kidnapping after being angered over reports that a prisoner, Ahmed Abu Sheta, had been tortured while in jail. Abu Shehata was convicted of attacking a police station in 2011 that killed police officers.

After meeting Morsi on Sunday, Younes Makhyoun, a leading member of the ultraconservative Islamist Salafi al-Nour party, said the president is eager to avoid a security response.

"Even though there are voices who are demanding security interference and decisiveness, (Morsi) said he wants to rescue the soldiers peacefully, and is keeping the engagement with local tribesmen," Makhyoun told The Associated Press. "The security solution would be easiest, but he wants to save lives."

Makhyoun said his party is also against a security solution because it would lead to bloodshed and won't resolve the problem ? a lingering feeling of injustice by many of those who were convicted and arrested during the Mubarak era. He said the kidnappers' demands include the release of as many as 600 prisoners, some of whom were convicted before 2011. A way out, he said, would be to offer retrials for those convicted in the past or in haste.

Mohammed Abdel-Hamid, the father of one of the policemen, told the private Al-Youm TV station that his son was in the video. He said he would rather see his son dead than have his release negotiated.

Expressing their anger at the recent kidnapping, scores of policemen blocked a commercial border crossing with Israel Sunday to protest the abduction of their colleagues. The policemen closed the main gates of the Awja crossing with chains, leaving around 40 trucks stranded, according to local official Ahmed Osman.

On Friday, policemen blocked a border crossing into Gaza. There was no indication that either Israel or the Palestinians were involved in the kidnapping.

___

Associated Press writer Ashraf Sweilam contributed to this report from south Sinai.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/video-shows-kidnapped-egyptian-security-officers-161501440.html

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