Today?s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about how the health law and Medicare are buzz words in public opinion polls and on the campaign trail.
Los Angeles Times: Romney Cites His Healthcare Law As Proof Of His Compassion Mitt Romney, while campaigning in Ohio on Wednesday, highlighted the healthcare law that he passed while governor of Massachusetts as proof of his empathy for people. ? The healthcare law is controversial among conservatives because it included a mandate that nearly every state resident purchase the insurance or be fined; it served as the model of the federal healthcare law that is Obama?s signature act as president, and that is an anathema to many Republicans (Mehta, 9/26).
Politico: Romney Hits ?Obamacare? In Ohio Facing falling poll numbers in Ohio, Mitt Romney reconfigured his stump speech here, ratcheting up his attack on President Barack Obama?s health care law and returning to his once-abandoned talking points about the Founding Fathers and the debt clock. ? Instead of simply vowing to repeal the health care overhaul, Romney spoke more about the danger it poses to American freedoms (Gibson, 9/26).
For more headlines ?
The Washington Post: Romney Shows Political Flexibility On Health Care Over the course of a half hour on Wednesday evening, Mitt Romney put on a vivid display of his political flexibility on the lightning-rod issue of health care. As his surrogates were warming up a crowd of 3,600 at the SeaGate Convention Centre in downtown Toledo, Romney sat backstage for an interview with NBC News, during which? he fully embraced the health care overhaul he signed into law as governor of Massachusetts. ? Then, just minutes later, Romney stepped out to rally his supporters here with a sharp critique of Obama?s national health-care overhaul, calling the federal law ?Exhibit No. 1? of Obama?s liberal view of government, even though it is very similar to Romney?s own Massachusetts law (Rucker, 9/26).
The New York Times: Romney Ad Reaches Out To Working Class Mitt Romney stepped up his efforts to repair the damage from his ?47 percent? comments, releasing a new television ad on Wednesday. ? In an NBC News interview on Wednesday, Mr. Romney, explaining why he could relate to middle-class voters, talked about the health care law he championed as governor of Massachusetts but rarely mentions on the campaign trail. ?Don?t forget ? I got everybody in my state insured,? he said. ?One hundred percent of the kids in our state had health insurance. I don?t think there?s anything that shows more empathy and care about the people of this country than that kind of record? (Parker, 9/26).
Politico: Swing-States Polls: President Obama Tops Mitt Romney On Medicare And that?s despite weeks of Republican attacks that the president is taking $716 billion from Medicare to pay for ?Obamacare.? In Florida, Obama is up by 15 percentage points on the question of who would do a better job on Medicare, 55 percent to 40 percent. The numbers are consistent in all three states. Obama leads 55 percent to 39 percent in Ohio, and 55 percent to 39 percent in Pennsylvania (Norman, 9/27).
The Wall Street Journal: Big Firms Overhaul Health Coverage Two big employers are planning a radical change in the way they provide health benefits to their workers, giving employees a fixed sum of money and allowing them to choose their medical coverage and insurer from an online marketplace (Mathews, 9/26).
The Associated Press/Washington Post: How To Maximize Your Savings Through Smart Health Care Benefit Decisions Employers will soon be offering workers their yearly opportunity to make changes to their health care benefits. All too often this open-enrollment period has required combing through pages and pages of confusing insurance terms. But this year workers will receive help translating that jargon thanks to a new requirement that insurers provide a user-friendly coverage summary of all health plans. Combined with innovative wellness plans that reward employees for staying health, experts say millions of workers should be able to make smarter benefit decision and save money in the process (9/26).
The Associated Press/Washington Post: Inspector General: Medicare Wrongly Paid For $25M In Refills On Painkillers, Other Drugs Medicare routinely refilled pain pills and other restricted medications that are barred by federal law from renewal without a fresh prescription, government inspectors said in a report Thursday (9/27).
The Wall Street Journal: Making The ?Pharmacy Crawl? The clampdown by Florida and at least seven other states has left some pain-sufferers struggling to get their medicine. That has put drug-enforcement and public-health officials at odds with some doctors and patients legitimately prescribed the pills. Several states now make doctors criminally liable and revoke their licenses for writing prescriptions for painkillers that lead to overdoses, prompting many to stop prescribing them at all. Other states have tightened regulation of pain clinics, forcing so-called pill mills to close but leaving people in need of pain medications with fewer doctors (Martin, 9/26).
The Associated Press/Washington Post: Md. Health Reform Panel To Vote On State?s Benchmark Health Benefit Plan A Maryland panel working on implementing federal health care reform is planning to take a vote on the state?s benchmark health benefit plan. The Maryland Health Care Reform Coordinating Council is scheduled to meet Thursday in Annapolis (9/27).
This entry was posted on Thursday, September 27th, 2012 at 8:08 am.
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Dominican singer, songwriter and producer Juan Luis Guerra is the leading nominee at the 2012 Latin Grammy Awards.
A host of Latin music artists filled the Belasco Theater stage in Los Angeles Tuesday to announce the Latin Recording Academy's nominations for its 13th annual Latin Grammy honors. Mexican pop duo Jesse & Joy, Colombian rocker Juanes and Norteno group Los Tucanes de Tijuana were among the musicians participating.
Several of the presenters were also nominees. Guerra, who wasn't on stage, has six nods, followed by Jesse & Joy with five. Juanes, Ricardo Arjona, Edgar Barrera, Carla Morrison, Arturo Sandoval, Ivete Sangalo and Caetano Veloso earned four nominations apiece.
This year's awards allow for 10 nominees, rather than five, in the general categories of record, album and song of the year, as well as best new artist.
The Latin Grammy Awards are to be presented Nov. 15 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas and broadcast live on Univision.
MIAMI, FL?(Marketwire ? Sep 26, 2012) ? Omega Commercial Finance Corporation (OTCQB: OCFN) has authorized the facilitation of a proven capital markets strategy available to public companies that will structure its own internal version of a credit facility. For compliance considerations, limited information can be disclosed however this strategy will be promoted to designated institutional investors and facilitated by licensed financial services firms, yet to be determined. Management?s motivation behind this proven capital markets strategy is to generate up to $1-billion in potential lending proceeds for its subsidiary lending companies. This established capital markets strategy in many ways should create an imminent competitive advantage over other small-cap finance companies and private lenders that primarily compete in originating, investing, acquiring, and managing senior-performing commercial real estate mortgage loans, CMBS?s, CRE Corporate-debt, and other commercial real estate debt investments in the U.S. and globally. President, Jon S. Cummings IV states, ?With institutional investors seeking yield coupled with the US Treasury benchmarks trading at record lows and the recent initiation of QE3, we think yields are going to remain at these low levels for the foreseeable future. Hence, Omega has created a competitive strategy specifically by offering an attractive risk-adjusted premium, which could make this eye-catching to Yield-Hungry participants.? More importantly and operationally, OCFN has formulated strong back-office support teams for this potential massive inflow of capital.
About Us
Omega trades as a commercial real estate lender and specialty finance holding company and through its subsidiaries, Omega CRE Group LLC and Omega Capital Street LLC will exclusively use these proceeds to fund their lending operations.
Safe Harbor
This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These statements include all statements that are not statements of historical fact regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of Omega Commercial Finance Corp., its directors or its officers with respect to, among other things: (i) financing plans; (ii) trends affecting its financial condition or results of operations; (iii) growth strategy and operating strategy. The words ?may,? ?would,? ?will,? ?expect,? ?estimate,? ?can,? ?believe,? ?potential,? ?project? and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties and that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements.
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) ? RadioShack says CEO James Gooch has agreed to step down immediately and is leaving its board of directors.
The struggling consumer electronics company has begun a search for a replacement.
RadioShack says Chief Financial Officer Dorvin Lively will serve as interim CEO.
RadioShack Corp. says it is in the process of hiring an executive search firm to help find a new CEO and that it may consider both internal and external candidates. Gooch had become CEO on May 2011.
In July RadioShack posted an unexpected second-quarter loss and suspended its dividend.
RadioShack, which is based in Fort Worth, Texas, has about 4,700 company-run stores in the U.S. and Mexico. It has approximately 1,500 U.S. wireless phone centers and about 1,100 dealer and other outlets worldwide.
Earlier today we talked about the Motorola Atrix 2 soak test, with the assurance from some insiders that it would indeed be the Ice Cream Sandwich update everyone has been waiting for. One of our helpful ninjas took a few minutes to send us this screen cap, showing some of the build numbers and software versions.
Soak tests are Motorola's way of doing final beta testing, and they are often a good sign that things are ready to roll out to the masses, barring any last minute show-stopping bugs. This one's still too early to judge how well it's going, but we will remain optimistic until we hear differently.
There's not much left to say about it, we just wanted to let developers and hackers have a look at the version numbers.
For the first time in decades, researchers have conducted an extensive exploration for deep-sea corals and sponges in submarine canyons off the northeastern coast of the US. The survey revealed coral "hotspots," and found that a new coral habitat suitability model could help predict where corals are likely to occur. The model is being developed by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) and the National Ocean Service's Biogeography Branch.
Among the canyons surveyed during the July 6-18 cruise aboard the NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow were Toms, Middle Toms, and Hendrickson canyons off New Jersey, and Veatch and Gilbert canyons off Georges Bank. All of these were known or suspected habitats of deep-sea corals. More than 70 deepwater canyons, ranging in depth from 100 meters (about 330 feet) to more than 3,500 meters (about 11,500 feet), exist along the Northeast US continental shelf and slope. Few are well studied.
"The deep-sea coral and sponge habitats observed in the canyons are not like those found in shallow-water tropical reefs or deep-sea coral habitats in other regions," said Martha Nizinski of NEFSC's National Systematics Laboratory in Washington, DC, a zoologist and deep-sea coral specialist who served as the chief scientist on the recent research cruise aboard the NOAA ship Bigelow. "We know very little about the distribution and ecology of corals in the canyons off the Northeast coast," she said. "Although our explorations have just begun, we've already increased our knowledge about these deepwater coral habitats a hundred times over."
Findings from this cruise will not only improve knowledge about deep-sea life off the Northeastern US, but will also aid the New England and Mid-Atlantic fishery management councils in their efforts to manage these habitats, which support a variety of fish species and other marine life.
The July survey on the Bigelow was the culmination of a larger mission to explore deepwater canyons, and gain increased knowledge of deep-sea corals. The Bigelow was one of three NOAA ships involved in the Atlantic Canyons Undersea Mapping Expeditions (or ACUMEN), which has been used to document the deepwater canyons on the continental shelf and slope from Norfolk, Virginia, to New England. During February-June 2012, the NOAA ships Okeanos Explorer and Ferdinand R. Hassler extensively mapped offshore areas designated as priorities by the NEFSC deepwater coral research team and external partners.
Using high-quality multibeam sonar maps, NEFSC scientists and collaborators explored the deepwater canyons in the Northeast. Cruise objectives included gaining a better understanding of deep-sea coral diversity and distribution in the region, and testing the accuracy of a habitat suitability model to predict where deep-sea corals exist in the Northeast.
Bottom topography, as well as various other environmental factors, historical coral records, and model predictions helped guide the search and sampling of coral habitats. The science team aboard the Bigelow, using TowCam, a towed deep-sea digital imaging system operated by researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), was then able to photograph what was on the bottom at the sites they chose, which is important for groundtruthing the modeling data.
Many corals observed during the Bigelow cruise live at depths between 200 and 2,000 meters (roughly between 650 and 6,500 feet deep). Although no specimens were collected during this expedition, more than 38,000TowCam images will be analyzed in the coming months. Data derived from these images will be used to evaluate the presence or absence of corals in areas having historical records; to quantitatively verify the habitat suitability model; and to enhance knowledge of the diversity and distributions of deep-sea corals in the region. These data will also provide the baseline information for a three-year research effort in the Northeast funded by NOAA's Deep-Sea Coral Research and Technology program.
"These are the first surveys in several decades for deep-sea corals and sponges in the mid-Atlantic," said David Packer, a marine ecologist at the NEFSC's James J. Howard Marine Sciences Laboratory at Sandy Hook, NJ. Packer participated in the Bigelow cruise, and was excited about the amount and variety of corals, sponges, and related marine life encountered during the survey and the importance of these findings for the future of deep-sea coral research in the region. "We previously had little or no data about some of the canyons or the available data were decades old, so what we learned in just a few weeks provided a 'quantum leap' in our knowledge about the canyons and their habitats."
The modeling effort to develop the predictive habitat suitability maps was conducted by Amy Drohan at the NEFSC's Sandy Hook lab and Brian Kinlan and Matt Poti, both at NOS. Kinlan participated in the Bigelow cruise and was able to use his expertise to interpret the model findings in the field as well as help guide the search for coral hotspots.
Although the July cruise focused on only a few of the canyons mapped using multibeam sonar, the researchers will also use the bathymetry data collected by the Okeanos Explorer and the Hassler at other deepwater canyons to refine and revise their coral model. In fact, work has already started on a revised model incorporating the new findings.
"Like the hub of a wheel with many spokes, the July Bigelow cruise was central to a project that seemed to grow over time as opportunities arose to leverage resources and use these to their fullest potential," said Nizinski, who has studied deep-sea coral habitats off Florida, off the North Carolina coast, and in the Gulf of Mexico.
"What originally started with 16 days of ship time, provided and funded by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center to explore deepwater canyons off the Northeast coast, rapidly developed into a much larger project," Nizinski said. "What started with informal discussions between NOAA and colleagues led to a major field program that first surveyed and mapped deepwater canyons along the northeast continental shelf and slope, followed by underwater observations to verify coral occurrence. We are excited about the possibilities given the results from this first cruise."
###
Three NOAA line offices contributed to this deepwater canyon /coral project: NOAA Fisheries Service through the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) and the Office of Habitat Conservation; Ocean and Atmospheric Research's (OAR) Office of Ocean Exploration and Research; and the National Ocean Service's (NOS) Office of Coast Survey and the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment's Biogeography Branch. OAR and NOS were primarily involved through the ACUMEN Project in gathering current multibeam maps of the deepwater canyons. Vessel support (NOAA ships Okeanos Explorer, Ferdinand R. Hassler, and Henry B. Bigelow) was provided by NOAA's Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO).
In addition to scientists from NEFSC and WHOI, cruise participants represented the NOS's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, Biogeography Branch; the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration; the Delaware Museum of Natural History; and the NOAA Teacher at Sea program. Kathleen DeLussey, a reading specialist at the James R. Lowell Elementary School in Philadelphia, Pa., chronicled her adventures at sea on her NOAA Teacher at Sea web site and blogs.
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Coral hotspots found in deepwater canyons off northeast US coastPublic release date: 25-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
For the first time in decades, researchers have conducted an extensive exploration for deep-sea corals and sponges in submarine canyons off the northeastern coast of the US. The survey revealed coral "hotspots," and found that a new coral habitat suitability model could help predict where corals are likely to occur. The model is being developed by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) and the National Ocean Service's Biogeography Branch.
Among the canyons surveyed during the July 6-18 cruise aboard the NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow were Toms, Middle Toms, and Hendrickson canyons off New Jersey, and Veatch and Gilbert canyons off Georges Bank. All of these were known or suspected habitats of deep-sea corals. More than 70 deepwater canyons, ranging in depth from 100 meters (about 330 feet) to more than 3,500 meters (about 11,500 feet), exist along the Northeast US continental shelf and slope. Few are well studied.
"The deep-sea coral and sponge habitats observed in the canyons are not like those found in shallow-water tropical reefs or deep-sea coral habitats in other regions," said Martha Nizinski of NEFSC's National Systematics Laboratory in Washington, DC, a zoologist and deep-sea coral specialist who served as the chief scientist on the recent research cruise aboard the NOAA ship Bigelow. "We know very little about the distribution and ecology of corals in the canyons off the Northeast coast," she said. "Although our explorations have just begun, we've already increased our knowledge about these deepwater coral habitats a hundred times over."
Findings from this cruise will not only improve knowledge about deep-sea life off the Northeastern US, but will also aid the New England and Mid-Atlantic fishery management councils in their efforts to manage these habitats, which support a variety of fish species and other marine life.
The July survey on the Bigelow was the culmination of a larger mission to explore deepwater canyons, and gain increased knowledge of deep-sea corals. The Bigelow was one of three NOAA ships involved in the Atlantic Canyons Undersea Mapping Expeditions (or ACUMEN), which has been used to document the deepwater canyons on the continental shelf and slope from Norfolk, Virginia, to New England. During February-June 2012, the NOAA ships Okeanos Explorer and Ferdinand R. Hassler extensively mapped offshore areas designated as priorities by the NEFSC deepwater coral research team and external partners.
Using high-quality multibeam sonar maps, NEFSC scientists and collaborators explored the deepwater canyons in the Northeast. Cruise objectives included gaining a better understanding of deep-sea coral diversity and distribution in the region, and testing the accuracy of a habitat suitability model to predict where deep-sea corals exist in the Northeast.
Bottom topography, as well as various other environmental factors, historical coral records, and model predictions helped guide the search and sampling of coral habitats. The science team aboard the Bigelow, using TowCam, a towed deep-sea digital imaging system operated by researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), was then able to photograph what was on the bottom at the sites they chose, which is important for groundtruthing the modeling data.
Many corals observed during the Bigelow cruise live at depths between 200 and 2,000 meters (roughly between 650 and 6,500 feet deep). Although no specimens were collected during this expedition, more than 38,000TowCam images will be analyzed in the coming months. Data derived from these images will be used to evaluate the presence or absence of corals in areas having historical records; to quantitatively verify the habitat suitability model; and to enhance knowledge of the diversity and distributions of deep-sea corals in the region. These data will also provide the baseline information for a three-year research effort in the Northeast funded by NOAA's Deep-Sea Coral Research and Technology program.
"These are the first surveys in several decades for deep-sea corals and sponges in the mid-Atlantic," said David Packer, a marine ecologist at the NEFSC's James J. Howard Marine Sciences Laboratory at Sandy Hook, NJ. Packer participated in the Bigelow cruise, and was excited about the amount and variety of corals, sponges, and related marine life encountered during the survey and the importance of these findings for the future of deep-sea coral research in the region. "We previously had little or no data about some of the canyons or the available data were decades old, so what we learned in just a few weeks provided a 'quantum leap' in our knowledge about the canyons and their habitats."
The modeling effort to develop the predictive habitat suitability maps was conducted by Amy Drohan at the NEFSC's Sandy Hook lab and Brian Kinlan and Matt Poti, both at NOS. Kinlan participated in the Bigelow cruise and was able to use his expertise to interpret the model findings in the field as well as help guide the search for coral hotspots.
Although the July cruise focused on only a few of the canyons mapped using multibeam sonar, the researchers will also use the bathymetry data collected by the Okeanos Explorer and the Hassler at other deepwater canyons to refine and revise their coral model. In fact, work has already started on a revised model incorporating the new findings.
"Like the hub of a wheel with many spokes, the July Bigelow cruise was central to a project that seemed to grow over time as opportunities arose to leverage resources and use these to their fullest potential," said Nizinski, who has studied deep-sea coral habitats off Florida, off the North Carolina coast, and in the Gulf of Mexico.
"What originally started with 16 days of ship time, provided and funded by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center to explore deepwater canyons off the Northeast coast, rapidly developed into a much larger project," Nizinski said. "What started with informal discussions between NOAA and colleagues led to a major field program that first surveyed and mapped deepwater canyons along the northeast continental shelf and slope, followed by underwater observations to verify coral occurrence. We are excited about the possibilities given the results from this first cruise."
###
Three NOAA line offices contributed to this deepwater canyon /coral project: NOAA Fisheries Service through the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) and the Office of Habitat Conservation; Ocean and Atmospheric Research's (OAR) Office of Ocean Exploration and Research; and the National Ocean Service's (NOS) Office of Coast Survey and the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment's Biogeography Branch. OAR and NOS were primarily involved through the ACUMEN Project in gathering current multibeam maps of the deepwater canyons. Vessel support (NOAA ships Okeanos Explorer, Ferdinand R. Hassler, and Henry B. Bigelow) was provided by NOAA's Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO).
In addition to scientists from NEFSC and WHOI, cruise participants represented the NOS's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, Biogeography Branch; the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration; the Delaware Museum of Natural History; and the NOAA Teacher at Sea program. Kathleen DeLussey, a reading specialist at the James R. Lowell Elementary School in Philadelphia, Pa., chronicled her adventures at sea on her NOAA Teacher at Sea web site and blogs.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
needs just a few more characters, so if you are interested in supernatural roleplays than give this one a try. The plot is open, so if you have an idea for a super awesome crazy psychotic villain then post a sheet and let me know. Or if you have any other kind of ideas that you want to see in this rp, post a character and help make those ideas become a reality.
BEIRUT (Reuters) - The rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) has moved its leadership for the first time from Turkey to parts of Syria that are now controlled by rebels, the group's commander-in-chief said on Saturday.
The FSA has been based in Turkey for more than a year as fighters have struggled to battle forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. Although rebels now control large swathes of Syria, they face air and artillery attack from Assad's forces.
"The leadership of the FSA has entered the liberated areas (of Syria) after the success of the plan that the FSA has worked on with other battalions and units in order to safeguard the free areas," Colonel Riad al-Asaad said in a video statement.
A rebel source close to Asaad said that the colonel arrived in Syria two days ago. "The plan is that all the leadership of the FSA will be based in Syria soon, either in Idlib province or Aleppo province," the source told Reuters, adding that the move would be completed within two weeks.
The rebels made their announcement on the eve of a conference of several government-sanctioned Syrian opposition groups in the capital Damascus aiming to provide a political solution to the civil war - a meeting which the FSA dismissed as a ploy by Assad to fool the international community.
The FSA is the most prominent of several armed groups fighting to overthrow Assad. In the video, posted on the web, the rebel colonel said his men would "fight side-by-side" with all groups and planned to take Damascus soon.
Despite calling for Assad to step down, the West is wary of arming disparate rebel groups. Western diplomats say they are looking for signs that the rebels have a clear chain of command within Syria.
Turkey, which is housing more than 80,000 refugees from Syria, is facing internal pressure to distance itself from the conflict, and rebels are not always welcomed by residents.
Rebels shot down a fighter jet as it flew over the northern Syrian town of Atarib in Idlib province on Saturday, a witness said.
JET DOWNED
The witness, an independent journalist who asked to remain anonymous, said rebel fighters were attacking a military base near the town when the jet flew over and rebels shot it down with anti-aircraft guns.
Rebels have previously brought down several government planes using outdated anti-aircraft machine guns welded to pickup trucks.
Activists say more than 27,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the 18-month-old revolt in Syria.
In Damascus, the army has been conducting raids of southern suburbs over the past few days after driving out most rebel fighters. Black smoke rose from the suburb of Hajar al-Aswad on Saturday and residents said their houses had been set ablaze by security forces.
The opposition conference in Damascus on Sunday is organized by the internal opposition's main umbrella group, the National Coordination Body.
Last July, a similar conference was cancelled after the owner of the venue was threatened by Assad's forces who fired on a pro-democracy protest outside, killing 14.
Opposition groups say Russia and China, which have blocked Western attempts to secure U.N. sanctions against Assad, have promised to exert influence to protect Sunday's meeting.
Assad says he accepts some opposition figures who call for a peaceful transition from a one-party state to democratic governance and his allies have pointed to the internal opposition as a sign the president is serious about reform.
The internal opposition, which includes many outspoken critics of Assad who have spent years in jail, has been accused of being too passive by rebel fighters and members of the largely foreign-based Syrian National Council, a political group calling for the international community to arm rebel factions.
A spokesman for the Free Syrian Army in Turkey dismissed the conference, saying Assad's government "tries always to negotiate with itself".
"This is not a real opposition in Syria. This opposition is just the other face of the same coin. The FSA would never have any relation with these groups," he told Reuters by telephone.
"It is just a silly plot to mislead the international community to think there is a negotiation in place. They cannot be successful in finding an end to the civil war."
(Additional reporting by Mariam Karouny and Michael Shields in Vienna; Editing by Pravin Char)
Apple TVs of the second and third-gen variety are getting update 5.1 today, which brings two long-awaited features. Both shared photo streaming and iTunes account switching are now part of Apple's set-top box -- the combination of those two finally freeing parents from the potential nightmare of discovering their child's "not safe for parents" photo streams, of course. The update, spotted by MacRumors, also adds some new AirPlay functionality, enabling users to "send audio content from Apple TV to AirPlay-enabled speakers and devices (including AirPort Express and other Apple TVs)." Beyond those two biggies, however, the rest of the update is rather nuts and bolts oriented -- head below for the full list.
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