Kerry to push for coordinated aid to Syrian rebels

DOHA, Qatar (AP) ? U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Qatar (GUH'-tur) to meet officials from nearly a dozen nations to firm up and coordinate military and humanitarian aid going to the Syrian opposition trying to oust President Bashar Assad.

Kerry flew to Doha, the capital of Qatar, Saturday. It's the first stop on his seven-nation trip through the Mideast and Asia.

U.S. officials hope the meeting will re-energize a newly expanded Syrian opposition group, which is to elect new leadership in coming days.

Kerry is a strong proponent of international intervention to stop the civil war in Syria, which has claimed 93,000 lives.

President Barack Obama recently announced the U.S. will send weapons to the rebels, despite concern the arms could end up in the hands of Islamic extremists.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kerry-push-coordinated-aid-syrian-rebels-064033119.html

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New shuttle Atlantis exhibit gives close-up look at space flight

By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - In deciding how to exhibit the space shuttle Atlantis, which goes on display next week, the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida opted for a perspective that would allow the public a rare view.

"One of the ideas that developed very early was to show the orbiter as only astronauts had seen it - in space," said Bill Moore, chief operating officer with Delaware North Companies Parks and Resorts, which operates the visitors center for NASA at Cape Canaveral.

The developers of the exhibit raised the 150,000-pound (68,000-kg) spaceship 30 feet into the air and tilted it 43 degrees over on its left side, simulating the vehicle in flight.

The shuttle's 60-foot-long cargo bay doors were also opened, a gutsy move since the 2.5-ton panels were designed for the weightless environment of space, and a mock-up robotic arm was added - the real one could not support its weight in Earth's gravity.

Then a viewing ramp was built to bring visitors almost within arm's reach of the ship that flew NASA's 135th and final shuttle mission in 2011, closing a 30-year chapter in U.S. space history.

"About half our country now is past the age of being around when we walked on the moon," Moore said. "We want to keep a balance between telling the history of how we got here and inspiring people for what the future of space is all about."

The shuttle is accompanied by a high-fidelity mockup of the Hubble Space Telescope. The real telescope's 1990 launch, its repair three years later and four life-extending servicing missions comprise one of the shuttle program's success stories.

Positioned throughout the 90,000-square-foot (8,361-square-meter) building housing Atlantis are interactive exhibits, shuttle hardware, films and other displays that include darker tales, including the shuttle's tortured 12-year development program and the two ships lost in accidents that claimed 14 lives.

"You have to talk about all five shuttles, you can't talk about just three," Moore said. "We don't hide behind those facts. We don't not talk about them."

Before arriving at the Atlantis exhibit, visitors are routed beneath an eye-popping, full-size replica shuttle external fuel tank and twin rocket boosters. The stack stretches 184 feet into the sky.

SISTER SHIPS

Atlantis followed sister ships Discovery and Endeavour into retirement. They, along with the prototype Enterprise, which was used for atmospheric testing before the shuttle's 1981 debut, now draw huge crowds to their respective museums.

Discovery is at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va.; Endeavour is at the California Science Center in Los Angeles; and Enterprise is at the Intrepid Sea-Air Space Museum in New York.

All 135 shuttle missions were launched from the Kennedy Space Center, which also housed and prepared the ships and their cargo for flight.

The new $100-million Atlantis facility is focused on three main themes. The first is about the engineering and operation of the shuttle, a machine comprising more than 2.5 million hand-made parts.

The second is about the thousands of people who worked on the program over more than 30 years, while the last has to do with the future, perhaps the most challenging part of the exhibit.

NASA is working on a new capsule and rocket to carry astronauts to destinations beyond the International Space Station, a permanently staffed, $100-billion research outpost that flies about 250 miles in space.

The station was pieced together by U.S. space shuttle crews over more than a decade.

But where that rocket and capsule will go and when it will arrive is an ongoing debate. Meanwhile, NASA is hoping to buy rides for its space station crews from private industry by 2017.

The exhibit opens June 29. Ticket prices are $50 for adults and $40 for children aged 3-11, plus tax.

(Editing by David Adams and Paul Simao)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/shuttle-atlantis-exhibit-gives-close-look-space-flight-170457596.html

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Louisiana man, 36, accused of killing teen rapper

WINNFIELD, La. (AP) ? Police in north Louisiana say a 36-year-old man is accused of killing the 18-year-old rapper known as Lil Snupe in an argument that broke out during a video game at a friend's apartment.

A news release says Winnfield police got a warrant Friday to arrest Tony Holden of Winnfield in the death of the rapper, whose actual name is Addarren Ross of Jonesboro.

Ross died Thursday morning at an apartment in Winnfield. He had been shot twice in the chest.

Holden could not be reached Friday. The phone at the only listing under that name was not answered.

Ross had recently signed a recording deal with the Meek Mill's Dream Chasers label.

Police describe Holden as a convicted violent felon who should be considered armed and dangerous.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/louisiana-man-36-accused-killing-teen-rapper-025640562.html

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Bomb attacks in Syrian capital kill 8 people

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) ? Suicide bombers targeted security compounds in Damascus and a car bomb exploded in a pro-regime district there Sunday, killing at least eight people, the latest in a surge of civil war violence in the capital.

In northern Syria, a car bomb killed 12 soldiers in Aleppo, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists in Syria for information. It had no other details, and the government did not comment.

The state-run news agency SANA said three suicide bombers blew themselves up while trying to break into the Rukneddine police station in northern Damascus, killing five people and wounding several others. SANA said three would-be suicide bombers also tried to break into the Criminal Security Branch in the southern Bab Mousalla area but were caught by security forces before they could detonate their explosives.

Activists confirmed the death toll.

SANA said a car bomb exploded in Mazzeh 86 district in the capital, killing three people, including a 3-year-old boy. Residents of the district are mostly Alawites, an offshoot Shiite sect that President Bashar Assad's family belongs to. The opposition forces fighting against Assad's regime are mostly Sunni Muslims.

Nobody immediately claimed responsibility for the Damascus explosions, but they bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida-linked groups that have joined forces with rebels fighting to oust Assad.

The attacks in Syria's two largest cities came as government forces pressed an offensive on the outskirts of the capital.

SANA carried a statement by the Interior Ministry saying that the Damascus attacks were a "new escalation by terrorist groups," a term used by the government to refer to the rebels.

More than 93,000 people have been killed in Syrian conflict that started in March 2011 as peaceful protest against Assad's rule. In the past year, the war has taken on sectarian overtones.

The conflict has increasingly spilled across Syria's borders.

In neighboring Lebanon, clashes erupted between Lebanese military and supporters of hard-line Sunni cleric Sheik Ahmad al-Assar. Six Lebanese soldiers were killed, according to the army.

The fighting broke out in the predominantly Sunni southern port city of Sidon after al-Assir's supporters opened fire on an army checkpoint.

The military issued a statement confirming that six soldiers died in the shooting, including three officers. It said the shooting was unprovoked.

Heavy fighting with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades caused panic in the city, which until recently had been largely spared the violence hitting other areas. Many people who were spending the day on the beach hurried home, while others living on high floors came down or fled to safer areas. Gray smoke billowed over parts of the city.

The clashes centered on the Bilal bin Rabbah Mosque, where al-Assir preaches. The cleric, a virulent critic of the Shiite militant Hezbollah group, is believed to have hundreds of armed supporters in Sidon. Dozens of al-Assir's gunmen also partially shut down the main highway linking south Lebanon with Beirut.

By Sunday evening, the army appeared poised to move against al-Assir and his supporters, who have been agitating for months. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said the army have surrounded the mosque, sealing off access to it from all directions and neutralized hostile fire from neighboring buildings.

The NNA report said Assir was believed to be hiding inside the mosque with several of his followers.

The cleric and his followers support Sunni rebels in the Syria conflict, and he has threatened to clear apartments in Sidon where Hezbollah supporters live.

Sunday's clashes in Sidon deepened tensions in Lebanon. on edge since the Syrian conflict began more than two years ago.

Lebanese President Michel Suleiman called an emergency meeting of the security cabinet for Monday. NNA also reported sporadic shooting in the volatile city of Tripoli in the north, and the army announced additional force deployments in around Beirut.

The violence came a day after an 11-nation group that includes the U.S. met in the Qatari capital of Doha to coordinate military aid and other forms of assistance to the rebels.

Syria's al-Thawra newspaper, the mouthpiece of the government, assailed the Friends of Syria meeting.

"It's clear that the enemies of Syria are rushing to arm the terrorists to kill the chances for holding the Geneva conference," the newspaper said, referring to a U.S.-Russia initiative for bringing Assad's government and rebels together to negotiate an end to the crisis.

The Syrian paper pledged that the army would "continue the showdown to eliminate terrorism and restore security and stability."

____

Surk reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Jamal Halaby in Amman, Jordan contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bomb-attacks-syrian-capital-kill-8-people-182829771.html

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10 States That are Maxxed Out on Credit Cards - Mint

Even if you make your payments on time every month, you can still damage your credit score in a major way by using too much of the credit available to you.

The credit utilization ratio, a measure of your total revolving credit balance divided by your total revolving credit limits, makes up roughly 30% of your credit score, which means it?s no small part of what lenders look at when considering what interest rate and terms to give you on your mortgage, car loan or other credit cards.

If you want to see where your utilization stands in comparison to the national averages, you can use the free Credit Report Card.

We decided to use data from the Experian-Oliver Wyman Market Intelligence Reports and Experian?s IntelliView tool to examine which parts of the U.S. are closest to their credit limits.

[Related Article: Can you Really Get Your Credit Score for Free?]

We took the average bankcard balance per consumer in each state and divided it by the average bankcard limit in each state for the first quarter of 2013, the most recent data available.

To be fair, these states aren?t maxxed out on their credit cards, but they may be doing damage to their scores nevertheless.

?In most scoring models, the credit utilization ratio represents approximately 30% of your credit score. That makes it a critical issue, but most people aren?t exactly clear as to what it is,? says Credit.com Co-Founder and Chairman Adam Levin.

He adds, ?Though there isn?t an exact code, the rule of thumb is that consumers who use less than 10% of their available credit tend to be those with the highest credit scores.?

All 50 states had a credit utilization ratio that was above the recommended 10% or less, and the states with the highest ratios all fell between the 20% and 30% range, meaning many residents may be damaging their credit by putting too much on their plastic.

[Related Article: 7 Money Habits That Can Make or Break You]

Alan Ikemura, Senior Product Manager of Experian Decision Sciences, says the good news is that bankcard utilization ratios are generally on the decline.

?We?re actually seeing the utilization ratio going down overall,? he says. ?Except for the deep subprime groups, which had an average utilization ratio of 80.9% in 2012 and 81.7% in 2013.?

It?s not uncommon for subprime groups to have high utilization ratios, Ikemura says.

Many of these groups are close to being tapped out on their credit lines, which is a signal to lenders that they are a riskier borrower than those with lower utilization ratios.

[Related Article: How to Pay Off a Mountain of Credit Card Debt]

Here are the top 10 states with the highest bankcard utilization ratios.

10. Louisiana

Average Balance: $3,503
Average Limit: $16,257
Average Utilization: 21.55%

Louisiana comes in last on our list, with a decently low average balance per consumer. The Bayou state could benefit from asking their credit card issuers to up their limits though ? a tactic that can lower your utilization without forcing you to cut spending.

9. Texas

Average Balance: $4,072
Average Limit: $18,857
Average Utilization: 21.59%

The saying goes that ?everything?s bigger in Texas? and that must be true of the state?s credit cards too, as the Lone Star state has the highest average limit of all of the states on our list. The high credit limit doesn?t mean that Texans aren?t spending though, as they also have the third highest balance.

8. South Carolina

Average Balance: $3,786
Average Limit: $17,351
Average Utilization: 21.82%

7. Oklahoma

Average Balance: $3,579
Average Limit: $16,396
Average Utilization: 21.83%

6. Arkansas

Average Balance: $3,469
Average Limit: $15,751
Average Utilization: 22.02%

Arkansas takes the prize for lowest average balance of any state that made our list. Perhaps residents of the Natural state could use a new credit card, which can add to their overall limit and decrease their utilization ratio.

5. Nevada

Average Balance: $3,999
Average Limit: $18,047
Average Utilization: 22.16%

4. Alabama

Average Balance: $3,618
Average Limit: $16,085
Average Utilization: 22.49%

3. Georgia

Average Balance: $4,246
Average Limit: $18,520
Average Utilization: 22.93%

Though Texas took the highest average limit of all the states on our list, Georgia wasn?t far behind. The state could try to skim more money off their monthly expenses to cut their utilization ratio.

2. Mississippi

Average Balance: $3,384
Average Limit: $14,644
Average Utilization: 23.11%

Though this state comes in second in our rankings, its residents aren?t charging more dollars, on average, than any other state on our list. The high utilization ratio in Mississippi is due primarily to the fact that its average limit per consumer is very low.

1. Alaska

Average Balance: $4,563
Average Limit: $16,453
Average Utilization: 27.73%

While all of the other states in our rankings stayed below a 25% utilization ratio, Alaska broke that barrier.

This should come as no surprise to those who pay attention to Alaskans? personal finances. The 49th state has recently topped lists of the highest credit card balances and highest revolving account debt.

Note: The U.S. territories were excluded from this ranking.

Source: http://www.mint.com/blog/credit/10-states-that-are-maxxed-out-on-credit-cards-0613/

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Acer Aspire R7-571-6858

The Acer Aspire R7-571-6858 might be the first desktop replacement laptop for the all-in-one desktop generation. Featuring an adjustable easel-style stand/hinge combination, it's the first laptop I've seen with a fully adjustable monitor, and more closely resembles a desktop than a laptop, with a flipping, folding, floating display design that is certainly unique. While this new design will turn heads and may hint at the shape of things to come, the overall design is dragged down by the decision to swap the touchpad and keyboard, resulting in a design that is awkward at best.

Design
With so many ultrabooks on the market, it's refreshing to see a full-bodied desktop replacement in the labs. The Aspire R7 is by no means svelte, measuring 1.1 by 14.8 by 10.0 inches (HWD) and weighing 5.22 pounds. The construction blends lightweight plastic on the lid and chassis with a metal hinge.

The most prominent feature on the Aspire R7 is the unique combination hinge and display stand, which Acer calls the "Ezel" hinge. Much like the multi-mode Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13, the Aspire R7 uses the Ezel hinge to offer four different usage modes: Notebook Mode, Ezel Mode, Pad Mode, and Display Mode. In each mode, the 15.6-inch display flips and folds to present the 1,920-by-1,080 touch display at the most comfortable angle. As desk-bound systems go, it's one of the most comfortable implementations of touch that we've used.

Notebook mode is the closest of the four to a regular clamshell laptop, with the display lining up with the back edge of the laptop chassis. In this mode, it functions much like any other touchscreen-equipped laptop, aside from the unusual keyboard layout (more on that in a moment).

In Ezel mode, the display stand allows for a monitor-like setup much more like a desktop display. In addition to looking cool, this mode has the benefit of best utilizing the touch display, letting you bring the screen closer and put it at an angle more comfortable than a regular touch-enabled laptop screen. The Ezel hinge features two adjustable hinges, and both hold firmly enough that when touching and tapping the screen, there's no noticeable screen wobble. The unfortunate side-effect of the sturdy hinges, of course, is that they are just as stiff when adjusting the angle of the display and opening the closed laptop.

Folding the Ezel hinge flat with the screen out puts the laptop into Pad Mode, which converts the Aspire R7 into something like a tablet. It's too large to simply pick up and use on the go, though it can certainly be moved from one room to the next with relative ease. Though not exactly mobile, Pad mode does make for a more comfortable table-top touch experience, and the bulk of the hinge sets the display at an angle, more like a small All-in-One system laying nearly flat. Getting the Aspire R7 out of Pad mode is sometimes difficult, with the sturdy hinges requiring some force to pry the display up and manhandle it back into position.

Finally, the display can be tipped back and flipped over, to show the screen to someone on the opposite side. We've seen similar screen-sharing concepts on the Lenovo Yoga and the Asus Taichi 21, but the Aspire R7 doesn't do much to make this dubious concept seem more reasonable?showing someone else the display requires giving up your own, and it still seems like more trouble than looking at the same screen while standing side-by-side. As with the Asus Taichi, the display sharing feature feels more like an afterthought based on the fact that the stand allows flipping the screen, added to pad out the feature list.

The layout?keyboard on bottom, touchpad on top?is almost as weird as the bizarre easel/stand and display/monitor. While the reasoning is at least logical?with a floating touchscreen you don't necessarily need a touchpad, and the angle of the floating display would block part of the keyboard in normal use?there's no ignoring the fact that the switch is otherwise difficult to justify. The traditional keyboard and touchpad arrangement wasn't arbitrary; properly placed palm rests make typing more ergonomic and on-the-go laptop use easier, and a touchpad located below the spacebar lets you navigate without having to hover over the keyboard or worry about unintentional keystrokes. This new design eliminates those important touches, and just feels like change for the sake of change.

The Aspire R7 boasts four speakers for fuller sound, with Dolby Home Theater v4 adding to the overall quality. The sound quality was actually quite good, and the volume was impressive?loud enough to disturb the neighbors, and clear enough that you might want to. Flip the display from Ezel mode to Display also switches the right and left stereo channels, to match the right and left of the person viewing the screen.

Features
The Aspire R7 places all of its ports and connectors in the bottom half of the system. While this isn't uncommon for a laptop, the desktop-like design makes it feel more like an all-in-one placing all of the ports in the monitor stand, as is seen on the Vizio All-in-One systems.

On the right is a power button and volume controls, one USB 2.0 port with power for charging devices, an SD card slot (SD, SDHC, SDXC), and a Kensington lock slot for physically securing the device. On the left is a mini DisplayPort and full-size HDMI output for connecting an external monitor or TV, and two faster USB 3.0 ports. Despite the Aspire R7's undeniably desktop-like nature, you'll have to use the built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi for networking because there's no Ethernet port to plug into. Also, the Aspire R7 has built-in Bluetooth 4.0, with support for stereo sound, as well as an integrated 720p webcam above the screen.

Though the Aspire R7 is pretty big, the storage is a bit on the small side, with a 500GB spinning hard drive paired with a 24GB solid-state drive (SSD) for snappy performance.

Acer loads up the Aspire R7 with a lot of media and social apps, like Zinio and Next Issue magazine readers, Ebay and Amazon for shopping, and an array of others, like iCookbook, Spotify, ChaCha, Netflix, HuluPlus, and Amazon Kindle all crowding the start screen. Dig in a bit more and you'll find some truely useful extras, like Skype, Acer Clear.fi (for networked media sharing), and Dragon Assistant (a voice recognition and dictation app). While the appeal of individual apps will vary by personal preference and usage patterns, it's clear that Acer has made an effort to be sure that there is plenty to do with the Aspire R7 right out of the box. Acer also covers the Aspire R7 with a one-year warranty.

Performance
The Acer Aspire R7 is equipped with a 1.8GHz Intel Core i5-3337U processor paired with 6GB of RAM. It's the same processor seen in the Sony VAIO T15 Touch (SVT15112CXS), and actually did better in Cinebench, scoring 2.43 points to the Sony T15 Touch's 2.28, but the overall performance scores were very different. In PCMark 7 the Aspire R7 scored 2,702 points, falling behind every other 15-inch laptop with touch?the Sony T15 Touch scored 4,112 points in the same test, and the Editors' Choice Asus VivoBook S400CA-UH51 scored 3,013.

The Aspire R7 planted itself firmly in the middle of the pack during multimedia tests, finishing in Handbrake in 1 minute 33 seconds and Photoshop in 5:43. By comparison, the Dell Inspiron 15z (I15Z-4801SLV) (1:33 Handbrake, 4:51 Photoshop) and the Sony VAIO T15 Touch (1:25 Handbrake, 5:21 Photoshop) both offer better performance with similar hardware. Though the use of Intel's integrated graphics solution isn't sufficient for high end gaming, a 3DMark score of 1,203 points (at Entry settings) indicate that it will do just fine handling Web browsing and video. Given the unusual design and layout of the Aspire R7, media consumption may be one of its best uses.

And while raw performance may not put the Acer Aspire R7 at the top of anyone's must-have list, it did eke out a bit more battery life than competitors, lasting 5 hours 41 minutes in our battery rundown test, outlasting the competition by nearly an hour or more.

Conclusion
In the end, however, the Acer Aspire R7 is a high-flying concept brought low by reality. While the design is daring and innovative, even among the many experimental designs being tried with convertible and touch-centric laptops, the end user experience shows it to be deeply flawed. With a swapped keyboard and trackpad layout that proves cumbersome, a floating touch screen display that adds little, and a bulky design that reduces portability, the Aspire R7 is more of a weird-looking proof of concept than a marketable product, and the middling to mediocre performance just cements it further as a product that may look cool on the shelf, but isn't the one shoppers should spend their money on.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/v19S-vp7Ags/0,2817,2420714,00.asp

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An iPad You're Actually Supposed to Cover in Crumbs

If you're discrete enough, this iPad cutting board will convince your friends and dinner guests that you're absolutely flush with cash. Because instead of slicing cheeses, vegetables, and fruits on a traditional cutting board, you can afford to use an iPad for the task.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/S2_EpYjlwt8/an-ipad-youre-actually-supposed-to-cover-in-crumbs-533120006

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