Indonesia sentences Canada teacher to 10 years in child rape

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — An Indonesian court sentenced a Canadian teacher on Thursday to 10 years in jail on charges of sexually abusing three young children at a prestigious international school.

The South Jakarta District Court convicted Neil Bantleman of violating Indonesia's Child Protection Law and Criminal Code.

Bantleman, who was arrested last July, pleaded innocent to the charges that he sexually abused three kindergartners at the Jakarta Intercultural School. He said he would appeal the verdict.

"Today is completely a miscarriage of justice," Bantleman said. "I'll keep fighting."

The three-judge panel also ordered Bantleman, 45, to pay a fine of approximately $7,700 or serve six more months in jail.

"The defendant has deliberately committed violence and obscene acts," the judges said in their verdict.

View galleryCanadian teacher Neil Bantleman, center, hugged by …

Canadian teacher Neil Bantleman, center, hugged by his wife Tracy, after his trial at South Jakarta  …

The parents of one of the children have sued the school for alleged negligence and are seeking $125 million in compensation.

The principal and a number of other teachers have said they believe Bantleman is innocent.

The trial of another defendant, Ferdinant Tjiong, an Indonesian teaching assistant, is continuing at the same court.

The school is attended by children of foreign diplomats, expatiates and Indonesia's elite. It has 2,400 students aged 3 to 18 from about 60 countries.

In December, four male janitors at the school were sentenced to eight years in prison in the same case and a female janitor received seven years as an accomplice. A sixth suspect in that group allegedly committed suicide while in police custody.

The school was also shaken last year in an unrelated case over news that William Vahey, an American who taught there from 1992 to 2002, had killed himself as the FBI was investigating evidence that he may have sexually abused scores of teenage boys during a 40-year career at 10 international schools across four continents.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/indonesia-sentences-canada-teacher-10-years-child-rape-124334509.html

Read more

Asia Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development 2015 in Thailand

Deadline: April 30, 2015

Location: Bangkok, Thailand.
Date: 21 May 2015 to 22 May 2015.

Pursuant to the General Assembly resolution 69/270, Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) will convene the second session of the Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD 2015) for soliciting Asia-Pacific regional input to the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) 2015 which will be held from 26 June to 8 July 2015 under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

APFSD 2015 will take place on 21 and 22 May 2015 at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok, Thailand. The theme of this year’s session will soon be decided in line with the theme of HLPF 2015 “strengthening integration, implementation and review – HLPF after 2015”. The program will be posted on this page once it becomes available.

Participants of APFSD 2015 will include representatives from governments, Major Groups, and international organizations. Pre-registration is required for all participants. Announcement and invitation will be sent through different channels to various groups:

• Governments: The official invitation for nomination will be sent through the diplomatic channel.
• Major Group: The guideline for Major Group participation will be announced on ESCAP website.
• International organizations: The announcement will be made through the United Nations Regional Coordination Mechanism.

All information on APFSD 2015 will be posted on www.unescap.org/events/apfsd2 page as it becomes available. Please direct questions regarding APFSD 2015 via e-mail to: escap-apfsd@un.org

Organizer: United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

Visit official website

Read more

Health issues could end four-time Iditarod winner's career

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — He beat cancer, but the treatment cost him most of his teeth. He can't feel his fingers because of another disease. It feels like his fingernails are being pushed off his body.

Life has become a different reality for Lance Mackey, a man at the height of his sport just five years ago who today has trouble doing even the most basic things required of a dog musher.

A scruffy Alaska character who looks much older than his 44 years, Mackey overcame throat cancer to win four straight Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Races. But another set of health problems may make this year's thousand-mile race to Nome the last for Mackey.

Mackey suffers from Raynaud's syndrome, which limits circulation to the hands and feet.

He can't use his swollen and blackened fingers in cold weather. He can't manipulate the stiff digits enough to do the simple tasks a musher must, like putting booties on his dog's paws to protect them from the elements. His brother and fellow musher, Jason Mackey, who has his own team, has agreed to stay with Lance at the back of the pack to help with his dogs.

It's a life-changing blow for a man who knows no other lifestyle.

"I love this sport," he said before choking back tears in a video posted on the Iditarod website. "I can't do it no more."

Mackey comes from an Alaska mushing family. His father, Dick, won the Iditarod in 1978. Lance's brother, Rick, won it in 1983.

View galleryLance Mackey warms up in the Tanana, Alaska checkpoint …

Lance Mackey warms up in the Tanana, Alaska checkpoint during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race

on Tu …

Lance didn't make his mark for almost another 25 years. He seemingly came out of nowhere to dominate the sport, winning four straight titles from 2007-2010. He also twice did the unthinkable in dog mushing, winning back-to-back thousand mile races with the Iditarod and the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race with only a two-week rest between them.

Mackey told The Associated Press before this year's race that he enjoyed every minute of that run, but admitted that pressure from fans and problems in his personal life started to get to him.

"Lance was loved by the public for many of the same reasons that it was hard for the mushers to accept him," said Danny Seavey, 32, a former competitor and mushing tourism operator who works as a media analyst.

Mackey is the guy who would go have a beer "or whatever" with fans after a race, Seavey said. Alaskans loved how accessible Mackey was and the way he defied authority. It wasn't a bad boy image Mackey was trying to create.

"It's just actually who he was," Seavey said.

But now, Mackey is slowing down. The radiation treatment on his throat destroyed his saliva glands. "That ultimately caused my teeth to disintegrate," he said.

A dentist found and yanked "a bunch of abscessed teeth." Mackey said the infections were pretty serious, but he is now having dentists rebuild his teeth.

Then he was found to have Raynaud's, which severely limits circulation, and is exacerbated by cold. To compensate, he's carrying gloves and socks that are heated by battery power, and he's carrying solar panels in his sled to recharge them.

He took last year off from racing, and is now trying to get back to the point he was in 2010. He is rebuilding his kennel, has two new dog handlers and a new sponsor in Forza10, an Italian dog food company.

Before this year's race, he said he would probably run the Iditarod next year, and look at some sprint races in the Lower 48.

"I want to get back to the level I was at, no doubt about it, but we'll see how my body reacts to that."

The reports from the Iditarod trail so far this year don't look good. Even so, Mackey says he'll stay in the sport as long as he can.

"This is what I do," he said. "This is who I am."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/health-issues-could-end-four-time-iditarod-winners-170918632.html

Read more

Putin: Russia prepared raising nuclear readiness over Crimea

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia was ready to bring its nuclear weapons into a state of alert during last year's tensions over the Crimean Peninsula and the overthrow of Ukraine's president, President Vladimir Putin said in remarks aired on Sunday.

Putin also expanded on a previous admission that the well-armed forces in unmarked uniforms who took control of Ukrainian military facilities in Crimea were Russian soldiers.

Putin's comments, in a documentary being shown on state TV, highlight the extent to which alarm spread in Russia in the weeks following Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's ouster in February 2014 after months of street protests that turned increasingly violent.

The documentary comes as speculation swirls about Putin's 10-day absence from public view. On Monday, he will meet with the president of Kyrgyzstan in an event covered by the news media, which would be his first appearance before journalists since March 5.

After Yanukovych fled Kiev, eventually surfacing in Russia, separatist sentiment soared in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula dominated by ethnic Russians.

Russian forces took control of Ukrainian military facilities on the peninsula and a referendum on secession was hastily called. The referendum, which was widely denounced in the West as illegitimate, reportedly brought overwhelming support for secession. Russia annexed Crimea on March 19, 2014.

In the documentary, which marks a year since the referendum, Putin says of the nuclear preparedness, "We were ready to do this ... (Crimea) is our historical territory. Russian people live there. They were in danger. We cannot abandon them."

The comments were reported on the state broadcaster's website after its transmission in the Russian Far East and before it appeared on the air in Moscow.

Putin said his plans for a Crimean operation started after Yanukovych fled.

"We never thought about severing Crimea from Ukraine until the moment that these events began, the government overthrow," he said, repeating Russia's contention that Yanukovych was the victim of a coup.

He said he called for a "closed opinion poll" of sentiments among Crimeans about whether to remain in Ukraine. He didn't give details as to how this survey was conducted, but said "it became clear that 75 percent of the general population desired to join Russia."

Russia initially denied that the unmarked forces who took control in Crimea were Russian, but Putin later admitted they were. In the Sunday documentary, he said he ordered the defense ministry to deploy military intelligence special forces, marines and paratroopers "under the cover of strengthening the protection of our military facilities."

Russia's Black Sea Fleet is based in Crimea; it retained the bases after the collapse of the Soviet Union under an agreement with Ukraine.

Putin claimed in the documentary that the number of Russian forces in Crimea never exceeded the 20,000 authorized under the agreement on basing the Black Sea Fleet there.

Putin also said Russian forces helped Yanukovych escape to Russia.

After fleeing the capital Kiev, Yanukovych made one appearance in Kharkov, then disappeared for several days. Reports at the time said he and his security entourage went on a desperate journey through the eastern parts of the country and down to Crimea, looking for safety. Putin's retelling appeared to confirm those reports.

He said Russian security forces had tried to keep contact with Yanukovych as he moved through Ukraine and eventually "we brought him to Russian territory."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/putin-russia-helped-yanukovych-flee-ukraine-125040411.html

Read more

Pacquiao and Mayweather face-to-face at last

Los Angeles (AFP) - Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather came face to face for the first time since their May 2 mega-fight was announced, as Hollywood rolled out the red carpet for the richest bout in history.

"It's been a long road but we're here now," said the unbeaten Mayweather on Wednesday, as the countdown began to an eagerly awaited welterweight world title showdown in Las Vegas that has been a long -- and at times fraught -- five years in the making.

Filipino ring icon Pacquiao countered: "The fight is on and we're very excited. Both of us will undergo hard training, and we will do our best on May 2 to make you happy."

The celebrated duo seemed relaxed as they posed and chatted for a phalanx of about 600 media representatives who were recording their every move.

The deal for the fight wasn't sealed until February 20, leaving little time for the usual pre-bout media blitz, making Wednesday's event the only joint news conference they will conduct before fight week.

"On May 2 I have a tough test," Mayweather said. "Manny Pacquiao is a good fighter. I can't see how it will play out, I am not a psychic. But you best believe I will be in top shape and the best I can be."

The American, smartly clad in a dove gray suit and pale striped shirt with diamond cufflinks winking, showed only rare glimpses of his "Money" Mayweather swagger -- he did predict he would emerge with his unblemished record intact.

"I believe in my skill. I believe in myself," said Mayweather, who puts a record of 47-0 with 26 knockouts on the line.

View gallery

Tickets for Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao's long-awaited superfight will cost between $1,5 …

- Quiet confidence -

Pacquiao, 57-5 with two drawn and 38 knockouts, wore a darker suit and tie, and displayed his usual quiet confidence in a cavernous auditorium normally reserved for pop concerts and Hollywood A-listers.

"I believe I will win on May 2," said the down-to-earth 36-year-old southpaw, who has won world titles in an unprecedented eight weight divisions.

Pacquiao's Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach couldn't resist a few jabs at Mayweather, who turned 38 in February.

"His legs are little bit shot," Roach said. "He is going to have to exchange more. He has to exchange more because his legs won't take him out of the way ... if he has to exchange with Manny Pacquiao he is in trouble."

Mayweather made little impact with his own somewhat half-hearted attempt to get into Pacquiao's head with a reference to the defeats on his resume.

"When you lose, it's in the mind," said Mayweather, widely considered boxing's pound-for-pound king. "From day one, I was taught to be a winner."

View gallery

Justin Bieber (L) and boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr talk on stage at a press conference promoting the su …

But Mayweather admitted the stakes are higher -- and not just because by the time the pay-per-view revenues are counted the fight is certain to be the most lucrative of all time.

"I've never wanted to win a fight so bad in my life," said Mayweather, projected to make an eye-watering $120 million. Pacquiao will pocket $80 million.

Previous bids to put together a fight between the two -- most notably in late 2009 -- had run aground over various issues, including division of the purse, drug testing protocol and animosity between Mayweather and Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum.

No lingering ill-feeling was in evidence on Wednesday.

"We're family. We're all part of this boxing family," said Arum, who promoted Mayweather until an acrimonious split in 2006.

Another complication was the fact that Mayweather has a deal with US telecaster Showtime and Pacquiao with fierce rival HBO.

- 'Monumental' -

The two networks are working together on the bout, with HBO Sports president Ken Hershman saying Wednesday the event "transcends boxing for sure and will probably transcend sport."

Showtime's Stephen Espinoza called it a "monumental event" that is sure to be the "biggest and most lucrative combat sport event the world has ever seen."

The fighters entered the theater separately, walking to the stage in a parade reminiscent of a walk to the ring.

They faced front from the stage -- to throaty cheers from their camps and various hangers-on -- then strode toward each other for a classic pre-fight staredown.

"May 2, the fight of the century," Mayweather declared, sweeping aside suggestions that the bout comes with each fighter past his brilliant best.

"This is a fight that the world can't miss."

Read more

US explorer beams long-lost Japan battleship wreck to world

Manila (AFP) - The shattered wreck of a Japanese World War II battleship was shown lying on a Philippine seabed in startling detail Friday, as the first images emerged from the historic discovery by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.

American billionaire and explorer Allen announced the find of the Musashi -- one of the most sophisticated battleships ever built -- in the Sibuyan Sea in the central Philippines eight days ago, after a high-tech mission lasting eight years.
It was the latest of many searches for the ship, with the find coming some 70 years after it was sunk by US forces in World War II.

Giant gun turrets and propellers, a torpedo-damaged hull and a plane wing resting on silt were among the images beamed live by an unmanned mini-submarine from about a kilometre (0.6 miles) below the water's surface.

"We think we're conveying something to the world which is significant. It also teaches us about the past and what happened," said Yannick Olson, captain of Allen's yacht, from where the mini-sub was being directed.

Excited historians have likened the discovery to finding the wreck of the Titanic, the famed British passenger liner that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean after colliding with an iceberg in 1912.

The wreck of the Musashi, partially buried and scattered over a large debris field, is also the presumed graveyard of some of the more than 1,000 crew members killed in the battle.

However, the video streamed on Allen's website showed no human remains.

"It's quite clear it didn't land on the bottom in one piece," Olson said. "The destruction was total."

Barnacles and light-coloured coral clung to the broken hull, propellers and anchor of the 263-metre (863-foot) ship, as well as on corroded sections of range-finders for the ship's guns, their armour plating ripped off.

An eel was seen crawling out of the remains of the warship's aeroplane catapult, with instructions in Japanese script written on it, while two pink fish patrolled outside the hull.

The worn remains of the chrysanthemum seal of the Japanese emperor remained on the ship's bow.Scott Matthews, a commentator for the live-stream, said the Allen expedition took two weeks to explore the debris field, which measured about 0.44 square kilometres (0.17 square miles).

The Philippine government said last weekend that it would take control of the wreck and coordinate with Allen over its exploration.

It said the wreck will most likely not be salvaged, the same as other Japanese World War II shipwrecks still lying in its waters, but will be preserved as a cultural heritage site.

Seattle-born Allen, 62, who founded Microsoft with Bill Gates in 1975, is the world's 51st richest person with a net worth of $17.5 billion, according to Forbes Magazine.

Read more

Amazing Voice Like Former Khmer Supper Star Sun Sisamut

Sday Sne Aphorb was sang by former khmer supper star Sun Sisamut for long time a go, now this song is very popular on youtube, facebook, and another social medias.

Read more

Mixed signals on Areng dam

Officials lately have been talking up the proposed Stung Cheay Areng hydropower dam, seemingly ignoring Prime Minister Hun Sen’s pledge not to proceed with the project under this government, a senior opposition parliamentarian said yesterday.

The comments came after Ay Khan, ruling Cambodian People’s Party lawmaker for Koh Kong province, led an armed delegation to the Areng Valley over the weekend, where he sought to publicise the purported benefits of the dam.

“I think it’s quite strange after Hun Sen clearly announced many times that there would be no action on the dam until 2018,” Son Chhay, a Cambodia National Rescue Party lawmaker for Phnom Penh, said yesterday. “But we heard various CPP members saying otherwise.”

The head of Electricite du Cambodge “was saying the Areng Dam would benefit the country a lot”.

“Who is leading this government? I’m not sure Hun Sen is leading anymore, because it seems some people are not respecting his policy.… I’m not quite sure what Mr Ay Khan was doing in that area. Normally, the MPs have a very limited role in doing anything like that. He is doing something against the prime minister’s policy.”

Khan visited villagers in the Areng Valley in Koh Kong on Saturday, escorted by about 40 security officials. The CPP lawmaker could not be reached yesterday.

Chhay said he had it on good authority that the capacity to make use of electricity that would be generated by the dam was not in place.

“By allowing the dam to be built, this will mean that they have to buy electricity they can’t use,” he said.

“So that could be a big waste of money from the budget, so the government is trying to stall for time,” he added. “But the Chinese, because they have bribed the government with a lot of money to get the dam built, they are going around the prime minister to try to get the dam approved.”

A spokesman for Sinohydro declined to comment.

Hun Sen in a speech last month following the deportation of prominent Spanish environmentalist Alex Gonzalez-Davidson said that the area should be developed into an eco-tourism site.

Sinohydro Resources, a holding company for Sinohydro Group, was granted approval in February last year for six months of studies at the dam site. It has thus far been unable to complete the necessary impact assessments.

Sinohydro took over the concession from another Chinese firm early last year.

Source: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/mixed-signals-areng-dam

Read more

WWII Japan shipwreck salvage unlikely: Filipino official

The presumed wreck of one of Japan's most famous World War II battleships whose discovery in the Philippines was announced by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen this week is unlikely to be salvaged, an official suggested Saturday.

The American billionaire said Wednesday his exploration team had found the Musashi on the bed of the Sibuyan Sea in the central Philippines some 70 years after it was sunk by US forces in World War II.

Excited historians have likened the discovery, if verified, to finding the wreck of the Titanic, the famed British passenger liner that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean after colliding with an iceberg in 1912.

President Benigno Aquino's spokeswoman Abigail Valte said officials of the Philippines' National Museum are contacting Allen and his team to "coordinate" on what to do with the wreck, which Allen says lies a kilometre (0.6 miles) under water.

However, the Musashi will likely remain where it was found, she told government radio.

"There have been groups in the past that have also been looking for the Musashi and, in fact, a dozen sunken Japanese warships have already been found in various places in the Philippines," she said.

"As to queries on whether it will be salvaged, the answer is no, these are not normally refloated."

A 2009 act for the protection and conservation of national cultural heritage will apply to the wreck, she said, describing the wreck as an "underwater archaeological site".

Under the law all cultural properties belong to the state, and may not be sold nor exported except temporarily for exhibition or research.

Explorations are also banned without National Museum authorisation and supervision. Violators can be jailed for up to 10 years if found guilty.

"We do have the relevant law that will apply to this particular case and, of course, we do intend to make sure that law is followed," Valte said.

National Museum director Jeremy Barns could not be reached for comment by AFP on Saturday.

The 263-metre (863-foot) Musashi was sunk in 1944 amid a US campaign to liberate the Philippines, its former colony, from brutal Japanese World War II occupation.

Allen said the discovery was the outcome of an eight-year search for the battleship, backed by historical data from four countries and using "advanced technology" that surveyed the seabed.

Undersea footage on Allen's website showed what were described as a valve, a catapult for planes, a gun turret and a starboard anchor.

It also showed the space on the bow for the Japanese empire's Chrysanthemum seal.

This is a unique feature of the three biggest warships that Japan built during World War II, according to Kazushige Todaka, director of the Kure Maritime Museum in Japan.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wwii-japan-shipwreck-salvage-unlikely-filipino-official-140332109.html

Read more

Death row Australians in last-ditch bid to halt executions

Jakarta (AFP) - An Indonesian court will Thursday hear an appeal by two Australian drug smugglers on death row against President Joko Widodo's refusal to grant them clemency, a last-ditch effort to halt the looming executions.

Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, the ringleaders of the so-called "Bali Nine" drug smuggling gang, were sentenced to death in 2006 for trying to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia.

Their appeals for presidential clemency, typically a death row convict's final chance of avoiding the firing squad, were rejected by Widodo.

Widodo, a vocal supporter of the death penalty for drug traffickers, claimed that Indonesia is facing an "emergency" due to rising narcotics use.

The Administrative Court last month dismissed a bid to challenge that decision, saying clemency was the president's prerogative which it had no right to overturn.

Their lawyers had since lodged an appeal against that dismissal and were awaiting judgement.

View galleryIndonesia moving 2 Aussies, 5 other foreigners for …

Australian death row prisoners Andrew Chan (C) and Myuran Sukumaran (L) are seen in a holding cell w …

"The next hearing on Thursday will be the response from the president's team about our challenge," one of their lawyers, Doly James, told AFP.

"The reason for the rejection of clemency was unclear, when we had been very clear why these two deserved clemency," he said.

Indonesian authorities last week moved the pair from Bali to the prison island of Nusakambangan, indicating that they would soon be executed.

They are among a group of drug convicts, including foreigners from France, Brazil, the Philippines, Nigeria and Ghana, who are expected to be executed at the same time on the island.

The looming sentences have sparked diplomatic tensions between Australia and Indonesia, with Canberra warning that the execution of the two Australians would have implications, not just in Australia but globally.

Widodo stood firm on the executions, and last week rejected the offer of a prisoner swap proposed by Canberra.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott at the weekend said he had "requested a conversation" with Widodo.

"I've had several conversations already with him on this subject. I've requested another one. At this stage, it hasn't been able to be arranged," he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/death-row-australians-last-ditch-bid-halt-executions-093408664.html

Read more

Boko Haram fighters mass in Gwoza, several residents killed

Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Boko Haram militants have been amassing in the northeast Nigeria town of Gwoza, believed to be the group's headquarters, killing residents who were unable to flee, a senator and witnesses said Thursday.

The men were later executed in front of their wives, the witness told AFP from Yola, capital of neighbouring Adamawa state.

"The Boko Haram men brought out brand new guns from cartons, tested them and shot dead all the men who they forced to lie face down," she said.

Some of these details were supported by area Senator Ali Ndume, who also confirmed the large build-up of insurgents in Gwoza.

"Boko Haram insurgents have in recent days been converging in Gwoza where they killed many male residents and chased women and children out of the town," said Ndume.

The group's leader Abubakar Shekau proclaimed Gwoza part of a caliphate and reclaiming the town that was captured last June would be a huge prize for Nigeria's military.

Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger have since last month been waging an unprecedented joint offensive against the insurgents, claiming the recapture of several key towns and villages previously under Islamist control.

Ndume speculated that the Islamists were preparing to defend the symbolically important town before an expected military advance, possibly by Chadian troops who are operating in the area with Nigeria's permission.

The motive for the rebel build-up in Gwoza could not be independently confirmed but witnesses said a large number of residents had also been killed in recent days.

The current population of Gwoza is hard to estimate.

Many people in the town on the Cameroon border fled amid the rebel takeover in June but many others -- including those too old or sick to run -- stayed behind.

There were also indications that Boko Haram tried to reassure people that it was safe to stay in the town and live under the so-called caliphate.

Experts say Chad's well-trained army has offered a huge boost to Nigeria in recent weeks as both nations have boasted of major successes against the insurgents.

Chadian President Idriss Deby on Wednesday claimed he knew where Shekau was and called on him to surrender while vowing to "wipe out" the Islamists.

Nigeria is under intense pressure to show progress against Boko Haram ahead of March 28 elections, which had been slated for February but were postponed by six weeks to allow the military more time to pacify the northeast.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/boko-haram-fighters-mass-gwoza-several-residents-killed-154930780.html

Read more

NATO, Russia exchange barbs reminiscent of Cold War days

RIGA, Latvia (AP) — NATO and Russia exchanged heated language reminiscent of Cold War days on Thursday with accusations of sinister geopolitical plotting and human rights abuses flying across an increasingly deep divide.

Vershbow, the alliance's deputy secretary-general, told a conference in Latvia that President Vladimir Putin's "aim seems to be to turn Ukraine into a failed state and to suppress and discredit alternative voices in Russia, so as to prevent a Russian 'Maidan,'" referring to the Ukraine uprising which ousted Moscow-ally Viktor Yanukovych as president last year.

He rattled off a litany of harsh accusations against the Kremlin.

Under Putin, Vershbow said, Russia has developed "a new form of 'hybrid warfare,' combining military intimidation, disguised intervention, the covert supply of weapons and weapon systems, economic blackmail, diplomatic duplicity and media manipulation, with outright disinformation."

In Moscow, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov blasted the West for trying to enforce its will on others and cast Russia as an enemy. He condemned NATO's decision to create command and control centers in the Baltic states and three other eastern allies, and to upgrade a headquarters unit in Poland — calling those moves a clear signal that the alliance views Russia much as it once did the Soviet Union.

View galleryItalian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi , left, speaks …

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi , left, speaks as Russian President Vladimir Putin, listens, dur …

Antonov said that while attending the recent Munich security conference he was struck by "mad, paranoid" talk about Russia's coming military onslaught. "Western countries are building new divisive lines," he said. "Russia has been picked up as a target."

Russia's permanent representative to NATO, Alexander Grushko, said the alliance is dreaming of a "Russian Maidan."

The European Union and NATO have been harshly critical of Russia's involvement in the standoff in eastern Ukraine and the annexation by Moscow of the Crimea peninsula.

The 28 EU nations have imposed a series of sanctions against Moscow, including visa bans and asset freezes on top Russian officials, with Antonov being the latest addition to the list.

Moscow rejects NATO claims that it has designs on its neighbors, countering that it the West that is using the Ukraine crisis to try to expand the alliance further east.

View galleryNATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, left, walks …

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, left, walks with Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja be …

"NATO countries have used the situation in southeastern Ukraine as a pretext to drop diplomatic language, loopholes and slogans and move forward closer to Russian borders," Antonov said in remarks released by the Russian defense ministry.

"The alliance has found a chance to find a new lease of life, as a phoenix. Everyone was thinking who would be the threat after the Soviet Union was gone," he said. "Now they have a nice opportunity to cast Russia as an enemy."

Follow Raf Casert at http://twitter.com/rcasert

Vladimir Isachenkov reported from Moscow.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nato-russia-exchange-barbs-reminiscent-cold-war-days-160411421.html

Read more

Wireless Charging May Not Be Doomed To Irrelevance

An LED light draws power wirelessly from the charging station below. (Rob Pegoraro/Yahoo Tech)

BARCELONA—Wireless charging is a decent idea that’s been held back for years by double and sometimes triple or quadruple vision: Instead of picking one standard that works well enough, the industry has fragmented itself among competing, incompatible implementations that may each flop and leave buyers stuck with useless hardware.

Yes, you’ve seen this format-war movie before… on Beta, Laserdisc, and HD-DVD.

But this year’s Mobile World Congress provided a little more room for optimism than before.

First off, Samsung’s debut of the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge—each of which support both Qi and Powermat wireless charging, the two most widely deployed versions—means devices capable of wireless charging will soon occupy millions of pockets and purses.

Qi, pronounced “chee,” has been around for a while. A handout from the Wireless Power Consortium, the trade group behind the specification, cites 79 phones that are compatible. But none of these 79 phones has been a flagship model you could expect to find sold by all four major U.S. wireless carriers, or bought by millions of shoppers. Note that while the S6 and S6 Edge will be able to draw current from both Qi and Powermat chargers, Samsung told me its own wireless-charging accessory will be a Qi surface.

It’s also getting slightly easier to find Qi charging surfaces. Last October, Marriott began putting Qi hardware in the lobbies of some of its hotels, and at MWC Ikea announced that it would soon sell furniture with Qi chargers built in.

A new smartphone app by the Qi developer Aircharge aims to show off all the places that its wireless charging surfaces are available; in Manhattan, it only found three publicly accessible Qi locations, all Marriott properties. So much for progress in the Big Apple.

And as the S6’s ambidextrous wireless charging capability illustrates, there are two sides to this story. Powermat’s longstanding technology is being folded into a developing rival to Qi called Rezence, a name that alludes to its use of magnetic resonance instead of Qi’s inductive charging.

A Nexus 4 phone hovers above the Qi logo. (Rob Pegoraro/Yahoo Tech)

What that means in practice, Qualcomm product manager Geoff Gordon explained here, is the ability to leave your device anywhere on a charging surface, not just within a tight radius of a charging target as is the case in current Qi surfaces. This system also doesn’t require direct contact, which Gordon demonstrated by holding an LED lamp half an inch over the surface providing it with electricity.

What Rezone doesn’t have, however, is support in shipping hardware—remember, Samsung’s S6 and S6 Edge only work with older Powermat chargers. Gordon said the group behind Rezence, the Alliance for Wireless Power, expects to see phone accessories go on sale in the second half of this year and Rezence-equipped phones arrive by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, the Wireless Power Consortium is working on a resonant-charging addition to the Qi specification that will bring some of the same virtues of Rezence. Existing Qi devices (disclosure: including my own Nexus 4) will work with future Qi surfaces that support this specification, Aircharge’s Ryan Sanderson said.

Another development I’m waiting to see: smartwatches besides the Moto 360 supporting wireless charging. If those things must require a proprietary charger instead of a standard micro-USB cable, why not employ wireless charging instead? At least some smartwatch owners would then be in a position to use the same charging surface for both watch and phone.

Meanwhile, there’s another possibility that’s hung over this technology since my first introduction to it in 2007: Apple, unrepresented at this show and in the two existing wireless-charging groups, will ship its own proprietary version of the concept. It might take the other big Apple for wireless charging to truly catch on.

Email Rob at rob@robpegoraro.com; follow him on Twitter at @robpegoraro.

Source: https://www.yahoo.com/tech/wireless-charging-may-not-be-doomed-to-irrelevance-112784007394.html

Read more

These Are the Ultimate Smartphone Fanboys — and They're About to Do Battle

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to present the two ultimate smartphone superfans.

But before I do, let me tell you why.

In less than two weeks, at a certain annual gathering of nerds and hipsters in Austin, Texas, Yahoo Tech is putting on a big production called the Fanboy Smartphone Challenge. We’re going to have two superfans go mano a mano in a battle that David Pogue calls “half game show, half science experiment, half serious.”

Our two young contestants will be battling for the ultimate prize: to be king of the smartphone fanboys. Our aim is nothing less than determining, once and for all, which smartphone platform is better, Apple or Android. A series of tasks and challenges will be handed out to our two brave contestants. They won’t be easy. But with such an important title on the line, they shouldn’t be.

The big show is Monday, March 16. We’ll have video of the whole thing here on Yahoo Tech. And now, meet the brawlers for the Fanboy Smartphone Challenge:

For Android: Derek Ross

Derek Ross, 35, has been Android faithful since early 2010, when he got his HTC Droid Incredible. Since then, Derek has become completely obsessed with the Android, putting the platform on his TV, his wrist, even his face (Google Glass). He has owned more tablets and smartphones than he will admit to in polite company.

Derek spends his free time as a contributing author for Android’s oldest news website, Phandroid.com, and has hosted a weekly Android hangout show for over a year.

When Derek’s not playing with his Nexus 6 or Nexus 7, he’s often found spreading the teachings of Matias Duarte, like a true Android fanboy.

For Apple: John Foley

John M. Foley, 27 years old, hails from Chicago. He’s a graduate of the University of Illinois, the same school where the HAL 9000, clearly Siri’s inspiration, was created. In his day job, John does data analytics and consulting.

You’ve probably seen John before: He’s that crazy guy on the news waiting overnight for each new iPhone. In his spare time, he nervously cheers on the Cubs, listens to podcasts nonstop, and uses Apple’s GarageBand and iMovie apps to feel like the rock star he wishes he were.

This is John’s submission to be the Apple rep in our Fanboy Challenge:

John comes to the challenge fully equipped with an iPhone 6 Plus, an iPad Air 2, a MacBook Pro, an iMac, and an AppleTV, and he is eagerly awaiting the Apple Watch.

Source: https://www.yahoo.com/tech/these-are-the-ultimate-smartphone-fanboys-and-112739488769.html

Read more

MoMA retrospective journeys into world of Iceland's Bjork

By Patricia Reaney

NEW YORK (Reuters) - With pulsating sounds, stunning videos and elaborate costumes, a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) dedicated to the work of Bjork transports visitors into the creative world of the Icelandic musician, composer and singer.

"Bjork," which opens on Sunday and runs through June 7, follows the artist through 20 years of her career, from her first mature solo album "Debut" in 1993 to her latest work and a new music installation commissioned for the retrospective.

"It's been an incredibly generous and fruitful journey for me," Bjork, 49, said at a preview of the show on Tuesday.

Through her long, cutting-edge career, Bjork has experimented with sounds, images, technology and themes ranging from nature to feminism in eight albums, numerous videos and collaborations with designers, producers and photographers, which are included in the retrospective.

"This is a huge, pioneering endeavor," said Klaus Biesenbach, MoMA's chief curator at large. "We have one of the most innovative and most influential contemporary artists in the area of music embarking on this endeavor with us."

View galleryA view of dresses on display at the exhibition 'Bjork' …

A view of dresses on display at the exhibition 'Bjork' during a preview at the Museum of Mod …

Three years in the making, the show is designed to be an immersive, transformative experience and includes an augmented audio guide.

It includes unusual instruments used on Bjork's 2011 hybrid album, Biophilia, which are displayed and programmed to play music and sounds in the museum's lobby as well as a chronological presentation of her music videos and an experimental sound experience called Songlines.

Songlines, with its personalized audio guide of Bjork's music and a fictitiously biographical narrative, details her work and creative process through her albums and the characters she created for them. It includes costumes, photos, diaries, music and lyrics, and some of the characters she created for them.

The feathered swan dress Bjork wore to the Academy Awards in 2001 is displayed, along with robots for the music video "All is Full of Love," and the bell-shaped dress created by the late designer Alexander McQueen in 2004 for the video "Who Is It?" from her "Medulla" album.

But Biesenbach said the heart of the retrospective is a 10-minute video called "Black Lake," that was filmed over three days last summer in the caves and lava fields of Iceland. The song will appear on her new album, "Vulnicura."

"Our first premise basically is that this has to be an exhibition that features primarily and makes an experience of music," he said.

(Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy, G Crosse)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/moma-retrospective-journeys-world-icelands-bjork-215250931.html

Read more