AP sources: House Dems offer own gun control plan

WASHINGTON (AP) ? House Democrats will unveil 15 proposals for curbing gun violence that resemble President Barack Obama's plan and will include a call for banning assault weapons, people familiar with the package said Wednesday.

The Democrats' recommendations will also include barring high-capacity magazines carrying more than 10 rounds of ammunition, requiring background checks for all gun sales and prohibiting gun trafficking, all of which Obama proposed last month.

The proposals, to be released Thursday by top House Democrats, were described by people who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the plan publicly. They represent the initial House Democratic response to the horrific Dec. 14 shooting of 20 first-graders and six adults at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

Even so, the Democrats' proposals are unlikely to go anywhere quickly in the Republican-controlled House. A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has said the House will wait to see what the Democratic-led Senate does.

Obama's gun control proposals have been opposed by the National Rifle Association, which is a potent lobbying force on Capitol Hill. In addition, some Democrats ? including many from rural or conservative areas ? have been reluctant to endorse the president's plan.

That hesitation was underscored Wednesday at a private retreat Senate Democrats staged in Annapolis, Md. At that session, Democrats largely embraced expanded background checks on gun sales, but some senators expressed a desire to avoid voting on an assault weapons ban, according to two people who described the closed-door session only on condition of anonymity.

The House Democrats' recommendations were proposed by the 12-member House Democratic Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, led by Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif. Two-thirds of its members had to approve an item for it to be included in their plan, meaning there likely will be Democratic dissenters to some of the ideas.

Among the task force members was Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., the House's longest serving member. Dingell has been a strong ally of the National Rifle Association, though he has clashed with them on some issues in the past.

There has been strong public support for expanding background checks beyond the current system, in which the checks only cover sales by federally licensed gun dealers. The checks are aimed at weeding out gun sales to criminals, people with mental health problems and some others.

That proposal has gotten the most initial backing from members of Congress and is widely expected to be the centerpiece of legislation the Senate Judiciary Committee plans to write as soon as this month. Anti-trafficking provisions ? making it a crime to sell guns to people who are prohibited from having them ? also is expected to be included.

The proposed ban on military-style assault weapons, while backed by about half the public in polls, has gotten tepid support so far on Capitol Hill and is given scant chance of becoming law. Limits on the size of ammunition magazines also face an uncertain fate in Congress.

House Democratic leaders were saying little about their task force's proposals Wednesday. An email describing a Thursday news conference at which the package will be announced said the principles were "geared toward reducing gun violence in America while also respecting the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens."

One person said Democrats would use their announcement to call on Republicans to say what, if any, gun restrictions they support after the Newtown massacre.

On Tuesday, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., told CNN that he favored some expansion of the background check system. He noted that his own state has increased the mental health information it makes available to the federal government on gun buyers, following the 2007 killings of 32 people at Virginia Tech by a student who then committed suicide.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-sources-house-dems-offer-own-gun-control-230836403--politics.html

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Islamists disown PM over move to end Tunisian crisis

TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's Islamists rejected on Thursday a plan by their party chief and prime minister to change the government after unrest erupted over the killing of an opposition leader, deepening the worst crisis since a 2011 revolution.

Protests resumed in the North African state that gave birth to the Arab Spring uprisings, with police firing teargas to disperse demonstrators near the interior ministry in Tunis and stone-throwing youths in the southern town of Gafsa.

Labour union leaders agreed to stage a general strike on Friday and the family of assassinated secular politician Chokri Belaid said his funeral could be held then too, raising the spectre of further destabilising turmoil.

France, the former colonial power in Tunisia, will close its schools in Tunis on Friday and Saturday over fears of further bloodshed, according to the French embassy.

Prime Minister Hamdi Jebali of Ennahda announced late on Wednesday he would replace the government led by his moderate Islamist party with a non-partisan cabinet until elections could be held, as soon as possible.

But a senior Ennahda official said Jebali had not sought approval from his party, suggesting the Islamist group was split over the move to replace the governing coalition.

"The prime minister did not ask the opinion of his party," said Abdelhamid Jelassi, Ennahda's vice-president. "We in Ennahda believe Tunisia needs a political government now. We will continue discussions with other parties about forming a coalition government."

Tunisia's main opposition parties also rejected any move to a government of experts and demanded they be consulted before any new cabinet is formed.

Political analysts said protracted deadlock could aggravate the unrest, which has underscored the chasm between Islamists and secular groups who fear that freedoms of expression, cultural liberty and women's rights are in jeopardy just two years after the Western-backed dictatorship crumbled.

Belaid was shot as he left home for work on Wednesday by a gunman who fled on the back of a motorcycle. That sent thousands of protesters into the streets nationwide hurling rocks and fighting police, similar to disturbances in Egypt last month.

No one claimed responsibility for the killing, and the head of Ennahda said the party had nothing to do with it.

But a crowd set fire to the Tunis headquarters of Ennahda, which won the most seats in a free election 16 months ago. Protests also hit Sidi Bouzid, fount of the Jasmine Revolution that ousted dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011.

While Belaid had only a modest political following, his sharp criticism of Ennahda policies spoke for many Tunisians who fear religious radicals are bent on snuffing out freedoms won in the first of the revolts that rippled through the Arab world.

PARLIAMENT TO WEIGH NEW CABINET

Mehrzia Abidi, vice-president of the interim parliament which has been struggling for months to draft a new post-Ben Ali constitution, said it would discuss Jebali's proposal for temporary technocratic government on Thursday.

Sadok Belaid, a constitutional law expert, said the assembly would have to approve the cabinet overhaul. But the assembly's dysfunctional record raised the threat of drawn-out instability.

Political analyst Salem Labyed said the opposition appeared to want to leverage the crisis to its own advantage.

"It seems that the opposition wants to secure the maximum possible political gains but the fear is that the ... crisis will deepen if things remain unclear at the political level. That could increase the anger of supporters of the secular opposition, which may go back to the streets again," he said.

Many Tunisians complain that radical Salafi Islamists could hijack their democratic revolution, fearing Ennahda is coming increasingly under their sway.

Nervous about the extent of hardline Islamist influence and the volatility of the political impasse, global powers urged Tunisians to see through a non-violent shift to democracy.

"The revolution at the beginning was a fight for dignity and freedom, but violence is taking over," said French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius. "I want to offer France's support to those who want to end the violence. We cannot let closed-mindedness and violence take over," he said on BFM-TV.

But discontent has smouldered for some time, not only over secularist-Islamist issues but also over the lack of progress towards better living standards expected after Ben Ali's exit.

In a reflection of investor fears about the crisis, the cost of insuring Tunisian government bonds against default rose to their highest level in more than four years on Thursday.

Lacking the huge oil and gas resources of neighbours Libya and Algeria, Tunisia counts tourism as a crucial currency earner, and further turmoil could deter visitors.

REBELLION WITHIN CABINET

Jebali declared after Wednesday's protests that weeks of talks on reshaping the government had failed amid infighting within the three-party coalition. One secular party threatened to bolt unless Ennahda replaced some of its ministers.

The opposition Nida Touns, Republican, Popular Front and Massar parties demanded that Jebali talk to them before making any move to dissolve his cabinet. "All the government, including the prime minister, should resign," said Beji Caid Essebsi, an ex-premier who heads the secular Nida Touns.

Shortly before his death, Belaid said tolerance shown by Ennahda and its two, smaller secularist allies toward Salafists had allowed the spread of groups hostile to modern culture in what has been one of the most broadly secular Arab states.

As in Egypt, secular leaders have accused Islamists of trying to cement narrow religiosity in the new state. This dispute has held up a deal on a constitution setting the stage for a parliamentary election, which had been expected by June.

But unlike Egypt's government, Ennahda has struggled to form a stabilising partnership with key existing state institutions, as the Muslim Brotherhood has done with the Egyptian military, risk consultancy Stratfor said in an analysis on Wednesday.

"This inability or unwillingness to rely on the state security apparatus as a regime backer has left Ennahda with few useful tools to address the strengthening political opposition and popular forces increasingly calling for significant changes in the makeup of the government," Stratfor said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tunisian-government-dissolved-critics-killing-causes-fury-050330877.html

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Video, 4G propel mobile traffic to new heights

Devin Coldewey , NBC News ? ? ? 21 hrs.

A new report on mobile data use in 2012 showed that increasing numbers of smartphones, many of them Android-based and capable of 4G data speeds, led to continuing increases in mobile traffic. Last year saw more than 10 exabytes of data sent to and from our devices.

The report, from Cisco, says that last year brought a few notable firsts:

• Total global traffic grew 70 percent, and smartphone use grew 81 percent.
• A staggering 885 petabytes (1,000 terabytes each) of data were transferred every month, making for a total of about 10.6 exabytes.
  
• Mobile video now accounts for just over half (51 percent) of all mobile traffic.
• 4G connections used 19 times more data than other connections on average.
• Android beat out the iPhone and all comers in terms of total traffic.

Did anything go down? Very little: Not even old technologies like 2G connections and feature phones saw any appreciable drop in use, although their proportion of the total data sent is indeed shrinking as more people buy smart devices.

Interestingly, one thing that is definitely going down is the proportion of the network being taken up by its heaviest users. In January 2010, the most active 1 percent of users generated 52 percent of the total traffic. But more infrastructure (and more restrictive data plans) have changed that: In September 2012, that top 1 percent only accounted for 16 percent of the total, Cisco says.

The rest of the traffic numbers are only going to keep going up, as most of Cisco's figures indicate. One key statistic: Smartphones accounted for 92 percent of the world's mobile data traffic last year, but only for 12 percent of the actual devices. With more people buying smartphones, mobile data is set to continue exploding for years to come.

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC News Digital. His personal website is coldewey.cc.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/video-faster-data-networks-propel-mobile-traffic-new-heights-1B8280098

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Celebrity Real Estate - Curbed National

Wednesday, February 6, 2013, by Sarah Firshein

Russell Simmons is trying to get a jump on the spring selling season; once again, he has listed his Manhattan apartment. The Def Jam founder has been angling for a buyer since before 9/11, yet the price hasn't dropped one bit: the (really odd) space is still asking $11M. [Curbed NY]

Source: http://curbed.com/archives/2013/02/06/celebrity-real-estate-165.php

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'Space jump' faster than thought

5 February 2013 Last updated at 13:01 ET By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News

Highlights from Felix Baumgartner's leap into the record books

Austrian Felix Baumgartner fell even faster during his historic skydive last October than was originally thought.

Subsequent analysis has revealed that the daredevil attained a speed of 1,357.6km/h (843.6mph) when he leapt from his stratospheric balloon.

It is about 14km/h (10mph) above what was initially reported.

Baumgartner's stated aim was to become the first person to break the sound barrier unaided by a vehicle. This he did. His final Mach number was 1.25.

But although his vertical velocity has been revised upwards, the 43-year-old's jump altitude has been corrected downwards slightly.

The additional analysis shows the Austrian stepped out of his special capsule at 38,969.4m (127,852.4ft), a reduction from the previous estimate of 39,045m (128,100ft).

Baumgartner's "space jump" was made over the New Mexico desert, US, on 14 October. Millions across the world followed his progress on internet video feeds as he climbed slowly into the sky in his five-storey-high helium balloon, before making a rapid, 10-minute descent to Earth, with just under five of those minutes spent in freefall.

The biggest moment of drama came when the Austrian went into a spin as he hurtled towards the ground, turning at a maximum rate of 60 revolutions per minute.

He had to use all the skills picked up in more than 2,500 career skydives to recover a stable configuration and complete the dive safely.

Baumgartner's feats bettered the marks set 50 years previously by Joe Kittinger.

The now-retired US Air Force colonel leapt from a helium envelope in 1960. His altitude was 31,300m (102,800ft), but his top speed was just short of the sound barrier.

Kittinger, now an octogenarian, was integral to Baumgartner's team, providing the Austrian with advice and encouragement throughout the project.

Although the jump had the appearance of a stunt, the Austrian and his group of experts continually stressed its high scientific relevance.

The researchers said it provided invaluable data for the development of high-performance, high-altitude parachute systems, and that the lessons learned would inform the development of new ideas for emergency evacuation from vehicles, such as spacecraft, passing through the stratosphere.

"Together, we proved that a human in freefall can break the speed of sound returning from near space, going through a transonic phase and landing safely on the ground," said Dr Jonathan Clark, a former space shuttle flight surgeon and the Red Bull Stratos medical director.

"That was a big part of the programme, and monitoring the mission was a meaningful event in aerospace medicine and physiology."

The revised data will now be submitted to the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI), the official world body that oversees these types of records:

Maximum Vertical Speed*: 1,357.6km/h (843.6mph/Mach 1.25)

Previous estimate: 1,342.8km/h (833.9 mph/Mach 1.24)

Highest Exit (Jump) Altitude: 38,969.4m (127,852.4ft)

Previous estimate: 39,045m (128,100ft)

Vertical Freefall Distance*: 36,402.6m (119,431.1ft)

Previous estimate: 36,529m (119,846ft)

*without drogue or stabilisation device

Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21341485#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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Troubling Politician Tweets

Put the phone down and step away from the keypad.

Like many members of the public, some politicians have regretted remarks posted to social media. Thoughts that made sense in private sometimes rankle the public. And in this day and age, there is no erasing a 140-character message no matter how quickly it gets deleted. We take a look at some past and recent tweets that caused uproar and had representatives having to do damage control. #twitterworldproblems

Get more pure politics at ABCNews.com/Politics

McCain's Iran Monkey Remarks

A member of Sen. John McCain's own party called the senator racist for his tweet Monday that compared the Iranian president to a monkey.

Ahmadinejad previously told BBC Monday that he was "ready to be sacrificed by the scientists of my country and go into space," and that the country will send an Iranian astronaut to space within six years.

McCain then quickly followed up the tweet with:

[Re: Iran space tweet ? lighten up folks, can't everyone take a joke?]

Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., then replied to McCain's second tweet, saying, "Maybe you should wisen up & not make racist jokes."

Though some experts say the word "monkey" could be associated with racial undertones, others who have worked with McCain have said it has nothing to do with race.

Still some have tweeted that it is justified for McCain to tweet his dislike of Ahmadinejad because of the remarks the Iran leader has made about Israelis.

Ron Paul's Metaphor Mishap

Former Texas Representative Ron Paul tweeted out a metaphor Monday to respond to the fatal shooting of former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle last weekend.

The suspect charged for the shooting is 25-year-old Eddie Routh, a veteran who served in Iraq and Haiti and who police say may have been suffering from some type of mental illness from being in the military.

Another man who was also at the shooting range, identified as 35-year-old Chad Littlefield, was also shot at point-blank range and killed. Kyle and Littlefield had taken Routh to the shooting range to aid his recovery, according to police. But Paul wanted to know why Routh was even at the shooting range.

Paul received negative reaction from people who felt he was disrespecting both Kyle and those suffering from PTSD in the wake of such a tragic occurrence.

GOP strategist Rick Wilson tweeted, "You really are vile," while others called Paul "insensitive."

In response to the criticism, Paul posted the following on his Facebook:

"As a veteran, I certainly recognize that this weekend's violence and killing of Chris Kyle were a tragic and sad event. My condolences and prayers go out to Mr. Kyle's family. Unconstitutional and unnecessary wars have endless unintended consequences. A policy of non-violence, as Christ preached, would have prevented this and similar tragedies. -REP"

Paul has not removed the tweet. He runs his own twitter feed.

Rep. Labrador's Super Bowl Slip-Up

This tweet, which originated on Sunday during the Super Bowl was deleted 14 seconds after it was put up. It was likely made in reference to a racy commercial that aired during the event for the CBS TV show, '2 Broke Girls.'

Labrador is a second second-term Republican from Idaho's first congressional district, a Mormon and a father of five.

Labrador's office blames "staff error" for the mistake. The following tweet also appears on Labrador spokesman Phil Hardy's twitter feed: "Me likey Broke Girls. But have never seen their show!"

No word yet on whether the tweet was actually at the hands of Labrador or Hardy.

Sandy Unfounded Rumors

A campaign manager for a candidate for New York's 12th Congressional district resigned last fall after spreading false rumors about the effects of Hurricane Sandy. The campaign manager, 29-year-old Shashank Tripathi, used the Twitter handle @ComfortablySmug to tweet false reports including that the New York Stock Exchange had been flooded and that a utility company was preemptively shutting down power in all of Manhattan.

Tripathi was identified by Buzzfeed, and he later resigned from his job, tweeting the following apology:

"During a natural disaster that threatened the entire city, I made a series of irresponsible and inaccurate tweets. While some would use the anonymity and instant feedback of social media as an excuse, I take full responsibility for my actions."

Tripathi was the the campaign manager for Republican candidate Christopher Wight, who ended up losing the election for the U.S. House seat.

Rep. Long's Winehouse Flap

Missouri congressman Billy Long received criticism for this tweeted comparison of Amy Winehouse's death to the economy. The Twitter-verse called him "dumb" and others remarked on his lack of empathy for the recently deceased.

Long later apologized in a response he sent to a local paper:

"Although I do believe spending 42 percent more than we take in is an addiction, I certainly meant no disrespect to Amy, her family or her fans," he said. " What happened to her was a senseless tragedy and drawing an analogy wasn't meant to minimize the loss of life."

Paramedics found Winehouse dead in her London home on July 23, 2011 from an alcohol overdose.

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/troubling-politician-tweets-202049291.html

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Microsoft, Huawei Mount African Smartphone Expedition

Microsoft announced Monday that it is teaming up with Chinese telecom Huawei to sell a low-cost, Windows-powered smartphone in Africa, which according to The New York Times is the world's fastest-growing smartphone market. The phone, which will initially cost around $150, is called the "Huawei 4Afrika" and will be sold in seven countries, including South Africa, Morocco and Egypt.

Source: http://ectnews.com.feedsportal.com/c/34520/f/632000/s/2844faa7/l/0L0Stechnewsworld0N0Crsstory0C772380Bhtml/story01.htm

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