Pakistan turmoil deepens as court orders PM's arrest

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's Supreme Court ordered the arrest of the prime minister on Tuesday on corruption allegations, ratcheting up pressure on a government that is also facing a massive street protest led by a cleric who has a history of ties to the army.

The combination of the arrest order and the mass protest in the capital Islamabad led by Muslim cleric Muhammad Tahirul Qadri raised fears among politicians that the military was working with the judiciary to force out a civilian leader.

"There is no doubt that Qadri's march and the Supreme Court's verdict were masterminded by the military establishment of Pakistan," Fawad Chaudhry, an aide to Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, told Reuters.

"The military can intervene at this moment as the Supreme Court has opened a way for it."

However, the ruling coalition led by the Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP) has a majority in parliament and lawmakers can simply elect another prime minister if Ashraf is ousted. In June, Ashraf replaced Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, who was disqualified by the Supreme Court in a previous showdown between the government and the judiciary.

Also, elections are due in a few months and President Asif Ali Zardari hopes to lead the first civilian government in Pakistan's 65 years as an independent nation that will complete its full term.

But power struggles will distract the unpopular government from tackling an array of problems - a Taliban insurgency, economic stagnation and growing sectarian tensions triggered by bomb attacks and tit-for-tat shootings.

The military, which sees itself as the guarantor of Pakistan's stability, has long regarded the PPP-led government as corrupt, incompetent and unable to prevent the nuclear-armed country from falling apart.

Pakistan's powerful army has a long history of coups and intervening in politics. These days generals seem to have little appetite for a coup but many believe they still try to exert behind-the-scenes influence.

Some politicians believe the military will try to dominate the caretaker administration that will oversee the run-up to the polls after parliament is dissolved, which is due to happen in March. An election date has yet to be announced.

The protest by Qadri and his followers has also been seen by commentators as being orchestrated by the military to add to the pressure on Zardari's government, although the military has denied any involvement.

Thousands of followers of the populist cleric camped near the federal parliament cheered and waved Pakistani flags as television channels broadcast news of the Supreme Court's order to arrest Ashraf on charges of corruption.

"We don't want any of those old politicians. They just take all the people's money," said 19-year-old student Mohammed Wasim. "We congratulate the whole nation (on the Supreme Court's order). Now we have to take the rest of the thieves to court."

BAFFLED

Government officials said they were baffled by the arrest order, which came hours after Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry said elections should go ahead as scheduled.

"This was totally unexpected," an official in Ashraf's office told Reuters. "The prime minister and two or three of his friends were watching Qadri speak on television and this suddenly happened."

Pakistan's stock exchange fell by more than 500 points, or nearly three percent, on news of the court order, due to fears over fresh political turmoil, which comes against a backdrop of militant bombings and tension on the border with India.

Qadri, who played a role in backing a military coup in 1999, threatened to remain camped out near the federal parliament with thousands of supporters until his demands for the resignation of the government were met.

The fiery orator returned home from Canada less than a month ago to lead a call for electoral reforms to bar corrupt politicians from office that has made him an instant hit among Pakistanis disillusioned with the state.

In a speech from behind a bullet-proof shield in front of parliament, Qadri praised the military and the judiciary, the country's two other power centers.

"(The government) has wasted and brought a bad end to our armed forces, those armed forces who are highly sincere, highly competent and highly capable and highly professional," he said, alternating between Urdu and English.

"Even they can't do anything because the political government isn't able to deliver anything from this land. Judgments are being passed by our great, independent judiciary but the government is not ready to implement them."

Qadri is demanding that the government dissolve the legislature and announce the formation of a caretaker government to oversee the run-up to elections.

He told Reuters on Friday that the military could play a possible role in the selection of the interim administration, a stance which has sharpened fears he may be working at the army's behest. The military denies any ties to him.

One senior military officer, who said he was speaking in a purely personal capacity, said there was no appetite in the military to repeat the coups seen in Pakistan's past, but added the stand-off could be resolved if the army played a role in the formation of a caretaker government as a "moderator".

"We should try as far as possible to abide by the constitution and law in looking for change. The army chief has made this clear," the officer told Reuters.

"But things seem to be moving beyond control," the officer added. "It is totally incorrect to say the army is behind Qadri. But if he brings thousands of people to the streets and things get worse, there may be very few options."

(Additional reporting by Matthew Green and Mubasher Bukhari in ISLAMABAD and Jibran Ahmad in PESHAWAR; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pakistani-forces-fire-air-islamabad-protests-033818042.html

micron ceo glenn miller who do you think you are superpac steve appleton bishop eddie long madonna give me all your luvin video

Claims of 'post-racial' society and other denials of racism may reflect ...

New research suggests that commonly observed differences in how groups perceive racism may be explained by ignorance about?and even denial of?the extent of racism over the course of history.

The research, conducted by psychological scientists at the University of Kansas and Texas A&M University, indicates that African Americans had more accurate knowledge of historically documented racism compared to European Americans. This difference in historical knowledge partially accounted for group differences in perceptions of racism, both at a systemic and an incident-specific level.

"Survey research consistently documents that, relative to White Americans, people from historically oppressed racial and ethnic minority groups tend to report less satisfaction with race relations, see social inequality as a greater problem, and see more racism in incidents, such as legislation targeting undocumented immigrants and 'stand your ground' laws," say the researchers.

The authors note that these perceptions of racism are often treated as exaggerated or delusional. But theory and research from cultural psychology suggest that differences in how people perceive racism may arise because individuals from minority groups are actually attuned to knowledge that individuals from the majority group lack. Individuals from the majority group may deny racism in the context of current events because they are ignorant about documented racism from the past.

To assess whether individuals from minority groups might be more attuned to the reality of racism, the researchers adopted methods from work in signal detection theory. Their research is reported in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

College students?199 European American students and 74 African American students?completed a "Black history" test in which they had to judge whether statements about past incidences of racism were true or false. Some statements discussed well-documented incidents that experts agree are true, representing the factual signal. Other statements concerned incidents that were plausible but fabricated, representing the fictional noise.

The students also completed measures that assessed their self-esteem in relation to their racial identity and their perceptions of both systemic racism and isolated incidents of racism.

As the researchers predicted, historical knowledge was a positive predictor of racism perception for both African Americans and European Americans.

However, as a group, African Americans were more accurate in identifying historically true events. Compared to European American participants, they identified more factual, but not false, events as true. Further analyses indicate that greater knowledge of historically documented racism may help to explain, at least in part, the observed relationship between race and perceptions of racism.

The findings also suggest how social identity may influence perception of racism. African Americans who reported greater relevance of racial identity perceived more racism, while European Americans who reported greater relevance of racial identity perceived less racism. These associations were stronger for perceptions of systemic racism than for perceptions of racism in isolated incidents.

Together, these findings are consistent with the hypothesis that perceptions of racism are influenced by the relevance of one's racial identity. Individuals in the majority group may be less likely to perceive systemic racism because it presents a greater challenge to a mainstream worldview.

Ultimately, this research underscores the importance of historical knowledge?and activities, like Black History Month, that highlight marginalized forms of historical knowledge?for understanding current events.

"Although popular and scientific understandings tend to portray ignorance as a lack of knowledge, this work emphasizes that ignorance itself is a form of knowledge that makes it possible to ignore or remain unaware of things that might otherwise be obvious," say the researchers.

The researchers note that their findings are echoed in the lyrics to a song from the late Bob Marley: "If you know your history/then you will know where you're comin' from/and you wouldn't have to ask me/who the heck do I think I am."

Journal reference: Psychological Science

Provided by Association for Psychological Science

Source: http://phys.org/news/2013-01-post-racial-society-denials-racism-history.html

hatchet leah messer freedom riders 9th circuit court of appeals gisele bundchen tom brady randy travis arrested dickens

Cuban hospital carefully guards Hugo Chavez's privacy

HAVANA (Reuters) - You would never guess that one of the world's most famous heads of state, Venezuelan president and self-proclaimed revolutionary Hugo Chavez, is battling cancer at Havana's Center for Medical-Surgical Research (CIMEQ).

At the weekend there was no visible increase in security at the hospital's main entrance, where guards in olive green uniforms checked the comings and goings of visitors and waved on dallying reporters.

The sprawling, three story complex that is run by the Cuban Interior Ministry is located in leafy Siboney, one of the country's most exclusive neighborhoods on the western edge of the Cuban capital, and just minutes from the home of Fidel Castro.

It has been a month since the once feisty and now cancer-stricken Chavez, leader of one of the world's biggest oil producing nations, was operated on for a fourth time at the hospital. This time around, there have been no glowing reports of recovery.

CIMEQ's best known patient, Fidel Castro, 86, has been treated there since 2006 when he was operated on for intestinal bleeding, forcing him to cede power to his brother Raul Castro.

Ironically Chavez, who often visited the man he refers to as his mentor during Castro's ordeal, has now become CIMEQ's second best known patient. In a dramatic reversal of fate, it is Fidel Castro who has been repeatedly at the 58-year-old Venezuelan president's bedside, beginning with his first operation in 2011.

Hazy Venezuelan government communiques speak of unexpected bleeding during Chavez's most recent surgery and a lung infection that has kept the 58-year-old Chavez in a "stable" but "delicate" state since mid-December.

There has not been a word, nor even a tweet from the usually vociferous Chavez. His Twitter account, with almost 4 million followers, went silent after November 1.

Meanwhile, Chavez's family has been holding vigil in Havana, as other Venezuelan leaders and various Latin American heads of state come and go in a show of support. The presidents of Argentina and Peru visited over the weekend.

What the operation involved, and even the type of cancer attacking Chavez and its exact location, are considered state secrets.

VIP FACILITIES OFF LIMITS

CIMEQ, according to various Cuban doctors and nurses, is the Caribbean island's finest medical facility, boasting up to date equipment and pharmaceuticals and with the authority to call in the country's top specialists and support staff from other hospitals, as has been done in Chavez's case.

"CIMEQ exists in the 21st century and is the equal to some of the best facilities in the world, while the rest of the country's hospitals remain at 20th century levels," said one local doctor who requested her name be withheld.

"There are no shortages of supplies and medicines and the food is great," she added.

The hospital treats mainly interior ministry personnel, their families and area residents free of charge.

In a land where complaints are common, it is hard to find anyone with a bad word to say about the place, except that it is reserved exclusively for the elite.

"Unfortunately, I lost my father to cancer at CIMEQ less than a year ago," said 47- year-old Agust?n Daniel.

"He was treated for years at CIMEQ and the care was exquisite. He died because cancer kills and sometimes there is no solution," the self-employed interior decorator said.

CIMEQ also boasts a wing for foreigners willing to pay for their care, as well as special VIP facilities for Cuba's top leaders and important figures from other lands.

"Distinguished personalities from the arts, sciences and politics from all over the world have received attention in its modern and efficient installations," the hospital's Web Page (www.cimeq.org)states.

Little is known about the hospital's VIP accommodations, where Chavez is being treated, except that they are equipped with the latest technology and that those who work there are often sequestered for periods of time. Like all CIMEQ staff, they are sworn to secrecy at the risk of losing their licenses and criminal prosecution.

"The VIPs are treated on the third floor which is off limits to most staff even if they work for the Interior Ministry and wear uniforms under their white coats," a doctor who has worked at CIMEQ said.

"The elevators to the third floor have guards and if the patient goes outside part of the grounds are closed off," he said, adding, "no one knows what goes on up there."

(Editing by David Adams and Andrew Hay)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cuban-hospital-carefully-guards-hugo-chavezs-privacy-215920775.html

john edwards heart condition mena suvari joyful noise one life to live jeff fisher van der sloot heather locklear

Many researchers taking a different view of pedophilia

As a young boy, Paul Christiano loved the world of girls ? the way they danced, how their spindly bodies tumbled in gymnastics.

In adolescence, as other boys ogled classmates, he was troubled to find himself fantasizing about 7- to 11-year-olds.

His desires remained stuck in time as he neared adulthood. Despite a stable home life in suburban Chicago, he was tortured by urges he knew could land him in prison.

"For having these feelings, I was destined to become a monster," he said. "I was terrified."

In 1999, Christiano was caught buying child pornography. Now 36, he said he has never molested a child, but after five years of state-ordered therapy, the attraction remains.

"These people felt they could snuff out the desire, or shame me into denying it existed," he said. "But it's as intrinsic as the next person's heterosexuality."

In the laboratory, researchers are coming to the same conclusion.

Like many forms of sexual deviance, pedophilia once was thought to stem from psychological influences early in life. Now, many experts view it as a sexual orientation as immutable as heterosexuality or homosexuality. It is a deep-rooted predisposition ? limited almost entirely to men ? that becomes clear during puberty and does not change.

The best estimates are that between 1% and 5% of men are pedophiles, meaning that they have a dominant attraction to prepubescent children.

Not all pedophiles molest children. Nor are all child molesters pedophiles. Studies show that about half of all molesters are not sexually attracted to their victims. They often have personality disorders or violent streaks, and their victims are typically family members.

By contrast, pedophiles tend to think of children as romantic partners and look beyond immediate relatives. They include chronic abusers familiar from the headlines ? Catholic priests, coaches and generations of Boy Scout leaders.

Other pedophiles are "good people who are struggling," said Dr. Fred Berlin, a psychiatrist who heads the Johns Hopkins Sexual Behaviors Consultation Unit. "They're tortured souls fighting like heck not to do this. We do virtually nothing in terms of reaching out to these folks. We drive it underground."

Studying criminals

Some of the new understanding of pedophilia comes from studies done on convicted sex criminals at the Center for Mental Health and Addiction in Toronto, where researchers use a procedure known as phallometry to identify men whose peak attraction is to children.

A man sits alone in a room viewing a series of images and listening to descriptions of various sexual acts with adults and children, male and female, while wearing a device that monitors blood flow to his penis.

Like men attracted to adults, nearly all pedophiles respond most strongly to one gender or the other ? females far more often than males.

In searching for causes of pedophilia, researchers have largely dismissed the popular belief that abuse in childhood plays an important role. Studies show that few victims grow up to be abusers, and only about a third of offenders say they were molested.

Scientists at the Toronto center have uncovered a series of associations that suggest pedophilia has biological roots.

Among the most compelling findings is that 30% of pedophiles are left-handed or ambidextrous, triple the general rate. Because hand dominance is established through some combination of genetics and the environment of the womb, scientists see that association as a powerful indicator that something is different about pedophiles at birth.

"The only explanation is a physiological one," said James Cantor, a leader of the research.

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/news/science/~3/QCn4pj7c-Gc/la-me-pedophiles-20130115,0,7660807.story

Lark Voorhies Jennifer Livingston Orlando Cruz MLB Playoff Schedule arizona cardinals Big Bird Adam Greenberg

AP Source: Eagles interviewed Brian Billick

PHILADELPHIA (AP) ? The Philadelphia Eagles have interviewed former Ravens coach and current Fox analyst Brian Billick for their coaching vacancy, a person familiar with the meeting told The Associated Press on Sunday.

Billick, who led Baltimore to a Super Bowl title in the 2000 season, met with the Eagles last Monday, according to the person who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss it.

The Eagles are known to have interviewed eight other candidates, including three high-profile college coaches who decided to stay at their schools. They were Notre Dame's Brian Kelly, Oregon's Chip Kelly and Penn State's Bill O'Brien.

Philadelphia fired Andy Reid on Dec. 31, a day after finishing 4-12 in his 14th season.

Billick hasn't coached since 2007. He was 80-64 in nine seasons with the Ravens, leading them to two division titles and a 5-3 record in four playoff appearances.

CSNPhilly.com first reported Billick's interview.

The 58-year-old Billick began his NFL coaching career in Minnesota as a tight ends coach in 1992. After two seasons, he was promoted to offensive coordinator and helped the Vikings set a then-record 556 points in 1998.

Billick became the second coach in Ravens history in 1999 and guided them to a Super Bowl victory over the New York Giants in his second season.

Known for having a dynamic offense in Minnesota, Billick never come close to matching it in Baltimore. His offense never ranked higher than 14th in total yards and cracked the top 10 in points just once.

Of course, talent had a part in that. The Vikings had Randall Cunningham and Daunte Culpepper as their quarterbacks, along with star wide receivers Cris Carter and Randy Moss and running back Robert Smith.

Billick's Ravens were built on strong defenses led by Ray Lewis and Co. They finished in the top six in total yards in eight of Billick's nine seasons.

Billick assembled quite a coaching staff in Baltimore. Six of his assistants became head coaches, including Mike Smith (Atlanta), Marvin Lewis (Cincinnati), Rex Ryan (New York Jets), Mike Singletary (San Francisco), Mike Nolan (San Francisco) and Jack Del Rio (Jacksonville).

The Eagles have an interview scheduled with Bengals offensive coordinator Jay Gruden on Monday and are expected to interview Colts offensive coordinator Bruce Arians this week.

They met with Seahawks defensive coordinator Gus Bradley on Saturday, according to two people familiar with the meeting. Seattle lost to Atlanta on Sunday, so the Eagles are free to hire Bradley if he's their choice.

Owner Jeffrey Lurie, general manager Howie Roseman and president Don Smolenski interviewed former Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith on Thursday. They previously met with Atlanta assistants Nolan and Keith Armstrong and Denver offensive coordinator Mike McCoy.

___

Follow Rob Maaddi on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RobMaaddi

___

Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-source-eagles-interviewed-brian-billick-233613590--nfl.html

Steve Sabol Yom Kippur 2012 Aaron Paul mumford and sons packers Dancing With The Stars All Stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Software development projects frequently fail -- why?

I have great respect for software developers. Because software is abstract, invisible and runs at extreme speeds, the people who are good at building it have to possess a particular talent at visualization and a willingness to use complex tools.

When software developers become project managers (PMs), they tend to rely on software tools to monitor, control and report on projects, just as non-technical PMs do. The problems that technologists have in management have to do with inexperience in people interaction, including conflict, collaboration and just plain old ability to listen well. If you?re a technologist in management, you can find more ideas on what to do about this in my book Get Out of the Way.

For the rest of PMs, there are lots of good tools,such as PERT and Gantt charts, but simply having good tools will not make your project succeed. Software development projects frequently fail to produce results that the customer or end-user wants. Why?

Here are three factors that contribute to the unruliness of software development projects:

1. Estimating the effort and time required to complete a task is difficult. Even when reasonable-looking requirements and specifications of a software package are provided, understanding the difficulty of development may require architecting multiple layers and investigating interactions with a complex environment. Since requirements are generally high-level items, and design has to be done at multiple levels, it is difficult to break down the work into ?pebble-sized? tasks and then to keep to a schedule with those tasks.

2. Designing an algorithm often takes experimentation. Engineering a software system requires trying out some things to see if they work, or testing multiple possible ways to implement something to find one with reasonable performance, for example. This aspect of software engineering is so prevalent that Fred Brooks in The Mythical Man-Month advised us to ?plan to throw one away.? He meant that at the completion of a complex software implementation (such as an operating system), the designers have learned so much that it is often best to start over and re-implement everything.

3. Assuring that a software implementation functions properly under all conditions may take as long as the design phase. In fact, you may never be able to prove proper functioning, because testing all combinations of conditions is impossible. At best, using test-automation tools and good intuition about where to look for errors, a software team can reduce the number of bugs at the time of a software release, but almost never to zero.

Scheduling a software project is made more difficult by the fact that additional tasks are always discovered during implementation. This is so prevalent that I learned long ago always to ask ?What remains to be done?? in addition to ?What have you completed?? You can count on the list of tasks to be done growing during the project.

One of the best countermeasures to all of these problems is to use Agile development methods. Iterative development with regular demonstrations of working software having incrementally greater functionality will help reduce uncertainty and increase the ability of a development team to adapt to a changing world. It also shortens the time between the initial charter of the project and the point where the customer says, ?but that?s not what I wanted.?

Even Agile will not save all projects. If you?d like to learn more about why not, join me for a free webinar, Why Agile Won?t Fix All Your Problems, or simply download the slides here
.
And good luck. The world needs software, so we all have to keep on trying to deliver it the best we can.

Source: http://svprojectmanagement.com/software-development-not-by-pert-alone

hopkins hopkins dear john derrick rose torn acl pacers undrafted free agents braveheart

Video: Burning Rubber at the Detroit Auto Show

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/50460356/

paris jackson paris jackson US weekly amelia earhart Sally Ride Ichiro minka kelly