Afghan parliament votes to remove key ministers

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? The Afghan parliament passed votes of no confidence Saturday to remove the country's defense and interior ministers, a move that threatens to throw the country's security apparatus into confusion as foreign forces withdraw.

The vote demanded the dismissal of two of President Hamid Karzai's key security lieutenants: Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak, one of the top Afghan officials most trusted by Washington, and Interior Minister Bismullah Mohammadi.

Legislators faulted the two for what they view as the government's weak response to cross-border attacks from Pakistan that they blamed on that country's military. The parliamentarians also asked the ministers about allegations of corruption within their ministries and alleged security lapses that led to recent assassinations of top officials.

The parliament then passed a measure to remove Wardak by a vote of 146 to 72. A separate vote of no confidence on Mohammadi passed 126 to 90. Both measures need 124 votes to pass.

"Both ministers are disqualified from their positions and we request His Excellency President Karzai to introduce new ministers for these positions as soon as possible," Abdul Raouf Abrahimi, speaker of the lower house of parliament, said after the vote.

It is unclear if the two will immediately leave their posts. Parliament occasionally flexes its muscle to thwart Karzai's policies or appointments, but the constitution places most power in the president's hands.

Karzai's office issued a three-sentence statement acknowledging that Article 92 of the Afghan constitution gives the parliament the authority to disqualify ministers. Karzai's statement did not express any support or regret for the no confidence votes, saying only that the president would "make decisions about the disqualified ministers" after he meets with his national security team on Sunday.

In past no-confidence votes, Karzai has simply kept other ministers in their jobs in an acting capacity and dragged out the process of nominating replacements.

Among the criticisms of the two ministers was the government's tepid response to allegations that the Pakistani military launched hundreds of shells and rockets into Afghanistan last month, sometimes hitting homes along frontier areas where insurgents have staged cross-border attacks.

Karzai has been careful not to openly blame the Pakistani military for the artillery barrage, which reportedly hit districts in the eastern provinces of Nuristan and Kunar. Interior Minister Mohammedi and other top-ranking administration officials, however, have explicitly blamed Pakistan for the shelling.

Afghan military analyst Abdul Hadi Khalid, a former deputy interior minister, said he thinks the dismissal vote was less about the controversy over the cross-border attacks than a power play by parliament.

He suspects that the lawmakers were reacting to citizen allegations that they were a "useless parliament" that could not make decisions.

"So suddenly, the parliament made a decision to gain dignity from the nation and show that they can oust top security ministers," Khalid said. "These two ministers became the victims of the weakness of this government."

Wardak, who studied in the U.S. and speaks English fluently, has been long backed by Washington and the NATO military coalition. He has been defense minister since late 2004, and was deputy defense minister before that. In the 1980s, he was a well-known leader of mujahideen fighting against the Soviet and Afghan communists.

Wardak has overseen massive growth of the army ? now 185,125-strong. In recent years, tens of thousands of soldiers have been recruited, given literacy and military training and sent to fight alongside foreign forces.

The votes of no confidence come at a critical time in the war when Afghan police and soldiers are increasingly taking responsibility from exiting international troops, who are scheduled to leave Afghanistan or move into support roles by the end of 2014.

Afghan forces now take lead in areas of the country that are home to 75 percent of the population.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/afghan-parliament-votes-remove-key-ministers-122603469.html

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Clinical Negligence Compensation is a Necessity | Q2R

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An hour later, the cards of the people gradually dispersed, and he saw Grandpa Lee will be armed with a knife and ran inside. I did not expect, but planted in the hands of the effort in the body of Uncle Li. Uncle Lee: I caught him save his yesterday afternoon, the reporter saw in the Dongli District, a village in Yong Qin criminals Lee uncle. ???????? Working girl more than ten years the creation of three welfare homes take care o Men due to household chores hanging cardiac arrest Travelers Board Flights To Melbourne To Be A Part Of The Lively And Fun City Article ? Travel Articles Working girl more than ten years the creation of three welfare homes take care o

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Weapons maker Lockheed builds submarine for oil rigs

PALM BEACH, Florida (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp is already the Pentagon's biggest supplier and the largest information technology provider for the U.S. federal government, but now it is turning its sights on a $1 billion niche market in the oil and gas industry.

At a small waterfront facility just outside Palm Beach, Florida, engineers have developed a 10-foot unmanned submarine named Marlin that uses sonar and other technologies developed for the U.S. military to inspect off-shore oil rigs in far less time and at lower cost than current systems.

The bright yellow unmanned undersea vehicle was tested last summer in the Gulf of Mexico at a facility owned by Chevron , generating detailed three-dimensional data that have piqued a great deal of interest in the industry.

A Lockheed crew is back in the area off Louisiana this week, where Marlin is surveying a number of offshore platforms owned by a big oil firm, generating the first commercial revenues for this small arm of Lockheed. Lockheed did not name the oil firm.

The project, first initiated in mid-2009, reflects growing efforts by big weapons makers like Lockheed to find revenues in adjacent markets as they brace for weaker defense spending in the United States and Europe after a decade of strong growth.

Rich Holmberg, vice president of Lockheed's mission and unmanned systems unit in Florida, sees bright prospects for the Marlin vehicle, given the huge and growing number of offshore oil and gas platforms in the Gulf and elsewhere; growing calls for increase regulation after the 2010 BP oil spill; and increased investment in offshore wind energy.

"We're kind of bullish," Holmberg told Reuters in a glass-walled conference room overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway and several of the company's smaller research and support ships.

Holmberg, who previously headed Lockheed's naval helicopter programs, declined to estimate future possible sales or the per unit price, but said Lockheed believed it was the only company with the full set of capabilities offered by the Marlin vehicle at the moment.

The mission and unmanned systems unit has historically been more of a research house, like Lockheed's famous Skunk Works aeronautics development shop, which has earned it the nickname "Squid Works," but it is ramping up for a higher profile.

While other parts of Lockheed are laying off workers, Holmberg's unit has filled 130 positions over the past 18 months, bringing its workforce to 430 people to deal with demand for Marlin and complete work on several U.S. Navy programs, including a remote mine-hunting system for coastal warships.

It also just opened an office in Houston, home of the oil and gas industry, to step up marketing of the Marlin vehicle.

VEHICLE COULD REPLACE DIVERS, TETHERED UNMANNED SYSTEMS

Marillyn Hewson now heads the electronic systems division which oversees Holmberg's unit but is moving up to become Lockheed's president and chief operating officer in January.

She told Reuters in June that Lockheed saw great opportunities for company's unmanned capabilities in the air, at sea and on land, including the autonomous Marlin vehicle.

The new system can be programmed to autonomously survey an underwater object, and detect any changes. It then generates three-dimensional models that oil and gas companies can use to lower their high inspection costs.

Currently, oil and gas companies do inspections using divers and remotely operated, but tethered undersea vehicles that provide less detailed video images.

Marlin could simplify those efforts since it is able to complete inspections in far less time -- mapping a 135-foot platform in 27 minutes -- and can be launched from a smaller ship, reducing fuel costs.

"These systems enable those companies to do more inspections more efficiently so they get better inspections and more inspections for about the same cost as their current inspections," Holmberg said.

Industry data shows there are over 3,800 offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, over 40,000 miles of underwater pipeline, and an estimated 12,000 capped wells -- all of which are subject to various government inspection requirements.

Holmberg said Lockheed is still developing its business model for the new venture, but plans to both sell the unmanned submarines, and to team up with service companies serving North America, the North Sea, Brazil and even the Arctic.

Marlin is currently able to dive to 1,000 feet below the surface, but Lockheed is working on a variant that would be able to service deep water platforms by diving to 12,000 feet, according to Dan McLeod, the creator of the Marlin program.

The company is also working with a subcontractor to integrate a three-dimensional laser that could improve the data gathered by Marlin. It is also exploring systems that would remain under the water but could be turned on when needed.

(Reporting By Andrea Shalal-Esa; Editing by Bob Burgdorfer)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/weapons-maker-lockheed-builds-submarine-oil-rigs-001052018--finance.html

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DIY Kids: Beach Crafts | DIY Del Ray

During our beach vacation every year with family friends, we come prepared to do a few fun craft projects with the kids. Midday when it?s too hot to be outside and the kids are running wild indoors, we take over the dining room table and make some fun beach souvenirs.

This year, we made rings, and shell-adorned letters ? the first letter in each child?s name. For the first few days, the kids collected shells and the stray piece of beach glass, and then rinsed and dried them. For the rings, my friend Sara from Madison, WI, whose North Carolina beach house we stay in, had bought adjustable ring blanks to fit big and little fingers from an Etsy vendor. She also brought a glue gun and a few trinkets to use as ?jewels? along with shells.

Sara made a ring for herself with a pretty round shell.

Liam made a funky rainbow ring.

Ana combined a flat sparkly ?gem? with a shell on top.

Later we worked on the letters. We collected even more shells for this project. We had a cardboard letter on hand for the first name of every child. Sara had also bought these supplies ahead of time from a craft store in Madison called Hobby Lobby. I?m sure most craft stores of the Michaels variety or Paper Source sell them too.

The parents helped the youngest children with their designs and guided them on how to apply the glue.

They enjoyed chatting about their designs and picking just the right place for the shells to go.

The adults used the glue gun for the littlest children.

The older girls used the glue gun by themselves.

Both projects were easy for the youngest children but also fun and rewarding for the older kids. You could do these projects in the city too ? instead of shells, you can use anything really to put on the rings and the letters. You could decoupage the letters with pictures from magazines, for example. You can use Mod Podge to add a glaze to the letters and make them adhere better too.

For beach trips, the supplies are easy to source and pack in suitcases ahead of time. We didn?t need to find any perfect shells on the beach ? we used an assortment of shapes and sizes that the kids had fun gathering in their buckets. And everyone has some sweet souvenirs to bring home with them this year.

Source: http://diydelray.com/2012/08/02/diy-kids-beach-crafts/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=diy-kids-beach-crafts

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Nikitin insists tattoo was not swastika

FILE - In this June 9, 2012 file photo Russian baritone Evgeny Nikitin poses at a hotel in Berlin, Germany. The 38-year-old opera singer dropped out in July from a new production of Wagner's "Die Fliegende Hollaender (The Flying Dutchman)" after a 2008 image of the tattoo, which appeared to be a swastika, was broadcast on German television. In a statement released Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2012 through New York's Metropolitan Opera, Nikitin insists the tattoo was not a swastika, and that it was "still in progress" at the time the video footage was made. (AP Photo/dapd, Christoph Soeder, File)

FILE - In this June 9, 2012 file photo Russian baritone Evgeny Nikitin poses at a hotel in Berlin, Germany. The 38-year-old opera singer dropped out in July from a new production of Wagner's "Die Fliegende Hollaender (The Flying Dutchman)" after a 2008 image of the tattoo, which appeared to be a swastika, was broadcast on German television. In a statement released Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2012 through New York's Metropolitan Opera, Nikitin insists the tattoo was not a swastika, and that it was "still in progress" at the time the video footage was made. (AP Photo/dapd, Christoph Soeder, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? After withdrawing from the Bayreuth Wagner Festival last month following the appearance of a tattoo during a program broadcast on German television, Russian bass-baritone Evgeny Nikitin now says the image was not a swastika.

The 38-year-old dropped out in July from a new production of Wagner's "Die Fliegende Hollaender (The Flying Dutchman)" after the image was televised. It appeared to be a swastika tattoo partly covered by another symbol, and the singer said at the time that getting the tattoos years ago was a serious mistake and he was "not aware of the extent of the confusion and hurt that these symbols would cause."

But in a statement released Wednesday through New York's Metropolitan Opera, Nikitin said, "While it is true that I have had a varied artistic life, including an interest in heavy metal music and Scandinavian mythology, which was the inspiration behind the tattoos I have on my body, it is inaccurate to state that I ever had a swastika tattoo. In fact, the tattoo that has been called into question and that was photographed in 2008 was still in progress at the time."

Nikitin remains scheduled to sing Klingsor in a new production of Wagner's "Parsifal" that opens at the Met on Feb. 15 next year. Nikitin called the withdrawal from Bayreuth "the most disturbing event of my artistic career." He had the Met release both a sketch of the tattoo and what he said was a current photo of it, which depicts a star with eight points with a shield over it along with a sword and an ax.

"I have absolutely no affinity for or connection to any neo-Nazi or fascist movement, nor have I ever in the past," he said. "Nazism in particular has been the source of great personal grief and loss. My two grandfathers were both killed by Nazi forces during World War II.

"My main interest and purpose in life is my art as an opera singer, and it is very distressing that a mistaken interpretation of a tattoo has caused the recent cancellations in Bayreuth and raised questions about my integrity as a performing artist," he said.

Wagner, who died in 1883, wrote anti-Semitic essays and was the favorite composer of many Nazi leaders. The Bayreuth Festival, which he established, is run by great granddaughters Katharina Wagner and Eva Wagner-Pasquier.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-08-02-Met%20Opera-Nikitin/id-70fff1d1cd7e4528bc7720fef00467dd

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The Irresponsible Opposition (OliverWillisLikeKryptoniteToStupid)

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Dana White?s VLOG, Demian Maia, Joe Lauzon: Morning News Roundup ? 8.1.12

What you see on television during a UFC broadcast is pretty cool, but what goes on backstage, away from the lights and the cameras, is so real and fascinating that it's practically another beast entirely.? I've been credentialed for 17 UFCs, and though the last one I went to was UFC 55 (back in 2005), the access to the area behind the curtain - where the fighters are either mentally preparing themselves for combat or dealing with its after effects, and where the emotion is a thousand times more true and raw - was totally and completely money.? I say all this because leading off today's news roundup is UFC president Dana White's latest video blog, which is the opening salvo in hyping UFC on FOX 4, but contains some sweet behind-the-scenes stuff on UFC 149.?

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• Go here?for White's first UFC on FOX 4 video blog.? Things to note include: UFC commentator Joe Rogan rapping with Ryan Jimmo and White coming by to congratulate Jimmo on his ultra-fast KO victory (and White blaming the referee for not being able to stop the fight faster, thereby preventing Jimmo from setting a new record); Matt Riddle giving opponent Chris Clements some post-fight kudos and looking like Shaggy from Scooby-Doo; a very bummed Brian Ebersole; and, former featherweight champ Urijah Faber, battered and bruised and in pain, but still a great sportsman and heaping praise on the man who just beat him,?Renan Barao.

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• Brazilian Demian Maia is looking good so far in his new weightclass, so the?middleweight-turned-welterweight gets a step up in competition for UFC 153 (which will take place in?Brazil in October).??His opponent: Rick Story.? ?If you'll recall, Maia defeated Dong Hyun Kim at UFC 148 when Kim gave up due to a rib injury incurred earlier in the bout; methinks Story ain't going out like that.? Nope, not at all.? Maia is in for a fight.

?

• According to Dana White, whoever looks the best in victory at UFC on FOX 4 on Saturday night gets the next shot at the light-heavyweight champ down the line.? Well, you can count Joe Lauzon out.? Said the lightweight fighter via Twitter:

So, @danawhite?said whoever wins most impressively Saturday at #UFConFox gets a shot at @JonnyBones... I'm preemptively forfeiting my shot.?

You know, we laugh, but if this were PRIDE in Japan, Lauzon could very well end up having to fight Jon Jones.

That's all for now.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/dana-white-vlog-demian-maia-joe-lauzon-morning-135632101--mma.html

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