Review of prince of wales theatre from 30 April 2013
Prince of wales theatre is very nice and clean theatre with a impressive staff? and a seating capacity of 1,160 people. I have visited last week to watch famous broadway book of mormon show,theatre is situated in a Coventry St, London W1D 6AS.Booked tickets in a stalls and get seat nearby the stage.Very nice show once again ! i want to watch this show when i will get time.
A quartet of the most powerful legislators in Texas filed bills Thursday to make available to the public detailed financial information from most local taxing entities and pension systems across the state.
Senate bills 14 and 13 and their identical House counterparts establish, at the request of state Comptroller Susan Combs, new requirements for the posting of public debt, unfunded liabilities, borrowing and project costs on websites maintained by state and local agencies.
?People need to know what their government is doing, and how it spends their money,? Combs said in a statement she issued after a press conference announcing the filing of the bills. ?We need to implement common-sense changes that put vital information about government spending and debt in front of the public.?
SB 14, drafted by Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, and Rep. Jim Pitts, R- Waxahachie, commits the Comptroller to maintaining tax rate information for every political body collecting a sales or use tax in the state, updated by the assessors and collectors for those bodies.
Williams is the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and a member of its committee on Open Government. Pitts is the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
The state?s Bond Finance Office would post on a website a list of all outstanding local securities and schedules for their repayment. In turn, the issuers of local securities would submit reports of their activities to the state.
Under SB 14, the public would get more detailed information about the issuing of bonds, the rationale for their issuance and a tally of outstanding debt incurred by the bonds.
Local political bodies would be expected to file annual reports detailing all of their funds and their outstanding debt obligations. These reports would be posted on websites maintained by all cities, school districts and special taxing districts.
Once every three years each special taxing district in the state would be expected to prepare a report defending its existence and hold a public hearing to discuss the assessment.
The bill would also require school districts to create or to include on their websites detailed information about school facilities, enrollment, estimates of projected costs for new school projects and the current annual financial report.
"When we write the budget each session, we require transparency and access to information,? Pitts said in a prepared statement Thursday. ?Texas taxpayers deserve the same level of transparency and openness, and House Bill 14 will deliver just that.?
Senate Bill 13, written by Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, and Rep. Bill Callegari, R-Houston, calls on the state Pension Review Board to maintain a website for the financial information for every public pension plan in the state.
Duncan is the chairman of the State Affairs Committee and a member of the Finance Committee. Callegari is the chairman of the House Pensions Committee.
The bill would require from all pension systems, including the state?s two largest, the Employees Retirement System of Texas and the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, financial reports that would include:
Texas Watchdog has reported on in detail concerns with the health of pensions plans in the state and nationally.
To that end, the Pension Review Board would be expected to produce a study of the overall health of public retirement plans in Texas and present its findings to the Legislature by Sept. 1, 2014.
?It is important for taxpayers to feel confident that public pensions in Texas are being managed properly to ensure long-term financial health,? Duncan said in a statement Thursday. ?Senate Bill 13 aims to give citizens the information they need to feel secure about public pensions.?
Talmadge Heflin, director of the Center for Fiscal Policy at the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation, said he was particularly pleased the bills focused on opening the financial affairs of schools and pensions.
?Texas is once again at the forefront of the transparency movement, pushing for the sort of good government reforms that will give Texans more information, more choice and more freedom,? Heflin said. ?Among other things, these two bills would let Texans know who?s taxing them and why, require local governments to prepare basic financial reports, and put all this information online.?
Max Patterson, executive director for the Texas Association of Public Employee Retirement Systems, issued a statement Thursday saying the direction from the Comptroller?s office was the right one.
?There may be some fine-tuning we?d like to see with the fees that are indicated in the first drafts of the bill, but we will work with the comptroller on that or other matters that come up with our members,? Patterson said.
***
Contact Mark Lisheron at 512-299-2318 or mark@texaswatchdog.org or on Twitter at @marktxwatchdog.
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Photo of money by flickr user 401(K)2012, used via a Creative Commons license.
One of the coolest inventions shown at CES was IllumiRoom, a projector technology from Microsoft that would expand the gaming experience beyond the TV. In other words, it would display visuals from the game on the wall around the TV to create an immersive experience.
The original demo released during CES only showed IllumiRoom in action. The new demo goes into the hardware powering IllumiRoom, and explains how the engineers at Microsoft are hoping to revolutionize home entertainment.
At this point in time, IllumiRoom is still very much a prototype. That being said, Microsoft would be stupid to not integrate it into the next Xbox. It has the potential to be the next big innovation in games, especially if games can go beyond expanding the field of view. Some of the examples, like warping reality and realistic snowflakes, could go a long way in increasing immersion in games.
There?s a lot of anxiety in the gaming community today regarding the next Xbox. Many aren?t too keen on having to keep up a constant Internet connection just to play games while others are concerned that Microsoft?s console will block used games. Despite that, IllumiRoom may be one of the few things gamers can overwhelmingly get behind, especially if Microsoft can knock it out of the park with the final hardware.
Source: http://www.webpronews.com/illumiroom-has-the-potential-to-be-the-next-big-thing-in-gaming-2013-04
WASHINGTON |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Experts say Asia and Iran are the keys to maintaining a strong - but evolving - U.S.-Saudi Arabia energy relationship.
Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi is expected to share his optimistic view on the future of Asian oil demand on Tuesday when he gives a major energy speech, billed as the first in the United States in four years.
As the United States produces oil at the highest levels in 20 years thanks to the shale boom, Saudi Arabia's confidence in Asian markets could help keep relations between the two countries on track.
"The Saudis don't see the North American oil boom as a threat, not in the context of the global oil market," said a Washington-based energy consultant to governments and businesses, who did not want to be named.
Naimi said in a speech early this month in Doha that nobody should fear new oil supplies when global demand is rising, adding that Asia's population growth should be a driver for future oil demand. He is expected to repeat that message during his speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington on Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia, the main source of global spare oil production capacity, will be one of the few places with the ability to supply China and other Asian countries.
In contrast, extra barrels from North Dakota and Texas will be consumed in the United States, at least until laws are changed to allow the country's producers to export substantial amounts of crude.
SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP
The relationship between Riyadh and Washington may be changing but the two countries still share important goals on balancing oil markets going forward. One is to keep oil prices from going too high in order to keep Iran from in check.
The United States is trying to choke funds to Tehran's disputed nuclear program through the application of sanctions on its oil sales. High global crude prices could hurt that effort.
Saudi Arabia, a longtime foe of Iran, also does not want Iran to get nuclear weapons and is expected to keep oil prices stable.
"We are still partners but less intimate partners than we once were," said Chas Freeman, who served as U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia under former President George H. W. Bush.
For decades Saudi Arabia and the United States had a special relationship: the kingdom provided the United States oil, and the United States provided Saudi Arabia protection against enemies. As Saudi Arabia becomes less of an important supplier to the United States, the world's biggest oil consumer, some see that special relationship declining.
Even as Saudi looks to other markets, it still is the second largest oil exporter to the United States after Canada, with shipments averaging 1.4 million barrels per day in the first 10 months of last year.
As part of the changing relationship, Saudi has been buying tens of billions of dollars worth of U.S. military aircraft while turning to other oil customers.
"Saudi seems to be arming themselves on the assumption that they are going to have to play a larger role in their own defense," Freeman said.
Analysts will be watching for clues in Naimi's speech that in the face of weak demand from Europe and flat Asian near-term consumption, the kingdom may want to support oil prices from falling.
David Goldwyn, who led international energy affairs at both the State Department and the Department of Energy, said if Naimi's lead message is the need to keep oil prices stable, it could signal a production cut is likely in the near future.
(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Bill Trott)
Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/Reuters/PoliticsNews/~3/KydzbJY0fmY/story01.htm
In one word: LOUD. In two words: Shattered glass. In three words: What the hell? As spring finally decides to replace winter, some weird phenomena is happening on the lake shores of Minnesota. It's an ice shattering shriek known as chandeliering, large piles of ice splinter into shards of glass and create a helluva noise with it.
The video, which was captured by Nadalie Thomas as she was visiting the shores of Medicine Lake in Plymouth, Minnesota, shows the ice breaking down into little pieces. The constant shrill is not unlike hearing glass spill all over the floor.
Supposedly, the ice leftover from the winter is at such a weakened state because of the warm temperature that it can easily splinter. That splintering is the cause of the noise. Nature, you never fail to impress me. [KARE 11]
Source: http://gizmodo.com/what-happens-when-ice-gets-pushed-and-shatters-on-the-s-485150520
'I've been told he might come to the premiere, and I'm freaking out,' actress tells MTV News.
By Amy Wilkinson, with reporting by Josh Horowitz
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1706533/great-gatsby-carey-mulligan-jay-z.jhtml
By Brian Winter
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - When a million angry Argentines flooded the streets earlier this month to protest her government, President Cristina Fernandez decided to post a message on Twitter.
And another. And then another.
"Yes, I'm a bit stubborn, and I'm also old. But in the end, it's lucky to arrive at old age, isn't it?" one tweet read. She also mused about a 19th century fresco in her "gorgeous" palace, and the merits of a state-run literacy program.
At the end of the day, Fernandez had sent 61 tweets in a nine-hour period - prolific even by the standards of Latin America, where presidents and other leading politicians have embraced social media with a zeal unmatched anywhere else.
Their love for Twitter, in particular, has given millions of voyeurs a real-time window into policymaking - and, often, their leaders' most intimate thoughts.
Yet it has also fueled debate on whether some are guilty of "oversharing" - making politics more polarized, confrontations more personal, and potentially making the leaders themselves look awkward when they post about chats with strangers in a bathroom, for example, as Fernandez also did this month.
"Everybody who uses Twitter knows that sometimes you write something and push the send button without thinking enough about it. That's dangerous in politics ... and we've seen many examples of it," said Alan Clutterbuck, head of Fundacion RAP, a group based in Buenos Aires that seeks to improve the civility of political discourse.
"We should hold our political leaders to a different standard," he said. "You see a message that says 'I'm having a sandwich,' and you think: 'Who cares?'"
With a rich tradition of florid oratory, Latin America produced Cuba's Fidel Castro and his famed five-hour-long speeches. So it's unsurprising that some of its modern-day leaders have embraced a new platform to express themselves - but also struggle to shoehorn their thoughts into a few tidy blasts of 140 characters or less.
Politicians have also been hurling around insults since before the Twitter age, such as when the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez called former U.S. President George W. Bush the "devil" at the United Nations in 2006.
Yet there is no question that the technology has made the invective fly faster than ever before.
In the aftermath of this month's bitterly contested election to succeed Chavez in Venezuela, there were moments when both candidates were simultaneously tweeting attacks on each other.
Eventual winner Nicolas Maduro referred to the opposition as "fascists," declaring: "In their crazy hatred and desperation they're capable of anything." Losing candidate Henrique Capriles used Twitter to question the results of the voting hours after polls closed, tweeting "There is an illegitimate president!"
SHOWING THEIR HUMAN SIDE
Leaders elsewhere have also taken to Twitter, though not with the same fervor. U.S. President Barack Obama has a robust feed, but his profile says he only sends some himself, signing them "-bo." As of Friday, he hadn't done so in at least a month.
In contrast, Latin America's most prolific tweeting presidents - Fernandez, Maduro, Colombia's Juan Manuel Santos and Mexico's Enrique Pena Nieto - all send a large percentage of messages themselves, their aides say.
The most popular of all was Chavez, who had more than 4 million followers prior to his death in March.
Not everybody's on board: The president of the region's biggest country, Brazil's Dilma Rousseff, stopped tweeting right after she was elected in 2010. "She thinks it's a total waste of time," one aide said.
But for others, it has become part of their identity.
Since leaving office in 2010, former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has sometimes sent dozens of tweets a day criticizing Santos for being weak on security, among other alleged failings.
Uribe's critics say he has diminished his stature, and unfairly hamstrung his chosen successor, by weighing in so frequently on day-to-day affairs. But he has shown no signs of slowing down, and even hung in his home office a framed cartoon of himself hunched over his Blackberry, tweeting away.
"It allows direct communication, without intermediaries," Uribe said via e-mail. "The danger is that it tempts you to react to first impressions, so I try to avoid seeing many of the provocations that arrive."
At its best, Twitter can remind voters that their politicians are human - and even vulnerable.
The night of the march against her in Buenos Aires, Fernandez traveled to Caracas, and began to reflect on Chavez's death - words that added poignancy given the sudden passing of her own husband, former President Nestor Kirchner, in 2010.
"Why is it that those who live with so much intensity abandon us so soon?" she tweeted.
The following night, she started writing about "the human condition," before seemingly remembering that, even on Twitter, there are limits.
"Pardon me," she tweeted. "I started thinking, and since I can't speak (because my voice is gone), I'm channeling it through here."
"In the end, it's healthy and absolutely inoffensive."
(Additional reporting by Helen Murphy in Bogota; Editing by Kieran Murray and Sandra Maler)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/latin-american-presidents-love-twitter-maybe-too-much-125728785.html
CAIRO (AP) ? Egypt's state news agency says a court has turned down deposed President Hosni Mubarak's request to be released from prison during an investigation into corruption charges.
The news agency MENA says the Cairo Criminal Court on Sunday ordered Mubarak to remain in jail for 15 days while the charges are probed.
Mubarak can appeal the court's decision.
The longtime autocrat was ousted during a 2011 public uprising. He has spent more than two years in detention without a final verdict in the case alleging that he is responsible for the deaths of nearly 900 protesters during the uprising.
He also has been ordered held in prison on other charges, including corruption.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egypt-court-turns-down-mubaraks-release-request-122231954.html
>>> thousands of gut -- r gutted homes. joining me now via skype, the mayor barilla. we just heard christopher dickey talking about people carrying on, which certainly you have done there in that community, but talk about the damages that superstorm sandy caused.
>> thank you for having me, alex. sandy knocked out about 60% of our housing, in the sense that they were flooded. the boardwalk was about 85% damaged or destroyed. restaurants, some infrastructure. it's been a long road back.
>> i can imagine. of course, with summer looming, it's where you make a lot of tourism dollars, a lot from me over the years as well. it's a wonderful place. what's the status of things?
>> okay. there's very little that you were able to do last year in point pleasant beach, that you will not be able to do this summer. the boardwalk was opened on friday, 4 thousands of the approximate 5200 feet of it was opened to public on friday. the rides are open. by memorial day , the entire length of the boardwalk will be open, with the exception, as i said, of a couple restaurants and perhaps one bar. everything should be open and should be business as usual . getting the -- getting people back into their homes is a more difficult task, and that's where the focus is, and has been, but it's just a slower process.
>> i'm sure you've been communicating with your colleagues, the heads of other, you know, beach towns there. what's the story there? how railroad faring compared to them?
>> we are doing pretty well, compared to some towns, especially the towns to my south. they really were hit very hard. they don't have the same commercial tourism industry we have, so it's a different dynamic, so to speak. in bell mar, i think we are probably ahead of where belmar is.
>> you know, it took more than two months after that storm, and then we heard the famous youth burst from governor christie, before congress finally voted on a relief package. what was running through your mind as all this was playing out?
>> dealing with the issues on the ground p there was very little as a mayor of a 5,000-person town that i would have to be able to do. though i will tell you this -- congressman smith has been absolutely magnificent in terms of providing assistance. you know, as far as our concern, it was what we could do to get the debris off the streets, to come up with a plan to make sure we would be at least ready to be open, focusing on the boardwalk, focusing again on getting resources in for those people who have been displaced. as far as the actual dollars go, that happens at a level above my pay grade .
>> well, you know about dollars, $60 billion-plus dollars came through, some of it went to your community, but i guess everyone looks at that and thinks that money needs to be spent to repair and po templeally prevent in the future disasters like this from happening. where does that stand, in your mind?
>> okay. the most critical step at this point in time and what we are working on right now, and have been for a while, is to secure those easements necessary both with homeowners and businesses to allow the army corps of engineers to put together a replenishment project for point pleasant beach as part of the overall project from island beach state park north. so getting those dunes in place will be an essential part of protecting the town.
>> we wish you the best of luck, and you for your time, mayor.
>> thank you.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Google is trying to upstage Siri, the sometimes droll assistant that answers questions and helps people manage their lives on Apple's iPhone and iPad.
The duel begins Monday with the release of a free iPhone and iPad app that features Google Now, a technology that performs many of the same functions as Siri.
It's the first time that Google Now has been available on smartphones and tablet computers that aren't running on the latest version of Google's Android software. The technology, which debuted nine months ago, is being included in an upgrade to Google's search application for iOS, the Apple Inc. software that powers the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. It's up to each user to decide whether to activate Google Now within the redesigned search app.
Google Now's invasion of Siri's turf marks Google Inc.'s latest attempt to lure iPhone and iPad users away from a service that Apple built into its own devices.
Google quickly won over millions of iPhone users in December when it released a mapping application to replace the navigation system that Apple dumped when it redesigned iOS last fall. Apple's maps application proved to be far inferior to Google's ousted service. The app's bugs and glitches made Apple the butt of jokes and fueled demand for Google to develop a new option.
Apple has been losing to Google on other fronts in a rapidly growing mobile computing market, an arena that was revolutionized with the iPhone's release in 2007. Smartphones and tablet computers running Google's free Android software have been steadily expanding their market share in recent years, partly because they tend to be less expensive than the iPhone and iPad. At the end of 2012, Android devices held about 69 percent of the smartphone market while iOS held about 19 percent, according to the research firm IDC.
Android's success has been particularly galling for Apple because its late CEO Steve Jobs believed Google stole many of its ideas for the software from the iPhone. That led to a series of court battles over alleged patent infringement, including a high-profile trial last year that culminated in Apple winning hundreds of millions in damages from Samsung Electronics, the top seller of Android phones. That dispute is still embroiled in appeals.
The rise of Android also is squeezing Apple's profit margins, and has contributed to a 40 percent drop in the company's stock price since it peaked at $705.07 last September around the time that the iPhone 5 came out.
Android's popularity is good news for Google because the company's services are built into most versions of the operating system. That brings more traffic to Google services, creating more opportunities for the company to sell ads ? the main source of Google's revenue.
Siri, billed by Apple as an "intelligent feature." Since the technology's release in October 2011, Apple has made it a centerpiece of some marketing campaigns that depict Siri and its automated female voice as an endearing and occasionally even pithy companion.
When asked for an opinion about Google Now, Siri responded: "If it's all the same to you, I'd rather Google later."
Google believes its Siri counterpart is smarter because Google Now is designed to learn about a user's preferences and then provide helpful information before it's even asked to do so. The technology draws upon information that Google gleans from search requests other interactions with the company's other services. Knowing a person's location also helps Google Now serve up helpful information without being asked.
"This concept of predicting your needs and showing you them at the right time is unique to Google Now," said Baris Gultekin, Google Now's director of product management. "We want computers to do the hard work so our users can focus on what matters to them so they can get on with their lives."
If the technology is working right, Google Now is supposed to do things like automatically tell people what the local weather is like when they awaken to help decide what to wear and provide a report on traffic conditions for the commute to work. During the day, Google Now might provide an update on the score of a user's favorite sports team or a stock quote of a company in a user's investment portfolio. On a Friday evening, Google Now might offer suggestions for movies to see or other weekend events tailored to a user's interests. For international travelers, Google Now might provide currency conversion rates, language translations of common phrases and the time back home.
Most of this automatic information is provided in summaries that Google calls "cards." Like Siri, Google Now also is equipped with voice technology that allows it to respond to questions and interact with users, though it hasn't shown the wit that amuses some of Siri's users.
The Google Now app for iOS isn't as comprehensive as the Android app, which only works on devices running on the latest version of Android ? known as "Jelly Bean." Some of the Android features missing from Google Now's iOS app include cards for showing airline boarding passes and movie tickets bought though online vendor Fandango. Both of those options are available on the iOS through Apple's built-in Passbook feature that's designed to be a digital wallet.
Google Now's expansion on to the iOS underscores Google's ambitions for the service. The company, which is based in Mountain View, Calif., views it as a pivotal tool in its effort to peer deeper into its users' brains. In doing so, Google believes it will be able to provide more useful services and also show more relevant ads. For Google Now to become more intuitive, it needs to widen its availability.
"The more you use Google Now, we will have a better chance of understanding what your needs are and providing you with the right information," Gultekin said. "It's a virtuous cycle."
Gultekin declined to discuss whether there are plans to make Google Now apps for mobile devices running on Microsoft's Windows system. He also refused to comment on speculation circulating in technology blogs that a Web version of Google Now will be offered as a replacement for iGoogle, a tool that allows people to encircle the Google search engine with a variety of services suited to their tastes. IGoogle is scheduled to close in November.
Associated PressOn Tuesday, Queen Beatrix will abdicate and her son will ascend to the Dutch crown. But some Dutch see the monarchy as an unwanted anachronism in an otherwise modern democracy.
A man wearing shades displays a T-shirt depicting Dutch Queen Beatrix in a souvenir shop in Amsterdam today. The Netherlands is preparing for Queen's Day on April 30, which will also mark the abdication of Queen Beatrix and the investiture of her eldest son, Willem-Alexander.
Cris Toala Olivares/Reuters
EnlargeOn Tuesday, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands will abdicate and her eldest son, Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, will be inaugurated as the new king. It's expected to be a major event that will be celebrated across the country by a supportive public.
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But just a few days ago, some 500 yards away from the Dam Square in central Amsterdam where the abdication and inauguration will take place, a small group of Dutch republicans met to discuss how best to call for the abolition of the country's 200-year-old monarchy and instate a true republic.
The workshop was organized by the movement #HetIs2013 ? Dutch for "It's 2013" ? which was started in February when a student protester named Joanna was forcibly removed by police from an event in Utrecht that the queen was attending.
Joanna had been holding up a sign that read "Away with the monarchy, it's 2013" ? which the policemen took to be a violation of the Netherlands' lese majeste law, which still prohibits insulting the royal family despite the country's general support of freedom of speech.
Willem-Alexander later said during a TV interview that the policemen had made "a mistake" by removing her. But the incident spurred like-minded Dutch to call for a royal-free future.
?I intend to visit the Dam wearing white and carrying white balloons,? says one of the attendants of the workshop. The republicans have called on people to dress in white instead of orange ? the Dutch national color, derived from the royal family's last name Van Oranje ? to show their opposition to the hereditary form of rule.
To be sure, the anti-monarchists numbers are small. The workshop in Amsterdam was attended by nine republicans ? they were almost outnumbered by journalists.
Yet more and more people are becoming republican, says Anjo Clement, president of the New Republican Society. The organization, unrelated to but supportive of #HetIs2013, was established in 1998. At the beginning of this year it only had 1,200 members, but that number has more than doubled since Queen Beatrix announced her abdication plans. ?The society has almost three thousand members now,? says Mr. Clement.
The goal of the society is to establish a Dutch republic. ?We prefer an elected head of state,? says Clement. ?Every government official should be subject to scrutinizing by voters. Our democracy is not finished yet.?
The Dutch monarchy, established exactly two centuries ago this year, is something of an oddity in Europe. While many European nations had a monarchy first and then a republic, the Netherlands took a different, anachronistic route.
At the end of the 16th century, during a decades-long struggle against the Spanish king, seven northern provinces decided that they needed no ruler above them. They, in rather de facto fashion, formed a decentralized federation: the Republic of the Seven United Provinces.
In the following centuries, the Republic was alternately ruled by oligarchies and the descendants of nobleman Willem van Oranje (1533-84), who had led the revolt against Spain. Towards the end of the 18th century, Napoleon Bonaparte conquered the region and set up a satellite state, to be governed by his brother. Louis Bonaparte became king of Holland in 1806 and actually became rather popular with the Dutch. But after a series of military defeats elsewhere in Europe, Napoleon decided to pull out his troops from Holland in 1813.
Dazed and disillusioned, the Dutch once again looked to a descendant of Willem van Oranje as their savior. Three self-proclaimed Dutch rulers sent out messengers to find the Prince of Orange, another Willem (1772-1843), and offer him the sovereignty of the Netherlands, on behalf of the Dutch people.
On December 2, 1813, he was inaugurated as King Willem I in Amsterdam, which became the new capital. Willem I was given substantial powers, and the monarchy received international legitimacy when the great powers of that day decide the Kingdom of the Netherlands should be expanded with Belgium, as a buffer state against France.
But just 30 years later, his son Willem II saw revolutions everywhere in Europe, and preemptively decided to give up many of his powers. Under the new constitution that Willem II ordered, the government would be led by a cabinet of ministers answerable to an elected parliament.
However, the monarch remains a part of the government up to present day. Queen Beatrix held weekly meetings with the prime minister, and Willem-Alexander has said he will continue that tradition, to the disapproval of the republicans.
?Those meetings are secret. Why? Do they have something to hide?? Clement asks. ?We want to know what influence the king exercises and we call for an end to this sneakiness.?
Recently though, the most important remaining political power was removed. Until 2012, the monarch had the authority to appoint a person to lead coalition talks after an election. Last year, parliament decided that they no longer needed that help.
Willem-Alexander ?would obviously accept it,? if the Dutch parliament decides to take away all political powers, the upcoming king said in the recent interview.
However, there is no parliamentary momentum for a so-called "ceremonial monarchy."
Left-wing parties, which were much more vocal in their republicanism some decades ago, now acknowledge the affinity the Dutch people have with the royal family. If Willem-Alexander proves as popular as his mother, politicians will likely not see the need for change: an attitude towards the monarchy that Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad described as ?rationally against, emotionally in favor.?
The public seems similarly unmotivated. In a poll?that was released in mid-April, three out of four respondents said they would choose to maintain the monarchy if they had to make a yes-or-no decision. The same amount thinks monarchy is ?part of Dutch culture.?
What doesn't help the republican cause is that the elected official who would replace the monarch as head of state would most probably come from a political party. While 67 percent of those recently polled have confidence in Willem-Alexander, only 12 percent have confidence in ?politics.?
The monarchy also has the added appeal of all the traditions that come with it ? many of which are highly popular with the public, and even with the activists present at the workshop in Amsterdam. One young woman who plans to protest says she hopes not to be arrested on the day of the abdication, which is also Queen's Day, a popular national holiday.
?I don't want to miss the party and the [Queen's Day] flea market,? she says.
?
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., joins MSNBC's Alex Witt to respond to his colleague Rep. Mike Rogers' claim that more arrests will be made in the Boston Bombing investigation.? Rep. Schiff explains the role of the CIA and Russian intelligence in the investigation of the Tsarnaev family.
By Craig Giammona, NBC News
The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee said Sunday that federal authorities are investigating whether the suspects in the Boston marathon bombing received training that helped them carry out the deadly attack.
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said during an appearance on Fox News Sunday that it was too soon to dismiss a possible connection between the suspects and foreign terrorists.
"Right out-of-the-box, U.S. officials unanimously are saying there's not foreign connection to this case when in fact the FBI just began its investigation into the case," McCaul said on Fox News Sunday. "They just got the computer. They just sent a U.S. team over to (the) Chechen region, and to Dagestan, to interview witnesses."
He added: "I think given the level of sophistication of this device, the fact that the pressure cooker is a signature device, goes back to Pakistan or Afghanistan, leads to believe ? and the way they handled these devices and the trade craft leads me to believe that there was a trainer. And the question is, where is that trainer or trainers? Are they overseas in the Chechen region or are they in the United States?"
Publicly, U.S. officials investigating the bombing said there is no evidence of a wider plot, including training, direction or funding for the attacks.
And on CBS' Sunday morning show, Face the Nation, Sen. Claire MCaskill (D-Missouri) said there was no evidence the suspects were "part of a larger organization."
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, is charged with joining his older brother, Tamerlan, who's now dead, in setting off the bombs near the marathon finish line. The attacks killed three and wounded 264. The brothers are ethnic Chechens who came to the United States about a decade ago with their parents. Both parents now live in Russia.
McCaul said Sunday that the suspects' mother had contributed to their "radicalization" and would be detained for questioning if she returned to the United States.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported Sunday that the parents of the bombing suspects had scrapped plans to the travel to the United States.
During an interview from an undisclosed location in Russian, the suspects' father, Anzor Tsarnaev, told the wire service that he believed he would not be allowed to see his surviving son Dzohkhar, who was captured and has been charged in connection with the April 15 bomb blasts that killed three people and wounded 264.
"I am not going back to the United States. For now I am here. I am ill," Tsarnaev said. "Unfortunately I can't help my child in any way. I am in touch with Dzhokhar's and my own lawyers. They told me they would let me know (what to do)," he said.
Tsarnaev had said Thursday that he planned to travel to the United States to see Dzkhokhar and bury his elder son, Tamerlan, who was shot dead by police in a firefight four days after the bombings.
Reuters said Tsarnaev agreed to the face-to-face interview on condition that the village's location not be disclosed.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) ? A steady, sometimes heavy rain pelted fans at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, but the music flowed on.
Umbrellas, rain boots and plastic ponchos were out in abundance Sunday as fans stood among the puddles and water-soaked grass awaiting clearer skies.
As Khris Royal & Dark Matter played the Gentilly Stage, pockets of fest-faithfuls grooved and danced to his funky saxophone opening instrumental. Keith Frank & the Soileau Zydeco Band enticed fans to the front of the nearby Fais Do-Do stage, where a few couples rocked a two-step to the band's steady beat.
The Nevilles, without brother Aaron, perform later Sunday just before the Dave Matthews Band, which closes the fest's first weekend and largest stage.
Other headliners include blues legend B.B. King and Earth, Wind & Fire.
Associated PressWASHINGTON (AP) ? Russian authorities secretly recorded a telephone conversation in 2011 in which one of the Boston bombing suspects vaguely discussed jihad with his mother, officials said Saturday, days after the U.S. government finally received details about the call.
In another conversation, the mother of now-dead bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was recorded talking to someone in southern Russia who is under FBI investigation in an unrelated case, officials said.
The conversations are significant because, had they been revealed earlier, they might have been enough evidence for the FBI to initiate a more thorough investigation of the Tsarnaev family.
As it was, Russian authorities told the FBI only that they had concerns that Tamerlan and his mother were religious extremists. With no additional information, the FBI conducted a limited inquiry and closed the case in June 2011.
Two years later, authorities say Tamerlan and his brother, Dzhohkar, detonated two homemade bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three and injuring more than 260. Tamerlan was killed in a police shootout and Dzhohkar is under arrest.
In the past week, Russian authorities turned over to the United States information it had on Tamerlan and his mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva. The Tsarnaevs are ethnic Chechens who emigrated from southern Russia to the Boston area over the past 11 years.
Even had the FBI received the information from the Russian wiretaps earlier, it's not clear that the government could have prevented the attack.
In early 2011, the Russian FSB internal security service intercepted a conversation between Tamerlan and his mother vaguely discussing jihad, according to U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation with reporters.
The two discussed the possibility of Tamerlan going to Palestine, but he told his mother he didn't speak the language there, according to the officials, who reviewed the information Russia shared with the U.S.
In a second call, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva spoke with a man in the Caucasus region of Russia who was under FBI investigation. Jacqueline Maguire, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Washington Field Office, where that investigation was based, declined to comment.
There was no information in the conversation that suggested a plot inside the United States, officials said.
It was not immediately clear why Russian authorities didn't share more information at the time. It is not unusual for countries, including the U.S., to be cagey with foreign authorities about what intelligence is being collected.
Nobody was available to discuss the matter early Sunday at FSB offices in Moscow.
Jim Treacy, the FBI's legal attache in Moscow between 2007 and 2009, said the Russians long asked for U.S. assistance regarding Chechen activity in the United States that might be related to terrorism.
"On any given day, you can get some very good cooperation," Treacy said. "The next you might find yourself totally shut out."
Zubeidat Tsarnaeva has denied that she or her sons were involved in terrorism. She has said she believed her sons have been framed by U.S. authorities.
But Ruslan Tsarni, an uncle of the Tsarnaev brothers and Zubeidat's former brother-in-law, said Saturday he believes the mother had a "big-time influence" as her older son increasingly embraced his Muslim faith and decided to quit boxing and school.
After receiving the narrow tip from Russia in March 2011, the FBI opened a preliminary investigation into Tamerlan and his mother. But the scope was extremely limited under the FBI's internal procedures.
After a few months, they found no evidence Tamerlan or his mother were involved in terrorism.
The FBI asked Russia for more information. After hearing nothing, it closed the case in June 2011.
In the fall of 2011, the FSB contacted the CIA with the same information. Again the FBI asked Russia for more details and never heard back.
At that time, however, the CIA asked that Tamerlan's and his mother's name be entered into a massive U.S. terrorism database.
The CIA declined to comment Saturday.
Authorities have said they've seen no connection between the brothers and a foreign terrorist group. Dzhohkar told FBI interrogators that he and his brother were angry over wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the deaths of Muslim civilians there.
Family members have said Tamerlan was religiously apathetic until 2008 or 2009, when he met a conservative Muslim convert known only to the family as Misha. Misha, they said, steered Tamerlan toward a stricter version of Islam.
Two U.S. officials say investigators believe they have identified Misha. While it was not clear whether the FBI had spoken to him, the officials said they have not found a connection between Misha and the Boston attack or terrorism in general.
___
Associated Press writer Adam Goldman in Washington and Michael Kunzelman in Boston contributed to this report.
Associated PressBOSTON (AP) ? In photos of her as a younger woman, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva wears a low-cut blouse and has her hair teased like a 1980s rock star. After she arrived in the U.S. from Russia in 2002, she went to beauty school and did facials at a suburban day spa.
But in recent years, people noticed a change. She began wearing a hijab and cited conspiracy theories about 9/11 being a plot against Muslims.
Now known as the angry and grieving mother of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, Tsarnaeva is drawing increased attention after federal officials say Russian authorities intercepted her phone calls, including one in which she vaguely discussed jihad with her elder son. In another, she was recorded talking to someone in southern Russia who is under FBI investigation in an unrelated case, U.S. officials said.
Tsarnaeva insists there is no mystery. She's no terrorist, just someone who found a deeper spirituality. She insists her sons ? Tamerlan, who was killed in a gunfight with police, and Dzhokhar, who was wounded and captured ? are innocent.
"It's all lies and hypocrisy," she told The Associated Press in Dagestan. "I'm sick and tired of all this nonsense that they make up about me and my children. People know me as a regular person, and I've never been mixed up in any criminal intentions, especially any linked to terrorism."
Amid the scrutiny, Tsarnaeva and her ex-husband, Anzor Tsarnaev, say they have put off the idea of any trip to the U.S. to reclaim their elder son's body or try to visit Dzhokhar in jail. Tsarnaev told the AP on Sunday he was too ill to travel to the U.S. Tsarnaeva faces a 2012 shoplifting charge in a Boston suburb, though it was unclear whether that was a deterrent.
At a news conference in Dagestan with Anzor last week, Tsarnaeva appeared overwhelmed with grief one moment, defiant the next. "They already are talking about that we are terrorists, I am terrorist," she said. "They already want me, him and all of us to look (like) terrorists."
Tsarnaeva arrived in the U.S. in 2002, settling in a working-class section of Cambridge, Mass. With four children, Anzor and Zubeidat qualified for food stamps and were on and off public assistance benefits for years. The large family squeezed itself into a third-floor apartment.
Zubeidat took classes at the Catherine Hinds Institute of Esthetics, before becoming a state-licensed aesthetician. Anzor, who had studied law, fixed cars.
By some accounts, the family was tolerant.
Bethany Smith, a New Yorker who befriended Zubeidat's two daughters, said in an interview with Newsday that when she stayed with the family for a month in 2008 while she looked at colleges, she was welcomed even though she was Christian and had tattoos.
"I had nothing but love over there. They accepted me for who I was," Smith told the newspaper. "Their mother, Zubeidat, she considered me to be a part of the family. She called me her third daughter."
Zubeidat said she and Tamerlan began to turn more deeply into their Muslim faith about five years ago after being influenced by a family friend, named "Misha." The man, whose full name she didn't reveal, impressed her with a religious devotion that was far greater than her own, even though he was an ethnic Armenian who converted to Islam.
"I wasn't praying until he prayed in our house, so I just got really ashamed that I am not praying, being a Muslim, being born Muslim. I am not praying. Misha, who converted, was praying," she said.
By then, she had left her job at the day spa and was giving facials in her apartment. One client, Alyssa Kilzer, noticed the change when Tsarnaeva put on a head scarf before leaving the apartment.
"She had never worn a hijab while working at the spa previously, or inside the house, and I was really surprised," Kilzer wrote in a post on her blog. "She started to refuse to see boys that had gone through puberty, as she had consulted a religious figure and he had told her it was sacrilegious. She was often fasting."
Kilzer wrote that Tsarnaeva was a loving and supportive mother, and she felt sympathy for her plight after the April 15 bombings. But she stopped visiting the family's home for spa treatments in late 2011 or early 2012 when, during one session, she "started quoting a conspiracy theory, telling me that she thought 9/11 was purposefully created by the American government to make America hate Muslims."
"It's real," Tsarnaeva said, according to Kilzer. "My son knows all about it. You can read on the Internet."
In the spring of 2010, Zubeidat's eldest son got married in a ceremony at a Boston mosque that no one in the family had previously attended. Tamerlan and his wife, Katherine Russell, a Rhode Island native and convert from Christianity, now have a child who is about 3 years old.
Zubeidat married into a Chechen family but was an outsider. She is an Avar, from one of the dozens of ethnic groups in Dagestan. Her native village is now a hotbed of an ultraconservative strain of Islam known as Salafism or Wahabbism.
It is unclear whether religious differences fueled tension in their family. Anzor and Zubeidat divorced in 2011.
About the same time, there was a brief FBI investigation into Tamerlan Tsarnaev, prompted by a tip from Russia's security service.
The vague warning from the Russians was that Tamerlan, an amateur boxer in the U.S., was a follower of radical Islam who had changed drastically since 2010. That led the FBI to interview Tamerlan at the family's home in Cambridge. Officials ultimately placed his name, and his mother's name, on various watch lists, but the inquiry was closed in late spring of 2011.
After the bombings, Russian authorities told U.S. investigators they had secretly recorded a phone conversation in which Zubeidat had vaguely discussed jihad with Tamerlan. The Russians also recorded Zubeidat talking to someone in southern Russia who is under FBI investigation in an unrelated case, according to U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation with reporters.
The conversations are significant because, had they been revealed earlier, they might have been enough evidence for the FBI to initiate a more thorough investigation of the Tsarnaev family.
Anzor's brother, Ruslan Tsarni, told the AP from his home in Maryland that he believed his former sister-in-law had a "big-time influence" on her older son's growing embrace of his Muslim faith and decision to quit boxing and school.
While Tamerlan was living in Russia for six months in 2012, Zubeidat, who had remained in the U.S., was arrested at a shopping mall in the suburb of Natick, Mass., and accused of trying to shoplift $1,624 worth of women's clothing from a department store.
She failed to appear in court to answer the charges that fall, and instead left the country.
___
Seddon reported from Makhachkala, Russia. Associated Press writers Eileen Sullivan and Matt Apuzzo contributed to this report from Washington.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mother-bomb-suspects-found-deeper-spirituality-224317582.html
KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) ? Police say four people were killed and dozens were injured in two separate bombings of political targets in the southern city of Karachi.
The blasts come as Pakistan is preparing for country-wide elections on May 11.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the Taliban have threatened three political parties perceived as being more liberal and secular, including two targeted Saturday night.
Police officer Azam Baloch says three people were killed and 21 were injured when a bomb planted on a motorbike exploded during a political meeting. That blast targeted supporters of the Pakistan Peoples Party.
Police official Zahid Hussain says the other bomb targeted an office of the Muttahida Quami Movement. One person died and 21 were wounded in that explosion.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/4-killed-pakistan-bombings-political-parties-204339584.html
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Racing to stanch a flow of criticism, the president of San Francisco's annual gay pride celebration said Friday that the U.S. Army private charged in a massive leak of U.S. secrets to the WikiLeaks website will not be an honorary grand marshal after all.
SF Pride Board President Lisa Williams said in a statement that an employee of the organization had prematurely notified imprisoned intelligence specialist Bradley Manning this week that he had been selected for the distinction, which recognizes about a dozen celebrities, politicians and community organizations each year for their contributions to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities.
"That was an error, and that person has been disciplined. He does not now, nor did he at that time, speak for SF Pride," Williams said.
A committee of former San Francisco Pride grand marshals did select the 25-year-old Manning, who is openly gay, for the honor, but the Pride Board decided his nomination would be a mistake, Williams said.
Manning's lawyers have argued that his experience as a soldier before the repeal of the U.S. military's ban on gay service played an important role in his decision to pass hundreds of thousands of sensitive items to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks.
"In point of fact, less than 15 people actually cast votes for Bradley Manning," Williams said. "However, as an organization with a responsibility to serve the broader community, SF Pride repudiates this vote."
While the event's grand marshals are typically celebrated as they wave from convertibles during a downtown San Francisco parade, naming Manning as one was destined to be a symbolic gesture. He is in custody at a military prison in Kansas while he awaits court-martial and would have been unable to attend the June 30 parade.
Earlier Friday, Daniel Ellsberg, the former military analyst who in 1971 leaked the classified information about the Vietnam War that became known as the Pentagon Papers, had agreed to participate in the San Francisco parade on Manning's behalf, said Rainey Reitman, a member of the Bradley Manning Support Network who had cheered the short-lived recognition.
"I and many other LGBT Manning supporters are deeply disappointed by this sudden change in position on the part of the committee," Reitman said. "Bradley is a gay American hero who sacrificed a great deal so we could learn the truth about our government, and he was fairly elected to serve as grand marshal in the parade."
Contingents of Manning supporters have marched in past pride parades, and will do so again this year in San Francisco, Chicago, San Diego and other cities, she said.
But other gay rights activists were less enthusiastic about celebrating Manning, arguing that he should not be honored either as an individual or as a representative of the gay rights movement.
"Manning's blatant disregard for the safety of our service members and the security of our nation should not be praised," said Stephen Peters, president of American Military Partners Association. The group, which advocates for same-sex military families, had called on the Pride Committee to rescind the invitation.
"No community of such a strong and resilient people should be represented by the treacherous acts that define Bradley Manning," Peters said.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wikileaks-suspect-wont-sf-pride-parade-marshal-025956668.html
Macneill Lyons / AP file
An image provided by Yellowstone National Park, Mont., shows a gray wolf in the wild.
By John Flesher and Matthew Brown, The Associated Press
BILLINGS, Mont. --?Federal wildlife officials have drafted plans to lift protections for gray wolves across the Lower 48 states, a move that could end a decades-long recovery effort that has restored the animals but only in parts of their historic range.
The draft U.S. Department of Interior rule obtained by The Associated Press contends that roughly 5,000 wolves now living in the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes are enough to prevent the species' extinction. The agency says having gray wolves elsewhere ? such as the West Coast, parts of New England and the Southern Rockies ? is unnecessary for their long-term survival.
A small population of Mexican wolves in the Southwest would continue to receive federal protections, as a distinct subspecies of the gray wolf.
The document was first reported by the Los Angeles Times.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Friday the rule was under internal review and would be subject to public comment before a final decision is made.
If the rule is enacted, it would transfer control of wolves to state wildlife agencies by removing them from the federal list of endangered species.
Wildlife advocates warn that could effectively halt the species' expansion, which has stirred a backlash from agricultural groups and some hunters upset by wolf attacks on livestock and big game herds such as elk.
Some biologists have argued wolves will continue spreading regardless of their legal status. The animals are prolific breeders, known to journey hundreds of miles in search of new territory. They were wiped out across most of the U.S. early last century following a government sponsored poisoning and trapping campaign.
In an emailed statement, the agency pointed to "robust" populations of the animals in the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes as evidence that gray wolf recovery "is one of the world's great conservation successes."
Wolves in those two areas lost protections under the Endangered Species Act over the last two years.
In some states where wolves have recovered, regulated hunting and trapping already has been used to drive down their populations, largely in response to wolf attacks on livestock and big game herds. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently reported that wolf numbers dropped significantly last year in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana for the first time since they were reintroduced in the mid-1990s.
Federal officials have said they are monitoring the states' actions, but see no immediate threat to their survival.
In Oregon and Washington, which have small but rapidly growing wolf populations, the animals have remained protected under state laws even after federal protections were lifted in portions of the two states.
Between 1991 and 2011, the federal government spent $102 million on gray wolf recovery programs and state agencies chipped in $15.6 million. Federal spending likely would drop if the proposal to lift protections goes through, while state spending would increase.
John Flesher reported from Traverse City, Mich.
? 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Getty ImagesHere are the terms of trades completed on Saturday, April 27, the third and final day of the 2013 NFL Draft. All draft choices are 2013 selections unless otherwise noted:
The Jaguars traded a fourth-round pick (No. 98) to the Eagles. In exchange, the Eagles sent fourth- and seventh-round picks (Nos. 101, 210) to Jacksonville. With pick No. 98, the Eagles selected Southern California quarterback Matt Barkley. Three picks later, the Jaguars selected South Carolina wide receiver Ace Sanders at No. 101. With pick No. 210, the Jaguars took Appalachian State cornerback Demetrius McCray.
The Buccaneers acquired a fourth-round pick (No. 100) from Oakland. The Raiders, in turn, received fourth- and sixth-round selections (Nos. 112, 181) from Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers took Illinois defensive tackle Akeem Spence at No. 100. The Raiders selected Arkansas quarterback Tyler Wilson at No. 112 and UCF running back Latavius Murray at No. 181.
The Giants traded for a fourth-round pick (No. 110) belonging to Arizona. In exchange, New York sent fourth- and sixth-round selections (Nos. 116, 187) to the Cardinals. The Giants took Syracuse quarterback Ryan Nassib at No. 110. With No. 116, the Cardinals took James Madison offensive guard Earl Watford, and with No. 187, they selected Clemson running back Andre Ellington.
The Steelers acquired a fourth-round pick from Cleveland (No. 111). In return, the Browns will get the Steelers? third-round pick in 2014. The Steelers selected Syracuse safety Shamarko Thomas at No. 111.
The Packers traded for Denver?s fourth-round pick (No. 125), giving the Broncos fifth- and sixth-round picks (Nos. 146, 173) in return. The Packers selected UCLA running back Jonathan Franklin at No. 125. At No. 146, the Broncos selected Western Kentucky defensive end Quanterus Smith. At No. 173, the Broncos took Virginia Tech offensive tackle Vinston Painter.
The Seahawks acquired the Lions? fifth-round selection (No. 137). In return, the Lions received fifth- and sixth-round choices (Nos. 165, 199) from Seattle. At No. 137, the Seahawks took Alabama defensive tackle Jesse Williams. The Lions took Appalachian State punter Sam Martin at No. 165 and Notre Dame running back Theo Riddick at No. 199.
The Colts acquired the Browns? fifth-round pick (No. 139) in exchange for Indianapolis? 2014 fourth-round pick. At No. 139, the Colts selected Tennessee-Martin defensive tackle Montori Hughes.
The Falcons acquired the Bears? fifth-round selection (No. 153), sending fifth- and seventh-round picks (Nos. 163, 236) to Chicago. The Falcons selected Texas Christian defensive end / outside linebacker Stansly Maponga. The Bears took Louisiana Tech tackle Jordan Mills at No. 163 and Washington State wide receiver Marquess Wilson at No. 236.
The Rams traded back into Round Five, sending sixth- and seventh-round picks (Nos. 184, 198) to the Texans for Houston?s fifth-round pick (No. 160). The Rams took Vanderbilt running back Zac Stacy at No. 160. The Texans exercised pick No. 198 on Bowling Green defensive tackle Chris Jones. The Texans dealt selection No. 184 to Oakland (see next entry).
The Texans acquired a sixth-round pick from Oakland (No. 176). In return, Houston sent sixth- and seventh-round selections to Oakland (Nos. 184, 233). The Texans selected San Jose State offensive tackle David Quessenberry at No. 176. The Raiders used selection No. 184 on Tennessee tight end Mychal Rivera and selection No. 233 on Missouri Western State defensive end David Bass.
The Buccaneers traded running back LeGarrette Blount to the Patriots for running back / kick returner Jeff Demps and a seventh-round pick (No. 229). The Buccaneers traded the No. 229 pick to Minnesota (see next entry).
The Buccaneers acquired a sixth-round pick from Minnesota (No. 189). In return, the Vikings received sixth- and seventh-round picks (Nos. 196, 229). The Buccaneers took Miami (Fla.) running back Mike James at No. 189. The Vikings selected UCLA offensive guard Jeff Baca at No. 196 and Florida State defensive tackle Everett Dawkins with pick No. 229.
Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/04/27/49ers-draft-marcus-lattimore/related/
DETROIT (AP) ? Anibal Sanchez approached the dugout with the crowd at Comerica Park roaring its approval, then he took off his hat to acknowledge the fans.
Aware of his pitch count, he realized his night was probably done ? but what an evening it was.
Sanchez struck out 17 in eight marvelous innings for Detroit, confounding the Atlanta Braves in a dazzling performance Friday night and leading the Tigers to a 10-0 victory. Sanchez broke Mickey Lolich's team record of 16 strikeouts when he fanned three in the eighth inning.
"It's hard to get much better than that," manager Jim Leyland said.
Sanchez threw 121 pitches in those eight innings, so there would be no return for the ninth to try to match Roger Clemens and Kerry Wood with 20 strikeouts. In fact, Leyland said he was ready to take Sanchez out after the seventh before letting him pitch a bit longer.
Sanchez was asked after the game about his new place in franchise history. The Tigers have been around for over a century, and nobody has had a game quite like this.
"Amazing," Sanchez said. "I'm just going to keep working. That's not going to stop today."
Clemens and Wood are the only pitchers to strike out 20 in a nine-inning game. Since at least 1921, only Randy Johnson has struck out more than 17 while pitching eight innings or less. Johnson, who was then with Seattle, fanned 18 against Texas in a 1992 game, according to STATS.
Lolich struck out 16 twice in less than three weeks in 1969.
Sanchez (3-1) allowed five hits and one walk Friday.
"I don't think too much about strikeouts and records and things like that," Sanchez said. "I prefer getting some zeros."
Paul Maholm (3-2) allowed eight runs in 3 2-3 innings after giving up only three in his first four starts. Detroit's Matt Tuiasosopo homered and drove in a career-high five runs.
Sanchez kept the Braves off balance all night, striking out at least two hitters in every inning except the fourth. Several of his strikeouts came when he got Atlanta hitters to chase balls down around the dirt. He got Dan Uggla four times and Freddie Freeman and Juan Francisco three times each.
"He was really good. I don't know even know if he missed a spot," Uggla said. "Everything was moving, cutting and sinking."
Comerica is no stranger to high strikeout totals. Max Scherzer struck out 15 for the Tigers last year in a home game against Pittsburgh. Justin Verlander's career high is 14.
"We were joking after the game that Anibal is No. 1, I'm No. 2 and Ver is just average," Scherzer said.
When told about that comment, Verlander ? a former MVP and Cy Young Award winner who has thrown two no-hitters ? paused briefly.
"That's OK," he said. "I've got a few other things."
This was Sanchez's night. His performance overshadowed Tuiasosopo's big game with the bat. Tuiasosopo entered the game with 16 RBIs in a major league career that began with Seattle in 2008. He was a somewhat surprising addition to Detroit's roster out of spring training, but he's hit well in limited action with the Tigers.
Tuiasosopo's bases-loaded single in the third drove in two runs and made it 4-0.
Detroit scored six runs the following inning. An RBI double by Victor Martinez made it 7-0 and chased Maholm, and with two on, Tuiasosopo hit a drive over the left-field fence for his first homer since 2010.
After that, it was just a question of how many hitters Sanchez could strike out. He'd already fanned 14 at the start of the eighth, matching Yu Darvish of Texas for the highest single-game total in the majors this season.
Then he left that mark behind, fanning Francisco and Reed Johnson to start the inning. After Andrelton Simmons singled, Uggla struck out, and Sanchez's work was done.
NOTES: According to STATS, Sanchez now holds the record for most strikeouts in a regular-season interleague game. The previous mark was 16, set by Philadelphia's Curt Schilling in 1997 against the New York Yankees and Boston's Pedro Martinez in 1999 against Atlanta. ... Sanchez lowered his ERA to 1.34. Maholm's went up from 1.03 to 3.30. ... Detroit's Miguel Cabrera extended his hitting streak to 10 games. ... Detroit's Rick Porcello (0-2) faces Atlanta's Kris Medlen (1-2) on Saturday.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sanchez-fans-17-tigers-beat-braves-10-0-015423311.html
If you know how to go about using social media marketing, you can build your customer base. Even if you are already running a successful business, you can benefit from learning social media marketing. The advice of this article will offer you many ways to improve your business and bottom line, using social media marketing.
If you use social media for personal use, you have probably seen a variety of altered and Photoshopped advertisements and images. This use of images is very clever and can draw potential buyers to your products or website. Once you lure them in, they will be more likely to click through to your site and buy one of your products or services.
TIP! You will not have a successful social media campaign if you do not have a good understanding of your target audience. Your best bet is to learn as much as possible about your target market, including their social media preferences and behaviors.
Remember that results are not instant when using social media marketing. It takes some time in order to come up with a solid strategy for social media marketing. Prior to announcing major social media efforts, take the time to get as many people as possible signed up to your Facebook and Twitter accounts. Also, it?s wise to make your social media page known via other marketing methods.
TIP! Your social profiles should be used as a gateway that gets subscribed followers to buy your services and products. Let them know about new locations or discounts you have going on.
Be flexible in how often your page is updated. When launching a major campaign or new product, plentiful updates are critical. If not much is currently happening, though, you should curb your posting so you aren?t posting poor quality content that can hurt your brand.
Monitor and evaluate your progress. It is important to generate statistics of the activity produced and the number of followers gained on a weekly basis. Try linking these figures to your actions and pinpoint the best decisions you have made to develop better strategies. You have to keep track of all of your results to know what is working or not.
TIP! Try to focus on the things that people want when you are marketing through social media. Respond to customer complaints and feedback immediately so your customers know you are listening to them.
If comments are left on social media sites, reply to them. This is especially true for any negative comments. If people feel like what they have to say matters to your company, they are more likely to trust in your products and brand. Always get back to customers as soon as you can so they don?t feel ignored.
When dealing with social media marketing, it is important that you can handle not only positive comments, but negative ones as well. When your follows like you it?s great, but people will complain as well. Don?t simply ignore these comments. Embrace them, and assist your unhappy customers.
TIP! See what the competition is up to. Find them on the different social media sites and note their techniques.
If you have a blog for your company, then when you update your blog with new content, post it on your social media sites after you publish. By back-linking to your blog, you will be able to tell your social media followers that you have new content available.
TIP! Special offers should be advertised on social networks. Your customers will search for your Facebook pages if they have incentives and discounts on them.
Social media marketing is all about social interaction, so don?t neglect to speak with people on a face-to-face basis. Or PC-to-PC, more accurately. People get frustrated when talking to a faceless company. When a customer is speaking to a live person, they realize that the company cares.
Consider hosting giveaways through your profiles on social media sites. By hosting a giveaway you will gain many new followers. All you need to do is figure out what you would like to give away, and post links on some of the many popular profiles that feature freebies.
TIP! Learn about how broad social media marketing is if you want to use it correctly. You can become better acquainted with your customers by using social media.
One great, easy way to increase your social media followers is to add exclusive offers, coupons and discounts for people that ?like? your page or follow you. This practice works to improve not only your social media profile, but also your bottom line. Special offers encourage customers to connect with you and to make more purchases.
TIP! Prior to posting any content that represents your business on a social media marketing site, be sure to carefully review it all. Social media is very viral, and a little mistake can spread quickly.
Be patient. People should trust what you?re doing and whatever it is you are trying to sell. Relax and try to gain the trust of one person at a time. After a while, you will see your customer list begin to grow.
TIP! A surefire way to create buzz around your company products is to conduct online Q&A sessions about the product. You can effectively teach your customers about your range of products or services while creating content for your website via FAQ entries.
Read up on social media marketing. Maybe you are already familiar with Facebook, but it is best to know that marketing through a social media site is a lot different than just chatting up your friends. Also, look on the Internet for pertinent advice from professionals in this field.
Use as many social media outlets as possible to market yourself. Although Facebook might be the most effective and popular tool, you should not minimize the marketing magnitude of other lesser sites such as twitter and Myspace. The greater your exposure, the better likelihood your efforts will succeed.
TIP! Letting your employees have blogs on the business website is among the more effective strategies you can wield in social media marketing. Employee blogs will give your customers a unique view into the personality of your business.
To create a place in social media marketing, these hints will benefit you. By implementing these methods into your business strategy, you are certain to notice an increase in the number of customers your business handles. When you really put the necessary time and effort into it, social media will prove to be a very successful and lucrative method of marketing for you.
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Source: http://4thgc.com/social-media-marketing-tips-that-take-your-business-to-the-next-level/
