UN condemns Somali bombing at Mogadishu cafe

GALKAYO, Somalia (AP) ? The United Nations special representative for Somalia condemned a suicide bombing which killed 14 people Thursday at a Mogadishu cafe frequented by politicians and journalists in the capital.

Somali police Col. Mohammed Dahair said the evening explosion happened at a cafe near the seat of government. He could not immediately say how many others were wounded.

A second police official, Abdiwali Hassan, said three journalists were among those killed. He did not know if any prominent politicians were among the dead.

The attack was likely carried out by the militant group al-Shabab which has been fighting the Somali government for nearly five years. Africa Union forces pushed the al-Qaida affiliated group out of Mogadishu in August 2011 but the militants have continued to carry out suicide attacks in the capital.

The U.N. secretary-general's special representative to Somalia condemned the attack, which follows Sunday's inauguration of President Hassan Skeikh Mohamud.

"I strongly condemn this cowardly and senseless attack. These acts of terrorism cannot reverse the recent achievements that Somalia has witnessed - such incidents can only reinforce the determination of the Somali people to reject violence and engage in peaceful resolution of conflict," said Augustine P. Mahiga, head of the U.N. Political Office for Somalia.

The election of Mohamud marked the end of an eight-year U.N.-backed political transition period, which also saw the recent election of a parliament and the adoption of a provisional constitution.

"This attack coming at a time when the people have resoundingly welcomed a popular process towards attaining more legitimate and representative institutions is an affront to the will of the Somali people and an attack on the return of normalcy to Somalia," Mahiga said. "We will not let the hard-won momentum towards stability be affected by such events."

___

Associated Press writer Ron DePasquale contributed from the United Nations.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/un-condemns-somali-bombing-mogadishu-cafe-111124772.html

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FDA urged to set standards for arsenic in rice

(AP) ? Consumer groups are pressuring the Food and Drug Administration to set federal guidance on allowable levels of arsenic in rice, prompting the agency to study the issue and consider possible new standards.

So far, FDA officials say they have found no evidence that suggests rice is unsafe to eat. The agency is in the middle of conducting a study of 1,200 samples of grocery-store rice products ? short and long-grain rice, cereals, drinks and even rice cakes ? to measure arsenic levels.

Arsenic is thought to be found in rice in higher levels than most other foods because it is grown in water on the ground, optimal conditions for the contaminant to be absorbed in the rice. There are no federal standards for how much arsenic is allowed in food.

Arsenic is naturally present in water, air, food and soil in two forms, organic and inorganic. According to the FDA, organic arsenic passes through the body quickly and is essentially harmless. Inorganic arsenic ? the type found in some pesticides and insecticides ? can be toxic and may pose a cancer risk if consumed at high levels or over a long period.

How much organic and inorganic arsenic rice eaters are consuming, and whether those levels are dangerous, still remain to be seen.

FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg says consumers shouldn't stop eating rice, though she does encourage a diverse diet just in case.

"Our advice right now is that consumers should continue to eat a balanced diet that includes a wide variety of grains ? not only for good nutrition but also to minimize any potential consequences from consuming any one particular food," she said.

The agency on Wednesday released 200 of the expected 1,200 samples after the magazine Consumer Reports released its own study and called for federal standards for arsenic in rice. The FDA will not complete its study until the end of the year, Hamburg said, and cannot draw any conclusions from the results until then.

Both studies show relatively similar levels of arsenic in rice. The FDA's analysis showed average levels of 3.5 to 6.7 micrograms of inorganic arsenic per serving, while Consumer Reports found levels up to 8.7 micrograms. The FDA released 200 samples, while Consumer Reports tested 223.

It is almost impossible to say how dangerous these levels are without a benchmark from the federal government. Consumer Reports uses New Jersey's drinking water standard ? a maximum of 5 micrograms in a liter of water ? as comparison because it is one of the strictest in the country. But it is unclear how accurate it is to compare arsenic levels in water and arsenic levels in rice ? most people consume more water than rice, so drinking water standards may need to be tougher.

It is because of this uncertainty that consumer groups have urged the FDA to set a standard.

Urvashi Rangan of Consumer Reports says the group is not trying to alarm rice eaters and parents feeding their children rice, but to educate them so they can diversify their diets. Consumers should be more protected since arsenic is a known carcinogen, she said.

"It doesn't make sense not to have standards for rice," she said.

The Consumer Reports study found higher levels of arsenic in brown rice than white rice, a result of how the two different types are processed. It also found higher levels in rice produced in Southern U.S. states than in rice from California or Asia.

Hamburg cautioned that neither the FDA nor Consumer Reports had tested enough samples to be certain of any trend.

"These are very few samples and there is great variability in the levels," she said.

Scientists have known for decades that arsenic is present in rice, but the issue has renewed interest as consumers are more interested than ever in what they eat and technology has advanced to the point that inorganic and organic arsenic can be measured separately.

The consumer group's push on arsenic in rice comes a year after it pressured the FDA to define standards for arsenic in apple juice. Michael Taylor, the FDA's deputy commissioner for foods, said Tuesday that the agency had completed that assessment and would be making recommendations soon. The levels found in apple juice are low, he said.

___

Find Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mcjalonick

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-09-19-FDA-Arsenic%20in%20Rice/id-1bffa40b897e47909dc9af4372d3648c

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World's First 'Liliger' is Born in Siberian Zoo


Lions and tigers, oh my. But now a new animal can be added to the mix.

Meet baby cub, Kiara, thought to be the world's first liliger.

The cute kitty, whose mom, Zita, is a liger (lion crossed with a tiger) and dad, Sam, is an African lion, was born in August at the Novosibirsk Zoo in Siberia.

To add to the confusion, Kiara is reportedly being raised by the zoo's ordinary domestic cat since her liger mother wasn't able to provide enough milk to feed the hungry, growing baby cub.

Kiara is being kept in quarantine right now, but visitors should be able to see her fuzzy face as soon as October.

"This cub has just started growing and developing, her character has not even formed yet. But I'm confident she will be a calm, confident, strong animal," Roza Solovyova, the head of the zoo's cat section, told Reuters.

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/worlds-first-liliger-born-siberian-zoo-144905662--abc-news-topstories.html

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Ikea CEO to step down next year

STOCKHOLM (AP) ? Ikea says CEO Mikael Ohlsson will retire next year after 34 years of working for the world's largest furniture retailer.

The Swedish company announced Monday that Ohlsson, who has been chief executive since 2009, will be replaced in September 2013 by Peter Agnefjall, who has temporarily been appointed vice president of the group until he takes over the top post.

Agnefjall, 41, is currently country manager of Ikea Sweden. He has held several leadership positions in the group since 1995, including as assistant to Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad.

Ikea employs 131,000 people in 41 countries. It served 655 million customers at some 290 stores in 2011.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ikea-ceo-step-down-next-152015262--finance.html

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Oil takes sudden plunge, loses 2.4 percent

NEW YORK (AP) ? Oil plunged suddenly Monday afternoon, dropping more than $4 per barrel at one point in a dramatic end to an otherwise quiet trading day in New York,

Benchmark crude fell $2.38, or 2.4 percent, to finish at $96.62 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That's the biggest percentage decline since July 23. Oil plunged below $95 per barrel during the sell-off.

Traders were unsure of the cause of Monday's price drop. Some questioned whether an errant trade or another rumor about a release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve was to blame.

The White House has been considering tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to stem the rising cost of crude and gasoline. A little over a week ago, Reuters reported the Obama administration was considering a release much larger than the 30 million barrels from last year.

Oil rose 2.7 percent last week after getting a boost from the U.S. Federal Reserve's latest plan to boost the U.S. economy. It held to slight gains above $99 for most of Monday.

Brent crude, which is used to price international varieties of oil, fell sharply as well. Brent lost $2.91, or 2.9 percent, to $113.77 on the ICE Futures Exchange in London.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/oil-takes-sudden-plunge-loses-2-4-percent-190735049--finance.html

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IMPORTANT! Public Hearing on Commercial ... - staradvertiserblo..

dpr logo

If you play tennis- recreational users, adult and youth league, teach or take?lessons - JTT, USTA, private pro, high school coach, at any public court, these public hearings will affect you.

Attendance at these public hearings by the tennis playing and teaching public is important and critical. The meetings are for all commercial activities at public parks. This is an opportunity for the tennis community of competitive and recreational players, teams, groups and organizations to show that they value and care about public tennis courts and their highest use.

WHAT

The Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) will hold four public hearings on Oahu (see schedule of locations) to?consider public testimony and comments in determining whether certain commercial activities should be allowed in City parks.

And, the Department will consider public testimony and comments in the development of rules and regulations to govern approved commercial activities.

WHO

All tennis players who play at public parks and the over 150?teaching pros and coaches who do not teach at private clubs.

WHY

Numerous critical issues are at stake, including processes and structures with regard to usage, permits, and teaching. ?Many voices are needed to call for a focus on community tennis issues and a better public park experience for all.

ACTION

Share the notice with friends, team mates, and attend at least one if not several hearings. ?Take the time to review the important issues and testify.

WHEN

5-7 PM this week, Monday through Thursday.?See the public hearing notices below for locations and complete details:

Sept 17 ? ?Kilauea District Park (all parks from Ala Moana to Sandy Beach)

Sept 18 ? ?Waialua District Park (all parks from Makapuu to Mokuleia)

Sept 19 ? ?Kaneohe District Park (all?parks from Lanikai to Kaneohe)

Sept 20 ? ?WaianaeDistrict Park (all parks from Ewa Beach to Keaau)

Source: http://hawaiianislestennisline.staradvertiserblogs.com/2012/09/16/important-public-hearing-on-commercial-activity-at-public-parks/

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One year on, Occupy Wall Street movement in disarray

NEW YORK (AP) ? Occupy Wall Street began to disintegrate in rapid fashion last winter, when the weekly meetings in New York City devolved into a spectacle of fistfights and vicious arguments.

Punches were thrown and objects were hurled at moderators' heads. Protesters accused each other of being patriarchal and racist and domineering. Nobody could agree on anything and nobody was in charge. The moderators went on strike and refused to show up, followed in quick succession by the people who kept meeting minutes. And then the meetings stopped altogether.

In the city where the movement was born, Occupy was falling apart.

"We weren't talking about real things at that point," says Pete Dutro, a tattoo artist who used to manage Occupy's finances but became disillusioned by the infighting and walked away months ago. "We were talking about each other."

The trouble with Occupy Wall Street, a year after it bloomed in a granite park in lower Manhattan and spread across the globe, is that nobody really knows what it is anymore. To say whether Occupy was a success or a failure depends on how you define it.

Occupy is a network. Occupy is a metaphor. Occupy is still alive. Occupy is dead. Occupy is the spirit of revolution, a lost cause, a dream deferred.

"I would say that Occupy today is a brand that represents movements for social and economic justice," says Jason Amadi, a 28-year-old protester who now lives in Philadelphia. "And that many people are using this brand for the quest of bettering this world."

On Monday, a couple hundred protesters converged near the New York Stock Exchange to celebrate Occupy's anniversary, marking the day they began camping out in Zuccotti Park.

A handful were arrested after sitting on the sidewalk, but there was no sign of a planned "people's wall" on the streets surrounding the stock exchange.

Instead, protesters held a small meeting where they talked about the ills of Wall Street and corporate greed.

Marches and rallies in more than 30 cities around the world will commemorate the day.

About 300 people observing the anniversary marched Saturday. At least a dozen were arrested, mostly on charges of disorderly conduct, police said.

But the movement is now a shadow of its mighty infancy, when a group of young people harnessed the power of a disillusioned nation and took to the streets chanting about corporate greed and inequality.

Back then it was a rallying cry, a force to be reckoned with. But as the encampments were broken up and protesters lost a gathering place, Occupy in turn lost its ability to organize.

The movement had grown too large too quickly. Without leaders or specific demands, what started as a protest against income inequality turned into an amorphous protest against everything wrong with the world.

"We were there to occupy Wall Street," Dutro says. "Not to talk about every social ill that we have."

The community that took shape in Zuccotti Park still exists, albeit in a far less cohesive form. Occupiers mostly keep in touch online through a smattering of websites and social networks. There are occasional conference calls and Occupy-affiliated newsletters. Meetings are generally only convened to organize around specific events, like the much-hyped May Day event that ultimately fizzled last spring.

The movement's remaining $85,000 in assets were frozen, though fundraising continues.

"The meetings kind of collapsed under their own weight," explains Marisa Holmes, a 26-year-old protester among the core organizers who helped Occupy rise up last fall. "They became overly concerned with financial decisions. They became bureaucratic."

In other words, they became a combustible microcosm of the society that Occupiers had decided to abandon ? a new, equally flawed society with its own set of miniature hierarchies and toxic relationships. Even before the ouster at Zuccotti Park, the movement had been plagued with noise and sanitary problems, an inability to make decisions and a widening rift between the park's full-time residents and the movement's power players, most of whom no longer lived in the park.

"We've always said that we want a new society," Holmes says. "We're not asking anything of Wall Street. We don't expect anything in return."

Occupy organizers in other U.S. cities have also scattered to the winds in recent months. In Oakland, a metal fence surrounds the City Hall lawn that was the hub of protesters' infamous tear-gassed, riotous clashes with police. The encampment is gone, as are the thousands who ventured west to help repeatedly shut down one of the nation's largest ports.

"I don't think Occupy itself has an enormous future," says Dr. Mark Naison, a professor at Fordham University in New York City. "I think that movements energized by Occupy have an enormous future."

Across the nation, there have been protests organized in the name of ending foreclosure, racial inequality, stop and frisk, debt: You name it, Occupy has claimed it. Occupy the Bronx. Occupy the Department of Education. Occupy the Hood. Occupy the Hamptons.

Protesters opposing everything from liquor sales in Whiteclay, Neb., to illegal immigration in Birmingham, Ala., have used Occupy as a weapon to fight for their own causes. In Russia, opposition activists protesting President Vladimir Putin's re-election to a third term have held a series of Occupy-style protests. Young "indignados" in Spain are joining unions and public servants to rally against higher taxes and cuts to public education and health care.

"All around the world, that youthful spirit of revolt is alive and well," says Kalle Lasn, co-founder of Adbusters, the Canadian magazine that helped ignite the movement.

In New York, groups of friends who call themselves "affinity groups" still gather at each other's apartments for dinner to talk about the future of Occupy. A few weeks ago, about 50 Occupiers gathered in a basement near Union Square to plan the anniversary.

There were the usual flare-ups, with people speaking out of order and heckling the moderators. The group could not agree on whether to allow a journalist to take photographs. An older man hijacked the meeting for nearly 15 minutes with a long-winded rant about the NYPD's stop-and-frisk tactics.

A document called "The Community Agreement of Occupy Wall Street" was distributed that, among other outdated encampment-era rules, exhorted Occupiers not to touch each other's personal belongings and laid out rules about sleeping arrangements.

It is this sort of inward-facing thinking ? the focus on Occupiers, not the world they're trying to remake ? that saddens ex-protesters like Dutro, who wanted to stay focused on taking down Wall Street.

Hanging in the entryway to his Brooklyn apartment, like a relic of the past, is the first poster he ever brought down to Zuccotti Park. In black and gold lettering, painted on a piece of cardboard, the sign says: "Nobody got rich on their own. Wall St. thinks U-R-A-SUCKER."

He keeps it there as a reminder of what Occupy is really fighting for. Because despite his many frustrations, Dutro hasn't been able to stamp the Occupy anger out of his soul. Not yet.

On Sept. 17, he'll be down at Liberty Square again. And he'll be waiting, like the rest of the world, to see what happens next.

"We came into the park and had this really magical experience," he says. "It was a big conversation. It was where we all got to realize: 'I'm not alone.'"

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/1-occupy-disarray-spirit-lives-161622760.html

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