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Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Mali: 3rd day of fighting extremists in Timbuktu

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) ? Shooting continued for a third day in the Malian city of Timbuktu, as the army went house to house searching for the Islamic extremists who infiltrated the town over the weekend.

Capt. Samba Coulibaly, spokesman for the Malian military in Timbuktu, said the jihadists had taken cover behind the military camp in the town center and in the alleyways next to the 14th century Dinjareyber mosque, a UNESCO Wold Heritage site. He said a total of 11 jihadists had been killed since the attack started late Saturday night.

The French Defense Ministry said in a statement that Mirage and Rafalle jets flew over the city to hunt down the fighters, who attempted to flee in the northwest direction. One French soldier was injured during the fighting, the statement said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mali-3rd-day-fighting-extremists-timbuktu-145836912.html

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Diet, Health and Fitness Blog

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Source: http://diet-health-fitness-blog.blogspot.com/2013/03/how-to-naturally-prevent-heart-disease.html

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RICO presents challenges in Atlanta cheating case

ATLANTA (AP) ? The criminal prosecution of dozens of Atlanta Public Schools educators presents considerable challenges for both prosecutors and defense attorneys because of the use of a complex law initially designed to dismantle organized crime, legal experts say.

Thirty-five educators within the Atlanta school system, including former Superintendent Dr. Beverly Hall, were named in a 65-count indictment last week that alleges a broad conspiracy to cheat, conceal cheating or retaliate against whistleblowers in an effort to bolster student test scores and, as a result, receive bonuses for improved student performance. Prosecutors set a Tuesday deadline for all defendants to surrender to authorities.

Each defendant is charged with violating Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations statute, also known as RICO. The law is modeled on the federal statute, which Congress enacted in 1970 to take down mobsters.

Criminal RICO cases can be extremely complex with multiple elements to prove beyond the basic crime. That includes establishing a criminal enterprise, in this case the Atlanta Public Schools system, and a pattern of criminal behavior.

"It gets very complicated when you try to describe all of this to a jury and to convince a jury that a person is guilty of all of this by a reasonable doubt," said Jeffrey E. Grell, a former assistant attorney general in Minnesota and expert on RICO cases. "Particularly in a RICO case, because you have people pointing fingers of blame all over, I'm sure it's going to be very complicated."

Grell, who teaches at the University of Minnesota Law School, said the inherent nature of the law ? to prosecute "people who don't get their hands dirty" ? also makes it a challenge to secure a conviction. Although the defendant doesn't have to engage in the crime directly, prosecutors must show the defendant was directly operating or managing the criminal enterprise, Grell said.

"The critical issue is going to be intent," Grell said. "All of these defendants, the prosecution will have to prove they knowingly and intentionally set out to defraud and engage in cheating. I'm sure some of these administrators and defendants will say they did not know what was going on."

Grell said RICO cases can be expensive, especially with multiple defendants and multiple allegations of criminal wrongdoing.

The defendants include high-level administrators, principals, assistant principals, teachers, testing coordinators, a school secretary and a school improvement specialist. Hall, the former superintendent, has long denied any knowledge of the cheating.

A 2011 state investigation revealed widespread cheating by nearly 180 educators in Atlanta schools dating back to 2001. Investigators said educators gave answers to students or changed answers on tests after they were turned in, and teachers who tried to report it faced retaliation, creating a culture of "fear and intimidation."

The tests were the key measure the state used to determine whether it met the federal No Child Left Behind law. Schools with good test scores get extra federal dollars to spend in the classroom or on teacher bonuses.

On Friday, in announcing the indictment, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard used the story of an Atlanta third-grader to underscore the importance of the case, with teachers and administrators more focused on test scores than student improvement. He said the girl received the worst score in her reading class in 2006 and yet, when she took an assessment test, she passed with flying colors. The girl is now in ninth grade, reading at a fifth-grade level.

The high emotions surrounding the case and the extensive media publicity will also pose challenges for prosecutors and defense attorneys.

It's likely that one or more defendants will seek to have the case moved out of Atlanta or to have jurors brought in from another part of the state, which is allowed under Georgia law, said Ron Carlson, professor of law emeritus at the University of Georgia. Some of the defendants may also ask to have their trials be separate from the others in the hopes of strengthening their case, Carlson said.

And the stakes will increase the pressure on everyone involved in the case.

"I consider this one of the most important, one of the seminal developments in the history of American education law. It's the largest school teaching scandal yet recorded in the country," Carlson said. "A high-profile case like this one puts public attention and public pressure on the various moves made by prosecutors and defense attorneys."

Morgan Cloud, a professor at Emory University School of Law, said prosecutors will also have to work to explain the RICO law to jurors.

"When we think of racketeers we think of the Gambino family in New York ... people who engage in murder and drug dealing and prostitution," Cloud said.

___

Follow Christina Almeida Cassidy on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AP_Christina.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rico-presents-challenges-atlanta-cheating-case-211455310.html

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Cal rallies past Georgia to reach first Final Four

California head coach Lindsay Gottlieb, right, is embraced by Layshia Clarendon after the team beat Georgia in overtime in a regional final in the NCAA women's college basketball tournament, Monday, April 1, 2013, in Spokane, Wash. Cal won 65-62. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

California's Layshia Clarendon (23) puts up a three pointer during the second half in a regional final in the NCAA women's college basketball tournament, Monday, April 1, 2013, in Spokane, Wash. California beat Georgia 65-62. (AP Photo/Jed Conklin)

California's Afure Jemerigbe drives past Georgia's Shacobia Barbee during the second half in a regional final in the NCAA women's college basketball tournament, Monday, April 1, 2013, in Spokane, Wash. Cal won in overtime 65-62. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Georgia's bench reacts during the final moments of their game against California in the second half in a regional final in the NCAA women's college basketball tournament, Monday, April 1, 2013, in Spokane, Wash. California beat Georgia 65-62. (AP Photo/Jed Conklin)

California head coach Lindsay Gottlieb is hugged after her team beat Georgia in overtime in a regional final in the NCAA women's college basketball tournament, Monday, April 1, 2013, in Spokane, Wash. Cal won 65-62. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) ? California coach Lindsay Gottlieb was in elementary school the last time a West Coast women's basketball program not named Stanford reached the Final Four.

Gottlieb understood the drought and the difficulty in getting to the national semifinals. That's partly why the grin on her face was so wide Monday night when Cal finally snapped that 25-year streak, sending the Golden Bears to New Orleans for the Final Four.

"These kids are brought in," Gottlieb said. "So many things go into it and then you have to get a little lucky and then things have to go right, so I'm really conscious of this is special."

Layshia Clarendon scored 17 of her 25 points in the second half and overtime, and California rallied from 10 down with less than 7 minutes left to beat Georgia 65-62 in the Spokane Regional final, advancing to the national semifinals for the first time in school history.

Long Beach State in 1988 was the last team from the western part of the country other than Stanford to reach the Final Four. During that 25-year span, eight different programs in the West reached the regional finals. But whether it was Long Beach State, Washington, USC, UCLA, Colorado, Utah, Arizona State or Gonzaga, they all came up one game short of advancing ? sometimes at the hands of Stanford.

Not these Golden Bears (32-3), who were picked by President Barack Obama to win the regional in his bracket.

"This is still better than my wildest dreams," Gottlieb said.

The loss ended Georgia coach Andy Landers' hope of reaching the Final Four for the first time since 1999. Georgia last reached the regional finals in 2004 and this was the Lady Bulldogs' 11th trip to the regional finals.

And it nearly became Landers' sixth Final Four.

"They made more plays than we did and they deserve to win the game," Landers said. "I'm disappointed, but I'm proud of our basketball team and the run that we have made."

Shacobia Barbee led Georgia (28-7) with 14 points and 10 rebounds, but the Lady Bulldogs' surprising postseason run that included an upset of Stanford came to a painful end.

"I don't think the words can even explain right now. Disappointed, hurt," said Georgia's Jasmine James, who had 11 points before fouling out. "To have something that you've always wanted to be able to do, just be so close, and to end up getting outworked for it, it hurts."

California will go to the Final Four on the side of the bracket completely blown open by the stunning loss of top-ranked Baylor in the regional semifinals. The Golden Bears will play Tennessee or Louisville in the national semifinals.

It didn't look like another game awaited the Golden Bears, who trailed 49-39 with 6:46 left after Barbee hit a pair of free throws. The Bears got back in it by halftime, overcoming a horrible shooting start, but each run early in the second half was rebuffed by the Lady Bulldogs. Cal missed 18 of its first 19 shots to start the game.

Finally Cal found an answer. Afure Jemerigbe hit her first 3-pointer after missing her previous six attempts. Clarendon scored four straight points and Talia Caldwell got a bucket in the paint. Caldwell then hit a putback of Jemerigbe's missed free throw to tie it at 50.

Tiaria Griffin missed from 3-point range for Georgia and Cal's Brittany Boyd was fouled driving to the rim by James, her fifth foul, leaving Georgia without its floor leader. Boyd hit both free throws and Cal had its first lead since 17-16.

Not having James on the floor had an immediate effect. Georgia turned it over on its next two possessions, helped by a pair of blocked shots by Jemerigbe, the second with 51 seconds left.

But the Bears' free throw struggles that nearly cost them in the second round against South Florida returned when Jemerigbe missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 27 seconds left. Griffin missed another 3-point attempt, but Anne Marie Armstrong got the rebound and scored with 8.5 seconds left in regulation to force overtime. It was Georgia's only field goal over the final 7:45.

"Our whole season has prepped us well for this night," Caldwell said. "Our team's been there, we have done that, so we knew what we needed to get done."

Georgia went up 55-52 when Khaalidah Miller hit a 3 to start overtime, but the Bears then took command. Jemerigbe hit a 3-pointer with 2:48 left to give Cal a 59-55 lead and Clarendon added a rebound putback for a 61-55 advantage with 1:26 remaining.

Barbee hit a pair of free throws with 1:03 left, but instead of fouling, Georgia chose to play defense. Clarendon made them pay, spinning away from Barbee and hitting a 15-footer with 37.9 seconds left for a 63-57 lead.

Georgia got within 64-62, but Clarendon split free throws with 2.1 seconds left and Barbee's desperation shot was off.

"I was smiling a lot in the second half even though we were losing," Clarendon said. "This is why you play basketball for these big moments. Really enjoy them and just relish them."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-04-02-BKW-NCAA-Georgia-California-Folo/id-c86ef442ff294c7186aa831cf1adbac9

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Monday, April 1, 2013

Cory Booker Jokes Mayor Job Drove Him to Drink - Coffee That Is

Newark, New Jersey Mayor Cory Booker answered viewer questions from Facebook and Twitter for an ABC News' web exclusive before joining the This Week roundtable on Sunday. After Booker discussed his future Senate plans, his time as Newark mayor, and his Twitter routine, he admitted to a few other personal habits. He's a self-proclaimed 'Trekkie,' loves Ben & Jerry's ice cream, late night television, and believes that his job "drove him to drink" - but coffee is the vice in question.

"I did not drink coffee before this job. I always say this job drove me to drink," Booker joked.

Read More Below:

How many hours a day do you spend on Twitter?

"I guess it's so seamless that I don't really think about it that way. So it's like going from meeting to meeting, or waiting for people to come into the office. A lot of it happens in the early morning when I wake up or late at night, which gives a lot of my followers this idea that I don't sleep. But if I wake up? like this morning around four o'clock, I'll start checking my Twitter and responding to people."

Do you feel you can take a day off from tweeting?

"You know, it's so integrated. It's like saying 'do I want to take a day off from talking or do I want to take a day off from connecting to people.' And I've looked at the averages, maybe sometimes 15, 20 tweets a day. Sometimes it goes down, sometimes it goes up depending on what's going on. But? this is the democratization of our democracy in a weird way. Because so many forces are pulling people away, leaders away from the people, special interest groups, money in politics, creating more of an elite environment. But I think that social media has a chance to pull people back and have politicians far more accessible, far more transparent, far more connected, and ultimately move from a hierarchical society to a level playing field."

What are your thoughts on 'Clinton/Booker 2016'?

"Unless Clinton/Booker 2016 is some kind of new rock band that might be coming out? look, at the end of the day in life, purpose is far more important than position. And so many of us lose sight of where we are by looking at where we're going to go. So right now I'm mayor of the city of Newark and I love what I'm doing. In many ways, this is my highest aspiration in terms of having a job where I can really help people. The next thing I'm thinking about doing next year is possibly running for the United States Senate. But I think when you start going further? from that, it starts to get a little absurd."

What do you believe is your best policy achievement as mayor?

"I think the best thing you can say, and it's less policy and more spirit, is that we've taken a city that used to be disregarded, disrespected, and just plain dissed, that was losing population, losing tax base, losing business, and now we've reversed those trends. Now people really have a lot of respect for Newark. First time in 60 years our population is growing. Our tax base is growing. The first new hotels in our downtown in 40 years. First new office towers in decades. So creating jobs at a pretty dramatic clip for our residents."

Lightning Round:

Favorite TV show?

"Wow. Star Trek, unequivocally so. I'm a Trekkie. So of all the Star Trek universe, I would say 'The Next Generation' was my favorite."

Favorite character?

"Jean-Luc Picard, of course. He's got the greatest haircut."

First concert?

"I went to a Lionel Richie concert, was my first concert. Thank you very much, I like Lionel Richie."

Pet peeve?

"I have lots of pet peeves. But I think the biggest one I have is just meanness. Rudeness. For me, it's like the deal breaker. I'm on a date, and the person is like rude to the waiter, to the bus boy, something like that, to me, I think it's just?you know, life's too short, every moment we have a chance to show kindness, and that to me is the thing I like the most about a human. When people don't even think that you're being watched, and then you see somebody bend over and pick up some trash, or help somebody, that to me lifts me the most to witness that. And the opposite of that is what makes me frustrated the most."

Guilty pleasure?

"So many. Look, I think that two things I indulge in the most? one is food, so I have an illicit relationship with two guys named Ben and Jerry. That is enjoyable. And then you know it's just bad TV. So late, late at night if I come home particularly discouraged from the day, I can see myself sitting with ice cream and watching something on TV - John Stewart, Stephen Colbert - hoping that they'll make me laugh at the end of the day before I hit the sack."

Like "This Week" on Facebook here. You can also follow the show on Twitter here.

PBS shows how hacking is reclaiming its good name after a bad rap (video)

Hacking is still a loaded concept for many, often conjuring negative images of corporate espionage, fraudsters and prank-minded script kiddies. PBS' Off Book wants to remind us that hacking wasn't always seen this way -- and, thanks to modern developments, is mending its reputation. Its latest episode shows that hacking began simply as a desire to advance devices and software beyond their original roles, but was co-opted by a sometimes misunderstanding press that associated the word only with malicious intrusions. Today, hacking has regained more of its original meaning: hackathons, a resurgence of DIY culture and digital protests prove that hacks can improve our gadgets, our security and even our political landscape. We still have a long way to go before we completely escape movie stereotypes, but the mini-documentary may offer food for thought the next time you're installing a custom ROM or building your own VR helmet.

Filed under: Misc, Networking, Internet, Alt