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Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Syria's deepening humanitarian crisis: By the numbers

Between the civil war, winter weather, and global indifference, Syria is rapidly sliding toward disaster

Nobody, it seems, was impressed with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's speech on Sunday laying out his plan to end the bloody 22-month conflict pitting Assad's government against armed rebels trying to topple him. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon dismissed Assad's proposal as a thinly veiled effort to stay in power, and the U.S. State Department said the speech shows that Assad is "detached from reality." But the unpalatable reality, says Simon Tisdall at Britain's The Guardian, is that "Assad is still in power, shows no sign of heeding demands to quit, and is far from beaten," and the Syrians are paying the price. That price, according to the U.N., is a huge and growing humanitarian crisis, exacerbated by fuel shortages and a lack of aid organizations able to work in the country. A look at Syria's deepening disaster, by the numbers:

60,000
Estimated Syrians killed since Assad started cracking down on protesters in March 2011

SEE MORE: How American inaction is killing Syrians

2,727
Average deaths a months?

1.5 million
Hunger-plagued Syrians being fed by the U.N.'s World Food Program and its partners

SEE MORE: Why Bashar al-Assad unplugged the internet in Syria

1 million
Hunger-plagued Syrians in need of food aid that the WFP and its partners are unable to reach

$1.5 billion
Amount the U.N. is requesting to tackle Syria's growing humanitarian crisis

SEE MORE: NATO missiles on the Turkey-Syria border: A big blow to Assad?

$519 million
Share of that money earmarked for people inside Syria in need of urgent humanitarian aid

4 million
Syrians inside the country who need urgent humanitarian aid

SEE MORE: Is Bashar al-Assad nearly finished?

2 million
Share of those Syrians who have been displaced from their homes

$1 billion
Share of that money for Syrian refugees in Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Turkey, and Egypt

SEE MORE: Has Bashar al-Assad lost control of Syria?

597,240
Number of Syrian refugees in those countries as of Jan. 6

509,559
Number of Syrian refugees in those countries on Dec. 11, 2012

SEE MORE: Syria's PR campaign failed ? and so did America's policy

54,000
Syrians in Jordan's Zaatari refugee camp, where violence broke out this week after winter storms blew away tents and flooded parts of the camp

9,000
Refugees entering the Zaatari camp in the past week

$16 (25,000 Lebanese pounds)
Amount Lebanon is reportedly charging each Syrian Palestinian for a 14-day visa

$3.50 (250 Syrian pounds)
Cost of 2.2 pounds of bread in Aleppo, 50 percent higher than other parts of Syria and six times the price before the civil war started

0.27
Estimated percentage of Syria's population killed in the civil war so far

0.58
Estimated percentage of Yugoslavian population killed in the bloody 1991-99 civil war (140,000 deaths)

2.01
Estimated percentage of Spanish population killed in the 1936-39 civil war (500,000 deaths)

1.97
Estimated percentage of U.S. population killed in the 1861-65 American Civil War (618,222 deaths)

Sources: CNN, Fox News, The Guardian?(2),?The New York Times, Scoop, VOA News

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Crane collapses at NY City construction site, seven hurt

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A 170-foot tall crane collapsed on Wednesday at a construction site in the New York City borough of Queens, injuring at least seven people, three seriously, authorities said.

The mobile crane was being used at the site of a new 25-story residential building under construction when it fell over about 2:30 p.m., the New York City Police Department said.

Among the seven injured, three were in serious condition and another four suffered minor injuries, the New York Fire Department said. None of the injuries was considered life threatening.

Police and fire crews as well as officials from the city's buildings department responded to the accident. The cause of the collapse was under investigation.

The crane is owned by New York Crane, among the biggest crane operators in New York. The company's owner, James Lomma, was acquitted last year of manslaughter charges for a crane collapse that killed two workers in May, 2008 and raised fears about high-level building projects in New York.

In that case, the nearly 200-foot-tall crane that snapped in half and crashed onto a building on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. That incident came two months after another crane operated by Lomma's company in Manhattan collapsed and killed seven people.

A representative from New York Crane was not immediately available for comment.

(Reporting by Paul Thomasch; Editing by Leslie Adler and David Gregorio)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/crane-collapses-construction-york-city-202157883.html

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CES: China's debut on the main stage

6 hrs.

Devin Coldewey , NBC News

This year at CES, two names largely unknown to consumers made a sort of public debut. Huawei and Hisense, Chinese manufacturers that have for a long time focused on making devices for other companies or on the Chinese mainland market, have decided that they want to be the next Samsung or Sony. It's not as audacious as it sounds.

Many countries in East Asia figure prominently in electronics, of course, and have for decades. Precision Japanese engineering made itself felt in home audio and TV sets as far back as the 1950s ? Yamaha, Denon?and of course, Sony competed fiercely for decades with American brands like RCA Victor and Zenith. More recently, it's Korean companies like LG and Samsung that have been expanding their reach.

But China was also always there, albeit in the background. While they manufactured billions of items, from electronics to textiles and toys, the only hint you had that it was made in China was a sticker saying so on the bottom.

With China's growing presence on the global stage and a new capacity for high-quality manufacturing, that's set to change, and companies like Huawei and Hisense, formerly content to play bit parts, are looking to get a bit more front and center.

* * *

At CES in the past, most Chinese-branded devices were relegated to the International Pavilion, a sort of cordoned-off area stuffed full of cable makers, tchotchkes?and copycat devices?? much like what you might find in a real Asian electronics manufacturing?district. But in the last few years, brands known in China have been inching onto the show floor proper. And this year, Huawei and Hisense, finally even scheduled press conferences.

Like all CES press conferences, Huawei's was a bit stilted. But the message was clear: We're big and we're here.

"We're the second biggest telecoms supplier in the world,"?Richard Yu, Huawei's chief device strategy & marketing officer, explained on stage Monday. "We are using more advanced manufacturing technology than the iPhone." And indeed, the Huawei-branded devices being announced felt as solid and original as any high-end phone?? not the plasticky,?budget-rate stuff people have associated for years with Chinese products.

Shao Yang, the company's chief marketing officer, explained in an interview that Huawei decided only recently to really take on the global market:?"In the past we have focused on infrastructure?? and we've been quite successful." But the success of Apple and others changed the game, and Huawi's partners (Chinese telecoms operators) begged them to make not the "cheap and similar" phones of the past,?but something new and powerful.

This led to lessening the number of phones the company?manufactures, from nearly 150 in 2010 to just 23 now. By focusing on more recognizable and higher-quality?phones (but still variety?? "People like to use a different phone from others," Yang said), Huawei thinks it?can compete head-on with giants like Apple or Samsung.

Hisense is also is on the main show floor for the first time. The company's decision to pursue its own brand and go global with it has met with great success. More than half the products it sells internationally are now Hisense-branded, instead of being rebadged by other companies?? up from just 10 percent a few years ago.

At its Monday press conference (another CES first for Hisense), execs described how they're going from a local white-label manufacturer to global brand of their own.

* * *

To see why big manufacturers were beginning to enter the consumer market, I talked with Ross Rubin, founder of analytics firm Reticle Research.

"it continues a pattern we've seen many times in the industry, of companies moving from OEM (original equipment manufacturer) to consumer brands," he said. "HTC was another good example, even Samsung many years ago.?More of the value that consumers place on devices is in the operating system."

Rubin pointed to prepaid carriers like US Cellular and Virgin Mobile as big opportunities for companies like Huawei.?

"Android's maturity and support for a wide range of components allow a lower bill of materials," he explained, meaning cheaper phones and no need for subsidy by carriers?? which means monthly bills can be lower as well.?

Of course, a few years ago,?the last big push from Chinese manufacturers didn't really pan out: Netbooks. Companies like MSI and Asus, previously known for making computer components, turned out these cheap devices by the millions?? and while people snapped them up initially, the momentum ran out and these days they're hardly being made at all. Could the same thing happen to this new generation of phone manufacturers?

When I asked Huawei's Shao Yang about this, and who would be its?biggest competition, he demurred: "The industry is quite crowded, but our biggest competition has to be ourselves.?If we focus on the iPhone or Galaxy or HTC, it will lead us the wrong way." It's hard to argue with the wisdom of self-reliance, and indeed this decision to strike out on their own does seem to have led to success so far.

Other Chinese brands???ZTE, BenQ and many more?? continue to make their own push, be it in displays, phones?or cameras. But the emergence of China not just as a great place to have your gadgets built, but as a serious competitor in software and design is only beginning.

The end result can only be good for consumers, as competition in the tech industry tends to breed research and innovation???not to mention lower prices. It may not be long before your high-end devices aren't just made in China?? they'll be conceived there as well.

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC News Digital. His personal website is coldewey.cc.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/ces-chinas-debut-main-stage-1B7819459

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Tuesday, January 8, 2013

NVIDIA GRID sets its sights on cloud gaming market | Android ...

NVIDIA?s biggest announcement of the night is arguably the reveal of the Tegra 4, but the announcement of NVIDIA GRID is definitely giving the Tegra 4 a run for its money. NVIDIA GRID marks the company?s entrance into the cloud gaming market, and though we often associate PCs with cloud gaming services, this is also a big announcement for those playing on tablets and smartphones.

grid2

Of course, plenty of companies have failed or otherwise seem to have plateaued where NVIDIA is looking to conquer, so the company definitely has its work cut out for it. NVIDIA apparently has the power to succeed where others couldn?t, as it will be using 20 GRID servers per rack, along with 240 of its famous GPUs, which are working at 200 TFLOPS. To give you an idea of how powerful that will be, that?s equivalent to about 700 Xbox 360s.

grid3

Seven years after the fact, the Xbox 360 can hardly be considered a super-powerful machine, but if you combine 700 of them, you?re definitely working with a lot of power. The result is what NVIDIA is calling ?revolutionary cloud-gaming architecture,? and it should allow users to stream games with all of the graphics eye candy turned up to the max. That will certainly come in handy if you want to play the latest PC games but don?t have a rig that can handle max settings.

grid1

If course, it also means good things for tablets and smartphones, all of which would probably melt if they attempted to run current PC games at max settings. Essentially, any Internet -device should be able to stream games using NVIDIA GRID, which is certainly an exciting prospect indeed. Keep it tuned here to Android Community for much more from CES 2013!

Source: http://androidcommunity.com/nvidia-grid-sets-its-sights-on-cloud-gaming-market-20130106/

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MD Construction Real Estate Development at Investor Relations ...

at Investor Relations in London

We are looking for a MD,FD,OD that has expertise in Construction Projects, we are a modular manufacturing company that is opening a new facility in North West London in March 2013. Our previous operation turned over ?20.0M per year. The perfect candidates would also have manufacturing background. There is an opportunity to have an equity stake if the right synergies are established. Please forward you CV?s to our email.

Published at 07 Jan 2013
Expires on 07 Jul 2013
Viewed: 28 times

Source: http://workinstartups.com/job-board/job/3023/md-construction-real-estate-development-at-investor-relations/

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Sources: Obama to nominate Hagel as Pentagon chief

FILE - In this June 26, 2008 file photo, then Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., speaks on foreign policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington. President Barack Obama may round out his new national security leadership team next week, with a nomination for defense secretary expected and a pick to lead the CIA possible. Hagel is the front-runner for the top Pentagon post. (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama will nominate Chuck Hagel as his next defense secretary, a senior administration official said Sunday, choosing a former Senate colleague and a decorated Vietnam veteran and signaling he's ready for a contentious confirmation fight likely dominated by questions about Hagel's stands on Israel and Iran.

Obama, who avoided a Capitol Hill battle by deciding not to nominate U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice as his first choice for secretary of state, went ahead with Hagel, 66, even as leading Republicans announced their opposition ? though they stopped short of saying they might try to block Hagel.

Seeking to soften the ground, the White House was alerting Senate Democrats that Hagel's selection as the successor to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in Obama's second-term Cabinet was imminent, according to a congressional official.

Obama, who returned to Washington on Sunday from his Hawaiian vacation, was expected to nominate Hagel on Monday. Congress is on break this coming week.

The officials requested anonymity in order to discuss Hagel's nomination ahead of Obama.

Hagel, a moderate Republican, built a strong relationship with Obama during their travel as senators. But the former Nebraska lawmaker has faced withering criticism from Congress since emerging as the front-runner for the Pentagon post.

Hagel is the second straight Obama favorite for a top national security post to face criticism from Capitol Hill even before being nominated. Rice withdrew her name from consideration for secretary of state amid charges from GOP senators that she misled the public in her initial accounting of the attacks on Americans at a diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.

After Rice withdrew, Obama named Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass, to lead the State Department. Kerry is expected to be easily confirmed by his longtime Senate colleagues.

If confirmed, Hagel would take over a Pentagon that faces budget cuts and a scaling back of the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan. Afghan President Hamid Karzai is expected to meet with Obama in Washington this week to discuss the U.S. presence in Afghanistan after the war formally concludes at the end of 2014.

Hagel is likely to support a more rapid withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, the top Senate Republican, said earlier Sunday that he was reserving judgment on whether to support Hagel. But he predicted the former Nebraska senator would face serious questions about his stands on Iran and Israel.

Any nominee must have "a full understanding of our close relationship with out Israeli allies, the Iranian threat and the importance of having a robust military," McConnell said on ABC's "This Week."

Hagel has criticized discussion of a military strike by either the U.S. or Israel against Iran. He has also backed efforts to bring Iran to the table for talks on future peace in Afghanistan. Some lawmakers have been troubled by his comments and actions on Israel, including his reference to the "Jewish lobby" in the United States.

"This is a controversial pick," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told CNN. "He is an antagonistic figure when it comes to the state of Israel. It's a signal you're sending to Iran at the worst possible time and to our allies."

McConnell, R-Ky., said Hagel, who left the Senate in 2009, has "certainly been outspoken in foreign policy and defense over the years. The question we will be answering, if he's the nominee, is do his views make sense for that particular job?"

McConnell said he would "wait and see how the hearings go and see whether Chuck's views square with the job he would be nominated to do." He added, "I'm going to take a look at all the things that Chuck has said over the years and review that, and in terms of his qualifications to lead our nation's military."

The second-ranking Senate Republican, John Cornyn of Texas, said in a statement that making Hagel defense secretary would be "the worst possible message we could send to our friend Israel and the rest of our allies in the Middle East." Cornyn did not say he would try to block a Hagel nomination.

Obama, in an interview that aired last week on NBC's "Meet the Press," called Hagel "a patriot" who "has done extraordinary work" in the Senate and on an intelligence advisory board.

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Senate Democrat, told CNN's "State of the Union" that Hagel "is a serious candidate if the president chooses to name him."

___

Associated Press writers Jack Gillum and Donna Cassata contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-01-06-Defense-Hagel/id-ca68cf9593154079939e553ec4b5d32a

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Taylor Swift and Harry Styles Break Up!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/01/taylor-swift-and-harry-styles-break-up/

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