Syrian opposition opens first embassy, says world lets it down

By Yara Bayoumy and Regan Doherty

DOHA (Reuters) - A Syrian opposition bloc recognized by the Arab League as the sole representative for Syria opened its first embassy in Qatar on Wednesday in a diplomatic blow to President Bashar al-Assad.

But opposition leader Moaz Alkhatib, who took Syria's seat at an Arab summit in Doha on Tuesday, used the ribbon-cutting ceremony to voice his frustration with world powers for failing to do more to help in the two-year-old struggle to topple Assad.

"There is an international willingness for the revolution not to triumph," he told reporters at the embassy, which was festooned with balloons in the red, green, white and black of Syria's national flag.

Alkhatib, a Sunni Muslim cleric who resigned this week as leader of the Syrian National Coalition, but who is staying on as a caretaker, also alluded to internal differences plaguing the opposition umbrella group formed in Qatar in November.

"The only way to victory is unity," he declared.

Damascus raged against summit host Qatar for helping the opposition into Syria's seat at the League, while Russia and Iran also criticized the move to delegitimize Assad's rule.

Yet although the 22-member Arab bloc lent its support to giving weapons to Syrian rebels, it is unclear how much impact the opposition's diplomatic advances will have inside Syria.

The Cairo-based coalition's control over insurgent groups is tenuous at best. Some of the most militarily effective, such as the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, openly reject its authority.

Alkhatib told Reuters in an interview he was surprised by a rebuff from the United States and NATO to his request for Patriot missiles based in Turkey to help protect rebel-held parts of northern Syria from Assad's helicopters and warplanes.

"I'm scared that this will be a message to the Syrian regime telling it 'Do what you want'," he said.

OPPOSITION DISUNITY

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, speaking to students in Moscow via video link from Brussels, again said the Western alliance had no intention of intervening in Syria.

"We believe that we need a political solution in Syria," he said, noting there was no U.N. mandate for NATO action there.

Disunity among Syria's opposition in exile and the armed factions on the ground have long hindered the struggle against Assad and have contributed to Western reluctance to intervene.

Alkhatib has cited the West's failure to do more to help the opposition, as well as the coalition's internal divisions, as reasons for announcing on Sunday that he would quit as leader.

He offered no clarity on his own political future in his interview with Reuters. "I have given my resignation and I have not withdrawn it. But I have to continue my duties until the general committee meets," the former mosque imam said.

The Arab summit's support for Assad's foes may prove more symbolic than practical, but Syria vented its wrath at Qatar for its pro-opposition actions at the annual gathering.

"The emir of Qatar, the biggest bank for supporting terrorism in the region, began his presidency of the Arab League by hijacking it with tainted oil and money," said state news agency SANA, a mouthpiece for Assad's government.

Qatar's Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani "committed a flagrant violation of the League's pact by inviting the deformed body, the 'Doha Coalition', to usurp Syria's seat in the League", SANA said, in a scathing reference to the opposition.

Qatar has funded political opposition groups and is believed to be funneling money and weapons to rebels in Syria.

Russia, which gives Damascus military and diplomatic support, scolded the Arab League for taking "another anti-Syria step" by giving Syria's seat to the opposition.

Arab nations are far from united on Syria, with Algeria, Iraq and Lebanon often opposing any action against Assad's rule.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar and some others have thrown their support behind the mostly Sunni Muslim rebels in Syria, partly to weaken Shi'ite Iran, the main regional ally of Assad, whose minority Alawite sect is distantly derived from Shi'ite Islam.

Iran, which has sent advisers, money and weapons to help Assad stay in power, also lambasted the Arab League for allowing a foe of Assad to take Syria's seat at the summit, calling this "a pattern of dangerous behavior".

Iran views Assad as a pillar of an "axis of resistance" against Israel and a bulwark against Sunni militants in Syria, a country which for three decades has been the main conduit for Iranian arms supplies to Lebanon's Shi'ite Hezbollah movement.

(Additional reporting by William Maclean in Doha, Oliver Holmes and Erika Solomon in Beirut, Marcus George in Dubai and Gabriela Baczynska in Moscow; Writing by Alistair Lyon; Editing by Jon Boyle)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-opposition-opens-first-embassy-says-world-lets-135557453.html

arnold palmer augusta national blake griffin pau gasol marlins park marbury v. madison 2013 lincoln mkz

Iran condemns Arab League for handing seat to opposition

Mar 26 (Reuters) - Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $3,787,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $2,859,920 3. Matt Kuchar $2,154,500 4. Steve Stricker $1,820,000 5. Phil Mickelson $1,650,260 6. Hunter Mahan $1,553,965 7. John Merrick $1,343,514 8. Dustin Johnson $1,330,507 9. Russell Henley $1,313,280 10. Kevin Streelman $1,310,343 11. Keegan Bradley $1,274,593 12. Charles Howell III $1,256,373 13. Michael Thompson $1,254,669 14. Brian Gay $1,171,721 15. Justin Rose $1,155,550 16. Jason Day $1,115,565 17. Chris Kirk $1,097,053 18. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iran-condemns-arab-league-handing-seat-opposition-060805762.html

chk ryan seacrest kentucky derby beltane ryan o neal dark knight rises trailer dark knight rises trailer

MakerBot teaming up with OUYA to make 3D printed consoles

Just as the first systems are getting ready to ship this week, MakerBot has teamed up with OUYA to make 3D printable cases for the consoles.

The partnership means that anyone who gets their hands on an OUYA and happens to have a MakerBot Replicator 2 can design and print custom cases for their console. OUYA helped create 3D printing design kits, which are available on MakerBot's website Thingiverse.com for anyone to use. OUYA sees the hardware customization as an extension of their commitment to having an open console.

If you're willing to spend the time (and money) on a 3D printer, there's no reason in their eyes that you shouldn't have a custom case around your OUYA. MakerBot plans to show off the first 3D printed OUYA consoles at the launch event tomorrow in San Francisco, so be on the lookout for some crazy new designs.

Source: MakerBot (BusinessWire)

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/ApFmtxlORIY/story01.htm

mario batali lone ranger aaron brooks dave matthews band solar flares 2012 whitney houston will toyota recall

Cyprus businesses hurt as banks stay shut

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) ? Cypriot businesses were under increasing strain to keep running on Tuesday after financial authorities stretched the country's bank closure into a second week in a harried attempt to stop depositors from rushing to drain their accounts.

Cyprus's Central Bank governor, Panicos Demetriades, said "superhuman efforts are being made" to open banks on Thursday.

"Temporary" restrictions will be imposed on financial transactions once the banks do open, he said, but he would not specify what they would be or how long they would be in place.

"We have to restore the public's trust in banks," he said.

Finance Minister Michalis Sarris told The Associated Press the restrictions would help stem any mass deposit withdrawal that is "bound to happen" and that they would be removed in a "relatively short period of time."

"I think every day (banks) are not open creates more uncertainty and more difficulties for people, so we would like to do our utmost to make sure that this new goal that we have set will work," he said.

All but two of the country's largest lenders had been due to reopen Tuesday, after being shut since March 16 to stop savers from withdrawing all their money while politicians figured out how to raise the funds necessary for Cyprus to qualify for an international bailout.

However, late Monday, authorities announced that the bank closures would be extended until Thursday, giving officials more time to initiate a major overhaul of the banking sector and devise capital controls to limit the amount of money that can be taken out of accounts.

"We have to all understand that we live in very critical times. Officials of the government and the Central Bank are working day and night," Demetriades said.

Under the deal for a 10 billion euro ($12.9 billion) rescue clinched in Brussels early Monday, Cyprus agreed to slash its oversized banking sector and inflict hefty losses on large depositors in troubled banks. Sarris said authorities hope to limit job losses to a "small number."

"We are looking to a much smaller banking system over time and more concentrated on its core business, which is Cyprus and the international business units in Cyprus," he said.

Cyprus needed to raise 5.8 billion euros before international lenders were willing to give it the 10 billion euros. Much of the 5.8 billion euros will be raised by forcing losses on accounts of more than 100,000 euros ($129,000), in the country's second-largest lender, Laiki, with the remainder coming from tax increases and privatizations.

The bank will be broken up immediately into a so-called bad bank containing its uninsured deposits and toxic assets. The "good" assets will be transferred to the nation's biggest lender, Bank of Cyprus.

Deposits at Bank of Cyprus above 100,000 euros will be frozen until it becomes clear to what extent they will also be forced to take losses. Those funds will eventually be converted into bank shares.

Cyprus' government spokesman Christos Stylianides told Greek state Net TV that losses on Bank of Cyprus deposits above 100,000 euros will hover at around 30 percent.

"It is a painful development, no doubt about that...it doesn't matter how rich you are, how many millions you have, you don't like your deposits, which you assume were safe, to be converted into shares," said Sarris, adding that authorities are confident that those shares will eventually gain in value.

Sarris said Cyprus' economy will shift from one centered on financial services.

"Cypriots have a robust entrepreneurial spirit, they will look for other markets ... We're building on our relationship with China, a stronger relationship with the Middle East, our shipping sector is doing well, our tourism sector is doing well, I think we will find opportunities to compensate for this serious setback," he said.

Nonetheless, businesses have already been feeling the brunt of the cash crunch, unable to pay salaries and suppliers. Cypriots have slashed spending during the uncertainty.

The banks' closure has been felt in the country's important shipping industry, which contributes about 5 percent or 800 million euros ($1 billion) to the economy. Cyprus ranks 10th in the world in terms of the number of ocean-going vessels flying its flag, and it is in the top five countries with the largest number of ship management companies.

"This is destructive for us," said an official with Cyprus-based shipping company EDT Offshore, who spoke on condition of anonymity because his company did not authorize him to speak to the media.

"We have to pay our crews' salaries and that's $500,000, while we have to pay as much for our office staff by March 28 and we don't have access to our bank accounts," he said. "These are people who need to pay their bills, have obligations to meet."

Authorities in the Greek port of Piraeus have prevented one of three EDT ships from leaving until the company pays it port dues. That means the ship can't fulfill its contract with clients, meaning possible losses for the company, which has a fleet of 18 vessels.

Fitch credit rating agency warned Tuesday that it may downgrade Cyprus further into "junk" status amid concerns that the shock from the banking sector's "systemic failure" heightens the risk to public finances.

Also Tuesday, the chairman of the board of Bank of Cyprus, Andreas Artemis, and four other board members tendered their resignations, a statement from the bank said. The board did not accept the resignations, which will become valid only if not withdrawn in a week's time.

Meanwhile, Britain flew in some 13 million euros over the weekend to pay about 3,000 British civilian and military personnel serving at the two military bases that it retained after its former colony Cyprus gained independence.

The Ministry of Defense last week flew in 1 million euros in cash in case automatic teller machines on Cyprus shut down.

____

Elena Becatoros in Nicosia and Juergen Baetz in Brussels contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cyprus-businesses-hurt-banks-stay-shut-132826513--finance.html

Christian Bale visits victims Christian Bale Sherman Hemsley Olympics Opening Ceremony Katherine Jackson Olympics Opening Ceremony Time paris jackson

Time to quit? How long to stay at your job

Cindy Perman , CNBC.com ? ? ? 14 min.

It used to be common for someone to stay in a job for 20 to 25 years and then retire. But now, a person who's been at the same job that long is as rare as a unicorn. So, how long is too long nowadays ? and is it time for you to quit?

"Years ago, a colleague of mine who had held the same title for a number of years went to HR to discuss why she wasn't getting promoted," Jen Hubley Luckwaldt wrote on PayScale.com. The HR person replied: "People really only have your job for two years, max. Then they leave and go somewhere else. You've been here, what, six years? That's too long. I don't know what to tell you," Luckwaldt wrote.

"The norm is for people to move around a lot more than they did a few decades ago," said Marie McIntyre, a career coach and author of "Secrets to Winning at Office Politics." "I think when you're looking at resumes now, it's kind of unusual to see a resume where someone has been with the same company for 15 to 20 years."

In fact, the average employee tenure was 4.6 years last year, according to the Labor Department.

The pros of moving around include getting a raise, which McIntyre estimates is often around 15 to 20 percent, building your industry experience and broadening your network.

Nowhere is the longtime employee more rare nowadays than on Wall Street.

"Large banks have shown no loyalty to their employees and have let go of longtime and short-time people over the past few years, so there isn't any stigma either way," one former Wall Street trader said.

"One piece of advice I got a long time ago, 'Do you have your resume ready at all times? No? Your CEO does.'"

Nowhere else to go
Matt Wallaert, a 30-year-old behavioral scientist at Microsoft's Bing search engine division, has worked at five different places in the past 10 years. He says the inherent career path has changed.

"Companies used to have more clear paths to leadership without additional education or outside experience. You could increase your responsibilities each year," Wallaert said. "But that job structure has changed: It is very common for people to reach a ceiling where they can't climb any higher, simply because there is nowhere else for them to go."

So, they'll have to go somewhere else to get that higher-level job, that different experience or education in order to advance.

Still, he suggests the right answer is "if." If you're still being challenged, if your compensation is fair, if your responsibilities continue to increase, then it's OK to stay at the same job a long time.

McIntyre agrees. While changing jobs every four or five years tends to be viewed as a plus nowadays, if you stay at one company for 10 years or more but get promoted three or four times, that looks good to prospective employers.

However, she cautioned that sometimes, employers are dubious of long-timers and their ability to adapt to a new environment. There's a risk that they'll keep saying: Well, when I was at X company, we used to do it this way.

And, of course, "longtime" is relative to the industry. In the tech world, McIntyre said, six months is a long time to be at one job, while in government, five years is "still regarded as kind of new to people who've been there longer!"

When is it time to leave?
McIntyre said she's definitely seen an uptick in people looking for new jobs as the economy improves.

"The most-visited page on our website this quarter was 'Job Hunting When You Have a Job,'" she said. "That's the first time ever!" The site, which has been around since 2005, typically sees the most traffic on its performance pages such as "How to Ask for a Raise."

"People hate feeling trapped," McIntyre said." I think during the down economy, a lot of people just felt trapped."

And, she's seeing her clients get more job offers.

"I don't get as many letters anymore about how bad the economy is!" she said. "It's more about job-search strategies."

So, how do you know if it's time to leave your job?

Amanda Augustine, a job-search expert at The Ladders.com, offers these sure signs:

• You dread going to work in the morning.
• You truly dislike the type of work you're doing.
• You can't shake the feeling that you just don't fit in at the company.
• You are getting passed over for promotions.
• The work has become so routine you could do it in your sleep.
• You have serious concerns about the financial stability of your organization.

McIntyre adds that if your boss screams, yells and curses at you often, it's also time.

And, if you're a boss wondering if your employees are looking for a job right now, the answer is yes. Seventy-four percent of employees admitted that they have looked for a new job while at work, according to a recent survey from Right Management.

Luckwaldt said first, don't use company equipment. Just assume that your employer is tracking your Internet wanderings. It's better to set up email alerts from various job sites and check your email on your phone.

And, the former trader adds, get out there networking like your life depends on it and have your resume handy at all times. If you're out there looking, you never know when it's "go" time!

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653351/s/2a05b94d/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Cbusiness0Ctime0Equit0Ehow0Elong0Estay0Eyour0Ejob0E1C90A87170A/story01.htm

brown recluse spider wiz khalifa taylor allderdice eddie royal iditarod nfl free agents 2012 encyclopedia brittanica nfl free agency

Nintendo video shows off Wii U speed improvement coming in April update

Nintendo's Wii U has faced complaints over slow loading and switching between menus since launch, but the company has promised a pair of updates will help the situation. Tonight it posted a video on YouTube (embedded after the break) that shows off the difference before and after the April update side by side. Showing off how quickly it can return to the home menu from a game of New Super Mario Bros. U, the updated console is ready to go in eight seconds, compared to the current software's 20-second delay. There's no mention of the other update to improve the speed of launching software, but hopefully that will be shown off soon as well. More than halving the main menu's load time is nothing to sneeze at, although it's still not exactly a snappy experience. We'll see if these tweaks -- once they arrive -- do anything to improve the console's position while it waits for the improved software lineup President Satoru Iwata is expecting.

Filed under: Gaming, HD, Nintendo

Comments

Source: Nintendo (YouTube)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/26/nintendo-video-shows-off-wii-u-speed-improvement-coming-in-april/

nikki haley stan van gundy navy jet crash virginia beach crash stephen hawking marion barry virginia beach jet crash

T-Mobile lights up LTE in seven markets nationwide

T-Mobile's LTE rollout has been a long time coming, but as of today that network is finally live. At an event in New York City, the carrier made its initial batch of LTE cities official -- seven markets in total. Now, subscribers in Baltimore, MD; Kansas City, KS; Houston, TX; Las Vegas, NV; Phoenix, AZ; San Jose, CA and Washington D.C. will be among the first to take advantage of the UnCarrier's fully-fledged 4G network and its newly revised unlimited talk, text and data plans. Speeds on this new network, as we saw demoed just a little over a week ago, should range between 10 to 20Mbps down and 8 to 12 Mbps up -- at least, during this intro phase -- with a fallback onto HSPA+ when LTE isn't present.

To kick off adoption of this nascent network, T-Mobile's offering up a pretty attractive portfolio of handsets and high-end ones, at that. So Magenta subs or prospective carrier-switchers looking to sign up for T-Mobile's LTE can choose from the HTC One, Samsung Galaxy S4, Galaxy Note II and BlackBerry Z10 -- that latter two of which are currently available. And now that the UnCarrier's removed the contract chains we've all come to know and loathe, subscribers can opt to snag one of these handsets outright with an accompanying Simple Choice plan.

Developing...

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, T-Mobile

Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/26/t-mobile-announces-first-lte-markets/

monkeypox nick perry 30 rock live nfl draft picks 2012 space shuttle enterprise ryan leaf ryan leaf