Sprint Epic 4G Touch will receive Android Jelly Bean update today

Sprint's Galaxy S 4 recently took one step towards being ready for mass consumption, however the carrier hasn't forgotten the device's forefathers. We've received a memo from an anonymous tipster advising that the Epic 4G Touch is set to make the jump to Jelly Bean (Android 4.1, to be exact) starting sometime today. The new software bump will come directly from Samsung and will require a visit to an external website that has yet to go live. The memo also notes that in order to perform the update, you'll need access to a rig with Windows 7, Vista or XP -- in other words, OS X and Windows 8 users will have to visit a Sprint store to get their fix. For those fortunate enough to gain access in the coming hours, let us know how it's treating you in comments below.

[Thanks, anonymous]

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Sprint

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/qjY16vgkSF8/

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New book questions preferential legal treatment of religious liberty

Public release date: 28-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Sarah Galer
sgaler@uchicago.edu
773-702-8365
University of Chicago

The Western democratic practice of singling out religious liberty for special treatment under the law is not in sync with the world we live in today, argues University of Chicago Law School professor Brian Leiter in his new book, Why Tolerate Religion?

All people, both religious and non-religious, maintain core beliefs about what they feel they absolutely must do a category Leiter calls "claims of conscience." In the book, Leiter, the Karl N. Llewellyn Professor of Jurisprudence, explores whether there are good reasons for the tendency to grant legal exemptions to religious claims of conscience while largely rejecting non-religious claims.

"The current status quo is predicated on a fundamental inequality," Leiter said. For example, he says a boy might be permitted to carry a dagger to school as part of his Sikh religion, but the same dagger would not be allowed if it were part of a family tradition.

"Namely, your claim of conscience counts if it is based in religion," Leiter said. "My claim of conscience doesn't count if it is not based in religion. That, it seems to me, is a pernicious and indefensible inequality in the existing legal regime."

Historical roots

Leiter first became interested in the preferential treatment religion receives under the law as a professor at the University of Texas-Austin. He began to consider the place of religion and toleration in society after noting how conservative Christians in the state sought to influence politics and public education.

The origins of religious toleration can be traced back hundreds of years to the European wars of religion, a time when people were killed over religious differences, says Leiter. That turmoil gave way to greater acceptance of diverse religions, an important achievement of Western democracies.

However, the West's preferential treatment for religious toleration is not in step with changing times, Leiter argues.

"While we understand the historical reasons why our constitution singled out religion and religious liberty 200-plus years ago, in the world we live in today, you don't have to be religious in order to have a conscience," he said.

In leading philosophical literature, Leiter found compelling moral arguments for the important role toleration plays in general in a society. He explores the arguments of John Rawls, who defends liberty of conscience as a basic right, and the utilitarian arguments of John Stuart Mills, who views the toleration of differing views as crucial in society's search for truth and knowledge.

"Both schools of thought reach the same conclusion: that liberty of conscience is sufficiently important to individuals, that a just and decent society is going to protect a sphere for the liberty of conscience," said Leiter.

Conversely, Leiter could not find an equally forceful argument as to why religious conscience has been treated as more deserving of protection. Two factors make religious beliefs distinctive from other claims of conscience: certain beliefs in every religion are not evidence-based, and some beliefs provide followers with "existential consolation," helping them cope with suffering and death. He argues that neither the Rawlsian nor Millian arguments would warrant a special legal status for beliefs with these characteristics over other conscientious beliefs.

The way forward

While some might wish there was a way to grant exemptions to all claims of conscience, this would lead to almost insurmountable practical problems, Leiter said.

"It would be tantamount to legalizing civil disobedience," he said, explaining that while courts can verify a person's involvement in a religion and that religion's particular beliefs, non-religious claims would be much more difficult to verify.

"We don't have a way to peer into a man's soul to see if his claim of conscience is really a legitimate claim of conscience."

Leiter said courts still should monitor for laws that arise from intolerance he cites France's ban on headscarves worn by Muslim women as an example. But avoiding laws motivated by intolerance is different from granting special religious exemptions from neutral laws. Such special treatment for religion often defeats society's promotion of the general welfare, he said.

In the case of vaccination laws, for example, the widespread granting of religious exemptions has led to the return of previously rare diseases, such as whooping cough. Leiter argues that the fairest path forward is to allow no exemptions, religious or otherwise, that challenge laws promoting the public good, unless those exemptions can be made without shifting burdens onto others.

"Doesn't the state have the right to pass laws that are supposed to promote the general welfare without having to carve out exemptions that basically undermine the promotion of the general welfare?" Leiter said, "If we start carving out exemptions, we defeat the purposes of those legitimate objectives."

###

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 28-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Sarah Galer
sgaler@uchicago.edu
773-702-8365
University of Chicago

The Western democratic practice of singling out religious liberty for special treatment under the law is not in sync with the world we live in today, argues University of Chicago Law School professor Brian Leiter in his new book, Why Tolerate Religion?

All people, both religious and non-religious, maintain core beliefs about what they feel they absolutely must do a category Leiter calls "claims of conscience." In the book, Leiter, the Karl N. Llewellyn Professor of Jurisprudence, explores whether there are good reasons for the tendency to grant legal exemptions to religious claims of conscience while largely rejecting non-religious claims.

"The current status quo is predicated on a fundamental inequality," Leiter said. For example, he says a boy might be permitted to carry a dagger to school as part of his Sikh religion, but the same dagger would not be allowed if it were part of a family tradition.

"Namely, your claim of conscience counts if it is based in religion," Leiter said. "My claim of conscience doesn't count if it is not based in religion. That, it seems to me, is a pernicious and indefensible inequality in the existing legal regime."

Historical roots

Leiter first became interested in the preferential treatment religion receives under the law as a professor at the University of Texas-Austin. He began to consider the place of religion and toleration in society after noting how conservative Christians in the state sought to influence politics and public education.

The origins of religious toleration can be traced back hundreds of years to the European wars of religion, a time when people were killed over religious differences, says Leiter. That turmoil gave way to greater acceptance of diverse religions, an important achievement of Western democracies.

However, the West's preferential treatment for religious toleration is not in step with changing times, Leiter argues.

"While we understand the historical reasons why our constitution singled out religion and religious liberty 200-plus years ago, in the world we live in today, you don't have to be religious in order to have a conscience," he said.

In leading philosophical literature, Leiter found compelling moral arguments for the important role toleration plays in general in a society. He explores the arguments of John Rawls, who defends liberty of conscience as a basic right, and the utilitarian arguments of John Stuart Mills, who views the toleration of differing views as crucial in society's search for truth and knowledge.

"Both schools of thought reach the same conclusion: that liberty of conscience is sufficiently important to individuals, that a just and decent society is going to protect a sphere for the liberty of conscience," said Leiter.

Conversely, Leiter could not find an equally forceful argument as to why religious conscience has been treated as more deserving of protection. Two factors make religious beliefs distinctive from other claims of conscience: certain beliefs in every religion are not evidence-based, and some beliefs provide followers with "existential consolation," helping them cope with suffering and death. He argues that neither the Rawlsian nor Millian arguments would warrant a special legal status for beliefs with these characteristics over other conscientious beliefs.

The way forward

While some might wish there was a way to grant exemptions to all claims of conscience, this would lead to almost insurmountable practical problems, Leiter said.

"It would be tantamount to legalizing civil disobedience," he said, explaining that while courts can verify a person's involvement in a religion and that religion's particular beliefs, non-religious claims would be much more difficult to verify.

"We don't have a way to peer into a man's soul to see if his claim of conscience is really a legitimate claim of conscience."

Leiter said courts still should monitor for laws that arise from intolerance he cites France's ban on headscarves worn by Muslim women as an example. But avoiding laws motivated by intolerance is different from granting special religious exemptions from neutral laws. Such special treatment for religion often defeats society's promotion of the general welfare, he said.

In the case of vaccination laws, for example, the widespread granting of religious exemptions has led to the return of previously rare diseases, such as whooping cough. Leiter argues that the fairest path forward is to allow no exemptions, religious or otherwise, that challenge laws promoting the public good, unless those exemptions can be made without shifting burdens onto others.

"Doesn't the state have the right to pass laws that are supposed to promote the general welfare without having to carve out exemptions that basically undermine the promotion of the general welfare?" Leiter said, "If we start carving out exemptions, we defeat the purposes of those legitimate objectives."

###

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/uoc-nbq032813.php

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Heat start to move on after streak ends

Take heart, Heat. Look out, NBA.

When the Los Angeles Lakers' 33-game winning streak ended, they hit a bit of a lull before rolling through the playoffs and winning the NBA title.

That scenario likely would suit Miami just fine since the defending champions have said all along they were focused on repeating more than breaking a record.

Dwyane Wade even sounded relieved Miami's run stopped at 27, courtesy of the Chicago Bulls.

"Now that it's over, I'm glad it's over," he said after the 101-97 loss Wednesday night, his team's first defeat in nearly two months.

"It really didn't matter to us," Wade said. "If you get it, it's awesome. If you don't, we still won 27 games in a row. That's pretty awesome. So we really weren't like, 'We've got to get that record.' Not at all."

So, with their name firmly attached to the second-longest streak in NBA history, the Heat did what they would have done if it had still been going strong. They took Thursday off in New Orleans, where they'll face the Hornets on Friday night.

While the circus atmosphere around the team slows down ? until the playoffs, anyway ? the Heat can turn to the business of wrapping up the final 11 games of the regular season without what some may call a "distraction." Clinching the Eastern Conference's No. 1 seed is a foregone conclusion, and the Heat leads San Antonio by two games in the race for home-court advantage throughout the playoffs.

Still, Lakers star Kobe Bryant urged LeBron James and his teammates to savor the moment.

"I think just as a student of the game, as a fan of the game, you appreciate those kind of streaks and you realize how difficult it is to put together that big of a streak," he said. "Obviously, the Lakers winning 33 in a row was phenomenal, but the Heat's one was just as impressive."

After their streak ended, those '71-72 Lakers lost four of their next six games. But they went 15-2 to close the regular season, then lost only three of 15 playoff games on the way to the title.

That's the only measure of success for the Heat.

"At the end of the day, a win is a win in our league," said James, the reigning MVP who averaged exactly 27 points per game during the 27-game streak. "We've gotten better throughout the season. Each and every month we've improved. We've started from behind some games, but for the most part we've played some great basketball."

They blew out some teams and rallied in the final minutes to beat others, erasing double-digit deficits and pulling off 11 fourth-quarter comebacks in their 7?-week run of dominance.

Entering Thursday, 10 NBA teams hadn't won 27 games all season.

"Really proud of the grind of the last few weeks from my guys," Miami forward Shane Battier wrote on Twitter early Thursday. "The focus and effort (and luck) was phenomenal."

They were must-see television, with ESPN and NBA TV scrambling to pick up Heat games as the streak rolled along. ESPN said the overnight rating for Heat-Bulls was the fifth-best of any regular-season game ever shown on the network.

For those who still need streaks to follow, there are plenty of options.

Women's basketball is full of them right now, with Baylor (32), Notre Dame (28) and Delaware (27) all streaking into NCAA regional games this weekend. In men's college basketball, Louisville takes a 12-game winning streak into its Midwest Regional semifinal against Oregon on Friday night. And in the NHL, the Pittsburgh Penguins won their 14th straight Thursday night, a 4-0 shutout of Winnipeg.

To put it in perspective, the Heat's streak not only is the second-longest in NBA history, but the second-longest among any of the four major professional sports.

The longest current NBA streak now belongs to the New York Knicks ? six games.

On Friday, the Heat begin anew.

Miami would need to win every game left on its schedule and sweep all four playoff series to end the year with another 27-game winning streak. Meantime, Wade offered this:

"Now that it's over, let's look back on it as something that was great."

___

AP Basketball Writer Jon Krawczynski in Minneapolis contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/heat-start-move-streak-ends-194956482--spt.html

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Dana White?s latest video blog shows he is a fan of shooting guns, riding motorcycles and apple-picking

With no fight this week, UFC president Dana White released a video blog that shows what he and his "idiot friends" do when visiting his place in Maine. Yes, there's plenty of NSFW language. Take a look and see what White and his friends are up to, including:

1. Talk one friend into trying the spiciest hot sauce ever.
2. Blow things up.
3. Shoot guns while calling each other a nickname for a cat.
4. Apple-picking, though it doesn't look like they're picking honeycrisp apples, the finest of all apple varieties.
5. Milk goats in a way that looks pretty uncomfortable for the goat.
6. Drive motorcycles.

[Also: Nick Diaz can cry foul all he wants, but he's not getting a rematch with GSP]

And a little advice for Nick the Tooth. I was once told at an Indian restaurant, after eating very spicy food, that beer or soda pop are your best bets to cool a burning mouth.

Memorable Moments from Yahoo! Sports:

Other popular content on Yahoo! Sports:
? Top seeds L'ville, Kansas in the way of All-Big Ten Final Four
? Watch: Who could crash the Final Four?
? Report: Seahawks may have multiple trade partners for Matt Flynn
? NASCAR Power Rankings: A (Junior) Nation rises

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/dana-white-latest-video-blog-shows-fan-shooting-164921000--mma.html

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Trapped man rescued from Calif.'s Mount Rubidoux

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) ? Ramon Llamas was taking his usual hike on busy Mount Rubidoux when his dog, Mole, began whimpering and tugging at his leg.

"He was talking to me in his language, he was pulling me from my pants to go down and see the hole," the Riverside man told KTTV-TV (http://bit.ly/109Ew0o).

The puzzled Llamas turned back up the dirt trail he'd been using. The dog led him off the path to some rocks.

In a crack between the boulders was the thin, dirty face of a man who may have been trapped there for days without food or water.

On Tuesday, the man, whose name hasn't been released, remained hospitalized for severe dehydration but he was alert and listed in good condition, city fire Capt. Bruce Vanderhorst said.

Mole, meanwhile, was being praised as a hero.

If Mole hadn't acted, "I think it would be too late," Llamas told the Riverside Press-Enterprise (http://bit.ly/11E37kr). "We find him at the right time."

No one reported hearing the man shout for help even though Mount Rubidoux is popular with hikers and daily exercisers.

Located within the city east of Los Angeles, it has both paved and dirt trails that can draw hundreds of people every day.

Llamas is one of them, hiking every day that he doesn't work.

His dog pulled him to a place off the dirt path and about 100 feet below the paved main access road.

When he first saw something in the boulders, he thought it might be an animal.

"It was dark and it was dusty because he was digging the dirt and I see his big eyes in his face and I thought it was a bear," Llamas said.

Eventually, he and another hiker recognized that the dirty, weak figure was a man caught in a hole in between two boulders. The man called himself Paul.

"He said, 'I need water, please don't leave me.' So I gave him water from my backpack and in a minute he said, 'You got more?' So I give more water," Llamas told KABC-TV (http://bit.ly/YEahyP).

"He said he'd been there between four and six days with no food," Llamas said.

Rescuers were called and pulled him up from the Dumpster-sized rocks in about 90 minutes, Vanderhorst said.

The man seems unclear about how long he'd been trapped, Vanderhorst said.

"He's claiming up to five nights but also said he came up Sunday," which would be a single day, the captain said.

"It looked like he slipped and fell down between two boulders, almost like a funnel into a hole," he said.

The man's shoes remained in the hole and his pants came off during the rescue, Vanderhorst said.

The pants were later retrieved. Llamas told KTTV-TV that he went back up the mountain on Tuesday and retrieved the red-laced, dirt-scuffed white sneakers in order to return them.

He also said Mole, a year-old brindled shepherd-chow mix, has become a celebrity.

"I went for a walk today," Llamas said. "The walk was OK but everybody stopped me just to pet Mole. They don't care about me, they care about Mole.

"Somebody give him a medal up there on the mountain. He's a hero right now."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/trapped-man-rescued-calif-mount-rubidoux-194318784.html

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Free Mexican Patent, Trademark, and Design Search Tools: VIDOC ...

Patent search professionals will mainly rely on subscription patent databases to locate worldwide patent prior art, but sometimes full-text versions of documents or specific bibliographic/legal status data can be quickly located for free through the online services available on intellectual property office websites. IP office websites also often offer a wide range of additional search options for other types of intellectual property, such as trademarks, industrial designs, and even copyright records.? In past posts, I?ve reviewed the free patent and IP search resources available on a variety of IP office websites, including the intellectual property offices of France, Singapore, and Sweden.? In today?s post, I?d like to give a brief overview of the patent, trademark, and design search options available through the website of the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI). In particular, the IMPI website offers VIDOC, a search tool for locating the detailed record and related full-text documents for a variety of Mexican intellectual property records, including patent and trademarks.? SIGA is another service accessible on the IMPI website that allows users to create queries through a variety of search forms in order to locate records from the Mexican Industrial Property Gazette.

Read on for a description of the broad search and display options for Mexican patent, trademark, and design records accessible through various online services within the IMPI website, including VIDOC and SIGA.

Online Services through IMPI

The website of the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) provides access to a number of free online services for filing and searching Mexican patents, trademarks, and designs, including:

• Marca en L?nea (Online Brands)
• Dise?o Industrial en L?nea (Online Industrial Design)
• Portal de pagos y servicios electr?nicos (PASE) (Payment gateway and e-services)
• Sistema de Informaci?n de la Gaceta de la Propiedad Industrial (SIGA) (the Information System of the Industrial Property Gazette)
• Visor de Documentos de Propiedad Industrial (VIDOC) (the Industrial Property Document Viewer)
• Portal de tecnolog?a (Pymetec) (Technology Portal)
• B?squeda subregional de patentes (CADOPAT) (Subregional Patent Search)
• Banco Nacional de Marcas (Marca-Net) (National Bank of Trademarks)
• Solmarnet (Capturing System for Trademark Applications, Notices and Internet Trade Names)
• Consulta de tr?mites del R.G.P (Consultation Procedures of R.G.P.)
• Clasificador de Niza (CLASNIZA) (Nice Classification)
• Consulta de tr?mites de copias certificadas (Consultation Procedures of Certified Copies)
• Solicitud de Informaci?n T?cnica de Patentes (Request of Technical Information for Patents)

There is an English-language version of the IMPI homepage, but many of the services offered through the IMPI are only available in Spanish. Users should therefore utilize a machine translation tool like Google Translate to translate the search portals and results into their language of choice.

VIDOC

According to the IMPI website, the Industrial Property Document Viewer (VIDOC) is a search engine that allows you to query and download electronic records of industrial property in the following areas: trademarks, patents, contentious issues resolved, patent bibliographic records (biblioratos) and records from the Register of General Powers (RGP). VIDOC is only available in Spanish, and the portal includes three search forms:

• Simple Search ? A basic keyword search form.
• Advanced Search ? A command-line search form that provides a list of search fields to automatically add to the search form, as well as parentheses, wildcards, and Boolean operators.

Advanced search form for VIDOC (Spanish-language).

• Structured Search ? Select fields from drop-down menus and enter search terms in adjacent text boxes. Select Boolean operators to join the search terms.

Search results are automatically displayed below the search form and include basic bibliographic data with the search term highlighted.

Search results on VIDOC.

Select the document number to view the full record, which includes three tabs:

• Description ? Bibliographic data for the record.
• Documents ? Links to records for individual related documents.

Individual documents related to a patent record under the ?Documents? tab on VIDOC.

• Links ? Links to the document record on other systems.

A record for an individual document may also include a digital copy of the document (PDF) available under one of the tabs.

PDF version of a patent document on VIDOC.

The user is frequently asked to enter a reCAPTCHA code when submitting a query in a search form or downloading a document.

A full user guide for VIDOC (PDF) is available on the IMPI website (in Spanish only).

SIGA

The IMPI website states that the Information System of the Industrial Property Gazette (SIGA) is the official website of the Industrial Property Gazette for the circulation, consultation, and electronic download of all volumes of the Gazette. The SIGA system includes a Google Translate drop-down menu embedded directly on the site which allows the user to translate the interface into the language of their choice. Five search options are available on the SIGA portal:

• Simple Search ? Select the record type, choose whether the results must contain any words, all words, or exact phrase, and enter a keyword query.
• Advanced Search ? Select the record type, legal form of the record type, date of issue, gazette copy, and enter a keyword query.

Advanced search form on SIGA (English-language).

• Structured Search ? Select the record type, legal form of the record type, section, select fields and connectors from drop-down menus, and enter search terms in adjacent text boxes. Select Boolean operators to join the search terms.
• Browse by Issue ? Browse through PDF versions of all available gazette issues, organized by industrial property type.
• Mobile Search ? Search through SIGA records on a mobile-friendly search form.

Results will appear below the search form under a ?Sheets? tab and display basic bibliographic data for the record (including a representative image for some trademark, patent, and design records). Users can also choose to display results under a ?PDF? tab.

Search results under the ?Sheets? tab on SIGA.

Select a search result to view the full record that opens in a new window and displays a number of sections organized under tabs:

• Bibliographic data ? Bibliographic data, abstract, and representative images.
• Gazette ? A link to view the record in a PDF version of the gazette.
• History of Publication ? A list of previous published versions of the document.
• Record ? A link to the record on VIDOC.
• Links ? Links to the document record on other systems.

Bibliographic data and representative image for a record on SIGA.

A full user guide for SIGA (PDF) is available on the IMPI website (in Spanish only).

Conclusion

The IMPI website helpfully lists all online services provided by the office, and the list includes databases for specific types of IP, such as the National Bank of Trademarks, and databases searchable by geographic region, like the Subregional Patent Search tool. The two broadest online search tools provided by IMPI seem to be VIDOC, which searches? and displays all Mexican IP record types and related documents, and SIGA, which searches the full Industrial Property Gazette.? SIGA records also link to the related records on the VIDOC platform, so users can first conduct a search on SIGA and then transfer directly to the corresponding VIDOC record.? The Spanish-language interface for VIDOC may provide some language barriers for searchers, but the use of a machine translation tool like Google Translate will solve this issue to a certain extent. Although subscription search systems are necessary for simultaneous searching of worldwide patent records, the services on an IP office website like IMPI may be used to locate additional data and full-text documents for a specific patent document from that issuing authority.

What do you think of the search and display capabilities for the free online services on the IMPI website? Let us know in the comments!

This post was contributed by Joelle Mornini. The Intellogist blog is provided for free by Intellogist?s parent company Landon IP, a major provider of patent searches, trademark searches, technical translations, and information retrieval services.

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Source: http://intellogist.wordpress.com/2013/03/12/free-mexican-patent-trademark-and-design-search-tools-vidoc-and-siga/

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Gwyneth Paltrow Cook Book: It's All Good!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/03/gwyneth-paltrow-cook-book-its-all-good/

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FAA approves Boeing's 787 fix

A Boeing plan to redesign the 787 Dreamliner's fire-plagued lithium-ion batteries won approval Tuesday from the Federal Aviation Administration, moving the cutting-edge planes a step closer to flying passengers again.

The plan includes changes to the internal battery components to minimize the possibility of short-circuiting, which can lead to overheating and cause a fire. Among the changes are better insulation of the battery's eight cells and the addition of a new containment and venting system, the FAA said in a statement.

The FAA statement didn't provide an estimate for when the grounded planes might return to service. Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., who was briefed by the agency, said that if all goes well, the FAA could give final approval by mid- to late April for the 787 to resume flight.

Boeing would still have to retrofit the 50 planes already delivered to eight airlines in seven countries, Larsen said in an interview. That could mean the plane wouldn't return to the skies until late April or early May, he said.

First, Boeing's redesigned batteries have to pass a series of 20 separate lab tests, Larsen said, then flight tests would follow.

"If there's any one test that isn't passed, it's back to the drawing board for that particular part of the tests," he said.

So far, test flights of two 787s have been approved ? one with a complete prototype of the new battery, the other with only a new, more robust containment box for the battery, Boeing spokesman Marc Birtel said.

The plan is an outline for a recertification of the plane's batteries, the FAA said. The 787 has two identical lithium-ion batteries, one of which is located toward the front of the plane and powers cockpit electrical systems, the other toward the rear and used to start an auxiliary power unit while the plane is on the ground, among other functions.

Every item that is part of an airplane, down to its nuts and bolts, must be certified as safe before FAA approves that type of plane as safe for flight.

The 787 fleet worldwide has been grounded by the FAA and civil aviation authorities in other countries since Jan. 16, following a battery fire on a Dreamliner parked in Boston and a smoking battery that led to the emergency landing of another 787 in Japan.

"This comprehensive series of tests will show us whether the proposed battery improvements will work as designed," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. "We won't allow the plane to return to service unless we're satisfied that the new design ensures the safety of the aircraft and its passengers."

The airliner's troubles have raised concerns that the FAA has ceded too much responsibility for evaluating the safety of new aircraft to manufacturers. To save manpower, the FAA designates employees at aircraft makers and their subcontractors to conduct the safety testing of new planes. Boeing's battery testing concluded that short-circuiting wouldn't lead to a fire and that the chance of a smoke event was one in every 10 million flight hours.

Instead, there were two battery failures when the entire fleet had clocked less than 52,000 flight hours.

The FAA's approval of Boeing's plan "is a critical and welcome milestone toward getting the fleet flying again and continuing to deliver on the promise of the 787," Jim McNerney, the aircraft maker's CEO, said in a statement.

The 787 is Boeing's newest and most technologically advanced plane. Its grounding on Jan. 16, an enormous black eye for Boeing, marked the first time since 1979 that FAA had ordered every plane of a particular type to stay out of the air for safety reasons.

UBS analyst David Strauss estimated that the 787 will cost Boeing $6 billion this year. Besides the battery problems, the plane already costs more to build than it brings in from customers.

United Airlines is the only U.S. carrier with Dreamliners in its fleet. It has six, plus another 44 on order. American and Delta have also ordered 787s. Boeing has orders for more than 800 of the planes from airlines around the globe.

Steven Udvar-Hazy, CEO of Air Lease Corp., which has ordered 12 of the planes, said it could still take months for the plane to fly again and that a very long-term grounding could damage the 787 Dreamliner brand.

"It's important to get the airplane back in the air," Udvar-Hazy said while attending an airplane finance conference in Orlando, Fla. "Every plane has mechanical issues, but this was one that was considered serious by the authorities and I think Boeing has done everything it can to get that under control."

Udvar-Hazy has had weekly updates from Boeing's CEO of commercial airplanes, Ray Conner, and daily conversations with others at the airplane manufacturer. He has then relayed that information to his airline customers around the world.

"Boeing has been very transparent and I think they've made a very concerted effort to address this issue ... to come up with a fix that hopefully is a permanent fix, not just sort of a Band-Aid solution," he said.

Boeing plans to begin test flights within days, Birtel said. The new battery design will be tested on a plane that has been identified elsewhere as being built for LOT Polish Airlines. Boeing also plans to fly a 787 that is used exclusively for testing. That plane has the stronger battery box, and will also be used for unrelated engine tests.

Before the fire on Jan. 7, Boeing shares had closed at $77.69. They closed as low as $73.65 three weeks later, after the planes had been grounded. But the shares have been recovering as anticipation grew for a battery fix. Boeing's gains have outpaced the strong rise in the Dow Jones industrial average, of which Boeing Co. is a member.

On Tuesday, Boeing shares rose $1.22 to close at $84.16, and rose another 28 cents to $84.44 in aftermarket trading.

???

Freed reported from Minneapolis. AP Airline Writer Scott Mayorwitz in Orlando contributed to this report.

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/faa-approves-boeing-plan-fix-220605784.html

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Serb-Croatian Kiss Is The Bravest Thing Ever (PHOTO)

When asked why she was walking next to a Serb, a Croatian girl responded by kissing him.

The moment took place during a parade in Mostar, Bosnia. Students from the United World College, Mostar, were walking through the town with flags for a cultural parade.

"My Serbian friend was walking hand in hand with his Croatian girlfriend," Reddit user EvolvedBacteria explained. "When an old lady asked her how she could dare to walk next to a Serb, she kissed him."

Story continues after photo

The user said more than 40 different nationalities are represented in the student body of the United World College, making it a symbol of unity in a city that for some, remains divided by war.

EvolvedBacteria explained that even though the photo isn't merely a couple expressing their love.

"For us, here in Mostar, it shows that the new generations are not willing to continue a war of minds."

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Iran blocks VPN access to global web, cracks down on 'illegal' filter workaround

Iran's struggle with the unfiltered internet is well documented -- the nation has spent years fending off cyber attacks, blocking access and potentially fencing its own intranet off from the outside world. Sites like YouTube and Facebook can often only be accessed by using a VPN, bypassing the country's internet filter. Sadly, Iranian users may have to get their Harlem shake fix elsewhere: Iran is putting the lid on "illegal" VPN access. "Within the last few days illegal VPN ports in the country have been blocked," explained Ramezanali Sobhani-Fard, Iran's head of information and communications technology committee. "Only legal and registered VPNs can from now on be used."

Registered and legal VPN access can still be purchased, but the typical filter workarounds no longer work. That's not stopping Iran's most dedicated internet users though: one local took to Facebook to confirm that VPN access had been restricting, noting that he was using an unrelated method to dodge Iran's content control efforts. The crackdown may have also blocked access to commonly used sites, such as Yahoo or Google Parliament plans to study the issue more in the coming week, and will presumably tweak the policy as necessary.

Filed under: Internet

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Source: Reuters

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China issues plan to streamline government

Ma Kai, secretary-general of the State Council, speaks during a plenary session of the National People's Congress held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Sunday, March 10, 2013. Ma read out the report on the Cabinet's plan to streamline government ministries, doing away with the powerful Railways Ministry and creating a super-agency to regulate the media and realigning other bureaucracies in a bid to boost efficiency. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Ma Kai, secretary-general of the State Council, speaks during a plenary session of the National People's Congress held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Sunday, March 10, 2013. Ma read out the report on the Cabinet's plan to streamline government ministries, doing away with the powerful Railways Ministry and creating a super-agency to regulate the media and realigning other bureaucracies in a bid to boost efficiency. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Chinese Communist Party General Secretary and incoming-President Xi Jinping, right, walks ahead of Chinese premier-in-waiting, Li Keqiang during a plenary session of the National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Sunday, March 10, 2013. China announced plans Sunday to streamline government ministries, doing away with the powerful Railways Ministry and creating a super-agency to regulate the media and realigning other bureaucracies in a bid to boost efficiency. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Chinese Communist Party General Secretary and incoming-President Xi Jinping reads a report during a plenary session of the National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Sunday, March 10, 2013. During the session, the Cabinet unveiled its plan to streamline government ministries, doing away with the powerful Railways Ministry and creating a super-agency to regulate the media and realigning other bureaucracies in a bid to boost efficiency. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

BEIJING (AP) ? China announced plans Sunday to streamline government ministries, doing away with the powerful Railways Ministry and creating a super-agency to regulate the media and realigning other bureaucracies in a bid to boost efficiency.

The plan introduced to the rubber-stamp national legislature is being pushed by the newly installed Communist Party leadership and reflects its priorities to reduce waste and address quality of life issues for a more prosperous, demanding society.

Among the changes, the corruption-plagued Railways Ministry will be split, its regulatory responsibilities going to the Transport Ministry and its operations to a commercial entity. The food and drug agency will see a boost in authority to try to end the safety scandals that have been a source of public anger, and two censorship arms, one for broadcasters and one for print media, will be merged.

The restructuring, the seventh since China began market reforms 30 years ago, marks the latest periodic attempt to reduce government meddling in the economy and society. Despite the effort, the government's role in the economy and the power of state companies have grown over the past decade, often to the detriment of private and foreign companies, which face a welter of industrial and other policies that have raised barriers to success.

This time, the streamlining plan includes guidelines to restrict and better define the central government's responsibilities, limiting its issuing of permits for projects, the setting of standards and other policies that have slowed decision-making.

"Departments of the State Council are now focusing too much on micro issues. We should attend to our duties and must not meddle in what is not in our business," Ma Kai, secretary-general of the State Council, or Cabinet, told the legislators. He said that overlapping government functions has often led to buck-passing.

Overall the realignment would do away with four agencies and reduce the number of ministry-level bodies by two to 25.

The public has been complaining about government inefficiency and for that reason "we should dare to push ahead with cracking the tough nut of structural reform," the state-run Jinghua Daily quoted Wang Feng, an official in the Communist Party office involved in drafting the reform program.

Underscoring the government's determination is the abolishing of the Railways Ministry. With deep ties to the military, the ministry has resisted previous rounds of reform and has continued to serve as both regulator and operator. Under the new plan, operations will be spun off into a newly created China Railway Corp., responsible for building railways and managing freight and passenger services. Safety, quality and other regulatory standards will be the purview of a state railway administration under the Ministry of Transport.

Another influential bureaucracy, the family planning commission, which oversees enforcement of the much disliked policies that limit most families to one child, will be merged with the Health Ministry in a sign the government may be rethinking its approach to family planning. The proposal called for "maintaining and perfecting family planning policies" and said the party would continue to set policy. Meanwhile, population research is being transferred to the economic planning agency, highlighting government concern about the effect an aging population and shrinking labor force may have on the economy.

In another bureaucratic boost, the government will pull together separate agencies involved in fisheries and other maritime law enforcement into one administration. The move appears aimed at better asserting China's claims in disputed stretches of the East and South China seas and, if energetically pressed, could aggravate already high tensions with Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines.

The National Energy Administration, created five years ago to help oversee a pressing need for the fast-growing but resource-strapped economy, would be expanded to absorb a regulatory body that sets electric rates.

The food and drug administration is being elevated in status to ministry level to give it added powers in hopes of improving enforcement and ending the lax enforcement that has led to repeated scandals over toxic medicines and tainted foods from milk to meat.

In a separate report to the legislature, the head of the supreme court, Wang Shengjun, said Chinese courts had sentenced more than 20,000 people for making and selling adulterated milk powder, recycled cooking oil known as "gutter oil" and the steroid clenbuterol, which makes pigs produce leaner meat.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-03-10-China-Restructuring/id-fc618ca9e4bf47e6ac3d22e02ffb9c9a

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Tips For Taming The Web Marketing Beast - Empower Network

You may get the inspiration of a great new business every now and then. When you have a great idea, you can start on your new venture. For more ideas for marketing online, read on.

Emotional descriptions in ads are great for building attachment. This creates brand recognition. Use good descriptive words like ?relief? and ?security?.

A great tip to implement with online marketing is to keep your wallet closely guarded and to not pay a lot for advertising. You don?t want to invest money on something that will not help your business. You should get the proper feedback and analysis of your online advertisements and break them down in terms of cost versus benefit. When the ratio gets unacceptable, it?s time to re-tool your marketing strategy.

TIP! Put some banners on your header, make sure they do not look like a banner. You should try your best to make them look like they are clickable links to reach more content.

Craft your banner ads so that they stand out from the other million banner ads on the web. So try to liven up the way your banner ad looks and you will make people more willing to click on it.

Someone who sells websites could enter into a partnership with a writer; together, they could provide substantial discounts to customers. They can offer those discounts on your stuff and you can both increase your profits by gaining a new market.

TIP! For the most part, internet marketing is very similar to other forms of marketing except for the manner of delivering information. For instance: Search engines may stop focusing on title tags.

A crucial tip to always keep in mind when marketing on the Internet is to never rely solely on one strategy or thing. This is vital for this kind of business, income can be slow in the beginning and may not ever be steady. Keep your job until you have a stable income.

Email can be an effective business tool. Create interesting newsletters that not only inform your customers, but intrigue them. Your subscribers want to feel like you?re sharing valuable information with them, not spam. With a newsletter, you can remain in touch with a customer for quite some time, and make him or her feel welcome to return to your website.

As an Internet marketer, you want to become an expert on everything to do with your site. You will be more credible this way, rather than being dishonest about it.

TIP! You should ask for feedback all of the time. This particular factor can prove really critical to your overall success, since your perspective of your site appearance and pricing structure might not match the perspective of others.

When you offer your customers the chance to sign up with your Ezine, you are building a relationship with these customers, and participating in a very effective marketing technique. You can show your personality by adding photos of you along with your family and staff. Try adding short humorous inputs about home life and employee relationships. When you use a title that sparks their interest, they will be more likely to click!

Internet marketing ventures will not succeed through chance, only through deliberate effort and hard work can you hope to enjoy success. You do not see large, successful businesses that got where they are by luck alone. Think of any major brand name. Did they just get lucky? We know that is not the case. It took quite a bit of skilled marketing to turn it into a best-seller.

Offer special sales on your site?s check-out page. For example, you can offer products at half-price if the customer orders a certain amount. This will allow you to move any older inventory, increase profits, while giving the customer a great deal.

TIP! Fill your website with a wide range of descriptive, evocative words. Use adjectives and use a lot of keyword descriptors.

Instead of looking at marketing on the Internet as a career, look at it as a hobby. If your website ends up being wildly successful, then you can turn it into a career. In the meantime, just enjoy the process and don?t worry too much about getting rich.

Try offering different versions of your site to people all over the world. This means that you would re-interpret your website into different languages. With a more global approach, you will get a lot of traffic and a lot more customers. If customers can properly understand your site because the content is in their own language, it increases the chance that they will purchase items from you.

If you are ready to go you will gain profits. Plan your marketing strategy carefully using the ideas presented here, and make sure you adopt an approach that is well-adapted to your audience. When used properly and thoughtfully, internet promotion can have big financial payoffs!

TIP! You should always check in with your customers. After they have the product, ask the customer to take a survey or write a review.

Blogging is an excellent Affiliate marketing online resource. Your blog evolves into a source of strategies and information. It?s so straight forward when using the Empower Network blogging system ? a robust, authority blog, already installed, all set for you to begin taking advantage of. You may even choose to join with the a large number of us making use of it in order to make revenue. To learn more regarding this blogging system everyone is talking about For more information: http://www.PowerOfBlogging.com

Source: http://www.empowernetwork.com/kfreebern/tips-for-taming-the-web-marketing-beast/

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Beppe Grillo And The 5 Star Movement: An In-Depth Look At Italy's New Kingmaker

By Gavin Jones
ROME, March 7 (Reuters) - Beppe Grillo stirs strong feelings. His supporters believe he can clean up Italian politics and give ordinary people more say in decision-making. His opponents see a dangerous populist who evokes memories of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.
International media describe Grillo as a comic, which on one level he is, but the man who jointly created and leads the party that in just three years has become the largest in Italy is much more than that.
Behind his tirades against the political and business elite is a shrewd mind, a hugely influential alter ego and the desire to win complete power in the euro zone's third largest economy.
"The left and right will govern together on the ruins they've created, it will last a year at most, then our movement will change the world," Grillo said after his party's triumphant performance in last week's election.
Grillo has made all the headlines since the vote, but he is only half the story of his anti-establishment 5-Star Movement. Most of the strategy is decided by Gianroberto Casaleggio, an Internet expert who seldom appears in public.
"A single man in command is not democracy," said Pier Luigi Bersani after his Democratic Party (PD) was beaten into second place in the vote. "Behind Bersani is the PD, I want to know what is behind Grillo."
The answer is Casaleggio, and his Milan-based firm Casaleggio Associates whose business is to create websites and web-based marketing campaigns for clients.
The two men met in 2004 and the following year Casaleggio's company created Grillo's hugely successful blog. Casaleggio has been running Grillo's public activities ever since. They are joint founders of the 5-Star Movement.
In one of the best debut performances by any party in Western Europe since World War Two, 5-Star took 26 percent of the vote, outstripping the PD and Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right People of Freedom.
"Unless the other parties change their leaders and somehow get back in touch with ordinary people he can certainly keep on growing," said Elisabetta Gualmini, politics professor at the University of Bologna and a close observer of Grillo's movement.

DEMOCRAT OR DESPOT?
Grillo capitalised on popular despair over recession, unemployment and poverty with a campaign that convinced millions of Italians that he could offer them a break with the past.
"Grillo was the only one who gave any hope of change," said Matteo Schiavetti, 22, a student at Rome University.
Grillo and his mostly young followers present themselves as pioneers of a new, more egalitarian type of democracy, based on direct participation rather than delegation and hierarchies.
Yet his critics say he is more of a despot than a democrat. They point out that in practice Grillo not only controls the movement but owns it, having obtained the rights to its brand when he founded it with Casaleggio in 2009.
"The total dependence on Grillo is not sustainable, they will have to create a structure and he will have to allow mini-leaders to emerge or everything will implode," said Gualmini.
Grillo showed his iron grip last year when he expelled two local councillors who had criticised a lack of internal democracy and flouted the party rule not to appear on talk shows with rival politicians from the "old" parties.
"There is no transparency, Casaleggio created everything and the only structure is Casaleggio Associates," said Giovanni Favia, the councillor for the Emilia Romagna region who was thrown out of the party after falling out with Casaleggio.
Casaleggio, 59, with his unruly, shoulder length hair and round wire-framed glasses, is an ardent believer in the power of the Internet to transform the world and is often caricatured as a dreamy visionary (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCbjA-yVsRc).
But those who have met him say he is practical, single minded and determined. His hero is 13th century Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan and he has said his final goal is for Italy's parties to disappear altogether.
"I am on the streets and Casaleggio is on-line, they are interlinked roles and neither of us is leader," Grillo said in a book he published with Casaleggio last month.

MUSSOLINI
Some commentators have compared Grillo to Mussolini, seeing similar personality cults, the same vitriolic attacks on opponents and their common rejection of traditional parties.
While most of Grillo's policies are light years away from those of the wartime dictator he, like Mussolini, possesses a rare charisma and an energy that belies his 64 years.
To launch his party's campaign for elections in Sicily last year he swam the Straits of Messina, a treacherous 3 km (2 mile) stretch of water that separates the island from mainland Italy.

Grillo and Casaleggio understood Italians' need for something different. And everything about 5-Star is different.
It is the only party that refuses state financing and its elected representatives have all voluntarily slashed their salaries. Its members never appear on television talk shows, it communicates almost exclusively through Grillo's blog (www.beppegrillo.it), and it refuses to form alliances with other parties.
Grillo aims to appeal to left and right. He attacks the old "zombie" parties and business fat cats but also the trade unions who he says no longer represent workers' interests.
And it's not all vitriol. He also offers the positive message that politics can be clean and different, constantly citing the movement's local councillors who have given up most of their salaries to provide cheap credit to small businesses.

MANSLAUGHTER
Grillo himself will not be in parliament because a conviction for manslaughter makes him ineligible under his movement's rules. The jeep he was driving with friends on a mountain road in 1981 skidded on ice, went over a cliff and killed three of his four passengers.
There may be contradictions in Grillo and his movement, but the common claim that he has no policies is untrue, and the thrust of his ideas is clear.
He is an ecologist with a largely left-wing platform based on attacking privilege, redistributing wealth, increasing public control of schools and healthcare, and cutting spending on defence. He believes in more direct democracy using referendums and the Internet and wants new laws to clean up politics.
However, he has wavered on the crucial issue of Italy's membership of the euro zone, first calling for withdrawal, then only for a referendum and most recently saying he wanted merely an on-line, non-binding consultation.
"Grillo is interested in economics and he has a sound grasp of it," Mauro Gallegati, an economics professor at Ancona University who has advised Grillo on economic policy for 20 years, told Reuters.
Gallegati said a wealth tax on Italy's richest 1 percent would go a long way towards funding a minimum income for the unemployed, one of Grillo's main promises.
A wealth tax would almost certainly hit Grillo himself, as one of the country's most successful performers for more than 30 years. In the 2005 tax year he earned 4.3 million euros, according to leaked official data.
Grillo's own lifestyle has not always gelled with his environmentalist stands. He used to own a Ferrari and a speedboat, but now runs an ecological hybrid Toyota. He has two children by his Iranian wife and two by a previous marriage.
While Grillo's policies are nearly all on the left, he also draws considerable support from conservative voters who are equally tired of discredited parties and want something new.
Around 46 percent of his votes come from the left, 39 percent from the right and centre and the rest from previous non-voters. Unlike the other parties, his support is also evenly spread geographically and among social classes.
He gets fewer votes from the elderly, who have less access to the Internet, but "totally cleans up among the young, who have lost all faith in traditional parties," said Gualmini.
Remarkably, 5-Star's election result was achieved by a party which in many ways does not even exist.
The whole movement is based on the Internet. Its candidates for parliament were picked in primaries held on-line. It has no headquarters, no local offices and no internal hierarchy other than that Grillo is its leader.
The movement's lightweight organisation allows it to be virtually self-financing. Grillo's blog carries some advertising and sympathisers can contribute funds on-line.

ORIGINS
Grillo and Casaleggio probably became aware of their political potential in 2007 when protest rallies they organised on Grillo's blog, held simultaneously in cities around Italy, drew an estimated 2 million participants.
Grillo's burly frame, wrinkled face and white, shaggy hair were little known internationally before the election campaign, but he had been a household name in Italy since he emerged as a television comedian in the late 1970s.
The son of the owner of a small welding company, he studied economics at the university of his home town of Genoa but never finished his degree. He then worked briefly as a clothing salesman before becoming a stand-up comic in cabaret.
After breaking into television his popularity grew and his shows became increasingly pungent and satirical.
In 1986 he took aim at the ruling Socialist party on a Saturday night show, a move that virtually ended his TV career but boosted his popularity. The rest is history. Grillo moved out of television into theatres and public squares, beginning his metamorphosis from comic to political leader.
His act began to resemble the furious rallies seen in the election campaign, addressing subjects like renewable energy, greener cities and the corruption of the Italy's leaders. It was this final theme that resonated most with his audience.
To quell growing outrage at the privileges of the political caste, Italy's parties have repeatedly vowed to curb their salaries, pensions and cut the number of national and local politicians. The promises have never been fulfilled.
Most recently, the same parties failed to change an electoral law they all publicly decried, because they secretly thought it could benefit them. As a result the election failed to produce a majority and left the country ungovernable.
Now the centre-left coalition which won most seats is trying to woo Grillo to form a government with them by promising the same reforms. Italy awaits his - and Casaleggio's - decision.
(Additional reporting by Massimiliano Di Giorgio; Editing by Giles Elgood)

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Court suspends Egypt's parliament election

Two Egyptian police officers wear masks as they stand guard during clashes with protesters, not seen, near the state security building in Port Said, Egypt, Wednesday, March 6, 2013. Clashes between protesters and police have broken out in this restive Egyptian port city despite efforts by the military to separate the two sides. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Two Egyptian police officers wear masks as they stand guard during clashes with protesters, not seen, near the state security building in Port Said, Egypt, Wednesday, March 6, 2013. Clashes between protesters and police have broken out in this restive Egyptian port city despite efforts by the military to separate the two sides. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

An Egyptian protester evacuates a wounded man during clashes between protesters and riot police near the state security building in Port Said, Egypt, Wednesday, March 6, 2013. Clashes between protesters and police have broken out in this restive Egyptian port city despite efforts by the military to separate the two sides. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Egyptians cover their faces from tear gas during clashes between protesters and riot police near the state security building in Port Said, Egypt, Wednesday, March 6, 2013. Clashes between protesters and police have broken out in this restive Egyptian port city despite efforts by the military to separate the two sides. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Egyptians run for cover from tear gas fired by riot police during clashes near the state security building in Port Said, Egypt, Wednesday, March 6, 2013. Clashes between protesters and police have broken out in this restive Egyptian port city despite efforts by the military to separate the two sides. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Egyptians gather next to a burned state security building during clashes in Port Said, Egypt, Wednesday, March 6, 2013. Clashes between protesters and police have broken out in this restive Egyptian port city despite efforts by the military to separate the two sides. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

CAIRO (AP) ? An Egyptian court on Wednesday ordered the suspension of parliamentary elections scheduled to begin in April, opening a legal battle likely to delay the vote and deepening the political crisis between the Islamist president and his opponents that has polarized the nation for months.

The new confusion surrounding the election underlined the paralysis gripping Egypt, between political deadlock, infighting among state institutions, a faltering economy and a wave of protests, strikes and clashes against Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood that has spiraled for months around the country.

In the Suez Canal city of Port Said, scene of heavy clashes between protesters and police that have left six dead since Sunday, the violence entered a fourth day, dragging in the military. Protesters hurled stones at police firing tear gas, as army troops struggled to keep the two sides apart.

Morsi's Islamist supporters and some in the public exhausted by the turmoil have viewed the parliamentary elections as a step toward bringing some stability, accusing the opposition of stirring up unrest to derail the voting. But the mainly liberal and secular opposition had called a boycott of the vote, saying Morsi must first find some political consensus and ease the wave of popular anger. Whether or not the opposition boycotts, the Islamists would likely win a parliamentary majority.

The new court ruling is unlikely to defuse the tension, bringing the dispute into the judiciary, which has repeatedly been used by the various sides in Egypt's political battles.

The Cairo administrative court ruled that the Islamist-dominated parliament had improperly pushed through a law organizing the elections without allowing the Supreme Constitutional Court to review it to ensure it conforms with the constitution. The court ordered the law referred to the constitutional court and the election suspended in the meantime. The court annulled a decree by Morsi calling the election.

Morsi's opponents quickly pointed to the ruling as further proof of their accusations that Morsi and his ruling Muslim Brotherhood are mismanaging the country, trying to dominate power without reaching consensus with others or abiding by the law.

"The mess continues courtesy of epic failure of governance," prominent opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei said in a Tweet. He added a jab that ignoring the rule of law "is characteristic of a fascist state."

Morsi's legal adviser, Mohammed Fouad Gadallah, told The Associated Press that the government will respect the court decision to suspend the election and refer the law the constitutional court.

In the meantime, authorities will delay the opening of the application period for candidates, which had been due to start Saturday, Gadallah said. That could push back the entire election process. The multi-phase election was supposed to begin in April 22 and last for nearly two months.

Gadallah also said the state would appeal the administrative court ruling. The aim of the appeal would be to establish the right of the president to call the elections, which the court called into question by annulling the decree.

The president's office later put out a statement saying it supports the rule of law and respects the court ruling, but it made no mention of an appeal.

The opposition had opposed the election law, expressing concerns over gerrymandering by the Brotherhood, which dominates the parliament, and complaining it was not consulted before it was drafted.

In its ruling on Wednesday, the administrative court said parliament had not observed the right of the constitutional court to review the election law, including any revisions in it, to ensure it conforms to the constitution. When the judge read the verdict, lawyers in the court room broke out in chants of "God is great."

"We are regaining the state back," a voice in the room called out, a reference to accusations that Morsi had previously defied the judiciary.

Egypt's political crisis has been mired in various judicial disputes, including an outcry among the opposition following Morsi's decision last November to grant himself immunity from the judiciary's supervision. He later revoked this right, in the face of massive protests, but he had already used the powers to appoint a new chief prosecutor and prevent the courts from blocking Islamists drafting a new constitution.

At the heart of the election dispute is a loosely worded article in the newly adopted constitution that prevents the constitutional court from reviewing election laws after parliament passes them. The administrative court appeared to be arguing that the article means parliament must consult the constitutional court before passing the law.

Initially, parliament sent the draft bill to the constitutional court, which rejected it, asking lawmakers to amend nearly a dozen articles, including the drawing of districts. After some quick revisions, the parliament passed the law without going back to the court to ensure the final version met its recommendations.

Bahey Eddin Hassan, head of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, said the dispute over the election "adds, for the tenth time, a new element of uncertainty for Egypt's future steps."

"Regardless of whether the elections are held or not, Egypt appears to be heading toward more chaos," he said.

Protests and violent clashes have spread in recent days in Cairo, Port Said and other provinces, and increasingly the rage has been directed at the police. Many protesters say the security forces have been using excessive force against them and that Morsi has backed them in their abuses.

Violence in Port Said, at the Mediterranean end of the Suez Canal, has left three civilians and three policemen dead and hundreds injured since Sunday. Army troops have repeatedly gotten caught in the middle as they try to keep the two sides apart ? dragging the military into the conflict to an extent unprecedented since the army handed over power to Egypt's first democratically elected president in June.

On Wednesday, troops moved to clear a sit-in that protesters have been holding in front of the city's main government complex for weeks. Soldiers took down tents, banners and pictures of civilians recently killed in clashes with police. The military police opened the area to traffic for the first time in weeks.

Nevertheless, clashes erupted, with protesters hurling stones at police at the nearby security headquarters, prompting volleys of tear in response. Troops lined up between them, but fighting continued. "Morsi is the enemy of God," protesters lined up in front of the troops chanted.

Furious at the president and the security forces, residents of Port Said have been waging campaign of protests and strikes amounting to an outright revolt against the central government.

The turmoil began Jan. 26, after a Cairo court issued death sentences against 21 defendants ? mostly Port Said residents ? for involvement in a deadly soccer riot in the city in February 2012 that killed 74 people, mostly fans of a rival Cairo soccer club, Al-Ahly. Many in the city saw the verdicts as politicized.

Violent protests over the verdicts killed more than 40 people, mostly at the hands of police.

Clashes erupted again on Sunday after word emerged that the defendants in the court case were removed from a city prison, ahead of a Saturday court session, in which the death sentences are to be confirmed, and new verdicts in the soccer case to be announced, including against police officers.

Many fear that violence could on Saturday after the verdict.

Cairo has already been struck by a wave of protests by soccer fans of Al-Ahly club directed at the police also ahead of the verdict, where they held a rally outside a main security headquarters and set a security vehicle on fire. Hundreds of others clashed for a fourth straight day with police near the U.S. Embassy and other diplomatic missions near Tahrir Square.

___

Michael reported from Port Said, Egypt.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-03-06-Egypt/id-260a079c0ffd4370b30f661679eabd65

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