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Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/cnbc/52574507/
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Thursday, July 25, 2013
Monday, July 22, 2013
Chinese ecstasy bust is a Pasco family affair
By Ray Reyes | Tribune Staff
Published: July 20, 2013 TAMPA - Like father, like son, like grandson.
Published: July 20, 2013 TAMPA - Like father, like son, like grandson.
Three generations of a Pasco County family were arrested this week, accused of working together to buy drugs from China and sell them in the United States.
Daniel Brian Springer, son Daniel Brian Springer II and grandson Daniel Brian Springer III all face a charge of conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute narcotics, according to a complaint filed Thursday in federal court.
Investigators said the Springers bought 2 pounds of the drug MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy, from Nanjing, China.
The drug was delivered to the Pasco County home of the eldest Springer last month by an undercover agent for the U.S. Postal Service, investigators said.
Springer, 63, told the agent it was the second package of drugs delivered to his address, the complaint states. Springer II, 44, and Springer III, 23, met the elder Springer later that day to pick up the package. According to court documents, the youngest Springer said he ordered the drugs online.
The grandfather told investigators he thought the package contained marijuana, and Springer II said he thought it was bath salts, the complaint states.
Agents tested the crystal-like substance and confirmed it was MDMA.
Springer III told investigators he was going to keep a portion of the drug for himself and the rest would be used to "make some money," court documents state.
Pasco County sheriff's deputies arrested the Springers on Wednesday in Lutz; U.S. marshals took them into federal custody Thursday.
rreyes@tampatrib.com
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Twitter: @TBORay
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Saturday, July 20, 2013
Longview officials taking sanitation proposal debate to Facebook
POSTED: Thursday, July 18, 2013 - 12:00pm
UPDATED: Thursday, July 18, 2013 - 12:14pm
Longview, TX ? The city of Longview will be talking trash with residents today.
The city?s Facebook page will be set up to take comments and have staff members answer questions about proposed changes to the sanitation service from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
City spokesman Shawn Hara said the purpose of the Facebook exchange is to expand the discussion about the the proposed sanitation plan beyond public hearings.
?The purpose of the chat will be to provide an additional opportunity to answer questions about the simplified collection proposal, perhaps in a format that is more convenient for residents than coming to City Hall,? he said.
The city has held two informational meetings at City Hall, and another is scheduled 5:30 p.m. July 25.
Facebook questions will be answered by city staff members, including Hara, Sanitation Manager Dwayne Archer and Re-cycling Coordinator David Simmons.
?
Read more from the Longview News-Journal.
Source: http://www.ketknbc.com/news/longview-officials-taking-sanitation-proposal-deba-0
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Friday, July 19, 2013
Health News Headlines - Yahoo! News
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Pilots challenged by monitoring automated systems
In this Saturday, July 6, 2013 aerial photo, firefighters, lower center, stand by a tarpaulin sheet covering the body of a Chinese teen struck by a fire truck during the emergency response to the crash of Asiana Flight 214 at the San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco. The girl was hit by a fire truck while covered with firefighting foam, authorities said Friday, July 12, revealing a startling detail that suggested she could have survived the crash only to die in its chaotic aftermath. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
In this Saturday, July 6, 2013 aerial photo, firefighters, lower center, stand by a tarpaulin sheet covering the body of a Chinese teen struck by a fire truck during the emergency response to the crash of Asiana Flight 214 at the San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco. The girl was hit by a fire truck while covered with firefighting foam, authorities said Friday, July 12, revealing a startling detail that suggested she could have survived the crash only to die in its chaotic aftermath. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Airline pilots spend nearly all their time monitoring automated cockpit systems rather than "hand-flying" planes, but their brains aren't wired to continually pay close attention to instruments that rarely fail or show discrepancies.
As a result, pilots may see but not register signs of trouble, a problem that is showing up repeatedly in accidents and may have been a factor in the recent crash landing of a South Korean airliner in San Francisco, industry and government experts say.
Teaching pilots how to effectively monitor instruments has become as important as teaching them basic "stick-and-rudder" flying skills, a panel of experts told an annual safety conference of the Air Line Pilots Association, the world's largest pilots union, on Wednesday.
"The human brain just isn't very well designed to monitor for an event that very rarely happens," said Key Dismukes, a former top NASA human factors scientist.
While people "do very well" at actively controlling a plane, "we're not well designed to monitor for a little alphanumeric (a combination of alphabet letters and numbers) on the panel even if that alphanumeric tells us something important," he said. "We can't just sit there and stare at the instruments."
The "sheer volume of monitoring required even on the most routine flights and the diversity" of systems that must be monitored has increased, he said.
Concern about the problem is great enough that government, union and industry safety officials formed a working group last fall to come up with a blueprint for teaching pilots techniques for how to overcome the brain's natural tendency to sometimes see but disregard important information. For example, if pilots see airspeed indicators showing appropriate speeds landing after landing, their brains may filter out an unexpected low or high speed, they said.
"The human brain filters out information it considers unchanging," said Helena Reidemar, an airline pilot and the pilots union's director of human factors.
Asiana Flight 214 crashed short of a runway at San Francisco International Airport on July 6 after a nearly 11-hour flight from Seoul, South Korea. Of the 307 people on board, three have died and dozens of others were injured. One of the issues that have emerged in the National Transportation Safety Board's investigation of the accident is whether the pilots, who were supposed to be watching airspeed indicators, were aware the plane was traveling at speeds so dangerously slow that it was at risk of losing lift and stalling.
The flight's pilots set a target airspeed of 137 knots for crossing the runway's threshold. The plane reached speeds as low as 103 knots just before its landing gear and then its tail collided with a rocky seawall at the end of the runway, shearing off the tail, dumping three flight attendants onto the tarmac and sending the rest of the plane spinning and sliding.
Dismukes cautioned that it's too soon to reach conclusions about whether the three Asiana pilots who were in the Boeing 777's highly-automated cockpit were closely monitoring the plane's airspeed, "but what was going on there in terms of monitoring systems obviously is going to be a crucial issue."
Robert Sumwalt, an NTSB board member, said: "The question is, did the pilots recognize they were slow? And if not, why not?"
The board's investigation hasn't turned up any mechanical or computer problems with the plane, NTSB chairman Deborah Hersman said at briefing last week.
The board has repeatedly investigated accidents in which pilots' failure to closely monitor key systems contributed to the crash, Sumwalt said.
In 2007, after an investigation of a fatal business jet accident in Pueblo, Colo., the board recommended that the Federal Aviation Administration require that pilot training programs be modified to contain segments that teach and emphasize monitoring skills and how to manage multiple tasks, Sumwalt said. Since then, the board has twice repeated the recommendation in response to other accidents, he said.
The FAA, however, hasn't required airlines to change their training programs, Sumwalt said. Instead, the agency suggested airlines revise their procedures to "promote effective monitoring" if pilots are found to be inconsistent in their monitoring techniques, he said.
The board doesn't believe the advice goes far enough, and has categorized FAA's response as "unsatisfactory," Sumwalt said.
One of the accidents that led NTSB to renew its recommendation was the February 2009 crash of a regional airliner near Buffalo, N.Y. In that case, the two Colgan Air pilots weren't closely monitoring the Bombardier Q-400's airspeed and so failed to notice that the plane's speed had rapidly dropped about 50 knots, Sumwalt said. The startled captain responded incorrectly to an automated warning of an impending stall, sending the plane plunging into a house below. Fifty people, including a man on the ground, were killed.
"This is an area that is really ripe for improving safety," he said. "It's time for a paradigm shift. ... It used to be pilots were judged on their stick-and-rudder skills. They also should have to have good monitoring skills."
Some airlines are incorporating those techniques for improving monitoring skills in their training, experts said.
"We understand there is a threat. We understand there is a need to do things better," said Christopher Reed, a JetBlue Airways captain and pilot training manager who was a member of the panel.
JetBlue is trying to give pilots more time flying planes without relying on automated systems in part "because the mental habit patterns you are following by practicing those skills can help you be a better monitor," he said.
Several panel members emphasized the importance of "actively monitoring" versus "passively monitoring" cockpit systems. Pilots who are flying without automated systems are mentally engaged in flying, and they need to bring that same awareness to monitoring, experts said.
___
Follow Joan Lowy on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/AP_Joan_Lowy
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Thursday, July 18, 2013
Watch Conor McGregor giggle his way through a ride in Dana White?s Ferrari
Conor McGregor knocked out Marcus Brimage in his UFC debut. For his next trick, the Irish fighter rode around with UFC president Dana White in his Ferrari. Since they're driving on the Strip in Las Vegas, it's a bit too crowded for White to get the car going too fast, but McGregor's giggles from being in the car are too fantastic to miss. According to a tweet by White, they were celebrating McGregor's birthday.
It's not all fun and games for McGregor right now. He is fighting Max Holloway at the first UFC on Fox Sports 1 show.
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Wednesday, July 17, 2013
NASA terminates spacewalk following leak into astronaut's helmet
NASA aborted the walk about an hour into what was supposed to be a six-hour mission outside the International Space Station.
In this image from a NASA video, astronauts discuss the aborted spacewalk aboard the International Space Station on Tuesday. A dangerous water leak in the helmet of Luca Parmitano (bottom center, facing the camera, in a white suit) drenched his eyes, nose and mouth, preventing him from hearing or speaking as what should have been a routine spacewalk came to an abrupt end.
NASA/AP
EnlargeA spacewalk outside the International Space Station was canceled on Tuesday, after more than a quart of ?funny-tasting? water leaked into an astronaut?s helmet.?
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The cause of the dangerous leak is still under investigation, NASA officials said at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.
The spacewalk began ahead of schedule at 7:57 EDT Tuesday morning and began to go awry when Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano reported that his carbon dioxide sensor was malfunctioning. He then reported a water bubble burgeoning behind his head. His teammate, U.S. astronaut Chris Cassidy, assessed the situation and told mission control that between 1 and 1? liters of water had begun to accumulate.
Since water in space forms globs, Parmitano could not hear, speak, or see as the water seeped into his helmet, NASA officials said.
NASA aborted the walk an hour and 32 minutes into the mission, and the pair re-boarded the ISS at 9:29 a.m. The trip outside had been scheduled to last 6 hours and 15 minutes.
?We have not seen a problem like this before,? said Karina Eversley, a NASA spacewalk officer, at the conference, adding that drowning or choking was a real possibility had the mission not been quickly terminated. ?This was a very serious issue.?
She also said that Parmitano is in good condition: ?Luca is doing great. He?s smiling and happy.?
The scheduled spacewalk was the second of two for the astronaut pair. They spent 6 hours and 7 minutes outside last week to make repairs on the station and to prepare it to dock with a Russian module. The astronauts had planned to finish the remaining work on today?s walk.?
Parmitano was wearing the same spacesuit Tuesday that he wore during the previous walk, which went as planned.
NASA officials said that they had ruled out the 32-ounce drinking water bag as the source of the leak, but said that they are still investigating other causes. Another possible source is the spacesuit?s cooling system, which holds a gallon of water. To prevent bacteria buildup, that water is tinged with iodine, which could explain the ?funny? water taste that Parmitano reported, NASA officials said.
The carbon dioxide sensor?s malfunction is likely related to the water leakage, they added.
Spacewalks, which are a difficult and high-risk process, have at times been troubled. In 2004, a walk outside the ISS was aborted after 14 minutes, when an oxygen tank on an astronaut?s Russian-made spacesuit failed. Since the spacesuit had a backup air supply, the astronaut, NASA?s Mike Fincke, was not in danger.
Still, most spacewalks are uneventful. The aborted walk today was the 171st walk performed to maintain the ISS, which has been occupied for almost 13 years.?
NASA officials said that the abbreviated mission would still count for the two astronauts as a spacewalk. That makes Tuesday?s walk Parmitano?s second spacewalk. Last week, he wore a red, white, and green flag affixed to his spacesuit when he became the first Italian astronaut ever to make a spacewalk. This was Cassidy?s sixth spacewalk.
?I will soon depend on this cumbersome suit to survive outside the Station,? wrote Parmitano on his blog, before his first walk.
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Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Jewish-israel blog carnival aka havel ha - July 15th, 2013
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Source: http://blogcarnival.com/bc/eprof_51590.html
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Friday, July 12, 2013
Nokia officially announces the Lumia 1020: 41MP camera, OIS, six lenses
We can't say we were really taken aback with shock at the news, but Nokia has officially unveiled its latest imaging flagship, the Lumia 1020. The 41MP Windows Phone, which has been anticipated by many enthusiasts since the 808 PureView was introduced, is looked at Nokia as "the next chapter in smartphone photography." With the phone only offered in yellow, black and white hues, it's not the most colorful device in the Finnish company's repertoire, but Elop's gang is hopeful that it can make up for the lack of color with a stellar imaging experience: in addition to the high megapixel count, the 1020 will feature OIS, BSI, lossless zoom, six Carl Zeiss lenses, 1080p video capture, xenon flash for stills and LED flash for video.
While the resolution is top-notch -- you'll be able to take 34 and 38MP pictures, depending on your desired aspect ratio -- the 1020 will also simultaneously take 5MP oversampled shots that are much more friendly for Facebook and SkyDrive sharing (not to mention capped data plans). The phone also has ball bearings and tiny magnetic motors built-in to aid in optical image stabilization. If you're worried about being able to change settings or do other imaging adjustments, the 1020 offers a Pro Camera lens app that includes white balance, ISO, exposure and others. Still not enough? Nokia's also adding an optional camera grip which adds external battery and a tripod mount.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Nokia
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/uoHSHw5tKM4/
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Sunday, July 7, 2013
Scientists decipher cellular 'roadmap' of disease-related proteins
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Researchers are helping demystify an important class of proteins associated with disease, a discovery that could lead to better treatments for cancer, cystic fibrosis and many other conditions.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/jsHpnA4rNJQ/130707162956.htm
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Tuesday, July 2, 2013
What's a royal baby worth? To the British economy, $376 million.
Retailers in Britain are expecting sales to spike when the new heir to the throne is born this month.
A worker at the Mask-arade mask company loads boxes of Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, masks at the company works in Southam, England, last month. Retailers expect to sell $376 billion in food, drink, and merchandise related to the arrival of the newest member of the British royal family later this month.
Martin Cleaver/AP
EnlargeRaj Solomon, proprietor of Piccadilly Cards, a thin sliver of a store flogging souvenirs opposite the Royal Academy of Arts in central London, is expecting a lucrative summer.
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During the Jubilee celebrations last year he could barely keep pace with the demand for Queen Elizabeth II key rings and tea towels. Next month, with the expected birth of Britain?s heir to the throne, it will be coats of arms pacifiers and ?I love my Uncle Harry? bibs. ?Everyone?s waiting for that baby,? says Mr. Solomon happily.
The firstborn of Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge is due in July. During that month and until the end of August, British retail sales will get a ?243 million ($376 million) boost, predicts the Centre for Retail Research (CRR). Its report, published last month estimated that Brits will spend an extra ?62 million ($94 million) on alcohol and ?80 million ($121 million) on souvenirs and toys in two months.
Even weeks before the baby?s due date, barely an opportunity has been missed to cash in on his or her imminence.
Butter London, a high-end cosmetics brand, has put out a $20 nail varnish called Pitter Patter. Across the country, hotels and restaurants are offering Royal Baby showers designed to make pregnant women feel like duchesses. The shop at Highgrove, Prince Charles?s home, is selling handmade leather baby shoes at $34 a pair.
?We didn?t experience such excitement when William was born in 1982 and certainly not when Prince Charles was born in 1948,? says Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine. ?I think it?s the great immediacy it all has now, thanks to the Internet.??
Indeed Joshua Barnfield, director of CRR, says he estimates Brits ?will spend three or four times more than at the births of Prince William and Harry.?
Patriotism, consumerism
The Internet, with its speedy dissemination of information and selling power is one reason for the big spending. Another is a resurgence of interest in the royal family following the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton in 2011. Their low-level glamor and evident happiness has made them ? along with Prince Harry, who has shown a surprising flair for international diplomacy ? the most popular royals in years.
The wedding, and the following summer?s celebrations for Elizabeth?s 60 years on the throne, showed off the spectacular pomp at which Britain still excels.
Months later the 2012 Summer Olympics, followed by the most watched Paralympics in history, heightened the patriotic mood. At a time when post-empire Britain has little to distinguish it from other countries, patriotism and support for the royal family are easily conflated in the popular imagination.
But changing behavior of consumers has also played its part.
?We do a lot of research into consumer behavior and there is an increasing tendency to celebrate things these days,? says Mr. Barnfield. ?If someone had a party to mark a royal baby?s birth in the '70s or '80s people would say, ?Er, why are you doing that???
Pauline Maclaren, professor of marketing and consumer research at Royal Holloway College at the University of London, is writing a book on consumers and the branding of the royal family which will be published by California University Press next year.
She says while serious collectors of memorabilia are probably royalists, ?a lot of people are just buying these things for fun. It?s seen as part of being British rather than any more serious support of the monarchy.?
Cashing in?
One company likely to do well out of the birth is Party Pieces, owned by Kate?s parents, Carole and Michael Middleton, which has revamped its website, adding a ?baby arrival? range with blue and pink balloons and rattles.
This has prompted many newspaper headlines suggesting the Middletons are exploiting their grandchild?s bloodline.
But with both Highgrove and the Royal Collection???which pumps profits into the upkeep of the royal palaces and is offering a $20 guardsman onesie ? also selling baby paraphernalia, it would be unfair to lay all the blame for commercializing the birth at the doors of the Middletons.
"The Royal Collection does things in a rather more subtle style than some sellers,? says Mr. Little of Majesty magazine. ?It will, I am sure, produce commemorative china, but using coats of arms rather than the faces of William and Kate.?
But any suggestion that the royal family feels the Middleton family is overstepping the mark he attributes to ?media mischief. There will always be people who wish to remind us of Kate?s middle-class background.?
Partying and commemorative china aside, the royal birth is likely to impact sales in other sectors. Just as dresses, especially maternity dresses, have sold out as Kate Middleton has been snapped wearing them, so sales of whatever buggy the third in line to the throne goes out in are expected to soar.
The betting business, which tends to do well at big national events, has a protracted selling window with a royal birth, thanks to bets placed on names. Alexandra and George are currently in the lead, while bets are also being placed on the baby?s hair color (brown, unsurprisingly, is ahead).
'Free publicity for Britain'
Tourism, too, will get a big boost from overseas visitors curious about the kinds of people who inhabit castles. ?The royal family generates free worldwide publicity for Britain ? you can?t put a value on that,? says Patricia Yates, director of Strategy at VisitBritain, the tourism agency.
Then there is the more general boost that the birth is likely to give the economy, boosting the confidence of consumers and investors.
A government study published this month suggested last summer delivered ?2.5 billion ($3.9 billion) in foreign direct investment resulting from business events launched during the Olympics.
?The economy is already improving,? says Barnfield. "The birth will be another uptick in the right direction."
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New roaming caps introduced into European Union member countries, data prices the big winner
Good news this morning for travellers within the EU; new caps have been introduced on how much mobile carriers can charge for roaming within member countries. Roaming charges have been a topic of much debate in recent years, especially with the rise of the smartphone, but the regulators have stepped in to control what users have to pay. It's not the first time caps have been introduced, but this is what things look like as of now:
- Price cap from data reduced from 70 cents per MB to 45 cents
- Making a call reduced from 29 cents to 24 cents
- Receiving a call reduced from 8 cents to 7 cents
- Sending an SMS reduced from 9 cents to 8 cents
The most significant drop is seen in the cost of data, which is good news since data roaming is also the largest cause of massive bills from foreign travel. Eventually, roaming charges are expected to be abolished completely within the EU, but for now this is a positive step in the right direction. Travellers; good news? Or not quite enough for you yet?
via Android Central
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Monday, July 1, 2013
Wii U, Xbox One: Nintendo, Microsoft Do Not Own Sites Named Like Consoles
What do Microsoft and Nintendo have in common? Neither owns the site sharing the name of their latest console!
The websites xboxone.com and wiiu.com are not owned by the creators of the Xbox One and Wii U. Both Microsoft and Nintendo have been fighting for the domains sharing names with their consoles, with varying degrees of success, or lack thereof.
Nintendo lost an appeal for ownership of wiiu.com, a site that apparently existed before even the Wii did in 2004. They lost the appeal because the domain is sitting on a redirect site with various links, some which point to Wii U related pages, and some which don?t. Wiiu.com was up for auction before Nintendo filed their complaint in February, and may result in the console company needing to pay a hefty price to secure it.
Similarly, xboxone.com is also owned by a cybersquatter who registered the domain back in 2011. The same guy in the UK owns the rights to xboxone.net. This could mean an Xbox fan got really lucky predicting the name of the console two years before the rumors could even solidify, or he has plans for it. Either way, Microsoft plans to fight for the rights to both domains.
Microsoft has had the additional headache of denying they owned it if anyone happened to come along claiming too far in advance to know what their next console would be called. On the bright side, Microsoft seems to be doing better than Nintendo in winning the battle for their console?s domain.
Could it be that Microsoft simply has more money to throw into legal hassles such as this, while Nintendo is struggling to stay afloat with disappointing console sales?
Fusible is one of those sites that ?sniffs out? rumors about new media such as consoles and movies by scanning the registered domains for clues, though how these sites slipped through the cracks remains a mystery. Otherwise the Wii U and the Xbox One console names would have been leaked possibly before the consoles were even designed.
What do you think about Nintendo and Microsoft not owning the sites the Wii U and Xbox One appear to be named after?
Comments
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Ploom modelTwo E-Cig Review: Welcome to Flavor Country
No one's going to argue that e-cigarettes aren't a marked improvement over their analog predecessors, but there's got to be a better way to get your fix than by inhaling aerosolized, nicotine-infused polypropylene glycol. The Ploom 2 is that better way.
What Is It?
The Ploom 2 is an e-cigarette, from the makers of the awesomesauce Pax
Who's It For?
People looking for a more traditional smoking experience from their e-cig?that is, actually taking a break and going outside on their smoke break as opposed to chain-puffing it indoors.
Design
And you thought the Pax was sleex. The Ploom modelTwo looks almost alien. Its glossy plastic exterior has just the one power button, which is ringed by an LED status light (it stops flashing when it's ready to use). The Li-ion battery sits below the heating element, farthest from the screw-off mouthpiece.
Using It
The Ploom modelTwo employs tiny button-shaped tobacco pods. Give the mouthpiece a quarter turn to remove it, place the pod in the heating chamber, reinstall the mouthpiece, and turn the Ploom modelTwo on. It takes about 20-30 seconds to heat up. Each tobacco pod is designed to be smoked, all at once, over a five to ten minute period, rather than being steadily puffed on over an extended period of time. You know, like a real cigarette.
The Best Part
The vapor is great, thick and milky, almost like actual smoke and a hell of a lot better than the weak contrails you get from other e-cigarettes. The tobacco pods come in a variety of flavors, from straight tobacco to chocolate and mint. I prefer unflavored myself, just as a matter of course, but the cinnamon-flavored Rocket variety and the Golds (below) were surprisingly good too.
Tragic Flaw
There's no real easy way to hold the Ploom modelTwo in your mouth (unless you gnash on the mouthpiece with your incisors) so this thing is always in your hand. Plus the heating element is just beyond the mouthpiece and can get lip-scorching hot.
This Is Weird...
I find myself actually smoking less when using the modelTwo versus the V2 I used to use. I don't just mindlessly puff away at my desk like a schmuck but actually enjoy the smoke instead of just getting the nic fix.
Test Notes
- The unit recharges on a USB-powered vertical stand.
- You can smoke about five pods per charge, recharging takes less than an hour
- Pod flavors: Gold - hints of honey and cognac, Rocket - hot cinnamon, Orchard - peach, Kick-Ass Mint - peppermint, Jaybird - smooth tobacco, Potrero - intense tobacco
Should I Buy It?
Yes. It's the best smoke I've had outside of actually smoking.
Ploom modelTwo Specs
- Dimensions: 5-inches L x 1-inch D
- Weight: a couple of ounces
- Battery: Lithium-ion
- Price: $40 at Ploom
Source: http://gizmodo.com/ploom-modeltwo-e-cig-review-welcome-to-flavor-country-586563052
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A look at Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood
Soon after the February 2011 fall of Hosni Mubarak, the Muslim Brotherhood opened its first public headquarters in a luxury villa in Cairo, with its symbol, two golden swords under the Quran with the slogan "Prepare," displayed on giant sign on the front. It was a landmark moment: After decades as a banned organization, the Muslim fundamentalist group was declaring it was now legal, public and a powerhouse in the new Egypt. Symbolically, the headquarters was located on a plateau where many of the group's early, executed leaders were buried decades ago.
Elections made it the strongest party in parliament and elevated one of its own, Mohammed Morsi, as the country's first democratically chosen president. On Monday, that headquarters was overrun, burned and ransacked by protesters who demanded Morsi's ouster.
A look at the Brotherhood:
STRUCTURE
The Brotherhood was founded in 1928, advocating rule by Shariah, or Islamic law, and grew into Egypt's most organized, disciplined and widespread political group, with millions of members nationwide and branches across the Islamic world.
At the top is the "general guide," currently Mohammed Badie. The group's executive leadership body is the Guidance Council, made up of 16-19 members. The general guide and the guidance council are chosen by the Shoura Council, the group's version of a legislature made up of 75-90 members chosen by regional councils nationwide.
The man believed to be the most powerful member is Badie's deputy, Khairat el-Shater, a wealthy businessman who was initially the Brotherhood's candidate for president until he was disqualified because of a previous prison term. Morsi ran in his place.
The Brotherhood's members swear an oath to "listen and obey" the group's leadership and are organized into a tight hierarchy. At the base is the "usra" or "family," basically a study group small enough that its members can meet regularly, build personal bonds, and discuss the group's teachings on Islam. Each of the thousands of "families" nationwide reports up a pyramid of authority and gets instructions from above.
Families in the blood-relative sense of the word also play a major role. Brotherhood members tend to marry within the organization, socialize together in its network of mosques, clubs and schools, and raise their children in the group. Its members include a wide range of professionals ? doctors, engineers, teachers and, importantly, very successful businessmen whose profits along with required dues help fund the group.
The group also runs extensive charities, providing free or cheap medical care, food and other services to the poor.
That structure helped the group survive and even spread during its years of arrests and crackdowns, particularly under Mubarak. It also made it a powerful force in elections, able to bring out many highly organized volunteers to campaign for Brotherhood candidates.
___
"THE BANNED ORGANIZATION"
In its early decades, the Brotherhood was involved in assassinations of Egypt's British colonial rulers and Egyptian officials. In 1954, President Gamal Abdel-Nasser banned the Brotherhood after blaming it for a failed assassination attempt against him. Leaders were executed and thousands of its members imprisoned, often subjected to torture.
In the next nearly 60 years, however, it grew, sometimes underground, sometimes semi-overt. It would test the limits of what the regimes would allow or would strike tacit deals with authorities, sometimes facing heavy crackdowns if it went too far.
Abdel-Nasser's successor, Anwar Sadat, initially gave it some room to maneuver, and the group formally renounced the use of violence in 1973. The Brotherhood and other Islamist movements established strong networks in the universities, although Sadat arrested many when student activists began to denounce his rule. They were later freed by Mubarak, who took power after Sadat's 1981 assassination.
Under Mubarak, the group made forays into parliamentary elections, although the regime's rigid control and vote-rigging ensured opposition victories were minimal. It was allowed to run candidates under recognized opposition political parties in the mid- 1980s. In the early 1990s, it performed strongly in union elections, winning control of the leadership of several. Mubarak lashed back, suspending union leaderships and arresting Brotherhood members.
In the 2000s, the group pushed back into politics, running candidates as independents in parliamentary elections. Moderates in the group argued that the Brotherhood accepted the principles of democracy, and that the only way Egypt could be truly democratic was if the group was legal and allowed to compete freely. Its biggest victory came in 2005, when its candidates won a fifth of parliament's seats, despite clashes when Mubarak's security forces tried to block opposition voters.
The stunning showing prompted a new backlash. Mubarak's regime accused the group of plotting violence and money-laundering, jailing some of its top leaders, including al-Shater. Mubarak also rolled back promised political reforms, passing constitutional amendments that solidified his party's grip on elections.
When mainly leftist and secular youth called for massive protests against Mubarak on Jan. 25, 2011, the Brotherhood's leadership declined to join. However, young members did, and after a few days the leadership backed the protests. Still, even during the height of the 18-day uprising, Brotherhood officials met with Mubarak's intelligence chief, raising accusations they were willing to strike a deal if the ban on the group was lifted.
Soon after Mubarak fell on Feb. 11, 2011, the military rulers who took power lifted the ban. It quickly formed its first political party, the Freedom and Justice Party, initially led by Morsi.
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IDEOLOGY
The organization calls for rule by God's law in Egypt, although it is often vague. Members say the group tolerates a range of opinion, but all on the conservative end of the scale.
Two figures hold a powerful sway over the Brotherhood's thought: Hassan al-Banna and Sayed Outb.
Al-Banna, a former teacher, founded the Brotherhood to resist both Britain's colonial rule and secularism in Egyptian society. Deeply conservative, he was a strong organizer and emphasized the idea that preaching and activism will spread the word of Islam. He was assassinated in 1949.
Qutb, a secular writer-turned-Islamist, rose in the Brotherhood in the 1950s and 1960s. He advocated a hard-line view that Islam must transform society and that a society that did not follow its precepts was in the "Jahiliya," or pre-Islamic pagan age. His ideology had a strong influence on modern-day jihadist groups. He was executed by Abdel-Nasser's regime in 1966.
The Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party's platform calls for Egypt to be a "civil, democratic state with an Islamic basis," saying it accepts the precepts of liberal democracy, such as free elections, the transfer of power and the will of elected bodies in establishing law. But the group, along with other Islamists, put clauses into the post-Mubarak constitution strengthening requirements that laws passed by parliament must not contradict Shariah.
At the same time, many in the top leadership are seen as religious hard-liners, and the ultraconservative Salafi ideology has made strong inroads into the group recently.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/look-egypts-muslim-brotherhood-210526612.html
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