Early results signal decisive victory for Cypriot conservative

NICOSIA (Reuters) - Cypriot conservative leader Nicos Anastasiades has sealed a convincing victory in Sunday's presidential run-off vote, according to early results, in a boost for investor hopes of a swift financial rescue for the near-bankrupt nation.

Anastasiades, who favors hammering out a quick deal with foreign lenders, took 58 percent of the vote after 30 percent of the vote was counted, well ahead of Communist-backed rival Stavros Malas, who has attacked the austerity terms accompanying a rescue.

Exit polls had also showed the 66-year-old lawyer scoring a decisive win. He consistently held an at least 15-point lead as results trickled in, making it highly unlikely the 45-year-old geneticist Malas would be able to catch up.

Jubilant supporters waved Greek and Cypriot flags and honked car horns outside Anastasiades's campaign headquarters in Nicosia as the results poured in.

Financial markets are hoping for an Anastasiades victory to speed up a joint rescue by the European Union and International Monetary Fund before the island runs out of cash and derails fragile confidence returning to the euro zone.

Anastasiades will take the reins of a Mediterranean nation ravaged by its worst economic crisis in four decades, with unemployment at a record high of 15 percent. Pay cuts and tax hikes ahead of a bailout have further soured the national mood.

"We have to choose between the lesser of two evils," said Georgia Xenophondos, a 23-year-old receptionist who voted for a third contender in the first round and voted for Anastasiades this time, but is wary of backing more austerity.

"We are already damaged by it, and I don't know if we can take anymore," she said. "We've hit poverty, unemployment and lost respect from the EU - things we didn't see five years ago."

About half a million Cypriots were eligible to vote, but many abstained or cast blank votes in protest.

Talks to rescue Nicosia have dragged on eight months since it first sought help, after a Greek sovereign debt restructuring saddled its banks with losses. It is expected to need up to 17 billion euros in aid - about the size of its entire economy.

Virtually all rescue options - from a bailout loan to a debt writedown or slapping losses on bank depositors - are proving unfeasible because they push Cypriot debt up to unmanageable levels or risk hurting investor sentiment elsewhere in the bloc.

German misgivings about the nation's commitment to fighting money-laundering and strong financial ties with Russia have further complicated the negotiations.

European officials want a bailout agreed by the end of March, ensuring no honeymoon period for the new president, who will be sworn in on February 28 and assume power on March 1.

Longstanding anger over the island's 40-year-old division into the Greek-speaking south and Turkish north has been relegated to a distant second behind the country's financial quagmire as an election issue this year.

(Writing by Deepa Babington; Editing by Will Waterman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cyprus-votes-president-clock-ticks-bailout-deal-000647202.html

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Man charged with slapping toddler now out of - Idaho Statesman

MINNEAPOLIS ? A man charged with slapping a toddler on a Minneapolis-to-Atlanta flight is out of a job, his former employer said Sunday.

Joe Rickey Hundley, 60, of Hayden, Idaho, is no longer an employee of AGC Aerospace and Defense, Composites Group, Daniel Keeney of DPK Public Relations confirmed Sunday night.

Al Haase, president and CEO of AGC, issued a statement early Sunday that, while not referring to Hundley by name, called reports of behavior by one of its executives on recent personal travel "offensive and disturbing" and said he "is no longer employed with the company." Keeney would not say whether Hundley was fired or resigned. Hundley was president of AGC's Unitech Composites and Structures unit.

Hundley was charged last week in federal court in Atlanta with simple assault for allegedly slapping the 2-year-old boy during the Feb. 8 flight. His attorney, Marcia Shein, of Decatur, Ga., said Saturday that Hundley will plead not guilty. The charge carries a maximum penalty of a year in jail.

Shein did not immediately returned messages seeking comment left Sunday evening by The Associated Press. Hundley does not have a listed phone number.

The boy's mother, Jessica Bennett, 33, told the FBI their flight was on final descent into Atlanta when her 19-month-old son started to cry due to the altitude change. Hundley "told her to shut that (N-word) baby up," FBI special agent Daron Cheney said in a sworn statement. She said Hundley then slapped him in the face, scratching the boy below his right eye and causing him to scream even louder.

Bennett told Twin Cities television stations on Saturday that the incident has caused her family a great deal of trauma and that her son, Jonah, had been outgoing but had turned apprehensive of strangers.

Hundley became increasingly obnoxious and appeared intoxicated during the flight and complained that her son was too big to sit on her lap, she said.

"He reeked of alcohol," Bennett told KARE-TV. "He was belligerent, and I was uncomfortable."

Bennett said she was shocked by the racial slur she says Hundley used when Jonah started crying.

"And I said, 'What did you say?' because I couldn't believe that he would say that," she told WCCO-TV. "He fell onto my face and his mouth was in my ear and he said it again but even more hateful. And he's on my face, so I pushed him away."

Bennett and her husband are white, while Jonah, whom they adopted, is black.

"We wish to emphasize that the behavior that has been described is contradictory to our values, embarrassing and does not in any way reflect the patriotic character of the men and women of diverse backgrounds who work tirelessly in our business," Haase said in his statement.

Source: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2013/02/17/2456577/man-charged-with-slapping-toddler.html

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The Walking Dead, Season 3

Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon.

Photo by Gene Page/AMC

In?Slate's?The?Walking Dead?TV Club, Chris Kirk will IM each week with a different fan of?The Walking Dead. This week, he discusses ?Home? with Forbes video game and television writer?Erik Kain.

Chris: "Home" opens with Rick Grimes, who needs some serious supervision, wandering outside the prison to chase visions of Lori. Whatever you feel about this plotline, at least the show is sticking to it; For him to suddenly get better after a few phone calls would have been a little too neat.

Erik: Right, they need to resolve it properly at this point. I think I would find Rick's character more tolerable this season if there were other characters that filled the void. The real problem the show has been having lately is too much screen time for the worst characters and too little for the best. Andrea as a primary character this season still baffles me, and I'm increasingly confused with each passing episode.

Chris: Speaking of Andrea, back in Woodbury a seemingly remorseful Governor is commending Andrea for last week's pep talk and seems to abdicate to her. He explains that he really believed that if he kept his undead daughter alive long enough Milton would find a way to bring her back.

Erik:?He knows just as well as we do that Andrea is a sucker. Besides, anyone who would say that speech was "good" we know is a liar. At this point, the hardest thing about watching Andrea is that she's left the realm of plausibility almost entirely. People have flaws and one of those flaws is being a poor judge of character, but at this point it's just too much.

Chris: There's another apparent change of leadership at the prison. Since Daryl has left the group and while Rick "wanders crazy town," Glenn has become head honcho, for some reason. His sudden realization that nobody?s on watch (not to mention nobody is watching Rick) is just one indication that he?s not very good at it. Why is he leader and not the wiser Hershel? Or even the more level-headed Carol?

Erik: Glenn?s assertion of a leadership role is mostly due to his need for revenge, not a desire to actually lead. Hershel, I think, is more interested in playing the role of the wise old adviser, which makes sense, but the problem right now is that nobody ever listens to him.

Chris:?I'm having trouble following Glenn?s dispute with Maggie. I understand that she feels guilty for revealing the group's location, but what precisely is she mad at Glenn about?

Erik: I get the impression that she feels like he blames her. It's really poorly communicated in the show, and makes almost no sense. I know that victims of sexual assault can have a hard time in their relationships, but since they both underwent a traumatizing event together and, well, they're living in a zombie apocalypse, it seems like they'd seek out one another even more rather than push one another away.

Chris: Meryl and Daryl are dealing with interpersonal issues of their own. While roaming through the forest, an argument between the two reveal that they were planning to rob the Atlanta survivors back in Season 1. In anger, Merle rips Daryl's shirt, revealing scars on his back. Daryl accuses him of abandoning him to their abusive father and announces he's going back to the prison. Merle looks teary-eyed for a brief moment, then reluctantly follows.?In the whole history of this show, we've never really seen Daryl and Merle alone together, except in Daryl's hallucinations.

Erik: The conflict between the Dixon brothers was terrific, and one of the better moments in the season so far. The revelations about their abusive father and their planned robbery are nice additional backstory. Merle?s so unlikable, and he's done such awful things, one wonders if he's beyond redemption or will even have the chance.

Chris:?But there's more room for Merle in the group now! Axel is flirting with Carol when BAM! Shot down by the Governor.

Erik: I thought killing off Axel was lame. It's?Lost?syndrome?add new characters just to have them killed. It's lazy writing, and it doesn't carry really any emotional impact for viewers. Sure, they've killed off regulars also, but why bother introducing new cast if they're just going to kill them off?

Chris:?Still, it was a shocking way to start off a whirlwind of final act. Everybody is pinned down by gunfire. Somebody drives a van through the gates and zombies come pouring out of it. Glenn returns just in time to save Hershel, and Merle and Glenn arrive just in time to save Rick. The episode ends with zombies pouring into the prison.

Erik:?I loved the final act as a whole. I thought Glenn's re-entrance and the Dixon boys arrival worked nicely (even if it was a little?too?nicely, hey it's television) and the shoot-out was tense and well-played.

Chris: It?s certainly the most nail-biting moment since ?Sick? and perhaps even exceeds that. There are just so many different balls in the air ? the Governor's men, the zombies on the inside, the zombies on the outside. I didn?t see the Governor?s attack coming so soon, and for a second I believed Rick, who seems useless enough to die, would actually be bit. If this show doesn?t always know how to do characterization, this season in particular has been very good at action.

Erik:?If they could translate that suspense into their character interactions, they'd have a magnificent show. That's what?Breaking Bad?does so well.

Chris: Perhaps the season will close with Rick on the telephone with Ghost Lori again: "I won." :click:

Erik: Rick would need a haircut though.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=6ff23686b6b378576c72d268c0379ac5

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Obama and Ace of Cakes star gives a cake for same sex wedding

by JerryM | February 17, 2013 at 07:16 pm

Congressman Rush Holt, a physicist by profession, gave a speech praising Charles Darwin on his birthday, February 12th. Strangely, Congressman Holt is not on the House Science Committee but Congrassman Broun is on it. Broun by the way, stated that evolution, embryology and Big Bang theory, are "lies straight from the pits of Hell."

So on the one hand we have maybe the most scientific literate member ever in the halls of Congress not on such a key committee, and on the other hand a man who thinks that a Satan is putting fake dinosaurs bones in the ground.

President Obama stated about gays in the military during his State of the Union address: "We will ensure equal treatment for all service members, and equal benefits for their families ? gay and straight." It goes without saying that if Mitt Romney was giving this speech, this would have been a much different message.

A church in rural Indiana was considering have a private prom that would ban gay couples. This is their right of course, but even in rural Indiana there is a backlash. Until quite recently, in parts of the South, there were private proms in order to allow discrimination against African Americans, or interracial couples. Times change of course, but there are always some that fear it.

Ace of Cakes star Duff Goldman is offering a free cake to a lesbian couple in Oregon who were discriminated against by a Christian baker. Now, one can argue that there should be a right to refuse service to people who you don't like, but if so, would Christians evangelicals be fine with a gay business owner who refused service to them? Probably not, and the law protects the religious, so should it not protect those who happen to be gay? After all, homosexuality is not a choice, though religion is in fact.

A woman who was a supposed witch was tortured and burned alive in New Guinea. This part of the world is unfortunately not known for having many members with humanist beliefs, such as Sweden or the Netherlands. It is a land held hostage to religious superstition and dogma. New Guinea is like how the West was 500 years ago when women were burned as witches. Thankfully we moved on from that thanks to the Enlightenment.

Finally, Megan Phelps-Roper and her younger sister, Grace Phelps-Roper have left the Westboro Baptist church of Fred Phelps. You know, the guy who protests military funerals holding signs that say "God hates f-gs."

Phelp's bitter hatred of gays makes you wonder just how much he is repressing. Phelps represents a Christianity that was quite common back in the Middle Ages. A Christianity built on fear and hatred of certain groups, be it supposed witches, Jews, gays and various non-believers.

By the way, Nathan Phelps is one of four children of Fred Phelps who left the church as young adults.It must be really hard to have grown up in such an environment, my parents on the other hand were very secular and liberal, so what Nathan and his siblings had to go through, must have truly hellish. I applaud all those who managed to leave such a mad man behind.

Source: http://www.nowpublic.com/culture/obama-and-ace-cakes-star-gives-cake-same-sex-wedding

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Carney dismisses concern about inflation expectations

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The future head of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, dismissed concern on Saturday about the danger of inflation expectations spiraling in Britain and elsewhere.

Carney, governor of the Bank of Canada, has been an advocate of flexible inflation targeting, and said last month that monetary policy was not maxed out in major economies.

He has said the Bank of England may need to commit to keeping highly accommodative monetary policy even after the economy and possibly inflation pick up.

Asked at a news conference on Saturday if there was a risk that inflation expectations in Britain and other members of the Group of 20 leading economies become unmoored because of loose monetary policy, he said: "The risks globally are deficient demand."

Pressed about the issue in Britain, where inflation has been above the UK's 2 percent target since December 2009, Carney said: "I think that's a question for the governor of the Bank of England, and his name is Mervyn King."

He was speaking after a meeting of G20 central bankers and finance ministers.

Separately, Carney declined to endorse an International Monetary Fund opinion that the Canadian dollar was 5 to 15 percent higher than warranted by long-term economic fundamentals.

"We don't comment on levels of exchange rates. We've noted for some time that the Canadian dollar is persistently strong," he said.

"It's something we take into account in the setting of monetary policy in Canada. It's one of the reasons why policy is as accommodative as it is."

(Editing by Mike Peacock)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/carney-dismisses-concern-inflation-expectations-170832389--business.html

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