Egypt violence builds, American among dead

By Abdelrahman Youssef and Tom Perry

ALEXANDRIA/CAIRO (Reuters) - Two people, one an American student, were killed when protesters stormed an office of Egypt's ruling Muslim Brotherhood in Alexandria, adding to growing tension ahead of mass rallies aimed at unseating the Islamist president.

A third man was killed and 10 injured in an explosion during a protest in Port Said, at the mouth of the Suez Canal. Police on Saturday said the cause was unclear but protesters, believing it was a bomb, attacked an Islamist party office in the city.

Egypt's leading religious authority warned of "civil war" after violence in the past week that had already left several dead and hundreds injured. They backed President Mohamed Mursi's offer to talk to opposition groups ahead of Sunday's protests.

The United Nations, European Union and United States have appealed for restraint and urged Egypt's deadlocked political leaders to step back from a confrontation threatening the new democracy that emerged from the Arab Spring revolution of 2011.

The U.S. embassy said in a statement it was evacuating non-essential staff and family members and renewed a warning to Americans not to travel to Egypt unless they had to.

The Muslim Brotherhood said eight of its offices had been attacked on Friday, including the one in Alexandria. Officials said more than 70 people had been injured in the clashes in the city. One was shot dead and a young American man who was using a small camera died after being stabbed in the chest.

He was identified as Andrew Pochter, a 21-year-old student from Chevy Chase, Maryland who had been studying at Ohio's Kenyon College. The college said he had been working as an intern for the U.S. educational organization AMIDEAST.

A Brotherhood member was also killed overnight in an attack on a party office at Zagazig, in the heavily populated Nile Delta, where much of the recent violence has been concentrated. Mursi's movement said five supporters in all had died this week.

"Vigilance is required to ensure we do not slide into civil war," said clerics at Cairo's ancient Al-Azhar institute, one of the most influential centers of scholarship in the Muslim world.

In a statement broadly supportive of Mursi, they backed his offer of dialogue and blamed "criminal gangs" who besieged mosques for the violence. The Brotherhood warned of "dire consequences" and "a violent spiral of anarchy".

It accused liberal leaders, including former U.N. diplomat Mohamed ElBaradei, of personally inciting violence by hired "thugs" once loyal to ousted dictator Hosni Mubarak.

Opposition leaders condemned the violence. The army, which has warned it could intervene if political leaders lose control, issued a statement saying it had deployed across the country to protect citizens and installations of national importance.

In the capital, Cairo, tens of thousands turned out for rival events some miles apart and there was little trouble. An Islamist rally included calls to reconciliation. On Tahrir Square, cradle of the uprising against Mubarak, there was a festive atmosphere and a determination to shake Mursi on Sunday.

In Alexandria, as several thousand anti-Mursi protesters marched along the seafront, a Reuters reporter saw about a dozen men throw rocks at guards outside the Brotherhood office. They responded. Bricks and bottles flew. Guns were fired.

Officials said dozens were wounded by birdshot. The party office was ransacked and documents were burned, watched by jubilant youths chanting against Egypt's Islamist leaders.

In Port Said, a bastion of anti-Islamist sentiment, police had suspected an accident but later said a device exploded among protesters. Canal traffic has not been affected by violence.

CAIRO CALM

Islamists gathered round a Cairo mosque after weekly prayers to show support for Mursi. His opponents hope millions will turn out on Sunday to demand he step down, a year to the day after he was sworn in as Egypt's first freely chosen leader.

Mursi, backed by the Brotherhood, has dismissed such demands as an assault on democracy, setting up an angry confrontation.

"I came to support the legitimate order," said Ahmed al-Maghrabi, 37, a shopkeeper from the Nile Delta city of Mansoura whose hand bore grazes from street fighting there this week. "I am with the elected president. He needs to see out his term."

Some speakers reflected fear and anger among Islamists that opponents aim to suppress them as Mubarak did. But there was also talk from the podium of the need for dialogue - a concern also of international powers worried by the bitter polarization.

A few hundred opposition protesters gathered outside the presidential palace, a focus for Sunday's rally. Mursi has moved elsewhere. Thousands turned out after dark in Tahrir Square, waving national flags and sampling street food.

Abdelhamid Nada, a 32-year-old accountant, had come from the provinces with eight friends to camp out "until Mursi goes". "The Muslim Brotherhood has no plan at all," he said, standing by his white tent. "They don't have any economic plan, they don't have any social plan, they don't have any political plan."

STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE

The army, which heeded mass protests in early 2011 to push Mubarak aside, has warned it will intervene again if there is violence, and to defend the "will of the people". Both sides believe that means the military may support their positions.

The United States, which funds Egypt's army as it did under Mubarak, has urged compromise and respect for election results. Egypt's 84 million people, control of Suez and its peace treaty with Israel all contribute to its global strategic importance.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon urged Egyptians to respect "universal principles of peaceful dialogue". European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton called for peaceful protests, building trust and a "spirit of dialogue and tolerance".

In Alexandria, opposition marchers said they feared the Brotherhood was usurping the revolution to entrench its power and Islamic law. Others had economic grievances, among them huge lines for fuel caused by supply problems and panic buying.

"I've nothing to do with politics, but with the state we're in now, even a stone would cry out," said 42-year-old accountant Mohamed Abdel Latif. "There are no services, we can't find diesel or gasoline. We elected Mursi, but this is enough.

"Let him make way for someone else who can fix it."

It is hard to gauge how many may turn out on Sunday, but even those sympathetic to Islamic ideas are frustrated by the economic slump and many blame the government.

Previous protest movements since the fall of Mubarak have failed to gather momentum, however, among a population anxious for stability and fearful of further economic hardship.

(Additional reporting by Yasmine Saleh, Alexander Dziadosz, Omar Fahmy and Alastair Macdonald in Cairo; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Peter Graff, Kevin Liffey and Jackie Frank)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egypt-violence-builds-american-among-dead-054530510.html

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US consumer sentiment stays near 6-year high

In this Friday, June 21, 2013 photo, customers look at models of the Nook tablet at a Barnes and Noble store in Pineville, N.C. A measure of U.S. consumer confidence remained near a six-year high in June as higher home prices boosted household wealth. The survey shows Americans are feeling better about the economy, despite wild gyrations in the stock market. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

In this Friday, June 21, 2013 photo, customers look at models of the Nook tablet at a Barnes and Noble store in Pineville, N.C. A measure of U.S. consumer confidence remained near a six-year high in June as higher home prices boosted household wealth. The survey shows Americans are feeling better about the economy, despite wild gyrations in the stock market. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? A measure of U.S. consumer confidence stayed near a six-year high in June as higher home prices boosted household wealth. The survey shows Americans remain upbeat about the economy, despite wild gyrations in the stock market.

The University of Michigan said Friday that its final reading of consumer sentiment in June was 84.1. That's an improvement from a preliminary reading of 82.7 issued on June 14. And it is just slightly below May's final reading of 84.5, which was the highest since July 2007.

Rising household wealth was the main reason consumers stayed optimistic. Households with income above $75,000, those more likely to own homes and stocks, reported the biggest gain.

Consumers' confidence is closely watched because their spending accounts for 70 percent of economic growth.

Stocks pared steep early morning losses after the report was released. The Dow Jones industrial average, which was down as much as 140 points at one point, rebounded to 53 points lower at midday.

The University of Michigan polls roughly 500 people throughout the month and issues two readings.

The slight improvement from the preliminary survey suggests consumers were unfazed by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's June 19 comments about the Fed's bond purchases. Bernanke said the Fed could start to slow its bond buying by the end of the year and end it next year, if the economy continues to strengthen. The bond purchases have kept long-term interest rates low.

Stocks fell sharply in the days after Bernanke's comments and interest rates jumped. The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage surged this week to a two-year high of 4.46 percent. That's up from 3.93 percent last week and a full point higher than a month ago.

"Consumers remain optimistic despite recent market volatility and a back-up in mortgage rates," said Yelena Shulyatyeva, an economist at BNP Paribas.

Americans seem to agree with the Fed's view that the economy is slowly improving. A measure of their expectations for future growth rose to an eight-month high.

Employers have been adding jobs at stable pace, while the unemployment rate has slowly fallen to a still-high 7.6 percent. Higher home sales and prices have driven a steady housing recovery. And on Tuesday the Conference Board said the improved job market helped lift its survey of consumer confidence to the highest level in 5? years, a point echoed by Friday's Michigan consumer sentiment survey.

"Consumers now believe the recovery has achieved an upward momentum that will not be easily reversed," Richard Curtin, director of the Michigan survey, said.

More Americans said they planned to buy a home, despite rising mortgage rates, according to the Michigan survey. The number of consumers who said it was a bad time to buy a home fell to the fewest in 10 years.

The survey also found that rising mortgage rates and home prices may be spurring more Americans to buy homes, rather than discouraging them. The proportion of Americans who said it is a good time to buy because rates and prices will be higher in the future reached post-recession highs this month.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-06-28-Consumer%20Sentiment/id-a10e7351ebe74fb1940ab264e12378ae

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Suicide bomb kills 4 in Syrian capital's Old City

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) ? A suicide bomber blew himself up near the headquarters of Syria's Greek Orthodox Church in Damascus' Old City, killing at least four people Thursday, minutes after the patriarch had entered the cathedral, state-run TV and a church official said.

The blast in the ancient quarter of narrow streets and historic buildings was the first reported suicide attack of the Syrian civil war inside the Old City, although other such bombs have struck the capital of Damascus during the conflict.

The blast struck in the vicinity of the Virgin Mary Cathedral in the predominantly Christian neighborhood of Bab Sharqi, the broadcast said, although it was not clear if the church was the attacker's target.

Several people also were wounded, the TV said.

SANA, Syria's state-run news agency, said a nearby clinic run by a Muslim charity appeared to be the target. That was also the view of Bishop Ghattas Hazim, who spoke to The Associated Press from Lebanon.

Lebanon's Al-Mayadeen TV, which has reporters in Damascus, said the target of the attack appeared to be a nearby post of the National Defense Forces, a paramilitary force fighting the rebels who are trying to topple President Bashar Assad.

Residents also disagreed about the target, with some saying the bomber may have detonated the explosives prematurely. Pro-government gunmen were seen roaming the streets afterward.

The blast occurred nearly 15 minutes after John Yazigi, the Eastern Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, entered the church, but he was unhurt, according to Hazim, an aide.

A government official told the AP that the bomber was wearing a belt of explosives and blew himself up near the church. Both the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, and state TV said at least four people were killed. SANA said eight people were wounded.

An AP reporter who visited the area saw that the explosion occurred about 50 meters (yards) from the church and damaged several shops. An antiques shop suffered the worst damage, with its windows shattered and objects strewn about.

"I heard an explosion. Then glass started flying, and the place was full of dust," said shop owner Abdo Muqri, whose right arm and forehead were injured. "I was watching television inside. Had I been near the door, I would have been dead."

State-owned Al-Ikhbariya TV showed a body near the shop.

About three hours after the blast, two shells struck the area. A wounded man and woman were seen being rushed away.

Bab Sharqi and the nearby Bab Touma, two main areas of the Old City, were famous for their restaurants and cafes that used to be packed until late at night before the civil war began.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimated this week that more than 100,000 people have been killed since the start of the conflict more than two years ago. It began with peaceful protests against Assad's rule, then became an armed conflict after the regime used the army to crack down on dissent and some opposition supporters took up weapons to fight back.

Churches have been targeted before in the civil war, mostly in the central city of Homs and Syria's largest city of Aleppo in the north.

Yazigi divides his time between Damascus and the Balamand Monastery in northern Lebanon. Yazigi took the post of patriarch earlier this year replacing Ignatius Hazim, who died in December.

One of the gravest attacks against Christians came in April when two bishops, including Yazigi's brother, Boulos, were kidnapped in a rebel-held area in northern Syria. He is still missing.

Christians are one of the largest religious minorities in Syria, making up about 10 percent of the population of 23 million people. They have tried to stay on the sidelines of the conflict, although as Islamic militants have increasingly joined with the opposition, many Christians have been leaning toward the regime.

As the bloodshed has intensified, hopes for an international conference to try to reach a political settlement between the regime and opposition have faded. Washington and its allies have said they will help arm the rebels.

In Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned against shipping weapons to the rebels, telling parliament that in her view, "the risks would be incalculable."

She did not explain why, but critics fear that Western arms would only prolong the conflict without tipping the scales decisively. There are also concerns that the weapons, including anti-aircraft missiles, could fall into the hands of Islamic extremists who might use them against Western targets.

"Whether it would be successful or not is a different question, but in my view the risks would be incalculable," Merkel said. "But I think everyone who has a heart understands the wish to stop the killing in Syria and to remove the Assad regime."

In Moscow, the Defense Ministry said that Russia has withdrawn all military personnel from its naval base in Syria and replaced them with civilian workers.

The ministry did not say when the switch at the base at Tartus took place or how many personnel were deployed there. The minor facility is Russia's only naval outpost outside the former Soviet Union and consists of several barracks and depots used to service Russian navy ships in the Mediterranean.

The ministry statement said that Tartus has continued to service the Russian navy ships.

The ministry didn't explain why it was replacing military personnel with civilians, but the move could be part of efforts by Moscow to portray itself as an objective mediator trying to broker peace talks in the civil war.

Russia has been Assad's main ally, shielding his regime from the U.N. Security Council's sanctions and continuing to provide it with weapons.

Moscow also has an unknown number of military advisers in Syria who help its military operate and maintain Soviet- and Russian-built weapons that make up the core of its arsenal.

___

Associated Press writers Robert H. Reid in Berlin and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/suicide-bomb-kills-4-syrian-capitals-old-city-193808345.html

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This Climate Fix Might Be Decades Ahead Of Its Time

Global Thermostat's pilot plant in Menlo Park, Calif., pulls carbon dioxide from the surrounding air. The next challenge is to find uses for the captured gas.

Courtesy of Global Thermostat

Global Thermostat's pilot plant in Menlo Park, Calif., pulls carbon dioxide from the surrounding air. The next challenge is to find uses for the captured gas.

Courtesy of Global Thermostat

Every year, people add 30 billion tons of carbon dioxide to the air, mostly by burning fossil fuels. That's contributing to climate change. A few scientists have been dreaming about ways to pull some of that CO₂ out of the air, but face stiff skepticism and major hurdles. This is the story of one scientist who's pressing ahead.

Peter Eisenberger is a distinguished professor of earth and environmental sciences at Columbia University. Earlier in his career, he ran the university's famed Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and founded Columbia's Earth Institute. He was never one of those scientists who tinkered into the night on inventions. But he realized he didn't need to be.

"If you looked at knowledge as a commodity, we had generated this enormous amount of knowledge and we hadn't even begun to think of the many ways we could apply it," Eisenberger says. He decided he'd settle on a problem he wanted to solve and then dive into the pool of knowledge for existing technologies that could help him.

He started looking for a way to pull carbon dioxide right out of the air. "And it turned out the best device already exists," he says. "It's called a monolith. That is the same type of instrument that's in the catalytic converter in your car. It cleans up your exhaust."

Eisenberg's monoliths grab carbon dioxide from the air and release it again when you heat them up.

He teamed up with a colleague at Columbia, Graciela Chichilnisky, and formed a company to develop the idea. Global Thermostat got seed money from Edgar Bronfman, Jr. ? CEO of Warner Music Group and the former CEO of Seagram's, his family's business.

The company has built two pilot plants at SRI International in Menlo Park, Calif. But of course there are big issues to solve: What do you do with the carbon dioxide once you've captured it, and how do you make money?

"If they don't tell you you're crazy, you're not doing something worthwhile," says Peter Eisenberger, co-founder of Global Thermostat, a firm that's building a device to pull carbon dioxide from the air.

Chris Schmauch/Global Thermostat

"So we then we looked for ways to monetize CO₂ and found that lots of people wanted to use CO₂ as a feedstock to make a valuable product," Eisenberger says.

Growers pipe carbon dioxide into greenhouses. Oil companies pump it underground to help them squeeze out more oil. Soda companies use it to put bubbles in their drinks. These are mostly small-scale applications.

Maybe someday Eisenberg could get paid to clean up the atmosphere by sucking out the CO₂ and burying it underground, though there's no market for that now.

But using carbon dioxide to make fuel could someday be big. So Eisenberger's first project involves using CO₂ to feed algae that churn out biofuel.

"Our first demonstration plant is being erected right now down in Daphne, Alabama, with an algae company called Algae Systems, which sits on Mobile Bay," Eisenberger says. "They'll be floating their algae in plastic bags on the top of the water. We'll be piping in CO₂ that we pull out of the air, and the sun will do the rest."

Of course, this one project will have zero effect on how much carbon dioxide is in the earth's atmosphere. But Eisenberger has much grander ambitions.

"I believe we have something that's economically viable, so our company will be successful," he says. "But I'm really in this because I want to contribute to a long term solution that the world needs."

Eisenberger says if he can open the door to capturing carbon dioxide from the air ? and make the process cheap enough ? someday we could actually slow down, or possibly even reverse, the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Robert Socolow at Princeton University started hearing a buzz about this technology a few years back.

"It's catchy," Socolow admits. "It's attractive conceptually that one could basically pour carbon dioxide into the atmosphere for the next several decades and pull it out later and everything would be fine." But the appeal of the idea also worried him ? people might use the mere prospect of this technology as an excuse not to act.

So Socolow spearheaded a critique of the technique, on behalf of the American Physical Society.

Socolow's panel concluded that the technology would be hopelessly expensive, costing $600 for every ton of carbon dioxide it drew out of the air. And the scale would also be huge. In order to capture the emissions would waft into the air from a single coal-fired power plant, you'd need to build a structure 20 miles long and 30 feet high. "It's like the Great Wall of China," Socolow says.

The committee concluded that it would make a lot more sense to cut down on emissions first ? make our cars, homes and factories more efficient. Panel members also said it makes much more sense to capture carbon dioxide directly from smokestacks, where it's concentrated, instead of from the air.

Socolow says, maybe someday we'll have our emissions under control, and then we might need to remove some of the carbon dioxide that's already in the air with a capture technology. But, in his view, that's a long way away. "I locate it in the 22nd century," he says. In other words, this might be a good project for Eisenberger's great-great-great grandchildren.

Researchers currently working on carbon dioxide capture technologies say the American Physical Society critique has made it much harder for them to raise money. Klaus Lackner at Columbia University says he was turned down for a government grant. David Keith at Harvard and the University of Calgary says he struggled to get funding for his small company.

"It's a very powerful report from a very credible group of people, and it may well help to kill us and other efforts," Keith says.

Proponents of air-capture technologies say some of the panel's conclusions are just plain wrong ? especially the estimated cost of $600 per ton.

"We have had third party reports, independent people, evaluating our technology, and it's under $50 a ton," Eisenberger says. He hasn't actually demonstrated that cost yet, and he agrees that nobody should take his word for it. But he's stopped arguing with his critics.

"I'm just going to go do it," he says. "And doing it or not ? that's the answer."

Pursuing a big idea takes some hard-headedness and thick skin.

"If they don't tell you you're crazy, you're not doing something worthwhile," Eisenberger says. "Because what you do when you innovate is you disturb the existing order."

Fortunately, this won't be an academic argument forever. "That's the beauty of science. The people that take the time to come into the lab and see it working and do their own evaluation of the cost and the performance, they know it's not crazy."

If the researchers pursuing this technology can really make it inexpensive to draw carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, Eisenberger says it could be a game-changer.

We could start producing fuels with the carbon dioxide that's already in the air, instead of unearthing more fossil fuels. This won't happen quickly, though.

"The energy infrastructure of the world is $55 trillion," Eisenberger says. So a technology to replace that is "not like a new Google app."

Still, human societies have made such transitions before. "They just don't happen in a day," Eisenberger says. "But they happen."

There's certainly no guarantee that capturing carbon dioxide from the air would ever become a big enough enterprise to make a difference to Earth's climate. But it won't even be put to the test unless people like Eisenberger give it a try.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/06/27/189522647/this-climate-fix-might-be-decades-ahead-of-its-time?ft=1&f=1007

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Power struggle underway in rebel-held Syrian town

FILE - In this Tuesday, March 5, 2013 file photo, citizen journalism image provided by Aleppo Media Center AMC which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows Syrian man sitting on a fallen statue of former Syrian President Hafez Assad in a central square in Raqqa, Syria. The Arabic words on the fallen statue read: "tomorrow will be better." A quiet power struggle in taking place in the eastern city between Islamic extremist rebels, who control the city after capturing it four months ago from the regime, and moderates trying to curtail their influence, making it a test case for the opposition.(AP Photo/Aleppo Media Center AMC, File)

FILE - In this Tuesday, March 5, 2013 file photo, citizen journalism image provided by Aleppo Media Center AMC which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows Syrian man sitting on a fallen statue of former Syrian President Hafez Assad in a central square in Raqqa, Syria. The Arabic words on the fallen statue read: "tomorrow will be better." A quiet power struggle in taking place in the eastern city between Islamic extremist rebels, who control the city after capturing it four months ago from the regime, and moderates trying to curtail their influence, making it a test case for the opposition.(AP Photo/Aleppo Media Center AMC, File)

FILE - In this Monday, March 4, 2013 file image taken from video obtained from Ugarit News, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows a statue of former Syrian President Hafez Assad is pulled down in a central square in Raqqa, Syria. A quiet power struggle in taking place in the eastern city between Islamic extremist rebels, who control the city after capturing it four months ago from the regime, and moderates trying to curtail their influence, making it a test case for the opposition. (AP Photo/Ugarit News via AP video, File)

FILE - In this Monday, March 4, 2013 file image taken from video obtained from Ugarit News, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows a statue of former Syrian President Hafez Assad is pulled down in a central square in Raqqa, Syria. A quiet power struggle in taking place in the eastern city between Islamic extremist rebels, who control the city after capturing it four months ago from the regime, and moderates trying to curtail their influence, making it a test case for the opposition.(AP Photo/Ugarit News via AP video, File)

FILE - In this Monday, March 4, 2013 file photo citizen journalism image provided by Coordination Committee in Kafr Susa which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows people tearing down a huge poster of President Bashar Assad and hitting it with their shoes, in Raqqa, Syria. A quiet power struggle in taking place in the eastern city between Islamic extremist rebels, who control the city after capturing it four months ago from the regime, and moderates trying to curtail their influence, making it a test case for the opposition.(AP Photo/Coordination Committee In Kafr Susa, File)

FILE - In this Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2012 file image taken from video obtained from the Ugarit News, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, Free Syrian Army soldiers sit at a check point in Ain al-Arous town in Raqqa, Syria. A quiet power struggle in taking place in the eastern city between Islamic extremist rebels, who control the city after capturing it four months ago from the regime, and moderates trying to curtail their influence, making it a test case for the opposition.(AP Photo/Ugarit News via AP video, File)

BEIRUT (AP) ? A slogan painted in small letters on a school wall reads, "We the people want Syria to be a civil, democratic state." Scrawled next to it in bigger letters is the response from an unknown Islamic hard-liner: "The laws of the civil state contradict the Islamic caliphate."

A quiet power struggle is taking place in the eastern Syrian city of Raqqa ever since a Muslim extremist faction of the rebels swept in and wrested the town from the regime nearly four months ago.

Armed men wearing Afghan-style outfits patrol the streets, raising black Islamic banners at checkpoints instead of the rebellion's three-star flags. But moderates are trying to counter the extremists' tight grip, establishing dozens of newspapers, magazines and civil society forums in an effort to educate the roughly 500,000 residents about democracy and their right to vote.

Raqqa, the first and only provincial capital to fall into rebel hands, is now a test case for the opposition, which has wrestled with how to govern territories it has captured amid Western concerns that Islamic groups will hijack power if President Bashar Assad is ousted.

The tensions reflect a wider struggle going on in the rebel movement across Syria, where alliances of Islamic extremist brigades have filled the void left behind whenever Assad's forces retreat, while moderate and secular rebels have failed to coalesce into effective fighters and the opposition's political leadership has failed to unify its ranks.

The rebel capture of Raqqa on March 5 consolidated opposition gains in a string of towns along the Euphrates River, which runs across the desert from the Turkish border in the north to the Iraqi border in the southeast.

Even so, the momentum on the battlefield over the past few months has been with regime, aided by Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon. More than 93,000 people have been killed since the Syrian conflict began in March 2011, according to the U.N. ? though a count by activists puts the death toll at over 100,000.

Two extremist factions, Ahrar al-Sham and the al-Qaida affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra, or the Nusra Front, led the push into Raqqa, which fell relatively quickly after a campaign that lasted less than a month. Most of the Jabhat al-Nusra fighters in the city are foreign jihadis, while the Ahrar al-Sham fighters are Syrians with a jihadist ideology.

Other opponents of the Assad regime in the city have been put off by what they see as the extremists' unnecessary brutality. In the days after seizing the city, the Muslim brigades brought captured security forces into public squares, killed them and drove their bodies through the streets.

Then in May, fighters affiliated with al-Qaida killed three men described as Shiite Muslims in the city's main Clock Square, shooting them in the back of the head. In a speech to a crowd that had gathered, a fighter said the killing was in retaliation for the massacres of Sunni Muslims in the town of Banias and the city of Homs, both in western Syria, according to online video of the scene. The statement was made in the name of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, a merger of Jabhat al-Nusra and Iraq's al-Qaida arm announced in April.

Armed gunmen with their faces covered in masks shot pistols and rifles wildly in the air in celebration after the three men were killed. They wore clothing favored by Afghanistan's Taliban and Arab mujahedeen who fought in that country ? a sign that they belonged to Jabhat al-Nusra.

The Shiites "were executed in front of everyone, young and old," said Mohammad Shoeib, an activist, recalling how for several hours, nobody dared approach the bodies to take them for burial until a nurse did. The nurse, Mohammad Saado, was assassinated by unknown gunmen the next day, Shoeib said. Other activists corroborated his account.

"Executing people in this manner in a public square and killing Saado was unacceptable and turned many people against them," Shoeib said. "Our revolution was against oppression and we don't accept such actions under any circumstance."

Activists set up a mourning tent in the same spot where the three were executed, receiving mourners for three days in a sign of their anger. "They didn't like it," he said of Jabhat al-Nusra, "but people demonstrated their right to an opinion and they should respect that."

Shoeib, 28, is one of the directors of "Haqquna," Arabic for "It's Our Right," an organization founded about three weeks after Raqqa fell that aims to educate people about democracy. The group's logo is a victory sign with the index finger bearing an ink mark, signifying the right to vote. The logo can be seen on walls in the city and on leaflets distributed by the group.

More than 40 publications have popped up in Raqqa, including newspapers and magazines as well as online publications, many of them run by young activists.

Many recall with pride the day rebels overran their city, about 120 miles (195 kilometers) east of the commercial capital of Aleppo, after capturing the country's largest dam and storming its central prison.

On March 5, cheering rebels and Raqqa residents brought down the bronze statue of the late Syrian President Hafez Assad after tying a rope around its neck. Others tore down a huge portrait of his son, the current president.

It was a striking scene in a city once considered so loyal to the regime that in November 2011 ? early in the 2-year-old uprising ? Assad prayed at Raqqa's al-Nour mosque for the Muslim holiday of Eid in an apparent attempt to show that the regime was fully in control there.

Activists like to compare Raqqa with Benghazi, the first major city in Libya to revolt against Moammar Gadhafi and fall into rebel hands.

But unlike Benghazi, which then became the rebel capital and the heartland for the militias of the months-long civil war in Libya, Raqqa feels sequestered and insecure. Regime warplanes still swoop down at random, shattering the calm with punishing airstrikes on opposition-held buildings.

Schools have closed and government employees have not been paid their salaries in months as a form of punishment.

Residents complain that the main Western-backed Syrian opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition, has paid no attention to the needs of Raqqa.

"The opposition groups are too busy fighting each other," said one owner of a sweets shop in the center of Raqqa. "They have not sent anyone to ask about our needs, nor is there any contact with any of them."

In March, the Coalition elected an interim prime minister, Ghassan Hitto, tasked with forming an interim government that would help administer rebel-held territories in northern and eastern Syria. But the opposition has been plagued with infighting, and Hitto has been effectively sidelined.

Khalid Salah, spokesman for the Coalition, insisted the opposition was trying to support Raqqa despite a lack of funds and other resources. He said the city was receiving aid from the Coalition but that it was unmarked so many people are unaware of its origin.

"We are trying to step up aid and make up for some shortcomings in the next weeks," he said, adding that regime airstrikes around the city made the work more difficult.

Rebel groups, particularly Ahrar al-Sham, administer daily life in Raqqa, setting up bakeries, keeping electricity and water going as much as possible and distributing aid they receive from international supporters. They have set up courts that impose Islamic law, mostly dealing with financial disputes and criminal cases such as kidnappings and theft.

Many residents are grateful, saying the Islamic brigades are simply making up for the shortcomings of the opposition in exile.

Mouaz al-Howeidi, a 40-year-old programmer and Web designer-turned activist, said it's promising that the power struggle has itself not turned violent.

But he said civil groups were at a disadvantage because the rebels have more means at their disposal to get their message across, through mosques and by controlling the city's resources.

"They control everything in Raqqa," he said. "And they have weapons and money ? this makes everything easier."

The owner of the sweets shop, who declined to be named for fear of reprisals, said Islamic groups were the flip side of the regime.

"Raqqa has not been liberated. It has been re-occupied by the Islamists."

___

A Syrian journalist contributed from Raqqa.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-06-26-Syria-Moderates%20vs%20Extremists/id-044dea46f3e949f5806cdf251c50f1e6

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Nokia to stream its New York Lumia event, teases 41 million reasons to tune in

For anyone that won't be attending Nokia's incoming New York event, you won't have to sit in silence until the news breaks, because the entire event will be streamed from Nokia's own Conversations site. There's nothing going on at the link yet, but you can at least bookmark it for now and we'll be there in person to report on all the important announcements, presumably including a photo-loving, zoom-reinventing new Windows Phone.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Nokia

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Source: Nokia Conversations

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/26/nokia-to-stream-its-new-york-lumia-event-eos-pureview/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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LG's Optimus G followup to feature a Snapdragon 800 CPU

LG and Qualcomm have enjoyed a close relationship for mobile phone chips, and it appears that will continue with the next Optimus G device, which is due in Q3. A press release tonight promises it will feature a Snapdragon 800 CPU for "the ultimate mobile experience" -- a claim benchmarks seem to back up. Qualcomm says the new 800 chip can best the original Optimus G's S4 Pro by "up to 75 percent" in performance, although what may be more interesting is how this aligns with a LS980 handset that recently leaked on Sprint's website. The release also highlights the new chip's ability to use LTE Advanced carrier aggregation for even faster bandwidth speeds, so while a Galaxy S 4 variant may deliver the feature first, it probably won't be alone for long.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, LG

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Source: LG

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/N39mAx30imM/

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Unison president fears homelessness could get as bad as it was in Liverpool in 1970s

The president of one of Britain?s biggest unions said he fears homelessness under the Tories will exceed? the levels he saw as a young volunteer helping those living on the streets of Liverpool in the 1970s.

Chris Tansley, whose union Unison has more than two? million? members, was due to give his address at the climax of its conference in the city today.

Talking to the ECHO ahead of his keynote speech before up to 2,000 people at the ECHO Arena, Mr Tansley said he feared a return to the kind of mass unemployment and social breakdown that he witnessed nearly 40 years ago. Although from Nottingham Mr Tansley worked for the Simon Community in Liverpool in 1974, collecting and giving out food and clothes to those who had ended up living rough.

He told the ECHO: ?The poverty was dreadful. There were between 700 and 800 homeless people, mostly alcoholics, on the streets. In the Catholic Cathedral there was a shelter?? for them with beds all around it.

?The government had brought in the three-day week, the economy was in a right state and people had lost their jobs.

?There were also sailors who had just ended up here and ended up on the streets because they had nowhere else to go.

?It was appalling. You would see them heating up boot polish to drink it.?

Mr Tansley, who was due to give his speech ahead of Unison general secretary Dave Prentis, added he believed the recipe for disaster could be worse now than then.

?We are going to see homelessness like we?ve not seen in a lifetime for a multitude of reasons.?

He highlighted the? bedroom tax, which, at the conference on Sunday, Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson called on his Labour party leaders to vow to repeal if they took office in two years?? time.

Mr Tansley added: ?It?s a type of social cleansing, making poorer people move out of richer areas, breaking community ties. But the government is taking away the tools for local authorities to be able to deal with these problems when they arise.

?I?m from Nottingham and while we?ve been badly hit, here in Liverpool you?ve been really badly hit by the cutbacks.?

He said the main fears of the union?s membership, which accounts for a significant share of public sector workers and many private sector employees ,? was just keeping their jobs ? let alone worrying about pay and conditions.

He added: ?When I ask members are they prepared to take action over pay they say they?re more concerned about keeping in work, especially the public sector ones, because they don?t know when or where the next round of redundancies is going to come.?

A major debate on the future of the NHS was scheduled for this afternoon after the keynote speeches.

North-South jobless divide

Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said the prospect of an economic recovery under the coalition was a ?mirage? while cities like Liverpool continued to suffer the highest unemployment.

Speaking ahead of his keynote speech at the union?s conference in the city, Mr Prentis, left,? said figures showed that Merseyside?s unemployment figures for men, women and young people were above the national average for the fifth year running unlike affluent some affluent areas of the south.

Youth unemployment in the region was the highest above the average, at 24.6% compared to the national figure of 21.2%.

He added: ?In a worrying repeat of the last two Tory-led recessions, Conservative party policies are clobbering the North, which is in the grip of an even deeper jobs crisis.

?Communities in the north are struggling as strong unemployment, coupled with growing involuntary part time work, takes vital spending out of shops and businesses.?

Male unemployment is at 9.9% compared to a national average of 8.6%, and female at 9%, compared to a 7.8% national average.

Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/unison-president-fears-homelessness-could-4569075

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Hawaii fishermen want development considered

HONOLULU (AP) -- Hawaii fishermen on Monday asked policymakers to address how runoff caused by land development harms reefs, fisheries and oceans when they consider how to cope with the effects of climate change.

Ocean health can't be looked at in segments, Oahu fisherman Roy Morioka told a committee of the federal body responsible for managing fisheries around Hawaii and other parts of the western Pacific region.

Government officials need to take a comprehensive approach, Morioka told a Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council committee on ecosystem management in Hawaii.

"You need to pull it all together. Because not one thing is the issue, it's a collective thing that is the issue," Morioka said.

Carl Jellings, of Waianae, told the committee that fishermen are often told reefs are unhealthy because of overfishing. Fishermen like him are scapegoats, he said.

He argued that what happens on land is one cause of deteriorating reefs. But he says fishermen can't control what happens "up mauka," or toward the mountains.

"We fight every day so we can continue fishing. It's getting harder and harder because more things are happening in the environment that we're getting blamed for," Jellings said.

The fishermen spoke at the council's Regional Ecosystem Advisory Committee for Hawaii fisheries.

The council heard from scientists about how temperatures are rising globally while locally rainfall has been declining. They heard how open ocean species like tuna may adapt better as oceans warm because they can move around. Species like coral that stay in place, may have a harder time adapting.

Committee members also heard about how rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere ? as humans burn more fossil fuels ? are making the ocean more acidic.

Edwin Ebisui, the council's vice chairman, said no one at the meeting disputed climate change and ocean acidification are affecting fisheries. They instead focused on what can be done to protect marine life and marine resources as these changes come.

"The question for the group was, how much can we do to either mitigate, defend against or somehow prepare for what's coming down the road," Ebisui said.

The committee drafted recommendations for the broader council to consider, including a suggestion that the state work with the private sector to develop and implement strategies for adapting to climate change.

It also suggested that the state study how many people can live in and visit Hawaii without irrevocably harming natural resources ? something it termed the "carrying capacity" of the islands. Jellings told the committee it would take "a lot of guts" to broach this question.

"How are you going to say we got to reduce 1 million tourists to be sustainable? Or 10 million tourists to become sustainable? How are you going to tell the hotel industry that? The tourism industry that?" Jellings said.

The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council will consider whether to approve the committee's draft recommendations when it meets later this month.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hawaii-fishermen-want-development-considered-145627912.html

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How the Tech Industry Is Quietly Changing the Face of American Cities

When Steve Jobs presented the initial design for his donut-like headquarters to the Cupertino City Council, in 2011, he described the building as a reaction against suburban office parks. ?We?ve come up with a design that puts 12,000 people in one building; which sounds a bit odd,? he said. ?But we?ve seen these office parks with a lot of buildings, and they get pretty boring pretty fast. We?d like to do something better.? The question, though, is better for whom?

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/lKmcSmaEvC8/how-the-tech-industry-is-quietly-changing-the-face-of-a-513266451

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Google Launches New AdSense Scorecard To Help Publishers Better Understand Their Sites' Performance

Google launched a new scorecard in AdSense today that allows site owners to see how their properties are performing relative to other AdSense publishers. The scorecard is organized into three categories: revenue optimization, site health and Google+ (because everything Google does needs to have a bit of Google+ built-in). For each of these, Google assigns a rating between one and five and suggests improvements for increasing traffic and revenue.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/rjK37FAZJ5o/

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Even the DaVinci of Latte Art Can't Compete With This Coffee Printer

A fancy design in the foam atop your latte can make your morning cup of coffee even more of a pick me up. But even the world's most artistically-inclined baristas can't compete with this coffee machine that prints photos, submitted by the customer, directly on their latte.

Engineered by a Taiwanese convenience store as a way to really personalize its customers' drinks?and as a clever marketing stunt to lure people away from Starbucks?the coffee printer actually kind of cheats. Most baristas will create an image on a latte by swirling and manipulating the milk foam, but this machine instead dusts the latte with an edible powder?cocoa or coffee grinds presumably?using a computer-controlled print head that results in surprisingly high quality images.

So latte art purists will probably scoff at its technique, but regular coffee fans might want to find a way to frame these on their walls.

Source: http://gizmodo.com/even-the-davinci-of-latte-art-cant-compete-with-this-c-514025300

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UFC 161?s Three Stars: James Krause, Shawn Jordan and Stipe Miocic?s night

UFC 161 wasn't the greatest of cards, but some fighters did stand out. Who stood out for you? Speak up on Facebook or Twitter.

No. 1 star -- James Krause: In 2009, Krause had two fights in the WEC. He lost to Donald Cerrone and Ricardo Lamas and missed his chance to get into the UFC when it merged with the WEC. Krause kept training and kept fighting, putting together a seven-fight win streak in promotions like Resurrection Fighting Alliance and Shark Fights.

He was ready when the UFC called and asked him to fill in at the last minute for a tough match-up with Sam Stout. He not only had an entertaining fight with Stout, he finished him with a guillotine with 13 seconds left in the fight. He won both a Fight of the Night bonus and a Submission of the Night bonus, totaling $100,000.* After years of training and fighting in smaller promotions, that money is an excellent reward for keeping the faith.

No. 2 star -- Shawn Jordan: Perhaps it's just that Shawn Jordan is a really busy guy. He has many items on his to-do list, and he doesn't have time to waste on knocking out a fighter. He quickly finished Pat Barry, earning the TKO in 59 seconds. Next item on the to-do list? Heading to the bank to cash his $50,000 Knockout of the Night bonus.*

No. 3 star -- Stipe Miocic: Does it actually take throwing a kitchen sink at Roy Nelson's head to knock him out? Because Miocic's strikes were just short of kitchen-sink-level, and Nelson remained standing. That Miocic was able to put such a beating on Nelson showed that he is back to being the striking stud he was before being knocked out by Stefan Struve.

*UFC bonuses are paid out after fighters have passed their post-fight drug tests.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/ufc-161-three-stars-james-krause-shawn-jordan-153134442.html

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Ciara gets served legal papers mid-concert

Celebs

Ashley Majeski TODAY contributor

13 hours ago

Audience members throwing flowers, notes -- even their underwear -- onto the stage while a singer performs isn't unusual, but Ciara received a very different kind of "gift" during a performance on Saturday night: legal papers.

The singer, who was headlining the 2013 Los Angeles Gay Pride Festival, was in the middle of performing her hit song "Body Party" when an audience member made it to the front of the stage and placed legal papers into her hand. Still singing, Ciara barely glanced at the papers before throwing them off the stage and into the crowd.

An audience member picked up the documents and told a TMZ cameraman, "She got served. She threw it away but she got served though."

According to multiple outlets, the singer is being sued for breach of contract by The Factory, a Los Angeles nightclub that she was scheduled to appear at on Friday night. The singer canceled her gig at the club so that she could attend and perform at the LA Gay Pride Festival. Her team claims they gave the club plenty of notice and even tweeted on the singer's verified Twitter account that she would only be performing at the festival, but the nightclub is still suing her.

The singer, who performed in a red leather and lace ensemble, seemed unfazed by the legal trouble. She finished her performance and later tweeted about how much fun she had at the event.

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/singer-ciara-gets-served-legal-papers-middle-concert-6C10272130

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New Android apps worth downloading: Next Browser, ArtFlow, Minecraft - Pocket Edition update

Get some high-quality web browsing done this week with today's first app worth downloading, Next Browser. It includes speedy browsing speeds and tons of cool features. Following that is ArtFlow, a tablet drawing app that packs lots of features, especially if you upgrade to the ?pro? version. Finally, there's an update to Minecraft ? Pocket Edition, the survival adventure and creation game.

What?s it about? Next Browser prides itself on speed and ease of use, providing a web experience that's quick, simple and highly convenient.

What?s cool? There are a lot of browser alternatives in the Google Play Store, and it can be hard for any one browser to stand apart from the others. Next Browser tries to make its mark by being easy to use and full of convenient features. It includes a speed dial function that lets user quickly pop open their favorite, most-visited sites, an easy search function that makes finding what you're looking for easy, and even supports voice for firing up your web searches. You also get browser extensions, tabbed browsing, and the ability to sync your bookmarks, among other items.

Who?s it for? Android users in the market for a new browser get a lot of cool options and features with Next Browser.

What?s it like? Check out Opera Browser and Dolphin Browser for a couple of great browsing alternatives on Android.

What?s it about? Tablet sketch and paint app ArtFlow lets you turn your Android device into a drawing pad with a number of cool features.

What?s cool? You've probably seen drawing apps before for your Android devices, but the thing that sets ArtFlow apart is the scope of its features, especially in the paid ?pro? version. The app includes the ability to undo actions, draw and paint on multiple levels, and access to tons of different brushes and other elements to get exactly what you want out of your drawings. The free version of the app includes a fair amount of tools and capabilities, but you'll get way more out of the paid version, including the ability to export your finished works as .PSD files.

Who?s it for? Digital artists will find a lot of utility in ArtFlow, both in the paid and free versions.

What?s it like? Check out SketchBook Ink and Sketch n Draw Photo Pad for more drawing on your Android devices.

What?s it about? Another update to Minecraft ? Pocket Edition adds more features to bring the mobile version of the indie darling more into line with its PC counterpart.

What?s cool? Minecraft has appealed to millions of players because of its two-fold gameplay. It's a game about surviving, with players searching a procedurally generated world, building houses and making tools, in order to survive the night, when deadly monsters begin to roam the world. But it's also a game about creation, and allows players to make detailed creations and even work together with other players in both modes. Minecraft ? Pocket Edition still isn't quite as full-featured as the PC original, but continual updates keep adding more great features. The latest additions are things like buckets and other tools, new textures, bug fixes and more that make the game even more immersive.

Who?s it for? Fans of Minecraft on PC or players who want to explore a deep and interesting game world should check out Pocket Edition.

What?s it like? Try some similar (sometimes even slightly clone-like) titles, such as Block Story and DroidCraft.

Download the Appolicious Android app

Source: http://www.androidapps.com/tech/articles/13526-new-android-apps-worth-downloading-next-browser-artflow-minecraft-pocket-edition-update

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Turkey's Erdogan warns patience with protests will run out

By Ralph Boulton and Parisa Hafezi

ISTANBUL/ANKARA (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan warned protesters who have taken to the streets across Turkey demanding his resignation that his patience has its limits and compared the unrest with an army attempt six years ago to curb his power.

Riot police used teargas and water cannon to disperse anti-government protesters from a square in the capital, Ankara, just a few kilometers from where Erdogan spoke.

He held six rallies on Sunday, a measure of tensions after a week of the biggest demonstrations and worst rioting of his decade in power. Thousands waved red Turkish flags and shouted Allahu Akbar (God Is Greatest) as he accused protesters of attacking women wearing headscarves and desecrating mosques by taking beer bottles into them.

"I believe in Erdogan and his path. We will not let some looters hijack our country and our flag," said a housewife who gave her name as Zeynep, waving a national flag with Erdogan's picture emblazoned on it.

In the commercial center Istanbul, tens of thousands flooded the central Taksim Square, where protests began nine days ago when police used teargas and water cannon against a peaceful demonstration over plans to build on a park there. Many see Turkey's secular order threatened by Erdogan.

Protesters, many camped out in tents, now control a large area around the square, with approach roads barricaded by masonry, paving stones and steel rods. Police have withdrawn completely from the area, water cannon kept hundreds of meters away by the side of the Bosphorus waterway.

Western countries have held up Erdogan's Turkey as an example of an Islamic democracy that could be emulated elsewhere in the Middle East. Violent police action, however, has drawn criticism from the West and Erdogan has increasingly accused foreign forces of trying to aggravate the troubles.

He also rounded on speculators, foreign and domestic, in the country's capital markets, vowing to "choke" those who he said were growing rich off "the sweat of the people", and urging Turks to put their money in state not private banks.

"Those who attempt to sink the bourse, you will collapse ... If we catch your speculation, we will choke you. No matter who you are, we will choke you," he said.

Turkey's financial markets were turbulent last week and investors are preparing for more volatility this week.

Early on Friday, the lira hit its weakest point against its euro/dollar basket since October 2011, while Istanbul's main share index lost around 15 percent over the week. The yield of Turkey's two-year benchmark sovereign bond hit a six-month high on Thursday.

The E-COUP

Three people have been killed and around 5,000 injured in the troubles rocking a country faced with war across its southern border with Syria.

"We were patient, we will be patient, but there is an end to patience, and those who play politics by hiding behind the protesters should first learn what politics means," Erdogan said, in one of his most strongly worded speeches since the troubles began.

Erdogan did not specify who he thought was 'hiding behind the protesters'; but one of his proudest achievements has been in combating a conservative secularist establishment, especially an army that had toppled four governments in four decades.

Erdogan, who critics say has become authoritarian after three election victories in a row, compared the troubles with a confrontation with the army that became known as the "e-Coup".

"Today, we are exactly where we were on April 27, 2007."

On that date, the army issued a memorandum on its website denouncing plans to have Abdullah Gul, co-founder with Erdogan of the AK Party, appointed as president. The move would give AKP broad control over the state apparatus and the generals suggested they could act to stop it in defense of secularism.

Erdogan's government had been expected, like others before it, to bow to the will of the military. But it faced down the army, chided it publicly for its intervention and went ahead with Gul's appointment.

It was a definitive moment in relations with the military, many of whose top generals have since been jailed after investigation of alleged coup plots against Erdogan.

The Ergenekon plot had hinged on stirring widespread protests throughout Turkey and public disorder, followed then by bombings and assassinations that would clear the way for an army takeover to restore order.

Erdogan clearly feels there are potentially powerful forces still ranged against him.

Underscoring the drama of the moment, Erdogan, who denies Islamist ambitions for Turkey, made reference to two of his political models - former prime minister Adnan Menderes, hanged after a 1960 coup, and Turgut Ozal, a reforming president who some believe was poisoned to death.

"My beloved brothers, we're walking towards a better Turkey. Don't allow those who attempt to plant divisive seeds to do so," Erdogan said at another speech in the southern city of Adana on Sunday, from atop of a bus emblazoned with his picture and the AK Party's slogan, "Big Country, Big Power".

(Editing by Nick Tattersall and Andrew Heavens)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/turkeys-erdogan-warns-patience-protests-run-010207828.html

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