Separate attacks kill 32 people across Iraq

BAGHDAD (AP) ? A string of nearly a dozen apparently coordinated bombs and a shooting in cities across Iraq killed at least 32 and wounded dozens Sunday, extending a wave of violence that is raising fears of a return to widespread killing a decade after the U.S.-led invasion.

Violence has spiked sharply in Iraq in recent months, with the death toll rising to levels not seen since 2008. Nearly 2,000 have been killed since the start of April.

Most of the car bombs hit Shiite-majority areas and were the cause of most of the casualties, killing 26. The blasts hit half a dozen cities and towns in the south and center of the country. There was no claim of responsibility for any of the attacks, but they bore the hallmark of al-Qaida in Iraq, which uses car bombs, suicide bombers and coordinated attacks to target security forces, members of Iraq's Shiite majority, and others.

The blasts began when a parked car bomb went off early morning in the industrial area of the city of Kut, killing three people and wounding 14 others. That was followed by another car bomb outside the city targeted a gathering of construction workers that killed two and wounded 12, according to police.

In a teahouse hit by the blast, a blood-stained tribal headdress and slippers were strewn on the floor, along with overturned chair and couches. Kut is located 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Baghdad.

In the oil-rich city of Basra by the Gulf coast in southern Iraq, a car bomb exploded in a busy downtown street, police said. As police and rescuers rushed to the scene of the initial blast, the second car exploded. A total of six people were reported killed. Cleaners were seen brushing off debris of the car bomb that damaged nearby cars and shops.

About an hour later, two parked car bombs ripped through two neighborhoods in the southern city of Nasiriyah, 320 kilometers (200 miles) southeast of Baghdad, killing one and wounding 17, another police officer said.

And in the town of Mahmoudiya, 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of Baghdad, two civilians were killed and nine wounded when a car bomb went off in an open market.

In the Shiite holy city of Najaf, 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Baghdad, a blast struck a produce market, killing eight and wounding 28. Afterwards, watermelons, tomatoes and apples were scattered on the ground where a bulldozer was loading charred and twisted stalls and cars into a lorry.

And in Madain, a roadside bomb and then a car bomb exploded, killing three and wounding 14. Madain is about 20 kilometers (14 miles) southeast of Baghdad.

Near Hillah, a car bomb exploded in a parking lot, killing one and wounding nine. Hillah is about 95 kilometers (60 miles) south of Baghdad.

The shooting happened near the restive northern city of Mosul. Police officials say gunmen attacked police guarding a remote stretch of an oil pipeline, killing four and wounding five. Mosul, some 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad, has been the scene of some of the deadliest unrest outside of the Baghdad area in recent weeks.

In the northern city of Tuz Khormato, a roadside bomb targeted a passing police patrol, killing two policemen and wounding another, another police officer said. The town is about 200 kilometers (130 miles) north of Baghdad.

Medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. Officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they weren't allowed to release the information.

The attacks came a day after the leader of al-Qaida's Iraq arm, known as the Islamic State of Iraq, defiantly rejected an order from the terror network's central command to stop claiming control over the organization's Syria affiliate, according to a message purportedly from him. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's comments reveal his group's determination to link its own fight against the Shiite-led government in Baghdad with the cause of rebels trying to topple the Iran-backed Syrian regime.

___

Associated Press writers Sameer N. Yacoub and Adam Schreck contributed.

___

Follow Sinan Salaheddin on Twitter at twitter.com/sinansm

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/separate-attacks-kill-32-people-across-iraq-111557848.html

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Kanye West's Yeezus Track List Leaks: You Can't Control Everything

West has tried his hardest to keep Yeezus under wraps, but others haven't quite kept their end of the bargain.
By James Montgomery

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1709038/kanye-west-yeezus-track-list-leak.jhtml

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Iran votes for new president, Khamenei slams U.S. doubts

By Yeganeh Torbati and Zahra Hosseinian

DUBAI (Reuters) - Millions of Iranians voted to choose a new president on Friday, urged by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to turn out in force to discredit suggestions by arch foe the United States that the election would be a sham.

The 50 million eligible voters had a choice between six candidates to replace incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Having been vetted by Iran's electoral authorities, none is seen a challenge to the Islamic Republic's 34-year-old system of clerical rule.

Polling stations closed five hours later than planned in the capital Tehran because of what Iranian state media reported were large queues of people waiting to cast their vote. Voting was extended by four hours across the rest of the country.

With authorities estimating a turnout of over 70 percent, final results are unlikely to be announced until Saturday.

The first presidential election since a disputed 2009 contest led to months of unrest is unlikely to change rocky ties between the West and the OPEC nation of 75 million, but it may bring a softening of the antagonistic style favored by Ahmadinejad.

World powers in talks with Iran over its nuclear program are looking for any signs of a recalibration of its negotiating stance after eight years of intransigence.

Voting in the capital Tehran, Khamenei called on Iranians to vote in large numbers and derided Western misgivings about the credibility of the vote.

"I recently heard that someone at the U.S. National Security Council said 'we do not accept this election in Iran'," he said. "We don't give a damn."

On May 24, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry questioned the credibility of the election, criticizing the disqualification of candidates and accusing Tehran of disrupting Internet access.

All the remaining contenders except current chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili have criticized the conduct of diplomacy that has left Iran increasingly isolated and under painful economic sanctions.

REVOLUTIONARY VALUES

After casting his vote, Jalili said: "Everyone should respect the name that comes out of the ballot boxes and the person people choose," according to ISNA news agency.

Hossein, a 27-year-old voter in Tehran who belongs to the hardline Basij volunteer militia, said he would vote for Jalili, 47, Khamenei's national security adviser and a former Revolutionary Guard who lost a leg in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

"He is the only one I can trust to respect the values of the revolution ... He feels and cares for the needy," Hossein said.

On the other end of the political spectrum, many liberal-minded Iranians backed Hassan Rohani, the only cleric in the race. Though a moderate conservative, he has courted support from reformists by offering a more progressive policy agenda.

"I am a reformist and at best he is only a moderate but I voted for him because he is the best we have got at this point," said Sara who cast her vote in northern Tehran.

The Guardian Council, a state body that vets all candidates, barred several hopefuls, notably former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, one of the Islamic Republic's founding fathers seen as sympathetic to reform, as well as Ahmadinejad's close ally Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie.

This narrowing of the field prompted concerns of a low turnout which the supreme leader sought to counter.

"What is important is that everyone takes part," Khamenei said. "Our dear nation should come (to vote) with excitement and liveliness, and know that the destiny of the country is in their hands and the happiness of the country depends on them."

INFLEXIBLE STANCE

Of five conservative candidates professing unwavering obedience to Khamenei, only three are thought to stand any chance of winning the vote, or making it through to a second round run-off in a week's time.

Nuclear negotiator Jalili, who advocates maintaining a robust, ideologically-driven foreign policy, is seen as the main conservative contender.

The other two, Tehran mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and former foreign minister Velayati, have pledged never to back away from pursuing Iran's nuclear program but have strongly criticized Jalili's inflexible negotiating stance.

Rohani has also defended Iran's nuclear rights but stressed the importance of working constructively with world powers to alleviate the effects of sanctions.

The opposition Kaleme website said Rohani's campaign headquarters had sent a letter to the Guardian Council urging it to remove the name of Mohammad Reza Aref - a reformist candidate who dropped out this week in favor of Rohani - from ballot papers. The complaint said voting slips in some polling stations carried Aref's name and this could create confusion.

With no reliable opinion polls in Iran, it is hard to gauge the public mood, let alone the extent to which Khamenei and the Revolutionary Guards exert their influence over the ballot. But indications pointed to a surge of excitement among voters.

2009 CRACKDOWN

Security has been tight and campaigning subdued compared to the euphoric rallies that preceded the 2009 polls when reformist supporters thought they scented the prospect of change in Iran.

Those hopes were dashed when Ahmadinejad was returned to office by results the reformists said were rigged.

Human rights groups have criticized Iran for further arrests and curbs on activists and journalists ahead of Friday's poll and the disqualification of 678 people registered as candidates.

Iranian officials dispute accusations of human rights abuses and call the charges politically motivated. They also say elections in Iran are free, fair and democratic.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iranians-start-voting-select-successor-ahmadinejad-034531324.html

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Copyright Bullies: Sydney law firm targeting downloaders ...

At the end of last month, it came to light that Sydney-based Marque Lawyers has issued letters to Australian ISPs to ask them to hand over details about the identity of their users who have allegedly used peer to peer Internet file sharing platforms such as BitTorrent in a way that infringes copyrighted content owned by Marque's clients.

The exact identity of Marque's clients is still unknown. Apparently some of the ISPs immediately responded to Marque, refusing to provide the details of their users. In response to that, Marque made known that it was considering applying to a court for a 'preliminary discovery order' to access this information. Ironically, Marque has previously argued that this kind of lawsuit is not entirely appropriate due to the difficulties in associating an IP address with a real person.

In recent years, the use of discovery for copyright owners to find out users' personal details from ISPs has been prevalent in the US. In Australia the use of this process to target suspected Internet pirates was raised in the litigation between iiNet and the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft. The decision in this case held that iiNet itself had not authorised its users to infringe copyright online, but may have left open the door for rightsholders to pursue ISPs' customers directly.

This is not the first time in Australia that rightsholders have tried to go after Internet users directly. In 2011, the 'Movie Rights Group' tried its hand at mass litigation against Australian Internet users, by contacting all major ISPs seeking the details of users who had allegedly infringed copyright online. However, the MRG does not seem to have be a success since its vice-president left the organisation and its website was shut down later in 2011.

EFA believes that this kind of bullying of Australian Internet users by rightsholders' lawyers is unethical since it scares users, who may not be able to afford legal advice themselves into settling with rightsholders by paying sums of money when what they have done may not actually be infringing copyright. Furthermore, IP addresses used to 'identify' users alleged to be infringing copyright are not a foolproof link to a 'real-life' individual.

In addition, EFA thinks that these rightsholders would be better off spending their time and money on providing legal, timely and reasonably priced distribution models for digital content in Australia rather than overzealously pursuing individual users.

Support EFA's work in promoting digital freedom, access and privacy in Australia by joining or donating today.

Source: https://www.efa.org.au/2013/06/06/law-firm-targeting-downloaders/

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Home sales close in on three-and-a-half year high

By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Home resales rose in April to the highest level in nearly 3-1/2 years and prices surged, offering the economy a buffer from the stiff headwinds posed by belt-tightening by Washington.

The National Association of Realtors said on Wednesday existing home sales advanced 0.6 percent to an annual rate of 4.97 million units, the highest level since November 2009.

The data underscored the housing market's improving fortunes as it starts to regain its lost glory. Resales were 9.7 percent higher than the same period last year.

"It's quite supportive of the overall economy," said Michelle Meyer, a senior economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York. "It's a cushion against some of the other concerns in the economy."

Economic activity appears to have slowed somewhat early in the second quarter as the effects of higher taxes and deep government spending cuts started filtering through.

Manufacturing, in particular, has been showing strains, but housing has held up surprisingly well, with the gains in home values helping to boost consumer confidence and retail sales.

The ripples from housing's recovery have also extended to the jobs market, where construction employment has been rising.

That should limit the degree to which the economy slows this quarter. It expanded at a 2.5 percent annual pace in the first three months of the year.

U.S. stocks were narrowly mixed in afternoon trading. Treasury debt prices were lower while the dollar was higher against a basket of currencies.

PRICES SOAR

Tight supplies in some parts of the country have constrained the pace of home sales, but sellers are starting to wade back into the market, attracted by rising prices.

In April, the median home sales price increased 11 percent from a year ago to $192,800, the highest level since August 2008. It was the fifth consecutive month of double-digit gains.

With prices rising, more sellers put their properties on the market. The inventory of homes on the market rose 11.9 percent from March to 2.16 million.

That represented a 5.2 months' supply at April's sales pace, up from 4.7 months in March. It remained, however, below the 6.0 months that is normally considered a good balance between supply and demand.

The market has been helped by monetary stimulus from the Federal Reserve that has kept mortgage rates near record lows. On Wednesday, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke made clear he was not yet ready to retreat from the U.S. central bank's monthly $85 billion asset purchase program.

Adding to signs that the housing recovery was becoming firmly established, distressed properties - which can weigh on prices because they typically sell at deep discounts - accounted for only 18 percent of sales last month.

That was the lowest since the Realtors group started monitoring them in October 2008. These properties, foreclosures and short sales, had made up 21 percent of sales in March.

In another bright sign, properties are selling faster. The median time on market for homes was 46 days in April, down from 62 days the prior month. That was the fewest days since the NAR started monitoring that number in May 2011. Before the market collapsed in 2006, it usually took about 90 days to sell a home.

"While there are clearly a lot of interested buyers out there snapping up homes at a rapid clip, there do not seem to be enough homes on the market," said Omair Sharif, an economist at RBS in Stamford, Connecticut.

About 44 percent of all homes sold in April had been on the market for less than a month, while only 8 percent had been on the market for a year or longer.

Last month, first-time buyers accounted for 29 percent of the transactions, with investors buying 19 percent of homes. Investors, both individuals and institutions, are mostly buying homes for renting.

Sales were up in three of the four regions, falling 3.4 percent in the Midwest.

(Editing by Andrea Ricci)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/existing-home-sales-highest-almost-3-1-2-140246267.html

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Sony VAIO SVE1512MPXS 15.5" LED Notebook - Intel Core i5 i5-3210M 2.50 GHz - Aluminum Silver

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Your on-the-go lifestyle requires a travel-friendly laptop without compromises. That's why select VAIO laptops are crafted from premium materials like magnesium and carbon fiber that are ultra lightweight yet extremely durable. And with big-time battery life and energy-efficient processors, you can stay portable and productive longer.

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Source: http://www.nextdaypc.com/main/products/details.aspx?PID=B542977&rsmainid=ND0068355

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HGST's 1.5TB laptop drive is the densest hard disk available

If you're looking for pure storage for the dollar, SSDs have nothing on good old hard disks. And WD subsidiary HGST has packed more gigabytes into a smaller space than ever before with the new Travelstar 5K1500. It's a 2.5-inch, 9.5mm thin model packing 1.5TB, giving your notebook a huge shot of extra storage space while taking up very little physical space. The two platter drive boasts 694Gb per square inch and draws a mere 1.8W, though it must spin at a miserly 5,400 RPM. Still, it can absorb 400Gs of shock for 2ms and keep on ticking -- so it should have no trouble surviving reentry. HGST's targeting notebooks, external drives, gaming consoles and AIO PC markets with the model, and will also offer an enhanced availability (EA) version for power sensitive servers and other 24/7 systems. There's no price yet, but it'll be available in June -- so you might be able to take that film editing project on the road after all.

Filed under: Storage

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

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