General John Allen to retire, won't take NATO nomination

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Marine General John Allen, who led NATO forces in Afghanistan and was caught up but later cleared in the scandal that forced CIA chief David Petraeus to resign, said Tuesday he will retire and forgo his nomination to become NATO's supreme allied commander because of his wife's health.

The decision ends the career of one of the U.S. military's most well-known leaders, who until February 10 spent 19 months in Afghanistan trying to help wind down America's longest war and strengthen Afghanistan's military to fight insurgency.

Beyond the pressures of war, Allen faced a media frenzy over a high-profile Pentagon investigation that in January cleared him of wrongdoing in his email exchanges with a Florida socialite, Jill Kelley.

The emails came to light in an investigation of CIA chief and former General David Petraeus, who preceded Allen in Afghanistan and resigned his CIA position in November over an extramarital affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell.

President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Leon made no mention of that probe in statements on Tuesday, instead extolling Allen's 38-year military career. Obama cited Allen's "extraordinary service" in the Afghan war.

"Today, I met with General John Allen and accepted his request to retire from the military so that he can address health issues within his family," Obama said in a statement.

"I am grateful for the sacrifices made by his family in supporting him during his service."

Allen, in a statement, did not give details about his decision. "The reasons for my decision are personal. I did not come to it lightly or quickly, but given the considerations behind it, I recognized in the end it was the only choice I could make."

"While I won't go into the details, my primary concern is for the health of my wife, who has sacrificed so much for so long," he said.

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He said his wife, Kathy, had stood beside him for more than 35 years and he had spent much time away from her and his two daughters. "It is now my turn to stand beside them, to be there for them when they need me most," Allen said.

In an interview with the Washington Post, Allen said he wanted to focus on helping his wife cope with chronic health issues that included an autoimmune disorder.

Allen, as the head of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan, was known for his ability to work with tribal sheikhs, a skill that also helped him turn the tide against al Qaeda in Anbar province in Iraq five years ago.

But his time in Afghanistan also was marked by a spate of incidents that enraged Afghans. They included video images of troops urinating on Taliban corpses and the burning of Korans and religious texts taken from a prison library. There were also a surge in so-called "insider attacks" on international forces by their Afghan partners.

Panetta called Allen one of the military's most outstanding battlefield leaders and a brilliant strategist, predicting Allen's leadership in Afghanistan would be remembered as "pivotal" to the 11-year-old campaign.

"The strategy he developed and implemented has put us on the right path towards completing this mission, with Afghan forces now on track to step into the lead for security nationwide this spring and to assume full security responsibility by the end of next year," Panetta said.

The White House had put his nomination to NATO on hold but after Allen was cleared said it intended to move forward with his nomination to the military's top job in Europe.

(Additional reporting by Steve Holland and Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Will Dunham, Bill Trott and Cynthia Osterman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/general-john-allen-retire-not-nato-nomination-180147484.html

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China insurer AMs apply to launch segregated funds?

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Bill Gates Says That ?Windows 8 Is Key to the Future?

Windows 8 isn?t selling very well right now, at least according to some analysts across the globe, but Microsoft continues to bet big on this heavily criticized operating system.

Bill Gates, on the other hand, says that Windows 8 is key to the future, hinting that many of the upcoming Microsoft products would actually be based on the new software.

?Here were a lot of amazing things that Steve's leadership got done with the company in the last year. Windows 8 is key to the future, the Surface computer. Bing, people are seeing as a better search product, Xbox,? he said in an interview with CBS News.

While Windows 8 is clearly essential for Microsoft?s future, we?ve also heard that Windows Blue, the first major refresh for this particular operating system, is going to spawn updates across the entire product range owned by the Redmond-based technology giant.

Windows Blue is very likely to bring significant changes not only to the Windows platform, but also to SkyDrive, Internet Explorer, Windows Phone and some other Microsoft products, as the company reportedly tries to unify these services.

What?s more, sources familiar with the matter have hinted that Windows Blue may actually be Microsoft?s first attempt to bring the large phone apps collection on the desktop version of Windows, as the lack of Modern apps remains one of the biggest setbacks of Windows 8.

Of course, these are all rumors, as Microsoft keeps everything secret, even though the company continues to look for software engineers that could help develop the new Windows Blue.

A recently published job listing confirmed that Microsoft is working on Windows Blue, while also revealing some important details about this major update.

The Start Screen will be available in Windows Blue too, but major UI changes are very likely, including significant modifications to the Metro interface.

Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Bill-Gates-Says-That-Windows-8-Is-Key-to-the-Future-330518.shtml

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A Good Day To Die Hard Movie Review | b! buzz | Know your city

Director:?John Moore

Cast:?Bruce Willis, Jai Courtney, Sebastian Koch, Yuliya Snigir and Cole Hauser

b! Says:?***

A Good Day To Die Hard is popcorn fare

With ?A Good Day To Die Hard?, the Die Hard franchise gains a bigger, but not necessarily better, addition. Bigger, because the action is bombastic and there?s Bruce Willis at his wry best (for most, this will be enough said). Far from better, because the thrills are recycled and the plot?s hackneyed. Still, while this is no Nolan-esque action hero reboot, it?s a shot of nostalgia that you will enjoy.

For the fifth installment, the action shifts to Moscow where high political drama is playing out over the arrest and trial of whistleblower Yuri Komarov (Sebastian Koch). A plot to rescue Komarov leads Jack (Jai Courtney) into a tight spot, prompting daddy John (Bruce Willis) to drop everything and scurry over to Russia to save his son. Soon enough, bullets are flying, people are dying, backs are being stabbed (literally and figuratively) thus forcing Jack & John to put their issues aside to save the day.

The only cast member worth mention is Willis and given that he?s the only reason you and we?d go back for more, it?s a relief to see him put in a good act. The action scenes require a serious suspension of logic but they are of the ?Woah!?-inducing sorts. The movie is also dripping with references aplenty to past installments, enough to keep franchise fans grinning in their seats.

But while Willis is in his badass element, our prudish censor board spoil most of the fun with John McClane?s best lines (?Yippie-kai-yay motherfucker?) tragically cut short. Also, the soppy father-son scenes (that play out with a soaring background score) are as exciting as nails dragged across a chalkboard.

Die Hard and Willis junkies need no telling, but even for the uninitiated or the indifferent, this is fun enough popcorn fare.

Source: http://know.burrp.com/b-buzz/a-good-day-to-die-hard-movie-review/49308

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NCAA acknowledges 'missteps' in Miami case

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) ? The NCAA is pressing on with its case against Miami, even after revealing Monday that it was replacing the head of its enforcement department and throwing out all ill-gotten information gleaned from two depositions that could have been very damaging for the Hurricanes.

Still, NCAA President Mark Emmert insisted the case will not be settled.

"This is going to go forward to the committee on infractions," Emmert said.

Miami's notice of allegations, essentially the document that details what the NCAA will accuse the Hurricanes of, could now be delivered as early as Tuesday. And that will usher in the sanctions portion of the process, when the Hurricanes will find out what penalties, other than the ones they've already self-imposed, still await.

Some of the fallout has already occurred. Julie Roe Lach, who was the NCAA's vice president for enforcement ? basically, its top cop ? since 2010, was ousted and has been replaced on a temporary basis by Jonathan Duncan, a lawyer with extensive experience working with the association.

"Obviously, this is an outcome that nobody wants to see on their watch or anyone else's," Emmert said. "This is something that's an embarrassment to the association and our staff."

Lach was part of the chain that approved payments to Maria Elena Perez, the attorney for convicted Ponzi scheme architect and former Miami booster Nevin Shapiro. According to a 52-page report commissioned by the NCAA and released Monday, Perez offered her help to the NCAA in the form of "using bankruptcy subpoenas to compel depositions from witnesses who had refused to cooperate."

The NCAA, in turn, provided her with specific questions to ask, those coming in an email from former investigator Ameen Najjar, dated Dec. 18, 2011. "Maria, Listed below are a number of areas we would like you to explore," began the email from Najjar.

From there, he listed 34 questions, none of which seem to be in any way related to a bankruptcy case.

The NCAA does not have subpoena power. Upon learning that Perez was willing to participate with investigators, members of the NCAA's legal team urged the enforcement department not to proceed, though were apparently ignored. And now the depositions given by former Miami equipment-room staffer Sean Allen and former Shapiro business partner Michael Huyghue ? along with any other lead that came out of their interviews ? have been tossed from the NCAA's case against the Hurricanes.

"Based upon our review, it is our opinion that the current assertions in the U. Miami Investigative Record are not based on evidence that is derived, directly or indirectly, from the depositions of Mr. Allen or Mr. Huyghue," said the report, which was prepared by Kenneth L. Wainstein, an attorney hired to lead the probe that Emmert ordered last month.

Wainstein estimated on a teleconference that about 20 percent of the case against Miami had to be tossed because of the depositions.

According to the report and other documents released by the NCAA on Monday, Perez billed the NCAA for $57,115 worth of work performed from October 2011 through July 2012 ? though Lach and other officials were expecting the amount of her work to cost roughly $15,000. The depositions of Allen and Huyghue were performed in December 2011.

Records show Perez was paid at least $19,609, and one email released by the NCAA from an investigator who worked on the case said they wanted her to depose Allen because the NCAA "did not think he would interview with us again" otherwise.

Perez did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Another email, one she wrote to Najjar, was released as part of the NCAA's package on Monday, in which she said on Jan. 31, 2012 that she was unhappy with how long it was taking her to be paid.

"Ameen, trust me when I say that if I had endless financial means I would exhaust them just to see this investigation through the end, and likewise crush those responsible for corrupting same," Perez wrote.

Allen was not contacted during the NCAA's external probe, which started late last month after Emmert said major breakdowns in the association's own procedures were discovered.

One of the more interesting elements in the report released Monday was that now-retired Associate Director of Enforcement Rich Johanningmeier ? the original point of contact for the association with Shapiro ? bought a prepaid cellphone and paid for Shapiro's prison phone calls. The NCAA spent about $8,200 "to fund communications with Mr. Shapiro, including transfers of approximately $4,500 to his prison commissary account."

What remains unclear, even now, is why it took many months for those breakdowns to come to light.

"We found very clearly the enforcement staff disregarded ... the advice they got from the legal staff," Wainstein said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ncaa-acknowledges-missteps-miami-case-185814877--spt.html

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MEET THE CANDIDATES: Adams, Blizzard vie for Laurel Hill mayor

Published: Monday, February 18, 2013 at 10:37 AM.

Editor's Note: Voters of municipal elections on March 12 will decide several positions in Crestview and Laurel Hill city governments.

To help readers make informed decisions at the polls, the News Bulletin will publish profiles of each candidate running for office in each edition of the newspaper through March 2. Today, we profile the two candidates running for mayor of Laurel Hill.

Each candidate was asked to answer the same questions and received the same amount of space to respond. Candidates appear alphabetically.

ROBBY ADAMS

Personal: Lifelong north Okaloosa County resident. Grew up just south of Laurel Hill in the Campton community and moved within Laurel Hill city limits in November 2005.

Married to his high school sweetheart, Debra Adams, for 18 years. Two children, Dylan, 8, and Aidan, 4. Employed by the USDA/Farm Service Agency as a program technician, serves as Laurel Hill's council vice chairperson and is a member of Laurel Hill School's School Advisory Council.

Relevant experience:

Appointed to Laurel Hill City Council in June 2008, began four-year term in April 2009. I have served as council vice chairperson several times and overseen the completion of the Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program grant project for Gene Clary Park. Responsibilities included planning for upgrades to Gene Clary Park that were feasible based on allocated funds and selecting vendors through the bid process.

Other education/experience: Associate of Arts in Physical Education;Associate of Science in Drafting and Design Technology. Employed as program technician with the USDA/Farm Service Agency, where my responsibilities include overseeing programs implemented by the USDA Farm Bill.Prior to my employment with the USDA/FSA, I worked as a planner at EJM Aerospace Services for six years.

Reason you seek this position: This is a tough question and maybe the standard answer shouldn't be "because I feel like I am the best person for the job." But why would anyone subject themselves or their family to the public scrutiny that comes from holding a public office?
I think I can make a difference.

The citizens and employees of the city deserve to be treated with dignity and respect and I intend to make this a priority. I will treat all citizens equally and approach all issues with an open mind. It's time to bring honesty and integrity back to the office of mayor.

Biggest issue this position faces and how you plan to address it: The city recently began a process to explore dissolving the city charter. With this process, the citizens should be given the opportunity to decide if they choose to continue as a city or if they will be better served as part of Okaloosa County.

As mayor, I want to make sure the citizens are well informed of all aspects of this decision. If the citizens choose to dissolve the city, I want to be their voice in negotiations with Okaloosa County.?

However, if the citizens choose to stay a city, I will work with the new council in continuing to pass financially responsible budgets so that we may remain a city with the least amount of tax burden upon our citizens.?

MIKE BLIZZARD

Personal: Married to Theresa Blizzard (Weaver) for 32 years. Three sons: Michael, 27; Justin, 23; and Josiah, 15. Resident of Laurel Hill since 1992.

Served as a security policeman in the United States Air Force and retired from Eglin A.F.B. in 1994. Employed as a corrections officer with the Walton County Department of Corrections, where he also serves as a field training officer. Politically conservative and a strong supporter of the U.S. Constitution.

Relevant experience:I initially served as a city council member in Laurel Hill in 1996, filling a vacant position. I was then elected to the office of mayor and served two terms, 1997-1999 and 1999-2001. I have experience in city government and the budgetary matters.

Other education/experience:I am a certified corrections officer in the state of Florida, I attended the Corrections Academy in 2005 at Santa Rosa Correctional Institution. I also have 32 credit hours of college.

Reason you seek this position:? I am seeking the office of mayor because I want to see the city of Laurel Hill remain a city.?

There has been some interest expressed in dissolving our city and I think it would be a travesty to allow this to happen. Laurel Hill has a rich history and can have a brilliant future.

Yes, we have budgetary problems, which must be addressed, but I believe we can find solutions to our problems if the mayor, city council and the citizens all work together.

Biggest issue this position faces and how you plan to address it: ?Our streets are in a deplorable condition but they did not get that way overnight.

It will take time to resolve this issue, but I think it is not an insurmountable problem. We will continue to seek grants to improve the roadways as well as try to work with Okaloosa County to seek a solution. With the gas tax money we receive each year, we can address this problem a little at a time.

The dissolution of the city will not result in the immediate paving of our streets.

Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.

Source: http://www.crestviewbulletin.com/news/government/meet-the-candidates-adams-blizzard-vie-for-laurel-hill-mayor-1.97654

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Pak signs deal to handover Gwadar port to Chinese firm

Pakistan and China on Monday signed an agreement to hand over control of the strategic Gwadar deep sea port to a Chinese company, with President Asif Ali Zardari [ Images ] saying the move would give new impetus to bilateral relations and economic cooperation.

Under the agreement for transfer of concession rights, the port will remain the property of Pakistan while the Chinese company will share profits from its operation.

China Overseas Port Holdings Limited will fully assume responsibility for Gwadar port in Balochistan province.

Speaking on the occasion? President Zardari said the agreement would give new impetus to Pakistan-China relations and take bilateral political cooperation into the realm of economic cooperation.

The handing over of the operations of Gwadar port to China is a manifestation of growing ties and shows the trust that Pakistan has in the Chinese ability to deliver on infrastructure projects, he said.

The development of a trade corridor linking Xinjiang to the Middle East through Gwadar port will enhance trade between the two countries and in the region, Zardari said.

Gwadar has strategic importance for China as around 60 per cent of its crude oil comes from Gulf countries that are close to Gwadar, he said.

The agreement was signed by Gwadar Port Authority Chairman Syed Pervez Abbas? Major General Asghar Nawaz of the army-run National Logistics Cell? AKD Security chairman Aqeel Karim Dhedi, Leo Fong of China Overseas Port Holdings and Port of Singapore Authority representative Faisal Javed.

Beijing [ Images ] provided about 75 per cent of the initial funding of USD 250 million for building the port.

On January 30, the Pakistan government had approved the transfer of the management of Gwadar port from Singapore to China, which played a key role in its construction.

It was being operated by Singapore's PSA International and needs further development to become fully operational.

Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira had said last month that PSA International could not develop or operate Gwadar "as desired".

The Chinese will make "more investments" to make the port operational, he said.

PSA International had signed a contract to manage and develop Gwadar for 40 years.

China, which is Pakistan's closest ally, had for long been a front-runner for taking over the port.

Beijing has been working to develop a string of harbours in the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea.

It has funded ports in Sri Lanka [ Images ] and has been approached to help build a port in Bangladesh.

Pakistan's former defence minister Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar had said in 2011 that Islamabad [ Images ] would be "grateful" to the Chinese government if a naval base was built at Gwadar.

? Copyright 2013 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent.

Source: http://www.rediff.com/news/report/pak-signs-deal-to-handover-gwadar-port-to-chinese-firm/20130218.htm

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