France pushes for action as Syria strikes rebels

AMMAN, Jordan?? Syrian tanks bombarded hideouts of army defectors near the central town of Rastan on Thursday, a resident and activists said, two months after the authorities said they had regained control of the important region.

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Activists said around 50 tanks and armored vehicles fired anti-aircraft guns and machine guns into farmland on the edge of Rastan, 12 miles north of the restive city of Homs.

The town was the scene at the end of October of the first major fighting between troops loyal to President Bashar Assad and army defectors in the eight-month uprising against his rule.

"The shelling is concentrating on Rastan's western farms," said a resident of the town, who gave his name as Abu Salah. "I have called several people who live there and loyalist officers answered their mobile phones instead. They were either killed or arrested."

Thousands of soldiers have bolted from the regular army since it started cracking down on an the eight-month popular protest movement to remove Assad. They have formed armed units loosely linked to the umbrella "Free Syrian Army", led by officers now hiding in neighboring Turkey.

Story: 5 children among 23 civilians killed in Syria, rights group says

Meanwhile, France has called for a "secured zone to protect civilians" in Syria, the first time a major Western power has suggested international intervention on the ground during the uprising.

'Legitimate partner'
Foreign Minister Alain Juppe also described Syria's exiled opposition National Council as "the legitimate partner with which we want to work", the biggest international endorsement yet for the nascent opposition body.

A spokesman for European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the EU was ready to engage with the Syrian National Council (SNC) and other opposition groups, but stressed the need for them to maintain a peaceful, non-sectarian approach.

Asked at a news conference on Wednesday after meeting the SNC president if a humanitarian corridor was an option for Syria, Juppe ruled out military intervention to create a "buffer zone" in northern Syria but suggested a "secured zone" may be feasible to protect civilians and ferry in humanitarian aid.

"If it is possible to have a humanitarian dimension for a secured zone to protect civilians, that then is a question which has to be studied by the European Union on the one side and the Arab League on the other side," Juppe said.

Story: Army defectors threaten to transform Syrian uprising into civil war

Further details of the proposal were not immediately available. Until now, Western countries have imposed economic sanctions on Syria but have shown no appetite for intervention on the ground in the country, which sits on the fault lines of the ethnic and sectarian conflicts across the Middle East.

The U.S. Embassy in Damascus has urged its citizens in Syria to depart "immediately."

Nearly 4,000 people have been reported killed in the military crackdown on the popular uprising since March.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to his report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45426952/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/

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October durable goods orders fell 0.7 percent (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Business orders for long-lasting manufactured goods fell for a second straight month in October.

While much of the weakness came from a big drop in demand for commercial aircraft, a key category that tracks business investment spending fell by the largest amount since January.

The Commerce Department says that orders for durable goods fell 0.7 percent in January following a September decline of 1.5 percent. Orders for core capital goods, considered a good proxy for business investment spending, dropped 1.8 percent, the biggest decline since a 4.8 percent fall in January.

Manufacturing has been one of the strongest sectors in the economy in this sub-par recovery, but this sector slowed this year as consumer demand faltered and auto factories had trouble getting parts following the March natural disasters in Japan.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111123/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/us_durable_goods

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Apple opens doors to subscription gaming on iOS | iLounge News

Apple is expanding its in-app subscription model to include game titles, according to a report from Bloomberg. Seattle-based game publisher Big Fish Games has received approval from Apple to offer users access to multiple game titles for a single recurring monthly fee. Dubbed Play Instantly, the subscription service will be offered through a single iOS app that will deliver unlimited access to a number of the company?s popular game titles streamed to the user?s device via Wi-Fi, allowing the player to easily switch between different games without having to download each title individually. Big Fish Games has also announced plans to offer a free, ad-supported version of the game service that will limit play to 30 minutes per day. Paid subscriptions are expected to initially cost $5 per month with an increase to $7 per month as more titles are added. The application and subscription service are initially available in the U.S. only. Big Fish Play Instantly is available from the U.S. App Store as a free download. [via Mac Rumors]

Update (5:00 EST): The application is no longer available on the App Store. No explanation has been given as to the reason for its disappearance.? We have reached out to the developer for comment and will update the story as more information becomes available.

Update (6:30 EST): According to another report from Bloomberg, Play Instantly was removed by Apple earlier today, after having been available on the App Store since November 18th. Paul Thelen, founder of Big Fish Games indicates that the company was ?notified [by Apple] that the app was removed,? and is ?trying to follow up with Apple to try to figure out what happened.?? Thelen indicated to Bloomberg that ?Apple had even signed off on a press release issued earlier today.? The Bloomberg report also notes that Tom Neumayr, an Apple spokesman, declined to comment.

Source: http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/news/comments/apple-opens-doors-to-subscription-gaming-on-ios/

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HP Pavilion dv7-6b55dx

The HP Pavilion dv7-6b55dx ($699.99 list at Best Buy), a budget desktop replacement laptop, has a battery capable of lasting over nine hours and several wireless technologies working under its sleek aluminum body. Its Core i5 processor offered solid performance in day-to-day, and considering its price point, this laptop can compete with the best of them.

Design
The dv7-6b55dx has the same brushed, dark umber aluminum lid and palm rest as the Editors' Choice HP Pavilion dv7-6163cl ($949.99 list, 4 stars). A small HP logo sits in the lower-left hand corner, and illuminates when the laptop is turned on. A silver band lines the edge of the laptop, breaking up the deep brown design. The entire system weighs 6.94 pounds, and 1.05 pounds of that total weight can be attributed to its 9-cell 100Wh battery. The battery is so big that it actually raises the laptop up at a slight angle in the back. The HP dv7-6163cl has the same battery, but weights slightly more (7.4 pounds) than the dv7-6b55dx.

The 17.3-inch screen is framed by a glossy black bezel and displays in 1,600-by-900 resolution, which translates to 720p HD. If you're looking for a true 1080p HD viewing experience, you'll have to start looking at laptops like the Acer Aspire AS8950G-9839 ($1,499.99 street, 4 stars), which come at a premium. However, you can export video on the laptop to an external display in 1080p through the HDMI port or built-in WiDi 2.0 streaming technology, which allows you to wirelessly display your computer's content (provided you have a Netgear Push2TV adapter to receive the signal).

Its chiclet-style keyboard is full-size and has a numeric keypad to boot. The trackpad has a light texture, and provided a comfortable surface to navigate on. The separate mouse buttons where easy to click, providing little resistance to register a tap. The entire touchpad is framed by a white light, which will help users that like to work late nights.

Features
The dv7-6b55dx comes equipped with several standout features such as two USB 3.0 ports and WiMAX 4G broadband. Topping off the feature list are two USB 2.0 ports, a tray-loading DVD+-RW drive, VGA video output, media card reader (SD, MMC), two headphone and one mic jack, Ethernet port, fingerprint reader, and a Webcam above the screen. The Pavilion dv7-6b55dx also features the sexy Beats Audio software, which allows you to ramp up the bass and tailor your listening experience depending on if you're watching a movie, listening to a podcast, or playing music. The Beats Audio software ultimately helps output better sound whether you're listening through headphones or through HP's laptop speakers. The built-in HP triple bass subwoofers certainly helped create more depth in sound.

Its 750GB hard drive should be sufficient to hold all your digital content with room to spare. However, it does come loaded with some bloatware. Bing Bar, Blio ereader, Evernote, and a desktop shortcut to eBay top off the list.

Best Buy offers an extended warranty program, which gives customers an extra year of protection beyond the one-year warranty of most system manufacturers. There are two plans in this extended warranty program. The standard plan ($119.99) covers the system against normal wear and tear, power surge damage, and includes a "No Lemon" guarantee in which Best Buy will simply replace the computer if it requires more than four repairs during the coverage period. Best Buy's advanced plan ($219.99) offers all this, and also covers the system against accidental damage from drops and spills. Other special offers can be found online or in stores, like discounts on printers, software, and tech support plans which are available with any new PC purchased through Best Buy.

Performance
The dv7-6b55dx is equipped with a 2.4GHz Intel Core i5-2430M processor and 8GB of RAM. In day-to-day tasks, the dv7-6b55dx is a solid performer, as shown in our PCMark 7 test (2,406). A Core i5 processor in the sub-$700 price range is fairly standard, so there wasn't a huge variation in performance scores among laptops like the Asus U56E-BBL6 ($699.99 list, 4 stars) (2,255) and Dell Inspiron i17R-6434DBK ($749.99 list, 3.5 stars) (2,240). In more CPU-intensive tasks, there weren't any major differences in scores. For instance, it took the dv7-6b55dx 4 minutes 2 seconds to run through our Photoshop CS5 script, while it took the Asus U56E-BBL6 the same amount of time (4:02) and the Dell i17-6434DBK 4:09. Likewise, in Cinebench R11.5, a 3D rendering test, the dv7-6b55dx scored 2.71 points where the Asus U56E-BBL6 scored 2.68.

The dv7-6b55dx doesn't come equipped with a discrete graphics card, like the HP dv7-6163cl (AMD Radeon HD 6770M). Rather it has Intel integrated graphics, which won't get you as far as a dedicated chip would on the gaming grid. The dv7-6b55dx wasn't able to garner a playable frame rate average (30fps is considered playble) in either DirectX 10 Crysis (13.6 frames per second) or DirectX 9 Lost Planet 2 (20 fps); whereas the HP dv7-6163cl tore through Crysis (53fps) on Medium quality settings and 1,024-by-768 resolution. So if you want to play anything beyond World of Warcraft, you'll have to start considering laptops in the $900 price range.

In our MobileMark 2007 battery test, the dv7-6b55dx's 100Wh battery lasted 9 hours 33 minutes, longer than the HP dv7-6163cl's same-size (100Wh)battery (8:24) and Dell XPS 15z (Microsoft)'s ($999 direct, 4 stars) smaller 54Wh battery (7:13).

The HP Pavilion dv7-6b55dx has a lot of features to recommend it, like WiDi 2.0, WiMAX 4G, and USB 3.0. However, the Editors' Choice Asus U56E-BBL6 offers the same features at the same price, but in a slightly more portable 15.6-inch package. If your work/life requires a bigger screen, longer battery life (2 hours more than Asus), better audio quality (though not by much), and more security out of its fingerprint reader, then the dv7-6b55dx might be the better option. But it's not quite enough to usurp the Asus U56E-BBL6 as the current Editors' Choice, if only because it got there first.

BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS:

COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the HP Pavilion dv7-6b55dx with several other laptops side by side.

More laptop reviews:
??? Asus Zenbook UX31-RSL8
??? HP ProBook 4430s
??? HP Pavilion dv7-6b55dx
??? Sony VAIO VPC-F237FX/B
??? Samsung Series 9 (NP900X3A-B01UB)
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/vJquk2ikdT0/0,2817,2396822,00.asp

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Newt Gingrich in the media crosshairs

Newt Gingrich's rise in the polls is followed by the inevitable closer look at his record. Can Newt Gingrich survive the scrutiny?

Newt Gingrich, welcome to the top of the pack.

Skip to next paragraph

After Herman Cain?s rapid ascent, journalists everywhere turned their poison pens to the new GOP frontrunner. We detailed Cain?s trip through the press wringer here.

Now, it?s Gingrich?s turn.

That first quote is from this POLITICO piece where other brainy conservatives take the former Speaker?s intellectual bona fides down a peg.

Then, you might consider a look at these two pieces, one from iWatch News and one from POLITICO, that delve into Gingrich?s work as a lobbyist advocate in his think tank and two for-profit groups which raked in $100 million in revenue over the last decade.

While Gingrich has vowed he was never a lobbyist, one conservative scholar at the American Enterprise Institute - where Gingrich once held a post - notes that ?if I were to write a Wikipedia definition of lobbying it might not be all that different from their description? while adding that Gingrich?s enterprises ?may have avoided lobbying members face to face.?

That?s in addition to Bloomberg?s widely-reported findings of Gingrich?s work for favored conservative punching bag (and government-sponsored mortgage behemoth) Freddie Mac, which netted him $1.6 million over several years.

And that?s all before he raised a decidedly non-GOP mainstream opinion (at least among the other candidates) about immigration in last night?s GOP debate. Fox News called the following ?Newt?s Big Risk?:

?I do not believe that the people of the United States are going to take people who have been here a quarter century ? who have children and grandchildren, who are members of the community, who may have done something 25 years ago ? separate them from their families, and expel them. ? I don?t see how the ? the party that says it?s the party of the family is going to adopt an immigration policy which destroys families that have been here a quarter century. And I?m prepared to take the heat for saying: Let?s be humane in enforcing the law ? without giving them citizenship, but by finding a way to create legality so that they are not separated from their families.?

Keep your eyes peeled for long-form stories about Gingrich?s background over the next several weeks. It will be key to determining whether the candidate can hold up while his record comes under intense scrutiny.

What?s the value of such scrutiny? Isn?t this just digging up old skeletons? Isn?t the future more important? In some sense, yes. But as Mitt Romney is dogged with every day, voters are often as concerned - and rightly so - with what candidates have done in their past, not what they say they?ll do in the future.

Go beyond:

Like your politics unscrambled? Check out DCDecoder.com

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/pcQL40LYVKI/Newt-Gingrich-in-the-media-crosshairs

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Trash Talkin? Tuesday

Trash Talkin’ Tuesday

Whiskey For Pregnant Women?–The Frisky Michelle Obama’s Offends NASCAR Crowd?–HollyWire Mike Rowe Facing a Lawsuit?–Right Celebrity Katy Perry Squashes Pregnancy Rumors–The Celebrity Cafe Pauly D [...]

Trash Talkin’ Tuesday Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2011/11/22/trash-talkin-tuesday-24/

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White House says US policy has weakened Iran (AP)

WASHINGTON ? U.S. National Security Advisor Tom Donilon says Iran has been weakened under the Obama administration, refuting Republican critics who say the White House policy has been ineffective.

Donilon spoke just hours before a scheduled foreign policy debate by GOP presidential candidates.

He told experts at the Brookings Institution on Tuesday that Iran's influence is shrinking across the Middle East, including in neighboring Iraq, due to international sanctions, the revolts of the Arab Spring and what he called Tehran's "intransigence."

Donilon's comments came two weeks after the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog found that Iran had engaged in nuclear weapons research and one day after the U.S. expanded sanctions to include Iran's petrochemical industry and central bank.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111122/ap_on_re_us/us_iran_white_house

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