noradrenaline morna: 2013

Saturday, October 12, 2013

How to stretch Microsoft's Office 2013 free trial offer

Perhaps you're a student who only needs Microsoft Office for a limited time. Maybe you want to kick the tires on Microsoft's office suite for more than 30 days or just don't want to plunk down the money for it yet.

Here's a way to extend the free trial period for Microsoft Office so you can get the full features without paying for it (for at least 180 days).

How-To Geek posted this handy hack, which renews the 30-day trial period Microsoft offers—for up to five more times. This gives you about six months of full usage of Microsoft Office.

To do this, you'll need to find the Microsoft Shared folder under C:\Program Files\Common Files, then open a command window and run the Microsoft-provided utility, OSPREARM.EXE. Easy peasy.

The downside is you have to do this every 30 days (maybe set a calendar reminder?), but it's worth it if you want to get as much use out of your trial period as possible.

Don't forget, though, if your company participates in Microsoft's volume licensing program, you can get Office 2013 Professional Plus for just $10. That applies to many university students, major corporation employees, and even government employees (who aren't getting a lot of breaks lately).

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Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2054466/how-to-stretch-microsofts-office-2013-free-trial-offer.html#tk.rss_all
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Saturday, July 27, 2013

Neil Gaiman anuncia sua primeira incurs?o no mundo dos games com Wayward Manor,...

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Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Obama to unveil climate change plan with sweeping emissions cuts

Recognizing that Congress is unlikely to pass significant climate change legislation during his second term, President Obama will take some of the most sweeping measures available to him to unilaterally combat global warming.

The new plan, which Mr. Obama will unveil Tuesday at Georgetown University, is expected to include a ramping up of energy efficiency and renewable energy in addition to national preparations to deal with the meteorological and financial impacts of climate change. But by far the strongest element of the plan is a set of new regulations intended to slash greenhouse-gas emissions from existing coal-fired power plants ? not just power plants built in the future.

Obama intends to issue a presidential memorandum directing the Environmental Protection Agency to implement new regulations of greenhouse-gas emissions under the authority of the Clean Air Act. The president's plan is an attempt to deliver on his promise to cut carbon emissions 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, White House officials told reporters in a conference call Monday.

RECOMMENDED: Think you know the odd effects of global climate change? Take our quiz.

The move has the potential to cut annually hundreds of millions of tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) ? a potent greenhouse gas ? and far overshadow any carbon-emissions cuts the Obama administration has achieved so far through improved fuel-efficiency standards. But it could also accelerate the closure of many existing older coal-fired power plants across the country, which are already struggling to meet current standards.

"Nothing on this scale in the Clean Air Act has ever been attempted before," says Kevin Book, an energy analyst with ClearView Partners, an energy economics consulting firm in Washington. "This step will be the catalyst for the next wave of coal-fired power plant retirements. It's almost certainly going to get hung up in the courts for years."

Obama seeks to combat global warming in a variety of ways in the new plan. Among the highlights:

Create new energy-efficiency standards for federal buildings and appliances.
Ramp up enough clean-energy production on public lands to power 6 million homes by 2020.
Extend $8 billion in loan-guarantee authority to accelerate investment in advanced fossil-energy and efficiency projects.
End public financing of coal-fired plants overseas and push for free trade in clean-energy technologies.

But a concrete plan to reach a 17 percent cut in carbon emissions is seen as the cornerstone of Obama's move. That figure is widely considered a requirement for the US to be taken seriously in ongoing international climate talks. Obama wants to reinvigorate US efforts to lead in those talks, White House officials said.

Want your top political issues explained? Get customized DC Decoder updates.

They said the plan to address existing-power-plant emissions has a firm timeline ? adding credibility to the effort. The goal is to finalize power plant emissions regulations by June 2015, long enough before Mr. Obama leaves office to be solidly in force before the next administration takes over.

"We know that we have to get to work quickly in order to not only propose, but finalize the rule," said a senior White House official. "The president will be directing the EPA to start that work."

Neither the briefing for reporters nor the fact sheet and background materials provided by the White House presented an estimate for the tonnage of carbon emissions expected to be cut overall. Electricity-generating power plants emit about 2.4 billion tons of CO2 each year, roughly 40 percent of the nation?s total emissions. But the plan was still received enthusiastically by environmentalists.

"If this means a launch to begin [emissions] cuts to existing power plants, we?ll be very pleased. It?s everything we?ve been asking for,? says David Doniger, climate policy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington.

Lack of details on exactly how much tonnage of carbon emissions is expected to be cut is not a problem at this point, he and others say.

?It seems they?re not ready to say exactly what they?re going to propose,? Mr. Doniger says. ?But if they are willing to commit to [regulating] existing power plants, then that?s the core of it. That?s what we?ve been asking for. If there?s a deadline now, then that?s them carrying out the Clean Air Act the way it?s supposed to work....?

Coal-industry groups said the plan was misguided and would come at an enormous cost.

?We do not believe EPA regulations are an effective way to address concerns about global climate change,? said Robert Duncan, president and CEO of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity. ?If EPA proceeds with regulations, they should be based on adequately demonstrated technology and provide an achievable timeframe to allow the coal industry to continue advancing clean coal technologies.

The past several years have not been kind to the coal industry, given the low cost of natural gas and the development of clean energy.

In the first half of last year, for example, 165 new power generators were added in 33 states, but among the 10 states with the bulk of new generating capacity, "most of the new capacity uses natural gas or renewable energy," the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported.

The trend is expected to continue, with natural gas-fired plants accounting for 60 percent of capacity additions between 2011 and 2035, EIA found. Coal is expected to account for 7 percent.

Utilities have shuttered about 12 percent of the nation?s coal-fired generating fleet since 2010, according to M.J. Bradley & Associates, an environmental consulting firm in Concord, Mass. Most, the study said, are "small, old, and lack advanced pollution control equipment."

These trends led to a 13.1 percent falloff in CO2 pollution from coal-fired electric power plants between 2005 and 2012, according to a recent analysis of EIA data by the Environmental Integrity Project, a Washington-based environmental group.

But the first quarter of 2013 has seen a 7.1 percent increase in CO2 emissions from coal compared with the same period last year as natural gas prices rose, encouraging more use of coal, according to the analysis. Global warming emissions from coal-based electricity are projected to rise 8.7 percent this year, though they are not expected to return to the peak levels of five to 10 years ago, the EIA has projected.

New regulations directed at existing plants could turn that trend, with many more coal-fired plants shuttered ? including even newer plants that cannot meet the new standards, energy experts say.

Still, the Obama administration says cutting carbon pollution will help modernize power plants, spark innovation to create new clean-energy technologies, and put Americans to work. Greater energy efficiency will save American families money, officials add.

Moreover, they point to the rising costs from extreme weather events, which many scientists say can be amplified by the effects of global warming. Last year alone, 11 different weather and climate disaster events incurred estimated losses of more than $1 billion each across the nation. Those events together resulted in over $110 billion in estimated damages, the second-costliest year on record.

?We don?t have to choose between cutting carbon pollution to protect the health of our kids and creating jobs,? a senior administration official told reporters. ?Americans know that we can do both.?

RECOMMENDED: Think you know the odd effects of global climate change? Take our quiz.

Prosecutors want to admit calls in Zimmerman trial

POOL - George Zimmerman, right, talks with defense attorney Don West in Seminole circuit court in Sanford, Fla., Monday, June 24, 2013. Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder for the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin. (AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, Joe Burbank,Pool)

George Zimmerman, right, speaks with his attorney, Mark O'Mara, during his trial in Seminole circuit court in Sanford, Fla., Monday, June 24, 2013. Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder for the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin. (AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, Joe Burbank, Pool)

Assistant State Attorney John Guy points out defendant George Zimmerman during the state's opening argument in front of the jury in the Zimmerman trial, in Seminole circuit court, in Sanford, Fla., Monday, June 24, 2013. Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder for the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin. (AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, Joe Burbank,Pool)

The parents of Trayvon Martin, Sybrina Fulton, left, and Tracy Martin, center, are greeted by assistant state attorney John Guy during the George Zimmerman trial in Seminole circuit court, in Sanford, Fla., Monday, June 24, 2013. Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder for the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin. (AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, Joe Burbank,Pool)

SANFORD, Fla. (AP) ? Prosecutors in the George Zimmerman trial want to introduce recordings of non-emergency calls he made to law enforcement to prove the former neighborhood watch leader is guilty of second-degree murder in shooting Trayvon Martin last year.

Prosecutors planned to try to convince Judge Debra Nelson on Tuesday that a series of calls Zimmerman made to authorities about suspicious people in his central Florida neighborhood in the weeks and months before the fatal shooting are indicative of the state of mind he had that night.

State attorney John Guy said in his opening statement Monday that Zimmerman thought Martin was one of the "F------ punks" who "always get away" whom he'd observed previously in his neighborhood and called police about.

But late Monday, defense attorneys objected to the introduction of the previous calls during the questioning of a witness, saying they were being used to show prior bad acts by Zimmerman. The defense maintains this should not be admissible under the rules of evidence.

The judge said she would address the matter Tuesday and sent the jurors to the hotel where they are being sequestered for the duration of the trial, which could last several weeks.

The prosecution began opening statements in the long-awaited murder trial with shocking language, repeating obscenities Zimmerman uttered while talking to a police dispatcher moments before the deadly confrontation.

The defense opened with a knock-knock joke about the difficulty of picking a jury for a case that stirred nationwide debate over racial profiling, vigilantism and Florida's expansive laws on the use of deadly force.

"Knock. Knock," said defense attorney Don West.

"Who is there?"

"George Zimmerman."

"George Zimmerman who?"

"All right, good. You're on the jury."

Zimmerman, 29, could get life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder for gunning down Martin on Feb. 26, 2012, as the unarmed black teenager, wearing a hoodie on a dark, rainy night, walked from a convenience store through the gated townhouse community where he was staying.

When Zimmerman initially wasn't charged in the fatal shooting, Martin's family claimed Zimmerman had racially profiled Martin and police were dragging their feet in bringing charges. Zimmerman, whose mother is Hispanic and whose father is white, has denied the confrontation had anything to do with race.

Randy McClean, a criminal defense attorney in Florida with no connection to the case, called the prosecution's opening statement "brilliant" in that it described Zimmerman's state of mind. But he described the knock-knock joke as less than stellar.

"If you're defending your client for second-degree murder, you probably shouldn't start your opening with a joke," McClean said.

Guy's first words to the jury recounted the profane words Zimmerman told a dispatcher in a call shortly after spotting Martin: "F------ punks. These a-------. They always get away."

Zimmerman was profiling Martin as he followed him, Guy said. He said Zimmerman viewed the teen "as someone about to a commit a crime in his neighborhood."

"And he acted on it. That's why we're here," the prosecutor said.

Zimmerman didn't have to shoot Martin, Guy said. "He shot him for the worst of all reasons: because he wanted to," he said.

The prosecutor portrayed the then-neighborhood watch captain as a vigilante, saying, "Zimmerman thought it was his right to rid his neighborhood of anyone who did not belong."

West told jurors a different story: Martin sucker-punched Zimmerman and then pounded his head against the concrete sidewalk, and that's when Zimmerman opened fire.

Showing the jury photos of a bloodied and bruised Zimmerman, the defense attorney said, "He had just taken tremendous blows to his face, tremendous blows to his head."

West said the idea that Martin was unarmed is untrue: "Trayvon Martin armed himself with a concrete sidewalk and used it to smash George Zimmerman's head."

The prosecutor, however, disputed elements of Zimmerman's story, including his claim that Martin put his hands over Zimmerman's mouth and reached for the man's gun. Guy said none of Zimmerman's DNA was found on Martin's body, and none of the teenager's DNA was on the weapon or the holster.

But West said that doesn't prove anything, arguing that crime-scene technicians didn't properly protect Martin's hands from contamination.

Two police dispatch phone calls that could prove to be important evidence for both sides were played for the jury by the defense. Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton, left the courtroom before the second recording, which has the sound of the gunshot that killed Martin.

The first was a call Zimmerman made to a nonemergency police dispatcher, who told him he didn't need to be following Martin.

The second 911 call, from a witness, captures screams in the distant background from the struggle between Zimmerman and Martin. Martin's parents said the screams are from their son, while Zimmerman's father contends they are his son's.

Nelson ruled last weekend that audio experts for the prosecution won't be able to testify that the screams belong to Martin, saying the methods used were unreliable.

Other witnesses who testified Monday included a convenience store clerk and the 911 dispatcher who took Zimmerman's call when he was following Martin, who had gone to the convenience store to buy Skittles and a can of iced tea.

The 911 dispatcher, Sean Noffke, testified that he had advised Zimmerman not to follow Martin.

___

Follow Kyle Hightower on Twitter at http://twitter.com/KHightower

Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-06-25-Neighborhood%20Watch/id-c080015197f14db0a643dba021e9e033

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Kelly Rutherford: Bankrupt!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/06/kelly-rutherford-bankrupt/

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South Africa: Mandela in critical condition

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? The South African presidency says the health condition of Nelson Mandela has become critical.

The office of President Jacob Zuma said that the president had visited the 94-year-old anti-apartheid leader on Sunday evening and was informed by the medical team that Mandela's condition had become critical in the past 24 hours.

Zuma says in a statement that the doctors are "doing everything possible to get his condition to improve."

Mandela, who became South Africa's first black president after the end of apartheid in 1994, was hospitalized on June 8 for what the government said was a recurring lung infection.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/south-africa-mandela-critical-condition-195909065.html

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Monday, June 24, 2013

RolePlayGateway?

<^>Project: A.I.R.E.S<^>

?Subject-Re: Project AIRES Update
From: Lead, Augustus Eckridge
To: Director, John Ford
Date: October 26th, 2037

Dear Director Ford,

In response to your request I?m attached the latest projections for the project to this e-mail, however I?ve also included several various reports to expedite the process. We are making great strides toward the end goal and the team has thus far gotten along with little happenings (Barring the incident with Richter), beyond the typical professional bickering, and production is moving along at pace. The base code for the world, taken from Project: ITUS, has halved the initial generation period leaving us more flexibility to produce exemplary Programs.

By altering the parameters as discussed with yourself and the board we have managed to produce exactly what we intended. Military Smart AIs capable of command and control decisions based on ?human? impulses, though the actual process has developed differently than we expected. In week two we decided to give moderator rights to the world to several selected programs within the system, who unexpectedly began taking more active roles in the projects administration. By the next week these programs had completely reorganized our initial structure of the mock-civilization within the cluster, creating a new system of interaction between themselves and even our Team Members, to our surprise we found this actually increased their absorption rates and development by 6% and have thus elected to leave the changes unmolested. For more information on this please see Report #7.

However, sir, I must admit that it is not all roses over here. My attempted to reach HR in regards to Mr. Richter?s disgruntled harassment has gone responded too. I understand that Mr. Richter was terminated on grounds of Offensive Tendencies however his personal believes cannot be forgotten here. Mr. Richter only became violent when he discovered the purpose of Project AIRES was military. He recently was permitted back in the lab to retrieve some personal files? without a security escort! I ask that you please look into this, before it becomes a greater problem.

Sincerely,
<^>
Dr. Augustus Eckridge

Welcome to Project: A.I.R.E.S the most advanced Artificial Intelligence development undertaking ever attempted, and you are a part of it. Not for nothing of course, you?re an expert of some type whose past has some barring on the project, be it as a programmer, a developer, or even a psychologist or virtual gamer. Why those last two? Simple, because here are AAI Inc. the programmers of the top projects aren?t just making simple top-to-bottom AI with limited information and interaction capabilities like at the turn of the millennium, these are bottom-to-top AIs that begin as little more than basic code ?eggs? and blossom into being of exponentially more possibilities than their ?dumb AI? cousins. To create these ?Smart AI? the company uses a relatively new technology otherwise reserved for the public?s entertainment. Full Immersion Virtual Reality.

By building a whole world for these AI to grow up in at an accelerated rate AAI has managed to create the world most user friendly and capable computer programs ever to exist, and you, for one reason or another, are helping to pursue that dream.

Ironically this technology has done things bass-ackwards (;3) and was first introduced in the civilian sector and not in the military. The smart AI made banking and consumer relations a breeze while at that time these boundless programs were too untrusted by authority figures to be implemented in military protocols despite the facts. However recently the military has begun sojourning into world of smart AI, and to fill that new demand AAI has created a new team to work on Project: AIRES-

-Advanced

-Infantry

-Rendering
and
-Engineering

-Sector

This project uses a newly generated Server World to raise a whole different society, where competition and conflict abound creating the perfect Artificial Intelligence for Military operations, with everything from command and control programs to attack protocols designed to command UAVs and even the shadowy world of Intelligence Programs designated to infiltrate enemy systems being breed within. You are here to expedite and enhance this system. If you, like your former team member Dylan Richter, can?t handle that then there is the door. Because it?s time to dive in.

Story:

You were recruited months ago for a specialized project involving the development of Smart AI for Advanced Artificial Intelligence Incorporated, the equivalent of a modern day Microsoft and Google combined this company has got bank. And you just couldn?t say no to the opportunity of working in the most high tech lab with the greatest programmers and doctors in the industry? or the money they offered. Too bad for you though, you would have been much better off having refused?

The team dives into the virtual world that the Programs occupy on a daily basis, using Admin accounts to adjust the world as needed so that the Programs growing within advance as needed toward their end goals. In this world of mixed time periods the programs are left to compete for advancement, gaining further storage space to expand their abilities. Almost like a video game. It worked, creating immensely human military programs which would work better with their operators than any dumb AI ever could. However this success comes at a price.

When the team dives a week or so after a disgruntled colleague was terminated the normal everyday turns into a fight for survival against a deadly virus implanted in the inescapable system. This is where the game begins.

World:

Whereas typically the programs are grown in a world that greatly resembles our own to increase their synchronization with humans and thus create greater user friendliness this system was poorly suited toward military applications. To that end the world was tweaked for Project: AIRES, becoming darker, more metallic in nature, but still keeping the essence of the outer-world, with one major exception, the developers added RPG gaming elements to the server to induce even greater combat amongst the programs for a strong survive system. With every successful venture the programs complete they gain a form of experience, like in an RPG, which determines how much space they can access in their memory cubes, and thus how effective they can be. Of course under normal circumstances Admins are exempt.

Guns were removed, replaced instead with blades, armor, and more primitive weaponry in contrast to the otherwise still modern world. The society that bloomed within this world is a strange one, with an almost religious reverence for the Admins (players) who control and manage the world, a high focus on competition and gaining ?experience? to expand their horizons, and a hierarchy centered around those most daring of programs; those that take part in the dangerous gladiatorial like games call Trials.

Admins, the avatars in which the Development Team inhabit when operating within the virtual space of the world, are different from the other programs of the AI, as they are human and have access to the system consoles. Capable of altering the server at will and using any item or process regardless of their ?experience? these beings are like gods? or were until the Virus interrupted, but that will be explored by you.

OOC: Okay, so, in case you haven?t figured yet, this world greatly resembles Tron, however uses more archaic weaponry, and operates almost like Sword Art Online in the combat, save for the existence of what is called ?Surges? which take the form of various almost magical attacks or spells.

The actual game is taking place after the team is trapped by the virus, and will involve their attempts to escape, this is how we will play, with a deadly program on the loose that is taking control of the Server, intending to conquer every program and destroy them. This includes the Admins, who now have lost their abilities and must battle to escape. It?ll be fun, trust me.

The game will take place the morning before everyone gets stuck, that will be in the real world before the team dives in. I?ve yet to decide if I want to make a reservations list for backgrounds but if you have a suggestion please feel free to post it. Thanks!

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/RolePlayGateway

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Immigration reform: Can a supporter win GOP nomination in 2016?

Although Republicans in general have been under pressure to warm up to immigration reform, such an approach might not resonate in early-primary states, where GOP voters tend to be socially conservative and largely white.

By Jennifer Skalka Tulumello,?Correspondent / June 21, 2013

US Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) departs following the weekly Republican caucus luncheon at the US Capitol on Tuesday.

Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

Enlarge

Hanging over the Washington battle about immigration reform is the dicey question of how the issue might affect the White House hopes of those Republicans supporting the legislation. Namely, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and former Sunshine State governor Jeb Bush.

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Diverse faith leaders unite over religious freedom concerns ...

Washington D.C., Jun 22, 2013 / 06:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Religious leaders from a variety of faith backgrounds are speaking out against the declining role of religion in society, as well as threats to religious freedom for all faith groups.

?Our biggest challenge is coming from those who want to challenge the role of religion in society,? said Rabbi Abba Cohen, vice president for federal affairs and Washington director of Agudath Israel of America.

?We live in a world now where threats to one religion could certainly affect others,? he told CNA.

Rabbi Cohen was one of numerous religious leaders to attend the 2013 National Religious Freedom Conference in Washington, D.C. Sponsored by the Ethics and Public Policy Center?s American Religious Freedom Program, the event featured presentations and discussions by Catholic, evangelical Christian, mainline Protestant, Latter-day Saint, Eastern Orthodox, Jewish Orthodox, Seventh-day Adventist, Muslim and Sikh speakers.

The speakers join a growing number of religious freedom advocates who have voiced fears over increasing threats to religious liberty within the United States. The second Fortnight for Freedom ? announced by the U.S. bishops with the participation of those from a variety of faith backgrounds ? is currently underway as a special time of prayer, education and action on behalf of religious freedom, particularly in the areas of health care, marriage, immigration and social aid.

Among the concerns raised by the bishops and members of other faiths is a new mandate issued by the Department of Health and Human Services to require employers to offer health insurance covering contraception, sterilization and some early abortion drugs, even if doing so violates their firmly held religious beliefs.

Rabbi Cohen explained that while the HHS mandate does not require his community to violate their beliefs, ?nonetheless, we have weighed in very strongly? on the issue ?because it might create general principles, general perceptions of religion that could affect all religions.?

?If there?s hostility towards religion, that?s going to result in bad regulation, and if there?s bad regulation, that in turn is going to result in more hostility towards religion,? he explained.

?That has an effect on the American psyche.?

The rabbi also noted that ?a lot of the rhetoric that surrounds that dispute is one of compromise,? in which the government will provide some accommodations if religions give up some of their terms.

?That belittles the right of religion, but also the role of religion,? he said.

The Very Reverend Dr. Chad Hatfield, Chancellor of St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, echoed the Rabbi Cohen?s statements, telling CNA that ?I think that there is a clamp-down on religious liberty in this country, but it?s so incredibly simple that we aren?t catching the signs.?

?If one religious identity?s freedoms are taken, then all suffer,? he added.

He warned, however, against over-correction, such as moves by the Russian Orthodox Church to establish Russian Orthodoxy as the official state religion.

?There is a problem when the Church relies on the fist of Caesar to protect it rather than the loving hand of Jesus,? he warned, although he noted that ?the government should guarantee us our freedom to express ourselves.?

Shaykha Reima Yosif, who started an organization to empower Muslim women through the arts, noted the threat in the U.S. posed by ?small groups trying to dictate what is religion, and small groups trying to infringe upon people maintaining their particular religious identity and practicing their faith in their own way.?

The disrespect of religious freedom leads to discrimination as well as other ill effects on society, she explained, saying that? ?we are really debilitating the economic wellbeing of society? with restrictions on religious practice.

Tags: Religious freedom

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Source: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/diverse-faith-leaders-unite-over-religious-freedom-concerns/

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Researchers are developing a system to let ... - The Next Web

New Web-based technology might make leaking data easier and more secure in the future.?Researchers in Germany are developing a platform based on Internet ads to help whistleblowers like Edward Snowden leak top-secret information without their activities being caught out online.

AdLeaks?is a system that is being designed to minimize the footprint of leaking information online in order to avoid the gaze of wide-reaching, international monitoring systems ? such as those that the US is reported to use to keep track of overseas and domestic Internet traffic.

In response to the networks ? which make?anonymized programs like Tor traceable ? Professor Volker Roth and his team at?Freie Universit?t Berlin are developing AdLeaks, which aims to bury leaked and secret information among the noise of ads and rush of Internet traffic.

The system uses Internet ads to dispatch small programs that are supported by most websites to encrypt and transfer empty messages to the AdLeaks server whenever a website is visited. The whistleblower simply adds a small piece of code (obtained by scanning a QR code) to modify their browser to encrypt and transfer confidential messages rather than the regular empty ones, which is how the leaks are delivered.

Due to the fact that all visitors to that site are submitting the same type of data, surveillance and filtering programs do not see anything abnormal and clearly different within their data, the AdLeaks website explains.

adleaks Researchers are developing a system to let whistleblowers securely leak data via Web browsers

Roth and his team say that the system could not support large scale disclosures since file transferring requires the leaker to visit websites that feature AdLeak ads. The set up could take ?weeks? to transfer data but would be very secure, they add.

There are also a number of limitations at this point.

The system the researchers are building is a frontend to handle submissions, so they will need partners to provide a backend that can securely receive and distribute information in order to complete the platform. In addition, a whistleblower needs?a file transfer system in place to facilitate the process and that needs figuring out still.

AdLeak is being developed alongside computer science professor?Sven Dietrich from the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey. The team just introduced the first version of the source code this week and is seeking testers to provide feedback.

There is still some way to go before AdLeaks could become a fully-fledged platform the future Snowdens and Mannings of this world, but it looks to have the potential to explore new routes for providing greater transparency to the public.

You can find more details at?adleaks.org.

Headline image via Thinkstock

Source: http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/06/23/researchers-are-developing-a-system-to-securely-leak-information-by-surfing-the-web/

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Sunday, June 23, 2013

Dan Persons: Blade Runner's Joanna Cassidy: The CFQ Interview

Get Entertainment Alerts:

Joanna Cassidy's acting career has been long and diverse, encompassing a bit part in Bullitt, trading barbs with Dabney Coleman on Buffalo Bill, and presently playing the overbearing mother of Dana Delany on Body of Proof. But for most genre fans, she will always be Zhora, the snake-loving assassin/exotic dancer/replicant of Blade Runner, as well as Delores, the sarcastic, rabbit-befriending barkeep of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

I got to talk with Joanna for this career-spanning interview that includes a look at the complications on the set of Blade and Rabbit, as well her role as T'Pol's mother on Star Trek: Enterprise, and so much more. Click on the player button to hear the interview, or right-click the title to download.

Blade Runner's Joanna Cassidy: The CFQ Interview

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-persons/iblade-runnersi-joanna-ca_b_3480334.html

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Unemployment fell in half of US states in May

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Unemployment rates fell in half of U.S. states last month, led by drops in California, West Virginia, New York and Hawaii.

The Labor Department said Friday that unemployment rates rose in 17 states and were unchanged in eight.

Employers added jobs in 33 states last month. The biggest gains were in Ohio, Texas and Michigan.

California and West Virginia had the largest declines in unemployment among all states. In California, the rate dropped to 8.6 percent from 9 percent in April. West Virginia's rate fell to 6.2 percent from 6.6 percent.

Both states reported job gains.

New York and Hawaii also had significant declines. New York's unemployment rate dropped to 7.6 percent from 7.8 percent, while Hawaii's fell to 4.7 percent from 4.9 percent.

North Dakota had the nation's lowest unemployment rate at 3.2 percent.

Nevada had the highest at 9.5 percent. It was followed by Illinois and Mississippi, each at 9.1 percent.

Nationally, the economy added 175,000 jobs in May, nearly matching the average monthly gain for the past year. The unemployment rate ticked up to 7.6 percent from 7.5 percent, but for a good reason: More Americans were confident they could find work and began searching for a job.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday offered a brighter outlook for the job market and economy. And Chairman Ben Bernanke said the Fed is likely to slow its bond-buying program later this year and end it next year if the economy continues to strengthen.

Fed officials now expect the unemployment rate to fall as low 7.2 percent this year and between 6.5 percent and 6.8 percent by the end of 2014.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/unemployment-fell-half-us-states-may-145230730.html

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Indebted countries see borrowing costs edge up

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) ? Europe's indebted countries could face higher borrowing costs after the U.S. Federal Reserve indicated it would start phasing out its stimulus program.

Low interest rates and creation of new money by the Fed helped push down rates on bonds around the world ? including those of Portugal, Italy and Spain. The fear is that the end of stimulus will reverse that.

Higher interest costs could make it harder for governments to reduce the debts that have plagued Europe.

Borrowing rates edged higher Thursday as the Fed's new message made stocks and bonds plunge worldwide, but they steadied Friday.

Even though analysts say it's hard to predict how much rates might rise, borrowing costs remain far below last year's levels when people feared the eurozone might break up.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/indebted-countries-see-borrowing-costs-edge-134850335.html

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Social media spreads and splinters Brazil protests

By Caroline Stauffer

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil's biggest protests in decades are a confusing, conflicting mix of people and messages. Blame Facebook.

Social media tools like Facebook and Twitter enabled mass protests of the sort that have not happened in Latin America's biggest country in more than two decades.

As a result of the speed, efficiency and anonymity of online activism, though, an amorphous, unwieldy movement has emerged that is beyond the control of any of those who first began pushing for change.

"Social media has helped us organize without having leaders," said Victor Damaso, 22, demonstrating on Sao Paulo's main Paulista Avenue on Thursday night. "Our ideas, our demands are discussed on Facebook. There are no meetings, no rules."

The demonstrations have been mostly peaceful, but as more than a million Brazilians took to the streets on Thursday, vandals and looters cast a violent pall over some of the protests. Police and security forces have responded with teargas, rubber bullets and pepper spray.

Facebook pages set up for logistical coordination and Twitter hash tags have cropped up for protests in hundreds of cities across Brazil. Rival groups appear to be vying for control of one of the most-viewed organizing pages on Facebook and an associated Twitter feed.

"Any movement risks attracting unaffiliated groups and individuals," said Angela Alonso, a sociologist at the University of Sao Paulo. "It's a price of growth. In this case there is no centralized leadership, administration is more difficult and it is even becoming uncontrollable."

The Free Fare movement, a group of 40 activists who marched for - and got - lower transportation rates, said on Friday it was suspending any further marches for now because of mounting tension and violence.

Sparked by Free Fare's protests, the nationwide call for reform quickly evolved into what is now known online as Anonymous Brazil.

The group appears to use encrypted Web browsers that make it difficult to identify page administrators and has adopted the Guy Fawkes mask, the symbol for the global cyber group of hackers known as Anonymous, as its mascot, although it is not clear if the two have a formal link.

While that opens the door to all sorts of fringe groups, the people at the core of the protests generally share a commitment to better public services. Their rallying cries, found on Twitter and Facebook and on traditional signs at the protests, range from ending political corruption to lambasting more than $12 billion being poured into soccer stadiums and other preparations for the 2014 World Cup.

The demonstrators, mostly educated, middle class and under age 30, want nothing to do with established groups that were behind the causes of their parents' generation.

ONLINE ORGANIZING

Unlike Brazil's movement for redemocratization in the 1970s and 1980s and protests for the impeachment of President Fernando Collor de Mello in the early 1990s, today's demonstrations have no clear leadership or political affinity.

"The recent protests are not partisan, and they do not have centralized leadership," said Alonso, the sociologist. "This has to do with new technologies that allow for organization without centralization, and also with the fact that the activists are from a new generation that is no longer guided by ideals like socialism, and doesn't want state power."

Indeed, Brazil's protests do not target any specific leader or political party. That makes them different from the Arab Spring, a series of uprisings against autocratic leaders in the past few years, or even this year's demonstrations in Turkey against the government of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.

While some of the Arab governments blocked access to the Internet to disrupt the planning of protests, Brazil's intelligence agency, Abin, has beefed up efforts to monitor calls for demonstrations online and on popular smart phone chat tool WhatsApp.

President Dilma Rousseff, a leftist guerrilla in the 1970s, has praised the protests as democratic.

Anonymous Brazil's Facebook page, which has nearly 1 million followers, briefly disappeared from the Web on Friday. The group later said via Facebook that its Twitter account had been "robbed" by one of its own members, generating conflicts on its linked Facebook platform.

The group says competing Twitter accounts like @AnonymousBr4sil and #AnonymousFuel are run by "usurpers."

Of the 53.5 million Brazilians online, almost a third of the population, 86 percent use some kind of micro blog or social media tool, according to polling firm Ibope.

(Additional reporting by Silvio Cascione; Editing by Paulo Prada and Mohammad Zargham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/social-media-spreads-splinters-brazil-protests-225642317.html

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Video: Prices Rising For Cape Cod Mansions

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/cnbc/52277259/

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Saturday, June 22, 2013

Instagram announces new video service

Instagram video

Today at Facebook HQ, Instagram announced a new video service. The focus is on simplicity, beauty and community. You get 15 seconds of video to work with, though you can stitch together multiple clips. There are 13 different video-exclusive filters to apply, and you can pick which frame is the thumbnail. Sounds like a serious Vine competitor, though it doesn't loop in the same obnoxious way; just tap and hold to play videos. They're also going to be including some really great stabilization software called Cinema.

You can get downloading the update now at the link below. Any Instagrammers pumped about this? Will they be able to do for video what they've done for photos, or is this just a Vine lookalike?

Free - Download Now

Introducing Video on Instagram from Instagram on Vimeo.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/hWyAwZGP4IU/story01.htm

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Sega drops price on all Sonic the Hedgehog games

Sega has dropped the price of their Sonic the Hedgehog games to $0.99. Everything from the original Sonic the Hedgehog to Sonic Jump is on sale, and it's unknown how long they'll remain there, so if you were looking at one of the Sonic games, now is the perfect time to get it.

SEGA on iTunes

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/MsXN_Tr6RR4/story01.htm

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G-rated films are a tough sell in superhero era

Movies

Gael Fashingbauer Cooper NBC News

4 hours ago

Two family-aimed films are hitting theaters in the next two weeks. "Monsters University" is an animated 3-D movie about zany, friendly monsters -- one with just one eyeball -- and how they interact with humans. (Spoiler: They scare them.) "Despicable Me 2" is also an animated 3-D movie about zany, friendly monsters -- some with just one eyeball -- and how they interact with humans. (Spoiler: They work for them.)

IMAGE: "Monsters University," "Despicable Me 2"

Disney, Universal

That's Mike from "Monsters University" on the left, and a minion from "Despicable Me 2" on the right. Can you tell which movie is rated G and which PG?

From that description, is it immediately clear which film is rated G, for General Audiences, and which one PG, meaning Parental Guidance suggested?

If it's not clear to you ("Monsters University" gets the G), you're not alone.

"I do think there is less of a clear line between G and PG than there is between PG-13 and R," said Vincent Bruzzese, chief executive officer of the Worldwide Motion Picture Group, a consultancy serving the entertainment industry. "It's very clear what makes something an R. If you say the F-word X number of times, it's an R. But why are 'Cars 2' and 'Rio' G, and yet 'Madagascar' or 'The Lorax' PG? What is the difference there? I'm not sure."

The Motion Picture Association of America, which determines movie ratings, did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

Bruzzese's company's research shows that not only do many parents not understand what makes a movie a G, to some of them, that family-friendly rating might even be a deterrent, especially if they have older children.

"We actually see that parents have no problem taking (5- or 6-year-olds) to a PG movie," Bruzzese said. "But they'll have trouble getting their 10- or 12-year-old to go to a G movie."

And if parents do want to seek out a G movie, good luck. Many movies that sound like they should be rated G tend to get the older rating. May's animated "Epic," about a girl who's shrunk to the size of a bug and helps a race known as the Leaf Men, was rated PG for "mild action, some scary images and brief rude language." July release "Turbo," about a garden snail who dreams of winning the Indy 500, is rated PG. (Does the snail swear?) August sequel "The Smurfs 2" isn't yet rated, but it'll almost certainly be PG like the 2011 original.

"The G rating has all but disappeared from theatrical releases other than one or two animated films each year," said Nell Minow, who advises parents about movies as The Movie Mom. "It's all about money. School-age kids think that G-rated movies are 'babyish,' so only Disney can get away with it."

With so much movie information available online, today's parents today don't need to rely only on the MPAA ratings. "(Parents) do their own investigation of films," Bruzzese said. "They're able to go online and look up -- whether it's user comments or more about the plot, more scenes -- they're able to find enough information to give them that (knowledge)."

Ben Boychuk of Rialto, Calif., is one of those parents. "I don't have a hard-and-fast rule about MPAA ratings," said Boychuk, who has an 11-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter. "I'll make a judgment based on whether I've seen the movie or barring that, by researching reviews and audience comments. IMDb is an invaluable resource -- what the Internet was meant for."

Wondering what has shifted since the days when kids saw only G-rated films? Experts point to many changes, including the addition of the PG-13 rating in 1984, the availability of movies of all ratings on home video and cable television, and the emergence of a generation of parents who grew up with such kid-tempting action films as 1977's "Star Wars." But a web-slinging, wall-crawling hero in tights might have something to do with it too.

"The family audience clearly has evolved in that it really, really started way back with the original 'Spider-Man' with Tobey Maguire," said Bruzzese. The 2002 PG-13-rated blockbuster "brought in a family audience to what would traditionally have been an older-skewing movie," he said.

Now, he said, "Today's 10-year-old is seeing what a 15-year-old would have seen 10 or 15 years ago."

Boychuk's family is a perfect example. Son Benjamin saw Maguire's "Spider-Man" on DVD at age 4 or 5. "He watched it at least a dozen times," Boychuk said. "The Green Goblin frightened him at first, but he wanted to see the movie again as soon as it was over."

But Boychuk notes that parents need to know their own children, who may be ready for different films at different ages. "My son was always great in movie theaters," he said. "My daughter (Isabella) is a different story. She can't handle most scary stuff, though she loves the classic Disney movies. ... I tend to be more vigilant with what we let her watch."

And the MPAA rating might not be the ultimate determining factor in how frightening a movie really is. In 2011, when TODAY.com asked readers to name the scariest scene in children's films, a scene from G-rated "Toy Story 3" repeatedly popped up. In it, Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the other toys are on what seems like an unstoppable moving ramp pushing them into a giant incinerator, with flames leaping high.

"As I think about it now, Bella was freaked out by the incinerator scene -- and so was I!" Boychuk said. "But Benjamin wasn't bothered too much."

The G rating will almost certainly continue to shift in meaning and usage, Bruzzese believes.

"If you look at the last 10 G-rated movies, half are either concerts or documentaries," he said. "More and more, as that becomes prevalent, the G rating will stand for not just the 'Winnie the Poohs' of the world, but will stand for things like (Disneynature 2012 documentary) 'Chimpanzee' or IMAX or a concert show. The G might start standing for non-traditional movie entertainment that's not offensive to any age group, whereas PG becomes the new G."

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/entertainment/g-rated-films-are-tough-sell-superhero-era-6C10393646

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Graphene-based system could lead to improved information processing

June 21, 2013 ? Researchers at MIT have proposed a new system that combines ferroelectric materials -- the kind often used for data storage -- with graphene, a two-dimensional form of carbon known for its exceptional electronic and mechanical properties. The resulting hybrid technology could eventually lead to computer and data-storage chips that pack more components in a given area and are faster and less power-hungry.

The new system works by controlling waves called surface plasmons. These waves are oscillations of electrons confined at interfaces between materials; in the new system the waves operate at terahertz frequencies. Such frequencies lie between those of far-infrared light and microwave radio transmissions, and are considered ideal for next-generation computing devices.

The findings were reported in a paper in Applied Physics Letters by associate professor of mechanical engineering Nicholas Fang, postdoc Dafei Jin and three others.

The system would provide a new way to construct interconnected devices that use light waves, such as fiber-optic cables and photonic chips, with electronic wires and devices. Currently, such interconnection points often form a bottleneck that slows the transfer of data and adds to the number of components needed.

The team's new system allows waves to be concentrated at much smaller length scales, which could lead to a tenfold gain in the density of components that could be placed in a given area of a chip, Fang says.

The team's initial proof-of-concept device uses a small piece of graphene sandwiched between two layers of the ferroelectric material to make simple, switchable plasmonic waveguides. This work used lithium niobate, but many other such materials could be used, the researchers say.

Light can be confined in these waveguides down to one part in a few hundreds of the free-space wavelength, Jin says, which represents an order-of-magnitude improvement over any comparable waveguide system. "This opens up exciting areas for transmitting and processing optical signals," he says.

Moreover, the work may provide a new way to read and write electronic data into ferroelectric memory devices at very high speed, the MIT researchers say.

Dimitri Basov, a professor of physics at the University of California at San Diego who was not connected with this research, says the MIT team "proposed a very interesting plasmonic structure, suitable for operation in the technologically significant [terahertz] range. ? I am confident that many research groups will try to implement these devices."

Basov cautions, however, "The key issue, as in all of plasmonics, is losses. Losses need to be thoroughly explored and understood."

In addition to Fang and Jin, the research was carried out by graduate student Anshuman Kumar, former postdoc Kin Hung Fung (now at Hong Kong Polytechnic University), and research scientist Jun Xu. It was supported by the National Science Foundation and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/4eQl1-5Fu_M/130621095620.htm

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Friday, June 21, 2013

AP Exclusive: Taliban offer to free US soldier

FILE - This file image provided by IntelCenter on Wednesday Dec. 8, 2010 shows a frame grab from a video released by the Taliban containing footage of a man believed to be Bowe Bergdahl, left. A Taliban spokesman, Shaheen Suhail, in an exclusive telephone interview with The Associated Press from the newly opened Taliban offices in Doha, Qatar, said Thursday, June 20, 2013, that they are ready to hand over U.S. soldier Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl held captive since 2009 in exchange for five of their senior operatives being held at the Guantanamo Bay prison. The U.S. is scrambling to save talks with the Taliban after angry complaints from Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai. (AP Photo/IntelCenter, File) MANDATORY CREDIT: INTELCENTER; NO SALES; EDS NOTE: "INTELCENTER" AT LEFT TOP CORNER ADDED BY SOURCE

FILE -- The image of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl of Hailey, Idaho, who is being held captive in Afghanistan, is worn by an audience member as Bergdahl's father Bob, not pictured, speaks at the annual Rolling Thunder rally for POW/MIA awareness, in Washington, Sunday, May 27, 2012. A Taliban spokesman, Shaheen Suhail, in an exclusive telephone interview with The Associated Press from the newly opened Taliban offices in Doha, Qatar, said Thursday, that they are ready to hand over U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl held captive since 2009 in exchange for five of their senior operatives being held at the Guantanamo Bay prison. The U.S. is scrambling to save talks with the Taliban after angry complaints from Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

FILE - This undated photo provided by the Bergdahl family and released by the Idaho National Guard shows Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, 23, of Ketchum, Idaho. A Taliban spokesman, Shaheen Suhail, in an exclusive telephone interview with The Associated Press from the newly opened Taliban offices in Doha, Qatar, said Thursday, that they are ready to hand over U.S. soldier Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl held captive since 2009 in exchange for five of their senior operatives being held at the Guantanamo Bay prison. The U.S. is scrambling to save talks with the Taliban after angry complaints from Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai. (AP Photo/The Bergdahl Family, File)

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? The Taliban proposed a deal in which they would free a U.S. soldier held captive since 2009 in exchange for five of their most senior operatives at Guantanamo Bay, while Afghan President Hamid Karzai eased his opposition Thursday to joining planned peace talks.

The idea of releasing these Taliban prisoners has been controversial. U.S. negotiators hope they would join the peace process but fear they might simply return to the battlefield, and Karzai once scuttled a similar deal partly because he felt the Americans were usurping his authority.

The proposal to trade U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl for the Taliban detainees was made by senior Taliban spokesman Shaheen Suhail in response to a question during a phone interview with The Associated Press from the militants' newly opened political office in Doha, the capital of the Gulf nation of Qatar.

The prisoner exchange is the first item on the Taliban's agenda before even starting peace talks with the U.S., said Suhail, a top Taliban figure who served as first secretary at the Afghan Embassy in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad before the Taliban government's ouster in 2001.

"First has to be the release of detainees," Suhail said Thursday when asked about Bergdahl. "Yes. It would be an exchange. Then step by step, we want to build bridges of confidence to go forward."

The Obama administration was noncommittal about the proposal, which it said it had expected the Taliban to make.

"We've been very clear on our feelings about Sgt. Bergdahl and the need for him to be released," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. "We have not made a decision to ... transfer any Taliban detainees from Guantanamo Bay, but we anticipate, as I've said, that the Taliban will all raise this issue."

Bergdahl, 27, of Hailey, Idaho, is the only known American soldier held captive from the Afghan war. He disappeared from his base in southeastern Afghanistan on June 30, 2009, and is believed held in Pakistan. Suhail said Bergdahl "is, as far as I know, in good condition."

Donna Thibedeau-Eddy, who has spent the last few days at the Idaho home of the soldier's parents, Bob and Jani Bergdahl, said the family was hopeful.

"I was with his Mom and Dad this morning when they got the news of the exchange offer. They were ecstatic," said Thibedeau-Eddy. "They actually saw the news before they got the call from the military. Bob saw it online and said 'Jani, Donna, look at this.'"

While there have been talks before, Bob Bergdahl is putting more faith and hope into the latest developments because it appears the Taliban are taking the initiative, Thibedeau-Eddy said.

Bergdahl's parents received a letter this month from their son through the International Committee of the Red Cross. They did not release details of the letter. The soldier's captivity has been marked by only sporadic releases of videos and information about his whereabouts.

The reconciliation process with the Taliban ? seen by most as the only way to end the nearly 12-year war ? has been a long and bumpy one.

The U.S. began secret talks with the militants more than two years ago in off-and-on discussions that lasted several months.

The two sides discussed prisoner exchanges and for a brief time it appeared that the five Guantanamo Bay prisoners would be released and sent to Qatar to help further the peace process.

But Karzai, furious that he had not been told of the talks in advance, demanded that the Taliban operatives be returned to Afghanistan rather than Qatar.

Since then, the U.S. has been trying to jumpstart peace talks and the Taliban have made several offers ? including sharing power in Kabul. The Taliban have also attended several international conferences and held meetings with representatives of about 30 countries.

Afghan and U.S. officials have said the Taliban being considered for any exchange deal are:

? Mohammad Fazl, a former Taliban chief of army staff and the deputy minister of defense.

? Abdul Haq Wasiq, former Taliban deputy minister of intelligence. He was in direct contact with supreme leader Mullah Mohammed Omar during the Taliban rule, according to military documents.

? Mullah Norullah Nuri , who has been described as one of the most significant former Taliban officials held at Guantanamo. He was a senior Taliban commander in Mazar-e-Sharif and previously was a Taliban governor in two provinces in northern Afghanistan.

? Khairullah Khairkhwa, a former Taliban minister of the interior and military commander. According to military documents, he had direct ties to Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden and was also a friend of Karzai.

? Mohammed Nabi, former chief of security for the Taliban in Qalat, the capital of the southern province of Zabul.

If the Taliban hold talks with American delegates in the next few days, they will be the first U.S.-Taliban talks in nearly 1? years.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was expected in Doha ahead of a conference there scheduled for Saturday on the Syrian civil war. He was not expected to meet with the Taliban although other U.S. officials might in coming days.

On Wednesday in Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the U.S. had "never confirmed" any specific meeting schedule with Taliban representatives in Doha.

Prospective peace talks were again thrown into question Wednesday when Karzai became infuriated by the Taliban's move to cast their new office in Doha as a rival embassy.

The Taliban held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday in which they hoisted their flag and a banner that evoked the name they used while in power more than a decade ago: "Political Office of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan." Later, the Taliban replaced the sign to read simply: "Political office of the Taliban."

At the ceremony, the Taliban welcomed dialogue with Washington but said their fighters would not stop fighting. Hours later, the group claimed responsibility for a rocket attack on Bagram Air Base outside the Afghan capital, Kabul, which killed four American service members.

The U.S. expectation had been that U.S.-Taliban talks would be followed several days later with direct talks between the Taliban and a Karzai peace delegation.

But on Wednesday, Karzai announced that his government would not participate, apparently also angered by the way Kabul had been sidelined in the U.S.-Taliban bid for rapprochement.

The Afghan president also suspended negotiations with the United States on a bilateral security agreement that would cover American troops who will remain behind after the final withdrawal of NATO combat troops at the end of 2014.

That left U.S. officials scrambling to save the talks, and Kerry spoke with Karzai in phone conversations in an effort to bring him back on board.

On Thursday, Karzai spokesman Fayeq Wahidi said the Afghan president is willing to join peace talks with the Taliban if the U.S. follows through with promises he said were made by Kerry over the phone.

Wahidi said Kerry promised Karzai that the Taliban flag and a nameplate with their former regime's name would be removed and that the U.S. would issue a formal written statement supporting the Afghan government and making clear that the Taliban office would not be seen as an embassy or government-in-exile.

"If all those assurances and commitments the U.S. had given, if we are assured that they will be fully put in place on the issue of talks in Qatar," Wahidi said, "we would see no problem in entering into talks with the Taliban in Qatar. "

A decision on whether to restart the U.S. security agreement talks would be made after those assurances, he added, referring further questions to the foreign ministry.

On Thursday, the "Islamic Emirate" nameplate had been removed from the Taliban office. The flagpole inside the compound was apparently shortened and the Taliban flag ? dark Quranic script on a white background ? was still flying but not visible from the street. Journalists gathered at the office shot images of the flag through the gaps in the walls.

The Taliban have long refused to talk to Karzai's representatives but the opening of the office was seen as a first step toward those meetings.

Suhail said the Taliban are insistent that they want their first interlocutors to be the United States. "First we talk to the Americans about those issues concerning the Americans and us (because) for those issues implementation is only in the hands of the Americans," he said.

"We want foreign troops to be pulled out of Afghanistan," he added. "If there are troops in Afghanistan, then there will be a continuation of the war."

Suhail indicated the Taliban could approve of American trainers and advisers for the Afghan troops, saying that "of course, there is cooperation between countries in other things. We need that cooperation."

He said that once the Taliban concluded talks with the United States, they would participate in all-inclusive Afghan talks.

Suhail ruled out exclusive talks with Karzai's High Peace Council, which has been a condition of the Afghan president, who previously said he wanted talks in Doha to be restricted to his representatives and the Taliban. Instead, the Taliban would talk with all Afghan groups, Suhail said.

"After we finish the phase of talking to the Americans, then we would start the internal phase ... that would include all Afghans," he said. "Having all groups involved will guarantee peace and stability."

___

Gannon reported from Islamabad, Pakistan. Associated Press writers John Miller in Hailey, Idaho, Brian Murphy in Dubai and Deb Riechmann in Washington contributed to this report.

___

Kathy Gannon is AP Special Regional Correspondent for Afghanistan and Pakistan and can be reached at www.twitter.com/kathygannon