Israel Moves to Expand Settlements in East Jerusalem

Rina Castelnuovo for The New York Times

From his home in East Jerusalem last year, Haj Ibrahim Ahmad Hawa looked at the separation barrier surrounding Jerusalem with the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim in the background. More Photos »

JERUSALEM — Israel is moving forward with development of Jewish settlements in a contentious area east of Jerusalem, defying the United States by advancing a project that has long been condemned by international leaders as effectively dooming any prospect of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

One day after the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelming to upgrade the Palestinians’ status, a senior Israeli official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the government would pursue “preliminary zoning and planning preparations” for a development that would separate the West Bank cities of Ramallah and Bethlehem from Jerusalem — preventing the possibility of a viable, contiguous Palestinian state.

The development, in an area known as E1, would connect the large settlement town of Maale Adumim to Jerusalem. It is one of the projects that appear aimed, or at least timed, to punish the Palestinians for moving ahead with their United Nations bid. Israel also authorized the construction of 3,000 new housing units in parts of East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

The twin actions seemed to demonstrate that hard-liners in the government had prevailed after days of debate over how to respond to the United Nations action. The implications of such a move marked a surprising turnaround after a growing sense in recent days that Israeli leaders had acceded to pressure from Washington not to react quickly or harshly.

“This is a new act of defiance from the Israeli government,” Saab Erekat, the Palestinians’ chief negotiator, said in a statement. “At a moment where the Palestinian leadership is doing every single effort to save the two-state solution, the Israeli government does everything possible to destroy it.”

The White House quickly condemned the move as unhelpful.

“We reiterate our longstanding opposition to settlements and East Jerusalem construction and announcements,” said Tommy Vietor, a White House spokesman. “We believe these actions are counterproductive and make it harder to resume direct negotiations or achieve a two-state solution. Direct negotiations remain our goal, and we encourage all parties to take steps to make that easier to achieve.”

The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to comment on the zoning and construction decisions, which were made Thursday night around the time of the General Assembly vote. But Israel has long maintained its right to develop neighborhoods throughout East Jerusalem and the West Bank — more than 500,000 Jews already live there — and Mr. Netanyahu, responding to the United Nations speech by President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, said, “Someone who wants peace does not talk in such a manner.”

While Israel has frequently announced settlement expansions at delicate political moments, often to its detriment, the E1 move came as a shock, after a week in which both Israelis and Palestinians toned down their rhetoric about day-after responses to the United Nations bid. Avigdor Lieberman, the ultranationalist foreign minister who for months denounced the Palestinian initiative as “diplomatic terrorism” and said Israel should consider severe sanctions against the Palestinian Authority, told reporters in recent days that there would be “no automatic response.”

Mr. Erekat’s spokesman declined to discuss whether the Palestinians would use their upgraded status, as a nonmember observer state with access to United Nations institutions, to pursue a case in International Criminal Court regarding E1 or the other settlement expansion. Less contentious moves were already in progress: the Palestinian Authority has begun changing its name to “Palestine” on official documents, contracts and Web sites, and several nations are considering raising the level of diplomatic relations, giving Palestinian envoys the title of ambassador.

All but one European country voted with the Palestinians or abstained, many citing concerns about settlements in West Bank and East Jerusalem territories Israel captured in the 1967 war, which they consider illegal. The United States, one of eight countries that stood with Israel in voting against the Palestinian upgrade, has for two decades vigorously opposed construction in E1, a 4.6-square-mile expanse of hilly parkland where some Bedouins have camps and a police station was opened in 2008.

Peter Baker contributed reporting from Hatfield, Pa.

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Jelly Bean update for DROID RAZR HD and MAXX HD set to roll out next week

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Powerball Winners Want to Go to the Beach, Set Up Scholarships with $300 Million

11/30/2012 at 04:35 PM EST

Cindy and Mark Hill

David Eulitt/Kansas City Star/Landov

Just in time for the holiday season the Hill family of Dearborn, Mo., got quite the gift: nearly $300 million, after winning half of the $587.5 million Powerball jackpot.

"We're still stunned by what's happened," Cindy Hill, 51, said during a press conference Friday alongside her family, according to an NBC News report. "People keep asking us, 'What are you going to buy with it?' I just want to go home and be back to normal."

Hill, who was an office manager until she was laid off in 2010, and her husband Mark, a mechanic, have three adult sons and a daughter, Jaiden, 6, whom they adopted from China.

On their list of possible purchases since their record win: a beach vacation for Jaiden (who has never visited the beach) and a red Camaro for Mark. The family has also spoken about possibly adopting again and setting up college funds for their extended family members, as well as a scholarship fund at their local high school.

As for their winning ticket, Cindy said she checked on Thursday morning after learning that one winning ticket was sold in Missouri.

"I didn't have my glasses, and I was thinking, is that the right number?" Cindy, who had bought five tickets, said, according to NBC.

The other winning ticket was sold in Arizona, and no winner has claimed the prize yet. On Thursday, however, a man in Upper Marlboro, Md., went into a gas station to check a handful of tickets (watch the CCTV video), reportedly presenting a ticket with the winning numbers (5-23-16-22-29-Powerball 6), CNN reports.

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Couple kept girl, 12, as sex slave, police allege

An Oceanside couple is being held on suspicion of keeping an underage Mexican immigrant as a sex slave, forcing her into prostitution and beating her severely, San Diego County Sheriff's Department officials said.

Marcial Garcia Hernandez, 45, and Inez Martinez Garcia, 43, were arrested Thursday on suspicion of 13 felony counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child under age 14.

The girl had been smuggled into the U.S. at age 12, and the abuse by Hernandez and Garcia occurred over a 21-month period, the Sheriff's Department said.

Hernandez and Garcia forced the girl to care for their three children and cook and clean for the family, as well as have sex with Hernandez, according to Deputy G. Crysler, an investigator with the North County Human Trafficking Task Force.

"When the girl victim refused to participate in the sex acts or did not complete her tasks in a timely or correct manner, she was beaten," Crysler said.

The couple forced the victim into lying about her age so she could work at a local restaurant, with Garcia and Hernandez keeping the money she earned, according to the arrest documents. She was also forced into having sex with older men, with Garcia and Hernandez keeping the money paid by "johns," the documents said.

Authorities were called after the victim was allegedly beaten by Garcia. Reunited with her family, she returned to Mexico. Recently, she returned to the U.S. and is assisting in the criminal investigation, according to the Sheriff's Department.

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Myanmar Security Forces Use Incendiary Devices in Raid on Protest Camp

BANGKOK — Security forces in Myanmar mounted a violent raid on Thursday against Buddhist monks and villagers who have been protesting the expansion of a copper mine. The crackdown was the largest since the civilian government of President Thein Sein came to power 20 months ago.

Witnesses said dozens of monks and other protesters were injured when security forces used incendiary devices that set fire to protesters’ encampments outside the offices of the Chinese company in charge of the project, which has a partnership with the powerful military in Myanmar, formerly Burma.

Photos from Burmese online news sites showed monks, who are highly revered in the country and are often involved in political causes, with singed saffron robes stuck to their badly seared skin.

The raid came hours before Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel laureate and leader of the opposition in Parliament, was scheduled to visit the city of Monywa, near the mine.

Her visit underlined the widespread support the protests had engendered across the country before the raid.

Analysts said the brutal way that the crackdown was carried out could hamper Mr. Thein Sein’s efforts to persuade the country that his government has made a clean break from the military regimes that ruled the country for five decades.

“There will be political consequences,” said U Thiha Saw, the editor of Open News Journal and Myanma Danna magazine. “This may be the start of an uglier phase for the government. Things may get a little more complicated.”

The crackdown was conducted by security forces who have little experienced using modern crowd-control methods that are meant to minimize casualties. During military rule, dissent was brutally repressed and protesters on several occasions were shot dead in the streets.

In Thursday’s raid, security forces fired what one witness described to The Associated Press as “black balls that exploded into fire” to disperse the protesters, who had overstayed a Wednesday deadline set by the government to leave the area.

Factory workers and villagers, both ethnic Burmese and members of minorities, have taken advantage of new freedom under Mr. Thein Sein’s government to carry out limited demonstrations and strikes in recent months. The protests at the copper mine were by far the largest to appear since the former military junta ceded power to civilians in March 2011.

By dealing so forcefully with the mine protests, the government risks appearing to defend the vested interests of the old regime. The project is typical of the kinds of opaque deals often struck during military rule that have enriched many of the country’s generals. The military has been so deeply involved in business that it has its own holding company, the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings; the company is listed as a part owner of the copper mine.

The deal between the military and the Chinese company, a subsidiary of a state-owned Chinese arms manufacturer, to expand the mine was signed two years ago when Mr. Thein Sein was prime minister under the military junta.

According to an American diplomatic cable made public by WikiLeaks, the deal was brokered by U Tay Za, a tycoon who became rich through his connections to the military regime, especially the country’s former dictator, Senior Gen. Than Shwe.

The crackdown may also complicate the investment picture for China, which has struggled in Myanmar with the perception that it is mainly interested in extracting natural resources from the country, not in aiding its development.

The Global Times, a state-owned Chinese newspaper, published an article Thursday, before the crackdown, that accused the West and advocacy groups of instigating the protests against the mine project, and said that shutting the mine down would be “a lose-lose situation” for the two countries.

“Chinese companies’ investments in Myanmar are facing huge challenges,” the article said. “What we see in the country is the inevitable impact of its democratization.”

Anti-Chinese sentiment was a major factor in the cancellation of a hydroelectric dam project last year in northern Myanmar that would have exported electricity to China. The project was suspended after an outcry.

Thursday’s raid came in the predawn hours. Ashin Visara, a 28-year-old monk who was injured in the crackdown, said security forces threw “explosive devices” into the areas where protesters were camped out.

“That started fires at the protest sites,” he said. “And then they attacked us.”

U Nway Oo, a student activist from Monywa who assisted the injured, said many protesters fled into the surrounding villages or the jungle.

“There were no medical personnel or ambulances around before the crackdown,” he said.

The mine, which is often referred to as Letpadaung for the mountains from which the copper is extracted, was initially operated by a joint venture between the Myanmar government and a Canadian company, Ivanhoe Mines. The Chinese company became involved two years ago. The expansion project would displace inhabitants of two dozen villages.

The protests have been led in part by two young women, Aye Net and Thwe Thwe Win, who reportedly escaped arrest.

The crackdown is a setback for the efforts of advocacy groups that focus on the crucial question of land rights, an issue likely to become more contentious as economic growth makes villagers’ land more attractive to companies and property developers. Land rights were the focus of a conference last weekend in the capital, Naypyidaw, that was attended by high-ranking government officials.

Wai Moe contributed reporting from Monywa, Myanmar.

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Sony sells over half a million PlayStation 3 consoles over Black Friday week

Both Microsoft (MSFT) and Nintendo (NTDOY) had a big week of console sales during Black Friday’s week of shopping madness in the U.S. So how did Sony (SNE) do in comparison? Sony Computer Entertainment of America president and CEO Jack Tretton announced on Thursday that the company sold 525,000 PlayStation 3 consoles and 160,000 PS Vita handhelds during the Black Friday week. Overall PlayStation sales of hardware, software and accessories are up 9% over the same period last year. Tretton was also happy to reveal that subscriptions to its PlayStation Plus grew 259% since last year with customer satisfaction flying high at 95% after Sony added the Instant Game Collection to the service earlier this year.

Sony’s PlayStation 3 and PS Vita sales were largely bolstered by $ 199.99 bundles packaged with free games that the company pushed to retails on Black Friday. The sell-out of the bundles within minutes at retailers such as Amazon (AMZN) is a good indicator that there is huge demand for a sub-$ 200 PlayStation 3. Currently, the lowest-priced PS3 is a second-gen 160GB slim model with an MSRP of $ 249.99. The redesigned third-gen PS3s start at $ 269.99 with a 250GB hard drive.

In terms of which home console did the best over Black Friday, it looks like the Xbox 360′s 750,000 consoles took first place, while Sony came in second with 525,000 PS3s and Nintendo came in third with 400,000 Wii U systems.

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What Had Meryl Streep Rocking Out?

Caught in the Act

11/29/2012 at 05:30 PM EST

Meryl Streep and Jordin Sparks

Charles Eshelman/FilmMagic, Mike Coppola/Getty

Someone's a pop music fan! Meryl Streep was "rockin' out" on Wednesday night at the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation's annual gala at Cipriani New York, an onlooker tells PEOPLE. The Oscar winner was dancing in the aisles as Jason Derulo sang his hit, "In My Head."

Also rocking out? Derulo's girlfriend, Jordin Sparks, who performed later on, too, as Derulo proudly filmed.

Guests, who turned out to support the Reeve Foundation's work to find a cure for spinal injury and improve the lives of those living with paralysis, dined on baked tagliolini with mushrooms, prime roast filet with fresh herb melange sauce,f resh seasonal ratatouille and Yukon gold sauté and a specialty cake compliments of Cake Boss star Buddy Valastro and la famiglia of Carlo's Bakery.

Meanwhile, Streep, a close friend of the late Dana Reeve, presented the Dana Reeve Hope Award to her good friend, producer Harvey Weinstein, and the directors of The Intouchables, an inspiring film about a friendship between a quadriplegic aristocrat and the young convict who becomes his caretaker.

One of the film's stars, Omar Sy, said he was honored to share the stage with Streep and joked that Streep could play him, though "we don't look alike." – Sharon Cotliar

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Clinton releases road map for AIDS-free generation

WASHINGTON (AP) — In an ambitious road map for slashing the global spread of AIDS, the Obama administration says treating people sooner and more rapid expansion of other proven tools could help even the hardest-hit countries begin turning the tide of the epidemic over the next three to five years.

"An AIDS-free generation is not just a rallying cry — it is a goal that is within our reach," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who ordered the blueprint, said in the report.

"Make no mistake about it, HIV may well be with us into the future but the disease that it causes need not be," she said at the State Department Thursday.

President Barack Obama echoed that promise.

"We stand at a tipping point in the fight against HIV/AIDS, and working together, we can realize our historic opportunity to bring that fight to an end," Obama said in a proclamation to mark World AIDS Day on Saturday.

Some 34 million people worldwide are living with HIV, and despite a decline in new infections over the last decade, 2.5 million people were infected last year.

Given those staggering figures, what does an AIDS-free generation mean? That virtually no babies are born infected, young people have a much lower risk than today of becoming infected, and that people who already have HIV would receive life-saving treatment.

That last step is key: Treating people early in their infection, before they get sick, not only helps them survive but also dramatically cuts the chances that they'll infect others. Yet only about 8 million HIV patients in developing countries are getting treatment. The United Nations aims to have 15 million treated by 2015.

Other important steps include: Treating more pregnant women, and keeping them on treatment after their babies are born; increasing male circumcision to lower men's risk of heterosexual infection; increasing access to both male and female condoms; and more HIV testing.

The world spent $16.8 billion fighting AIDS in poor countries last year. The U.S. government is the leading donor, spending about $5.6 billion.

Thursday's report from PEPFAR, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, outlines how progress could continue at current spending levels — something far from certain as Congress and Obama struggle to avert looming budget cuts at year's end — or how faster progress is possible with stepped-up commitments from hard-hit countries themselves.

Clinton warned Thursday that the U.S. must continue doing its share: "In the fight against HIV/AIDS, failure to live up to our commitments isn't just disappointing, it's deadly."

The report highlighted Zambia, which already is seeing some declines in new cases of HIV. It will have to treat only about 145,000 more patients over the next four years to meet its share of the U.N. goal, a move that could prevent more than 126,000 new infections in that same time period. But if Zambia could go further and treat nearly 198,000 more people, the benefit would be even greater — 179,000 new infections prevented, the report estimates.

In contrast, if Zambia had to stick with 2011 levels of HIV prevention, new infections could level off or even rise again over the next four years, the report found.

Advocacy groups said the blueprint offers a much-needed set of practical steps to achieve an AIDS-free generation — and makes clear that maintaining momentum is crucial despite economic difficulties here and abroad.

"The blueprint lays out the stark choices we have: To stick with the baseline and see an epidemic flatline or grow, or ramp up" to continue progress, said Chris Collins of amFAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research.

His group has estimated that more than 276,000 people would miss out on HIV treatment if U.S. dollars for the global AIDS fight are part of across-the-board spending cuts set to begin in January.

Thursday's report also urges targeting the populations at highest risk, including gay men, injecting drug users and sex workers, especially in countries where stigma and discrimination has denied them access to HIV prevention services.

"We have to go where the virus is," Clinton said.

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Husband accused of cooking wife kept her head in freezer, police say

A  68-year-old Oceanside man
accused of killing his 73-year-old wife, then cooking her body parts on
their kitchen stove, will be in court next week to answer the charges.

Frederick Joseph Hengl pleaded not guilty last week as bizarre details emerged about him and his late wife.

Neighbors said they saw Hengl outside wearing a purple dress, pink makeup
and various articles of jewelry, including a pearl necklace. The
neighbors told Fox 5 News that his wife was once seen roaming outside with a knife making religious comments such as “God will smite you.”

A preliminary hearing is slated for Dec. 5 in which more details might become available. 

Deputy Dist. Atty. Katherine Flaherty told Vista Superior Court Judge
J. Marshall Hockett that police found pieces of meat cooking on the
stove at the family home and a severed head in the freezer.

Hockett ordered Hengl kept in jail on $5 million bail.

Police are unclear when Hengl's wife, Anna Faris, was killed. They
went to the couple's home after neighbors reported a strange smell and
hearing the sound of a power saw.

Several
people who live in the neighborhood said Anna-Maria Hengl had been
behaving bizarrely since last spring, exposing herself, wandering around
carrying a butcher knife and making religious pronouncements, telling
people such things as, “God will smite you.”

Her husband, meanwhile, had been going out dressed in women’s clothing, makeup and jewelry, area residents told news crews.

One neighbor said the one-time Home Depot employee, who had sold her a
ceiling fan, would sometimes wear blouses and makeup, including “hot
pink” lipstick. Another said he saw Frederick Hengl last summer clad in a
floor- length purple dress, pearl necklace and pearl earrings, carrying
an ornate purse.

Read more: http://fox5sandiego.com/2012/11/19/dismembered-womans-husband-to-face-judge/#ixzz2DLS2FbXM

Several people who live in the neighborhood said Anna-Maria Hengl had
been behaving bizarrely since last spring, exposing herself, wandering
around carrying a butcher knife and making religious pronouncements,
telling people such things as, “God will smite you.”

Her husband, meanwhile, had been going out dressed in women’s clothing, makeup and jewelry, area residents told news crews.

One neighbor said the one-time Home Depot employee, who had sold her a
ceiling fan, would sometimes wear blouses and makeup, including “hot
pink” lipstick. Another said he saw Frederick Hengl last summer clad in a
floor- length purple dress, pearl necklace and pearl earrings, carrying
an ornate purse.

Read more: http://fox5sandiego.com/2012/11/19/dismembered-womans-husband-to-face-judge/#ixzz2DLRAPQk6

"There is no evidence of cannibalism at this time," Flaherty told reporters.

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As Opposition Meets in Cairo, More Violence Mars Syria

The Syrian opposition pushed ahead on military and political fronts on Wednesday, as rebels shot down a government warplane in the north of Syria and a newly formed coalition started talks in Cairo on how to pick a transitional government to replace that of President Bashar al-Assad.

The coalition, whose official name is the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, was formed at a meeting in Qatar earlier this month, and has already been anointed with official recognition from Britain, France, Turkey and the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council. But in order to encourage further recognition internationally, it must tackle the broader problem of uniting multiple groups in exile and rebels on the ground in Syria.

That challenge was apparent on the first day of what are expected to be two days of talks in Egypt. Disagreements emerged over the composition of the coalition when the Syrian National Council, one of its members, tried to increase the number of its representatives.

“Nothing will proceed until we work this out,” said one council member at the talks, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.

The talks took place against the backdrop of a 20-month civil war in which about 40,000 people have been killed so far in clashes between armed rebels and jihadist forces on one side and Mr. Assad’s military on the other. The conflict has flared at various times along Syria’s borders with Lebanon, Israel, Turkey and Jordan and in most of the country’s cities, including deadly car bombings on Wednesday near Damascus, the capital.

In Turkey, once an ally of the Assad government, a team of NATO inspectors visited sites on Wednesday where the alliance might install batteries of Patriot antiaircraft missiles that Turkey, a member, has requested to prevent any incursions by the Syrian air force, which has become the Assad government’s main weapon against the rebels. Patriot missiles have also been discussed as a way of enforcing a no-fly zone over rebel-held areas of Syria near the Turkish border if one is imposed.

Meanwhile, opposition politicians gathered in a Cairo hotel to shape an alternative government. Ahmad Ramadan, a member of the national council, said in an interview with Radio Sawa, an Arabic-language broadcaster sponsored by the United States government, that the talks were more likely to decide on the selection process than to choose actual candidates.

Khaled Khoja, a coalition member attending the talks, said: “I don’t think we’ll be discussing the election of a transitional government during the meeting today. We’re still discussing whether to have a government or to have committees instead.”

State media said on Wednesday that at least 34 people, and possibly many more, died in the two car bombings in Jaramana, a suburb of Damascus that is populated by minorities.

The official SANA news agency said the explosions struck at about 7 a.m. and were the work of “terrorists,” the word used by the authorities to denote rebel forces seeking the overthrow of President Assad.

The agency said the bombings were in the main square of Jaramana, which news reports said is largely populated by members of the Christian and Druse minorities. Residents said the neighborhood was home to many families who have fled other parts of Syria because of the conflict and to some Palestinian families. The blasts caused “huge material damage to the residential buildings and shops,” SANA said.

The death toll was not immediately confirmed. An activist group, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, initially said that 29 people had died but revised the figure later to 47, of whom 38 had been identified. Of the 120 injured, the rebel group said, 23 people were in serious condition, meaning that the tally could climb higher.

There were also reports from witnesses in Turkey and antigovernment activists in Syria that for the second successive day insurgents had shot down a government aircraft in the north of the country, offering further evidence that the rebels are seeking a major shift by challenging the government’s dominance of the skies. It was not immediately clear how the aircraft, apparently a plane, had been brought down.

Video posted on the Internet by rebels showed wreckage with fires still burning around it. The aircraft appeared to show a tail assembly clearly visible jutting out of the debris. Such videos are difficult to verify, particularly in light of the restrictions facing reporters in Syria. However, the episode on Wednesday seemed to be confirmed by other witnesses.

“We watched a Syrian plane being shot down as it was flying low to drop bombs,” said Ugur Cuneydioglu, who said he observed the incident from a Turkish border village in southern Hatay Province. “It slowly went down in flames before it hit the ground. It was quite a scene,” Mr. Cuneydioglu said.

Video posted by insurgents on the Internet showed a man in aviator coveralls being carried away. It was not clear if the man was alive but the video said he had been treated in a makeshift hospital. A voice off-camera says, “This is the pilot who was shelling residents’ houses.”

The aircraft was said to have been brought down while it was attacking the town of Daret Azzeh, 20 miles west of Aleppo and close to the Turkish border. The town was the scene of a mass killing last June, when the government and the rebels blamed each other for the deaths and mutilation of 25 people. The video posted online said the plane had been brought down by “the free men of Daret Azzeh soldiers of God brigade.”

On Tuesday, Syrian rebels said they shot down a military helicopter with a surface-to-air missile outside Aleppo and they uploaded video that appeared to confirm that rebels have put their growing stock of heat-seeking missiles to effective use.

In recent months, rebels have used mainly machine guns to shoot down several Syrian Air Force helicopters and fixed-wing attack jets. In Tuesday’s case, the thick smoke trailing the projectile, combined with the elevation of the aircraft, strongly suggested that the helicopter was hit by a missile.

Rebels hailed the event as the culmination of their long pursuit of effective antiaircraft weapons, though it was not clear if the downing on Tuesday was an isolated tactical success or heralded a new phase in the war that would present a meaningful challenge to the Syrian government’s air supremacy.

Hala Droubi reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Alan Cowell contributed reporting from Paris; Sebnem Arsu contributed reporting from Istanbul, and Hania Mourtada from Beirut, Lebanon.

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