Central America: Real Estate Haven - Atlanta condominiums

By Dr. James T. Sears

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US News and World Report identified the ten top retirement spots last year; seven of those were in Central and South America: ?Central and South America offer the unbeatable combination of warm weather and inexpensive real estate.? In an International Living analysis of the ?world?s top retirement havens in 2012,? six of the top ten locations were also in this region of the world.

What in the world is going on and why would anyone wish to live outside the United States?even part time? I have spent the past 18 months researching and traveling to seek answers, which I hope to share with readers here from time-to-time.

Many persons at or nearing retirement age are experiencing a deterioration of their investment funds, an increase in health care premiums (along with taxes), and the certainty of increases in taxes and commodity prices. Some are thinking ?outside the box? and beyond our national borders.

When people learn I invest and work with clients in Central America, the most often spoken questions are those concerning property prices, health care, safety and security, and the process of acquiring overseas property.

Generally, this retirement and investment sector is focused on resorts, condominiums, and gated communities along the coasts, in select mountain areas, and upscale or gentrifying urban neighborhoods. From the white sand beach of Roatan, Honduras to the unparalleled breaking surfs near San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, to the Aspen-like village of Boquette, Panama, to the laid back beachfront of Costa Rica?s Manuel Antonio, to the Charlestonesque-charm of the colonial enclave Casco Antiguo in Panama City or a high-rise unit in the newly built Trump Tower overlooking Panama Bay?all of these are just a 3 or 4 hour flight from Atlanta.

Along with uncertainties in the global economy, the real estate downturn has resulted in lower prices and increased inventory in many regions within emerging international property markets. The prospect of acquiring residential real estate at an affordable price within an emerging real estate market with favorable conditions (e.g., cheap cost of labor, government retirement/investment incentives for foreigners), and then selling property for maximum profit (assuming a 10 year outlook) is good.

There are terrific opportunities (as well as a myriad of potential landmines) for the intrepid buyer. Beachfront homes near Leon, Nicaragua can be bought for under $150,000, a hundred acres with 200 meters of beachfront and all ocean views are in the $750,000 range, and a fifty-five acre piece of close ocean goes for around $250,000. Similarly, mountain land with stunning views (even of the Pacific on a clear day) can be found in Boquete for about $25 per square meter, and the list goes on.

In today?s market, constructing a high-end home in Central America should run between $60 and $80 square foot. And, for those who simply want the convenience of walking into their new home, there are a wide range of excellent gated communities under development, such as Monte Cristo overlooking on Nicaragua?s Pacific coastline with its golf course, or Bahia Lomas Estates with its Marina at Bocas del Toro on Panama?s Carribean side.

Some countries, like Nicaragua and Panama, also provide significant incentives for individuals retiring. Perks may include purchase of a vehicle tax-free every other year, $50,000 tax-free purchase of building materials, a 20-year property tax holiday, along with discounts for travel, utilities, etc. These incentives are open to persons with only modest verifiable income (e.g., Panama?s ?pensiado? program is $1400 a month) and do not require home ownership.

Personal safety in any country is dependent on various factors, ranging from where you are (or should not be), to just plain luck. However, despite the violence associated with drug cartels in Mexico and those countries bordering it, personal and property safety in Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua is less of an issue. In fact, a recent article in the Economist (Jan 2012) reported: ?Nicaragua, the poorest country in mainland Latin America, is remarkably safe?. It is now less violent than booming Panama, and may soon be safer than Costa Rica, a tourist haven.? And, last year?s Crime and Safety Report, issued by the US Department of State, observed: ?Panama remains relatively safe when compared to other Central American countries.? A similar report on Costa Rica noted that crime is on the uptake in the capitol city of San Jose and that ?violent home invasions and express kidnapping are also prevalent in certain areas of Costa Rica but not rampant.?

Thus, owning or even leasing property in Central America requires a different approach to home safety than in the Charleston area. For instance, unless one lives within a gated-community, it is advisable in any of these countries to have someone residing or guarding your home if you are gone for an extended period of time. Many homes have live-in maid quarters and the cost for this service (or for a night guard) is negligible?$35 week for the former and $25 for the latter.

Health care in countries where I currently work with clients?Panama, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua?is excellent. All three countries do a brisk business in medical tourism with outstanding hospitals (with US/European trained, English-speaking doctors) such as Vivian Pellas in Managua and Hospital Punta Pacifica, in Panama City, which is affiliated with the Johns Hopkins Medicine International and maintains the same high-end standards in facilities, services and staff. Health insurance can be easily purchased for a fraction of the cost in the US. For example, using Costa Rica?s national health care system, El Caja, members pay just $40 a month or nearly full coverage is offered through the Club de Salud at Vivian Pellas for less than $700 annually. And, the actual prices for procedures (including dentistry) can be a third of that in the United States.

Cost of living is also low. For example, in the picturesque colonial city of Granada, Nicaragua (where I own a home) even with its large expat community and a thriving tourist business, I can go to one of the best restaurants for dinner and (with wine and tip) pay less than $20. The cost of rum, coffee, and beer (which are thriving exports) is also embarrassingly cheap. Nearby Panama has earned the title as the ?Dubai? of the Americas due to its significantly lower cost of living with food and commodities only slightly more expensive than in Nicaragua.

The process of acquiring property (and foreigners can own property without being residents of the country) is different than what buyers experience in the United States. For example, licensing laws in these countries are generally loose, not enforced, or non-existent (e.g., Nicaragua has no licensing requirement to sell another person?s property or represent a buyer). The concept of ?fiduciary duty? requiring confidentiality, due diligence, loyalty, and accounting?among other duties?is generally absent in any meaningful manner. Further, an important element of a competitive market?transparency?is absent as there are no centralized market system such as the Multiple Listing Service. Many countries also have different processes for a real estate transaction (e.g., countries which observe Civil Law rather than Common Law). And, while title insurance is generally available through reputable international companies, the past history in some countries of agrarian reform and bureaucratic inefficiency requires extreme diligence on the part of buyers (and their agents).

Although there are recognized real estate franchises operating in these countries, their agents are bound by their country?s laws, or lack thereof, and cultural expectations. In the United States, fewer than 8% of all Realtors work in the international markets. Even fewer are certified as international specialists, which is in part, due to the enormous learning curves and the absence of professional overseas relationships with competent and honest attorneys, real estate agents, and others commonly needed for a successful real estate transaction.

Despite these drawbacks, whether it is for a change in lifestyle, to enjoy an excellent standard of living for less money, or for investment purposes, when someone asks, ?What in the world is going on,? you may now have a better response.

James T. Sears (property@searspartners.com), a Realtor and Real Estate Investment Analyst, and Broker Associate with AgentOwned Realty, lives in Seabrook Island, South Carolina and Granada, Nicaragua. As an Accredited Buyer Representative and a Certified International Property Specialist, he works clients interested in second homes and real estate investment (including real estate tours) in the Charleston area and Central America. More information can be found at www.searspartners.com?

The mountains near Boquette, Costa Rica

The village of Boquette, Panama

View of downtown Panama City and Panama Bay from the Casco

Sunset over the Pacific at San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua

From the infinity pool to the Pacific, Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica

Granada, Nicaragua, the town center

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MIT-designed cooler preserves tuberculosis drugs, records doses

Public release date: 30-May-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Caroline McCall
cmccall5@mit.edu
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

A simple cooler could help patients battle antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Tuberculosis, now largely controlled in the industrialized world, remains a stubbornly persistent killer in most of Africa, as well as parts of Asia and South America. The spread of multidrug-resistant strains of TB has slowed progress against the devastating disease, which is estimated to strike more than 10 million people annually. Now a modified soft-drink cooler, developed by researchers at MIT's D-Lab, could make a dent in the disease's impact.

There are two big issues that physicians confront in trying to tackle drug-resistant TB strains in developing countries. First, the drugs used to treat the disease, which require several doses per day over a course of 18 months, must be kept at a controlled low temperature in places where the availability of electricity is sparse and unreliable. And second, the drugs must be taken regularly, requiring continuous monitoring by health care workers.

Both issues could potentially be addressed by the cooler developed by researchers in the Little Devices Lab, a team of researchers within D-Lab who work to develop low-cost solutions to pressing medical needs.

D-Lab is a program of classes, workshops and labs at MIT, launched a decade ago by senior lecturer Amy Smith. The program now includes 13 classes on topics in health, mobility and energy, and is devoted to developing appropriate solutions to problems facing low-income people and communities around the world.

Jos Gmez-Mrquez, the D-Lab instructor who runs the Little Devices group, says the team's breadbox-sized cooler was adapted from one designed to keep soft drinks cool. Dubbed "CoolComply," it can run on either plug-in power or solar cells, and contains circuitry to monitor the temperature inside and transmit an alarm if it rises too high. (Higher temperatures cause a gas to be released inside the medicine packets, which can make patients violently ill.)

In addition, to track compliance, each cooler records the exact date and time when the box is opened, which allows a single dose packet to be dispensed. A built-in cellphone transmitter sends information on temperature and cooler activity to a central health facility where the data can be stored and monitored.

The CoolComply team won a $100,000 award last fall as a Vodaphone Americas Foundation Wireless Innovation Project, as well as a $50,000 grant from the Harvard Catalyst. The awards will see the project through initial development and testing.

The idea originated with Kristian Olson and Aya Caldwell, physicians at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, who told Gmez-Mrquez about the pressing need to keep TB medicines cool and to verify patient compliance with the dosage regime.

At present, since many of the patients entering treatment lack access to refrigerators, they are instead provided with coolers requiring daily deliveries of ice; their compliance with the dosage regime is checked regularly by visiting health workers. Those constraints severely limit the number of patients who can be treated, Gmez-Mrquez says. The daily ice deliveries cost $600 a year about double the cost of the CoolComply system and "ice doesn't send you a message" to show that medicine has been taken, he says.

Since last September, three prototype devices have undergone field testing in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; this summer the D-Lab team hopes to deploy at least 10 more there for further testing. Ultimately, the team hopes the devices can be produced locally and distributed by a small for-profit company set up for this purpose, fostering both better health and the creation of local jobs.

The wireless reporting system in the CoolComply device "solves the problem of having to visit the patient every day," Gmez-Mrquez says. But getting to that point wasn't easy: The first prototypes built last summer by the team which also includes D-Lab instructors Anna Young and Amit Ghandi worked perfectly in the United States, but as soon as they arrived in Addis Ababa for field testing, "none of it worked," Gmez-Mrquez says, because of unreliable signals from the local cellphone system. "We had to go back to the drawing board," he says. "We were in despair."

One problem, Ghandi says, was the design of the cooler's antenna. "You couldn't tell what was wrong by looking at it," he says, "but it wouldn't work in certain parts of Ethiopia." Finally, after switching to a different type of antenna and devising some tricks to make up for unexpected gaps in the system (such as the lack of a built-in timestamp on Ethiopian text messages), they were able to get a reliable device up and running.

That's par for the course for such projects, Gmez-Mrquez says. "You want, during the first trip, for a lot of things to go wrong," he says. "That's why you go over there." The key thing for this project was enlisting local users to try out a new system under real-world conditions. "We found amazing engineers" at the Addis Ababa Institute of Technology, he says, who "did an enormous amount of work" to help get the system working.

These local engineers, in fact, were delighted to have the chance to work on such a project, which they could see was something that could be built and maintained within the country. Young says one of them told her, looking at an expensive MRI machine in the local hospital, "Nobody I know will ever use this." By contrast, he said of the new cooler, "This is something I can actually see being used by people I know."

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Written by David Chandler, MIT News Office

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[ | E-mail | Share ]

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 30-May-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Caroline McCall
cmccall5@mit.edu
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

A simple cooler could help patients battle antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Tuberculosis, now largely controlled in the industrialized world, remains a stubbornly persistent killer in most of Africa, as well as parts of Asia and South America. The spread of multidrug-resistant strains of TB has slowed progress against the devastating disease, which is estimated to strike more than 10 million people annually. Now a modified soft-drink cooler, developed by researchers at MIT's D-Lab, could make a dent in the disease's impact.

There are two big issues that physicians confront in trying to tackle drug-resistant TB strains in developing countries. First, the drugs used to treat the disease, which require several doses per day over a course of 18 months, must be kept at a controlled low temperature in places where the availability of electricity is sparse and unreliable. And second, the drugs must be taken regularly, requiring continuous monitoring by health care workers.

Both issues could potentially be addressed by the cooler developed by researchers in the Little Devices Lab, a team of researchers within D-Lab who work to develop low-cost solutions to pressing medical needs.

D-Lab is a program of classes, workshops and labs at MIT, launched a decade ago by senior lecturer Amy Smith. The program now includes 13 classes on topics in health, mobility and energy, and is devoted to developing appropriate solutions to problems facing low-income people and communities around the world.

Jos Gmez-Mrquez, the D-Lab instructor who runs the Little Devices group, says the team's breadbox-sized cooler was adapted from one designed to keep soft drinks cool. Dubbed "CoolComply," it can run on either plug-in power or solar cells, and contains circuitry to monitor the temperature inside and transmit an alarm if it rises too high. (Higher temperatures cause a gas to be released inside the medicine packets, which can make patients violently ill.)

In addition, to track compliance, each cooler records the exact date and time when the box is opened, which allows a single dose packet to be dispensed. A built-in cellphone transmitter sends information on temperature and cooler activity to a central health facility where the data can be stored and monitored.

The CoolComply team won a $100,000 award last fall as a Vodaphone Americas Foundation Wireless Innovation Project, as well as a $50,000 grant from the Harvard Catalyst. The awards will see the project through initial development and testing.

The idea originated with Kristian Olson and Aya Caldwell, physicians at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, who told Gmez-Mrquez about the pressing need to keep TB medicines cool and to verify patient compliance with the dosage regime.

At present, since many of the patients entering treatment lack access to refrigerators, they are instead provided with coolers requiring daily deliveries of ice; their compliance with the dosage regime is checked regularly by visiting health workers. Those constraints severely limit the number of patients who can be treated, Gmez-Mrquez says. The daily ice deliveries cost $600 a year about double the cost of the CoolComply system and "ice doesn't send you a message" to show that medicine has been taken, he says.

Since last September, three prototype devices have undergone field testing in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; this summer the D-Lab team hopes to deploy at least 10 more there for further testing. Ultimately, the team hopes the devices can be produced locally and distributed by a small for-profit company set up for this purpose, fostering both better health and the creation of local jobs.

The wireless reporting system in the CoolComply device "solves the problem of having to visit the patient every day," Gmez-Mrquez says. But getting to that point wasn't easy: The first prototypes built last summer by the team which also includes D-Lab instructors Anna Young and Amit Ghandi worked perfectly in the United States, but as soon as they arrived in Addis Ababa for field testing, "none of it worked," Gmez-Mrquez says, because of unreliable signals from the local cellphone system. "We had to go back to the drawing board," he says. "We were in despair."

One problem, Ghandi says, was the design of the cooler's antenna. "You couldn't tell what was wrong by looking at it," he says, "but it wouldn't work in certain parts of Ethiopia." Finally, after switching to a different type of antenna and devising some tricks to make up for unexpected gaps in the system (such as the lack of a built-in timestamp on Ethiopian text messages), they were able to get a reliable device up and running.

That's par for the course for such projects, Gmez-Mrquez says. "You want, during the first trip, for a lot of things to go wrong," he says. "That's why you go over there." The key thing for this project was enlisting local users to try out a new system under real-world conditions. "We found amazing engineers" at the Addis Ababa Institute of Technology, he says, who "did an enormous amount of work" to help get the system working.

These local engineers, in fact, were delighted to have the chance to work on such a project, which they could see was something that could be built and maintained within the country. Young says one of them told her, looking at an expensive MRI machine in the local hospital, "Nobody I know will ever use this." By contrast, he said of the new cooler, "This is something I can actually see being used by people I know."

###

Written by David Chandler, MIT News Office

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

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Syrian blames armed rebels for Houla massacre as UN chief issues warning

BEIRUT - Syria on Thursday blamed up to 800 rebel fighters for the massacre in central Syria last week that killed more than 100 people, nearly half of them children, in its most comprehensive explanation to date of the bloodshed.

The narrative starkly contradicted accounts of witnesses who blamed "shabiha" or the shadowy gunmen who operate on behalf of President Bashar Assad's regime. The U.N. also said it had strong suspicions those pro-regime gunmen were responsible for much of the carnage on Friday in a cluster of villages known as Houla.

Facing international outrage over the killings, Damascus launched its own investigation into the deaths and announced that special prayers for the victims would be held at mosques across the country on Friday. The U.N. chief warned of civil war and pleaded with the regime to stop its attacks.

At a news conference Thursday, Qassem Jamal Suleiman, who headed the government's investigation into the massacre, categorically denied any regime role. He said hundreds of rebel gunmen carried out the slaughter after launching a co-ordinated attack on five security checkpoints.

The aim, he said, was to frame the government and to ignite sectarian strife in Syria.

"Government forces did not enter the area where the massacre occurred, not before the massacre and not after it," he said, adding that the victims were families who refused to oppose the government or carry arms.

A Houla-based opposition activist said it was clear that there had been no government investigation.

"The regime is looking for ways to justify the massacre to the world," said Saria al-Houlany. "It's clear that there wasn't any professional probe. ... If we had 800 fighters in Houla, this massacre would not have happened," he said.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi said the aim was to create sedition in Syria.

"There are people in dark rooms working night and day to target Syria ... and the way to do it is to ignite civil strife," he told reporters at the same news conference. "They will not succeed."

The Houla massacre was one of the deadliest incidents since the uprising against Assad's hardline regime started in March last year. Activists say about 13,000 have been killed in 15 months.

The area is still under attack. The government focused its shelling Thursday on the Houla village of al-Tibeh. The activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that some residents fled to nearby towns and villages "fearing a new massacre" as the area again came under fire.

Persistent bloodshed despite a cease-fire agreement has raised pressure on the international community to act.

But Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton laid out the clearest case yet for why the Obama administration is reluctant to intervene militarily in Syria even as the U.S. expressed revulsion over the Houla killings.

Clinton said Russia and China would have to agree before the U.S. and other nations engage in what could become a protracted conflict in support of a disorganized rebel force.

"We're nowhere near putting together any type of coalition other than to alleviate the suffering," Clinton told reporters Thursday after meeting with top officials in Denmark, a key contributor to last year's NATO-led mission against Moammar Gadhafi in Libya.

Russia's continued support for Assad "is going to help contribute to a civil war," Clinton warned.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Syria to stop the bloodshed and also warned of a protracted conflict.

Nearly 300 U.N. observers have been deployed around Syria to monitor a cease-fire that was supposed to go into effect on April 12 as part of a peace plan negotiated by international envoy Kofi Annan. But the plan has unraveled amid daily visit and the images from the Houla massacre caused outrage to spike.

"The massacre of civilians of the sort seen last weekend could plunge Syria into a catastrophic civil war ? a civil war from which the country would never recover," Ban said in Istanbul. He added that the international community was united in demands that the Syrian government act on its responsibilities to its people.

"We are there to record violations and to speak out so that the perpetrators of crimes may be held to account," Ban told a summit of the Alliance of Civilizations, a forum promoting understanding between the Western and Islamic worlds.

"Let me state plainly, however: The U.N. did not deploy in Syria just to bear witness to the slaughter of innocents," he added. "We are not there to play the role of passive observer to unspeakable atrocities."

Annan, meanwhile, arrived in Lebanon, where 10 people were killed in clashes between pro- and anti-Syrian groups earlier this month, raising fears the conflict could spill over to neighbouring countries.

In the wake of last week's massacre, the United States, Western and Asian nations expelled Syrian diplomats in protest.

Also Thursday, Syria's state-run TV said 500 people who had gotten involved in recent events in Syria were released from detention. It gave no further details.

In Damascus, the Syria International Islamic Bank, or SIIB, criticized the latest sanctions imposed Wednesday by the Obama administration as "irrational and unjustified."

The Treasury Department said Wednesday that SIIB has been acting as a front for other Syrian financial institutions seeking to circumvent sanctions. The new penalties will prohibit the bank from engaging in financial transactions in the U.S. and will freeze any assets under U.S. jurisdiction.

SIIB said it would undertake all necessary measures toward the U.S. decision, saying it has no assets or accounts in the United States. It added that the bank, like other Syrian banks, halted all banking operations with the dollar since U.S. sanctions were first imposed on Syria.

With Washington unwilling at this point to pursue military options in Syria, the U.S. has relied heavily on economic sanctions as a means for pressing Assad to leave power. The United States will host other nations in Washington next week to look at ways to tighten international sanctions further.

___

Associated Press writer Albert Aji contributed to this report from Damascus, Syria.

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Courses In Computer Hardware | Gulfnetcom

Computer systems have become essentially the most dependent supply these days. Be it any work, from the starting point, that?s forming a document, till the end point of communicating it to the involved person, computer systems has overpowered the whole professional and private lives of human being. The technological developments, which has made the lives of human much simpler and handy, has made the access to data and folks only a click away. The examine of the computer as an education is broadly divided in to {hardware} and software program fields. The internal or the programming a part of the pc techniques, due to which the pc as a machine runs and works on the instructions of human mind known as the software of the computer systems. {Hardware} constitutes the outer construction of the system, which allows the execution of all the software programmes in a pc system.

The scholars, who do programs in computers software program and {hardware} are called, software program and {hardware} engineers respectively. The position and the influence of computers has increased so much in the personal {and professional} lives of human being that one can?t even think of leading a life without computers. The dependency of human mind on these machines have really elevated quite a bit, subsequently the requirement of software and {hardware} engineers have additionally touched heights within the present scenario. The truth is, the rate with which the world is creating, the demand of those engineers is certain to rise to a great extent within the coming future.

Computer Software program courses are important, because they?re the source, as a consequence of which system works, but more essential than that is Laptop {Hardware} programs, as a result of without the system itself, one would not be capable to implement the programmes and take use out of it. Programs in pc {hardware} have turn into well-liked in at the moment?s world, as a result of rising usage and dependence of computer systems within the lifetime of a common man. And after all, computer is a machine, and like a human body needs its physician to struggle with the diseases attacking the physique, due to this fact, computer systems also wants it technical docs, known as {hardware} engineers to rectify the {hardware} problems of the system.

A computer {hardware} course teaches the students to deal not only with the monitor or display of the computer. However, the functioning of other components like, keyboard, mouse, speakers, wires, CPU, UPS, and many others are additionally taught to the scholars of laptop {hardware} course. The {hardware} programs have gotten widespread with the graph of technological developments going up day by day. Among the programs, which a student can go for doing job within the laptop {hardware} trade, are:

v A+ Diploma in {Hardware}
v Certificates course in {hardware}
v Microsoft Certified System Engineer
v Cisco Licensed Community Administrator
v Purple Hat Licensed Engineer

The importance and wish of a pc {hardware} course is essential for the student to study and make himself conscious of the most recent developments within the area of laptop {hardware} and to know the depth of the subject. You can get Computer Hardware from tigerdirect.com, and while buying don?t forget to use Tiger Direct Coupon Code 2012 to get discounts. Networking as a topic has also been added with the {hardware} programs today, attributable to demand of networking directors and consultants these days. The students are taught concerning the other ways of connectivity to make the communication course of less difficult and reliable. A number of the institutes or colleges offering programs in pc {hardware} and networking are:

v Institute of {Hardware} Technologies, Delhi

v National Institute of Info Technology

v ACIT, Mumbai

v Jet King Info Coaching, Kolkata

v Network Professional, Bangalore

v Net Max Tech, Chandigarh

v New Delhi Institute of Technologies Pvt. Ltd, Noida

v Supersoft Solution Supplier, Bangalore

v Amrita Institute of Computer Technology, Secunderabad

v Institute of Electronics and Pc Technology, Chennai

These colleges provide a range of courses in {hardware} development and networking, making it easy for the students to face up to and compete the majors in the field of technology.

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Canvas Paintings for Sale

In the time from the early cultures, we came across numerous Paintings which have been done upon different textures utilizing different paintings materials. At times we now have named the shape of Paintings based on the materials utilized, and upon other events, we merely name it following the texture which the painting is performed.

Canvas Paintings are type of Paintings named following the texture, which the painting is performed, as it's the canvas which we place the essential oil or polymer paints to acquire what all of us desire. Paintings on Canvas are becoming much well-liked since it?s beginning in the earlier renaissance time period, owing in order to various drawbacks from the primitive types of painting.

Canvas Paintings unlike watercolor painting is bolder and far livelier, seeing that the materials utilized in Paintings on Canvas are usually oil paints.

These paints utilized in Canvas Paintings, give all of them a luster that's retained more than longer amounts of time, without any kind of dents. The original appeal of essential oil paints permits us to put life to the expressions from the characters within the painting, and make the encompassing even much more vivid as well as eye getting.

Ever wondered what's Canvas Paintings? May be you've heard from it, maybe not really. Some associated with you available may even wish to try but don't know anything regarding Canvas Paintings. Read upon and through the time a person finish scanning this, you may seem like a professional.

Canvas Paintings is actually Painting on Canvas. You might have heard associated with painting, essential Oil Paintings, pastel piece of art acrylic painting although not canvas paintings. If you've not realize right now... you MAY paint upon canvas. The canvas After all is not really your canvas tote but a far more professional type of canvas that are being sold and end up being framed up when you're done together with your masterpiece.

Various kinds of canvas service providers suit various purpose. It is actually adjustable also it keeps as much as twelve moist panels or as much as four moist stretched canvasses totally enclosed. The Useful Porter Boxes are constructed with corrugated containers with channeled polystyrene grooves to keep Paintings nevertheless, it isn't an ideal method to transport your own masterpiece on the rainy day time.

Paintings on Canvas are extremely popular amongst art enthusiasts, and for this reason canvas is actually preferred by lots of people for producing their Oil Paintings. The canvas must be stretched as well as affixed to some wooden body before it may be used. The canvas must also be treated having a fine layer, to make sure that the oil within the oil pints don't come within direct connection with the fibers contained in the canvas, as they are able to cause lots of damage towards the canvas and lead to its rot. Synthetic latex coating is generally used for this sort of surfaces.
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Could gold really be on the ropes?

When looking at gold you can be an expert in the fairy tale aspect or accept the fact that it is the ultimate Greater Fool trade, for better or for worse. With levels reading 1500 an ounce, at least one analyst thinks the hallowed metal may be flirting with breaking under.

By Joshua M. Brown,?Guest blogger / May 30, 2012

Gold bars are displayed during a photo opportunity at the Ginza Tanaka store in Tokyo, in this September 2009 file photo. With current gold prices levels reading 1500 an ounce, at least one analyst think the hallowed metal may be flirting with breaking under.

Yuriko Nakao/Reuters/File

Enlarge

I'm not a technical analyst by training although I've been forced to both respect and understand technicals over the last 15 years the hard way. The shop I work at has integrated a technical discipline into everything we do on the analytics side, which frankly has been a big help to me in terms of risk management and understanding the supply/demand picture from 50,000 feet up.

Skip to next paragraph Joshua M. Brown

Joshua has been managing money for high net worth clients, charitable foundations, corporations and retirement plans for more than a decade.

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When looking at gold ($GLD), you can be an expert in the fairy tale aspect of it and cite episodes from Ancient Sumeria as proof of its value - or you can grow up and accept the fact that it is literally the ultimate Greater Fool trade, for better or for worse.? Since there are no earnings produced from gold we really only have supply and demand to go by, and that is why the technicals are really all that matter with this particular "asset class." I'm speaking to an audience of 6000 gold bugs in Vancouver next Monday, if I should disappear as a result of this post, please give my blog to Tadas Viskanta and my Twitter handle to Joe Weisenthal, as per my living will.

Anyway, 150 seems like a pretty important level for $GLD (1500 for an ounce of gold) and it seems to be flirting with breaking under as we speak.?

The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of the best economy-related bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here.To add or view a comment on a guest blog, please go to the blogger's own site by clicking on www.thereformedbroker.com.

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West expels envoys over massacre of Syrian children

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Western powers expelled Syria's envoys on Tuesday in outrage at a massacre of 108 people, almost half of them children, and peace envoy Kofi Annan urged President Bashar al-Assad to halt the bloodshed as "a tipping point" had been reached.

The killings in the town of Houla drew a chorus of condemnation from around the world, with the United Nations saying entire families were killed in their homes on Friday, some by army tanks and others probably by pro-Assad militia.

"Bashar al-Assad is the murderer of his people," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told Le Monde. "He must relinquish power. The sooner the better."

U.S. State Department spokeswoman described an "absolutely indefensible, vile, despicable massacre against innocent children, women, shot at point blank range by regime thugs."

U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous, whose monitors are in Syria, contradicted the Assad's government assertion that the killings were carried out by terrorist gangs.

"Part of the victims had been killed by artillery shells, now that points ever so clearly to the responsibility of the government. Only the government has heavy weapons, has tanks, has howitzers," Ladsous told reporters, adding:

"But there are also victims from individual weapons, victims from knife wounds and that of course is less clear but probably points the way to the (pro-Assad) shabbihas, the local militia."

The United States, France, Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia and Bulgaria gave Syria's envoys hours or days to leave their capitals in a coordinated move meant to isolate Assad further diplomatically.

Some had already expelled ambassadors or downgraded ties and so, like Washington, ordered out less senior charges d'affaires.

Western countries that have called for Assad to step down hope the Houla killings will tip global opinion, notably that of Syria's main protector Russia, towards more effective action.

The killings have contributed to doubt about whether a peace plan backed by Annan, a former U.N. secretary general, has any chance of success. Some of Assad's opponents say Annan's plan is only making the situation worse by buying Assad time.

"WE ARE AT A TIPPING POINT"

Annan said that in his talks with the Syrian leader in Damascus he "conveyed in frank terms the grave concern of the international community about the violence in Syria, including the recent shocking events in Houla."

"We are at a tipping point. The Syrian people do not want the future to be one of bloodshed and division. Yet the killings continue and the abuses are still with us today."

More than 10,000 people have died in the uprising against Assad and a crackdown by his loyalists, which began in March last year as part of a wave of revolts across the Arab world.

Western leaders have loudly called for Assad to go for months, but have so far shown little appetite for the sort of armed intervention that toppled Libya's Muammar Gaddafi last year. Any suggestion that force might be threatened has been blocked at the U.N. Security Council by Moscow and Beijing.

French President Francois Hollande said armed intervention could not be ruled out, but only with Security Council support.

"Military intervention is not excluded, provided it is carried out under the auspices of international law, namely a Security Council resolution," he told France 2 TV. "It is down to myself and others to convince Russia and China, and also to find a solution which is not necessarily a military one."

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the United States had not taken any options - including military intervention - off the table, but believed armed action was not the right course at present because it would lead to greater carnage and chaos.

Moscow backed a non-binding U.N. Security Council text on Sunday criticizing the use of artillery and tanks in Houla, but has twice vetoed tougher resolutions. It has shown little sign of changing its stance this week.

Vladimir Chizhov, Moscow's envoy to the EU, criticized the Western expulsions of Syrian envoys: "I believe it rarely is conducive to maintaining dialogue with the other side."

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was "alarmed that some countries ... are starting to use this event as an excuse to put forth demands of the need for military action in an attempt to put pressure on the U.N. Security Council."

"We are troubled by the ceaseless attempts to frustrate Kofi Annan's peace plan."

Annan urged the armed opposition to cease violence but appealed first to the government, as the stronger party, to take "bold steps now - not tomorrow, now" by stopping all military operations and showing "maximum restraint".

The plan calls for the government to withdraw all heavy weapons from towns and cities, followed by a cessation of fighting and dialogue with the opposition, but has stalled at the first hurdle.

Assad's government denied having anything to do with the deaths in Houla, or even having heavy weapons in the area, despite the contrary evidence found by United Nations monitors.

Assad himself repeated to Annan Syria's line that "terrorist groups" - Syria's term for the rebels - were stepping up killings and kidnappings across the country.

Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad told reporters: "Syria has not committed a single violation of Annan's plan or the initial understanding between Syria and the United Nations.

"At the same time, the other party has not committed to a single point. This means that there is a decision by the armed groups and the opposition not to implement Annan's plan and to make it fail."

The estimated number of internally displaced Syrians has more than doubled to 500,000 since an April 12 ceasefire and the flow of refugees abroad has gathered pace again, U.N. officials said on Tuesday.

SPENT SHELLS AND TANK TRACKS

U.N. monitors found spent shells and fresh tank tracks in Houla, evidence of weaponry that Syria's lightly-armed rebels do not have in their arsenal.

But the U.N. human rights office in Geneva said the bulk of the 108 mostly civilian dead in Houla had been executed at close range. Survivors told U.N. investigators that the killers were pro-Assad "shabbiha" militiamen, who in the past have assaulted and intimidated hotbeds of opposition to Assad.

"What is very clear is that this was an absolutely abominable event that took place in Houla, and at least a substantial part of it were summary executions of civilians - women and children," said Rupert Colville, spokesman for the U.N. human rights office in Geneva.

He said 49 children and 32 women were among the dead. "At this point, it looks like entire families were shot in their houses."

The report was at odds with a note sent by Syria to the Security Council that said: "Not a single tank entered the region and the Syrian army was in a state of self-defense ...

"The terrorist armed groups ... entered with the purpose of killing and the best proof of that is the killing by knives, which is the signature of terrorist groups who massacre according to the Islamist way."

Gruesome video footage distributed by opposition activists has helped to shake world opinion out of growing indifference to a conflict in which more than 10,000 have been killed.

Opposition sources said rebels had killed 20 soldiers in heavy fighting close to the border with Turkey.

They said six civilians and six rebels, including two commanders, had also been killed over the past 24 hours in fighting that began when the army launched an offensive with tanks and helicopters to retake the region around Atareb.

(Writing by Kevin Liffey and Peter Graff; Editing by Jon Hemming)

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Brotherhood's success in Egypt polls masks setback

CAIRO (Reuters) - At first glance, it was a victory. Just two months ago, the Muslim Brotherhood was not even in the race for the Egyptian presidency. Last week, its candidate made it to the run-off, according to unofficial results.

The Brotherhood did what it does better than any other group in Egypt: mobilized a nationwide network to get out the vote, catapulting Mohamed Mursi into the second round on June 16 and 17 against Ahmed Shafiq, Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister.

But the success masks a setback. By its own calculations, the Brotherhood's vote fell by almost half compared to the lower house parliamentary election six months ago.

"I voted for them in parliament, but after that they didn't even pay us a visit," said Mona Mahmoud, expressing a common voter complaint against Egypt's oldest Islamist movement.

The Brotherhood lost ground in some of its heartlands, where its followers once braved tear gas and police beatings to cast votes in parliamentary elections in Hosni Mubarak's era.

In dramatic shifts in a fast-evolving electoral landscape, initial results showed Mursi came fourth in Egypt's second city, Alexandria, an Islamist bastion. He was defeated by Shafiq in Nile Delta provinces long seen as Brotherhood strongholds.

One of the group's leaders hinted at foul play, but the result have also provoked introspection among Brotherhood figures who have seldom blamed anything but a hostile media for their public image problems in the past.

"The Muslim Brotherhood committed a series of errors reflected in a retreat in its popularity in the Egyptian street," Mohamed Mahdi Akef, the group's former Supreme Guide, said in a television interview on Sunday.

As the Brotherhood prepares to confront Shafiq, it is trying to rebut criticisms it sees as unfair, but clearly damaging.

The list is long and includes perceptions the movement has grabbed for power, failed in parliament, broken its word and lurched to the right with divisive, hardline Islamist rhetoric.

Presenting Shafiq as a major threat to Egypt's "revolution", the Brotherhood is reaching out beyond its base, trying to reassemble a broad movement that has fragmented since the uprising that swept Mubarak from power 15 months ago.

The Brotherhood is weighing compromises to win over reform-minded parties and centrist leaders, a tacit recognition that its well-oiled campaign machine may not suffice to beat Shafiq.

Their endorsement could prove crucial, but the Brotherhood has much work to do to roll back a new tide of suspicion.

THE BROTHERHOOD "NEEDS US BADLY"

"The feeling is that you cannot trust the Muslim Brotherhood right now. They have tried to join the national consensus, but each time have given preference to their own objectives," said Hassan Nafaa, an independent voice in the reform movement.

Nafaa, a political scientist at Cairo University, attended a meeting called by the Brotherhood on Saturday that was part of a new initiative to save Egypt from Mubarak's old guard.

"The Muslim Brotherhood needs us badly right now. They need civil society, a third force. At the same time, we are also going to need (them)," he said.

To reformists, Shafiq represents everything Egyptians rose up against on January 25, 2011, the start of the uprising. They fear a Shafiq presidency would simply restore Mubarak's order.

Shafiq, who like his former boss once led the air force, plays on fears of crime, insecurity and an Islamist takeover.

The Brotherhood, though long at the centre of opposition to Mubarak, has played what some see as a double game.

Critics say the pragmatic Islamist group joined the uprising late and then acquiesced in military rule. They accuse it of selling out the revolution for the sake of political expediency.

The Brotherhood has also been accused of going back on its word. Having first promised to cap its electoral ambitions, it subsequently contested nearly every post in the land, not least the presidency which it had once said it would not seek.

Some Egyptians worry about the group's Islamist vision. Mursi's pledge to implement Islamic law helped him secure support from hardline Islamists - a substantial voter bloc.

But it alarmed just about everyone else, including minority Christians and moderate Muslims who say the Brotherhood has failed to spell out the exact meaning of "implementing sharia".

"The group is giving vague and wide promises that have more than one meaning in order to not lose its religious conservative base," said Gamal Eid, a lawyer and human rights activist.

"They have to talk straight if they want to win the moderate Muslims, liberals and leftists whom they need."

NOUR EXPECTS DEAL BEFORE RUN-OFF

The 84-year-old Brotherhood often complains it is the victim of a vicious media campaign in a country where it has been depicted as an enemy of the state for decades.

Mahmoud Ghozlan, a member of the Brotherhood's executive board, cited a recent newspaper report that alleged the group had planned to assassinate one of its presidential rivals.

"I don't know if this is something that makes you laugh or cry," he told Reuters by telephone. "There's no doubting its effect on the voters in general, especially the common people."

With Mursi only narrowly ahead of Shafiq, according to unofficial results, the Brotherhood is looking to win support from the many voters who backed the first-round runners-up.

Between them, third-placed Hamdeen Sabahy, a leftist, and fourth-placed Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh, an independent Islamist, secured some 40 percent of the vote, representing new currents alongside the decades-old struggle between the Brotherhood and a military-backed secular autocracy.

Both men were invited to take part in the new Brotherhood initiative, but neither attended Saturday's meeting.

The Brotherhood's proposed national dialogue will cover top executive posts, the shape of the next government and the vexed question of who should draft a new constitution, said Mohamed Beltagi, a leader of the group's Freedom and Justice Party.

The Brotherhood is also ready to discuss how its manifesto, an 80-page document based on its "centrist understanding of Islam", can be combined with other electoral program.

"I am not relying on the Islamic bloc, but the revolutionary national bloc to confront Ahmed Shafiq, the bloc that got 65 percent or more in the elections," said Beltagi.

The Brotherhood's new interlocutors have demanded the creation of a 10-member presidential council and an eventual coalition government to be led by a non-Brotherhood politician.

"Until now, we only got talk, beautiful words of cooperation," said Ayman Nour, a liberal politician who attended the meeting. But he added that the Brotherhood needed broad support of liberals and others to win the run-off.

"That is why I am certain that we will reach something tangible before the second round," he said.

(Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

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?How Can I Repair My Credit Report? ? A Free Webinar | Financial IQ

05/24/2012 (press release: Onsharp) // Fargo, North Dakota, United States // Joe Larson

Today, a standing of credit reports can have a vital impact on many areas of life. Family Life Credit Services is charity an online webinar titled, "How Can we Repair My Credit Report" to a open on Jun 26. The webinar will have dual sessions, 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Central Standard Time.

Credit reports impact a ability to borrow, rent, obtain insurance, and grasp financial goals. It is critical for people to know a impact that a bad credit news can have. Family Life Credit Services understands this significance and has many tips and collection for families and people to urge credit reports. Since 1986, Family Life Credit Services has been operative to assistance thousands of people with their onslaught to find financial service by financial counseling, preparation and resources.

Take advantage of a "How Can we Repair My Credit Report" webinar to learn how to get your credit into a best figure possible.The educational webinar is 28 mins in length and is giveaway to all participants who pointer adult online. Visit http://www.familylifecredit.org/webinar-repair-credit-report-1pm/ to register for a 1 p.m. event and http://www.familylifecredit.org/webinar-repair-credit-report-7pm/ for a 7 p.m. session.Spots are limited.

About Family Life Credit Services

Family Life Credit Services is national nonprofit Christian Family Counseling group founded in 1986. They were incorporated as Family Life Services Inc., D.B.A. Family Life Credit Services in 1989 and are now located in West Fargo, North Dakota.

Family Life Credit Services is an classification of Christian credit counselors who yield trusted biblical Christian debt conversing assistance for people and families who have found themselves in financial crisis. Family Life Credit Services helps these people by examining their budget, deliberating all a options they have including self payment, debt converging program, bankruptcy, personal loans, etc. They do all of this but creation any personal judgments about clients a resources heading adult to their situation. Family Life is not a loan company, nor do they record failure claims.

All of a counselors during Family Life Credit Services are approved by an eccentric group and are compulsory to finish 20 stability preparation hours each dual years. All of their counselors are rarely merciful and know that during life's journey, people mostly transport by some severe patches. They know that nonetheless some of these severe rags are self-inflicted, other resources are totally out of anyone's control. Many of Family Life's credit counselors have been there boots before and they know what it's like to have creditors calling. Through their possess practice and their education, one can be certain that they will listen and do what they can to offer assistance, relief, and direction.

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2230232 Ontario Ltd. o/a Green Homes Doing Business With ...

Job Title : Customer service agent
Company : 2230232 Ontario Ltd. o/a Green Homes
City : Oshawa
State : Ontario
Country : CA
Location : Oshawa, ON
Date : 2012-05-28 20:38:14
latitude : 43.89835
longitude : -78.84615
Status Active
Job key 95c72d9154358480

At the moment at May 28, 2012. Is at present 2230232 Ontario Ltd. o/a Green Homes for the date bring on board Customer service agent. The job opportunity built inside of the state Oshawa, ON zone of Ontario ON.

And then the condition of the job is Active. So besure to start reading the job description below and proceed click the APPLY THE JOB button to move further.

The summary of job description of Customer service agent :

Customer service agent Job description provided by 2230232 Ontario Ltd. o/a Green Homes. If you can quick apply this job you only click the Apply the job button at the bottom of this information.

Title: Customer service agent ( NOC: 1453 ) Terms of Employment: Permanent, Full Time, Weekend, Day, Evening Salary: $18.25 Hourly for 40 hours per week, Bonus Anticipated Start Date: As soon as possible Location: oshawa, Ontario (8 vacancies ) Skill Requirements: Education: Completion of high school Credentials (certificates, licences, memberships, courses, etc.): Not applicable...

MAP OF JOB LOCATION :

If you can view the location of 2230232 Ontario Ltd. o/a Green Homes company you only click View The Map button. Zoom in to acquire a closer glance in the where about of job and execute a Street View, to provide oneself a lil small sight from the where about of job opportunity prior to going there.

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Hands-on review: Sony Vaio T13

Sony announced its debut Intel Ultrabook earlier this month ? the Sony Vaio T13 - and we got up close and personal with the new machine at an event in London.

Designed to take on the likes of the Dell XPS 13, the HP Folio 13 and, of course, the MacBook Air ? the Sony Vaio T Series Ultrabook is aimed, according to its makers at least, at people who want portability and power on the go.

Our first impressions of the first Ultrabook-branded Vaio machine were that, despite it not being as sleek as Dell's debutant XPS 13, or as pretty as the Asus Zenbook range, this is a seriously slick machine with a robustness and sharp finish unlike any other Ultrabook we've seen.

At 17.8mm, it's certainly not the skinniest Ultrabook model on the catwalk, but its square edges set it apart from its rivals. A MacBook clone it is not.

The magnesium and alloy chassis helps to create an industrial and rugged impression for the T13. And this impression isn't misleading ? a quick tug at the lid revealed that it's plenty sturdy so should be safe enough in your bag for a day out and about.

Powered by a (Sandy Bridge for the moment at least) Intel Core i3 processor and backed up with 4GB of DDR3 RAM, the Sony Ultrabook seemed responsive enough with the few simple tasks that we set it. We will, of course, have to spend a bit more time with it and stretch it to its limits before we can give you a comprehensive verdict.

The response time from sleep mode was very quick ? thanks to the hybrid storage system made up of a 320GB HDD and a 32GB SSD. The SSD aspect allows the Intel Smart Response Technology and Sony's Rapid Wake to kick into action, meaning almost instantaneous wake times. There is a standard SSD option too, which will give you an extra couple of hours battery life ? nine as opposed to seven.

For standby life-time, Sony tells us we can expect a whopping 90 days.

The 1,366 x 768, 13-inch LED display held up pretty well under the event lights and the viewing angles looked impressive. Sound is also a strong point thanks to the xLOUD and Clear Phase tech features built in.

The superb build quality is extended to the controls with both the keyboard and the trackpad pleasing our grubby paws. The isolated keyboard, as is the Vaio way, has a soft finish and feels great on the fingertips and the track-pad is large enough to make multi-touch gestures straightforward. There's no backlighting on the keys unfortunately though.

At the top there's a power button with a double LED and three customisable buttons labelled 'Assist', 'Vaio' and 'Web'. These are pre-configured to load up various Sony powered gubbins but you can set them to open up anything that you like.

In terms of connectivity there are a couple of USB ports on the left-hand side, one of which is of the nippier USB 3.0 variety. On the right-hand side of the machine there is a VGA port, a HDMI one, an Ethernet one and a 3.5mm jack for your 'phones.

When it comes to the Sony Vaio T13 price, Sony has pegged it at ?899. It is keeping pretty schtum about possible Ivy Bridge T Series variants arriving, however.

What we do know is that the Sony Vaio T13 Ultrabook will be available in June.

There will also be a made-to-order 11-inch version available on the Sony website.

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UK party chair didn't properly declare income

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Israel steps up security ties with China

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Israel steps up security ties with China
AP via Boston.com ^ | May 24, 2012 | Josef Federman and Christopher Bodeen

Posted on 05/27/2012 3:50:56 AM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo

JERUSALEM?After a prolonged chill, security ties between Israel and China are warming up.

With Israel offering much-needed technical expertise and China representing a huge new market and influential voice in the international debate over Iran's nuclear program, the two nations have stepped up military cooperation as they patch up a rift caused by a pair of failed arms deals scuttled by the U.S.

The improved ties have been highlighted by this week's visit to Beijing by Israel's military chief and a training mission to Israel by the Chinese paramilitary force that, among other things, polices the restive Tibetan and Muslim Uighur regions. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to travel to China in the coming weeks.

(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...

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TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Israel
KEYWORDS: china; israel

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In the world of grown ups, nations do not have "friends" among other nations. Nations have common interests which sometimes results in close ties.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

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Skip to comments.

Israel steps up security ties with China
AP via Boston.com ^ | May 24, 2012 | Josef Federman and Christopher Bodeen

Posted on 05/27/2012 3:50:56 AM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo

JERUSALEM?After a prolonged chill, security ties between Israel and China are warming up.

With Israel offering much-needed technical expertise and China representing a huge new market and influential voice in the international debate over Iran's nuclear program, the two nations have stepped up military cooperation as they patch up a rift caused by a pair of failed arms deals scuttled by the U.S.

The improved ties have been highlighted by this week's visit to Beijing by Israel's military chief and a training mission to Israel by the Chinese paramilitary force that, among other things, polices the restive Tibetan and Muslim Uighur regions. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to travel to China in the coming weeks.

(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...

---

TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Israel
KEYWORDS: china; israel

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In the world of grown ups, nations do not have "friends" among other nations. Nations have common interests which sometimes results in close ties.

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Bud weakens to tropical storm off Mexico?s coast

A woman pushes her dog in a baby stroller along the beach in the resort city of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Friday, May 25, 2012. Hurricane Bud lost a little of its sting early Friday, but remained a potent Category 2 storm as it headed toward a string of laid-back beach resorts and small mountain villages on Mexico?s Pacific coast south of Puerto Vallarta. (AP Photo/Bruno Gonzalez)

PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico (AP) ? Bud weakened to a tropical storm Friday as heavy rain began to pelt a string of laid-back beach resorts and small mountain villages on Mexico?s Pacific coast south of Puerto Vallarta.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida, said that maximum sustained winds that were once blowing at 115 mph (185 kph) had slowed to 60 mph (95 kph) by Friday night. The government of Mexico changed the hurricane warning for the coast of Mexico from Manzanillo to Cabo Corrientes to a tropical storm warning. Hurricane watches were also discontinued.

Forecasters said the storm would continue to weaken and the center would move over land late Friday or Saturday.

Heavy rain started Friday night in Puerto Vallarta and rainfall was expected to accumulate from 6 to 10 inches in many spots. Mexican authorities canceled school in 11 communities expected to be hit by heavy rains in Jalisco state. Emergency workers prepared emergency shelters, many of them in empty school classrooms.

The state was placed on high Friday night as the storm center neared land, and emergency officials in Puerto Vallarta said they were closely monitoring villages that had been hit by flooding and mudslides in previous hurricanes and tropical storms.

Rains and 6-foot (2-meter) high waves pelted Melaque, a beach town on the Bahia de Navidad, about 60 mph (100 kilometers) east of the sparsely populated stretch of coast where the storm?s center was expected to come ashore during the night.

Category 2 Hurricane Jova hit the area in October, killing six people and flooding parts of Melaque and neighboring Barra de Navidad.

?There was a lot of flooding in the whole area, and we lost electricity,? recalled Rafael Galvez, manager of the Hotel Bahia in Melaque. But this week, he said, only seven of his hotel?s 26 rooms were occupied, and none of the hotel?s guests were planning to leave.

The hurricane center said the storm would hit land, move a little inland and then make a U-turn and head back out into the Pacific. Rain, rather than wind, could be the big threat, with the center warning of the ?potential for life-threatening mudslides? in steep terrain inland.

The government of Jalisco state prepared hundreds of cots and dozens of heavy vehicles such as bulldozers that could be needed to move debris.

Officials in Puerto Vallarta said they were in close contact with managers of the hundreds of hotels in the city in case tourists need to move to eight emergency shelters, but on Friday night they said that appeared unlikely. It said the sea along the city?s famous beachfront was calm, but swimming had been temporarily banned as a precaution.

A separate storm was pounding much of Cuba and the Bahamas on Friday. Cuba?s civil defense agency reported that a French citizen, Alain Manaud, and Silvestre Fortun Alvarez of Cuba were missing after trying to cross rain-swollen rivers, according to the government?s Prensa Latina news agency. It said a search for them was continuing.

An official at the French Embassy in Havana said Manaud was 66 and had lived in Cuba for several years. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly.

The agency quoted government meteorologists as saying more than 20 inches (500 millimeters) of rain had fallen on parts of the central province of Sancti Spiritus.

The hurricane center reported that the system had about a 70 percent chance of becoming a tropical or subtropical cyclone.

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Associated Press writers Mark Stevenson in Mexico City and Anne-Marie Garcia in Havana contributed to this report.

Tags: Accidents and disasters, Business, Caribbean, Central America, Coastlines and beaches, Consumer products and services, Cuba, Disaster planning and response, Emergency management, Environment and nature, Floods, General news, Government and politics, Industries, Latin America and Caribbean, LORENA MOGUEL, Mexico, Natural disasters, North America, Storms, Weather

This entry was posted on May 25, 2012, 9:00 pm and is filed under International. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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