In Kerry's Mideast announcement, hints of success and challenge

By Arshad Mohammed

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When Secretary of State John Kerry announced on Friday that Israel and the Palestinians had tentatively agreed to resume peace talks after three years, he did so standing alone as dusk fell over the Jordanian capital.

The image reflects both his achievement and his challenge: few people would have predicted success when he began his quest to get the parties into talks nearly six months ago; yet even as he heralded the planned negotiations, neither was at his side.

In a brief appearance at Jordan's Queen Alia International Airport, Kerry told reporters the Israelis and Palestinians had laid the groundwork to resume direct negotiations.

While acknowledging the agreement was still being "formalized," he said that "if everything goes as expected" the chief Palestinian and Israeli negotiators would come to Washington to start talks in the next week or so and to make a three-way announcement.

Kerry's solo appearance - after four days of face-to-face talks with Palestinian officials and intense phone conversations with their Israeli counterparts - may simply have reflected its timing: just as Muslims were breaking their daily Ramadan fast and Jews were beginning to observe the Sabbath.

However, a former senior U.S. official said Kerry appearing alone might also be viewed as a signal that neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians is as deeply committed to the resumption of talks as the U.S. secretary of state himself.

"In a way, the announcement reflects ... the degree of investment on both sides and the amount of risk that they are prepared to take, which is apparently not much," said the senior official, who spoke on condition that he not be identified.

KERRY'S PRAYER ANSWERED

Even before becoming secretary of state, Kerry signaled an ardent interest in trying to resolve the more than six-decade Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"My hope ... my prayer is that perhaps this can be a moment where we can renew some kind of effort to get the parties into a discussion," he said at his January 24 Senate confirmation hearing.

On the first weekend after he took office on February 1, he telephoned both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to underscore his "personal commitment" to pursue Middle East peace.

However, aside from Kerry's devotion to the issue - he has made six peacemaking trips to the region in four months - analysts said they were unable to point to any significant changes in the fundamental climate for peace.

Peacemaking has ebbed and flowed for two decades, last breaking down in late 2010 over Israel's settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, where, along with the Gaza Strip, Palestinians seek statehood.

The Palestinians, with international backing, have said that state must have borders approximating the territories' boundaries before Israel captured them in the 1967 Middle East War - a demand hard to reconcile with Israel's insistence on keeping swaths of settlements under any eventual peace accord.

The core issues that need to be settled include borders, the fate of Palestinian refugees, the future of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and the status of Jerusalem.

Previous attempts by former U.S. Presidents George W. Bush in 2008 and Bill Clinton in 2000 ended in failure.

SEEKING PEACE, OR AVOIDING BLAME?

Some analysts said they saw little as having changed in the politics of the dispute since the last effort, which broke down within weeks of its high-profile Washington announcement.

"I am not among those who see this as a major breakthrough," said Khaled Elgindy of the Brookings Institution's Saban Center for Middle East Policy in Washington. "I am very skeptical because I don't see anything that is fundamentally different."

The main motivation on both sides to agree to come to the table - assuming that all goes well in the next week or so - may simply be to avoid being blamed for torpedoing negotiations.

"From the Palestinian standpoint the objective is not to be blamed for failure of this process, so they are willing to go along, they are not holding their breath," said Elgindy, who served as an adviser to the Palestinian leadership on peace negotiations at the Negotiations Support Unit in Ramallah from 2004 to 2009.

For the Israelis, entering talks may also avert a diplomatic disaster at September's annual U.N. General Assembly, where the Palestinians had planned to seek recognition for their statehood claim in the absence of direct engagement with the Israelis.

The scene as Kerry met Abbas on Friday afternoon in Ramallah after several hours of delay seemed to bear out the idea of some Palestinian skepticism in the face of U.S. enthusiasm.

"Mr. president, you should look happy," said a cheerful-looking Kerry, according to a U.S. pool reporter who attended the picture-taking session at the start of their talks.

Another question that Elgindy, and others, raised was how committed U.S. President Barack Obama was to the peace process having seen his 2010 attempt fail.

"There is a perception that (Obama) is saying 'go ahead, I am with you, see what you can accomplish' but he is not terribly invested in the process," Elgindy said. "The thinking is that he will be brought in when he is needed, when they make progress, but he is not going to expend the political capital this early."

The U.S. president did raise Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking with Netanyahu during a telephone call on Thursday, one day before Kerry's announcement.

Obama urged Netanyahu "to continue to work with Secretary Kerry to resume negotiations with the Palestinians as soon as possible," according to a White House description of the call.

However, it was unclear how much, if at all, Obama may have influenced the Israeli leader during the call, which the White House described as part of their regular consultations and whose main topics appeared to have been Egypt, Iran and Syria.

There have been years when U.S. officials, faced with their failure to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, have told reporters: "We can't want it more than the parties do."

It is a question that comes up about Kerry's efforts, which win praise for their apparent early progress but doubts about their odds of eventual success.

"Clearly, Kerry wants it more than Netanyahu or Abbas," said Elliott Abrams, who served as a deputy national security adviser under Republican U.S. President George W. Bush and was involved in Bush's failed push for a peace agreement by the end of 2008.

"I don't think it's a mystery why that would be. For both Netanyahu and Abbas, these negotiations present enormous political problems and both of them are going to be accused at various points of ... giving away too much," he added. "(For them), this whole thing is political trouble."

(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed; Additional reporting by Nidal Al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Lesley Wroughton in Washington; Editing by Alistair Bell and Eric Beech)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kerrys-mideast-announcement-hints-success-challenge-050725865.html

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Anyone for badminton? Lessons offered in College Park

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Source: www.orlandosentinel.com --- Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Badminton always brings back memories of when I would play it in a friend's yard as a child in West Palm Beach. Of course, other than once about 10 years ago at a picnic, childhood is the only time I have played it much. If I only had evenings off, I would go to the College Park Community Center in Orlando for lessons offered Wednesdays from 6 to 9 p.m. I could still go to the Sunday lessons from 2 to 5 p.m. Cost is $5 per class or $30 per month. The center is at 2393 Elizabeth Ave. For more info, call 407-658-1242. ...

Source: http://feeds.orlandosentinel.com/~r/orlandosentinel/thefitnesscenter/~3/OPINXehuwqc/os-run-ride-work-out-anyone-for-badminton-lessons-offered-in-college-park-20130716,0,3276560.post

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House GOP leaders look at splitting farm bill

WASHINGTON (AP) ? A month after suffering an embarrassing defeat, House Republican leaders are considering a new strategy to try to win support for the massive, five-year farm bill: splitting it into two separate measures, one for farm programs and one for food stamps.

It's an attempt to gather support from conservatives who voted against the $100 billion-a-year farm bill, and critics say it could lead to bigger cuts in both farm subsidies and the domestic food aid.

Republicans discussed the strategy in a Tuesday caucus meeting, with House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., saying for the first time that he would go along with a split bill if leaders could deliver the votes. Republicans were assessing support for the idea, and a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said no decisions had been made on how to revive the bill.

The House rejected the farm bill in June by a vote of 234-195 after some in the GOP complained that the legislation did not cut enough from food stamps. Democrats said the 3 percent cut in food stamps was too much.

The idea is that the farm portion of the bill could pass without the food stamp provisions. By splitting the two, Republicans might be able to make bigger cuts in food stamp programs and pass that bill with conservative support.

However, conservative groups, farm groups and nutrition groups all expressed concerns with the strategy.

Farm groups and anti-hunger groups have warned that separating the farm and nutrition programs after decades of linking them would be a major mistake. Rural lawmakers have added money for food stamps to the farm bill, which sets policy for agricultural subsidies and other farm programs, to gather urban votes for the measure. The Democratic-led Senate, which overwhelmingly passed a farm bill with smaller cuts to food stamps, would be reluctant to go along with a split bill or further cuts to the programs.

Spending on food stamps has doubled in the last five years to almost $80 billion a year and the number of members in both parties who make agriculture a priority has dwindled. Still, separating the two bills could create bigger problems as few members may not have an incentive to vote for either piece of legislation.

In a letter to Boehner last week, more than 500 farm groups discouraged GOP leadership from splitting the legislation.

"We believe that splitting the nutrition title from the rest of the bill could result in neither farm nor nutrition programs passing, and urge you to move a unified farm bill forward," the groups wrote.

Compounding the difficulties would be any changes to the farm legislation to gather more conservative votes. The farm bill passed by the House Agriculture Committee and rejected by the full House would have cut farm subsidies by about $2 billion a year, but some Republicans have wanted deeper cuts.

As the GOP counted votes for the split bill strategy, conservative groups proposed further cuts to farm subsidies. They expressed concern that House leaders were just trying to push the bill through so they could begin negotiations with the Senate.

"The end result of such a conference would be a perpetuation of subsidies and government intervention that will continue to harm consumers and taxpayers alike," said Michael A. Needham, CEO of the conservative advocacy group Heritage Action.

At the same time, Agriculture Committee members from both parties who helped craft the delicate balance of the bill don't want to see further reductions.

Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson, the top Democrat on the Agriculture Committee, said that splitting the bill is "stupid" and he doesn't believe any Democrats would vote for it.

"Even if they got this through the House, I don't see how you are successful in getting a bill out of conference and signed by the president, because you have alienated so many people in the process," he said.

More difficult than passing a farm-only bill would be passing a food stamp bill, as Republicans have disagreed on how much should be cut. The House Agriculture Committee bill cuts about $2 billion a year from the almost $80 billion-a-year program, now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. But some on the right would like to see much bigger cuts and to change the structure of the program.

Billy Shore, the founder and CEO of the anti-hunger group Share Our Strength, says the split would make SNAP vulnerable when many families and children are dependent on it. Around one in seven people used food stamps last year.

"The concern is that (splitting the bill) would make it easier for the Republican leadership to find support for those cuts," Shore said. "For a program that has worked so well for decades it feels a little short-sighted."

Farm groups agreed.

Jon Doggett, a lobbyist for the National Corn Growers Association, said that farm groups will continue to need allies as rural areas decrease in population and fewer members of Congress are elected on farm issues. In addition to nutrition advocates, the bill also brings together agriculture and environmental groups who favor conservation measures in the bill that protect environmentally-sensitive farmland.

___

Follow Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mcjalonick

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-07-09-Farm%20Bill/id-23ecbdc0ac0f4117a3167badf6e2b52c

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Boehner Fundraising Pace Aids GOP House Members

Despite high-profile battles with members of his own party, House Speaker John Boehner is maintaining his status as a top fundraiser for House members as Republicans look to retain at least their 17-seat majority in 2014.

The Ohio Republican has raised more than $30 million this year in more than 100 fundraising events nationwide, Politico reported.

"Our Republican House majority is the last line of defense," Boehner said at one event, according to Politico. "If Democrats succeed in returning the speaker's gavel to Nancy Pelosi, they will control all the levers of power. No check. No balance. No stopping the president from more spending, more taxes and his cap-and-trade agenda."

Boehner so far has raised more than $5 million for the National Republican Congressional Committee, $350,000 for House members and candidates, and $250,000 for the Republican National Committee.

Boehner recently attended a fundraiser for the Congressional Leadership Fund, a Republican super PAC that spent more than $9 million in 2012 to protect the GOP?s House majority, Politico said.

The Obama campaign raised $1.1 billion during the 2012 election cycle, and President Barack Obama is actively at work to help put Democrats in control of the House.

"Every dollar is needed as we prepare to face one of the most well-financed, well-organized political machines in modern history," Boehner spokesman Cory Fritz told Politico.

Boehner's strong fundraising efforts have been made while the House has been investigating the administration's actions in Benghazi and the IRS, and contending with such divisive issues as a fiscal-cliff compromise, the farm bill, and the immigration bill.

"The American people see that their government is out of control," Boehner told attendees of the Congressional Leadership Fund event. "We just need to keep making the case for our solutions to build a stronger economy and a more accountable government."

? 2013 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/Boehner-fundraising-2014-house/2013/07/08/id/513795

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Brazilian Rapper MC Daleste Killed Onstage

MC shot during a show on Saturday night outside Sao Paulo.
By Gil Kaufman

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1710132/brazilian-rapper-mc-daleste-shot-killed-onstage.jhtml

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Quebec police: 5 dead in oil train derailment

LAC-MEGANTIC, Quebec -- As firefighters doused still burning oil tanker cars, more bodies were recovered Sunday in this devastated town in eastern Quebec, raising the death toll to five after a runaway train derailed, igniting explosions and fires that destroyed the downtown district. With dozens of people reported missing, authorities feared they could find more bodies once they reached the hardest-hit areas.

Quebec provincial police Lt. Michel Brunet said Sunday that about 40 people have been reported missing, but cautioned that the number could fluctuate up or down.

"We met many people who had reported family members missing. Right now I can tell you about 40," Brunet said.

Brunet confirmed two more deaths early Sunday afternoon after confirming two people were found dead overnight. One death was confirmed Saturday.

All but one of the 73 cars were filled with oil, which was being transported from North Dakota's Bakken oil region to a refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick.

The eruptions early Saturday morning sent residents of Lac-Megantic scrambling through the streets under the intense heat of towering fireballs and a red glow that illuminated the night sky.

Local Fire Chief Denis Lauzon likened the charred scene to "a war zone."

"This is really terrible. Our community is grieving and it is taking its toll on us," Mayor Colette Roy-Laroche said.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper toured the town on Sunday to offer his condolences.

The search for victims in the charred debris was hampered because two tanker cars were still burning Sunday morning, sparking fears of more potentially fatal blasts.

Lauzon said firefighters are staying 500 feet (150 meters) from the burning tankers, which are being doused with water and foam to keep them from overheating.

"It's a mess," he said.

The multiple blasts came over a span of several hours in the town of 6,000, which is about 155 miles (250 kilometers) east of Montreal and about 10 miles (16 kilometers) west of the Maine border.

About 30 buildings were destroyed after tanker rail cars laden with oil caught fire and exploded in the picturesque lakeside town in Quebec's Eastern Townships.

The derailment caused at least five tanker cars to explode in the downtown district, a popular area packed with bars that often bustles on summer weekend nights. Police said the first explosion tore through the town shortly after 1 a.m. local time. The fire then spread to several homes.

Brunet said he couldn't say where the bodies were found exactly because the families have not been notified.

The cause of the accident was believed to be a runaway train, the railway's operator said.

Edward Burkhardt, the president and CEO of Rail World Inc., the parent company of Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, said the train had been parked uphill of Lac-Megantic because the engineer had finished his run. The tanker cars somehow came loose and sped downhill nearly seven miles into the town before derailing.

"We've had a very good safety record for these 10 years," Burkhardt said of the decade-old railroad. "Well, I think we've blown it here."

Joe McGonigle, Montreal, Maine & Atlantic's vice president of marketing, said the company believes the brakes were the cause. He said the rail company has been in touch with Canada's Transportation Safety Board.

"Somehow those brakes were released and that's what is going to be investigated," McGonigle said in a telephone interview. "We're pretty comfortable saying it is the brakes. The train was parked, it was tied up. The brakes were secured. Somehow it got loose."

Associated Press writer Rob Gillies and Charmaine Noronha contributed from Toronto.

Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/07/07/3488902/quebec-police-3-dead-in-oil-train.html

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Protests against the NSA spring up across U.S.

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Protests against the NSA spring up across U.S.
Anti-NSA protesters took to the streets in cities across the United States on Thursday, using the Independence Day holiday to call attention to recent disclosures about the U.S. government's telephone and Internet surveillance programs.

Source: CNN
Posted on: Friday, Jul 05, 2013, 8:04am
Views: 28

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/128932/Protests_against_the_NSA_spring_up_across_U_S_

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Daytona redoes gates, readies for groundbreaking

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) ? Daytona International Speedway just completed one project and is about to start another.

NASCAR's most famous track finished installation of revamped cross-over gates Wednesday, a day before drivers and teams took to the high-banked oval to begin preparations for Saturday night's 400-mile race.

The gates were reinforced following a frightening wreck in February that injured nearly 30 spectators. Daytona and Talladega added cables at the crossover gates, which allow fans to move between the grandstands and the infield before and after races. The tracks also installed supplemental tethers between the gate frame and support posts.

"I felt before that it was safe place," track president Joie Chitwood III said. "We've been around 55 years and, yes, things happen. But we've done a really good job of giving fans a safe and fun environment. You never stop doing that."

One of the eight gates at Daytona collapsed when rookie Kyle Larson crashed on the final lap of the Nationwide Series race a day before the Daytona 500.

Larson's car went airborne, slammed into the fence and spewed debris into the stands. Larson was unharmed, but dozens of fans were taken to hospitals for treatment, including one who was hit by a tire.

Daytona spent hours repairing the fence before the 500. After the race, the track hired a structural engineering firm to review the fence and propose improvements. NASCAR also was involved in the process.

The next Daytona project is considerably bigger and way more expensive.

The 2 1/2-mile speedway is overhauling the frontstretch to enhance the "fan experience."

International Speedway Corp., which owns Daytona and 12 other NASCAR tracks, estimates the redesign with cost between $375 million and $400 million.

The three-year project, scheduled to be completed by January 2016, begins Friday. And it won't have a traditional groundbreaking ceremony.

Chitwood came up with a creative and competitive campaign for the event, called "Daytona Rising."

He is pitting current and former NASCAR drivers and a crew chief in a driving skills test, a competition on Caterpillar front-end loaders that will give the winning team the honor of breaking ground on the redesign.

NASCAR drivers Jeff Burton and Ryan Newman are paired on one team. Fellow drivers Greg Biffle and 2011 Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne comprise another team. And three-time NASCAR champion Darrell Waltrip and former crew chief Larry McReynolds form the final team.

The teams have to maneuver an obstacle course while carrying items including tires and sand. The event will be treated like real NASCAR races, complete with driver introductions, the national anthem and a Victory Lane celebration that includes champagne and trophies.

"I have a lot of input when it comes to doing fun and crazy things," Chitwood said. "Maybe it's because I was a stunt man. We thought if we're going to do this groundbreaking, we need something more than just shovels and a picture. Let's Daytona-style this thing. ... I'm kind of proud of it. This fits NASCAR. This fits Daytona. Let's not just do a photo with gold-platted shovels. This just feels like NASCAR.

"We're only going to do this one time in my lifetime, so we want to make sure we get it right."

The redevelopment will give Daytona's aging grandstands a modern look and feel. It will include expanded entrances and a series of escalators and elevators to transport fans to three different concourse levels, each featuring spacious and strategically-placed social "neighborhoods" along the nearly mile-long frontstretch. Those 11 neighborhoods, each measuring the size of a football field, will allow fans to meet and socialize during events without ever missing any on-track action.

The project also includes the removal of backstretch grandstands while wider and more comfortable seating will be installed throughout the frontstretch. When the project is complete, Daytona will have reduced its capacity by 46,000 seats to 101,000.

Reducing capacity has become a trend in NASCAR.

International Speedway Corp. announced Wednesday that it will continue decreasing seating capacity at its racetracks to create more ticket demand.

ISC will target seating that doesn't include sightlines to pit road and the opportunity for fans to take advantage of prerace events and track amenities.

"There is simply too many seats in inventory at several facilities in our portfolio," ISC President John Saunders said during a conference call to announce ISC's second-quarter earnings. "The seats that we have today don't necessarily offer or project the best experience for our fans. ... An engaged customer, one who understands the sport and has a good at-track experience, is more likely to return."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/daytona-redoes-gates-readies-groundbreaking-220223761.html

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Sony Xperia Tablet Z video walkthrough

A 10-inch 1080p display. Water resistance. Eight-megapixel Exmor RS camera. 4G LTE support. Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core. The Sony Xperia Tablet Z certainly seems to check all the relevant boxes for a high-end, big-screen Android tablet, while packing its impressive internals into a thin and light chassis. But Sony isn't the first Android OEM to attempt to break into the large form factor tablet space, a section of the market dominated by Apple's full-size iPad. Meanwhile smaller, cheaper Android tablets have achieved greater success than their full-sized, full-priced brethren.

So how does Sony's super-thin 10-incher measure up? Check out our video walkthrough after the break. We'll have a full review headed your way in the days ahead.

read more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/8cBRqhUx7k0/story01.htm

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Microsoft's Xbox One coming to Japan in 2014

It's never nice to be told you're a second class citizen, which is probably why Microsoft was reticent to mention when the Xbox One would launch in Japan. When 4Gamer cornered Japanese VP Yasuyuki Higuchi for answers, he conceded that the country was "tier two," and that the hardware wouldn't arrive there until 2014. On the upside, he did promise that the tier two countries wouldn't be waiting long after the North American release, but that's hardly going to sate early adopters with an eye on the local hero.

Filed under: Gaming, Microsoft

Comments

Via: Games Industry

Source: 4Gamer (Translated), DualShockers

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/03/xbox-one-japan-2014/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Report: Lovefilm will cease UK game rentals by August 8th

Lovefilm has told Eurogamer that it will no longer offer game rentals by mail in the UK after August 8th. Additionally, the Amazon division confirmed via its blog that the option is no longer available to new subscribers. In addition, existing customers will no longer be able to add the service, a fact that only came to light when someone spotted it on a company FAQ (see the More Coverage link). Lovefilm apologized profusely for the non-communication, and explained that the change was made so it could focus on streaming content instead. It promised to contact subscribers "in the very near future" to confirm the policy, and "strive to communicate directly with our customers" rather than letting them find out through the media. The firm's yet to actually confirm that the service will be cut off completely next month, however -- perhaps that would be a good place to start.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Amazon

Comments

Source: Lovefilm, Eurogamer

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/03/lovefilm-to-chop-uk-game-rentals-august-8th/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Kim Kardashian Baby Pictures: Not for Sale?!?

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/07/kim-kardashian-baby-pictures-not-for-sale/

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French far-right chief Le Pen loses immunity over racism case

STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - The leader of France's far-right National Front lost her right to legal immunity as a European Parliament deputy on Tuesday, exposing her to possible prosecution over a racism charge.

Marine Le Pen's loss of immunity came at the request of a Lyon court three years after she was accused of inciting racial hatred for comparing Muslim street prayers to the occupation of France by Nazi Germany.

A majority of parliamentarians voted to ratify the decision, as recommended by a judicial committee, a parliament official said after the hearing at the parliament's seat in the northern French city of Strasbourg.

A public trial in France would be a setback for the National Front as it seeks to capitalize on her rising popularity to grab territory from the ruling Socialist Party and mainstream right in local and European Parliament elections next year.

Le Pen's anti-immigrant, anti-EU party is notably gaining support at the expense of President Francois Hollande's Socialists in a darkening economic context, as high and rising joblessness fuels the spread of her euro-skeptic views.

The National Front has also profited from a tax evasion scandal that prompted the resignation of ex-Budget Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, stealing votes in his former home district during a by-election last month.

It is tipped to make strong gains in May 2014 European elections, with one survey by pollster YouGov in June showing it could reap 18 percent of the vote -- ahead of the Socialists but behind the center-right UMP party.

By comparison in 2009, when Le Pen won her EU parliament seat in the North-West France region, the National Front scored a total of just 6.3 percent of the vote, versus 16.4 percent for the Socialists and 27.8 percent for the UMP.

Le Pen was ranked France's third most popular politician in a web-based poll conducted in May by web site L'Internaute. That placed her one position behind former President Nicolas Sarkozy, and 24 positions ahead of Hollande.

If found guilty of inciting racial hatred, she would face a maximum penalty of one year in prison and 45,000 euros in fines.

(Reporting By Gilbert Reilhac; writing by Nicholas Vinocur; editing by Mark John)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/french-far-chief-le-pen-loses-immunity-over-110218770.html

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Obama suggests spying on nations' allies is common

FILE - This June 17, 2013 file photo shows President Barack Obama meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. President Barack Obama brushed aside sharp European criticism on Monday, suggesting all nations spy on each other, as the French and Germans expressed outrage over alleged U.S. eavesdropping on European Union diplomats. American analyst-turned-leaker Edward Snowden, believed to be stranded for the past week at Moscow?s international airport, applied for political asylum to remain in Russia. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

FILE - This June 17, 2013 file photo shows President Barack Obama meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. President Barack Obama brushed aside sharp European criticism on Monday, suggesting all nations spy on each other, as the French and Germans expressed outrage over alleged U.S. eavesdropping on European Union diplomats. American analyst-turned-leaker Edward Snowden, believed to be stranded for the past week at Moscow?s international airport, applied for political asylum to remain in Russia. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) in the Kremlin in Moscow, Monday, July 1, 2013. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev, Pool)

In this photo taken on Monday, June 24, 2013, shows a view of Moscow's Airport Sheremetyevo, terminal E, with a hotel for transit passengers at the transit zone inside. Leaker Snowden has been caught in legal limbo in the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport since his arrival from Hong Kong on June 23. The U.S. has annulled his passport, and Ecuador, where he has hoped to get asylum, says it may take months to rule on his case. Russia's President Vladimir Putin said Monday, July 1, 2013, that Snowden will have to stop leaking U.S. secrets if he wants to get asylum in Russia, but added that Snowden has no plan to stop leaking. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr)

FILE - In this file photo taken Friday, June 28, 2013, a Russian supporter of National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden holds a poster outside Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow. Leaker Snowden has been caught in legal limbo in the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport since his arrival from Hong Kong on June 23. The U.S. has annulled his passport, and Ecuador, where he has hoped to get asylum, says it may take months to rule on his case. Russia's President Vladimir Putin said Monday, July 1, 2013, that Snowden will have to stop leaking U.S. secrets if he wants to get asylum in Russia, but added that Snowden has no plan to stop leaking. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits, File)

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Bolivian President Evo Morales, second right, attend the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) in the Kremlin in Moscow, Monday, July 1, 2013. (AP Photo/Maxim Shemetov, Pool)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama brushed aside sharp European criticism on Monday, suggesting that all nations spy on each other as the French and Germans expressed outrage over alleged U.S. eavesdropping on European Union diplomats. American analyst-turned-leaker Edward Snowden, believed to still be at Moscow's international airport, applied for political asylum to remain in Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a statement he acknowledged sounded odd, told reporters in Moscow that Snowden would have to stop leaking U.S. secrets if he wanted asylum in Russia ? and he added that Snowden seemed unwilling to stop publishing leaks of classified material. At the same time, Putin said that he had no plans to turn over Snowden to the United States.

Obama, in an African news conference with Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, said the U.S. would provide allies with information about new reports that the National Security Agency had bugged EU offices in Washington, New York and Brussels. But he also suggested such activity by governments would hardly be unusual.

"We should stipulate that every intelligence service ?not just ours, but every European intelligence service, every Asian intelligence service, wherever there's an intelligence service ? here's one thing that they're going to be doing: They're going to be trying to understand the world better, and what's going on in world capitals around the world," he said. "If that weren't the case, then there'd be no use for an intelligence service."

The latest issue concerns allegations of U.S. spying on European officials in the German news weekly Der Spiegel. French President Francois Hollande on Monday demanded that the U.S. immediately stop any such eavesdropping and suggested the widening controversy could jeopardize next week's opening of trans-Atlantic trade talks between the United States and Europe.

"We cannot accept this kind of behavior from partners and allies," Hollande said on French television.

German government spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters in Berlin, "Eavesdropping on friends is unacceptable." He declared, "We're not in the Cold War anymore."

Even before the latest disclosures, talks at the upcoming free-trade sessions were expected to be fragile, with disagreements surfacing over which items should be covered or excluded from an agreement. The United States has said there should be no exceptions. But France has called for exempting certain cultural products, and other Europeans do not appear eager to give up longtime agricultural subsidies.

Obama said the Europeans "are some of the closest allies that we have in the world." But he added, "I guarantee you that in European capitals, there are people who are interested in, if not what I had for breakfast, at least what my talking points might be should I end up meeting with their leaders. That's how intelligence services operate."

Nonetheless, Obama said he'd told his advisers to "evaluate everything that's being claimed" and promised to share the results with allies.

Meanwhile, the Interfax news agency said a Russian consular official has confirmed that Snowden had asked for asylum in Russia.

Interfax cited Kim Shevchenko, the duty officer at the Russian Foreign Ministry's consular office in Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, as saying that Snowden's representative, Sarah Harrison, handed over his request on Sunday.

Snowden, in legal limbo, is believed to have been in the airport's transit zone since his arrival from Hong Kong on June 23. The U.S. has annulled his passport, and Ecuador, where he has hoped to get asylum, has been giving off mixed signals about offering him shelter.

"If he wants to go somewhere and there are those who would take him, he is welcome to do so," Putin said. "If he wants to stay here, there is one condition: He must stop his activities aimed at inflicting damage on our American partners, no matter how strange it may sound coming from my lips."

Obama said "there have been high-level discussions with the Russians" about Snowden's situation.

"We don't have an extradition treaty with Russia. On the other hand, you know, Mr. Snowden, we understand, has traveled there without a valid passport, without legal papers. And you know we are hopeful that the Russian government makes decisions based on the normal procedures regarding international travel and the normal procedures regarding international travel and the normal interactions that law enforcement has. So I can confirm that."

Putin didn't mention any Snowden effort to seek asylum in Russia, and spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to say what the Russian response might be. Putin insisted that Snowden wasn't a Russian agent and that Russian security agencies hadn't contacted him.

Three U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to publicly discuss the Snowden case, said Washington's efforts were focused primarily on persuading Russia to deport Snowden either directly to the United States or to a third country, possibly in eastern Europe, that would then hand him over to U.S. authorities.

In a sign of the distrust the latest report had revealed, the German government said it had launched a review of its secure government communications network and the EU's executive, the European Commission, ordered "a comprehensive ad hoc security sweep."

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday he didn't know the details of the allegations, but he still played them down, maintaining that many nations undertake various activities to protect their national interests. Kerry failed to quell the outrage from allies, including France, Germany and Italy.

A spokesman for Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, said, "The European Union has demanded and expects full and urgent clarification by the U.S. regarding the allegations."

According to Der Spiegel's report, which it said was partly based on information leaked by Snowden, NSA planted bugs in the EU's diplomatic offices in Washington and infiltrated the building's computer network. Similar measures were taken at the EU's mission to the United Nations in New York, the magazine said.

It also reported that NSA used secure facilities at NATO headquarters in Brussels to dial into telephone maintenance systems that would have allowed it to intercept senior officials' calls and Internet traffic at a key EU office nearby.

As for Snowden, White House national security spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said the White House won't comment on specific asylum requests but reiterated its message to all countries that he "needs to be expelled back to the U.S. based on the fact that he doesn't have travel documents and the charges pending against him."

Regarding possible effects on U.S. interactions with Russia, she said it remains the case "that we don't want this issue to negatively impact the bilateral relationship."

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Associated Press writers Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow, Sarah DiLorenzo in Paris, Frank Jordans and Geir Moulson in Berlin, Elena Becatoros in Athens, Raf Casert in Brussels, Deb Riechmann in Brunei, Nicole Winfield in Rome, Julie Pace in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

Associated Press

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