Lawyer says ousted Egypt leader still president

In this Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012 photo, former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak is wheeled into a court house in Cairo, Egypt. Hosni Mubarak's lawyer concluded his defense Sunday Jan. 22 2012, arguing that the ousted leader should be acquitted of criminal charges because he is technically still the president of Egypt. Mubarak, who stepped down nearly a year ago, is charged along with his security chief and four police commanders of complicity in the killing of protesters during an 18-day uprising in January and February. They could face the death penalty if convicted. (AP Photo/Mohammed al-Law)

In this Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012 photo, former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak is wheeled into a court house in Cairo, Egypt. Hosni Mubarak's lawyer concluded his defense Sunday Jan. 22 2012, arguing that the ousted leader should be acquitted of criminal charges because he is technically still the president of Egypt. Mubarak, who stepped down nearly a year ago, is charged along with his security chief and four police commanders of complicity in the killing of protesters during an 18-day uprising in January and February. They could face the death penalty if convicted. (AP Photo/Mohammed al-Law)

CAIRO (AP) ? Hosni Mubarak's lawyer concluded his defense on Sunday, arguing that the ousted leader should be acquitted of criminal charges because he is technically still the president of Egypt.

Mubarak, who stepped down nearly a year ago, is charged along with his security chief and four police commanders of complicity in the killing of protesters during an 18-day uprising in January and February. They could face the death penalty if convicted. Mubarak and his two sons are facing separate charges of corruption in the same case.

Farid el-Deeb, Mubarak's chief defense lawyer, said during the closure of arguments that spanned five court sessions that Mubarak did not formally resign and should enjoy immunity from prosecution.

He said Mubarak gave verbal instructions to his vice president Omar Suleiman to announce that he was delegating the armed forces to "run the affairs of the nation," something that he said did not amount to a resignation.

"This court is not qualified to try him and he must be acquitted," said el-Deeb, a suave celebrity lawyer.

El-Deeb received a round of applause from other defense lawyers when he finished his statements. Lawyers for the victims responded with chants of, "Execution, execution," and, "Down, down with Mubarak."

Addressing Mubarak, a former air force chief and a decorated war hero who ruled Egypt for 29 years, el-Deeb said: "You, Mubarak, are a wounded eagle in the sky. Don't be sad, be tough, for you are not any better than the Prophet."

He was alluding to the persecution endured by Islam's seventh-century Prophet Muhammad during the early days of his prophecy in what is now Saudi Arabia.

El-Deeb has argued in previous hearings that a 1979 law issued by Mubarak's predecessor Anwar Sadat gave the ousted leader immunity from being tried before a civilian court as a hero of the nation's 1973 war against Israel.

Mubarak and his two sons, wealthy businessman Alaa and one-time heir apparent Gamal, were arrested in April following mass protests calling on the generals who took control of Egypt to detain them and try them. The trial began on Aug. 3.

Nearly 40 stalwarts of the Mubarak regime, including two former prime ministers and several key cabinet ministers and regime-linked businessmen, are currently held in a prison south of Cairo. Some of them have been convicted and are serving jail terms, while others are awaiting trial.

However, activists behind the uprising that toppled Mubarak's regime say the ruling generals, led by the ousted leader's defense minister of 20 years, are not serious about dismantling the former regime.

They say the generals remained beholden to Mubarak, whose consent was essential to their rise through the ranks.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-22-ML-Egypt-Mubarak-Trial/id-f82a854ed3a049158f0be69905b67441

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Romney braces for final full day in South Carolina

FILE - In this Jan. 7, 1997 photo, House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia and his wife Marianne leave their home for Capitol Hill. Dredging up a past that Newt Gingrich has worked hard to bury, the GOP presidential candidate's ex-wife says Gingrich asked for an "open marriage" in which he could have both a wife and a mistress. In an interview with ABC News' "Nightline" scheduled to air Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, Marianne Gingrich said she refused to go along with the proposal that she share her husband with Callista Bisek, who would later become his third wife. (AP Photo/Mark Wilson)

FILE - In this Jan. 7, 1997 photo, House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia and his wife Marianne leave their home for Capitol Hill. Dredging up a past that Newt Gingrich has worked hard to bury, the GOP presidential candidate's ex-wife says Gingrich asked for an "open marriage" in which he could have both a wife and a mistress. In an interview with ABC News' "Nightline" scheduled to air Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, Marianne Gingrich said she refused to go along with the proposal that she share her husband with Callista Bisek, who would later become his third wife. (AP Photo/Mark Wilson)

Republican presidential candidates, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich share a laugh during a commercial break at the Republican presidential candidate debate at the North Charleston Coliseum in Charleston, S.C., Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, reacts to the audience as he participates in the Republican presidential candidate debate at the North Charleston Coliseum in Charleston, S.C., Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Republican presidential candidate former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, participates in a Republican presidential candidate debate at the North Charleston Coliseum in Charleston, S.C., Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

(AP) ? Front-runner Mitt Romney and his presidential pursuers enter the final full day of campaigning in a South Carolina GOP primary contest significantly altered from just 24 hours earlier.

The former Massachusetts governor is looking to fend off challenges to his fragile lead from more conservative rivals Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum. The entire field, including Ron Paul, scrambled for the shreds of support left by Texas Gov. Rick Perry who quit the race Thursday.

Perry's departure, a raucous Charleston debate and fresh reminders of Gingrich's tumultuous personal life promised to make the dash to Saturday's voting frenetic and the intra-party attacks increasingly sharp.

"I've been fighting for health reform, private sector, bottom-up ... for 20 years, while these two guys were playing footsies with the left," Santorum said of Romney and Gingrich during a heated debate exchange.

With Romney clinging to a narrow lead in South Carolina polls and Gingrich closing in, Santorum was aiming for the top tier. Paul was also a factor as the four remaining GOP hopefuls planned to scatter across the Palmetto State on Friday.

Romney, whose lead has shrunk in the race's closing days, planned stops along the coast, in the state's midlands and conservative north. Gingrich, gaining fast and buoyed by Perry's endorsement, was planning a half-dozen stops concentrating in the south, especially the heavily pro-military Charleston area.

Meanwhile, Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator seeking to consolidate conservatives, planned to rally supporters in four stops statewide, including the conservative upstate, the home of his evangelical base.

The libertarian-leaning Paul, whose support has slipped with his light campaign effort here, hoped to whip up his supporters with a six-city fly-around.

The GOP race spun wildly Thursday, beginning with news that Santorum had edged Romney in Iowa, a reversal of the first nominating contest more than two weeks past.

Perry, having struggled in vain to build support in his native South, quit and endorsed Gingrich. Gingrich, meanwhile, faced stunning new allegations from an ex-wife that he had sought an open marriage before their divorce. An aggressive debate punctuated the day.

Santorum played aggressor during the faceoff, trying to inject himself into what seemed increasingly like a Romney-Gingrich race after Perry's endorsement of his onetime rival.

"Newt's not perfect, but who among us is," Perry said in backing Gingrich. "The fact is, there is forgiveness for those who seek God and I believe in the power of redemption, for it is a central tenet of my own Christian faith."

Gingrich angrily denounced the news media for putting his ex-wife front and center in the final days of the race and spreading her accusations. "Let me be clear, the story is false," he said when asked at the opening of the debate about her interview.

Santorum, Romney and Paul steered clear of the controversy.

"Let's get onto the real issues, that's all I've got to say," said Romney, although he pointed out that he and his wife, Ann, have been married for 42 years.

Gingrich and Santorum challenged Romney over his opposition to abortion, a well-documented shift but a potent one in evangelical-heavy South Carolina.

Recent polls, coupled with Perry's endorsement, suggested Gingrich was the candidate with the momentum and Romney the one struggling to validate his standing as front-runner.

Gingrich released his income tax records during the course of the debate, paving the way to discussing Romney's. The wealthy former venture capitalist has said he will release them in April, prompting Gingrich to suggest that would be too late for voters to decide if they presented evidence Obama could exploit.

"If there's anything that's in there that's going to help us lose the election, we should know before the election. If there's not, why not release it?" Gingrich said. His effective tax rate, roughly 31.6 percent of his adjusted income, was about double what Romney told reporters earlier this week he had paid.

Gingrich grappled with problems of a different, possibly even more crippling sort in a state where more than half the Republican electorate is evangelical.

Marianne Gingrich told ABC's "Nightline" that her ex-husband had wanted an "open marriage" so he could have both a wife and a mistress. She said Gingrich conducted an affair with Callista Bistek, now his wife, "in my bedroom in our apartment in Washington" while she was elsewhere.

"He was asking to have an open marriage and I refused. That is not a marriage," she said in excerpts released by the network well ahead of the debate.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-20-GOP%20Campaign/id-a3b17cf51e104b09af2dcc3323f5e4c7

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Hudson Miracle survivors relive crash on 'NY Ink'

TLC

One of the passengers of flight 1549 gets the number as a tattoo.

By Anna Chan

Going through a traumatic experience together often helps people form a bond, but for the survivors of US Airways flight 1549, their ties go beyond surviving a landing in New York's Hudson River.

On the new episode of TLC's "NY Ink," several of the passengers on Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger's plane gathered together at Ami James' Soho tattoo parlor, Wooster Street Social Club, to get the flight number inked on their flesh and relive the terrifying moments of their 2009 "Miracle on the Hudson" landing together.

"I could see we were getting lower and lower," recalled passenger Matt. "And I'm saying to myself, '(Sully) is going to land this thing in the Hudson.' "

"Several of us turned around to look to see if our body was still in the seat," said fellow passenger Beth. "I mean, that was enough of an experience to say, 'Am I really alive? And I'm just having an out of body experience?' "

See what else they had to say:

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"NY Ink" airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on TLC.

Will you tune in tonight to hear the passengers tell their tale? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page.

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Solar Flare May Spark Weekend Northern Lights Show (SPACE.com)

A powerful flare erupted from the sun Thursday (Jan. 19), unleashing a plasma wave that may supercharge the northern lights for skywatchers in high latitudes this weekend.

The solar flare occurred at about 11:30 am EST (1600 GMT) and touched off a massive solar explosion ? known as a coronal mass ejection ? aimed at Earth, space weather experts and officials said. The charged particles from the sun explosion should reach Earth by Saturday night (Jan. 21), and could amp up northern lights displays when they hit the upper atmosphere.

"Forecasters say strong geomagnetic storms are possible when the cloud arrives during the late hours of Jan. 21st. High-latitude (and possibly middle-latitude) sky watchers should be alert for auroras this weekend," the skywatching website Spaceweather.com announced in an alert.

Several space telescopes recorded photos and video of the solar flare, including NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and the Solar Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). [Photo and video of the solar flare]

According to the Space Weather Prediction Center maintained by NOAA, Thursday's solar flare erupted from an active sunspot group called Region 1401. Another solar hotspot, called Region 1402, is also fired off a flare, the center reported.?

Auroras occur when charged particles from the sun interact with Earth's upper atmosphere, releasing visible light in the process. The particles are funneled toward Earth's polar regions by the planet's magnetic field, with the northern auroral displays known as the aurora borealis, or northern lights. The southern counterpart is called the aurora australis, or southern lights.?

Thursday's solar flare rated as a powerful M2-class sun storm on the scale used by astronomers to measure flare strength. M-class storms are powerful, but mid-range, types of solar flares. They fall between the weaker C-class flares and the most powerful X-class solar storms, which can pose a threat to satellites and astronauts in orbit, cause widespread communications interference and damage infrastructure on Earth when aimed directly at the planet.

SDO mission scientists have said that sunspot group 1401 has been unleashing solar flares almost daily as the sun's rotation slowly turned the solar hotspot toward Earth in recent days. On Wednesday (Jan. 18), the region unleashed an M1.7-class solar flare, they said in a Twitter post.

The sun is currently in the middle of an active phase of its 11-year solar weather cycle. The current sun storm cycle, called Solar Cycle 24, is expected to peak in 2013, NASA scientists have said.

Editor's note: If you snap an amazing northern lights photo, or other skywatching image, and would like to share it for a possible story or gallery, please contact managing editor Tariq Malik at?tmalik@space.com.

Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter?@Spacedotcom?and on?Facebook.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/space/20120120/sc_space/solarflaremaysparkweekendnorthernlightsshow

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Astronomers Are Hunting for Exomoons with Kepler's Help (Time.com)

The universe seems almost infinitely reductive: our galaxy rotates around a central hub, planets orbit their planet stars, moons orbit their parent planets, and the odd moonlet may even orbit a moon.

Almost from the moment astronomers began finding planets around distant stars, they thus began talking about the moons that might orbit those alien worlds. It wasn't that they had any hope of discovering something as tiny as a moon: the smallest things they could find at the time were giant planets like Jupiter. But if a Jupiter happened to orbit in its star's Goldilocks Zone, where temperatures were relatively balmy, and if that Jupiter happened to have a moon about the size of Earth -- not impossible, surely -- then that hypothetical moon might have a chance of harboring life. That's a lot of ifs, which made talk of so-called exomoons seem like more of a marketing gimmick designed to gin up public interest in exoplanet science than a serious area of research. (See 2011's best photos from space.)

Not any more, though. Thanks to the exquisite precision of the orbiting Kepler space telescope, the prospect of finding exomoons has finally come within reach and the search is now officially on. Speaking at this week's American Astronomical Society meeting in Austin, Harvard astrophysicist David Kipping announced a new project called the Hunt for Exomoons with Kepler, or HEK. "We actually have no idea how common moons are in other planetary systems," says Kipping -- but we could be on the verge of finding out.

Kipping had started thinking about exomoons even before Kepler was launched in 2009. "It was my entire Ph.D., more or less, at University College, London," he says. He was originally thinking about transits -- the passage of a planet in front of its star, which is just what Kepler was designed to look for as a sign that the planet exists at all. In particular, Kipping was wondering about what might make a transit last longer or shorter than you might expect. "It dawned on me," he recalls, "that if a planet had a moon, that could cause a speedup or a slowdown." (See photos of the universe, to scale.)

The reason: if a moon happens to be leading the planet as it passes by, it will pull the planet across the face of the star a little faster than average. If it happens to be following, it will hold the planet back. Not only that; whether the moon is leading or trailing, the silhouette of the planet and moon will be wider than that of a planet alone -- the planet-moon system will block more of the star's light. If the moon is directly in between the planet and the gaze of Kepler, on the other hand, or if it's between the planet and the star, more starlight will reach Kepler's sensors -- and the moon itself will not be visible.

For these reasons, astronomers need to see the planet pass around the star several times so that the changes in speed caused by a moon can be compared with an average speed, and so that moons that are completely hidden on one pass can have a chance to show themselves on the next. That takes time, which is why Kepler scientists need patience, but it's worth the wait. (See photos of a new planetary nebula that dazzles astronomers.)

"By combining all this," says Kipping, "you can infer a lot. You can directly measure the mass of the star, planet and moon." That's crucial, because while Kepler can gauge the size of a planet (or a planet-size moon) by how much light it blocks, the space telescope can't judge the object's mass -- which, in turn, makes it possible to calculate its density. Without that information, you can't figure out what it's made of -- and that's critical. Planets or moons made mostly of gas will not have the same likelihood of supporting life as those made mostly of water or rock or a mix of all three. The gravitational pull or drag of a moon on its parent planet adds a critical clue to gravity -- which in turn adds further clues to mass and composition.

While the HEK project has just been formally announced, it's actually been going on for some time. "We've already got some two dozen candidate signals," says Kipping. These were all culled from from Kepler's public database -- many of them by amateur sleuths who frequent a website called planethunters.org. "These guys have incredible patience, incredible skill," says Kipping. "They've become experts at finding signals amidst the noise -- some of the best in the world."

One of the very best, says Kipping, is Allan Schmitt, a retired software engineer formally credited as a co-author on the scientific paper announcing HEK, and listed as "Citizen Science/Planet Hunter." Of the four most promising signals the team is looking into says Kipping, Schmidt found three. "He's a fantastic contributor." (Read "Space Discovery: 36 Light-Years Away, the Most Earthlike World Yet?")

Kipping had been hoping to present an actual discovery at this week's astronomy conference, but, he says, "we've hit a wall. We can't really confirm any discoveries, but there are some we can't rule out." As it happens, though, the Kepler mission released a flood of new observations just as the conference was getting under way. Armed with that extra data, the HEK team should be able to say something definitive, maybe within months.

"It's a really fun time for me," says Kipping, "because I've been working on the theory of moon detection for such a long time. The last few months have been the most exhilarating time of my career." The next few should be even better.

Read "Can a Planet Survive the Death of Its Sun? Scientists Find Two That Did."

See photos of the asteroid Vesta.

View this article on Time.com

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/space/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/time/20120118/hl_time/08599210437600

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ASUS: No Transformer Prime TF700 in the UK 'before June', British TF201s unaffected by Wifi glitch

Android Central

Asus has posted an extensive update on its UK blog covering the newly-announced EeePad Transformer Prime TF700 tablet, along with details of how the widely-reported Wifi and GPS issues with the original Transformer Prime TF201 affect UK users.

Firstly, ASUS says that the Wifi problems experienced by some Prime owners stateside don't affect any of the units sold in the UK. And on the subject of GPS woes, the manufacturer reminds Brits that they're entitled by law to return their tablets within 30 days for a full refund. To sweeten the deal for those who choose to keep their TF201, ASUS says it's increasing its standard warranty on the device from 12 to 18 months. If you want to take them up on the offer, check the source link for details of how to extend your warranty.

As for the TF700, the souped-up version of the Prime with a 1080p SuperIPS+ screen, ASUS says that model won't be arriving in the UK until June at the very earliest. So it's bad news bears for Prime fans on this side of the pond, but at least the delay will give prospective buyers the chance to first see what's unveiled at Mobile World Congress next month.

Source: ASUS Blog; via: Eurodroid

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/4eKYB9U4HZQ/story01.htm

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David Furnish Slams Madonna's Golden Globes Win

Brad Pitt and George Clooney Really Are Best Friends

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The Critics' Choice Awards went off without a hitch last night at the Hollywood Palladium, where Tinseltown's elite showed up in their best suits and dresses, ready to impress. Brad Pitt limped in on his cane without his better half, Angelina Jolie, who was noticeably missing from the event. But he wasn't alone ? best friend George Clooney was there to accompany him, along with lady love Stacy Keibler.

George headed inside with girlfriend Stacy, who was wearing a gorgeous floor-length white gown. The couple was seen canoodling all night, looking very loved-up and sipping Nicolas Feuillatte champagne with Brad. When it was announced that George had won the Critics' Choice award for Best Actor, beating out Brad, he kissed Stacy and bowed to Brad, who returned the gesture by blowing him a kiss. They hugged it out, and Brad gave him a standing ovation while George accepted his award. It?s so nice to see genuine and lasting friendship in Hollywood!

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Over 500 million Chinese citizens now connected to the web

The number of internet-connected Chinese citizens jumped 4 percent in 2012, pushing the country's total number of users over the 500 million mark. A report issued by the state-owned China Internet Network Information Center (CINIC) reveals that over 37% (513 million people) living in The Middle Kingdom are now traversing the information superhighway. Unsurprisingly, the majority of these internet connections (close to 70%) can be attributed to mobile phones; as we've seen over the past few days, this mobile-centric user-base has generated very high demand for certain cellular products. Those scrutinizing the CINIC's report note that the statistics quoted by the Chinese government could be a wee bit on the high side. The report considers a user "internet connected" if they are over the age of six and have been online in the past half year. Hit the source link for more surfing stats from the Far East.

Over 500 million Chinese citizens now connected to the web originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Jan 2012 08:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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