Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/178667314?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Monday, December 26, 2011
Cuba to free 2,900 in sweeping amnesty (Reuters)
HAVANA (Reuters) ? Cuba will release 2,900 prisoners in the coming days for humanitarian reasons in a sweeping amnesty ahead of a visit next spring by Pope Benedict XVI, the Cuban government said on Friday.
Those to be pardoned do not include American Alan Gross, serving 15 years in prison for setting up Internet equipment on the island under a secretive U.S. program in a case that stalled progress in U.S.-Cuba relations, a government spokesman said.
The ruling Council of State granted the amnesty in a decision that President Raul Castro, in a separate speech to the National Assembly, said had "taken into account" the upcoming papal visit and requests by, among others, top Roman Catholic Church officials in Cuba and family members of the prisoners.
President Raul Castro said the ruling Council of State that granted the amnesty had "taken into account" the upcoming papal visit and requests by, among others, top Roman Catholic Church officials in Cuba and family members of the prisoners.
The action showed the "generosity and strength" of the Cuban revolution, he said in a speech to the National Assembly.
Those to be released included some who had been convicted for crimes against "the security of the state," but the government spokesman said they were not jailed for political reasons.
Cuba freed more than a 100 political prisoners in a deal brokered by the Catholic Church in 2010. Cuban dissidents have said there are still at least 60 people behind bars for political reasons.
Elizardo Sanchez, head of the independent Cuban Commission on Human Rights, downplayed the importance of the prisoner release. "It's a shallow measure by the government, a gesture to improve its international image," he said.
The freed prisoners will include persons more than 60 years of age, prisoners who are ill, women and some young prisoners who had no previous criminal history, the government said.
Castro said 86 of the prisoners are foreigners from 25 countries who committed crimes in Cuba, but they would be released only if their countries agreed to repatriate them.
The U.S. State Department declined to comment on the amnesty and its failure to include Gross, but has repeatedly said in the past that he was only providing Internet access for Jewish groups in Cuba and should be released immediately.
Gross was working as a subcontractor in a U.S.-funded program promoting political change in Cuba. The Cuban government considered it subversive. His arrest halted a brief warming in U.S.-Cuba relations that have been hostile since Fidel Castro embraced Soviet Communism after his 1959 revolution.
Pope Benedict said recently he would visit Cuba before Easter, which falls on April 8. It would be the second papal visit to Cuba since Pope John Paul II's historic trip in 1998.
After that visit, in which the pontiff criticized the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, the Cuban government freed about 300 prisoners, including 101 political prisoners. The others were in jail for common crimes.
Minor prisoner releases have taken place over the years, usually as a goodwill gesture accompanying the visit of a dignitary such as former U.S. President Jimmy Carter or other foreign representatives.
Cuba freed 3,600 political prisoners after then Cuban leader Fidel Castro met with exiles in 1978 during Carter's presidency.
Many Cubans had expected President Castro to announce a liberalization of immigration rules that would make it easier for them to travel abroad, but he said only that it was being worked on and changes would be made gradually.
(Reporting by Jeff Franks; editing by Anthony Boadle)
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Saturday, December 24, 2011
Texas men trade same Christmas card for decades
WHITEHOUSE, Texas (AP) ? A Christmas card that crisscrossed the country as part of an old joke between two Texas men will rest this holiday for the first time in 61 years.
Acker Hanks mailed the card to his former neighbor Lee Kelley in 1950. Kelley, a prankster, mailed it back a year later.
The two continued sending the card back and forth, and when Kelley died, his widow mailed the tattered message for over a decade. Last year, it returned to Hanks unread. He believes Kelley's widow moved to a nursing home.
A list of dates and places in the worn card documents its journey. Hanks plans to frame it.
"I always looked forward to getting the card," he told the Tyler Morning Telegraph (http://bit.ly/vbaPyB). "I don't think it'll ever leave me now."
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Information from: Tyler Morning Telegraph, http://www.tylerpaper.com
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Friday, December 23, 2011
WATCH: Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin in 'Game Change' Trailer
HBO has a big season coming up in 2012, but one of the network's most hotly anticipated projects is the upcoming political film Game Change, about the 2008 presidential election. Early photos of lead actors Julianne Moore and Ed Harris showed them offering up spot-on visual portrayals of former vice presidential and presidential candidates Sarah Palin and John McCain -- and, now that the film's first trailer has arrived, we finally get to see Moore and Harris in action. So does Moore do a convincing Palin? Watch the teaser below to find out!
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Official Android 2.3 Gingerbread update is now available for the Dell Streak 5
Remember when the Dell Streak 5 brought big in a literally big way ? with its still perceived to be monstrous sized 5? display? Yes, it has been long discontinued in the US, but nevertheless, it?s getting one snazzy update that no doubt brings some surprise.
Specifically, the official Android 2.3 Gingerbread update for the original Streak is now available and ready for the taking, thanks to the team over at xda-developers. With the sizable 155MB update, users are required though to have version 350 of the stock recovery installed on the device prior to installation. Once that?s all squared away, you?ll have your Dell Stream 5 transformed completely to an almost new device with Gingerbread.
Of course, this is wonderful news to anyone sporting the aging Dell Steak 5, especially when the company has no plans to bring its Dell Streak 7 up to Ice Cream Sandwich ? so yeah, it?s undoubtedly great that the original Streak is getting some love.Naturally, before proceeding to install the update, just be sure to back up your important files in the unfortunate event that something occurs during the process.
source: xda-developers via StreakSmart
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Thursday, December 22, 2011
Northlawn 6th-grader is baseball All-American -- Already a plethora of experience and LeBeau is just getting started
Northlawn 6th-grader is baseball All-American -- Already a plethora of experience and LeBeau is just getting started
A love of baseball has taken Streator's Cherokee LeBeau to many places around this great country, and success and now notoriety have followed him every step of the way.The 11-year-old LeBeau, a pitcher and shortstop for among others the Plainfield Tornadoes baseball team, has been selected by Travelball Select to its 11U All-American Team, the first Illinois player ever to be so named.
That honor should come as no surprise. The teams on which he played from April to November ? including one out of Houston with three other all-Americans that won the Little Majors World Series at the Big League Dreams in Dallas ? went an amazing 109-11 in high-profile tournaments across the country.
"It was a surprise. I think going down to Texas with the best team in the country helped, but there was a lot of hard work that paid off," said LeBeau. "I know one player doesn't win a game.
Source: http://www.mywebtimes.com/archives/ottawa/display.php?id=446215
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Sunday, December 18, 2011
NATO's Lost Drone Had Its GPS System Hacked By Iranian Engineers [Airplanes]
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