Archive for the ‘Fireplace’ Category
The U.S. Army soldier accused of leaking thousands of classified and sensitive documents to the anti-secrecy Web site WikiLeaks made his first public appearance in court Friday. In a pre-trial hearing expected to last five days, prosecutors contend that Private First Class Bradley Manning should be tried in a military court.At a vigil outside the base, supporters raised their voices for Manning as his pre-trial hearing began.For Manning’s supporters, the case goes beyond the allegations he leaked thousands of documents – documents that often provided a blunt and unflattering picture of U.S. views of world leaders’ private and public lives.For them, the case is also about the treatment Manning has received, even before his trial began.Former military officer Dan Choi was among those at the rally. He said that even if Manning did what he is accused of, he was trying to do what he thought was right. “A soldier who did nothing but stand for the values of America, not tried yet, but held in solitary confinement for a year and a half. In solitary confinement, stripped, interrogated, not able to see the sunlight or his family or his friends. Nobody can say that justice can be served,” said Choi.
Max Obuszewski believes Manning is being used to set an example. jwplayer(’jwPlayer1′).setup({’flashplayer’: ‘http://www.voanews.com/MediaAssets2/ThePlatform/jwplayer/5_8_licensed/player.swf’,'file’: ‘http://av.voanews.com/VOA_Clickability_Feed_Connector/29/704/CN_Wikileaks_Soldier_WEB-fixed-x264-YoutubeHQwTag.mp4′,’controlbar’: ‘bottom’,'image’: ‘http://media.voanews.com/images/CN_Wikileaks_Soldier_WEB-fixed-x264-YoutubeHQwTag_640×480_2177564043.jpg’,'width’: ‘480′,’height’: ‘297′,’plugins’: {’sharing-3′: {code: ‘%3Ciframe width%3D%27480%27 height%3D%27305%27 src%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.voanews.com%2Ftemplates%2FwidgetDisplay.html%3Fid%3D135763983%26player%3Darticle%27 frameborder%3D%270%27 allowfullscreen%3E%3C%2Fiframe%3E’,link: ‘http://www.voanews.com/templates/widgetDisplay.html?id=135763983&player=article’},’gapro-2′: { accountid: ‘19450753-5′, trackstarts:’true’, trackpercentage:’true’, tracktime:’true’}},’backcolor’:'666666′,’frontcolor’:'FFFFFF’});
“Why did they put Bradley Manning in a Quantico brig [jail]? Keep him in a cell 23 hours a day? Have him strip naked when he comes out, etc, etc, etc.? They did it because they want to let other people know, especially military and other people in the government. Don’t blow the whistle. You don’t know what we’re going to do to you,” said Obuszewski.Human rights groups have raised concerns and the United Nations’ torture investigator is preparing to release a report on Manning’s treatment.In April of this year, Manning was moved from Quantico to a military prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The Pentagon has rejected claims that the decision had anything to do with his treatment at Quantico.The Obama administration has criticized the release of the classified information and documents that were eventually posted on the anti-secrecy Wikileaks web site. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the leaks put people’s lives in danger and threaten national security.”I think that in an age when so much information is flying through cyberspace, we all have to be aware of the fact that some information, which is sensitive, which does affect the security of individuals and relationships, has to be protected,” said Clinton.Manning’s pre-trial hearing is expected to conclude early next week. At the end, the presiding officer will decide if Manning, who turns 24 on Saturday, should face a court martial [military trial]. His defense attorney on Friday argued the hearing officer has a conflict of interest. The defense has argued the leaks did no damage.In addition to the documents that Manning is alleged to have leaked, he also is suspected of leaking a video of a U.S. helicopter crew in Iraq that shows soldiers gunning down 12 men. It was reported later that a Reuters news photographer and his driver were among those killed.The video is one example frequently cited by supporters that shows that if Manning did what he is accused of, he was just trying to reveal the truth.But military analyst Michael O’Hanlon disagrees.”There is no defense for leaking tens of thousands of files. There maybe is for leaking a few hundred if you feel that the government has gone way off track and you’ve got someway to prove it. In that case, the way our system works, you better be ready to pay the price if you feel that strongly,” said O’Hanlon.
If convicted, the price Manning ultimately may have to pay is life in prison. He faces several charges including aiding the enemy, which is a capital offense. But prosecutors say they are not seeking the death penalty.Timeline: Key Dates in Wikileaks Cases
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WASHINGTON – JPMorgan Chase & Co., one of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders, is not doing enough to help Americans avoid foreclosures, the Obama administration said.
The Treasury Department said Wednesday that JPMorgan Chase is still doing a poor job helping people permanently lower their mortgage payments as part of the government’s foreclosure-prevention program 70 000 BTU heaters. The lender has been cited for rejecting people who were eligible for mortgage modifications three separate times since June.
JPMorgan said in a statement that it was “disappointed with our rating” and that it “will continue to work hard to improve our processes and controls.”
The government first criticized four lenders — JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co. and Ocwen Loan Servicing — in June, and began withholding financial incentives of up to $1,000 per modification.
Wells Fargo and Ocwen, a division of Ocwen Financial Corp., were removed from the list of companies needing “substantial improvement” in September. Bank of America got off the list in December.
The mortgage-aid program was launched in 2009 and was intended to help those at risk of foreclosure by lowering their monthly payments. Borrowers start with lower payments on a trial basis. But the program has struggled to convert them into permanent loan modifications. Homeowners have complained that the program is a bureaucratic mess. Many say they were disqualified after banks lost their documents and failed to return their phone calls. Banks have blamed homeowners for failing to submit needed paperwork.
More than 1.7 million troubled homeowners received trial modifications over the past two years. But as of October, more than half of them — about 880,000
> SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Tech stocks ended up cutting much of their losses by the time the market closed Wednesday, but several stocks, including Research In Motion Ltd http://garageheatersshop.com/70000-btu-heaters-kerosene-propane.html., still managed to end the day in the red on what ended up being a mixed day for the sector.
The overall market had been shaken on reports about German opposition to aspects of the latest euro zone currency plans. Read more about the latest efforts to resolve the euro crisis.
Samsung notches U.S. legal victory
In a blow to Apple, a judge allows Samsung to continue to sell its smartphones and tablet in the U.S. until the dispute between the tech giants goes to trial.
RIM shed 39 cents a share, or more than 2%, to close at $16.64 after the company said it’s changing the name of its latest operating system to BlackBerry 10 from BBX. The company is making the change after a federal judge issued a temporary order banning RIM from using the BBX name for its new OS, following a complaint from Basis International Ltd, which owns the trademark. Read more about RIM’s product name change.
Microsoft Corp. shares gave up 6 cents to close at $25.60. The company said late Tuesday that it intends on giving developers up to 80% of the revenue generated from apps sold at Microsoft’s upcoming Windows Store.
Apple Inc. gave up $1.86 a share to close at $389.09. Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu raised his estimates on iPhone sales for the fourth quarter to 28 million units from 26 million, but said sales of iPads are tracking a little lighter than had been expected. Wu cut his iPad sales estimate to 13.5 million devices from 15 million in the quarter.
Nokia Corp. shares fell 8 cents to close at $5.33 following reports that the smartphone maker is dealing with technical issues in China in advance of the company’s launch of its Lumia Windows Phone devices there next year.
Gains came from Hewlett-Packard Co. , Dell Inc. , Cisco Systems Inc. and Netflix Inc. .
Netflix rose $3.82 a share, or 5.6%, to close at $71.96.