South Africa's chief envoy on Zimbabwe's political crisis conceded Friday there were challenges in the run-up to key polls, a day before regional mediators meet to discuss the vote.
Yet the African Union said free and fair elections in Zimbabwe, due at the end of the month, are possible.
Thousands of Zimbabwean security forces could not draw their mark in chaotic early voting three weeks before the July 31 elections to end a four-year unity government.
"The process has got challenges, we can't deny that because we've seen what info has been coming out during the special vote," said Lindiwe Zulu, who heads the mediation process after deadly polls in 2008.
During early voting on Sunday and Monday polling stations opened late and many lacked indelible ink, stamps, voter rolls and ballot papers and boxes.
"If things didn't go right in the special vote, those things need to be looked into by the time of elections on July 31," Zulu told AFP.
But the African Union after its Peace and Security Council meeting on Friday said it was possible to have fair elections.
"According to our observers on the ground we believe that it is possible to have free and fair elections in Zimbabwe," said Aisha Abdullahi, AU commissioner for political affairs on Zimbabwe.
"But we cannot guarantee that it will be the most perfect or optimum of situations," he said after an AU peace and security council meeting.
"The environment in Zimbabwe so far reassures us that the conditions are good for the election to be held on July 31," he said.
President Robert Mugabe called early polls, hoping to prolong his 33 years in power, despite demands for reform by his archrival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
But Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said this week's "disorganised" early vote showed the country's election commission was not up to the task.
With the vote due in less than two weeks, the country is still trying to raise the $132 million budget required to fund it.
"We are doing everything we can to make sure that we have the sufficient resources to fund the elections," Finance Minister Tendai Biti told journalists.
"I am very positive that we will get the money," admitting that "we do not have the resources at the present moment".
Biti, who is a member of Tsvangirai's party, had previously declared that the country had no money to fund the crucial elections, and launching an international appeal for finance.
In April, the cash-strapped country withdrew its funding appeal to the United Nations.
Early this year the government had to borrow money from local firms to pay for the referendum on a new constitution.
"We are getting no joy from diamond monies. Over $400 million have been sold of diamonds just in the first quarter of the year, (but) nothing has come to treasury," said Biti.
Leaders of regional mediator the Southern African Development Community (SADC) will meet in South Africa on Saturday to discuss the upcoming elections.
The 15-member block brokered the power-sharing deal between Mugabe and Tsvangirai in 2009, a year after around 200 opposition members were killed in election-related violence.
But there is no love lost between Mugabe and the SADC at the moment.
He threatened to leave the bloc if it meddled in Zimbabwean affairs and scolded South Africa's top diplomat "stupid and idiotic" in an election rally earlier July. - AFP, July 19, 2013.
Mishawaka, Ind. Folks in Mishawaka got to enjoy some tunes tonight while making a difference in the lives of local children, teens and adults battling cancer.
RiverBend Cancer Services hosted its 11th Annual Jazz on the Terrace event at Beiger Mansion.
Dozens listened to performances by talented jazz musicians and took part in an oral auction.
The yearly jazz concert is the organization's major fundraiser and allows them to continue to provide help to cancer patients in our area.
?We offer non-medical supportive services for people who have been diagnosed with cancer - any kind of cancer,? Kate Voelker, Executive Director of RiverBend Cancer Services said. ?Everything from assistance services for prescriptions and supplies to education and counseling and that kind of thing. We're not doctors, we're not nurses. We're just people who provide support.?
Tonight's event also honored Nancy White, a 17-year ovarian cancer survivor and the leader of Gyna-Girls, a support group for women with gynecologic cancer.
Church events will recognize chapel's anniversary, Feast of St. James
The 145th anniversary of the historic St. James Episcopal Church chapel will be celebrated July 27.
The members of St. James Episcopal Church are planning two community celebrations around the chapel anniversary and the Feast of St. James during the weekend of July 27 and 28.
The inaugural "Peach Blast on the River" and 145th anniversary tour will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. July 27.
Attendees can purchase fresh peach cobbler and other seasonal fruit desserts while taking in the view of the Detroit River in a peaceful outdoor surrounding.
In celebration of the 145th anniversary of the historic St. James chapel, guided and self-guided tours of the chapel will be provided. Highlights of the chapel include the 1894 Tiffany stained-glass window "Angel of Praise" and the "Four Evangelists" stained-glass window commemorating 11 parish members who died in?
World War II.
The second event of the weekend will be a tent service and celebration of the Feast of St. James.
The tent service will begin at 10 a.m. July 28 on the front lawn of the church and church members will welcome the Rev. Philip Dinwiddie from his 13-week sabbatical with service, song and celebration. The backdrop of the service will be the Detroit River and northern entrance to Lake Erie with views of Canada.
A potluck celebrating the Feast of St. James (one of the 12 apostles of Jesus with a traditional commemoration day on July 25) will take place on the front lawn after the service. Everyone is welcome.
Visit facebook.com/saintjamesgi or call the church at 1-734-676-1727 for more information.
All Critics (156) | Top Critics (38) | Fresh (153) | Rotten (3)
Hawke and Delpy remain as charming as ever, and their combined goofiness is more endearing than annoying.
Love is messy here, life cannot be controlled, satisfaction is far from guaranteed. Romance is rocky at best. But romance still is.
Though "Before Midnight" is often uncomfortable to watch, it's never less than mesmerizing - and ultimately, a joy to walk with this prickly but fascinating couple again.
"Before Midnight" is heartbreaking, but not because of Jesse and Celine. It's the filmmakers' passions that seem to have cooled.
Before Midnight is fascinating to watch, and so long as Celine and Jesse are communicating, there's still hope.
How (Jesse and Celine) try to rekindle that flame is what drives Midnight, a film that feels so authentic it's like overhearing a conversation you're not sure you should be hearing.
The release of each sequel is becoming an event, so it's particularly great to see Before Midnight not only meeting expectations but raising the bar.
It's a brave, challenging and essential installment in what is one of modern cinema's finest trilogies.
The beauty of this film - like the two before - is its natural flow of conversation and ability to engage and transport us into the moment
Before Midnight is no romance. It's a horror movie.
Takes its traditional romantic tale into more insightful territories.
Hawk and Delpy know just how to get under your skin. Their onscreen alter egos fit like a glove, and witnessing their ageing, nagging, toying love is a true privilege.
What lifts Linklater's trilogy above your average dialogue-heavy indie is not just the intelligence of the conversation but its frankness and humor.
There's not a hint of melodrama or falsity in the Before series.
The 'Before' trilogy is a vacation for me. I am taken away, and it is never for long enough. I genuinely feel lucky to have these movies.
I'm not sure this is the end of Richard Linklater's 'Before' trilogy. It's perfection just as it is, but then again, Linklater has nine more years to work on the sequel.
Loving words mix with personal attacks, the magic moments with the unintended slights, as we witness the occasional desperation of imperfect people doing the best they can when life moves beyond meet-cute and courtship. That's authentic.
Linklater and his players bring an end to the fantasy and welcome the thrilling ups and bitter downs of reality to this love story.
Like the first two films, it reflects the real world in a way that seems almost preternatural. It's just that, here, the real world is a harsher, more disappointing place.
The duo, clearly so comfortable in their characters' skin, indulge in intelligent banter, sharp humour and emotional truths.
So much better written than contemporary novels, this film is a literary as well as cinematic achievement to cherish. For grown-ups.
As before, it's often very funny, with Jesse and Celine swapping Woody Allen-esque one-liners - nicely snarky, appealingly abrasive.
The acting, the dialogue and direction are superb.
None of the films is faultless in itself, but, tinted with complementary tones, the complete cycle comes as close to perfection as any trilogy in cinema history.
Marvelous. It's impossible to shake the feeling that we are merely eavesdropping on reality. Witty, wise, and -- most important of all -- truly romantic in ways that movies usually aren't.
It's been 18 years since Hawke, Delpy and Linklater introduced us to Jesse and Celine, and their story just gets richer, funnier and more punchy each time we see them. In 1995's Before Sunrise, they were idealistic 23-year-olds.
New findings on makeup of universe may spawn research
[unable to retrieve full-text content]New areas of extragalactic study may emerge from research by astrophysicists using data from the Chandra Space Telescope to conclude that baryons making up all visible matter ? once thought to be missing from clusters ? are present in the expected ratios in large, luminous clusters.
CAIRO (AP) ? Egyptian officials turn back a planeload of Syrians at Cairo airport. A popular presenter on Egyptian television warns Syrians to steer clear of protests or face the consequences. An Egyptian state school refuses admission to Syrian children.
Once welcomed with open arms in Egypt, many of the tens of thousands of Syrians who took refuge here from the civil war at home have now found themselves targets of hate speech and intimidation. Their dramatic change in fortune is one of the unexpected consequences of the Egyptian military's ouster of President Mohammed Morsi, whose Islamist-dominated government offered them favorable conditions.
The shift could have a profound impact on the lives of Syrians in Egypt as they currently find themselves in a sort of legal limbo, waiting to see where the political winds will drop them. In what many see as a hint of what lies ahead, Egypt's new military-backed interim government already has imposed new travel restrictions.
That has spooked many Syrians who fear their current visas won't be renewed and they could be forced to leave Egypt. Many have invested their savings in businesses or simply cannot return to their war-ravaged cities.
"Our biggest fear now is that we get deported," said Azzam Ayed, a 32-year-old Syrian who refused to give his hometown out of fears for his security.
The backlash stems from support of the mainly Sunni Syrian opposition by Morsi during his year in office, and the Muslim Brotherhood, which offered cheap housing and food aid to Syrians who fled the violence in their homeland.
With the country divided, Morsi's critics accused Syrians of participating in the protests calling for him to be reinstated.
International human rights groups have urged Egypt to rescind the measures.
"Egypt may be going through tumultuous times, but it must not return anyone, including Syrians, to somewhere threatening their life or freedom," Nadim Houry, the New York-based group's deputy Middle East director, said in a statement last week. "While Egypt is going through a very difficult period, it simply should not strand Syrians this way, especially those who have fled such a devastating conflict at home.
The U.N. says some 70,000 Syrians are registered in Egypt, although officials estimate the actual number may be twice that since many have opted not to register. That would make Egypt home to the fourth-largest community of Syrian refugees after Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon.
Those who came to Egypt received a warm welcome. Morsi's government supported the rebels' cause, and kept in place a decades-old open-door policy that allowed Syrians to come and go without prior visas. They were eligible to receive medical care at state hospitals, while their children could enroll in government schools.
Over the past few months, Syrians redefined some parts of Cairo, opening their own restaurants and cafes in areas where many of them settled.
But the warm welcome quickly evaporated after the military toppled Morsi on July 3 after four days of mass protests calling for the Islamist leader's removal.
Television networks critical of Morsi aired allegations that the Muslim Brotherhood was paying Syrian refugees to take part in pro-Morsi protests. The arrest of at least six Syrians taking part in violent street clashes only fanned the flames.
"Syrians are facing a defamation campaign," said Syrian activist Salma Gazayerli. "Yes, some of the Syrians support Morsi, but how many? The majority of Syrians know that they are guests in Egypt and they behave accordingly."
Gazayerli, co-founder of the nonprofit Union of Syrian Women, said the Brotherhood has "manipulated the needs of some Syrians," offering them cheap housing from Islamic relief groups in return for participating in protests supporting Morsi. Those who refused, she claimed, were cut off from the aid.
Senior Brotherhood official Saad Emara rejected the allegations. "There were millions in the streets. Can we give them all money?" he said after mass rallies on Friday by Morsi supporters.
Morsi made supporting the Syrian opposition in its fight against President Bashar Assad a cornerstone of his foreign policy, and Cairo is the official headquarters of the main Western-backed Syrian opposition group.
On June 15, Morsi attended a rally organized by some of his hard-line allies in a show of solidarity with the Syrian rebellion. Some of the speakers at the rally called for jihad, or holy war, in Syria, and a senior official in Morsi's office earlier said authorities would not prevent Egyptians from traveling to Syria to join the rebel cause.
Syrians say they noted a shift in the public mood against them following the speech, but that the honeymoon in Egypt ultimately came to an abrupt end when Morsi was swept aside.
Last week, popular TV presenter Youssef el-Husseini warned Syrians taking part in pro-Morsi protests they would be beaten with shoes if caught.
"If you are a man, you return to your country and solve your problem there," he said on his night talk show on private ONTV. "If you interfere in Egypt, you will beaten by 30 shoes."
His comments triggered uproar on social networking sites, prompting the network to apologize. But the damage was done.
"All of a sudden, Egyptians started hating us because of the media. Before June 30, they would welcome us on the streets and greet us as guests. Now Syrians are harassed on the streets with a tone of 'why don't you go back home?'" Gazayerli, the activist, said.
Alaa Soqair, a 45-year-old Syrian, said his four children have been refused admission to a state school. He declined to say where in Syria he was from because of fears for his security.
"They didn't even as much as look at the documents," he said. "They just said Syrians will not be admitted to state schools anymore."
Five days after Morsi was pushed from office, Egyptian authorities implemented new entry rules for Syrians, requiring them to obtain a visa prior to arrival. Those already in the country with no valid visa or resident permit are at risk of arrest.
Egypt's Foreign Ministry said the measures were temporary and urged Syrians to stay away from protests by the Muslim Brotherhood against the new political order. The move, which exempted those with valid Egyptian visas, caught Syrians by surprise and, in once incident, an entire planeload of 200 passengers arriving from Syria was denied entry and sent back.
"We recognize the legitimate right of the country to put its own measures in place," said Syrian activist Sima Diab, who is based in Egypt. "But what was shocking is that it all happened so quickly, in a blink of an eye."
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Whether you're reading the paper or thinking through your schedule for the day, chances are that you're hearing yourself speak even if you're not saying words out loud. This internal speech -- the monologue you "hear" inside your head -- is a ubiquitous but largely unexamined phenomenon. A new study published in Psychological Science looks at a possible brain mechanism that could explain how we hear this inner voice in the absence of actual sound.
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Severe heat, humidity to hover over Southern Ontario, Quebec - Canada
CBC | on Mon, Jul 15, 5:58 PM
Extreme weather conditions in many parts of the country on Monday prompted heat warnings from Environment Canada for parts of southwestern Quebec and tornado warnings for southern Saskatchewan. The extremely hot, humid conditions will linger over parts of Canada all week, said CBC meteorologist Ross Hull. An Environment Canada warning about the heat is in effect for Southern Quebec including Quebec City, Montreal, Laval, Gatineau and the Eastern Townships. Parts of south central Saskatchewan,...
Read the full article
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"Avoid strenuous exercise and stay well hydrated."Why is it so hot?July and August tend to be our hottest and most humid time of the year, said Hull. Record high temperatures were set Monday in Quebec and Atlantic Canada. In Halifax, the temperature hit 32 C. Quebec City and Badger, N.L., also hit record temperatures, cracking 31 and in Bathurst, NB it was a scorching 35.8. "I wouldn't be surprised to see more high temperature records broken over the next couple of days," said Hull. A ridge of high pressure spinning off the U.S. east coast is behind the hot, sticky air mass stretching from Northern Ontario to Newfoundland. "High pressure often means sinking air and when that air sinks it heats up even more," said Hull. Environment Canada has put a large swath of Eastern Canada under a humidex advisory or high heat and humidity warning as temperatures in many areas across Ontario, Quebec and parts of the Maritimes will feel humidex values close to 40 or above. 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Severe heat, humidity to hover over Southern Ontario, Quebec - Canada
CBC | on Mon, Jul 15, 5:58 PM
Extreme weather conditions in many parts of the country on Monday prompted heat warnings from Environment Canada for parts of southwestern Quebec and tornado warnings for southern Saskatchewan. The extremely hot, humid conditions will linger over parts of Canada all week, said CBC meteorologist Ross Hull. An Environment Canada warning about the heat is in effect for Southern Quebec including Quebec City, Montreal, Laval, Gatineau and the Eastern Townships. Parts of south central Saskatchewan,...
KERS stands for kinetic energy recovery system, and if you?re a fan of Formula 1 or LeMans series racing you know all about it. The concept is to use a highly developed flywheel to capture, store, and reuse vehicle inertia normally lost as heat during braking. Think of it as a mechanical hybrid that?s lighter and simpler than traditional battery and motor systems. Until now it?s only been used in racing, but Volvo has been hard at work adapting the idea to work in passenger cars.
Everything in the Volvo KERS system is built around the?flywheel, but it?s not just a lump of round metal. It?s a wound carbon fiber shell over a lightweight aluminum core totaling 13.2 lbs and precisely balanced. This construction is optimized to prevent the structure from stretching outward due to centripetal force?important because this thing is designed to spin up to an unfathomable 60,000 rpm.
That kind of speed can generate lots of heat, so the flywheel lives in a vacuum-sealed housing and rides on precision bearings. With no atmosphere there?s a lot less surface friction generated. It?s so well designed the flywheel takes 30 minutes to spin down from maximum speed. The trick with the whole thing is too manage the inbound and outbound flow of power. The energy that would normally be scrubbed away with mechanical brakes needs to be transferred to the flywheel. With the KERS unit situated at the rear where the spare tire normally would be, the rear wheels are driven by normal half shafts attached to a differential. The diff is connected to a clutched and hydraulically controlled continuously variable transmission (CVT). Apply the brake and the CVT shifts to direct power into the flywheel while slowing the car. Apply throttle and the CVT shifts again to pull power out of the flywheel and direct it to the wheels. Interestingly, this does give the car through-the-road all-wheel-drive while stability control and ABS are not effected at all, just tuned as it if were a normal all-wheel-drive model.
Control is done over a Bluetooth connection to an Android tablet mounted on the center console, with repurposed steering wheel button used for hard resets. The KERS has options for two different driving styles, economy and power. In economy, the car gains a claimed 25 percent fuel economy improvement in NEDC testing. Power mode adds a whopping 80 hp to the bottom line and has delivered 1.5-second 0-60 mph improvements in turbocharged five-cylinder testers and a blistering 2.5-second improvement with 4-cylinder cars. All this benefit comes in a package that?s just 132 lbs and, unlike conventional hybrid systems, doesn?t face the challenges of battery replacement, modifying the regular gas powertrain, or hefty weight penalties.
Volvo representatives gave us the opportunity to test this prototype at its Gothenburg development facility in Sweden, and it does make a compelling argument for consumer market KERS hybrids. Even at a development stage, power comes on seamlessly, feeling no different than a gear change. In economy mode the engine works far less in city driving, although there?s little benefit at highway speeds. The most interesting part is the sound. In production cars the efficient but loud straight-cut gears would probably be replaced with helical cut pieces and sound deadening would take care of the rest. In the prototype, the KERS unit sings a tune somewhere between frenetic supercharger whine jet engine. It?s not loud enough to be annoying, but it?s a bit backwards from normal cabin noises. Big sounds happen when you step on the throttle, but in this case the flywheel spins up as you brake. We say leave the sound the way it is and put it into production.
NEW YORK (AP) ? Feeling he was close to a deal for Paul Pierce, a thought crossed Billy King's mind.
"I asked, 'What about KG?"" the Nets general manager said.
Yes, Brooklyn is also getting Kevin Garnett ? and a real shot at contending for a championship.
"I would say ending today it's a good day for the organization," King said Friday on a conference call.
And it's the close of a championship chapter in the Celtics' storied history.
Boston's blockbuster breakup is complete. Pierce and Garnett are Brooklyn-bound, and it's the Nets who are thinking big as they head into their second season in their new home.
"Today, the basketball gods smiled on the Nets," team owner Mikhail Prokhorov said in a statement. "With the arrival of Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, we have achieved a great balance on our roster between veteran stars and young talents. This team will be dazzling to watch, and tough to compete against."
It's a nine-player, three-draft-pick swap agreed to on draft night and centered on the two aging champions who won a title in Boston in 2008. Celtics general manager Danny Ainge eventually agreed to put Garnett in the deal, and Garnett waved his no-trade clause after some lobbying from new Nets coach Jason Kidd and point guard Deron Williams.
The Nets also got Jason Terry and D.J. White from Boston, while sending Gerald Wallace, Kris Humphries, MarShon Brooks, Kris Joseph, Keith Bogans and first-round draft picks in 2014, 2016 and 2018 to the rebuilding Celtics. Boston also gets the right to swap first-round picks in 2017.
The teams agreed to the deal on June 27 but it couldn't be completed until after next season's salary cap was set. The Nets plan to introduce their new stars Thursday at Barclays Center.
Boston won five straight division titles from 2008-12 before falling back last season, the first following Ray Allen's departure to Miami. Then the Celtics let coach Doc Rivers out of his contract after the season by acquiring a first-round pick from the Los Angeles Clippers. This trade signals a new phase for the team that has won an NBA-high 17 championships and got used to being in the hunt again after Garnett arrived in 2007.
"Paul and Kevin exemplified everything it means to be a Celtic," Celtics managing partner and CEO Wyc Grousbeck said. "They were instrumental in bringing back Celtic Pride and providing our fans with the franchise's first championship in over 20 years in 2008. We wish them nothing but the best in the future."
The Nets went 49-33 in their first season in Brooklyn and have spent big in hopes of bettering that in 2013-14. They also signed versatile forward Andrei Kirilenko, re-signed backup big man Andray Blatche and added reserve guard Shaun Livingston.
They blew well past the luxury tax line and are facing a bill of $80 million in taxes, but Prokhorov wanted a title within five years of owning the team. A starting five of Garnett, Pierce, Williams, Joe Johnson and Brook Lopez, along with former Sixth Man of the Year Terry, has a chance to compete for one.
The window to win is small, two years at the most given the ages of Pierce and Garnett ? though King sees those as incentive more than detriment.
"I enjoy the fact that people keep questioning Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce because I know that they'll come out and prove people wrong," King said.
The Celtics hadn't won a title since 1986 before they acquired Garnett and Allen in 2007. They joined with Pierce to form the core of a team that won 66 games and a title their first season together, reached the NBA Finals again in 2010, and returned the Celtics to their longtime place atop the league.
But Garnett is 37, Pierce will be 36 by opening night, and Ainge realized the Celtics' days of competing for titles with this group were finished after a first-round exit, and chose to go in another direction.
"We would not have won Banner 17 without Paul and Kevin and they will go down amongst the all-time great players to have ever worn a Celtics uniform," Ainge said. "At the same time we are excited to welcome Gerald, Kris, Keith, MarShon and Kris to the Celtics family. They bring a wealth of talent, experience, depth, and flexibility to our team."
The Celtics thanked Garnett and Pierce, who is second on the team's career scoring list, with a full-page ad in Friday's Boston Globe.
Wallace was a starter for the Nets last season, and Humphries and Bogans sometimes started. They join a Celtics team led by first-year coach Brad Stevens, the former Butler coach who was hired to replace Rivers.
The Nets also will be led by a rookie in Kidd, who was hired shortly after retiring as a player and will see much more talent when he looks down his bench.
Garnett is a 15-time All-Star and Pierce a 10-time selection, and both are among the NBA's top-20 career scorers. Even while slowing down a bit as they near the end of their careers, Pierce averaged 18.6 points last season, and Garnett added 14.8 points and 7.8 rebounds while remaining one of the NBA's most tenacious defensive big men.
Terry averaged 13.5 points last season, his only one in Boston.
Kirilenko agreed to his contract Thursday and was signed Friday. He will make $3.2 million this season and has an option for the second year. The forward opted out of a deal that would have paid him $10 million in Minnesota this season and will play again for former CSKA Moscow boss Prokhorov.
"He is a true talent with tremendous versatility," Prokhorov said. "As a fellow countryman, I am especially proud that the best Russian player in the history of the NBA will be wearing a Nets jersey."
___
Follow Brian Mahoney on Twitter: ?http://www.twitter.com/Briancmahoney
Jim Flaherty: Will he stay or will he go? - Financial Post
He wants to go out with a balanced budget, but it?s going to be difficult to see how he?s going to pull that off
OTTAWA ? A steady hand for the ruling Conservatives and the only finance minister they?ve known, Jim Flaherty will play an important role in an upcoming cabinet shuffle and future of the Harper government.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper will use the shuffle in the coming days to inject new blood into cabinet and put a fresh face on his government heading into the next election, expected in 2015.
Many of the cabinet dominoes will fall around Flaherty, depending on whether he remains in politics, continues on as finance minister or is shuffled to a new portfolio.
Despite his battle with a rare skin disease and potential to make significantly more money in the private sector, Flaherty has said he wants to stay on as finance minister until he balances the budget, something the government has vowed to do by the 2015 election campaign.
Flaherty?s more than seven years on the job amid a global economic crisis make him one of the most important finance ministers of the last half century, say some political observers, but others argue his track record is lacklustre and marked by some unflattering financial legacies.
Should the 63-year-old Flaherty leave federal politics, Harper would have a huge hole to fill in arguably his most important cabinet post.
He got stronger as the years went by. He started off rocky
The Whitby-Oshawa MP is the longest-serving finance minister in the G8, well liked by MPs on both sides of the House of Commons and is the government?s senior minister for the Greater Toronto Area.
If Flaherty remains an MP but is shuffled to a different portfolio, it would almost certainly be another high-profile posting, further complicating the cabinet shakeup.
Staying on as finance minister also has its pitfalls, as the economic recovery remains sluggish and the government tries to eliminate by 2015 a deficit estimated at $18.7 billion.
?From everything he says, he wants to go out with a balanced budget, but it?s going to be difficult to see how he?s going to pull that off (if he remains in finance),? said Mike Moffatt, a business and economics professor at Western University?s Ivey Business School.
Known for his characteristic green neckties to celebrate his Irish roots, Flaherty has spent much of his time as minister trying to pull federal finances out of the red and back into the black following a global economic downturn.
He has presided over the Canadian economy during the largest crisis since the Great Depression, helped manage a spending splurge from the stimulus program, and then was forced to slash billions in expenditures in an effort to balance the books.
Flaherty has not been shy to intervene in the Canadian economy, loosening mortgage lending rules before being forced to retreat and tighten them multiple times to avert any potential housing market meltdown in Canada.
He has repeatedly warned Canadians about the risks of spending too much and saving too little, and broke a key Conservative campaign promise not to tax income trusts.
Flaherty has been ?a very sound and competent finance minister,? argues Ian Lee, assistant professor at Carleton University?s Sprott School of Business in Ottawa and a former banker.
Lee believes Flaherty has been one of the top three finance ministers over the last 50 years, behind Michael Wilson and Paul Martin, but does not have any huge legacy projects.
?He got stronger as the years went by. He started off rocky,? Lee said.
Flaherty stepped into the portfolio and fulfilled Harper?s campaign promise to cut the GST from 7% to 6%, and then down to five.
But trimming the goods and services tax ? while politically popular ? has made balancing the books even more challenging, with the two-percentage-point cut in the tax eroding upwards of $14 billion annually from federal coffers.
?Cutting the GST was a big mistake and should be discussed as part of his negative legacy,? Lee added.
One of Flaherty?s greater achievements so far, he argued, was helping restructure the Canadian economy using the budget, including retooling Old Age Security, reforming employment insurance and encouraging labour mobility.
But Nelson Wiseman, political scientist at the University of Toronto, says he?s a bit baffled by the ?so-called great reputation? Flaherty has earned, saying he has few remarkable achievements and his decisions have helped drive Canada back into deficit.
?I don?t really see what he has done that has been so laudable,? Wiseman said.
Canada?s finance minister following the cabinet shuffle, be it Flaherty or someone else, will still be heavily influenced by the prime minister and guided by the technical expertise of federal bureaucrats, he said.
?It will be a continuation of what?s going on. It isn?t going to be any revolution,? Wiseman said.
Moffatt believes Flaherty?s time as finance minister may be remembered for a federal deficit that will be difficult to eliminate over the next few years.
The lost revenue from the GST cut and growth in spending even before the economic crisis contributed to the problem, he said.
?Now we?ve got this structural deficit; I would say that?s, in my view, the biggest change over the last seven years,? Moffatt said.
Canada emerged from the global economic crisis better than most countries, he said, but it had more to do with a strong banking system and lack of a housing bubble.
?I don?t think Flaherty performed badly by any sort of measure, but it?s hard to give him too much credit for those items that are mostly out of his control,? Moffatt said.
Lee, however, says it?s ?so unfair to nail him for the deficit? because the G20 collectively agreed the world was falling off a financial cliff and swift action was needed.
Under Flaherty?s watch, the lengths of mortgage terms ratcheted up to 40 years from the traditional 25 years.
But he stepped in and reversed those moves, tightening Canada?s mortgage insurance rules four times since the economic downturn in an effort to cool an overheated housing market and deter consumers from compiling too much debt.
Moffatt says loosening the mortgage rules ?was a mistake? but Flaherty deserves credit for reversing those changes.
Flaherty shocked Canadian investors in the fall of 2006 when he announced the federal government would tax income trusts ? which broke an campaign promise made by Harper.
Lee believes Flaherty made the right call on income trusts, noting the government was ?just hemorrhaging billions and billions (of dollars).?
One of Flaherty?s major missions was to transition to a single national regulator for securities such as stocks, bonds and other investments ? an unsuccessful battle to date.
The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in late 2011 that Ottawa?s proposed legislation to form a national securities regulator was unconstitutional, although the top court agreed the federal government does, indeed, have some oversight of securities regulation.
The government, however, served notice in the 2013 budget that it will again push ahead in its attempt to create a common national securities regulator, with or without the support of all the provinces.
?That has been a problem this government has had in general, is getting provincial buy-in on almost anything,? Moffatt said.
The Toronto Eaton Centre | Toronto Main Attractions
The Toronto Eaton Centre is mostly a vivid and fresh shopping center in the heart in the middle of Toronto?s city center that houses over 250 stores. The shops will appeals for the budget price conscious and spendthrifts as well.
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Along with the CN Tower, the Eaton Centre is among the most popular tourist tourist spot in Toronto.
Much more than an area to buy, 4-level, glass arched Eaton Centre is of design interest and has a massive Canadian geese mobile, Air travel Stop, created by artist Michael Snow.
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Gap widens betweenXbox One and PlayStation 4's cloud gaming features
Video games
Yannick LeJacqNBC News
4 hours ago
Change.org
The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One might appear to be similar devices in some ways. But Microsoft and Sony are sounding remarkably different notes on one crucial feature: how gamers will be able to access and control their digital libraries.
As Microsoft and Sony prepare for the first round of the next-gen console war, the two companies have begun to sound different notes on a key feature: the access gamers will have to their own digital game libraries.
Judging from Xbox One pre-orders, Microsoft had seemed to recover from the controversy over the console's stringent used-game sharing policies and required daily online check-ins, especially when it announced in the aftermath of E3 that it was removing the maligned features from the device. In the process, however, the company abandoned some of the Xbox One's most ambitious capabilities ? something Microsoft itself ruefully admitted at the time of its 180.
?The changes we?ve made will impact some of the scenarios we previously announced for Xbox One," a Microsoft representative told NBC News when the policy revision was originally announced in June. In order to remove the always-online requirement that so many critics were reviling with a passion, Microsoft was also removing the ability to store and share games in the cloud ? something that would have allowed gamers to access their digital content across different consoles, handy if they wanted to play a game at a friend's house, for instance.
"Your entire games collection will no longer be available from the cloud," the Microsoft spokesperson said. "Games on disc will require the disc for playback. Games you?ve downloaded from Xbox Live will still be accessible from the cloud. Also, we will no longer offer family game sharing from the cloud. The sharing of games will work as it does on Xbox 360, you?ll simply share the disc. Downloaded titles cannot be shared.?
Apparently, losing access to an entire game collection via cloud storage was enough to start an online campaign ? one that is trying to push Team Xbox to yet again reverse course, and go back to the original corporate vision, the one discussed before the original protesters launched the #XboxOneNoDRM movement. A petition appeared on Change.org this week asking Microsoft to "give us back the Xbox One we were promised at E3."
In the petition's mission statement, Xbox One fans deplore Microsoft for essentially giving into peer pressure from Sony and angry gamers.
"This was to be the future of entertainment," the petition reads. "A new wave of gaming where you could buy games digitally, then trade, share or sell those digital licenses. Essentially, it was Steam for Xbox. But consumers were uninformed, and railed against it, and it was taken away because Sony took advantage of consumer uncertainty."
Whether or not Sony "took advantage" of consumer uncertainty, the Japanese company has continued to sound a positive note about the PlayStation 4's digital features compared to those of the Xbox One. Speaking at the Develop conference in Brighton, UK, this week, Sony research and development lead Neil Brown said that the PlayStation 4 will give users unfettered access to their games on any console, with the device's much-vaunted background processing features expediting load-times and other potential technical snafus which could limit sharing.
?You can visit your friend's house, you can log into your account and play any game from your digital library, which is good," Brown said, according to the UK arm of the Official PlayStation Magazine. "But how useful is that if it takes half a day to download the game you want to play? With Play As You Download, you get much quicker access to at least the first section of the game so you can start playing quicker. So this makes a [cloud-based] digital library a practical option in the real world.?
Regardless of how Sony managed to side-step the controversies in which Microsoft continues to be embroiled, will these ambitious features actually work? The company has been promising equally determined "cross-play" features that would let gamers switch seamless between PlayStation's mobile and home-based consoles for years now, and the PS Vita still only integrates with a handful of PlayStation 3 games, after all.
Before the new consoles arrive, however, the real question remains whether or not Sony or Microsoft will continue to put forth last-minute adjustments to their respective consoles. Pete Dodd, the man who spearheaded the #PS4NoDRM and #XboxOneNoDRM campaigns, told NBC News that while he respects what the new Xbox One petition is trying to do, he is doubtful about its short-term prospects of actually shifting Microsoft's stance.
"I think a petition with 5000 signatures on it probably proves to Microsoft that they made the right decision," he wrote in an email, admitting that his own #XboxOneNoDRM campaign (which gained significantly less traction than its PS4 counterpart) probably had less of an effect on Microsoft's decision than the fact that the company appeared to be losing ground to Sony for console pre-orders prior to its shift.
"That's actually why I stayed away from petitions," Dodd continued. "Unless you can get hundreds of thousands of signatures, they tend to bolster the argument against you."
Yannick LeJacq is a contributing writer for NBC News who has also covered technology and games for Kill Screen, The Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic. You can follow him on Twitter at @YannickLeJacq and reach him by email at: Yannick.LeJacq@nbcuni.com..
3D printed dispenser flings treats at your pets - Hack a Day
If you?re stuck in the virtual world like [Kevin Flynn] you can still make sure your pup is rewarded for good behavior. Just follow [Jwarp's] design for this Internet connect dog treat dispenser.
We were actually a bit surprised by the demo video. It shows that the compact unit is more than capable of reliably dispensing one treat at a time. It started as a wood prototype which allowed him to tweak how the servo motors worked before laying out all of the 3D parts in Sketch Up. Two motors cooperate to get the job done. The first allows one treat to exit that shoot coming from the center of the hopper. The other stirs the remaining inventory to both position the next treat and loosen any jams.
The base of the hopper serves as an enclosure of the Arduino UNO and an Ethernet Shield. A simple website is polled continuously. When it is found to contain the dispense command the hardware goes into action. The link above leads to the build photos, but there?s a bit of background info included in the Reddit thread.
This will go nicely with that automatic feeder you?ve been meaning to tackle.
Parody, with its varying degrees of taste and comedic value, is the grandest form of mockery. The best parodies often provide insightful commentary on events and issues impacting today?s world in the most humorous way possible. Every Independence Day, Beverly Farms is host to its own form of mockery ? the Horribles Parade ? and with a lampooning of topics ranging from mermaids to cruise ship disasters, this year was no exception.
On Thursday, July 4, Beverly Farms once again held its annual Horribles Parade to satirize this year?s most talked about local and national events. Amongst the topics skewered at this year?s parade were ?American Idol? finalist and Beverly resident Angie Miller, the alleged unsanitary conditions of Beverly?s Dix Park, Animal Planet?s faux documentary about mermaids, and the recent reshuffling of the New England Patriots lineup.
The parade took its usual course, forming on Oak Street before making its way through the various streets. Beginning early in the morning, the Horribles Parade also serves as a kick-starter to Beverly Farms? July 4 celebration featuring baseball games and fireworks.
The man behind the parade is Rick Lord, who has served as president for the Horribles Parade for the past two years. When it comes to holding the parade at Beverly Farms, Lord says, ?Well, where else can you have something like this?? Though the sense of humor found in the Horribles Parade tends to sway more toward an adult audience, Lord ensures that anyone can apply and parody whatever they wish.
The parade has been part of Beverly?s history since the years following World War II, though Lord confirms it has been around even longer. ?We?ve traced it back to the late 1880s,? he says. Lord claims the number of participants fluctuates each year, although one thing remains the same ? the winner of best float receives a grand prize worth $500.
Parody at the Horribles Parade is commonly off-color, an approach open to controversy. One of the most notable controversies in the parade?s history came in 2008 when a prize-winning float spoofed the Gloucester High School ?pregnancy pact? scandal in a manner that offended spectators and judges alike. The parade does not always deal with parody, however. Several floats are made to show support for local politicians. This year, a Depression-era themed float was made to celebrate the upcoming 80th anniversary of the end of Prohibition in the United States.
Music is a big feature at the parade as well. Marching bands from the North Shore area and elsewhere participate yearly. This year?s parade offered other forms of live music due in part to an ?American Idol?-inspired float which saw an Angie Miller impersonator sing well-known pop hits.
Also unique to this year?s event was an appearance by New Jersey?s Bayonne Bridgemen, a marching band with several statewide and nationwide championships in their possession. The band?s appearance at the Horribles Parade is one of many destinations on their tour of the northeastern area of the country. ?We?re also playing at the Manning Bowl in Lynn,? remarks the Bridgemen?s Al Holtje.
This year?s Horribles Parade kicked off at 8 a.m. and was soon followed by several events throughout the day including adult softball games, scavenger hunts, cookouts and a house decorating context. The July 4 celebration culminated at nightfall with a fireworks show on West Beach.
The Toronto Eaton Centre is mostly a vivid and fresh shopping center in the heart in the middle of Toronto?s city center that houses over 250 stores. The shops will appeals for the budget price conscious and spendthrifts as well.
