Brazil

Newscast Media SAO PAOLO—Tens of thousands have demonstrated in Brazil after images circulated of police brutality in Sao Paulo. The protests, among the biggest since the end of the country’s dictatorship, have widened across the country.

Police in Rio de Janeiro fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesting youths early Tuesday, after days in which tens of thousands rallied in major Brazilian cities against the cost of hosting the 2014 World Cup. Monday saw major protests in at least eight cities across the country. Most turned out to be peaceful, but vandalism and a violent police reponse marred protests in Rio and Belo Horizonte.

“Peaceful demonstrations are legitimate and part of democracy,” President Dilma Rousseff said in a statement. “It is natural for young people to demonstrate.”

The police response has so far reportedly led to about a dozen injuries. In Rio, the violent crackdown on a small and peaceful crowd Sunday near the Maracana stadium incited many to come out for what local news media described as the city’s largest protest in a generation. A live round allegedly fired by police has injured at least one protester in Rio.

Monday’s protests came during soccer’s Confederations Cup, hosted by Brazil, just one month before a papal visit, a year before the World Cup, and three years ahead of the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The unrest has raised security concerns and renewed questions over Brazil’s readiness to host the events.

Source: Radio Deutsche Welle

http://newscastmedia.com/taliban.htm

Taliban

Newscast Media WASHINGTON—The United States will meet the Taliban in the Qatari capital of Doha for a peace process in Afghanistan, U.S. officials said on Tuesday.

“The U.S. will have its first formal meeting with the Taliban, and indeed first meeting with the Taliban for several years, in a couple of days in Doha,” a senior administration official told reporters via conference call.

The meeting comes at a time when the Afghan government was taking the lead in military operations across the country on Tuesday and the Taliban was opening a political office in Doha.

The officials joining the conference call said the U.S.-Taliban meeting is expected to be followed by another one within days between the Taliban and the Afghan High Peace Council, a 70-member body set up by the government in the summer of 2010 to initiate peace talks with the Taliban.

“I think that given the level of distrust among Afghans, it’s going to be a slow process to get that dialogue, that intra-Afghan dialogue moving,” one official said. “And the United States will encourage and help facilitate that.”

The officials played down expectations of the first U.S.- Taliban meeting, defining it as one for exchanging agendas rather than engaging in any “substantive, detailed” discussion.

“We’ll tell them what we want to talk about; they’ll tell us what they want to talk about; and we’ll both then adjourn and consult on next steps, and then have another meeting in a week or two later,” one official said.

The officials said Washington will raise the issue of the Taliban cutting ties with al-Qaida, urge the Taliban to “talk seriously” to the Afghan government and seek the return of Bowe Bergdahl, a U.S. Army sergeant held prisoner by the Taliban for the past four years.

The Taliban will issue statements in Doha later Tuesday to declare its opposition to the use of Afghan soil to threaten other countries and its support for an Afghan peace process, according to the officials.
“These are two statements which we’ve long called for and together, they fulfill the requirements for the Taliban to open an office, a political office, in Doha for the purposes of negotiation with the Afghan government,” one official said.

The American and NATO troops transferred the control of 95 remaining districts to Afghan security forces in a ceremony on Tuesday, completing a transition process that started in 2011 and paving the way for a full withdrawal of coalition forces by the end of 2014 following a nearly 12-year bloody war against the Taliban.

http://newscastmedia.com/taliban.htm

Texas Governor Rick Perry answering questions posed by Texans —Photo by Joseph Earnest

by Napp Nazworth

Newscast Media AUSTIN—To convince others of your ideas, Texas Governor Rick Perry told fellow conservatives on Saturday, one must be both humble and courageous.

“I’ve learned a little bit about humility, particularly on national television,” Perry said to laughter from the audience at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s “Road to Majority 2013″ conference.

When Perry ran for president in the last election he was leading by some polls when several stumbles in national debates took him out of the race.

“But the fact is that God hasn’t called the perfect to go into the arena of public service,” Perry continued. “He’s called people just like you and just like me.”

Perry spoke about his own Christian faith and how God taught him to abandon his own selfish pride.

“Nothing less than the example of our savior inspires me as I speak to you today,” Perry said. He then read Philippians 2:5-8, in which Paul says that Christ set an example for his followers by humbling himself and became “obedient unto death, even death upon a cross.”

Perry also spoke about the example of Jesus’ disciple Peter, whom he called his favorite disciple. He described Peter as one “whose mouth sometimes ran faster than his brain.”

“Let me tell you, I can relate to Peter,” Perry joked. While Peter learned to be humble, Perry explained, that did not stop him from speaking forcefully. He learned to be courageous as well.

“Be a man or woman of humility, but be courageous, you stand by your principles,” Perry advised.

Perry described some of the things he accomplished as governor of Texas by standing by his principles. He mentioned removing state funding for Planned Parenthood, a parental consent law for minors to be able to have an abortion, and a law that allows schoolchildren to wish each other a “merry Christmas or happy Hanukah, or whatever that might be.”

Perry also advised his audience to be “happy warriors,” and used the example of Ronald Reagan.

“I fear with [Reagan's] passing,” Perry said, “we forgot that conversations should come with a smile. Love and joy ought to be our code. Our conviction and our passion should lead to compassion, not contempt or anger or fear mongering.”

http://newscastmedia.com/rick-perry.htm

G8 summit - Northern Ireland

Newscast Media BELFAST—As the G-8 summit commences this week in Northern Ireland, Syria is expected to be high on the agenda, with Russia standing in stark opposition to any sort of resolution so far put forth by other nations present, especially the United States.

On Monday, G-8 host British Prime Minister David Cameron acknowledged the ideological chasm but said that Russia must push for negotiations as rapidly as possible and not to back a government that “butchers” its citizens.

In his first press conference, Hassan Rowhani, declared the winner of Iran’s presidential election on Saturday, spoke out against any intervention in Syria.

“The Syrian crisis must be resolved by the people of Syria,” Rowhani said. “We are against terrorism, civil war, and foreign intervention. Hopefully, with the help of all countries of the region and the world, peace and calm will return to Syria”. He added that “the government must be respected by other countries until the next elections, and then it is up to the people to decide.”

Meanwhile, after evening talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron, Russia’s Vladmir Putin said that Russia had conformed with international standards when selling weapons to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“We are not breaching any rules and norms and we call on our partners to act in the same fashion,” Putin said, in an apparent reference to recent decisions from the US and some EU members like France and Britain to send military support to Syrian rebels. The German government has said it does not currently plan to send weaponry to either side in Syria’s civil war.

Barack Obama is also scheduled for his first face-to-face private talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in a year on the sidelines of the summit at the Lough Erne golf resort near the Northern Irish town on Enniskillen.

Source: Deutsche Welle

http://newscastmedia.com/g8-2013.htm

Syria's Bashar Assad - Courtesy photo: Press TV

Newscast Media TEHRAN—Syrian President Bashar al-Assad congratulated Iranian president-elect, Hassan Rouhani, for securing the highest number of votes in the country’s 11th presidential election. In his letter, the Syrian leader offered “heartfelt congratulations and best wishes” to Rouhani on behalf of the Syrian nation for gaining “the trust of millions of the brotherly Iranian people,” Syria’s official news agency, SANA, reported.

President Assad further underlined the Arab state’s determination to boost bilateral ties and cooperation between the two countries.

He also stressed the need for “confronting the plots of hegemony and aggression against the national sovereignty in our region in a way that reflects positively on the peoples of both friendly countries as well as the peoples of the region and the whole world.”

Meanwhile, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah congratulated on Saturday Sheikh Hasan Rouhani for his election as next President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Hezbollah Media Relations said. This election revived the hopes of the dear people of Iran towards all their aspirations,” Sayyed Nasrallah wrote, adding that the Arab, Muslim and oppressed peoples – that have always found the Islamic Republic their savior – see the president-elect as the focus of their hopes.

Below is Sayyed Nasrallah’s congratulatory letter:

“President-Elect of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Your eminence Hojatol Islam Sheikh Hasan Rouhani
Peace be upon you and Allah’s mercy and blessings.
We, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, with all the fighters and activists in this resisting country,
congratulate you for deservedly gaining the greatest trust of this great nation, and
for electing you as President of the blessed Islamic Republic, amid political, popular
and historic epic unmatched in today’s world, which complied with the call of the holy
Supreme Leader Imam Khamenei (long live), and achieved his dear wish.

Mr. President
As we congratulate you, and ourselves too, this decent and wonderful election, we
ask Allah Almighty, in all humility and supplication, to bless you, help you and make
you able to meet all hopes through the government of management and hope. have
to be a great expert to understand that this will violate international law.”

Source: Al Manar TV News

http://newscastmedia.com/hassan-rouhani.htm

Sergei Lavrov

Newscast Media MOSCOW—Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says the US evidence of chemical weapons use in Syria does not meet stringent criteria for reliability. The US has cited that evidence as grounds for arming Syrian rebels. Speaking from Moscow on Saturday, Lavrov said the evidence did not include guarantees that met the requirements of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The organization specifies that samples taken from blood, urine and clothing can be considered reliable evidence only if supervised by OPCW experts from the moment when they are taken until delivery to a laboratory, Lavrov said.

The OPCW is an autonomous body based in The Hague, Netherlands, that oversees the implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which entered into force in 1997. Syria is one of six countries that has “neither signed nor acceded to” the convention, according to the OPCW website.

The White House said this week that it was going to arm Syrian rebels after claiming to have evidence that President Bashar al-Assad had used chemical weapons in the country’s civil war.

Makes no sense, says Lavrov

Lavrov, who spoke to reporters after meeting with his Italian counterpart, said it did not make sense for al-Assad to have used chemical weapons when the government already maintains a military advantage over the rebel fighters.

“The regime doesn’t have its back to the wall,” Lavrov said. “What would be the sense of the regime using chemical weapons, moreover at such a large scale?”

Western diplomats on Friday said the Obama administration was also considering implementing a no-fly zone over Syria, although the White House later said it had no interest in doing so because it would be costlier and more difficult to set up than the one in Libya.

Lavrov warned against any attempts to enforce a no-fly zone over the country, saying: “You don’t have to be a great expert to understand that this will violate international law.”

Source: Radio Deutsche Welle

http://newscastmedia.com/assad-chemical-weapons.htm

Aleppo clashes continue

Newscast Media DAMASCUS—The Syrian army thwarted on Friday an infiltration attempt by armed groups militiamen towards the al-Awared bridge via the cemeteries in the Sheikh Maqsood neighborhood of Aleppo, Al-Manar Website correspondent reported. Violent clashes took place between the Syrian army and armed groups at the entrances of al-Sakhoor neighborhood of Aleppo, amid progress by the Syrian army in the area.

A field source confirmed to Al-Manar website that clashes occurred between the national forces and the armed opposition groups in the eastern side of al-Nobbol city north of Aleppo.

“Clashes resulted in a number of killed and wounded within the ranks of the insurgents,” the source said, noting that the army troops raised the Syrian flag on the outskirts of the village of Mayer.

On the other hand, Syrian warplanes targeted the headquarters of the Legitimate Association (Hay’a Shari’a) in the city of Raqqa, killing number of terrorists and wounding others, along with destroying a car with a built-in machine gun, Al-Manar correspondent said.

In Tartous, the leader of the so-called “Free of the Coast battalion” has been arrested while trying to flee to Lebanon through illegal crossings accompanied by a number of wanted terrorists.

Al-Manar correspondent also reported that the Syrian army foiled a suicide bomber attempting to blow himself up in a car in the area of Kafr Amer in Zaqbadani, Damascus, where the army targeted and destroyed the car before reaching its target. In Banias countryside, one of the armed groups’ militiamen blew himself up with a bomb he was carrying while he was being chased by the army.

Moreover, Al-Manar correspondent confirmed that the Syrian army also targeted gunmen in al-Jubeila, Sanaa, Hamidiya and Sheikh Yassin in Deir Ezzor. It also seized control over al-Rusafa neighborhood in the same area. In the same context, the Syrian Al-Ekhbariya channel reported Friday that the Syrian army “restored security and stability to al-Rusafa in Deir Ezzor and expelled militants out of the area.”

Local authorities also announced that the Syrian army restored security to the village of Abu Habaylat in Hama eastern countryside, after it achieved victory over al-Nusra Front groups in the village.

Source: Al Manar News

http://newscastmedia.com/aleppo-battle.htm

Young and Old--Courtesy photo: Living Channel

A study by the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that elderly Americans who live with people under the age of 18, experience worse emotional outcomes, including less happiness and enjoyment, and more stress, worry, and anger than those who do not.

The study shows that outside America, it is common for the elderly to live in multigenerational families. In such instances, the elderly are an integrated, useful, respected part of their families.
CONTINUE TO FULL STORY>>

Shia LaBeouf

Newscast Media LOS ANGELES—As he was promoting his movie Eagle Eye in 2008 on
Jay Leno, actor Shia LaBeouf, was the first whistleblower to notify a public audience
that the FBI was listening and recording phone calls made by Americans. He got this
information from an FBI consultant for the movie he was working on at the time,
which interestingly enough was about a mysterious individual listening in on phone
calls.

“He told me that one in five phone calls that you make are recorded and logged, and I
laughed at him and then he played back a phone conversation I’d had two years
prior,” Shia told Jay Leno.

This is very powerful information, and one can only imagine how nervous corrupt
public officials must be, knowing they too are targets. This includes those working in
city, state, and federal government positions, since they are considered trustees of
the people. Below is the Jay Leno interview:

Eagle Eye Trailer – 2008

http://newscastmedia.com/shia-labeouf.htm

Chinese hackers

by David Inserrra

Newscast Media WASHINGTON—A new report by the Defense Science Board lists at least 29 specific U.S. weapons system designs that were stolen by Chinese hackers. These include several missile defense systems, such as the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System, the Terminal High Altitude Aerial Defense, and the Patriot Advanced Capability-3. Aircraft, such as the F-35 and F/A 18 fighter planes, the C-17 cargo plane, and the UH-60 Black Hawk Helicopter, were compromised, as were the Navy’s new Littoral Combat Ship and several information and control systems.

While the U.S. has started to increase its pressure on China, it is a dollar short and a day late. Rather than allow state-sponsored hackers to continue to harm U.S. national and economic security, the U.S. needs to take stronger actions to deter future cyber aggression.

According to those familiar with these hacks, the vast majority are part of an ongoing and growing Chinese cyber-espionage campaign to steal U.S. technologies, advance Chinese weapons development, and then turn them against their creators.

Earlier this year, the security firm Mandiant also identified a specific bureau of the Chinese military as responsible for stealing huge amounts of data from U.S. companies over the past seven years. Taken together with countless other confirmed and suspected Chinese hacks, clearly the U.S. should do more to stop cyber aggression.

First, the U.S. should continue to name and shame China. This will mean issuing more reports that identify China as a bad cyber actor and then having U.S leaders use this information to call out China in speeches and diplomatic discussions. While the U.S. is starting to actually put the blame on China in some of its reports, our leaders continue to naively treat China as a cyber ally.

In April, the highest-ranking American military officer, chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Martin Dempsey, stated that the U.S. sought “collaboration and transparency” with China, since “cyber threatens our economy and [the Chinese] economy.” U.S. leaders should be pointing the finger at the Chinese instead of inviting them to steal U.S. secrets.

Second, the U.S. should actually take a tougher line on China by ceasing to cooperate with China on cybersecurity. The U.S. should not be engaging in cyber war games and cyber exchanges with the Chinese when they are merely using that information to learn how to do a better job hacking U.S. systems. Continuing to collaborate with China only proves that the U.S. knows about the problem but lacks the will to do anything about it, which further emboldens China.

The U.S. should also consider working with allies to take economic and legal actions against Chinese companies that peddle stolen property.

U.S. military and business secrets are being stolen as part of an extensive cyber campaign by the Chinese to advance their weapons capabilities and economy. The U.S. should stand up to China and make them feel pain when they steal U.S. secrets.

Failing to do so would further endanger U.S. national security and economic growth. David Inserra is a research assistant for national security and cyber security at The Heritage Foundation’s Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies.

http://newscastmedia.com/chinese.htm

IRS building

by Napp Nazworth

Newscast Media WASHINGTON—A U.S. House committee is investigating whether Internal Revenue Service agents improperly seized private medical records. The IRS is already being sued for the seizure of 60 million medical records, which is alleged to be a violation of the Fourth Amendment’s Search and Seizure Clause.

In March 2011, IRS agents used a search warrant to seize the medical records from an unnamed California health care provider in its pursuit of a tax violation by a former employee of the company, according to Courthouse News Service. The suit, filed March 11, 2013, claims that the search warrant did not authorize the seizure of medical records of those who were not suspects in the case. More than 60 million medical records of more than 10 million Americans were seized, according to the complaint.

The complaint states that the records “contained intimate and private information” such as “psychological counseling, gynecological counseling, [and] sexual or drug treatment.”

The suit also alleges that the IRS agents involved in the raid “threatened to ‘rip’ the servers containing the medical data out of the building” if the records were not handed over.

Along with the lawsuit, the House Energy and Commerce Committee is investigating the allegations. In a Tuesday letter to acting IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel, committee members ask for specific information relating to the case.

The letter notes that they have particular concern about the allegations given that the IRS will have an “increased role in implementing health care under” the Affordable Care Act, also known as “Obamacare.”

The allegations come at a time when the IRS is already under fire for the misuse of taxpayer dollars, the harassment of conservative, evangelical and pro-life groups, and as the public is debating personal privacy over revelations that government agencies are collecting private phone records and Internet data.

http://newscastmedia.com/irs-lawsuit.htm

Glenn Greenwald --the journalist who broke the NSA story

Newscast Media WASHINGTON—Glenn Greenwald, the journalist who broke the story about National Security Agency’s sweeping surveillance programs says more on the issue is yet to come and that the revelations only harmed “those in power who want to conceal their actions and their wrongdoing” while also foreshadowing future bombshells.

“We are going to have a lot more significant revelations that have not yet been heard over the next several weeks and months,” said Glenn Greenwald of The Guardian.

“What we disclosed was of great public interest, of great importance in a democracy that the U.S. government is building this massive spying apparatus aimed at its own population,” Greenwald said during a media appearance.

Edward Snowden, a 29-year government contractor with the NSA contacted the media and told them he had evidence of the NSA surveillance program. Snowden’s media contact was Greenwald who made the revelations after Snowden went into hiding. Snowden is believed to be somewhere in Asia.

“There are dozens of stories generated by the documents he provided, and we intend to pursue every last one of them,” Greenwald said, as he addressed the Associated Press.

In the CNN interview below, Greenwald explains how Snowden got in touch with him.

http://newscastmedia.com/nsa-spying.htm

Benjamin Netanyahu

Newscast Media TEL AVIV—Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Iran, together with its Palestinian and Lebanese allies of carrying out “non-stop” cyber attacks on major computer systems in Israel.

He gave no details on the number of attacks but said “vital national systems” had been targeted. Water, power and banking sites were also under threat, he added.

“In the past few months, we have identified a significant increase in the scope of cyber attacks on Israel by Iran. These attacks are carried out directly by Iran and through its proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah,” he told a conference on cyber warfare in his country’s commercial hub Tel Aviv.

Israel officials have long said that the country is under constant attack by enemies and ideological opponents to shut down vital websites. Most attacks have had little impact.

Shlomi Dolev, a cybersecurity expert at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University, said it is logical to assume that Iran is trying to attack Israeli targets.

“Israel is under constant threat,” he said, though he could not verify the sources.

“I’m not sure how sophisticated they are. But they of course have some experts,” Dolev added.

Netanyahu established a national cyber directorate in 2011 charged with protecting computer systems in Israel from disruption.

The Islamic Republic believes that Israel and the United States were behind a series of cyber attacks in recent years against an Iranian nuclear program that allegedly is aimed at developing atomic weapons. However, Iran strongly condemns the claims and says its nuclear activities are for peaceful purposes.

Source: Al Manar TV News

http://newscastmedia.com/cyberattacks-iran.htm

Inside the lab

Newscast Media WASHINGTON—The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO) and health agencies of the nations on the Arabian peninsula are working together to stay ahead of a previously unknown disease that has sickened 55 people and caused 31 deaths.

The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) was first identified in a person in September 2012. Continued reports of new cases prove “an ongoing risk for transmission to humans,” according to the summary of activity published in the CDC’s Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report June 7.

All the 55 laboratory-confirmed cases have been linked directly or indirectly to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. The United Kingdom, Italy, France and Tunisia have reported cases in travelers who had recently returned from the region, their close family members or associates.

All the patients so far have been sick with respiratory symptoms, and the majority have developed severe, acute respiratory illnesses that require hospitalization. Subsequently, infections have occurred among exposed hospital workers, which “highlight the importance of infection control procedures,” according to the CDC report. These cases provide strong evidence that the disease is passed easily from person to person.

So far most of the patients have been adult males with a median age of 56 years, though two cases have occurred in children. Respiratory symptoms were common in all the cases, but some also had fever, gastrointestinal symptoms, abdominal pain and diarrhea, according to the health agencies. Many of the confirmed cases occurred in persons who had chronic underlying medical conditions or were immunosuppressed.

The largest cluster of cases has appeared in the Al-Ahsa region of eastern Saudi Arabia, involving 25 people and resulting in 14 deaths. This cluster was linked to a health-care facility, and the disease caused related MERS-CoV infections of health-care personnel and family contacts.

A second cluster of cases in eastern Saudi Arabia involved five people with the symptoms, but they were apparently unrelated to the other cluster in the region. Beyond these two episodes, no evidence has been seen that the virus is able to sustain person-to-person transmission in a larger community.

In a June 5 advisory on MERS-CoV, WHO reports that the route of transmission has not been identified. While the origin of the virus is thought to be in animals, no cases have yet been identified in any animal species. WHO did not issue any travel warnings or restrictions, but advised simple common sense.

“Travelers to the Middle East who develop symptoms either during travel or after their return are encouraged to seek medical attention and to share their history of travel,” according to the statement.

Named for the crown-like spikes that appear on the surface, the family of coronaviruses is quite broad, causing mild to severe diseases. At one extreme, a coronavirus causes the common cold. At the other extreme, a coronavirus was identified as the pathogen at work a decade ago when an unknown, mystery disease swept out of Asia. That disease caused a state of near-panic in infected communities, went transcontinental and ultimately cost hundreds of lives.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

http://newscastmedia.com/middleeast-virus.htm

Students

by Napp Nazworth

Newscast Media DES MOINES—The teachers who deliver the most engaging and interesting lectures may have been your favorite, but a new study suggests they probably did not help you learn more than your “boring” teachers. The study raises questions about the value of student evaluations of teachers.

For the study, researchers conducted an experiment in which two classes each watched a different instructor give the same lecture explaining a scientific concept.

In one class, the “fluent” instructor used all the techniques one would expect from a good public speaker: “the instructor stood upright, maintained eye contact, and spoke fluidly without notes.” In the other class, the “disfluent” instructor did everything public speakers are not supposed to do: “the instructor slumped, looked away, and spoke haltingly with notes.”

The class with the fluent instructor said their teacher was better prepared and more effective, and their predictions of how they would do on the exam were higher, than the class with the disfluent instructor. The fluent instructor class did not, however, learn significantly more than the disfluent instructor class. Also, the disfluent instructor class was much closer to predicting how much they had learned.

The study was conducted by Professors Shana K. Carpenter, Miko M. Wilford and Kellie M. Mullaney, who work for the Department of Psychology at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, and Nate Kornell, who works for the Department of Psychology at Williams College in Williamstown, Mass. “Appearances can be deceiving: instructor fluency increases perceptions of learning without increasing actual learning” was published in the May 2013 issue of Psychonomic Bulletin & Review.

That students may be learning less than they think they are learning from those they consider the “good” professors has implications for how teaching effectiveness is evaluated. At many colleges and universities, professors are evaluated on their teaching mostly, or entirely, by asking their students. This study suggests, though, that students may be evaluating their teachers based upon qualities that contribute little to actual learning.

Eric Mazur, Balkanski Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Harvard University, told Inside Higher Ed that he was not surprised at the findings because students learn better with a “Socratic method,” in which the teacher asks students questions to get them to think about the subject matter.

“With a better presenter it might seem like you are taking more in, but it doesn’t mean that anything has actually been learned – it doesn’t mean there has been an ‘Aha!’ moment,” Mazur said. “The hard work has to be done by the learner – there’s not much the instructor can do to make the neuroconnections necessary for learning.”

In an article for Psychology Today, Kornell also seemed unsurprised by the findings. He noted that there have been other studies showing that students do a poor job of evaluating teaching effectiveness.

“Bottom line? Student evaluations are of questionable value,” Kornell wrote.

Courtesy photo by Al Manar TV News

Newscast Media DAMASCUS—The Syrian Arab Army initiated Sunday morning a wide military operation dubbed “Storm of the North”, which is aimed at regaining Aleppo and its countryside.

The source added that the Syrian Army started advancing early morning and had several achievements in the following regions: Kafar Hamra, Haryatan, Andan, Hayyan, Sheikh Maqsood Syria, Bustan Al-Basha, Bustan Al-Qasr, and Al-Ameriya.

Terrorists are reported to be widely present in these regions, as large numbers are located in Haryatan, Kafar Hamra, and Al-Atrab.

Hisham Jaber, a retired Lebanese Colonel, told the Lebanese LDC TV that the Syrian troops have prepared to wrest control over rebel-held area in the Homs province after finishing al-Qussair.

He said that the Aleppo battle would need four military brigades to squash the rebels, adding that the battle would focus on four key centers.

Other experts said that Aleppo battle aims primarily to separate the city from its countryside and to cut the rebels’ supply line from neighboring Turkey in order to weaken them before storming the rebel-held areas inside the city.

Source: Al Manar TV News

http://newscastmedia.com/aleppo2.htm

NSA spy program

Newscast Media SAN JOSE—The heads of Google and Facebook have denied knowingly participating in a US surveillance program that mined their servers in search of private user data. Both companies have called for more transparency. Google chief Larry Page and Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg on Friday denied co-operating with a US National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance program, which targeted personal user data in the central servers of at least nine Internet companies.

Page said that while Google understands that governments must take action to protect their citizens’ safety, “the level of secrecy around the current legal procedures undermines the freedoms we all cherish.”

“We have not joined any program that would give the US government or any other government direct access to our servers,” Page said in a blog post.

The denial comes after the Guardian and Washington Post newspapers revealed on Thursday that the NSA had used a top secret program – called PRISM – to obtain audio and video chats, photographs, e-mails, documents and connection logs from the central servers of major Internet companies.

In addition to Facebook and Google, the servers of Microsoft, Yahoo, PalTalk, AOL Skype, YouTube and Apple were also targeted.

“We have never received a blanket request or court order from any government agency asking for information or metadata in bulk…and if we did, we would fight it aggressively,” Zuckerberg said in a public Facebook message.

“We strongly encourage all governments to be much more transparent about all programs aimed at keeping the public safe,” he added. “It’s the only way to protect everyone’s civil liberties and create the safe and free society we all want over the long term.”

The two Internet companies’ calls for more transparency came after US President Barack Obama defended PRISM and the NSA’s broad surveillance of telephone records. The president said the programs struck a balance between privacy and security concerns.

“They help us prevent terrorist attacks,” Obama said of the programs, adding that they were worth the “modest encroachments on privacy.”

Source: Radio Deutsche Welle

http://www.newscastmedia.com/spying-scandal.htm

Iran's Rial

Newscast Media WASHINGTON—Starting July 1, the United States will be able to impose sanctions on financial institutions that conduct significant transactions or hold accounts that are dominated by Iran’s currency, the rial. The measure is the latest in long-standing U.S. efforts to deter Iran from its illicit nuclear activities.

Speaking to the U.S. Senate’s Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee June 4, Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen said the measure is aimed at making the rial “essentially unusable” outside Iran and further isolating Iran from the international financial system and commercial markets. Over time, the United States has tried to target its actions on the parts of Iran’s economy and financial system “that have the greatest likelihood of affecting the calculation of the leadership,” Cohen said.

“We are taking direct aim at the rial because we have seen that its value and stability is of great importance to the Iranian regime. Already the rial has lost some two thirds of its value in the last two years. And when it plummeted uncontrollably last fall, the regime was rattled,” he said.

Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman told the committee that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is “the sole decision-maker” on Iran’s nuclear activities and its approach to diplomatic discussions with the United States, Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom and Germany, collectively known as the P5+1.

“He’s affected by others around him, but he is the sole decision-maker when it comes to the strategic calculation about whether to really deal in these negotiations. We believe he will do that when he thinks there’s a greater risk to him to not doing it than to doing it. … We don’t think he’s made that calculation yet. We think we’re getting closer to the potential for him doing so,” Sherman said.

Along with the upcoming restrictions on the rial, the United States has also recently enacted sanctions targeting Iran’s automotive sector and expanding its sanctions on Iran’s petrochemical sector. Its efforts to pressure Iran economically have been joined by the European Union, Australia, Canada, Norway, the Republic of Korea and Japan, as well as separate United Nations Security Council resolutions imposing sanctions in response to Iran’s continued nuclear activities.

Sherman said history has shown that sanctions will only have an impact on a country’s behavior over time as they take a cumulative effect on its economy and international isolation. The sanctions have not yet changed the Iranian government’s calculus, but Sherman said there had been some indications in the latest P5+1 negotiating sessions in April that the sanctions are beginning to have some impact on Iran’s leadership.

“For the first time, Iran was very, very vocal about its desire to have sanctions removed, particularly financial and oil sanctions, which are, of course, connected to each other in terms of viability. And we are not in any rush, of course, to remove any sanction until we see concrete, verifiable results that can be monitored and cannot be reversed,” she said.

Cohen said that through sanctions, “we’ve been able to isolate Iran from the international financial system and drive down Iran’s oil exports by some 50 percent over the last 18 months. In addition, Iran’s dwindling oil revenues have been locked up by sanctions that require that Iran’s oil earnings can only be used for limited purposes.”

Sherman said the United States is aware that international consumers of Iran’s oil “can’t go to zero overnight” and said it is working to ensure it is “withdrawn from the market in a timed and phased way that does not raise global oil prices.” But “exceptions require real and substantial action by our partners” in pressuring Iran to end its nuclear activities, she said.

“The onus is on Iran, not on our partners, because we have to keep the international coalition together. We want to make sure that we help our friends and allies replace any petroleum needs that they have as they make these reductions and changes, and that the world community can sustain that and can sustain prices that are acceptable to consumers, even with the need to put pressure on Iran,” she said. The committee chairman, Senator Timothy Johnson (Democrat from South Dakota), said that ultimately it will be up to Khamenei to decide how to respond to the international pressure.

“He has remained indifferent to the sufferings of his own people and to their demands for political, economic and social reform. It seems clear that his decision to continue Iran’s illicit nuclear activities will not be reversed without intensified economic pressure coupled with heightened political and diplomatic efforts by the P5+1 group,” Johnson said.

http://www.newscastmedia.com/rial.htm

Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam-Courtesy photo Al Manar

Newscast Media ADDIS ABABA—Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Egypt’s ambassador to Addis Ababa over ‘hostile remarks’ by Egyptian politicians about a dam project on the Nile River.

Egyptian Ambassador to Ethiopia Tarek Ghoneim was summoned to give an official explanation regarding the “hostile remarks,” Dina Mufti, a spokesman for the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said. The spokesman said Ethiopia is awaiting a response. Ethiopia a week ago started diverting the flow of the Nile River to make way for its $4.2 billion hydroelectric plant, dubbed the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Egypt fears the dam will mean a diminished share of the Nile River.

Egyptian political leaders who met their president on Monday proposed aiding rebels against the Addis Ababa government. Sabotaging the dam itself was also mentioned by politicians who appeared not to know their meeting was being televised.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr, in a statement Thursday, said Egypt will seek to coordinate with Sudan and Ethiopia over the issue of the dam going forward. Amr also said Egypt’s water security cannot be ignored or hurt.

On the same day, Egyptian presidential advisor Ayman Ali also warned that “all options are open” if the dam affects Egypt’s water supply.

Source: Al Manar TV News

http://www.newscastmedia.com/ethiopia-egypt.htm

Sergei Lavrov

Newscast Media MOSCOW—Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov insisted on Thursday that Iran take part in the Geneva II Convention on Syria.

“All external players must be invited to take part in the conference,” Lavrov said. “We’ll insist Iran be invited,” the Russian minister said, adding that objections over Iran’s invitation was a mistake, Itar-Tass reported.

On Monday, a senior Russian foreign ministry official once again underlined that Iran should take part in the upcoming Geneva II Conference.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Moscow and Washington are still divided over Tehran’s participation in the conference slated for June.

Nevertheless, the Russian Foreign Ministry believes that the event would not be successful if Iran were not invited, Ryabkov said.

Russia and America agreed during US Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to Moscow to set up a conference of international players to end the crisis in Syria. Moscow wants to involve all the nations which took part in the Geneva conference on Syria last summer, and says without Iran’s participation the conference cannot succeed.

Late in May, Lavrov underlined that Iran should take part in the upcoming Geneva II Conference.

“This issue is not related to the Syrians alone, as there are a number of foreign players involved at that crisis as well, and therefore, Iran’s presence at that conference is of key importance for us,” Lavrov said.

“In my talks with the US and French foreign ministers John Kerry and Lauran Fabio aimed at solving the ambiguities about the combination of participating countries at Geneva II International Conference on Syria I gained their approval on need for revising their former decision,” he added.

Also in May, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Abbas Araqchi announced that Tehran is likely to take part in the Geneva II Conference on Syria if the co-hosts, the US and Russia, invite it to the international gathering.

“If the Geneva II Conference is held and if Iran is invited, we will study our presence with a positive view,” Araqchi said at the time.

http://newscastmedia.com/phone-records.htm

China's Xi

Newscast Media BEIJING—President Xi Jinping’s tour in Latin America marks the full launch of China’s ties with the region that is increasingly important to both sides, according to Chinese scholars.

From May 31 to June 6, Xi paid state visits to Trinidad and Tobago, Costa Rica and Mexico. He also met with leaders from several Caribbean countries in Trinidad and Tobago’s Port of Spain.

In a speech given at the Mexican Senate on Wednesday, Xi called for concerted efforts to beef up relations China and Latin America.

Yang Zhimin, a research fellow from the Latin America Institute under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Xi’s visit marks the full launch of ties of China and Latin America, which, in geological terms, is composed of four sub-regions, including South America, Central America, the Caribbean region and Mexico.

Yang said the three states Xi visited represent distinct subdivisions of Latin America and are economically complementary to China.

“For example, Chinese tourists can boost the development of the tourism industries in those countries, while those countries’ agricultural products and mineral resources can find a market in China,” Yang said.

Yang said China can learn from some Latin American countries in terms of financial services and ecological conservation.

In 2008, China’s government published a policy document detailing its ties with Latin America, vowing to build a comprehensive cooperative partnership with mutual benefit and equality.

Trade volume between the two sides has increased from 2.29 billion U.S. dollars in 1990 to 261.2 billion U.S dollars in 2012. Of the 10 free trade agreements China has signed with other countries, three are with Latin American countries.

While holding a luncheon with state leaders from Caribbean countries, Xi said China will unswervingly develop a comprehensive cooperative partnership with these countries.

“Xi met with a number of leaders from Caribbean countries. The outcome of the meetings was quite positive and demonstrates the attention China has paid to the region,” Yang said.

http://newscastmedia.com/xi-jinping.htm

White House

by Napp Nazworth

Newscast Media WASHINGTON—The White House is defending Thursday the secret collecting of phone records for millions of Verizon customers by the National Security Agency. The action was necessary, officials argue, to track terrorists, and it was approved by both federal judges and Congress.

Glenn Greenwald of The Guardian first broke the story Wednesday night. Verizon received a court order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on April 25 to turn over the phone records of its U.S. customers for a three-month period ending on July 19. The Guardian obtained a copy of the secret court order and posted it to its website.

The phone records do not include the content of any of the messages, but would include the time, duration and location of phone calls, as well as the numbers of both parties on the call.

Large-scale collection of phone records was known to have occurred during the administration of President Barack Obama’s predecessor, President George W. Bush, but this is the first time such an activity has been revealed under the Obama administration.

The revelation comes at a time when the White House is already under fire for an operation in which the Justice Department secretly obtained thousands of phone records from Associated Press reporters.

The court order is a vital tool in its effort to catch terrorists, a senior administration official said Thursday morning, according to Politico. He also said that the order had the approval of “all three branches of government.”

“Information of the sort described in the Guardian article has been a critical tool in protecting the nation from terrorist threats to the United States, as it allows counterterrorism personnel to discover whether known or suspected terrorists have been in contact with other persons who may be engaged in terrorist activities, particularly people located inside the United States,” the unnamed official said.

There is no indication of what the NSA was investigating or if it is related to information gathered after the Boston Marathon bombing that occurred on April 15, ten days prior to the court order.

http://newscastmedia.com/phone-records.htm

Vice President Joe Biden giving speech —Photo by Joseph Earnest

by Vice President Joe Biden

Newscast Media WASHINGTON—The spread of free trade and democracy has been a boon to the hemisphere.

Last week, during a five-day trip through Latin America and the Caribbean, I visited a cut-flower farm outside Bogota, Colombia, an hour’s drive from downtown that would have been impossibly dangerous 10 years ago. Along the way I passed office parks, movie theaters and subdivisions, interspersed with small ranches and family businesses. At the flower farm, one-quarter of the workers are female heads of households. The carnations and roses they were clipping would arrive in U.S. stores within days, duty free.

What I saw on the flower farm was just one sign of the economic blossoming in the year since a U.S. free-trade agreement with Colombia went into force. Over that period, American exports to the country are up 20%.

The U.S. experience with Colombia reflects a larger economic boom across the Western Hemisphere that offers many exciting partnership opportunities for American business. In Rio de Janeiro, I met with Brazilian and American business leaders — representing the aerospace, energy, construction and manufacturing sectors — who laid out a remarkable vision for prosperity that spans the Americas. As these business leaders made clear, Latin America today is a region transformed. Elections that once were exceptions are now largely the norm. In a growing number of places, conflicts between left and right have given way to peaceful, practical governance. And in the process, Latin America’s middle class has grown 50% in the past decade alone. By some estimates, it is nearly the size of China’s.

There is enormous potential — economically, politically and socially — for the U.S. in its relations with countries of the Western Hemisphere. And so the Obama administration has launched the most sustained period of U.S. engagement with the Americas in a long, long time — including the president’s travel to Mexico and Costa Rica last month; my own recent trip to Colombia, Trinidad, and Brazil; Secretary of State Kerry’s participation in the Organization of American States’ annual meeting in Guatemala; the president of Chile’s visit to Washington this week and a planned visit to Washington by the president of Peru. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff arrives in Washington in October for the first state visit of the second term.

As leaders across the region work to lift their citizens out of poverty and to diversify their economies from commodity-led growth, the U.S. believes that the greatest promise — for Americans and for our neighbors — lies in deeper economic integration and openness.

The process is further along than you might think. Not only is the U.S. deepening what is already a trillion-dollar trading relationship with Mexico and Canada — we also have free-trade agreements that stretch nearly continuously from Canada to Chile. One of the most promising developments is the year-old Alliance of the Pacific among Chile, Colombia, Peru and Mexico. This pact, involving four of the region’s fastest-growing countries, now has nations across the world seeking to participate or to play a positive supporting role. We’re one of those nations. By committing to lowering trade barriers and integrating diplomatic and commercial interests, alliance members are showing that pragmatism, not ideology, is the secret to success. The effort also serves as a reminder of the deep connections between our enhanced engagement in this hemisphere and our Asia-Pacific rebalance.

For Brazil, as for the U.S., one of the most important frontiers is energy. From biofuels to deep-water oil reserves to shale gas to hydroelectric, Brazil is energy-rich, and that has tremendous implications globally. Brazil already is a leading expert in renewables and deep-water extraction, but both of our countries can advance further if we work together. I know from my meeting with President Rousseff that Brazil is equally committed to an energy partnership.

Ultimately, all of these economic opportunities rest on democratic protections and citizen security. Through the Inter American Democratic Charter, the nations of the hemisphere committed to promote and defend representative democracy; this commitment remains as important as ever to the success of the Americas. And from Mexico to the Caribbean to Colombia, we remain invested in long-term security partnerships. The U.S. will continue to stand by Colombia as it seeks to bring an end to the longest-running conflict in the Americas and inspires other countries in the region to overcome their own challenges.

That’s going to require some honest conversations, like the one that will take place next week at the OAS General Assembly on drug policy. Similarly, many countries have serious concerns about weapons coming from the U.S. and are angry about our criminal-deportation policy for its lack of transparency. We won’t shy away from these kinds of difficult discussions.

Here at home, we need to reform our immigration system because it is the right thing to do for our own country. But it also will strengthen our standing in the hemisphere. Success in international relations, like any relationship, comes down to respect. And fully realizing the potential of these new relationships requires treating people from other nations living inside our borders with respect.

The changes under way invite the U.S. to look at Latin America and the Caribbean in a very different way. The defining question for U.S. policy is no longer “what can we do for the Americas?” It is “what can we do together?”

In the 1990s, we imagined a Europe that is whole, free and at peace. Today, I believe we can credibly envision an Americas that is solidly middle-class, secure and democratic — from the Arctic Circle to the Tierra del Fuego and everywhere in between.

(Joe Biden is the vice president of the United States.)

http://newscastmedia.com/joe-biden.htm

Susan Rice

Newscast Media WASHINGTON—The US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice is to become President Barack Obama’s top national security advisor, according to reports from Washington. At the UN she will be replaced by Samatha Power, a US human rights expert.

President Barack Obama was expected to reshuffle his foreign policy team on Wednesday by shifting Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice to the White House to become his national security advisor. Rice will replace Tom Donilon, who departs in July.

In the wake of Obama’s re-election last year, John Kerry instead of Rice became the new US Secretary of State. Rice was tapped for the position but withdrew from consideration after Senate Republicans objected to her allegedly playing down an Islamist attack in Benghazi, Libya, last September.

Four Americans were killed, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. Assuming Obama formally appoints Rice as security advisor, he will avoid a congressional fight because the White House post does not require Senate confirmation, unlike the job of secretary of state.

Rice has a reputation for being outspoken on human rights issues and in 2011 pushed for a more interventionist strategy in Libya under its then dictator Moammar Gadhafi, who was subsequently killed during a rebel advance in October of that year. The expected White House shakeup comes as Obama grapples with numerous foreign policy challenges, from Syria to China’s rise on the world stage. That will be underscored by Obama’s meeting later this week with Chinese President Xi Jinping in California.

The anticipated new US ambassador at the UN, Samantha Power, is a former White House adviser, human rights expert and Harvard university professor.

Power won a Pulitzer Prize in 2003 for her book “A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide.” It examined US foreign policy towards genocide in the 20th century.

A White official quoted by the news agency Associated Press said Donilon would stay on until early July, when Obama wraps up overseas trips to Europe and Africa. Donilon has overseen a US foreign policy shift that has placed increasing emphasis on US relationships in the Asia-Pacific regions.

http://newscastmedia.com/susan-rice2.htm