Viewers get in the swim to tweet about 'Sharknado'

NEW YORK (AP) ? What happens when a tornado whips up hundreds of sharks and hurls them at Los Angeles?

Syfy network's "Sharknado" suggests that such a siege can take a big chomp out of social media.

Aired Thursday night, the disaster thriller was a trending topic on Twitter as it inspired amazed, often jeering messages to reflect viewer amusement at the film's jaw-dropping premise.

One tweeter expressed satisfaction that here was a natural disaster that finally makes Aquaman useful. Another jokingly questioned the film's scientific authenticity. Another described the sharknado as "an act of cod."

"Sharknado" was the night's most social program, generating nearly 5,000 tweets per minute at its peak. The network says it scored 387,000 social media mentions during its premiere.

Syfy says "Sharknado" was seen by nearly 1.37 million viewers.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/viewers-swim-tweet-sharknado-190534600.html

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Google+ for iOS 4.4.1

Google+, the social networking application from Google seems to have come out of nowhere. Just weeks ago it was a rumoured project and now tens of millions of people are using it.

A mash of twitter and Facebook-like functionality Google+ has immediate appeal for those that like to stay in the loop, and Google is said to be working on more business-like features for the application.

The mobile version makes sharing easy, and photos - for example, can be uploaded quickly, while checking feeds and contact updates is quick and smooth.

Source: http://feeds.v3.co.uk/c/554/f/464335/s/2e9d4d4b/l/0L0Sv30O0Cv30Euk0Cdownload0Ereview0C22814350Cgoogle0Efor0Eios0E441/story01.htm

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Afghanistan's women wary as Taliban creeps back into political life

Omar Sobhani / Reuters file

Abdul Rahman Hotak gestures as he speaks during an interview in Kabul on July 1, 2013.

By Sohel Uddin, Producer, NBC News

KABUL, Afghanistan -- As American and NATO forces prepare to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of next year, some fear the Afghan government's efforts to bring the Taliban into the political fold may mean a step back in time for the country's women.

After the U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom toppled the militant Taliban regime 12 years ago, girls' schools reopened, burqas were no longer compulsory and many women went back to work. So when the Afghan government last week appointed a former Taliban official?as a commissioner on the newly established independent human rights commission, many were shocked.

Abdul Rahman Hotak, nominated for the post by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, was the editor of Taliban newspaper "Afghan Sunrise" and worked for the group's education directorate during its rule ? an alarming choice, some say, for someone tasked with championing the rights of women who were denied so many freedoms under the Taliban.

Hotak also opposes Karzai's proposed Elimination of Violence Against Women law (EVAW), which would make domestic and public violation against women punishable by law. Criticized for being un-Islamic, it has been languishing in Afghanistan's parliament since 2009.

"I want to help the women? I want to try to tell people that they are our mothers, our sisters, our daughters," Hotak told NBC News, claiming that he actually championed women's rights during the Taliban regime and asked them to allow girls to go to school.

He said his ideas and politics were not in line with the Taliban's and that he was compelled to work for them because there was "no other option when there is a government like that."

Shah Marai / AFP - Getty Images file

Shukria Barakzai speaks in Kabul in a photo from 2010.

As for opposing EVAW, he said he believes that if most politicians are not in agreement about a piece of legislation then it must mean it is flawed.

Nonetheless, his appointment does not sit well with some.

"We need the human rights commissioner to be independent and we ask the president to rethink his choice ? It is not a good choice for an ex-Taliban to be in this role," said Shukria Barakzai, a member of parliament who hopes to run for president in next year's election.?

Barakzai, known as "the woman feared by both NATO and the Taliban" for her outspoken views, has been fighting for women's rights for years.

She believes promoting people like Hotak gives the Taliban and other conservative groups a "green light" to strike political deals that would hold women back further ? deals designed to make peace more attractive to Taliban leaders. "They will not join forces but they will benefit from each other," she said.

"All these years it is not only the Taliban who have been problematic for women's rights but equally the government, members of parliament and the legislative committee," Barakzai said.

Just this past May, conservatives in parliament surreptitiously removed a law which stipulated there should be at least 25 percent female representation in the upper house. Female politicians fought to have the law reinstated when they discovered the move. A spokesman at the presidential palace would not comment but said the reinstatement was waiting to be approved by the upper house and the president.

Additionally, in 2012 Karzai endorsed a "code of conduct" law that protects men from being prosecuted for rape within a marriage, and allows husbands to beat their wives under certain circumstances.

Shah Marai / AFP - Getty Images

More than ten years after the beginning of the war, Afghanistan faces external pressure to reform as well as ongoing internal conflicts.

"The government and the Taliban have a shared view when it comes to women," Barakzai said.

However, after facing years of hurdles, Barakzai now welcomes the Taliban in Afghan politics. "I just don't want to see any more violence ? that is why I would rather have the Taliban in parliament. It is the only way to end the killing." She believes if the Taliban were part of the government, they would be forced to follow the law and adopt democracy. They would have to put an end to their violent principles, she says.

"The only difference between the Taliban then and the Taliban now is that they no longer wear turbans, but are dressed in smart suits. However the principles are the same as before," she said. "But we will civilize them."

For some, like student Halima Rashidi, it doesn't matter who is in charge ? the outcome is all that matters.

"I don't think that only people who are in the government right now can change the future of women. A Taliban or mujahedeen can also do that, too. It is not important for me who is running the show but I need protection and my rights, peace and security and a better future."

Related stories:

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663309/s/2e9aec80/l/0Lworldnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A70C130C194391640Eafghanistans0Ewomen0Ewary0Eas0Etaliban0Ecreeps0Eback0Einto0Epolitical0Elife0Dlite/story01.htm

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Instagram Pictures Of The Day: First Look At Florence Brudenell-Bruce's Wedding Dress

In today's Instagram roundup we can journey to the South of France with Poppy Delevingne for Florence Brudenell-Bruce's beautiful wedding. Pops Instagrammed a picture of the bride with her groom, banker Henry St George, in the sunny South of France. Florence had a brief romance with Prince Harry when they were on a break, but she quickly got back together with Henry who then proposed last Christmas.

Poppy also posted a picture of her own wedding outfit, as she posed in her Gucci peasant dress with a very revealing deep V neckline with a glass of beer in her hand.

Victoria Beckham spent the day at Wimbledon yesterday, slipping into a Louis Vuitton nightie dress to watch Murray be crowned Wimbledon champion. She shared pictures of some seriously chic Wimbledon straw boaters and a glass of bubbly and strawberry scones.

Rita Ora has been making all of her followers rather jealous this weekend as she has been posting lots of beach snaps from a yacht in Ibiza. Elsewhere on Instagram, Grimmy posted a picture of Mossy lying on some grass, Alessandra Ambrosio snuggled up with a lizard and Anna Dello Russo dressed up as Marie Antoinette for a Dolce & Gabbana ball in Milan.

Cara Delevingne posted a special thank you to her fans over the weekend, with a message on her manicure, but she also got into Vine and posted a video of her two new tattoos. We knew these would have their own personality on Cara's Twitter feed.

See our pick of the Instagram pictures of the day in the gallery above...

Source: http://www.graziadaily.co.uk/fashion/news/instagram-pictures-of-the-day--florence-brudenell-bruce-gets-married-in-the-south-of-france

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IMF's Lagarde says U.S. budget cuts 'inappropriate'

AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France (Reuters) - The U.S. federal budget cuts are an inappropriate measure that will weigh on potential growth, IMF chief Christine Lagarde said on Sunday, urging Washington to present "credible" fiscal plans.

Washington enacted across-the-board federal government spending cuts, known as sequestration, in March because Congress could not agree on an alternative.

It has meant everything from furloughs for air traffic controllers to fewer planes for the U.S. Navy to smaller subsidies for farmers.

"The budgetary procedure that is in place in the United States, which leads to a budgetary adjustment, seems to us absolutely inappropriate ... because it blindly affects certain expenditures that are essential to support medium and long term growth," Lagarde told an economists' conference in Aix-en-Provence, southern France.

Her comments echoed those last month from the IMF itself, which said: "The deficit reduction in 2013 has been excessively rapid and ill-designed."

In its annual check of the health of the U.S. economy, the IMF forecast economic growth would be a sluggish 1.9 percent this year. The IMF reckons growth would be as much as 1.75 percentage points higher if not for the rush to cut the government's budget deficit.

While the budget cuts that took hold on March 1 do not appear to be hitting government payrolls directly so far, some economists said they were weighing on private employers and helped explained a sharp slowdown in hiring in the health care and social assistance sector.

Lagarde urged Washington - as well as Tokyo - to come up with fresh plans to cut their debt.

Japan has pledged to halve the primary deficit - the budget excluding new bond sales and debt servicing - by March 2016 and bring it to surplus by March 2021 to contain its ballooning public debt. It will detail how it wants to accomplish that in a medium-term fiscal plan expected in August.

"It is indispensable that these countries indicate for the long and medium term predictable, credible fiscal policies, anchored in legislation that will not be challenged, which will bring the deficit down in a way that will reverse the debt trajectory to a downward trend," she said.

(Reporting by Ingrid Melander and Michel Rose; Writing by Elena Berton; Editing by Alison Williams)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/imfs-lagarde-says-u-sequester-budget-cuts-inappropriate-074156016.html

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US economy adds 195K jobs, jobless rate 7.6 pct.

US economy adds 195K jobs, jobless rate 7.6 pct.

by CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER,AP Economics Writer Associated Press

In this May 29, 2013 photo, job seeker Craig Cline of Lincolnwood, Ill., right, meets with Jeremy Skeeters, left, and Lindy Hammel, of Aflac Insurance Co. during a career fair in Rolling Meadows, Ill. The U.S. economy added 175,000 jobs in May, a gain that shows employers are hiring at a still-modest but steady pace despite government spending cuts and higher taxes, according to the Labor Department, Friday, June 7, 2013. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

slideshow WASHINGTON (AP) ? U.S. employers added 195,000 jobs in June and hiring was more robust in the two previous months than earlier estimated. The gains raise hopes for a stronger economy in the second half of 2013.

The Labor Department said Friday that the economy also added 20,000 more jobs in May and 50,000 more in April than initially reported. The unemployment rate stayed at 7.6 percent, but for a good reason: More people started looking for work. The government counts people as unemployed only if they are searching for jobs.

Americans' paychecks rose at a healthy pace and have outpaced inflation in the past year. Average hourly pay increased 10 cents to $24.01. That's 2.2 percent higher than a year ago. Over the 12 months ending in May, consumer prices rose 1.4 percent.

Stock index futures rose shortly after the report was released at 8:30 a.m. EDT. And the yield on the 10-year Treasury note jumped from 2.56 percent to 2.65 percent, a sign that investors think the economy is improving.

The economy has added an average of 202,000 jobs a month for the past six months, up from 180,000 in the previous six. Hiring and consumer confidence have increase despite higher taxes and federal spending cuts.

Further job growth could lower the unemployment rate and help the economy rebound after a weak start this year. If growth accelerated and unemployment fell, the Federal Reserve might start to scale back its bond purchases before the year ends. The bond purchases have kept long-term interest rates low.

Despite the solid pace of hiring, the economy is growing sluggishly. It expanded at a 1.8 percent annual rate in the January-March quarter. Most analysts expect growth at roughly the same subpar rate in the April-June quarter.

Weak economies overseas cut demand for U.S. exports in May. That led some economists to predict that growth in the second quarter might be slower than forecast. Still, many areas of the economy are improving.

The Fed's low interest-rate policies have encouraged more Americans to buy homes and cars. They've also helped boost stock and home prices in the first half of the year, increasing wealth and lifting consumers' confidence to its highest level in 5? years.

Auto sales in the January-June period topped 7.8 million, their best first half since 2007, according to Autodata Corp. and Ward's AutoInfoBank. Sales of previously occupied homes exceeded 5 million in May, the first time that's happened since November 2009. New-home sales rose at their fastest pace in five years.

Though fewer exports have hurt manufacturing, factories did field more orders in May. And a measure of business investment rose for the third straight month.

A stronger second half fueled by continued job gains might be enough for the Fed to begin tapering its stimulus. Chairman Ben Bernanke said last month that the Fed would slow its bond purchases later this year and end them next year if the economy continued to strengthen.

But Bernanke added that if the economy weakens, the Fed could delay its pullback or even step up its bond purchases again. Several Fed members have since tried to clarify Bernanke's remarks by saying any tapering of the bond purchases would depend on the strength of the economy.

Source: http://rn-t.com/bookmark/23054751

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Plot Ideas

Alright! Since we've got a couple characters, I figured now, if anyone gets any ideas, we can add them here. Also I'll address our first posts here and what to say/how to start.

So feel free to chat with me here, or PM me, either works although here might be best so everyone can see.

Ok, Awesome! :)

"With great power comes great responsibility." -Narrator from Spiderman
"Madness is the emergency exit. You can just step outside, and close the door on all those dreadful things that happened. You can lock them away... forever." -The Joker
"Yeah- like Wolverine rhymes with... Louver Screen?... Hoover Spleen?... Hey what the heck does it rhyme with?" -Deadpool

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/rNA_o_sN35k/viewtopic.php

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