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Washington (CNN) — A series of blog posts on Monday purportedly by Edward Snowden said he leaked classified details about U.S. surveillance programs because President Barack Obama worsened “abusive” practices instead of curtailing them as he promised as a candidate.

In 90 minutes of live online chatting, the person identified as Snowden by Britain’s Guardian newspaper and website insisted that U.S. authorities have access to phone calls, e-mails and other communications far beyond constitutional bounds.

While he said legal restrictions can be easily skirted by analysts at the National Security Agency, FBI and CIA, Snowden stopped short of accusing authorities of violating specific laws. Instead, he said toothless regulations and policies were to blame for what he called “suspicionless surveillance,” and he warned that policies can be changed to allow further abuses.

“This disclosure provides Obama an opportunity to appeal for a return to sanity, constitutional policy, and the rule of law rather than men,” he posted. “He still has plenty of time to go down in history as the president who looked into the abyss and stepped back, rather than leaping forward into it.”

Obama bristles at suggestion he’s shifted on snooping

Obama: NSA programs are transparent

Snowden: Hong Kong easiest answer

Snowden: The NSA has your content

Releasing NSA leaks: A public service?

Asked Monday if the NSA was following the online chat, the agency’s press office had no immediate comment.

Obama, top legislators and national security officials defend the surveillance programs as necessary to combat terrorism, arguing that some privacy must be sacrificed in a balanced approach.

They say the law allows collection of metadata, such as the time and numbers of phone calls, and that a special federal court must approve accessing the content — listening to the call itself.

In the blog posts on Monday, the writer identified as Snowden contended the government’s overbroad collection of information violated rights of innocent Americans who have no links to suspicious activity.

Referring to a program that permits broader access to foreign communications than is allowed for domestic monitoring, the writer said authorities sidestep regulations. For example, a phone call from overseas can mean automatic inclusion of a U.S. number in the record-keeping, according to the writer.

“The reality is that … Americans’ communications are collected and viewed on a daily basis on the certification of an analyst rather than a warrant,” one Snowden post said. “They excuse this as ‘incidental’ collection, but at the end of the day, someone at NSA still has the content of your communications.”

Another post warned that restrictions against unauthorized access to the content of communications — such as listening to phone calls or reading e-mails — were based on policy rather than technology and therefore “can change at any time.”

CNN poll: Obama numbers plunge into generation gap

Snowden said he leaked details of the surveillance programs because Obama campaigned for the presidency on a platform of ending abuses.

However, Obama “closed the door on investigating systemic violations of law, deepened and expanded several abusive programs, and refused to spend the political capital to end the kind of human rights violations like we see in Guantanamo, where men still sit without charge,” a blog post said.

Snowden also said that he had to get out of the United States before the leaks were published by the Guardian and Washington Post to avoid being targeted by the government.

Columnist: NSA leak sparked debates

Spying on G-20 delegates?

Rep.: NSA isn’t listening to your calls

Hong Kong rallies to support NSA leaker

The U.S. government “predictably destroyed any possibility of a fair trial at home” by “openly declaring me guilty of treason,” Snowden said.

Snowden, who is believed to be in Hong Kong, also wrote that the truth about surveillance programs he disclosed will come out, and “the U.S. government is not going to be able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me.”

Details on NSA-thwarted plots coming, lawmaker says

The blog post rejected accusations that he had or might provide classified information to China, saying he only leaked to journalists and calling such a charge a smear tactic intended to turn public opinion against his effort to provide Americans with full information about how their government monitors them.

A CNN/ORC International poll released Monday showed 54% of respondents didn’t approve of Snowden’s admitted actions, while 44% backed the leaks.

Snowden’s father told Fox News that he hoped and prayed his son “will not release any secrets that could constitute treason.”

The father, Lon Snowden, also said he wanted his son to return to the United States “and face this,” adding “I love my son.”

Snowden, 29, worked for the NSA through a private contractor firm until May, when he decamped to Hong Kong. He went public earlier this month as the source of articles by the newspapers, saying the agency’s efforts pose “an existential threat to democracy.”

The revelations about the NSA’s collection of millions of records from U.S. telecommunications and technology firms have led to a furious debate within the United States about the scale and scope of surveillance programs that date from the days after the 2001 al Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington.

Opinion: Did NSA snooping stop ‘dozens’ of terrorist attacks?

Defenders say the programs — approved by Congress after a warrantless surveillance effort under the Bush administration was revealed in 2005 — have protected American lives by helping agents break up terrorism plots. And they argue that the program is under close oversight by all three branches of government, including the congressional intelligence committees and a court set up under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that hears cases in secret.

But Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian columnist who broke Snowden’s story and moderated the chat, said the safeguards placed on the program is “a very symbolic and empty oversight that really ought not to give the assurances to anybody that these powers aren’t being abused.”

“They go once every six months to the FISA court,” he said. “The FISA court rubber-stamps these vague guidelines that the NSA says they’re using to make sure they’re complying with the law. And once that happens, the NSA can force telecoms and Internet companies to give them whatever they demand under the guise that the FISA court has blessed their guidelines.”

Bigger threat: Snowden or NSA?

Critics call the programs an unconstitutional overreach of authority under the Patriot Act, the law that authorized increased government surveillance in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

In a new development, the Guardian reported Sunday that Britain’s electronic intelligence agency monitored delegates’ phones and tried to capture their passwords during an economic summit held there in 2009.

Targets included British allies such as Turkey and South Africa, the newspaper reported. The Guardian cited documents provided by Snowden.

According to the newspaper, the documents show that the British “signals intelligence” agency GCHQ used “ground-breaking intelligence capabilities” to intercept calls made by members of the G-20 conference delegations at meetings in London.

Facebook, Microsoft disclose information on user data requests

Analysts received round-the-clock summaries of calls that were being made, and GCHQ set up Internet cafes for delegates in hopes of intercepting e-mails and capturing keystrokes, the Guardian reported.

One briefing slide explained the intercepts would give intelligence agencies the ability to read delegates’ e-mails “before/as they do,” providing “sustained intelligence options against them even after (the) conference has finished.”

GCHQ is Britain’s equivalent of the secretive NSA in the United States.

The Guardian reported that the NSA had attempted to eavesdrop on then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during the conference as his phone calls passed through satellite links to Moscow and briefed its British counterparts on the effects.

The latest report was published on the eve of a smaller economic summit hosted by the British government — the Group of Eight gathering in Northern Ireland.

Shawn Turner, a spokesman for the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said Sunday he was aware of the Guardian’s latest report but declined to comment on it.

“What we should be focused on is how irresponsible and egregious these recent leaks are,” he told CNN. “It’s impossible to know exactly how much damage is being done by these disclosures, but they will have an effect on our counterterrorism efforts.”

Cheney defends NSA, calls Obama’s credibility ‘nonexistent’

Retired Gen. Michael Hayden, a former NSA director, said on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS” that what the agency collects are “essentially billing records” that detail the time, duration and phone numbers involved in a call.

The records are added to a database that agents can query in cases involving a terror investigation overseas, and agents can’t eavesdrop on Americans’ calls without an order from a secret court that handles intelligence matters, he said.

If a phone number related to an investigation has links to a domestic phone number, “We’ve got to go back to the court,” he said.

GOP tries to keep focus on IRS targeting scandal

However, critics such as Sen. Mark Udall, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, had raised questions about the scale of the program even before Snowden’s leak.

Udall said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that he doesn’t believe the program is making Americans any safer, “and I think it’s ultimately, perhaps, a violation of the Fourth Amendment.”

“I think we owe it to the American people to have a fulsome debate in the open about the extent of these programs,” said Udall, a Colorado Democrat. “You have a law that’s been interpreted secretly by a secret court that then issues secret orders to generate a secret program. I just don’t think this is an American approach to a world in which we have great threats.”

Obama does not feel that he has violated the privacy of any American, his chief of staff, Denis McDonough, said on the CBS program “Face the Nation.”

McDonough said the president will be discussing the need to “find the right balance, especially in this new situation where we find ourselves with all of us reliant on Internet, on e-mail, on texting.”

Hong Kong rallies in the rain for Edward Snowden

CNN’s Paul Steinhauser, Matt Smith and Jessica Yellin contributed to this report.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/17/politics/nsa-leaks/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/pawhVe9nuso/snowden-answers-reader-questions

Washington (CNN) — A series of blog posts on Monday purportedly by Edward Snowden said he leaked classified details about U.S. surveillance programs because President Barack Obama worsened “abusive” practices instead of curtailing them as he promised as a candidate.

In 90 minutes of live online chatting, the person identified as Snowden by Britain’s Guardian newspaper and website insisted that U.S. authorities have access to phone calls, e-mails and other communications far beyond constitutional bounds.

While he said legal restrictions can be easily skirted by analysts at the National Security Agency, FBI and CIA, Snowden stopped short of accusing authorities of violating specific laws. Instead, he said toothless regulations and policies were to blame for what he called “suspicionless surveillance,” and he warned that policies can be changed to allow further abuses.

“This disclosure provides Obama an opportunity to appeal for a return to sanity, constitutional policy, and the rule of law rather than men,” he posted. “He still has plenty of time to go down in history as the president who looked into the abyss and stepped back, rather than leaping forward into it.”

Obama bristles at suggestion he’s shifted on snooping

Obama: NSA programs are transparent

Snowden: Hong Kong easiest answer

Snowden: The NSA has your content

Releasing NSA leaks: A public service?

Asked Monday if the NSA was following the online chat, the agency’s press office had no immediate comment.

Obama, top legislators and national security officials defend the surveillance programs as necessary to combat terrorism, arguing that some privacy must be sacrificed in a balanced approach.

They say the law allows collection of metadata, such as the time and numbers of phone calls, and that a special federal court must approve accessing the content — listening to the call itself.

In the blog posts on Monday, the writer identified as Snowden contended the government’s overbroad collection of information violated rights of innocent Americans who have no links to suspicious activity.

Referring to a program that permits broader access to foreign communications than is allowed for domestic monitoring, the writer said authorities sidestep regulations. For example, a phone call from overseas can mean automatic inclusion of a U.S. number in the record-keeping, according to the writer.

“The reality is that … Americans’ communications are collected and viewed on a daily basis on the certification of an analyst rather than a warrant,” one Snowden post said. “They excuse this as ‘incidental’ collection, but at the end of the day, someone at NSA still has the content of your communications.”

Another post warned that restrictions against unauthorized access to the content of communications — such as listening to phone calls or reading e-mails — were based on policy rather than technology and therefore “can change at any time.”

CNN poll: Obama numbers plunge into generation gap

Snowden said he leaked details of the surveillance programs because Obama campaigned for the presidency on a platform of ending abuses.

However, Obama “closed the door on investigating systemic violations of law, deepened and expanded several abusive programs, and refused to spend the political capital to end the kind of human rights violations like we see in Guantanamo, where men still sit without charge,” a blog post said.

Snowden also said that he had to get out of the United States before the leaks were published by the Guardian and Washington Post to avoid being targeted by the government.

Columnist: NSA leak sparked debates

Spying on G-20 delegates?

Rep.: NSA isn’t listening to your calls

Hong Kong rallies to support NSA leaker

The U.S. government “predictably destroyed any possibility of a fair trial at home” by “openly declaring me guilty of treason,” Snowden said.

Snowden, who is believed to be in Hong Kong, also wrote that the truth about surveillance programs he disclosed will come out, and “the U.S. government is not going to be able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me.”

Details on NSA-thwarted plots coming, lawmaker says

The blog post rejected accusations that he had or might provide classified information to China, saying he only leaked to journalists and calling such a charge a smear tactic intended to turn public opinion against his effort to provide Americans with full information about how their government monitors them.

A CNN/ORC International poll released Monday showed 54% of respondents didn’t approve of Snowden’s admitted actions, while 44% backed the leaks.

Snowden’s father told Fox News that he hoped and prayed his son “will not release any secrets that could constitute treason.”

The father, Lon Snowden, also said he wanted his son to return to the United States “and face this,” adding “I love my son.”

Snowden, 29, worked for the NSA through a private contractor firm until May, when he decamped to Hong Kong. He went public earlier this month as the source of articles by the newspapers, saying the agency’s efforts pose “an existential threat to democracy.”

The revelations about the NSA’s collection of millions of records from U.S. telecommunications and technology firms have led to a furious debate within the United States about the scale and scope of surveillance programs that date from the days after the 2001 al Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington.

Opinion: Did NSA snooping stop ‘dozens’ of terrorist attacks?

Defenders say the programs — approved by Congress after a warrantless surveillance effort under the Bush administration was revealed in 2005 — have protected American lives by helping agents break up terrorism plots. And they argue that the program is under close oversight by all three branches of government, including the congressional intelligence committees and a court set up under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that hears cases in secret.

But Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian columnist who broke Snowden’s story and moderated the chat, said the safeguards placed on the program is “a very symbolic and empty oversight that really ought not to give the assurances to anybody that these powers aren’t being abused.”

“They go once every six months to the FISA court,” he said. “The FISA court rubber-stamps these vague guidelines that the NSA says they’re using to make sure they’re complying with the law. And once that happens, the NSA can force telecoms and Internet companies to give them whatever they demand under the guise that the FISA court has blessed their guidelines.”

Bigger threat: Snowden or NSA?

Critics call the programs an unconstitutional overreach of authority under the Patriot Act, the law that authorized increased government surveillance in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

In a new development, the Guardian reported Sunday that Britain’s electronic intelligence agency monitored delegates’ phones and tried to capture their passwords during an economic summit held there in 2009.

Targets included British allies such as Turkey and South Africa, the newspaper reported. The Guardian cited documents provided by Snowden.

According to the newspaper, the documents show that the British “signals intelligence” agency GCHQ used “ground-breaking intelligence capabilities” to intercept calls made by members of the G-20 conference delegations at meetings in London.

Facebook, Microsoft disclose information on user data requests

Analysts received round-the-clock summaries of calls that were being made, and GCHQ set up Internet cafes for delegates in hopes of intercepting e-mails and capturing keystrokes, the Guardian reported.

One briefing slide explained the intercepts would give intelligence agencies the ability to read delegates’ e-mails “before/as they do,” providing “sustained intelligence options against them even after (the) conference has finished.”

GCHQ is Britain’s equivalent of the secretive NSA in the United States.

The Guardian reported that the NSA had attempted to eavesdrop on then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during the conference as his phone calls passed through satellite links to Moscow and briefed its British counterparts on the effects.

The latest report was published on the eve of a smaller economic summit hosted by the British government — the Group of Eight gathering in Northern Ireland.

Shawn Turner, a spokesman for the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said Sunday he was aware of the Guardian’s latest report but declined to comment on it.

“What we should be focused on is how irresponsible and egregious these recent leaks are,” he told CNN. “It’s impossible to know exactly how much damage is being done by these disclosures, but they will have an effect on our counterterrorism efforts.”

Cheney defends NSA, calls Obama’s credibility ‘nonexistent’

Retired Gen. Michael Hayden, a former NSA director, said on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS” that what the agency collects are “essentially billing records” that detail the time, duration and phone numbers involved in a call.

The records are added to a database that agents can query in cases involving a terror investigation overseas, and agents can’t eavesdrop on Americans’ calls without an order from a secret court that handles intelligence matters, he said.

If a phone number related to an investigation has links to a domestic phone number, “We’ve got to go back to the court,” he said.

GOP tries to keep focus on IRS targeting scandal

However, critics such as Sen. Mark Udall, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, had raised questions about the scale of the program even before Snowden’s leak.

Udall said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that he doesn’t believe the program is making Americans any safer, “and I think it’s ultimately, perhaps, a violation of the Fourth Amendment.”

“I think we owe it to the American people to have a fulsome debate in the open about the extent of these programs,” said Udall, a Colorado Democrat. “You have a law that’s been interpreted secretly by a secret court that then issues secret orders to generate a secret program. I just don’t think this is an American approach to a world in which we have great threats.”

Obama does not feel that he has violated the privacy of any American, his chief of staff, Denis McDonough, said on the CBS program “Face the Nation.”

McDonough said the president will be discussing the need to “find the right balance, especially in this new situation where we find ourselves with all of us reliant on Internet, on e-mail, on texting.”

Hong Kong rallies in the rain for Edward Snowden

CNN’s Paul Steinhauser, Matt Smith and Jessica Yellin contributed to this report.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/17/politics/nsa-leaks/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/pawhVe9nuso/snowden-answers-reader-questions

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The Panama canal is being upgraded at a cost of $5.25 billion to ensure it is capable of handling the ever-increasing size of the world’s biggest cargo ships.

Giant locks — measuring 1,400-feet-long, 160-foot-wide and 80-foot-deep — are being installed at either end of the 51-mile aquatic passageway that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

The Marmaray Project is a 76-kilometer (47.2-mile) subterranean development that will connect railway lines on either side of Istanbul’s Bosphorus Strait.

A 0.9-mile section of the tunnel will delve deep beneath the waters of the Bosphorus, which separate continental Asia and Europe, carrying an estimated 150,000 passengers every hour.

Beijing’s new international airport will be among the the busiest and the biggest airports in the world when it comes online in 2017, with the capacity to cater for some 130 million passengers every year.

Beijing Capital International (pictured) is currently the busiest airport in China — servicing 80 million passengers every year — but will be nearing its operating capacity by the time the new facility is open for business.

The 1,200 kilometer Etihad Rail network will extend across the desert hinterland of the United Arab Emirates, costing a cool $11 billion and enhancing freight and passenger transport infrastructure across the country.

Developers hope the tracks will eventually join up with an international Gulf rail network covering Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar.

An artist’s impression of the new $2.1 billion Hyderabad Metro system which aims to provide a new mode of daily transport for up to 1.7 million of the southern Indian city’s residents by 2017.

Developers say the 72-kilometer long track will improve journey times and reduce traffic on the city’s congested roads.

Presidents (left to right) Salva Kiir of South Sudan, (former president) Mwai Kibaki of Kenya and Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia celebrate following the ground breaking ceremony of the Lamu Port–South Sudan–Ethiopia Transport Corridor (LAPSSET) in March 2012.

Costs for the project are expected to come in at around $20 billion although concerns remain over the development’s impact on the likes of the Lamu Port area (pictured), which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Crossrail construction workers stand near to one of the projects mammoth 1,000-ton tunnel boring machines. The $23 billion development will connect London from east to west, improving access to Heathrow Airport as well as the city’s suburban and satellite towns.

More than 8,000 people are involved in the Crossrail development working across 40 separate construction sites.

An artists rendering of the New International Trade Crossing between Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, Michigan. The $950 million project aims to increase opportunities for businesses and entrepreneurs in both Canada and the U.S.

The nearby Ambassador Bridge — whose owners have logged legal challenges to construction of the NITC — is responsible for 25% of all trade between Canada and the U.S., according to the bridge operator’s website.

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The Gateway goes behind the scenes of the world’s major transport hubs, revealing the logistics that keep goods and people moving. This month, the show is in Singapore.

(CNN) — Austerity, spending cuts and deficit reduction.

With all the talk of fiscal restraint, it’s easy to assume there’s little in the coffers for the sort of vast infrastructure projects we’ve seen over the last century.

True, the EU has reduced its transport infrastructure budget through 2020, while groups like the American Society of Engineers have stated that too little is being put aside to fund the big projects of tomorrow — but it’s not all doom and gloom.

In many emerging nations transport spending is speeding ahead at breakneck pace, while in the developed world large projects have continued despite the rumbling aftershocks of the 2008 financial crash.

Here, we take a look at some of the biggest, most important and spectacular transport infrastructure developments currently in the works around the world.

Panama Canal

Already an engineering wonder, the 99-year-old Panama Canal is being upgraded to cater for the ever increasing heft of the world’s merchant shipping fleet. Construction was approved in 2006 and is due for completion in 2014.

See also: 7 of the world’s most entertaining airports

The $5.25 billion project will add three 1,400-foot-long, 180 foot wide and 60-foot-deep locks to each end of the 51-mile aquatic passageway that links the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. This enhanced capability will enable the canal to cater for more of the giant container vessels that are increasingly favored by the world’s largest shipping companies.

A few hundred miles to the north meanwhile, early plans are afoot to build a new canal in Nicaragua with even greater capacity at a cost of $40 billion.

Marmaray Project

A city straddling two continents, Istanbul has long been a strategic gateway between Europe and Asia.

Now, construction of one of the world’s deepest submerged transport tunnels is pulling east and west even closer together. The Marmaray Project is a 76-kilometer (47.2-mile) subterranean railway development that will ferry travelers under a 1.4-km (0.9-mile) section of the Bosphorus Strait and connect busy railway lines on either side of the historic waterway.

The project began in 2004 and is due to be completed towards the end of 2013, later than originally planned due to delays caused by the archaeological sensitivity of the surrounding area.

Beijing’s new international airport

Playing host to eight runways and with the capabilities to cater for 130 million passengers every year, Beijing’s new international airport will be among the world’s largest and busiest when it is slated to come online in 2017 (although Istanbul’s recently announced third airport will trump it with a 150 million capacity when it opens in 2018).

See also: Could drones replace roads?

Air travel has expanded rapidly in China in recent years in line with the country’s booming economy. In 2011, the Chinese government announced plans to increase the total number of airports in the country from 175 to 230 by 2015 to cope with demand.

Beijing alone is set to handle between 450 and 500 million passengers every year by then, meaning the city’s existing airports need assistance to cope with the expected rise in demand. Construction of the new airport, which will be situated in the city’s Daxing district, was confirmed in January 2013 and is due to begin in early 2014, according to local media.

Etihad Rail Network

In a land brimming with ostentatious development projects, the nitty-gritty of rail infrastructure pales when compared to the world’s tallest building or man-made luxury islands — but it shouldn’t.

The 1,200 kilometer Etihad Rail network will extend across the desert hinterland of the United Arab Emirates, from the border of Saudi Arabia in the west to the frontiers of Oman in the east.

Costing $11 billion and taking in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and all of the Northern Emirates, developers hope the freight and passenger project will eventually join up with an international rail network covering Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar.

Hyderabad Metro

Towering high above chaotic din of inner-city traffic, the Hyderabad Metro system is expected to provide daily transport for up to 1.7 million of the southern Indian city’s residents by 2017, according to the regional government.

The $2.1 billion project will provide 72 kilometers of elevated track with stations every one kilometer. Developers say the system will improve journey times, reduce traffic on roads and provide an eco-friendly mass transport alternative to polluting car or bus journeys.

The LAPSSET Project

In 2012 the presidents of Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan came together to launch the ambitious LAPSSET (Lamu Port–South Sudan–Ethiopia Transport Corridor) project.

The plans include an oil refinery, pipelines from South Sudan, transportation hubs for rail, road and air vehicles, plus a giant port for oil tankers. A number of tourist resort cities are also expected along the development’s path.

See also: The tiny nation with a big economic punch

Costs are set to come in at around $25 billion although concerns remain over the impact on the local environment. Lamu Port is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site and the surrounding area is home to protected marine reserves and forests.

The Kenyan government has set aside $23 million for the Lamu section of the project while Reuters reported that a Chinese company had won the first tender to build three berths at the port in April this year.

London Crossrail

What the Hyderabad Metro does 20 meters above ground, London’s Crossrail project will seek to do beneath the British capital’s bustling streets and out into its sprawling suburbs.

A $23 billion development, the 73-mile rail project will connect London from East to West, improving access to Heathrow Airport, central London as well as city’s surrounding towns and suburbs.

Work began in 2009 and the first trains could be in operation as early as 2018. More than 8,000 people are involved in the project working across 40 separate construction sites.

NITC Bridge

Although not the most expensive infrastructure project in the pipeline, the $950 million New International Trade Crossing bridge — which will connect Windsor, Ontario in Canada and Detroit, Michigan in the U.S. — could well be one of the most impactful as far as international trade is concerned.

The NITC’s stated aims are to increase commerce capacity, reduce traffic bottlenecks and improve opportunities for businesses in both countries by providing a state-of-the-art, publicly operated border crossing.

See also: Is Danube Romania’s ‘blue motorway?’

Roughly 25% of all merchandise trade between Canada and the United States — one of the world’s largest bi-lateral trade partnerships — currently cross over the Detroit River via the nearby (privately run) Ambassador Bridge, according to the bridge operator’s website.

Barack Obama ordered a presidential decree to construct the NITC in March this year, however the owners of the Ambassador Bridge have logged legal challenges against the project.

They have also announced plans to expand the existing capacity of their own facility which originally opened in 1929.

What exciting projects did we miss on our list? Let us know in the comments section below.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/18/business/world-spectacular-infrastructure-projects/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/h1ju111UpQc/8-spectacular-transport-projects

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The Panama canal is being upgraded at a cost of $5.25 billion to ensure it is capable of handling the ever-increasing size of the world’s biggest cargo ships.

Giant locks — measuring 1,400-feet-long, 160-foot-wide and 80-foot-deep — are being installed at either end of the 51-mile aquatic passageway that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

The Marmaray Project is a 76-kilometer (47.2-mile) subterranean development that will connect railway lines on either side of Istanbul’s Bosphorus Strait.

A 0.9-mile section of the tunnel will delve deep beneath the waters of the Bosphorus, which separate continental Asia and Europe, carrying an estimated 150,000 passengers every hour.

Beijing’s new international airport will be among the the busiest and the biggest airports in the world when it comes online in 2017, with the capacity to cater for some 130 million passengers every year.

Beijing Capital International (pictured) is currently the busiest airport in China — servicing 80 million passengers every year — but will be nearing its operating capacity by the time the new facility is open for business.

The 1,200 kilometer Etihad Rail network will extend across the desert hinterland of the United Arab Emirates, costing a cool $11 billion and enhancing freight and passenger transport infrastructure across the country.

Developers hope the tracks will eventually join up with an international Gulf rail network covering Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar.

An artist’s impression of the new $2.1 billion Hyderabad Metro system which aims to provide a new mode of daily transport for up to 1.7 million of the southern Indian city’s residents by 2017.

Developers say the 72-kilometer long track will improve journey times and reduce traffic on the city’s congested roads.

Presidents (left to right) Salva Kiir of South Sudan, (former president) Mwai Kibaki of Kenya and Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia celebrate following the ground breaking ceremony of the Lamu Port–South Sudan–Ethiopia Transport Corridor (LAPSSET) in March 2012.

Costs for the project are expected to come in at around $20 billion although concerns remain over the development’s impact on the likes of the Lamu Port area (pictured), which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Crossrail construction workers stand near to one of the projects mammoth 1,000-ton tunnel boring machines. The $23 billion development will connect London from east to west, improving access to Heathrow Airport as well as the city’s suburban and satellite towns.

More than 8,000 people are involved in the Crossrail development working across 40 separate construction sites.

An artists rendering of the New International Trade Crossing between Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, Michigan. The $950 million project aims to increase opportunities for businesses and entrepreneurs in both Canada and the U.S.

The nearby Ambassador Bridge — whose owners have logged legal challenges to construction of the NITC — is responsible for 25% of all trade between Canada and the U.S., according to the bridge operator’s website.

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The Gateway goes behind the scenes of the world’s major transport hubs, revealing the logistics that keep goods and people moving. This month, the show is in Singapore.

(CNN) — Austerity, spending cuts and deficit reduction.

With all the talk of fiscal restraint, it’s easy to assume there’s little in the coffers for the sort of vast infrastructure projects we’ve seen over the last century.

True, the EU has reduced its transport infrastructure budget through 2020, while groups like the American Society of Engineers have stated that too little is being put aside to fund the big projects of tomorrow — but it’s not all doom and gloom.

In many emerging nations transport spending is speeding ahead at breakneck pace, while in the developed world large projects have continued despite the rumbling aftershocks of the 2008 financial crash.

Here, we take a look at some of the biggest, most important and spectacular transport infrastructure developments currently in the works around the world.

Panama Canal

Already an engineering wonder, the 99-year-old Panama Canal is being upgraded to cater for the ever increasing heft of the world’s merchant shipping fleet. Construction was approved in 2006 and is due for completion in 2014.

See also: 7 of the world’s most entertaining airports

The $5.25 billion project will add three 1,400-foot-long, 180 foot wide and 60-foot-deep locks to each end of the 51-mile aquatic passageway that links the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. This enhanced capability will enable the canal to cater for more of the giant container vessels that are increasingly favored by the world’s largest shipping companies.

A few hundred miles to the north meanwhile, early plans are afoot to build a new canal in Nicaragua with even greater capacity at a cost of $40 billion.

Marmaray Project

A city straddling two continents, Istanbul has long been a strategic gateway between Europe and Asia.

Now, construction of one of the world’s deepest submerged transport tunnels is pulling east and west even closer together. The Marmaray Project is a 76-kilometer (47.2-mile) subterranean railway development that will ferry travelers under a 1.4-km (0.9-mile) section of the Bosphorus Strait and connect busy railway lines on either side of the historic waterway.

The project began in 2004 and is due to be completed towards the end of 2013, later than originally planned due to delays caused by the archaeological sensitivity of the surrounding area.

Beijing’s new international airport

Playing host to eight runways and with the capabilities to cater for 130 million passengers every year, Beijing’s new international airport will be among the world’s largest and busiest when it is slated to come online in 2017 (although Istanbul’s recently announced third airport will trump it with a 150 million capacity when it opens in 2018).

See also: Could drones replace roads?

Air travel has expanded rapidly in China in recent years in line with the country’s booming economy. In 2011, the Chinese government announced plans to increase the total number of airports in the country from 175 to 230 by 2015 to cope with demand.

Beijing alone is set to handle between 450 and 500 million passengers every year by then, meaning the city’s existing airports need assistance to cope with the expected rise in demand. Construction of the new airport, which will be situated in the city’s Daxing district, was confirmed in January 2013 and is due to begin in early 2014, according to local media.

Etihad Rail Network

In a land brimming with ostentatious development projects, the nitty-gritty of rail infrastructure pales when compared to the world’s tallest building or man-made luxury islands — but it shouldn’t.

The 1,200 kilometer Etihad Rail network will extend across the desert hinterland of the United Arab Emirates, from the border of Saudi Arabia in the west to the frontiers of Oman in the east.

Costing $11 billion and taking in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and all of the Northern Emirates, developers hope the freight and passenger project will eventually join up with an international rail network covering Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar.

Hyderabad Metro

Towering high above chaotic din of inner-city traffic, the Hyderabad Metro system is expected to provide daily transport for up to 1.7 million of the southern Indian city’s residents by 2017, according to the regional government.

The $2.1 billion project will provide 72 kilometers of elevated track with stations every one kilometer. Developers say the system will improve journey times, reduce traffic on roads and provide an eco-friendly mass transport alternative to polluting car or bus journeys.

The LAPSSET Project

In 2012 the presidents of Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan came together to launch the ambitious LAPSSET (Lamu Port–South Sudan–Ethiopia Transport Corridor) project.

The plans include an oil refinery, pipelines from South Sudan, transportation hubs for rail, road and air vehicles, plus a giant port for oil tankers. A number of tourist resort cities are also expected along the development’s path.

See also: The tiny nation with a big economic punch

Costs are set to come in at around $25 billion although concerns remain over the impact on the local environment. Lamu Port is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site and the surrounding area is home to protected marine reserves and forests.

The Kenyan government has set aside $23 million for the Lamu section of the project while Reuters reported that a Chinese company had won the first tender to build three berths at the port in April this year.

London Crossrail

What the Hyderabad Metro does 20 meters above ground, London’s Crossrail project will seek to do beneath the British capital’s bustling streets and out into its sprawling suburbs.

A $23 billion development, the 73-mile rail project will connect London from East to West, improving access to Heathrow Airport, central London as well as city’s surrounding towns and suburbs.

Work began in 2009 and the first trains could be in operation as early as 2018. More than 8,000 people are involved in the project working across 40 separate construction sites.

NITC Bridge

Although not the most expensive infrastructure project in the pipeline, the $950 million New International Trade Crossing bridge — which will connect Windsor, Ontario in Canada and Detroit, Michigan in the U.S. — could well be one of the most impactful as far as international trade is concerned.

The NITC’s stated aims are to increase commerce capacity, reduce traffic bottlenecks and improve opportunities for businesses in both countries by providing a state-of-the-art, publicly operated border crossing.

See also: Is Danube Romania’s ‘blue motorway?’

Roughly 25% of all merchandise trade between Canada and the United States — one of the world’s largest bi-lateral trade partnerships — currently cross over the Detroit River via the nearby (privately run) Ambassador Bridge, according to the bridge operator’s website.

Barack Obama ordered a presidential decree to construct the NITC in March this year, however the owners of the Ambassador Bridge have logged legal challenges against the project.

They have also announced plans to expand the existing capacity of their own facility which originally opened in 1929.

What exciting projects did we miss on our list? Let us know in the comments section below.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/18/business/world-spectacular-infrastructure-projects/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/h1ju111UpQc/8-spectacular-transport-projects

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To be born a girl in Afghanistan is often to be ushered into a life of servitude, where girls have very little worth and very dim futures. Amina is forced to marry at 12, to bear a child though still a child herself — while her own brother is given her dowry money to buy a used car. But Amina, whose name was changed and story portrayed by an actress out of concern for her safety, has had enough, and she is fighting back.

CNN Films’ “Girl Rising” tells the stories of Amina and other girls from around the world and how the power of education can change the world. Learn more about the girls’ inspiring stories.

(From 10×10)

“What if a girl’s life could be more?” When Azmera turned 13, it was time for the Ethiopian girl to be given to a stranger in marriage, like her mother and grandmother before her. But Azmera refused. Azmera is fearful, but she is not alone. She has a champion beside her: an older brother who would give up anything for his sister to be able to stay in school. Together, brother and sister dare to reject her fate.

“Poetry is how I turn ugliness into art.” La Rinconada, Peru, is a bleak corner of the world that regularly turns out two things: gold from deep within its mountain, which is immediately sent far away; and despair, which remains. Senna’s is the poorest of the poor mining families clinging to that mountain. Every day is a struggle. Yet, somehow, she was given two magnificent gifts: a father who named her for a warrior princess and insisted that she goes to school, and a talent with words. And when Senna discovered poetry, everything changed.

“Change is like a song you can’t hold back.” Suma’s brothers are sent to school, but her parents have no money for a daughter’s education. Given into bonded servitude at age 6, Suma labors in the house of a master from before dawn until late at night. For years, the Nepali girl suffers in silence, until music gives her a voice. A stroke of luck and kindness gives Suma a chance to go to school — and a crusader is born.

“I will come back every day until I can stay.” Wadley is 7 years old when the world comes crashing down around her. When Haiti’s catastrophic earthquake destroys lives, homes and families, Wadley’s happy life with her mother, filled with friends and school, becomes a struggle to survive in a teeming tent city, devastation and grief all around. But Wadley believes she is meant to do something special with her life — and that the way to begin is by getting back to school. What happens when this irrepressible spirit confronts a system that tells her she is unworthy of an education is an inspiration to the world.

“Now there’s nothing to stop me. Nothing in the world. Nothing in the universe.” Mariama describes herself as a typical teenager, which in itself is remarkable. Her poverty-stricken country, Sierra Leone, is still recovering from a brutal decade of civil war. But Mariama isn’t looking back; she is the voice of the future. She is the first in her family to go to school and already has her own radio show and dreams of being a famous scientist and a television star.

“He was strong, but I was stronger.” An Egyptian girl of 12 whose family can’t afford to send her to school has very few options. She can become a street kid; she can become a bride; she can become a target. Yasmin — whose name was changed and story portrayed by an actress out of concern for her safety — is lured into the trap of a sexual predator. But what she doesn’t become is a victim. Yasmin becomes a superhero.

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Editor’s note: Susan Wojcicki is senior vice president of advertising and commerce at Google, where she has worked since 1999. This open letter to the girls of the world is part of the “Girl Rising” project. CNN Films’ “Girl Rising” documents extraordinary girls and the power of education to change the world. Watch it on CNN International.

(CNN) — Dear Girls of the World,

The technology industry needs you.

Around the world, people are watching movies on laptops, buying goods online and connecting with friends and family through mobile devices. All of these experiences are powered by technology, created by people just like you.

Girls of the world, the tech industry is waiting for you. The skills you learn in your math and sciences classes today are the foundation for building technology that will touch nearly every aspect of our lives in the future — your future. If you invest in learning technical skills, soon you won’t just be consuming technology, you’ll be defining it, creating it and sharing it with people all over the world.

The tech industry is growing faster than nearly all other industries today. In fact, computer programming jobs are growing at two times the U.S. national average. And it’s still very early days. Google, for example, is only in its teenage years. The opportunities for a career in technology will only continue to grow as an additional 5 billion people around the world come online.

Yet despite being a ripe career field, the tech industry is losing women. In the United States, according to one report: “young women earned 37% of computer science degrees in 1985; today, the number has plummeted to 18%. Some 22% of software engineers at tech companies are women.” It’s a deficiency we see mirrored around the world.

If this trend continues, fewer women will have the skills necessary to participate in the tech sector. As a result, fewer women will hold leadership positions in tech, and we’ll miss out on the opportunity for women to shape the world around us. This isn’t a problem just for women, but for everyone. Innovation thrives on diversity, and we simply can’t afford for the future of technology not to represent women or people with different backgrounds and experiences.

That’s why it’s so important for tech leaders to reach out to girls with encouragement. We need to share our enthusiasm and show them all the amazing opportunities available today. Getting girls excited about technology isn’t just a job for educators, it’s a responsibility for all of us.

We also need to create more opportunities for girls to learn technical skills. We have a great start with programs such as the Khan Academy and Code.org that give people access to computer programming education. There are also fantastic local programs that connect girls with communities of other like-minded girls to learn together.

For example, Google supports a program called Girlstart that provides science, technology, engineering and mathematics education to girls through afterschool programs and camps. But there are also many girls out there struggling to find access to even the most basic education. The Google RISE Awards helps to bridge this gap by funding science and technology education for primary and secondary school students around the world. And initiatives such as Girl Rising put a spotlight on just how powerful access to education can be for young women.

For girls who don’t benefit from support early on, it’s also important to remember that it’s never too late to get started. I was finishing up my senior year of college, studying history and literature, when I decided to get into tech. I wondered if it was too late to change paths, but I decided to do it anyway. Years later, I joined a new startup — Google — and I’ve never looked back. For all the girls out there who think it’s too late to get into tech, know that it’s never too late to pursue a good opportunity, even if it means taking a different path.

So, people of the world, let’s help girls rise up in the field of technology and support them with the programs they need. If you’re in technology, talk to your daughters, nieces and friends about just how cool it is to work in tech. And we can all help them find internships, encourage them in their studies and foster their creative spirits.

The future of technology affects us all. Let’s all work together to build it.

– Susan Wojcicki

More: CNN’s “Girl Rising”

Read more open letters

Open letter from Christiane Amanpour: It’s time to power the world

Open letter from Queen Rania of Jordan: More than tiaras and cupcakes

How to help | Take action with 10×10

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/17/world/girl-rising-susan-wojcicki/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/Bq6lswBNH6A/google-boss-tech-needs-girls

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To be born a girl in Afghanistan is often to be ushered into a life of servitude, where girls have very little worth and very dim futures. Amina is forced to marry at 12, to bear a child though still a child herself — while her own brother is given her dowry money to buy a used car. But Amina, whose name was changed and story portrayed by an actress out of concern for her safety, has had enough, and she is fighting back.

CNN Films’ “Girl Rising” tells the stories of Amina and other girls from around the world and how the power of education can change the world. Learn more about the girls’ inspiring stories.

(From 10×10)

“What if a girl’s life could be more?” When Azmera turned 13, it was time for the Ethiopian girl to be given to a stranger in marriage, like her mother and grandmother before her. But Azmera refused. Azmera is fearful, but she is not alone. She has a champion beside her: an older brother who would give up anything for his sister to be able to stay in school. Together, brother and sister dare to reject her fate.

“Poetry is how I turn ugliness into art.” La Rinconada, Peru, is a bleak corner of the world that regularly turns out two things: gold from deep within its mountain, which is immediately sent far away; and despair, which remains. Senna’s is the poorest of the poor mining families clinging to that mountain. Every day is a struggle. Yet, somehow, she was given two magnificent gifts: a father who named her for a warrior princess and insisted that she goes to school, and a talent with words. And when Senna discovered poetry, everything changed.

“Change is like a song you can’t hold back.” Suma’s brothers are sent to school, but her parents have no money for a daughter’s education. Given into bonded servitude at age 6, Suma labors in the house of a master from before dawn until late at night. For years, the Nepali girl suffers in silence, until music gives her a voice. A stroke of luck and kindness gives Suma a chance to go to school — and a crusader is born.

“I will come back every day until I can stay.” Wadley is 7 years old when the world comes crashing down around her. When Haiti’s catastrophic earthquake destroys lives, homes and families, Wadley’s happy life with her mother, filled with friends and school, becomes a struggle to survive in a teeming tent city, devastation and grief all around. But Wadley believes she is meant to do something special with her life — and that the way to begin is by getting back to school. What happens when this irrepressible spirit confronts a system that tells her she is unworthy of an education is an inspiration to the world.

“Now there’s nothing to stop me. Nothing in the world. Nothing in the universe.” Mariama describes herself as a typical teenager, which in itself is remarkable. Her poverty-stricken country, Sierra Leone, is still recovering from a brutal decade of civil war. But Mariama isn’t looking back; she is the voice of the future. She is the first in her family to go to school and already has her own radio show and dreams of being a famous scientist and a television star.

“He was strong, but I was stronger.” An Egyptian girl of 12 whose family can’t afford to send her to school has very few options. She can become a street kid; she can become a bride; she can become a target. Yasmin — whose name was changed and story portrayed by an actress out of concern for her safety — is lured into the trap of a sexual predator. But what she doesn’t become is a victim. Yasmin becomes a superhero.

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Editor’s note: Susan Wojcicki is senior vice president of advertising and commerce at Google, where she has worked since 1999. This open letter to the girls of the world is part of the “Girl Rising” project. CNN Films’ “Girl Rising” documents extraordinary girls and the power of education to change the world. Watch it on CNN International.

(CNN) — Dear Girls of the World,

The technology industry needs you.

Around the world, people are watching movies on laptops, buying goods online and connecting with friends and family through mobile devices. All of these experiences are powered by technology, created by people just like you.

Girls of the world, the tech industry is waiting for you. The skills you learn in your math and sciences classes today are the foundation for building technology that will touch nearly every aspect of our lives in the future — your future. If you invest in learning technical skills, soon you won’t just be consuming technology, you’ll be defining it, creating it and sharing it with people all over the world.

The tech industry is growing faster than nearly all other industries today. In fact, computer programming jobs are growing at two times the U.S. national average. And it’s still very early days. Google, for example, is only in its teenage years. The opportunities for a career in technology will only continue to grow as an additional 5 billion people around the world come online.

Yet despite being a ripe career field, the tech industry is losing women. In the United States, according to one report: “young women earned 37% of computer science degrees in 1985; today, the number has plummeted to 18%. Some 22% of software engineers at tech companies are women.” It’s a deficiency we see mirrored around the world.

If this trend continues, fewer women will have the skills necessary to participate in the tech sector. As a result, fewer women will hold leadership positions in tech, and we’ll miss out on the opportunity for women to shape the world around us. This isn’t a problem just for women, but for everyone. Innovation thrives on diversity, and we simply can’t afford for the future of technology not to represent women or people with different backgrounds and experiences.

That’s why it’s so important for tech leaders to reach out to girls with encouragement. We need to share our enthusiasm and show them all the amazing opportunities available today. Getting girls excited about technology isn’t just a job for educators, it’s a responsibility for all of us.

We also need to create more opportunities for girls to learn technical skills. We have a great start with programs such as the Khan Academy and Code.org that give people access to computer programming education. There are also fantastic local programs that connect girls with communities of other like-minded girls to learn together.

For example, Google supports a program called Girlstart that provides science, technology, engineering and mathematics education to girls through afterschool programs and camps. But there are also many girls out there struggling to find access to even the most basic education. The Google RISE Awards helps to bridge this gap by funding science and technology education for primary and secondary school students around the world. And initiatives such as Girl Rising put a spotlight on just how powerful access to education can be for young women.

For girls who don’t benefit from support early on, it’s also important to remember that it’s never too late to get started. I was finishing up my senior year of college, studying history and literature, when I decided to get into tech. I wondered if it was too late to change paths, but I decided to do it anyway. Years later, I joined a new startup — Google — and I’ve never looked back. For all the girls out there who think it’s too late to get into tech, know that it’s never too late to pursue a good opportunity, even if it means taking a different path.

So, people of the world, let’s help girls rise up in the field of technology and support them with the programs they need. If you’re in technology, talk to your daughters, nieces and friends about just how cool it is to work in tech. And we can all help them find internships, encourage them in their studies and foster their creative spirits.

The future of technology affects us all. Let’s all work together to build it.

– Susan Wojcicki

More: CNN’s “Girl Rising”

Read more open letters

Open letter from Christiane Amanpour: It’s time to power the world

Open letter from Queen Rania of Jordan: More than tiaras and cupcakes

How to help | Take action with 10×10

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/17/world/girl-rising-susan-wojcicki/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/Bq6lswBNH6A/google-boss-tech-needs-girls

BodyMedia Fit

Time to assess the last of the four activity trackers I’ve been living with for over two months, the BodyMedia Fit.

If you’re serious about tracking every calorie burned as accurately as possible, this makes the other trackers look like toys. But it’s also the least comfortable to wear, and monthly subscription fees may also put some off.

BodyMedia sells two versions of the Fit. The “Core” version for $120 lacks Bluetooth and so can’t talk directly to apps on your iPhone or
Android device. The “Link” version sells for $150 and does have Bluetooth connectivity. I’ve been using the Link version, which BodyMedia provided me with.

BodyMedia Fit, shown worn on upper arm

(Credit:
BodyMedia)

The device is notably different from the other trackers in that you wear it around your upper arm, secured with a cloth strap. You charge it using a mini-USB cable, and it holds the charge for several days. Data is also synced through the cable to your
Mac or PC and, in turn, into the web-based Activity Manager. You can also sync to your phone and also see real-time data, as you exercise.

Beyond the up-front price, you’ll pay $7 per month for access to the Online Activity Manager that’s necessary to pull data off your device. You get three months included, and it’s cheaper if you buy a year ($60) or two years ($90) at a time. Over a two-year period, that puts the Link’s price at around $240, compared to $100 to $150 for the other bands. Also, 24 Hour Fitness partners with BodyMedia to sell its own version of the Link. That’s currently $40 less and comes with six months subscription included. It’s an option to consider, because it’s exactly the same product and works the same way.

The idea of a monthly subscription does grate on me. I far prefer the other bands, where your device doesn’t effectively become useless if you stop subscribing. Of course, Fitbit charges $50 per year if you want access to the “Premium” features of its online tool. Still, if you don’t go the premium route, a Fitbit still works. With BodyMedia, if you don’t subscribe, you data doesn’t come off the device.

Serious tracking
Previously in this series, I’ve shared how various exercises have been tracked by the different devices I’ve been wearing. I’ll also share more in my next and final installment, the overall comparison. But the BodyMedia Fit always registers the most calories burned, sometimes significantly more than the others.

Perhaps the best example of this was when I went to a 45-minute spin session recently. I do this once a year with my wife, so she can demonstrate how very out-of-shape I am compared with her. Spin is hard, but you wouldn’t know that if you used one of the other trackers:

The Nike FuelBand thinks I burned 42 calories; the
Jawbone Up registered 66, and the Fitbit Flex counted 85. That four-to-nine times less than the 372 the BodyMedia registered. And given the amount of sweat pouring off of me, I’m pretty sure the BodyMedia was the closest to getting it right.

The other trackers all acknowledge that they’re not perfect, especially for activities where your body might be mostly stationary. Weight-lifting, bike riding, paddleboarding — if your entire body isn’t moving, then the accelerometers they depend on can’t register your activity so well.

The BodyMedia device has an accelerometer and more, sensors that rest on your skin to measure sweat and skin temperature. This why it can be so much more precise about what you’re doing.

Viewing the data
Your activity data flows into a nice online activity manager, where you can also do things like log food, see your sleep, and check on steps:

BodyMedia Activity Manager

One of the things I absolutely love about the interface is that you can select any time period, highlight it, and then get the amount of calories burned during that time. For example, here’s the zoom-in on my spin session:

Zooming in on an activity

My other devices don’t allow this type of granularity. Want to know how much you burned in an activity with the Jawbone Up? If you didn’t set the timer, you’re out of luck. Fitbit will give you estimates for every 15 minutes, but it’s pretty inconvenient to add all those up — and you better have remembered when your exercise started. Nike gives you an hour-by-hour summary, which is less useful and — worse — isn’t in calories but instead in “NikeFuel.”

There is an option to add “off-body” activities, if you weren’t wearing your armband during a particular exercise. Both the Fitbit and the Up have a similar feature. But I never needed to use it, since I was constantly wearing the Fit, plus it seemed to be doing a great job of accurately tracking what I was burning. For the others, this feature is more needed as a way to catch them up to what they might miss.

Logging food, sleep and weight
As with the Fitbit and Jawbone Up, the BodyMedia Fit allows you to log what you’ve eaten. In my testing, I’ve found keeping track of the food I’ve consumed one of the very best ways to lose weight. I’ve also found it continues to be a pain, regardless of what device you use. But the Fit, like the others, does try to make it easier.

Logging food with the BodyMedia Fit

As you can see above, the Fit’s Activity Manager remembers frequent foods that you’ve logged for particular meal times. You can also add custom foods or combine several foods into a recipe, for frequent use.

Also like the Fitbit and the Up, the Fit will track your sleep, logging how much it actually thinks you’ve slept versus your “lying down” time:

Sleep tracking with BodyMedia Fit

As I’ve written before, I find the sleep tracking more a novelty than an essential with these trackers, but if you want it, the Fit does have it. Better, you don’t have to put it into sleep tracking mode, as you required with the Fitbit and the Up. The Fit just figures out when you’re sleeping.

As for weight, if you have a Withings wireless scale, that can link to your Fit’s Activity Manager and track your weight automatically. BodyMedia sent me the latest Withings Smart Body Analyzer to use with the Fit. It worked very well, as seamlessly as my Fitbit Aria scale sends to my Fitbit account.

Goals and motivation
The other trackers I’ve used all have various ways they try to encourage you to make progress by socially interacting or comparing with others. The Fit has none of that. You’re not going to be sharing your stats with others, at least not with anything native to the device and its software, though a range of third-party apps may help, if that’s what you’re after.

As with the Jawbone Up, there’s also no direct display you can look at to see if you’re hitting a particular goal. I continue to love that type of feature with the Nike and Fitbit Flex trackers, where a button push or tap gives me an indication on the device itself if I need to do more work to hit my daily goal.

On the other hand, I really appreciated what felt like were sensible weight loss goals that the device’s Activity Manager allows to be set. I’ve been wanting to lose about 10 to 15 pounds for ages. In a few steps, it outlined what I needed to cut my calories to and increase my burn to, in order to lose that weight:

Weight goals in BodyMedia Fit’s Activity Tracker

I especially liked the options to extend over longer periods of time. I like to eat. So cutting back a little and losing only a half-pound per week may be more sensible and realistic for me. But it’s also nice to understand how much longer it will take to reach my goal. Maybe I want more pain for a shorter period of time. If so, those options are also presented.

Comfort, the next version and unexpected surprises
One of the biggest drawbacks to the Fit is that it’s not particularly comfortable. It’s never painful to wear. Sometimes I would even forget I had it on. But usually, I was aware I was wearing it. Several times during the day, I’d move it slightly on my arm, to give a break to the particular place the sensors were touching. When I took it off, I knew it was off and felt a bit more relaxed.

Overall, I’ve figured that’s the price you pay for the better accuracy that the Fit delivers. But even BodyMedia seems to know it could use something better. The “Core 2″ is due out (PDF) later this year, likely in September, BodyMedia told me. It will be smaller than the Fit, waterproof, and have a more “jewelry-like” bands — several, actually, to choose from:

BodyMedia Core 2

(Credit:
BodyMedia)

I’ll certainly be interested in the next version. As for the current one, aside from the comfort issue, the cloth band I used unexpectedly broke when I was slipping it off my arm one day. BodyMedia quickly sent me a replacement. If I’d purchased the Fit, I imagine it would have been covered under the warranty. New bands are $13, so it’s not a huge expense, but it wasn’t reassuring to have happen.

Broken band, small crack

More concerning was a small crack that appeared on the back of my sensor unit. It hasn’t prevented it from working, but when I mentioned it to BodyMedia, I was asked if I used sunscreen. Yes, often. It turns out that sunscreen may have this effect on the device, so the company warns against having the Fit in contact with skin coated this way.

For me, once I knew, it was easy to avoid. The band is worn on my upper arm, which is usually covered by my shirt sleeve. I just stopped going so high in applying sunscreen to my arm. But a device that’s more resistant to sunscreen would be nice.

Love the accuracy but not casual enough?
Overall, if I was seriously trying to lose a lot of weight or make major changes to improve my fitness, I can see why the BodyMedia Fit would be very useful. Or, if I really were trying to do the “quantified self” thing, the Fit is far more likely to actually quantify accurately the body data some want compared to other popular activity trackers I’ve tried.

But for me, I just want to lose a few pounds and be a little more active. I don’t need precise metrics. I need that “nudge” to be more active that the Fitbit Flex or the Nike FuelBand seem to provide better.

The combination of having the BodyMedia Fit with other devices has been very nice, however. Being able to use the Fit as a reality check on the others has helped me better understand what they track and how I might manually log particular activities to improve what the Fitbit and the Up record, if I wanted to (Nike doesn’t allow for manual logging).

Those looking for a middle ground with the Fit’s accuracy and the comfort of the others might consider both. That’s pricey. You’re buying two devices. But you’d be getting the best of both worlds.

Alternatively, stay tuned. The Core 2 might turn out to be a more comfortable device, when it arrives. Plus, the purchase of BodyMedia by Jawbone in April may lead to a more accurate Up or similar device, in the future.

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/cnet/pRza/~3/THbAtz2HPho/

BodyMedia Fit

Time to assess the last of the four activity trackers I’ve been living with for over two months, the BodyMedia Fit.

If you’re serious about tracking every calorie burned as accurately as possible, this makes the other trackers look like toys. But it’s also the least comfortable to wear, and monthly subscription fees may also put some off.

BodyMedia sells two versions of the Fit. The “Core” version for $120 lacks Bluetooth and so can’t talk directly to apps on your iPhone or
Android device. The “Link” version sells for $150 and does have Bluetooth connectivity. I’ve been using the Link version, which BodyMedia provided me with.

BodyMedia Fit, shown worn on upper arm

(Credit:
BodyMedia)

The device is notably different from the other trackers in that you wear it around your upper arm, secured with a cloth strap. You charge it using a mini-USB cable, and it holds the charge for several days. Data is also synced through the cable to your
Mac or PC and, in turn, into the web-based Activity Manager. You can also sync to your phone and also see real-time data, as you exercise.

Beyond the up-front price, you’ll pay $7 per month for access to the Online Activity Manager that’s necessary to pull data off your device. You get three months included, and it’s cheaper if you buy a year ($60) or two years ($90) at a time. Over a two-year period, that puts the Link’s price at around $240, compared to $100 to $150 for the other bands. Also, 24 Hour Fitness partners with BodyMedia to sell its own version of the Link. That’s currently $40 less and comes with six months subscription included. It’s an option to consider, because it’s exactly the same product and works the same way.

The idea of a monthly subscription does grate on me. I far prefer the other bands, where your device doesn’t effectively become useless if you stop subscribing. Of course, Fitbit charges $50 per year if you want access to the “Premium” features of its online tool. Still, if you don’t go the premium route, a Fitbit still works. With BodyMedia, if you don’t subscribe, you data doesn’t come off the device.

Serious tracking
Previously in this series, I’ve shared how various exercises have been tracked by the different devices I’ve been wearing. I’ll also share more in my next and final installment, the overall comparison. But the BodyMedia Fit always registers the most calories burned, sometimes significantly more than the others.

Perhaps the best example of this was when I went to a 45-minute spin session recently. I do this once a year with my wife, so she can demonstrate how very out-of-shape I am compared with her. Spin is hard, but you wouldn’t know that if you used one of the other trackers:

The Nike FuelBand thinks I burned 42 calories; the
Jawbone Up registered 66, and the Fitbit Flex counted 85. That four-to-nine times less than the 372 the BodyMedia registered. And given the amount of sweat pouring off of me, I’m pretty sure the BodyMedia was the closest to getting it right.

The other trackers all acknowledge that they’re not perfect, especially for activities where your body might be mostly stationary. Weight-lifting, bike riding, paddleboarding — if your entire body isn’t moving, then the accelerometers they depend on can’t register your activity so well.

The BodyMedia device has an accelerometer and more, sensors that rest on your skin to measure sweat and skin temperature. This why it can be so much more precise about what you’re doing.

Viewing the data
Your activity data flows into a nice online activity manager, where you can also do things like log food, see your sleep, and check on steps:

BodyMedia Activity Manager

One of the things I absolutely love about the interface is that you can select any time period, highlight it, and then get the amount of calories burned during that time. For example, here’s the zoom-in on my spin session:

Zooming in on an activity

My other devices don’t allow this type of granularity. Want to know how much you burned in an activity with the Jawbone Up? If you didn’t set the timer, you’re out of luck. Fitbit will give you estimates for every 15 minutes, but it’s pretty inconvenient to add all those up — and you better have remembered when your exercise started. Nike gives you an hour-by-hour summary, which is less useful and — worse — isn’t in calories but instead in “NikeFuel.”

There is an option to add “off-body” activities, if you weren’t wearing your armband during a particular exercise. Both the Fitbit and the Up have a similar feature. But I never needed to use it, since I was constantly wearing the Fit, plus it seemed to be doing a great job of accurately tracking what I was burning. For the others, this feature is more needed as a way to catch them up to what they might miss.

Logging food, sleep and weight
As with the Fitbit and Jawbone Up, the BodyMedia Fit allows you to log what you’ve eaten. In my testing, I’ve found keeping track of the food I’ve consumed one of the very best ways to lose weight. I’ve also found it continues to be a pain, regardless of what device you use. But the Fit, like the others, does try to make it easier.

Logging food with the BodyMedia Fit

As you can see above, the Fit’s Activity Manager remembers frequent foods that you’ve logged for particular meal times. You can also add custom foods or combine several foods into a recipe, for frequent use.

Also like the Fitbit and the Up, the Fit will track your sleep, logging how much it actually thinks you’ve slept versus your “lying down” time:

Sleep tracking with BodyMedia Fit

As I’ve written before, I find the sleep tracking more a novelty than an essential with these trackers, but if you want it, the Fit does have it. Better, you don’t have to put it into sleep tracking mode, as you required with the Fitbit and the Up. The Fit just figures out when you’re sleeping.

As for weight, if you have a Withings wireless scale, that can link to your Fit’s Activity Manager and track your weight automatically. BodyMedia sent me the latest Withings Smart Body Analyzer to use with the Fit. It worked very well, as seamlessly as my Fitbit Aria scale sends to my Fitbit account.

Goals and motivation
The other trackers I’ve used all have various ways they try to encourage you to make progress by socially interacting or comparing with others. The Fit has none of that. You’re not going to be sharing your stats with others, at least not with anything native to the device and its software, though a range of third-party apps may help, if that’s what you’re after.

As with the Jawbone Up, there’s also no direct display you can look at to see if you’re hitting a particular goal. I continue to love that type of feature with the Nike and Fitbit Flex trackers, where a button push or tap gives me an indication on the device itself if I need to do more work to hit my daily goal.

On the other hand, I really appreciated what felt like were sensible weight loss goals that the device’s Activity Manager allows to be set. I’ve been wanting to lose about 10 to 15 pounds for ages. In a few steps, it outlined what I needed to cut my calories to and increase my burn to, in order to lose that weight:

Weight goals in BodyMedia Fit’s Activity Tracker

I especially liked the options to extend over longer periods of time. I like to eat. So cutting back a little and losing only a half-pound per week may be more sensible and realistic for me. But it’s also nice to understand how much longer it will take to reach my goal. Maybe I want more pain for a shorter period of time. If so, those options are also presented.

Comfort, the next version and unexpected surprises
One of the biggest drawbacks to the Fit is that it’s not particularly comfortable. It’s never painful to wear. Sometimes I would even forget I had it on. But usually, I was aware I was wearing it. Several times during the day, I’d move it slightly on my arm, to give a break to the particular place the sensors were touching. When I took it off, I knew it was off and felt a bit more relaxed.

Overall, I’ve figured that’s the price you pay for the better accuracy that the Fit delivers. But even BodyMedia seems to know it could use something better. The “Core 2″ is due out (PDF) later this year, likely in September, BodyMedia told me. It will be smaller than the Fit, waterproof, and have a more “jewelry-like” bands — several, actually, to choose from:

BodyMedia Core 2

(Credit:
BodyMedia)

I’ll certainly be interested in the next version. As for the current one, aside from the comfort issue, the cloth band I used unexpectedly broke when I was slipping it off my arm one day. BodyMedia quickly sent me a replacement. If I’d purchased the Fit, I imagine it would have been covered under the warranty. New bands are $13, so it’s not a huge expense, but it wasn’t reassuring to have happen.

Broken band, small crack

More concerning was a small crack that appeared on the back of my sensor unit. It hasn’t prevented it from working, but when I mentioned it to BodyMedia, I was asked if I used sunscreen. Yes, often. It turns out that sunscreen may have this effect on the device, so the company warns against having the Fit in contact with skin coated this way.

For me, once I knew, it was easy to avoid. The band is worn on my upper arm, which is usually covered by my shirt sleeve. I just stopped going so high in applying sunscreen to my arm. But a device that’s more resistant to sunscreen would be nice.

Love the accuracy but not casual enough?
Overall, if I was seriously trying to lose a lot of weight or make major changes to improve my fitness, I can see why the BodyMedia Fit would be very useful. Or, if I really were trying to do the “quantified self” thing, the Fit is far more likely to actually quantify accurately the body data some want compared to other popular activity trackers I’ve tried.

But for me, I just want to lose a few pounds and be a little more active. I don’t need precise metrics. I need that “nudge” to be more active that the Fitbit Flex or the Nike FuelBand seem to provide better.

The combination of having the BodyMedia Fit with other devices has been very nice, however. Being able to use the Fit as a reality check on the others has helped me better understand what they track and how I might manually log particular activities to improve what the Fitbit and the Up record, if I wanted to (Nike doesn’t allow for manual logging).

Those looking for a middle ground with the Fit’s accuracy and the comfort of the others might consider both. That’s pricey. You’re buying two devices. But you’d be getting the best of both worlds.

Alternatively, stay tuned. The Core 2 might turn out to be a more comfortable device, when it arrives. Plus, the purchase of BodyMedia by Jawbone in April may lead to a more accurate Up or similar device, in the future.

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/cnet/pRza/~3/THbAtz2HPho/

Washington (CNN) — A series of blog posts on Monday purportedly by Edward Snowden said he leaked classified details about U.S. surveillance programs because President Barack Obama worsened “abusive” practices instead of curtailing them as he promised as a candidate.

In 90 minutes of live online chatting, the person identified as Snowden by Britain’s Guardian newspaper and website insisted that U.S. authorities have access to phone calls, e-mails and other communications far beyond constitutional bounds.

While he said legal restrictions can be easily skirted by analysts at the National Security Agency, FBI and CIA, Snowden stopped short of accusing authorities of violating specific laws. Instead, he said toothless regulations and policies were to blame for what he called “suspicionless surveillance,” and he warned that policies can be changed to allow further abuses.

“This disclosure provides Obama an opportunity to appeal for a return to sanity, constitutional policy, and the rule of law rather than men,” he posted. “He still has plenty of time to go down in history as the president who looked into the abyss and stepped back, rather than leaping forward into it.”

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Snowden: The NSA has your content

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Asked Monday if the NSA was following the online chat, the agency’s press office had no immediate comment.

Obama, top legislators and national security officials defend the surveillance programs as necessary to combat terrorism, arguing that some privacy must be sacrificed in a balanced approach.

They say the law allows collection of metadata, such as the time and numbers of phone calls, and that a special federal court must approve accessing the content — listening to the call itself.

In the blog posts on Monday, the writer identified as Snowden contended the government’s overbroad collection of information violated rights of innocent Americans who have no links to suspicious activity.

Referring to a program that permits broader access to foreign communications than is allowed for domestic monitoring, the writer said authorities sidestep regulations. For example, a phone call from overseas can mean automatic inclusion of a U.S. number in the record-keeping, according to the writer.

“The reality is that … Americans’ communications are collected and viewed on a daily basis on the certification of an analyst rather than a warrant,” one Snowden post said. “They excuse this as ‘incidental’ collection, but at the end of the day, someone at NSA still has the content of your communications.”

Another post warned that restrictions against unauthorized access to the content of communications — such as listening to phone calls or reading e-mails — were based on policy rather than technology and therefore “can change at any time.”

Snowden said he leaked details of the surveillance programs because Obama campaigned for the presidency on a platform of ending abuses.

However, Obama “closed the door on investigating systemic violations of law, deepened and expanded several abusive programs, and refused to spend the political capital to end the kind of human rights violations like we see in Guantanamo, where men still sit without charge,” a blog post said.

Snowden also said that he had to get out of the United States before the leaks were published by the Guardian and Washington Post to avoid being targeted by the government.

Columnist: NSA leak sparked debates

Spying on G-20 delegates?

Rep.: NSA isn’t listening to your calls

Hong Kong rallies to support NSA leaker

The U.S. government “predictably destroyed any possibility of a fair trial at home” by “openly declaring me guilty of treason,” Snowden said.

Snowden, who is believed to be in Hong Kong, also wrote that the truth about surveillance programs he disclosed will come out, and “the U.S. government is not going to be able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me.”

Details on NSA-thwarted plots coming, lawmaker says

The blog post rejected accusations that he had or might provide classified information to China, saying he only leaked to journalists and calling such a charge a smear tactic intended to turn public opinion against his effort to provide Americans with full information about how their government monitors them.

A CNN/ORC International poll released Monday showed 54% of respondents didn’t approve of Snowden’s admitted actions, while 44% backed the leaks.

Snowden’s father told Fox News that he hoped and prayed his son “will not release any secrets that could constitute treason.”

The father, Lon Snowden, also said he wanted his son to return to the United States “and face this,” adding “I love my son.”

Snowden, 29, worked for the NSA through a private contractor firm until May, when he decamped to Hong Kong. He went public earlier this month as the source of articles by the newspapers, saying the agency’s efforts pose “an existential threat to democracy.”

The revelations about the NSA’s collection of millions of records from U.S. telecommunications and technology firms have led to a furious debate within the United States about the scale and scope of surveillance programs that date from the days after the 2001 al Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington.

Defenders say the programs — approved by Congress after a warrantless surveillance effort under the Bush administration was revealed in 2005 — have protected American lives by helping agents break up terrorism plots. And they argue that the program is under close oversight by all three branches of government, including the congressional intelligence committees and a court set up under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that hears cases in secret.

But Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian columnist who broke Snowden’s story and moderated the chat, said the safeguards placed on the program is “a very symbolic and empty oversight that really ought not to give the assurances to anybody that these powers aren’t being abused.”

“They go once every six months to the FISA court,” he said. “The FISA court rubber-stamps these vague guidelines that the NSA says they’re using to make sure they’re complying with the law. And once that happens, the NSA can force telecoms and Internet companies to give them whatever they demand under the guise that the FISA court has blessed their guidelines.”

Bigger threat: Snowden or NSA?

Critics call the programs an unconstitutional overreach of authority under the Patriot Act, the law that authorized increased government surveillance in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

In a new development, the Guardian reported Sunday that Britain’s electronic intelligence agency monitored delegates’ phones and tried to capture their passwords during an economic summit held there in 2009.

Targets included British allies such as Turkey and South Africa, the newspaper reported. The Guardian cited documents provided by Snowden.

According to the newspaper, the documents show that the British “signals intelligence” agency GCHQ used “ground-breaking intelligence capabilities” to intercept calls made by members of the G-20 conference delegations at meetings in London.

Facebook, Microsoft disclose information on user data requests

Analysts received round-the-clock summaries of calls that were being made, and GCHQ set up Internet cafes for delegates in hopes of intercepting e-mails and capturing keystrokes, the Guardian reported.

One briefing slide explained the intercepts would give intelligence agencies the ability to read delegates’ e-mails “before/as they do,” providing “sustained intelligence options against them even after (the) conference has finished.”

GCHQ is Britain’s equivalent of the secretive NSA in the United States.

The Guardian reported that the NSA had attempted to eavesdrop on then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during the conference as his phone calls passed through satellite links to Moscow and briefed its British counterparts on the effects.

The latest report was published on the eve of a smaller economic summit hosted by the British government — the Group of Eight gathering in Northern Ireland.

Shawn Turner, a spokesman for the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said Sunday he was aware of the Guardian’s latest report but declined to comment on it.

“What we should be focused on is how irresponsible and egregious these recent leaks are,” he told CNN. “It’s impossible to know exactly how much damage is being done by these disclosures, but they will have an effect on our counterterrorism efforts.”

Cheney defends NSA, calls Obama’s credibility ‘nonexistent’

Retired Gen. Michael Hayden, a former NSA director, said on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS” that what the agency collects are “essentially billing records” that detail the time, duration and phone numbers involved in a call.

The records are added to a database that agents can query in cases involving a terror investigation overseas, and agents can’t eavesdrop on Americans’ calls without an order from a secret court that handles intelligence matters, he said.

If a phone number related to an investigation has links to a domestic phone number, “We’ve got to go back to the court,” he said.

GOP tries to keep focus on IRS targeting scandal

However, critics such as Sen. Mark Udall, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, had raised questions about the scale of the program even before Snowden’s leak.

Udall said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that he doesn’t believe the program is making Americans any safer, “and I think it’s ultimately, perhaps, a violation of the Fourth Amendment.”

“I think we owe it to the American people to have a fulsome debate in the open about the extent of these programs,” said Udall, a Colorado Democrat. “You have a law that’s been interpreted secretly by a secret court that then issues secret orders to generate a secret program. I just don’t think this is an American approach to a world in which we have great threats.”

Obama does not feel that he has violated the privacy of any American, his chief of staff, Denis McDonough, said on the CBS program “Face the Nation.”

McDonough said the president will be discussing the need to “find the right balance, especially in this new situation where we find ourselves with all of us reliant on Internet, on e-mail, on texting.”

Hong Kong rallies in the rain for Edward Snowden

CNN’s Paul Steinhauser, Matt Smith and Jessica Yellin contributed to this report.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/17/politics/nsa-leaks/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/yuiiUMg2-EA/snowden-data-leak

Read a version of this story in Arabic.

(CNN) — Though Syria is set to dominate discussion at this week’s Group of Eight summit, leaders began the conference Monday with talk of a possible trade deal they said could create millions of jobs.

The first round of negotiations for a trans-Atlantic trade agreement between the United States and the European Union will take place next month in Washington, U.S. President Barack Obama said.

“I believe that we can form an economic alliance as strong as our diplomatic and security alliances,” he told reporters after the leaders of eight of the world’s most powerful nations kicked off their meeting in Northern Ireland.

“The whole point of this meeting … is to fire up our economies and drive growth and prosperity around the world. … There’s no better way than by launching these negotiations on a landmark deal between the European Union and the United states of America,” British Prime Minister David Cameron said.

Economic boost for G8 summit host

Spying on G-20 delegates?

Former U.S. Marine held captive in Syria

Sen.: Time to ‘tip the scales’ in Syria

Even as leaders heralded the economic boosts that a new trade agreement could bring, the specter of a more divisive topic loomed over the summit: how to end Syria’s brutal civil war.

Global leaders at the summit are poised to pressure Russia’s defiant president over his support for Syria’s government.

Putin warns against arming organ-eating Syrian rebels

The conference comes days after the United States pledged to play a greater role in assisting Syrian rebels, citing evidence that President Bashar al-Assad’s regime used chemical weapons against the rebels and his own people. The move was backed by seven of the eight nations represented at this week’s conference in Loch Erne, while Russia remains the sole G8 nation supporting al-Assad.

On Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin sharply criticized the decision to provide arms to Syrian rebels, referencing a widely circulated video of an opposition fighter appearing to eat the heart of a dead solider.

Speaking to reporters in London after meeting with Cameron, Putin warned against arming Syrian rebels “who kill their enemies and eat their organs.”

“Do you want to support these people? Do you want to supply arms to these people?” Putin asked.

The White House announcement last week that it was increasing the “size and scope” of its material support to Syrian rebels came after months of political debate over the U.S. role in the conflict. Great Britain and France, two other G8 members, were strong backers of the May decision to end the European Union arms embargo on Syria, and both countries asserted that al-Assad’s regime had used chemical weapons before the United States did.

Russia, however, has downplayed the claims of chemical weapons use, and Putin has opposed outside intervention into the county’s 2-year-old internal conflict. G8 leaders hope a unified front against al-Assad will help pressure Russia to end its support for the regime, which extends back to al-Assad’s father and the Cold War.

Opinion: A new breed of terror in Northern Ireland

Obama and Putin will discuss Syria one-on-one Monday, the first time the two leaders will have spoken face to face since last year’s G-20 summit in Mexico.

“They clearly have a very broad agenda to discuss,” Obama’s deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes noted, adding the pair would also talk about counterterrorism and arms control.

“It’s in Russia’s interest to join us in applying pressure on Bashar al-Assad to come to the table in a way that relinquishes his power and his standing in Syria, because we don’t see any scenario where he restores his legitimacy to lead the country,” Rhodes continued.

On front line with al-Assad fighters

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Obama’s options for aiding rebels

McCain pushes more intervention in Syria

Other G8 nations have expressed similar viewpoints, calling on Russia to back United Nations intervention in Syria. Russia’s permanent position on the United Nations Security Council has made action through that body difficult for countries intent on removing al-Assad from power.

Before this week’s meetings, Obama spoke by videoconference with the leaders of Britain, France, Italy and Germany to discuss “ways to support a political transition to end the conflict” in Syria, the White House said.

Cameron — who met with Putin one on one Sunday — said that during the videoconference, Obama said further intervention into Syria “should be done on our own timeline.”

“We have already taken some decisions in that Britain is helping to give technical assistance, training, advice, help, shaping, to the Syrian opposition, and we do that along with the Americans, French and others and will continue to do that, and we will take time to make these decisions with our allies,” Cameron said.

The White House has not yet publicly specified what exact steps it would take to support members of Syria’s opposition, though sources have told CNN small arms, ammunition and possibly anti-tank weapons would be part of the assistance package.

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On Friday, Rhodes said further discussions with other nations were necessary to determine next steps.

“This is a fluid situation, so it’s necessary for (Obama) to consult with all the leaders at the G8 about both our chemical weapons assessment and the types of support we’re providing to the opposition,” Rhodes said.

The G8′s Syria discussions will come in a setting imbued with reminders of American diplomatic involvement overseas. The U.S.-brokered Good Friday Agreement, signed in 1998, created the current system of government in Northern Ireland and helped end the decades-long violence between republican and loyalist forces in the region.

Before the G8 summit officially began, Obama delivered remarks on the U.S.-supported peace process in Belfast, though massive security operations served as evidence of Northern Ireland’s still-shaky peace.

“It has been 15 years since the Good Friday Agreement; since clenched fists gave way to outstretched hands; since the people of this island voted in overwhelming numbers to see past the scars of violence and mistrust, and choose to wage peace,” the president said, promising U.S. support as long as North Ireland continues to pursue peace.

“We will always be a wind at your back. And like I said when I visited two years ago, I am convinced that this little island, that inspires the biggest things — its best days are yet ahead.”

Cameron, the host of this week’s conference, named the problem of tax avoidance by large corporations as a central issue for G8 leaders to resolve at this year’s summit. The British prime minister hopes to secure agreements among nations on sharing tax information, with the goal of ensuring global companies aren’t able to dodge tax bills.

The measure met resistance from firms’ chief executives, though Cameron said he’s willing to withstand corporate ire for a fairer global tax system.

“You don’t get anywhere unless you are prepared to give the lead and perhaps make a few enemies along the way,” Cameron said. “In setting the G8 agenda around trade, tax and transparency, yes, you are taking on some vested interests, you are taking on some difficult decisions. But actually will it help both the developing world and us in the West? I believe it can.”

While in Europe, Obama will also likely be forced to defend U.S. Internet surveillance techniques that were disclosed in a series of newspaper articles in early June. The intelligence programs, which were previously considered top secret, involved large tech companies who operate globally, including Facebook, Google and Yahoo.

Snowden says online he had to ‘get out’ of the U.S. before leaks

Individual privacy online is highly regarded in Europe, but leaders there have faced a quandary in publicly condemning the American program called PRISM, which monitors e-mails, photos, search histories and other data from American-based Internet companies.

A robust intelligence-sharing network exists between some members of the G8 and the United States, and intelligence gathered through the NSA’s program has the potential to benefit other countries targeted by terrorists.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has nonetheless vowed to discuss the program with Obama during his visit to Germany and told CNN in an interview that other European officials are also concerned about PRISM. She said she wanted the greatest possible transparency on issues of surveillance and privacy.

The European Union — represented at the G8 by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso — also has “serious concerns” about the reported large-scale surveillance of online data by U.S. authorities, European Commission Vice President Viviane Reding said.

Rhodes said on Friday that the president would defend the programs, which also came under fire from civil libertarians in the United States.

“We certainly understand that — like the United States — countries in Europe have significant interests in privacy and civil liberties, so we will want to hear their questions and have an exchange about these programs and other counterterrorism programs that we pursue in the United States and in partnership,” Rhodes said.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/17/world/europe/g8-summit/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/rNCc26hJfi4/g8-fire-up-our-economies