O.J. Simpson Movie 'An American Mystery' to Star Charlotte Kirk as Nicole Brown Simpson (Exclusive)

By Jeff Sneider

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - British filmmaker Joshua Newton has cast rising British actress Charlotte Kirk ("Non-Stop") to play Nicole Brown Simpson in "An American Mystery," a $65 million thriller that will take a fair and balanced look at the O.J. Simpson saga.

It could be ready for release next summer, in time for the 20-year anniversary of the infamous 1994 crime.

A representative for Kirk told TheWrap that she is attached to the sure-to-be controversial project, which Newton will write and direct.

Kirk will portray Brown Simpson from when she first met the famous football star as an 18 year-old in 1977 to her untimely death alongside Ron Goldman.

Newton claims to have discovered startling new evidence in the sensational case, which featured a gruesome crime scene, an infamous car chase, a celebrity defendant and a televised trial fraught with racial sensitivity that was the most viewed judicial proceeding in the history of American television.

Several prominent individuals from across the sports and political spectrums are lending their celebrity to the project, which is backed by an Anglo-European-American group of venture capitalists and hedge fund managers.

Executive producers include former NBA star Bo Kimble and Diane Watson, the former U.S. Representative for California's 33rd Congressional district who has been an inspirational force behind the project ever since she and Newton began discussing the concept nine months ago when development started.

Other individuals supporting the effort to re-examine the facts and circumstances of the Brentwood murders include NFL legend Rosey Grier, Texas State Senator Rodney Ellis, Washington lobbyist Spencer Hathaway and NAACP Board member Ron Hasson.

According to Newton, Simpson himself expressed a desire to be involved with the project upon learning of its existence, though the filmmaker turned him down.

"'An American Mystery' has the capacity to challenge entrenched attitudes on a topic that has inspired visceral reactions for almost a generation," said Newton. "While we are creating an artistic work, the essence of the film is the search for truth. It was easy to determine that OJ's participation is not consistent with our standards. Our goal is to lay bare the facts and have the audience reach their own conclusions," he added.

While Simpson was acquitted of the double homicide, passion and controversy still surround the topic of his innocence, which remains at odds with the wrongful death verdict at the ensuing civil trial.

"An American Mystery" will present several other suspects with both motive and opportunity to commit the crime, resulting in a "whodunit" thriller about one of the most controversial criminal cases ever.

The film aims to provide a fresh perspective that will allow audiences to reconsider the merits of the case and the likelihood of Simpson's innocence or guilt. Newton said he will present newly-discovered facts, though details remain shrouded in secrecy for now.

Project is especially timely in the wake of recent murder charges against current NFL star Aaron Hernandez.

Kirk, who does bear a resemblance to Brown Simpson, will soon be seen alongside Liam Neeson in the airplane thriller "Non-Stop," which flies into theaters next February. She also co-starred alongside James Franco and Olivia Wilde in "Black Dog, Red Dog," Kirk is represented by Clear Talent Group and Raymond J. Markovich of 4PIX.

Newton's "Justice/Vengeance," formerly titled "Iron Cross," bills itself as Roy Scheider's final film and is scheduled for release in October. The $27 million Holocaust thriller was called "the most important film since 'Schindler's List'" by Rabbi Marvin Hier, the dean and founder of Los Angeles' Museum of Tolerance, which honored Newton at its film festival along with Clint Eastwood.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/o-j-simpson-movie-american-mystery-star-charlotte-003752878.html

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China calls Xinjiang unrest a 'terrorist attack', ups death toll to 35

By Sui-Lee Wee and Li Hui

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's state media has raised to 35 the death toll from unrest this week in far western Xinjiang region, and denounced the clashes, the deadliest in four years, as a "terrorist attack".

Xinjiang is home to a large Muslim Uighur community and violence focusing on its discontent had been confined recently to southern districts. The altercations in Shanshan county on Wednesday marked a return of unrest to Xinjiang's north.

Many Uighurs, Muslims who speak a Turkic language, chafe at what they call Chinese government restrictions on their culture, language and religion. China says it grants Uighurs wide-ranging freedoms and accuses extremists of separatism.

On Wednesday, gangs with knives attacked a police station and a government building and set fire to police cars. Twenty-four people died in clashes with police, including 16 Uighurs, state news agency Xinhua said.

According to Xinhua's latest dispatch on Thursday night, eight more died in the police response. It called the incident a "violent terrorist attack" and said the overall situation was now "on the whole, stable".

An officer at Shanshan county's public security, or police, bureau told Reuters by telephone that the cause of the riots and the ethnic origin of the attackers remained unclear.

Xinjiang government officials could not be reached.

A resident of Shanshan, speaking by telephone, said police officers were patrolling town streets, though he was unable to say if their presence was heavier than usual.

A clash two months ago in Xinjiang's south, involving axes, knives and at least one gun, culminated in a house being burned down, with 21 people dead. The local government also described that incident as a "terrorist attack".

Uighurs make up 88 percent of residents in Shanshan county, according to the Global Times, a tabloid owned by the Communist Party's mouthpiece, the People's Daily.

Dilxat Raxit, the Sweden-based spokesman for the exiled World Uyghur Congress, blamed the "continued suppression and provocation" in Xinjiang for the conflict.

Duncan Innes-Ker of the Economist Intelligence Unit said the latest deaths highlighted the failure of Chinese authorities to resolve the region's ethnic and religious tensions.

"The government needs to come up with a new approach to dealing with ethnic and religious strains in China's minority regions, as its past efforts to address them with tight security and economic development have been a manifest failure," Innes-Ker said in a statement.

The Global Times renewed accusations by the authorities that "overseas terrorist forces" were to blame.

"Many foreign forces would like to see turbulence in Xinjiang, but those with a little analytical sense know this can hardly be reality," it said in an editorial.

Wednesday's unrest was the deadliest in Xinjiang since July 2009, when nearly 200 people were killed in riots pitting Uighurs against ethnic Chinese in the region's capital Urumqi, about 200 km (125 miles) northwest of Shanshan.

(Additional reporting by Li Hui; Editing by Ron Popeski)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-calls-xinjiang-unrest-terrorist-attack-ups-death-060818681.html

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Android 101: Keep your apps up to date

Those apps aren't going to update themselves ... by default, that is

One of the best parts about owning a smart phone is the limitless possibilities of installing apps that can do so much more than the phone can out of the box. The unfortunate downside is trying to keep up with the seemingly constant flow of app updates coming to your device every day. But you're in luck, as Android has had automatic updating of apps through the Play Store since back in the day when it was still the Android Market, and it's a simple process to get set up.

Head to the Google Play Store on your device, hit the menu button and go to "settings". If it isn't already set by default, go ahead and tap the "Auto-update apps" setting and choose the most appropriate setting for your needs -- no updates, updates only on Wifi, or all updates. Most people with limited data buckets will be best-off with the "Auto-update apps over Wifi only" option. Once you have turned on automatic updates of either kind, you can always turn off automatic updates for a particular app by navigating to its Play Store listing (from the "My apps" area) and tapping the menu button, then un-checking the "Auto-update" box.

read more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/hsvxbYkJZ9I/story01.htm

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Imagination can change what we hear and see

June 27, 2013 ? A study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden shows, that our imagination may affect how we experience the world more than we perhaps think. What we imagine hearing or seeing "in our head" can change our actual perception. The study, which is published in the scientific journal Current Biology, sheds new light on a classic question in psychology and neuroscience -- about how our brains combine information from the different senses.

"We often think about the things we imagine and the things we perceive as being clearly dissociable," says Christopher Berger, doctoral student at the Department of Neuroscience and lead author of the study. "However, what this study shows is that our imagination of a sound or a shape changes how we perceive the world around us in the same way actually hearing that sound or seeing that shape does. Specifically, we found that what we imagine hearing can change what we actually see, and what we imagine seeing can change what we actually hear."

The study consists of a series of experiments that make use of illusions in which sensory information from one sense changes or distorts one's perception of another sense. Ninety-six healthy volunteers participated in total.

In the first experiment, participants experienced the illusion that two passing objects collided rather than passed by one-another when they imagined a sound at the moment the two objects met. In a second experiment, the participants' spatial perception of a sound was biased towards a location where they imagined seeing the brief appearance of a white circle. In the third experiment, the participants' perception of what a person was saying was changed by their imagination of a particular sound.

According to the scientists, the results of the current study may be useful in understanding the mechanisms by which the brain fails to distinguish between thought and reality in certain psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia. Another area of use could be research on brain computer interfaces, where paralyzed individuals' imagination is used to control virtual and artificial devices.

"This is the first set of experiments to definitively establish that the sensory signals generated by one's imagination are strong enough to change one's real-world perception of a different sensory modality" says Professor Henrik Ehrsson, the principle investigator behind the study.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Karolinska Institutet.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Christopher?C. Berger, H.?Henrik Ehrsson. Mental Imagery Changes Multisensory Perception. Current Biology, 2013; DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2013.06.012

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/living_well/~3/SDPHCPJBUGM/130627125156.htm

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In the mood for music

June 26, 2013 ? Could a computer distinguish between the moods of a mournful classical movement or an angst-ridden emo rock song? Research to be published in the International Journal of Computational Intelligence Studies, suggests that it should be possible to categorise music accurately without human listeners having to listen in.

An experimental algorithm developed by researchers in Poland could help the record industry automate playlist generation based on listener choices as well as allow users themselves to better organise their music collections.

Multimedia experts Bozena Kostek and Magdalena Plewa of Gdansk University of Technology, point out that so-called "meta data" associated with a music file becomes redundant in a large collection where lots of pieces of music will share basic information such as composer, performer, copyright details and perhaps genre tags. As such, conventional management of music content of the kind used by web sites that stream and suggest music as well as the software used on computers and portable music players is often ineffective. Handling vast music collections, which might contain hundreds, if not tens of thousands of song excerpts with overlapping meta data is increasingly difficult, especially in terms of allowing streaming sites and users to select songs across genres that share particular moods.

Of course, music appreciate is highly subjective as is appreciation of any art form. "Musical expressivity can be described by properties such as meter, rhythm, tonality, harmony, melody and form," the team explains. These allow a technical definition of a given piece. "On the other hand, music can also be depicted by evaluative characteristics such as aesthetic experience, perception of preference, mood or emotions," they add. "Mood, as one of the pre-eminent functions of music should be an important means for music classification," the team says.

Previous mood classification systems have used words, such as rousing, passionate, fun, brooding, wistful in clusters to help categorise a given piece. There are dozens of words to describe a piece of music and that each might be associated with various emotions. The team has turned to a database of mp3 files containing more than 52,000 pieces of music to help them develop a statistical analysis that can automatically correlate different adjectives and their associated emotions with the specific pieces of music in the database.

Fundamentally, the algorithm carries out an analysis of the audio spectrum of samples from each track and is "taught" by human users, which spectral patterns are associated with given moods. It can thus automatically classify future sound files with which it is presented across a range of musical genres: alternative rock, classical, jazz, opera and rock. Artists including Coldplay, Maroon 5, Linda Eder, Imogen Heap, Paco De Lucia, Nina Sky, Dave Brubek and many others were analysed, the team says.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/computers_math/information_technology/~3/bp6gH44oehw/130626162737.htm

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Report: Twitter Is Adding In-Stream Photo Previews

If someone tweets an image, you have to click on the tweet to see it. But now Twitter is reportedly adding a small preview right in your stream.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/o4haGX_y9E8/report-twitter-is-adding-in-stream-photo-previews-584599715

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Texas governor renews bid for abortion restrictions

By Corrie MacLaggan

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A marathon speech by a Texas Democrat temporarily frustrated a Republican drive for new state abortion restrictions, but political sources predicted on Wednesday that anti-abortion Governor Rick Perry would quickly revive the proposal.

Senator Wendy Davis, a single mother by the age of 19 who now is a rising star of the Democratic party, drew national attention when she spoke for more than 10 hours to block a measure that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Her filibuster of the Republican supermajority in the Texas legislature was hailed by women's groups and abortion rights advocates, and streamed live on some national media websites.

Republicans managed to stop her about two hours ahead of the midnight end to the special legislative session citing parliamentary procedures, but they were unable to complete voting on the abortion bill before the deadline.

"I pledge to Texas one thing: this fight is far from over," David Dewhurst, the anti-abortion Republican Lieutenant Governor who presides over the Senate, posted on Twitter Wednesday.

Texas Republican political strategist Matt Mackowiak predicted that Perry will call lawmakers back for another special session to pass the abortion bill.

"An abortion bill passed both houses. The votes are there. There's no question the votes are there," he said.

The abortion restrictions passed the House earlier in the week and a version of the proposal that did not include the ban after 20 weeks of pregnancy passed the Senate.

If the measure ultimately passes, Texas would be the 13th state to impose a ban on abortions after 20 weeks and by far the most populous. In addition, the legislation would set strict health standards for abortion clinics and restrict the use of drugs to end pregnancy.

Republican backers said the regulation of abortion clinics would protect women's health and that the ban on late-term abortions would protect fetuses, based on disputed research that suggests fetuses feel pain by 20 weeks of development.

Opponents said it would force nearly all Texas abortion clinics to close or be rebuilt.

"We know this isn't the end of the fight to protect women's access to health care in Texas." said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund.

Davis whittled away chunks of time by reading testimony and messages from women and others decrying the legislation, reciting previously suggested changes to the bill and tapping into her own past as a single mother at 19.

She said the bill would have choked off her own access to a local Planned Parenthood clinic.

"I was a poor, uninsured woman, whose only care was provided through that facility. It was my medical home," said Davis, 50, several hours into her speech.

NATIONWIDE DEBATE

The U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion nationwide in 1973, but conservative states have enacted laws in recent years that seek to place restrictions on the procedure, especially on abortions performed late in pregnancy.

Twelve states have passed 20-week bans, including two states where the bans take effect later this year, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights. Courts have blocked the bans in three of the 12 states - Arizona, Georgia and Idaho.

Earlier this month, the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill banning abortions 20 weeks after fertilization. The measure is extremely unlikely to become law because Democrats control the U.S. Senate and the White House.

The Texas proposal would allow exemptions for abortions to save a woman's life, and in cases of severe fetal abnormalities.

"In Texas, we value all life, and we've worked to cultivate a culture that supports the birth of every child," Perry said.

The abortion debate simmers elsewhere in the United States.

North Dakota's only abortion clinic filed a federal challenge on Tuesday to a new state law, the most restrictive in the country, that would ban procedures to end pregnancy once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, as early as six weeks.

A Philadelphia jury last month convicted abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell of murdering three babies during abortions at a clinic in a high-profile case that focused national attention on late term abortions.

(Reporting by Eric Johnson and Corrie MacLaggan; Editing by Greg McCune and Chris Reesea)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/republican-disrupt-texas-state-democrats-filibuster-over-abortion-043413723.html

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Hands-on: $99 Android game console OUYA - AfterDawn

Raising over 8 million dollars in funding via Kickstarter, the company called BOXER8 (since renamed to OUYA) has been maufacturing the low-cost ($99) and open home console, and since AfterDawn was a part of the crowd funding, we got the console a bit beforehand. So let's take a look.

OUYA is an Android based gaming console that is packed into a tiny 3-inch cube. Underneath the shiny cover, it is powered by the quad-core 1,7GHz Tegra 3 T33-P-A SoC, and packs 1GB DDR3 SDRAM.

OUYA outputs to a display via HDMI (v1.4), up to full 1080p with stereoscopic 3D support. For connectivity, it sports a USB 2.0 port, and a microUSB port. For network/wireless connectivity, OUYA has a standard Ethernet port, Wi-FI (802.11 b/g/n) and support for Bluetooth 4.0 (which provides controller connectivity).

One controller is bundled with the OUYA, powered by double A batteries. The controller is wireless and uses Bluetooth. You can have four controllers attached to OUYA.

OUYA and controller

Definitely one of the OUYAs strengths is the size of the thing. At three inches it couldn't be much easier to position or even hide if you don't like the look of it.

The connectors are more than enough for most people. The only thing grinding gears might be the lack of an audio output.

The ergonomics of the controller are not the worst in the world but you can definitely see and feel that there hasn't been the kind of an R&D circle the controllers of the big three go through. The triggers in particular may have needed more work. The batteries are placed underneath where you hold the device and opening the controller from the top makes it feel a bit cheap.

There's a touch panel on the top of the controller, which we didn't have much use for -- at least in games. You can use it as a mouse to control the UI though.

The console is not built badly by any means, considering it costs only $99 but the sub-par controller is something that makes one look in the direction of Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. Alternative controllers can be used, but only if the games are compatible with them.

User Interface

As mentioned, OUYA runs on Android. The version is 4.1 Jelly Bean, on top of which runs the OUYA's own UI. Unfortunately OUYA hasn't replaced all the views with their own UI and Android does shine through in few situations, like Settings and a couple of dialogues.

Being based on Android is not necessarily a bad thing as it should have extremely well thought out wireless support for Bluetooth and WiFi. Unfortunately during out test run both of them had some issues. First we didn't seem to get the BT controller to connect after which we had difficulties with WiFi connecting. Although the fault might have been between the seat and the console for all we know. Thankfully the console does remember the connections so no need for reconnecting so far.

The UI is certainly not the speediest and sleekest and the latency of the controller seems a bit slow. There are a lot of places where thinking about the little details would have also improved the experience quite a bit.

It just feels too much like using an Android smartphone with not much oomph with a cheap 3rd party controller.

Games

Now this should be the beef though, right? Games. It's a gaming console that's meant to be played. Not offering much anything else out of the box, OUYA is a true gaming console in that sense.

There are currently 173 games for the console -- that's at least what the OUYA website claims. It might be correct and it's plenty if even one in ten is a really good one, preferably a popular title.'

Unfortunately that is not the case. The game experiences you're used with Xbox and PlayStation are nowhere to be found. The games are like the ones on your smartphone, and not even the good ones for your phone. Most of the games tried were sub-par, even in smartphone terms.

The graphics are one thing. Having the processing power of 2012 smartphone, OUYA can't really deliver something unbelievable. But neither does the likes of PS2 or Wii. You can have really good games without the next-gen graphics and everyone knows that.

I might be wrong and only tried the worst of the bunch. And trying the free trials might leave me out some cool extra features.

Conclusion

As revolutionary it wanted to be and as cool as it did sound on Kickstarter, OUYA does not have a future. Not without some impressive titles coming its way. The hardware is too old already, the UI is laggy and the games just aren't there.

You shouldn't be investing your hard earned cash in to this. Invest the hundred dollars to the next-gen Xbox or PlayStation. Or maybe wait for the OUYA 2 coming out next year?

Then again there's one thing you might be interested in. OUYA is really hackable, so you might just want a nicely boxed solution for Raspberry Pi-type of machine to run some default Android software. But that is not for the generic gamer OUYA is after. And there are tons of other solutions for such machines as well.

Source: http://www.afterdawn.com/news/article.cfm/2013/06/26/hands-on_99_android_game_console_ouya

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Evernote Sharpens Up Its Picture-Annotating App Skitch For Mac

After a rough couple of months last year when users slammed Evernote for updates to image-annotation app Skitch that they believed were for the worse, today the company is releasing a new version of the Mac app. While the company is still taking slow steps for how it integrates Skitch into Evernote -- this was one of the bones of contention for legacy Skitch users in how the app was updated -- it is continuing to add more features like better drawing capabilities, part of Evernote's longer-term strategy to create productivity tools that draw more people to its platform and make Evernote an ever-more useful product.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/me7bx0m36kQ/

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Sony Xperia Ion Jelly Bean update now available via PC companion software

Sony's update bonanza continues, as the Xperia Ion gets its Jelly Bean update

AT&T and Sony have released Android 4.1.2 for the Xperia Ion today, but so far we've heard no users getting it the normal way. Instead of pushing out the update over the airwaves, it looks like users will need to use the Sony PC Companion (the the Mac equivalent Sony Bridge for Mac) to update their handsets, at least for the time being.

The download and installation will bring the Ion to Android 4.1.2, build version 6.2.B.0.211. While there is no official changelog just yet, the expected things like Google Now and Project Butter should be on-board and available. 

There's no word that this will remain and update-by-wire situation, and it's possible that this limited test precludes a normal OTA push. Either way, if you've been waiting since you heard Jelly Bean was coming, taking a few minutes to use Sony's software won't be too much of a burden. 

Anyone try Jelly Bean on their Ion yet? Sound out in the comments and let us know what you think.

Source: Xperia Blog

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/n86JtMEQp98/story01.htm

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Judge in Trayvon Martin case weighs police calls

George Zimmerman enters the courtroom for his trial in Seminole County circuit court in Sanford, Fla. Tuesday, June 25, 2013. Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder for the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin.(AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, Gary W. Green, Pool)

George Zimmerman enters the courtroom for his trial in Seminole County circuit court in Sanford, Fla. Tuesday, June 25, 2013. Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder for the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin.(AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, Gary W. Green, Pool)

George Zimmerman, left, speaks with his attorney Don West during his trial in Seminole County circuit court in Sanford, Fla. Tuesday, June 25, 2013. Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder for the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin. (AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, Gary W. Green, Pool)

Trayvon Martin's parents, Tracy Martin, left, and Sybrina Fulton, enter the courtroom during George Zimmerman's trial in Seminole County circuit court in Sanford, Fla. Tuesday, June 25, 2013. Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder for the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin. (AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, Gary W. Green, Pool)

George Zimmerman, left, laughs with his attorney Don West during his trial in Seminole County circuit court in Sanford, Fla. Tuesday, June 25, 2013. Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder for the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin. (AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, Gary W. Green, Pool)

SANFORD, Fla. (AP) ? Several times in six months, neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman called police to report suspicious characters in the gated townhouse community where he lived. Each time, when asked, he reported that the suspects were black males.

On Tuesday, the judge at Zimmerman's murder trial in the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin listened to those five calls and weighed whether to let the jury hear them, too.

Prosecutors want to use them to bolster their argument that Zimmerman was increasingly frustrated with repeated burglaries and had reached a breaking point the night he shot the unarmed teenager.

The recordings show Zimmerman's "ill will," prosecutor Richard Mantei told Judge Debra Nelson.

"It shows the context in which the defendant sought out his encounter with Trayvon Martin," Mantei said.

Defense attorney Mark O'Mara argued that the calls were irrelevant and that nothing matters but the seven or eight minutes before Zimmerman fired the deadly shot into Martin's chest.

The prosecution is "going to ask the jury to make a leap from a good, responsible, citizen behavior to seething behavior," O'Mara said.

The judge did not immediately rule on whether to admit the recordings as evidence.

Prosecutors played the calls with the jurors out of the courtroom at the beginning of a day in which a former Zimmerman neighbor testified about what she saw of the confrontation.

Also, prosecutors presented graphic photos of Martin's body, a police officer described trying to revive Martin as bubbling sounds came from his chest, and a police manager described how she helped Zimmerman set up the neighborhood watch.

In the calls, Zimmerman identifies himself as a neighborhood watch volunteer and recounts that his neighborhood has had a rash of recent break-ins. In one call, he asks that officers respond quickly since the suspects "typically get away quickly."

In another, he describes suspicious black men hanging around a garage and mentions his neighborhood had a recent garage break-in.

Zimmerman, 29, could get life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder for gunning down Martin as the young man walked from a convenience store. Zimmerman followed him in his truck and called a police dispatch number before he and the teen got into a fight.

Zimmerman has claimed self-defense, saying he opened fire after the teenager jumped him and began slamming his head against the concrete sidewalk.

Zimmerman, whose father is white and whose mother is Hispanic, has denied the confrontation with the black teenager had anything to do with race, as Martin's family and its supporters have charged.

On Tuesday, Day 2 of testimony, prosecutors called to the stand a former Zimmerman neighbor, Selene Bahadoor, the first witness to say she saw part of the struggle.

She described the sound of movement from left to right outside her townhouse and said she heard what sounded like someone saying, "No" or "Uh."

She said that when she looked out a window she saw arms flailing in the dark. She said she left to turn off a stove and then heard a gunshot. The next time she looked out, she saw a body on the ground, she testified.

In cross-examining her, O'Mara accused Bahadoor of never mentioning the left-to-right movement in previous interviews.

Zimmerman contends he lost track of Martin and was returning to his car when he was attacked. But Bahadoor's testimony appeared to suggest Zimmerman was moving away from his vehicle.

O'Mara later confronted her with a post she made on Facebook in which she "liked" a petition that championed the arrest of Zimmerman following the shooting.

A Sanford police sergeant who was the second officer to arrive on the scene also testified. Sgt. Tony Raimondo said he tried to seal a bullet wound in Martin's chest with a plastic bag and attempted mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Bubbling sounds indicated air was escaping the teen's chest, Raimondo said. Martin was pronounced dead a short time later.

During Raimondo's testimony, prosecutors showed jurors a photo of a dead Martin face-down in the grass, another of Martin's body face up with his eyes slightly open, and a third of the bullet wound. Martin's father, Tracy Martin, walked out of the courtroom during the testimony.

Wendy Dorival, former coordinator of the Sanford Police Department's neighborhood watch program, testified how she had worked with Zimmerman to set up a watch in his neighborhood.

When asked by prosecutor John Guy if neighborhood watch participants should follow or engage with suspicious people, she said no.

"They are the eyes and ears of law enforcement," Dorival said. "They're not supposed to take matters into their own hands."

Similarly, Donald O'Brien, president of Zimmerman's homeowners association, said it was his understanding that neighborhood watch members are supposed to "stay at a safe distance" and "let the police handle it."

But Dorival said she was impressed with Zimmerman's professionalism and dedication to his community.

"He seemed like he really wanted to make changes in his community, to make it better," she said.

O'Mara told CNN on Tuesday night that defense attorney Don West was trying to bring levity to the proceedings when he began his opening statement Monday with a "knock-knock" joke, but that "it probably should have been rethought."

Asked about Martin's parents leaving the courtroom at a few difficult moments in the proceedings, O'Mara said he understood, but that both sides need to steer clear of "a maneuver or showboating" that could influence jurors.

O'Mara said he wouldn't make a decision about putting Zimmerman on the stand until seeing more of the state's case.

"In this case, they have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt not only that the crime was committed and that it was in fact a crime, but that George didn't do so in self-defense," O'Mara told CNN's Anderson Cooper. "They have to disprove self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt. If I think that they ever get to that burden, then we might consider whether we have to present any case at all."

___

Follow Kyle Hightower on Twitter at http://twitter.com/KHightower

Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-06-26-Neighborhood%20Watch/id-cb4e80f3ff634bce8d9bbc42ca25d00e

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Qatar emir hands power to son, no word on prime minister

By Regan Doherty

DOHA (Reuters) - Qatar's emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani handed power on Tuesday to his son, Crown Prince Sheikh Tamim, taking the rare step for a Gulf Arab ruler of voluntarily ceding power to try to ensure a smooth succession.

But the 61-year-old emir made no immediate mention of the public face of Qatar's assertive foreign policy, prime minister and foreign minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim, a veteran politician who had been expected also to step down.

In a seven-minute speech aired on state television, the emir said it was time for a new generation to take over following his 18 years at the helm of the small, rich state.

"The time has come to open a new page in the journey of our nation that would have a new generation carry the responsibilities ... with their innovative ideas," said Sheikh Hamad, reading a prepared text behind his desk, where Qatar's deep red and white flag was perched nearby.

"I address you today to inform you that I will transfer power to Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani. I am fully confident that he is qualified for the responsibility and is trustworthy."

State television later showed streams of well wishers greeting the outgoing emir and Sheikh Tamim at the royal court.

The emir did not specify when the change would take effect but a Qatari official had said the move, once announced, would take immediate effect.

POLLS POSTPONED

On the eve of the power transfer, Sheikh Hamad issued a decree extending the term of the advisory shura council, in effect indefinitely postponing elections that had been tentatively scheduled for the second half of the year.

The election would have been the first to the Shura Council, 30 of whose 45 members are meant to be elected, with the others appointed by the emir, under a constitution approved in 2003. All the body's current members are appointed.

Diplomats have said the emir, who overthrew his father in a bloodless coup in 1995, had long planned to abdicate in favor of 33-year-old Crown Prince Sheikh Tamim.

Tuesday was a national holiday in the country of a one-family absolute monarchy has ruled over for more than 130 years. The royal court has invited Qataris to go to swear allegiance to Sheikh Tamim on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Qatar is a small country of 2 million people but is a big exporter of natural gas, a global investment powerhouse and a financial backer of Arab Spring revolts.

In Tehran, an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said: "Most definitely we will be watching these developments and waiting for more details ... The tranquility and stability in that country and elsewhere in the region is of high importance for the Islamic Republic of Iran."

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, the dominant Gulf Arab power, congratulated Sheikh Tamim on his accession, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.

British foreign secretary William Hague said in a statement he looked forward to even stronger ties to Qatar.

ELEVATING QATAR'S PROFILE

The emir has elevated Qatar's global profile through the development of the Al Jazeera television network, as well as its successful bid to host the 2022 soccer World Cup tournament.

Qatari state media said Sheikh Hamad had formally informed family members and top decision makers in the U.S.-allied state of his decision at a meeting in the capital Doha on Monday.

Qatari political analyst Mohammed al-Misfer said he did not expect major changes to foreign policy or domestic plans after the handover, adding that Sheikh Tamim was already involved in running the country under his father's direction.

Arab and Western diplomats said they understood the motive was the emir's desire to have a smooth transition to a younger generation. Such a transition would be unusual for Gulf Arab states, where leaders usually die in office.

"As Tamim's succession is very much the outcome of a longer process rather than the enforced product of any sudden upheaval, there will be less sensitivity attached to the change of leadership than might otherwise be the case," said Gulf expert Kristian Ulrichsen at the Baker Institute for Public Policy.

"If anything, the decision to hand power to a younger generation confirms Qatar as the regional outlier, as a state that does things differently, meaning there is less direct comparison with other Gulf States," he said.

BIG ROLE IN "ARAB SPRING"

Qataris appeared to take the news in their stride.

"We are not surprised. The emir has been introducing his son for a long time. Hopefully, it's a good step," Khalid Mohammed, a 21-year-old Qatari student said on Monday.

Qatar has played a big role in promoting Arab Spring protests, lending significant support to rebels who toppled and killed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 and to a continuing uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

It has forged strong links with moderate Islamists especially Egypt's ruling Muslim Brotherhood group. State television showed prominent Sunni cleric Youssef al-Qaradawi, a high profile Egyptian preacher based in Qatar, greeting the outgoing emir and his son.

It has also played host to a delegation of the Afghan Taliban, which opened an office in Doha last week in preparation for expected talks with the United States about how to end a 12-year-old conflict in Afghanistan.

Other political crises and wars that Qatar has tackled include Yemen, Somalia, Lebanon, Darfur and the Palestinian territories, often arranging for peace talks on its own soil to show it can punch above its weight in international diplomacy.

But while he strongly supported Arab Spring revolts abroad, Sheikh Hamad cracked down on dissent in Qatar, where there is no freedom of expression.

In February this year a Qatari poet was jailed for 15 years for criticizing the emir and attempting to incite revolt.

(Additional reporting by Mahmoud Habboush, Amena Bakr and Yara Bayoumy, Marcus George; Writing by Sami Aboudi and Yara Bayoumy; Editing by William Maclean)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/qatar-emir-steps-down-hands-power-son-051048005.html

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Should Apple make OS X look and feel like iOS 7?

Should Apple bring iOS 7's new, clarified, deferential, depth-driven look and feel OS X? For the last few years Apple has worked diligently and deliberately to bring iOS nomenclature and metaphors back to the Mac, and create a more consistent experience between their two platforms. Right now, however, iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks couldn't look more different.

iOS 7 has an all-new physics and particle engine, making it feel like a collection of objects in space, and work more like a video game, as well as a completely new paint job with icons and interface elements the likes of which we've never seen on an Apple product before. They've both had their richly rendered textures removed, but where Mavericks lost the old leather, it didn't lose it's Aqua-era gloss, at least not entirely, and it didn't gain any of the new print-inspired look, at least not yet.

Macs are often said to enjoy a halo effect from iOS devices -- people buy iPhones and iPads and then start considering the Mac s well. For the last few years, no matter how different the two platforms, the interfaces looked familiar enough that the Mac was approachable to iOS users in a very direct and comforting way.

Likewise, Jony Ive is now vice president of all design, not just hardware, and not just iOS. It's not unreasonable to think his grand digital plans will eventually encompass future versions of OS X, as they're about to do to iOS. After all, even the best designer and design teams in the world can't do everything at once.

So here's the question -- do you think the new iOS 7 design language will be brought back to the Mac? Will the next version of OS X once again be made familiar to iPhone and iPad users? Should there once again be a single, unified look and feel to Apple's products going forward?

Vote in the poll up top and then tell me why or why not in the comments below!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/GhqBMMZHhJI/story01.htm

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