Israeli PM vows to move ahead with E-1 settlement

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) ? Israel's prime minister pledged Sunday to move ahead with construction of a new Jewish settlement in a strategic part of the West Bank, speaking just hours after Israeli troops dragged dozens of Palestinian anti-settlement activists from the area.

The activists had pitched more than two dozen tents at the site on Friday, laying claim to the land and drawing attention to Israel's internationally condemned settlement policy.

Before dawn Sunday, hundreds of Israeli soldiers removed the protesters by force, beating some, activists said. Despite the eviction, Mustafa Barghouti, one of the protest leaders, claimed success, saying the overall strategy is to "make (Israel's) occupation costly."

The planned settlement, known as E-1, would deepen east Jerusalem's separation from the West Bank, war-won areas the Palestinians want for their state. The project had been on hold for years, in part because of U.S. objections.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revived the E-1 plans late last year, in response to the Palestinians' successful bid for U.N. recognition of a state of Palestine in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.

Jewish settlements are at the heart of the current, four-year impasse in Mideast peace efforts. The Palestinians have refused to negotiate while Israel continues to build settlements on the lands they claim for a future state. Netanyahu says peace talks should start without any preconditions. Netanyahu also rejects any division of Jerusalem.

Israel expanded the boundaries of east Jerusalem after the 1967 war and then annexed the area ? a move not recognized by the international community. Since then, it has built a ring of Jewish settlements in the enlarged eastern sector to cement its control over the city.

E-1 would be built in the West Bank, just east of Jerusalem, and close one of the last options for Palestinians to create territorial continuity between Arab neighborhoods of east Jerusalem, their hoped-for capital, and the West Bank. According to building plans, E-1 would have more than 3,000 apartments.

The Palestinians say they turned to the U.N. last November out of frustration with the deadlock in peace talks. They believe the international endorsement of the 1967 lines as a future border will bolster their position in future negotiations. But Israel has accused the Palestinians of trying to bypass the negotiating process and impose a solution.

Netanyahu told Israel Army Radio on Sunday that it would take time to build E-1, citing planning procedures. Still, he said, "we will complete the planning and there will be construction."

Barghouti, one of the protest leaders, said the demonstrators pitched the tents on private Palestinian land and obtained an Israeli court injunction preventing the removal of the tents for several days. In response, Israel declared the site a closed military zone, enabling Israeli soldiers to evict the activists, he said.

When asked why the protesters were removed, Netanyahu said: "They have no reason to be there. I asked immediately to close the area so people would not gather there needlessly and generate friction and disrupt public order."

About half a million Israelis live in the dozens of settlements that dot the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Over the past 15 years, Jewish settlers have also set up dozens of rogue settlements, without formal approval, and critics say the government has done little to remove them.

____

Associated Press writer Amy Teibel in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-pm-vows-move-ahead-e-1-settlement-102717785.html

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Finance - Property - Exemptions and Abatements

Exemptions
Exemptions lower the amount of tax you owe by reducing your property's assessed value.

Abatements
Abatements reduce your taxes by applying credits to the amount of taxes you owe.

You can use the Property Tax Benefit Information tool to find the type(s) of exemptions and abatements a particular property is receiving. If you own a Cooperative Apartment Unit, please contact your management company to find out what exemptions or abatements you are receiving in the current tax year (July to June).

Source: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dof/html/property/exemptions.shtml

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News flash - playing football not good for the brain

Here is a breaking news item hot off the presses: playing football can be bad for the brain.

I kind of knew that already, because of taking a few hits too many to the old noodle during an extremely (un)stellar career as an undersized offensive and defensive lineman at dear old Patrick County, Va., High School. (By the way, I wish that ringing noise in the background would stop!)

Now my suspicions on this have been confirmed by the medical community. It seems that a team of scientists actually analyzed the brain tissue of Junior Seau (no, I?m not making this up), whose career as a National Football League player spanned two decades.

Seau?s family had donated his brain to neuroscientists at the National Institutes for Health as part of ongoing research on traumatic brain injury among football players, after he fatally shot himself in the chest last May.

The recent research has revealed that Seau suffered from a condition called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). It can be characterized by symptoms including impulsiveness, forgetfulness, depression and suicidal tendencies.

Now the real kicker: The degenerative brain disease Seau suffered from likely was caused by his years of hits to the head.

Can anyone say ?Duh!?

Is it really a surprise that Seau, or anyone else who played for a long time at a high-impact position such as his (middle linebacker) might be a few bricks shy of a load once he hangs up the pads and cleats? I mean, did anyone think that being whomped up side the head for the better part of 20 years would do Junior?s gray matter any good?

This situation reminds me of smokers who?ve lit up since being old enough to have a T-shirt to roll a cigarette pack up in, then when they?re 75 and coughing up bits of their blackened lungs suddenly realize their habit was bad for them.

In all too many cases, such a ?revelation? has resulted in a lawsuit being filed against some tobacco company by the smoker or his or her surviving family members.

So I wonder how long it will be before Seau?s family brings suit against the National Football League based on the latest ?findings.?

Of course, the NFL already has come under fire in recent years because it supposedly has not done enough to safeguard players from injuries such as concussions.

While this might well be the case (imagine that, a huge corporation not caring about the welfare of its troops in the trenches), what has resulted is a move from one extreme to the other. For years, extreme violence and vicious hits were a part of the game not only accepted, but encouraged.

But today, league officials seem to penalize, fine or suspend any defender who breathes too hard on an opposing quarterback or receiver ? not only for those hits to the head in which someone leads with the helmet, but just about any hard tackle at all.

The game is being ruined as a result, and makes me wonder why everyone just doesn?t start playing touch football or flag football.

It seems to me that the management of the brain-injury situation ignores the reality of football. Regardless of equipment innovations, contact football has and always will be a dangerous sport that can lead to severe injury and this is true for the Little League fields of Surry County all the way up to NFL venues. This should be accepted, or the sport outlawed altogether (which I?m sure many wives or girlfriends wouldn?t mind).

In the meantime, players who lace up their shoes and go out on the gridiron should be real men about the matter and take some responsibility for their own actions. These are guys who have attended college and by now should be fully aware of the relationship between blows to the head and the possibility of chronic long-term brain injury (even those who went to Virginia Tech).

The league can do only so much to protect these behemoths from themselves.

Of course, no one wants to see a great athlete reduced to a walking vegetable later in life (if they can even walk at all), or a suicide victim such as Junior Seau, but the risks would seem to go with the territory. I?m sure some of these musclebound jock-types think they?re invincible or the surface, and even those who don?t likely are willing to accept the inherent dangers of football for their chance at glory and riches.

If a poll were taken among all football players asking whether they?d be willing to trade all the money and popularity for the possibility they might eventually become a brain-damaged cripple, the answer probably would be surprising ? or not.

I?d bet 100 percent ? or close to it ? would still be willing to take that risk.

Tom Joyce is a staff reporter for The Mount Airy News. He can be reached at 719-1924 or tjoyce@civitasmedia.com.

Source: http://mtairynews.com/bookmark/21392414

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Biden says "no silver bullet" on dealing with gun violence (Los Angeles Times)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/276437990?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Golden Globes 2013 Predictions: Best Supporting Actor

Tommy Lee Jones and Leonardo DiCaprio are among the five up for the award on Sunday night.
By Kara Warner

Leonardo DiCaprio in "Django Unchained"
Photo: Columbia Pictures

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1699999/golden-globes-2013-predictions-best-supporting-actor.jhtml

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How to Address a Cover Letter

How to address a cover letter can be tricky if you are responding to a blind ad and don't have a contact person's name to include, or if you don't know the gender of the person you are addressing your cover letter to.

If you don't have a contact person at the company you can either leave off the salutation from your cover letter and start with the first paragraph of your letter or use a general salutation.

There are a?variety of cover letter salutations you can use to address your letter. Employers who responded to an employer survey conducted by Saddleback College preferred:

• Dear Hiring Manager (38%)
• To whom it may concern (26%)
• Dear Sir/Madam (18%)

Here are tips on how to address a cover letter when you don't have a name to include or when you're not sure of the hiring manager's gender.

Related Articles: What to Include in a Cover Letter | Top 10 Cover Letter Tips

Read More: Should You Include a Cover Letter if It's Not Required? | How to Mention Relocation in a Cover Letter

Connect With Alison:
Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn

^{Image Copyright Alison Doyle}

Source: http://jobsearch.about.com/b/2013/01/11/how-to-address-a-cover-letter.htm

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fab. vegan recipe of the day: Champurrado (Mexican hot chocolate ...

Today (10th January), Angelica Chavez posted a fab. vegan recipe on her Veltimera blog titled ?Vegan recipe for Champurrado?.

?? Every Christmas, my family makes our traditional Mexican drink Champurrado (one of my favorite things about the holidays!!). When you don?t have something so often, that is what makes it even more special; and since this drink only comes around twice a year, I go crazy for it! So, I decided to learn how to make it myself.

Champurrado is kinda the Mexican version of hot chocolate, but not really haha. It?s different because it has a thicker consistency and doesn?t actually taste like the typical chocolate flavor you?re probably used to.

I called my mom to ask her how to make this drink, but also asked about the version with cookies. The traditional Champurrado is made with just flour, but this recipe includes animal crackers.

These are the ingredients:

• Water (changes with pot size)
• 2 Bars of chocolate (I used Ibarra)
• 3 Tbsp Cocoa Powder (which I added while making the recipe, so it?s not in the photo)
• 3 Cups Milk (the traditional Champurrado uses condensed milk cans, but I used 8th Continent Soymilk in Vanilla)
• 1 1/2 Cups Sugar
• 1 Tbsp Cinnamon (I?m supposed to use the actual cinnamon sticks, but I hate when the woody stick gets in my cup so I prefer the powder cinnamon hehe)
• 2 Cups Flour (Maseca, All-Purpose, or Minsa-which is the one I used)
• 1 Bag of Animal Crackers (yes, they?re vegan, as long as they don?t contain milk in the ingredients) ?

And this is how to make it! ^_^ :

1. Fill pot halfway with water and turn heat on to medium. This pot is 11? in diameter and 6? deep (tip: try to get a pot taller than this one because when the Champurrado is boiling, it rises) ?

2. Add sugar, chocolate bars, chocolate powder, milk, and cinnamon into boiling water and stir ?

3. On a bowl, mix the flour with water from the pot. The mix should turn liquidy, so add water little by little till it drips from a spoon somewhat easily. It shouldn?t be too watered down because you want the Champurrado to be thick. The reason why you mix the flour in a bowl with water first is because if you add it straight to the heating pot of water, it?s going to just lump up and not dissolve at all ?

4. Add the flour mixture to pot of water and stir some more ?

5. Now for the cookies, place them in a blender with a cup of water from the pot, and blend till it?s like the flour mixture ?

7. Brace yourself! Now, you?re going to have to stir for about 35 minutes to an hour. Do not stop stirring, because if you do, it will stick to the bottom of the pan and burn ?

Note: If when stirring and scooping up some Champurrado with a spoon to see how it drips, it?s not getting thick after 30 minutes, repeat steps 3 and 4 with a half cup of flour each time.

8. After turning off the heat, stir a bit more, and then let it sit till it cools. You can also scoop a cup and put it in the fridge to cool faster.

Voila! Champurrado ready! Enjoy your drink warm or cold, it?ll taste good in both. Even experiment if you want, using other types of cookies or other flavors like coffee. I?d love to hear any new ideas or questions, so let me know. :) ??

Read the recipe, view loads of images and add your comment online at http://veltimera.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/vegan-recipe-for-champurrado.html

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Source: http://worldnewsforlife.wordpress.com/2013/01/10/gab-vegan-recipe-of-the-day-champurrado-mexican-hot-chocolate/

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