Christmas Information

Merry Christmas

Christmas is an annual commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ and a widely observed cultural holiday, celebrated generally on December 25 by billions.

Enjoy Christmas with Santa Claus at the North pole, an award-winning Christmas. Send a letter to Santa Claus or a Christmas card to a friend. Share gift ideas, wish lists, Christmas Tree, Christmas recipes, Christmas traditions, Christmas games, photos.

Christmas is a time for Families, Fun, and Festivities. A time of family gatherings and holiday meals. A time for Santa, stars, and singing carolers. A time for ornaments, gifts, and twinkling lights. Of sleigh rides, hot cocoa, and gingerbread cookies. So here for your entertainment are some fun Holiday things for you and your family. We've got stories of Christmas and the Christ Child, holiday music for singing along, tasty holiday recipes, and holiday pictures for the kids to print and color. Enjoy our daily Video Advent Calendar as you countdown to Christmas. So bring your kids and tell your friends. We hope you find something you like and be sure to decorate for the Christmas season with these beautiful Christmas ornaments.

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The definition of Christmas is a holiday celebrated on December 25 both as a religious tradition commemorating the birth of Jesus and as a secular holiday. Christmas Traditions Many people around the world decorate with evergreen trees and branches. Germans started bringing these trees into their homes in the 16th century. Evergreens represent strength, because they can stand up to a harsh, cold winter. In some cultures, they are believed to ward off evil spirits. Besides that, they also smell great. Trees and evergreen wreaths can be decorated with just about anything: popcorn, candles, lights, apples, berries, small toys, cookies, ornaments, tinsel, garland, and nuts. The first printed Christmas cards started in England in 1843 as a way to remind people to help the poor. The very first printed card said, “A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You" and was sent by Sir Henry Cole. At first, the cards had signs of spring, like birds, animals, children, and fairies. This tradition caught on quickly and is practiced by many around the world. The tradition of hanging stockings by the fire started with the story of St. Nicholas. He wanted to help a poor man and his three daughters, but wanted to be anonymous. As the story goes, he rode by their house on a white horse and tossed three bags of coins down the chimney. The bags were miraculously caught in the girls’ stockings that had been hung there to dry.

Christmas Gift

The holiday season is also a time when many people still send out Christmas cards to friends and family. Today's Christmas cards might feature anything ranging from a religious scene to some fun snowman characters spreading a little joy during the holiday season. Many families send photo christmas cards to share their family photos, because holiday cards seem more special with a photo. Don't forget everyone loves a holiday party, so sending holiday party invitations is also crucial for the season.

Zacks Investment Ideas Feature Highlights: Manitex International, Express and General Motors

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Value investors have long looked to the price-to-earnings ratio as a means to finding value stocks. However, Benjamin Graham, long considered to be the "father" of value investing, found that a low price-to-earnings ratio wasn't enough to unearth the true undervalued companies.

Graham combined the low price-to-earnings ratios with the power of growth by using the PEG ratio. The PEG ratio is calculated by taking the price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio and dividing it by the growth rate. Normally, a stock with a PEG ratio under 1.0 is considered a "value".

With the S&P 500, the Russell 2000 and the Mid-cap 400 trading at new record highs, you might think it would be hard to find ANY value.

Screening for PEG
I created a screen for PEG ratios under 1.0 on Zacks free Custom Screener.
Just this one criteria gave me 372 stocks. That's not too shabby.
But all 372 companies are not necessarily good value stocks. I eliminated companies that had a Zacks rank of 4 or 5, which are Zacks Rank Sells, and only searched for Buy ranked stocks.  I also then considered other fundamentals such as the price-to-sales ratio. I plugged in a P/S ratio under 1.0 which can also mean a company is undervalued.

3 Stocks with Magic PEG Ratios
The following 3 companies stood out because they had both stellar value fundamentals, including a low PEG ratio, and a solid business story, including strong earnings growth.
Manitex International
Express Inc.
General Motors

1. Manitex International, Inc. (MNTX-Free Report)

Manitex manufactures lifting solutions including cranes, reach stackers and container handling equipment, rough terrain forklifts, and indoor electric forklifts. Headquartered in Illinois, it supplies crane parts to customers throughout the world.

It is a micro cap company with a market cap of just $163 million. But analysts expect outsized earnings growth in 2013 and 2014 of 26.5% and 39.2%, respectively.

Even though shares are at a new 52-week high, it has a forward P/E of just 15.5. Combined with the earnings growth, that gives it a PEG ratio under the magic level of 1.0.

PEG ratio: 0.8
P/S ratio: 0.7

Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy)

2. Express Inc. (EXPR-Free Report)

Express operates men's and women's apparel stores targeting the 20 and 30-something demographic in the United States, Canada and Puerto. Its 620 stores are located primarily in shopping malls, although you can also find them in some big city neighborhoods.

Express is also a small cap, but at a $1.9 billion market cap, it dwarfs Manitex.

While the company isn't expected to see any earnings growth this fiscal year, it is set to rebound with earnings growth of 13.5% in fiscal 2014.

Compared to the S&P 500, Express is cheap. It has a forward P/E of 13.9 while the index trades at 16.2.
Combined with next year's double digit earnings growth, Express has the magic PEG ratio under 1.0.

PEG ratio: 0.95
P/S ratio: 0.9
Zacks Rank #2 (Buy)

3. General Motors (GM-Free Report)

General Motors produces cars and trucks worldwide. Car sales in the United States are hot and have nearly recovered pre-recession highs.

Earnings growth is expected to be just 4.5% in 2013 but 2014 is expected to see the big turnaround with earnings expected to rise another 34%.

Shares were on a hot streak over the summer, as they soared to new 52-week highs. Still, the stock is cheap, with a forward P/E of 10.6.

That means it has the magic combination of both growth and value which produces a PEG under 1.0.
PEG ratio: 0.8
P/S ratio: 0.4
Zacks Rank #2 (Buy)

Dig Deep for the Magic

It's not that easy in this momentum driven market to find stocks with value AND growth. But if you can find this rare combination, those are stocks you might want to keep on your wish list.

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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index.



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Auto Industry, Japanese Nissan in US plant

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The United Auto Workers is ratcheting up pressure on Nissan in the hopes it may finally succeed at organizing the Japanese automaker's plant in the typically anti-union southern US state of Mississippi. It has taken its campaign to the world stage in a bid to pressure Nissan to cease what the UAW has called union-busting tactics.  They efforts have won the endorsement of Nissan's Japanese unions and sympathetic unions have staged demonstrations protesting Nissan's tactics in Brazil and at the Geneva auto show.

The UAW is hoping to gain the backing of the powerful French unions of Nissan's partner Renault by bringing workers to Paris this week to describe their plight.  "The UAW's approach in Mississippi has been very innovative and very patient," said Harley Shaiken, a labor expert from the University of California, Berkley.  The aggressive campaign comes as the UAW celebrates a big break in its decades-long efforts to organize the plants of foreign automakers. Volkswagen is currently engaged in talks with the UAW about how to get employees at its Tennessee plant a seat on the German automaker's works council. It has never managed to organize workers at the plants of foreign automakers except in a handful of joint ventures with unionized General Motors, Ford or Chrysler. But its president Bob King insists the tide is finally turning.  "We've never been this far along in an organizing drive in the South," King said in a recent interview. "It's going really well."

King, a veteran of several failed organizing attempts, said the number of employees supporting the UAW inside Nissan's Canton plant has continued to grow since the latest campaign was launched more than a year ago. The campaign is being carefully watched by other automakers.

One former official from Honda, who has observed UAW organizing efforts in the past and asked for anonymity, said it is likely the UAW has gained a foothold in Canton because of the widespread use of temporary workers.  That appears to have unsettled the regular employees, who thought they had finally won a measure of job security in a state with the lowest per capita income in the United States. But those same job security fears could work against the UAW, said Sean McAlinden, chief economist at Michigan's Center of Automotive Research.  "They worry about Mexico," McAlinder said, noting that several automakers -- including Nissan -- will be opening new factories there this year.

The Nissan campaign has attracted the interest of labor leaders looking for a way to gain more leverage over big companies in a global economy that has driven down wages in industrial countries, said Kent Wong, a labor expert at the University of California, Los Angeles.  "I don't know if they are going to be successful," he cautioned.

The UAW faces powerful opposition from the political establishment in Mississippi and from workers who have been raised on a diet of anti-union sentiment.  It has also accused Nissan of employing union-busting tactics like using implicit threats to close the plant if it unionizes, charges Nissan denies.  "Nissan has never violated labor standards and would never tolerate threats or intimidation of our employees," Nissan spokesman Justin Saia said. "Nissan will continue to abide by US labor laws and support the rights of employees to decide whether they wish to be represented by a union.”  The standard anti-union playbook being used in Canton isn't working, King insisted.  "They use 'one-on-one' meetings to attack the union and if we call a meeting after work they'll schedule overtime," King told AFP. "But we're still getting support."

Nissan worker Raphael Martinez said one of the reason he supports the UAW is because the union's positive message is focused on making Nissan a better company overall.  "One thing I appreciate about the UAW is that they don’t tend to demonize Nissan," Martinez told AFP. "Nissan, on the other hand, tends to demonize the UAW with negative propaganda." Nissan dismissed the pro-union sentiment as unrepresentative of the bulk of the workforce.  "If you notice, they bring out the same people all the time," said one Nissan executive, who asked not to be identified while commenting on the UAW effort.

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Caravan Insurance Protract Yourself and Your Property

It's so easy to find the best deal on your Caravan Insurance

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We have searched the market for specialist insurance providers for an easy-to-use service to help you get quotes for your caravan or motor home cover.

Your steps.
Fill in our easy form
Receive up to six quotes
Choose the policy that suits you and contact the broker to arrange your cover.
Start your quote on the panel to the right, or follow the links below for Park home, Leisure home or European static caravan insurance.

Caravan insurance is a sound investment for peace of mind. Why worry about your caravan on holiday when all you want to do is relax?

When summer rolls around and you excitedly book time off work for a break, don’t forget to consider taking out some good caravan insurance. With increasing rates of caravan theft and vandalism, you want to make sure you are covered for this and every other eventuality. Even though you are sure to have a wonderful time, there are many things that could go wrong, from the caravan blowing over on the motorway, to damage caused by weather (it is Britain after all).

These are some reasons why you should consider purchasing caravan insurance before you venture on holiday.

Caravan Insurance  Check your Policy

Many people believe they don’t need caravan insurance for their touring model because it is covered under their car insurance. What they might not realize is that the insurance may only be valid for when the caravan is attached to the vehicle, and not, for example, when left alone at a campsite. To prevent a nasty holiday headache, double-check your policy, and consider taking out specialist caravan insurance to ensure your mobile holiday home is protected at all times in all circumstances.

Caravan Insurance - Beat the Thieves

The main reason for ensuring you have full-cover caravan insurance is to take into account the increasing levels of caravan theft. There is nothing more disheartening than leaving your caravan unattended whilst you go to visit a site of interest, only to find it gone on your return. It gets worse when you check your insurance policy to find you weren’t covered because the caravan wasn’t being towed! Prevent this disaster happening to you by taking out caravan insurance and taking every possible security measure while you’re away.

Caravan Insurance  Protection from the Elements

Another misfortune that can easily befall British holidaymakers is being struck by freak weather. No one could forget the flash floods in Cornwall a few years ago, and the amount of loss and damage they caused. If you don’t have full caravan insurance, and your touring or static caravan is damaged by extreme weather, then you could be facing costly repairs  or may even have to buy a replacement caravan. Don’t take the risk  check your caravan insurance.

Caravan Insurance  In case of Accidents

Unfortunately an incident is all too easy in a caravan, whether it’s being blown over on the motorway or being involved in a pile-up. You may even incur small dents from minor accidents, such as in busy car holiday car parks. It would be such a shame to have your holiday ruined by realizing that your existing policy does n’t cover you for such eventualities, so give yourself peace of mind by taking out specialist caravan insurance.

Looking for Caravan Insurance? Try InsuranceForCaravans.co.uk 

InsuranceForCaravans.co.uk  is the site to visit if you are looking for caravan insurance. With a range of financial promotions for firms who provide Caravan Insurance, simply visit our advertisers websites to find out what each insurance policy covers and you are bound to find a product that suits you, whether you have a static or touring caravan. Don’t take any chances with the safety of your caravan  try InsuranceForCaravans.co.uk  today.


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Pet Insurance in the UK

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Gross written premiums in the pet insurance category grew by 35.5% in absolute terms during the review period (2008-2012), making it the fastest-growing category of insurance sales. The category's expansion was promoted by rising veterinary fees and advances in veterinary treatment. Despite the recessionary environment and the squeeze on household incomes, demand for pet insurance remained strong during the review period. Lifestyle changes and an increase in the number of smaller households have made it more difficult to own a pet, but almost half of all UK households owned at least one pet in 2012. Household expenditure on veterinary care rose by 22.2% during the review period. Despite fast growth, pet insurance market penetration remained low, with approximately 46% of dogs and 66% of cats left uninsured in 2012, resulting in huge potential for new product providers.

Key Highlights
Aviva Now Underwrites Pet Insurance Policies Itself
RSA Renews Pet Insurance Partnership with Tesco Bank
L&G Extends its Range of Personal insurance Cover with Launch of Pet Insurance
Capita Insurance Distribution Selects Zenith Insurance to Underwrite Pet Policies
Sainsbury's Bank Partners with Allianz Insurance for Pet Insurance
M&S Reappoints RSA for Pet Insurance
Axa Pulls Out of Pet Insurance Market

Key Topics Covered:
1 Executive Summary
2 Introduction
3 Market Analysis
4 Competitive Landscape
5 Porter's Five Forces Analysis
6 Deals and News
7 Regulation and Compliance
8 Economic Backdrop
9 Company Profiles

Name of Insurance Co.
Agria International Forsakring AB
Allianz Insurance Plc
Axa Insurance UK Plc
Direct Line Insurance Group Plc
Pinnacle Insurance Plc
QBE Insurance (Europe) Ltd
Red Sands Insurance Company (Europe) Ltd
Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group Plc
Ultimate Insurance Company Ltd
Zenith Insurance Plc


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Travelling is the movement of people between relatively distant geographical locations, and can involve travel by airplane safe and quick www.cheap-flight-4u.com/

Will MOOCs Help Your Best Career

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We’re living through an incredible moment in the history of learning. Suddenly, anyone with an Internet connection can take courses, for free, from some of the world’s top universities. On sites like Coursera, edX, and Khan Academy, you can learn how to run a clinical trial that will satisfy the Food and Drug Administration, study aircraft design, or dive into the basics of environmental law. The offerings are commonly called MOOCs, for massive open online courses, and they tend to offer participants certificates of achievement if they finish, as opposed to course credits or grades. But will taking these online courses at schools like Harvard and Stanford improve your prospects in the job market?

As with many revolutions, Boston has been at the center of the action. In 2002, MIT launched a pilot website for its OpenCourseWare initiative, offering 32 courses. By 2003, Wired Magazine was writing about students in Nashville and Ho Chi Minh city taking MIT classes for free. Last year, MIT and Harvard University decided to work together, creating a new nonprofit called edX.  The Cambridge-based organization now offers courses from McGill University, Georgetown University, Cornell University, CalTech, and Wellesley College, among others. Many include not just recommended readings, but videos, quizzes, and interactive tools like electronic circuit simulators or protein builders.

Some people who have completed MOOCs say they’re including them on resumes and LinkedIn profiles. Avi Jacobson, who runs a sustainable energy program at a public agency in Seattle, says he isn’t looking for a job, but he posts the courses he has taken at MRUniversity on his LinkedIn page to test if it adds something positive. I am smarter for taking them.  Geoffrey Horwitz, who works in business development at Boston Children’s Hospital, says he is not in the job market either, but plans to eventually include courses he has taken on topics like drug discovery under an Additional Courses heading on LinkedIn.

Human resources executives and recruiters tell me they aren’t seeing significant numbers of candidates touting the MOOCs they’ve completed. But those who have seen mentions of MOOCs say it’s an indication of commitment to upgrading skills and knowledge.  At Massachusetts General Hospital, recruitment manager Megan Bradley says, I see these online courses as a form of professional development, like when people take adult ed courses. If a job requires a educational degree, these courses would not suffice.  Bruce Allen of the Wakefield recruiting firm Point B Search says, Any initiative that candidates take to update their skill set, acquire new skills, or simply extend their knowledge base will be viewed as positive.

Risa Pecoraro, an executive who hires engineers at Boston-based Homesite, an online insurance agency, says she views MOOCs as a strong positive, assuming that they can prove through our interview process that the course has been effective. Others point out that listing MOOCs can help you rise to the top if a recruiter is searching the resume database for keywords that match a course you’ve taken, like data visualization or social media marketing.

Recruiter Adriana Ganos of Rue La La, the Boston-based e-commerce site, says she wouldn’t necessarily write off the MOOCs a candidate has taken, but I value in-person content and communication. I’d rather see someone go and physically attend something and participate in a class at a place like Bocoup Loft or General Assembly or Intelligently. (Those are three local venues that offer continuing education, primarily focused on tech industry workers.)

Gray Chynoweth of Dyn says his company is encouraging its employees to take MOOCs. Before we figure out how to weigh them when we look at candidates, we want to experience what happens when our employees go through them, says Chynoweth, chief operating officer of the Manchester, N.H., networking and e-mail services firm.

While MOOCs seem like they can only enhance a job candidate’s appeal, many people I talked to noted an important shift in the world of hiring. Credentials, whether a MOOC certificate or an MBA degree, are declining in importance, while portfolios are on the rise.  What’s a portfolio? Some sort of evidence of your expertise and abilities online, like design work showcased on Dribbble.com, software code on GitHub, a mobile app you’ve built, or a sales presentation you developed and posted to SlideShare. Education is becoming less than 10 percent of a candidate’s total score when we hire, says Apollo Sinkevicius, managing director at One Mighty Roar, a Boston design and innovation firm. Portfolios and work samples have the highest weight in my hiring, he says.

What really carries the weight in hiring today is, have you worked at good companies in the past, and what have you built, says Tom Summit of Catalyst Recruiting in Newburyport, who has been recruiting techies for nearly 25 years. At Dyn, Chynoweth says, We want someone to come in and be able to create value for the company quickly. So we’re looking for evidence that they can do that.

Free MOOCs are a fantastic thing. But even if you’ve been a top student, sitting in the virtual front row, employers increasingly want to see what you can create.

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Drivers Sold Fake Car Insurance Policies

Thousands of drivers sold fake Insurance

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Police arrested 27 people, who are sold fake motor insurance policies.  More than 170 officers, led by detectives from the City of London police's Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department, carried out 28 search warrants in a series of dawn raids across the country.

The City of London Police said the raids were the culmination of months of investigation into the sale of non-existent motor insurance – a relatively new but growing scam known as "ghost brooking". The arrests were made in Leicesters hire, London, Manchester, Thames Valley and the West Midlands, with 168 officers taking part in the operation.

"Ghost brokers" typically target young, newly qualified drivers by offering them bargain-basement deals, but no insurance is ever put in place and the victims only become aware that they have been duped when they submit claims that are not dealt with. Because they do not have valid insurance, they run the risk of having their cars seized by police as well as racking up fines, penalty licence points and even criminal records, police warned. In the most extreme cases, victims might be forced to pay costs which could run to millions of pounds if, for example, they were at fault for a crash in which a third party was injured.

IFED is a unit operating within the City of London police funded by insurance companies belonging to the Association of British Insurers (ABI). Initial estimates suggest that thousands of motorists have been duped although the true scale of the problem is not known as many drivers will assume their cover is legitimate.

The bogus policies are often sold online – often through social networking and even phony websites – as well as genuine classifieds and even in university clubs and bars and motor repair shops. The police said many ghost brokers claimed to be linked to reputable companies or advertised their "businesses" as independent insurers. Documents and certificates of motor insurance are often faked.

Kerry Michael, director of insurance services at the RAC motoring group, said: "This is a new and worrying crime which preys on young drivers offering them cheap insurance rates with bogus policies. It is particularly worrying when you consider that many of the individuals taken in by 'ghost brokers' are those who can least afford the devastating financial and personal consequences of being involved in an accident without valid insurance."

The RAC advises buyers looking for cover to choose a reputable motor insurer and to ensure they check all of their paperwork. Michael went on: "If a deal sounds too good to be true then it probably is. The RAC's Report on Motoring 2013 identified that 71% of drivers aged 17 to 24 believe that motoring may actually become a rare luxury for them if costs continue to escalate. We are looking at ways to reduce the cost of insurance for young drivers including solutions like low-cost telematics and we are working with the government to understand what can be done to make owning and operating a car more affordable for this group of motorists."

The ABI is urging drivers to avoid falling victim to scams by checking that their insurance adviser is on the Financial Services Register before buying a policy. It is also warning them to beware of insurance policies offered through social networking websites, pubs, clubs and bars, newsagents and motor repair shops.


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ISLAMIC BANKING REVOLUTION

Africa Is Seeing an Explosion In Banks 

Looking To Cash In On Continent's Growing Muslim Population

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Islamic banking is set to expand dramatically in Africa over the next two decades as the number of Muslims on the continent grows from 240 million to an estimated 400 million.  In Nigeria, for example, 80 million people are Muslim, but the first totally committed Islamic bank, Jaiz Bank, just opened in 2012 -- and has already expanded to 10 branches. Meanwhile, other banks have offered Islamic products to help customers maintain Islamic law, also known as Shariah, Euromoney said this week. By contrast, the U.S. opened its first stand-alone Islamic bank -- Lariba, based in Whittier, Calif. -- in 1987 despite having a far smaller population of Muslims.

Unlike conventional Western-style banking, Islamic banking operates according to the principles of Shariah, prohibiting the fixed or floating payment or acceptance of specific interest or fees for loans of money. In addition, Islamic banks that strictly follow Shariah do not invest in businesses that provide services or products that are considered sinful or prohibited.

Shariah banking offers an opportunity for Africa's existing banks. In Kenya, the Gulf African Bank experienced triple-digit growth last year, around 154 percent in net profit, after adding Islamic banking products. The First Community Bank grew by 238 percent. And because of this exceptional year-on-year growth, Standard Chartered PLC (LON:STAN) said it would soon start offering Islamic banking products in Kenya.

As African banks embrace Islamic practices, regulatory bodies are scrambling to issue Shariah-compliant policy statements and rules. In March, Nigeria brought in new guidelines to help deal with sukuk – the Islamic equivalent of bonds. A month later, guidelines were established to deal with takaful, Islamic insurance.

Kenya’s successes in the Islamic Banking Industry reflects the fact that the nation has since 2011 been making regulatory changes and working on some of the more complex Shariah products, such as real estate investment trusts.

South Africa, Africa’s biggest economy and home to about 750,000 Muslims, has rewritten its tax laws to ensure that Shariah-compliant products are more transparent.

Uganda, Botswana and Zambia are also looking to make regulatory changes to grow their Islamic banking sectors.



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CHASE Bank Pulls Plug on Credit Card Insurance Plan

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Chase Bank is ending its Payment Protector plan that covered credit card debt left behind after a customer's death. For many, that may mean thousands paid in fees were for nothing. or years, Chase bank offered a Payment Protector plan. For an extra monthly fee  typically a bit less than 1% of the card balance  credit cardholders could insure themselves against job loss, illness or disability, with card payments deferred for up to two years.

They could also protect themselves from sticking their estate with the tab for any outstanding balances after their death. Payment Protector covered up to $25,000 in credit card debt per card left behind after customers went to that ATM in the sky.  Dorothy Cross, 95, has a combined balance of more than $38,000 on three Chase cards. For about a decade, she's paid Payment Protector fees so that, after she dies, this debt won't overwhelm what little savings she plans to leave family members.

But now, after more than $16,000 in fee payments on Cross' part, Chase says it will no longer honor its end of the bargain. Payment Protector will disappear in May 2014, the bank says, and no claims will be honored after that time.  Cross' situation, which is shared by potentially hundreds of thousands of Payment Protector customers, was brought to my attention by her son, Emory, who helps manage his mother's financial affairs.  "She's been paying these fees in good faith for many years," he said. "And now it's being jerked out from under her."

Unethical as the bank's move seems, Chase is acting within its rights. The contract for Payment Protector states that the company can change the terms of the deal at any time.  It also says that "if your account is closed by us for any reason, your enrollment in the plan will automatically be canceled without notice." By Emory Cross' reckoning, those conditions not only were buried in the contract but also make the agreement essentially worthless.  Customers were required to make payments every month for coverage, he observed, but the bank has no responsibility to make good on its responsibilities.  In his mother's case, Emory Cross said, she could have paid off almost half her card balances with the fees she paid for Payment Protector. Instead, she chose the peace of mind of being insured against financial catastrophe.  Now she's losing that insurance and must grapple with the card balances that went unpaid all these years. "She gets nothing for all those fees," he said.

It might seem as though his mother was trying to duck her obligations to the bank. She clearly intended to leave Chase holding the bag for thousands of dollars in credit card debt after her death.  But that's precisely what Payment Protector offered.  "You may be eligible for a balance cancellation because of an accidental death or death," the contract says. "'Balance cancellation' means that you will receive a cancellation of your account balance as of the date of your accidental death or death, up to $25,000."  Because Emory Cross' mother paid for Payment Protector for each of her Chase cards, she was covered for the full amount of her outstanding balance.  Now, he said, his mother will be covered only if she dies before June 1, 2014. If she survives past that date, all bets are off.  "She in pretty good shape," he said. "She plays bridge with friends who are 100. Who knows how long she'll last?"


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Prime Minister Nawaz Shrif Say "Pakistan is not in an Arms Race"

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ISLAMABAD:  Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif paid a rare visit to the country’s nuclear installations on the outskirts of the capital on Friday and spent the whole day with the military leadership. He also met Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani to discuss the appointment of a new chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee.

The premier visited the National Command Authority (NCA) accompanied by army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, outgoing Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Khalid Shamim Wynne, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Director General Strategic Plans Division Lt Gen (retd) Khalid Ahmed Kidwai and other senior military officers and scientists.

The prime minister made it clear that Pakistan was not engaged in an arms race with any country and reiterated his resolve for peace and stability in the region, according to a press release.  He added that Pakistan’s nuclear arsenals ‘are in safe and secure hands’, and that Pakistan’s strategic capability will continue to follow its policy of credible minimum deterrence.  “Pakistan is a peace-loving country and it harbours no aggressive designs against any country, but will maintain minimum nuclear deterrence, he said.
While the prime minister laid stress on minimum deterrence, he also said that nuclear technology was Pakistan’s basic right to meet its growing energy requirements.

Vancouver Sun Video Awards Workshop Aim to Inspire Creativity in Students

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Sharpest Minds in Video Gather to Pass on Their Knowledge

VANCOUVER  The Vancouver Sun, CBC and Vancouver Film School have recruited the sharpest minds in video production and documentary filmmaking for a one-day workshop aimed at students on Saturday, Nov. 2.

As part of the Student Video Awards, the workshop will provide young, aspiring filmmakers an opportunity to discover the latest techniques in a range of topics from the art of visual storytelling and cultivating creative ideas to how to make your video go viral, as well as tips and tricks from top animators.

Connecting students to working professionals opens doors as well as minds, Dean Broughton, chief news editor digital for The Vancouver Sun, and workshop organizer said Monday. It’s an opportunity for students to explore and learn from some of the sharpest minds in the field.

The SVA Workshop will be held at the new Vancouver Film School campus at 151 West Cordova Street in Gastown. The early-bird registration cost is $45, and includes lunch and a T-shirt.

You can also keep tabs on the contest at the SVA Facebook page and follow on Twitter atPush the Creative Envelope by David Vandas; Online Distribution Strategies by Kai Nagata; Storytelling and Character Development by VFS’s Michael Baser; and The Age of Imagination, focusing on animation and idea, generation by Colin Giles.

The workshop is part of the third annual Vancouver Sun-CBC Student Video Awards, which offers more than $20,000 in prizing to Vancouver Film School Summer Intensive sessions. Since the inception of the SVA in 2011, more than 1,500 students have participated in submitting films which have reached more than 80,000 people.


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Suicide Bomber Kills 25 in Iraq

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People inspect the site of a double suicide bomb attack in the Shiite neighbourhood of Sadr city in Baghdad, Iraq.  AT least 25 people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a Shi'ite Muslim mosque in an Iraqi town on Sunday where people were mourning the death of a man killed by militants a day earlier, police said.  The blast brought down the ceiling of the mosque in Mussayab, 60km (40 miles) south of the capital Baghdad. Police said some bodies were still trapped beneath the debris. At least 50 people were wounded.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the bombing, which is the latest in a spate of attacks targeting both Sunni and Shi'ite places of worship, particularly during funerals.

Iraq's delicate sectarian balance has come under growing strain from the civil war in neighboring Syria, where mainly Sunni Muslim rebels are fighting to overthrow a leader backed by Shi'ite Iran.

Both Sunnis and Shi'ites have crossed into Syria from Iraq to fight on opposite sides of the conflict.

Al Qaeda's Iraqi and Syrian branches merged earlier this year to form the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which has claimed responsibility for attacks on both sides of the border.

Suicide bombings are the hallmark of al Qaeda.

Several other attacks in recent weeks also suggest that Shi'ite militias, which have so far largely refrained from retaliating, may once again be resorting to violence.

More than 6,000 people have been killed in acts of violence since the start of the year, according to Monitoring Group Iraq Body Count.

UN Resolution Orders Syria Chemical Arms Destroyed

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United Nations: The UN Security Council unanimously passed a landmark resolution on Friday ordering the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons and condemning a murderous poison gas attack in Damascus.

The major powers overcame a prolonged deadlock to approve the first council resolution on the conflict, which is now 30 months old with more than 100,000 dead.

UN leader Ban Ki-moon, a critic of the council's paralysis, called the resolution "the first hopeful news on Syria in a long time." Ban also said he hopes to convene a peace conference in mid-November.

Resolution 2118, the result of bruising negotiations between the United States and Russia, gives international binding force to a plan drawn up by the two to eliminate President Bashar al-Assad's chemical arms.  There are no immediate sanctions over a chemical weapons attack confirmed by the UN. But it allows for a new vote on possible measures if the Russia-US plan is breached.  Divisions over the war remained clear, however, in comments by their foreign ministers after the vote.

"Should the regime fail to act, there will be consequences," US Secretary of State John Kerry warned the 15-member council after the vote sealing a US-Russian agreement.  But Kerry hailed the resolution.  "The Security Council has shown that when we put aside politics for the common good, we are still capable of doing big things," he said. No automatic punitive measures

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stressed that there were no automatic punitive measures and that the resolution applied equally to the Syrian opposition.  He said the council would take "actions which are commensurate with the violations, which will have to proven 100 per cent."  Russia, Assad's main ally, has rejected any suggestion of sanctions or military force against Assad. It has already used its veto power as a permanent Security Council member to block three Western-drafted resolutions on Syria.

The resolution "condemns in the strongest terms any use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic, in particular the attack on August 21, 2013, in violation of international law."

The United States says the attack on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta left more than 1,400 dead. It blamed Assad's government for the sarin gas assault and threatened a military strike over the attack. The government has denied responsibility.

Should Syria not comply with the resolution, the Security Council members agreed to "impose measures under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter."  Syria attacks must be 'accountable'

The charter can authorize the use of sanctions or military force. But diplomats said Russia would fiercely oppose any force against its ally. All sides agreed that new action will require a new vote.

Russia also rebuffed calls by European powers Britain and France for the Ghouta attack to be referred to the International Criminal Court.  The resolution expressed "strong conviction" that those responsible for chemical weapons attacks in Syria "should be held accountable."

It formally endorsed a decision taken hours earlier in The Hague by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to accept the Russia-US disarmament plan.  The plan called for Syria's estimated 1,000 tonnes of chemical weapons to be put under international control by mid-2014. Experts say the timetable is very tight.

International experts are expected to start work in Syria next week. Britain and China announced that they will offer finance to the disarmament operation.

Ban said the resolution "will ensure that the elimination of the Syrian chemical weapons program happens as soon as possible and with the utmost transparency and accountability."  Ban also told the Security Council he wanted to hold a new Syria peace conference in November. "We are aiming for a conference in mid-November," Ban said, adding that foreign ministers from Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States had agreed to make sure the two sides in the conflict negotiate in "good faith."

A first peace conference was held in June 2012 but there has been no follow up because of divisions in the Syrian opposition and the international community.  Ban will start contacts with his Syria peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi next week on setting the firm date and who will attend the new meeting, diplomats said.

The Security Council resolution gave backing to the 2012 conference declaration, which stated that there should be a transitional government in Syria with full executive powers.  It also determined that the new peace conference would be to decide how to implement the accord.  A car bomb north of Damascus that killed at least 30 people earlier in the day and 11 more deaths in a government air raid highlighted the continued slaughter in Syria's long-running civil war.  "We must never forget that the catalog of horrors in Syria continues with bombs and tanks, grenades and guns," said Ban.

Apple's Advanced Fingerprint Technology

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Apple's advanced fingerprint technology is hacked; should you worry?

It took only days for the hackers of Germany’s Chaos Computer Club to claim victory in the challenge to break Apple’s vaunted new security feature in the iPhone 5s. The CCC “biometrics hacking team” used a photo of a fingerprint from a glass surface to fashion a fake finger that they then used to fool the newest iPhone into unlocking. “This demonstrates – again,”  the group said in a statement, “that fingerprint biometrics is unsuitable as access control method and should be avoided.”

Actually, it demonstrates no such thing.

The new iPhone debuted on Friday, September 20. The CCC team announced their successful hack roughly 48 hours later. But if you think this is a crushing defeat for Apple, think again. Apple's technology is good enough for most common applications. But no fingerprint reader is unhackable.

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Biometric information like fingerprints and retina scans are useful pieces of a multi-factor authentication puzzle. Although the CCC claims they used “materials that can be found in almost every household,” it’s unlikely that many households have the imaging technology to capture a fingerprint in a 2400 dpi photograph, clean up the resulting image and print it at 1200 dpi “onto transparent sheet with a thick toner setting,” and then “smear pink latex milk or white woodglue” into the pattern to make a fake finger like the one that successfully bypassed the security of Touch ID.

Despite the slightly high-end lab equipment, this isn’t exactly rocket science. The source fingerprint probably looked like this


And the lab bench where the fake finger was created probably looked something like this:

Cool, huh? Except those pictures aren't from the CCC. They're from a similar hack that was publicized more than a decade ago. Back in 2003, another group led by researchers Antti Kaseva and Antti Stén posted an almost identical description of a fingerprint hack using a Windows-based fingerprint scanner that was, at the time, state of the art:

President Barack Obama Reveals Why He Quit Smoking: "I'm Scared of My Wife"

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Be careful what you say, President Barack Obama!
While privately chit-chatting with UN General Assembly attendee Maina Kiai this week, the commander in chief didn't realize one of his microphones was still on and let slip a funny anecdote about wife Michelle Obama.

"I hope you've quit smoking," Obama said to Kiai, who replied, "Sometimes."

"I haven't had a cigarette in probably six years," Obama continued, adding with a smile and laugh, "That's because I'm scared of my wife."

Back in 2011, Michelle revealed that her husband had finally kicked his smoking habit, saying, "He's always wanted to quit."
And back in 2008, Obama told People he wasn't an every-day smoker. "That was always a little over-hyped," he said of the reports. "You know, I'd sneak maybe three, four cigarettes a day, then I could go three or four days without one."
It sure sounds like Obama's done smoking for good, thanks to the positive influence of the First Lady!

Fresh Gunfire From Kenya Mall

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NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Multiple barrages of gunfire erupted Sunday morning from the upscale Kenyan mall where there is a hostage standoff with Islamic extremists nearly 24 hours after they attacked using grenades and assault rifles.

Two wounded Kenyan security forces were carried out of the Westgate shopping mall after a sustained volley of gunfire that may have included grenade blasts.

Kenyan authorities said the militants held an unknown number of hostages in the shopping center located in the Westlands area of Nairobi, after killing at least 39 and injuring 150 on Saturday.

Somalia's al-Qaida-linked rebel group, al-Shabab, claimed responsibility for the attack in which they specifically targeted non-Muslims.

Kenyans and foreigners were among those confirmed dead, including French and Canadians. Kenya's presidential office said that one of the attackers was arrested on Saturday and died after suffering from bullet wounds.
"Violent extremists continue to occupy Westgate Mall. Security services are there in full force," said the United States embassy in an emergency text message issued Sunday morning.

Trucks brought in a fresh contingent of soldiers from the Kenya Defense Forces early Sunday to back the combined military and police force that surrounded the upscale mall overnight.

Daylight brought some good news, as Kenyan media reported that several people in hiding in the mall escaped to safety, suggesting that not everyone who is still inside is being held by al-Shabab. Cecile Ndwiga said she had been hiding under a car in the basement parking garage.  "I called my husband to ask the soldiers to come and rescue me. Because I couldn't just walk out anyhow. The shootout was all over here — left, right— just gun shots," she said.  Nairobi resident Paolo Abenavoli said he is holed up in his apartment only 100 meters from the mall with a direct view of the entrance. He said he could see a dozen or more security forces inside a first floor restaurant.  "The battle is on now," Abenavoli told The Associated Press by telephone as the fresh gunfire broke out Sunday.

Security forces had pushed curious crowds far back from the mall. Hundreds of residents gathered on a high ridge above the mall to watch for any activity.

Nairobi Live: At Least 30 Hostages, 15 Terrorists Still Inside Westgate Mall

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A gunbattle inside a shopping centre in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, has left at least 30 people dead and more than 50 injured, authorities said.

Gunfire has been exchanged for hours after Kenyan troops and elite units joined police fighting gunmen in Nairobi's upmarket Westgate shopping centre on Saturday.

In a statement issued by Kenya's Internal Security Minister Mutea Iringo said that the government is now "fully in charge" of the situation at the mall.

Police and security guards, who are calling the hours-long siege a "terrorist incident", told the AFP news agency that gunmen have also taken at least seven hostages in what was initially believed to be an armed robbery.

Smoke was seen rising from the shopping complex where gunfire is being exchanged with gunmen at the shopping centre in the Westlands district - one of the city's most exclusive shopping malls. The gunmen are reported to be carrying assault rifles and wearing combat fatigues.

Another witness said the attackers just opened fire, executing people after they threw grenades into the building at about midday local time (09:00 GMT).

Unverified witness accounts have indicated that the attackers targeted non-Muslims and foreigners.

Police said they had surrounded the Westgate mall, which is popular with wealthy Kenyans and expatriates, and urged residents to stay away from the area.

'Not ordinary thugs'

Alan Boswell, a freelance reporter who has been outside the shopping centre, told Al Jazeera that a strong firefight broke out earlier, and that there are still people being evacuated from the mall, some on stretchers.

"Many of them are quite terrified - they're crying, they're clutching their children," said Boswell.

An unknown number of attackers, he said, were still inside and in control of certain parts of the mall, where a heavy security presence remains.

"There's been no indication that [the situation] is under control," said Boswell.

There are reports of people still be trapped trapped in the mall's shops as well as parking garage. Police say they have managed to escort some shoppers to safety but are still trying to capture the gunmen.

Billow Kerrow, a senator from Mandera County in Nairobi, said it is still unknown who the attackers are.

"It's too early to know what kind of people these are, but from what we are getting, these are people who speak in the Swahili language," said Kerrow.

"They are people who seem to know what they are doing, are pretty much organised. It's really quite a shocking thing because from what we're getting, they aren't ordinary thugs," he said.

68 Believed Buried in Mexico Mudslide; Storm Death Toll Rises to 97

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Rescue efforts continue in La Pintada in hard-hit Guerrero state after a mudslide swept away homes. In Acapulco, anger flares amid evacuation.

MEXICO CITY — Rescue teams were searching Thursday for an estimated 68 people believed buried in a mudslide after multiple storms battered large swaths of Mexico, killing nearly 100 people nationwide and leaving thousands stranded or homeless.

While much attention was focused on tourists caught in the Pacific resort of Acapulco, grimmer reports emerged from villages in that hard-hit region of Guerrero state, which were largely cut off from aid and may have suffered large-scale devastation.

Luis Felipe Puente, the federal Civil Protection coordinator, said in a television interview that the national death toll climbed Thursday to 97 people in nine states. He said authorities were searching the Guerrero town of La Pintada, where at least 58 people were reported missing after a rain-propelled mudslide. Rescue operations have evacuated more than 300 people. Later, authorities said the missing numbered at least 68.
"We hope all [the missing] are not" dead, Puente said.

"We haven't seen bodies," Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong said after flying over the region. "But there were two-story houses that are now completely covered. There was a tall church, and now you don't see a church. It disappeared."   Some residents, Osorio Chong said, were resisting evacuation. "They say, I won't go until I find my daughter, my sister."

If confirmed, the La Pintada landslide will be the single deadliest incident after twin storms assailed opposite coasts of Mexico last weekend, a rare double whammy that officials said they had not seen here in more than half a century. President Enrique Peña Nieto flew to the region Thursday afternoon.  "We have had extraordinary rains," Peña Nieto said.

In photographs of La Pintada that he and his associates displayed at a news conference, it looked as though someone had taken a giant paintbrush and swiped the verdant green countryside with a wide, harsh red stripe. That was apparently the mudslide that carried away residents, their homes and belongings.

Manuel, a tropical storm that hit Guerrero and other parts of the western coast several days ago — as Hurricane Ingrid was pummeling the eastern coast — weakened, then grew to hurricane strength, then weakened again Thursday, meteorological officials said. At its strongest, it aimed Thursday for Sinaloa state, where authorities reported extensive flooding.

In Acapulco, meanwhile, an airlift of thousands of stranded tourists, most of them Mexicans, continued. Forty-five flights ferried peopled from Acapulco to Mexico City on Thursday after landslides and a flooded airport isolated the popular resort town on a holiday weekend.

Angry that they were not getting sufficient attention, some tourists staged a roadblock protest in Acapulco, stopping military trucks that some believed were helping privileged Mexicans cut the long lines for flights.

"We are getting desperate; we have no more money," tourist Alfredo Gonzalez told reporters. "We are signed up for a military flight, but they told us there are thousands and thousands of people ahead of us."

Peña Nieto's government was coming under criticism for having failed to give sufficient warning to residents as the storms bore down on the country. Critics said the president, with less than 10 months in office, was more worried about his first performance in annual Independence Day ceremonies and neglected weather realities.

Egyptian Forces Raid Pro-Morsi Town

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CAIRO - A police general was killed when Egyptian security forces stormed a village on the outskirts of Cairo on Thursday in the latest crackdown on the pro-Morsi activists, security officials said.  Military and police vehicles surrounded Kerdassah in the shadow of the Giza pyramids after dawn, as police special forces deployed to confront terrorists in the village, the interior ministry said. Giza security chief Nabil Farrag was killed in clashes as 65 people were arrested in the operation which carried on into the afternoon. Authorities slapped a daytime curfew on the village as they went door to door searching for 140 wanted men, including those behind a massacre in Kerdassah in which 11 policemen were killed on August 14. Heavy gunfire was exchanged as suspected militants shot at police from inside several buildings, AFP photographers at the scene said. Thursday’s raid is part of a massive crackdown on supporters of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi who was overthrown by the military on July 3.  Around 1,000 Islamists have been killed in the campaign in two months, as have dozens of soldiers and policemen.

Morsi is himself being held by the military at an unknown location, and hundreds of members of his Muslim Brotherhood are being detained on various charges.  Authorities installed by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi have vowed to end the recent wave of terrorism which they attribute to Morsi supporters. Security forces are pursuing their campaign in Kerdassah and will not stop until they clear (the village) of all terrorist and criminal elements, interior ministry spokesman Hani Abdel Latif told reporters. Television footage showed a thick pall of tear gas over the area, as security vehicles moved around deserted parts of Kerdassah, a stronghold of hardline supporters of Morsi. On August 14, just hours after a crackdown on two protest camps in Cairo of Morsi supporters, 11 policemen were found dead at Kerdassah police station. Several other police stations near the village were also torched.  Thursday’s operation comes days after a similar raid on the central Egyptian town of Delga in Minya province, which was held by hardline Islamists for more than a month.

Since the Islamists’ takeover there, three churches were torched, dozens of Christian homes burned and two Copts killed, according to rights groups. Delga and Kerdassah are among the most negative consequences of the Brotherhood regime, Abdel Latif said.  Meanwhile, several metro services for hundreds of thousands of commuters were interrupted briefly after two suspected bombs on the tracks in a south Cairo station turned out to be a hoax. The devices made to look like bombs contained no explosives, an interior ministry official said, adding: They were fake.”  A security official told AFP that cement bags with wires attached were placed on the tracks. Bomb experts sent to the scene searched for more such devices before services resumed soon afterwards, one official said.  The cabinet said on Thursday that a nightly curfew imposed on Cairo and 13 other provinces will be shortened by two hours. It will now run from midnight to 5:00 am except on Friday when it will begin at 7:00 pm, the cabinet said.  On September 12, the interim authorities extended a state of emergency in force since mid-August by another two months for security reasons. Egypt has been gripped by security-related problems since the 2011 uprising that toppled long-time autocrat Hosni Mubarak.  The unrest surged after the military’s ouster of Morsi more than two months ago.
The army has also been engaged in a campaign in the Sinai peninsula, pouring in troops and armour to crush militant attacks which rose after Morsi’s ouster.  The Islamist president’s removal came after millions of people took to the streets to demand his overthrow after a year-long turbulent rule that deeply polarised Egyptians.

Meanwhile, visiting EU special envoy Bernardino Leon said Thursday a political reconciliation in Egypt was necessary even if extremely difficult following Islamist president Mohamed Morsi’s ouster.
Leon met with both government officials including foreign minister Nabil Fahmy and Muslim Brotherhood members, among them Amr Darrag, an international cooperation minister under Morsi.  Both sides said we have to go back to an inclusive process, Leon told reporters on the second day of his visit. Leon has been in Cairo several times as part of international efforts to mediate between the authorities and the Brotherhood whose supporters set up two massive protest camps in Cairo.

Egypt Condemns European Union Threats to Halt Aid as Death Toll Rises

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Egypt has flatly rejected a warning by the European Union that it will "urgently review" its aid to the country against a background of mounting international concern about the deteriorating situation and the huge loss of life in the last few days.

Nabil Fahmy, foreign minister in the military-backed interim government, warned on Sunday against the "internationalization" of a crisis he described as Egypt's internal affair and criticized the "silence" of foreigners on attacks he blamed on the Muslim Brotherhood.

Reflecting a defiant official mood in Cairo, Fahmy ignored a public statement by the British foreign secretary, William Hague, who sought to strike a careful balance by condemning the "disproportionate use of force by the security forces or violent actions by some demonstrators". The statement was issued after the two men spoke on Saturday night, the Foreign Office said.

Diplomats said that Egypt was furious at last week's British and French calls for a private UN security council debate on the escalating crisis. Ban ki-Moon, the secretary-general, has expressed his concern and is sending a senior UN official to Cairo. More than 800 people, mostly Brotherhood supporters, were killed last week in the worst violence since President Mohamed Morsi was deposed in early July.

State media reported on Sunday night that 38 Brotherhood members taken prisoner had been killed in a riot. The pro-Morsi anti-coup alliance said it had evidence the detainees had been "assassinated" in a truck taking them to Abu Zaabal prison in northern Egypt.

Al-Jazeera TV said the men had been arrested in the evacuation of Cairo's al-Fath mosque on Saturday. The detainees were part of a prison truck convoy of some 600 people heading to Abu Zaabal, officials told Associated Press.

Detainees in one truck managed to capture a police officer, officials told AP. Security forces fired tear gas into the truck in hopes of freeing the badly beaten officer, the officials said. The officials said those killed died from the effects of the gas.

Sunday's state TV broadcasts – tagged with an "Egypt fighting terrorism" logo – ran repeated interviews with citizens agreeing with the government's rejection of foreign involvement.

EU foreign ministers are expected to meet in Brussels this week to discuss Egypt after the presidents of the European council and European commission, Herman Van Rompuy and José Manuel Barroso, warned jointly on Sunday that further escalation could have "unpredictable consequences". The EU had pledged almost €5bn (£4.2bn) in loans and grants for 2012-2013.

In a statement they said the EU would "urgently review in the coming days its relations with Egypt".

"We regret deeply that international efforts and proposals for building bridges and establishing an inclusive political process ... were set aside and a course of confrontation was instead pursued," they added.

But Fahmy suggested bluntly that Cairo could manage without EU help. "I want to determine what is useful and what is not and what aid is being used to pressure Egypt and whether this aid has good intentions and credibility," he told reporters in Cairo. "We are not looking to replace one friend with another but we will look out to the world and continue to establish relations with other countries so we have options."

Relations between Egypt and the US have been strained by the crisis, but President Barack Obama has faced criticism for merely suspending the two countries' annual Bright Star joint military exercise but not touching $1.5bn (£959m) in annual aid to the Egyptian armed forces. On Sunday, Obama's former presidential rival and influential Republican foreign policy voice John McCain said Obama's failure to follow through on a threat to cut off aid if there was a coup in Egypt, meant the administration was "not sticking to our values".

But Fahmy said: "The relationship between Egypt and the US has been there for a long time. It has been through ups and downs in the past. We hope things will go back to normal promptly."

Tamarod (Rebellion), the movement that organised the 30 June mass protests that ended with Morsi's removal by the army, said on Sundayit was launching a petition calling for an end to all US assistance to Egypt and the abrogation of its 1979 peace treaty with Israel, the linchpin of US strategy in the region. It cited "unacceptable American intervention in Egyptian affairs and US support for "terrorist groups".

In the face of western criticism, Egypt is now relying increasingly on political and financial support from its conservative Arab allies, led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, sworn enemies of Morsi and the Brotherhood and the leaders of the counter-revolutionary response to the uprisings of the Arab spring. Al-Akhbar, a leading state-run newspaper, on Sunday published a cartoon of an avuncular-looking King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia extending generous cash support to an Egyptian.

Fahmy told Hague and other foreign ministers that "the Brotherhood and its allies were terrorising citizens, attacking governmental institutions, hospitals, churches, places of worship [and] causing … a threat to domestic peace and security". The Egyptian minister also criticised the international community. "Their silence encourages armed groups to continue murdering and using violence and intimidation," he said.

The responsibility of any government was to provide security and impose public order within the context of the law, Al-Ahram reported.

Attack At The Navy Yard

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The nation's capital went on high alert Monday after a shooting attack at the city's U.S. Navy Yard left at least 12 victims and one gunman dead and injured 8 others.

Police said one suspected shooter was dead at the scene, but they were keeping the Yard on lockdown because they were still searching for a person of interest who was seen wearing a drab olive uniform.

Authorities identified the dead suspect as Aaron Alexis, a 34-year-old man from New York, who the Pentagon says was a full-time Navy reservist from May of 2007 through January of 2011.

NPR's Carrie Johnson reports that law enforcement officials believe Alexis gained access to the secure military facility by using the ID of "a 50-odd year-old African American man who was recently dismissed from his job at the Navy Yard."

Alexis, however, was also working as for an IT company that was upgrading the Navy's computer system.

D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said it's still unclear how Alexis died, but she said he was involved in gun battles with active shooter teams inside building 197 of the Washington Navy Yard.

Lanier said police had "multiple engagements with the suspect" and it was after one of those that Alexis was found dead.

D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray said authorities did not suspect terrorism, but the motive for the shooting was still a mystery.

The attack was, President Obama told the nation, a "cowardly act ... [on] men and women who were going to work, doing their jobs, protecting all of us."

"They were patriots," he said of the victims.

At first police officials said that there were two other "potential" shooters they were looking for. Other law enforcement sources, though, cautioned that in the confusion some first responders might have been mistaken for additional attackers.

And just before 2:45 p.m. ET., D.C. Police announced that one of the potential other gunmen — "the white male in the tan outfit" — had been "identified and is not a suspect or person of interest."

The incident began around 8:20 a.m. ET when shots were fired around a building on the grounds of the facility in Southeast D.C., the Navy confirmed just minutes later.

Initially, there was word that only a few people had been injured and that only one gunman was responsible. Among those hurt, according to reports from emergency personnel, was a police officer who was struck at least twice.

But at 10:04 a.m. ET, the Navy added that there had been "reports of fatalities." Federal law enforcement sources told NPR a short time later that there had been "multiple fatalities."

Then as morning turned to afternoon, the death toll turned grim, when authorities said 12 victims were dead, not including the gunman.

We're updating as more news comes in. Our colleagues at WAMU are following the story here. As happens when news such as this is breaking, there will be conflicting accounts. We'll focus on information from authorities in a position to know what's going on and from news outlets with reporters at or near the scene. If things change, we'll pass along that information.

Syria: US Says 'Threat Of Force Is Real

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The Syrian Government has welcomed the international agreement on its chemical weapons disarmament as "a victory" for Damascus.3:31pm UK, Sunday 15 September 2013 Kerry and Netanyahu
John Kerry gives a joint briefing with Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has issued a strong warning to Syria, saying "the threat of force is real" if it does not destroy its chemical weapons.  Speaking at a joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, he said the focus must now be on ending the violence and humanitarian crisis in Syria.  But he again warned that US military strikes were a possibility if President Bashar al Assad does not comply with a newly-brokered US and Russian deal to strip him of his chemical stockpiles.  "Make no mistake, we have taken no options off the table," he said.

Mr Netanyahu said diplomacy could only work if it was coupled with the credible threat of force. Syria needs to be stripped of its chemical weapons, he said. "It would make the entire region a lot safer."  The Syrian government has welcomed the international agreement on its chemical weapons disarmament as "a victory" for Damascus.  "On one hand, it helps the Syrians emerge from the crisis and on the other it has allowed for averting war against Syria," Syrian minister of state for national reconciliation Ali Haidar said in an interview with Russian news agency Ria Novosti. "It's a victory for Syria that was achieved thanks to our Russian friends."

Syrian troops in gunfight with rebels in Tadaman
Syrian troops and rebels continue to clash on the streets of Damascus
Mr Haidar gave Syria's first reaction to the disarmament plan as warplanes and artillery bombarded rebel-held areas of Damascus. He said the deal would prepare the ground for peace talks between President Assad's forces and the rebels. But the rebels have called the international focus on poison gas a sideshow, and dismissed talk the plan might herald peace talks. They said Mr Assad had stepped up an offensive with ordinary weaponry now the threat of US air strikes had receded.

Earlier, US President Barack Obama welcomed the nine-month disarmament plan, calling it an "important, concrete step", but also warned that "if diplomacy fails, the United States remains prepared to act".  The US and Russia have given Syria seven days to submit a "comprehensive list" of its chemical weapons - otherwise, the US will seek a UN resolution that could still authorise strikes.  Once the details have been handed over, the Assad regime will then have until November to allow UN inspectors access to the sites. Destruction of the regime's chemical weapons must then be complete by mid-2014.