Israel apologizes to Turkey over flotilla deaths

President Barack Obama walks on the tarmac with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, and Israeli President Shimon Peres, left, prior to his departure from Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, March 22, 2013, (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Barack Obama walks on the tarmac with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, and Israeli President Shimon Peres, left, prior to his departure from Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, March 22, 2013, (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Barack Obama walks with Israeli Benjamin Netanyau, right, and Israeli President Shimon Peres, left, walk across the tarmac prior to his departure from Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, March 22, 2013, (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

JERUSALEM (AP) ? Israel agreed to restore full diplomatic relations with Turkey in a surprising turnaround Friday after apologizing for a botched naval raid that resulted in the deaths of nine Turkish activists aboard an international flotilla bound for Gaza in 2010.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the breakthrough after a phone conversation with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The 20-minute phone call was brokered by visiting President Barack Obama shortly before he left Israel.

The announcement was an unexpected reversal by Netanyahu, who has repeatedly rejected calls to apologize. But the two countries' joint interests, including fears that the Syrian civil war could spill over their respective borders, made the time ripe to mend relations.

"The two men agreed to restore normalization between Israel and Turkey, including the dispatch of ambassadors and the cancellation of legal steps against Israeli soldiers," a statement from Netanyahu's office said.

Netanyahu "expressed regret over the deterioration in bilateral relations and noted his commitment to working out the disagreements in order to advance peace and regional stability," it said.

The statement stressed that the bloodshed was not intentional. "In light of the Israeli investigation into the incident, which pointed out several operational errors, Prime Minister Netanyahu apologized to the Turkish people for any errors that could have led to loss of life and agreed to complete the agreement on compensation," the statement said.

Israel intercepted a ship named Mavi Marmara while stopping an international flotilla trying to breach an Israeli blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Israel considers Hamas, which has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings and other attacks on buses and cafes, a terrorist group. Israel says it imposed the blockade to prevent Gaza militants from getting weapons. Gaza militants have fired thousands of rockets and mortar rounds at Israeli border communities and towns during the past decade.

Israel has previously blamed the activists on the bloodshed of the morning of May 31, 2010, saying its naval commandos were attacked when they boarded the ship. Israel released videos showing armed activists brandishing iron rods and clubs attacking the soldiers as they slowly rappelled onto the deck from a helicopter. Soldiers were overpowered as they landed. They were surrounded by men with sticks. One soldier was tossed onto a lower deck.

The military later said the soldiers were not expecting trouble and had paintball guns as their primary weapons while handguns were only for an emergency. Two activists grabbed the handguns away from soldiers and shot two of them, the military said at the time. Both activists were then shot and killed.

The fighting left nine activists dead, most of them Turks, and dozens were wounded. On the Israeli side, a total of seven soldiers were wounded.

Israel insisted that its soldiers acted in self-defense and later showcased knives, slingshots and clubs they said were found onboard the ship. Some activists had military-style gear, including bullet-proof vests and night-vision goggles. Israel said this indicated that the activists had planned for violence.

The activists also said they acted in self-defense and insist they were attacked first.

Israeli officials said Obama helped play a role in the reconciliation, but that efforts had been going on behind the scenes for some time.

Israel and Turkey were once close allies. But in recent years, ties have deteriorated with the rise of Erdogan's Islamist party. Following the flotilla incident, Turkey withdrew its ambassador to Israel and greatly scaled back military and economic ties. But relations were never broken completely.

A statement from Erdogan's office said Netanyahu had apologized on behalf of Israel for all kinds of mistakes that resulted in the loss of life or injuries in light of an investigation led by the Israeli side that pointed at a series of operational mistakes. "Our prime minister accepted the apology in the name of the Turkish people," it said.

The statement from Turkey said an agreement also had been reached on the issue of compensation and that Israel had lifted restrictions on the movement of goods to Gaza as long as "calm" lasts.

During the telephone conversation, Erdogan told Netanyahu that he valued the strong ties of friendship between the Turkish and Jewish people, the statement said.

Erdogan "expressed that it was saddening that relations, which are of vital strategic importance for peace and the stability of the region, have been soured in recent years," the statement said.

The statement said Erdogan "renewed his support for international and regional efforts to find a lasting and comprising solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on the two-state vision."

The U.S. welcomed the development as a means to advance regional peace and security.

"I am hopeful that today's exchange between the two leaders will enable them to engage in deeper cooperation on this and a range of other challenges and opportunities," Obama said in a statement.

___

Suzan Fraser in Ankara and Matthew Lee aboard Air Force One contributed to this report

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-03-22-Israel-Turkey/id-2fa77b298d3c40da918274ff6fd1851e

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Texas shootout may tie to Colo. prison chief death

DECATUR, Texas (AP) ? Investigators from three Colorado police agencies rushed to Texas to determine if a man identified as a parolee, who was critically wounded by Texas police after a harrowing 100-mph car chase, is linked to the slaying of Colorado's state prisons chief.

The black Cadillac the suspect drove, with Colorado license plates, matched the description of a car spotted outside Tom Clements' home in Monument, Colo., just before he was fatally shot while answering his front door Tuesday evening.

Evan Spencer Ebel, 28, was gravely wounded in the clash with police Thursday. Authorities said he was not expected to survive and was hooked up to equipment for organ harvesting.

Colorado investigators immediately headed to Texas to determine whether Ebel was linked to Clements' slaying and the killing Sunday of Nathan Leon, a Denver pizza delivery man. Police in Colorado would only say the connection to the Leon case is strong but would not elaborate or say if they believe Ebel killed Clements and Leon.

The Denver Post first reported Ebel's name, and that he was in a white supremacist prison gang called the 211s. A federal law enforcement official confirmed his identity and gang affiliation to The Associated Press. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the case and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

The killing of Clements, 58, shocked his quiet neighborhood in Monument, a town of rolling hills north of Colorado Springs, for its brutality: He answered the door of his home Tuesday evening and was gunned down. Authorities wouldn't say if they thought the attack was related to his job, and all Clements' recent public activities and cases were scrutinized.

The Texas car chase started when a sheriff's deputy in Montague County, James Boyd, tried to pull over the Cadillac around 11 a.m. Thursday, authorities there said. They wouldn't say exactly why he was stopped, but called it routine.

The driver opened fire on Boyd, wounding him, Wise County Sheriff David Walker said at an afternoon news conference in Decatur. He then fled south before crashing into a semi as he tried to elude his pursuers.

After the crash, he got out of the vehicle, shooting at deputies and troopers who had joined the chase. He shot at Decatur Police Chief Rex Hoskins four times as the chief tried to set up a roadblock.

"He wasn't planning on being taken alive," Hoskins said.

Boyd, the deputy who was shot, was wearing a bulletproof vest and was at a Fort Worth hospital, authorities said. Officials had said he wasn't seriously injured but later said his condition was unknown.

The car is so far the main link authorities have given between the Colorado case and the Texas shootout. El Paso County sheriff's investigators have been looking for a dark, late-model car, possibly a Lincoln or a Cadillac, that a neighbor spotted near Clements' home around the time of the shooting.

"We don't know yet exactly whether this is the guy," Gov. John Hickenlooper told reporters Thursday afternoon. "There's some indication. I hope it is."

El Paso County sheriff's officials did not return repeated messages Thursday. In a statement, Lt. Jeff Kramer said investigators will inspect evidence in Texas and would need crime lab analysis before they're able to determine whether the suspect is linked to Clements' shooting.

"These efforts take time," Kramer said.

Other links between Ebel and the Colorado killings aren't clear. Legal records show he was convicted of several crimes in Colorado dating back to 2003, including assaulting a prison guard in 2008. He apparently was paroled, but Colorado Department of Corrections spokeswoman Alison Morgan said she could not release information on prisoners because of the ongoing investigation into Clements' death.

Scott Robinson, a criminal defense attorney and media legal analyst, represented Ebel in 2003 and 2004. He said Ebel had been sentenced to a halfway house for a robbery charge in 2003 before he was accused in two additional robbery cases the following year that garnered prison sentences of three and eight years.

"I thought he was a young man who was redeemable, otherwise I wouldn't have taken the case," Robinson said, saying he didn't recall the details of the case.

Robinson said he knew Ebel before he got in trouble. He said Ebel was raised by a single father and had a younger sister who died in a car accident years ago.

Vicky Bankey said Ebel was in his teens when she lived across from him in suburban Denver until his father moved a couple of years ago. She remembers seeing Ebel once jump off the roof of his house. "He was a handful. I'd see him do some pretty crazy things," she said.

"He had a hair-trigger temper as a kid. But his dad was so nice," Bankey said.

Ebel's father didn't return an after-hours phone message left at his business.

Clements came to Colorado in 2011 after working three decades in the Missouri prison system. Missouri Department of Corrections spokeswoman Mandi Steele said Thursday the department was ready to help in the probe if asked.

"Tom regularly commented that corrections is inherently a dangerous business, and that's all that I'll say," Morgan, who worked closely with Clements, said earlier.

Officials in positions like Clements' get a deluge of threats, according to people who monitor their safety. But it can be hard sorting out which ones could lead to violence. A U.S. Department of Justice study found that federal prosecutors and judges received 5,250 threats between 2003 and 2008, but there were only three attacks during that time period.

The last public official killed in Colorado in the past 10 years was Sean May, a prosecutor in suburban Denver. An assailant killed May as he arrived home from work. Investigators examined May's court cases, but the case remains unsolved.

___

Banda reported from Denver. Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Nicholas Riccardi, Colleen Slevin and Ivan Moreno in Denver, and Jordan Shapiro in Jefferson City, Mo.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/texas-shootout-may-tie-colo-prison-chief-death-225947667.html

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Engadget HD Podcast 340 - 03.12.2013

We've got a pair of new boxes to discuss this week, with the TiVo Mini and Roku 3 both making their debut. While we discuss what they add to the mix (and what they're still missing), other news includes the end of Netflix's public API program and UK pricing for LG's first OLED HDTV. Meanwhile Google Fiber has picked up its first 3D channels and we discuss the importance of Who Framed Roger Rabbit in the history of film as a whole. Finally, we'll remind you to check in Saturday afternoon at 2:15PM for our "How Technology is Changing the Way We Watch TV" panel at Engadget Expand featuring guests from Sling, Boxee and TiVo.

Hosts: Ben Drawbaugh (@bjdraw), Richard Lawler (@rjcc)

Producer: James Trew (@itstrew)

Hear the podcast

Filed under: Podcasts, HD

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/12/engadget-hd-podcast-340-03-12-2013/

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Senator's 'aggressive' airport pat-down (CNN)

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FAA approves Boeing plan to fix 787's batteries

FILE - In this Jan. 7, 2013, file photo, a Japan Airlines Boeing 787 jet aircraft is surrounded by emergency vehicles while parked at a terminal E gate at Logan International Airport in Boston as a fire chief looks into the cargo hold. Federal regulators have approved a Boeing plan to redesign the fire-prone lithium-ion batteries, although extensive testing will be needed before the planes can fly passengers again. The Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday, March 12, 2013, the plan includes a redesign of the internal battery components to minimize the possibility of short-circuiting, better insulation of the battery's eight cells and the addition of a new containment and venting system.(AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

FILE - In this Jan. 7, 2013, file photo, a Japan Airlines Boeing 787 jet aircraft is surrounded by emergency vehicles while parked at a terminal E gate at Logan International Airport in Boston as a fire chief looks into the cargo hold. Federal regulators have approved a Boeing plan to redesign the fire-prone lithium-ion batteries, although extensive testing will be needed before the planes can fly passengers again. The Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday, March 12, 2013, the plan includes a redesign of the internal battery components to minimize the possibility of short-circuiting, better insulation of the battery's eight cells and the addition of a new containment and venting system.(AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? A Boeing plan to redesign the 787 Dreamliner's fire-plagued lithium-ion batteries won approval Tuesday from the Federal Aviation Administration, moving the cutting-edge planes a step closer to flying passengers again.

The plan includes changes to the internal battery components to minimize the possibility of short-circuiting, which can lead to overheating and cause a fire. Among the changes are better insulation of the battery's eight cells and the addition of a new containment and venting system, the FAA said in a statement.

The FAA statement didn't provide an estimate for when the grounded planes might return to service. Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., who was briefed by the agency, said that if all goes well, the FAA could give final approval by mid- to late April for the 787 to resume flight.

Boeing would still have to retrofit the 50 planes already delivered to eight airlines in seven countries, Larsen said in an interview. That could mean the plane wouldn't return to the skies until late April or early May, he said.

First, Boeing's redesigned batteries have to pass a series of 20 separate tests lab, Larsen said, then flight tests would follow.

"If there's any one test that isn't passed, it's back to the drawing board for that particular part of the tests," he said.

So far, test flights of two 787s have been approved ? one with a complete prototype of the new battery, the other with only a new, more robust containment box for the battery, Boeing spokesman Marc Birtel said.

The plan is an outline for a recertification of the plane's batteries, the FAA said. The 787 has two identical lithium-ion batteries, one of which is located toward the front of the plane and powers cockpit electrical systems, the other toward the rear and used to start an auxiliary power unit while the plane is on the ground, among other functions.

Every item that is part of an airplane, down to its nuts and bolts, must be certified as safe before FAA approves that type of plane as safe for flight.

The 787 fleet worldwide has been grounded by the FAA and civil aviation authorities in other countries since Jan. 16, following a battery fire on a Dreamliner parked in Boston and a smoking battery that led to the emergency landing of another 787 in Japan.

"This comprehensive series of tests will show us whether the proposed battery improvements will work as designed," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. "We won't allow the plane to return to service unless we're satisfied that the new design ensures the safety of the aircraft and its passengers."

The airliner's troubles have raised concerns that the FAA has ceded too much responsibility for evaluating the safety of new aircraft to manufacturers. To save manpower, the FAA designates employees at aircraft makers and their subcontractors to conduct the safety testing of new planes. Boeing's battery testing concluded that short-circuiting wouldn't lead to a fire and that the chance of a smoke event was one in every 10 million flight hours.

Instead, there were two battery failures when the entire fleet had clocked less than 52,000 flight hours.

The FAA's approval of Boeing's plan "is a critical and welcome milestone toward getting the fleet flying again and continuing to deliver on the promise of the 787," Jim McNerney, the aircraft maker's CEO, said in a statement.

The 787 is Boeing's newest and most technologically advanced plane. Its grounding on Jan. 16, an enormous black eye for Boeing, marked the first time since 1979 that FAA had ordered every plane of a particular type to stay out of the air for safety reasons.

UBS analyst David Strauss estimated that the 787 will cost Boeing $6 billion this year. Besides the battery problems, the plane already costs more to build than it brings in from customers.

United Airlines is the only U.S. carrier with Dreamliners in its fleet. It has six, plus another 44 on order. American and Delta have also ordered 787s. Boeing has orders for more than 800 of the planes from airlines around the globe.

Steven Udvar-Hazy, CEO of Air Lease Corp., which has ordered 12 of the planes, said it could still take months for the plane to fly again and that a very long-term grounding could damage the 787 Dreamliner brand.

"It's important to get the airplane back in the air," Udvar-Hazy said while attending an airplane finance conference in Orlando, Fla. "Every plane has mechanical issues, but this was one that was considered serious by the authorities and I think Boeing has done everything it can to get that under control."

Udvar-Hazy has had weekly updates from Boeing's CEO of commercial airplanes, Ray Conner, and daily conversations with others at the airplane manufacturer. He has then relayed that information to his airline customers around the world.

"Boeing has been very transparent and I think they've made a very concerted effort to address this issue ... to come up with a fix that hopefully is a permanent fix, not just sort of a Band-Aid solution," he said.

Boeing plans to begin test flights within days, Birtel said. The new battery design will be tested on a plane that has been identified elsewhere as being built for LOT Polish Airlines. Boeing also plans to fly a 787 that is used exclusively for testing. That plane has the stronger battery box, and will also be used for unrelated engine tests.

Before the fire on Jan. 7, Boeing shares had closed at $77.69. They closed as low as $73.65 three weeks later, after the planes had been grounded. But the shares have been recovering as anticipation grew for a battery fix. Boeing's gains have outpaced the strong rise in the Dow Jones industrial average, of which Boeing Co. is a member.

On Tuesday, Boeing shares rose $1.22 to close at $84.16, and rose another 28 cents to $84.44 in aftermarket trading.

___

Freed reported from Minneapolis. AP Airline Writer Scott Mayorwitz in Orlando contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-03-12-Boeing%20787-FAA/id-b66f4a1107b44dd09dd47e0dc428c3f9

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NYC soda ban hits restaurants Tuesday

NYC soda ban on large, sugary drinks goes into effect Tuesday, and restaurants are making the necessary adjustments. Some are ordering smaller glasses, while others are having customers sweeten their own coffee to comply with the NYC soda ban.

By Jennifer Peltz,?Associated Press / March 11, 2013

A Coca-Cola poster about the new NYC soda ban is displayed at a pizza shop last week at New York's Penn Station. The nation?s first limit on the size of sugar-laden beverages is set to take effect Tuesday in the city. Customers will no longer get 24-ounce tumblers of soda, since the new rule bars selling non-diet cola in cups, bottles or pitchers bigger than 16 ounces.

Bebeto Matthews/AP/File

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?At barbecue joints, coffee counters and bottle-service nightclubs, a coming NYC soda ban ? a clampdown on big, sugary soft drinks is beginning to take shape on tables and menus in a city that thrives on eating and going out.

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Some restaurants are ordering smaller glasses. Dunkin' Donuts shops are telling customers they'll have to sweeten and flavor their own coffee. Coca-Cola has printed posters explaining the new rules, and a bowling lounge is squeezing carrot and beet juice as a potential substitute for pitchers of?soda?at family parties ? all in preparation for the nation's first limit on the size of sugar-laden beverages, set to take effect Tuesday.

Some businesses are holding off, hoping a court challenge nixes or at least delays the restriction. But many are getting ready for tasks including reprinting menus and changing movie theaters' supersized soda-and-popcorn deals.

At Brother Jimmy's BBQ, customers still will be able to order margaritas by the pitcher, cocktails in jumbo Mason jars and heaping plates of ribs. But they'll no longer get 24-ounce (720-milliliter) tumblers of?soda, since the new rule bars selling non-diet cola in cups, bottles or pitchers bigger than 16 ounces (480 milliliters).

"Everything we do is big, so serving it in quaint little 16-ounce?soda?cups is going to look kind of odd," owner Josh Lebowitz said. Nonetheless, he's ordered 1,000 of them for the North Carolina-themed restaurant's five Manhattan locations, rather than take on a fight that carries the threat of $200 fines.

"As long as they keep allowing us to serve beer in glasses larger than 16 ounces, we'll be OK," Lebowitz reasoned.

The restriction doesn't apply to alcoholic beverages, among other exemptions for various reasons. But it does cover such beverages as energy drinks and sweetened fruit smoothies.

City officials say it's a pioneering, practical step to staunch an obesity rate that has risen from 18 to 24 percent in a decade among adult New Yorkers. Health officials say sugar-filled drinks bear much of the blame because they carry hundreds of calories ? a 32-ounce (960-milliliter)?soda?has more than a typical fast-food cheeseburger ? without making people feel full.

The city "has the ability to do this and the obligation to try to help," the plan's chief cheerleader, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, said last month.

Critics say the regulation won't make a meaningful difference in diets but will unfairly hurt some businesses while sparing others. A customer who can't get a 20-ounce (600-milliliter) Coke at a sandwich shop could still buy a Big Gulp at a 7-Eleven, for instance, since many convenience stores and supermarkets are beyond the city's regulatory reach.

New Yorkers are divided on the restriction. A Quinnipiac University poll released last week found 51 percent opposed it, while 46 percent approved.

"I don't know if the state should be our surrogate parent," Peter Sarfaty, 71, said as he drank a diet cola with lunch in Manhattan this week. "You get the information out there, but to tell people what they can or can't do? As if it's going to stop them."

Business organizations ranging from the massive American Beverage Association to a local Korean-American grocers' group have asked a judge to stop the size limit from taking effect until he decides on their bid to block it altogether. He hasn't ruled on either request.

Many businesses aren't taking chances in the meantime.

Dominic Fazio, the manager of a Penn Station pizzeria, has stopped ordering 32-ounce (960-milliliter) and 24-ounce (720-milliliter) cups, though he calls the regulation "ridiculous."

"But I guess the law is the law, right?" said Fazio, who put up an explanatory sign Coca-Cola Co. provided. The Atlanta-based?sodagiant said in a statement that helping small businesses prepare was "the responsible thing to do."

Managers at rapper Jay-Z's 40-40 Club were busy this week making sure they wouldn't get in hot water over carafes of?soda?and other sweet mixers that accompany bottle service, spokeswoman Lauren Menache said. The carafes are slightly bigger than 16 ounces; city lawyers have indicated such containers should pass muster.

Dunkin' Donuts shops, meanwhile, have set out colorful fliers explaining the complex rules surrounding coffee.

Lots of lattes are exempt because they're more than half milk. And it's OK for customers to load their large and extra-large coffees with all the sugar or sweet flavoring they want. But the chain will no longer do it for them, for fear of running over the limit of roughly three calories per ounce (30 milliliters).

Starbucks, meanwhile, believes most of its products won't be affected and isn't making any immediate changes, spokeswoman Linda Mills said.

Even some businesses that specialize in big?sodas?aren't making moves ? yet ? in light of the lawsuit and the city's pledge not to impose fines until June. Until then, violations would just spur a notice.

At Dallas BBQ, "Texas-size" 20-ounce?sodas?are staying for now, said Eric Levine, one of the directors.

Switching to 16 ounces would mean ordering roughly 10,000 new glasses for the New York-based company's 10 locations, including a Times Square spot that seats 1,000 people. And customers wouldn't feel they were getting the same deal: double thesoda?for little more than the price of the 10-ounce (300-milliliter) size, Levine said.

The rule's effects may be particularly pronounced at movie theaters, where belly-buster?sodas?are as familiar as coming attractions. Big beverages also account for about 10 percent of profits, according to court papers.

"People just like that comfort, while they're sitting there ? to make sure they have enough to drink for the whole movie," Russell Levinson, the general manager of Movieworld, mused this week.

The family-owned theater sells?soda?in 20-ounce bottles and 44-, 32-, 22-, and 12-ounce cups. The theater is looking at getting 16-ounce cups, considering two-drink and refill specials and retooling all its drink-and-popcorn combination offers, Levinson said.

Some businesses, though, are adapting to the new rule with gusto.

At Frames Bowling Lounge, a Manhattan spot that mixes bowling with an upscale bar, the families who pack the lanes on weekend days will no longer be offered pitchers of?soda?as part of a party package, executive general manager Ayman Kamel said.

Instead, they can get individual, eight-ounce (240-milliliter) cups of?soda?? or pitchers of the low-sugar, house-made juices that he and staffers spent an afternoon tasting this week. They experimented with such options as carrot, beet and mint-and-citrus.

"It's going to cost a little bit more money, but nothing is more valuable than having freshly squeezed juice available for our clients," he said. "We're taking advantage of the situation to promote the good side ? healthy options."

___

Associated Press writer Karen Matthews and AP Food Industry Writer Candice Choi contributed to this report.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/UqaIKJ9DF1o/NYC-soda-ban-hits-restaurants-Tuesday

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