Netanyahu brushes off world condemnation of settlement plans

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday brushed off world condemnation of Israel's plans to expand Jewish settlements after the Palestinians won de facto U.N. recognition of statehood.

"We will carry on building in Jerusalem and in all the places that are on the map of Israel's strategic interests," a defiant Netanyahu said at the weekly cabinet meeting.

In another blow to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, Israel announced it was withholding Palestinian tax revenues this month worth about $100 million.

Israel said the reason for the move was a Palestinian debt of $200 million to the Israeli Electric Corporation, an obligation that has existed for some time.

Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz cautioned last month that if the Palestinians went ahead with the U.N. bid Israel would "not collect taxes for them and we will not transfer their revenues".

Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior Palestinian official, said confiscation of the tax funds due the cash-strapped Authority, vital to meeting its payroll, was "piracy and theft".

Stung by the U.N. General Assembly's upgrading of the Palestinians' status from "observer entity" to "non-member state", Israel said on Friday it would build 3,000 more settler homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, areas Palestinians want for a future state, along with Gaza.

An Israeli official said the government also ordered "preliminary zoning and planning work" for thousands of housing units in areas including the so-called "E1" zone near Jerusalem.

Such construction could divide the West Bank in two and further dim Palestinian hopes, backed by the United States and other international sponsors of the Middle East peace process, for a contiguous country.

"It would represent an almost fatal blow to remaining chances of securing a two-state solution," United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement on Sunday.

Israeli officials said it could be up to two years before any building begins in E1.

At the cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said the "unilateral step the Palestinians took at the U.N. is a gross violation of previous agreements signed with Israel". The government of Israel, he added, "rejects the General Assembly's vote".

The upgrade, approved overwhelmingly, fell short of full U.N. membership, which only the Security Council can grant. But it has significant legal implications because it could allow the Palestinians access to the International Criminal Court where they could file complaints against Israel.

Israel's settlement plans, widely seen as retaliation for the Palestinians' U.N. bid, have drawn strong international condemnation from the United States, France, Britain and the European Union.

"The recognition of Palestine as a state changes a lot of the facts, and aims to establish new ones," Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told a cheering crowd in the West Bank city of Ramallah on his return from the United States.

"But we have to recognize that our victory provoked the powers of settlement, war and occupation."

INTERNATIONAL CRITICISM

Netanyahu heads a pro-settler government and opinion polls predict his Likud party will come out on top in Israel's January 22 parliamentary election, despite opponents' allegations that his policies have deepened Israeli diplomatic isolation.

"All settlement construction is illegal under international law and constitutes an obstacle to peace," the EU's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement on Sunday.

The United States said the plan was counterproductive to any resumption of direct peace talks, stalled for two years in a dispute over settlement expansion in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, both captured by Israel in a 1967 war.

Netanyahu says Israel, as a Jewish state, has a historic claim to land in the West Bank and to all of Jerusalem. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state. Israel considers all of the holy city as its capital, a claim that is not recognized internationally.

Israeli Housing Minister Ariel Attias said that within weeks the government would publish invitations for bids from contractors to build 1,000 homes in East Jerusalem and more than 1,000 in West Bank settlement blocs.

"E1 is in planning, which means sketches on paper," Attias told Army Radio. "No one will build until it is clear what will be done there."

The E1 zone is considered especially sensitive. Israel froze much of its activities in E1 under pressure from former U.S. President George W. Bush and the area has been under the scrutiny of his successor Barack Obama.

Benny Kashriel, mayor of the Maale Adumim settlement adjacent to E1, told Army Radio building "will take a year or two".

Yariv Oppenheimer, head of the Israeli anti-settlement group Peace Now said: "If we build in E1 the two-state vision will truly be history ... it is a strategic point that if built, will prevent the Palestinians from having a normal state."

Approximately 500,000 Israelis and 2.5 million Palestinians live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

(Additional reporting by Jihan Abdalla and Ali Sawafta in Ramallah and Louis Charbonneau in New York; Editing by Jeffrey Heller and Andrew Roche)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/netanyahu-brushes-off-world-condemnation-settlement-plans-072953824.html

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Solar Industry Borrows a Page, and a Party, From Tupperware

Joshua Lott for The New York Times

Toni Bouchard, a vice president of SmartPower, right, outside Pat Peaper?s home in Goodyear. Ms. Peaper, second from left, held a social event to promote solar panels to her neighbors.

GOODYEAR, Ariz. ? The neighbors had gathered on the patio of a sun-baked ranch here, eager to hear the party?s hosts talk about their products and how they could enhance their lives. But in place of the timeworn arrangement of plastic storage containers or cosmetics on the coffee table, the couple was showing off an array of a different sort: the 32 solar panels on the roof.

?It?s just wonderful, the savings that we?ve had on our bills,? Pat Peaper, one of the hosts, told the crowd as it sipped iced tea and lemonade and picked at cookies and crudit?s.

?We have a neighbor next door,? her husband, Jim, added, ?who?s averaging $350 a month? in energy bills without solar. ?If they put it in, they can certainly cut that, probably by two-thirds.?

Environmentalists, government officials and sales representatives have been trying to get Americans to go solar for decades, with limited success. Despite the long push, solar power still represents less than 1 percent of electricity generated in the United States. Home solar panel setups, which typically run $25,000 or more, are considered by many consumers to be the province of the rich or idealistic.

So now solar companies are adhering to a path blazed by Tupperware decades ago, figuring that the best sales people are often enthusiastic customers willing to share their experiences with friends and neighbors ? and perhaps earn a referral fee on any sales that result.

In Arizona, a nonprofit marketing company called SmartPower has had surprising success building networks of neighbors who install solar in their homes and then spread the gospel at promotional gatherings like the Peapers? party.

Solar companies, like SunWize Technologies and SolarCity, are running party-plan programs of their own, which makes it easier and cheaper for them to find new customers.

The effectiveness of such marketing is apparent in Pebble Creek, the gated community for older adults where the Peapers live. About 10 percent of the roughly 6,000 homes in the community, which is just west of Phoenix, have installed solar arrays, and more are about to sign up.

?You might or might not believe the salesperson,? said Ted Lindhorn, a guest at the Peapers? September party who was considering a purchase. ?But if it?s a friend or a neighbor that has nothing to gain for it, you?re going to believe them.?

In many cases, those friends and neighbors do have something to gain: they can earn bonuses for steering customers to installation companies. SolarCity offers $400 for each residential referral, while a local Arizona outfit called SolarParty.org advertises paying $250.

For SmartPower, which gets the bulk of its income from foundation grants and government and utility contracts, the parties are part of its effort to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency. After a pilot program in Connecticut, the group challenged 13 Arizona towns in 2011 to install solar on 5 percent of owner-occupied homes by 2015. A town reaching that goal gets a sign designating it an ?Arizona Solar Community,? a reward meant to encourage both communal spirit and extramural competition.

The group, under the direction of its vice president, Toni Bouchard, created a Web site and hired solar coaches, local experts who can advise customers on which installation companies they can use and what kinds of rate plans would maximize their savings. The coaches also help recruit solar ambassadors like the Peapers: ordinary residents who have solar and are willing to organize parties to encourage their friends and neighbors to do so as well.

Almost half the towns have already exceeded the 5 percent solar goal, with Goodyear and three others passing 10 percent. SmartPower is now expanding its program in New England.

?On-the-ground outreach tied to the online communication is really what?s making the difference here,? said Brian F. Keane, president of SmartPower. ?You need to meet people in the communities where they live, work and play.?

The party-plan model has traditionally been aimed at women, selling products for the home, bedroom and body, from Botox injections to Longaberger baskets. But the solar parties are intended to sell big-ticket items and appeal to men as well.

Just as Tupperware failed to fly off store shelves without a salesperson showing customers how to work the airtight seal, which inspired the party-plan model, solar panels often require demonstration and explanation to make the sale.

?If you can talk to someone who?s gone through it who has a positive view, then they could really alleviate some of the concerns,? said Bryan Bollinger, an assistant professor of marketing at the Stern School of Business at New York University who has studied patterns of solar adoption.

Mr. Bollinger found that people were more likely to install solar once their neighbors had. He said it was not clear what was behind that phenomenon, known as the peer effect, but it could be the combination of a conspicuous way of being green with the momentum of word-of-mouth.

That dynamic has been particularly strong in Pebble Creek, which has an active online network where residents offer referrals and advice.

?People here are real big on references,? said Joe Wallace, one of the Peapers? guests, who said that he and his wife had thought about installing solar for a long time but decided to take the plunge only after learning more from their neighbors.

Dru Bacon, a former Solar Coach who lives in Pebble Creek and has been a driving force behind solar adoption there, said that while the promised savings on electricity had spurred many customers to install solar, that was not all that motivated them.

?I?ve had at least 10 people say, ?I have the biggest solar system in the community,??? he said. ?They don?t say, ?I have the lowest electric bill.???

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/01/business/energy-environment/solar-industry-borrows-a-page-and-a-party-from-tupperware.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Nokia Hired An Entire Orchestra Just To Put Out a Couple of Measly Ringtones

Nokia was looking at some of its numbers when somebody noticed that the popularity of classical music ringtones was pretty high, second most popular. So did they shrug this inane newes off with amused sighs and feeble "that's neat"s? Not at all. They went out and hired a whole 55-piece orchestra to whip up 25 more. Overkill maybe? More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/YwRy6hehN_A/nokia-hired-an-entire-orchestra-just-to-put-out-a-couple-of-measly-ringtones

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Vampire on the loose in Serbia?

ZAROZJE, Serbia (AP) ? Get your garlic, crosses and stakes ready: a bloodsucking vampire is on the loose.

Or so say villagers in the tiny western Serbian hamlet of Zarozje, nestled between lush green mountain slopes and spooky thick forests. They say rumors that a legendary vampire ghost has awakened are spreading fear ? and a potential tourist opportunity ? through the remote village.

A local council warned villagers to put garlic in their pockets and place wooden crosses in their rooms to ward off vampires, although it appeared designed more to attract visitors to the impoverished region bordering Bosnia.

Many of the villagers are aware that Sava Savanovic, Serbia's most famous vampire, is a fairy tale. Still, they say, better to take it seriously than risk succumbing to the vampire's fangs.

"The story of Sava Savanovic is a legend, but strange things did occur in these parts back in the old days," said 55-year-old housewife Milka Prokic, holding a string of garlic in one hand and a large wooden stake in another, as an appropriately moody mist rose above the surrounding hills. "We have inherited this legend from our ancestors, and we keep it alive for the younger generations."

Vampire legends have played a prominent part in the Balkans for centuries ? most prominently Dracula from Romania's Transylvania region. In the 18th century, the legends sometimes triggered mass hysteria and even public executions of those accused of being vampires.

Sava Savanovic, described by the Zarozje villagers as Serbia's first vampire, reputedly drank the blood of those who came to the small shack in the dense oak tree forest to mill their grain on the clear mountain Rogatica river.

The wooden mill collapsed a few months ago ? allegedly angering the vampire, who is now looking for a new place to hang his cape.

Some locals claim they can hear steps cracking dry forest leaves and strange sounds coming from the rocky mountain peaks where the vampire was purportedly killed with a sharp stake that pierced his heart ? but managed to survive in spirit as a butterfly.

"One should always remain calm, it's important not to frighten him, you shouldn't make fun of him," said villager Mico Matic, 56, whose house is not far from the collapsed mill.

"He is just one of the neighbors, you do your best to be on friendly terms with him," he said with a wry smile, displaying garlic from both of his trouser pockets.

Some locals say it's easy for strangers to laugh at them, but they truly believe.

"Five people have recently died one after another in our small community, one hanging himself," said Miodrag Vujetic, a local municipal council member. "This is not by accident."

Vujetic, however, said that "whatever is true about Sava," locals should use the legend to promote tourism.

"If Romanians could profit on the Dracula legend with the tourists visiting Transylvania, why can't we do the same with Sava?"

Richard Sugg, a lecturer in Renaissance Studies at the U.K.'s University of Durham and an expert on the vampire legends, said the fear could be very real. Stress can bring on nightmares, which makes people's feelings of dread even worse.

"The tourists think it is fun ? and the Serbian locals think it's terrifying," he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/vampire-loose-serbia-140736133.html

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Lone Chinese home destroyed; farmer accepts deal

BEIJING (AP) ? Authorities have demolished a five-story home that stood incongruously in the middle of a new main road and had become the latest symbol of resistance by Chinese homeowners against officials accused of offering unfair compensation.

Xiayangzhang village chief Chen Xuecai told The Associated Press the house was bulldozed Saturday after its owners, duck farmer Luo Baogen and his wife, agreed to accept compensation of 260,000 yuan ($41,000).

There was no immediate confirmation from Luo, whose cellphone was turned off Saturday.

The couple had been the lone holdouts from a neighborhood that was demolished to make way for the main thoroughfare heading to a newly built railway station on the outskirts of the city of Wenling in Zhejiang province.

The razing comes a week after images of the house circulated widely online in China, triggering a flurry of domestic and foreign media reports about the latest "nail house," as buildings that remain standing as their owners resist development are called.

Luo, 67, had just completed his house at a cost of about 600,000 yuan ($95,000) when the government approached him with their standard offer of 220,000 ($35,000) to move out ? which he refused, Chen has previously said. The offer then went up to 260,000 yuan ($41,000) last week.

It was not immediately clear why Luo accepted the compensation in a meeting with officials Friday afternoon when the amount of money offered was the same as a week ago.

Village chief Chen said Luo was tired of all the media attention and voluntarily consented to the deal. "Luo Baogen received dozens of people from the media every day and his house stands in the center of the road. So he decided to demolish the house," Chen said.

Authorities commonly pressure residents to agree to make way for development with sometimes extreme measures, such as cutting off utilities or moving in to demolish when residents are out for the day. In Luo's case, however, he had told local reporters last week his electricity and water were still flowing.

Real estate is one of the big drivers of China's runaway growth in recent decades. But the rapid development has run into objections from many of the hundreds of thousands of residents who have been forced out to make way for new housing, factories and other business ventures, creating a major source of unrest.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lone-chinese-home-destroyed-farmer-accepts-deal-143801532.html

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Prefect of the CDF says seeing Vatican II as a 'rupture' is heresy ...

Archbishop M?ller, prefect of the CDF (Photo: CNS)

Traditionalist and progressive camps that see the Second Vatican Council as a ?rupture? both espouse a ?heretical interpretation? of the Council and its aims, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) has said.

Archbishop Gerhard M?ller said that what Pope Benedict XVI has termed ?the hermeneutic of reform, of renewal in continuity? is the ?only possible interpretation according to the principles of Catholic theology?.

?Outside this sole orthodox interpretation unfortunately exists a heretical interpretation, that is, a hermeneutic of rupture, [found] both on the progressive front and on the traditionalist? side, the archbishop said.

What the two camps have in common, he said, is their rejection of the council: ?The progressives in their wanting to leave it behind, as if it were a season to abandon in order to get to another Church, and the traditionalists in their not wanting to get there?, seeing the council as a Catholic ?winter?.

A ?Council presided over by the successor of Peter as head of the visible Church? is the ?highest expression? of the Magisterium, he said, to be regarded as part of ?an indissoluble whole?, along with Scripture and 2,000 years of tradition.

The doctrinal chief?s remarks were published in the Vatican newspaper, L?Osservatore Romano, to present the seventh volume of The Complete Works of Joseph Ratzinger. The volume collects both published and unpublished notes, speeches, interviews and texts written or given by the future pope in the period shortly before, during and just after Vatican II.

Archbishop M?ller specified that by ?continuity? Pope Benedict meant a ?permanent correspondence with the origin, not an adaption of whatever has been, which also can lead the wrong way?.

The term ?aggiornamento? or updating ? one of the watchwords of the Council ? ?does not mean the secularisation of the faith, which would lead to its dissolution?, but a ?making present? of the message of Jesus Christ, he said.

This ?making present? is the ?reform necessary for every era in constant fidelity to the whole Christ?, he said.

?The tradition of apostolic origin continues in the Church with help from the Holy Spirit,? he said, and leads to greater understanding through contemplation and study, intelligence garnered from a deeper experience of the spiritual, and preaching by those who through the ?apostolic succession have received an assured charism of truth?.

Source: http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2012/11/30/prefect-of-the-cdf-says-seeing-vatican-ii-as-a-rupture-is-heresy/

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MacFarlane surprises UCLA class, announces contest

Seth MacFarlane arrives at Variety Power of Comedy at Avalon Hollywood on Saturday, Nov. 17, 2012, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Seth MacFarlane arrives at Variety Power of Comedy at Avalon Hollywood on Saturday, Nov. 17, 2012, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Oscar host Seth MacFarlane is inviting college students to join him on stage at the Academy Awards.

The "Family Guy" creator made a surprise appearance at UCLA to announce a contest sponsored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and MTV that will allow winning college students to appear on the Feb. 24 Oscar telecast.

The contest invites students to submit videos on the academy's Facebook page describing how they'll contribute to the future of film. At least six winners will serve as trophy carriers on the Oscar show, replacing the leggy models who usually perform the duties.

MacFarlane spent 40 minutes leading the undergraduate film and television class at UCLA's Westwood campus on Wednesday as part of MTV's "Stand In" series, which brings celebrities to colleges as guest lecturers.

"In re-imagining what we want the Oscar show to be, we wanted everyone appearing on that stage to feel a deep commitment to film and its legacy, and most importantly, its future," said Oscar telecast producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron in a statement. "That was the impetus in creating this special honor for young film students who will inspire a new generation to create the films that will be honored in the future."

The contest is also aimed at drawing younger viewers favored by advertisers to the Oscars' aging TV audience. Like UCLA student Abby Smith, who immediately pulled out her smartphone to share the moment on Facebook when MacFarlane appeared before her class.

"Seth MacFarlane is speaking to my film lecture for the next hour," Smith posted. "I'm having a panic attack."

The 39-year-old entertainer urged the aspiring filmmakers and show-runners in the class to make a "commercially viable student film" before leaving school, adding that "Family Guy" was based on his own student film.

And MacFarlane said "Family Guy" could once again become a film. He said he's already come up with a concept for a feature-length movie and promised "it will happen at some point."

MacFarlane cheekily described the Academy Awards as "a crazy little variety show" and said "all I can do is do what I think is funny and most entertaining."

"The Oscars is a tricky venue," he said. "The (hosts) who have not done well, I would classify them as a noble failure, an honorable failure, because at least they were trying something new... If I can do it without torpedoing my career and getting drummed out of the business... All I can do is my very best."

He paused a beat, and added, "Lame (expletive) answer."

___

AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen is on Twitter: www.twitter.com/APSandy.

___

Online:

http://www.facebook.com/TheAcademy/app_436081253118204

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-11-30-People-Seth%20MacFarlane/id-e987e5779ac646af8d06de208880cbec

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