Putin foe Navalny faces prison if appeal is rejected

By Steve Gutterman

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Convicted at a trial he describes as Vladimir Putin's revenge for his political challenge, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny faces five years in prison if his appeal against a theft conviction is rejected on Wednesday.

The court hearing in the remote city of Kirov also poses a conundrum for President Putin.

Jailing Navalny would keep Putin's most prominent critic out of elections for years, curtailing any threat from a young rival with presidential ambitions who scored a strong second-place showing in a Moscow mayoral vote last month.

But it could also revive street protests by Putin's opponents and human rights activists over what they see as a clampdown on dissent since the 61-year-old president started a six-year third term in 2012.

While Putin denies exerting influence over the courts, many Russians suspect that rulings in high-profile cases are dictated by the Kremlin and result from careful political calculation.

"The Kremlin has an unpleasant decision to make," said Dmitry Oreshkin, a political analyst.

A ruling upholding the five-year sentence would be seen by many as evidence that tough tactics will continue despite signals meant to suggest a let-up, such as Putin's promise of a prisoner amnesty later this year.

A blogger against corruption among Russia's elite, Navalny helped lead the biggest protests of Putin's 13-year rule, which were stoked by allegations of fraud in a December 2011 parliamentary election.

The protests have faded, but Navalny has emerged as the main opposition leader, making his trial the most closely watched in Russia since jailed former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky's second conviction in 2010.

Accused of stealing timber while working as an adviser to the governor of the Kirov region in 2009, Navalny - who denies wrongdoing - was convicted of large-scale theft in July and sentenced to five years in prison.

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But he was unexpectedly freed from custody the following day to allow him to continue his campaign for Moscow mayor.

Some analysts say the Kremlin was betting he would suffer a humiliating defeat, but he won 27 percent and nearly forced the incumbent, Putin ally Sergei Sobyanin, into a runoff.

"It's difficult for the Russian authorities to jail Navalny, because he has won legitimacy in the form of support from 600,000 people who voted for him," said Liliya Shevtsova, a senior associate at the Carnegie Moscow Center thinktank.

Because Navalny's popularity is limited in Russia's far-flung regions and Putin faces no imminent threat to his rule, Shevtsova said that for the Kremlin it would make little sense to "turn Navalny into a Russian Mandela".

While many analysts expect Navalny's conviction will stand, some predict his sentence might be reduced or suspended, keeping him out of prison but also out of elections.

Some cautioned, however, that his chances of staying out of jail should not be overestimated.

"Putin's power structure instinctively follows the standards of the Stalin or Brezhnev era, when inconvenient and critical people were isolated," Oreshkin said. "The temptation to do that with Navalny will be great."

Navalny, who used a smartphone to send tweets during his trial, kept up his anti-corruption campaign on the eve of the hearing with a blog post about an enormous apartment allegedly owned by the wife of an ice hockey star turned lawmaker.

He maintained a wry air on Twitter, writing: "I'm really tired of going to Kirov and it's cold there :("

In response to an invitation to a performance at a Kirov theatre on Wednesday evening, he tweeted: "I'll be there of course".

(Additional reporting by Maria Tsvetkova; Editing by Robin Pomeroy and Ralph Boulton)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/putin-foe-navalny-faces-prison-appeal-rejected-205205022.html
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Former San Diego Mayor Pleads Guilty To Criminal Charges

Mayor Bob Filner of San Diego speaks at a news conference in July.

Bill Wechter/Getty Images

Mayor Bob Filner of San Diego speaks at a news conference in July.

Bill Wechter/Getty Images

Former San Diego Mayor Bob Filner pleaded guilty to three criminal charges on Tuesday that stem from allegations of sexual harassment by three unnamed women.

The Democratic mayor and nine-term congressman, if you remember, was forced to resign from his office after allegations of harassment mounted over the summer. Filner left office, declaring his innocence, saying his resignation was a "political coup," orchestrated by a "lynch mob."

"I have never sexually harassed anyone," he said at the time.

The San Diego Union Tribune reports that Filner pleaded guilty today to "one criminal count of false imprisonment by violence, fraud, menace and deceit and two misdemeanor counts of battery."

The New York Times adds:

"Mr. Filner was the first Democratic elected mayor in San Diego in more than 20 years. As part of his stepping down, the city agreed to pay most of his legal fees and punitive damages in any sexual harassment lawsuit. The agreement did not shield him from the criminal prosecution announced on Tuesday.

"The state attorney general's office took over the prosecution of the case at the request of the San Diego district attorney, Bonnie Dumanis, a Republican, who lost to Mr. Filner in the mayoral race."

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/10/15/234773196/former-san-diego-mayor-pleads-guilty-to-criminal-charges?ft=1&f=
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Next IT Launches Alme For Healthcare, A Virtual Assistant For Chronic Disease Management

Next IT has been working on building natural language processing and artificial intelligence based virtual assistant systems for enterprise customers for years. Its tools are currently being used by major airlines and insurance companies to provide answers to their customers with voice and text-driven virtual assistants that can answer their questions. Today, after almost 12 years of working on these problems, it’s expanding into healthcare. Alme for Healthcare is a virtual assistant for patients that focuses on disease management and can respond to common patient and customer requests using both text and voice prompts. Using this tool, health-care providers will be able to create personalized health assistants for their patients that will help them ensure these patients stick to a treatment plan and regularly report their status. The tool is currently targeted at pharmaceutical companies, healthcare providers, government organizations and accountable care organizations. Next IT hopes that they will then make its tools available to consumers. As Next IT founder and CEO Fred Brown told me earlier this month, the team decided that it had to go back to the drawing board to brings its services into the healthcare world. Given the vagaries of speech recognition and the potential dangers of giving patients wrong advice, the team added a number of options for users to talk to a real person when necessary. Also, if the technology notices that somebody could be in danger of a relapse or other serious medical issue, it can direct the user to talk to an expert directly. Unlike other systems the company has previously built, Alme for Healthcare also offers institutions that use it more for personalization options. Doctors can, for example, create disease-management plans for individual users. These, Brown noted, tend to be well-structured and lend themselves to the kind of virtual assistant systems the company offers because they work within well-defined parameters. It’s worth noting that the platform itself consists of three pieces: a comprehensive patient ontology that forms the foundation of the system, support for goal-based conversations that help patients stick to their treatment plans, and interactive concept illustrations that can show a patient where to do an at-home injection, for example. Brown showed me a demo, for example, that quizzed a user about how well he was managing his diabetes. What’s impressive about Next IT’s systems is how well its natural language processing algorithms – which were all developed in-house –Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Sh_moFu_E8Q/
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NY fights site listing homes for tourists to rent

NEW YORK (AP) — Each night, people in apartments all over New York City are cleaning up, putting out fresh towels and clearing out — to rent their private space to strangers from around the world.

Thousands of city residents are using websites such as Airbnb.com to list apartments or rooms for as little as $35 a night, a phenomenon officials say is illegal in many cases, undercuts the hotel industry, avoids taxes and threatens apartment building safety.

New York's top prosecutor is demanding that Airbnb turn over data on city dwellers who have listed on the site as part of an investigation into whether residents are breaking a state law barring sublets for fewer than 30 days if occupants are not present.

But many residents in the nation's most expensive city say they're providing a service that's valuable to them and their guests. Subletting for nights at a time is often the only way they can afford to pay rents that average $3,000 a month and can top $6,000 in the most desirable areas.

"I use Airbnb to supplement my income, and it's allowed me to go back to school," says Mishelle Farer, a 32-year-old former U.S. Army sergeant who rents her second bedroom in Brooklyn's artsy Williamsburg neighborhood through Airbnb for $60 to $70 a night, depending on the season.

Farer says she covers about half her rent through such sublets. And besides, "I've met so many wonderful people from France, Germany, Spain, South Africa, Brazil, the Philippines."

Travel guide author Pauline Frommer says Airbnb and smaller sites such as flipkey.com, couchsurfer.com and housetrip.com fill a need in a city where hotel prices average $275.

"New York hotel prices are truly outrageous," Frommer says. "The city is overwhelmed with visitors, and it's practically impossible to find an affordable hotel room, so you need some kind of outlet."

Airbnb started five years ago in San Francisco, after two roommates couldn't afford their rent and inflated air beds for paying guests. It now operates globally in 35,000 communities, currently offering 500,000 listings, and is the world's biggest short-term rental company. The site takes 6 to 12 percent of every rental.

In New York, the company says about 15,000 people are offering short-term rentals ranging from $35 for a private space in a Brooklyn studio to a $60 walkup in Times Square to $120 for a garden apartment in Brooklyn's Red Hook to $921 for an antiques-furnished loft in Tribeca.

New York City has been aggressively challenging Airbnb, contending many sublets on its site are illegal because residents aren't there. And the city says such rentals are cheating the city of lodging taxes.

Since the mayor's office began examining short-term rentals in 2006, it has fielded more than 3,000 complaints and issued almost 6,000 notices of violation, including fire, safety and occupancy infractions, which carry fines.

Airbnb says 87 percent of hosts in New York share the space they live in with guests. The company has called the subpoena of customer information by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman an "unfounded fishing expedition" and says hosts are responsible for following varying laws around the world.

NYC & Company, the city's official tourism agency, issued a statement saying, "This illegal practice takes away much needed hotel tax revenue from city coffers with no consumer protections against fire- and health-code violations." Neither city officials nor hotel organizations would estimate how much revenue hotels and the city might be losing.

Landlords and tenant organizations have long complained that short-term sublets are a violation of most leases and a security issue.

Having strangers coming in and out of a residential building "is a terrible problem," says Tom Cayler, chairman of the Illegal Hotel Committee for Manhattan's West Side Neighborhood Alliance. "If you come home at night and there are people in the lobby or elevator who you don't know, you should be scared."

Sam Shaber, a musician who rented space on the Lower East Side for $150 to $225 a night, says she welcomed guests from France, Argentina, Sweden and elsewhere. And she said she always got a good sense of them from online exchanges and profiles before handing over the keys.

"In this day and age of Craigslist, we have a radar for who's weird," Shaber said. "We never had one problem."

Airbnb renters say they can offer an experience hotels can't — the opportunity to live like a native in funky neighborhoods off the beaten tourist paths.

Sergio Verdasco, 33, a mechanical engineer in San Sebastian, Spain, was hosted by Farer in Williamsburg for three nights.

"It was an amazing experience — a soft landing in a city where I don't know the people and don't speak the language well," he said by phone. "She told me where to go, what she likes."

"It's not the same as taking up a guide and doing what a million people do."

___

Associated Press writer Jennifer Peltz contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ny-fights-listing-homes-tourists-rent-100038087.html
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Miley Cyrus Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop, Debuts Wrecking Ball At No.1 On U.K. Charts

Forget the year of JLaw, 2013 is the year of Miley Cyrus!!

She has done it again with her latest single, Wrecking Ball, but did you expect anything less than greatness from the great Mileybird?!

After an AH-Mazing performance on Ellen, the We Can’t Stop singer had another hit on her hands, but we’re sure she knew what she was doing.

Wrecking Ball and Bangerz climbed the U.K. charts, making a pretty little nest at number one and it doesn’t look like she’s coming down anytime soon!

Miles tweeted her new accomplishment:

It has been a CRAZY comeback for Miley since that super long hiatus!

We wonder if Mileybird can keep it going until 2014!

P.S. CLICK HERE to "follow" Perez on Twitter!

P.P.S. CLICK HERE to "like" Perez on Facebook!

[Image via Dennis Van Tine/Future Image/WENN.]

Tags: bangerz, billboard, miley cyrus, music minute, number one, performance, twitter, uk, uk charts, we can't stop, wrecking ball

Source: http://perezhilton.com/2013-10-14-miley-cyrus-wrecking-ball-bangerz-we-cant-stop-uk-billboard-music-news-number-one
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Reid: working with Republicans to reopen government, raise debt limit

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he would work throughout Sunday with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell to get a deal to reopen the government and extend U.S. borrowing authority.

Reid, speaking on the Senate floor, also denied Republican charges that Democrats were trying to exceed spending caps from a 2011 budget law in the talks, adding that they were willing to support current levels through November 15. But in talks about a longer extension of government funding, Democrats have insisted on some relief from the across-the-board "sequester" spending cuts.

"We're in conversation today," Reid said of his discussions with McConnell. "I'm confident that Republicans will allow the government to open and extend the ability of this country to pay its bills. And I'm going to do everything that I can throughout the day to accomplish just this. It's important that we do this. We must do this. It's the height of hypocrisy to not pay our bills."

(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Bill Trott)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/reid-working-republicans-reopen-government-raise-debt-limit-175515176--business.html
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'Walking Dead' Cast, Creators on Season 4's Key Changes, Challenges

AMC

"The Walking Dead" with Scott Gimple (inset)

AMC's The Walking Dead returns with its fourth season Sunday, this time with its third showrunner as Scott Gimple -- who has been with the series since its sophomore run -- takes the reins of the series based on Robert Kirkman's best-selling comics.

Following Glen Mazzara's exit (he parted ways with the series in December, citing creative differences), the zombie drama will pick up a few months after the shocking season finale in which beloved comics character Andrea died at the hands of the Governor, who murdered most of his Woodbury army.

COVER STORY: From 'American Horror Story' to 'Walking Dead,' How Horror Took Over Hollywood

Rick, meanwhile, is still reeling from Andrea's passing and has shifted his focus from leading the group -- and the scores of Woodbury survivors -- to put caring for Carl and baby Judith and the prison's growing farm.

The Hollywood Reporter caught up with Gimple -- who penned some of the show's most well-reviewed episodes including Sofia's shocking death and Morgan's return -- as well as Kirkman and the cast to get the details on how the top-rated series will change under its newest showrunner as well the challenges ahead for Rick, Daryl and company. For more on Gimple's approach to season four, read our July interview here. And for more scoop, check out our chat with Kirkman here and 14 teasers from the cast here. 

Scott Gimple (showrunner)
On season four's differences: One thing that is quantifiably different is every single character gets a story. When I approached the season, I started with that. What is each character going through? Some of those stories are bigger than others but they all crash into each other. Last year it was something I wanted to do and everybody wanted to do it [but] it was hard with the story we were telling. This season, knowing the story we were telling, I got to be super-disciplined about this and figure out a way everybody gets their story because they're great characters and great actors.

PHOTOS: 'The Walking Dead's' Most Shocking Deaths

Robert Kirkman (executive producer/comic creator)
Changes under Gimple: Every season of this show has been different. Season four is going to be the most different season yet. It's much more of a character study than anything we've done. We've been doing a lot of world building in the first three seasons. Season three was the Woodbury season with the Governor. We don't have that entirely separate group of people to deal with this season, so we're able to dive into our characters more. When season four is done, you will have learned more about Daryl Dixon than you have in seasons one through three. The same is true of Michonne, Rick, Carl, Carol, Hershel, etc. We're going to be diving into Glenn and Maggie. We're going to be doing so much with these characters. Characters like Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green), who we don't know a lot about. We're going to be looking at Sasha, Beth (Emily Kinney) and everybody has really involved story lines that are going to carry over through this season that are going to open these characters up. We're going to know who these people are and what they're doing and why they're doing what they're doing. It's good that to get to a point where we can finally take the time to do that. Some of them are going to get eaten by zombies and some of them are going to get eaten by other people and bad things are going to happen to all of them in the meantime, but we're going to be doing a lot of character studies, nuts and bolts stuff.

Andrew Lincoln (Rick)
Changes under Gimple: The show has changed, developed and matured with each season. We keep changing things up. For me, repetition is death. If we keep confounding you and throwing the kitchen sink at you, then I think we're doing our job properly.
Rick's challenge: It can be summed up as one question: Can we ever return from the things we've done, from the things that we've perpetrated? From the brutality of this world? Can we love again? Can we live again? That that encapsulates certainly Rick's arc and probably many other character arcs this season.

Norman Reedus (Daryl)
Changes under Gimple: The show started with a very hyperventilating pace, then it went into a lot of talking and storytelling because you had to introduce the world and new characters. This season, it breathes. It's heart wrenching this season. You get to know characters and exactly who they are and what their fears are. There's a personal side this season that breaks your heart. Without losing any of the terror, it leaves a taste in your mouth this season. You really get to know these characters. Your heart gets pulled from your chest. It's insane this season. It's our best season. Our writing staff is so on point. Scott is killing it. No pun intended, but he's killing it.
Daryl's challenge: Daryl is doing so much. He's a reluctant leader and has his eye on Rick and he's like, "When you're ready, Rick." He's having the group leave Rick alone and letting him figure out himself. Rick has become the brother Merle (Michael Rooker) wasn't. Daryl is keeping people alive and doing what needs to be done. But he's not like, "Hey, let's have a powwow, let me uplift your spirits." He's not that guy. He's such a different character than when we first started, all of us are. Everything used to came out of the side of his face; he was like, "Don't look at me." There was a shame of who he was going to become if this did not happen -- he would have been Merle and grown up embarrassed of who he was. This season, he doesn't talk out of the side of his face; he talks directly at you. He talks less and he means what he says.

PHOTOS: Inside 'The Walking Dead's' Spooky Season 4 Premiere 

Danai Gurira (Michonne)
Changes under Gimple: I don't think there's a huge change. What was built up around her was a big mystery and the beauty of it was it allows us to play with different threats. It doesn't feel like she's different, it's just about Michonne's evolution as a human being. She's with this really great group of people that she's decided she's really going to stick to and be a part of. She's not running off with two pet walkers and going back out there. She takes care of folks in the little ways she does with comic books and gifts; she's evolving. She was blessed by Andrea's, "Good, you found them" speech. That was a blessing to her. This season is about that evolution of Michonne that started last season.
Michonne's challenge: Sometimes her biggest challenge is herself, the idea of becoming a real part of this group. It's the whole connection to understanding what truly becoming a community is about. She's very keen to protect and serve and she doesn't like untied ends and the Governor is an untied end.

Lauren Cohan (Maggie)
Changes under Gimple: It's totally different. I've always enjoyed Scott's approach, especially in episode 13 when Michonne, Carl and Rick go off and find Morgan (Lennie James) and the way he shines the light on these tiny moments and make them touchstones. That's what we are lucky enough to have almost all the way through the season: These little fractures into people that are just so illuminating and really philosophical and extremely gory. I don't know how he combines them. We have this creepy build into season four that will pick you up like a hook at the back of your neck. It feels like you're scrambling for three episodes.
Maggie's challenge: How many risks do we take? When you hold on really tight to somebody, does it put them more in danger? I think Glenn and Maggie need to take some risks in this world. Wherever there is a possibility of danger, Glenn is trying to keep Maggie away from it -- which is what we saw last season that created this rift between them. One of them needs to be cautious, but Maggie is definitely not the more cautious one this year.

Steven Yeun (Glenn)
Changes under Gimple: Scott is trying to bring it back to the first season in that way in a Frank Darabont-esqe [style of] storytelling. Taking a lot of breaths, finding some quiet in this expansive universe that is potentially there, but also hammering those hard notes, too. It's this beautiful up and down roller coaster kind of chaos, beautiful quiet moments and horrifying potent moments.
Glenn's challenge: The biggest challenge at this point with Maggie and Glenn is understanding each other's perspectives. They're both in a great place together but they have slightly different ideals in terms of how to proceed with what they've built. They've built this civilization, this assemblance of peace and humanity. Glenn's perspective is coming more from a let's keep that in tact, let's not throw our caution to the wind and build on this.

PHOTOS: The 'Dead' and the Red: 'The Walking Dead Cast in Character and on the Red Carpet

Chad Coleman (Tyreese)
Tyreese's challenge: Holding onto his sanity. He's going to be tested in major way. In this post-apocalyptic world, no one goes unscathed. I appreciate his even temperament and his propensity to back away from violence. But the greatest intentions can't hold because the stakes are too high and we're not on a fair playing field. So there are parts of Tyreese that must be spoiled. Whether it has to be dragged out of him or not, the world's going to close in on him.

Larry Gilliard Jr. (Bob)
Bob's challenge: Fitting in with the group. He's been solo and now he's part of a true group. He's also battling his demons on top of the zombie apocalypse.

The Walking Dead returns Sunday at 9 p.m. on AMC. Hit the comments below with what you're looking forward to seeing. Stay tuned to THR's The Live Feed on Sunday after the episode for our weekly episode Dissections.

E-mail: Lesley.Goldberg@THR.com
Twitter: @Snoodit

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/live_feed/~3/CPG1KdpGN3w/story01.htm
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