Adults will see movement in the picture. The faster movement of doodle you can see a reflection of the high level of stress you experience at that time.
Slow movement of Conversely, if you can see, means you're low stress levels
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Mississippi officials reported oily tar balls washing up on their mainland shores for the first time Sunday, as authorities throughout the Gulf Coast region kept a wary eye on Tropical Storm Alex.
"It has hit our shores," said Pascagoula, Mississippi, Mayor Robbie Maxwell, adding that tar balls washed up on a nearby stretch of beach during the afternoon Sunday.
"This is what we've been expecting. We had hoped and prayed we would somehow miss this, but it's hit us now. The good news is that for the last five or six weeks we've been preparing to attack it when it hit our shores, and that's exactly what we've done," Maxwell said.
A 23-person crew was out on the beach Sunday afternoon, collecting tar balls, he said.
"Now that we have it on our shores, every day it'll have to be attacked again," the mayor added.Mississippi officials said while tar balls and glob-like "mousse patties" washed ashore in at least four locations, the areas affected were relatively small and no beaches were closed.
Meanwhile, Alex restrengthened into a Tropical Storm Sunday night as it headed into the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, according to the National Weather Service but it is expected to steer clear of oil-affected areas. The storm had temporarily weakened to a tropical depression as it passed over Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.
"We think the storm is going to stay on a more southern track. That would be good news because it would avoid the area near the oil spill," said Todd Kimberlain of the National Hurricane Center.
However, forecasters have not ruled out an easterly shift in Alex's path.
"We all know the weather is unpredictable, and we could have a sudden last-minute change," said Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the federal government's response manager.
The governors of Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Alabama declared Sunday a day of prayer in their respective states as efforts to cap the massive gusher continue.
Researchers have estimated that between 35,000 barrels -- about 1.5 million gallons -- and 60,000 barrels -- about 2.5 million gallons -- of oil are gushing into the ocean every day.
If Alex forces a work stoppage at the ruptured BP well, officials fear that as much as 2.5 million gallons of oil could flow into the Gulf for two weeks. That is because it would take 14 days to put everything back in place -- meaning the containment cap would be off for that period, allowing oil to flow freely, Allen said.
BP plans to place a third rig called the Helix Producer at the well site next week, which will increase the amount of oil being captured to 53,000 barrels a day, Allen said. That, too, could be disrupted if Alex affects the area.
Alex is the first named storm of what is expected to be a fierce Atlantic hurricane season. It formed in the Caribbean on Saturday.
Tropical storm warnings for the coast of Belize and the east coast of the Yucatan were discontinued earlier Sunday, the hurricane center said. Alex soaked Belize after making landfall in the Central American nation several hours earlier with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph.
After dropping in wind speed over the Yucatan, Alex's winds increased to 45 mph with higher gusts Sunday night, the National Hurricane Center said. The system was moving west-northwest at near 7 mph.
"Additional strengthening is forecast during the next 48 hours, and Alex could become a hurricane in the next 48 hours," the hurricane center said. Alex is expected to make landfall Thursday morning near La Pesca, Mexico.
In the meantime, forecasters said Sunday that Alex was expected to dump 4 to 8 inches of rain over the Yucatan peninsula, southern Mexico and Guatemala through Tuesday, with 15 inches possible over mountainous areas.
"These rains could cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides," the hurricane center said.
Oil company BP said the storm has not forced any evacuations at the oil spill site. But, to the south, BP and Shell were evacuating all nonessential personnel from oil platforms as a precaution.
Gulf Coast residents feared that high winds and storm surges could spread the slick and push more oil ashore into bays, estuaries and pristine beaches, exacerbating the oil disaster triggered by BP's ruptured well.
"The greatest nightmare with this storm approaching is that it takes this oil on the surface of the Gulf and blows it over the barrier islands into the bays and the estuaries," Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Florida said. "And that is where you really get the enormous destruction, because it's just very difficult to clean up those pristine bays."
If the storm heads to the east of the oil spill, it would send the oil farther out to sea.
If the storm heads more directly toward the central Gulf and Louisiana, it might push the oil toward Florida.
"We've never been in this situation before," CNN meteorologist Karen Maginnis said. "We've never seen an oil spill that encompassed the Gulf like this, end up so close to shore." Source
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The fate of the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan hinges on his meeting Wednesday with President Barack Obama, who was "angry" after reading the general's remarks about colleagues in a magazine profile to be published Friday.
Gen. Stanley McChrystal will likely resign, a Pentagon source who has ongoing contacts with the general said.
The "magnitude and graveness" of McChrystal's mistake in conducting the interview for the article were "profound," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said McChrystal had "made a significant mistake and exercised poor judgment."
McChrystal apologized Tuesday for the profile, in which he and his staff appear to mock top civilian officials, including the vice president. Two defense officials said the general fired a press aide over the article, set to appear in Friday's edition of Rolling Stone."I extend my sincerest apology for this profile. It was a mistake reflecting poor judgment and should never have happened," McChrystal said in a Pentagon statement. "Throughout my career, I have lived by the principles of personal honor and professional integrity. What is reflected in this article falls far short of that standard.
McChrystal has been recalled to Washington to explain his actions to the president. He is expected to meet with Obama in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Gibbs said. Gibbs refused to speculate about McChrystal's fate, but told reporters "all options are on the table." Obama, questioned about McChrystal before a Cabinet meeting Tuesday afternoon, said he had not made a decision.
"I think it's clear that the article in which he and his team appeared showed poor judgment, but I also want to make sure that I talk to him directly before I make that final decision," he said.
McChrystal is prepared to resign if the president has lost confidence in him, a national security official told CNN. Most of the Pentagon brass, the ofrficial said, hopes he will be upbraided by the commander-in-chief but sent back to continue the mission.
The White House will have more to say after Wednesday's meeting, Gibbs said. He noted, however, that McChrystal did not take part in a teleconference Obama had with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and other top officials on Tuesday.
Several elected officials have strongly criticized McChrystal but deferred to the president on the politically sensitive question of whether the general should keep his position. A couple of key congressmen, however, have openly called for McChrystal's removal.
In the profile, writer Michael Hastings writes that McChrystal and his staff had imagined ways of dismissing Vice President Joe Biden with a one-liner as they prepared for a question-and-answer session in Paris, France, in April. The general had grown tired of questions about Biden since earlier dismissing a counterterrorism strategy the vice president had offered.
"'Are you asking about Vice President Biden,' McChrystal says with a laugh. 'Who's that?'"
"'Biden?' suggests a top adviser. 'Did you say: Bite Me?'"
McChrystal does not directly criticize Obama in the article, but Hastings writes that the general and Obama "failed to connect" from the outset. Sources familiar with the meeting said McChrystal thought Obama looked "uncomfortable and intimidated" by the room full of top military officials, according to the article.
Later, McChrystal's first one-on-one meeting with Obama "was a 10-minute photo op," Hastings writes, quoting an adviser to McChrystal. "Obama clearly didn't know anything about him, who he was. Here's the guy who's going to run his f---ing war, but he didn't seem very engaged. The Boss (McChrystal) was disappointed."
The article goes on to paint McChrystal as a man who "has managed to piss off almost everyone with a stake in the conflict," including U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, special representative to Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke and national security adviser Jim Jones. Obama is not named as one of McChrystal's "team of rivals."
Of Eikenberry, who railed against McChrystal's strategy in Afghanistan in a cable leaked to The New York Times in January, the general is quoted as saying, "'Here's one that covers his flank for the history books. Now if we fail, they can say, "I told you so.'"
Hastings writes in the profile that McChrystal has a "special skepticism" for Holbrooke, the official in charge of reintegrating Taliban members into Afghan society and the administration's point man for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"At one point on his trip to Paris, McChrystal checks his BlackBerry, according to the article. 'Oh, not another e-mail from Holbrooke,' he groans. 'I don't even want to open it.' He clicks on the message and reads the salutation out loud, then stuffs the BlackBerry back in his pocket, not bothering to conceal his annoyance.
"'Make sure you don't get any of that on your leg,' an aide jokes, referring to the e-mail."
Both Democrats and Republicans have been strongly critical of McChrystal in the wake of the story. House Appropriations Committee chairman David Obey, D-Wisconsin, called McChrystal the latest in a "long list of reckless, renegade generals who haven't seemed to understand that their role is to implement policy, not design it."
McChrystal is "contemptuous" of civilian authority and has demonstrated "a bull-headed refusal to take other people's judgments into consideration."
Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-North Dakota, became the first member of the Senate Democratic leadership to call for McChrystal to step down, telling CNN that the remarks were "unbelievably inappropriate and just can't be allowed to stand."
Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Carl Levin, D-Michigan, deferred to Obama on the question of a possible McChrystal resignation. He said the controversy was sending a message of "confusion" to troops in the field. I think it has "a negative effect" on the war effort, he said.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman John Kerry, D-Massachusetts, urged a cooling off period before a final decision is rendered on the general. My "impression is that all of us would be best served by just backing off and staying cool and calm and not sort of succumbing to the normal Washington twitter about this for the next 24 hours."
Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Jim Webb of Virginia -- also key senators on defense and foreign policy issues -- were each strongly critical of McChrystal's remarks, but noted that the general's future is a decision for Obama to make.
Karzai weighed in from abroad, urging Obama to keep McChrystal as the U.S. commander in Afghanistan. The government in Kabul believes McChrystal is a man of strong integrity who has a strong understanding of the Afghan people and their culture, Karzai spokesman Waheed Omar said.
A U.S. military official said Tuesday that McChrystal has spoken to Biden, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Adm. Mike Mullen and other officials referenced in the story, including Holbrooke, Eikenberry and Jones.
An official at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul said Eikenberry and McChrystal "are both fully committed" to Obama's Afghan strategy and are working together to implement the plan. "We have seen the article and General McChrystal has already spoken to it," according to a statement from an embassy official, making reference to McChrystal's apology.
"I have enormous respect and admiration for President Obama and his national security team, and for the civilian leaders and troops fighting this war and I remain committed to ensuring its successful outcome," McChrystal said in the closing to his apology.
Rolling Stone executive editor Eric Bates, however, struck a less optimistic tone during an interview with CNN on Tuesday.
The comments made by McChrystal and other top military aides during the interview were "not off-the-cuff remarks," he said. They "knew what they were doing when they granted the access." The story shows "a deep division" and "war within the administration" over strategy in Afghanistan, he contended.
McChrystal and his staff "became aware" that the Rolling Stone article would be controversial before it was published, Hastings told CNN Tuesday. He said he "got word from (McChrystal's) staff ... that there was some concern" about possible fallout from the story.
Obama tapped McChrystal to head the U.S. military effort in Afghanistan in the spring of 2009 shortly after dismissing Gen. David McKiernan. Source
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South African Dr. Sonnet Ehlers was on call one night four decades ago when a devastated rape victim walked in. Her eyes were lifeless; she was like a breathing corpse.
"She looked at me and said, 'If only I had teeth down there,'" recalled Ehlers, who was a 20-year-old medical researcher at the time. "I promised her I'd do something to help people like her one day."
Forty years later, Rape-aXe was born.
Ehlers is distributing the female condoms in the various South African cities where the World Cup soccer games are taking place.
The woman inserts the latex condom like a tampon. Jagged rows of teeth-like hooks line its inside and attach on a man's penis during penetration, Ehlers said. Once it lodges, only a doctor can remove it -- a procedure Ehlers hopes will be done with authorities on standby to make an arrest.
"It hurts, he cannot pee and walk when it's on," she said. "If he tries to remove it, it will clasp even tighter... however, it doesn't break the skin, and there's no danger of fluid exposure."
Ehlers said she sold her house and car to launch the project, and she planned to distribute 30,000 free devices under supervision during the World Cup period. "I consulted engineers, gynecologists and psychologists to help in the design and make sure it was safe," she said.
After the trial period, they'll be available for about $2 a piece. She hopes the women will report back to her.
"The ideal situation would be for a woman to wear this when she's going out on some kind of blind date ... or to an area she's not comfortable with," she said.
The mother of two daughters said she visited prisons and talked to convicted rapists to find out whether such a device would have made them rethink their actions.
Some said it would have, Ehlers said.
Critics say the female condom is not a long-term solution and makes women vulnerable to more violence from men trapped by the device. It's also a form of "enslavement," said Victoria Kajja, a fellow for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the east African country of Uganda. "The fears surrounding the victim, the act of wearing the condom in anticipation of being assaulted all represent enslavement that no woman should be subjected to."
Kajja said the device constantly reminds women of their vulnerability.
"It not only presents the victim with a false sense of security, but psychological trauma," she added. "It also does not help with the psychological problems that manifest after assaults."
However, its one advantage is it allows justice to be served, she said.
Various rights organizations that work in South Africa declined to comment, including Human Rights Watch and Care International.
South Africa has one of the highest rape rates in the world, Human Rights Watch says on its website. A 2009 report by the nation's Medical Research Council found that 28 percent of men surveyed had raped a woman or girl, with one in 20 saying they had raped in the past year, according to Human Rights Watch.
In most African countries, rape convictions are not common. Affected women don't get immediate access to medical care, and DNA tests to provide evidence are unaffordable.
"Women and girls who experience these violations are denied justice, factors that contribute to the normalization of rape and violence in South African society," Human Rights Watch says.
Women take drastic measures to prevent rape in South Africa, Ehlers said, with some wearing extra tight biker shorts and others inserting razor blades wrapped in sponges in their private parts.
Critics have accused her of developing a medieval device to fight rape.
"Yes, my device may be a medieval, but it's for a medieval deed that has been around for decades," she said. "I believe something's got to be done ... and this will make some men rethink before they assault a woman." Source
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Natalka Kudrikova is a bright-eyed, three-year-old girl recovering from the severe burns she suffered when far-right extremists threw a Molotov cocktail into her home.
Her family and authorities say she was targeted because they are Roma, or gypsies. Natalka lost 80 percent of her skin, two fingers (a third was later amputated) and spent months lying in an induced coma following the attack last year in Vitkov, in the Czech Republic. She is still recuperating after 14 major surgeries.
In May, Natalka returned to Ostrava Hospital for rehabilitation sessions so that one day she may be able to get around without support. "I'd rather not take her back to the hospital," said her mother, Anna Sivakova, "but if she must return, my dream is that she learns how to walk without any help."The very next day, four young men accused of attacking Natalka, filed into Ostrava District Court to hear the indictment: a racially motivated attempted murder.
According to the prosecutor, the attack was planned for the 120th anniversary of Adolf Hitler's birth. Court experts confirmed swastikas and other Nazi memorabilia were found in the defendants' homes In court, Ivo Muller and Vaclav Cojocaru described their coordinated Molotov cocktail attack. Their only excuse -- they said they thought they were attacking an empty storehouse of stolen goods.
Under cross-examination, Muller and Cojocaru admitted attending anti-Roma demonstrations organized by right wing extremists.
The other defendants, Jaromir Lukes and David Vaculik, did not take the stand. Lukes is accused of being the ringleader, a claim his defense counsel strongly denies although he concedes Lukes drove the getaway car. His lawyer also vehemently denies there was any racial motivation to the attack.
An anti-fascist website published a photo of Lukes walking next to the leader of the far-right Workers' Party. Another photo showed Vaculik wearing the armband of the Workers' Party, the public face of the Czech far right.
The leader of the now banned Workers' Party, Tomas Vandas, denied any involvement.
"Yes, we may have used those people as organizers of our public meetings but how could we know they would commit a crime?" said Vandas. "I hope Natalka gets better soon," he added.
Miroslav Mares, from Masaryk University in Brno, is the leading academic specialist on Czech extremist groups.
He thinks it's unlikely that the Workers' Party was directly involved in the arson attack, but he says they were responsible "for inflaming anti-Roma sentiment."
"Maybe some youngsters from the neo-Nazi scene said to themselves, 'If the whole population is against Romas we are justified in carrying out such attacks,'" he said.
And surveys do show anti-Roma sentiment is widespread. The European Union EURoma website says Czech Romas endure extremely high unemployment rates, low educational standards, isolation, and the prejudices of the majority population.
"In regions with high unemployment and poor social conditions, the rise of extremism is popular with unemployed young men but we can see more and more women on the neo-Nazi scene," Marek said.
Lucie Slegrova, 20, is a flag-waving militant of the now renamed Workers' Social Justice Party. She denies her party is inspired by Hitler's Nazi ideology.
Instead, she says, they follow their own nationalist ideas. "The Czech Republic should be for people who know how to behave. If the gypsies don't want to follow the rules, they're free to leave," she said.
Only one percent of Czech voters supported the Workers' Social Justice Party in the last elections, but Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer worries that 7 percent of Czech students voted for the far-right party, according to an unofficial nationwide poll.
"A lot of people are frustrated with politicians, and have troubles due to the crisis and recession. My message to them is please think it over and don't believe these very bad prophets," Fischer said.
The far-right movement has made bigger gains in neighboring Hungary where 17 percent of voters chose the Jobbik party in the last elections.
Violence has been much worse as well. In the last two years, nine Roma have been killed in Hungary in unprovoked night-time attacks, according to the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC).
Roma bashing also became an issue in the Slovakian election campaign. The far right Slovak National Party commissioned billboards showing a dark-skinned man with tattoos and an inflammatory message: "Vote SNS so we don't feed those who don't want to work."
In eastern Slovakia many Roma live in segregated communities like the village of Ostrovany where municipal authorities spent some $16,000 to build a wall separating the Roma from their white neighbors, because of fears of "alleged Roma crime," said Stanislav Daniel from ERRC.
"To me the wall is a symbol of segregation because public finances were used to target a stereotype, not what's real," Daniel said.
The wall separates a tidy town from a rural slum. Roma, living right next to the wall, have no sewage or garbage collection and there's just one tap with drinking water for dozens of families.
Back in the Czech Republic, Natalka's father, Pavel Kudrik, has chosen to stay in the region and rebuild a comfortable home for his wife and four daughters.
After police asserted that Natalka's family were victims of a racist attack, many Czechs opened their wallets and their hearts.
Prime Minister Fischer's wife and son spearheaded a nationwide campaign to help them -- a move that led to the Fischer family having full-time police protection after they received anonymous death threats.
But the current climate is not the only reason Fischer wants to clamp down on right wing extremism.
Everyone in his family died in the Holocaust except for his father and grandmother. "Sixty-five years after WWII, the societal memory is getting weak," he said.
And Roma activists complain that recognition of their sacrifices under the Nazis has never been properly acknowledged.
Half-a-million Roma perished in what they call the "Devouring" -- Hitler's campaign to eliminate them as a people.
Last May, several hundred Czech Roma gathered at a memorial for the victims of the Lety concentration camp. Hundreds of Czech Roma children died there and are buried nearby in a mass grave.
Jan Vrba is one of the camp's last survivors. He was born there. His sister perished there.
"What happened in Vitkov made me cry", said Jan. "Little Natalka reminded me of my sister who died in this camp." Source
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A year ago Sunday, Neda Agha-Soltan died of a single gunshot wound to the chest. Her last moments -- captured on a cell phone camera and shown around the world-- catapulted her into the symbol of the postelection reform movement in Iran.
Today, the Iranian regime's crackdown seems to have driven protesters off the streets. But the movement is not weakening, some analysts say. Instead, it's evolved into an online underground civil rights struggle, they say.
"I think they're going to continue to move forward, whether in the form of a green movement or another type of movement," said Karim Sadjadpour, a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It's just, basically, this march of history."Agha-Soltan, 26, was at an anti-government demonstration in Tehran when she was felled by a single bullet to the chest.
"She has been shot! Someone, come and take her!" shouts one man in the shaky cell phone video that has since been seen around the world.
The video then shows blood streaming from her mouth, then from her nose. Her eyes roll to her right; her body is limp.
A man, who had accompanied her to the rally, is then heard pleading with her by name.
"Neda, do not be afraid, do not be afraid," he repeats.
Agha-Soltan was taken to a nearby hospital and, within a day, she was buried at Behesht Zahra, the city's largest Muslim cemetery, on the outskirts of the capital.
Immediately afterward, she emerged as the face of the anti-government movement.
Even world leaders took notice.
"We've seen courageous women stand up to the brutality and threats and we've experienced the searing image of a woman bleeding to death on the streets," said President Barack Obama.
Eight days before Agha-Soltan's death, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's landslide election victory unleashed massive demonstrations in the country.
Thousands of green-clad protesters took to the streets, accusing the government of rigging the elections.
Iran's leaders called the uprising a foreign-led plot to overthrow the regime. It cracked down on the protesters -- with many killed and even more jailed.
Images of the bloody crackdown fueled worldwide outrage. Agha-Soltan's pictures are still carried on placards at rallies outside Iran.
"She will become the image of this brutality, and of the role -- the truly significant role -- that women have played in fighting this regime," said Abbas Milani of Stanford University in California. "I think that women are the unsung heroes of the last few years. They are the ones who began chipping away at the authority, the absolute dictatorship of the mullahs."
Iranian authorities continue to deny that security forces were responsible for killing Agha-Soltan.
Instead, they have offered at least three separate explanations. They have blamed the CIA, terrorists and supporters of the opposition movement themselves.
One year after Agha-Soltan's death, Iranian officials have yet to announce a single arrest in connection with her killing. Source
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Not everyone expects a response when they write a letter to the president of the United States. But Caroline Jamieson got much more than she expected when her husband ended up in jail and afraid he would be deported.
Jamieson, vice president of marketing at a new-media advertising company, wrote President Barack Obama in January because her husband, Hervé Fonkou Takoulo, was facing deportation to his native Cameroon. Takoulo failed in a bid before political asylum almost a decade ago, and a judge issued a deportation order after they were married.
After he and Jamieson married on 2005, Takoulo applied for a green card based on his marriage to a U.S. citizen. But immigration law requires that the deportation order be lifted before the couple can appear before immigration officials to argue their case that the marriage is legitimate and not a ploy to legalize Takoulo's presence in the United States. "We want to be given the chance to interview and prove that we are a married couple, so Hervé can get a green card, and that has proven extremely difficult to do," Jamieson told CNN.
They never received a direct response to the letter. But they did get two Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers waiting outside their East Village, Manhattan apartment on June 3 when Takoulo was leaving the apartment to go to the gym.
Jamieson told CNN that the officers cornered her husband and asked him if he had written a letter to the president. "He said 'No, but my wife did.' And they explained that with that letter -- when it was brought to their attention -- that the Obama administration wanted them to resolve this quickly,'" Jamieson said.
Her husband was held at ICE headquarters for six hours, alone in a room, until he was chained at the wrists, around his stomach and his ankles and taken to the Hudson County Correctional Center in New Jersey, she said.
For the next two weeks, a frantic Jamieson wrote letters to politicians and anyone else who might be able to help. She got responses, she said, but none seemed to lead anywhere. Takoulo was allowed to call his wife once a day at designated times but he knew little about his situation. He spent his days with repeat sex offenders and men accused of felonies, fearing imminent deportation.
"I did everything I could and went into survival mode and pushed for all these connections to the press," she said. "We are fortunate to have that leverage. What about the people in the country who don't have access to those means?"
Then, on Thursday, he was brought to an immigration processing jail in Manhattan and released. There was no explanation offered for his release, but Takoulo is now wearing an electronic ankle monitor while his case is being reviewed.
ICE spokesman Brian P. Hale said the circumstances of Takoulo's arrest were undergoing an internal review and he was released as "an alternative to detention pending a review of his case."
Investigators are looking to determine whether "appropriate separation" between Jamieson's letter to the president and Takoulo's deportation case were violated. If so, he said, the case will go to the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility and the Homeland Security Department's inspector general for "immediate and appropriate action."
Takoulo graduated from the State University of New York at Stony Brook with an engineering degree in 2008 and received several job interview offers after graduation. But the deportation order hung over his head and prevented any followup.
"All he wants to do is contribute to this economy," Jamieson told CNN. "We want to be a productive couple. He's been dying to work."
The couple has been following Barack Obama's rise in the political world since 2004.
"I felt a special kinship to him because I'm of mixed race, and my husband obviously has a similar background," Jamieson told CNN.
Regardless of whether or not her letter was mishandled, the incident has deeply affected the couple's faith in the Obama administration.
"I feel really confused, I don't understand how something like this is possible. I can't imagine that at the top of the Obama administration that they realize that something like this is happening," Jamieson told CNN. Source
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A labor union representing nearly 20,000 border patrol agents and staff Friday disputed comments made by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer that most illegal immigrants coming across the southern border are smuggling drugs.
Brewer initially made the comments earlier this month during a debate of Republican gubernatorial candidates. She repeated them Friday when asked by a reporter for the basis of the claim.
"Well, we all know that the majority of the people that are coming to Arizona and trespassing are now becoming drug mules," Brewer said. "They're coming across our borders in huge numbers. The drug cartels have taken control of the immigration. "So they are criminals. They're breaking the law when they are trespassing and they're criminals when they pack the marijuana and the drugs on their backs."
When pressed, Brewer explained that many are simply coming to the United States to look for work but "are accosted, and they become subjects of the drug cartels."
T.J. Bonner of the National Border Patrol Council told CNN that Brewer's claims were "clearly not the case." Bonner said that some undocumented immigrants caught by border patrol agents have drugs on them, and that they sometimes blame pressure from the drug cartels.
But, he said, those claims have little credibility because drug smugglers are typically transporting much larger quantities of drugs. And besides, he said, if what Brewer said were true, there would be many more prosecutions for drug smuggling.
Brewer's comments, Bonner said, don't "comport with reality -- that's the nicest way to put it."
Brewer doubled down on the comments later Friday, however, issuing a statement reiterating them.
"The simple truth is that the majority of human smuggling in our state is under the direction of the drug cartels, which are by definition smuggling drugs," Brewer's statement said, according to the Associated Press as reported in the Arizona Republic. "It is common knowledge that Mexican drug cartels have merged human smuggling with drug trafficking."
Brewer said the "human rights violations that have taken place (by the cartels) victimizing immigrants and their families are abhorrent."
Brewer's statement is the center of a controversy over a recently passed law that requires law enforcement officials to ascertain the citizenship of the subject of any investigation if they have reason to believe their suspect is in this country illegally. The U.S. Department of Justice is considering whether to file suit against the law. Source
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New Orleans, Louisiana (CNN) -- As the Gulf of Mexico oil spill enters its 65th day, the confirmed suicide of an Alabama fisherman served as a reminder Thursday of how the effects of the disaster can be felt from the national level to the neighborhood level.
While the powers in Washington wrangle over the fate of a drilling ban, residents on the Gulf coast are fighting their own battles with the oil.
"He was 55 years old. He was a charter boat captain," Stan Vinson, coroner for Baldwin County, Alabama, said of the fisherman, Allen Kruse.
After the oil began spilling into the areas where Kruse would take people fishing, the fishing grounds were closed, leaving him out of work.
According to Vinson, Kruse took a job helping BP fight the oil, making his boat a so-called "vessel of opportunity.""He was on the boat alone, and he had been with the deckhands," Vinson said Wednesday. "He was loading the boat this morning just like he normally would. They were supposed to go out today, (and) he told the deckhands to go get some ice for the boat, that he was going to pull it around."
After the deckhands went to run their errands, though, the boat never pulled around and they came back to the boat to find him dead, Vinson said.
The deputy coroner, Rod Steade Sr., confirmed Thursday that Kruse's death was a suicide and he died of a single gunshot wound to the head.
On the frontlines of the oil spill, the battle seems more personal.
In a press briefing with reporters Thursday, Coast Guard Capt. Roger Laferriere, Incident Commander for Houma, Louisiana, spoke passionately of the work being done on the coast.
"This is a battle for a way of life, this is a battle for the people of Louisiana, and we will continue to fight this until all the oil is removed and that the people of Louisiana can go back to their way of living," he said.
The Coast Guard deployed 20,000 gallons of dispersants into the water Thursday, he said, and more than 1.3 million feet of boom are deployed around the state.
There are currently 670 vessels of opportunity like Kruse's helping skim the oil, Laferriere said.
Meanwhile, in the bigger picture, attention was on the resumption of deepwater drilling in the Gulf.
Paving the way for drilling to resume, a federal judge on Thursday denied a request to keep a six-month moratorium in place pending a government appeal.
U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman in New Orleans, Louisiana, issued a preliminary injunction against the ban Tuesday. The government had asked Feldman to delay lifting the ban until an appeals court reviewed the issue later this summer.
The moratorium was imposed by President Obama on May 27 after the April 20 explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig off the coast of Louisiana triggered an underwater oil gusher. The moratorium prohibited drilling in more than 500 feet of water and prevented new permits from being issued.
In an emergency hearing Thursday, the judge denied the government's motion to stay his decision pending appeal "for the same reasons given" Tuesday for issuing the injunction.
Government lawyers did not file an appeal to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday, though the expected move could come as soon as Friday.
In Tuesday's ruling, Feldman wrote, "An invalid agency decision to suspend drilling of wells in depths of over 500 feet simply cannot justify the immeasurable effect on the plaintiffs (oil drilling support companies), the local economy, the Gulf region, and the critical present-day aspect of the availability of domestic energy in this country."
The government now has 30 days to show it is beginning to comply with Feldman's order and start accepting permit applications and issuing permits. The appeals process can continue, but until the appeal, the government must act as if Feldman's order will be upheld.
Meanwhile, the full Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee met Thursday to consider bills related to Minerals Management Service reform and to offshore drilling. Committee member Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyoming, said the Obama administration is putting ideology over scientific integrity.
"The administration put together a group of experts to review safety recommendations for offshore oil and gas exploration," Barrasso said. "The administration proudly stated that the safety recommendations were peer reviewed. Well, afterwards, the American people found out that the most significant recommendation -- which was the moratorium -- was not actually peer reviewed. The moratorium was added after the experts had been consulted. The majority of the experts consulted say that their names were used to justify a political decision made by the administration."
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-Louisiana, responded, "When your team was in charge, which would be under the previous administration, you didn't leave a very clear instruction book as to how to do this. And in defense of this administration ... the president is trying to rise above partisanship. And I think we all have to make our best effort to do this. This is not a time to try to take what I would consider a cheap shot." Source
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Germany's youthful side delivered a striking statement of intent by overwhelming old rivals England 4-1 in Bloemfontein to take their place in the last eight of the FIFA World Cup™.
Joachim Low's side built a two-goal lead through early goals from Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski and although Matthew Upson reduced the deficit before the break, the Germans made sure of their quarter-final place when Thomas Muller concluded two lightning breakaways with a quick-fire double midway through the second half. While Germany can look forward with confidence to a quarter-final meeting with Argentina or Mexico, England will go home to lick their wounds and reflect on yet another FIFA World Cup defeat by their old nemesis.
It was a lapse of concentration which allowed Germany to take the lead in the 20th minute, the goal coming after a spell of prolonged England possession. Manuel Neuer's long goal-kick upfield should have been dealt with by England’s central defenders, but Klose, back from suspension, got between John Terry and Upson, outmuscling the latter before poking the ball past David James with his outstretched right boot.While having plenty of the ball, England were creating little in the way of genuine scoring opportunities, with only a Gareth Barry shot from distance which went straight at Neuer. Indeed, Germany should have doubled their advantage on the half-hour when Sami Khedira combined well with Muller to set up Klose, who fired straight at James. Yet Die Nationalelf did not have to wait too long for their second goal as Muller floated a delightful ball into the path of the unmarked Podolski. With England's defence stretched, the Cologne man had the time to recover from a poor first touch and produce a left-footed finish that squeezed through the legs of the goalkeeper and just inside the far post.
England pulled a goal back in the 37th minute when a short Lampard corner from the right was played to Gerrard who crossed into the box. Upson, atoning for his earlier error, rose highest above the Germany defence and with Neuer stranded, powered a header into the net. Meetings between these two sides often provide talking points and this one's came 60 seconds later when Lampard's shot from the edge of the box struck the underside of the crossbar and bounced down, with the referee ruling the ball had not crossed the goalline.
England started the second half strongly with Gerrard hitting a right foot shot just wide in the opening minutes and Lampard rattling the crossbar with a free-kick 30 yards from goal. However, Germany increased their advantage in the 67th minute through a counter-attack. Lampard's free-kick hit the German wall and, with England having committed men forward, they were left exposed as Schweinsteiger broke quickly before playing a delightful ball for Muller, who had started the breakaway, to fire past James.
Germany's fourth was more or less a carbon copy of their third. With England deep in their opponents' half, searching for a way back into the game, Germany won possession on the edge of their box and sprayed the ball to Ozil on the left. The midfielder outpaced Barry and played in Muller to sidefoot home from close range. England, to their credit, never gave up and only a fine one-handed save by Neuer from Gerrard stopped them from reducing their deficit – the heaviest in their FIFA World Cup history. source
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It is only fans not footballers, we are told, who worry about history. Yet it was hard not to sense the ghosts of the past at both the Free State Stadium and Soccer City as Germany and Argentina inflicted further punishment on familiar adversaries in today's Round of 16 contests to set up a Cape Town quarter-final.
Any meeting of Germany and England comes weighted with memories of past encounters and there was an unwelcome feeling of déjà vu for Fabio Capello's side in Bloemfontein. England won the countries' 1966 FIFA World Cup™ Final confrontation but Germany have been paying them back ever since. To Mexico 1970, Italy 1990 and UEFA EURO 96, we can now add South Africa 2010 after a last-16 contest that brought England's heaviest defeat on the world stage.
The match had been billed as Germany's youth versus England's experience – and the former won hands down. England had no answer to the speed and slick passing of Joachim Low's team, as evidenced by Thomas Muller's second-half double, which concluded lightning counter-attacks as Germany achieved their biggest victory over their old foes. While England must reconsider how to beat the game's traditional giants in knockout competition on the world stage – something they have still not done without home advantage – Mexico's conundrum tonight is how to get beyond the last 16.Only when hosting the FIFA World Cup have they managed that feat and, like England, El Tri had a familiar sinking feeling in succumbing to Argentina, just as they had done at this same stage in 2006. Unlike that closely fought contest, which Argentina won after extra time, this one was firmly in the grip of Diego Maradona's men by half-time as they led 2-0. Carlos Tevez then struck the day's most spectacular goal before youngster Javier Hernandez gave Mexico a glimmer of hope for the future with a fine consolation effort.
Lionel Messi may have yet to score but his team-mate Gonzalo Higuain claimed the outright lead in the race for the adidas Golden Boot by scoring Argentina's second goal at Soccer City, his fourth of the competition. Moreover, La Albiceleste moved top of the team scoring table with ten goals – one more than the Germans. That statistic augurs well for the sides' forthcoming encounter on Saturday, which fittingly offers a rematch of their Berlin quarter-final in 2006, won by Germany on penalties after a goalless draw. Argentina will want revenge but, as England can tell them, exorcising ghosts is not always easy when the Germans are around.
Results
Germany 4-1 England
Argentina 3-1 Mexico
Goal of the day
Argentina 3-0 Mexico, Carlos Tevez, 52 mins: Collecting the ball some five yards outside the D, the Argentina forward sought in vain to jink between two green shirts. The ball bounced back off a defender, however, and where Tevez failed with finesse, he succeeded with brute force, smashing an unstoppable shot into the far corner of Oscar Bravo's goal.
One to remember
One moment Gabriel Heinze was in the warm embrace of his Argentina team-mates, as they huddled together to celebrate a first-half goal, the next he was walking face first into a television camera. If that brought a whole new meaning to getting close to the action thankfully no damage was done as Heinze recovered from the bang to his head to make two vital contributions as Mexico sought a way back in the second half. After clearing one Pablo Barrera effort off the goalline he then got that same head in the way of a Barrera cross to deny the waiting Rafael Marquez.
Quote of the day
"I want to dedicate this win to my friend Valentino Rossi who has not been well," Argentina coach Maradona spares a thought for the Italian Moto GP rider who is recovering from a compound fracture of his right leg.
The stat
15 – Germany marched into the last eight for the 15th successive FIFA World Cup after beating England. Fifteen is also the number of goals recorded in the Round of 16 so far - the first four games producing the same total accumulated by all eight games in 2006. Source
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In the space of three short months Argentina’s Carlos Tevez has gone from fringe player to one of the stars of a side sweeping all before them in South Africa.
In his journey from the Buenos Aires neighbourhood of Fuerte Apache to English club Manchester City, Carlos Tevez has had to battle every inch of the way, frequently overcoming adversity to shine in one of the world’s top leagues. Those selfsame fighting qualities have also stood him in good stead on the international stage, and are helping him perform with distinction at South Africa 2010.
“It’s impossible to leave him out of the starting line-up boys,” said national coach Diego Maradona on the eve of the opening game with Nigeria, answering the media’s queries about Tevez’s inclusion. “What do you want me to do? He’s playing so well. He’s in electric form at the moment.” Four games later and El Apache has answered all the doubters, scoring twice against Mexico on Sunday evening to add further weight to Maradona’s argument.“I’m better prepared than ever for this tournament and fortunately the results are there for everyone to see,” he said after helping sink the Mexicans at Soccer City. “I’ve shown I’m not dead.”
Tevez’s two-goal salvo caps quite a turnaround in his fortunes and comes just three months after admitting his form was not good enough to warrant a place in the national side.
The Manchester City forward sent his team into the lead against the Mexicans, heading home at the end of a move he had started with Lionel Messi, and then all but settling the game seven minutes into the second half with a spectacular strike from outside the area.
“I needed a game like that,” he said after being named the Budweiser Man of the Match. “Diego [Maradona] told me he wanted me to play more as a forward and to not drop deep like a midfielder, but tracking back is something that comes naturally to me.”
As well as his brace, Tevez also ran tirelessly for his side and linked up well with his team-mates before being substituted by Juan Sebastian Veron. It was a change he did not appear to enjoy making: “I shouldn’t have pulled a face when I came off but nobody likes being substituted when they’re playing well. That said, I’d like to make my apologies public now: my team-mates shouldn’t have to see me looking annoyed.”
Revenge on the menu?
Carlitos is one of the survivors from the team that was knocked out by the host nation at Germany 2006. Yet with Argentina through to a quarter-final rematch with the Germans, his main objective now is not to gain revenge on the three-time champions but to get more time on the pitch than he enjoyed four years ago.
“I give absolutely everything for this jersey and I run my socks off on the pitch just to keep my place,” added the man of the moment. “This is the best form I’ve ever been in for the national side and I hope to keep this going for a long time yet. It’s going to be a great game against the Germans but we shouldn’t be looking on it as a chance for revenge. We need to take it easy and learn from the mistakes we made in 2006.”
In cementing his position as the ideal partner for Lionel Messi in the Albiceleste attack, Tevez has also earned the admiration of his team-mates. “He can win you a game in a single move,” said central defender Nicolas Burdisso, while Mexico keeper Oscar Perez had cause to regret the Argentinian livewire’s hand in events in Johannesburg: “He finished the game off with a tremendous goal.”
All in all not a bad night’s work for the kid from the back streets of Buenos Aires. Source
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Fresh from his side's 3-1 win over Mexico in the Round of 16, Argentina coach Diego Maradona said he will pick the right players to beat Germany in Saturday's FIFA World Cup™ quarter-final. A double from Argentina's Carlos Tevez, plus Gonzalo Higuain's fourth of the tournament, sealed the win while Mexico scored a consolation goal by Javier Hernandez.
Maradona is confident his side will now beat Germany, who crushed England 4-1. "We will take stock of our situation, then we will try and put together the best team to showcase our talents against Germany," he said."It will be the team to give us the guarantee to overcome Germany. We know Germany are a different team to the side we faced in Mexico. They are stronger, but we will field the right players to beat them."
Despite struggling to qualify for South Africa, Maradona's side have now picked up their fourth straight FIFA World Cup win and the former midfield maestro said he would dearly love to face the Germans himself.
"I feel like pulling on the jersey and playing myself, it is beautiful to be involved with this group of players, I feel proud to share these moments with them," he said. "They said I had no idea about how to coach, but suddenly I am winning matches and I am still the same guy." source
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Chile and Slovakia will be driven by the shared desire to spring an upset when they tackle respective rivals Brazil and the Netherlands in the Round of 16 on Monday.
Both the Brazilians and Dutch enjoy a worldwide reputation for spectacular play, but arguably no team at the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ has been more attractive going forward, not to mention more resolutely attack-minded, than Chile. That said, Marcelo Bielsa's men will be put to a gruelling test by their fellow South Americans, whose strength and serenity particularly caught the eye during the group stage. The current Brazil line-up may not yet stand comparison with some of their sparkling predecessors, but their results have been no less convincing.
The Netherlands are gracing South Africa with players every bit as gifted as previous vintages and they hope to break new ground by lifting the Trophy for the first time. Bert van Marwijk's troops have gone an impressive 22 matches without defeat and now find themselves just four games away from football’s ultimate prize, but they will need to be wary of a fearless Slovakia side, who so memorably disposed of holders Italy 3-2.The matches
Netherlands-Slovakia, Durban, 16.00
Brazil-Chile, Johannesburg (Ellis Park), 20.30
The big game
Brazil-Chile
This all-South American showdown speaks volumes for the success CONMEBOL sides have enjoyed in South Africa, though it will be Brazil feeling the more confident thanks to their 46 victories in their 65 previous meetings between the countries. The five-time world champions' coach Dunga has altered his team's style of play without compromising their winning mentality, giving them an almost European feel characterised by power and efficiency. That transformation owes much to the fact that 20 of his 23 players ply their club trade on the Old Continent, yet there have still been characteristic Brazilian flourishes, flowing from the likes of Maicon, Elano and Luis Fabiano.
The rich seam of talent continues to run deep and Dunga was even able to do without Kaka, Elano and Robinho for the goalless draw against Portugal. Brazil give the impression of a steamroller that is gathering momentum and will be difficult to stop, particularly since Chile coach Bielsa will need to turn to youth after the 2-1 loss to Spain left him with three players suspended. Centre-back duo Gary Medel and Waldo Ponce will be notable absentees, but South Africa 2010 has hardly been devoid of upsets thus far.
In focus
Favourites (NED) v Underdogs (SV
Independent since 1993, Slovakia may have taken a while to emerge from the shadow cast by the former Czechoslovakia, but there can be no disputing their steady progress. Fourth in their qualifying section ahead of France 1998, third on the road to Korea/Japan 2002 and second four years ago, they continued their upward trajectory by sealing top spot for South Africa 2010 thanks to a team built on sturdy foundations. Forwards Stanislav Sestak of Bochum and Robert Vittek of Ankaragucu – the latter scorer of a double against Italy – are the brightest lights in the side along with Napoli playmaker Marek Hamsik and Liverpool stopper Martin Skrtel, and having disposed of La Nazionale they must turn their attentions to another European powerhouse. Netherlands coach Bert van Marwijk boasts a squad brimming with star quality and has succeeded in getting those gifted individuals to play as a unit, giving the likes of Robin van Persie, Rafael van der Vaart, Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben unshakable belief that they can go all the way. Slovakia, on the other hand, have exceeded expectations and have nothing to lose.
What they said
"I’d compare this generation with the one that reached the World Cup semi-finals in 1998. Back then I was happy with that result, but this time I’d be very disappointed to finish second,” Phillip Cocu, Netherlands assistant coach. Source
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