Saturday, March 24, 2012
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Monday, March 19, 2012
US REPUBLICAN PRIMARIES: MITT Romney wins Puerto Rico Republican presidential primary, but looks to key test in Illinois
The former Massachusetts governor and multimillionaire, who accumulated his fortune buying and selling troubled business ventures, has proven singularly unable to win the hearts of the base of the Republican party, an increasingly conservative bloc of voters who distrust Romney for his moderate past positions on important social issues like abortion and gay rights.
As the day began, Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, claimed he was in the contest for the long haul because Romney is a weak front-runner even though he comfortably leads in the fight for delegates to the nominating convention. Santorum campaigned Sunday in the southern state of Louisiana, which holds its primary on Saturday.
“This is a primary process where somebody had a huge advantage, huge money advantage, huge advantage of establishment support and he hasn’t been able to close the deal and even come close to closing the deal,” Santorum said of Romney. “That tells you that there’s a real flaw there.”
To gain the nomination, Romney must accumulate 1,144 delegates to Republican National Convention — allocated through state-by-state primary elections and caucuses. Romney is on pace to capture the nomination in June unless Santorum or Gingrich is able to win decisively in the coming contests.
Before Puerto RIco’s vote was in, Romney had 501 delegates, more than all of his rivals combined. Santorum stands at 253, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has 136, and Texas Rep. Ron Paul is at 50, according to an Associated Press projection.
Enrique Melendez, the Republican representative on the Puerto Rican State Electoral Commission, told The Associated Press that Romney would top the 50 per cent of the vote needed to win all 20 of the island’s convention delegates.
Both Santorum and Romney campaigned last week in Puerto Rico, the U.S. commonwealth island in the Caribbean island, where residents are U.S. citizens but cannot vote in the November presidential election. Romney secured the endorsement of Puerto Rico Gov. Luis Fortuno and other leading politicians. Santorum hurt himself with statements that English would have to be the official language if the U.S. territory were to seek statehood.
Each day that passes without a certain Republican nominee and the extension of the bitter fight raging with conservative opponents Santorum and Gingrich emphasizes disunity in the party, creates perhaps insurmountable divisions and plays into the hands of Obama.
Romney expressed confidence that he would eventually prevail.
“I can’t tell you exactly how the process is going to work,” Romney told “Fox News Sunday.” “But I bet I’m going to become the nominee, I sure hope I’m going to become the nominee.
The importance Romney places on Illinois showed itself over the weekend when he cut short a visit to Puerto Rico and added campaign events in the Midwestern state. Romney’s campaign was taking no chances in Illinois after losses to Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, last week in the Deep South primaries in Mississippi and Alabama. Romney is favoured in Illinois after eking out victories over Santorum in Michigan and Ohio, two other industrial states in the middle of the country.
Romney likely will do best in the densely populated Chicago region in the northeastern corner of the state, but Illinois voters become increasingly conservative — and more likely to mark ballots for Santorum — across the central and southern regions. The outcome will depend upon how many Chicago-area voters abandon Romney for either Santorum or, less likely, Gingrich. The former speaker of the House of Representatives has focused his campaign in the Deep South of the United States, but even at that he finished second to Santorum in Mississippi and Alabama.
Santorum wants Gingrich to leave the race, a move that would allow Santorum to consolidate the conservative opposition against Romney.
Both Santorum and GIngrich have said they would stay in the race and perhaps force the nomination to a fight at the Republican convention in Tampa, Florida, if Romney doesn’t amass enough delegates to arrive with a mandate. That would turn the convention into an intra-party brawl for the first time since 1976 when President Gerald Ford turned back a challenge by Ronald Reagan.
Santorum hopes that a strong showing in the remaining state contests would enable him to claim a mandate and persuade delegates to ignore election results in their states and go with him as the more conservative option over Romney. But there’s a hitch, and that is Gingrich’s refusal to quit the race even though he has only won primaries in South Carolina and Georgia, which he represented in Congress for two decades.
Romney’s aides call this a fantasy scenario even as they try to prevent delegates from defecting.
As Puerto Rico voted, Romney and Santorum traded barbs from afar on national TV news programs and at campaign events.
“Sen. Santorum has the same economic lightweight background the president has,” Romney told a crowd in Moline, Illinois. That drew a Santorum retort: “If Mitt Romney’s an economic heavyweight, we’re in trouble.”
Aside from a pair of TV interviews, Santorum spent the day visiting a pair of churches in Louisiana, sharing how his faith has shaped his political career and his opposition to abortion rights and gay marriage. He didn’t mention Romney or any of his other Republican opponents during talks at both churches.
He made clear he didn’t plan to exit the race anytime soon, saying in Bossier City, Louisiana, “One of the great blessings I’ve had in every political campaign is people underestimate me, people underestimate what God can do.”
More about
U.S. election»
Tori Stafford murder trial: Can the jury trust Terri-Lynne McClintic’s credibility
I’m guilty, she pleads.
I’m not guilty, he has pleaded.
When the jury left here Friday for an extended weekend off, they could be forgiven for being utterly discombobulated.
PHOTOS: Tori Stafford murder trial
Seven times they’d been up and down, in and out, on Day 8 in the trial of Michael Rafferty, charged with kidnapping, sexual assault and first-degree murder in the death of 8-year-old Victoria (Tori) Stafford. Complex legal arguments were heard in their absence. Narrow instructions were delivered by Superior Court Justice Thomas Heeney in their presence.
By the end of the afternoon, in this uncomfortably warm courtroom, everybody was visibly flagging.
But one key piece of business had been accomplished: The jury of nine women and three men watched five segments from the videotaped “confession’’ that Terri-Lynne McClintic gave OPP Det. Sgt. James Smyth on May 24, 2009.
This was the interview in which the then-teenager explicitly blamed Rafferty for killing Tori, identifying her boyfriend as the wielder of lethal hammer blows and the vicious kicker of a defenceless child’s body.
But McClintic — who pleaded guilty to murder in the first-degree at her own trial in April, 2010, and has been summoned here from her life behind bars prison sentence as key prosecution witness against Rafferty — this week turned that crucial description of a ghastly crime on its head.
Related on the Web
- Evidence photos
- McClintic told her lover she would take the blame
- Terri-Lynne McClintic breaks down in tears after describing sexual assault on little girl
- Terri McClintic resume
- DiManno: A mother's shortcomings
- Mother of slain girl testifies about visiting McClintic’s home
- Tapes put accused in area of abduction, prosecutors say
- Timeline of events (photos)
- The key players
- Victim impact statements
He raped her.
She killed her.
That’s what McClintic says now; is adamant about it. That’s not what she said in a tear-sodden interrogation three years ago.
The interview, as Heeney explained to the jury before releasing them until Wednesday, is not evidence at this trial, in the sense that it can’t be used to determine guilt against Rafferty, only for the purpose of assessing McClintic’s credibility. What McClintic says now, in this courtroom, is the evidence at this trial.
“I told them that basically he had committed the murder … and that he knew what he was doing when he did it,” McClintic told Crown Attorney Kevin Gowdey from the witness stand on Friday.
Gowdey: “You said he kicked her first?”
Yes, she had.
Gowdey: “You said he used the hammer to hit her head?”
Yes, she had.
Gowdey: “You said he’d put garbage bags over the top of her head?”
Yes, she had.
Gowdey: “And was that not true?”
McClintic: “It was true but it wasn’t him that did it. It was me.”
This could be a conundrum for the prosecution. McClintic had yet again fingered herself as a liar. Yet she’s the Crown’s witness and the only eyewitness, apparently, who can testify to Rafferty abducting Tori (McClintic the procuring accomplice) and sexually assaulting the youngster before, together, they buried the child beneath a pile of rocks at the end of a lonely country road outside Guelph on April 8, 2009. McClintic’s credibility is of immense importance.
The witness maintains she was lying then, is telling the truth now.
Patiently, Gowdey asked: “At what point during this interview did you decide to implicate Mr. Rafferty for using the hammer and killing Victoria Stafford?”
McClintic: “I’m not really sure. I don’t know to tell you the truth.”
To tell you the truth …
“I don’t know when I came to the decision that I was going to implicate him. I just couldn’t believe that it was me who was capable of doing that.”
Earlier in the day, during the morning session, both witness and jury were brought into the courtroom, McClintic given an abbreviated transcript of her interview with Smyth and allowed time to review it. A half-hour later, when court reassembled, Gowdey put the core question: “After reviewing your statement, do you wish to change your evidence from earlier this week?’’
Nope.
More lawyerly discussion, with the jury out, and then the interview excerpts were finally played.
The first segment began with McClintic blowing her nose. She is in the midst of recounting sordid events from the afternoon of Tori’s abduction, after the couple had brought the child to a desolate location. McClintic had purportedly walked away from the vehicle in which Rafferty allegedly had just raped Tori.
“I seen Tori on the ground … I could hear her … I turned my head away again (but) I could hear her, like (the) sound of her voice, like, moaning. I remember hearing the rustle of garbage bags.”
Earlier this week, McClintic testified that she was the one who put a garbage bag over Tori’s head after the alleged rape, that she then kicked the child and finally rained hammer blows on the youngster’s head.
In the next clip, McClintic tells Smyth she saw Rafferty kicking Tori “a couple of times” and right afterwards strike her “two or three times” with the hammer that she, McClintic, had bought just two hours earlier at a Guelph Home Depot, on instructions from Rafferty.
“He knew what he was doing,” says McClintic on the tape. “There was no, like, blood splatter.”
On the following excerpt, McClintic provides Smyth with more detail about the killing episode. “I remember … her legs were kind of like, not sprawled, just … similar to the fetal position. She was still moving. I could hear moaning …”
She saw blood in the child’s groin area but there were no wounds visible, apart from the hammer wreckage underneath the bag over Tori’s head. Rafferty, McClintic tells Smyth, ordered her to help cover Tori’s entire body with garbage bags at that point. “I felt like I was f---g retarded, like I didn’t know what I was doing that day.”
In the courtroom, Gowdey wonders why McClintic had chosen, in the interview, to make these allegedly false statements about Rafferty. As McClintic agreed, she did not know, at that time, what evidence police had against either her or Rafferty.
“Why then were you choosing to tell police that Mr. Rafferty had killed Tori?” the prosecuted probed.
“Rather than admit it was myself, is that what you’re asking? Because I could not accept that I was capable of committing something so heinous. He was the one who wanted to kidnap a child. He was the one who raped that child.
“I’m not somebody who targets children and I don’t understand what happened that day.”
After Tori had stopped moaning, gone silent, appeared dead, McClintic said she was “stunned” by what she now claims to have done to the child. Immediately, she testified, the couple set about clumsily hiding the body.
“He told me I needed to help. I was in it just as far as he was then.”
To justify her allegedly false implication of Rafferty as murderer in the interview, McClintic told Gowdey: “It was something that came up in my mind, all the things that I had ignored, (the) central risk factors, things that, if I didn’t say something, this was a man who could do something like this again to another child.”
On the tape, McClintic says she grabbed hold of Tori’s feet while Rafferty lifted her upper body. Together, they walked towards a tree and “tossed her on top of the rock pile.”
Gowdey, who’s given the witness numerous opportunities to recant her recantation, tries again.
“Your version now is that it wasn’t Mr. Rafferty who hit her in the head with a hammer. Are you still insisting that your evidence earlier this week was correct, that it was you with the hammer, that it was you who kicked her?”
McClintic: “Yes.’’
It is for the jury to take the measure of this witness.
BREAKING NEWS: Eight Fanshawe College students suspended over London St. Patrick’s Day riot
“I am extremely disappointed, I might even say angered,” Dr. Howard Rundle said during a news conference Monday morning. “We will expel students convicted of criminal behaviour.”
Rundle, during his first public address following the weekend’s violence, said the school would expel students convicted of criminal behaviour.
The Saturday night melee on Fleming Drive, a student enclave in the city’s east end notorious for student parties and occasional vandalism, drew a crowd of about 1,000 people and saw an estimated $100,000 in damage.
About 65 police officers in riot gear and 10 firefighters arrived at the scene late Saturday night. The crowd of people, some of them college students, flipped and torched a CTV News van and hurled beer bottles at police cruisers. Seventeen police vehicles were damaged.
PHOTOS: St. Patrick’s Day riot in London, Ont.
ALSO: St. Patrick’s Day revelry ends in violence across GTA
No one was injured, but London police Chief Brad Duncan said during a Sunday news conference that someone could have been killed if the violence had escalated.
Police arrested 11 people at the scene, seven of them Fanshawe students.
“We will not have those people as students of this college,” Rundle said during his first public address since the violence, adding that the riot has detracted from the school’s reputation.
The school has begun its own investigation to determine which students were involved in the riot. The school has set up an email account for people to submit any tips, photos or video of the riot.
Meanwhile, others have taken to Facebook to help identify those responsible for Saturday night’s damage.
Rundle urged the community not to partake in vigilantism, but to submit tips to both Fanshawe College and the police.
BREAKING NEWS: Union for Toronto’s inside workers calls strike vote for Tuesday
“We did not come by the decision to seek a strike mandate lightly,” said CUPE Local 79 president Tom Maguire in a news release.
“Our goal is to negotiate fair collective agreements without a strike. It’s now clear the city can’t say the same without something to focus their attention.”
The announcement came the same day the union for the city’s 2,300 library workers walked off the job after failing to negotiate a new contract.
Maguire noted the city has not moved on major concessions that would affect part-time and front-line city workers.
Toronto’s inside workers include daycare workers, clerks, court services staff, planners, social service workers and cleaners.
They could walk off the job or be locked out by the city as early as 12:01 a.m. on Saturday March 24.
Likely effects of a strike or lockout include: closure of all 57 city-run daycares, community centres, museums, swimming pools and non-emergency public health programs; cancellation of permits for parks, tennis courts and sports fields; a halt to the processing of building permits and rezoning applications; and limited access to city buildings.
So far, the city’s offer “isn’t even close” to the Local 416 settlement that the city reached with its 6,000 outside workers last month, said Maguire, adding “let alone one that represents the nature of Local 79.”
On Sunday, deputy mayor Doug Holyday, who chairs the city’s labour relations committee, said calling a strike vote hasn’t changed things at the bargaining table — the only place where a settlement can be reached.
“Our negotiators are professional negotiators, negotiating on behalf of the taxpayers and they’re very focused,” said Holyday.
Holyday has said major union demands include: barring the city from using volunteers without union permission; no contracting out of work done by Local 79 members; double pay for those who work a designated holiday; and a $350-per-year bonus for some part-time employees who regularly work weekends.
Citing his own experiences talking to the city’s inside employees, Holyday said he has yet to find any who are supporting a labour action.
He added that the negotiators for CUPE Local 416 offered to accept a pay freeze for a further three years. Referring to those bargaining for Local 79: “These people have gone in completely the opposite direction. They’ve got 100 enhancements,” he said.
The strike mandate will also protect members from a potential threat by the city to impose new terms and conditions of employment, said Maguire in the statement, adding the union decided to hold a vote because they want the city to begin talking. Local 79 has also scheduled a ratification vote for March 24, following the scheduled bargaining deadline.
BREAKING NEWS: Air Canada hits more turbulence as plane maintenance company Aveos files for bankruptcy
The company that maintains and repairs Air Canada planes has filed for bankruptcy protection according to the airline.
Aveos Fleet Performance Inc. closed three of their plants in Winnipeg, Montreal and Vancouver on Sunday laying off more than 2,400 workers.
In a press release Air Canada says the events are “disappointing” but will not affect day-to-day aircraft maintenance and repair which will be done by airline’s own 2,300 maintenance employees. If Aveos is unable to conduct pre-planned maintenance checks and “airframe, engine and component work” the airline will use other service providers in the U.S. and Canada.
Aveos is a private company that was created in 2007 when Air Canada sold off its maintenance division to pay off the airline’s debts. However, Air Canada is still responsible for about 85 per cent of their revenue.
Some 200 workers laid off in Montreal are blocking access to the Air Canada head office near the Pierre Elliot Trudeau Airport. Three quarters of the workers laid off were in Montreal.
Meanwhile, Air Canada is continuing to battle labour disputes with their pilots’ union.
Several pilots called in sick over the busy March break weekend, accounting for some of the delays and flight cancellations according to the airline spokesman. Air Canada has asked the Canadian Industrial Relations Board to intervene.
Lockout and strike plans from the pilots’ union and the maintenance workers’ union were thwarted last week after the government passed back-to-work legislation.
BREAKING NEWS: Striking library workers picket Toronto's City Hall
About 2,300 library staff are on strike after contract talks with city negotiators broke off Sunday.
City officials promised to have a contingency plan in place in case of a work stoppage. That contingency plan involves shutting all 98 city library branches for the duration of the strike, as well as cancelling planned meetings and events.
Book borrowers across the city will be greeted by picket lines and locked doors Monday morning as Toronto's public library workers go on strike. City officials promised to have a contingency plan in place in case of a work stoppage. That contingency plan involves shutting all 98 city library branches for the duration of the strike, as well as cancelling planned meetings and events.
A marathon round of negotiations that began Saturday and continued through the night, finally ended in failure late Sunday afternoon with an announcement by Maureen O’Reilly, president of the library workers union Local 4948.
“Our goal was to protect workers,” she said of the talks. “Despite our best efforts negotiations have stalled.”
A day earlier O’Reilly had not been optimistic of reaching an agreement. However, late Saturday night, both parties decided to extend their 12:01 a.m. deadline. Just after midnight, CUPE union spokesman Cim Nunn said the union would keep talking as long as they felt progress was being made.
The deadline was extended to 3 a.m., then 6 a.m., then noon, and then until 5 p.m., when bleary-eyed negotiators filed out of the Westin Prince Hotel where they'd been holed up all weekend, grim-faced to announce the strike.
The union said it had been presented with a new proposal by the library early Sunday, but it was ultimately rejected.
This will be the first such closure of the city's libraries since amalgamation. Library workers have struck deals and continued working in the past through strikes by inside and outside workers in CUPE locals 79 and 416.
“From our perspective it's very unfortunate,” said Councillor Paul Ainslie, chair of the library board.
City representatives noted several times during negotiations that they had a contingency plan in case of a strike. That plan consists of shutting libraries and eliminating overdue fines for books.
Ainslie said they don’t have the management to staff necessary to make opening branches possible. While he described negotiations as “a bit of a bumpy process,” he said he was surprised by the union's decision to end talks and go on strike.
Job security was the main sticking point.
More than 50 per cent of Toronto’s 2,300 library workers are part-time and O’Reilly emphasized the difficulty for many, who also don’t have benefits, to find enough hours to make ends meet.
An agreement that doesn’t protect their jobs from cuts or privatization would leave about 70 per cent of library staff vulnerable, said O’Reilly.
Ainslie said the city has no intention of privatizing library services.
There was an immediate response from both supporters and detractors of the strike action Sunday evening on Twitter.
“@torontolibrary is the centre of our community. Not sure what we're going to do without it (except deliver baking to striking workers),” tweeted Kerry Clare.
“I love @torontolibrary but disagree with strike action. No one is ‘owed’ job security (speaking as a freelancer with no security/benefits),” tweeted Sandy Kemsley shortly after.
This is just the second act in ongoing saga of contract negotiations between the city and its workers unions. It began with the outside workers, who reached a new contract last month, and continues with the 23,000 indoor workers represented by CUPE Local 79. They have set a strike vote for Tuesday and could legally walk off the job at 12:01 a.m. March 24.
What this means for library users
During the labour disruption:
• All library branches and facilities will be closed. Bookmobile and home library services are also suspended.
• Borrowers won't be charged fines on overdue items.
• All book drops will be closed and borrowers are asked to keep their library materials until the strike is over.
• All scheduled meetings and events are cancelled. Room rental charges will be refunded.
• Most website services will still be available.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
TURISMO Y VIAJE: Los 10 hoteles con las mejores vistas a lugares Patrimonio de la Humanidad
Desde Granada hasta México, pasando por Turquía o Italia. Aquí la lista que elabora el sitio especializado, Hostel Bookers.
13/03/2012 - 11:14
HostelBookers.es ofrece la oportunidad de alojarse no sólo en hoteles económicos, sino también en hostales, obviamente no dentro de los sitios protegidos, pero con impresionantes vistas a lugares que permanecerán inalterados en el tiempo. Sin gastar una fortuna se puede admirar desde la ventana lugares, paisajes, monumentos y estructuras arquitectónicas únicas y de tal relevancia como para estar protegidos por una organización tan prestigiosa como la Unesco.
A continuación se muestran los 10 mejores hoteles y hostales seleccionados por HostelBookers con vistas a algunos de los lugares Patrimonio de la Humanidad más hermosos, desde Granada hasta México, pasando por Turquía o Italia; paisajes y obras de gran importancia artística y cultural que con toda seguridad dejarán una gran huella en los recuerdos de los viajeros amantes de la historia y la cultura.
1. Eva Rooms, en Amalfi (Italia), propone dormir en un ambiente de máxima comodidad y contemplar cada mañana desde la ventana la belleza de la costa. La cultura y la historia de esta zona se mezclan de forma perfecta con un paisaje de belleza sin parangón. Situado a dos minutos de la playa, este hostal ha sido recientemente restaurado con estilo y elegancia.
Habitaciones desde US$59,73 por persona y noche.
2. Los Apartamentos Montes Claros se encuentran en el histórico barrio del Sacromonte en Granada (España) y tienen unas espectaculares vistas a la Alhambra, Patrimonio de la Humanidad desde 1984, tanto desde las habitaciones como desde la terraza con piscina.
Habitaciones desde US$45,13 por persona y noche.
3. En el casco antiguo de Venecia (Italia) se ubica el Palazzo Guardi, un pequeño hotel cuyo edificio data del siglo XV y conserva la estructura intacta de la época. En el interior de este palacio veneciano destacan las lámparas de cristal de Murano y el establecimiento ofrece unas vistas maravillosas del canal San Trovaso.
Habitaciones desde US$35,84 por persona y noche.
4. El Local Cave House Hotel está situado en una zona protegida y Patrimonio de la Humanidad en la región de Capadocia (Turquía). Este hotel es único en el mundo y posee habitaciones equipadas con todas las comodidades posibles en cuevas naturales excavadas en la montaña. Una localización única en un ambiente natural tan espectacular como fuera de lo común.
Habitaciones desde US$33,18 por persona y noche.
5. La Casa de Campo Hotel es el lugar ideal para los que visitan Cuzco (Perú), una perla incrustada en la impresionante cordillera de los Andes. El hotel está a pocos minutos a pie del pintoresco barrio de San Blas, uno de los más conocidos de la ciudad y dispone de cómodas habitaciones para una estancia tranquila y apacible.
Habitaciones desde US$18,50 por persona y noche.
6. Naot Farm es una antigua fábrica en Negev (Israel), transformada en 2003 en una espléndida granja por iniciativa de la familia Nachimov. Ofrece la oportunidad de vivir en contacto directo con la naturaleza, ya que los huéspedes que lo deseen pueden participar de forma activa en la actividad de la granja ayudando a criar a los animales y fabricar queso. Las espléndidas vistas del desierto hará de la estancia en Naot Farm una experiencia inolvidable.
Habitaciones desde US$79,70 por persona y noche.
7. Rocky Mountain Hotel se localiza en uno de los lugares Patrimonio de la Humanidad más visitados del mundo: Petra (Jordania). La historia y el encanto de Petra han contribuido a hacer de esta zona una de las siete maravillas del mundo. Este hotel es céntrico, cuenta con todas las comodidades y tiene unas fantásticas vistas a las montañas que lo rodean; los atardeceres son absolutamente espectaculares.
Habitaciones desde US$16,89 por persona y noche.
8. En Trulli Holiday Hotel, Alberobello (Italia), se puede dormir en las típicas casitas de piedra con tejado redondeado conocidas como trulli. Tanto estas antiquísimas y pintorescas casitas como toda la zona donde se encuentran fueron añadidas a la lista de lugares arqueológicos protegidos. El interior de estas estructuras históricas fue renovado recientemente, adaptándolo perfectamente a las necesidades de los viajeros.
Habitaciones desde US$39,82 por persona y noche.
9. Dar Al Bahar está situado en pleno corazón de Essaouira, una pequeña ciudad en la costa occidental de Marruecos. La medina de Essaouira, un auténtico laberinto en la parte antigua de la ciudad y Patrimonio de la Humanidad, propone al viajero el ambiente, los colores y los aromas marroquíes más tradicionales. La mayoría de las habitaciones de este hotel tienen vistas al mar, y todas han sido decoradas individualmente.
Habitaciones desde US$22,56 por persona y noche.
10. En el centro histórico de Zacatecas (México) se encuentra Hotel Casa Santa Lucía. Los edificios y, sobre todo la catedral, son testigos del glorioso pasado de la ciudad. El hotel dispone de una espléndida terraza con vistas a todo el centro histórico en la que disfrutar de un completo desayuno contemplando unas vistas impresionantes.
Habitaciones desde US$15,76 por persona y noche.
A continuación se muestran los 10 mejores hoteles y hostales seleccionados por HostelBookers con vistas a algunos de los lugares Patrimonio de la Humanidad más hermosos, desde Granada hasta México, pasando por Turquía o Italia; paisajes y obras de gran importancia artística y cultural que con toda seguridad dejarán una gran huella en los recuerdos de los viajeros amantes de la historia y la cultura.
1. Eva Rooms, en Amalfi (Italia), propone dormir en un ambiente de máxima comodidad y contemplar cada mañana desde la ventana la belleza de la costa. La cultura y la historia de esta zona se mezclan de forma perfecta con un paisaje de belleza sin parangón. Situado a dos minutos de la playa, este hostal ha sido recientemente restaurado con estilo y elegancia.
Habitaciones desde US$59,73 por persona y noche.
2. Los Apartamentos Montes Claros se encuentran en el histórico barrio del Sacromonte en Granada (España) y tienen unas espectaculares vistas a la Alhambra, Patrimonio de la Humanidad desde 1984, tanto desde las habitaciones como desde la terraza con piscina.
Habitaciones desde US$45,13 por persona y noche.
3. En el casco antiguo de Venecia (Italia) se ubica el Palazzo Guardi, un pequeño hotel cuyo edificio data del siglo XV y conserva la estructura intacta de la época. En el interior de este palacio veneciano destacan las lámparas de cristal de Murano y el establecimiento ofrece unas vistas maravillosas del canal San Trovaso.
Habitaciones desde US$35,84 por persona y noche.
4. El Local Cave House Hotel está situado en una zona protegida y Patrimonio de la Humanidad en la región de Capadocia (Turquía). Este hotel es único en el mundo y posee habitaciones equipadas con todas las comodidades posibles en cuevas naturales excavadas en la montaña. Una localización única en un ambiente natural tan espectacular como fuera de lo común.
Habitaciones desde US$33,18 por persona y noche.
5. La Casa de Campo Hotel es el lugar ideal para los que visitan Cuzco (Perú), una perla incrustada en la impresionante cordillera de los Andes. El hotel está a pocos minutos a pie del pintoresco barrio de San Blas, uno de los más conocidos de la ciudad y dispone de cómodas habitaciones para una estancia tranquila y apacible.
Habitaciones desde US$18,50 por persona y noche.
6. Naot Farm es una antigua fábrica en Negev (Israel), transformada en 2003 en una espléndida granja por iniciativa de la familia Nachimov. Ofrece la oportunidad de vivir en contacto directo con la naturaleza, ya que los huéspedes que lo deseen pueden participar de forma activa en la actividad de la granja ayudando a criar a los animales y fabricar queso. Las espléndidas vistas del desierto hará de la estancia en Naot Farm una experiencia inolvidable.
Habitaciones desde US$79,70 por persona y noche.
7. Rocky Mountain Hotel se localiza en uno de los lugares Patrimonio de la Humanidad más visitados del mundo: Petra (Jordania). La historia y el encanto de Petra han contribuido a hacer de esta zona una de las siete maravillas del mundo. Este hotel es céntrico, cuenta con todas las comodidades y tiene unas fantásticas vistas a las montañas que lo rodean; los atardeceres son absolutamente espectaculares.
Habitaciones desde US$16,89 por persona y noche.
8. En Trulli Holiday Hotel, Alberobello (Italia), se puede dormir en las típicas casitas de piedra con tejado redondeado conocidas como trulli. Tanto estas antiquísimas y pintorescas casitas como toda la zona donde se encuentran fueron añadidas a la lista de lugares arqueológicos protegidos. El interior de estas estructuras históricas fue renovado recientemente, adaptándolo perfectamente a las necesidades de los viajeros.
Habitaciones desde US$39,82 por persona y noche.
9. Dar Al Bahar está situado en pleno corazón de Essaouira, una pequeña ciudad en la costa occidental de Marruecos. La medina de Essaouira, un auténtico laberinto en la parte antigua de la ciudad y Patrimonio de la Humanidad, propone al viajero el ambiente, los colores y los aromas marroquíes más tradicionales. La mayoría de las habitaciones de este hotel tienen vistas al mar, y todas han sido decoradas individualmente.
Habitaciones desde US$22,56 por persona y noche.
10. En el centro histórico de Zacatecas (México) se encuentra Hotel Casa Santa Lucía. Los edificios y, sobre todo la catedral, son testigos del glorioso pasado de la ciudad. El hotel dispone de una espléndida terraza con vistas a todo el centro histórico en la que disfrutar de un completo desayuno contemplando unas vistas impresionantes.
Habitaciones desde US$15,76 por persona y noche.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Friday, March 9, 2012
Saturday, March 3, 2012
INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY: $35 Raspberry Pi computer sells out on launch
The ultra-cheap Raspberry Pi computer went on sale Wednesday amid overwhelming demand, crashing the distributors' websites and selling out on one site shortly thereafter.
The $35 Raspberry Pi Model B, which is the size of a credit card and runs on open-source software developed at Toronto's Seneca College, became available for pre-order at 1 a.m. ET Wednesday from British manufacturers and distributors Premier Farnell and RS Components.
Almost immediately, the Raspberry Pi Foundation, the non-profit group that designed the computers as a device that young people could learn how to program, was flooded with complaints from customers who couldn't access the distributor websites to place their orders.
At 3:08 a.m. ET Wednesday, the Raspberry Pi Twitter account reported that Farnell was sold out of the computers, despite a limit of one per customer. Meanwhile, RS was asking potential customers to express interest on their site.
"With tens of thousands of customers looking to order on the RS website since the launch of Raspberry Pi earlier today, this is the greatest level of demand RS has ever received for a product at one time," Chris Page, general manager of electronics at RS Components, said in a statement.
He added that the company was working closely with Raspberry Pi "to satisfy this unprecedented demand" and expected to begin shipping the devices on a first-come, first-served basis after it gets its first boards late next week.
In Canada, the Raspberry Pi is available through Farnell subsidiary Newark and RS Components subsidiary Allied Electronics.
The Raspberry Pi Foundation said its new partnership with Farnell and RS Components means the computers will be produced in whatever quantity is needed to meet demand. Previously, the plan had been to make them in batches of 10,000.
The Raspberry Pi is designed to be an affordable, easy-to-program device that hobbyists and children can play with and learn from. The goal of the non-profit foundation that designed it is to boost interest in programming and computer science.
The energy-efficient device can run off 4AA batteries, use a TV as a monitor and store data on SD cards. A basic software package developed at Seneca College in Toronto, including a custom version of the Linux Fedora operating system and basic tools like a web browser and word processor, will be available for the devices. Users can also download other software adapted and developed by the open source software community around the world.
In addition to the $35 model that launched this week, the Raspberry Pi will also come in a cheaper, $25 model with one USB port instead of two and no ethernet port.
Global protest inspired Nadim Kobeissi to work on Cryptocat an encrypted chat program
But developer and security researcher Nadim Kobeissi hopes that it might do something more: bring secure communications to those who need it most, people whose free speech is threatened whether in countries like Syria or in the west.
Mr Kobeissi is a developer of a secure communications program called Cryptocat.
Cryptocat works inside a web browser and enables people to chat online via encrypted instant messaging.
"What makes Cryptocat different to Facebook chat or Google chat is that it encrypts all the data before it gets to the server," Mr Kobeissi told BBC Five Live's Outriders podcast.
Other less secure chat systems may "record what you say and sometimes they have no choice but to share that data with governments," he said.
This isn't the case with Cryptocat according to Mr Kobeissi.
Raspberry servers
He plans to buy Raspberry Pi computers and set them up to work as credit-card sized servers running Cryptocat.
Because of their low-cost and small size they can then be shipped to activists and NGO's in areas where free-speech is difficult.
"This is especially useful for activist organizations, human rights organizations, any group composed of a few dozen people who need to have an internal secure communication service," said Mr Kobeissi.
Small, portable Raspberry Pi computers set up to run Cryptocat, he believes, may be a quick way to build such a service.
Open source
Mr Kobeissi's software is open-source, something which he believes should increase the security of the service as it is reviewed by other developers.
"That's the only way this would work. If I made this closed-source then I might make a mistake in the code and endanger the privacy of people who would depend on it."
Because he has made the code easy for other to scrutinize other experts can check that it is secure.
"I am part of a security community that is very critical, so I have to fulfil high standards," he said.
He also plans to put the software needed to turn the Pi into a chat-server online "so people who already have one of the tiny computers can convert their own into a mini-server".
Active support
Telecomix is a global group that works on free communication. It provides the technology and manuals to stay as secure as possible in countries where the internet is under surveillance.
Stephen Urbach of Telecomix says the Cryptocat servers are generally a good idea, "People all over the world have a need - in the democratic and free countries where I do not trust my government because of data retention as in countries like Syria or the Bahrain where a wrong word can bring you to death. Secure communication can save lives."
Though Urbach recognises that new forms of encryption are a good idea, it is the opportunity to understand computing that will keep people safe, "People need to learn what their computer does, how it works and how the software works.
"Only with this knowledge you will be able to see if you need more security. People need to understand how the internet works to understand why data retention is harmful, how blocked websites still can be accessed and which traces they leave while using the internet."
"This is a good idea for NGOs - but why not use already known decentralized technology like XMPP/Jabber?"
"There is an Off-The-Record plugin for most common and known clients and it is easy as ICQ or any other Instant Messenger. Though this is good, it is yet another tool. Why should we always build new tools when we already have good working tools which use wide spread protocols? As I mentioned before: XMPP/Jabber with OTR. It is common, easy to use and very secure."
Global protest
The current state of global protest and the violent clamping down of freedom of speech in countries like Syria has inspired Mr Kobeissi to work even harder on Cryptocat:
"Cryptocat was definitely influenced by what's happening in the Arab world," he said.
"I myself only immigrated from Lebanon to Canada two years ago."
"But I also want to draw attention to the fact that privacy technologies are becoming a need even here in Western society."
"This isn't just about the Arab Spring, this is about the decaying state of digital privacy worldwide," he said.
The $35 Raspberry Pi Model B, which is the size of a credit card and runs on open-source software developed at Toronto's Seneca College, became available for pre-order at 1 a.m. ET Wednesday from British manufacturers and distributors Premier Farnell and RS Components.
Almost immediately, the Raspberry Pi Foundation, the non-profit group that designed the computers as a device that young people could learn how to program, was flooded with complaints from customers who couldn't access the distributor websites to place their orders.
At 3:08 a.m. ET Wednesday, the Raspberry Pi Twitter account reported that Farnell was sold out of the computers, despite a limit of one per customer. Meanwhile, RS was asking potential customers to express interest on their site.
"With tens of thousands of customers looking to order on the RS website since the launch of Raspberry Pi earlier today, this is the greatest level of demand RS has ever received for a product at one time," Chris Page, general manager of electronics at RS Components, said in a statement.
He added that the company was working closely with Raspberry Pi "to satisfy this unprecedented demand" and expected to begin shipping the devices on a first-come, first-served basis after it gets its first boards late next week.
In Canada, the Raspberry Pi is available through Farnell subsidiary Newark and RS Components subsidiary Allied Electronics.
The Raspberry Pi Foundation said its new partnership with Farnell and RS Components means the computers will be produced in whatever quantity is needed to meet demand. Previously, the plan had been to make them in batches of 10,000.
The Raspberry Pi is designed to be an affordable, easy-to-program device that hobbyists and children can play with and learn from. The goal of the non-profit foundation that designed it is to boost interest in programming and computer science.
The energy-efficient device can run off 4AA batteries, use a TV as a monitor and store data on SD cards. A basic software package developed at Seneca College in Toronto, including a custom version of the Linux Fedora operating system and basic tools like a web browser and word processor, will be available for the devices. Users can also download other software adapted and developed by the open source software community around the world.
In addition to the $35 model that launched this week, the Raspberry Pi will also come in a cheaper, $25 model with one USB port instead of two and no ethernet port.
Raspberry Pi network plan for online free-speech role
Global protest inspired Nadim Kobeissi to work on Cryptocat an encrypted chat program When the Raspberry Pi computer went on general sale distributors websites were unable to cope with demand.
The £22 ($35) mini-computer which it is hoped will encourage children to take up programming, captured the imagination of many technology enthusiasts.But developer and security researcher Nadim Kobeissi hopes that it might do something more: bring secure communications to those who need it most, people whose free speech is threatened whether in countries like Syria or in the west.
Mr Kobeissi is a developer of a secure communications program called Cryptocat.
Cryptocat works inside a web browser and enables people to chat online via encrypted instant messaging.
"What makes Cryptocat different to Facebook chat or Google chat is that it encrypts all the data before it gets to the server," Mr Kobeissi told BBC Five Live's Outriders podcast.
Other less secure chat systems may "record what you say and sometimes they have no choice but to share that data with governments," he said.
This isn't the case with Cryptocat according to Mr Kobeissi.
Raspberry servers
He plans to buy Raspberry Pi computers and set them up to work as credit-card sized servers running Cryptocat.
Because of their low-cost and small size they can then be shipped to activists and NGO's in areas where free-speech is difficult.
"This is especially useful for activist organizations, human rights organizations, any group composed of a few dozen people who need to have an internal secure communication service," said Mr Kobeissi.
Small, portable Raspberry Pi computers set up to run Cryptocat, he believes, may be a quick way to build such a service.
Open source
Mr Kobeissi's software is open-source, something which he believes should increase the security of the service as it is reviewed by other developers.
"That's the only way this would work. If I made this closed-source then I might make a mistake in the code and endanger the privacy of people who would depend on it."
Because he has made the code easy for other to scrutinize other experts can check that it is secure.
"I am part of a security community that is very critical, so I have to fulfil high standards," he said.
He also plans to put the software needed to turn the Pi into a chat-server online "so people who already have one of the tiny computers can convert their own into a mini-server".
Active support
Telecomix is a global group that works on free communication. It provides the technology and manuals to stay as secure as possible in countries where the internet is under surveillance.
Stephen Urbach of Telecomix says the Cryptocat servers are generally a good idea, "People all over the world have a need - in the democratic and free countries where I do not trust my government because of data retention as in countries like Syria or the Bahrain where a wrong word can bring you to death. Secure communication can save lives."
Though Urbach recognises that new forms of encryption are a good idea, it is the opportunity to understand computing that will keep people safe, "People need to learn what their computer does, how it works and how the software works.
"Only with this knowledge you will be able to see if you need more security. People need to understand how the internet works to understand why data retention is harmful, how blocked websites still can be accessed and which traces they leave while using the internet."
"This is a good idea for NGOs - but why not use already known decentralized technology like XMPP/Jabber?"
"There is an Off-The-Record plugin for most common and known clients and it is easy as ICQ or any other Instant Messenger. Though this is good, it is yet another tool. Why should we always build new tools when we already have good working tools which use wide spread protocols? As I mentioned before: XMPP/Jabber with OTR. It is common, easy to use and very secure."
Global protest
The current state of global protest and the violent clamping down of freedom of speech in countries like Syria has inspired Mr Kobeissi to work even harder on Cryptocat:
"Cryptocat was definitely influenced by what's happening in the Arab world," he said.
"I myself only immigrated from Lebanon to Canada two years ago."
"But I also want to draw attention to the fact that privacy technologies are becoming a need even here in Western society."
"This isn't just about the Arab Spring, this is about the decaying state of digital privacy worldwide," he said.
Friday, March 2, 2012
VIÑA DEL MAR 2012 - Valeria Ortega: "Espero que haber salido reina del Festival me sirva"
Valeria Ortega: "Donar o quedarme con las joyas es igual de legítimo"
La soberana de Viña 2012 cuenta que permanecerá en el matinal Bienvenidos, de Canal 13, y responde a la polémica por los premios.Valeria Ortega durante su candidatura, en Viña 2012.
Va a cumplir una semana como Reina de Viña 2012. Y aunque Valeria Ortega, la soberana festivalera, cuenta que hasta el momento no hay mayores cambios en su rutina laboral, sí tiene claro que se integrará de manera definitiva al matinal de Canal 13, Bienvenidos.
"Estoy viendo mi participación en otros espacios, en conversaciones, pero no hay nada confirmado, sólo que sigo en el Bienvenidos. Mi pilar es el matinal, dejé Cubox y Cristóbal, de Perla, es quien sigue allí", cuenta la notera. "Pero la decisión del dejar el programa no tiene que ver con el Festival, es una decisión que tome en enero", aclara. Mientras que en RRPP de la señal, confirman que "Valeria será potenciada en Bienvenidos".
¿Haber sido elegida Reina de Viña le ha servido para negociar en Canal 13?
Eso lo sabré esta semana, porque no he tenido tiempo para poder conversar. Yo espero que me sirva, pero la próxima semana voy a tener más claro mi área profesional. Por ahora sigo tal cual en términos laborales y ni siquiera estoy negociando, sólo estuve en un proceso de conversación.
"Durante el Festival no tuve tiempo de hablar nada, porque la semana pasada me fui a Viña, la anterior a Antofagasta y antes de eso a La Serena. Estuve un mes fuera, entonces, no tengo nada seguro".
¿Por qué cree que fue elegida soberana del certamen?
No sé lo que me hizo ganar, eso hay que preguntárselo a los votantes. Lo que nosotros hicimos fue una campaña buena onda, honesta, entretenida, también explotando el lado sexy, pero no era mi lado fuerte tampoco, otras chicas lo eran bastante más, tienen bastante más desarrollado ese aspecto.
"Nosotros desarrollamos otro aspecto, algo más lúdico, entretenido y compartir con la gente de la prensa 100%".
¿Cree que influyó el voto de castigo a Chilevisión?
Si era un castigo a Chilevisión tenían a la italiana, a Sabrina Sosa, a Kathy Contreras y a Lola para haber repartido esos votos.
¿Cómo recibió las críticas por no haber regalado las joyas que recibió junto a la corona?
Andrea Dellacasa tampoco lo hizo. A mí la gente de las joyas Barón me lo pidieron, me dijeron 'por favor, quédate con las joyas, es un lindo recuerdo que queremos que conserves'. Siento que donarlas o quedarme con ellas es igual de legítimo, no me va a hacer mejor o peor persona. Básicamente, es mantener un bonito recuerdo de una bonita etapa que no voy a volver a vivir.
¿Qué hará durante su reinado, apadrinará alguna institución?
Tengo toda mi disponibilidad con la Municipalidad de Viña del Mar para todo lo que quieran hacer. Fui scout muchos años y me sigo sintiendo scout. Todo lo que sea trabajo social no me resulta ajeno… Quiero activar algo con beneficencia, cualquier cosa que la Municipalidad necesite.
La soberana de Viña 2012 cuenta sus planes y dice que permanecerá en el matinal Bienvenidos, de Canal 13.
Va a cumplir una semana como Reina de Viña 2012. Y aunque Valeria Ortega, la soberana festivalera, cuenta que hasta el momento no hay mayores cambios en su rutina laboral, sí tiene claro que se integrará de manera definitiva al matinal de Canal 13, Bienvenidos.
"Estoy viendo mi participación en otros espacios, en conversaciones, pero no hay nada confirmado, sólo que sigo en el Bienvenidos. Mi pilar es el matinal, dejé Cubox y Cristóbal, de Perla, es quien sigue allí", cuenta la notera. "Pero la decisión del dejar el programa no tiene que ver con el Festival, es una decisión que tome en enero", aclara. Mientras que en RRPP de la señal, confirman que "Valeria será potenciada en Bienvenidos".
¿Haber sido elegida Reina de Viña le ha servido para negociar en Canal 13?
Eso lo sabré esta semana, porque no he tenido tiempo para poder conversar. Yo espero que me sirva, pero la próxima semana voy a tener más claro mi área profesional. Por ahora sigo tal cual en términos laborales y ni siquiera estoy negociando, sólo estuve en un proceso de conversación.
"Durante el Festival no tuve tiempo de hablar nada, porque la semana pasada me fui a Viña, la anterior a Antofagasta y antes de eso a La Serena. Estuve un mes fuera, entonces, no tengo nada seguro".
¿Por qué cree que fue elegida soberana del certamen?
No sé lo que me hizo ganar, eso hay que preguntárselo a los votantes. Lo que nosotros hicimos fue una campaña buena onda, honesta, entretenida, también explotando el lado sexy, pero no era mi lado fuerte tampoco, otras chicas lo eran bastante más, tienen bastante más desarrollado ese aspecto.
"Nosotros desarrollamos otro aspecto, algo más lúdico, entretenido y compartir con la gente de la prensa 100%".
¿Cree que influyó el voto de castigo a Chilevisión?
Si era un castigo a Chilevisión tenían a la italiana, a Sabrina Sosa, a Kathy Contreras y a Lola para haber repartido esos votos.
¿Cómo recibió las críticas por no haber regalado las joyas que recibió junto a la corona?
Andrea Dellacasa tampoco lo hizo. A mí la gente de las joyas Barón me lo pidieron, me dijeron 'por favor, quédate con las joyas, es un lindo recuerdo que queremos que conserves'. Siento que donarlos o quedarme con ellas es igual de legítimo, no me va a ser mejor o peor persona. Básicamente, es mantener un bonito recuerdo de una bonita etapa que no voy a volver a vivir.
¿Qué hará durante su reinado, apadrinará alguna institución?
Tengo toda mi disponibilidad con la Municipalidad de Viña del Mar para todo lo que quieran hacer. Fui scout muchos años y me sigo sintiendo scout. Todo lo que sea trabajo social no me resulta ajeno… Quiero activar algo con beneficencia, cualquier cosa que la Municipalidad necesite.
MARCELA VACAREZZA EN BIKINI
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)