Police arrest former Pakistani ruler Musharraf

ISLAMABAD (AP) ? Police arrested former Pakistani military ruler Pervez Musharraf overnight at his home in the capital, where he had holed up following a dramatic escape from court to avoid being detained, officials said Friday.

Musharraf fled Islamabad High Court in a speeding vehicle Thursday morning after a judge rejected his bail and ordered his arrest in connection with a case involving his decision to fire senior judges while in power. It was a new low in Musharraf's troubled return from self-imposed exile last month to make a political comeback in the upcoming parliamentary election.

Police arrested Musharraf overnight and presented him before a judge at Islamabad District Court on Friday morning, said police officer Mohammed Khalid. Local TV footage showed Musharraf entering district court in Islamabad amid a heavy security detachment of police and paramilitary soldiers.

The district court judge instructed police to keep Musharraf in their custody for two days and then present him before an anti-terrorism court, said one of his lawyers, Malik Qamar Afzal.

Officials have declared Musharraf's home on the outskirts of Islamabad a jail, which is allowed under the country's law, and he will be held there under house arrest, said police officer Mohammed Rafique.

Musharraf's legal team has said they will challenge the arrest order in the Supreme Court on Friday.

The decision by the police to arrest Musharraf ended an awkward situation in which the former military ruler was being protected by security forces while holed up in his house, but none of them made a move to detain him. They were likely awaiting orders from senior officials trying to figure out how to deal with a delicate situation.

Pakistan's government has been reluctant to wade into the controversy surrounding Musharraf since he returned from self-imposed exile last month, especially given his position as a former chief of the army, considered the most powerful institution in the country.

His return also presents complications for the current army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who may have to decide whether to intervene to protect Musharraf or watch him be prosecuted. If Musharraf is sent to prison, it would be the first time an army chief has been put behind bars in the country's 65-year history.

Musharraf seized power in a coup in 1999 and spent nearly a decade in power before being forced to step down in 2008. He returned last month after four years in self-imposed exile in London and Dubai despite legal challenges and Taliban death threats.

But he has received paltry public support, and earlier this week was disqualified from running in the May 11 election because of his actions while in power. A court has also barred him from leaving the country.

The upcoming vote is historic because it will mark the first time in Pakistan that parliament has completed its full five-year term and handed over power in democratic elections. The country has experienced three military coups and constant political instability since it was founded in 1947.

Thursday's case before the Islamabad High Court involved Musharraf's decision to dismiss senior judges, including the chief justice of the Supreme Court, when he declared a state of emergency and suspended the constitution in 2007. He was concerned the judges would challenge his recent re-election as president, and cited the growing Taliban insurgency in the country as justification for the state of emergency.

The man who filed the petition before the Islamabad High Court, Aslam Ghuman, also accused Musharraf of placing the judges under house arrest.

Musharraf's spokeswoman, Aasia Ishaq, denied he issued an arrest order, even though the judges were clearly confined to their homes. Government officials at the time claimed they restricted the movement of the judges for their own security.

Musharraf's crackdown on the judges outraged many Pakistanis, and fueled a nationwide protest movement by lawyers that eventually resulted in him stepping down under the threat of impeachment.

Before he returned to the country, Musharraf was granted bail for the judges' case and two others, meaning he could not be arrested when he landed ? a feature of Pakistan's legal system. But the bail agreement was temporary.

An Islamabad High Court judge, Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, who had extended the bail agreement once on April 12, refused to do so again Thursday and ordered Musharraf's arrest, according to a copy of the court order. The judge ordered Musharraf to be investigated under an anti-terrorism law, which does not allow bail, the order said.

Siddiqui wrote that Musharraf's "shameful" decision to arrest judges "spread fear in society ... and terror throughout Pakistan."

Immediately following the judge's arrest order, Musharraf's bodyguards hustled him out of the court past policemen and paramilitary soldiers and helped him into a black SUV. The vehicle sped off with a member of Musharraf's security team hanging on the side of the vehicle.

The security forces on duty at the court seemed caught off-guard and nobody appeared to try to prevent Musharraf from leaving as he pushed past them.

Lawyers taunted the 69-year-old as he roared away, yelling, "Look who is running! Musharraf is running!"

The judge ordered the Islamabad police chief to appear before the court on Friday to explain why Musharraf was not arrested and to ensure action is taken against policemen "who remained napping" instead of performing their duties.

Musharraf's spokeswoman, Ishaq, said the judge was "biased," claiming he participated in the protests against Musharraf when he was in power. Musharraf's legal team will file an appeal with the Supreme Court on Friday, said Ishaq.

Musharraf is facing a raft of other legal challenges, including allegations before the Supreme Court that he committed treason while in power. He also faces legal charges in two other cases. One involves allegations that Musharraf didn't provide adequate security to former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was killed in a gun and suicide attack in 2007. The other relates to the death of a nationalist leader in Baluchistan in 2006.

Given the legal challenges and Taliban threats against Musharraf, many experts have been left scratching their heads as to why he returned. Some have speculated he misjudged the level of public backing he would get, while others suggested he was simply homesick.

Musharraf released a video message online late Thursday saying he had done great things for the country and asking, "Why am I being stopped from taking part in politics?"

___

Associated Press writers Rebecca Santana and Asif Shahzad contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/police-arrest-former-pakistani-ruler-musharraf-040600667.html

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Inspiring Images From Boston - Business Insider

Despite all of the horror, fear, and loss in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings, people have responded with bravery.?

Many people who finished the marathon after the bombings just kept on running to area hospitals to see if they could donate blood or otherwise help.?

We've found the tweets, images, and stories that document some of the amazing responses to the tragedy.??

Former New England Patriot Joe Andruzzi was spotted helping an injured woman after the blast:

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/inspiring-images-from-boston-2013-4

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Everything We Know About Microsoft's Next OS ... - Business Insider

Microsoft is working on a new version of Windows, which is expected to be available sometime this year.

It's codenamed "Windows Blue" and a lot of details about it have leaked, including an early version that several people were able to install on their PCs and Windows tablets.

That version showed that Microsoft is fixing a lot of stuff that people really hated about Windows 8.

That's important because response to Microsoft's big new operating system, Windows 8, has been pretty underwhelming.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/everything-we-know-about-microsofts-next-os-windows-blue-2013-4

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Seven Marines killed, seven more hurt in Nevada training blast

(Reuters) - Seven Marines were killed and seven others were wounded in an explosion that occurred during a training exercise at a military facility in western Nevada, a military spokesman said on Tuesday.

The blast at Hawthorne Army Depot, a military ammunition storage facility, took place late Monday during a Marine training exercise.

Hawthorne Army Depot is a 147,000 acre site used for storing ammunition and other military equipment.

(Reporting by Chris Francescani; Editing by Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/explosion-nevada-military-may-killed-several-120020261.html

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Women face celluloid ceiling in U.S. film industry, study finds

(Reuters) - Women lag far behind men in reaching the top jobs in the film business as a study on Tuesday found only 9 percent of directors of the top 250 grossing Hollywood films in 2012 were women - the same level as 15 years ago.

The figures from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University were released a month ahead of the Oscars, where no women have made the shortlist for best director.

"Zero Dark Thirty" is the only movie nominated for a best picture award to have been directed by a woman - Oscar-winning Kathryn Bigelow who was the first and still only female director to win the best director award, in 2010, for "The Hurt Locker." Bigelow was not nominated this year in the best director category

Martha Lauzen, executive director of the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, said the number of women directors of top films was up from 5 percent in 2011 but back at the same level as in 2008 and even 15 years ago.

She said the percentages had bounced between 5 percent and 9 percent for the past 15 years with the exception of 2000 when women accounted for 11 percent of directors.

"The bottom line is that the percentage of women directors has been declining for the last 5 years," Lauzen told Reuters.

She said women's representation in key positions in the film industry was important not only as an employment issue but also as a larger cultural issue as people tended to gravitate to creative projects that reflected their own personal reality.

"If (white) men are directing the vast majority of our films, the majority of those films will be about (white) males from a (white) male point of view," said Lauzen.

"Increasingly, this perspective does not reflect the community of filmmakers in this country or the community of moviegoers."

The survey found that in 2012, women made up 18 percent of directors, executive producers, producers, writers, cinematographers, and editors working on the top 250 U.S. grossing films. This was unchanged from 2011 and an increase of 1 percentage point from 1998.

Women were most likely to work in the documentary, drama, and animated film genres. They were least likely to work in the action, horror and sci-fi genres.

A second survey released this week by the Sundance Institute and Women in Film Los Angeles also found women lagged men in the industry, but the numbers were not as bad in the independent film world.

The survey found women made up 29.8 percent of 11,197 directors, writers, producers, cinematographers and editors on films between 2002 to 2012 at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, the world's leading showcase for independent film.

"This data shows us that there is a higher representation of female filmmakers in independent film as compared to Hollywood - but it also highlights the work that is still to be done for women to achieve equal footing in the field," Cathy Schulman, president of Women In Film Los Angeles, said in a statement.

Film industry professionals, many of them women, suggested to organizers of the survey that steps to address the "celluloid ceiling" could include mentoring and encouraging early career women, improving access to finance and raising awareness of the problem.

(Reporting by Belinda Goldsmith, editing by Jill Serjeant and Cynthia Osterman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/women-face-celluloid-ceiling-u-film-industry-study-204027487.html

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Report: Schwarzenegger says he still loves Shriver

BERLIN (AP) ? Arnold Schwarzenegger is quoted in an interview in Germany's top-selling newspaper saying he's still in love with his estranged wife, Maria Shriver.

The actor and former California governor is quoted in Tuesday's Bild newspaper as saying that despite their separation, he spent Christmas with Shriver and their children.

Schwarzenegger is cited as saying "we're not fighting any war: I still hope for reconciliation; I still love Maria."

Shriver filed for divorce last year after 25 years of marriage following Schwarzenegger's admission he fathered a child with the family's housekeeper.

He has also acknowledged other affairs.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-01-22-EU-Germany-Schwarzenegger/id-c057c5fe056c437e849c26e926e4de54

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Spin Cycle: The Social Realm of the Laundromat

Photo licensed under CC. Click on image for license and information.

Sunday afternoons should never be spent in a laundromat if you can avoid it. One of the outcomes of our recent move is that I went from having my own washer and dryer to having a washer that floods the basement and a landlord who isn?t inclined to fixing it. That means I?ve had to spend some time getting reacquainted with coin-operated laundromats?and their particular social nuances.

Clean clothes are a luxury

In places where access to water is an issue, laundry means either bringing water into your home (maybe using buckets or pots) or traveling to a water source. It?s labor intensive and time consuming. And if getting water for laundry is an issue, then it?s also likely an issue for bathing, cooking, and drinking. Given those needs, laundry drops to the bottom of the list as a priority. However, once you can meet those water needs, laundry becomes important because having clean clothes is a sign of social status. It places you within the boundaries of being socially acceptable.

The most basic means of cleaning clothing is to wet them and beat them against a rock. It gets the job done, but doesn?t do much to preserve the life of the fabric. Before indoor plumbing, washboards were fairly common. They were basically a framed ribbed surface that you could rub wet clothes against. It got your clothes clean without reducing them to shreds. But this still meant hours of work?and that was before waiting for the drying to complete.

While washing machines have been around since the late 18th-century, they were largely hand and steam operated, and still required a fair amount of attention from the user. It was only when electric washers began to appear in the early 20th-century, that a more mechanically-guided process became a possibility.

In the United States, the popularity of washing machines rose steadily until the Great Depression hit which put the cost of a washing machine beyond the reach of many people. However, it opened the door for laundromats which allegedly took hold at this time because people who could no longer count on a washing machine, could use the laundromat. Hopeful entrepreneurs purchased washers and began the practice of renting them. Users could deposit coins into the machines to purchase their use for a period of time. Unlike commercial enterprises, which had been around for some time, laundromats were geared specifically to individual users who were solely responsible for the operation of the machine during their rental period.

Following the Great Depression, washing machines were once more pursued as a desirable household appliance. However, the laundromat never quite disappeared. They provide an alternative to having to own your own machines, and put clean clothes within relative reach of many people. Laundromats weren?t just for people without the means of purchasing machines, they provided a degree of convenience.

The code of the laundromat

For most of my early teen years we were renters, which meant that part of my weekend was spent helping my mom do laundry. I hated it. It was two or three hours spent in a space that smelled damp?like a moldy dishwasher?trying not to let strangers see my underwear (I was fourteen; I didn?t want anyone to see my underwear) and making sure no one stole our detergent. My biggest worry was that something would be left behind in the commotion of transferring clothes from the washer to the dryers to the folding tables. And it came true: a favorite blue sweatshirt went MIA during this time, and I?m sure it fell victim to the laundromat. In any case, we bought a house when I entered by midteens and my life took me away from the coin-operated laundromat. Until last month. And it seems the some things have not changed:

• Never, ever, ever go on a Sunday afternoon. Friday nights are bad too, as are late Saturday afternoons. Everyone wants in, and there?s a line for dryers, and double-washers. You?ll have to negotiate or be prepared to aggressively claim the machines you?ll need.
• Children will not be supervised. They?ll run laps around the laundromat, yelling at the top of their lungs. Or they?ll ride in the laundry carts and use them as bumper cars, in which case you?d better be on alert so you aren?t involved in any accidents. They also have a tendency to try to climb into dryers and you?ll run the risk of getting chastised by a harried parent if you say something.
• Protect your underwear. People are watching, particularly if those people are teenage boys who have yet to see lingerie in real life.
• Your detergent matters. Are you bringing your detergent or buying it from the vending machine? What brand are you using? Do you have dryer sheets? Hangers? You will be judged on the brand of detergent you use?and the extras you bring you to the laundromat. These things all change the way you are treated by laundry regulars?and and whether you?ll likely fall victim to laundry fishers who are waiting for your attention to waiver (we?ll talk about them more in a bit).

There is a hierarchy that exists at the laundromat. It?s a complicated system where rank is issued by degree of regularity, products used, and the ability to commandeer as many carts as you need.

Regular patrons know which machines to use and which to avoid. They?re familiar with the attendant and with each other. They may get access to bathroom facilities that others do not. They?ll keep an eye on each other?s machines and supply additional quarters for each other?s dryers (which are paid back) if the owner is not present. They?re the ones to stop bored children from riding in carts or from climbing into dryers?at least without repercussion.

The status of regular patrons is enhanced if they bring their own laundry supplies. It suggests preparedness and efficiency: they?re there to get in and out. And if those supplies expand beyond laundry detergent, that status is enhanced because it demonstrates (1) having the means of obtaining additional supplies and (2) an understanding of how to enhance your laundry experience.

Laundry carts are a form social currency as well. You have to be able to claim at least one or else you?ll not only find it difficult to transport wet clothes to the dryer, but you may find that your laundry supplies vanish when you aren?t looking. The cart gives you a temporary space that you can claim as your own. Within this space, you can store laundry supplies and transport your clothing without worry. The more carts you can claim, the more ?space? you can claim, which forces others to find ways to work around you.

Watchful washing

The laundromat also makes public something that has become somewhat private. Personal washing machines and dryers take dirty clothes out of the public eye. Dryers mean that you don?t have to wait for your clothes to dry, but they also mean that you don?t have to air your laundry (so to speak). Whatever you choose to wear, it can be cleaned and dried within the private confines of your home.

Because you are sharing facilities at the laundromat, people may pay more attention to what others have to wash. For example, if someone puts something particularly soiled into a machine, you might not want to be the next person to use that machine. We?re far more aware of the possibility of contamination in this environment; we?re faced with the need to ?protect? our possessions to the best of our ability?and that means watching.

But all that watching can leave you feeling exposed. Clothes are public markers of who we are. The ways in which they get dirty can also be telling. As can fabric patterns and qualities. When worn, clothes are a form of armor. However, as limp, sodden pieces of cloth, they can expose our vulnerabilities: blood from a cut, a tear from a fall, and a stain from a harried lunch are all revealing in how we interact with the world.

Contamination and exposure aren?t the only concern. The public nature of the laundromat means that anyone can walk in off of the street and wait for the right opportunity to claim unwatched clothing. Last week a pair of women came in during the bustle of the Sunday afternoon laundry crush and began opening dryers, apparently feeling the clothing inside to see if it was dry. Under the cover of a busy Sunday afternoon, their behavior wasn?t suspicious?until another woman confronted them as they were putting clothes into a laundry bag. They had taken a load of her clothes from the dryer and were preparing to take it with them. ?It wasn?t an accident,? explained the laundromat attendant. ?Some people fish the laundromat to freshen up their closet.? That is to say, they come in and take a gamble with a load of unwatched clothes. They can redistribute anything that doesn?t fit.

Suddenly as boring as it is to watch the spin cycle, it seems like it might be worth it?if you watch closely enough, you might learn something new about yourself.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=c8a58f0f33e3c8703b22c94fa7dee921

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