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Thursday, June 21, 2012

Romney: I'll tackle immigration in 'civil' manner

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, speaks at the NALEO (National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials) conference in Orlando, Fla., Thursday, June 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, holds a baby as he greets attendees at the NALEO (National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials) conference in Orlando, Fla., Thursday, June 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) ? Backing off the harsh rhetoric of the Republican primaries, Mitt Romney pledged Thursday to address illegal immigration "in a civil but resolute manner." He outlined plans to overhaul the green card system for immigrants with families, and end immigration caps for their spouses and minor children.

In a speech before Hispanic leaders, Romney made only passing mention of his promise to complete a 2,000-mile border fence to help stem illegal immigration. Instead he attacked President Barack Obama's new plan to ease deportation rules for some illegal immigrants brought to the United States as children as little more than a "stop-gap measure."

"As President, I won't settle for a stop-gap measure. I will work with Republicans and Democrats to find a long-term solution," Romney told the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. "I will prioritize measures that strengthen legal immigration and make it easier. And I will address the problem of illegal immigration in a civil but resolute manner. We may not always agree, but when I make a promise to you, I will keep it."

Obama will speak to the same group Friday. The speeches come as the Supreme Court prepares to render judgment on a get-tough Arizona law and after Obama announced his new deportation plan.

Romney again refused to say whether he would reverse Obama's policy, promising his "own long-term solution that will replace and supersede the president's temporary measure."

The former Massachusetts governor has struggled in recent days to clarify his immigration policy as he pivots from the sharp tone that defined the months-long GOP primary to a general election audience in which Latinos will play a critical role.

During the primaries, Romney and his Republican opponents focused on border security and English as the official language, but the former Massachusetts governor didn't spell out precisely what he would do to address the nation's immigration problem.

On Thursday, as he filled in a few blanks, Romney devoted only one sentence in a 17-minute speech to the border fence and ignored language issues altogether. He did note, however, his father's birth to American parents living in a Mormon colony in Mexico.

"When he was five, they left everything behind, and started over in the United States," Romney said. "I've spoken often about how proud I am of my father."

At least 1 in 6 Americans is of Hispanic descent, according to the Census Bureau, and many lean towards the Democrats. By softening his tone on immigration, Romney is looking to narrow the advantage that Obama has with this pivotal constituency.

The stakes are high not only for states with larger Hispanic populations such as Florida, Nevada and Colorado, but for a growing number of other battlegrounds ? Ohio, North Carolina and Virginia, among them ? where even a modest shift among Latino voters could be significant.

Romney was vague in some areas ? particularly the treatment of immigrant children brought to the country illegally by their parents ? but offered new details in others.

His plan to reallocate green cards for immigrants with families and end caps for spouses and minor children would mark a change from the current system, which is something of a first come, first served system. And his pledge to "staple a green card to your diploma" for immigrants who earned advanced degrees in the United States represents a significant change from current law.

It is unclear how many of Romney's promises on immigration reform ? such as granting green cards to high-tech graduates ? could be accomplished without congressional action.

Obama has used presidential authority twice since 2011 to make changes to immigration enforcement, including last week's announcement that many young illegal immigrants brought to the United States as children would be exempted for deportation and granted work permits good for two years.

The president's re-election campaign blasted Romney for ignoring his previously stated opposition to the DREAM Act, a measure that would have allowed some children of illegal immigrants to stay in the country legally.

"In front of an audience of Republican primary voters, he called the DREAM Act a 'handout' and promised to veto it," said Obama spokesman Lis Smith.

It was clear that Romney was on unfriendly turf as he addressed several hundred Hispanic leaders in a Disney World ballroom, particularly when the Republican candidate went after the president's health care overhaul.

"If jobs are your priority, you've got to get rid of ObamaCare," Romney said, offering a line that typically prompts cheers at his rallies. But among the Hispanic crowd Thursday, only a handful applauded. At least one person booed.

Obama is riding a wave of Latino enthusiasm over his decision to allow hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants to stay in the country and work. Under the administration plan, illegal immigrants can avoid deportation if they can prove they were brought to the United States before they turned 16 and are younger than 30, have been in the country for at least five continuous years, have no criminal history, and graduated from a U.S. high school or earned a GED or served in the military.

The new policy could help anywhere from 800,000 young immigrants, the administration's estimate, to 1.4 million, the Pew Hispanic Center's estimate.

Romney seized on the temporary status of Obama's plan as his prime criticism. The Republican also vowed to offer illegal immigrants who serve in the military "a path to legal status" ? which the campaign says could ultimately allow for full citizenship.

But Romney's campaign could not immediately detail how many immigrants might be affected by his policies. Nor could they detail which would require legislative action.

Romney highlighted what he calls the president's "broken promises" to deliver comprehensive immigration reform during his first term.

"Despite his promises, President Obama has failed to address immigration reform," Romney said. "For two years, this president had huge majorities in the House and Senate ? he was free to pursue any policy he pleased. But he did nothing to advance a permanent fix for our broken immigration system. Nothing. Instead, he failed to act until facing a tough re-election and trying to secure your vote."

Both sides are crafting aggressive strategies to appeal to a demographic that is by no means monolithic but has supported Democrats in recent elections. Some Republicans fear ? and Democrats hope ? that Obama could capitalize on this moment to help solidify Hispanic voters as predominantly Democratic this fall and for years to come, much as President Lyndon Johnson hardened the black vote for Democrats as he pushed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

As is typical, Romney also focused on the economy. The former Massachusetts governor argued that his economic credentials would benefit all people who have struggled under Obama's leadership in recent years ? women, younger voters and Hispanics among them.

In his speech, Romney said that Obama is taking the Hispanic vote for granted.

"I've come here today with a very simple message: You do have an alternative. Your vote should be respected, and your voice is more important now than ever before," he said.

Oscar Garza, a Democrat from the border town of Mission, Texas, said he still needs to learn more about Romney's policies, but that he's been frustrated with Obama.

He said that Romney's vice presidential selection could be a game changer for Hispanics.

"A Marco Rubio would potentially swing my vote," he said.

___

AP's Alicia Caldwell in Washington contributed to this report.

Associated Press

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How To Outsource SEO Backlink Building To Increases Traffic ...

Posted by seotools on June 20, 2012 in seo backlinks | ?

SEO is short for search engine optimization and is important for long term success. Outsourcing is where you pay someone to do something for your business so you do not have to do it.

One of the best things most Internet business owners can do is outsource their SEO to get more website traffic and backlinks. Here?s How!

1. Search engine traffic is some of the best traffic you can have. People search for things on the Internet via search engines. Google still gets more traffic than all other search engines combined.

You need your website to be properly setup using good SEO strategies. You will want to outsource this and get your website set up properly so the search engines will favor it, unless you plan on learning how to do that yourself.

2. Developing a keyword list is extremely important. This is where outsourcing can play a big role as well.

Many of the long term marketing strategies you do will involve your keyword list. As competition on the Internet increases using longtail keyword phrases really comes into play.

This is one way you will get backlinks to your website. By targeting the proper phrases on the webpages you build, and the marketing you do, you can rank for these keyword phrases on search engines which will increase your traffic.

3. A search engine optimization expert can take a look at an existing site and give you ideas as well. You may use one initially and then try to do things yourself.

If you have a business that has never taken advantage of an SEO expert it can be worth the money you spend just on the tips they offer to you.

4. Most Internet businesses have a blog and you can outsource this work as well. If you are going to hire an article writer try and find one who knows seo.

They can help write articles for your blog that the search engines will like. This includes getting your targeted keyword phrase in the title, and in the first and last paragraphs of your blog article.

This does not sound hard to do, and is certainly something you can do yourself. However there are blog writers online today who understand search engine optimization and do incorporate it into the articles they write.

5. Building up backlinks through search engine optimization is not hard to do. Hyperlinking keyword phrases in everything from article marketing to discussion forums can really increase your traffic.

These are several tips on using SEO to increase traffic and backlinks to your website. If you are building a long term Internet business it is a strategy worth outsourcing.

Tags: Backlink, Building, Increases, Outsource, Traffic

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Wednesday, June 20, 2012

California Wine: 'This is a Great Food Wine' | SoCal Spirits | Food ...

"This is a great food wine."

How many times have you heard those words uttered by a wine professional? Normally this happens when they are holding a bottle of Italian wine but it could just as easily be a Burgundy or a Bordeaux, or certainly a wine from the Loire. However, this is not a statement that is exclusive to European wines. Nor should it be. It is, though, a maddening and unnecessary statement.

ALL wine should be food wine. Wine is food in liquid form and should be a harmonious part of any table full of "solid" food.

So when people say that a wine is a "food wine," what are they talking about? Generally speaking, they are saying that the wine has tannins, acid, and moderate alcohol. Shocking! At least it is to most Californians after years of being subjected to a glut of overripe high alcohol flabby fruit bombs. Unfortunately people have become convinced that they are balanced and proper wines. But they couldn't be fit for pairing with food unless you are eating something with thick sauce slathered on it, or perhaps some half-baked pot brownies. Fine, enough ranting. Let's talk about the exception to this widely propagated paradigm.

We are fortunate to have many producers right here in our own backyard that tactfully tame the sugar feeding sunshine to produce beautifully balanced wines -- food wines (ugh) if you will. They plant their vines in cool regions where the ocean influence tucks them in at night under a blanket of fog. They harvest earlier while the grapes still have proper ph levels, and with them they make great wine. Some even dare to allow the wine to ferment with native yeasts that have hitched a ride on the grapes themselves.

One such daring producer is Broadside. From their website, "Broadside produces artisanal wines that are priced for people to drink, not collect." And with the 2011 Wild Ferment Chardonnay, they have done just that.

Fermented with native yeasts, the wine is allowed to finish with just a touch of malo-lactic. It is then aged predominantly in stainless steel with a mere 10% in neutral oak, making this wine appear to be the charming result of a hot sweaty night between a Chablis and a Macon-Village. It is a mouthful of bright, refreshing pineapple and stone fruit with crisp acidity and just the right amount of body. Pair this wine with anything from Coquille St. Jacques to a grilled cheese sandwich, or just drink it while you are mowing the lawn.

Could you call this wine a food wine? Yes if you must. But I prefer to simply call it a great wine.

Broadside's 2011 Wild Ferment Chardonnay retails for about $18 a bottle.

Photo of chardonnay and delicious food pairing by Flickr user naotakem.

Los Angeles resident Michael Newsome, a wine buyer for Whole Foods and a Certified Italian Wine Specialist, joins us every Tuesday for an exploration of California wine. See his previous posts here.

Eat better by following KCET Food on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr.

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HBT: Umps send Peralta's glove to MLB offices

Rays reliever Joel Peralta was ejected from last night?s game after Nationals manager Davey Johnson called the umpires? attention to pine tar on his glove and now the confiscated glove is on its way from Washington to New York.

Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post reports that the umpires shipped Peralta?s glove to the MLB offices for further examination, which means a suspension is probably looming.

According to Kilgore an official ruling is unlikely until tomorrow, but the precedent for a ?foreign substance? is 10 games. In the meantime Peralta will be available out of the Rays? bullpen tonight, which should make for some interesting drama if manager Joe Maddon calls him into the game.

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How Easter Island's statues walked

Three teams, one on each side and one in the back, maneuver an Easter Island statue replica down a road in Hawaii, hinting that prehistoric farmers who didn't have the wheel may have transported these statues in this manner. The experiment was led by archaeologists Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo and is reported in the July issue of National Geographic magazine.

By Alan Boyle

Did Easter Island's famous statues rock, or roll? After doing a little rocking out themselves, researchers say they're sure the natives raised the monumental figures upright, and then rocked them back and forth to "walk" them to their positions.

Their findings mesh with a scenario that casts the Polynesian island's natives in the roles of resourceful engineers working with the little that they had on hand, rather than the victims of a self-inflicted environmental catastrophe.

"A lot of what people think they know about the island turns out to be not true," Carl Lipo, an archaeologist at California State University at Long Beach, told me today.

Lipo and University of Hawaii anthropologist Terry Hunt lay out their case in a book titled "The Statues That Walked" as well as July's issue of National Geographic magazine. Their story serves as a counterpoint to a darker Easter Island saga, detailed in "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed," a?better-known book by UCLA scientist-author Jared Diamond.?

Two scenarios
In Diamond's scenario, Easter Island's society is portrayed as one that chose to fail through overpopulation, conflict and deforestation. Polynesians colonized the island as far back as 1,600 years ago, and cut down forests of palm trees as part of a slash-and-burn strategy that led to intensive farming, soil degradation, conflict, cannibalism and massive depopulation. By the time the Europeans arrived in the 18th century, Easter Island's society was on the ropes.

The island's statues, known as moai, play a significant part in this scenario. Diamond relies on the findings of other researchers who say the monoliths, weighing as much as 90 tons, were dragged into place by hundreds of islanders, using downed trees as sleds, rollers and levers. Rival chieftains recruited whole tribes to erect monuments to their glory. The broken statues found along the island's path were a testament to the stone-carving society's final failure.

Recent excavations are revealing new discoveries about the towering statutes of Easter Island. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown speaks with Jo Anne Van Tilburg, archaeologist and director of the Easter Island Statue Project, about the findings from recent excavations.

Hunt and Lipo take a different view: The way they see it, Easter Island was never that great a place to live. "It was never verdant, and there were never very many people on the island," Lipo said.

In this scenario, the Polynesians settled on the island about 800 years ago ? and brought rats along with them. The settlers ate the rats, but because the rodents were an invasive species with no other natural predators, they took over the island and feasted on palm nuts, hastening the pace of deforestation. The population remained relatively stable for centuries, but when the Europeans arrived, the islanders who were there fell victim to diseases that their immune systems couldn't fight.

Archaeologists Carl Lipo and Terry Hunt stand in front of a full-scale replica of a stone statue from Easter Island. Their research into Easter Island's past is featured in the July 2012 issue of National Geographic magazine.

Hunt acknowledged that, "from a biodiversity standpoint, it was a catastrophe." But he said the farming methods used by the ancient islanders were designed to make the best of a bad situation. Rocks were piled up to create circular garden plots known as "manavai," and crops were planted within the circles. Nutrients would quickly leach out of the soil, but fresh rock was pulverized and added to the soil as a mulch.

"They were able to engineer their lives in a way that was really stable and sustainable," Lipo said.

The statues play a different role in the two scientists' alternate scenario. They said it wouldn't take all that many people to move the statues if they were raised up vertically and then rocked down the road. Taking on the task would have helped blow off steam, and might have served as a kind of social glue, Hunt said.

"You're actually putting a lot of your effort into the process of moving a statue rather than fighting," he told me. "Moving the moai was a little bit like playing a football game."

Trial by transport
After "The Statues That Walked" came out, Diamond sharply disputed the conclusions reached by Hunt and Lipo, declaring on climate expert Mark Lynas' blog that they were "considered transparently wrong by essentially all other archaeologists with active programs on Easter Island." Diamond addressed the debate in detail, including the idea that the statues could have been moved vertically.

"This seems an implausible recipe for disaster," Diamond wrote. "Imagine it yourself: If you were told to transport a 90-ton statue 33 feet high over a dirt road, why would you risk tipping and breaking it by transporting it vertically with all its weight concentrated on its small base, rather than avoiding the risk of tipping by laying it flat and distributing its weight over its entire length?"

Lipo and Hunt had their own counter-rebuttal published on Lynas' blog as well, and the debate over the historical record depends on sophisticated interpretation of radiocarbon dating tests, pollen analysis and tooth marks on palm nut shells. But the part about the horizontal vs. vertical transport? That could easily be tested.

UCLA's Jo Anne Van Tilburg had previously shown that the horizontal method was workable, as long as you had lots of laborers and logs. Lipo and Hunt set up their own experiment: They built a 5-ton moai replica, with the weight distributed as it was in a real statue. Then they tied ropes around it, raised it up using a crane, and got ready to let it stand free.

They could immediately see that the statue would fall forward if the crane relaxed the tension on the line. Hunt said he and Lipo were just about to walk away in disgust when the crane operator slipped a 2-by-4 under the front edge of the statue and had it standing. "As soon as we saw this, Carl and I said, 'Of course! This makes perfect sense!"

National Geographic

National Geographic's iPad presentation on the Easter Island statues, part of the July 2012 issue, shows how the vertical-walking method might have been employed centuries ago.

The researchers found that the statue's fat belly produced a forward-falling center of gravity that facilitated vertical transport. A crew of as few as 18 people could use ropes to rock the statue back and forth, and forward. (In comparison, Van Tilburg's team used 60 pullers.) The vertical-transport trick worked with four rope-pullers on each side, plus 10 people to pull on the statue from behind, as if they were holding back a dog that was straining forward on a walk.

"It's really unnerving and beautiful, all at the same time," Hunt said.

Of course, a 90-ton statue is bigger than a 5-ton statue, but Hunt found that the technique was scalable. "With the physics of the taller statue, you have greater leverage," he told me. "It almost gets to the point where you would have to do it that way."

'We're not failures'
The statue-walking experiment alone doesn't prove that the entire scenario put forward by Hunt and Lipo is true, but it's consistent with the claims in the islanders' oral tradition that the statues "walked" down the road in ancient times. It also provides an alternate explanation for the ruined statues that littered the roads: When you lose control of the ropes, that's what happens, and you don't have any good way to move the broken pieces.

So did the statues rock, or roll? The debate over the two scenarios surrounding Easter Island's past could well continue for generations. But it's clear which scenario is preferred by the islanders themselves.

"The young people ... they're celebrating. I don't think there's any other word for it," Hunt said. "One came up to me and said, 'It's so important for my generation to know we're not failures.' That brought tears to my eyes."

More about Polynesia:

Hunt and Lipo are scheduled to discuss "The Statues That Walked" at the National Geographic Society's headquarters complex in Washington on Thursday. The presentation is sold out.

"The Mystery of Easter Island," a Nova-National Geographic special focusing on the research conducted by Hunt and Lipo, is scheduled to air on PBS on Nov. 7.

Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the?Cosmic Log page?to your Google+ presence. You can also check out?"The Case for Pluto,"?my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

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Egypt's Mubarak on life support amid crisis

FILE - In this Saturday, June 2, 2012 file photo, Egypt's ex-President Hosni Mubarak lays on a gurney inside a barred cage in the police academy courthouse in Cairo, Egypt. An Egyptian prison official says Hosni Mubarak?s health has taken a turn to the worst and is likely to be moved out of his prison hospital to a military facility nearby. The official said Tuesday doctors reported that the 84-year old former president has fallen unconscious. He said they have used a defibrillator to restart his heart, and have been administering breathing aid. (AP Photo, File)

Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood supporters chant anti-ruling military council slogans during a mass demonstration in Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt Tuesday, June 19, 2012. The campaign of Hosni Mubarak's former prime minister said on Tuesday he has won Egypt's presidential election, not the rival Muslim Brotherhood's candidate, opening a potential fight for the post and adding a new layer to the country's unrest and political power struggles. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Supporters of presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq wave posters of him with Arabic that reads, "Ahmed Shafiq for presidency, Egypt for all," in front of his campaign headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, June 19, 2012. A campaign spokesman for Hosni Mubarak?s ex-prime minister said on Tuesday that Ahmed Shafiq has won the Egyptian presidential election, countering the Muslim Brotherhood?s claims that its candidate was the winner. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

An Egyptian woman chats anti-Supreme Council for the Armed Forces (SCAF) slogans outside the Egyptian Parliament in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, June 19, 2012. The campaign of an Islamist who claimed victory in Egypt's presidential runoff says the Muslim Brotherhood and other political groups plan a mass demonstration later Tuesday to protest a military declaration seeking to curtail the powers of the next president. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)

Former member of the Egyptian Parliament, Mohamed El-Omda, talks to reporters after he was prevented by security from entering his parliamentary office, shown in background, Tuesday, June 19, 2012. Egypt's highest court has ordered the country's Islamist-dominated parliament dissolved, saying its election about six months ago was unconstitutional. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

CAIRO (AP) ? Egypt's Hosni Mubarak was on life support after suffering a stroke in prison Tuesday, deepening the country's uncertainty just as a potentially explosive fight opened over who will succeed him.

The 84-year-old Mubarak suffered a "fast deterioration of his health" and his heart stopped beating, the state news agency MENA and security officials said. He was revived by defibrillation but then had a stroke and was moved from Torah Prison to a military hospital in Cairo.

MENA initially reported he was "clinically dead" upon arrival, but a security official said he was put on life support. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Maj. Gen. Mohsen el-Fangari, a member of the ruling military council, told the Al-Shorouk newspaper website that Mubarak was in a "very critical condition," but denied he was dead. Mubarak's wife, Suzanne, came to the hospital, where Mubarak was in an intensive care unit, another security official said.

The developments came amid threats of new unrest and political power struggles, 16 months after Mubarak was ousted by a popular uprising demanding democracy.

Earlier Tuesday, both candidates in last weekend's presidential election claimed victory.

The Muslim Brotherhood, emboldened by its claim that its candidate won the election, sent tens of thousands of supporters into the street in an escalation of its confrontation against the ruling generals who invoked sweeping powers this week that give them dominance over the next president.

Some 50,000 protesters, mostly Islamists, protested in Cairo's Tahrir Square, chanting slogans in support of Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Morsi and denouncing the generals.

"It is not possible to have a revolution and then have military rule and a president with no authority," said protester Mohammed Abdel-Hameed, a 48-year-old schoolmaster who came with his son from Fayyoum, an oasis province 60 miles (100 kilometers) southwest of Cairo.

The conflicting claims over the election could further stoke the heat. The campaign of Mubarak's former prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq, said Tuesday he won the election, denying the Brotherhood's claim of victory. Hundreds of Shafiq's supporters took to the streets in Cairo in celebration.

The election commission is to announce the official final results on Thursday, and either way the loser is likely to reject the result. If Shafiq wins, it could spark an explosive backlash from the Brotherhood, which has said Shafiq could only win by fraud.

The sudden health crisis of Mubarak, who is serving a life prison sentence, briefly overshadowed the political standoff.

Moving Mubarak out of prison to Maadi military hospital is likely to further infuriate many in the public. Many Egyptians have been skeptical of earlier reports that his health was worsening since he was put in prison on June 2, believing the reports were just a pretext to move him to another facility. There is a widespread suspicion that security and military officials sympathetic to their old boss are giving him preferential treatment.

Maadi is the same hospital where Mubarak's predecessor, Anwar Sadat, was declared dead more than 30 years ago after being gunned down by Islamic militants.

The criteria for using the term "clinically dead" are "poorly defined," said Dr. Lance Becker, a University of Pennsylvania emergency medicine specialist and an American Heart Association spokesman.

"My speculation would be that he had that sort of event where his heart temporarily stopped," said Becker, who is not involved in Mubarak's treatment. "That doesn't mean that it's irreversible." Life support can be used to keep his blood circulating and replace breathing if he is unable to do so on his own, Becker said.

Mubarak's condition brought to mind former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ? though it was not known if there was any medical similarity in their conditions. Sharon, now 84, suffered a massive stroke on 2006. Intensive treatment and repeated operations by a team of brain surgeons stabilized his condition, but he has never regained consciousness and remains on life support in a deep coma.

Mubarak has been serving a life sentence at Torah Prison for failing to stop the killing of protesters during the 18-day uprising against his rule last year. The verdict against him has already been a spark for protests ? thousands massed in Tahrir when the court acquitted him and his sons on separate corruption charges and cleared several top security chiefs on the protester killings.

The multiple disputes have turned a moment that was once anticipated by some as a landmark in Egypt's post-Mubarak transition ? the election of the first civilian president in 60 years ? into a potentially destabilizing snarl.

Shafiq's campaign spokesman, Ahmed Sarhan, told a televised news conference that Shafiq won 51.5 percent of the vote and that the claim of victory by Morsi was "false."

"Gen. Ahmed Shafiq is the next president of Egypt," Sarhan said. He said Shafiq won some 500,000 votes more than Morsi, of the fundamentalist Brotherhood.

The Shafiq campaign's claim came just hours after Morsi's campaign repeated their claims of victory, saying Morsi had won 52 percent of the vote compared to Shafiq's 48.

The Brotherhood first announced Morsi's victory early Monday, six hours after polls closed. It said its claim was based on returns announced by election officials from each counting center around the country. Each campaign has representatives at every center, who compile the individual returns. The Brotherhood's compilation during the first round of voting last month proved generally accurate.

Shafiq, a former air force commander who was named prime minister during Mubarak's last days, is seen by his opponents as likely to preserve the military-backed police state that his former boss headed for three decades. He, in turn, has presented himself as a strongman able to keep Egypt stable and out of the hands of the Brotherhood, playing on fears the group will turn the country into an Islamic state.

Just as polls closed Sunday night, the military ? which has ruled since Mubarak fell on Feb. 11, 2011 ? issued a constitutional declaration giving themselves power that all but subordinates the new president. Critics called it a coup intended to maintain their control over the state even after they nominally transfer authorities to the president by July 1.

The declaration gave the generals legislative powers and control over the process of drafting a new constitution and the national budget. It also shields the military against any kind of civilian oversight and allows the generals to run their own affairs without interference from civilian authorities.

A court ruling also dissolved the Islamist-dominated parliament last week, a verdict that has been endorsed by a decree issued by military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi. Also last week, the military-backed government granted military police and intelligence agents the right to arrest civilians for a host of suspected crimes, a move that many viewed as tantamount to a declaration of martial law.

The Brotherhood and its Islamist allies rejected the dissolution decree and insisted the parliament is still in effect.

Tens of thousands demonstrated in Cairo and the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria Tuesday evening to denounce the constitutional declaration.

The estimated 50,000 protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square, birthplace of last year's anti-Mubarak uprising, were mostly Brotherhood supporters and other Islamists joined by a small group of leftist and liberal activists.

The military's assertion of authority came under international criticism, from Amnesty International and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who has met repeatedly with the generals in visits to Egypt.

Carter said in a statement that he was "deeply troubled by the undemocratic turn that Egypt's transition has taken." His Carter Center monitored the weekend runoff as it has every nationwide vote in Egypt since Mubarak's ouster in a popular uprising engineered by pro-democracy youth groups.

He pointed to the dissolution of parliament and the elements of martial law and said the constitutional declaration "violated the military's commitment to make a full transfer of power to an elected civilian government.

"An unelected military body should not interfere in the constitution drafting process," Carter said.

___

Chief Medical Writer Marilynn Marchione in Milwaukee, Wis., contributed to this report.

Associated Press

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Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Russia says to contribute $10 billion to IMF

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