Obama seeks to keep once-red Virginia on his side

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) ? Against an increasingly bitter campaign backdrop, President Barack Obama is seeking to shore up support for his re-election in Virginia, a state he won four years ago ending decades of domination by Republican presidential candidates.

For challenger Mitt Romney, the state now looms as a battleground crucial to his presidential hopes.

Obama was traveling through the southeast and southwest corners of the state Friday, courting young and African-American voters in the Virginia Beach-Hampton area before turning to more conservative Roanoke, unwilling to cede votes to Romney. On Saturday, he will campaign in Richmond, a once-staunchly Republican region he won in 2008.

Both campaigns acknowledge Virginia's new role as a fiercely contested state after years of being virtually overlooked in presidential politics. Obama won the state by a 53-46 margin over his 2008 Republican rival, Sen. John McCain.

Obama's visit follows a day of hostile exchanges between the campaigns over Romney's tenure at the private equity firm he founded in 1984. Documents filed by the company, Bain Capital, conflict with Romney's statements about when he gave up control of the firm. Both sides accused the other of being dishonest.

Documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission place Romney in charge of Bain from 1999 to 2001, a period in which it outsourced jobs and ran companies that fell into bankruptcy. Romney and his aides say he left Bain in 1999 to run the Salt Lake City Olympics, and a Bain statement said Romney "remained the sole stockholder for a time while formal ownership was being documented and transferred to the group of partners who took over management of the firm in 1999."

Obama's campaign released an online video Friday seizing upon the reports and offering this kicker: "Here's the evidence, Mr. Romney. Your turn to explain."

Meanwhile, both Obama and former President Bill Clinton say Romney has invited close scrutiny of his business acumen because he's been selling himself as heavily qualified to improve the economy.

"I think it is entirely appropriate to look at that record and see whether, in fact ... his focus was creating jobs and he successfully did that," Obama said in an interview with CBS' Charlie Rose, portions of which were broadcast Friday on "CBS This Morning."

Obama said Romney's business past doesn't disqualify him in any way for office, but said, "I also think it's important if that's his main calling card, if his basic premise is that 'I'm Mr. Fix-it' on the economy.' "

Clinton, appearing Friday on NBC's "Today" show, said Romney's record in private business is fair game because the former Massachusetts governor has put such heavy emphasis on it. And he also said Romney's refusal to release any full tax returns except for 2010 "struck me as a little odd."

Clinton said voters "ought to make up their own mind" whether they support someone who apparently sought to minimize his federal tax liability by parking large sums of money overseas.

Romney's tenure at Bain has been a major target for Obama, who has accused Romney of being an "outsourcing pioneer" who invested in companies that shipped jobs to China, India and elsewhere overseas. Romney claims he had no role in outsourcing U.S. jobs because much of that activity didn't happen until after 1999, when he says he had given up operational control at Bain.

The Romney campaign on Friday released a new television ad that depicts Obama as employing tactics he once decried. It features footage of Obama's 2008 convention speech declaring, "If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from."

A poll released Thursday by the Pew Research Center suggests Obama's attacks on Romney's background may be working. The poll, conducted June 28 through July 9, shows the president leading his Republican opponent 50 percent to 43 percent among registered voters. And Romney now lags behind Obama as the candidate better able to improve economic conditions. In the Pew Center's June poll, Romney held an eight-point edge on that question.

Obama's two-day visit to Virginia underscores his stepped-up attention to the shortlist of key states that will determine the outcome of the presidential contest.

Virginia, with 13 electoral votes, figures prominently in both the Obama and Romney strategies. But Obama has more options for an Election Day victory without Virginia than does Romney. Illustrating its importance, the state has seen the third heaviest television ad spending by the candidates and their allied groups, behind only Ohio and Florida.

The state is represented by two moderate Democratic senators. But since Obama won four years ago, Republicans have done well in state offices and a majority of the state's congressional seats are held by Republicans.

Stephen Farnsworth, a political scientist at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Va., said the state could well decide not only the presidential election but control of the Senate: Democrat Tim Kaine and Republican George Allen, both former governors, are in a tight race to succeed Sen. Jim Webb, a Democrat.

Despite its relatively low unemployment rate of 5.6 percent, the state relies heavily on military contracts that could suffer significantly under automatic spending cuts authorized by Congress and signed by the president last year. The Hampton Roads area that Obama is visiting Friday is home to a large military presence ? the world's largest naval base is there ? and its economy is heavily dependent on defense spending.

___

Associated Press writer Jack Gillum contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-seeks-keep-once-red-virginia-side-074325116.html

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Air Force linebacker balances academy, football, fatherhood - News ...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. ? Alex Means, a few hours after his son was born, lay on a couch in a hospital room. He was the only one in the room not sleeping.

Means was 21 years old when Dallas was born June 7, 2011, and he still had two years remaining at the Air Force Academy before he would graduate. Previously, he had worried about things like moving up the depth chart at outside linebacker on the football team. His nervousness in the hospital room went well beyond that.

?I remember lying there thinking, ?This is real,?? Means said. ?I look over and see a baby sleeping and think, ?That?s mine, and what am I going to do? How am I going to be a father? How am I going to balance all this?? I just didn?t know.?

During these moments of uncertainty on the couch, he noticed his newborn son getting restless, so he got up to tend to him.

?I stood over him, and it?s the first time I remember crying in a long time. Just tears coming down my face, thinking, ?This is the most beautiful thing I?ve ever seen,?? Means said. ?Everything, all the worries, were just gone. You look at him and you realize everything is going to be OK.? ?

Having a child at that period in Means? life wasn?t ideal. Being a cadet is difficult. Being a cadet and a football player leaves almost no free time. Being a cadet, a football player and a father seems close to impossible. And the administrative process that followed Dallas? birth wasn?t easy. Means thought about quitting Air Force, since he hadn?t started his junior year and could walk away with no penalty.

A year later, Means is in a great place. He?s possibly Air Force?s best returning player, after a team-best six sacks last season. His son is growing fast. Dallas could probably pass for twice his age, which isn?t too surprising considering his father is 6-foot-5 and 230 pounds. Dallas? mother, Perri Leake, and Means are engaged to be married. Leake is a second lieutenant, having graduated from Air Force this year.

Means didn?t plan for his college life to go this way, but he?s happy it did.

?It?s been a crazy ride, but I wouldn?t change it for anything,? Means said. ?It?s been a blessing, all the support I?ve had to make it possible. I love my son to death. I love spending every second I can with him.?

When Means was dealing with concern and worry about becoming a father and what would happen with his Air Force career, he could have used reassurance that it would all turn out this well.

His head was swimming for a while. In addition to the uncertainty of any first-time father, he knew that he couldn?t have a dependent as long as he was at the service academy.

A 1994 directive from the Department of Defense states that no service academy student shall be married or have a dependent. Based on the longstanding directive, the Air Force Academy presents some options. A female cadet can resign, or take a medical turnback and return after she gives birth. That?s what Leake and Means decided to do.

?Each of these are worked out on a case-by-case basis,? academy spokesman David Cannon said. ?Everything is catered to what the cadet wants to do.?

Leake had her parents adopt Dallas so they could complete their academy careers. Leake?s mother moved from Missouri to Colorado and helped take care of Dallas while Means and Perri Leake were in school. Leake?s mother lived with her daughter Meredith, a former academy graduate who is married to former Falcons football player Aaron Kirchoff and had a child about a month after Dallas was born. After Means graduates next spring, the couple plans to marry in June or July and then they will start the process to become Dallas? legal guardians again.

?Her parents were the reason all this was able to happen,? Means said. ?It all came down to her parents saying, ?You two need to finish school.??

Before that, Means thought about quitting so he could take care of Dallas and let Leake finish school. He said the idea of leaving Air Force crushed him. He talked to outside linebackers coach Matt Weikert and head coach Troy Calhoun, and they offered that graduating from Air Force would be the best long-term option for his family.

?I remember going to coach Calhoun and he said, ?Anything you need you let me know; I have full support for you,?? Means said. ?When I heard that, I couldn?t leave this program.?

Means said his teammates? reaction also helped him through the anxious time. He mentioned quarterback Connor Dietz, offensive tackle Jason Kons, linebackers Patrick Hennessey and Ken Lamendola, defensive lineman Nick DeJulio and safety Brian Lindsay (who would become Dallas? godfather) as some teammates who offered to help however they could.

?They?re like, ?Sweet, we can?t wait for him to be around,?? Means said. ?They were all supportive. The support made it easier.? ?

Means didn?t get any breaks. He had a full class schedule of about 18 class hours each of the past two semesters. He fulfilled the daily military duties of every cadet. He played in all 13 Air Force football games last season. He often had to do homework after playing with Dallas for a couple of hours at night, but he got used to a little less sleep.

Means said he has matured tremendously through the past year. He expresses his love for Leake, who he proposed to after her graduation ceremony. His gift to her was a large box, and inside that box were other boxes. The smallest box was a ring box, but Leake found it was empty. She turned to see Means on one knee. Dallas gave her the ring as Means proposed.

Means said when he looked at Dallas in the hospital room the night he was born, he had a reassuring feeling that everything would be OK. A year later, that has proven true.

?It?s been great, just to see something you created grow up in front of you,? Means said. ?Just seeing him grow up ? he?s throwing a little pillow football around now. From going to crawling to walking to starting to talk ? it?s been the single greatest experience of my entire life.?
?

Source: http://www.stripes.com/news/air-force-linebacker-balances-academy-football-fatherhood-1.182881?localLinksEnabled=false

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4 sophisticated drug tunnels found on border

TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) ? Four drug smuggling tunnels equipped with lighting and ventilation ? including one with a railcar system ? have been discovered along the U.S.-Mexico border in less than a week, the latest signs that cartels are building sophisticated passages to escape heightened detection above ground.

Three of the tunnels were incomplete, including one that the Mexican army found in a Tijuana warehouse Thursday with more than 40 tons of marijuana at the entry. The passage extended nearly 400 yards, including more than 100 yards into the United States.

Soldiers found the Tijuana warehouse with four moving trucks full of marijuana, a trailer full of dirt, pickaxes, wheelbarrows, drills and other excavation equipment. The tunnel was equipped with a railcar system.

The Mexican army said three people were detained.

It was the second, major incomplete tunnel discovered in the San Diego-Tijuana area in two days and the third along the U.S.-Mexico border since Saturday, when a completed passage was found in a vacant strip mall storefront in the southwestern Arizona city of San Luis.

The 240-yard tunnel in Arizona showed a level of sophistication not typically associated with other crude smuggling passageways that tie into storm drains in the state.

"When you see what is there and the way they designed it, it wasn't something that your average miner could put together," said Douglas Coleman, special agent in charge of the Phoenix division of the Drug Enforcement Administration. "You would need someone with some engineering expertise to put something together like this."

Another incomplete tunnel in Arizona, found Friday in Nogales, did not appear to be in use, said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Amber Cargile. The investigation into that passage was ongoing and no arrests have been made, she said.

As Thursday's massive pot seizure in Tijuana demonstrates, tunnels have become an increasingly common way to smuggle enormous loads of heroin, marijuana and other drugs into the country. More than 70 passages have been found on the border since October 2008, surpassing the number of discoveries in the previous six years.

More than 150 secret tunnels have been found along the border since 1990, the vast majority of them incomplete, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Raids last November on two tunnels linking San Diego and Tijuana netted a combined 52 tons of marijuana on both sides of the border.

The first Arizona tunnel was discovered after state police pulled over a man who had 39 pounds of methamphetamine in his vehicle and mentioned the strip mall.

The tunnel was found beneath a water tank in a storage room and stretched across the border to an ice-plant business in the Mexican city of San Luis Rio Colorado. It was reinforced with four-by-six beams and lined with plywood.

Investigators believe the tunnel wasn't in operation for long because there was little wear on its floor, and 55-gallon drums containing extracted dirt hadn't been removed from the property.

Coleman said investigators can't yet say for sure if the tunnel, estimated to cost $1.5 million to build, was operated by the powerful Sinaloa cartel. Still, authorities suspect cartel involvement because the group from Sinaloa controls smuggling routes into Arizona.

"Another cartel wasn't going to roll into that area and put down that kind of money in Sinaloa territory," Coleman said. "Nobody is going to construct this tunnel without significant cartel leadership knowing what's going on."

On Wednesday, the Mexican army found an incomplete tunnel in Tijuana estimated to be more than 150 yards long, beginning inside a building that advertised as a recycling plant. .

The Mexican army said two tractor-trailers were found inside the building, along with shovels, drills, pickaxes, buckets and other excavation tools. The walls were lined with dirt and wide enough for one person to get through comfortably.

U.S. authorities were investigating the tunnel discovered Wednesday for three months, said ICE spokeswoman Lauren Mack.

It takes six months to a year to build a tunnel, authorities say. Workers use shovels and pickaxes to slowly dig through the soil, sleeping in buildings where the tunnels begin until the job is done. Sometimes they use pneumatic tools.

The tunnels are concentrated along the border in California and Arizona. San Diego is popular because its clay-like soil is easy to dig. In Nogales, smugglers tap into vast underground drainage canals.

San Diego's Otay Mesa area has the added draw that there are plenty of nondescript warehouses on both sides of the border to conceal trucks getting loaded with drugs. Its streets hum with semitrailers by day and fall silent on nights and weekends.

___

Billeaud reported from Phoenix.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/4-sophisticated-drug-tunnels-found-border-224659627.html

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Repairing Your Roof with Charlotte Roofing

Roof repair has always been a point of concern for home owners. If regular maintenance of the roof is not carried out, it may pose serious problems later. It may even lead to serious damage to the house. A regular watch has to be kept on the roof, and in case even a minor problem is noticed, the same must be rectified without further delay. If you are not able to carry out regular inspection of the roof, the damage may go out of hand, and you would need to make major expenses to repair it. It is thus necessary that you climb the roof sometimes to see its condition. Even if annual inspections of the roof are carried out, it will suffice. However it is essential to take care to avoid any mishaps while doing so, as many people get hurt by falling from the roof. Do not climb the roof top when it is wet, to avoid slipping and losing your grip.

Make use of a strong ladder and ensure that it is held by somebody when you climb up. Try to find out if there is damage to the shingles or if the flow of water is being obstructed. You should be mainly worried about leakage of water into house causing serious damage due to small holes on the roof. Minor repairs like replacing or fixing shingles can be done yourself. However major leaks and other damages can only be taken care of by expert professional Charlotte roofing contractor. Occasional inspection of the roof and conducting timely basic repairs will prevent the roof from having serious damages.

If there are fixings, pipes or flues penetrating the roofing, they could be the likely spots from where water might leak and enter the house. For water proofing, they would have small metal strips or some other material, known as "flashing", for weather proofing. They provide protection to the joints from where water can leak easily. Check these flashing for ensuring that they are weather tight.

Gutters also play an important role in a house and can be instrumental in leading to damages in the roof. These assist in draining out the rain water from the house, but if rain water remains collected here, there would be pressure on the roof, as water would start accumulating at different points, and would find its way down into the house. Regular maintenance of the gutters, especially during fall, must be carried out. During this period lot of leaves get collected in the gutter, preventing water from draining out in the right way.

In case you are not confident of climbing on the roof, you could employ some roof repair Raleigh specialist for carrying out the inspection on your behalf. They are experts in this field and will be able to find out the exact repairs required, without any difficulty. You may consult your colleagues about a reliable Charlotte roofing company, their manner of working, work schedule and payment charged by them. You may also check previous work done by them. This will help you in employing a suitable company for your roof repairs.

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Produce an online Business enterprise Website | Arty Apt

Hundreds of people everyday are wanting to generate a web-based Web Based Company. You are able to recognize the demand for on-line enterprise by looking at the searches created on the search engines like google. They are phrases like develop an internet small business web page net, small business on-line modest internet, business on the net page, small business, online web-site net, web hosting for on-line organization and on line website enterprise chance just to mention several.

Lately I wrote quite a few articles, a single about distinct landing pages, one more about matching search phrases to specific landing pages along with the final one particular was on keyword pricing. This time I am going to cover a few effortless strategies to monitor your campaigns to ensure that you make sure you?re accomplishing what you set out to complete. Otherwise you might not bear the fruits of your efforts.

As I mentioned in my other articles you need to ensure that you have got an unique landing page on your website for every location of you company. For instance on my internet site I have a landing page for Operate At House, Top 10 company, Household Based Small business, Moms Jobs, Affiliates, Information Entry, On the web Paid Surveys plus a link to my true time newsletter.

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Source: http://artyapt.com/blog/produce-an-online-business-enterprise-website/

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Source: http://businessdailyinfo.com/business-advertising-tips-advertise-the-way-that-works-for-your-target-audience-posted-by-yasir.html

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In Syria: Why is Turkey reluctant to take the lead?

Turks hope that peace between the two countries can be restored. But Syrian refugees hope Turkey will take a more aggressive stance.?

By Maryam Hasan,?The Institute for War & Peace Reporting (MCT) / July 12, 2012

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan addresses the members of his ruling AK Party (AKP) during a meeting at his party headquarters in Ankara.

REUTERS/Umit Bektas

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One might have thought that the downing of one of its aircraft by Syrian fighter jets would have been enough to provoke military action by Turkey.

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And yet, Ankara, while angry, has remained remarkably non-confrontational following the latest incident. Indeed, while Turks have allowed arms to transit through their country to support members of the Free Syrian Army, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ruled out the possibility of war.

In that, he is reflecting the general feeling of most Turks, who are extremely wary of the prospect of conflict with their southern neighbor.

Older people remember the 1974 conflict with Greece over Cyprus and shudder; the younger generation is in shock at the prospect of conflict.

?We were such close friends (with?Syria) ? what happened all of a sudden?? asked Asife Ulu, a 26-year-old business manager in Istanbul.

Arzu Efeoglu, a 23-year-old university student in the same city, said, ?I don?t see how a war would help the Turks. It would cost many lives.?Syria?is not our problem.

?Turkey is not a fully mature democracy. We still have lots of problems to fix here before fighting for democracy elsewhere.? Varol, a 51-year-old retired businessman, hopes that normal relations with Damascus can be restored.

?We need to sit down at the table with the Syrian government in the presence of a mediator and sort out our differences,? he said.

According to Abdulhamit Bilici, a senior journalist and columnist with the Zaman newspaper, such responses are typical and reflect a failure to grasp the scale of the crisis unfolding in?Syria.

?It is very difficult to persuade Turks in favor of war with?Syria. They can?t understand how we?ve become enemies after enjoying very good relations over the last few years,? he said.

Turkey has the second largest military force in NATO after the United States. That, and its proximity to?Syria, leads many to believe that Turkey would be expected to spearhead any military intervention.

?America is pushing Turkey to fight with?Syria, which the West won?t do itself because of elections and the economy. They worry about their losses, while ours would come cheaper for them,? Tayfun Coskun, a 33-year old photographer, said.

The mood of extreme caution is not confined to the public ? many analysts are resolutely opposed to military engagement.

For example, Abdullah Bozkurt, a prominent analyst, says, ?Turkey may have suffered a blow to its prestige as Assad is still hanging onto power after a 15-month-long uprising, leaving Turks with a sense of defeat and humiliation. But I think we can live with that, if it means saving the lives of Turkish soldiers.? A few, however, take a more hawkish view.

Vehbi Bisan, a professor at Istanbul University, said many people, while against the idea of a war, would like their country to stand up for itself, after the loss of face caused by the plane downing.

?Turks see their country as weak, which contradicts their sense of strength. Any further provocation by?Syriawill see a strong reaction from the public as well as from the military,? he said.

And Syrians who have fled to Turkey from their homeland are desperate for Ankara to act.

Omar Ibrahim, a Syrian refugee from Homs, says Turkey?s apparent torpor has only encouraged Damascus to take a more aggressive stance towards it.

?The lack of either a military or a diplomatic response when Assad troops attacked a refugee camp [in April 2012] emboldened?Syria?to shoot down the Turkish fighter jet,? he said.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/y059exxhrAE/In-Syria-Why-is-Turkey-reluctant-to-take-the-lead

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Sect attack claim complicates Nigeria crisis

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) ? Local Christian and Muslim communities have clashed for years in Nigeria's middle belt and the conflict took an unexpected turn this week when Islamist insurgents based in the country's removed northeast claimed responsibility for a raid and attacks that killed dozens, signaling a dangerous change of tactics for the group. Many thought Muslim herdsmen had been behind the weekend raids on Christian villages.

Hundreds of assailants armed with guns and machetes stormed about a dozen Christian villages in the pasturelands in Plateau state in central Nigeria on Saturday, said Capt. Mustapha Saliu, a spokesman for a special unit of police and soldiers deployed to halt long-running communal violence in the area. Some attackers wore police uniforms and bullet-proof vests, he added.

The following day, as dignitaries attended a mass burial for the victims, assailants attacked again, leaving a federal senator and a state lawmaker dead. Authorities initially said the lawmakers had been ambushed and killed in the attacks, but Saliu now says they both lost consciousness and eventually died as people ran for cover while gunmen shot "in the air."

The Nigerian Red Cross said at least 58 people had died in the attacks and security forces' reprisals. They said that toll was expected to rise as aid workers searched for bodies and violence persisted in the tense region. Most of the victims are presumed to be Christians.

A statement attributed to the Nigerian Islamist radical sect Boko Haram and obtained by The Associated Press this week said that it was responsible for the attacks and warned that Christians "will not know peace again" if they do not accept Islam.

The claim fits into the sect's previously expressed plan to increase attacks targeting Christians. Before now, they had claimed responsibility for bomb attacks on churches in the Plateau state capital of Jos as well as other cities and towns further north. They've also said in previous statements that they would avenge the deaths of Muslims in Plateau state.

Boko Haram stepping forward adds another element of danger to the conflict in Nigeria's middle belt. However, authorities say these attacks didn't use bombs or other explosives - Boko Haram's weapons of choice. Instead, the assailants chose to raid the villages which would be a dangerous extension of Boko Haram tactics. It is also a style of attack Muslim herdsmen of the Fulani tribe have used in the past.

The local violence, though fractured across religious lines, often has more to do with local politics, economics and rights to grazing lands. The government of Plateau State is controlled by Christian politicians who have blocked Muslims from being legally recognized as citizens. That has locked many out of prized government jobs in a region where the tourism industry and tin mining have collapsed in the last decades. In 2010, Human Rights Watch said that at least 1,000 people died in communal clashes. Clashes between Muslim Fulani herdsmen and Christian farmers of the Berom tribe remain common despite a state of emergency imposed on Plateau state.

In most parts of Nigeria, a large-scale attack targeting Christians would have been blamed on Boko Haram, but in violence-torn Plateau state the claim raises questions, leaving analysts divided about what could have happened.

"Authorities are investigating but I don't think that Boko Haram could, out of nowhere, have raided these villages," said criminal justice consultant Innocent Chukwuma, "they couldn't do that without local support and collaboration."

Meanwhile, Shehu Sani, activist and author of "The Killing Fields," a history of religious violence in Nigeria, disagrees.

"From my knowledge and experience about the Boko Haram group, I believe 100% that they were responsible for that act," Sani said. "I think they operated alone," he said, adding that they had deployed large number of attackers in other cities before.

Special unit spokesman Saliu said that Boko Haram's claim of responsibility was not "conclusive" but that "it could help."

"It can help because at least we know that we are all fighting a common enemy," he said, adding that he hoped the claim would dissuade from reprisal attacks.

Boko Haram members and most Fulani herdsmen share Islam. But the ethnic composition of Boko Haram is believed to be very different from the Fulani people and Boko Haram has been known to turn against Muslims that do not share their extremist views.

"Given that there have already been cycles of violence going on in Plateau state, I wonder if Boko Haram isn't trying to cash in on that," said Alex Thurston, a Northwestern University academic on reformist Islam and electoral politics in northern Nigeria. "It seems that some people have an interest in localizing it and keeping it to local grievances while some people have an interest in nationalizing it and Boko Haram is one of those groups."

As investigators say they are trying to determine if the attacks were carried out by Boko Haram, the Fulani herdsmen or a mix of both, the fighting communities' don't want Boko Haram's claim to distract from their local grievances.

"We don't protect (Boko Haram) and they don't protect us," said Saleh Bayari, national chairman for the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria that protects the rights of the Fulani people. "Some people may have written this statement to give the tag 'Boko Haram' to our communities which will give them a justification to treat our people like outlaws." He said. "We are not outlaws."

Mark Lipdo, director of the Jos-based Stefanos Foundation, said the claim does not exculpate the Fulani herdsmen. "Boko Haram are settling (scores for) their own. If Fulanis are taking that call, it is a big problem to Nigeria; it means Fulani are becoming Boko Haram."

Boko Haram has been trying to fan religious conflict in the country with recent attacks focusing on areas with festering religious tensions and a history of reprisal attacks.

The sect claimed responsibility last month for coordinated church blast which authorities initially said left at least 21 people dead. As reprisals spread across the state, authorities later said the toll had risen to 98 dead.

Both Kaduna and Plateau states sit in Nigeria's middle belt, the dividing line between the predominantly Muslim north and mainly Christian south of Nigeria, a nation of 160 million people.

__

Associated Press reporter Ahmed Saka in Jos, Nigeria contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sect-attack-claim-complicates-nigeria-crisis-093033374.html

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Why is internet marketing essential to your business?

Internet marketing UK is essential toward the success of several websites within the country. Users should be able to find the site easily or else what purpose will it serve if it is professionally designed but not able to cater to the desire of goods and services required by the market. For a specific place, internet marketing UK campaigns can be used.

Search engine marketing services are similar to website designing. A good job can be done with good knowledge on the matter and a sharp eye for specific details and experience isn?t required for these marketing services. It is very important for search engine marketing services to keep themselves constantly updated at least every week if not for every day. There are also several ways to market a search engine service, this one being specific to one place.

Finding a reliable source of online marketing UK

The expenses of hiring online marketing UK has to be justified. Acquiring an online marketer is not necessary for each website. If the website is a revenue generating website or a site relating to business, it is advisable to use a capable, knowledgeable and skilled online marketer to work for the website desired. The expenses incurred on a website for online marketing has to be explained and justified. It is usually justified by receiving more traffic and revenue to that particular website.

No guarantees are assured to potential customers in SEO and these customers must know that. All aspects are based with search engines; SEO is under major and renowned search engines and is at the mercy of companies like Google. Usually the SEO?s give assurances and guarantees which cannot be fulfilled resulting in harm to the customers or lawsuits being filed against the SEO service provider.

An online marketer?s offer

An online marketer sees that a website is made properly for being visible to all and is also promoted in the most efficient and economic way on the online marketing campaign. It is useless to have a website that doesn?t appear on internet searches. The website has to appear first and be the most impressive to attract potential buyers in need for the goods and services they seek. Online marketers use techniques for search engine optimization in order to make the website visible to everyone and the targets being internet users.

Online marketing requires a lot of research and analysis for a single website and then optimization of the website is required. Several hours may be spent on one website or several websites, mainly depending on the target audience?s size. The amount of effort that is involved is what one pays for.

What to look for while choosing an online marketer

The marketer constantly needs to update his knowledge and skills. In order to test the marketer to know if he is fake or real is to test him on the recent affairs taking place in his field. He should be up to date if he is genuine. You must also have a good, planned budget before making a commitment to an online marketing UK campaign.

Source: http://neotericuk-e-business-solution.blogspot.com/2012/07/why-is-internet-marketing-essential-to.html

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Factory output drags on euro zone's economy

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/factory-output-drags-euro-zones-economy-105746741--business.html

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