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Monday, March 11, 2013

Woods wins another World Championship at Doral

Tiger Woods, right, and his caddie Joe Lacava congratulate each other after winning the Cadillac Championship golf tournament on Sunday, March 10, 2013, in Doral, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Tiger Woods removes his cap after winning the Cadillac Championship golf tournament on Sunday, March 10, 2013, in Doral, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Tiger Woods holds the Gene Sarazen Cup for winning the Cadillac Championship golf tournament on Sunday, March 10, 2013, in Doral, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Tiger Woods hits from the second hole fairway during the third round of the Cadillac Championship golf tournament on Sunday, March 10, 2013, in Doral, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Graeme McDowell, of Northern Ireland, looks at his shot on the eighth green during the third round of the Cadillac Championship golf tournament on Sunday, March 10, 2013, in Doral, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

DORAL, Fla. (AP) ? Tiger Woods is hitting his stride on a march to the Masters.

Woods had full control of his game Sunday and never let anyone get closer than three shots until he had locked up his 17th World Golf Championship title. With a conservative bogey that didn't matter on the final hole, he closed with a 1-under 71 to win the Cadillac Championship.

For the first time in five years, Woods has two wins before the Masters.

It was one year ago at Doral that Woods withdrew after 11 holes in the final round because of tightness in his left Achilles tendon, creating uncertainty about his health and whether he could ever get his game back.

False alarm.

Woods has won five times in the last year, the most of anyone in the world, and he can return to No. 1 with a win at Bay Hill in two weeks.

He won by two shots over Steve Stricker, who might want to claim a share of this trophy.

Stricker spent 45 minutes on the putting green with Woods on the eve of the tournament, helping him with his posture over putts. Woods made 27 birdies this week, one short of his personal best on the PGA Tour.

"Thank you to Steve for the putting lesson," Woods said at the trophy presentation. "It was one of those weeks where I felt pretty good about how I was playing, made a few putts and got it rolling."

Stricker, playing a part-time schedule, picked up his second runner-up finish in just three starts. He closed with a 68, and had no regrets about offering Woods some help.

"At times you kick yourself," Stricker said with a laugh. "He's a good friend. We talk a lot about putting. It's good to see him playing well."

The Masters is a month away, and Woods is sure to be the favorite.

Rory McIlroy, the No. 1 player in the world, showed signs of recovering from his rough start to the season. He had a 65 and tied for eighth.

Woods won in January at Torrey Pines by four shots. He won for the fourth time at Doral, making this the seventh golf course where he has won at least four times.

Graeme McDowell, who started the final round four shots behind, made a birdie on the opening hole, but never got any closer. McDowell had third place to himself until he went for the green on the 18th hole and found the water. He made double bogey, shot 72 and fell into a four-way tie for third that cost him $172,500.

Phil Mickelson (71), Sergio Garcia (69) and Adam Scott (64) also tied for third.

Woods improved to 40-2 on the PGA Tour when he had the outright lead going into the final round, the last two wins with McDowell at his side. Woods last won while ahead at Bay Hill a year ago.

"The way Tiger was playing, I was always in chase mode," McDowell said. "He was always going to be a tough guy to catch. Fair play to him. He played fantastic golf the last couple of days."

Woods finished minus 19 at 269 and earned $1.5 million in winning this World Golf Championship for the seventh time.

McIlroy's week ended on a happy note.

Not only did he finish the tournament, he might have turned the corner with a bogey-free 65. McIlroy opened with a 7-iron into 18 feet for eagle, which he called one of the best shots he hit. He shot a 32 on the back nine for a round that surprised him considering how far away he felt when he arrived at Doral.

"Just goes to show, it's not as far away as you think," McIlroy said. "That's been one of my problems. I always think when I'm playing bad that it's further away than it is. That's just where I have to stay patient ... and know that if I put in the hard work, that the results will bear fruit. Whether that's sooner or later, it doesn't really matter."

McIlroy said he won't add a tournament the next two weeks, returning at the Houston Open before going to the Masters. He is signed up for the member-guest a week from Monday at The Medalist Club, presumably as the guest of former NBA great Michael Jordan.

"He's asked me, so depending on what my schedule is and where I have to be ... we'll see," he said.

Scott had the low round of the tournament with eight birdies in his round of 64.

That's what McDowell, Mickelson and Stricker would have needed to have any chance of catching Woods. As he did early in third round, McDowell gave it his best shot, only to have Woods answer on every occasion.

McDowell two-putted for birdie on the par-5 opening hole as Woods blasted a shot from a buried lie at the back of the green well past the pin and off the green. He had to chip close just to save par. McDowell hit his approach on the second hole to 7 feet and looked as if he might pick up another shot.

In what might have been the most significant putt Woods made, he buried an 18-footer for birdie.

That's how it went all weekend. Woods never gave anyone a chance, and he didn't give anyone much hope. His lead was back to four shots, he hit an 8-iron to 4 feet on the par-3 fourth hole, and no one seriously challenged him the rest of the way.

Mickelson hit a 200-yard shot into the breeze and over the water to a foot for a tap-in birdie on the par-5 eighth to get within four shots with 10 holes to play. He missed far too many short putts, however, making bogey on the ninth and 11th holes to fall too far back to matter.

That allowed another easy walk up the 18th hole for Woods to collect another WGC title, another seven-figure check, and offer another reminder that he is closer than ever to getting back to the top of golf.

Woods now has won over $24 million in the WGCs alone since the series began in 1999, winning 43 percent of the tournaments. This was his 76th career win on tour, leaving him six short of the record 82 wins by Sam Snead.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-03-10-Cadillac%20Championship/id-484be5dd60e743b79ced2bdc1b9a2019

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Abdul Hazara: Shiite Killings In Pakistan Are 'Genocide'

QUETTA, Pakistan -- Pakistan's minority Shiite Muslims have started using the word "genocide" to describe a violent spike in attacks against them by a militant Sunni group with suspected links to the country's security agencies and a mainstream political party that governs the largest province.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a group of radical Sunni Muslims, who revile Shiites as heretics, has claimed responsibility for dozens of attacks throughout Pakistan. Linked to al-Qaida, it has been declared a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S., yet it operates with relative ease in Pakistan's populous Punjab province, where Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and several other violent jihadi groups are based.

The violence against Shiites has ignited a national debate ? and political arguments ? about a burgeoning militancy in Pakistan. The latest attack was a massive bombing earlier this month that ripped apart a Shiite neighborhood in Pakistan's largest city of Karachi, killing 48 people, many of them as they left a mosque after saying their evening prayers. So far this year nearly 300 Shiites have been killed in devastating bombings, target killings and executions.

The unrelenting attacks also have focused the nation's attention on freedoms that Pakistani politicians give extremists groups, staggering corruption within the police and prison systems and the murky and protracted relationship between militant groups and Pakistan's military and intelligence agencies.

"The government doesn't have the will to go after them and the security agencies are littered with sympathizers who give them space to operate," Hazara Democratic Party chief Abdul Khaliq Hazara, told The Associated Press in a recent interview in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan where some of the most ferocious anti-Shiite attacks have occurred.

He labeled the killings as the "genocide of Hazaras," whom are mostly Shiites and easily identified by their Central Asian facial features.

"I have a firm belief that our security agencies have not yet decided to end all extremists groups," said Hazara. "They still want those (militants) that they think they can control and will need either in India or Afghanistan," he said referring to allegations that Pakistan uses militants as proxies against hostile India to the east and Afghanistan to the west.

The army has a history of supporting militant Islamists using them as proxies to fight in Kashmir, a region divided between Pakistan and India and claimed by both in its entirety. It is repeatedly criticized by the United States and Afghanistan for not doing enough to deny Afghan insurgents sanctuary in the tribal regions that border Afghanistan. Angry at the criticism, Pakistani army officials say they have lost more than 4,000 soldiers ? more than NATO and the U.S. combined ? fighting militants.

Yet, police officials in Baluchistan and the capital, Islamabad, told the AP that Pakistan's intelligence agency had ordered them to release militant leaders who had been arrested. The militants were not necessarily affiliated with Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, said the officials, who asked not to be identified because they feared losing their jobs.

Even the judiciary has queried Pakistan's security agencies for information about their alleged ties to militants.

The Supreme Court previously ordered the intelligence agencies and the paramilitary Frontier Corp, which was given sweeping powers to track and arrest militants in Quetta, to explain accusations of their involvement in anti-Shiite attacks. The intelligence agency was told by the court to identify unregistered weapons and vehicles some of which were alleged to have been involved in suicide attacks targeting Shiites.

Still in Pakistan's most populous province of Punjab where 60 percent of the country's 180 million people live, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and other militant groups move largely unrestricted.

In 2010, Punjab's Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif issued a surprising appeal to the Taliban, asking them to stop attacks in Punjab province because his government ? just like the militants ? opposed the dictates of the West. In a recent interview with the AP, Ahsan Iqbal, the deputy secretary general of Sharif's conservative Pakistan Muslim League, clarified his boss's comments.

"What we were saying to the Taliban at the time was `if you are fighting the Pakistan government because they are stooges of the U.S. ... if that is your logic then why are you attacking in the Punjab because we are not stooges of the United States," he said.

The dramatic increase in sectarian violence also has spawned fierce political debate in Parliament with rivals firing volleys of accusations and counter accusations.

The ruling, liberal-leaning Pakistan People's Party has accused its conservative rival, the Pakistan Muslim League, which governs Punjab province, of patronizing radical Sunni groups, including Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. In response, Punjab parliamentarians have shot back, charging the Pakistani federal government with inaction and ineptness for failing to establish a coordinated, nationwide anti-terrorist campaign during its five years at the helm.

Iqbal says his Pakistan Muslim League has "zero tolerance" for extremists yet its provincial Law Minister last year campaigned alongside the leader of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi's parent organization, Sipah-e-Sahabah Pakistan, which is outlawed in Pakistan.

"It is political expediency in the Punjab that they think they need the support from the SSP in some parts for votes," said Hazara. "But the policies of these extremists will destroy political parties in Pakistan. It will destroy Pakistan."

Today, the SSP operates in Pakistan's Punjab province under a new name, Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat. It runs scores of religious schools unencumbered by government restrictions. The schools churn out students, who graduate with a loathing of Shiite Muslims, a willingness to be foot soldiers for other Sunni militant groups and ambitions of making Pakistan a radical Sunni state.

Both organizations also have links to Afghanistan's Taliban and in 2011 Lashkar-e-Jhangvi carried out an attack in Afghanistan, killing nearly 70 Shiites in a series of coordinated strikes in three Afghan cities. The attacks raised concern that insurgents wanted to further destabilize Afghanistan by adding a new and deadly sectarian flavor to the conflict already being waged between insurgents and Afghan and foreign forces.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi operated militant training camps in Afghanistan during the Taliban's rule that ended in 2001, said Waliullah Rahmani, an ethnic Hazara and executive director of the Kabul Center for Strategic Studies, a private think tank in the Afghan capital, Kabul. Still, Rahmani said the Afghan Taliban have not promoted sectarian violence, which might explain why there have been no other anti-Shiite attacks, Rahmani said Thursday in an interview.

Zahid Hussain, whose books plot the rise of militancy in Pakistan, linked the latest round of sectarian carnage in Baluchistan to lashkars, or tribal militias, established with the support of Pakistan's intelligence agencies to crush a burgeoning secessionist movement.

The militias, Hussain said, draw heavily from local religious schools or madrassas, which are heavily financed by donations from Gulf and Arab countries and are run by hard-line clerics with close ties to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.

"That provides a deadly and unholy nexus (between) forces fighting the Baluch separatists and those waging war against the Shia community," Hussain wrote in a recent column. It also implicates Pakistan's intelligence agencies, even if indirectly, in the carnage ? an allegation they deny.

In a column assailing the Punjab government's "dangerous liaisons" with militants in its province, Hussain said: "Pity the nation where the blood of innocents comes cheap and murderers live under state patronage."

___

Kathy Gannon is AP's special regional correspondent for Pakistan and Afghanistan and can be followed on http://www.twitter.com/kathygannon

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/09/abdul-hazara-shiite-killings-in-pakistan-are-genocide_n_2846314.html

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Sunday, March 10, 2013

Life, Art, Tea, Food and Alaska

So in light of my last blog, I decided to vegan-ize one of my favorite tea cookie recipes 'Lemon Oatmeal Crisps' which I found in?The New Tea Book?by Sara Perry. I've had this book for years and it's really the book that got me more interested in tea. So here is what I consider to be one of the best recipes I've ever encountered.

Lemon oatmeal crisps (or heaven in a cookie)
Ingredients:
-1/2 cup unbleached or bleached all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-1/2 cup (1stick) unsalted butter OR vegan butter if you got it/want to use it
-1/2 cup sugar
-1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
-1/2 teaspoon minced lemon zest (lemon peel for you non cooking term savy folks)
-3/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

Direction time!

1)?PREHEAT YOUR OVEN! TO 350 DEGREES?FAHRENHEIT! (this is in bold and computer shouting because if you're like me, you forget what the temp. needs to be at and do this after you've mixed everything)

2) Mix your flour, baking soda a salt in a very small bowl (or a measuring cup if you lack small bowls)

3) In a big bowl cream together the butter and sugar until it's light and fluffy..do this on medium speed for?10?minutes (if you're using vegan butter you only need to do this for about 5 minutes). And yes that really says ten minutes, but it ensures the butter and sugar blend well together and become like a dense whipped cream that gives the cookies a very light crunch, yeah so do it right if you want amazing cookies.

4)Add in the zest and extract, blend that in. Now beat in the flour on a low speed, and then the oats. (it's a soft dough so don't worry if you think it's to squishy)

5)Time to make that dough into cookie shapes, do this by dropping rounded teaspoon fulls (over flowing teaspoons of dough) onto an ungreased cookie sheet, or a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. These cookies spread out A LOT so make sure you leave at least 1 1/2 inches between your dough mounds.

If you are using butter bake these guys for 12-14 minutes until they are lightly golden, if you are using vegan butter bake them for 9-11 minutes. When they're done let them cool for a bit before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. Store these babies in an airtight container if you don't eat them all in one go. Depending on your rounded teaspoon accuracy this recipe makes 2-3 dozen crispy cookies.

Pro tips:

You can use 1/4 teaspoon almond extract and 1/2 cup finely chopped almonds instead of or in addition to the lemon extract and lemon peel.

Or you can add 1/2 cup white chocolate chips and 1/2 cup coarsely chopped macadamia nuts to the batter. Carry on with the rest of the instructions.

Source: http://teacreations.blogspot.com/2013/03/these-are-cookies-i-had-them-with-some.html

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Advice For A Successful Web Design Strategy | Content for Reprint

Author: Greg James | Total views: 81 Comments: 0
Word Count: 990 Date: Sun, 10 Mar 2013 9:02 AM

Learning about good web design techniques is important if you want to make building and running successful websites easier. It is through good design practices that your site becomes more appealing and easy to use, which makes it attractive to visitors. Not only will this entice new visitors, but it will make them repeat viewers as well. This article may help you create a more successful website.

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Draw a few sketches of possible looks for your website. Use these sketches to conduct focus groups and see if there is a pattern to the changes people suggest you implement before opening your site to the public.

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Will cardinals go off European grid to choose new pope?

Maurizio Brambatti / EPA

Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet is among the non-Europeans who are considered possible papal candidates.

By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

It's been 35 years since an Italian pope has ruled the Catholic Church, and some Vatican watchers believe the conclave that starts Tuesday could be the first to elect a pontiff from outside Europe.

While the Italians control a quarter of the votes, recent scandals suggest that they might be too beset by deep divisions to unite early around one candidate from their home turf.

The church's influence in Europe is on the wane, and its biggest area of growth is in sub-Saharan Africa, leading some to suggest that it might be time to look beyond the traditional countries for a pope with global appeal.

"The Catholic Church has moved far beyond the notion that any one nationality has a peculiar aptitude for the Office of Peter," said NBC News Vatican analyst George Weigel, author of "Evangelical Catholicism."

"The secondary reason why this is a wide-open field from which a non-European candidate may emerge is that the Catholic Church is in serious difficulty throughout western Europe and in parts of central and eastern Europe.

"Even stalwart Poland is beginning to show some troubling signs of the influence of secularism."

Catholic Center for Media via AP

Cardinal Robert Sarah is from Guinea but also has a strong Vatican background.

A number of non-Europeans keep showing up on Vaticanologists' lists of papabili,?those cardinals thought to have the right stuff: Marc Ouellet of Canada, Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines, Odilo Pedro Scherer of Brazil, Robert Sarah of Guinea.

The Rev. Thomas Reese, an analyst for the National Catholic Reporter, said that when insiders talk about crossing the European borders, the conversation often ends up in Africa, "where the church is growing, where it's dynamic and where it's a success in vocations."

"The church looks good in Africa," he said. "The counter-argument is: The church in Africa is doing fine. We need someone to deal with the church in Europe, North America and Latin America, where it's in trouble."

Reese said he's "not sure that geography is the answer" to the Vatican's problems, but at the same time he sees the appeal of a pope from afar.

"It would certainly send a message that this is a global church, this is not a European church any more," he said.

With just three days to go before the conclave, there is no indication that the cardinals are rallying around any one candidate, including the Italians.

Weigel said many of the top non-European candidates have impressive Roman credentials:

Cardinal Marc Ouellet: The former archbishop of Quebec City, he heads the Congregation for Bishops, has worked in two Vatican departments and has taught at the Lateran University. He also has Latin American experience, having taught there, and has confronted an "aggressively secular environment" in Quebec. But some will question whether the scholarly pastor can reform the curia, the administrative apparatus of the Vatican.

Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer: The archbishop of Sao Paolo, Brazil, worked for the conclave's senior cardinal, Giovanni Battista Re, at the Congregation of Bishops under Pope John Paul II. Now he has the top job in the country with the most Catholics. He lacks charisma, though, and many cardinals feel they need someone with personality.

Cardinal Robert Sarah: Appointed archbishop of Conakry, Guinea, when he was just 34, Sarah now heads the pontifical council Cor Unum, which is the Vatican's parallel to the U.S. Agency for International Development. Weigel noted, however, that Rome has often not been as friendly as it could have been to African church leaders.

Franco Origlia / Getty Images

Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle has lots of energy and charisma but might be seen as too young.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan: The archbishop of New York's personality could be a double-edged sword. "No member of the College of Cardinals lights up a room like [Dolan]," Weigel said, but skeptics could find him too effervescent. Plus, there is a longstanding prejudice against so-called "superpower popes."

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle: The passion and emotion of Manila's top Catholic could be attractive to electors looking beyond Italy for a candidate. His youth -- he's just 56 -- could go against him. "He could be pope for 40 years. If that's the case, he better be a great one," Reese said.

Other geographic outliers who have been mentioned and might get some votes in early balloting include Malcolm Ranjith of Sri Lanka, Thomas Collins of Toronto, Sean O'Malley of Boston and Jorge Bergoglio of Buenos Aires.

An oft-mentioned cardinal, Peter Turkson of Ghana, is favored in the Italian press, which Weigel said historically means his candidacy is over even before voting starts.

Reese said regardless of how many worthy candidates there are, he wouldn't bet on a pontiff from another continent.

"The odds are against it when more than half the College of Cardinals is from Europe," he said. "They always begin by looking at the Italians."

Related:

'It takes as long as it takes': How the next pope will be chosen, step by secret step

Exposing Vatican secrets a 'dangerous' mission, says Vatileaks journalist

Riots, revenge and royal rigging: A history of controversial conclaves

Will Catholics embrace change? The view from one parish in Rome

The cardinals will fill out ballots in the Sistine Chapel until all 77 ballots -- two-thirds plus one of the cardinal electors -- reach a consensus. NBC's Anne Thompson reports.

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/09/17239020-will-the-cardinals-go-off-the-european-grid-to-choose-a-new-pope?lite

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Come say hi at our first Engadget+gdgt Live event in Austin tomorrow night!

Come say hi at our first Engadget gdgt Live event in Austin tomorrow night!

As most of you know by now, we've recently welcomed some old friends back to the fold here at greater Aol Tech. We're thrilled to be working with the gdgt crew on our first event together, tomorrow night in Austin during SXSW.

We'd love to have you join us for a night of fun gadgety action -- take a break from your intense schedule of panels and booze buses and come on out to mingle with gdgt and Engadget staff, check out the devices our sponsors are bringing in spades (plus win some!) and have a great time with like-minded technophiles. It's free to attend, and you don't even need a SXSW badge to get in. The one catch: you must be 21 or over to come to this party (upside: open bar!), although our future events will be all ages.