“BLONDE women – for years stereotyped in jokes as dumb and ditzy – are having the last laugh after a study revealed they earn more and marry wealthier than other women.

The University of Queensland study found that not only did blonde women earn an average seven per cent more than their brunette and red-headed sisters, they married men who earnt six percent more too…” (Read the whole story)

So, keep telling your blonde jokes…we’ll be out shopping with our extra cash! 😉

AIPAC CUTOUT: THE RISE & FALL OF THE WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY
Please read to end. A TPM reader sends his own recollections of the Washington Institute’s founding after reading my TPM Cafe piece. I already wrote once about Bob Satloff and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. It is, and…


Israel – Middle East – American Israel Public Affairs Committee – Washington Institute for Near East Policy – Warfare and Conflict

Grief For Poland
What a disaster. My wife’s family is Polish Jewish. We have visited the country three times and enjoyed every minute there (except, of course, at the Nazi death camps). Our kids’ great-grandmother actually is buried in the Warsaw Jewish cemetery…


Poland – Warsaw – Extermination camp – World War II – History of the Jews in Poland

The Best Quote On AIPAC EVER!
You never know where Jeff Goldberg will end up on a particular issue except that he will never deviate more than a few degrees from the AIPAC line. It is then no surprise that his piece today is called “AIPAC…


American Israel Public Affairs Committee – United States – Israel – Middle East – Warfare and Conflict

Lieberman Gets A Chuckle Out Of Peddling Far-Right Nuke Myth
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), once a reliable vote in favor of nuclear arms reduction efforts, has now bought into the right-wing myth that our nuclear arsenal is deteriorating and that the U.S. needs to build new nuclear weapons. Lieberman on Fox News Sunday said he is “real hesitant” to vote for a New START treaty […]

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), once a reliable vote in favor of nuclear arms reduction efforts, has now bought into the right-wing myth that our nuclear arsenal is deteriorating and that the U.S. needs to build new nuclear weapons. Lieberman on Fox News Sunday said he is “real hesitant” to vote for a New START treaty unless the US effectively builds new nuclear weapons:

LIEBERMAN: Anytime we are working on something with our old Cold War enemy, Russia, cooperatively, it’s a good sign. Anything we can do to reduce the number of nuclear warheads in the world is a positive development. But in my opinion as we reduce the number of nuclear warheads… we have to make darn sure that are nuclear warheads are capable and modern and a lot of them are decades old. So I feel very strongly that I am going to be real hesitant to vote for this treaty unless we have a commitment from the Administration that they are prepared to modernize our nuclear stockpile.

In a demonstration of just how seriously Lieberman is taking these issues, as Chris Wallace shifted the conversation — noting that the treaty would need 9 Republican votes instead of 8 since “Lieberman was gone” — Lieberman audibly chuckled. Watch it:

On the one hand, this should mean that Lieberman’s vote is a slam dunk. The Obama administration has already demonstrated a massive commitment to modernizing the nuclear weapons infrastructure. Vice President Biden in a speech in February attacked the Bush administration for neglecting the nuclear infrastructure and called for a dramatic 10 percent annual increase in its budget.

But what Lieberman is really saying is that he agrees with those on the far right that want to needlessly build new nuclear weapons, nearly two decades years after the end of the Cold War. The far right insists that the U.S. is falling behind because it is not building new nuclear weapons and that our existing nuclear arsenal is deteriorating. This is a myth and demonstrates a complete, if not willful, ignorance of our approach to maintaining our nuclear weapons.

The U.S. continuously refurbishes and renovates its existing weapons, such that it doesn’t have to build new ones. This is by definition modernization. These refurbishing programs are getting the job done, according to an independent panel of scientific experts, called the JASON advisory group. As long as we continue these programs, as the Obama administration has committed to do, there is no need to build new nuclear warheads and weapons.

Yet building new nukes, along with conducting new nuclear tests, has become a right-wing dream. Lieberman is therefore willing to vote against a treaty — something that would have dire consequences for the US-Russia relationship, our mission in Afghanistan, and the entire nuclear non-proliferation regime — in order to symbolically demonstrate his support for the far-right’s dangerous nuclear agenda.

Republicans say Obama’s Supreme Court pick must be mainstream
Senate Republican leaders declined to rule out a filibuster of President Obama’s nominee to succeed retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, if they think the pick falls outside the judicial mainstream.

In Maryland, George Clinton, Parliament-Funkadelic and a missing Mothership
This is a story about a UFO.

Political pendulum in Michigan swings away from the Democrats
What’s the matter with Michigan?

Bill to extend jobless benefits faces Senate showdown
Congress is poised for another partisan showdown over extending unemployment insurance, as concerns about the growing budget deficit have complicated the path forward for an otherwise popular program.

Justice Stevens: One Man, Two Courts
Linda Greenhouse, New York Times
THE more than 34 years that Justice John Paul Stevens has served on the Supreme Court represent not just a very long tenure, but a bridge between two eras of our domestic and judicial politics. Justice Stevens entered the court from one world, and he will emerge from it a few months from now into another.Just how different those two worlds are was brought home to me a year ago when, for a law school symposium, I was researching Justice Stevens’s contribution to the court’s abortion jurisprudence. He was the first person named to the Supreme Court after the court declared…

Steele Admits ‘Mistakes’

Worlds Without Women
Maureen Dowd, New York Times
When I was in Saudi Arabia, I had tea and sweets with a group of educated and sophisticated young professional women.I asked why they were not more upset about living in a country where women’s rights were strangled, an inbred and autocratic state more like an archaic men’s club than a modern nation. They told me, somewhat defensively, that the kingdom was moving at its own pace, glacial as that seemed to outsiders. 

Dan Bilefsky, “Hungarian Right, Center and Far, Make Gains“, New York Times 4/11/2010:

Hungary’s center-right opposition party won first-round parliamentary elections here on Sunday, while a far-right party, whose black-clad paramilitary extremists evoke the Nazi era, made significant gains.

It’s true that “center right” and “far right” are common collocations — but I wonder how many parsers can get that headline right.

Parsing is not the only way to fail in this case. Google Translate (which is phrase-based, as far as I know, and doesn’t try to parse the input) renders the headline as “derecho de Hungría, el centro y la fecha, obtengan beneficios”.

At first I was puzzled about how far could be translated as “la fecha” (= “the date”), but then I realized that it’s probably from associating the English phrase “so far” with the typical Spanish translation “hasta la fecha”.

[Hat tip to Evan Harper.]

El prepador alemán Irmscher ha presentado en el Salón de Leipzig un Chevrolet Cruze con unos cuantos caballos más de potencia llegando hasta los 186 CV, por lo que supera en unos 36 CV al motor más potente que se comercializa en España el 2.0 VCDi diésel de 150 CV.

Además de estas mejoras en el motor Irmscher incluye unos retoques estéticos entre los que destaca unas llantas de aleación de 18 pulgadas con unos neumáticos deporttivos de 225 o una doble salida de escape en forma ovalada y cromada que le da una aires mas desenfadado.

Con una nueva electrónica este preparador alemán capaz de sacar del motor diésel de 150 CV una potencia que se incrementa hasta los 186 CV, acompañado de un par motor de 466 Nm desarrollado en las 2300 rpm. Todo esto traducido supone que le Cruze reduzca su paso de 0 a 100 Km/h a unos 8 segundos. En cuanto a su comercialización se sabe que se podrá adquirir en los concesionarios de la marca en alemania, sin emnbargo habrá que esperar para saber si finalemente también llega a España.

Vía | carscoop

It’s official: Jane Lynch and her longtime girlfriend, psychologist Lara Embry, are engaged. The star — who plays cheerleading coach Sue Slyvester on television’s Glee — went public with the news that she and her partner are set to wed during a Glee event in Hollywood on Saturday. News of the engagement was first reported by The New York Times’ Carpetbagger Blog more than a month ago and promptly denied by Lynch’s rep.

However, the actress herself spilled the beans on her upcoming nups to Us Magazine: “Yes, yes, it’s true. We don’t have any plans at all yet, but I have a ring and everything.”

Lynch, an outspoken gay rights advocate, will be honored for her contributions to gay movies and media at this summer’s Outfest Film Festival.

Pop star/humanitarian Shakira is planning to build a school for needy children in earthquake-ravaged Haiti. The star’s Pies Descalzos Foundation will finance the construction of a new school in Port-au-Prince.

The Colombian pop star arrived in the devastated Caribbean island nation on Sunday and sent the day meeting with survivors of January’s 7.0 quake, most of whom of still living in makeshift camps. The singer waved to onlookers and greeted infants living on a Haitian golf course that has turned into a camp for 50,000 quake survivors.

Shakira is hoping to find suitable land on which to build the school.

Her Barefoot Foundation provides nutrition to more than 6,000 children in Colombia, and she is member of the ALAS foundation that advocates for children across Latin America.

Earlier this year, the “Hips Don’t Lie” hitmaker was honored for her charity work by the United Nations.

PhoneArena has managed to spot two new handsets labelled MSOne and MSTwo in Verizon’s inventory system.  The handsets are manufactured by Sharp, leading inexorably to the conclusion that these are Microsoft’s much ballyhooed Pure and Turtle handsets, who’s announcement is expected in about 6 hours time at 10 am PST.

Everything should become clear soon – keep an eye on WMPoweruser.com for more coverage.

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

_____________________________________________________________________

For Immediate Release April 11, 2010

PRESS BRIEFING ON

THE PRESIDENT’S BILATERAL MEETINGS AND THE NUCLEAR SECURITY SUMMIT

BY

BEN RHODES, DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION,

MIKE MCFAUL, SENIOR DIRECTOR FOR RUSSIA AND THE CAUCASUS,

LAURA HOLGATE, SENIOR DIRECTOR FOR WMD TERRORISM, AND THREAT REDUCTION

Via Conference Call

4:37 P.M. EDT

MR. RHODES: Thanks, everybody, for joining the call. We just wanted to take this opportunity to update you on some developments as it relates to the schedule for the next couple of days, and also to give you some updates on the bilateral meetings that have already taken place today as well.

I’m joined today by Laura Holgate, who is our Senior Director for WMD, Terrorism and Threat Reduction on the NSC and has been closely involved in planning this summit for some time; and Mike McFaul, our Senior Director for Russia and Eurasia, who can speak to the Kazakhstan bilateral meeting.

Let me just begin by going through the schedule tomorrow, along with some updates that we’ve made. Tomorrow the President will begin at the Convention Center with a bilateral meeting with King Abdullah of Jordan. The President will then hold a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Najib of Malaysia.

Then we have added an additional meeting that we had not yet announced, which is the President will hold a bilateral meeting with President Yanukovich of Ukraine. This will be the first opportunity for President Obama to meet with President Yanukovich in person since his election. They spoke shortly after President Yanukovich’s election, but we’re looking forward to this opportunity to discuss a range of issues on which the United States and Ukraine cooperate.

Ukraine is obviously a very important country as it relates to non-proliferation and nuclear security. And the United States and Ukraine have a partnership on a number of security and economic issues that the two Presidents will be able to discuss tomorrow.

The President will then hold a bilateral meeting with President Sargsian of Armenia. And then he will hold a bilateral meeting with President Hu Jintao of China at 2:30 p.m. Each of these meetings will have pool sprays at the top of them.

Then at 5:00 p.m. the President will welcome the heads of the delegations to the summit. There will be — that will be an open press greeting for each of the heads of state and heads of delegation. Then tomorrow evening the President will hold a working dinner with the heads of delegation. This dinner will be dedicated to addressing the threat of nuclear terrorism. We believe, of course, that this summit is necessary to galvanize the kind of collective action that’s necessary to deal with what really would be the highest consequence threat to the American people and to global security as it relates to the ability of terrorists to acquire a nuclear weapon and use one in one of our cities or any city around the world. This would obviously have devastating consequences both in terms of the immediate destruction and loss of life, but also implications for the global security environment after an active nuclear terrorism.

So tomorrow night, to forge a consensus view about the nature of this threat, the President will be leading a discussion with the heads of the delegations about their perceptions of the threat and, of course, what needs to be done to confront it.

We will also hold a briefing tomorrow. Robert Gibbs will be doing his briefing, along with John Brennan, the Assistant to the President for Counterterrorism and Homeland Security, tomorrow afternoon at the Convention Center, so that John Brennan can help walk you through the United States’ assessment of the threat of nuclear terrorism.

Just two additional announcements as it relates to scheduling updates. On Tuesday, in addition to the meetings which we’ve already briefed you on as it relates to the summit schedule, the President will meet on a bilateral basis on the margins of the summit with Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey, a NATO ally and a partner on a number of critical regional and global security issues.

And then the President, after the conclusion of the summit and his press conference, will host a bilateral meeting with Chancellor Merkel of Germany. Obviously Germany is one of America’s closest allies. And Chancellor Merkel has been one of the President’s closest partners on a number of security and economic issues. And they are happy that they were able to find this time to meet on a bilateral basis after the summit’s conclusion.

With that, I’ll just turn to what’s taken place today before I turn it over to my colleagues. The President held his first bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Singh of India. This was Prime Minister Singh’s first visit to the United States since he was hosted here for an official visit and State Dinner in November. The President believes that the strategic relationship and partnership that the United States has with India is one of extreme importance to the United States and to the world. And the two leaders discussed the upcoming U.S.-India strategic dialogue as a next step and a process of deepening that partnership.

They discussed a range of issues on development, food security and poverty reduction. They also discussed the situation in Afghanistan and their shared commitment to work for a strong, stable, and prosperous South Asia. President Obama thanked Prime Minister Singh for India’s continued humanitarian and development assistance in Afghanistan.

And of course, they discussed a range of issues related to nuclear security in advance of the summit, and India’s commitment to making the summit a success. And I believe that those discussions will, of course, continue between the President and his counterparts as they head into the working meetings of the summit.

Of course, India has a very strong appreciation for the importance of non-proliferation and nuclear security, and the threat posed by nuclear terrorism.

The President then met with President Nazarbayev, and before I turn to Laura and Mike to speak to that meeting, I’ll also just say that he’s currently meeting with President Zuma of South Africa, and this is the first opportunity that he’s had to host President Zuma here in Washington for a bilateral meeting.

We, of course, in addition to the close partnership that the President has developed with South Africa on issues such as development and climate change, are also underscoring the example that South Africa has set to the world as it relates to non-proliferation. South Africa gave up its nuclear weapons capability and chose to meet its international non-proliferation obligations in one of the most important and dramatic non-proliferation developments that we’ve seen take place.

Of course, South Africa has found greater security and prosperity within the international community as a result of that decision. And again, the President believes strongly that this speaks to the benefits that nations can find when they do choose to meet their non-proliferation obligations. So he, in addition to having a bilateral discussion about a number of issues where we’re cooperating very closely with South Africa — whether it’s on implementing the Copenhagen Accord on Climate Change, pursuing developments in the region, and addressing another range of security and economic issues that we can read out to you after that meeting in some more detail — I just wanted to underscore the importance that the President places on South Africa’s example as it relates to non-proliferation.

With that, I’ll turn it over to Laura, who can speak to the nuclear aspect of the Kazakhstan bilateral meeting, and then Mike can speak to some of the other issues that came up at what was an important meeting for the President.

So I’ll turn it over to Laura Holgate right now. Thanks.

MS. HOLGATE: Thanks, Ben. The meeting with President Nazarbayev, in connection with the nuclear peace as it related to, obviously, Nazarbayev’s personal and Kazakhstan’s historical participation in nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, his historic decisions in the immediate aftermath of the fall of the Soviet Union to close the test site, to remove all nuclear materials, all nuclear weapons from his territory, and to cooperate with the U.S. in destroying the residue that remains in Kazakhstan has really been historic and led to a number of important successes in the non-proliferation context.

That cooperation has proceeded ever since then and we are working with them right now in the context of decommissioning a nuclear reactor, of managing the safe and secure disposal of the fuels associated with that reactor. We’re also cooperating at a different smaller research reactor near the former capital of Almaty that uses highly enriched uranium; we’re working to convert that to use low-enriched uranium that is not weapons-useable, and to destroy the highly enriched uranium that remains.

So this has really been a very warm and supportive and cooperative relationship with Kazakhstan on the non-proliferation front, right at the heart of the issues of the summit.

MR. McFAUL: Let me just — I just came from a meeting, let me just echo a few of the things that Laura said and then talk about the many other pieces of this bilateral relationship that was discussed just now.

First, to remind you, this is our first meeting. The meeting lasted about an hour. They had spoken when — shortly after the election President-elect Obama called President Nazarbayev. They remembered that call fondly and then were glad to finally have the chance to meet today.

On non-proliferation and nuclear safety issues, President Obama praised Nazarbayev as really one of the model leaders in the world, and I think he said something to the effect we could not have the summit that we were having without his presence here.

In his own part, it was interesting that they had a discussion about how one can secure — have greater security and economic prosperity, and it was noted that Kazakhstan is an excellent example of that, whereby giving up nuclear weapons they received security assurances from all the countries in the region, and that has helped to make Kazakhstan one of the most stable countries in the region. And secondly, by giving up nuclear weapons they went from a country that might have been isolated had they kept those nuclear weapons, and in turn was open to the international economy and has managed to attract foreign investment. And both Presidents noted that that’s an important lesson for other countries in the world, and they particularly noted Iran when talking about a different path and a different way forward.

Second, the Presidents talked about Afghanistan, which of course is a very important issue for the Kazakhs being in the region. President Nazarbayev talked about their recent decision to start a program, a $50 million program to educate Afghans in Kazakh universities. He sees this as a major contribution to our efforts there, not only on the military side but really emphasize the importance of building for a new future on the economic and non-military side. And this will be an important part of what we are trying to do in Afghanistan as well.

He also announced several — talked about several ways that we can enhance the Northern Distribution Network, which as many of you, I’m sure, know, is one of the critical ways that we supply our troops and our support services in Afghanistan that now accounts for roughly 30 to 35 percent of all supplies that go to Afghanistan go through the NDN. And today they talked about numerous ways to enhance that, including, as announced today, an agreement to have polar overflights permission for a transit agreement between Kazakhstan and the United States that will allow our planes to fly over the globe directly from the United States into the theater, rather than have to go through, as they now do, through Europe and then through various ways into Afghanistan. This will save money, it will save time, in terms of moving our troops and the supplies needed into the theater, as President Obama has already announced.

Third, they had a very long discussion about Kyrgyzstan and the very volatile situation there. President Nazarbayev, of course, knows that situation well. He knows all the players involved, on both the opposition and the President Bakiyev, the fallen former head of state there. They talked about ways that we are reaching out to the new interim government; noted that Secretary of State Clinton has spoken to the new provisional head of government, Roza Otunbayeva, yesterday. I myself have spoken to Ms. Otunbayeva as well, and many other members of her government, with the goal there to stabilize the situation and prevent any further — any further violence in what has already been a very tragic situation.

President Nazarbayev, being a very well-respected leader in that region, said that he will do all he can to defuse that situation.

Fourth, they had a long discussion about the really excellent cooperation we’ve had on economic issues. President Nazarbayev noted that the United States is a major investor in Kazakhstan, and he agreed that he would work with our companies to maintain the contracts, the integrity of the contracts that are already there. There’s been some dispute in the press that they might try to rewrite those in terms of taxation. I think we came out very assured that that will not happen.

Also today, a major contract was announced between General Electric and the Kazakh rail officials. They agreed to jointly develop 150 diesel electric locomotives for use both in Kazakhstan and in other countries in the region.

We also discussed, and President Obama reaffirmed his commitment to push for Kazakh membership into the WTO, and also Jackson-Vanik was discussed as well.

Fifth, the President — President Obama recognized the historic occasion of President Nazarbayev and Kazakhstan’s chair of the OSCE, and we agreed to work together to try to develop a substantive agenda for a possible OSCE summit, although no decisions were made as to whether or not there would be a summit this year.

And finally, in connection with OSCE, the Presidents had a very lengthy discussion of issues of democracy and human rights. Both Presidents agreed that it’s never — you don’t ever reach democracy, you always have to work at it. And in particular, President Obama reminded his Kazakh counterpart that we, too, are working to improve our democracy. We spent a particular discussion of Mr. Zhovtis, a human rights official, which was — and the Presidents agreed that we need to try to find a creative solution to solve this very difficult issue. Mr. Zhovtis, for those of you who don’t know, was involved in a traffic accident last summer where someone was killed, and many human rights organizations has raised this issue about the processes that were used to convict him. Let’s just leave it at that, the fact that both Presidents had a very frank discussion about this case.

And finally, once we get done with this call we’ll be releasing a joint statement on the summit — we’ll probably hit the “send” button just as soon as we’re done here.

MR. RHODES: Thanks, Mike. And with that we’ll just move to your questions.

Q Thank you very much for taking the time to speak with us about this today. My one question, the meeting with the Turkish President — was it announced previously? I’m wondering if you can talk about how that got scheduled, why that got scheduled and what you hope to accomplish at that meeting. Thank you.

MR. RHODES: Sure. Let me just begin, Josh, by marveling at your ability on these calls to get the first question in. You’ve got a great run going. (Laughter.)

It’s a good question. And really it was a matter of just finding a time. There’s obviously a very busy schedule here, 47 leaders and a full schedule of meetings around the summit that the President has to preside over. You know, at other gatherings where he is not in the chair, for instance, it’s possible for him to do more bilateral meetings. But because of his role as the host of this summit it’s very important for him to lead the discussions throughout the two days.

But we very much wanted to have this opportunity to consult with Prime Minister Erdogan. There’s a range of pressing issues that the United States and Turkey are working together on, and I would anticipate that they discuss the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan; that they would discuss non-proliferation issues broadly, as well as the need for Iran to live up to its obligations. And I would expect that they would discuss the ongoing effort to pursue normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia, which the United States strongly supports.

So in addition to wanting to take the opportunity to meet with this important NATO ally, there are a number of issues that I think they’ll have the opportunity to address specifically, including the ones that I just went over.

Q Yes, hello, thank you. My only question would be about Azerbaijan. Is there any specific reason why Azerbaijan was not invited to this summit, since there is a large quantity of nuclear waste in the country? Thank you.

MS. HOLGATE: In determining the invitations for the summit we were intending to get a representative collection of countries. We couldn’t invite every single country that has any nuclear connectivity and so we were looking for countries that represented regional diversity where we had states that had weapons, states that don’t have weapons, states with large nuclear programs, states with small nuclear programs. And frankly, nuclear waste is not really part of the agenda of the summit itself.

So there’s no magic to the process, but representative character was our highlight.

Q Thank you. On the bilateral the President and King Abdullah of Jordan tomorrow, there have been many reports in Arab media that a big chunk of their meeting is going to be spent on the peace process in the Middle East. Can you please shed some light on this?

MR. RHODES: Sure. I’d just say a number of things about that. First of all, the President has a very warm and close working relationship with King Abdullah. It predates his presidency; he very much enjoyed being hosted by King Abdullah, for instance, in Amman the summer of 2008 when he was just a candidate and a senator. They’ve continued to have a dialogue on a range of issues since the President came into office.

Of course one of the most prominent issues that we work with our Jordanian friends on is the pursuit of a conference of peace between Israelis and Palestinians and between Israel and its broader Arab neighbors. So the President sees King Abdullah as an important partner on a range of issues and an important partner in the pursuit of peace in the Middle East. And we know that King Abdullah is very — can play a constructive role in helping to move that effort forward and we expect that the peace process will be one of the prominent issues that the two leaders will discuss tomorrow.

They’ll be able to discuss the current efforts to get moving with proximity talks between the United States, the Israelis and the Palestinians. And I think they’ll be able to discuss the steps that can be taken by countries in the region, along with the international community, to support that effort and to strengthen Palestinian institutions and to support the Palestinian people. For instance, Jordan has helped play an important role in that regard in the West Bank.

So I do believe that issues of Middle East peace will be an important part of that bilateral meeting.

Q Yes, my question is to what can be done in your opinion to enforce any new measure this time around on nuclear material security, considering that there were two previous conventions that were never ratified by some governments or ignored in other cases — and I think by that I mean the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material in 1980 and the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism adopted again I believe in 2005. I guess my question is how different is this new effort?

MR. RHODES: I’ll hand this over to Laura, who can speak to the specifics of the previous meetings you mentioned. I’d just say to preface that, the reason that the President felt that this demanded really an unprecedented gathering of world leaders was to instill a greater sense of urgency about the need to take action. The President believes, again, that the consequences of an act of nuclear terrorism are so significant that we cannot afford to delay action and that we need to be moving forward both collectively, as an international community, and individually to secure vulnerable nuclear materials that we do know exist around the world.

So the first thing I’d say before I hand it over to Laura is simply that this is being done in many instances at the head of state/head of government level, and it’s being done with the clear leadership of the United States in trying to galvanize collective action along with our partners on this issue.

So again, a key reason to hold the summit in its own right was to provide that sense of urgency and a high level attention to the issue of nuclear security and nuclear terrorism.

And I’ll pass it over to Laura now.

MS. HOLGATE: Thanks, Ben. The two conventions that you mentioned are in fact at the heart of our discussions as we’ve been preparing for the summit. We’re trying to use the summit to advance, accelerate and give higher profile to the wide range of existing commitments and instruments that already exist. And so one of the key things we’re trying to do through the summit is to enlarge the number of countries who have, in fact, ratified and implemented those two agreements that you — those two conventions that you mentioned.

And in particular the amendment to the Convention on Physical Protection of Nuclear Materials that requires a minimum number that’s on the order of 90 countries in order to come into force. So we’re trying to use this summit to press for those and, in fact, in our own case it’s been — we have advanced our own efforts in the U.S. to complete our ratification process on those two conventions. So I hope that we’ll be able to complete that soon ourselves.

Q I just wanted to know if the list of bilaterals is closed, or is there still a chance that you have some countries — there have been some speculation that Argentina could have a bilateral?

MR. RHODES: Sure. I’d just say that we do continue to look for opportunities for the President to engage on a bilateral basis with his colleagues throughout the course of the summit. So we provided the additional updates of meetings that have been added today that are now locked on his schedule. But, you know, we will continue to look for occasions for — I know he will continue to look for occasions to engage on a bilateral basis with his colleagues.

Of course that can be done in a range of ways. They’ll have opportunities to speak on the margins of the meals and the summit activity. But we will continue to provide you all with updates as things are scheduled and we’ll also, again, alert you to bilateral interactions that do take place throughout the course of the next two days.

Q Hi, there. I’ve just got two very cheeky questions, one is a procedural one. Can you confirm that it’s just going to be — is it a phone call with Goodluck Jonathan or is it a face to face at Blair House with Goodluck Jonathan? And also can you confirm with the President told Manmohan Singh that he would support India having access to David Headley when they met? Thanks.

MR. RHODES: Sure, I can, on both those questions. First, I should have mentioned that the President will be seeing Goodluck Jonathan at the Blair House, so we will have a readout of that meeting at well. But he looks forward to this opportunity to welcome President Jonathan to Washington and to speak with him. And so when that takes place later this afternoon — it should be the last of the meetings that the President has today — we’ll provide a readout on that.

On the David Headley situation, that is currently — I do believe — well, I actually don’t — I couldn’t tell you with specificity, I’d have to check with our team as to whether it came up in the meeting itself. But I do know that this is a matter that our Justice Department is responsible for and that the Attorney General is responsible for. So they would be — they would have the best information as to what the current status is. I will say that we cooperate very closely with our Indian friends on issues of counterterrorism. So we addressed these kinds of issues in that spirit of cooperation.

Q Hi there, thank you. There have been some reports in the British and Turkish press that the reason why Prime Minister Netanyahu is not attending this summit is within the margins of the summit there has been an expectation of a declaration with the leadership of Turkey and Egypt to invite Israel for nuclear transparency. Does the White House have a position if something like that, a paper like that, comes up?

MR. RHODES: Sure, I’d just say a number of things. First of all, Prime Minister Netanyahu, I think, and the Israeli government, have spoken to their decision related to his participation. However, they are sending the Deputy Prime Minister, who is the figure within the Israeli government who has responsibility for these nuclear security issues. So we believe that Israel will be well represented at this summit and will be part of the collective action that we are seeking as it relates to nuclear security and nuclear terrorism.

I’d also say that, as it relates to this summit in particular, it is focused on the issue of nuclear security and nuclear terrorism. There is obviously a broader non-proliferation agenda that the President, for instance, has been working on throughout the week, as you saw with the release of our Nuclear Posture Review and the signing of the New START treaty. However, this summit is focused narrowly and specifically on nuclear security and nuclear terrorism because we believe that the threat is of such magnitude that it needs to be addressed on a focused basis.

On the issues of nuclear security and nuclear terrorism, we do both believe that there is a broad consensus among nations in the Middle East and around the world on the cooperative actions that need to be taken. And that broad consensus will help enable the shared effort that we want to see coming out of this summit, and is separate and apart from other issues, including some of the non-proliferation issues that I think you’re speaking to.

Q Thank you. Do you anticipate any binding communiqué out of this meeting? How would you enforce it? And will you talk about the issue of Iranian sanctions?

MR. RHODES: I’ll say a few things, then I’ll hand it over to Laura, I think, who can speak to the communiqué.

Again, I think what we expect to see out of this summit are a number of things. One is a communiqué addressing the pursuit of securing vulnerable nuclear materials around the world within the next four years, as well as a work plan for the international community to take steps in pursuit of that goal.

I think we’ll also see, over the course of the next two days or so here, specific national actions that will be announced to advance the effort of nuclear security. So I think we’ll see a number of concrete steps that will be announced in association with the summit and this broader effort.

For instance, we’ve already seen Chile ship its high-enriched uranium out of the country. We’ve already seen the United States and Russia are pursuing an agreement on plutonium disposition.

So in addition to the communiqué and work plan, I think we’ll see some specific national actions that will be announced over the course of the next couple days we’ll let you know about.

But I’ll turn it over to Laura now to speak with greater specificity to the communiqué.

MS. HOLGATE: Well, to the basic question, the communiqué is not legally binding. It’s a political document. It does, however, make reference to a number of legally binding treaties and conventions and U.N. Security Council resolutions that apply to all nations. And so what we’re trying to do is to raise the level of awareness and attention and participation in those international legal structures as key elements of our toolkit in addressing the danger — the global danger of nuclear — insecure nuclear materials and nuclear terrorism.

As Ben mentioned, it will be underpinned by a work plan, which gives the specifics about how the broad goals and commitments of the communiqué are actually implemented and then, again, the various national activities that you’ll be hearing about over the next couple of days.

Q Hi, this is for Mike McFaul. When you were discussing the discussion between President Nazarbayev and President Obama about human rights and democracy, you seemed to be suggesting there was some equivalence between their issues of democracy and the United States’ issues, when you said that President Obama assured him that we, too, are working on our democracy. Is there equivalence between the problems that President Nazarbayev is confronting and the state of democracy in the United States?

MR. McFAUL: Absolutely not, Jonathan. To be clear, what the President was saying is that all democracies need to work to improve their democracies. And he’s taken, I think, rather historic steps to improve our own democracy since coming to office here in the United States. There was no equivalence meant whatsoever.

What was discussed was, you know, one needs to take concrete steps, and in the particular instance of Mr. Zhovtis they had a very frank discussion about why that is such an important issue to us here in the United States. And I think that it’s important that they hear directly from the highest levels, not just from people like me, that we’re watching these issues of human rights and democracy very closely in countries like Kazakhstan.

MR. RHODES: Well, thanks, everybody. I believe we’re going to be — I just want to let you know we’ll be sending out paper readouts of all the bilats that are taking place today. The South Africa one is completed, I think, and you heard the President make some comments at the top of that bilat about the focus of the summit and the goals that he has.

The additional bilateral meetings that will be taking place today are with Prime Minister Gilani of Pakistan and then the President will be seeing Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria. So we will have paper readouts of those bilats coming to you this afternoon. And then tomorrow, of course, we’ll be moving over to the Convention Center.

So I thank everybody for getting on the call. We just wanted to take the opportunity to keep you informed of developments, and we will continue to do so.

The other thing that I just wanted to mention that we will be doing, obviously the United States and the entire world have been shocked and saddened by the tragedy that befell the Polish people with the loss of their President and such an extraordinary delegation of Polish civilians and military leaders. Of course, the President spoke to Prime Minister Tusk to personally express his condolences yesterday and sent a wreath to the embassy here in Washington today from the President and First Lady as well. And I believe that General Jones and Rahm Emanuel paid a call on the Polish embassy as well.

To mark the solidarity between the international community and the people of Poland at this tragic time, we will have a moment of silence at the beginning of the first plenary session on Tuesday to honor those who were lost and to underscore the fact that the United States and the world stand with the people of Poland right now at this time of such great tragedy.

So with that, again, I’ll thank you for joining the call and look forward to keeping in touch with you over the course of the next two days. Thank you.

END 5:17 P.M. EDT

First lady Michelle Obama lands in Mexico City Tuesday evening on her first solo official international trip, partnering for much of her short stay with Mexican first lady Margarita Zavala — who, like Mrs. Obama, is a lawyer with small children.

“I think she will bowl Mexico and Mexicans over,” Mexican Ambassador to the U.S. Arturo Sarukhan told me. This will be Mrs. Obama’s first time in Mexico and Sarukhan predicts enormous interest: “It will be on the front pages of every newspaper in Mexico.”

Mrs. Obama’s Mexico visit was described by one of her White House advisers on Friday as the “kick off” of her “international agenda” that will include more solo foreign travel in the months ahead with a focus on developing youth leadership, “part of the president’s broader vision around global engagement and the United States.”

That Mrs. Obama’s diplomatic debut is in Mexico underscores not only the close bilateral government relationship but also a warm personal relationship that has developed between the “first couples” of Mexico and the U.S.

Mrs. Obama dines Wednesday night at Los Pinos, the presidential residence, with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Mrs. Zavala. On May 19, President Obama and Mrs. Obama host a state dinner at the White House for Calderon and Mrs. Zavala.

Calderon, who travels to Washington on Monday for Obama’s nuclear security summit, will rush back to Mexico City on Tuesday with Sarukhan — hoping to land in time to greet Mrs. Obama on the tarmac at Benito Juarez International Airport.

Not only are Mrs. Obama, 46, and Mrs. Zavala, 42, lawyers who gave up their careers when their husbands became president, but “both President Obama and President Calderon became presidents after a grueling primary process in which neither of them were seen or perceived to be front-runners in the process,” Sarukhan said. “So I think there are a lot of issues that provide empathy between them.”

Mrs. Obama’s visit is brief — she departs Thursday morning — and it comes as U.S. and Mexican leaders are grappling with their mutual problem of escalating violence between drug cartels in Mexico who are fueled by steady consumer demand for illegal drugs in the U.S.

One of the issues Mrs. Zavala focuses on is reducing the market for drugs. When she was in Washington on Feb. 25 for a drug control demand reduction conference, she met with Mrs. Obama at the White House. I asked White House officials on Friday whether Mrs. Obama will be addressing cross-border drug issues and was told, “undoubtedly, the issue of demand reduction is one that Mrs. Zavala will draw upon” and “undoubtedly it is an issue among many that will be discussed.”

Both the U.S. and Mexico have high obesity rates; Mrs. Obama is leading a U.S. drive against childhood obesity and Mrs. Zavala also has in her portfolio addressing obesity and diabetes.

Mrs. Obama’s first stop on Wednesday is a private visit with Mrs. Zavala at Los Pinos. From there, the women tour the famed National Museum of Anthropology. Mrs. Obama was “very explicit in her desire and willingness to be able to get a sense of Mexico’s history and rich culture and its arts,” Sarukhan told me.

After that, Mrs. Obama stops at a public elementary school with low-income students and then heads to the Universidad Iberoamericana, where she delivers a speech to high school and university youths.

She returns to Los Pinos for a reception with female leaders hosted by Mrs. Zavala, followed by the dinner with the Mexican first couple. On Thursday Mrs. Obama hosts a breakfast round table with young Mexican leaders.

It has been a while since I baked anything. So when I set to bake a quick bread during the weekend, I was so anxious and it felt as if I was baking for the first time. I was eager than ever to taste it. A couple of days back I borrowed the book “125 Best Quick Bread Recipes” from the library. The authors of the book are Donna Washburn and Heather Butt. As the name of the book suggests, it has 125 recipes for quick breads classified under a lot of categories ranging from sweet treats, low fat, gluten free, for the bread machine, scones, coffee cakes etc. I have already bookmarked quite a few and hope to try at least 25% of it.

I decided to try the Pineapple Bran Loaf first for many reasons. I have had a can of crushed pineapples in the pantry for quite some time now, so was the Fiber One Original Bran cereal too. Also I have never used “pineapple” anything while baking and haven’t tasted anything so far too. So I thought this will be a nice change from the usual flavors I’m used too. Although at the back of the mind I was thinking if we would like it or if its going to end up in the trash.

Luckily this quick bread recipe was a hit in our house. I would bake this bread again just for the aroma while its baking and after as well. The book suggested to let it stand overnight but it was definitely a challenge to resist when your entire house is filled with this amazing aroma. While I was measuring the ingredients I was going back and forth whether to cut back on the sugar/honey in the recipe but finally decided to follow the original recipe and I’m glad I did that because the sweetness was perfect. I thought that it would be too sweet but it was just right for us. For those who don’t know me (and my husband) yet, we don’t like very sweet cakes, cookies etc. Since the bran cereal does not have any sugar at all, the sugar, honey and sweetness from the crushed pineapple makes it just right.

I was wondering if my son would like it and surprisingly he liked it very much and so did my husband too. The quick bread had a nice nutty flavor from the bran cereal and the flavor of the pineapple was not at all overpowering like I thought it would be. So if you too are bored of the usual chocolate, banana breads give this pineapple bran quick bread a try.

FoMoCo is kicking off this week of April 12th with the announcement that it will add three more EcoBoost engines by the end of 2010 and that by 2014, it plans to have 20 percent of Ford’s global vehicle nameplates with fuel-saving stop/start system. The Dearborn automaker said that by 2013 Ford expects to be producing approximately 1.5 million EcoBoost engines globally, about 200,000 more than originally expected.

Click here to get prices on the 2010 Lincoln MKS EcoBoost.

“We are focused on sustainable technology solutions that can be used not for hundreds or thousands of cars, but for millions of cars, because that’s how Ford will truly make a difference,” said Barb Samardzich, Ford’s vice president of powertrain engineering.

The three new Ford EcoBoost engines will include:

• A 1.6L 4-cylinder that will be offered in the European C-MAX.
• A 2.0L 4-cylinder that will debut in the next-generation Ford Explorer and Ford Edge.
• A new 3.5L V6 for the F-150 – expected to deliver best-in-class fuel economy along with the power and towing capability of a V8.

The addition of the three new engines will increase the number of global nameplates with EcoBoost to 11. Currently, the company offers EcoBoost on the Ford Flex, Taurus SHO and Lincoln MKS and MKT.

Make the jump for the press release for more details.

Press Release:

FORD ADDS THREE MORE ECOBOOST ENGINES; NOW EXPECTS TO DELIVER 1.5 MILLION ANNUALLY BY 2013

* Ford to launch three more EcoBoost™ engines by the end of 2010
* The company remains on track to equip as much as 90 percent of its North American nameplates with EcoBoost, which would deliver worldwide sales of about 1.5 million units – 200,000 more than earlier estimates
* By 2014, nearly 20 percent of Ford’s global vehicle nameplates will be available with a fuel-saving stop/start system

DETROIT, April 12, 2010 – Ford Motor Company announced today that three more engines with the company’s patented EcoBoost fuel-saving technology are scheduled to be launched by the end of the year. By 2013 Ford expects to be producing approximately 1.5 million EcoBoost engines globally, about 200,000 more than originally expected.

Plans call for an EcoBoost engine to be available in 80 percent of the company’s global nameplates and 90 percent of North American nameplates. About half of the 1.5 million EcoBoost engines are expected to be sold in North America, while the rest are to be sold in Europe, South America and Asia Pacific regions.

Samardzich is expected to detail EcoBoost production plans as well as the next three EcoBoost engines scheduled for launch by the end of the year during remarks Tuesday at the SAE World Congress.

The next three EcoBoost engines include:

– 1.6-liter four-cylinder that will be offered in the European C-Max people mover. The 1.6-liter EcoBoost will deliver quick acceleration and class-leading fuel economy.
– 2.0-liter four-cylinder for the next-generation Ford Explorer SUV and Edge CUV. This new engine will deliver best-in-class fuel economy and V-6 performance.
– 3.5-liter V-6 for the F-150. Ford engineers have upgraded the 3.5-liter V-6 for rear-wheel-drive applications. The EcoBoost F-150 is expected to deliver best-in-class fuel economy along with the power and towing capability of a V-8.

The three new engines will increase the number of global nameplates available with EcoBoost to 11. EcoBoost is available now in the Ford Flex and Taurus and Lincoln MKS and MKT.

EcoBoost technology combines direct fuel injection, variable cam timing and turbocharging to reduce fuel consumption, CO2 emissions and cut vehicle weight, while giving drivers the performance of a bigger engine.

While Ford is rolling out the first generation of EcoBoost engines, researchers are studying ways to further downsize future EcoBoost engines, while preserving performance and raising fuel economy. More efficient turbochargers, super-precise control of the direct-injection fuel system, optimum gearing of the transmission and final drive will enable a smaller engine to run in what engineers call its “sweet spot” more often, said Dan Kapp, Ford’s director of powertrain research and advanced engineering.

When an engine is in its sweet spot, it is running at its most efficient. That, combined with dramatic reductions in vehicle weight, will improve performance and fuel economy. Ford has committed to reducing vehicle weight by between 250 and 750 pounds per vehicle.

“We are trying to get in front of the pack in leveraging EcoBoost for fuel economy,” Kapp said. “It’s going to be a trend in the industry, and we can’t rest on our laurels for one minute. We are going to keep wringing more efficiency out of EcoBoost.”

EcoBoost is a key technology that will enable Ford not only to fulfill the company’s goal to be among the leaders in fuel economy in every segment, but also to meet the federal government’s new 35.5 mpg fuel economy standard, which takes effect in 2016. Samardzich said Ford could develop EcoBoost engines smaller than 1.6-liter.

In addition to high volume, affordability will be another key attribute of not just EcoBoost, but Ford’s other fuel-saving powertrain technologies.

The new Fiesta, for example, is available with an optional fuel-saving six-speed dual-clutch PowerShift automatic transmission. When equipped with PowerShift, Fiesta is expected to get an EPA-rated 40 mpg on the highway. The PowerShift transmission also will be used in the next-generation Focus due in early 2011. PowerShift improves fuel economy as much as 9 percent over a four-speed automatic.

In addition to EcoBoost, other near-term powertrain technologies Samardzich outlined include:

– Electrification: Ford has committed $1 billion to build plug-in, hybrid and battery electric vehicles and a plant that will assemble battery packs for these vehicles. The Transit Connect Electric is being launched later this year, while the Focus Electric is due next year. A hybrid and a plug-in hybrid will be built off Ford’s global C platform, which underpins the Focus. Ford also plans to move battery pack production from Mexico to Michigan to support the production of electric and hybrid vehicles.

– Six-speed transmissions: By the end of 2012, 98 percent of Ford North American vehicles will be equipped with fuel-efficient six-speed transmissions. A six-speed transmission can improve fuel economy between 4 and 6 percent. The latest vehicles to get six-speed transmissions are Mustang, which gets a new six-speed manual and a new six-speed automatic; Super Duty, which gets a new six-speed automatic; and Fiesta, which will introduce the segment’s first dual-clutch six-speed automatic transmission.

– Stop/Start systems: By 2014, as many as 20 percent of Ford’s global nameplates could be equipped with stop/start systems, which turn off the gasoline or diesel engine when the vehicle comes to a stop and quickly restarts the engine when the driver’s foot leaves the brake pedal. A stop/start system can reduce fuel consumption and emissions by around 5 percent, depending on conditions.

– By: Omar Rana

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

_______________________________________________________________________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 11, 2010

DAILY GUIDANCE AND PRESS SCHEDULE FOR

MONDAY, APRIL 12, 2010

Today, the President will participate in the Nuclear Security Summit, which is dedicated to nuclear security and the threat of nuclear terrorism. The President will meet with leaders of 46 countries to discuss ways to secure vulnerable nuclear material around the world.

The President will hold separate bilateral meetings with King Abdullah II of Jordan, Prime Minister Mohammed Najib Abdul Razak of Malaysia, President Viktor Yanukovich of Ukraine, President Serzh Sargsian of Armenia, and President Hu Jintao of China at the Washington Convention Center. There will be pool sprays at the top of each meeting.

In the evening, the President will also welcome each head of delegation to the National Security Summit. There will be Nuclear Security Summit pool coverage. Later, the President will host a working dinner for Heads of Delegation in the Washington Convention Center Dining Room. This is closed press.

Monday’s In-Town Travel Pool

Wires: AP, Reuters, Bloomberg

Wire Photos: AP, Reuters, AFP

TV Corr & Crew: CBS

Print: NY Daily News

Radio: ABC

EDT

9:30AM Pool Call Time

10:15AM THE PRESIDENT arrives at the Convention Center to attend the Nuclear Security Summit

Pool Coverage (Gather time 9:40AM – North Doors of the Palm Room)

10:45AM THE PRESIDENT holds a bilateral meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan

Washington Convention Center

Pool spray at the top

11:45AM THE PRESIDENT holds a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Mohammed Najib Abdul Razak of Malaysia

Washington Convention Center

Pool spray at the top

12:55PM THE PRESIDENT holds a bilateral meeting with President Viktor Yanukovich of Ukraine

Washington Convention Center

Pool spray at the top

1:30PM THE PRESIDENT holds a bilateral meeting with President Serzh Sargsian of Armenia

Washington Convention Center

Pool spray at the top

2:30PM THE PRESIDENT holds a bilateral meeting with President Hu Jintao of China

Washington Convention Center

Pool spray at the top

5:00PM THE PRESIDENT welcomes Heads of Delegation to the National Security Summit

Washington Convention Center

Nuclear Security Summit Pool Coverage

6:30PM THE PRESIDENT holds a working dinner with Heads of Delegation

Washington Convention Center Dining Room

Closed Press

Briefing Schedule

1:30 PM Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and Assistant to the President for Counterterrorism and Homeland Security John Brennan Briefing

Washington Convention Center Press File

Open to pre-credentialed media

###

At $6,000 this pro camcorder isn’t likely to end up in too many of our homes, but it’s the first time Panasonic’s used its popular micro four thirds design on a camcorder. The format is here to stay. More »

Listen to Lynn Sweet on the BBC “Americana” show discuss famous U.S. presidential debates–as Britian hold its first ever televised debates with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown facing his major rivals

A primer on why United Kingdom voters will see three debates– from Foreign Policy magazine— is here.

excerpt from FP:

Gordon Brown, Britain’s embattled prime minister, announced Tuesday that he will hold the country’s most hotly contested general election in a generation on May 6, four weeks from now. Before then, the Labour leader will face off in a contest of a very different sort: three televised debates against the heads of the two other major parties, the Liberal Democrats’ Nick Clegg and the Tories’ David Cameron. The debates — set for April 15, 22, and 29 — are the first such events in British history.

Heidi Montag unveiled her new body in her first bikini-clad appearance since undergoing a whopping ten cosmetic surgeries last November. On Saturday, the reality star showed off the fruits of her plastic surgeon’s scapal as she hosted the Grand Opening of the Liquid Pool Lounge at the Aria Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.

It’s the first time Heidi has been photographed in a two-piece since her headline-grabbing marathon surgery last fall: which included breast augmentation revision; liposuction on her waist, hips and inner and outer thighs; a buttock augmentation, mini brow lift, Botox in her brow and frownline area; a nose job revision; fat injections in her cheeks, nasolabial folds and lips; a chin reduction; neck liposuction; and having her ears pinned back.

Don’t stay in the sun too long, Hun. We wouldn’t want all that plastic to melt.