U.S. lawmakers visit Cuba, hope for Gross release

HAVANA A high-level delegation of American lawmakers headed by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., arrived in Havana at midday on a two-day fact-finding mission that includes meetings with Cuban leaders and an expected visit with jailed U.S. contractor Alan Gross.

"We would love him [Gross] to be on the plane with us when we leave" Wednesday, said Leahy.

However, speaking individually with members of the congressional delegation it was clear that they did not expect the Cubans to release Gross during their visit.

"Every one of us has an interest in Cuba and a number of us have been here over the years," said Leahy, who led a smaller delegation here a year ago with a similar purpose.

"I feel the same way I did before," Leahy said, "I would like to see relations improve between our countries. Both countries have to take steps" to make this happen.

Leahy said that the changes in Cuba between his 1999 visit to Cuba and his visit last year showed a "quantum jump" and he is eager to see what has been happening over the last 12 months.

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Pressure builds to bring home an American jailed in Cuba

One step that the U.S. is stressing is the release of Gross who is serving a 15-year-sentence for smuggling illegal communication equipment into Cuba as part of a USAID democracy program. Leahy who met with Gross last year, noted that Gross's congressman, Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., is in the group that flew in on a military plane.

The lawmakers expect to see outgoing National Assembly President and Communist Party Political Bureau member Ricardo Alarcon and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez. A meeting with President Raul Castro appears likely and there will be meetings with Western diplomats posted here.

The delegation that includes Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz, and Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., both of who have been visited Cuba on numerous occasions and long advocated changing U.S. policy, talked informally with a small group of reporters at the U.S. Interests Section, Washington's lone diplomatic outpost in Havana shortly after arriving.

Flake, a strong believer in free markets, has advocated lifting the U.S. trade embargo and visited the island some dozen times to promote agricultural trade.

Senate Agriculture Committee chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., told reporters, "There's a tremendous amount we could do if we could trade back and forth...and it would be of benefit to both countries."

Leahy said the group was not here to negotiate with the Cuban government, "we have trained diplomats here who can do that but to listen and to go back and talk to the State Department" and others in Washington.

The delegation is interesting in seeing the economic changes implemented by Castro and gauging what political changes there might be.

The delegation, the first high-level U.S. visit since President Obama's reelection last November, was asked if they thought his second term presented an opportunity for change.

"There have been opportunities in the past," said Leahy. "[President Bill] Clinton wanted to do something but the shoot down (of an exile group's flight over the island) ended that," he said. "Now I think there is not a Cold War attitude in the U.S.," and that opens the possibility of change, he concluded.

McGovern also stressed it was time for "a new and more mature policy toward Cuba", adding, "I want Alan Gross released. I want Americans to be able to travel here freely."

Some staffers suggested that there might also be steps the U.S. could take to break the 50-plus years impasse in bilateral relations such as removing Cuba from the State Department list of terrorist countries.

Also on the delegation are Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.

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Nike, Oakley Distance Themselves from Pistorius

Corporate sponsors of Olympic "blade runner" Oscar Pistorius have begun to distance themselves from the sprinter, who is accused of murdering his model girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius is back to court in South Africa Tuesday morning on murder charges.

Oakley, the eyewear manufacturer, and the sporting goods giant Nike announced today that they would no longer run ads featuring Pistorius, the South African double-amputee who gained worldwide fame for running on carbon-fiber blades.

"In light of the recent allegations, Oakley is suspending its contract with Oscar Pistorius, effective immediately. Our hearts are with the families during this difficult time and we'll continue to follow the developments in this tragic case," Oakley spokeswoman Cheri Quigley said in a statement released this afternoon.

Earlier in the day, Nike said it had "no plans" to use Pistorius in future ad campaigns, according to the Associated Press. Nike had already pulled an Internet ad showing Pistorius starting to sprint with the caption, "I am the bullet in the chamber."

The companies made their announcements shortly after Pistorius' own agent, Peet Van Zyl, said publicly that he expected the sponsors to stick with Pistorius through the legal process.

PHOTOS: Paralympic Champion Charged in Killing

Pistorius will appear in court Tuesday morning for a bail hearing. His attorneys are expected to argue against the charge of premeditated murder.

His family has said the shooting was an accident.

The news comes as more details emerge about the incident on Thursday morning in which Pistorius allegedly shot and killed Steenkamp at his gated home in Pretoria, South Africa.

Bryn Lennon; Gallo Images/Getty Images

Oscar Pistorius: Possibly Incriminating Information Leaked Watch Video

'Blade Runner' Murder Charges: Family Insist Accidental Shooting Watch Video

'Blade Runner' Murder Mystery: Family Speaks Out Watch Video

News reports in local papers have said that police are investigating whether Pistorius had an anger-management problem that led to the incident. They focused in on a bloodied cricket bat that may have been used when Steenkamp died.

A "shocked" teammate of Oscar Pistorius rebutted the rumors and speculation in South Africa that Pistorius had an anger problem.

Ofentse Mogawane, a sprinter for the South African Olympic team who ran the 400-meter relay with Pistorius in the London summer games last year, said Pistorius had always been genial to him and other people.

Mogawane said he would be in court Tuesday to support his friend.

"Basically, he was a very good guy to us, to the teammates and to most athletes," Mogawane said. "He was a really humble person and I wouldn't say a bad word about him. We never had any kind of clash, never any kind of fight or disagreement or arguing.

"The way Oscar's case was, it shocked me, shocked most of the people who know him. Tomorrow in court I am going to be there to support him. To hear what happened the night of the incident," he said.

"Sometimes when people are angry they cannot control their anger. Something must have happened."

Mogawane, 30, spoke in support of Pistorius after a report in South Africa's City Press newspaper that claimed police were looking into the possibility that a bloody cricket bat found in his bedroom was used before the shooting.

"The way the news has been running around in South Africa, that he is a short-tempered person, a person who has problems with anger management, they just want something to say," Mogawane said. "They don't know Oscar at all. They just want to get interviewed and take pictures. But truly speaking, it's just a lot of speculation."

Mogawane said he had seen Pistorius become angry before, but only in the same way as any other athlete or person.

But the City Press reported Sunday that police are investigating different scenarios involving the bat. Among them is the possibility that the flat-fronted bat was used in a violent argument before the shooting.

The paper also reported that Pistorius might have first shot Steenkamp in the bedroom, and that she possibly fled to the bathroom where she was shot three more times through the door.

When Pistorius' family arrived at the scene before paramedics, they saw him carrying Steenkamp down the stairs and performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on her, City Press reported.

Pistorius, who is nicknamed the "blade runner" because of the carbon-fiber blades on which he runs, has canceled all his upcoming racing appearances, his agent said Sunday night.

The decision was made to "allow Oscar to concentrate on the upcoming legal proceedings and to help and support all those involved as they try to come to terms with this very difficult and distressing situation," Van Zyl, of In Site Athlete Management, said in a statement.

Pistorius' father was quoted overnight in the South African paper The Sunday Times saying his countrymen are destroying a national icon.

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Time to refer Syrian war crimes to ICC: U.N. inquiry

GENEVA (Reuters) - United Nations investigators said on Monday that Syrian leaders they had identified as suspected war criminals should face the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The investigators urged the U.N. Security Council to "act urgently to ensure accountability" for violations, including murder and torture, committed by both sides in an uprising and civil war that has killed about 70,000 people since March 2011.

"Now really it's time ... We have a permanent court, the International Criminal Court, who would be ready to take this case," Carla del Ponte, a former ICC chief prosecutor who joined the U.N. team in September, told a news briefing in Geneva.

But because Syria is not party to the Rome Statute that established the ICC, the only way the court can investigate the situation is if it receives a referral from the Security Council. Russia, Assad's long-standing ally and a permanent veto-wielding member of the council, has opposed such a move.

"We cannot decide. But we pressure the international community to decide because it's time to act," del Ponte said.

Brazilian expert Paulo Pinheiro, who leads the U.N. inquiry set up in 2011, said: "We are in very close dialogue with all the five permanent members and with all the members of the Security Council, but we don't have the key that will open the path to cooperation inside the Security Council."

His team of some two dozen experts is tracing the chain of command in Syria to establish criminal responsibility and build a case for eventual prosecution.

"Of course we were able to identify high-level perpetrators," del Ponte said, adding that these were people "in command responsibility...deciding, organizing, planning and aiding and abetting the commission of crimes".

She said it was urgent for the Hague-based war crimes tribunal to take up cases of "very high officials", but did not identify them, in line with the inquiry's practice.

"We have crimes committed against children, rape and sexual violence. We have grave concerns. That is also one reason why an international body of justice must act because it is terrible."

Del Ponte, who tried former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia on war crimes charges, said the ICC prosecutor would need to deepen the investigation on Syria before an indictment could be prepared.

Karen Koning AbuZayd, an American member of the U.N. team, told Reuters it had information pointing to "people who have given instructions and are responsible for government policy, people who are in the leadership of the military, for example".

The inquiry's third roster of suspects, building on lists drawn up in the past year, remains secret. It will be entrusted to U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay upon expiry of its mandate at the end of March, the report said.

Pillay, a former ICC judge, said on Saturday Assad should be investigated for war crimes, and called for outside action on Syria, including possible military intervention.

Pinheiro said the investigators would not speak publicly about "numbers, names or levels" of suspects.

SEVEN MASSACRES IDENTIFIED

The investigators' latest report, covering the six months to mid-January, was based on 445 interviews conducted abroad with victims and witnesses, as they have not been allowed into Syria.

"We identified seven massacres during the period, five on the government side, two on the armed opponents' side. We need to enter the sites to be able to confirm elements of proof that we have," del Ponte said.

The U.N. report said the ICC was the appropriate institution for the fight against impunity in Syria. "As an established, broadly supported structure, it could immediately initiate investigations against authors of serious crimes in Syria."

Government forces have carried out shelling and air strikes across Syria including Aleppo, Damascus, Deraa, Homs and Idlib, the 131-page report said, citing corroborating satellite images.

"Government forces and affiliated militias have committed extra-judicial executions, breaching international human rights law. This conduct also constitutes the war crime of murder. Where murder was committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population, with knowledge of that attack, it is a crime against humanity," the report said.

Those forces have targeted bakery queues and funeral processions to spread "terror among the civilian population".

Rebels fighting to topple Assad have also committed war crimes including murder, torture, hostage-taking and using children under age 15 in hostilities, the U.N. report said.

"They continue to endanger the civilian population by positioning military objectives inside civilian areas" and rebel snipers had caused "considerable civilian casualties", it said.

George Sabra, a vice president of the opposition Syrian National Coalition, asked about the U.N. report, told Reuters at a conference in Stockholm: "We condemn all kind of crimes, regardless who did it.

"We can't ignore that some mistakes have been made and maybe still happen right now. But nobody also can ignore that the most criminal file is that of the regime."

(This story has been corrected to fix name of Milosevic tribunal in 11th paragraph)

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; additional reporting by Anna Ringstrom in Stockholm; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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Greater US military role in Mali likely after polls: senator

BAMAKO: The United States is likely to play a more active military role in Mali, where French-led forces are battling Islamist rebels, after the country holds elections, the chair of a key Senate sub-committee said Monday.

Washington has been providing intelligence, transport and mid-air refuelling to France, which launched its intervention last month, but cannot work directly with the Malian army until a democratically elected government replaces current leaders who came to power after a coup, said Christopher Coons, chair of the Senate foreign relations committee's Africa sub-committee.

"There is the hope that there will be additional support from the United States in these and other areas, but ... American law prohibits direct assistance to the Malian military following the coup," Coons told journalists in the Malian capital.

"After there is a full restoration of democracy, I would think it is likely that we will renew our direct support for the Malian military," added the senator, who led a bipartisan congressional delegation to Mali to meet with interim president Dioncounda Traore and French and African defence officials.

US military aid to Mali before the March 2012 coup consisted largely of training and equipment such as vehicles, a State Department official said.

But military assistance "would obviously be resumed in a way commensurate with the current needs. Priorities would have shifted a bit," the official added.

"There could be other kinds of assistance that had there not been a coup we could have provided, or requests for things now that we can't provide."

Some US lawmakers criticised President Barack Obama's administration last week for not doing more to help France in Mali.

"This is a NATO ally fighting Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists -- it shouldn't be that hard," said House foreign affairs committee chairman Ed Royce.

The hint of greater US involvement after elections adds to the complicated calculus of picking a date for the polls.

Traore, the interim president, has said he wants elections by July 31.

But critics say that is too soon given the problems Mali still faces, including ongoing insurgent attacks, a deeply divided military and hundreds of thousands of people who have fled their homes.

The minister responsible for organising the elections, Territorial Administration Minister Moussa Sinko Coulibaly, said last week the timeline "can be changed if necessary".

France, which launched its intervention on January 11 as Al-Qaeda-linked groups that had occupied the north for 10 months made incursions into government territory, is keen to share the military burden in Mali, and has announced plans to start bringing its 4,000 troops home in March.

The European Union formally approved a military training mission Monday that will be tasked with getting Mali's under-funded army ready to secure reclaimed territory.

But France is the only Western country with combat troops on the ground, and would like to hand over to some 6,000 west African troops who are slowly being deployed to help.

Mali imploded after a coup by soldiers who blamed the government for the army's humiliation at the hands of separatist rebels in the north.

With the capital in disarray, Al-Qaeda-linked fighters hijacked the independence rebellion and took control of a territory larger than Texas.

-AFP/ac

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Dell's thin, high-res XPS 13 laptop does Linux

Dell's XPS 13 with a 1,920x1,080 display is now offered with Ubuntu.

(Credit:
Dell)

Ubuntu just went 1080p on Dell's sleekest laptop.

The 2.99-pound XPS 13 Developer Edition laptop is now available on Dell's site for $1,549.

Those specifications, with the critical exception of the Ubuntu Linux, are identical to the 1080p XPS 13 for
Windows 8.

Here are the specs:

• Operating system: Ubuntu Linux 12.04 LTS
  
• Display: 13.3-inch 1,920x1,080 panel
  
• Processor: 3rd Generation Intel Core i7-3537U
  
• Memory: 8GB2 DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz
  
• Storage: 256GB solid-state drive
  
• Graphics: Intel HD 4000
  
• Price: $1,549
  

In addition to the U.S., Dell will also start to roll it out in select countries in Europe, including the UK, France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, and Finland.

The XPS 13 is one of the better ultrabook designs to emerge from a top-tier PC vendor. It squeezes a 13.3-inch screen into a footprint more typical of 12-inch laptops, boasts Gorilla Glass, and is constructed from aluminum and carbon fiber, allowing Dell to keep the weight to just under three pounds.

The upgraded display is also brighter and has wider viewing angles that the original 1,366x768 XPS 13 model.

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In Libya, justice elusive on uprising's anniversary

BENGHAZI, Libya Col. Faraj el-Dersi, who defected to the rebel side from Muammar Qaddafi's police force, was gunned down late last year on the streets of Benghazi, and he bled to death in the arms of his teenage daughter.

24 Photos

Elections in Libya

35 Photos

The life of Muammar Qaddafi

As Libya on Sunday marked the second anniversary of the start of the uprising that toppled Qaddafi, the death of el-Dersi and nearly 40 other similar slayings are seen as evidence that some in the country are too impatient for a political system that has yet to deliver justice and national reconciliation.

Suspicion in many of the killings of senior security and military officials has fallen on Islamists who were brutally suppressed under Qaddafi. Now, they have become among the most powerful groups in the new Libya, particularly in the east, with heavily armed militias at their command.

And they are settling old scores themselves, rather than wait for transitional justice — the process of society punishing or forgiving the abuses of the old regime.

Mustafa al-Kufi, a 59-year-old former prisoner and political activist, said the various post-Qaddafi governments and the current parliament are all fearful that if they head down the path of transitional justice, many members of the ruling class would be among those punished for past wrongdoing.

"This is a very pressing issue and a core demand in the street," said al-Kufi, who spent 12 years in prison under Qaddafi.

"We need to know who did what and then ask families of the victims for forgiveness. But since this didn't take place, violence will continue because there is no justice.

Like other Arab countries that ousted authoritarian leaders, Libya is now mired in a chaotic and violent transition to a new society. It is plagued by unruly and heavily armed militias that have slowly come under a unified command but remain filled with hard-liners who were in the front line in the war against Qaddafi.

The transition is further complicated by an autonomy movement in the oil-rich east, a central government too weak to exert its authority across the vast desert nation, and heavily armed Islamic extremists who are pressing to fill a power vacuum.

The civil war swept Qaddafi from power, but the bitterness and rage lingers in a country where the authoritarian government imprisoned, tortured and killed its opponents.

Hana al-Gallal, a prominent Benghazi lawyer, said allowing old regime figures to be part of the new order will only fuel more violence.

"Those whose sons were killed, their dreams shattered by the Qaddafi regime, will seek revenge when they see them back in power," she said. "The result is assassinations."

Some of the anger is directed at those who were in the old government — from low-level police officials to ex-ministers who are now police chiefs and lawmakers. That has prompted a push to prevent those with ties to the former leadership from serving in positions of power.

Libya's parliament, the General National Congress, is debating a draft bill that would bar anyone deemed to have had ties to the former regime from state institutions for 10 years. A version of the draft law published on the GNC's website last week listed 36 reasons for excluding Libyans from political life.

They include those who participated in Qaddafi's coup in 1969; members of the notorious Revolutionary Guards, which were formed to hunt down the dictator's opponents; those who took part in reform efforts in the 2000s led by Qaddafi's son, Seif al-Islam; and those who worked for leading magazines, newspapers, news agencies or served as an ambassador under Qaddafi.

The bill's supporters say such sweeping measures are needed to allow the ministries and state institutions in the fledgling democracy to develop free of the toxic influence and corruption of the Qaddafi era and to stop the cycles of bloodshed like what happened in Benghazi.

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Pistorius Case: Agent Cancels All Future Races

Oscar Pistorius won't run in any of the future races that the athlete was contracted to compete in, but the Paraylmpic gold medalist's sponsors are still supportive as he faces a murder charge, his agent said today.

The decision to cancel Pistorius' scheduled appearances was made to "allow Oscar to concentrate on the upcoming legal proceedings and to help and support all those involved as they try to come to terms with this very difficult and distressing situation," Peet Van Zyl of In Site Athlete Management said in a statement.

"I have decided that following these tragic events that we have no option but to cancel all future races that Oscar Pistorius had been contracted to compete in," Van Zyl said.

Pistorius was slated to compete in races in Australia and Brazil, as well as at the Drake Relays in Iowa and the Manchester City Games in the U.K.

Van Zyl also said that Pistorius' sponsors and partners are supportive.

"I can confirm that at this point in time, all parties are supportive and their contractual commitments are maintained. They have said they are happy to let the legal process takes its course before making any change in their position," Van Zyl said in the statement.

However, M-Net movies, a subscription-funded South African television channel has pulled their ad campaign featuring Pistorius, tweeting, "Out of respect & sympathy to the bereaved, M-Net will be pulling its entire Oscar campaign featuring Oscar Pistorius with immediate effect."

The agent's announcement comes as family and friends rallied to Pistorius' defense -- saying they believe the Paralympic gold medalist's story that he shot his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp by accident after he mistook her for an intruder.

Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images; Mike Holmes/The Herald/Gallo Images/Getty Images

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Oscar Pistorius Charged in Shooting Death of Girlfriend Watch Video

"When you are a sportsman, you act even more on instinct ... it's instinct -- things happen and that's what you do," Pistorius' father Henke Pistorius, 59, told The Telegraph.

The 26-year-old athlete, known as the "Blade Runner" because of the carbon-fiber blades he runs on, was charged Friday with premeditated murder.

PHOTOS: Paralympic Champion Charged With Murder

If convicted, Pistorius could face at least 25 years in jail.

"All of us saw at firsthand how close [Steenkamp] had become to Oscar during that time and how happy they were. They had plans together and Oscar was happier in his private life than he had been for a long time," Pistorius' uncle Arnold Pistorius said on Saturday.

According to South African newspaper Beeld, Steenkamp was killed nearly two hours after police were called to Pistorius' home to respond to reports of an argument at the complex.

Police said they have responded to disputes at the sprinter's residence before, but did not say whether Steenkamp was involved.

The athlete's best friend said Pistorius called him after the shooting to say "there has been a terrible accident, I shot Reeva," Justin Divaris told the Sunday People.

While his family insists he is not a murderer, prosecutors disagree.

Police sources told local media that Steenkamp was shot through the bathroom door where she may have been trying to hide to save herself.

Reeva Steenkamp

A memorial service for Steenkamp will be held in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday evening, SABC reported. Her body will be flown back for the service before being cremated, her family said.

"Her future has been cut short ... I dare say she's with the angels," said Mike Steenkamp, Reeva Steenkamp's uncle.

The South African reality show Steenkamp competed in premiered Saturday night on SABC as planned and included a special tribute to the slain law school graduate whose modeling career was starting to take off.

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Ecuador's Correa claims re-election victory

QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa claimed a re-election victory on Sunday that would allow him to strengthen state control over the OPEC nation's economy and gives a timely boost to Latin America's alliance of socialist leaders.

Correa won 61 percent of the vote compared with 21 percent for former banker Guillermo Lasso, the strongest showing of the seven opposition candidates in the race, according to an exit poll by private firm Opinion Publica.

A separate exit poll by the firm Cedatos showed Correa winning 59 percent of the vote versus 20 percent for Lasso.

"Nobody can stop this revolution," said a jubilant Correa from the balcony of the presidential palace above a crowd of supporters in Quito. "The colonial powers are not in charge anymore, you can be sure that in this revolution it's Ecuadoreans who are in charge."

The electoral authority was expected to release an official quick-count by 7:00 p.m. EST (0000 GMT) based on 30 percent of the votes cast.

Correa, a pugnacious U.S.-trained economist, wants to continue boosting the state's role in the OPEC nation's economy and strengthening the leftist ALBA bloc of Latin American nations that openly oppose the United States.

The only Ecuadorean president in the past 20 years to complete a full term in office, Correa is admired for bringing political stability to a nation where leaders had been frequently toppled by violent street protests or military coups.

"He has breathed new life into the country with the infrastructure and social programs. He has allowed the country to recover its dignity," said Rosa Patino, 40, a municipal worker in Quito.

Opposition leaders call Correa a dictator in the making who is quashing free speech through hostile confrontation with the media and squelching free enterprise through heavy taxation and constant regulatory changes.

His success hinged in part on high oil prices that allowed for hefty government spending, including providing cash handouts to 2 million people, and spurred solid economic growth.

Correa is now on track for a decade in office, rare stability in a country where three presidents were pushed from office by coups or street protests in the decade before Correa took power in 2007.

He is already the longest-serving president since the return to democracy in the 1970s following a military dictatorship.

"Instead of a weakening of our power, what we have is a consolidation of support," he said at a news conference.

DIVERSIFY ECONOMY

Correa hopes to diversify the economy away from oil and win over investors who turned their backs on Ecuador after he defaulted on $3.2 billion in bonds and forced oil companies to sign contracts giving more revenue to the government.

Investors will be watching Correa's new term for signs he is willing to compromise to bring in investment needed to raise stagnant oil production, boost the promising but still nascent mining sector, and expand power generation.

The other six opposition candidates include former Correa ally Alberto Acosta, former President Lucio Gutierrez and banana magnate and five-time presidential candidate Alvaro Noboa.

Ecuadoreans also chose a new Congress on Sunday.

The ruling Alianza Pais party was expected to win a majority of the legislative seats, up from around 42 percent.

That would let Correa push ahead with controversial laws including a plan to create a state watchdog to regulate television and newspaper content, without having to negotiate with rivals.

The results of the vote for Congress are not expected to be known for several days.

Correa spent weeks on the campaign trail, from indigenous villages of the Andean highlands to urban slums in the bustling port city of Guayaquil, singing and dancing to play up an image of youthful energy.

An avid cyclist, Correa filmed one campaign spot showing him changing out of a sharp suit into biking clothes and then riding his bike over mountain peaks and past tropical fishing villages to show the improvement of roads under his leadership.

Correa never shies away from a fight, be it with international bondholders, oil companies, local bankers, the Catholic Church or media that criticize his policies.

His criticism of the U.S. "empire" and his clashes with foreign investors and the World Bank have fueled Correa's popularity as a strong-minded leader who stands up to foreign powers that many say meddled in Ecuador's affairs for decades.

(Additional reporting by Jose Llangari and Eduardo Garcia in Quito and Yuri Garcia in Guayaquil; Editing by Kieran Murray and Eric Beech)

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Ecuador's Correa declares victory in presidential poll

QUITO: President Rafael Correa declared victory in the first-round of Ecuador's presidential vote Sunday as he celebrated with thousands of supporters in the capital of the South American country.

"We are here to serve you," Correa told a crowd from the balcony of the presidential palace in Quito. "Nothing for us, everything for you: the people who deserve the right to be free."

His announcement came shortly after polls closed in an election he had been widely expected to win. Exit polls gave him about 60 percent of the vote -- and a roughly 40-point lead over his nearest rival, banker Guillermo Lasso.

To avoid a second round, Correa needed to win either 50 percent of the valid vote or 40 percent with a 10 point lead over the nearest contender.

When casting his ballot in a Quito school earlier in the day, the 49-year-old urged Ecuador's 11.7 million registered voters to turn out in large numbers to "elect our future."

"In our hands is our destiny," said Correa, a US educated economist who has been in power since 2007 and is one of a wave of leftist leaders shaping recent Latin American politics.

Correa's presumed win comes as no surprise since pre-election polls showed him with a huge lead over Lasso.

At stake besides the presidency are the country's vice presidency and 137 seats in the unicameral Congress.

As citizens headed to the polls, international observers from UNASUR, a grouping of Latin American countries, reported the process was proceeding normally, although delays were noted at some voting stations.

"I voted for the president because the others only make passing promises and then do not fulfill them," said Mariano Chicaiza, a 68-year-old farmer in Cangahua, an isolated indigenous community in the mountains northeast of Quito.

Lasso, who had around 20 percent backing in the exit polls, voted in Guayaquil, he said, "with great faith that the Ecuadoran people will know to make a better decision."

About 30 percent of Ecuador's 15 million people live below the poverty line, and Correa has won support with popular social programs.

A self-declared foe of neo-liberal economics, he has also taken on big business and media groups, imposing new contracts on oil companies and renegotiating the country's debt while touting his poverty reduction efforts.

After clashing with privately-owned media, which he accuses of backing a police revolt in 2010, Correa barred his ministers from talking with opposition newspapers.

And while he presents himself as a "defender of freedom of expression," Correa wants to enact a new media regulation law.

Last year, Correa irritated Britain and the United States by granting asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange -- who is wanted for questioning in Sweden over sexual assault allegations -- at Ecuador's embassy in London.

Among Correa's advisers is former computer hacker Kevin Mitnick, a 49-year-old American who spent five years in prison in the United States for hacking into US telecommunications systems.

Critics accuse Correa of scaring away foreign capital, pointing to his friendships with the leaders of Cuba and Venezuela, although the Ecuadoran president has been more pragmatic than his leftist allies.

Ahead of the vote, Correa's Alianza Pais party held the largest bloc of seats in the Congress, but Correa told supporters on Thursday that he needs an absolute majority to deepen his "socialist revolution."

"He needs a reliable, solid and obedient majority," said Simon Pachano, a political analyst. "He has problems now because he does not have a majority in the assembly and has to put it together with alliances."

Lasso, who was finance minister during an economic crisis in the 1990s, had struggled to woo voters.

The other candidates included former president Lucio Gutierrez, a retired army colonel who was ousted by Congress amid a popular revolt in 2005, and the country's richest man, Alvaro Noboa.

Correa has brought a measure of political stability to Ecuador, which had seven presidents in the turbulent decade that preceded him, including three who were overthrown.

Voting is obligatory for people age 18 to 65, and optional for youths 16 years and older as well as for people over 65.

-AFP/ac

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Why Google's stores shouldn't look so much like Apple stores

Is this really different enough?

(Credit:
Crave CNET UK)

Some engineers have never dated a real person.

They've tried to, but it's hard for them to appreciate that real people don't necessarily use data to make decisions -- especially when it comes to love.

Perhaps their most embarrassing moments come when they try to mimic what non-engineers do in order to make themselves more attractive.

This mirrors some of the little issues that the Google brand has had over the years in becoming, well, human.

When you've spent you life believing that facts are everything, it's hard to imagine that people might prefer, oh, rounded corners or that ephemeral thing sometimes known as taste.

Google has made progress through some of its advertising. The "Jess Time" ad for Chrome was one of the very best tech ads of the 2012.

Yet when Google has wandered into retail, it has either believed that all you need is online or that an offline store ought to look rather like Apple's.

This is something against which Microsoft also struggles. It was almost comical when one Microsoft employee explained to me that its store looked -- at first glance -- a lot like the Apple store because the company used the same design firm.

This week, rumors surfaced that Google wants to make the next step in coming toward humanity by having its own shopping-mall retail presence.

The evidence so far from its pop-up stores -- as the picture above shows -- is that Google isn't thinking different. Or, at least, different enough.

If it fully intends to come out to the people -- to be itself-- then instead of having nice, clean retail staff in blue T-shirts (what brand does that remind you of?), it should embrace its true heart.

It should have real house-trained nerds, replete with bedhead and bad taste clothing, there for all to see. Yes, you could have nice, normal members of staff there to translate for them.

But the purpose of a retail store isn't merely to sell. It's to create street theater. Apple has its own version. Google must find its own too.

Instead of the now almost cliched clean lines and permanent white, it should make its stores look like excitable, sophisticated college playrooms, where books about dragons and vast Hulk hands are lying about and episodes of "Star Trek" and "Game of Thrones" are playing on huge screens.

More Technically Incorrect

It should expose itself fully as a brand that came out of nerdomania by parading its nerdomanic tendencies for all to see and making it lovable.

You might think this marginally insane. You might think that I am suffering from delusions of brandy.

Yet "The Big Bang Theory" has proved to be one of the most popular TV shows, not because the nerds are hidden away, but because they are in full view, with a beautiful counterpoint in a real person called Penny.

Imagine taking your kids, your lover, or your granny into a Google store and having them actually enjoy learning something about, say, comic books or Hermann von Helmholtz.

Imagine walking in and one of the Google nerds has dressed as The Flash, Batman, or Wonder Woman for the day, yet still finds a way to sell you a fascinating
Nexus 7.

In fact, wouldn't it be an excellent human resources idea, as well as a stimulus to make more uplifting products, if every Google engineer had to spend a certain period working in a Google retail store?

Mountain View should surely mine the more lofty, fantastic elements of its reality in order to create something unique and dramatic.

Otherwise, its stores might simply be accused of being Apple rip-offs.

And you know where that will ultimately end up. Yes, in front of Judge Lucy Koh.

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