All-In-One Website Solution

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Thousands rally to support embattled Tunisia government


Thousands rally to support embattled Tunisia government Saturday, Aug 03, 2013 07:20 PM PDT By Tarek Amara and Erika Solomon TUNIS (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Tunisians came out in a show of force for the country's Islamist-led government on Saturday, in one of the largest demonstrations since the 2011 revolution. Supporters of the ruling Ennahda party crowded into Kasbah Square next to the prime minister's office in the capital, Tunis. Ennahda officials said more than 150,000 attended. Fireworks flashed overhead and red Tunisian flags fluttered over a sea of demonstrators. ...Full Story	Top
Kuwait forms new Cabinet, names al-Shamali oil minister Saturday, Aug 03, 2013 06:10 PM PDT ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Mustapha al-Shamali was appointed oil minister in Kuwait's new Cabinet, state news agency KUNA said on Sunday after a parliamentary election in the major crude producer last month. The position was previously held on an acting basis by al-Shamali, after his predecessor, Hani Hussein, resigned in May under pressure from parliament. Oil policy in the OPEC member state is set by a Supreme Oil Council, so ministerial changes are less important than in other countries. ...Full Story	Top
Conciliatory tones in Egypt as envoys seek to avert bloodbath Saturday, Aug 03, 2013 06:02 PM PDT By Tom Perry and Matt Robinson CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's army-backed rulers and allies of its deposed Islamist president gave the first signs on Saturday of a readiness to compromise, pressed by Western envoys trying to head off more bloodshed. Faced with the threat of a crackdown on supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, diplomacy appeared to pick up pace, a month to the day since Egypt's army deposed President Mohamed Mursi and plunged the country into turmoil. ...Full Story	Top
France to close embassy in Yemen temporarily on security fears Saturday, Aug 03, 2013 05:50 PM PDT PARIS (Reuters) - France said it would close its embassy in Yemen for several days from Sunday and urged its citizens in the country to take precautions because of elevated security threats. The decision came after similar moves by Britain and Germany, which followed a U.S. decision to close more than a dozen embassies temporarily in the Middle East and Africa. The U.S. State Department said on Thursday American embassies that would normally be open this Sunday - including those in Abu Dhabi, Baghdad and Cairo - would be closed that day because of unspecified security concerns. ...Full Story	Top
Syrian rebels seize anti-tank missiles in raid on army base Saturday, Aug 03, 2013 04:58 PM PDT By Dominic Evans BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebels captured an ammunition depot north of Damascus from President Bashar al-Assad's forces on Saturday, activists said, seizing a hoard of anti-tank missiles and rockets which will strengthen their firepower after a string of defeats. Video footage of the raid showed delighted rebel fighters carrying out boxes of weapons from the arms cache in Denha, near the town of Yabroud, following an overnight attack. ...Full Story	Top
Libya's deputy prime minister resigns Saturday, Aug 03, 2013 03:31 PM PDT BENGHAZI (Reuters) - Libya's deputy prime minister, Awad al-Barasi, resigned on Saturday, saying he was not given enough powers to carry out his duties. "I cannot work in a dysfunctional government where my powers are lost," al-Barasi told a news conference in Benghazi. Barasi criticized Prime Minister Ali Zeidan's Cabinet, saying it did not deal with problems in a real manner. Zeidan said last week he would reshuffle the Cabinet and reorganize the government to cope with the urgent situation in the country following killings in the eastern city of Benghazi that sparked violent demonstrations. ...Full Story	Top
Pro-government rally draws tens of thousands in Tunisia Saturday, Aug 03, 2013 03:28 PM PDT By Tarek Amara TUNIS (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Tunisians came out in a show of force for the country's Islamist-led government on Saturday, in one of the largest demonstrations since the 2011 revolution. Shouting, "No to coups, yes to elections," supporters of the ruling Ennahda party crowded into Kasbah Square next to the prime minister's office in the capital, Tunis. Ennahda, a moderate Islamist party, called on supporters of the embattled government to join the rally to push back against a week of mass protests calling for the government's ouster. ...Full Story	Top
Attack on Indian mission in Afghanistan raises specter of regional struggle Saturday, Aug 03, 2013 02:52 PM PDT By Rafiq Shirzad JALALABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Insurgents attacked the Indian consulate in Afghanistan's eastern capital on Saturday, killing nine people and reinforcing fears that a bloody regional power struggle will be played out in the country once most foreign troops leave. Twenty-three people were wounded when checkpoint guards stopped three attackers in a car as they approached the consulate in Jalalbabad city, the office of the governor of Nangarhar province, Gul Agha Sherzai, said in a statement. ...Full Story	Top
Iran gets new president, vows 'constructive' foreign relations Saturday, Aug 03, 2013 02:51 PM PDT By Yeganeh Torbati DUBAI (Reuters) - Hassan Rouhani took office as Iran's president on Saturday promising "constructive interaction with the world" after eight years under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad marked by diplomatic confrontation and damaging sanctions. The politically moderate 64-year-old cleric's resounding victory at June's election raised hopes of a negotiated end to the dispute over Iran's nuclear program and an easing of the sanctions that have hit the OPEC country's oil exports. That could avert a possible new war in the Middle East. ...Full Story	Top
Zimbabwe's Mugabe declared winner, rival challenges poll result Saturday, Aug 03, 2013 01:19 PM PDT By Nelson Banya and MacDonald Dzirutwe HARARE (Reuters) - Africa's oldest president, Robert Mugabe, was declared winner of Zimbabwe's election on Saturday, but his rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, said he would challenge in court a result he called a fraud that would push the nation back into crisis. Mugabe, 89, who has ruled the former British colony in southern Africa since its independence in 1980, was formally proclaimed re-elected for a five-year term barely an hour after Tsvangirai announced his planned legal challenge. ...Full Story	Top
Turkish police fire water cannon, teargas at Istanbul protesters Saturday, Aug 03, 2013 12:39 PM PDT ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish police fired teargas and water cannon to disperse small groups of anti-government protesters in central Istanbul on Saturday evening, television footage showed. There was a heavy riot police presence in the area around Istanbul's central Taksim square early in the evening, after calls for anti-government protests were made on social media. However there were no signs of large-scale protests. Halk TV footage showed police firing water cannon and teargas on the main pedestrian street leading to Taksim square and on adjoining side streets. ...Full Story	Top
Car bomb explodes west of Bahraini capital Manama Saturday, Aug 03, 2013 11:36 AM PDT MANAMA (Reuters) - A car bomb exploded near a recreational area in Budaiya, west of the Bahraini capital Manama, on Saturday but no casualties were reported, the Interior Ministry said. Two gas cylinders were planted in a parked vehicle but only one exploded, a ministry source told Reuters. Bahrain, a majority Shi'ite country ruled by the Sunni al Khalifa family, has been buffeted by political unrest since 2011, with mostly Shi'ite Bahrainis agitating for democratic reforms and more say in government. ...Full Story	Top
NSA revelations could hurt collaboration with 'betrayed' hackers Saturday, Aug 03, 2013 11:26 AM PDT By Joseph Menn LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - The U.S. government's efforts to recruit talented hackers could suffer from the recent revelations about its vast domestic surveillance programs, as many private researchers express disillusionment with the National Security Agency. Though hackers tend to be anti-establishment by nature, the NSA and other intelligence agencies had made major inroads in recent years in hiring some of the best and brightest, and paying for information on software flaws that help them gain access to target computers and phones. ...Full Story	Top
Mali's Dembele breaks ranks, backs former PM Keita in run-off Saturday, Aug 03, 2013 11:21 AM PDT Bamako (Reuters) - The candidate of Mali's largest political party, who came third in the first round of the country's presidential election, broke ranks with his own party on Saturday and said he will back former prime minister Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in a run-off. Dramane Dembele's move goes against his Adema-PASJ party's plans and deals a blow to the anti-junta coalition that had formed around former Finance Minister Soumaila Cisse, who will be Keita's contender in the August 11 second round. ...Full Story	Top
Exclusive: Egypt pro-Mursi alliance signals flexibility in talks Saturday, Aug 03, 2013 10:26 AM PDT By Tom Perry CAIRO (Reuters) - Allies of deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi told mediators on Saturday they respected the popular will expressed in mass protests that led to his downfall, suggesting they might be backing away from a demand he be reinstated. Tarek El-Malt, spokesman for the pro-Mursi delegation that met envoys from the United States and the European Union, said his camp sought a resolution to Egypt's crisis based on the constitution that was suspended after he was deposed. ...Full Story	Top
Iranians may have abducted Briton in Dubai: UK government source Saturday, Aug 03, 2013 09:53 AM PDT LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is taking seriously allegations that a British-Iranian citizen who went missing in Dubai in June may have been kidnapped by "elements in Iran", a government source in London said on Saturday. Abbas Yazdi was reported missing on June 25 and his wife Atena has told Dubai-based news website 7Days that she fears he may have been kidnapped by Iranian intelligence officers. "We believe that allegations that elements in Iran might be responsible for Mr Yazdi's disappearance are plausible, and we are taking them very seriously," the source told Reuters. ...Full Story	Top
Italy's fragile coalition bickers over Berlusconi conviction Saturday, Aug 03, 2013 09:50 AM PDT By Naomi O'Leary ROME (Reuters) - Politicians in Italy's fragile coalition government traded increasingly heated barbs on Saturday over a tax conviction that threatens the political future of center-right leader Silvio Berlusconi. The former prime minister has told his party to demand reform of the justice system - which he maintains found him guilty of tax fraud because of political bias - or withdraw from a delicate coalition with the center-left Democratic Party (PD) that has so far lasted three months. ...Full Story	Top
Brazil court sentences 25 police officers for prison massacre Saturday, Aug 03, 2013 09:41 AM PDT BRASILIA (Reuters) - A Brazilian court sentenced 25 police officers to 624 years in jail on Saturday for the killing of dozens of inmates in the country's bloodiest prison riot in which 111 people died two decades ago. Military police stormed Sao Paulo's Carandiru prison in 1992 to quell a riot sparked by a fight between two rival gangs that started with a quarrel during a soccer game. The revolt ended in a massacre that exposed the harsh conditions of prisons in Brazil and the rest of Latin America. It became the subject of a 2003 hit film. ...Full Story	Top
Greek police arrest German on suspicion of spying Saturday, Aug 03, 2013 09:29 AM PDT ATHENS (Reuters) - A 72-year-old German man has been arrested on a Greek island on suspicion of spying for Turkey, police said on Saturday. The man told police he had photographed barracks and other military-related buildings on the island of Chios for five people he believed were Turkish nationals who paid him up to 1,500 euros ($2,000) for each assignment. Police suspect the individuals worked for the Turkish secret services, a Greek police official who spoke on condition of anonymity said, adding that investigations were ongoing. ...Full Story	Top
Egyptian army chief says does not 'aspire for authority' Saturday, Aug 03, 2013 09:26 AM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, asked by the Washington Post on Saturday whether he planned to run for president, said he did not "aspire for authority." "You just can't believe that there are people who don't aspire for authority," Sisi told the interviewer. Asked "Is that you?", he replied: "Yes." Sisi, who led the overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Mursi on July 3, urged the United States to use its leverage over Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood to end a political crisis that has killed scores over the past month. ...Full Story	Top
Robert Mugabe re-elected Zimbabwe's president: election commission Saturday, Aug 03, 2013 09:25 AM PDT HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has won re-election for a further five-year term, the Zimbabwe Election Commission said on Saturday. "Mugabe, Robert Gabriel, of ZANU-PF party is therefore duly elected president of the Republic of Zimbabwe with effect of today," commission head Rita Makarau told a news conference, giving the results of the July 31 vote which Mugabe's main challenger has rejected as a fraud. (Reporting by Cris Chinaka; Editing by Pascal Fletcher)Full Story	Top
EU concerned about lack of transparency in Zimbabwe election Saturday, Aug 03, 2013 09:21 AM PDT BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union said on Saturday it was concerned about alleged irregularities and a lack of transparency in Zimbabwe's election, its strongest criticism so far of a poll that Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has branded a "farce". The EU's verdict on the fairness of the elections will be crucial to deciding whether it continues to ease sanctions on the southern African country. "The EU is concerned about alleged irregularities and reports of incomplete participation, as well as the identified weaknesses in the electoral process and a lack of transparency. ...Full Story	Top
Egypt working toward political reconciliation, Sisi tells U.S Saturday, Aug 03, 2013 09:19 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Egyptian army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told the United States on Saturday that the new army-installed Egyptian leadership was working toward political reconciliation following the military overthrow of the president on July 3, the Pentagon said on Saturday. Sisi's made the comments during a telephone conversation with U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, in which the Pentagon chief expressed concern about violence in Egypt after the military toppled Islamist President Mohamed Mursi. ...Full Story	Top
MDC to challenge Zimbabwe election through 'all legal remedies': Tsvangirai Saturday, Aug 03, 2013 08:22 AM PDT HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said on Saturday his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) totally rejected an election result giving victory to President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and would exhaust all legal remedies to challenge it. The MDC would not participate in any government resulting from what he called a "fraudulent" election, Tsvangirai told a news conference in Harare. (Reporting Stella Mapenzauswa; Editing by Pascal Fletcher)Full Story	Top
Turkey appoints new military commanders as government asserts control Saturday, Aug 03, 2013 07:45 AM PDT By Daren Butler ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey appointed new military commanders on Saturday in an overhaul of its top ranks that underlined the government's control over armed forces which once dominated political life. NATO's second largest army is facing multiple challenges as conflict in neighboring Syria spills across the border and a peace process with Kurdish militants looks increasingly fragile. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who chaired the Supreme Military Council meeting, has eroded the army's power since his Islamist-rooted AK Party first came to power in 2002. ...Full Story	Top
Interpol issues global security alert after prison breaks Saturday, Aug 03, 2013 07:42 AM PDT PARIS (Reuters) - Interpol issued a global security alert on Saturday advising its members to increase their vigilance against attacks after a series of prison breaks in Iraq, Libya and Pakistan that the agency is investigating to determine if they were linked. The Lyon, France-based Interpol said given that al Qaeda was suspected to be involved in some of the incidents, it was asking its 190 member countries to watch out for information connected to the prison breaks, with an aim to determine whether they were coordinated and also locate the escaped prisoners. ...Full Story	Top
Merkel challenger Steinbrueck blunders again as rain destroys posters Saturday, Aug 03, 2013 07:04 AM PDT By Erik Kirschbaum BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel's challenger Peer Steinbrueck suffered another setback to his gaffe-prone campaign when thousands of Social Democratic Party's (SPD) posters dissolved in the rain, Bild daily reported on Saturday. The posters - printed on ecologically friendly, recyclable paper and part of a national campaign Steinbrueck personally launched on Tuesday - fell apart when heavy rain hit the states of Saarland and Hesse. The SPD had no immediate comment. Bild quoted an SPD official saying: "The whole thing is incredibly embarrassing. ...Full Story	Top
Tunisian authorities say third bomb scare was a hoax Saturday, Aug 03, 2013 05:17 AM PDT TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's interior ministry said on Saturday that a suspected bomb placed near a colonel's home in Tunis was fake and came with a letter, purporting to be from al Qaeda, demanding the army stop its offensive near the Algerian border. Tunisian security forces launched major ground and air attacks on Friday in Mount Chaambi to try to rout Islamist militants, who launched a deadly assault on the army this week. The box contained only wires and batteries, the ministry said in a statement. "It was not a real explosive but rather a fake bomb," it said. ...Full Story	Top
Moroccans protest against pardon of Spanish pedophile Saturday, Aug 03, 2013 04:11 AM PDT By Aziz El Yaakoubi RABAT (Reuters) - Riot police broke up a protest by hundreds of Moroccans late on Friday against a royal pardon for a Spanish pedophile serving a 30-year sentence for raping and filming children as young as four. In running clashes with the demonstrators, baton-wielding police prevented them from gathering in front of the Moroccan parliament in the centre of the capital Rabat, injuring several people including journalists. ...Full Story	Top
Egyptian government appeals to Mursi supporters to leave camps Saturday, Aug 03, 2013 04:01 AM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's army-installed government on Saturday promised supporters of ousted President Mohamed Mursi a safe exit from their protest camps and urged them to rejoin the political process. Interior Ministry spokesman Hany Abdel Latif said the protesters were being manipulated by leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood. "Your continued sit-ins have no legal or political use. You have a safe exit, you will be politically integrated," Latif said in an announcement on state television. ...Full Story	Top
Jailed Vietnam blogger ends hunger strike after five weeks Saturday, Aug 03, 2013 03:05 AM PDT HANOI (Reuters) - A Vietnamese dissident jailed for criticizing the country's rulers has ended a hunger strike after five weeks when judicial authorities agreed to accept his complaint about poor treatment, his son said on Saturday. Nguyen Van Hai, better known as Dieu Cay, resumed eating on July 27 after the Supreme People's Procuracy, the prosecutor's office, agreed to look into his claim of abusive treatment. ...Full Story	Top
Turkish man killed by stray bullet fired from Syria Saturday, Aug 03, 2013 02:55 AM PDT DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - A Turkish man was killed on Saturday by a stray bullet fired across the border from Syria into the Turkish town of Ceylanpinar, security sources said. Ramazan Zeybel, 45, died in hospital. He was the fourth Turkish citizen to be killed by stray shells and bullets fired during clashes in the neighboring Syrian town of Ras al-Ain. With an ethnic mix of Arabs, Kurds and others, Ras al-Ain has been a focus of clashes for months, with Kurdish militias fighting for control against Arab rebel fighters from the al Qaeda-linked hardline Sunni Islamist al-Nusra Front. ...Full Story	Top
Australia enlists Nauru to aid in crackdown on boat refugees Saturday, Aug 03, 2013 02:08 AM PDT PERTH (Reuters) - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, facing an imminent election, enlisted the help of the Pacific Island nation of Nauru in his hardline policy of denying asylum seekers arriving by boat the right to settle in Australia. Rudd was reinstated in his job just over a month ago and has improved his Labor Party's previously dismal standing in opinion polls ahead of an election now due within weeks. His get-tough policy on asylum seekers is seen as a vote winner in poorer districts where immigrant numbers are high. ...Full Story	Top
Indian row over poverty and policy extends to Harvard and Columbia Friday, Aug 02, 2013 10:46 PM PDT By Manoj Kumar and Rajesh Kumar Singh NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian government figures showing that poverty has been cut by a third since 2004 has set off a row between the country's main political parties on whether the data is accurate, and a slanging match between two of the world's best-known economists on the implications for policy. The debate boils down to what path India should take in coming years as slower growth puts further poverty reduction at risk in the world's second-most populous nation. ...

Thursday, August 1, 2013

hey're anti-gay, anti-women, anti-science, anti-sex-education and anti-doubt,  to name a few of the most common criticisms.

They're anti-gay, anti-women, anti-science, anti-sex-education and anti-doubt,  to name a few of the most common criticisms.

I don't disagree with those critiques, but there's another side to the story.

While Christians have played sloppy defense, secular Americans have been showing off some impressive offense, giving young Christians plenty of reasons to lose faith in organized religion.

For instance, atheists dominate the Internet, rallying to thriving websites and online communities in lieu of physical meeting spaces.

Even a writer for the evangelical magazine Relevant admitted that “While Christianity enjoys a robust online presence, the edge still seems to belong to its unbelievers.”

Atheists outnumber Christians on popular discussion forums like Reddit, where subscribers to the atheism section number more than 2 million. The Christianity section is not even 5% of that.

The Internet-based Foundation Beyond Belief, which encourages atheists to donate to charitable organizations, just celebrated raising $1 million for worthwhile causes. (Disclosure: I serve on its board of directors.)

Moreover, blogs and websites espousing non-religious viewpoints and criticizing Christianity draw tons of Internet traffic these days. For every Christian apologist's argument, it seems, there's an equal and opposite rebuttal to be found online. I call that "Hitchens' Third Law.”

Christians can no longer hide in a bubble, sheltered from opposing perspectives, and church leaders can't protect young people from finding information that contradicts traditional beliefs.

If there's an open comment thread to be found on a Christian's YouTube video or opinion piece online, there's inevitably going to be pushback from atheists.

There has also been a push by atheists to get non-religious individuals to "come out of the closet" and let people know that they don't believe in God.

Among other things, this proves that anti-atheist stereotypes aren't accurate and, just as important, that atheists aren’t alone in their communities.

There's the Richard Dawkins Foundation's Out Campaign, with its Scarlet A badges.

There are atheist-encouraging billboards in 33 states financed by groups like theUnited Coalition of Reason.

There's even going to be an 1-800 hot line for people "recovering" from religion.

And last year, an estimated 20,000 atheists turned out for the Reason Rally in Washington, a tenfold increase from the previous atheist rally in 2002.

But more than anything else, atheism's best advertisements may be the words of Christian leaders themselves.

When Pastor Mark Driscoll belittles women, Rick Warren argues against same-sex rights or Rob Bell equivocates on the concept of hell, we amplify those messages for them - and it helps us make our point.

(It goes without saying that the pairing of Pat Robertson and YouTube has been great for atheists.)

Pastors are no longer the final authority on the truth, and millennials know it.

Even if they hold Jesus' message in high esteem, the Bible as it has traditionally been preached by many evangelical pastors is becoming less and less attractive to them.

A 2012 study by the Public Religion Research Institute (PDF) showed that many Christians aged 18-24 felt that Christianity was hypocritical (49%), judgmental (54%) and anti-gay (58%).

In addition, Christianity Today reported last year that fewer than half of born-again Christians under 35 opposed same-sex marriage.

When millennials' pastors and hearts are going in different directions, church leaders should be worried.

Can churches win back the youth?

Barring a complete shift in beliefs, that may not be possible. Some of the proposed solutions seem ludicrous to millennial atheists like myself.

For instance, there's been talk of finding a better way to reconcile science and religion. Whenever that battle takes place, religion loses.

There are some questions we may never know the answer to, but for the ones we can eventually answer, the scientific explanation will devour the religious one. Mixing science and religion requires a distortion of one or the other.

What about focusing on the message and life of Jesus?

While this sounds good philosophically, the myth surrounding Jesus is part of the problem with Christianity.

To believe in Jesus means believing that he was born of a virgin, rose from the dead and performed a number of miracles.

There's no proof of any of that ever happened, and atheists place those stories in the same box as "young Earth creationism" and Noah's Great Flood.

To be sure, if Christians followed the positive ideas Jesus had, we'd all be better off, but it's very hard to separate the myth from the reality.

In short, there are many reasons the percentage of millennials who say they've never doubted God's existence is at a record low, and nearly a quarter of adults under 30 no longer affiliate with a faith.

The church has pushed young people away, yes, but there are also forces actively pulling them in the other direction.

It appears that atheists and Christians are finally working together on the same task: getting millennials to leave the church.

Hemant Mehta blogs at The Friendly Atheist. The views expressed in this column belong to Mehta.

Photos: Famous atheists and their beliefs

An Italian court has sentenced former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in a tax fraud case.

(CNN) -- An Italian court has sentenced former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in a tax fraud case.

He was sentenced to four years in prison Thursday, but three years of that sentence are covered in an amnesty.

Berlusconi, who served on and off as prime minister between 1994 and 2011, is arguably one of the most colorful and controversial figures in the lively history of Italian politics. For years, he has been entangled in fraud, corruption and sex scandals that have often reached Italian courts.

A Kansas company is recalling about 50,000 pounds of ground beef products over fears of E. coli contamination.

(CNN) -- A Kansas company is recalling about 50,000 pounds of ground beef products over fears of E. coli contamination.

The National Beef Packing Co. products, which were shipped nationwide, may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Wednesday.

There have been no reported cases of illness.

In an online statement Wednesday, National Beef Packing Co. reported "a voluntary recall for NatureSource Natural Beef, Naturewell Natural Beef and National Beef commodity ground beef." It said the meat was produced on July 18 and has a use by/freeze by date of August 7.

"We are working closely with authorities to investigate this matter and are contacting our customers who have purchased this product," the company said.

One Direction have already conquered the music world

CNN) -- One Direction have already conquered the music world -- now one of the fab five is set to take the football world by storm.

Louis Tomlinson has signed a deal with English second division club Doncaster Rovers in one of the most bizarre deals for some time.

Tomlinson, who stars alongside Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Niall Horan and Liam Pain, is part of biggest and most successful boy band on the planet.

One Direction have broken record after record during their rise from losing in Britain's X-Factor competition in 2010 to becoming as big as the Beatles stateside.

Read: One Direction launch a line of makeup and nail polish

Managed by music mogul Simon Cowell, One Direction have had 61 album and single number one's world wide with their last album "Take Me Home" reaching top spot in 37 different countries.

The National Security Agency's controversial intelligence-gathering programs

Las Vegas (CNN) -- The National Security Agency's controversial intelligence-gathering programs have prevented 54 terrorist attacks around the world, including 13 in the United States, according to Gen. Keith Alexander, NSA director.

Speaking before a capacity crowd of hackers and security experts Wednesday at the Black Hat computer-security conference, Alexander defended the NSA's embattled programs, which collect phone metadata and online communications in an effort to root out potential terrorists. The secret programs have come under fire since their existence was revealed in June by former CIA contractor Edward Snowden, who leaked details about them to several newspapers.

"I promise you the truth -- what we know, what we're doing, and what I cannot tell you because we don't want to jeopardize our future defense," Alexander told the audience, which included a few hecklers who shouted profanities and accused him of lying.

He then gave a partial recap, using PowerPoint slides, of how the two intelligence programs work. Alexander said the NSA can collect metadata on phone calls in the United States, including the date and time of the call, the numbers involved and the length of the conversations. He made a special point of saying the NSA does not have access to the content of citizens' calls or text messages.

Top senator questions need to collect phone records

Alexander said the NSA's PRISM surveillance program, which probes digital activity such as e-mail, instant messaging and Web searches, focuses on foreign actors and does not apply to people in the United States. He said the phone and Internet data is necessary to "connect the dots" and identify potential terrorists before they act.

Alexander attempted to reassure the audience that NSA officials are not abusing access to the databases to intrude on Americans' privacy.

"The assumption is that people are out there just wheeling and dealing (users' information), and nothing could be further from the truth," he said. "We have tremendous oversight and compliance in these programs."

Congress and courts make sure the programs operate within the bounds of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and internal auditing systems are in place to prevent any abuse by employees, Alexander said. He added that only 35 analysts are authorized to run queries on the phone metadata.

Alexander made no mention of a report in Wednesday's Guardian newspaper about the existence of another secret NSA program, called XKeyscore. According to documents provided to the Guardian by Snowden, XKeyscore allows analysts to search with no prior authorization through vast databases containing e-mails, online chats and the browsing histories of millions of people.

CNNMoney: NSA chief to hackers: If you don't like what we do, change it

Alexander denied accusations that the NSA programs allow the government to collect all online data on everyone.

"We can't afford to and don't want to collect everything," he said.

"I have four daughters. Can I go and intercept their e-mails? The answer is no," said the security chief before looking out at the auditorium thick with hackers and joking, "You may be able to."

Aside from a couple jokes, Alexander's words were serious and measured, and he seemed unfazed by a smattering of heckling from the audience during his hourlong talk.

Ex-NSA chief: Safeguards exist to protect Americans' privacy

"You lied to Congress. Why would we believe you're not lying to us right now?" yelled one person.

Alexander replied that people were basing opinions on what was "written in the press" without looking at facts and urged the heckler read his congressional testimony.

During a Q&A session consisting of prescreened questions, Alexander said that one reason terrorists target the United States is a desire by people in the Middle East to run governments under Islamic law. But another attendee disagreed, shouting, "They want to attack us because we're bombing them."

Another yell of "bulls---!" inspired the general to cap his explanation of the programs by saying "And that's no bulls---, those are facts."

Overall, the reception to Alexander's talk seemed mostly positive. Black Hat attendees are primarily corporate-security types, interested in protecting their networks and warding off cyber attacks. The looser, hacker-centric Def Con conference, which starts here Thursday, could likely give him a more hostile reception.

Alexander solicited advice on how to better balance security with civil liberties and put up an e-mail address so the room of tech experts could share their ideas with the NSA.

He also hinted at possible damage resulting from the Snowden leaks, and wondered aloud whether the government will have the same success preventing terrorist attacks in the next 10 years as it has in the past decade.

"If we tell everyone exactly what we're doing, then the adversaries will know exactly how to get through our defenses," he said.

Opinion: NSA secrets kill our trust

(CNN) -- Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden are two American men

(CNN) -- Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden are two American men in their 20s. They're both fascinated by -- and adept at -- computer use and held jobs that gave them access to some of their country's most secret and sensitive intelligence. They chose to share that material with the world and are now paying for it. But that may be where the similarities end.

What did they do?

United States Army Pvt. Bradley Manning leaked hundreds of thousands of classified documents about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and sensitive correspondence written by U.S. diplomats -- information that WikiLeaks published. Some of that information was also analyzed and reported by The New York Times, Der Spiegel and The Guardian newspapers as well as other news outlets. A military judge acquitted Manning on Tuesday of aiding the enemy, but convicted him of violations of the Espionage Act. The proceedings for his sentencing could take days or even weeks. He could get 136 years.

Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee and National Security Agency contract employee, told a Guardian journalist that the NSA was operating classified surveillance programs that track cell phone calls and monitor the e-mail and Internet traffic of virtually all Americans. To tell his story, he left his job and life in Hawaii, fled to China and is now in Russia, where he has been granted temporary asylum.