'Lincoln' leads race for British Academy Awards

This Jan. 7, 2013 photo released by Starpix shows French actress Emmanuelle Riva from "Amour", left, with actor Daniel Day Lewis from "Lincoln," at the New York Film Critics Circle awards dinner at the Crimson Club in New York. (AP Photo/Starpix, Dave Allocca)

This Jan. 7, 2013 photo released by Starpix shows French actress Emmanuelle Riva from "Amour", left, with actor Daniel Day Lewis from "Lincoln," at the New York Film Critics Circle awards dinner at the Crimson Club in New York. (AP Photo/Starpix, Dave Allocca)

FILE - This publicity film image released by DreamWorks and Twentieth Century Fox shows Daniel Day-Lewis portraying Abraham Lincoln in the film "Lincoln." Steven Spielberg has extended his domination at the Directors Guild of America Awards, earning his 11th film nomination Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2013, for his Civil War epic "Lincoln." (AP Photo/DreamWorks, Twentieth Century Fox, David James, file)

This Jan. 7, 2013 photo released by Starpix shows actor Daniel Day Lewis from "Lincoln," at the New York Film Critics Circle awards dinner at the Crimson Club in New York. (AP Photo/Starpix, Dave Allocca)

British actors Jeremy Irvine and Alice Eve pose during a photo call after announcing the nominations for the EE British Academy Film Awards in 2013 at BAFTA Headquarters in Piccadilly, central London, Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013. (Photo by Joel Ryan/Invision/AP)

British actress Alice Eve poses during a photo call after announcing the nominations for the EE British Academy Film Awards in 2013 at BAFTA Headquarters in Piccadilly, central London, Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013. (Photo by Joel Ryan/Invision/AP)

LONDON (AP) ? Historical biopic "Lincoln" leads the race for the British Academy Film Awards, with 10 nominations including best picture at the U.K. equivalent of the Oscars.

Epic musical "Les Miserables" and boy-meets-tiger saga "Life of Pi" received nine nominations each on Wednesday. James Bond adventure "Skyfall" got eight ? rare awards recognition for an action movie ? and Iran hostage thriller "Argo" took seven.

"Lincoln" focuses on the last months in the life of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, as he struggled to end the Civil War and pass a constitutional amendment banning slavery.

Britain's Daniel Day-Lewis is nominated for leading actor for his uncanny embodiment of the iconic president, and there are supporting nominations for Sally Field as his wife Mary Todd Lincoln and Tommy Lee Jones as abolitionist firebrand Thaddeus Stevens. But the film's director, Steven Spielberg, failed to get a nod.

The best picture nominees are "Lincoln," ''Les Miserables," ''Life of Pi," ''Argo" and Osama bin Laden thriller "Zero Dark Thirty."

"Les Miserables" is also a contender in the separate category of best British film, alongside "Anna Karenina," ''The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," ''Seven Psychopaths" and "Skyfall."

Ben Affleck is nominated both as director of "Argo" and as its leading actor. The other male acting contenders are Day-Lewis, Bradley Cooper for "Silver Linings Playbook," Hugh Jackman for "Les Miserables" and Joaquin Phoenix for "The Master."

"Skyfall" star Daniel Craig was snubbed, but the film received supporting acting nominations for Judi Dench's spy chief and Javier Bardem's scene-stealing baddie.

The best-actress shortlist includes 85-year-old "Amour" star Emmanuelle Riva ? who was nominated for the same prize 52 years ago for "Hiroshima, Mon Amour" ? Helen Mirren for "Hitchcock," Jennifer Lawrence for "Silver Linings Playbook," Jessica Chastain for "Zero Dark Thirty" and Marion Cotillard for "Rust and Bone."

The heavyweight best-director list includes Affleck, Michael Haneke for Cannes Film Festival prize-winner "Amour," Quentin Tarantino for "Django Unchained," Ang Lee for "Life of Pi" and Kathryn Bigelow for "Zero Dark Thirty."

Poignant old-age portrait "Amour" is up for best foreign-language film, along with Norway's "Headhunters," Denmark's "The Hunt" and French films "Rust and Bone" and "Untouchable."

In recent years, the British awards, known as BAFTAs, have helped underdog films including "Slumdog Millionaire," ''The King's Speech" and "The Artist" gain momentum for Oscars success.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony in London on Feb. 10, two weeks before the Hollywood awards.

___

Jill Lawless can be reached at http://Twitter.com/JillLawless

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-01-09-Britain-Film%20Awards/id-9fefe34daad64853b1cc81700beb656c

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Huawei shoots for gold with 6.1" Ascend Mate - "the ... - Phone Arena

Huawei's conspicuous 6.1" smartphone we saw leaked a few months ago just materialized as the "largest screen smartphone" Ascend Mate, and, really, at this size, who can argue with that claim. For comparison, the looming?Galaxy Note II has a 5.5" display.

The game is to replace your phone, tablet, laptop, camera and so on, with one converging device, but we'll leave to Mr Market to decide whether this can be done via a 6.1" smartphone successfully enough, be it one with "a screen-to-body ratio of 73% ? the highest in the industry."

Apparently Huawei couldn't ring the manufacturer which produces Full HD displays at that size, and made do with 1280 x 720 pixels HD resolution for the IPS screen. The screen also sports the "Magic Touch" tech, allowing you to use it with gloves on.?

The upside of the "mere" HD resolution is that there?aren't as many pixels to push for the GPU, and a homebrew 1.5 GHz quad-core Hi-Silicon K3V2 processor is powering the handset, which should mean no slouch, as the K3V1 in the Ascend D was pretty fast in the first place. You also get an 8 MP rear camera with HDR, 1 MP at the front, pentaband HSPA radio, and dual-antenna design for improved reception.

The phone can be considered compact for the screen, thanks to the on-screen navigation buttons, and the 163.5 mm x 85.7 mm x 9.9 mm (6.5" x 3.4" x 0.4") chassis, but will still feel awkward to hold with one hand at that size, and at 198g of weight. The obligatory one-hand phablet UI is here, too, cramping the keyboard and dialpad left or right so you can reach them with your thumb without being Shaq.

On the plus side, Huawei has equipped it with the largest ever stock battery in a smartphone at 4050 mAh, so that you can keep watching'em movies on the subway for 10 hours, promises the company. With that screen size, it will be a shame if you don't come next month, when the phone will be launching in Huawei's homeland.

Press Release Las Vegas, U.S.A., January 7, 2013: Huawei, a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider, today launched the smartphone with the largest screen in the world, the HUAWEI Ascend Mate, at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The HUAWEI Ascend Mate features a huge 6.1-inch HD display, a 1.5 GHz Hi-Silicon quad-core processor and a 4050 mAh battery. Together with Huawei?s proprietary Quick Power Control (QPC) and Automated Discontinuous Reception (ADRX) battery efficiency technology and fast sharing technology, the HUAWEI Ascend Mate is proof that bigger is better.

"The HUAWEI Ascend Mate breaks barriers to deliver a supercharged entertainment, communication and creative experience for all your personal and professional needs," said Richard Yu, CEO, Huawei Consumer Business Group. "The HUAWEI Ascend Mate is an industry-leading smartphone and showcases our innovation as we continue to make great technology available to more people globally."

HUAWEI Ascend Mate has a screen-to-body ratio of 73% ? the highest in the industry ? which maximizes your viewing pleasure for emails, documents, video or games. The 6.1-inch HD IPS+ LCD screen has a resolution of 1280 x 720 for unsurpassed clarity and color accuracy, and ?Magic Touch? which provides enhanced screen responsiveness even with gloves. The Ascend Mate is slim and stylish, designed to fit comfortably in a single hand at just 6.5mm thin at its narrowest part.

HUAWEI Ascend Mate features a 4050 mAh battery and Huawei?s Hi-Silicon 1.5 GHz quad-core processor. With Huawei?s QPC and ADRX smart power-saving technology, the smartphone provides up to two days of ordinary useage on a single charge. It has the fastest battery charging capability of smartphones in its range, which saves over 30% of battery charging time.

Together with global roaming functionality, the HUAWEI Ascend Mate supports five frequency bands making this smartphone perfect for international travelers. Its dual-antenna design supports high power data transmission and is optimized with maximum ratio combining method, to increase network reception by up to 2.5dB and providing an increase of 20 to 30% of overall network coverage.

Operating on Android 4.1 and featuring an 8.0-megapixel AF rear-facing camera with HDR and 1.0-megapixel HD front-facing camera, HUAWEI Ascend Mate also provides dual MIC noise reduction technology, Dolby? sound system and stereo recording. HUAWEI Ascend Mate features an Augmented Reality navigation application to help reach your destination, ?smart reading? functionality allowing quick reference to dictionaries, Wikipedia and Google Search pages, and ?swift sharing? to upload pictures, videos and other files two- to three-times faster than other smartphone users in a Wi-Fi environment.

Available in crystal black and pure white, the HUAWEI Ascend Mate will be on sale in China in Feburary 2013.

Source: http://www.phonearena.com/news/Huawei-shoots-for-gold-with-6.1-Ascend-Mate---the-largest-screen-smartphone-gets-the-largest-4050-mAh-battery_id38395

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Black holes star in first images of high-energy cosmos

A space telescope has peered through dense dust and gas to produce the first images of the high-energy cosmos. These reveal two blazing black holes and a supernova remnant (see pictures, right).

The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, was launched into Earth orbit on 13 June. It can detect X-ray radiation at energies between 6 and 79 kilo electronvolts, well above the range of NASA's other orbiting telescopes, such as Chandra. Such high-energy radiation can penetrate gas and dust, so NuSTAR sees through the galactic debris that blinds other telescopes.

On 7 January, Fiona Harrison of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, released the telescope's first images at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Long Beach, California.

One image (see picture, right) is of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A, which is about 11,000 light years from us. It shows never-seen-before high-energy X-rays emitted from extremely hot regions and from particles accelerated to within a fraction of the speed of light by the supernova's shock wave.

Bright black holes

NuSTAR also maps the emission of X-rays from the decay of radioactive elements such as titanium-44 in supernova remnants, which can tell us more about the exploding star that formed Cassiopeia A. "The distribution of this material is very sensitive to how the core of the star explodes," Harrison says. "Is it a spherical explosion, is it lopsided, or is it asymmetric?"

She also released NuSTAR images of two astonishingly bright, ultra-luminous black holes (visible as magenta blobs in second image). They were caught spewing out X-rays in the outskirts of spiral galaxy IC 342, which lies 7 million light years away in the Camelopardalis constellation.

These are unlikely to be supermassive black holes, which are also luminous but are found near the centres of galaxies. Instead, they could be intermediate-size black holes a few thousand times the mass of our sun, or black holes that are guzzling matter from a companion starMovie Camera.

"These images have a combination of crispness and sensitivity that is orders of magnitude better than ever made before in this region of the electromagnetic spectrum," says Harrison.

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2012 Smashes Record For Hottest Year In The Lower 48

It's official: 2012 was the hottest year on record for the contiguous United States. In fact, it shattered the record set in 1998. The National Climatic Data Center says last year was also extraordinarily dry ? and drought conditions are persisting into 2013.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/01/08/168898506/2012-smashes-record-for-hottest-year-in-the-lower-48?ft=1&f=1007

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Testimony set to begin in pregnancy drug case

BOSTON (AP) ? Testimony is set to begin in a federal lawsuit brought by four sisters who believe their breast cancer was caused by a drug their mother took during pregnancy in the 1950s.

The case involves a synthetic estrogen known as DES, diethylstilbestrol, which was prescribed to millions of pregnant women between the late 1930s and early 1970s to prevent miscarriages, premature births and other problems. Studies later showed the drug did not prevent miscarriages.

The Melnick sisters, who grew up in Tresckow, Penn., say they all developed breast cancer in their 40s after their mother took DES while pregnant. They say their mother did not take DES while pregnant with a fifth sister, and that sister has not developed breast cancer. They are suing Eli Lilly and Co., seeking unspecified damages.

Opening statements and testimony are expected Tuesday in U.S. District Court.

The sisters' case is the first to go to trial out of scores of similar claims filed in Boston and around the country. A total of 51 women have DES lawsuits pending in Boston against more than a dozen drug companies that made or marketed DES.

The drug companies argue that no firm link has been established between breast cancer and DES. It was eventually taken off the market after it was linked to a rare vaginal cancer in women whose mothers used DES.

Eli Lilly argues in court documents that there is no evidence that the Melnick sisters' mother even took DES. She and her doctor are dead, and the drug company says there are no medical records documenting her treatment. A company spokesman said Eli Lilly believes the claims are without merit and is prepared to defend against them vigorously.

The Melnick sisters were diagnosed with breast cancer between 1997 and 2003 and had treatments ranging from lump-removal surgery to a full mastectomy, radiation and chemotherapy.

The trial is expected to last several weeks.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/testimony-set-begin-pregnancy-drug-case-082106458--finance.html

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9 step BBC Sport 2 Suggestions for Choosing Less expensive ...

Once at an occasion full travel and leisure was basically budget friendly. A large number of concept it's even so very costly and yet likened to the present deals it's not expensive. Nowadays the majority of us analyze driving any where for the reason that simply as confusing for the reason that investing in further residential. Air travel will cost you are actually which means steeply-priced who industry not to mention citizens are switching holiday escapes with the help of staycations not to mention achieving requests. Keep in mind staycations are actually budget friendly not to mention selling price less money all around and yet presently in fact travelling to have fun with the time and effort apart ski inside your home and / or on your clinic when ever important work working at a specific thing pleasure? Remarkably you may still find tips less expensive air travel. Read on to read learn how to lower your costs within your traveling by plane. Travel and leisure dance clubs could help you save profit. There is certainly several advantages towards posting travel and leisure golf iron affiliate. From registering to some travel and leisure golf iron, you'll find it faster and easier to find less expensive residential plane tickets BBC Sport. You furthermore mght pick up several liberties any time you travel and leisure that families pass-up. International airports furnish wonderful lounges for the purpose of individuals. Individuals from numerous travel and leisure dance clubs you shouldn't have even to attend in your customary check-in facial lines. Posting member of some travel and leisure golf iron, keep in mind, isn't actually complimentary. You have got to gauge even if the money necessary association are generally rationalized from how much cash you will put away from registering to. Should it again will save you a higher cost as opposed to you are having to pay, therefore perhaps you should take the plunge not to mention be part of? Presently moving around for the purpose of wonderful problems and / or emergencies Ravens Jerseys Cheap? Promotions owing to critical instances tend to be with airline carriers. Every different airliner seems to have developed completely different desires in relation to these cut price. For some patients, you may have to furnish proof typically the critical. Towards ensure you get typically the cut price, look at certain requirements aided by the airfare factor any time you choose a flights. You definitely must make sure for which you connect some of those desires. Continue being up graded day-to-day within your decided airline ticket Falcons Jerseys Cheap. The right quote potential can be achieved in such a manner Cheap Atlanta Falcons Jerseys. Typically the tickest you possess now bought regularly have misplaced through charge evaluate these products constantly this unique could help you save profit much too. That the charge travels following what we should paid off you can actually gather some discount of this unneeded. If you have had in no way but still procured a airfare purchase as soon as charge becomes an even you could be more comfortable compensating. Progress a airfare might be a sensible way to consider alters prefer cancellations and / or craters. Less expensive residential plane tickets are actually available on the market, most people have to discover it is possible to take a look. You can actually decrease your travel and leisure will cost you somewhat need to make sure a little bit of researching for you to buy your airfare Eagles Jerseys Cheap. Whatever you are actually investing in, an identical is valid. Even if you could be bearing in mind a good solid family car, some cell and / or a particular airfare ticket, you must do pursuit. Travel and leisure presently can be described as pricy industry. Putting money aside concerning travel and leisure will take numerous concept not to mention aware intending. You ought not will need to drained your bank account to try a comedian family trip.

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Kenya sees 5.6 percent economic growth in 2013

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's government expects its economy to expand by 5.6 percent this year, up from about 5 percent in 2012, with growth rising to 6 percent in the medium term, the finance ministry said.

It cited growth in the agriculture sector, which was likely to increase output due to favourable weather, as well as infrastructure projects in transport and energy.

Growing exports to neighbouring countries whose economies are booming and higher consumer demand at home on the back of falling inflation could also boost growth, it said in a Budget Policy Statement seen by Reuters on Tuesday.

Year-on-year inflation, which fell to 3.2 percent last month, was expected to hover at around the government's target of 5 percent over the next few months, barring sudden jumps in prices of oil and other commodities.

The Treasury projected that the current account deficit, which widened to over 10 percent of GDP last year due to growth in imports, would narrow to 5.4 percent by 2015/16 fiscal year.

The budget deficit was set at 4.3 percent of GDP, down from 6.5 percent in this fiscal year. The government uses the Policy statement as a guide for the budget, which will be presented to parliament in June.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kenya-sees-5-6-percent-economic-growth-2013-121312395--business.html

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New Year Resolutions and Change Management | John R Childress ...

change-1

?We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.? ?~Aristotle

After living for over 6 decades, I think I am an expert, or at least experienced enough, in New Year Resolutions. ?As for myself, and I suspect the majority of people around the world, after a month or less, resolutions for change and improvement are long smothered by the weight of previously ingrained habits. ?And habits are powerful forces for a number of reasons, not the least of which is, to most people, habits are invisible. ?We don?t realise we have them, nor do we understand how much of our day-to-day behaviour is driven (dictated) by our habits.

For example: Most men have an habitual way of putting on their trousers. ?One leg always goes in first. ?For me, it is the left leg (I am left-handed after all) then the right leg. Always in this order. ?Don?t ask me why, it?s just a habit. ?But if I consciously decided to try it the other way round, right leg first, then left, it takes great concentration and most of the time, I fall over. ?It?s not just me. ?You try it. ?We have a habit of one leg first when putting on trousers.

Also, if you sit back and cross your arms, there is an habitual way we do this. For me I leadcrossed_arms_by_marivel87-d32fitn with the left arm, which goes over my right arm, with my left wrist under my right bicep. ?Always. ?It?s a habit. ?Go ahead. ?Cross your arms the ?normal? way (for you), then cross then the other way. ?Most people tell me that it feels awkward and uncomfortable to cross their arms the other way round. ?Another habit.

When you stop to think about it, we probably have hundreds of little physical habits that help us get through the day with the least effort and most efficiency. In this case, many of life?s little physical habits are quite useful.

But, when trying to make a change, these little habits can often create significant barriers, especially if they remain at the invisible, or subconscious level. ?Let?s say one of my New Year Resolutions is to wake up earlier and take a 45 minute walk in the morning before my daughter gets up for school. Simple. ?Should be pretty easy.

But unless I become aware of the many habits I have associated with getting up in the joggermorning, my unconscious habits will probably prove stronger than my willpower, especially at 6am on a cold winter morning. The key to success then, is to create new physical habits based on new routines.

For example: ?put all my walking clothes and shoes just at the edge of my bed the night before; move the alarm clock across the room; ?plug my bedside light into a timer set to come on at 6am; have my iPod and headlamp on top of my clothes so I don?t have to search for them; have money in my pocket for a Starbucks coffee at the end of my walk; enlist my wife to give me a good hard shove when the alarm goes off.

All these are process changes to my normal, routine habits of getting up in the morning. ?If you make physical changes that require different behaviours, then unconscious habits can be overcome.

Now, what?s all this got to do with Change Management? ?I think you can see the connection. ?Most change fails because we have new goals and intentions that are up against old ingrained habits.

Much of what we do at work is filled with unconscious habits which have been developed by repeatedly adhering to specific business processes (specific actions steps to accomplish an end result). ?In some cases, the habits continue long after the business process is no longer effective at delivering results. ?The same is true of corporate culture. Much of what we call ?corporate culture? is really a series of physical and mental habits developed by adhering to given business processes and requirements.

bound-with-chainsIt?s nearly impossible break business process habits, mental thought habits or personal physical habits through force of will (or through motivational change workshops). It can be done, but the amount of energy and concentration is large.

The easier way to change business outcomes, and corporate culture, is to install new business processes, reinforce them with recognition and appreciation, and disrupt the old business habits. In a short order of time the new processes will begin to develop new business habits that are more appropriate for the desired outcomes. Here?s a rather dramatic example of culture change.

The first step is to become aware of the habits we have at business that drive daily behaviours, corporate culture, and results.

He who knows why will always win over he who just knows how! ?~Thomas D. Willhite

Tight Lines . . .

john@johnrchildress.com

For over 20 years, John R. Childress was Chief Executive of an international management-consulting firm before retiring to become a novelist. Having written several business books and participated in hundreds of global business assignments, Mr. Childress brings an insider?s understanding of the modern world to his thrillers. ?In 2001 I had the opportunity to ?semi-retire? and so I turned my mind to writing novels. As an American I never was much on history, after all America is not about the past, it?s about the future! Anyway, when I moved into an 11th Century chateau in the south of France I got the history bug and kept wondering why over the centuries we just keep repeating history rather than learning from it. (As you can see I tackle the easy questions).? Educated at Harvard University and the American University of Beirut, he has traveled the world extensively. His writing style is full of intrigue and humor, with exotic locations and an engaging cast of characters. In addition, his works are thought provoking, often probing the darker side of large institutions, corporations and organized religion. A recurring theme in his work is the historical antecedents to modern-day criminal and terrorist activities. ?My novels, whether they be historical thrillers, A Perfect Conspiracy and Pirates Inc., or political thrillers, The Beirut Conspiracy, all have a ?timeless? element to them. I believe that with a deeper insight into historical events, we can better understand the chaos and complexity of the modern world. My fictional novels are all based on real events and situations involving an average individual who gets caught up in a struggle against ruthless criminal organizations. I like to use flash-backs and time-travel techniques to bring historical events into a modern context.?

Source: http://blog.johnrchildress.com/2013/01/07/new-year-resolutions-and-change-management/

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Following AMD & Asus, BlueStacks Strikes Distribution Deal With Lenovo To Bring 750K Android Apps To Its PCs

BlueStacks Logo VerticalThe good news keeps rolling in for BlueStacks, the startup best known for making technology that enables one and all to download and use Android applications on their desktop PCs -- and more recently, their Macs. In anticipation of CES, the company announced today that it has secured a global distribution deal with Chinese PC maker, Lenovo. Lenovo, which some say recently surpassed HP as the largest maker of PCs, now hawks ultrabooks, convertibles and desktops and has been aggressively integrating Windows 8 into its product lines and pushing touch technology upgrades into its laptops. With its new distribution agreement with BlueStacks, Lenovo will begin preloading BlueStacks' software and service in its Idea-branded PCs -- Lenovo's consumer line, which represents about 40 million units.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/CO8ixlR0sF8/

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Indonesian anti-terror squad criticized for deaths

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) ? Indonesia's U.S.-funded police anti-terror squad has killed seven suspected militants in recent days, triggering renewed allegations that the force is not trying to take suspects alive ? a trend that appears to be fueling the very extremism the predominantly Muslim country is trying to counter.

Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar said Sunday that no shots were fired against officers during three related raids Friday and Saturday in eastern Indonesia, but that the suspects in at least one of the locations had explosives that were "ready" to be detonated. He said that officers from the anti-terror squad, known as Densus 88, had followed procedures because the suspects were endangering their lives, but gave few details.

Haris Azhar, chairman of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, an independent human rights group, said it appeared that the suspected militants were victims of "extrajudicial killings" and called for an independent investigation. He said Densus 88's tactics were driving militancy because they added to feelings among some Muslims that they were under siege.

"I'm worried about the deteriorating public sympathy for police who continue to use violence," he said, alleging that some suspects in the past have been shot in front of their children. "There has never been any evaluation of Densus' actions. It seems the police brutality has contributed to the growing of terrorism."

Indonesia has struggled against militants seeking a Muslim state since its independence from Dutch colonial rule in 1945.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, some of the militants came under the influence of al-Qaida while waging jihad in Afghanistan. On their return to Indonesia, they carried out four major bombings against foreign targets between 2002 and 2009.

Densus 88 was established after the first of those attacks ? the 2002 bombings on the resort island of Bali that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists ? with American and Australian financial and technical assistance, which it still receives. It has been instrumental in the arrests of hundreds of militants over the last 10 years and is credited with reducing the threat of further attacks on Western interests in the country. Small groups of militants, however, have continued to attack police officers and Christians.

Since the squad's establishment, Densus officers have killed more than 70 suspects. Like in other countries, some Indonesian militants have blown themselves up when police officers have approached them and show a willingness to go down fighting, making apprehending them especially dangerous. Police figures show that militants killed 10 officers in 2012 in incidents around the country.

"They are different to conventional criminals," Amar said. "We can't take any risks because they will show no hesitation to kill law enforcers."

Taufik Andrie, research director for the Institute for International Peace Building, said it appeared that police officers hunting down militants suspected of being involved in the murder of their colleagues were not interested in taking prisoners.

"It is a cycle of violence, with each side looking for revenge," Andrie said. "There is a suspicion that some policemen are of the mind that the best kind of de-radicalization is through killing people."

Indonesia has won praise for arresting and convicting terrorists through its legal system. It executed three militants convicted in the Bali bombings and sentenced many others to long prison sentences. But there has been a high level of recidivism, and the country's counter-extremism and de-radicalization programs have been patchily carried out with limited success.

The way in which the killings by Densus 88 are used to rally support for extremism was on display Sunday at a public meeting of radicals in Jakarta, Indonesia's capital. While those present didn't need fresh reasons to despise or distrust the state, speakers held up the killings of the seven suspects as just the latest example of police brutality.

"Oh, Allah, they have killed your servants, so destroy them," said Son Hadi, from Jama'ah Ansharut Tauhid, a radical group whose members have been accused of supporting terrorism but remain free to organize. "Beware of this war on Islam."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/indonesian-anti-terror-squad-criticized-deaths-152117245.html

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