Can the Government Really Ban Twitter Parody Accounts?

Arizona is entertaining a law that will make it a felony to use another person's real name to make an  Internet profile intended to "harm, defraud, intimidate or threaten," which to some sounds like a law against parody Twitter accounts. The legislation, if passed, would make Arizona one of a few states, including New York, California, Washington and Texas, to enact anti-online-impersonation laws. If these regulations seek to put a stop to fake representations online, that does sound like the end of fake celebrity baby accounts and Twitter death hoaxes. Then again, these laws have existed in these other places for years, and that hasn't stopped the faux accounts from coming in. So what then does this mean?
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What kind of stuff is the law intended to prosecute?
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The law does not say that all uses of another person's real name can be charged as a felony, but only profiles made for the more nefarious purposes fall into that territory. The legislation is  targeted at more serious forms of impersonation, like cyber bullying. Two Texas teens were arrested and charged under this law for creating a fake Facebook page to ruin a peer's reputation, for example. Or, the case of Robert Dale Esparza Jr. who created a fake profile of his son's vice principal on a porn site might fall under this law, suggests The Arizona Republic's Alia Beard Rau. Or, in one of the cases brought to court under the Texas version of this law, an Adam Limle created websites that portrayed a woman he used to date as a prostitute. (The case was eventually dropped because of a geographical loophole. Limle lived in Ohio, not Texas.)
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Okay, the harm and threat in those situation is pretty clear. How can it at all apply to something relatively harmless, like a Twitter parody account?
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The term "harm" is pretty vague, as this Texas Law blog explains, referring to that state's version of this legislation, on which Arizona based its own law. "'Harm' can be very broadly construed–one person's joke is another person's harm," writes Houston lawyer Stephanie Stradley.
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So, that could extend to parody accounts then?
Well, possibly. Stradley suggests that politicians who had parody accounts created to mock them might have a case. Some of the impersonation of Texas lawmakers has gone beyond just the jokey fake Twitter handle. Jeffwentworth.com is not the official site for Texas state senator, but rather redirects to the web site of the anti-tax advocate group Empower Texans which considers the San Antonio politician the “the most liberal Republican senator in Austin.” Wentworth told The New York Times this domain squatting amounted to "identity theft," and could be the basis for the law's usage.
The law could also possibly effect sillier parody accounts, suggest privacy advocates. "The problem with this, and other online impersonation bills, is the potential that they could be used to go after parody or social commentary activities," senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation Kurt Opsahl told The Arizona Republic's Alia Beard Rau. "While this bill is written to limit 'intent to harm,' if that is construed broadly, there could be First Amendment problems."
Ok, but what about precedent? Has the law ever applied to a faux Twitter handle?
Twitter has its own parody policy that mitigates a lot of the possible damage that could ever lead to a court case. Saint Louis Cardinals manager Anthony La Russa sued Twitter in 2009 because of a made-up account, but the account was removed before the case went anywhere (And that was before these laws went into effect.)
But it's not clear that parody would ever be considered harmful enough for the law. When California's version went into effect, a first amendment lawyer suggested to SF Weekly's Joe Eskenazi that jokes could go pretty far without prosecution. "You're going to have to have room for satire," he said. The account would have to look fool people, he argued. "A key question is, 'is it credibile?'" asks Simitian. "Do people who read it think it's him?" Because of our increasing skepticism of things on Twitter, unless the site has verified checkmark, it's unlikely that most people believe in a fake account for long. So, unless the imitation tweeter does something extremely harmful to someone's character, it doesn't sound like anyone would have a strong case. Alas, parody Twitter accounts, for better or worse (worse, right?) are here to stay.

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Facebook Making a Phone, Sort Of

Facebook is building a phone right in front of our faces. Maybe not a real phone, but all the apps and features you'd expect one to have.
Facebook has just added a voice message feature to its Messenger app for iOS and Android. Within the app you can now send a recording to your friends. If you've downloaded the new update you can tap the + button next to the box where you input a message, then tap Record, speak your message and then send it off.
But that's only the start of the voice capabilities Facebook is thinking about. In Canada, Facebook is testing live calls using Voice over IP (VoIP) calling similar to Skype. If you have the iPhone app and live in Canada you can tap the "i" button in the corner of the app and tap "Free Call." You can then make a free call to a Facebook friend who is using the same app. You can't call landline or cellphone numbers.
The system can work over 3G and 4G cellular networks, but it's cheaper if you use Wi-Fi. If you are on a cellular network it will eat at your data plan.
Facebook didn't make a big announcement about the services, but it's a very big move for the social networking company. While Facebook declined to comment on whether it would come to the U.S. or if they could charge for the service, it is a step into voice calling for the company. Not only could that be ultimately disruptive for cellular carriers that offer monthly calling packages, it represents an alternative revenue stream for Facebook.
This is just one of many mobile announcements Facebook has made in the past few months. It upgraded both its iPhone and Android apps to make them faster and it released is new Poke app, which destroys messages 10 seconds or less after you look at them.
In addition to its main app and its Poke app, Facebook also has a Facebook Camera app. You'll also recall that Facebook bought Instagram in April 2012.
Rumors of a Facebook branded phone have swirled around for quite a while now. The New York Times and AllThingsD both reported that the company had internal plans to build its own hardware. However, Mark Zuckerberg denied the rumor in July.
"There are a lot of things you can build in other operating systems as well that aren't really taking, that aren't really like building out a whole phone, which wouldn't make much sense for us to do," he said on an earnings call.
That make sense, but with all of its apps and voice calling features, it sure looks like Facebook is playing around with its own phone right in front of our faces.

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NBA-Lakers guard Bryant finally joins Twitter world

Jan 4 (Reuters) - Los Angeles Lakers All-Star guard Kobe Bryant finally succumbed to the social network Twitter when he opened his own verified account on Friday.
"The antisocial has become social #mambatweets," Bryant, who is nicknamed "Black Mamba", said in his first tweet.
Within five hours of his account being open, the 14-time All-Star and five-time NBA champion had attracted nearly 300,000 followers.
One of the most popular players in the game and a regular user of Facebook, Bryant had flirted with Twitter when he briefly took over Nike basketball's account last week.
"You're able to get a lot of great feedback about the game but also about the product as well -- what they thought, what they like, what they didn't like," the 34-year-old told reporters about the benefits of Twitter.

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Lakers guard Bryant finally joins Twitter world

(Reuters) - Los Angeles Lakers All-Star guard Kobe Bryant finally succumbed to the social network Twitter when he opened his own verified account on Friday.
"The antisocial has become social #mambatweets," Bryant, who is nicknamed "Black Mamba", said in his first tweet.
Within five hours of his account being open, the 14-time All-Star and five-time NBA champion had attracted nearly 300,000 followers.
One of the most popular players in the game and a regular user of Facebook, Bryant had flirted with Twitter when he briefly took over Nike basketball's account last week.
"You're able to get a lot of great feedback about the game but also about the product as well -- what they thought, what they like, what they didn't like," the 34-year-old told reporters about the benefits of Twitter.
"It's the best way to gauge reaction."

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Kobe Bryant: I'm on Twitter now

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kobe Bryant is no longer a holdout. He's on Twitter.
With five words — "The antisocial has become social" — the Los Angeles Lakers guard sent the first tweet from his account Friday. About 270,000 people followed his verified account, (at)kobebryant, within a few hours and he was up to 365,000 late Friday night as the Lakers played the Clippers.
Bryant tiptoed into the Twitterverse last week when he briefly took over Nike basketball's account, when he sent out things like a photo of him hanging out with his daughter, an ice bath that he was dreading and even a suit he was wearing to a particular game.
Bryant says those few days made him consider starting his own account, saying he enjoyed connecting with fans "with no filters."
Heat star LeBron James has 6.8 million followers, the most of any NBA player.

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Alliott Group Launches Mobile App

Alliott Group has launched its first mobile application, to expedite communication, news and events with their Members. The Alliott Group ‘Global Membership Directory’ app is optimised for iPhone, iPad and Android

(PRWEB UK) 4 January 2013
Moving away from the printed directory, this app will place all Alliott Group Member firms squarely into the pockets of each other but in also into potential clients pockets. Making the process of referral much swifter and effective.
To heighten a richer experience the app, not only lists the contact details of the individual firms but a plethora of features including up-to-date news, events, comment wall and delegate image gallery, details of the current world wide board, camera and voice recording features, which can be emailed directly to The Alliott Group HQ.

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Egypt commission says Mubarak watched uprising

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's Hosni Mubarak watched the uprising against him unfold through a live TV feed to his palace, despite his later denial that he knew the extent of the protests and crackdown against them, a member of a fact-finding mission said Wednesday. The finding could lead to the retrial of the 84-year-old ousted president, already serving a life sentence.
In questioning for his trial for the deaths of some 900 protesters during the uprising, Mubarak said he was kept in the dark by top aides as to the gravity of the situation and fended off charges that he ordered or knew of the deadly force used against the protesters.
Mubarak was convicted in June of failing to prevent the deaths. But many Egyptians were angered that he was not convicted for ordering or having a direct role in the crackdown.
Ahmed Ragheb, a rights lawyer and a member of the commission, said state TV had designated a coded satellite TV station that fed live material from cameras installed in Tahrir and surrounding areas directly to Mubarak's Palace throughout the 18-days of the uprising.
"Mubarak knew of all the crimes that took place directly. The images were carried to him live, and he didn't even need security reports," Ragheb told The Associated Press. "This entails a legal responsibility" in the violence against the protesters, including the infamous Camel Battle, where men on horses and camel and other Mubarak supporters stormed the square trying to drive protesters out.
At least 11 people are said to be killed in that attack, and some 25 members of the ruling were tried in the case were set free.
The finding came in a 700-page report on protester deaths the past two years, submitted Wednesday to President Mohammed Morsi. Morsi had formed this commission soon after he came to office in June, having promised during his election campaign that he will order new retrials for former regime officials if new evidence were revealed.
The commission also found that security forces and the military used live ammunition in crackdowns on protesters during the 18-day uprising against Mubarak and during the 17 months of rule by the military that followed his Feb. 11, 2011 fall, Ragheb said. The military repeatedly denied it used live ammunition against protesters, despite several deaths caused by bullets and pellets.
Ragheb refused to give specifics, saying revealing the details could undermine the report and top of some of those newly named in it as responsible for deaths.
He told Al-Masry Al-Youm daily that the report recommends summoning hundreds implicated in the killings of protesters for questioning.
The commission's 16 members include judges, rights lawyers, representatives from the Interior Ministry and intelligence, in addition to family members of some of those killed in the protests. The report was based on evidence and testimony collected over five months.
Morsi on Wednesday asked the commission to hand its report to the general prosecutor to investigate its contents to determine what should be done, according to a statement by his office.
The fact that Mubarak was able to monitor events in Tahrir, if established, could lead to him being charged with premeditated murder, said Khaled Abu Bakr, a lawyer who represented some of the victims in the uprising.
"A retrial might add more jail time if new charges appeared, and it could also change the penalty from life sentence to the death penalty," Abu Bakr said.
The case against Mubarak and top aides was very limited in scope, focusing only on the uprising's first few days and two narrow corruption cases. Mubarak and his two sons were acquitted on corruption charges. His former interior minister, Habib el-Adly, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for complicity in the crackdown, while six top security aides were acquitted.
Mubarak's life sentence failed to satisfy many who had called for him to be held responsible for ordering the killing, in addition to years of widespread corruption, police abuse and political wrongdoing under his regime.
The report of military use of live ammunition could be more controversial, since any attempt to try generals for protester deaths would spark a backlash from the powerful military.
The transition period managed by the generals who took over from Mubarak was turbulent. Protests against their management of the transition often included violent crackdowns in which at least 100 people died in clashes between protesters and soldiers. The military often blamed unknown assailants for shooting at protesters. Rights groups have held the military responsible for the violence before. But evidence of their use of live ammunition was rarely available.

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American journalist missing in Syria

BEIRUT (AP) — An American journalist has been missing in Syria since he was kidnapped more than one month ago, his family said Wednesday, less than two years after he was held by government forces in Libya while covering that country's civil war.
The family of James Foley, of Rochester, N.H., said he was kidnapped in northwest Syria by unknown gunmen on Thanksgiving day.
Foley, 39, has worked in a number of conflict zones around the Middle East, including Syria, Libya and Iraq. He was contributing videos to Agence France-Press while in Syria.
Foley's disappearance highlights the risks to reporters seeking to cover the civil war from inside Syria.
The Syrian government rarely gives visas to journalists and often limits the movements of those it allows in. This has prompted a number of reporters to sneak into the country with the rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad. Some have been killed or wounded while others have disappeared.
Foley and another journalist were working in the northern province of Idlib when they were kidnapped near the village of Taftanaz on November 22. He had entered Syria a short time earlier.
Media outlets refrained from reporting on Foley's kidnapping until his family released its statement. The other reporter's family has requested that that reporter's name not be made public.
Foley's family said they have not heard from him since.
"We want Jim to come safely home, or at least we need to speak with him to know he's OK," said his father, John Foley, in the online statement. "Jim is an objective journalist and we appeal for the release of Jim unharmed. To the people who have Jim, please contact us so we can work together toward his release."
The Chairman of Agence France-Press, Emmanuel Hoog, said in a statement that the news agency was doing all it could to get Foley released.
"James is a professional journalist who has remained totally neutral in this conflict," Hoog said. "His captors, whoever they may be, must release him immediately."
In April 2011, Foley and two other reporters were detained by government forces in Libya while covering that country's civil war. They were released six weeks later. South African photographer Anton Hammerl was shot during their capture and left to die in the desert.
"I'll regret that day for the rest of my life. I'll regret what happened to Anton," Foley told The Associated Press at the time. "I will constantly analyze that."
The U.N. said Wednesday that more than 60,000 people have been killed since the start of Syria's conflict in March 2011. This number represents a large jump from death tolls previously given by anti-regime activists.
The Committee to Protect Journalists said that Syria was the most dangerous country in the world for journalists in 2012, when 28 reporters were killed.
Those who lost their lives include award-winning French TV reporter Gilles Jacquier, photographer Remi Ochlik and Britain's Sunday Times correspondent Marie Colvin. Also, Anthony Shadid, a correspondent for The New York Times, died after an apparent asthma attack while on assignment in Syria.
Last month, NBC correspondent Richard Engel and his crew were detained by pro-regime gunmen near where Foley was kidnapped. After his release, Engels said they escaped unharmed during a firefight between their captors and anti-regime rebels.

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Algerian forces kill 2 Islamist insurgents

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Algerian security forces killed two radical Islamist insurgents on Wednesday in the same locality east of the capital where seven were killed a day earlier.
The official APS news agency quoted an unidentified security source as saying army troops on a search operation killed the two guerrillas in Boulzazene in the Boumerdes region, 70 kilometers (45 miles) east of Algiers.
Algeria has been fighting a years-long battle with al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, which uses the Kabyle region, near Boumerdes, as its headquarters.
The Defense Ministry said in a rare statement Tuesday that seven insurgents had been killed and arms, ammunition and medicine recovered.
In recent years, AQIM is noted more for its reach into the Sahel region with kidnappings and its takeover of parts of northern Mali, which borders Algeria.
Algeria's government said Wednesday that contacts to free several Algerian diplomats who were taken hostage in April by another radical Islamist group in northern Mali are continuing. Foreign Ministry spokesman Amar Belani told the official APS news agency that contacts "with various channels" are taking place.
However, he wouldn't comment on a video apparently showing two of the diplomats asking President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to "answer the demands" of captors "so we can return safe and sound." The authenticity of the video, dated in November and released by the Mauritanian agency alakhbar.info, couldn't be confirmed.
Seven diplomats were taken from the Algerian Consulate in Gao, Mali, on April 5, by the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa, or MUJAO, one of two radical groups controlling the north. Three were freed in July. The reported execution of one in September hasn't been officially confirmed.

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UN says more than 60,000 dead in Syrian civil war

BEIRUT (AP) — The United Nations gave a grim new count Wednesday of the human cost of Syria's civil war, saying the death toll has exceeded 60,000 in 21 months — far higher than recent estimates by anti-regime activists.
The day's events illustrated the escalating violence that has made recent months the deadliest of the conflict: As rebels pressed a strategy of attacking airports and pushing the fight closer to President Bashar Assad's stronghold in Damascus, the government responded with deadly airstrikes on restive areas around the capital.
A missile from a fighter jet hit a gas station in the suburb of Mleiha, killing or wounding dozens of people who were trapped in burning piles of debris, activists said.
Gruesome online video showed incinerated victims — one still sitting astride a motorcycle — or bodies torn apart.
"He's burning! The guy is burning!" an off-camera voice screamed in one video over a flaming corpse.
It was unclear if the government had a military strategy for attacking the gas station. At least one of the wounded wore a military-style vest often used by rebel fighters. Human rights groups and anti-regime activists say Assad's forces often make little effort to avoid civilian casualties when bombing rebel areas.
Syria's conflict began in March 2011 with protests calling for political change but has evolved into a full-scale civil war.
As the rebels have grown more organized and effective, seizing territory in the north and establishing footholds around Damascus, the government has stepped up its use of airpower, launching daily airstrikes. The escalating violence has sent the death toll soaring.
The U.N.'s new count of more than 60,000 deaths since the start of the conflict is a third higher than recent estimates by anti-regime activists. One group, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, says more than 45,000 people have been killed. Other groups have given similar tolls.
"The number of casualties is much higher than we expected, and is truly shocking," U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said in a statement.
She criticized the government for inflaming the conflict by cracking down on peaceful protests and said rebel groups, too, have killed unjustifiably. Acts by both sides could be considered war crimes, she said.
She also faulted world powers for not finding a way to stop the violence.
"The failure of the international community, in particular the Security Council, to take concrete actions to stop the bloodletting shames us all," Pillay said. "Collectively, we have fiddled at the edges while Syria burns."
The U.S. and many European and Arab nations have demanded that Assad step down, while Russia, China and Iran have criticized calls for regime change.
The new death toll was compiled by independent experts commissioned by the U.N. human rights office who compared 147,349 killings reported by seven different sources, including the Syrian government.
After removing duplicates, they had a list of 59,648 individuals killed between the start of the uprising on March 15, 2011, and Nov. 30, 2012. In each case, the victim's first and last name and the date and location of death were known. Killings in December pushed the number past 60,000, she said.
The total death toll is likely to be even higher because incomplete reports were excluded, and some killing may not have been documented at all.
"There are many names not on the list for people who were quietly shot in the woods," Pillay's spokesman Rupert Colville told The Associated Press.
The data did not distinguish among soldiers, rebels or civilians.
It indicated that the pace of killing has accelerated. Monthly death tolls in summer 2011 were around 1,000. A year later, they had reached about 5,000 per month.
Most of the killings were in the province of Homs, followed by the Damascus suburbs, Idlib, Aleppo, Daraa and Hama. At least three-fourths of the victims were male.
Pillay warned that thousands more could die or be injured, and she said the danger could continue even after the war.
"We must not compound the existing disaster by failing to prepare for the inevitable — and very dangerous — instability that will occur when the conflict ends," she said.
The U.N. refugee agency said about 84,000 people fled Syria in December alone, bringing the total number of refugees to about a half-million. Many more are displaced inside Syria.
While no one expects the war to end soon, international sanctions and rebel advances are eroding Assad's power. Rebels recently have targeted two pillars of his strength: his control of the skies and his grip on Damascus.
Rebels in northern Syria attacked a government helicopter base near the village of Taftanaz in Idlib province, activists said. Videos posted online showed them blasting targets inside the airport with heavy machine guns mounted on trucks.
All videos appeared genuine and corresponded with other AP reporting on the events.
In recent weeks, rebels have attacked three other airports in north Syria. They clashed Wednesday with forces inside the Mannagh military airport near the Turkish border as well as near the Aleppo international airport and adjacent Nerab military airport, halting air traffic there for the second straight day.
The fall of those airports to the rebels would embarrass the regime but not fully stop the airstrikes by government jets, many of which come from bases farther south.
In another blow to the regime and to Syria's economy, a company based in the Philippines that handled shipping containers at Syria's largest port said it was canceling its contract, citing an "untenable, hostile and dangerous business environment."
The Manila-based International Container Terminal Services Inc. said the amount of port traffic had gone down, hurting business, while conditions in Syria grew more dangerous.
The company's departure will significantly limit cargo services at the Tartus port.
Also, Wednesday, the family of American journalist James Foley revealed that he has been missing in Syria for more than a month. Foley was providing video for Agence France-Press when he was abducted Nov. 22 by unknown gunmen, his family said in a statement.
"His captors, whoever they may be, must release him immediately," said AFP chairman Emmanuel Hoog.
Covering Syria has been a challenge for journalists. The government rarely gives visas to journalists, prompting some to sneak in with the rebels, often at great danger.

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Egypt panel implicates Mubarak, military in deaths

CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian fact-finding mission determined that Hosni Mubarak watched the uprising against him unfold through a live TV feed at his palace, despite his later denial that he knew the extent of the protests and crackdown against them, a member of the mission said Wednesday.
The mission's findings increase pressure for a retrial of the 84-year old ousted president, who is already serving a life sentence for the deaths of 900 protesters. But its report could hold both political gains and dangers for his successor, Mohammed Morsi. A new prosecution of Mubarak would be popular, since many Egyptians were angered that he was convicted only for failing to stop the killing of protesters, rather than for ordering the crackdown.
But the report also implicates the military and security officials in protester deaths. Any move to prosecute them could spark a backlash from powerful generals and others who still hold positions under Morsi's government.
Rights activists said they would watch carefully how aggressively Morsi pursues the evidence, detailed by a fact-finding mission he commissioned.
"This report should be part of the democratic transformation of Egypt and restructuring of security agencies," Ahmed Ragheb, a member of the commission and a rights lawyer, told The Associated Press. "At the end of the day, there will be no national reconciliation without revealing the truth, and ensuring accountability."
Morsi, an Islamist from the Muslim Brotherhood, asked the commission to send the report to the chief prosecutor Talaat Abdullah to investigate new evidence, his office said Wednesday.
Morsi recently appointed Abdullah to replace a Mubarak holdover who many considered an obstacle to strongly prosecuting former regime officials. Some judges criticized the appointment as a political move to continue to wield leverage over the prosecutor post.
The case will be a test whether Abdullah will conduct a thorough process of holding officials responsible. Some rights activists were already disappointed that Morsi didn't empower the fact-finding commission itself to turn the investigations into prosecutions and avoid political influence.
The 700-page report on protester deaths the past two years was submitted Wednesday to Morsi by the commission, made up of judges, rights lawyers, and representatives from the Interior Ministry and the intelligence, as well as families of victims.
Morsi formed the commission soon after coming to office in June as Egypt's first freely elected president after campaign promises to order retrials of former regime figures if new evidence was revealed.
The trial of Mubarak and other figures from his regime left the public deeply unconvinced justice was done. The prosecution was limited in scope, focusing only on the first few days of the 18-day uprising and on two narrow corruption cases. Lawyers have since criticized the case as shoddy, based mainly on evidence collected by battered and widely hated police in the days following the uprising.
In the verdicts last summer, Mubarak and his two sons were acquitted on corruption charges. His former interior minister was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for complicity in the crackdown, while six top security aides were acquitted for lack of evidence.
Mubarak was convicted to a life sentence of failing to prevent the deaths of protesters during the uprising, which ended with his fall on Feb. 11, 2011. Many Egyptians believed he should have been held responsible for ordering the killings, in addition to widespread corruption, police abuse and political wrongdoing under his regime.
One key new finding by the commission was that Mubarak closely monitored the crackdown.
Ragheb said state TV had designated an encrypted satellite TV station that fed live material from cameras installed in and around Tahrir Square directly to Mubarak's palace throughout clashes between protesters and security forces.
"Mubarak knew of all the crimes that took place directly. The images were carried to him live, and he didn't even need security reports," said Ragheb. "This entails a legal responsibility" in the violence against the protesters, including the infamous Camel Battle, where men on horses and camel and other Mubarak supporters stormed Tahrir.
At least 11 people are said to have been killed in that attack, and some 25 former ruling party members tried in the case were acquitted.
In questioning for his trial, Mubarak said he was kept in the dark by top aides as to the gravity of the situation, and fended off charges that he ordered or knew of the deadly force.
Khaled Abu Bakr, another lawyer who represented some of the victims in the uprising, said a retrial could "add more jail time if new charges appeared, and it could also change the penalty from life sentence to the death penalty."
More politically explosive is the commission's look at the 17 months of military rule after Mubarak's fall, when activists protesting the generals' conduct of the transition clashed repeated with security forces in violence that killed at least 100 protesters.
The report clearly established that security officials and the military used live ammunition against protesters during the transition and the anti-Mubarak uprising, Ragheb said.
The military repeatedly denied firing live ammunition, despite several protesters killed by bullets and pellets and despite reports by rights groups holding the army responsible.
The report established that at least one of nearly 70 missing since the uprising was tortured and died in a military prison, said Ragheb. It also details abuse by military and security officers in the days following Mubarak's ouster, including the beating and abusing of women protesters and the conducting of "virginity tests" to intimidate and humiliate them.
Ragheb refused to give further specifics. The report was not made public. But he told Al-Masry Al-Youm daily thatit recommends summoning hundreds for questioning in protester killings.
Several rights activists raised concerns that findings implicating any military officials or security figures in the current Interior Ministry will be ignored.
"There is every reason for Morsi and the prosecutor general he appointed to act on the findings and make sure they are translated into prompt prosecution," said Hossam Bahgat, a human rights lawyer from the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights.
"It will be a major embarrassment not to do anything," he said, adding that it would also be "clear evidence" of what many believe to be an agreement by Morsi to grant immunity to military leaders for any alleged crimes during their rule.
Morsi appointed the latest commission at a time when his relations with the generals were rough. Just before officially transferring rule to Morsi, the military had issued a decree stripping the presidency of most of its powers.
After barely a month in office, Morsi pushed out the top generals who ruled during the transition and reclaimed his powers. His move brought no protest from the military, which many took as a sign of a backroom deal.
Gamal Eid, a lawyer who has represented protester families, pointed out that prosecutors and the court ignored a previous fact-finding mission that established evidence that could have been more incriminating.
Heba Morayef, a researcher with Human Rights Watch in Egypt, said a "protect the revolution" law recently issued by Morsi providing for new investigations into protester killings made no mention of the commission, meaning its findings were not binding and could be ignored.
"It is a wasted opportunity," she said. "Without a clear implementing mechanism, you leave room for political compromise at the expense of accountability."

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AP source: Pirates, Red Sox near deal for Hanrahan

The Boston Red Sox are pursuing another burly right-hander to shore up their bullpen.
A person familiar with the talks said the Red Sox and Pirates are close to completing a trade that would send All-Star closer Joel Hanrahan to Boston for a handful of prospects.
Pittsburgh would ship Hanrahan and another player to the Red Sox in exchange for four players, including outfielder-first baseman Jerry Sands and minor league pitcher Stolmy Pimentel. The person spoke on condition of anonymity Saturday because the trade was pending physicals and had not been finalized.
The deal was previously reported by several media outlets.
The 31-year-old Hanrahan has been one of baseball's best closers the last two years, saving 76 games from 2011-12 and making the NL All-Star team in both seasons. He made $4,135,000 this year and is eligible for arbitration, putting him in line for a hefty raise.
The 6-foot-4, 250-pound Hanrahan and his 96 mph fastball gave the Pirates stability at the back end of the bullpen after he took over the closer's role full-time in 2011. He helped the Pirates post a 22-game improvement from 2010 to 2012. Pittsburgh went 79-83 this year, tied for the franchise's best record in two decades — though it was still the team's 20th straight losing season.
Jason Grilli, re-signed by the Pirates this month, would likely step into the closer role next year.
The Red Sox hope Hanrahan will be able to give their beleaguered bullpen an identity. Boston slumped to a 69-93 record in 2012 thanks in part to a bullpen that struggled after closer Jonathan Papelbon left for Philadelphia in free agency. Fill-in Alfredo Aceves went 2-10 with a 5.36 ERA and eight blown saves in 33 chances as the Red Sox finished last in the AL East.
Hanrahan would team with 28-year-old righty Andrew Bailey to give the Red Sox a potent 1-2 punch in the late innings. Bailey was expected to be the closer last season but he missed most of the year with an injury. He finished 1-1 with six saves and a 7.04 ERA in 19 games for the Red Sox after spending 2009-11 as the closer in Oakland.
The move could also be a one-year experiment if the Red Sox don't sign Hanrahan to a new contract. He can become a free agent after the 2013 season.
The Pirates would get a potential slugger in the 25-year-old Sands, who hit 296 with 26 home runs and 107 RBIs at Triple-A last season. He came to the Red Sox in a trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers and his bat and versatility could make Pittsburgh first baseman-outfielder Garrett Jones expendable. Jones hit a career-high 27 home runs in 2012, when he made $2.25 million, and he will be eligible for arbitration after next season. The Pirates already have a first baseman in place in Gaby Sanchez, who came over in a trade with the Miami Marlins last season.
The proposed trade caps a busy few days for the Pirates, who have agreed in principal to sign former Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox left-hander Francisco Liriano. The $14 million, two-year deal is pending a physical.
Liriano would give Pittsburgh four experienced starters heading into 2013, joining A.J. Burnett, Wandy Rodriguez and James McDonald. The 29-year-old Liriano is 53-54 with a 4.40 ERA in seven major league seasons. He went 6-12 with a 5.34 ERA in 2012 while splitting the season between the Twins and White Sox.

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Ross, Diamondbacks agree to $26 million, 3-yr deal

 Cody Ross and the Arizona Diamondbacks agreed to a $26 million, three-year contract Saturday that includes a club option for 2016.
Ross, who turns 32 on Sunday and lives in nearby Scottsdale, adds to the abundance of outfielders on the Arizona roster, leading to speculation a trade might be coming. Ross batted .267 with 22 home runs and 81 RBIs last season for the Boston Red Sox. He's a .267 career hitter in nine big league seasons with six teams.
"Could not be happier to be in the Dbacks family! Truly Blessed!" Ross posted on his Twitter account.
The addition gives the Diamondbacks four veteran outfielders — Ross, Justin Upton, Gerardo Parra and Jason Kubel — along with two youngsters the organization has deemed ready for the majors: Adam Eaton and A.J. Pollock.
That would indicate a trade could be in the works, with Kubel the center of that speculation. In his first season with Arizona last year, the left-handed slugger hit .253 with 30 home runs and 90 RBIs. He was hitting .300 on July 22 but batted .176 with 19 RBIs the rest of the season.
Ross, who throws left-handed and bats right-handed, was a fourth-round draft pick of Detroit out of Carlsbad, N.M., High School in 1999. He had brief major league stints with the Tigers, Los Angeles Dodgers and Cincinnati before becoming a full-time big leaguer with the Florida Marlins.
Ross was claimed by San Francisco off waivers in August 2010 and was MVP of that year's NL championship series, hitting .350 with three home runs and five RBIs against Philadelphia. He also homered against Texas in the World Series and batted .294 (15 for 51) with five homers, five doubles and 10 RBIs in 15 postseason games for the champion Giants.
He committed one error in each of the last two seasons.
The Diamondbacks also announced that infielder Gustavo Nunez cleared waivers and was returned to Detroit, opening a spot for Ross on the 40-man roster. Nunez was claimed off waivers from Pittsburgh in October after the Pirates selected him from the Tigers in the 2011 Rule 5 draft.

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AP source: Ibanez, Mariners agree to $2.75M deal

 Raul Ibanez and the Seattle Mariners have agreed to a $2.75 million, one-year contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Saturday night.
The deal allows Ibanez to earn an additional $1.25 million in performance bonuses, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the agreement had not been announced.
Ibanez returns to the team he began his big league career with from 1996-00, then rejoined from 2004-08.
Now 40, Ibanez spent the past season with the New York Yankees and became popular with fans for his late-game home runs. He had hoped to remain with New York, but the Yankees have moved slowly during the offseason.
Ibanez hit .240 with 19 homers and 62 RBIs in 384 at-bats, his pull swing making him a natural for the short right-field porch at Yankee Stadium. He batted just .197 with five RBIs in 61 at-bats against left-handers.
Including the playoffs, Ibanez hit five home runs that tied the score for the Yankees and eight that put New York ahead, according to STATS. He homered twice after entering as a pinch hitter on Sept. 22 in a 10-9, 14-inning win over Oakland. And with New York fighting for the AL East title, he delivered a tying, pinch-hit homer against Boston in the ninth on Oct. 2 and then singled in the winning run in the 12th.
Then in Game 3 of the division series against Baltimore, he became the first player in major league history to homer twice in a postseason game he didn't start. He pinch-hit for Alex Rodriguez in the ninth inning and hit a tying home run, then hit a winning shot in the 12th.
Three days later his two-run homer in a four-run ninth inning tied the AL championship series opener against Detroit, a game the Yankees lost 6-4 in 12 innings as the Tigers started their way to a four-game sweep.
Ibanez had a $1.1 million base salary last season and earned another $2.05 million in performance bonuses.
He joins a Seattle team that added power-hitting Kendrys Morales earlier in the week in a trade that sent left-hander Jason Vargas to the Los Angeles Angels. Former Yankees prospect Jesus Montero started 77 games at designated hitter last season for the Mariners and 55 behind the plate, so Ibanez's acquisition by the Mariners could make catcher John Jaso expendable. Jaso made 39 starts behind the plate and 44 at DH.
In 17 major league seasons that also included time with Kansas City (2001-03) and Philadelphia (2009-11), Ibanez has a .278 career average with 271 home runs and 1,116 RBIs.
With Ichiro Suzuki likely to see most of his time in a corner outfield spot because New York hasn't attempted to re-sign Nick Swisher, Ibanez's departure leaves the Yankees searching for a left-handed bat for a part-time designated hitter role. New York's priority before filling that spot appears to be a right-handed bat because Andruw Jones left for Rakuten in Japan after a subpar season and all three starting outfielders — Suzuki, Curtis Granderson and Brett Gardner — are left-handed hitters.
Ibanez's deal was negotiated by agents Sam and Seth Levinson.

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AP source: Swisher, Tribe reach $56M, 4-year deal

 The Indians' pitch to bring Nick Swisher "home" worked.
Two people familiar with the negotiations said Swisher has agreed to a $56 million, four-year contract with the Indians, who used the free agent outfielder's deep Ohio connections to convince him to join the club. The people spoke on condition of anonymity Sunday because Swisher must take a physical before the deal can be finalized. The Indians are expected to announce Swisher's signing after Christmas, one of the people said.
The Indians will not comment until Swisher completes his physical.
"Wow! What a crazy few weeks," Swisher said on Twitter. "Hey Cleveland! Are you ready? Because I'm coming home!"
Swisher's deal includes a $14 million option for 2017 that could become guaranteed based on plate appearances the previous year.
Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis was excited about the club's newest addition.
"Welcome to the Tribe (at)nickswisher, pumped to get ya," Kipnis tweeted.
The 32-year-old Swisher spent the last four seasons with the New York Yankees, taking advantage of the short right-field porch at Yankee Stadium. A switch-hitter, Swisher hit .272 this season with 24 homers and 93 RBIs.
Swisher will fill an outfield hole for the Indians, who traded Shin-Soo Choo to Cincinnati. Swisher will play right, with recently acquired Drew Stubbs likely taking over in center with Michael Brantley shifting from center to left field.
Swisher, who was born in Columbus and played at Ohio State, visited the Indians earlier in the week. The club used Swisher's ties with the Buckeyes to convince him to join a team that won just 68 games last season following an historic collapse in August.
During his tour of Progressive Field, Swisher watched a video presentation on the stadium's giant scoreboard that featured messages from current Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer and basketball coach Thad Matta, who urged him to sign with the Indians. Later, Swisher and his wife, actress JoAnna Garcia, had lunch with former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel, who was at the school when Swisher played there.
Swisher's signing is a significant win for the Indians, who have been in the market for an outfielder throughout the offseason. During the winter meetings in Nashville, Tenn., they offered Shane Victorino a $44 million, four-year contract before he agreed to a $39 million, three-year deal with Boston.
Seattle, Texas and Boston were believed to be interested in Swisher, an All-Star in 2010 who was regarded as the second-best free agent hitter this offseason behind Josh Hamilton. The Indians have been desperate to add power and Swisher, who has hit at least 22 homers in each of the past seven seasons, will bolster the middle of new manager Terry Francona's lineup.
Swisher's value may have been damaged by several poor postseasons with the Yankees. He batted .162 in the postseason for New York with seven RBIs and 38 strikeouts in 130 at-bats.
Swisher spent four seasons with Oakland and one with the Chicago White Sox before joining the Yankees.
The Indians will lose their second-round pick in next year's amateur draft as compensation for signing Swisher, and the Yankees will get an extra selection following the first round.
It's been a busy offseason for Indians general manager Chris Antonetti, who is trying to fix a team that has lost at least 93 games in three of the past four seasons.
Antonetti fired manager Manny Acta and replaced him with Francona, the former Boston manager who has spent the past few weeks meeting with his new players. Antonetti also signed free agent first baseman Mark Reynolds and was part of a three-team, nine-player deal that sent Choo to the Reds for Stubbs and brought Cleveland prized pitching prospect Trevor Bauer from Arizona.
The signing of Swisher will take some pressure of Antonetti, who has been criticized by fans for several moves in recent years.
His agreement was first reported by the New York Daily News.
Now that they've landed Swisher, the Indians are expected to focus on improving their starting pitching. The club agreed to terms with left-hander Scott Kazmir to a minor league deal this week, pending a physical. The Indians still need to add a designated hitter and there remains interest in Travis Hafner, who was limited to just 66 games last season because of injuries and remains an unsigned free agent.

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Baseball: Indians sign Swisher to four-year, $56 million deal

 Free agent outfielder Nick Swisher has agreed to a four-year, $56 million contract with the Cleveland Indians, Major League Baseball's website said on Sunday.
The deal, which is pending a physical, makes the 32-year-old Swisher the highest paid free agent ever signed by the Indians, who are trying to recover from a 94-loss season in 2012.
Swisher, who spent the past four seasons with the New York Yankees, hit .272 with 93 runs batted in and 24 home runs while playing in 148 games last season.
"Hey Cleveland! Are you ready? Because I'm coming home!" Swisher, an Ohio native, wrote on his Twitter account.
Cleveland had the second worst record in the American League last season at 68-94 and hired former Red Sox skipper Terry Francona to manage the club and signed slugger Mark Reynolds to play first base earlier this postseason.

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