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Ariz. police officer's Obama photo prompts probe (AP)

2012-01-28T00:21:00.001-08:00

PHOENIX ? The Secret Service says it's investigating a Peoria, Ariz., police sergeant who posted a photo on Facebook that shows a bullet-riddled T-shirt with the image of President Barack Obama.

The federal agency tells The Arizona Republic (http://bit.ly/zuEb5J) that a citizen brought the photo to its attention and an "appropriate follow-up" is being conducted.

Peoria police say Sgt. Pat Shearer is a 25-year veteran who remains on active duty, but he also faces an internal investigation into the matter.

The photo shows seven young men. Four of them are posing with weapons and one is holding the T-shirt. It was posted five days before Obama's visit to Chandler on Wednesday but has since been removed from Shearer's page.

A telephone message left for Shearer at work Friday wasn't immediately returned.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_peoria_policeman_obama_photo

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Davos leaders look to China's investments abroad (AP)

2012-01-27T07:01:00.001-08:00

DAVOS, Switzerland ? Chinese investors are trying to follow the rules when spending money abroad, the head of one of China's biggest private equity firms said Thursday, as global leaders increasingly look to the country to prop up the world economy.

Worries that Europe's slowdown would hurt stronger economies are overshadowing discussions at this week's World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos. Attention turned Thursday to how China can help, even as some remain wary about its growing dominance.

John Zhao, CEO of Hony Capital, said foreign prejudice about Chinese investments is unfair, but acknowledged that some companies are still learning a game that much of the world has been playing for decades.

Chinese companies and government funds have been using vast reserves of cash to buy up foreign companies and invest in foreign government bonds in recent years. But with billions of dollars in Chinese investments pouring into their countries, some governments have accused China of seeking to exploit the economic weakness of others to grab valuable natural and technological resources at rock bottom prices.

The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has also repeatedly accused China of breaking global trade rules by giving unfair protection to its companies and domestic workers.

"The vast majority of Chinese companies are trying to follow the rules as they understand it," said Zhao, whose company controls PC maker Lenovo, which bought IBM's computer division in 2005. "But many Chinese companies are still trying to learn the rules."

The director general of the World Trade Organization, Pascal Lamy, said China will continue to face "public perception problems" from its investments abroad.

"We will see in the years to come, as China's investments grow and grow. ... We will have the same sort of political turbulences as we have had on trade for the last 10 years," he said.

One way for China to ease the rest of the world's fears about its extravagant corporate shopping sprees is be more open about its vast poverty problem at home, said Lamy.

"In order for this to result in a win-win game a number of public perception issues have to be addressed," he said.

Nasdaq CEO Robert Greifeld reminded listeners that China's companies aren't the only ones with a reputation problem.

"We in the Western world have had a long tradition of corporate misdeeds," he said, citing Enron in the United States and Parmalat of Italy ? both of which collapsed after years of hiding massive holes in their accounts.

Yale President Richard C. Levin suggested the rest of the world could be grateful for China's investment interest, as eventually the country of over 1 billion people will have to start spending more of its cash on problems at home, including the lack of proper social security for an aging population.

"Some fraction of these trillions could be used domestically," he said.

The head of the Asian Development Bank said Asia has already been affected by the ongoing European financial crisis in two ways ? through the withdrawal of credit in Asia by many European banks and financial institutions and a drop in trade, which will impact China because Europe is its largest export market.

"I really hope that the European financial crisis can be overcome," Haruhiko Kuroda said in an interview with The Associated Press.

The Davos forum, where business and political leaders gather every year in an invitation-only event, is under growing criticism by those who feel it's too removed from the real world.

Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and other leaders brought any sense of euphoria crashing back down to earth, appealing for the millions of people who do not have enough food to eat.

"The world can feed itself. Africa can feed itself. The problem is we have vulnerable populations who do not have access," Okonjo-Iweala said.

Malnourished people, particularly kids, are more susceptible to dying from malaria and other diseases in Africa, said Microsoft founder Bill Gates, whose philanthropy has mainly focused on promoting health.

Gates also rode to the rescue of a beleaguered health fund by pledging $750 million to fight three of world's killer diseases. A donor backlash over losses at the Geneva-based Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria forced it to cancel more than $1 billion in new spending last year. The fund's executive director said Tuesday he is resigning.

Leaders at the Davos forum are looking later Thursday at challenges to democratic institutions around the world, including protest movements such as Occupy Wall Street.

Activists from Occupy Davos are camping out in igloos and yurts to call attention to income inequality.

"With 50 million people going below the poverty line, and over 200 million becoming unemployed with the recent crisis, it's stopped being a question of hardship and starting to become an issue of human rights violations," said Salil Shetty, the secretary-general of Amnesty International.

"This is a man-made crisis and the people who have caused the crisis, many of whom are in Davos, should be held to account," he told The Associated Press.

___

John Heilprin and Edith M. Lederer in Davos contributed to this story.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_davos_forum

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Do it yourself Automotive Repair Task How to Solve a Stinky ...

2012-01-26T17:56:00.001-08:00

When I was a cash very poor university pupil, there were a whole lot of automotive servicing and repair service careers I needed to learn how to do myself. I can adjust my own oil, install new brakes and in some cases solve leaks. Despite the fact that I now pay yankeesprospects an individual to do most of individuals careers, there?s a handful of automotive repair service jobs I nevertheless go for to do by myself. My latest experience using a stinky air conditioner in my automotive gave me an excuse to dust off my automotive repair service abilities. Right here is how I fixed my stinky automotive air conditioner. What is That Smell?
If you should have a very stinky automotive air conditioner, you are going to know it. The scent is especially robust in the event you initial turn on the air conditioner and permeates each individual inch belonging to the automotive. The scent is comparable to tennis-sock odor or mildew and is due to bacteria, mildew and fungi that mature in the air conditioner evaporator core, condenser hose or in the pan accustomed to gather drinking water.

These microscopic organisms mature for the reason that because the air conditioner is chosen, the cold air triggers condensation to sort that then brings together with contaminants for example grime, pollen, dead insects, pet hair, nicotine and tar from cigarette smoke and plant and animal debris. If your condensation does not drain accurately stemming from a clogged tube or in the event the unit isn?t permitted to dry out fully immediately after each and every use, drinking water can end up trapped and stagnate. This allows unsafe bacteria and mildew to mature and lead to odor.

A smelly automotive air conditioner shouldn?t be dismissed; where by you can find odor, you can find mildew. The mildew spores are quite easily inhaled through the occupants belonging to the automotive producing allergies, sinus and asthma problems. Mildew are often specifically unsafe to young children and just about anyone using a compromised immune technique.

The best way to Disinfect and Deodorize the Smell
The first stage during this automotive repair service venture is always to disinfect and deodorize the automotive air conditioner. There is plenty of odor neutralizers in the marketplace which you could spray into your air conditioning vents or specifically into your core. If you should spray a item into your core, it is important to initial drill a small hole into your top rated belonging to the plastic heater box underneath the hood. If you should do not wish to go that route, We have had beneficial effects by using a mixture of Lysol disinfectant spray and drying out the car?s air conditioning unit.

To disinfect and deodorize, set the automotive air conditioner for the recirculate setting. Despite the fact that the air conditioner is jogging, spray Lysol down underneath the dash where by the front passenger?s feet might be; the Lysol shall be sucked up into your unit. Repeat this plenty of moments a day for the number of days inside of a row. This may eliminate any odor producing bacteria. Yet, it?s best to take steps to dry out the automotive air conditioner immediately after each and every use to stop the challenge from recurring.

The best way to Dry Out Car Air Conditioner
To dry out your car air conditioner, flip off your air conditioner a minimum of 5 minutes well before you quit driving. Then, flip the inside admirer to full velocity. This may guide dry out your entire technique. Another solution to dry out the technique is always to set the air conditioning to open circulation a handful of minutes well before turning off the automotive. Any time you flip off the automotive, leave the controls set to open circulation mode. Just before restarting the automotive, flip the air conditioner off in order that the air compressor does not activate if the automotive will start. Any time you turn on the automotive air conditioner, continually leave it set to outside circulation for the number of minutes.

The best way to Obvious Clogged Drain Hose
If you should have deodorized and disinfected the automotive air conditioner, are permitting it to dry out immediately after each and every use and so are nevertheless getting troubles using a unhealthy scent, the automotive might have a clogged drain hose. Another clue the drain hose could be clogged is usually a wet spot within the passenger side ground. This is often some other automotive repair service venture you are able to quite easily do on your own.

To distinct a clogged drain hose, glimpse underneath the hood and locate a short hose coming from the firewall within the passenger side. The hose is usually L-shaped and points downward toward the floor. This hose need to be open and distinct, permitting drinking water to run out onto the floor because the air conditioner runs. If you should are jogging the air conditioner and there is no puddle of drinking water after a number of minutes, then you definately almost definitely have a very clogged hose.

talia.agence-de-relations-publiques.fr To distinct the blockage, use a chopstick, knitting josemariabarraza.net needle or piece of wire coat hanger and poke into your hose to get rid of any clogged debris. Then run the air conditioner for the number of minutes. If your clog is gone, it?s best to see a puddle of drinking water within the floor underneath the automotive. If you should do not see a puddle, repeat the method till you will have eliminated all debris from the hose in addition to the air conditioner can drain freely.

Source: http://www.jbradsblog.com/do-it-yourself-automotive-repair-task-how-to-solve-a-stinky-automobile-air-conditioner/

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McCartney's wife resigns from NYC transit board (AP)

2012-01-26T04:57:00.001-08:00

NEW YORK ? Paul McCartney's new bride is stepping down from the board of the authority that runs New York City's public transit system.

Nancy Shevell married the Beatles great in October. She announced her resignation from the board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority at its meeting Wednesday.

Shevell had been on the MTA's board since 2001 and was one of its longest-serving members. Her term expired last year, but she had stayed on pending a new appointment by New York's governor.

When she isn't dating music legends or running subway systems, Shevell is a philanthropist. She was an executive at New England Motor Freight, a New Jersey trucking firm owned by her family.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_en_ot/us_people_lady_mccartney

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Billy Crystal hints at Oscar theme in online video (AP)

2012-01-20T14:56:00.001-08:00

LOS ANGELES ? The Academy Awards is the best awards show on TV ? at least according to Billy Crystal.

The veteran Oscar host calls it "the granddaddy of all the shows" and says in a new video that he appreciates being "trusted with this show again."

Crystal says he and Oscar producers are approaching the show "as fans of the movies and movie theaters and our first experiences in them."

Wearing a tuxedo and dancing among oversized Oscar statues, the 63-year-old comedian acknowledges that "there's so much expected" of his return and hints that he'll take his traditional approach to opening the show by inserting himself into the year's films.

The video is among special content the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is offering through its official show website, Oscar.com.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120117/ap_en_mo/us_oscars_billy_crystal

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Man sentenced in anti-Obama arson of black church (Reuters)

2012-01-19T06:42:00.001-08:00

SPRINGFIELD, Mass (Reuters) ? A white man who admitted to helping burn down a mostly black church to protest against Barack Obama's election as the nation's first black president was sentenced on Wednesday to four-and-a-half years in prison.

The November 2008 arson fire came hours after presidential election results were announced, and destroyed the nearly finished Macedonia Church of God in Christ in Springfield, Massachusetts, about 90 miles west of Boston.

Authorities said three white Springfield friends - Thomas Gleason, Michael Jacques and Benjamin Haskell - were motivated by racial resentment when they doused the building with gasoline and torched it.

No worshipers were inside at the time, but some firefighters were injured battling the blaze.

Judge Michael Ponsor in U.S. District Court sentenced Gleason, 24, to 54 months in federal prison for his role in the hate crime, followed by three years of parole.

Gleason pleaded guilty to felony charges of conspiracy to violate civil rights, religious property damage because of race, and damage to religious property by use of fire, according to the lead prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Smyth.

"This was a horrific crime - unexplainable, in fact - with horrific motives," Smyth told the court.

In court, Gleason apologized for what he called an "incredibly stupid" act and for the "pain and frustration" it caused the church's community and to his own family.

The two other men charged in the arson have already been sentenced for their roles in the crime. Jacques, 27, was ordered jailed for 14 years, while Haskell, 25, received a 9-year term.

Prosecutors said Gleason, who testified against Jacques last year, lived near the church, and the three men spent election night drinking beer and smoking marijuana before deciding to burn it down.

In the days immediately after the blaze, the FBI briefed the president-elect and the U.S. attorney general about the arson. U.S. authorities said the hate crime was the only one of its kind on election night.

Gleason was also ordered to pay nearly $1.7 million in restitution, including about $124,000 to the church. The remainder of the money goes to insurance companies involved in the case. The rebuilt church reopened in September.

(Editing By Ellen Wulfhorst and Cynthia Johnston)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120118/us_nm/us_crime_church

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NASA's Amazing New Photo of the Eagle Nebula Reveals Surprising Facts [Astronomy]

2012-01-19T04:28:00.001-08:00

This new image of the Eagle Nebula—without a doubt one of the most amazing objects in space—is stunningly trippy. It combines the two opposite ends of the electromagnetic spectrum in one shot: Far-infrared and X-ray. Absolutely gorgeous. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/4OZBUQnfvVY/the-magnificent-eagle-nebula-like-you-have-never-seen-it-before

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QUERY: Sources on Guano, Oil, or Cocaine

2012-01-18T17:38:00.001-08:00

From: Frederico Freitas <fredericoxxx@gmail.com>
List Editor: Matthew Rothwell <mdrothwell@USI.EDU>
Editor's Subject: QUERY: Sources on Guano, Oil, or Cocaine
Author's Subject: QUERY: Sources on Guano, Oil, or Cocaine
Date Written: Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:37:55 -0600
Date Posted: Tue, 16 Jan 2012 15:37:55 -0500

 Sent: Monday, January 16, 2012 12:21 PM  Dear neter@s  I am looking for primary sources in English for a course on commodities and environment in contemporary South America. I am particularly interested in sources that deal broadly with the following topics:  . Guano in Chile and Peru . Oil in Venezuela . Coca/Cocaine in Bolivia and Colombia  So far I have gather a good amount of secondary sources on these topics, but as it is a Sources and Methods course, I also need primary sources in English that broadly fit into those subjects. I would appreciate any suggestion as where to find sources for these themes. Thanks in advance.  Best Regards  Frederico Freitas Graduate Student of Latin American History Stanford University fssf@stanford.edu

Source: http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=H-LatAm&month=1201&week=c&msg=9uNUeysT9wwDYZcu34eKCQ

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South Carolina???s Demographics Will Shape GOP Primary (ContributorNetwork)

2012-01-18T15:35:00.001-08:00

South Carolina's presidential preference primary will be held Saturday as five mainstream GOP candidates square off to try to win their party's nomination for president. South Carolina's demographics are much different than Iowa and New Hampshire, sites of the previous two nominating contests.

Here's a look at the demographic makeup of the Palmetto State as it relates to voters in South Carolina.

* South Carolina has a population of 4.625 million residents. Three-fourths of them are of voting age, according to the U.S. Census .

* As of Jan. 1, more than 2.7 million voters were registered in South Carolina. About 78 percent of the state's eligible population is registered to vote.

* South Carolina has 46 counties, as compared to 99 for Iowa and 10 for New Hampshire. In terms of total population, Iowa has just more than 3 million people and New Hampshire has 1.3 million . South Carolina has more people and voters than Iowa and New Hampshire combined.

* The economy is going to be a larger issue in South Carolina than in other states. As of November, South Carolina's unemployment rate was the eighth-worst in the U.S. at 9.9 percent. Contrarily, New Hampshire and Iowa were fourth and sixth best in November. New Hampshire's unemployment rate was 5.2 percent last fall while Iowa was just 5.7 percent.

* In terms of ethnic background, South Carolina is much more diverse than Iowa and New Hampshire. Sixty-six percent of residents identify themselves as white in South Carolina. In Iowa, that rate increases to 91 percent. In New Hampshire, that demographic is 94 percent.

* The largest minority group in South Carolina is black, with nearly 28 percent of the population identifying themselves as that ethnicity. Over the entire U.S. just 12.6 percent of residents are black.

*The county with the highest unemployment rate in South Carolina is Marion at 17.3 percent. Lexington County has the lowest unemployment rate at 7 percent, according to the Associated Press .

* Since 1980, the South Carolina primary has had the uncanny ability to choose the overall GOP nominee when the race is contested. Every single winner of the South Carolina Republican primary since it began 32 years ago has gone on to win the nationwide nomination.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120116/pl_ac/10841871_south_carolinas_demographics_will_shape_gop_primary

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Suspect in CA killings returned from Iraq changed

2012-01-18T04:50:00.001-08:00

A relative holds a government military photo of Itzcoatl Ocampo, a former Marine who saw combat in Iraq, in Yorba Linda, Calif., Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012. Ocampo has been named as a suspect in a series of killings of homeless men in Orange County, Calif. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

This Dec. 2011 photo provided by the family shows Itzcoatl Ocampo, a former Marine who saw combat in Iraq, in Yorba Linda, Calif. Ocampo has been named, Jan. 15, 2012, as a suspect in a series of killings of homeless men in Orange County, Calif. (AP Photo/Ocampo Family)

This photo provided by the Anaheim Police Dept. shows Itzcoatl Ocampo. Investigators are "extremely confident" that Ocampo a man in their custody is responsible for all four recent killings of homeless men in Orange County, Anaheim Police Chief John Welter said Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Anaheim Police Dept.)

Refugio Ocampo, 49, father of Itzcoatl Ocampo, the man suspected of killing homeless men in Southern California, talks about his son in Fullerton, Calif., Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012. Refugio is himself homeless and said that his son came back a changed man after serving with the Marines in Iraq, expressing disillusionment and becoming ever darker as he struggled to find his way as a civilian. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

YORBA LINDA, Calif. (AP) ? Just months after he was deployed to Iraq in 2008, a Marine veteran now suspected in the deaths of four homeless men in Southern California sent his family a short, upbeat video greeting.

The video, which was mostly in Spanish, showed Itzcoatl Ocampo wishing his father a happy Father's Day and reading an excerpt from Dr. Seuss' "Green Eggs and Ham" to his then 10-year-old sister.

The former Marine's 17-year-old brother, Mixcoatl Ocampo, recalled how happy his family members were when they got the video in the mail that summer. They all gathered around the television in the living room to watch Itzcoatl Ocampo, who appeared in fatigues and talked against the backdrop of an American flag.

"We hadn't seen my brother since he got deployed," he said. "Dad saw the video, and when he first saw it he was thrilled."

According to friends and family, a much darker Ocampo returned home after he was discharged in 2010. His parents separated, and his father eventually became homeless.

Now, Ocampo's family is left trying to reconcile the smiling, slightly nervous-sounding soldier in the video greeting friends and family with the blankly staring man in the police mug shot accused of murder.

Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas has scheduled a news conference for 11 a.m. Tuesday to announce charges against Itzcoatl Ocampo. The 23-year-old is expected to be charged with four counts of murder in the serial killings of four homeless men since late December.

He was arrested Jan. 13 after a locally known homeless man, John Berry, 64, was stabbed to death outside an Anaheim fast-food restaurant. Bystanders gave chase, and police made the arrest. Ocampo is being held in isolation at the central jail in Santa Ana for his own safety because of the notoriety of the case, according to Lt. Hal Brotheim, a spokesman with the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

Ocampo's father, 49-year-old Refugio Ocampo, said his son came back a changed man after serving in Iraq, expressing disillusionment and becoming ever darker as his family life frayed and he struggled to find his way as a civilian.

The father said he lost his job and home, and ended up living under a bridge before finding shelter in the cab of a broken-down big-rig he is helping repair.

Just days before his elder son's arrest, Itzcoatl Ocampo came to visit his father, warning him of the danger of being on the streets and showing him a picture of one of the victims.

"He was very worried about me," Refugio Ocampo told The Associated Press on Sunday. "I told him, 'Don't worry. I'm a survivor. Nothing will happen to me.'"

Itzcoatl Ocampo had been living with his mother, uncle, and younger brother and sister in a rented house on a horse ranch surrounded by the sprawling suburbs of Yorba Linda. At the humble home, his mother, who speaks little English, tearfully brought her son's Marine Corps dress uniform out of a closet and showed unit photos, citations and medals from his military service.

The son followed a friend into the Marine Corps right out of high school in 2006 instead of going to college as his father had hoped. Itzcoatl Ocampo was discharged in 2010 and returned home to find his family in disarray, his father said.

The same month, one of Itzcoatl Ocampo's friends, 22-year-old Cpl. Claudio Patino IV of Yorba Linda, was killed in combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

"Once he received the news, he was never the same," Mixcoatl Ocampo said. He said his brother visited Patino's grave twice a week.

Refugio and Mixcoatl both described a physical condition Itzcoatl suffered in which his hands shook and he suffered headaches. Medical treatments helped until he started drinking heavily, both said.

"He started drinking like crazy ? too much, way too much," the father said.

A neighbor who is a Vietnam veteran and the father both tried to push Itzcoatl to get treatment at a Veterans hospital, but he refused. Refugio Ocampo said he wanted his son to get psychological treatment as well.

"He started talking about stuff that didn't make any sense, that the end of the world was going to happen," he said.

While Refugio Ocampo lives away from his family, they remain close. He saw his children every day, and his wife brings food to the parking lot where the truck is located in the city of Fullerton.

Refugio Ocampo, who said he was educated as a lawyer in Mexico, immigrated with his wife and Itzcoatl in 1988 and became a U.S. citizen. He described building a successful life in which he became a warehouse manager and bought a home in Yorba Linda. In the past few years he lost his job, ran out of savings, lost his house and separated from his wife.

Standing near the truck where he sleeps, Refugio Ocampo fought back tears as he described the changes he saw in his son in the year since returning home.

"Before, he had the initiative to do things, the desire. But after the military, he didn't have any of that," he said.

Refugio Ocampo said investigators came to him Friday night and showed him surveillance photos from a crime scene, but he did not recognize his son as the person in the images.

"If he did it, it wasn't right, obviously. But there's something wrong with him," he said.

In addition to Berry and McGillivray, Lloyd Middaugh, 42, was killed near a riverbed trail in Anaheim on Dec. 28; and Paulus Smit, 57, was found dead outside a Yorba Linda library on Dec. 30.

Authorities have provided no information on evidence against Ocampo, or a possible motive. But Anaheim Police Chief John Welter has said investigators are confident they have the man responsible for the string of murders.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-16-Homeless%20Homicides/id-464a890f6d954504863e5dbca11c1b04

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Romney Has What it Takes to Beat Obama (ContributorNetwork)

2012-01-16T12:24:00.001-08:00

COMMENTARY | The New Hampshire primary race was predicted to be Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman -- and results were fixed in that position. Many placed Romney as the leader and there he stood firm. The big game changer between Iowa and New Hampshire was Huntsman, who vied for the Granite State's vote rejecting the Iowa caucus and firmly planting a base in New Hampshire.

Paul revved up the younger vote and splashed many highways and byways with homemade banners. The mild weather brought out many supporters to the polling places. Independent and undeclared voters came in droves: 47 percent of the electorate. Supporters came to vote and chant for their favorites; their way of owning the primary process.

Families brought out their children, myself included, to show them the process and to give them a sense of pride in the political system. I told my children that although I have just one small vote in a ballot box full of others, it's mine to give.

I love this about my state. When I was growing up in Delaware, my parents didn't take the kids to the polls and rarely spoke of the primary process. It seemed more of a clandestine cult than a point of pride for Americans. I could hear the arguments between the candidates and see the attack ads, but I never got to truly comprehend what the fighting was about. My children got to see the inner workings of the primaries and understand the bigger picture behind the fervor of each candidate with the open dialog this created.

The main thorns of contention for Romney were the misinterpretation of his "firing" comment on Jan.9 to the Nashua Chamber of Commerce, questions on his stands regarding social issues and the Romneycare comments with respect to Massachusetts mandated individual health insurance vs. Obamacare federally mandated health care.

He held his own and through door-to-door campaigning and meeting the people where they live from the rural Berlin to the bustling city of Nashua, talking with the every man and showing appreciation for each one's unique needs and situations.

Other candidates failed to get to the heart of the voters' needs and points of importance, while others polarized themselves with strong social issues such as Rick Santorum. Paul and Huntsman gained the second and third spots and ran a good campaign. Paul ignited the younger set to action. Huntsman gained momentum while stepping up his game.

The bigger question at this point is: Who will beat the Barack Obama machine? While it appears to be a battle among these three contenders, the Republican Party must, of course, have a strong candidate to defeat President Obama. I still feel Romney has the moxie to get it done as Obama's slogan of "Yes we can" seems to ring a little more like "Oh no he didn't" to me.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120113/pl_ac/10819383_romney_has_what_it_takes_to_beat_obama

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Investors to turn focus back to US this week

2012-01-13T20:02:00.001-08:00

NEW YORK?? U.S. stocks have strayed from their recent link to euro fluctuations, and the start of U.S. corporate earnings this week could help shift investor focus back to U.S. fundamentals from Europe.

Stocks have traded in line with the euro over the autumn, with both experiencing sharp swings on headlines from the euro zone. That trend may be changing, and it comes just as investors get their first glimpse at fourth-quarter U.S. earnings.

Aluminum company Alcoa is expected to report Monday after the closing bell, unofficially starting the reporting period for U.S. corporations. JPMorgan Chase is due to report on Friday, but the bulk of Standard & Poor's 500 earnings will come in the weeks ahead.

"I think this month we're probably going to break away and see the pattern of U.S. market trade on U.S. fundamentals rather than in reaction to the euro movement," said Fred Dickson, chief market strategist, D.A. Davidson & Co. in Lake Oswego, Ore.

"I think we're in a time-out period for that (dollar) carry trade, and it will stay a time out for a while."

The correlation between S&P 500 E-mini futures and the euro, which moved in near lockstep in the fall, has receded. A 22-day moving average of the correlation shows almost no relation between the movements of the two assets.

While the corporate results will be searched for evidence of the European crisis' impact on overseas sales, they should also bring back more of a focus on what's happening in the United States, where the economy has been northward bound.

Friday's U.S. jobs reports was the latest data to suggest the recovery is gathering momentum, with non-farm payrolls rising in December and the jobless rate dropping to a near three-year low of 8.5 percent.

S&P 500 fourth-quarter earnings are expected to have risen 7.8 percent from a year ago, according to Thomson Reuters data. But that number is down from a July 1 forecast for growth of 17.6 percent in the quarter.

"We're going to need good, strong positive news on earnings to lift all three of the market averages out of their trading ranges," Dickson said. "They're bumping into some overhead resistance, and it's going to take fundamental news to do it."

The S&P 500 ended virtually unchanged for 2011, even though most strategists had expected gains for the year.

The index has been unable to pierce through 1,285, the closing high set in late October.

Stocks ended with gains for the first trading week of the year, as the mostly upbeat U.S. economic data offset lingering worries about the euro zone. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 1.2 percent for the week, the Standard & Poor's 500 was up 1.6 percent and the Nasdaq was up 2.7 percent.

Next week's economic calendar includes data on U.S. retail sales and consumer sentiment.

Even with a focus on earnings, investors will be watching Italian and Spanish government bond sales next week.

Both are seen as the year's first big funding tests for struggling euro zone countries. Italy is to pay out 100 billion euros in bond coupons and redemptions in the first four months of 2012.

"Ultimately, the market is still progressing towards a test of the (European Central Bank's) reluctance to be a lender of last resort. I don't know that the test will get that far, but I think it will," said David Joy, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial in Boston, where he helps oversee $571 billion in assets under management.

On the earnings front, while all 10 S&P 500 sectors have seen profit estimates cut since July, materials and financials have been the hardest hit. Based on a July forecast, the financial sector was expected to show year-over-year growth of 36.6 percent in the fourth quarter, but the latest forecast is for growth of just 10.1 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Natalie Trunow, chief investment officer of equities at Calvert Investment Management in Bethesda, Md., which manages about $13 billion, said she has been overweight U.S. equities since the autumn and is considering shifting money into some smaller and midcap names.

"Additional positive momentum in the U.S. can offset additional negative momentum in Europe in terms of earnings impact on U.S. companies," she said.

"Net it might spell somewhat better relative performance for U.S. small and midcaps versus the large caps," she said. "Large caps may give up some of their leadership this year as the U.S. economy continues to gain momentum and small caps start to benefit from that acceleration."

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45906120/ns/business-stocks_and_economy/

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Study: Indoor Tanning Linked With Early Onset of Skin Cancer (Time.com)

2012-01-11T16:24:00.001-08:00

Given that indoor tanning beds were officially classified as a human carcinogen in 2009 -- up there with cigarettes and asbestos -- it should be fairly obvious that frequent tanning-booth exposure would increase your risk of skin cancer.

Indeed, the evidence linking indoor tanning with melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, and squamous cell carcinoma, one of the more common forms of the disease, is "convincing," according to the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer. But the research concerning tanning beds and basal cell carcinoma, the third and most frequent major type of skin cancer -- which accounts for some 80% of all skin cancer cases in the U.S. -- has thus far been inconsistent. (See pictures of a photographer's intimate account of her mother's cancer ordeal.)

Basal cell carcinoma, a slow-growing cancer, has traditionally been a disease of middle age. But it's been appearing with increasing frequency in people under 40, especially in women -- a demographic that also happens to like indoor tanning -- suggesting a link. So researchers at the Yale School of Public Health sought to study the association.

The study included 376 people under 40, who had been diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma between 2006 and 2010. They were matched with a control group of 390 dermatology patients who were diagnosed with minor skin conditions like cysts and warts. All participants had skin biopsies, and all were drawn from a Yale University database.

The researchers interviewed each participant about their UV exposure -- both in tanning beds and outdoors. They also asked about their history of sunburns, sunscreen use, family history of melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers, and their self-reported eye, skin and hair color.

The conclusion: people who had ever used a tanning booth were 69% more likely to develop early-onset basal cell carcinoma than never tanners. Those who used tanning booths more regularly -- for at least six years -- were more than twice a likely to develop basal cell carcinoma, compared with never tanners.

The study found that women were far more devoted than men to indoor tanning, which might help explain why 70% of all early onset basal cell carcinomas occur in females. The authors concluded that about 27% of cases of early onset disease -- including 43% of cases in women -- could be prevented if people simply stopped using tanning booths.

That's a tall order, considering that some 30 million Americans use indoor tanning beds each year. Policy changes, such as the recent California ban on teen tanning, may help, the authors suggest. So would behavioral interventions aimed at women -- at least one study in 2010 found that the best way to get young women to tan less was to warn them about the skin-wrinkling effects of tanning-bed exposure, not the risk of skin cancer.

"Importantly, indoor tanning is a behavior that individuals can change. In conjunction with the findings on melanoma, our results for [basal cell carcinoma] indicate that reducing indoor tanning could translate to a meaningful reduction in the incidence of these two types of skin cancer," said Leah M. Ferrucci, first author of the paper and a postdoctoral fellow at the Yale School of Public Health, in a statement.

See TIME's Pictures of the Week.

See the Cartoons of the Week.

View this article on Time.com

Texas suit against J&J over drug to go to trial

2012-01-10T02:33:00.001-08:00

AUSTIN, Texas -- Texas is seeking more than $1 billion in damages in a lawsuit that accuses Johnson & Johnson of overstating the safety of an anti-psychotic drug and influencing its use in the state's Medicaid program.

Jury selection is under way Monday in an Austin courtroom. A whistle-blower filed the lawsuit then Texas joined it.

The lawsuit is one of dozens of pending state and federal cases alleging illegal marketing practices and kickbacks in an effort to boost Risperdal over competing drugs. Risperdal is a pill for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Johnson & Johnson says it will vigorously defend itself against the lawsuit's claims.

The trial is expected to last at least two weeks.

Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/09/2580946/texas-suit-against-jj-over-drug.html

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Storify: @readywriting Lee, were you able to find them? It's based on Twitter search API. You can search timelines, user, # or search terms.

2012-01-10T00:26:00.001-08:00

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@readywriting Lee, were you able to find them? It's based on Twitter search API. You can search timelines, user, # or search terms. Il y a environ 2 heures via CoTweet en r?ponse ? readywriting

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Source: http://twitter.com/Storify/statuses/156500791589474305

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Iran sentences American to die for spying (Reuters)

2012-01-09T16:56:00.001-08:00

TEHRAN (Reuters) ? Iran announced on Monday it had sentenced a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen to death for spying for the CIA, creating fresh grounds for hostility with Washington at a time when Tehran has responded to new U.S. sanctions with military threats.

The United States denies that Arizona-born Amir Mirza Hekmati is a spy, and has demanded his immediate release. Washington says Hekmati has been denied access to Swiss diplomats, who represent U.S. interests in a country where it has had no mission since its embassy was stormed in 1979.

Iran has accused Hekmati of training with the U.S. military as a spy. It aired a televised confession, denounced by Washington, in which he said he worked for a New York-based video game company designing games to manipulate public opinion in the Middle East on behalf of U.S. intelligence.

"Amir Mirza Hekmati was sentenced to death ... for cooperating with the hostile country America and spying for the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency)," ISNA news agency quoted judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei as saying.

"The court found him Corrupt on the Earth and Mohareb (one who wages war on God). Hekmati can appeal to the Supreme Court."

The sentence comes at a time when tension between Iran and the West over Tehran's nuclear program has reached a new high, rattling global oil markets. The West fears the work is a secret atomic weapons program, while Iran says it is purely peaceful.

SANCTIONS

After years of sanctions that had little real impact on the Iranian economy, U.S. President Barack Obama signed a new measure into law on New Year's Eve that, if fully implemented, would prevent most countries from buying Iranian oil.

The European Union, which still buys about a fifth of Iran's oil, is poised to announce an embargo at the end of this month, and other countries will have to cut purchases of Iranian crude to receive waivers from the U.S. sanctions. Buyers are demanding steep discounts to do business with Tehran, cutting the revenue it needs to feed its 74 million people.

Iran has remained defiant. In a televised speech on Monday, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said: "Sanctions imposed on Iran by our enemies will not have any impact on our nation."

"The Iranian nation believes in its rulers."

The rial currency has plunged and Iranians have scrambled to withdraw savings from banks to buy dollars. The hardship comes just two months before a parliamentary election, Iran's first since a 2009 presidential vote that triggered eight months of angry street demonstrations.

Iran's rulers put those protests down by force but, in the two years since, the Arab Spring has shown the vulnerability of authoritarian governments in the region to uprisings fuelled by public anger over economic hardship.

Iran has responded to the new sanctions by threatening to shut the Strait of Hormuz, the world's most important oil shipping route, which leads out of the Gulf and is guarded by a massive, U.S.-led international fleet.

Brent Crude was trading at around $113 a barrel on Monday, up by about $6 in the nine days since Obama signed the new sanctions into law. Iran's military threats and sanctions news have caused spikes in the price throughout recent weeks.

"SPY NETWORK"

In an apparently separate case, Iran also said on Monday it had broken up a U.S.-linked spy network that planned to "fuel unrest" ahead of the March parliamentary election.

"The detained spies were in contact with foreign countries through cyberspace," Intelligence Minister Haydar Moslehi was quoted by state television as saying. He gave no information about the nationalities and the number of those detained.

Hekmati's family says the 28-year-old, who was born in Arizona and graduated from a Michigan high school, was visiting grandparents in Iran when he was held in December. His family was unable to hire a lawyer, and he was defended by a state-appointed advocate whom he met for the first time at the trial.

His family says he previously worked as a U.S. military translator. Iran's Farsi language is one of the two main tongues spoken in Afghanistan, and the U.S. military often deploys Americans of Iranian origin there as translators.

His execution could still be blocked by Iran's highest court, which must confirm all death sentences.

Iran could "hold on to Hekmati and use him - as they have with previous foreign detainees - as a pawn in their rivalry with the United States, rather than execute him immediately and thereby raise tensions with the U.S. even more", said Gala Riani, an analyst at forecasting firm IHS Global Insight.

Tehran, which imposes the death penalty frequently for crimes such as drug dealing and murder, is not known to have executed any U.S. citizen as a spy.

Three U.S. backpackers jailed in Iran as spies in 2009 were freed in 2010 and 2011 in what President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called a humanitarian gesture. Iranian-American Roxana Saberi, sentenced to eight years for spying in 2009, was freed after 100 days.

In May Iran said it had arrested 30 people on suspicion of spying for the United States. It later announced that 15 people had been indicted for spying for Washington and Israel.

(Additional reporting by Hossein Jaseb, Mitra Amiri and Ramin Mostafavi in Tehran and Christopher Wilson in Washington; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120109/wl_nm/us_iran_usa_spy

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Pure presenta 2 modelli di casse AirPlay per i nostri iPad | Speciale CES 2012

2012-01-09T11:42:00.001-08:00

Sempre dal CES 2012 arrivano interessanti novit? per quanto riguarda una serie di accessori per i nostri iDevice. Una delle case pi? attive ? sicuramente la Pure che ha presentato 2 nuovi modelli di casse esterne AirPlay per tutti i device della casa di Cupertino.

Come detto sono 2 i modelli disponibili: 200I Contour e il 200D Sensia. Entrambi sembrano essere estremamente validi e particolarmente curati dal punto di vista del design, anche se come prezzo si parla di cifre decisamente elevate. Bisognerebbe sentire come ?suonano? per dare un giudizio definitivo.

Il primo modello ? il 200I Contour e viene proposto a un prezzo di 329$,anche considerando il dock per iPad, iPhone e iPod e il sistema AirPlay che ci consente di ascoltare la nostra musica senza connettere il nostro dispositivo alle casse.

Il secondo modello presentato al CES ? il 200D Sensia, che ? una sorta di piccola internet radio con un touch screen nella parte anteriore e che tramite il servizio streaming Pure Music ci consente di ascoltare moltissime stazioni. Oltre alla radio altra caratteristica interessante del modello 200D Sensia ? che pu? fungere sia da radiosveglia che da altoparlante esterno. Il prezzo del 200D Sensia ? di 450$ e sar? disponibile da Aprile 2012.

Decisamente 2 bei prodotti, anche se leggermente cari. Attendiamo altre informazioni in merito alla potenza di questi gioiellini e sull?eventuale distribuzione nel nostro paese.

Via | The Verge

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ipadevice/~3/UF03LyQFjxQ/pure-presenta-2-modelli-di-casse-airplay-per-i-nostri-ipad-speciale-ces-2012-102575

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South Rome event will focus on classrooms, paychecks

2012-01-08T22:58:00.001-08:00

by Doug Walker, Associate Editor Rn T.Com

Melissa Jones, Rome Redevelopment director

slideshow The two Es, not the three Rs, will be the focus of a session hosted by the South Rome Redevelopment Corp. on Monday night.

Educational and employment opportunities will be the point of emphasis sche?duled for the community meeting Monday at 5:30 p.m. in the gymnasium at the old Anna K. Davie Elementary School site, 301 Nixon Ave.

Dubbed ?Education and Employment: Sustaining Today While Preparing for Tomorrow,? the event will feature representatives from all the local colleges as well as Darlington School, along with officials from the Department of Labor and Goodwill Career Services, until 7 p.m.

?It?s truly just a time for all the residents of South Rome and anyone who lives in Rome to come out and hear this information,? said Melissa Jones, executive director of the South Rome Redevelopment Corp.

College admissions requirements and job pre-

paredness programs will be discussed during the program.

Citizens will be asked to take part in a survey regarding ed-

ucational needs in the community. The SRRC is working to develop a first-class early learning center in the community.

?We know there are a lot of day cares here in Rome, and we don?t want a day care. We actually want an early learning academy,? Jones said. ?We?re not talking basic coloring, but actually focusing on social skills, mental development skills and things along that line.?

Georgia Power has provided a $25,000 grant to help get the early learning academy started, and the SRRC is hoping to get more help from the utility in 2012.

For more information contact Jones or Amanda Cromer at?706-236-2826.

Source: http://romenews-tribune.com/bookmark/17017129

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Google TV sacks off Intel, jumps to ARM

2012-01-08T01:41:00.001-08:00

Google has dumped Intel architecture in its new Google TV products in favour of the ARM-based Marvell Armada 1500 chipset.

The new televisions will be showcased at CES 2012 next week, complete with the Marvell Armada 1500 HD Media System-on-a-chip which should mean lower prices and better power efficiency than the Intel-made predecessors.

What's more, the passive cooling system means no whirring fans to distract you from whatever it is you're watching.

Marvell-ous

"The Google and Marvell teams have been working closely together to bring our combined software and chipset technologies to market to grow the Google TV ecosystem of manufacturers and devices," said Mario Queiroz, VP of product management at Google TV.

"Marvell-powered Google TV solutions will enable powerful products to be brought to market at attractive prices."

Both LG and Samsung have talked up their interest in Google TV televisions and, although Samsung said it won't be able to show its TV set off at the show, we're expecting to see more than one launching at CES 2012 next week.

And of course TechRadar will be out in Vegas to bring you our expert thoughts on the new televisions as they launch ? it's a hard life, we know.

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Santorum: Trim Social Security now even if painful

2012-01-07T23:33:00.001-08:00

KEENE, N.H. (AP) ? Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum called Friday for immediate cuts to Social Security benefits, risking the wrath of older voters and countless others who balk at changes to the entitlement program.

"We can't wait 10 years," even though "everybody wants to," Santorum told a crowd while campaigning in New Hampshire and looking to set himself apart from his Republican rivals four days before the New Hampshire primary.

Most of his opponents have advocated phasing in a reduction and say immediate cuts would be too big a shock to current and soon-to-be retirees.

Politicians typically suggest phase-in periods of up to a decade when broaching the topic of changing Social Security to avoid grievous consequences from angering older voters.

Clearly aware of the risks, Santorum argued that everyone must sacrifice now because the nation's "house is on fire" with soaring federal debt. He argued that he is being courageous and honest by telling Americans they can't afford to wait to rein in Social Security's growing costs. And he said he anticipated possible attack ads on his position.

He made a similar pitch last week in Fort Dodge, Iowa, when he was getting little attention in the GOP race ? and before he came from the back of the pack to nearly win the Iowa caucuses.

At that event, Santorum said: "The Democratic National Committee is going to say, 'Ah, ... he's for changing benefits now.' Yes, I am. Yes, I am."

"We need to change benefits for everybody now," Santorum said at the time. "Is everybody going to take a little bit of a hit? No, but a lot of people will."

Santorum, a former senator from Pennsylvania, says changes should include a higher eligibility age to qualify for Social Security benefits, and tighter restrictions on benefits for upper-income people. Americans now qualify for reduced Social Security benefits at age 62 and full benefits at 66, soon to rise to 67.

Social Security pays proportionately higher benefits to low-income people. But Santorum says wealthy retirees' proportionate benefits should be trimmed further. He did not offer details.

This week, he told New Hampshire audiences that Americans over 65 were society's poorest age group in 1937, when Social Security was created. Now that group is the wealthiest, he said.

He also noted that Americans now live much longer, putting far bigger demands on the government retirement program.

Santorum offers only modest details on how he would implement his proposed changes. He has not said how much money he hopes to save.

In a brief interview Friday as he plowed his way through a crowd after the Keene event, he was asked if the nation should make the changes now.

"I think we should, yeah," Santorum said. "Obviously we're going to have to go through a debate next year and figure out ways in which to make the revenues meet the expenditures."

He tells voters he would rule out higher taxes or more deficit spending to help the Social Security program. That leaves benefit cuts as the only way to match revenues and costs, he notes.

Santorum's call for immediate benefit cuts puts him at odds with his Republican rivals.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who came under fire for calling Social Security a "Ponzi Scheme," tried to recover in part by emphasizing that any changes in benefits would not affect current or soon-to-be retirees.

Rep. Ron Paul of Texas says younger workers should be able to opt out of Social Security taxes and retirement benefits. "My plan explicitly protects the elderly and the sick in the transition," he says.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has said in a statement, "We must keep the promises made to our current retirees: their Social Security and Medicare benefits should not be affected."

Like Santorum, Romney has called for increasing the eligibility age for Social Security and slowing benefits to high-income recipients. His aides have said the pace of change has yet to be decided, but soon-to-be beneficiaries would not be affected.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich calls for giving younger workers the option of diverting Social Security taxes to private retirement accounts. Some independent groups say his proposal, which is based on a Chilean program and does not anticipate automatic benefit cuts, is unduly optimistic.

President Barack Obama last year discussed possible reductions in Social Security benefits as part of a large debt-reduction deal with House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. The talks collapsed, however.

The Romney and Gingrich campaigns had no immediate comment Friday on Santorum's proposals.

A House Republican budget-cutting plan, authored by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., would exempt everyone now over 55 from proposed reductions in Social Security benefits.

Ryan and others have said a phased-in change would give Americans time to plan their retirements without surprises. But Santorum says those officials are seeking political cover by delaying their proposed changes.

"That's why you see Paul Ryan saying, 'Oh, I'm going to fix Social Security, I'm going to fix Medicare in 10 years,'" Santorum told a crowd Thursday in Northfield, N.H.

He said Ryan assumes, "well, if you're under 55, you won't be paying much attention, right? Well, the problem is, this is not a problem that we can wait 10 years to solve."

Max Richtman, president of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, said in an interview that cuts in Social Security benefits are not justified under any timetable.

Santorum, he said, "is willing to change the rules in the middle of the game." He called Santorum's proposals "Ryan on steroids."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-06-Santorum-Social%20Security/id-d5850fcc6ad54f249200e7f120faee5e

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Texas Tech baseball making progress with renovations

2012-01-07T21:26:00.001-08:00

The Texas Tech baseball field formerly known as Dan Law Field is making some serious headway.

Texas Tech's athletic department released new photos of the progress of the approximately $5 million project Thursday. Construction needs to be complete by Feb. 17 when the Red Raiders open their season against Missouri State.

Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park is taking its shape as all the steel is in place and the suites, TV and radio booths and the pressbox are complete.

Dan Law Field opened in 1988, but was showing its age at the end of the 2011 season. It had been passed up by quite a few other college baseball stadiums, most notably the facilities at Baylor, Texas, Texas A&M, TCU and Oklahoma.

Aside from providing baseball fans with a better experience, Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park is expected to help the Red Raiders in recruiting. A $75,000 renovation to the Texas Tech clubhouse on the stadium's site was completed in 2009.

If you click the link and then click on the Jan. 5 photo album, you can see the stadium looks in its present form. There are also links to older photo albums to help you get a feel for what the stadium looked like before Thursday.

Source: http://collegesportsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2012/01/texas-tech-baseball-making-progress-with.html

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Libyan children return to Gaddafi-free schools (Reuters)

2012-01-07T19:21:00.001-08:00

TRIPOLI (Reuters) ? Libyan children are returning to schools closed for months by civil war to find one teacher gone - Muammar Gaddafi, whose portraits have been stripped from classroom walls and once-revered words erased from the curriculum.

For decades, lessons based on his "teachings" were mandatory and his sometimes bizarre ideas permeated everything from history lessons to Arabic textbooks.

Educators are now scratching their heads over how to fill the gaps left by the expunging of the former dictator, the education minister said as more than 1.2 million children returned to schools Saturday.

"The subjects of political awareness and community studies have been cancelled," Minister of Education Suliman al-Sahli said.

"There are suggestions for substitute subjects and ... proposals are still under study," he said.

"The history subject has been canceled and replaced by a new one put together by experts in this area to give us real history."

The start of the current school year, which should have been last September, has been postponed to January. The last school year overran its schedule by months, because schools were closed for so much of the nine-month civil war which ended Gaddafi's 42-year rule. This school year will have to be shortened.

NEW BOOKS

One of the first things the now-ruling National Transitional Council did after taking up arms against Gaddafi was to set up a committee to wipe his teachings from the curriculum.

The three-volume "Green Book," which contains Gaddafi's musings on politics, economics and everyday life, used to be required reading for schools. Quotations from it used to adorn classroom walls, but all have now disappeared.

The book laid out his "Third Universal Theory" which seeks to chart a course between Islam and socialism.

Children were tested by their ability to learn by heart as much quotes from the "Green Book" as possible.

A typical final exam question would be to explain the economic benefits of a rule promulgated by Gaddafi: "The house belongs to the dweller," meaning that tenants renting houses had the right to take over the property if they wish to do so.

At Tripoli's Salam Primary and Middle School, Seif al-Din Mustafa, a sixth grader, said he was happy textbooks related to Gaddafi were gone.

"The teacher used to hit us if we ... couldn't understand," he said.

Lamya Abdul Salam, 11, said the curriculum had been difficult to grasp.

"Now we wish they would improve the curriculum and make it more useful," he said.

Abdul Majid Ghonia, director of curriculum at the Ministry of Education, said the entire stock of textbooks in ministry warehouses related to Gaddafi's regime would be destroyed and replaced with 453 new textbooks.

The content of those new books, however, is as yet undecided. The challenge now is to agree on alternatives to Gaddafi's versions of history, society and morality.

"We need to completely rethink the subjects taught in our schools, especially the cultural and political aspects which were abused by Gaddafi's regime to serve its propaganda purposes," said Suleiman Khoja, a senior ministry official.

Khoja said the government would organize a national conference to discuss ideas for alternative textbooks.

"We will not start that process (of replacing textbooks) without the participation of people who can come up with a new vision," he said.

(Reporting by Ali Shuaib and Taha Zargoun; writing by Mahmoud Habboush; editing by Andrew Roche)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120107/wl_nm/us_libya_schools

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Obama plans to cut tens of thousands of ground troops (Reuters)

2012-01-07T17:10:00.001-08:00

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? The Obama administration will unveil a "more realistic" vision for the military on Thursday, with plans to cut tens of thousands of ground troops and invest more in air and sea power at a time of fiscal restraint, officials familiar with the plans said on Wednesday.

The strategic review of U.S. security interests will also emphasize an American presence in Asia, with less attention overall to Europe, Africa and Latin America alongside slower growth in the Pentagon's budget, the officials said.

Though specific budget cut and troop reduction figures are not set to be announced on Thursday, officials confirmed to Reuters they would amount to a 10-15 percent decline in Army and Marine Corps numbers over the next decade, translating to tens of thousands of troops.

The most profound shift in the strategic review is an acceptance that the United States, even with the world's largest military budget, cannot afford to maintain the ground troops to fight more than one major war at once. That is a move away from the "win-win" strategy that has dominated Pentagon funding decisions for decades.

The move to a "win-spoil" plan, allowing U.S. forces to fight one campaign and stop or block another conflict, includes a recognition that the White House would need to ramp up public support for further engagement and draw more heavily on reserve and national guard troops when required.

"As Libya showed, you don't necessarily have to have boots on the ground all the time," an official said, explaining the White House view.

"We are refining our strategy to something that is more realistic," the official added.

President Barack Obama will help launch the U.S. review at the Pentagon on Thursday, and is expected to emphasize that the size of the U.S. military budget has been growing and will continue to grow, but at a slower pace.

Obama has moved to curtail U.S. ground commitments overseas, ending the war in Iraq, drawing down troops in Afghanistan and ruling out anything but air power and intelligence support for rebels who overthrew Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi.

The number of U.S. military personnel formally assigned to bases in Europe - including many now deployed in Afghanistan - is also set to decline sharply, administration sources said, while stressing that the final numbers have not been set.

'BASICALLY DISAPPEAR'

"When some army brigades start coming out of Afghanistan, they will basically disappear," one official said.

Many of the key U.S. military partners in the NATO alliance are also facing tough defense budget cuts as a result of fiscal strains gripping the European Union.

The president may face criticism from defense hawks in Congress, many of them opposition Republicans, who question his commitment to U.S. military strength.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, are set to hold a news conference to flesh out the contents of the review after Obama's remarks, which are also expected to stress the need to rein in spending at a time when U.S. budgets are tight.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said that the defense cuts stemming from an August debt ceiling deal - worth about $489 billion over 10 years - need to be enacted carefully.

"The president made clear to his team that we need to take a hard look at all of our defense spending to ensure that spending cuts are surgical and that our top priorities are met," Carney told reporters this week.

The military could be forced to cut another $600 billion in defense spending over 10 years unless Congress takes action to stop a second round of cuts mandated in the August accord.

Panetta spent much of Wednesday afternoon briefing key congressional leaders about the strategic review. Representative Adam Smith, the senior Democrat on the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, said after speaking to Panetta that the review was an attempt to evaluate U.S. strategic priorities for the future rather than identify specific budget reductions.

Maintaining a significant presence in the Middle East and Asia, especially to counter Iran and North Korea, was a leading priority in the review, Smith said. So was making sure that military personnel are sufficiently cared for to guarantee the effectiveness of the all-volunteer force. Reductions in the size of U.S. forces in Europe and elsewhere are a real possibility, he said.

Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain John Kirby said with the military winding down a decade of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, it is appropriate to re-evaluate the role of U.S. forces abroad.

"From an operational perspective it's ... an opportune time to take a look at what the U.S. military is doing and what it should be doing or should be preparing itself to do over the next 10 to 15 years," he said on Wednesday.

"So, yes, the budget cuts are certainly a driver here, but so quite frankly are current events," Kirby said.

(Additional reporting by Caren Bohan; Editing by Will Dunham)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120104/pl_nm/us_usa_military_obama

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TATAMEMAGAZINE: TATAME #191: ?Guerra dos Clones? na TShop http://t.co/i0xzK7kx

2012-01-07T01:11:00.001-08:00

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TATAME #191: ?Guerra dos Clones? na TShop t.tatame.com.br/25373 Il y a environ 12 heures via Editorial Tatame

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TheTorontoSun: Two workers hurt at York University TTC subway construction site. http://t.co/5Efunwxe

2012-01-07T00:11:00.001-08:00

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Mexican cartel kingpin pleads guilty in US court (AP)

2012-01-06T22:04:00.001-08:00

SAN DIEGO ? Mexican drug kingpin Benjamin Arellano Felix pleaded guilty Wednesday to racketeering and conspiracy to launder money, avoiding the spectacle of a trial for the leader of a cartel that once smuggled hundreds of tons of cocaine and marijuana into the United States and dissolved bodies of its rivals in vats of lye.

Under an agreement with federal prosecutors, Arellano Felix, 58, can be sentenced to no more than 25 years in prison ? a lighter punishment than ordered for lower-ranking members of his once-mighty, Tijuana-based cartel.

Prosecutors agreed to dismiss other charges that could have brought 140 years in prison if he was convicted.

The half-hour hearing was an anticlimactic finish to the U.S. government's pursuit of one of the world's most powerful drug bosses during the 1990s. His cartel, with its iron-tight grip on the drug trade along California's border with Mexico, was portrayed in the Steven Soderbergh film "Traffic" but has struggled in recent years as other cartels have become more ruthless than ever.

Laura Duffy, the U.S. attorney in San Diego who built much of her career on the case, said Arellano Felix will likely spend the rest of his life in U.S. prison but did not elaborate on the reasoning for the plea deal.

"Today's guilty plea marks the end of his reign of murder, mayhem and corruption, and his historic admission of guilt sends a clear message to the Mexican cartel leaders operating today: The United States will spare no effort to investigate, extradite and prosecute you for your criminal activities," Duffy said.

Arellano Felix stood attentively in court, acknowledging his guilt as U.S. District Judge Larry Burns recited parts of a 17-page plea agreement. He told the judge that he has been suffering migraine headaches almost daily but that the problem didn't impair his judgment to accept the plea agreement.

Anthony Colombo Jr., Arellano Felix's attorney, said his client could be released from U.S. prison in 20 years if credited for time served in this country and good behavior, assuming he gets the maximum 25-year sentence. As a Mexican citizen, he would then be deported to Mexico, where he still has nine years left on a sentence for related crimes.

Colombo said the government may have agreed to the deal to avoid having to bargain with 21 potential government witnesses for reduced sentences in exchange for their testimony. They also may have wanted to avoid a lengthy trial.

"They have to consider years and years of litigation, plus the expense, is avoided by this resolution," Colombo told reporters.

John Kirby, a former federal prosecutor who co-wrote the 2003 indictment against Arellano Felix, said the case rested entirely on cooperating witnesses, instead of wiretaps or physical evidence. He said those cases weaken over time as witnesses die, get into more trouble or change their minds about testifying.

"This kind of case is based solely on witness testimony, and it slowly disintegrates," Kirby said. "Maybe from the time when we put it together and now, it's not such a great case anymore."

The cost of a trial was unlikely to have influenced prosecutors, Kirby said.

"The government doesn't care about the expense, the government cares about winning," he said.

Francisco Javier Arellano Felix, a younger brother who led the cartel after Benjamin was arrested in Mexico in 2002, was sentenced in San Diego to life in prison in 2007, a year after he was captured by U.S. authorities in international waters off Mexico's Baja California coast. Jesus Labra Aviles, a lieutenant under Benjamin Arellano Felix, was sentenced in San Diego to 40 years in prison in 2010.

Benjamin Arellano Felix was extradited from Mexico in April 2011 to face drug, money-laundering and racketeering charges, one of the highest-profile kingpins to face prosecution in the United States.

The U.S. indictment said Arellano Felix was the top leader of a cartel he led with his brothers, going back to 1986. It says the cartel tortured and killed rivals in the United States and Mexico as it smuggled Mexican marijuana and Colombian cocaine.

"He was the top of the chain," Kirby said. "The brothers were at the top, and he was at the very top. He had the final say ... He was like the CEO of the operation."

The cartel began to lose influence along California's border with Mexico after Arellano Felix was arrested in 2002. A month earlier, his brother, Ramon, called the cartel's top enforcer, died in a shootout with Mexican authorities.

Benjamin Arellano Felix was incarcerated in Mexico after his 2002 arrest and was later sentenced to 22 years in prison on drug trafficking and organized crime charges.

Arellano Felix also agreed to forfeit $100 million, a figure that will be difficult for the government to collect.

"Whether there is anything out there that (the government) can seize, I don't know," Colombo said.

Sentencing was set for April 2.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120105/ap_on_re_us/us_drug_war_arellano_felix

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'Descendants,' 'Bridesmaids' earn writers noms (AP)

2012-01-06T19:56:00.001-08:00

LOS ANGELES ? George Clooney's "The Descendants," Brad Pitt's "Moneyball," Kristen Wiig's "Bridesmaids" and Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris" are among nominees for the Writers Guild of America Awards.

Clooney's family drama "The Descendants" earned an adapted-screenplay nomination Thursday for director Alexander Payne and co-writers Nat Faxon and Jim Rash. Pitt's sports tale "Moneyball" is up for the same prize for writers Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin.

Zaillian has a second adapted-screenplay nomination for director David Fincher's thriller "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara.

"Bridesmaids" star Wiig shared an original-screenplay nomination for her wedding comedy, which she co-wrote with Annie Mumolo. Director Allen also was nominated for original screenplay for his romantic fantasy "Midnight in Paris."

Other contenders for original screenplay: Will Reiser for the cancer story "50/50," starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen; Tom McCarthy for the family tale "Win Win," featuring Paul Giamatti; and Diablo Cody for the dark comedy "Young Adult," with Charlize Theron.

Also nominated for adapted screenplay: writer-director Tate Taylor for the Deep South drama "The Help," with Viola Davis, Emma Stone and Octavia Spencer; and John Logan for filmmaker Martin Scorsese's Paris adventure "Hugo," featuring Ben Kingsley and child stars Chloe Grace Moretz and Asa Butterfield.

Some acclaimed films, including the silent movie "The Artist," were ineligible because they were not made under the guild's contract guidelines.

Nominated for documentary screenplay: Katie Galloway and Kelly Duane de la Vega, "Better This World"; Marshall Curry and Matthew Hamachek, "If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front"; Patricio Guzman, "Nostalgia for the Light"; Wim Wenders, "Pina"; Hetty Naaijkens-Retel Helmrich and Leonard Retel Helmrich, "Position Among the Stars"; and Manish Pandey, "Senna."

Honors from Hollywood trade groups such as the writers, actors and directors guilds help sort out likely contenders for the Academy Awards, whose nominations come out Jan. 24.

Writers Guild winners will be announced Feb. 19.

___

Online:

http://www.wga.org

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120105/ap_en_ot/us_writers_guild_awards

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Israel Matzav: Erdogan has colorectal cancer?

2012-01-06T17:49:00.001-08:00

Erdogan has colorectal cancer?

JPost quotes an unnamed Turkish blogger who says that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has colorectal cancer.

But a Turkish blogger said a physician with ties to the Turkish executive branch told him Erdogan is suffering from colorectal cancer and is under close examination to determine its severity. On the condition of anonymity, the blogger said a respected authority in academia had told him the prime minister was expected to start chemotherapy last month.
The blogger said Turkish media have reported almost nothing about Erdogan?s condition, leaving most Turks totally unaware anything might be wrong. Still, he said, it?s an ?open secret? in the Turkish medical community that Erdogan has been diagnosed with cancer.
Last month the Jerusalem-based intelligence website DEBKAfile quoted ?Western intelligence sources? as saying Erdogan had been diagnosed with colorectal cancer, also known as colon cancer.
Official Turkish sources have remained tight-lipped. Following Erdogan?s surgery the AKP?s English- language website ran a three-sentence news item headlined ?Premier Erdogan says he is fine,? quoting the premier as saying only, ?I?m fine and I will be better.?

There might be hope for saving Turkey if Erdogan is forced to resign.

Four senior AKP figures ? Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc, Economy Minister Ali Babacan and Gul himself ? have been named as possible successors.
None of the candidates, however, match Erdogan?s popular appeal: A recent poll conducted by an independent US-based NGO found one-third of Turks would ?definitely not? vote for AKP if it were run by anyone other than Erdogan.
?From an electability perspective, there is no one who can replace Erdogan,? the blogger said.

Hmmm.

Labels: AKP, Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Source: http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/2012/01/erdogan-has-colorectal-cancer.html

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WeAreDenver: Who's ready 4 the Stock Show Parade? This guy! If ur in the area, head on over to 17th St., parade starting up @ noon! #5280mayor

2012-01-06T12:28:00.001-08:00

Twitter / Michael B. Hancock: Who's ready 4 the Stock Sh ... Who's ready 4 the Stock Show Parade? This guy! If ur in the area, head on over to 17th St., parade starting up @ noon! Il y a environ 4 heures via web

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Standout NFL veterans seek elusive Super Bowl ring

2012-01-06T07:13:00.001-08:00

Several likely Hall of Famers will suit up this weekend in search of an elusive championship, including Atlanta Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez, 35, and Denver Broncos defensive backs Champ Bailey, 33, and Brian Dawkins, 38, who have 31 Pro Bowl selections among them.

"I've been thinking that maybe I was going to retire for the last two years," Gonzalez said before the season. "I'd love to go out with a Super Bowl, obviously."

However, Gonzalez signed a one-year contract extension this week and is ready to get his first career playoff victory after going 0-4.

"We're going to go out there and let it rip and see what happens," Gonzalez said of Sunday's game vs. the New York Giants.

Charley Casserly, a former NFL general manager, says a player in Gonzalez's position can galvanize a locker room.

"There's an absolute sense of urgency because there's no guarantee you'll get back," said Casserly, a CBS analyst. "The young players don't sense that, but the veterans understand how special it is. Usually the team that wins it captures that sentiment that there is no tomorrow."

Casserly was the Washington Redskins GM when they drafted Bailey seventh overall in 1999. Bailey enjoyed four Pro Bowl seasons before he was dealt to the Broncos in 2004 and has been teammates with Dawkins for the last three seasons. Dawkins has come closest among the group to winning a title, losing Super Bowl XXXIX to the New England Patriots when he played for the Philadelphia Eagles.

If Dawkins can return from injury, he and Bailey will play their 243rd and 200th games, respectively, Sunday vs. Pittsburgh (4:30 p.m. ET, CBS).

Dawkins responded to the Broncos' third consecutive loss to close the regular season, addressing the team Monday.

"Coming from Dawk, everything holds weight," Broncos linebacker Wesley Woodyard told reporters. "When he does say whatever he has to say, everybody's ears open and eyes are in front paying attention to him.

"He's one of those guys who can get us on track."

Former NFL quarterback Rich Gannon had one shot at a title with Oakland following the 2002 season, along with former wide receiver and Hall of Fame finalist Tim Brown. The Raiders fell 48-21 to the Tampa Bay Bucaneers. Both players retired two seasons later.

"You work a lifetime for the chance," said Gannon, who reached the Super Bowl at age 37. "I don't think you appreciate it until you've had disappointments and heartaches along the way, until you've been home in January watching."

Contributing: Jarrett Bell

Source: http://rssfeeds.usatoday.com/~r/UsatodaycomNfl-TopStories/~3/sywkfvIofKw/1

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Are Tour pros hitting the golf ball too far?

2012-01-06T05:06:00.001-08:00

When average driving distance on the European Tour at the end of 2011 revealed an increase among the top 180 players of more than 10.3 yards and with a record 17 players bombing it more than 300 yards, time maybe for the authorities to take John Solheim?s gearing down of the golf ball seriously in 2012.

No doubt Olympic athletes will be setting world records in London in the summer. And with golfers now as fit as many of those competitors, distances can only get longer than the 312.7 yards Alvaro Quiros regularly smashes his Callaway golf ball, compared to Belgian Nicholas Colsaerts winning 307.7 average in 2010.

Back at the turn of the 21st Century Emanuel Canonica was the big cheese with the big stick with an average of 295 yards. But these days that won?t even get you in the top-30 for driving distance on the European Tour.

As for the 180th best driver on Tour, Indian Siv Kapur's 277.9-yard average is 21 yards better than his 2010 counterpart Christian Cevaer of France, whom, despite his lack of length off the tee still managed to win the European Open in 2009.

As for the PGA Tour, it saw a paltry 3.6-yard increase at the end of 2011 - allegedly the largest single year gain since 2003 and set an all-time high for players averaging more than 300 yards (21).

It was no mystery that Holmes (JB) and Watson (Bubba) were at the top of their stats with 318 and 314 respectively.

Perhaps most tellingly, according to some observers, it reflected an 11.4-yard PGA Tour gain since 2002 - the year golf?s ruling bodies issued the Joint Statement of Principles, a document that included the phrase ?any further significant increases in hitting distances at the highest level are undesirable.?

The USGA?s senior technical director Dick Rugge revealed recently, however, following Solheim?s proposals, that no distance-related rule changes are imminent.

But if Tour golfers continue to get stronger and fitter and manufacturers find other ways to stretch the regulatory envelope in terms of driver technology, expect the game?s ruling bodies to drill deeper into the detail to see what might be done to avoid more Tour courses becoming obsolete.

Is it time to find a way to make accuracy king again and get more from our short games?

Share your thoughts in the forum, via our?Twitter?feed or on our?Facebook?page.

Source: http://www.golfmagic.com/guest-blog/are-tour-pros-hitting-the-golf-ball-too-far/10674.html

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Trash Talk: Will it be Matty Ice, or Matty Nice Try

2012-01-05T16:24:00.001-08:00

Spartans' OT win vs. Badgers ends in controversy

Wisconsin's Ryan Evans had an apparent game-tying 3-pointer overturned on an officials' replay review, allowing No. 10 Michigan State to hold on for a 63-60 victory over No. 18 Wisconsin in overtime Tuesday night.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/14400754/ns/sports/

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Thousands of US Troops To Be Deployed in Israel?

2012-01-05T13:14:00.001-08:00

How did this one slip in under the media radar (pun intended)?

From the Jerusalem Post 12/20:

Israel is moving forward with plans to hold the largest-ever missile defense exercise in its history this spring amid Iranian efforts to obtain nuclear weapons.

Last week, Lt.-Gen. Frank Gorenc, commander of the US?s Third Air Force based in Germany, visited Israel to finalize plans for the upcoming drill, expected to see the deployment of several thousand American soldiers in Israel.

This is not the first example of US military presence on Israeli soil. Back in 2008, it was reported that 120 US military technicians and advisers were permanently in Israel to help operate a new early-warning radar system that was designed to ward of a potential Iranian missile attack.

But the deployment of ?several thousand American soldiers? in Israel is something else entirely. Could there be any more ominous sign of the ?special relationship? between these two military-industrial juggernauts?

BTW, shortly after this report was issued, the chief of the Mossad publicly stated a nuclear Iran would not pose an existential threat to Israel. And still the drumbeats grow ever louder.

This one hasn?t trickled down to the mainstream media yet and clearly needs more independent confirmation. But for those hoping against hope that 2012 would be a more peaceful year, I?d say things are off to a pretty dismal start?

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Source: http://rabbibrant.com/2012/01/03/thousands-of-us-troops-to-be-deployed-in-israel/

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Salem_Statesman: Oil jumps to near $101 amid rising Iran tensions http://t.co/CTSpvVpS

2012-01-05T05:49:00.001-08:00

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Oil jumps to near $101 amid rising Iran tensions stjr.nl/w0SWvH Il y a environ 2 heures via dlvr.it

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scottRcrawford: RT @StockJockey: What Happens When the College Tuition Bubble Pops? http://t.co/E0UMwBEK How Wall St looks at this issue

2012-01-05T03:41:00.001-08:00

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What Happens When the College Tuition Bubble Pops? bit.ly/xN8GG4 How Wall St looks at this issue Il y a environ 3 heures via TweetDeck Retweeted by 1 person

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The Trailer for the First Netflix Original Series Is Really Good [Video]

2012-01-05T01:35:00.001-08:00

The trailer for Netflix's first original series, Lilyhammer, is out, and while we can't be totally sure, it looks like it may be a pretty good show! I mean, it's Stevie Van Zandt and guns and Scandinavia. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/uO32ZgUPaeo/the-trailer-for-the-first-netflix-original-series-is-really-good

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Required reading (Unqualified Offerings)

2012-01-04T23:09:00.001-08:00

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/182082010?client_source=feed&format=rss

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The Tiny Tree Home Screen [Featured Home Screen]

2012-01-04T15:31:00.001-08:00

Reader Mike E shares his very simple, elegant home screen that even non-rooters can put together.

Mike explains his setup:

I wanted something that looked very simple but had everything there to hand within a couple of presses or swipes. First thing, I wanted to hide the notification bar as I think it looks way better without it (you can do this in LauncherPro). The dock stays the same over all three screens and has shortcuts to my most used apps.

The home screen contains 3 main text buttons for Google Reader, Spotify and JustPictures, a simple battery level display and a touch to lock button. There are 4 hidden folders (made using SiMi Folder Widget) which open custom Apps, Games, Contacts and Camera Apps, all arranged by frequency of use.

The left screen is for settings and work. There are switches for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Data Connection, GPS, Ringer Setting and Volume Settings. The text button opens Wunderlist and the calendar displays one of my Google Calendars set up to sync with my work's Notes calendar.

The right screen is for personal and has text buttons for Facebook, Gmail and Any.do. The calendar contains all my personal calendars from Google Calendar.

The widgets Mike uses include:

Do you have an awesome, tweaked-into-oblivion home or lock screen of your own that you'd like to share? Go ahead and post it on the #homescreenshowcase forum with a description of how you made it and it may be the next featured home screen.

The Iconic Home Screen | #homescreenshowcase

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/DdpXLWxfmII/the-tiny-tree-home-screen

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Google Pulls ?Official? Siri App from Android Market

2012-01-04T04:37:00.001-08:00

By John P. Mello Jr.
PC World (US)
January 2, 2012

SAN FRANCISCO - Google has reportedly yanked an app masquerading as Siri, Apple?s voice command personal assistant software, from the Android marketplace.

The move comes amid a deluge of Siri wannabes that have invaded the Android market since Apple introduced the iPhone 4S and its innovative features.
An app called Siri for Android, made by an outfit called Official Software, appeared in the Android market on Friday and was pulled from the bazaar by Google just hours after its arrival there, according to a report by The Next Web.
Also, all other apps by Official Software disappeared from the market, as it appears that Google has pulled the software maker?s account, which allows it to sell programs at the outlet.

The software company did a number of dubious things that appear to have prompted Google to act against the firm.

For example, it used Apple?s Siri icon for the Official Software Android app. The word ?official? was used in a way to make the app look like it was a true clone of the Apple app. When the Siri icon was tapped, all Official Software?s app did was load Google?s own voice command software, Voice Actions.

This isn?t the first time something like this has happened.

A French developer has even found a way to tap into Apple?s servers to enable software running on other mobile phone platforms to duplicate Siri?s feats, although the legality of such a move would be doubtful.
A search for ?Siri? on the Android Market by PCWorld revealed 131 hits, but less than a handful of the programs had more than 10,000 downloads. They were Vlingo Virtual Assistant (32,328 downloads), Iris (20,309), Skyvi (19,444) and Speaktoit Assistant (11,600).
While the Android world has been laboring hard to emulate Siri?s functionality since Apple pulled the wraps off it, it hasn?t quite made it there yet, according to PC World?s Ed Albro.
?I?ve concluded that you can find decent virtual help on an Android phone, but the assistants available likely won?t be as smooth and capable as Siri,? he wrote.

He described Siri as the classic executive secretary ? ?always well-dressed and possessed of an elephant?s memory and a dry wit.?

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Source: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r5687658227

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Hackers disclose Israelis' credit card information (AP)

2012-01-04T02:30:00.001-08:00

JERUSALEM ? Hackers claiming to be Saudis posted credit card information of thousands of Israelis on the Internet, credit card companies said Tuesday, in what appeared to be a politically motivated attack. One expert played down its scope.

The Israeli Ynet news website said the hackers, identifying themselves as Group-XP, called the cyber attack a "gift to the world for the New Year" that they hoped "would hurt the Zionist pocket."

They claimed to have compromised 400,000 credit-card holders, but Israel's central bank said only about 15,000 active cards were affected.

"Group-XP is a known Saudi hacking group that seeks to propagate Wahhabism," the strict form of Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia, said Gadi Aviran of Terrogence Ltd., an Israeli web intelligence company.

"The fact that the hackers offered the credit card details for free and admitted to using the cards in order to expand their activity and cause more damage to Israelis in the future shows that they were not motivated by criminal intent or greed," he said. "This event is less cyber warfare than cyber terrorism."

Another cyber expert, Gadi Evron, told The Associated Press that it would be almost impossible to verify the attackers were Saudi.

Evron, who once oversaw security for the Israeli government Internet provider, said the attack was "nothing special" technically and was mundane, given the millions of credit card numbers stolen online daily.

"Potentially, such attacks could be devastating," he said. "This is not one of them."

It focused attention again about potential dangers for consumers in using electronic commerce services, he said, and demonstrated how relatively simple attacks could affect an entire country.

Ynet said the information was posted on an Israeli sports website and removed shortly after it appeared. Credit card companies said they blocked Internet purchases on the compromised cards and would issue replacement cards soon.

Israeli security officials said Israel's Shin Bet internal security agency has a special unit that advises sensitive sectors considered vital to security, like public utilities, about Internet security. It recently added banks and cell phone companies.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss security matters.

Evron said Israel, a high-tech powerhouse, is one of the most frequently hacked countries in the world, though the attacks generally are not sophisticated. Many of the attacks are linked to pro-Palestinian or pro-Arab hackers, he said.

"As a rule, whenever there is some sort of ethnic or political tension around the world...you can guarantee that two days later or an hour later, for at least a few weeks, there are going to be some kind of online attacks going on," Evron said.

There have been no confirmed reports of sensitive Israeli government sites being hacked. Several weeks ago, websites of Israeli spy services and other official sites briefly went down, but the government denied pro-Palestinian hackers were to blame and characterized the event as a technical malfunction.

________

Additional reporting by Ian Deitch.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120103/ap_on_hi_te/ml_israel_hackers

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Here is the latest North Carolina sports news from The Associated Press

2012-01-03T23:16:00.001-08:00

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) - Chay Shegog hit the go-ahead free throws with 1:11 left, helping No. 25 North Carolina rally past No. 12 Miami 65-63 on Monday night in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both teams. Shegog finished with 20 points to lead the Tar Heels, who won despite finishing with a season-high 31 turnovers. North Carolina trailed by eight with about 5? minutes left before fighting back to take its first lead on Shegog's free throws.

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - Tricia Liston had 18 points to lead four players in double figures for No. 7 Duke, which blew past Virginia 77-66 Monday night in the ACC opener for both teams. Haley Peters added 13 points, Richa Jackson 12 and Chelsea Gray 11 with eight assists for the Blue Devils (10-2), who have won 19 straight in the series.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) - Leading scorer C.J. Harris was held out of Wake Forest's game against Wofford on Monday night with a strained groin. Harris injured his groin late in a victory over Yale on Dec. 29 and was sidelined as a precaution. Team officials said Harris was expected back for the Demon Deacons' Atlantic Coast Conference opener against Virginia Tech on Saturday.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) - North Carolina says junior defensive end Donte Paige-Moss has told Tar Heels coaches he plans to enter the NFL draft. Paige-Moss played all 13 games and finished with 29 tackles, four tackles for loss and two sacks. He tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during the Tar Heels' loss to Missouri in the Independence Bowl on Dec. 26.

Source: http://www.wmbfnews.com/story/16432540/here-is-the-latest-north-carolina-sports-news-from-the-associated-press

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CNYcentral: RT @MichaelBenny: Inferno. Wild photo of raging barn fire near Lake Delta in Rome, NY Thx 2 viewer Patsy McCarthy. http://t.co/Dp1aYePq

2012-01-03T21:09:00.001-08:00

Twitter / Michael Benny: Inferno. Wild photo of rag ... Inferno. Wild photo of raging barn fire near Lake Delta in Rome, NY Thx 2 viewer Patsy McCarthy. Il y a environ 20 heures via web

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sportsmemo: Sports Betting Podcast 1-2-2012 Rob Veno and Erin Rynning: Mondays Sportsmemo Podcast featured handicappers Rob ... http://t.co/7tV37dIb

2012-01-03T15:53:00.001-08:00

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Sports Betting Podcast 1-2-2012 Rob Veno and Erin Rynning: Mondays Sportsmemo Podcast featured handicappers Rob ... bit.ly/sMjbsr Il y a environ 4 heures via twitterfeed

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MrSchinke: RT @Rawesomeee How bad is Terrance Newman? He can't cover or tackle, get him outta the NFL

2012-01-03T13:11:00.001-08:00

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It's not our oil on your beach, Shell tells Nigerians

2012-01-03T01:33:00.001-08:00

By msnbc.com and news services

Nigerian villagers say oil washing up on the coast comes from a Royal Dutch Shell loading accident last month that caused the biggest spill in Africa's top producer in more than 13 years.

Shell denies that any of the oil is from its 200,000 barrel per day Bonga facility, 120 km offshore and accounting for 10 percent of monthly oil flows, which was shut down by the spill on Dec. 20.

George Esiri / EPA

A woman walks past some of the hundreds of dead fish believed to have been killed as a result of the recent oil spill off the coast of Nigeria.

Shell says five ships were used to disperse and contain the spill and that this kept any oil from washing ashore.

But local villagers, as well as environmental and rights groups, dispute this account, saying the oil is still at large, coating parts of the coast, killing fish and sparking protests.

On Saturday, a Reuters team visited two of 13 villages whose residents say they were affected by the spill in the steamy swamps of the Niger Delta. In both, there were stretches of beach coated in a film of black sludge with a rainbow tint.

In one, two children skipped along the beach, dodging the puddles of sticky ooze.

Villagers in Orobiri, Delta state, spent much of the day scooping crude from the water in plastic buckets and jerrycans.

"When this spill occurred, we called on Shell to come and do a clean up, ... but since then, they have not turned up, so we the communities now did a clean-up instead," said Jacob Ajuju, the paramount chief of Orobiri village, surrounded by rows of assorted buckets and containers full of crude.

As he spoke, dozens of women villagers marched in protest at the spill, their heads adorned with leafy branches to symbolise unhappiness. Others continued to tip the oil from jerrycans into large plastic drums.

"On Christmas day, all the women you see here, were just at the seaside parking this oil into the jerrycans," said Dennis Igolobuabe, Orobiri community youth president.

Shell says no oil from the spill washed up on the coast.

"We believe the oil on the beach is not from Bonga. We made significant progress every day to disperse the oil that leaked from Bonga," Shell Nigeria spokesman Precious Okolobo told Reuters in an emailed statement.

"We are confident that any oil of that age, colour and consistency that hits the beach is not ours. We are taking samples ... which will be reviewed to provide evidence that this is not Bonga oil on the beach," he added.

Okolobo suggested the oil may have been from "a third party spill which appeared to be from a vessel, in the middle of an area that we had previously cleaned up".

Spills by all oil companies operating in the region are common, and it is sometimes hard to tell whose is whose.

On another beach near Agga village, a man on a motorbike paused to look at scores of silvery fish washed up dead.

"Before this spill came, we were already been informed by Shell in Warri (the main town in the region) during a meeting that this is what is coming ... It's a calamity," said Joseph Gbuebo, community secretary for Agga.

"On the 25th of this month, we saw some helicopters flying, dropping some chemicals along the shore, but this has been injurious to our health," he added.

Shell's pipelines in Nigeria's onshore Niger delta have spilled several times. The company usually blames such leaks on sabotage attacks and rampant oil theft.

BP's Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico ruptured in April last year, spewing nearly 5 million barrels of oil into the sea in what was the worst U.S. marine oil spill. The disaster brought intense negative publicity for BP.

But in Nigera, spills are so commonplace they often go unnoticed by the outside world.

A U.N. report in August criticised Shell and the Nigerian government for contributing to 50 years of pollution in a Niger Delta region that it said needs the world's largest oil clean-up, costing an initial $1 billion and taking up to 30 years.

Separately, the cost of fuel more than doubled in Nigeria a day after the government announced an end to fuel subsidies.

Sign posts at a few gas stations Monday morning put the price at nearly $3.60 per gallon (94 cents per liter), up from about $1.70 per gallon (45 cents per liter) on Sunday.

Many more stations were shut down, while bus and taxi fares had already risen.

The subsidy was one of citizens' few government benefits in the oil-rich nation, and its removal follows the government's Saturday declaration of a state of emergency in some parts of the nation over a growing Islamist insurgency.

Nigeria produces over 2 million barrels per day of crude oil but a lack of investment in refineries and infrastructure means almost all of this is exported, while refined products such as petrol have to be imported at great cost.

Labor unions, who ironically described the holiday move as the president's New Year "gift" to Nigerians, vowed they would fight it.

Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/02/9890603-coastal-villages-in-nigeria-protest-as-crude-oil-washes-ashore

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Study: Indoor Tanning Linked With Early Onset of Skin Cancer (Time.com)

2012-01-03T00:37:00.001-08:00

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AerysSports: Duke at Temple: Women?s Basketball Edition Part 2 http://t.co/hRKMxWx5 #Duke #NCAA

2012-01-02T13:02:00.001-08:00

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Us Automotive Offers Critique ? Good Or Bad? | iuiu-mbale

2012-01-02T12:06:00.001-08:00

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Source: http://www.iuiu-mbale.com/us-automotive-offers-critique-good-or-bad/

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North Korea calls for "human shields" to protect new leader (Reuters)

2012-01-01T23:32:00.001-08:00

SEOUL (Reuters) ? North Korea called on its people to rally behind new leader Kim Jong-un and protect him as "human shields" while working to solve the "burning issue" of food shortages by upholding the policies of his late father, Kim Jong-il.

The North's three main state newspapers said in a policy-setting editorial traditionally published on New Year's Day that Kim Jong-un has legitimacy to carry on the revolutionary battle initiated by his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, and developed by his father, the iron-fisted ruler who died two weeks ago.

"Kim Jong-un, the supreme leader of our Party and our people, is the banner of victory and glory of Songun (military-first) Korea and the eternal centre of its unity," the 5,000-word editorial carried by the North's state KCNA news agency said.

Asserting that the inexperienced young Kim, in his late 20s, is "precisely" identical to his father, the editorial said "the whole Party, the entire army and all the people should possess a firm conviction that they will become human bulwarks and human shields in defending Kim Jong-un unto death."

Notably, the editorial called North Korea's food problem "a burning issue" for the ruling Workers' Party to solve and build "a thriving country."

"Glorify this year 2012 as a year of proud victory, a year when an era of prosperity is unfolding, true to the instructions of the great General Kim Jong-il," read the editorial.

The destitute North has been suffering from chronic food shortages, relying heavily on outside aid. A U.N. report said in November the isolated communist state needs food assistance for nearly 3 million of its 24 million people in 2012.

NO MENTION OF NUCLEAR ARMS

Many Korea-watchers in Seoul say the editorial did not suggest any major new changes in social or economic policies but appeared to be sensitive over the food issue.

"In order to solidify and stabilize his grip on power, tackling the food problem is one of the top agenda topics Kim Jong-un should deal with for now," Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Koran Studies, told Reuters.

The editorial also assailed the South Korean government for pursuing confrontation despite efforts by the North to reopen dialogue, and it repeated its demand for the withdrawal of the U.S. military from the South.

But conspicuously absent from the editorial was any mention of North Korea's nuclear arms program, the key source of regional security concerns during Kim Jong-il's reign.

"The North seems poised to focus its polices on stabilizing domestic matters such as economic issues for the time being rather than to aggressively come forward with diplomatic affairs," said Yoo Ho-yeol, an North Korea expert at Korea University.

The North's remarks on the nuclear issue were featured prominently in previous New Year's Day editorials.

Momentum was building in diplomatic contacts between the North and the United States before the announcement of Kim Jong-il's death, raising expectations the two sides may be closer to reaching a compromise to restart stalled talks aimed at ending the North's nuclear program.

Those talks stalled in 2008 when Pyongyang baulked at inspections of its nuclear sites under a 2005 deal by six countries -- the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia -- to give the impoverished North aid in return for disarmament.

"By giving up on comments on the nuclear issue, the North would secure much room in negotiations with the United States and the other signatories of the six-party talks," said Yang.

In a fiery message last week that marked the first communication with the outside world since Kim Jong-il's death, the North's National Defense Commission, which is seen as the apex of power, declared it would not deal with the current government in the South.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak angered Pyongyang by cutting off aid to its destitute neighbor when he took office in 2008, demanding nuclear disarmament and economic reform as preconditions to reopen food assistance and political engagement.

Tensions on the divided peninsula reached a new peak in 2010 when the North launched an artillery barrage into a South Korean island, killing civilians. The North was also blamed for a torpedo attack against a South Korean navy ship that killed 46.

North and South Korea are technically still at war under a truce ending the 1950-53 Korean War.

The North's state media said on Saturday Kim Jong-un has been officially appointed supreme commander of its 1.2-million strong military, two days after the official mourning for the dead leader ended, in a move seen as a rush to solidify succession and boost the younger Kim's grip on power.

Kim Jong-un was named a four-star general and given the vice-chairmanship of the ruling party's Central Military Commission by his father in 2010.

Experts believe the untested new leader, who had only been groomed for power since 2009, will rule with the aid of a close coterie that includes his uncle and key power-broker, Jang Song-thaek, at least in the early stages of the leadership transition.

(Reporting by Jack Kim and Sung-won Shim; Editing by Ed Lane)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120101/wl_nm/us_korea_north

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For Lab Mice, The Medical Advances Keep Coming

2012-01-01T11:01:00.001-08:00

Enlarge Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images

Takashi Yokoo, head of a project researching kidney regeneration at Tokyo's Jikei University School of Medicine, holds a mouse at his laboratory.

Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images

Takashi Yokoo, head of a project researching kidney regeneration at Tokyo's Jikei University School of Medicine, holds a mouse at his laboratory.

When scientists want to test new therapies for cancer or heart disease, they frequently turn to mice for help. For most mice, this isn't the best thing that could happen to them. Being a research subject has definite disadvantages, at least for mice.

But most people prefer a new therapy be tested in a rodent rather than making a human patient the guinea pig ? if you'll forgive the twisted metaphor.

So every year, mice get the latest therapies. And some of the time, they're cured. For example, Richard Vile, a researcher at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., works with a strain of lab mice that are prone to getting prostate cancer.

"What we've done is we've vaccinated mice against tumors," he says.

Vile says the vaccine is made from a special virus containing cancer cell genes. The modified virus energizes the mouse's immune system so it can fight off the cancer. The vaccine doesn't prevent cancer; instead, Vile gives the vaccine to mice that already have tumors.

"In a proportion of the mice, in our best experiments, those tumors would actually go away," Vile says. "It is good news for mice."

The good news doesn't end with prostate cancer. Scientists have reported progress this year in melting away all sorts of tumors, as well as promising treatments for a variety of other ailments.

Lois Smith, an ophthalmologist at Children's Hospital in Boston, has been studying an eye problem that afflicts premature infants and people with diabetes. The problem is caused by abnormal blood vessel growth in the eye that can lead to blindness. She's turned to mice to answer some fundamental questions:

"How do we promote normal blood vessel regrowth?" she asks. "How do we prevent the abnormal new blood vessels from growing?"

This year, she reported that giving mice omega-3 fatty acids ? that stuff you find in fish oil ? was an approach that shows promise.

"It decreases by 50 percent the abnormal new blood vessel growth," she says. This approach only works before the problem develops. It won't be much help for the three blind mice we've all heard so much about.

But just as some therapies are tested in mice before they are tested in humans, some are tested in mouse cells before they are tested in live mice.

Jeffrey Holt, an otolaryngologist, also at Children's Hospital in Boston, has found some genes that have the wrong DNA sequence in people with an inherited form of deafness. So he's working with mice that have the same problem.

"The idea is then to replace those genes with the correct DNA sequence and hopefully restore function," he says. This year, Holt was able to correct that problem in mouse cells.

"That was done in vitro, in a dish. And now we want to do it in the live animal," he says. "We're pretty close. That's something we have planned for the next year or so."

So for that good news, mice still have to wait a while.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/12/31/143862860/for-lab-mice-the-medical-advances-keep-coming?ft=1&f=1007

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The FCC Will Investigate Verizon's Ridiculous $2 Online Payment Fee [Verizon]

2012-01-01T06:51:00.001-08:00

Verizon's announcement that hey, no biggie, but they're going to charge you two dollars a month just for paying your bill online didn't just catch our attention. It's also apparently perked up a few ears at the FCC, where hopefully glorious, government-appointed justice will rain down on our carrier oppressors. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/yACzZr6EvLA/the-fcc-will-investigate-verizons-ridiculous-2-online-payment-fee

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Ford expects to play vs. Chargers

2011-12-31T16:18:00.001-08:00

PC: Oakland Raiders' Jacoby Ford returns a kick 101-yards for a touchdown against the Cleveland Browns during their game in Oakland on Sunday, October 16, 2011. The Raiders defeated the Browns 24-17.

CHRISTOPHER CHUNG / PD

Published: Friday, December 30, 2011 at 3:00 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, December 30, 2011 at 10:11 p.m.

ALAMEDA ? Raiders wide receiver Jacoby Ford made it through a third straight practice without any setbacks and expects to play in Oakland's regular-season finale against San Diego.

That would be a big boost to the Raiders, who need to beat the Chargers on Sunday to keep their playoff hopes alive. Oakland can get in either as the AFC West champion or as a wild card, though it would need help from other teams for that to happen.

It's a game Ford doesn't plan to miss.

?We know what type of game it is, it's a big game,? Ford said Friday. ?But we're not looking at it as something to put pressure on ourselves. Then you'll be uptight and you won't play loose and relaxed. We're just going to go out there and play the game the way we need to go out there and play.?

Ford hasn't played since injuring his left foot after making a catch in the first quarter of Oakland's 24-17 win in San Diego on Nov. 10. The 5-foot-9, 185-pound receiver was averaging 15.3 yards a catch before getting hurt and has been one of the Raiders' two deep threats with rookie Denarius Moore.

Moore, who is averaging a team-high 17.2 yards per catch, also recently returned to Oakland's lineup after missing three games with a foot injury.

The Raiders went 3-3 without Ford, who was hurt after he made a 41-yard reception and was tackled by San Diego cornerback Dante Hughes.

Ford had to wear a protective boot and was cleared to resume running only recently. He's still listed as questionable on the injury report, though the indication is that he'll play.

The biggest hurdle was to make it through a full week of practice after being sidelined for so long.

The prognosis? So far, so good.

?I was able to do some things in practice just to see if I'll be able to do them in the game,? Ford said. ?It was definitely a positive week for me so I feel good going into the game. If I practiced this much this week and I'm not out there, I'd be mad.?

Ford also doubles as the Raiders' primary kick returner on special teams, though coach Hue Jackson is likely to keep him limited to offense on Sunday.

?I don't want to put him in a situation where he can't do what he's accustomed to doing,? Jackson said. ?I don't know that he's totally there yet, but he's close. The guys that have been returning for us have done a great job, so I'll kind of probably stay in that direction until we get him back totally healthy.?

Oakland's defense also may get back one of its key defensive backs.

Safety Michael Huff, who has been out two games with a groin injury, also practiced this week without any significant setbacks. Having Huff would significantly alter how the Raiders defend Chargers tight end Antonio Gates, who has nine career touchdowns in the series between the division rivals.

Jackson sounded optimistic that both Huff and Ford will play.

?It's been three good days for the (and) we'll see where they are tomorrow,? the coach said. ?But I feel very strong about those guys having an opportunity to contribute to our football team.?

Source: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20111230/sports/111239941

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Faculty Union Sues New York Over Health-Insurance Hike - The ...

2011-12-31T03:49:00.001-08:00

December 28, 2011, 6:24 pm

United University Professions, the union that represents State University of New York faculty members, was among a number of unions that sued the state Wednesday in federal court in hopes of reversing a state-mandated 2-percent increase in health-insurance rates for retirees. The unions said the increase was imposed unilaterally, was arbitrary and capricious, and amounted to a breach of contract. About 4,000 retired faculty members are affected, the union said.

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Source: http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/faculty-union-sues-new-york-over-health-insurance-hike/39423

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Rescue group in crisis mode after cat euthanized (AP)

2011-12-30T23:40:00.001-08:00

PHOENIX ? Animal lovers threatened to pull donations to an animal rescue group and the public flooded the agency with scathing comments and calls after a man's cat was euthanized when he couldn't afford its medical care, prompting the Arizona Humane Society to go into damage-control mode Wednesday.

The group has hired a publicist, removed dozens of comments on its Facebook page and directed a team of five volunteers to respond to the overwhelming calls and emails it has received since The Arizona Republic published a weekend story about Daniel Dockery and his 9-month-old cat, Scruffy.

Dockery, a 49-year-old recovering heroin addict, told the Phoenix newspaper that he took Scruffy to a Humane Society center on Dec. 8 because she had a cut from a barbed-wire fence, an injury that he described as non-life-threatening. The agency said it would cost $400 to treat Scruffy, money he didn't have.

The Humane Society cited policy when it declined to accept a credit card over the phone from Dockery's mother in Michigan or to wait for her to wire the money. The staff said if he signed papers surrendering the cat, Scruffy would be treated and put in foster care, he said.

Instead, Scruffy was euthanized several hours later.

Dockery told the Republic that he was devastated.

"Now I've got to think about how I failed that beautiful animal," Dockery said. "I failed her. ... That's so wrong. There was no reason for her not to be treated."

He described the cat as helping him stay off drugs for more than a year, the longest he had ever been clean. He hand-fed the feline before she opened her eyes at 4 days old, giving her fresh tuna and letting her sleep on his pillow.

Stacy Pearson, who was hired by the agency specifically to deal with media questions about the cat, said Dockery's case has led to two changes. The Arizona Humane Society has set up an account, funded through donations, that would cover the costs of emergency treatment of animals whose owners need a day or two to come up with money for payments. And the group is now accepting credit card payments by phone, Pearson said.

Dozens of scathing comments have since inundated the group's Facebook page, with animal lovers demanding to know why the cat was put down. Pearson said angry comments were removed because of their content: One called for the staff to be euthanized, while another said what happened to Scruffy was murder.

Pearson said Scruffy was put down over a number of reasons, including Dockery's lack of immediate funds, a lack of veterinarians to treat her and what Pearson described as a very serious cut on Scruffy from her abdomen to her knee that went to the muscle.

She said the Arizona Humane Society at the time didn't accept credit card payments over the phone because of possible fraud and can't treat pets with only a promise from owners that they can pay the next day. She said staff had every intention of getting Scruffy the help she needed but the number of animals requiring help at the group's second-chance clinic was too much for the resources available.

If Dockery had been able to pay, Scruffy would have been treated at the facility where he brought her, Pearson said.

"There was no malicious intent to take Scruffy away from her father," Pearson said. "Pulling funding is only going to make a problem like this worse."

On Facebook, where only the agency's executive director is allowed to post comments now, Guy Collison wrote that "Scruffy's story is heartbreaking, and underscores the worst-case-scenario of need eclipsing resources available." He said that his agency has always done what's best for animals.

In less than an hour after his statement was posted, more than 100 people responded, with most slamming the agency and some defending it as doing the best it can with available resources.

Pearson said the group told Dockery on Tuesday that when he's ready for another pet, he could come in and pick one out, but he declined, telling them: "No thanks."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weather/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111229/ap_on_re_us/us_euthanized_cat_outrage

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Singer, actress Kaye Stevens dies in Florida (AP)

2011-12-30T11:12:00.001-08:00

THE VILLAGES, Fla. ? Singer and actress Kaye Stevens, who performed with the Rat Pack and was a frequent guest on Johnny Carson's "The Tonight Show," has died at a central Florida hospital. She was 79.

Close friend Gerry Schweitzer confirmed that Stevens died Wednesday at the Villages Hospital north of Orlando following a battle with breast cancer and blood clots.

Stevens, a longtime South Florida resident, performed with Rat Pack members including Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and Joey Bishop. She also sang solo at venues like Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas and the Plaza Hotel's Persian Room in New York City.

During the Vietnam War era, Stevens performed for American soldiers in the war zone with Bob Hope's USO tour.

According to a handout from friend Rhonda Glenn, Stevens was born Catherine Louise Stephens in Pittsburgh. Her family eventually moved to Cleveland, where a teenage Stevens got her start as a drummer and singer. She later married now deceased bandleader and trumpet player Tommy Amato, and the couple performed throughout the eastern U.S.

During a gig in New Jersey, Stevens was discovered by Ed McMahon, Carson's longtime sidekick, which led to new bookings. Her big break came when she was playing a lounge at The Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas. Debbie Reynolds became ill and was unable to perform in the main room. Stevens filled in and was an instant hit.

Besides singing, Stevens also acted in film and television. She appeared in six movies, earning a Golden Globe nomination in 1964 for "The New Interns." She was a regular celebrity player on game shows and appeared as a regular on "Days of Our Lives" from 1974-79.

During the past two decades, Stevens started her own ministry and began performing only Christian and patriotic music. She staged benefits to help build St. Vincent Catholic Church in her longtime home of Margate, Fla., where city officials named a park in her honor.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obits/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111230/ap_en_mu/us_obit_kaye_stevens

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Yifat Oren: I'm A Celebrity Wedding Planner, Get Me Out Of Here

2011-12-28T19:39:00.001-08:00

Sometimes the thing you're known for is not at all how you imagine yourself.

In my case, being described as a "celebrity" wedding planner always leaves me bemused. I'm certainly not a celebrity, and though some of my clients have achieved fame, most go out of their way to remove themselves from the limelight. I would gladly name drop, but I find it to be a big bore, especially in Los Angeles, where so many deem themselves a "celebrity" of sorts, even wedding planners. If you really want to know who my famous clients are, I am more than sure you can easily find that out through Google and a myriad of search engines and blogs.

For my part, I prefer to view myself as a seasoned professional, providing impeccable service to the world's most discerning clientele. I pride myself in the team caliber I have built, the creativity of our design and our ability to execute couture celebrations. To earn a top spot in my field, I have overcome many challenges over the nearly 15 years I have been in this business. And during this time, I cannot think of one moment when celebrity mongering came into play. My goal is to do work that inspires me, not aggressively hunt down a celebrity clientele, which turns out is not so uncommon in my field of work.

As a descriptor, the word "celebrity" can cause plenty of excitement, but its over-use renders the term about as meaningful and specific as the word "supergreat." Look up "wedding planner" in any state and you'll get lists of thousands of "celebrity" wedding planners. Anyone who has ever read an issue of US Weekly, it seems, can adopt the moniker and claim they can deliver Hollywood magic to an Omaha bride. This usually involves heavy doses of sparkle, shiny fabrics, and complicated up-dos.

Likewise, television programs dedicated to weddings tell stories of women who want to be like their favorite "star" on their big day, or worse, morph into divas or bridezillas who feel entitled to devastate their family's finances in service of their "dream wedding." I am mystified by the idea of spending money you don't have on a wedding just to keep up with people you've never actually met.

I think the constant media coverage of Hollywood is a huge disservice to our sense of self. We compare our lives to manufactured, professionally styled images of people and events, not real people. Just like those angular, pore-less models you see in magazines who have been air brushed, so too are the reporting of celebrity weddings worked over by professionals. You can read all about the gorgeous items featured in Kim Kardashian's wedding, but chances are, those were paid sponsorships.

Perhaps that is what I object to the most, the idea of a wedding as a product commercial or illusion-fueled fantasy. I understand how the economics work - celebrities beget press coverage and if your bracelet/watch/car/wedding dress is wrapped around the celebrity, your bracelet/watch/car/wedding dress is going to become more sought after. Having been behind the scenes, might I suggest that much of the frenzy surrounding celebrity weddings is a fabrication and trying to emulate it is an exercise in futility?

I remember vividly the day of Kevin Costner and his bride Christine's wedding at their ranch in Aspen, Colorado. I was busy running around with my team putting out the usual fires, and calming a few frayed nerves. I was so consumed with my work on the ranch that I wasn't really aware of the media frenzy that the wedding was causing in this small mountain town. It was not until I was getting ready to line up the wedding party that I looked up at the hillside overlooking the property and my mouth nearly dropped open to see it covered with photographers and many many long lenses. And I thought to myself, what is it these people are trying to capture? What story are they trying to tell? Having witnessed celebrity nuptials several times since that day, I can attest to the following; there is no special story, celebrity weddings are like all other weddings, they have snafus, annoying family members, bouquets that need to be fixed, toasts you could have lived a lifetime without. It's a wedding, that's it, no more nor less. If you are still vested in fairytales, may I suggest the Brothers Grimm, they were my favorite. When I was eight.

Hollywood doesn't hold a monopoly on magic or creativity or perfection. Authentic, magical moments happen when people express who they really are at their weddings. It happens when a child interrupts the ceremony to scream that they love the bride, making everyone laugh. Sometimes it happens when no one is watching, and the father of the groom hugs his son for the first time in years. Weddings, no matter how lavish, are intimate and personal and ought to be low on show and high on warmth. I have no interest in weddings that serve to imitate someone else's life. What I am passionate about is celebrating the real life of my clients and would rather be known for my lack of illusions than my celebrity roster.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/yifat-oren/im-a-celebrity-wedding-pl_b_1163448.html

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NOW Foods Oregano Oil Enteric, 90 Softgels

2011-12-27T11:38:00.001-08:00

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This slightly minty, slightly spicy herb is actually a member of the mint family. When burned, it?s oil gives off a pleasant, calming aroma. In the kitchen, it?s commonly used to add zest to Italian foods. NOW? Oregano Oil Softgels contain a minimum of 55% carvacrol, the most widely researched active ingredients in oregano.

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Source: http://www.yeastinfectionreliefs.com/products/now-foods-oregano-oil-enteric-90-softgels

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Training stepped up for Afghan special forces (AP)

2011-12-26T23:09:00.001-08:00

CAMP SCORPION, Afghanistan ? "Attention! Attention! You are surrounded by Afghan forces. Come out with your hands up."

The order barked by an Afghan soldier launched a training exercise last week that pitted members of the nation's growing elite force against actors posing as Taliban fighters.

Afghanistan and the U.S.-led coalition have stepped up training of the Afghan special forces unit to fill the vacuum that will be left by foreign troops slated to end their combat mission in 2014. In the future, it will be Afghan special forces countering insurgents in villages across the country.

As the force expands, they will also lead more of the controversial house searches ? something that could mitigate Afghan President Hamid Karzai's intense opposition to the nighttime raids by international troops that Afghans have found culturally offensive.

Even though Afghan troops have been along for the more than 2,800 raids during the past year, Karzai has argued that the teams often treat innocent Afghans as if they were insurgents and violate citizens' privacy in the conservative Afghan society.

Karzai wants all raids halted. He wants foreign troops to stop entering Afghan homes. The thorny issue is being negotiated by U.S. and Afghan officials crafting a strategic agreement that will govern how remaining American forces operate in Afghanistan after 2014.

A recent national assembly of elders advised the Karzai government to allow the raids to continue as long as they are conducted solely by Afghans. If so, many more Afghan special forces soldiers need to be trained.

Neither NATO nor the Afghan Ministry of Defense would disclose how many Afghan special forces had been trained or how large the force will become. Jalaluddin Yaftali, a special forces team leader at the training site, said the force currently numbered 1,000 to 1,500.

"It takes time. It's like nation-building ? an endless task. It will take years, but the will is there and right now the force is growing," said Afghan army Col. Mohammad Farid Ahmadi.

"The program started two years ago, but now we are jointly working with the coalition forces to Afghanize as soon as possible. We have already started. It's growing."

So far, most have been recruited from the Afghan National Army Commandos, a quick reaction force regarded as the most professional unit in the Afghan army. Commandos receive 10 weeks of training on top of the roughly 10 weeks they completed to become an Afghan soldier. Moreover, Afghan soldiers usually serve about four years as commandos before being selected for special forces training.

Their training is further refined while partnered with American forces. Eventually, they will be tasked with a variety of operational missions, including night raids, throughout the country.

"It not only takes a long time to select the right people for the job, but also to bring them through a training program so they are capable of operating with other special forces or on their own," German Brig. Gen. Carsten Jacobson, a NATO spokesman, said at the training site on the outskirts of Kabul, the Afghan capital.

While some are already conducting solo operations, the Afghan special forces will continue to need coalition air power, intelligence and other support for years to come, he said.

Seth Jones, a RAND Corp. political scientist who advised the commander of U.S. Special Operations forces in Afghanistan, said it's hard to rush special forces training.

"The Afghan program, which was first conceptualized in 2009 and established in 2010, is relatively new. I remember participating in the brainstorming sessions as we helped build the Afghan special forces," Jones said.

"Focusing on numbers, rather than quality, and trying to mass produce Afghan special forces would be a serious mistake. I'm not suggesting anyone is doing this yet, but it should be monitored very closely."

The Afghan soldiers conducting the training exercise crouched in shadows at the foot of man-made hills surrounding the practice compound. The residential compound resembled a western cowboy movie set.

"Drop your weapons!" the Afghan soldier barked into a bullhorn. "Keep your hands raised and come out."

Trying to give the occupants time to cooperate, the more than 20-man Afghan special forces team waited patiently, their guns drawn. When nobody came out, they tossed two harmless grenades that made loud bangs when they landed in front of the house.

A few minutes later, an actress covered in a red shawl slowly emerged with her hands raised. The soldier with the bullhorn asked her to reveal her face so the troops could be sure she was a woman and not a man. When it was clear that she was female, she was led away to be searched by a female Afghan soldier.

Having male troops search females is taboo in Afghanistan. So is touching a family's Quran, the Muslim holy book, or entering a home without being invited ? things that foreign forces have learned in the decade-long war.

Soon after the woman left, two men walked from the house with their hands held high. Making sure they weren't armed, the troops ordered them to lift their shirts and pant legs. The would-be Afghan suspects then were cuffed and taken away.

"We are asking the Defense Ministry to make one special forces platoon of just female soldiers so they can go talk to the families, the children, the women," Yaftali said. "If you are a female, you can talk openly with the family."

It was clear to onlookers that the more than 20 Afghan special forces soldiers who conducted the house search and did a live ammunition training exercise with M4 rifles and 9mm pistols were the best of the elite force. With their dark glasses, night vision headsets, microphones and radios, they looked just like their U.S. Special Operations forces counterparts.

Jones said the first Afghan special forces soldiers trained were very competent because they were recruited directly from the Afghan National Army Commandos.

"In practical terms, this suggests that there will be some variation in the competence of Afghan special forces by 2014," Jones said. "Some will be fully capable ... but others may struggle."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111225/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan_elite_force

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Turkey angered by French bill to criminalize 'Armenian genocide denial'

2011-12-26T21:04:00.001-08:00

The French parliament is expected to pass a bill Thursday dealing with the 1915 killing of Armenians in present-day Turkey.? Any denial could result in a one-year jail term and a $58,000 fine. Turkey is furious.

Nearly 100 years have elapsed since the killing of thousands of Armenians, but the wounds seem far from healed.

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The French parliament is to vote on a bill on Thursday making it illegal to deny that the 1915 killing of Armenians during World War I was genocide.? The bill, which is expected to pass, provides for a one-year prison term and a fine of $58,000 (45,000 euros) to anyone who publicly denies it was genocide.?

The vote in the French National Assembly has stirred a diplomatic frenzy and French and Turkish politicians are jumping into the fray.?

?This proposed law targets and is hostile to the Republic of Turkey, the Turkish nation and the Turkish community living in France,? Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish Prime Minister wrote in a letter to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Reuters reports.?

During a Saturday news conference, Mr. Erdogan suggested that France ought to investigate her own role and actions in colonial Africa, including Rwanda.?

Turkey maintains that the proposed bill is a political ploy by Sarkozy's political party to win the votes of 500,000 Armenians in France ahead of next year?s parliamentary and presidential elections. Sarkozy has also been an outspoken opponent of Turkey desire to join the European Union.

Jean Leonetti, the European Affairs Minister of France, dismisses such allegations and says that opposition Socialists will endorse the bill as well. ??It has been nearly 100 years since the Armenian genocide took place, those responsible are dead, it is simply a matter of recognizing a fact of history,? he told Radio Classique, The Telegraph in London reports.

Ersin Onulduran, chairman of the department of international relations at Ankara University, told Today's Zaman, a Turkish daily, that ?only historians and archival experts should pass judgment on the merits of historical events.?

Although there is little consensus, Armenians say that about 1.5 million people were killed during the mass deportations of 1915-16.

The Turkish government acknowledges the death of many Armenians, yet, it denies that Ottoman forces deliberately exterminated them.?? Turkey considers the numbers as inflated and says that Turks were also killed due to the upheaval that followed the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire. ?

Many Turks, disappointed and disillusioned by European delays over entry into the EU, are now embracing a more assertive rhetoric.

?I want to state clearly that such steps will have grave consequences for future relations between Turkey and France in political, economic, cultural and all areas,? Erdogan said according to Reuters.? While Turkey implicitly threatens to boycott French products if the bill passes, it has ruled out imposing trade sanctions.

So far this year, bilateral trade between Turkey and France is estimated at more than $13.5 billion.? About 1,000 French companies operate in Turkey.

"We have to remember international rules and with regard to Turkey it's a member of the WTO (World Trade Organization) and is linked to the European Union by a customs union and these two commitments mean a non-discriminatory policy towards all companies within the European Union," said French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero, Reuters reports.

In 2006, a similar bill was introduced and approved by the French National Assembly but was later dropped by the Senate.? In France, any legislative initiative requires the endorsement of both parliament and the Senate to be enacted.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/RNn13R951rM/Turkey-angered-by-French-bill-to-criminalize-Armenian-genocide-denial

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Caution mutes US response to N. Korea

2011-12-26T15:44:00.001-08:00

WASHINGTON?? The Obama administration's cautious response to the death of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il reflects unease and uncertainty about the leadership transition in the reclusive country that has confounded U.S. presidents for 60 years.

The death of Kim Jong Il
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5. Source: Military coup in N. Korea 'unlikely'
6. NYT: In Kim's death, an extensive intelligence failure
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9. Even in death, details of Kim Jong Il's life elusive
10. Kim Jong Il remembered as 'Team America' star

North Korea, the "hermit kingdom," has vexed the United States and its allies with war, nuclear tests, missile launches, belligerence and bellicose bombast. But since he took office in 2009, President Barack Obama has had to deal with North Korea at perhaps its most secretive point: an unclear succession amid a time of deep concern about the stability of the regime.

Thus, the administration's carefully worded public messages have underscored its desire for better relations with the autocratic nation and its concern about the welfare of the North Korean people. They are also gentle reminders that Washington expects Pyongyang to follow through on denuclearization pledges and improve ties with its neighbors, particularly South Korea.

The kid-gloves treatment accorded to the North's youthful new leader, Kim's twenty-something son Kim Jong Un, has attracted criticism from some who see this is a moment to make a forceful case for dramatic reform and regime change.

But without solid intelligence on the opaque transition process and fearful of misunderstandings that could lead to provocations with the notoriously erratic North, U.S. officials have concluded the best course is to say little, wait and watch.

Indeed, the administration's initial reactions to Kim's death have contained little substance at all.

"All I can say is that we're monitoring the situation closely," White House press secretary Jay Carney said Wednesday as North Korean state media broadcast pictures of wailing mourners, apparently overcome with grief. "Kim Jong Il had designated Kim Jong Un as his official successor, and at this time we have no indication that that has changed."

Carney added: "We hope that the new North Korean leadership will take the steps necessary to support peace, prosperity and a better future for the North Korean people, including through acting on its commitments to denuclearization."

Those comments echoed words from Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. On Monday, more than 16 hours after Kim's death was announced, she was the first senior U.S. official to comment publicly, calling for "a peaceful and stable transition in North Korea" and expressing hope that it would not affect "regional peace and stability."

Ironically, it was Clinton who first stirred the pot about a possible succession crisis in North Korea.

Nearly three years ago, on her first trip to Asia as secretary of state, she stunned diplomatic circles with a frank appraisal of U.S. concerns amid speculation about the health of Kim Jong Il, who had suffered a stroke in 2008, and his choice of a successor.

"If there is a succession, even if it's a peaceful succession, that creates more uncertainty and it also may encourage behaviors that are even more provocative as a way to consolidate power within the society," Clinton told reporters on Feb. 20, 2009.

Her remarks on a previously taboo subject sparked great debate. In Seoul the next day, she expressed surprise at the uproar, noting that reports of Kim choosing his youngest son Kim Jung Un to succeed him had "been in the news for months."

"I don't think that it's a forbidden subject to talk about succession in the hermit kingdom," Clinton said. "In fact, it seems to me it's got to be factored into any policy review that one is undertaking."

That same month, U.S. diplomats were scrambling to collect any information they could about Kim Jong Un from South Korean, Chinese and Japanese officials and experts, according to leaked State Department cables published by WikiLeaks.

Unfortunately for the Americans, their interlocutors had sharply divided opinions, according to the cables. Some predicted the North Korean regime would collapse politically within two to three years of Kim Jong Il's death. Others foresaw a power struggle between the young and untested Kim Jong Un and rivals in the elite, but differed over who would prevail. Others believed there would be little change.

One apparent area of convergence, however, was that most South Korean experts believed the challenge for the younger Kim would come after his father's death.

Before Kim's passing, the U.S. administration had been expected this week to announce the resumption in food aid to North Korea and a potential bilateral meeting on nuclear disarmament. Although the State Department said there had been brief exchange with North Korean officials in New York on Monday, both initiatives are now in flux pending the end of the North's mourning period.

The administration says it is respecting that mourning period by understanding that North Korean officials will not be available for discussions. Yet it has steadfastly refused to express any sympathy for the death of Kim, whose Stalinist regime is accused of having one of the worst, if not the worst, human rights records in the world.

While showering the late Czech democracy leader Vaclev Havel with effusive eulogies, American officials have refused to even utter the word "condolence" in relation to Kim.

EDITOR'S NOTE ? Matthew Lee covers international affairs and U.S. foreign policy for The Associated Press.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45787168/ns/world_news-asia_pacific/

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HP issues LaserJet firmware update, hopefully ends exploding printer saga

2011-12-26T08:40:00.001-08:00

Some of you might remember the story that HP LaserJet printers might be open to hack attacks that could result in some not-so-spontaneous combustion? Now the company has issued a statement saying that no-one reported their printer exploding, but to be on the safe side, it's produced a firmware update (available at the source link) that'll close the hole and ensure your Holiday doesn't end with a visit from the fire department.

Continue reading HP issues LaserJet firmware update, hopefully ends exploding printer saga

HP issues LaserJet firmware update, hopefully ends exploding printer saga originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Dec 2011 15:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pets also serve | InsideNova

2011-12-26T06:35:00.001-08:00

Credit: Submitted photo

Marine 2nd Lt. Alisa Sieber-Johnson, who founded www.dogsondeployment.com with her husband, Navy Lt. Shawn Johnson, is pictured with their dog, JD.

By: Julia LeDoux | Inside NoVA
Published: December 23, 2011
Updated: December 24, 2011 - 9:15 AM

QUANTICO, Va --

In the days and weeks leading up to a deployment, service members have a lot on their minds and a lot to do.

They?ve got to make sure their family is taken care of; their finances are in order, and in some cases pack and store household items.?

But what happens to the beloved pets of those service members who may not have nearby family or friends available or willing to take care of the ?furry kids? being left temporarily behind as a result of a deployment?

Enter www.dogsondeployment.com, a web site founded by Second Lt. Alisa Sieber-Johnson and her husband, Shawn, a lieutenant in the Navy. The site assists service members in finding a loving foster home for their pets for the duration of their deployment.

Sieber-Johnson, who recently graduated Echo Company at The Basic School at Quantico, began the web site this summer. The couple has a dog, JD, and found themselves in a quandary about what to do with him when Alisa came to Quantico to attend TBS while Shawn had to prepare to deploy from San Diego.

?There was no chance we?d take JD to a shelter, but we didn?t have many options,? explained Alisa. They ultimately found a distant relative here in Virginia who agreed to take care of JD while she was training.

But that got Alisa to thinking about the challenges of pet ownership and being in the military. She soon realized that many of her colleagues face the same type of situation she had.

?A friend of ours was being deployed and ended up just having to get rid of his dog,? she said. ?We didn?t want that to happen to anybody else, so we came up with this program.?

With no experience in web programming or design, Sieber-Johnson bought a domain and taught herself how to design a web site.

?I?m passionate about this,? she said. ?I just kept working on the web site and then tried to find people who needed the service.?

So far, over a dozen pets have been placed in temporary foster homes as a result of dogsondeployment.com. Sieber-Johson said there are no prerequisites to become a boarder. However, all boarder applications are reviewed before they are posted on the web site. She stressed that it?s the owner who makes the decision about which home is the best fit for their pet.

?It?s completely up to the owner,? she said of placement.

Owners have the option of putting a photo of their pet on the web site. For Sieber-Johnson, the effort to match those willing to take in a pet being impacted by a deployment is truly a labor of love.

?This let?s me combine my love for dogs and serving my country,? she said.

Shawn took on the task of getting non-profit status for the group and is currently working on obtaining tax-exempt status for the organization.

Sieber-Johnson said the command at TBS was fully supportive of her efforts to publicize and grow the program, which she hopes will expand on a larger scale nationally.

?I?d love to have it mentioned at every Welcome Aboard and pre-deployment brief,? she said.

Source: http://www2.insidenova.com/news/2011/dec/23/1/pets-also-serve-ar-1564786/

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RIM gets kicked while down, sued over BBM trademark

2011-12-26T03:15:00.001-08:00

It's been a long December for RIM, and there's reason to believe this year won't be any better than the last. This month, the company was sued for its use of the BBX trademark and was forced to change its name to BlackBerry 10; then, it all hit the fan when co-CEO Mike Lazaridis broke the news that phones running the aforementioned OS won't arrive until late in 2012. And let's not even get started on the quarterly earnings report. Sadly, it's not over: BBM Canada, a Toronto-based broadcast industry group that has used the BBM moniker in one way or another for six decades, wants to reclaim its name -- used and made popular by RIM's BlackBerry Messenger service -- and has filed a lawsuit against the phone maker for trademark infringement. BBM Canada CEO Jim MacLeod says he's made several attempts to resolve the matter with them in hopes of avoiding the courtroom -- even to the extent of offering to rebrand his own company as long as RIM footed the bill -- to no success.

MacLeod told The Globe and Mail that "I find it kind of amazing that this wouldn't have been thought about before they decided to use the name -- the same thing goes for BBX." And according to court documents, it actually was: in February 2010, RIM attempted to apply for the BBM trademark with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office, was told that it wasn't registerable, and still went ahead and used it for its BlackBerry Messenger service anyways. We'll see what kind of explanation the company has for going ahead and using the three-letter acronym in a couple weeks, since a hearing has been scheduled for January 11th.

Continue reading RIM gets kicked while down, sued over BBM trademark

RIM gets kicked while down, sued over BBM trademark originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Dec 2011 12:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Job growth is lifting hopes for consumer spending

2011-12-25T18:02:00.001-08:00

FILE - In this Nov. 25, 2011 file photo, shoppers scramble for door buster deals at Target, in Bowling Green, Ky. U.S. consumers spent at a lackluster rate in November as their incomes barely grew, suggesting that U.S. households may struggle to sustain their spending into 2012.(AP Photo/Daily News, Joe Imel, File)

FILE - In this Feb. 14, 2011 file photo, the front of a Boeing 777 jet stands in a production line at the company's manufacturing plant, in Everett, Wash. U.S. business demand for long-lasting manufactured goods rose by the largest amount in four months in November, driven higher by a big jump in orders for airplanes. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)

FILE - This May 17, 2011 file photo, shows Boeing Co. workers underneath the tail section of a Boeing 737, at the Boeing assembly facility in Renton, Wash. U.S. business demand for long-lasting manufactured goods rose by the largest amount in four months in November, driven higher by a big jump in orders for airplanes. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Consumer spending and incomes barely rose last month. Business investment has slowed. New-home sales remain dismal.

Despite all that, some economists say a brightening job market is lifting their hopes for 2012. More aggressive hiring, the thinking goes, would fuel enough spending to boost the economy.

Economists point to another drop reported this week in applications for unemployment benefits, the third straight decline. Applications are now at their lowest level since April 2008. The trend is signaling that layoffs have all but stalled and that employers may be ready to step up hiring.

Unemployment, after hovering around 9 percent for more than two years, dropped in November to 8.6 percent. Employers have added at least 100,000 jobs each month from July through November. It's the best such streak since 2006.

Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics, said he expects the economy to grow at a 2.5 percent annual rate in the current October-December quarter. That would be the best performance in a year.

More jobs would mean more income. More pay tends to raise consumer spending, which makes up about 70 percent of the economy. Companies then have reason to increase hiring to meet stronger demand.

"We are hopeful that the plunge in jobless claims signals exactly that," Shepherdson said in a research note Friday.

Chris G. Christopher Jr., senior economist at IHS Global Insight, noted that many households are still struggling with slight or no pay increases.

"But gasoline prices have been falling, and that is giving them more money to spend on other items," he said.

The government said Friday that consumer spending rose just 0.1 percent in November, matching the increase in October. Incomes also rose a scant 0.1 percent.

Modest as they were, economists said the figures at least signaled that incomes and spending aren't stalling.

Healthier economic data in recent weeks have helped make the prospect of another U.S. recession seem more remote ? as long as Europe's debt crisis doesn't trigger a catastrophe that infects the global economy.

Some economists trimmed their forecasts for growth based on the weaker-than-expected consumer spending data for November. But they said they still expected the economy to expand at a solid annual rate of 3 percent in the current October-December quarter. It would be the best showing since the spring of 2010.

"We are seeing some momentum going into the new year," said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial. "At least we are not in a tight spot where we are still worried about relapsing into recession."

Hoffman said that a major source of uncertainty for 2012 was removed this week with Congress' agreement to extend a Social Security tax cut for 160 million workers ? for two months, anyway.

As part of the deal, Congress also renewed benefits for the long-term unemployed. If that hadn't happened, millions of unemployed people would have begun to lose weekly checks averaging about $300 ? the main source of income for most of them.

And if the payroll tax cut and the long-term unemployment benefits hadn't been renewed for 2012, economists said the modest growth of around 2.5 percent they expect next year would have been a full percentage point lower.

On Friday, the government also released a cautionary report on U.S. manufacturing. Companies' demand for long-lasting manufactured goods rose by the most in four months in November. But so-called core capital goods, a gauge of business investment spending, dropped for a second straight month.

Still, analysts said that with demand for items such as autos still strong, they expect further gains in factory orders and production.

In a third report, sales of new homes rose 1.6 percent in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 315,000. Even with that small gain, 2011 is likely to end up as the worst year for new-home sales on records dating to 1963.

More significant for the economy was Friday's report on incomes and spending in November. The scant income gain reflected a decline in wages and salaries. They are the biggest component of incomes.

The sluggish rise in spending was held back by a 0.3 percent drop in spending on non-durable goods such as food, clothing and gasoline. Spending on durable goods rose 0.8 percent. The gain reflected solid auto sales in November.

Spending on services rose a modest 0.1 percent. This category includes such items as medical treatments and rent, The consumer spending report covers all items that households buy, including services, which make up about two-thirds of spending.

After-tax incomes showed no growth in November. The savings rate dipped to 3.5 percent of after-tax incomes, the lowest rate since late 2007. That shows consumers are having to tap their savings to finance their spending because of the weak income growth.

The best antidote for that would be an increase in hiring now that fewer people are being laid off.

"The jobless claims data point to stronger jobs growth emerging," said John Ryding, an economist at RDQ Economics.

___

AP Economics Writer Derek Kravitz contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-12-23-Economy/id-3a7ba77b11134097ab7b906f99f0ffb0

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How India?s ?untouchable? entrepreneurs use capital to fight caste

2011-12-25T07:34:00.001-08:00

When Prashant Tambe sought a loan to expand his private college last year, the bank didn?t turn him down outright. ?It was just red-tape-ism,? the young entrepreneur said, using a popular Indian expression for business death by a thousand bureaucratic hurdles.

His brother, Avinash Tambe, had an identical experience seeking funds to build his coal import firm. They have no illusions about the source of the banks? reluctance: It began when they wrote their surname on their loan applications.

More related to this story

The name Tambe identifies them as Dalits ? the people once known as ?untouchables,? at the bottom of the Hindu caste system. And so despite the fact that the brothers have eight post-graduate degrees and two successful businesses between them, they struggle to get access to capital and chafe at the opportunities they are missing.

They recently had an opportunity to share that frustration, and to seek out new partners, at a first-ever trade fair organized by the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

?It?s a strange irony and it tells you a lot about the ground reality of India,? Prashant Tambe mused as they set up their stall in a vast Mumbai exhibition hall ? it?s popular wisdom in the country today that the booming economy will end the influence of caste, but the best way they can find to be part of that economy is to join a caste-based business association.

The Dalit business lobby, founded in 2005, has 1,000 members; 180 of them came from across the country to exhibit and network at the three-day fair. There were companies making solar-power systems, military uniforms, car parts, pharmaceuticals, pesticides and industrial piping; there were also small financial-service companies and construction firms.

The DICCI slogan is ?fighting caste with capital.? But many business owners at the fair said they share one key problem: They can?t get their hands on that capital.

As the Tambes and others described, Dalit business owners struggle to obtain conventional bank loans. Sometimes it?s malice from dominant-caste bank employees who do not want to see a Dalit business succeed, said Prashant Tambe; other times it?s simply that the bankers doubt that a first-generation Dalit business owner will have the acumen to be a safe loan risk.

Almost always, they lack collateral ? while Dalits are a sixth of India?s population, they control only an estimated 1 per cent of the country?s wealth. The vast bulk of the population continues to be landless labourers working for occasional daily wages of one or two dollars.

And they have no access to the other key source of funding for Indian entrepreneurs; loans from extended family or their caste community ? ?internal funding,? as it?s known here. The Tambes? father was the kind of general labourer called a ?peon? here and their mother was a nursing assistant with a primary-school education; the cousin who is a co-owner of the coal business is the son of a cycle rickshaw driver. They pushed their sons to seek education, but they had no funds to bankroll their good ideas.

The Indian government has attempted to address the issue through a Dalit-focused national finance-development corporation, but it provides only small loans of up to $5,000 ? enough, as DICCI chairperson Milind Kamble put it, to buy a large photocopier and set a family up as a corner copy shop, but not enough to bankroll an entrepreneur whose ambitions stretch beyond that.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheGlobeAndMail-Front/~3/LSyU09OxrvU/

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All-Area Football - Caldwell is defensive player of the year

2011-12-24T18:59:00.001-08:00

North Brunswick?s Jaron Smyre (left) is the Star News offensive football player of the year and Hoggard?s Terry Caldwell is the Star News defensive player of the year. (Photo by Photo by Matt Born)

The 2011 football season was tabbed as the year of the linebacker, and none were better than Hoggard?s Terry Caldwell.
Caldwell?s play was a large reason for the Vikings? resurgence in 2011 as they won their first six games of the season and cracked the AP top 10 rankings.
?My senior year, I really felt this team was more of a family,? the StarNews All-Area defensive player of the year said. ?Being the captain and being able to play a big role in the winning aspect, that?s what I like.?
He registered 101 tackles and was a force off the edge for Hoggard, but his versatility was what made him the backbone of the defense.
?He was our jack of all trades,? Hoggard linebackers coach Craig Underwood said. ?He did a lot of everything for us.?
At 6-foot-3, 210, Caldwell?s intimidating size, combined with his 4.62 40-yard dash time, made him a terror for opposing offenses. Of his 101 tackles, 13 went for loss, including two sacks. He also forced three fumbles.
?I think he?s everything you?re looking for in a linebacker,? Hoggard head coach Scott Braswell said. ?He?s a big-framed kid, he?s got size. He moves well. He?s got a real tough, physical disposition about him, and I think that?s critical for playing linebacker.?
But Hoggard used Caldwell in every facet of the game. He frequently blitzed and just as often fell back into coverage. He had two interceptions, one returned for a touchdown. Against Laney this year, Caldwell had 14 tackles and also played in man coverage most of the game ? and the Vikings won 14-7.
?I love blitzing, making interceptions, Just making plays in general,? Caldwell said. ?Just hearing my name on the intercom.?
He even contributed on offense, rushing for two touchdowns against New Bern in the Vikings? 35-34 overtime loss to New Bern. Caldwell threw in 13 tackles and was also named homecoming king.
?We knew the kid?s kind of a beast, if we just gave him the ball, he?s probably going to have some success and he did,? Braswell said.
Braswell may be more thankful for the turnaround which Caldwell helped to inspire. Following eight straight conference championships, Hoggard fell on hard times in 2010, falling to 4-8. According to Braswell, Caldwell was a large part of the Vikings? rebound to a 7-5 season.
?He had a great group of seniors, and Terry was obviously one of the top leaders,? Braswell said. ?He?s got just a great work ethic, great leadership.?
Before the season, Underwood took the linebacker aside and told him: As you go, the rest of the defense goes. Caldwell took the message to heart and embraced his leadership role both on the field and off of it.
?He really bought into that and became a true leader at practice,? Underwood said. ?On Friday nights, he and Shomari Jones were our two locker room leaders.?
Caldwell struggled to garner scholarship offers following his junior year, but following his senior performance, Braswell said the recruiting has picked up. Caldwell earned a scholarship offer from Western Carolina during the season and his coaches say he?s received interest from Furman, Elon and Charlotte.
?As soon as his senior film got out there, the offers started coming in,? Braswell said. ?He had a great senior year.?

Powell Latimer: 343-2261
On Twitter: @StarNewsOnline.com

Source: http://www.starnewsvarsity.com/news/article/28660/all-area-football-caldwell-is-defensive-player-of-the-year/

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Fish oil may hold key to leukemia cure

2011-12-24T16:53:00.001-08:00

Fish oil may hold key to leukemia cure Public release date: 22-Dec-2011
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Matt Swayne
mls29@psu.edu
814-865-9481
Penn State

A compound produced from fish oil that appears to target leukemia stem cells could lead to a cure for the disease, according to Penn State researchers. The compound -- delta-12-protaglandin J3, or D12-PGJ3 -- targeted and killed the stem cells of chronic myelogenous leukemia, or CML, in mice, said Sandeep Prabhu, associate professor of immunology and molecular toxicology in the Department of Veterinary and Medical Sciences. The compound is produced from EPA -- Eicosapentaenoic Acid -- an Omega-3 fatty acid found in fish and in fish oil, he said.
"Research in the past on fatty acids has shown the health benefits of fatty acids on cardiovascular system and brain development, particularly in infants, but we have shown that some metabolites of Omega-3 have the ability to selectively kill the leukemia-causing stem cells in mice," said Prabhu. "The important thing is that the mice were completely cured of leukemia with no relapse."
The researchers, who released their findings in the current issue of Blood, said the compound kills cancer-causing stem cells in the mice's spleen and bone marrow. Specifically, it activates a gene -- p53 -- in the leukemia stem cell that programs the cell's own death. "p53 is a tumor suppressor gene that regulates the response to DNA damage and maintains genomic stability," Prabhu said.
Killing the stem cells in leukemia, a cancer of the white blood cells, is important because stem cells can divide and produce more cancer cells, as well as create more stem cells, Prabhu said.
The current therapy for CML extends the patient's life by keeping the number of leukemia cells low, but the drugs fail to completely cure the disease because they do not target leukemia stem cells, said Robert Paulson, associate professor of veterinary and biomedical sciences, who co-directed this research with Prabhu.
"The patients must take the drugs continuously," said Paulson. "If they stop, the disease relapses because the leukemia stem cells are resistant to the drugs."
Current treatments are unable to kill the leukemia stem cells, Paulson noted. "These stem cells can hide from the treatment, and a small population of stem cells give rise to more leukemia cells," said Paulson. "So, targeting the stem cells is essential if you want to cure leukemia."
During the experiments, the researchers injected each mouse with about 600 nanograms of D12-PGJ3 each day for a week. Tests showed that the mice were completely cured of the disease. The blood count was normal, and the spleen returned to normal size. The disease did not relapse.
In previous experiments, the compound also killed the stem cells of Friend Virus-induced leukemia, an experimental model for human leukemia.
The researchers focused on D12-PGJ3 because it killed the leukemia stem cells, but had the least number of side effects. The researchers currently are working to determine whether the compound can be used to treat the terminal stage of CML, referred to as Blast Crisis. There are currently no drugs available that can treat the disease when it progresses to this stage.
###

The researchers, who applied for a patent, are also preparing to test the compound in human trials.

[ | E-mail | Share ]
?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Fish oil may hold key to leukemia cure Public release date: 22-Dec-2011
[ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Matt Swayne
mls29@psu.edu
814-865-9481
Penn State

A compound produced from fish oil that appears to target leukemia stem cells could lead to a cure for the disease, according to Penn State researchers. The compound -- delta-12-protaglandin J3, or D12-PGJ3 -- targeted and killed the stem cells of chronic myelogenous leukemia, or CML, in mice, said Sandeep Prabhu, associate professor of immunology and molecular toxicology in the Department of Veterinary and Medical Sciences. The compound is produced from EPA -- Eicosapentaenoic Acid -- an Omega-3 fatty acid found in fish and in fish oil, he said.
"Research in the past on fatty acids has shown the health benefits of fatty acids on cardiovascular system and brain development, particularly in infants, but we have shown that some metabolites of Omega-3 have the ability to selectively kill the leukemia-causing stem cells in mice," said Prabhu. "The important thing is that the mice were completely cured of leukemia with no relapse."
The researchers, who released their findings in the current issue of Blood, said the compound kills cancer-causing stem cells in the mice's spleen and bone marrow. Specifically, it activates a gene -- p53 -- in the leukemia stem cell that programs the cell's own death. "p53 is a tumor suppressor gene that regulates the response to DNA damage and maintains genomic stability," Prabhu said.
Killing the stem cells in leukemia, a cancer of the white blood cells, is important because stem cells can divide and produce more cancer cells, as well as create more stem cells, Prabhu said.
The current therapy for CML extends the patient's life by keeping the number of leukemia cells low, but the drugs fail to completely cure the disease because they do not target leukemia stem cells, said Robert Paulson, associate professor of veterinary and biomedical sciences, who co-directed this research with Prabhu.
"The patients must take the drugs continuously," said Paulson. "If they stop, the disease relapses because the leukemia stem cells are resistant to the drugs."
Current treatments are unable to kill the leukemia stem cells, Paulson noted. "These stem cells can hide from the treatment, and a small population of stem cells give rise to more leukemia cells," said Paulson. "So, targeting the stem cells is essential if you want to cure leukemia."
During the experiments, the researchers injected each mouse with about 600 nanograms of D12-PGJ3 each day for a week. Tests showed that the mice were completely cured of the disease. The blood count was normal, and the spleen returned to normal size. The disease did not relapse.
In previous experiments, the compound also killed the stem cells of Friend Virus-induced leukemia, an experimental model for human leukemia.
The researchers focused on D12-PGJ3 because it killed the leukemia stem cells, but had the least number of side effects. The researchers currently are working to determine whether the compound can be used to treat the terminal stage of CML, referred to as Blast Crisis. There are currently no drugs available that can treat the disease when it progresses to this stage.
###

The researchers, who applied for a patent, are also preparing to test the compound in human trials.

[ | E-mail | Share ]
?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-12/ps-fom122211.php
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Weekly US oil and gas rig count down by 11 (AP)

2011-12-24T12:42:00.001-08:00

HOUSTON ? The number of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. decreased by 11 this week to 2,008.

Houston-based drilling product provider Baker Hughes Inc. reported Thursday that 1,201 rigs were exploring for oil and 802 for natural gas. Five were listed as miscellaneous. A year ago this week Baker Hughes reported 1,714 active rigs.

Of the major oil- and gas-producing states, New Mexico added four rigs, Wyoming added three and Texas added one.

North Dakota lost seven rigs, Colorado, Louisiana and Oklahoma each lost three and Alaska, Arkansas, Pennsylvania and West Virginia each lost one. California was unchanged.

The rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981. A low of 488 was recorded in 1999.

The weekly report, normally released Fridays, moved early because of Christmas.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/energy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111223/ap_on_bi_ge/us_rig_count

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Apple publica la lista de pa?ses en donde se lanza iTunes Match

2011-12-24T09:15:00.001-08:00

Varios d?as despu?s del lanzamiento de iTunes Match, Apple ha publicado en su web de soporte al usuario la lista de pa?ses en donde el servicio se ha lanzado, y al mismo tiempo muestra la lista de contenidos que se pueden descargar de iCloud en cada uno de estos pa?ses; Es bastante extra?o que la publicaci?n oficial de esta lista llegue ahora y que no se hiciera cuando el servicio se lanz?. Tambi?n es raro que en la lista de pa?ses que dan, muchos de los iconos con la bandera de cada naci?n no est?n disponibles.

Esta lista es necesaria porque hay pa?ses en donde, suponemos, Apple no ha llegado a un acuerdo de distribuci?n con las compa??as que proveen el contenido que hay en iTunes, aunque podr?a haber otras razones; En ella, se puede comprobar si en tu pa?s tienes disponible la descarga de video, m?sica, Apps, libros o programas de televisi?n.

Al mismo tiempo, es curioso ver que Brasil, un pa?s en donde iTunes Match parece estar disponible incluso antes que en el resto de pa?ses del primer lanzamiento ?internacional?, no est? en esa lista. Cuando hablamos de pa?ses, en este caso, no nos referimos a si puedes usar iTunes Match o no en donde est?s f?sicamente, sino al pa?s al que pertenece la cuenta que utilizas en iTunes. Esto quieres decir que si usas una cuenta espa?ola, aunque est?s en Argentina, podr?s usar la App Store, bajar libros, comprar m?sica o usar iTunes Match sin problemas.

Source: http://iphoneros.com/19419/apple-publica-la-lista-de-paises-en-donde-se-lanza-itunes-match

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PHOTO ONLY - Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada

2011-12-23T22:35:00.001-08:00

Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada

December 21, 2011 14:38 ET

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Dec. 21, 2011) -

Editors Note: This photo will be available on the Canadian Press picture wire via Marketwire.

Source: http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release.do?id=1601227&sourceType=3

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The New York Subway Uses This Townhouse As a Secret Exit [Architecture]

2011-12-23T20:53:00.001-08:00

Strolling through scenic Brooklyn Heights, this handsome brick house might catch your eye. Perhaps you'll buy it, move in, and spend the rest of your life there. Unfortunately, it's a fake house, hiding a secret NYC Subway exit. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/CGlpvjw4PaM/the-new-york-subway-uses-this-townhouse-as-a-secret-exit

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China says Christian Bale should feel embarrassed

2011-12-23T09:50:00.001-08:00

BEIJING (AP) ? "Batman" star Christian Bale should feel embarrassed for trying to visit a human rights activist while he was in China to promote a movie the country has submitted for an Oscar, a government spokesman said Wednesday.

Bale was physically stopped by government-backed guards from visiting blind activist Chen Guangcheng who lives under house arrest in eastern China last week. A CNN crew he was traveling with recorded the scuffle.

Asked whether the publicity has been embarrassing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said he thought the actor should feel embarrassed, not China.

He said Bale was invited by director Zhang Yimou to attend the opening ceremony of the film "The Flowers of War."

"But he was not invited to create a story or shoot film in a certain village," said Liu. "I think if you want to make up news in China, you will not be welcome here."

Bale, who won a best supporting actor Oscar for last year's "The Fighter," said he wanted to shake Chen's hand and tell him "what an inspiration he is."

Chen documented forced late-term abortions and sterilizations and other abuses by overzealous authorities trying to meet population control goals in his rural community. He was imprisoned for allegedly instigating an attack on government offices and organizing a group of people to disrupt traffic, charges his supporters say were fabricated.

Although now officially free under the law, he has been confined to his home in the village eight hours' drive from Beijing and subjected to periodic beatings and other abuse, activists say.

Chen's case has been raised publicly by U.S. lawmakers and diplomats, including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, all to no response from China.

CNN said Bale first learned of Chen from news reports when he was in China filming "The Flowers of War," China's official submission this year for best foreign language film Oscar.

The movie centers on the 1937 sacking of the eastern city of Nanjing, known in the West as the "Rape of Nanking," and has been described by some critics as hewing to official propaganda portraying Chinese as heroic victims and Japanese as one-dimensional cartoon villains.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2011-12-21-AS-China-Christian-Bale/id-d5debbac8d8c4e3a89321978efe1ae03

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In Which We Reveal The Top CES 2012 Trends Without Breaking Embargoes

2011-12-23T08:09:00.001-08:00

CES 2012 is going to be a crapshoot of predictable products. How do we know? Meetings, lots and lots of pre-show meetings. Like previous shows, Apple will not be present in person but still has a major presence. Consumer electronic companies are seemingly trying to build product lines and feature sets that compete directly with current and future Apple products. It's as if these companies are prematurely releasing items just to head off Apple. The iPad took them by surprise and they're not going to let that happen again -- even if that means announcing and releasing half-baked products. So, what can we expect to see at CES this year? What are we going to cover live at the show? Read on.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/_5CA4vyz6F8/

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Rochester Americans cruise to win over Lake Erie Monsters (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)

2011-12-23T04:01:00.001-08:00

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/177824887?client_source=feed&format=rss

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BlackListedNews: EXPOSED: US Troops Guarded Terrorist Camp in Iraq http://t.co/MAIhkXku

2011-12-22T12:55:00.001-08:00

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APNewsBreak: 2.5M young adults gain coverage

2011-12-15T22:57:00.001-08:00

FILE - In this Nov. 30, 2011, file photo, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius participates in an roundtable discussion on health information technology and job creation at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland. The Obama administration says the number of young adults going without medical coverage has shrunk by 2.5 million since the new health care law took effect. A new analysis to be released Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011, finds the drop is two-and-half times larger than indicated by government and private estimates from earlier this year. The health care overhaul allows young adults to stay on a parent?s plan until they turn 26. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The number of young adults lacking medical coverage has shrunk by 2.5 million since the new health care overhaul law took effect, according to a new analysis the Obama administration is to release Wednesday.

That drop is 2? times as large as the drop indicated by previous government and private estimates from earlier this year, which showed about 1 million Americans ages 19-25 had gained coverage.

Administration officials said they now have more data. They say they're also slicing the numbers more precisely than the government usually does, trying to pinpoint the impact of a popular provision in an otherwise politically divisive law.

Under the health overhaul, children can remain on their parents' health insurance plans until they turn 26, and families have flocked to sign up young adults making the transition to work in a challenging economic environment. But the fate of President Barack Obama's signature domestic accomplishment remains uncertain, with the Supreme Court scheduled to hear a constitutional challenge next year, and Republican presidential candidates vowing to repeal it.

"The increase in coverage among 19- to 25-year-olds can be directly attributed to the Affordable Care Act's new dependent coverage provision," said a draft report from the Health and Human Services Department. "Initial gains from this policy have continued to grow as ... students graduate from high school and college." A copy of the report was obtained by The Associated Press.

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is scheduled to release the findings Wednesday.

The health care law's main push to cover the uninsured doesn't come until 2014. But the young adults' provision took effect last fall. Most workplace health plans started carrying it out Jan. 1.

Using unpublished quarterly statistics from the government's ongoing National Health Interview Survey, analysts in Sebelius' policy office determined that nearly 36 percent of those age 19-25 were uninsured in the third calendar quarter of 2010, before the law's provision took effect.

That translates to more than 10.5 million people.

By the second calendar quarter of 2011, the proportion of uninsured young adults had dropped to a little over 27 percent, or about 8 million people.

The difference ? nearly 2.5 million getting coverage ? can only be the result of the health care law, administration officials said, because the number covered by public programs like Medicaid went down slightly.

Overall, nearly 30 million Americans are between the ages of 19 to 25. For those who are little older, ages 26-35, the uninsured rate went up during the same period.

"From September 2010 to June 2011, coverage rose only among those adults affect by the policy," said the HHS report.

The National Center for Health Statistics has documented a broadly similar trend in its official publications, only it's not nearly as dramatic.

Administration officials said those statistics do not focus on the change from calendar quarter to calendar quarter, as does the report by Sebelius' staff. Instead, they pool data over longer time periods. That has the effect of diluting the perceived impact of the law, administration officials said.

Traditionally, young adults were more likely to be uninsured than any other age group.

Some are making the switch from school to work. Others are holding down low-wage jobs that don't usually come with health care. And some ? termed the "invincibles" ? pass up job-based health insurance because they don't think they'll use it and would rather get extra money in their paychecks.

Other early coverage expansions in the health care law have not worked as well, including a special program for people with health problems who got turned away by private insurers. Many applicants found the premiums unaffordable.

Young adults are a less expensive group to cover than people who are middle-aged, and many companies have spread the extra premiums among their workers. Benefits consultant Delloite LLP has projected additional health plan costs in the range of 1 percent to 2 percent for covering young adults.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-12-14-Health%20Overhaul-Young%20Adults/id-adee1d28e1f8470d8a25ef2536420719

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Baby see, baby do? Yes, unless you trick them

2011-12-07T07:54:00.001-08:00

ScienceDaily (Dec. 6, 2011) ? Babies love to imitate. Ask any parent and they'll report how infants mimic sounds, facial expressions and actions they observe. Now new research from Concordia University, published in the journal Infant Behavior and Development, has found that infants can even differentiate between credible and non-credible sources. Simply put, most babies won't follow along if they have been previously tricked by an adult.

"Like older children, infants keep track of an individual's history of being accurate or inaccurate and use this information to guide their subsequent learning," says senior researcher Diane Poulin-Dubois, a professor in the Concordia Department of Psychology and member of the Centre for Research in Human Development. "Specifically, infants choose not to learn from someone who they perceive as unreliable."

A group of 60 infants, aged 13 to 16 months, were tested as part of this study. Babies were divided in two groups; with reliable or unreliable testers. In a first task, experimenters looked inside a container, while expressing excitement, and infants were invited to discover whether the box actually contained a toy or was empty. This task was designed to show the experimenter's credibility or lack thereof.

In a second imitation task, the same experimenter used her forehead instead of her hands to turn on a push-on light. The experimenter then observed whether infants would follow suit. The outcome? Only 34 per cent of infants whose testers were unreliable followed this odd task. By contrast, 61 per cent of infants in the reliable group imitated the irrational behavior.

"This shows infants will imitate behaviour from a reliable adult," says second author Ivy Brooker, a PhD student in the Concordia Department of Psychology and member of the Centre for Research in Human Development. "In contrast, the same behaviour performed by an unreliable adult is interpreted as irrational or inefficient, therefore not worth imitating."

These results add to a growing body of research from the same laboratory that suggests that even infants are adept at detecting who's reliable and who is not.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Concordia University.

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Journal Reference:

Diane Poulin-Dubois, Ivy Brooker, Alexandra Polonia. Infants prefer to imitate a reliable person. Infant Behavior and Development, 2011; 34 (2): 303 DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2011.01.006

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/RpEFmoiVT8I/111206131944.htm

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Protesters removed from Gingrich event (The Arizona Republic)

2011-11-19T16:27:00.001-08:00

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House protects pizza as a vegetable (Reuters)

2011-11-19T01:11:00.001-08:00

(Reuters) ? The House of Representatives dealt a blow to childhood obesity warriors on Thursday by passing a bill that abandons proposals that threatened to end the reign of pizza and French fries on federally funded school lunch menus.

The scuttled changes, which would have stripped pizza's status as a vegetable and limited how often French fries could

be served, stemmed from a 2010 child nutrition law calling on schools to improve the nutritional quality of lunches served to almost 32 million U.S. school children.

The action is a win for the makers of frozen French fries and pizza and comes just weeks after the deep-pocketed food, beverage and restaurant industries successfully weakened government proposals for voluntary food marketing guidelines to children.

"It's an important victory," said Corey Henry, spokesman for the American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI). That trade association lobbied Congress on behalf of frozen pizza sellers like ConAgra Foods Inc and Schwan Food Co and French

fry makers McCain Foods Ltd and J.R. Simplot Co, the latter best known as a supplier to fast-food company McDonald's Corp.

"Our concern is that the standards would force companies in many respects to change their products in a way that would make them unpalatable to students," Henry said.

Other AFFI members include H.J. Heinz Co, General Mills Inc and Kraft Foods Inc.

The school lunch provisions were a small part of a mammoth bill that provides money for all parts of the federal government. The House sent the bill to the Senate for final Congressional approval.

"They started out with French fries and now they have moved on to pizza," said Jared Polis, Colorado Democrat, who lamented the government's subsidy of unhealthy diets through school meals. "Pizza alone (without side dishes) ... common sense, it's not a vegetable."

Calls to Minnesota-based Schwan and its external public relations firm and ConAgra were not returned.

Mark Dunn, AFFI's chairman and J.R. Simplot's main lobbyist, referred requests for comment to a company spokesman, who declined to respond.

PIZZA AS A VEGETABLE

Polis mentioned French fries in reference to a provision in the bill that would have blocked the government from limiting servings of white potatoes to one cup per week in meals served through the roughly $18 billion U.S. school meals program overseen by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In addition to potatoes, USDA also proposed limits on starchy vegetables including corn, green peas and lima beans, while requiring lunches to serve a wider variety of fruit and vegetables.

Another provision bars the USDA from changing the way it credits tomato paste, used in pizza. The change would have required pizza to have at least a half-cup of tomato paste to qualify as a vegetable serving. Current rules, which likely will remain in place, require just two tablespoons of tomato paste.

According to a USDA report from November 2007, pizza and French fries were among the most commonly consumed lunch foods by participants in the national school lunch program.

Sam Farr of California, the Democratic leader on the appropriations subcommittee in charge of the USDA, said the interference with USDA rule-writing was "wrong" and "shouldn't be done". Still, Farr supported passage of the overall bill.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on Wednesday that U.S. school children would still see more fruit and vegetables, more grains, more low-fat milk and less salt and fat in meals despite the language in the spending bill.

"First of all, we can assure parents of school-age children (that) USDA will do everything it can" to improve the nutritional quality of school meals, as required by the 2010 child nutrition law.

Vilsack was speaking via teleconference from Hanoi during a U.S. trade trip.

Healthier school lunches are a cornerstone of First Lady Michelle Obama's campaign to end childhood obesity. Nearly one in three children in America is overweight or obese and the numbers are growing.

"Clearly more pizza and French fries in schools is not good for kids, but it's good for companies that make pizza and French fries," said Margo Wootan, nutrition policy director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer group that advocates better food and nutrition policies.

Wootan said U.S. food makers trumpet products they say are healthy while at the same time lobbying against regulations aimed at improving the nutritional quality of their products.

"A year ago, I was walking the halls of Congress arm-in-arm with the food industry, fighting for healthier school lunches," Wootan said. "Today, we are on opposite sides, and I'm battling to keep them from weakening school nutrition standards and school marketing guidelines and other provisions."

(Editing by Martinne Geller)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/uscongress/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111117/pl_nm/us_usa_lunch

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It's Official! Demi Moore & Ashton Kutcher Call It Quits

2011-11-18T19:02:00.001-08:00

Following reports that Kutcher cheated, the actress announced the end of their marriage! See more celeb pairs who are back to going solo

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/gone-splitsville-celebrity-breakups/1-b-16462?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Agone-splitsville-celebrity-breakups-16462

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