Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RightCelebrity/~3/_ukRfUZj0xk/
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Tuesday, January 31, 2012
The Kardashian Sisters Go Topless For Denim Line
The Kardashian girls know what sells, and they have it going on in the topless pic for their denim line. I know a lot of people will be checking out the ad, but will they buy the jeans? When getting a steady stream of negative press take your top off! Hey, it’s worked before! The Kardashian sisters already have their own clothing line for Sears and are now expanding with a denim line. I think this is a great idea. I love their clothes, and girls with curves need some good denim! Of course Celebuzz has all the deets, which you can see here, and they spoke with Kardashian Kollection co-creator Bruno Schiavi. He told them, ?We?re very excited about it. It launches in about four weeks. The girls love denim. And then we are really excited about home. Home looks incredible. There are three designs in home, everything from bed to cushions and pillows to bathroom accessories and shower curtains. Home is spectacular so we can?t wait for that. And swimwear of course is to die for. We are shooting our new swim campaign actually in January. We?re very excited about that.? The ads are cute, but I am [...]
Isolated Peru tribe makes uncomfortable contact
LIMA, Peru (AP) ? Peruvian authorities say they are struggling to keep outsiders away from a clan of previously isolated Amazon Indians who began appearing on the banks of a jungle river popular with environmental tourists last year.
The behavior of the small group of Mashco-Piro Indians has puzzled scientists, who say it may be related to the encroachment of loggers and by low-flying aircraft from nearby natural gas and oil exploration in the southeastern region of the country.
Clan members have been blamed for two bow-and-arrow attacks on people near the riverbank in Madre de Dios state where officials say the Indians were first seen last May.
One badly wounded a forest ranger in October. The following month, another fatally pierced the heart of a local Matsiguenka Indian, Nicolas "Shaco" Flores, who had long maintained a relationship with the Mashco-Piro.
The advocacy group Survival International released photos Tuesday showing clan members on the riverbank, describing the pictures as the "most detailed sightings of uncontacted Indians ever recorded on camera."
The British-based group provided the photos exactly a year after releasing aerial photos from Brazil of another tribe classified as uncontacted, one of about 100 such groups it says exist around the world.
One of the Mashco-Piro photos was taken by a bird watcher in August, Survival International said. The other two were shot by Spanish archaeologist Diego Cortijo on Nov. 16, six days before Flores was killed.
Cortijo, a member of the Spanish Geographical Society, was visiting Flores while on an expedition in search of petroglyphs and said clan members appeared across the river from Flores' house, calling for him by name.
Flores could communicate with the Mashco-Piro because he spoke two related dialects, said Cortijo, who added that Flores had previously provided clan members with machetes and cooking pots.
The Mashco-Piro tribe is believed to number in the hundreds and lives in the Manu National Park that borders Diamante, a community of more than 200 people where Flores lived.
Although it's not known what provoked the Mashco-Piro clan to leave the relative safety of their tribe's jungle home, Beatriz Huerta, an anthropologist who works with Peru's INDEPA agency for indigenous affairs, speculated their habitat is becoming increasingly less isolated.
The upper Madre de Dios region where the tribe lives has been affected by logging, she said. "They are removing wood very close."
Meanwhile, Huerta said, naturalists in the area and Manu National Park officials told her during a recent visit that a rise in air traffic related to natural gas and oil exploration in the region is adversely affecting native hunting grounds, forcing increasing migration by nomadic tribes.
The clan that showed up at the river is believed to number about 60, including some 25 adults, said Carlos Soria, a professor at Lima's Catholic University who ran Peru's park protection agency last year.
"It seemed like they wanted to draw a bit of attention, which is a bit strange because I know that on other occasions they had attacked people," Cortijo said by phone from Spain. "It seemed they didn't want us to go near them, but I also know that the only thing that they wanted was machetes and cooking pots."
Cortijo said the group lingered by the river a few minutes, apparently to see if a boat would pass by so they could ask for some tools, something authorities say they had done in the past.
"The place where they are seen is one of heavy transit" of river cargo and tourist passage, and so the potential for more violent encounters remains high, Soria said.
That is compounded by culture clash. The Mashco-Piro live by their own social code, which Soria said includes the practice of kidnapping other tribes' women and children.
He said the Mashco-Piro are one of about 15 "uncontacted" tribes in Peru that together are estimated to number between 12,000 and 15,000 people living in jungles east of the Andes.
"The situation is incredibly delicate," said Huerta, the government anthropologist.
"It's very clear that they don't want people there," she said of the area where the clan has been loitering, noting that it had ransacked a jungle ranger's post that authorities later removed.
One of the clan's likely fears is being decimated by disease borne by outsiders, as has occurred with other uncontacted peoples, Huerta said.
But its also a mystery why they have appeared in an area so heavily trafficked, she added.
After the first sightings, and after tourists left clothing for the Mashco-Piro, state authorities issued a directive in August barring all boats from going ashore in the area. But enforcing it has been difficult as there are few trained and willing local officials.
In response to the Flores killing, authorities sent a team into Diamante to explain to inhabitants that it would be wrong to try to retaliate. Diamante's residents include ethnic Matsiguenka, traditionally a rival tribe, complicating matters.
Cortijo, the Spanish archaeologist, said Flores' death makes reaching any understanding with the Mashco-Piro very complicated.
"The problem is that 'Shaco' was the only person who could talk to them," he said. "Now that he's dead it's impossible to make contact."
___
Frank Bajak on Twitter: http://twitter.com/fbajak
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Monday, January 30, 2012
Guns N' Roses Announce Six U.S. Tour Dates
Axl Rose and company to revisit NYC venue where they performed their 'Live at the Ritz' concerts 24 years ago.
By Andrea Duncan-Mao
Guns N' Roses' Axl Rose
Photo: Evan Agostini/Getty Images
All that's old is new again. Axl Rose and his revamped Guns N' Roses will revisit their beloved New York when they launch their Northeast tour in February.
In 2011, the band completed a sold-out international tour and will kick off 2012 with a series of intimate shows in the States, starting with New York. Beginning February 10, they will perform a three-show series in the city, the cornerstone of which will be at the club Webster Hall, which was originally called the Ritz. This is where GN'R played one of their most famous concerts, "Live at the Ritz," in 1998. For their return, the venue will revert to its original name, complete with new signage and marquee, and fans can wax nostalgic about the days when Guns were the biggest band on the planet.
Additional cities include Chicago; Silver Spring, Maryland; and Atlantic City, New Jersey. No word yet if more dates will be announced.
The stark difference this time around is that the original members of the group — namely Duff McKagan, Slash and Izzy Stradlin — will not be there. Axl remains the only original member in this latest incarnation of GN'R, and the latest crew has yet to release a new album. The last Guns N' Roses release was back in 2008 with Chinese Democracy.
McKagan currently lives in Seattle and has had success with his bands Velvet Revolver and Loaded, while the top-hat-wearing Slash, who was also in Velvet Revolver, has guested on tracks from Michael Jackson and Rihanna and is a major figure in the "Guitar Hero" video games.
Guns N' Roses tour dates, according to a press release:
» 2/10 - New York, NY @ Roseland Ballroom
» 2/12 - New York, NY @ Terminal 6
» 2/15 - New York, NY @ The Ritz (Webster Hall)
» 2/19 - Chicago, IL @ House of Blue
» 2/23 - Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore
» 2/24 - Atlantic City, NJ @ House of Blues
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1678152/guns-roses-us-tour-six-dates.jhtml
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Is an American Moon Base Really a Lunatic Idea? (ContributorNetwork)
COMMENTARY | Presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich came under fire -- mostly for economic reasons -- when he proposed at the CNN Republican Presidential Debate in Jacksonville that he would like to have a permanent moon base on Earth's lone satellite by the end of his second term as president. But even if his ideas have some logistical hurdles to cross, there is ample reason to believe that an American moon base could be operational in a decade or two. Besides, the space race never really went into hiatus; the major players merely took a slower track, giving others a chance to enter the race.
A Moon Base By 2020?
There are several reasons to develop a moon base: military and strategic, scientific, economic, or simply territorial. But Gingrich's moon base ideation may have been spurred by the growing interest of other nations in reaching the moon. With a sort of Kennedy-esque vision of national direction, Gingrich revived the dream of not only reaching the moon, but obtaining a bit of it for the American people. A 2020 date might be somewhat optimistic, but he said he'd like to set up shop before China, which has plans to put a man on the moon by 2024.
The Obama administration has decided to forego the moon, concentrating on research and development, cooperating in international space endeavors, planning a future mission to an asteroid, and getting to Mars by 2035. But no moon mission. In fact, President Obama told his audience, which included moonwalking astronaut Buzz Aldrin, when he laid out his Space Policy at the John F. Kennedy Space Flight Center in Florida in April 2010, "We've been there before. Buzz has been there."
A Renewed Space Race?
The United States is the only country to have ever placed moonwalkers on the lunar surface. Twelve, in fact. However, with the development of several space agencies around the planet, that could soon change to simply being the first.
As mentioned, China has designs on getting to the moon. A Hong Kong newspaper reported in 2006 (recounted by Reuters) that a top Chinese space program official stated that China planned its first moonwalk for 2024. A moon base, territory grab, and mineral extractions will then begin, according to Robert Bigelow, founder of the private space company Bigelow Aerospace, who told Discovery Newsthat the moon is the obvious next step in human exploration and development. And although there exists an international space treaty, the Declaration of Legal Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, that prohibits any one nation or organization from owning through claim, use, or other means any part or all of the moon, that will have little bearing on the situation at hand once a nation establishes an outpost of some kind on the lunar surface. History is littered with broken treaties.
JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) also revealed in 2006 in an AFP report its long-range plans for putting a man on the moon by 2030. Spokesman Satoki Kurokawa stated that Japan hoped to get a man on the moon by 2020.
India, which has sent unmanned orbiters to the moon, has also expressed an interest in a moon base.
What About Russia?
Gingrich's moon base could also see realization in renewed efforts by the Russians to reach the moon. A Cold War competitor as part of the Soviet Union, the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos announced Jan. 19 (per BDK) that they had enjoined talks with European and American space partners about a possible base or manned orbiter.
So was Gingrich's idea a lunatic's dream? Hardly. And with all the attention his moon base comments have received, they could very well spark renewed interest in America's manned space program, which ended with the touchdown of the shuttle Atlantis in July.
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Libya: Justice Ministry to take over prisons
TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) ? Libyan judicial police have started taking control of makeshift prisons in the country after human rights organizations complained of rampant torture of inmates, the country's deputy justice minister said on Sunday.
The deputy minister, Khalifa Ashour, said uniformed police have been dispatched to some prisons where former rebels have been holding people accused of being loyalists of deposed ruler Moammar Gadhafi.
During last year's civil war, former rebels trying to protect their neighborhoods held anyone deemed suspicious of being a Gadhafi loyalist or mercenary, locking them up in makeshift prisons in schools, homes and empty government buildings.
According to the U.N., various former rebel groups are holding as many as 8,000 prisoners in 60 detention centers around the country.
Bringing all the prisons under control of the new government illustrates the challenge of reuniting Libya after the ouster of Gadhafi.
Ashour said that on Sunday his ministry took over one prison in Misrata and another in Tripoli, but didn't have information on any other prisons which were taken over.
"Some of the prisoners are loyalists of the former regime detained during the revolution, and others were captured after liberation for murder and drug or alcohol possession," Ashour told The Associated Press.
The move comes after the U.N.'s top human rights official said Friday that Libya's transitional government must take control of all makeshift prisons to prevent further atrocities against detainees.
"There's torture, extrajudicial executions, rape of both men and women," said U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Friday.
Pillay said she was particularly concerned about sub-Saharan African detainees whom the brigades automatically assume to be fighters for former Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
Aid group Doctors Without Borders suspended its work in prisons in the Libyan city of Misrata on Thursday because it said torture was so rampant that some detainees were brought for care only to make them fit for further interrogation and abuse.
Amnesty International said Thursday it had recorded widespread prisoner mistreatment in other cities that led to the deaths of several inmates.
The allegations, which come more than three months after Gadhafi was captured and killed, were an embarrassment to the governing National Transitional Council, which is struggling to establish its authority in the splintered nation.
Ashour said that the Justice Ministry has sent letters to revolutionary brigades guarding makeshift prisons across Libya, setting target dates for handing over the prisons to the ministry, at which point a group of judicial police will take charge.
He didn't have information on how many notices were sent out or if there was a final deadline for handing over prisons to government control.
In November, Libya's leaders acknowledged that some prisoners held by revolutionary forces were abused, but insisted the mistreatment was not systematic and pledged to tackle the problem.
Libya's new leaders have struggled to stamp their authority on the country since toppling Gadhafi's regime. One of the greatest challenges still facing the leadership is how to rein in the dozens of revolutionary militias that arose during the war and now are reluctant to disband or submit to the central authority.
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Sunday, January 29, 2012
Arab League halts observer mission in Syria
This citizen journalism image provide by the Local Coordination Committees in Syria and released early Friday Jan. 27, 2012, purports to show a Syrian man, right, mourning over the dead body of his son, who was shot by the Syrian forces, in Idlib province, Syria, on Thursday Jan. 26, 2012. A "terrifying massacre" in the restive Syrian city of Homs has killed more than 30 people, including small children, in a barrage of mortar fire and attacks by armed forces loyal to President Bashar Assad, activists said Friday. (AP Photo/Local Coordination Committees in Syria) EDITORIAL USE ONLY, NO SALES, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS HANDOUT PHOTO
This citizen journalism image provide by the Local Coordination Committees in Syria and released early Friday Jan. 27, 2012, purports to show a Syrian man, right, mourning over the dead body of his son, who was shot by the Syrian forces, in Idlib province, Syria, on Thursday Jan. 26, 2012. A "terrifying massacre" in the restive Syrian city of Homs has killed more than 30 people, including small children, in a barrage of mortar fire and attacks by armed forces loyal to President Bashar Assad, activists said Friday. (AP Photo/Local Coordination Committees in Syria) EDITORIAL USE ONLY, NO SALES, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS HANDOUT PHOTO
This citizen journalism image provided by the Local Coordination Committees in Syria and released on Friday Jan. 27, 2012, purports to show the bodies of five Syrian children wrapped in plastic bags, with signs in Arabic identifying them by name. Activists say the children were killed in a shelling attack by Syrian forces, in the Karm el-Zaytoun neighborhood of Homs, Syria, on Thursday Jan. 26, 2012 A "terrifying massacre" in the restive Syrian city of Homs has killed more than 30 people, including small children, in a barrage of mortar fire and attacks by armed forces loyal to President Bashar Assad, activists said Friday. (AP Photo/Local Coordination Committees in Syria) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS HANDOUT PHOTO EDITORIAL USE ONLY
An anti-Syrian regime protester, gestures during a demonstration against Syrian President Bashar Assad, at Khalidya area in Homs province, central Syria, on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. Syrian troops stormed a flashpoint suburb of Damascus on Thursday, rounding people up in house-to-house raids and clashing with army defectors, activists said, as the 10-month-old uprising inches ever closer to the capital. (AP Photo)
Syrian army defectors stand guard on a rooftop to secure an anti-Syrian regime protest in the Deir Baghlaba area in Homs province, central Syria, on Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. Armed forces loyal to President Bashar Assad barraged residential buildings with mortars and machine-gun fire, killing at least 30 people, including a family of women and children during a day of sectarian killings and kidnappings in the besieged Syrian city of Homs, activists said Friday. (AP Photo)
Syrian army defectors secure a street near an anti-Syrian regime protest in the Deir Baghlaba area of Homs province, central Syria, on Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. Armed forces loyal to President Bashar Assad barraged residential buildings with mortars and machine-gun fire, killing at least 30 people, including a family of women and children during a day of sectarian killings and kidnappings in the besieged Syrian city of Homs, activists said Friday. (AP Photo)
BEIRUT (AP) ? The Arab League halted its observer mission in Syria on Saturday because of escalating violence that killed nearly 100 people the past three days, as pro-Assad forces battled dissident soldiers in a belt of suburbs on the eastern edge of Damascus in the most intense fighting yet so close to the capital.
The rising bloodshed has added urgency to new attempts by Arab and Western countries to find a resolution to the 10 months of violence that according to the United Nations has killed at least 5,400 people as Assad seeks to crush persistent protests demanding an end to his rule.
The United Nations is holding talks on a new resolution on Syria and next week will discuss an Arab peace plan aimed at ending the crisis. But the initiatives face two major obstacles: Damascus' rejection of an Arab peace plan which it says impinges on its sovereignty, and Russia's willingness to use its U.N. Security Council veto to protect Syria from sanctions.
Syria's Interior Minister Mohammed Shaar vowed the crackdown would go on, telling families of security members killed in the past months that security forces "will continue their struggle to clean Syria's soil of the outlaws."
Government forces launched a heavy assault on a string of suburbs and villages on the eastern outskirts of Damascus, aiming to uproot protesters and dissident soldiers who have joined the opposition, activists said.
Troops in tanks and armored personnel carriers attacked the suburbs of Kfar Batna, Saqba, Jisreen and Arbeen, the closest of which lie only a few miles from downtown Damascus, said the Local Coordination Committees activist network and the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Dissident troops were fighting back against the attackers, they said.
In a nearby suburb, Douma, gunmen ambushed a bus carrying army officers, the state-run news agency SANA, calling the attackers "terrorists." It said seven officers were killed.
The assault in the suburbs seemed to be a sign of the growing presence of dissident soldiers closer to the capital. Although the tightly controlled Damascus has been relatively quiet since the uprising began, its outskirts have witnessed intense anti-regime protests and army defectors have become more visible and active in the past few months.
"The fighting today is the most intense near the capital since the uprising began," said Rami Abdul-Rahman who heads the Observatory for Human Rights. "The Syrian regime is trying to finish the uprising militarily now that the case is being taken to the United Nations."
In Saqba, electricity and phone lines were cut off and mosque loudspeakers told residents to say in lower floors for fear high buildings might get hit in the fighting, said Omar Hamza, an activist in the district. "Random shelling and sound of explosions terrified the people," he told The Associated Press.
He said army defectors had managed to stop the advancing troops. The regime forces are putting all their force to finish the Free Syrian Army and protesters in the Damascus suburbs," Hamza said.
The Free Syrian Army force of anti-regime military defectors is based in Turkey, and its fighters frequently try to cross into Syria through the mountainous border area in the northwest. SANA reported that Syrian troops prevented gunmen from crossing in from Turkey on Saturday in fighting that it said left many of the infiltrators killed or wounded.
The LCC and the Observatory also reported intense fighting between troops and defectors in the town of Rastan near the restive central city of Homs.
The Observatory said at least 36 people, were killed across the country Saturday, including 17 civilians, three defectors and 16 troops, while the LCC said 20 died, half of them in Homs province, which has been one of the areas hardest hit by government crackdowns. The new deaths come after two days of bloody turmoil killed at least 74 people, including small children.
In the eastern oil-rich province of Deir el-Zour, an oil pipeline took a direct hit and caught fire as government troops shelled a nearby town, the two groups also said, reporting at least one person dead. State media blamed "terrorists" in the attack.
The month-old Arab League observer mission in Syria had come under widespread criticism for failing to bring a halt to the regime's crackdown. Gulf states led by Saudi Arabia pulled out of the mission Tuesday, asking the U.N. Security Council to intervene.
Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby said in a statement that the organization decided to halt the observers' work immediately because of the increasing violence, until the League's council can meet to decide the mission's fate.
He sharply criticized Damascus for the spike in bloodshed, saying the regime has "resorted to escalating the military option in complete violation of (its) commitments" to end the crackdown, Elaraby said. He said the victims of the violence have been "innocent citizens," in an implicit rejection of Syria's claims that it is fighting "terrorists."
Syria's state-run news agency quoted an unnamed official saying Damascus "regrets and is surprised" by the Arab League decision after Syria agreed to extend the observer's mission for another month. The official said the halt aims "to pressure the talks in order to call for external intervention in Syria's internal affairs," referring to the U.N. talks.
Elaraby's deputy, Ahmed Ben Heli, told reporters that the around 100 observers will remain in Damascus while their mission is "reevaluated." He suggested the observers could resume their work in the future...
Elaraby and the prime minister of Qatar were set to leave for New York on Sunday to seek U.N. support for the latest Arab plan to end Syria's crisis. The plans calls for a two-month transition to a unity government, with Assad giving his vice president full powers to work with the proposed government.
Syria has rejected the proposal, saying it violates its sovereignty. Elaraby had previously been due to travel Saturday, but his trip was pushed back to Sunday with no explanation.
The U.N. Security Council began closed-door negotiations Friday on a new Arab-European draft resolution aimed at resolving the crisis, but Russia's envoy said he could not back the current language as it stands.
Any resolution faces strong opposition from China and Russia, and both nations have veto power. Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters that the text introduced by new Arab Security Council member Morocco has "red lines" for Moscow, but he's willing to "engage" with the resolution's sponsors.
Churkin said those lines include any indication of sanctions, including an arms embargo. "We need to concentrate on establishing political dialogue," he said.
____
Batrawy reported from Cairo; Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, contributed to this report.
___
Bassem Mroue can be reached on twitter at http://twitter.com/bmroue
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Saturday, January 28, 2012
Gingrich, Romney play for cheers in Florida debate (Reuters)
JACKSONVILLE, Florida (Reuters) ? Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney opened a debate on Thursday night that had the makings of a raucous encounter between increasingly bitter rivals five days before Florida's pivotal Republican presidential primary vote.
Unlike Monday's subdued debate in Tampa, in which the crowd was urged to remain silent and not cheer candidates' answers, this debate will allow cheering.
Gingrich, the former House of Representatives speaker who in previous debates seemed to feed off the energy from vibrant crowds, said after Monday's debate he did not want to attend any more debates in which there was no cheering.
Gingrich and Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and private equity executive, are in a close race in a politically divided state whose primary may set the tone for the rest of the state-by-state campaign to pick a Republican challenger to Democratic President Barack Obama in the November 6 election.
Increasingly, establishment Republicans are trying to stop Gingrich, believing the party would have little chance of capturing the White House with him at the top of the ticket.
Striking a blow on Thursday was former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, who served in Congress when Gingrich was House speaker.
"Gingrich had a new idea every minute and most of them were off the wall," Dole told National Review Online.
If Gingrich pulls off a second straight victory after his decisive triumph in last Saturday's primary in South Carolina, he would be seen as the front-runner in the race despite Romney's advantages in fundraising and organization.
It would be another improbable turn for Gingrich, whose campaign collapsed last summer only to come back to life on the strength of strong performances in debates.
A Romney victory could resurrect his status as the man to beat in the Republican field, which also includes former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum and Texas Representative Ron Paul.
UP FOR GRABS
Recent polls suggest Florida is up for grabs between Romney and Gingrich.
Gingrich surged into the lead in some polls in Florida after his South Carolina win, but Romney in recent days has climbed back on top, barely, on the strength of a string of negative attacks against Gingrich.
That makes the debate, a two-hour affair sponsored by CNN, particularly important. A solid performance by Gingrich could give him a burst of momentum heading into a busy final weekend of campaigning.
Gingrich's strong showing in a South Carolina debate was fueled by a conservative audience that cheered when Gingrich blasted CNN moderator John King over a question about Gingrich's personal life.
King had asked him about allegations made by Gingrich's second wife that he had asked her to have an "open marriage" so Gingrich could continue an affair with another woman. Gingrich turned the question into a strident attack on the news media, which he said was trying to shoot down Republican candidates.
In Thursday's debate, "it's important for Romney to have another good debate and for Newt not to score one of his 'drama queen' moments again," said Republican strategist Charlie Black, a Romney supporter.
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Kate Middleton: A Royal, Scouting Role Model
Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton covers the latest issue of Scouting, a U.K. magazine dedicated to promoting ... scouting. And specifically volunteer work!
The 30-year-old is now the February/March cover girl on the publication, a fitting choice after she performed some private volunteer work with the scouts.
"Part of her role as volunteer is to help below the radar," says a source of Kate's work with girl and boy scouts and their younger counterparts, the Beavers.
The scouts hope the duchess will help Kate Middleton run a variety of activities relevant to her skills and interests, and she's likely to be popping into some groups' regular meetings near her home on Anglesey, North Wales, and elsewhere.
Inside the magazine, adventurer-broadcaster Bear Grylls pays tribute to Kate: "It is how we change our society, many people doing a little bit," he says.
The scouts are one of five charities she chose to patronize in her royal role. Kate is set to start officially touring some of them next month.
She and husband Prince William are due back from vacation in Mustique soon. William then heads to the Falkland Islands for military duty next month.
Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/kate-middleton-a-royal-scouting-role-model/
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Friday, January 27, 2012
Djokovic wins marathon match to set up Nadal final
Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates after defeating Andy Murray of Britain during their semifinal at the Australian Open tennis championship, in Melbourne, Australia, early Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Andrew Brownbill)
Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates after defeating Andy Murray of Britain during their semifinal at the Australian Open tennis championship, in Melbourne, Australia, early Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Andrew Brownbill)
Novak Djokovic of Serbia bites his necklace during his semifinal against Andy Murray of Britain at the Australian Open tennis championship, in Melbourne, Australia, early Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Sarah Ivey)
Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates after defeating Andy Murray of Britain in their semifinal at the Australian Open tennis championship, in Melbourne, Australia, early Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila, Pool)
Novak Djokovic of Serbia, center, celebrates after defeating Andy Murray of Britain, top left, during their semifinal at the Australian Open tennis championship, in Melbourne, Australia, early Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/John Donegan)
Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates after defeating Andy Murray of Britain during their semifinal at the Australian Open tennis championship, in Melbourne, Australia, early Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/John Donegan)
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) ? If anyone knows how Novak Djokovic feels after sweating and scrapping for almost five hours in the Australian Open semifinals, it's his next opponent ? Rafael Nadal.
A day after Nadal beat Roger Federer in four compelling sets, Djokovic dug deep to overcome Andy Murray 6-3, 3-6, 6-7 (4), 6-1, 7-5 on Friday night after 4 hours, 50 minutes.
Defending champion Djokovic will face Nadal in a third straight Grand Slam final on Sunday. It's a reversal from three years ago, when Nadal had to regroup after his own lengthy semifinal.
The Spaniard needed 5 hours, 14 minutes in 2009 to get past compatriot Fernando Verdasco in the longest men's singles match in the tournament's history. He was so exhausted, he didn't lift a racket the following day.
Yet when the final rolled around, he beat Federer ? who had an extra day to rest ? in five sets that reduced the usually composed Swiss player to tears.
Now a weary Djokovic has less than 48 hours to prepare to face Nadal, one of the most fit players in the game.
"I know that I maybe have a mental edge because I've won six finals. ... We played in 2011 and I've had lots of success against him," Djokovic said. "That's going to be my main priority and concern the next day and a half, to physically be able to perform my best and be ready to play five sets."
Djokovic won 10 titles in 2011, six of them by beating Nadal in finals. Just as Nadal has the mental edge over Federer, Djokovic has developed a hold over the Spaniard.
But the No. 1-ranked Djokovic has shown chinks in his armor at Melbourne Park this year. Against David Ferrer in the quarterfinals, he struggled to breathe through most of a straight-sets win and at one point, clutched his leg in agony.
Against Murray, he looked completely spent again when he hobbled gingerly back to his chair after dropping serve to go down 2-1 in the third set.
"He's done it many times before," Murray said. "He runs very well even when he's breathing heavy. I was ready for that. He was similar in the last match. But he moved fine."
Murray had his own slump when he lost the fourth set in 25 minutes ? an aberration in a match featuring long baseline rallies that quite often ended in errors.
One rally in the eighth game of the second set ended after 41 shots. The third set lasted nearly an hour and a half, with the opening game taking almost 15 minutes alone. There was one serve-volley point in the entire match, won by Murray.
The gap between the top-ranked player and the No. 4 was mostly indiscernible throughout a match featuring 18 breaks of serve and almost as many changes in momentum.
When a scampering Murray knocked a forehand into the net on the final point, Djokovic collapsed onto the court. He shared a warm hug with his old friend Murray, sank to his knees and did the sign of the cross, then turned to his players' box and thumped his chest.
Many of his 70 match wins in 2011 seemed to come easy ? this was anything but.
"Definitely one of the best (wins) under the circumstances," Djokovic said. "Time wise, I think this was one of the longest, if not the longest, that I've played in the later stages of a Grand Slam.
"As a tennis player, you practice hard every single day knowing that you will get an opportunity to be part of such a great match and on such a high level."
After losing the last two finals at the Australian Open, Murray went out a round earlier this time but left more encouraged than ever that he can break through and become the first British man to win a Grand Slam singles title since 1936.
"Tonight's match was important for many reasons," the 24-year-old Murray said. "Obviously I wanted to win first and foremost. But also sort of after last year, the year that Novak's had, I think there's a very fine line between being No. 1 in the world and being 3 or 4. I think that gap, I feel tonight I closed it.
"My job over the next two or three months is to surpass him and the guys in front of me."
After Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova go for the women's title and the No. 1 ranking on Saturday, Djokovic will bid for his fifth major title in Sunday men's final, with the chance to become only the fifth man in the Open Era to win three straight Grand Slam titles.
If he can achieve that, Djokovic would make 10-time Grand Slam winner Nadal the first man since the Open Era began in 1968 to lose three straight major finals. Just like Nadal three years ago, Djokovic doesn't plan on doing much before Sunday's final.
"I think I had enough time spent on the court. Now it's all about recovery," said Djokovic, who has won 19 consecutive Grand Slam matches.
After a year in which almost everything went his way and he overtook Nadal and Federer for the No. 1 ranking, Djokovic is just finding out what it feels like to be the hunted rather than the hunter.
"I'm aware now that everyone wants to win the major title, get that No. 1 spot, he said. "It's normal. It's something I'm prepared for."
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Heigl would love to return to 'Grey's Anatomy' (AP)
NEW YORK ? Katherine Heigl wants to set the record straight: She loved the six seasons she played Dr. Izzie Stevens on "Grey's Anatomy" and would gladly return to the ABC medical drama.
"I would be thrilled if they asked. I think it would be just so wonderful to have the opportunity to just sort of round out the character, have a few episodes to just discover where she went, what she's doing now and (have) one more loving, romantic scene with Alex (played by Justin Chambers)," the 33-year-old actress said in an interview Wednesday.
Although it was rumored that Heigl left the show on bad terms, she said it was because she wanted to focus on her daughter, Naleigh.
"That was a really, really difficult decision," she said. "You know, you are always going to grapple with something like that because it was a great experience and I didn't really want to go. But I felt ... like I need to make her and my husband and our life together as a family my priority."
Heigl has been busy promoting her latest comedy, "One for the Money," with 3-year-old Naleigh joining her on the talk-show circuit. (Heigl is one of the movie's executive producers.)
The film, in theaters Friday, is based on the first book in the popular Stephanie Plum mystery series by Janet Evanovich.
Heigl stars as Plum, a New Jersey lingerie saleswoman-turned-bounty hunter charged with bringing in her high school flame.
AP: Why do you want to set the record straight about "Grey's Anatomy"?
Heigl: I feel like it was a very innocent question asked last week, and my first instinct and innocent answer was, `Oh yeah, I'd love to go back if they wanted me to.' And it's turned into this story! ... I wouldn't want anyone to feel misled or feel confused by my answer and I just want everyone to know, `Hey I love that show and I love that character just as much as you do.'
AP: Since leaving the show, you've starred in several romantic comedies. Are you worried about being typecast?
Heigl: They tend to be the movies I watch when I'm home and hanging out and want to relax. I want to watch Kate Hudson, I want to watch Reese Witherspoon, I want to watch all those great movies that make you feel good. So I loved being a part of them and I didn't mind being typecast, but any time you start to wander outside the box a little bit people start to get confused. ... This one is an interesting one because it wasn't a conscious decision not to do romantic comedy. ... The book explores so many different themes that in order to honor it properly and do right by it we couldn't just turn it into a romantic comedy.
AP: You're in a scene where you're naked and handcuffed to a shower-curtain rod. Was that scary to shoot?
Heigl: It was really nerve-racking and I'll tell you what ... seeing it on a very, very, very big screen at the premiere, it was a very different experience. I was like, man that was embarrassing. It's a lot of me.
AP: Did you have to mentally prepare for those scenes?
Heigl: We spent a lot of time joking around and being silly about it because it is so absurd and there are things you can do to sort of cover the most private bits, I guess, but they almost look worse ? the pasties look even more bizarre than if I had just gone for it.
AP: How has motherhood affected your career?
Heigl: My career had been my primary focus for a very long time and that's a very self-absorbed path. It's all about me. It's all about what I want. It's all about what I need. ... And having Naleigh in my life has put that all into a perspective that's much more peaceful and much more profound. I feel very blessed, very grateful to have it because I feel like I can breathe. ... When Naleigh is in a room, whatever that special and unique thing that child has puts me in a frame of mind and a place where I like myself better.
___
Online:
http://www.oneforthemoneyfilm.com
http://www.kheigl.com/
___
Nicole Evatt covers entertainment for The Associated Press. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/NicoleEvatt
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Thursday, January 26, 2012
MSF quits prisons in Libya city over "torture" (Reuters)
TRIPOLI (Reuters) ? Aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has halted its work in detention centers in a Libyan city because it said its medical staff were being asked to patch up detainees mid-way through torture sessions so they could go back for more abuse.
Rights groups have repeatedly raised concerns about torture being used against people, many of them sub-Saharan Africans, suspected of having fought for Muammar Gaddafi's forces during Libya's nine-month civil war.
The agency said it was in Misrata, 200 km (130 miles) east of the Libyan capital and scene of some of the fiercest battles in the conflict, to treat war-wounded detainees but was instead having to treat fresh wounds from torture.
"Patients were brought to us in the middle of interrogation for medical care, in order to make them fit for more interrogation," MSF General Director Christopher Stokes said in a statement.
"This is unacceptable. Our role is to provide medical care to war casualties and sick detainees, not to repeatedly treat the same patients between torture sessions."
The agency said it has raised the issue with the authorities in Misrata and with the national army. "No action was taken," said Stokes. "We have therefore come to the decision to suspend our medical activities in the detention centers."
Reports of the mistreatment and disappearances of suspected Gaddafi loyalists are embarrassing for Libya's ruling National Transitional Council, which has vowed to make a break with practices under Gaddafi and respect human rights.
The allegations are also awkward for the Western powers which backed the anti-Gaddafi rebellion and helped install Libya's new leaders.
An official with the Libyan government said it paid attention to all credible reports of abuse.
"There is no doubt that there are acts of violation of human rights but these are to do with the mentality of the people who are in charge of these prisons," the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.
"Neither the government, nor the NTC, nor any Libyan group supports these acts. These actions are individual acts and the authorities will take a very serious view of them."
DETAINEE "BEATEN AND WHIPPED"
But the ability of the government in Tripoli to rein in torture is limited because, in most cases, it is carried out by locally based militias who are outside the NTC's chain of command.
U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay, speaking to the Security Council in New York on Wednesday, said that detainees from Libya's civil war held by revolutionary brigades continue to be subjected to torture despite efforts by the provisional government to address the issue.
Human rights group Amnesty International said on Thursday it had evidence of several detainees dying after being subjected to torture, including some in Misrata.
It quoted one man who said he had been tortured earlier this month in the headquarters of Misrata security forces.
"They took me for interrogation upstairs. Five men in plain clothes took turns beating and whipping me," Amnesty quoted the man as saying.
"They suspended me from the top of the door by my wrists for about an hour and kept beating me. They also kicked me."
The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Thursday that it has visited 8,500 detainees across Libya but declined to comment on the MSF decision to suspend its work.
(Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Writing by Christian Lowe; Edited by Diana Abdallah)
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The American Dream as Described by Presidents (ContributorNetwork)
Though calling it the American promise, President Barack Obama followed the steps of leaders before him in Tuesday's State of the Union, invoking the American Dream. Keeping it alive, he said, is the defining issue of our time, with no challenge more urgent.
"?an economy built to last is one where we encourage the talent and ingenuity of every person in this country," Obama said. "?we should support everyone who's willing to work, and every risk-taker and entrepreneur who aspires to become the next Steve Jobs."
These presidents also spoke of the American Dream:
* "As we look at America, we see cities enveloped in smoke and flame. We hear sirens in the night? millions of Americans cry out in anguish: Did we come all this way for this? ...the voice of the great majority of Americans, the forgotten Americans? they are black, they are white; they're native born and foreign born; they're young and they're old. They work in American factories, they run American businesses. They serve in government; they provide most of the soldiers who die to keep it free. They give drive to the spirit of America. They give lift to the American dream? they know that this country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless it's a good place for all of us to live in." -- Richard M. Nixon, GOP nomination acceptance speech, Aug. 8, 1968
* "?we need more than new laws, new promises, or new program. We need a new spirit of community, a sense that we are all in this together. If we have no sense of community the American dream will continue to wither." -- William J. Clinton, announcement speech, Oct. 3, 1991
* "Owning a home lies at the heart of the American dream. A home is a foundation for families and a source of stability for communities. ? Yet today, while nearly three-quarters of all white Americans own their homes, less than half of all African Americans and Hispanic Americans are homeowners. We must begin to close this homeownership gap by dismantling the barriers that prevent minorities from owning a piece of the American dream." -- George W. Bush, radio address, June 15, 2002
* "For a time we forgot the American dream isn't one of making government bigger.. There was a feeling government had grown beyond the consent of the governed? Families felt helpless in the face of mounting inflation and the indignity of taxes? On the international scene, we had an uncomfortable feeling that we'd lost the respect of friend and foe? But America is too great for small dreams. .. The tide of the future is a freedom tide? This nation champions peace that enshrines liberty, democratic rights, and dignity for every individual. America's new strength, confidence, and purpose are carrying hope and opportunity far from our shores. A world economic recovery is underway. It began here. " -- Ronald Reagan, State of the Union, Jan. 25, 1984
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Obama to take on economy in State of the Union (AP)
WASHINGTON ? Addressing a divided nation amid a determined GOP campaign to take his job, President Barack Obama is preparing to issue a populist cry for economic fairness as he aims to corral the sympathies of middle-class voters 10 months before Election Day.
Obama delivers his third State of the Union address Tuesday in a capital and country shot through with politics, with his re-election campaign well under way and his potential GOP opponents lobbing attacks against him daily as they scrap for the right to take him on.
Obama's 9 p.m. EST address to a joint session of Congress and millions of television viewers will be as much as anything an argument for his re-election, the president's biggest, best chance so far to offer a vision for a second term.
Senior political adviser David Plouffe said Tuesday morning the president is "happy to have a debate" about his performance.
Bill Galston, a former Clinton administration domestic policy adviser now at the Brookings Institution, said, "Almost by definition it's going to be at least as much a political speech as a governing speech."
"The president must run on his record," Galston said, "and that means talking candidly and persuasively with the country about the very distinctive nature of the challenges the American economy faced when he took office and what has gone right for the past three years, and what needs to be done in addition."
With economic anxiety showing through everywhere, the speech will focus on a vision for restoring the middle class, with Obama facing the tricky task of persuading voters to stick with him even as joblessness remains high at 8.5 percent. Obama can point to positive signs, including continued if sluggish growth; his argument will be that he is the one to restore economic equality for middle-class voters.
Implicit in the argument, even if he never names frontrunners Gingrich and Mitt Romney, is that they are on the other side.
Obama's speech will come as Gingrich and Romney have transformed the Republican campaign into a real contest ahead of Florida's crucial primary next week. And he'll be speaking on the same day that Romney, a multimillionaire, released his tax returns, offering a vivid illustration of wealth that could play into Obama's argument about the growing divide between rich and poor.
Asked in an interview Tuesday about Romney's relatively modest tax rate in the range of 15 percent, given that he's a multi-millionaire, Plouffe said, "We need to change our tax system. We need to change our tax code so that everybody is doing their fair share."
Obama will frame the campaign to come as a fight for fairness for those who are struggling to keep a job, a home or college savings and losing faith in how the country works.
The speech will feature the themes of manufacturing, clean energy, education and American values. The president is expected to urge higher taxes on the wealthy, propose ways to make college more affordable, offer new steps to tackle a debilitating housing crisis and push to help U.S. manufacturers expand hiring.
Aides said the president would also outline more specifics about the so-called "Buffett Rule", which Obama has previously said would establish a minimum tax on people making $1 million or more in income. The rule was named after billionaire Warren Buffett, who has said it is unfair that his secretary pays a higher tax rate than he does.
White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer said on Twitter Tuesday that Buffett's secretary, Debbie Bosanek, would attend the State of the Union in the first lady's box.
Even before Obama delivered his speech, Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, said he already felt "a sense of disappointment."
"While we don't yet know all of the specifics, we do know the goal," he said. "Based on what the president's aides have been telling reporters, the goal isn't to conquer the nation's problems. It's to conquer Republicans. The goal isn't to prevent gridlock, but to guarantee it."
For three days following his speech, Obama will promote his ideas in five states key to his re-election bid. On Wednesday he'll visit Iowa and Arizona to promote ideas to boost American manufacturing; on Thursday in Nevada and Colorado he'll discuss energy; and in Michigan Friday he'll talk about college affordability, education and training. Polling shows Americans are divided about Obama's overall job performance but unsatisfied with his handling of the economy.
The lines of argument between Obama and his rivals are already stark, with America's economic insecurity and the role of government at the center.
The president has offered signals about his speech, telling campaign supporters he wants an economy "that works for everyone, not just a wealthy few." Gingrich, on the other hand, calls Obama "the most effective food stamp president in history." Romney says Obama "wants to turn America into a European-style entitlement society."
Obama will make bipartisan overtures to lawmakers but will leave little doubt he will act without their help when it's necessary and possible, an approach his aides say has let him stay on offense.
The public is more concerned about domestic troubles over foreign policy than at any other time in the past 15 years, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center. Some 81 percent want Obama to focus his speech on domestic affairs, not foreign ones; just five years ago, the view was evenly split.
On the day before Obama's speech, his campaign released a short Web ad showing monthly job losses during the end of the Bush administration and the beginning of the Obama administration, with positive job growth for nearly two Obama years. Republicans assail him for failing to achieve a lot more.
House Speaker John Boehner, responding to reports of Obama's speech themes, said it was a rehash of unhelpful policies. "It's pathetic," he said.
Presidential spokesman Jay Carney said Monday that Obama is not conceding the next 10 months to "campaigning alone" when people need economic help. On the goals of helping people get a fair shot, Carney said, "There's ample room within those boundaries for bipartisan cooperation and for getting this done."
Plouffe appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America" and was interviewed on NBC's "Today" show and "CBS This Morning."
___
Associated Press writers Ben Feller and Julie Pace contributed to this report.
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Video: Fight night dawns in Florida
Tablets, e-readers in 1 of every 4 hands now
Get an iPad, Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet over the holidays? You're not alone: Tablet and e-reader ownership increased by nearly double over the holidays, and more than 1 out of every 4 Americans now has one of the devices, according to a new study.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/46106670#46106670
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Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Marine guilty plea brings final Haditha case to a close (Reuters)
SAN DIEGO (Reuters) ? The U.S. Marine sergeant accused of leading a massacre of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha pleaded guilty on Monday to dereliction of duty, ending the final prosecution stemming from a 2005 incident that brought international condemnation of U.S. troops.
Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, 31, entered his plea as part of a deal with military prosecutors in which more serious charges of involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault were dismissed.
Wuterich was initially charged with murder.
He now faces a maximum sentence of three months of confinement, forfeiture of two-thirds of his pay for three months and a reduction in rank when he is sentenced on Tuesday at the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base north of San Diego, a base spokesman said.
Wuterich, 31, was accused of being the ringleader in a series of November 19, 2005, shooting and grenade attacks that left two dozen civilians dead in Haditha, a city west of Baghdad that was then a hotbed of insurgent activity.
The killings were portrayed by Iraqi witnesses as a massacre of unarmed civilians and brought international condemnation of the U.S. military.
Local witnesses claimed angry Marines had killed unarmed men, women, and children after a popular comrade, Lance Corporal Miguel "TJ" Terrazas, was killed by a roadside bomb.
Lawyers for the troops involved argued the deaths resulted from a fast-moving situation in which the Marines believed they were under enemy fire.
Wuterich pleaded not guilty when the court-martial began in early January.
The court-martial was suspended last Wednesday by the presiding military judge, who ordered prosecutors and defense lawyers to seek a negotiated plea deal. The trial resumed on Friday for one day, and the plea agreement was announced on Monday morning.
Six out of the eight Marines originally accused in the case had their charges dismissed by military judges, and a seventh was cleared of criminal wrongdoing.
(Reporting by Marty Graham and Mary Slosson; Writing by Steve Gorman, Editing by Paul Thomasch)
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Saudis quit Arab monitoring mission in Syria
CAIRO?? Arab foreign ministers agreed Sunday on a new political roadmap for Syria that sees President Bashar Assad delegating power to a deputy and setting up a unity government as a prelude to early parliamentary and presidential elections.
Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani told a news conference after a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo that the Arab League would take its initiative to the U.N. Security Council and ask for its endorsement.
Earlier Sunday, the ministers extended a much-criticized monitoring mission to Syria for a month, but Saudi Arabia said it was withdrawing its observers.
"My country will withdraw its monitors because the Syrian government did not execute any of the elements of the Arab resolution plan," Prince Saud al-Faisal told fellow Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo.
"We are calling on the international community to bear its responsibility, and that includes our brothers in Islamic states and our friends in Russia, China, Europe and the United States," Saud said, calling for "all possible pressure" to push Syria to adhere to the Arab peace plan.
Saudi Arabia has been one of the harshest Arab critics of the crackdown, It recalled its ambassador from Damascus last year in protest.
Also Sunday, Syrian forces and army defectors clashed in a suburb of the tightly held capital of Damascus ? a sign that citizen protests against President Bashar Assad might turn into civil war.
The observer mission is supposed to be the first step toward implementing an Arab League plan to end the Syria crisis. Other points are pulling heavy Syrian weapons out of cities, stopping attacks on protesters, opening talks with the opposition and allowing foreign human rights workers and journalists in.
"There is partial progress in the implementation of the promises," Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby said in Cairo about Syria's implementation of the plan. Syria "did not carry out all its promises, although there are some implementation of pledges."
He added that the use of "extreme force" by Syrian forces have led to a reaction by the opposition "in what could lead to civil war."
So far the observer mission has not gone well. Though some credit it with tamping down violence in some places, the Local Coordination Committees activist group said Sunday that 976 people, including 54 children and 28 women, have been killed since the observers began their mission last month.
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The U.N. estimates some 5,400 have been killed since it began in March.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch called on the Arab League to "maximize" the effectiveness of the mission of the observers in Syria "to stop the killings."
"The deployment of the observers, has been disappointing ... Assad played games with observers," by moving around forces instead of removing them from cities, while the killing continues, Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
The Arab League faced three options Sunday: ending the mission and giving up its initiative, extending it, or turning the crisis over to the U.N. Security Council, as some opposition groups have urged. There, however, it would face a possible stalemate because of disagreements among permanent members over how far to go in forcing Assad's hand.
Story: Rights group: West hasn't embraced Arab SpringThe mission's one-month mandate technically expired on Thursday.
The pullout of Assad's security forces from the Damascus suburb of Douma marked the second time in a week that troops have redeployed from an area near the tightly-controlled Syrian capital, an indication that Assad might be losing some control.
Diplomacy has taken on urgency as opponents of Assad's regime and soldiers who switched sides increasingly take up arms and fight back against government forces.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights' head Rami Abdul-Rahman said government troops had pulled back early Sunday to a provincial headquarters and a security agency building in the Damascus suburb of Douma after hours of clashes, although they still controlled the entrances. The clashes broke out after Syrian troops opened fire at a funeral on Saturday.
On Sunday afternoon, the battles resumed between the defectors and troops loyal to Assad, according to the Observatory and the Local Coordination Committees, another activist group. The LCC said that heavy machine gun fire was used in the clashes, and five people were killed.
Abdul-Rahman had no information on casualties from the clashes but said security forces at an entrance checkpoint shot dead one man who was passing by on Sunday. He added that one person was shot dead in a nearby town of Rankous as well as another person in the northwestern province of Idlib.
The LCC said 12 people were killed in Syria Sunday. The LCC and the Observatory reported intense gunfire in the central city of Homs that left at least one person dead.
State-run news agency SANA said gunmen opened fire at the car of an army brigadier general, killing him and another army officers who was in the vehicle.
Syria-based activist Mustafa Osso confirmed that security forces had abandoned Douma.
A video posted by activists on social media showed five masked gunmen, one of them in uniform, who read a statement saying, "the city of Douma has been liberated from Assad's gangs." He warned Syrian troops not to try enter Douma or defectors would "fire rockets at the presidential palace" in Damascus and execute five prisoners they are holding.
The Associated Press could not verify the authenticity of the video.
Also Sunday, state-run SANA, said an estimated 5,255 Syrian prisoners have been released over the past week under an amnesty, raising the total freed since November to more than 9,000. Opposition groups say thousands are still being held.
The U.S. has imposed sanctions on Syria as the bloodshed escalates. The U.S. has long called for Assad to step down, and officials say his regime's demise is inevitable.
Two U.S. Senators plan to introduce a bill to stiffen the sanctions.
The bill, sponsored by Democratic Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York would require President Barack Obama to identify violators of human rights in Syria, call for reform and offer protection to pro-democracy demonstrators. It would also block financial aid and property transactions in the United States involving Syrian leaders involved in the crackdown.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46091558/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/
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Ask Engadget: Are there UK-based Voicemail to SMS/email alternatives?
So guys, come help out a brother from the motherland with your suggestions for digital telephony transcription, any Brits out there find Google Voice to be the answer? Is there something only a few of you know about that'll change the world? If you're in an animal home, sat down on your own, why not share your knowledge in the comments below."Hi there, I've been using Ribbit Mobile for the past few years for voicemail -- the voicemail to SMS/email function is brilliant. However, the beta trial is ending on the 31st January with no immediate plans to go live. Do you know of any UK-based alternatives for voicemail to SMS/email systems I can switch to? Thanks!"
Ask Engadget: Are there UK-based Voicemail to SMS/email alternatives? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 21 Jan 2012 22:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | CommentsSource: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/21/ask-engadget-are-there-uk-based-voicemail-to-sms-email-alternat/
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Monday, January 23, 2012
Researchers find gene critical to sense of smell in fruit fly
Friday, January 20, 2012
Fruit flies don't have noses, but a huge part of their brains is dedicated to processing smells. Flies probably rely on the sense of smell more than any other sense for essential activities such as finding mates and avoiding danger.
UW-Madison researchers have discovered that a gene called distal-less is critical to the fly's ability to receive, process and respond to smells.
As reported in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists also found evidence that distal-less is important for generating and maintaining self-renewing stem cells in the large brain structure that's responsible for processing odors and carrying out other important duties.
The corresponding gene in mammals and humans, called Dlx, is known to be important in the sense of smell. The Dlx gene has also been implicated in autism and epilepsy. By studying how distal-less works in fruit fly neurons, the scientists also hope to expand understanding of Dlx.
"We're really interested in knowing at a very fundamental level what distal-less is doing in the fly olfactory system and how it's doing it," says senior author Dr. Grace Boekhoff-Falk, associate professor of cell and regenerative biology at the School of Medicine and Public Health. "We're also hoping that what we learn in flies can give us a better understanding of how Dlx works in vertebrates, including humans."
Studying distal-less is much easier than studying Dlx, she adds, partly because mice and humans have six Dlx genes while flies have only one distal-less.
Odors enter fruit flies through nerve cells designed to receive smells--olfactory receptor neurons. From receptor neurons, projection neurons relay olfactory information to the large brain structure called the mushroom body (MB), which then triggers the animals to move in the right direction?towards the fragrance of food, for example, or away from the odor of a predator.
Boekhoff-Falk and her group have studied distal-less (dll) for years, previously investigating its role in the fruit fly hearing system and its limb development.
The current studies of the olfactory system were done in larvae rather than the more typically studied adult flies. Dissecting the younger, smaller flies demands the steadiest of hands, but the payoff is that larvae offer a substantially simpler view of brain development and wiring as well as insights into events occurring extremely early in development.
The researchers found dll was required for the development and growth of multiple cell types in the olfactory system, including those that receive, relay and process olfactory information. Dll must work for normal olfactory behavior to occur in larvae. And when dll is defective, the sense of smell is not present.
Zeroing in on the MB, the UW researchers also discovered an essential relationship between dll and the longest-living and most prolific neural stem cells found in fruit flies.
Boekhoff-Falk's team found that in flies with a mutated version of dll, these neural stem cells failed to proliferate. No other scientists have observed such strong defects in these cells at such an early stage.
The scientists identified markers that will allow them to learn how the stem cells decide which specialized cells they will become and how their growth may be regulated.
"We want to identify the niche, or the stem cell microenvironment, and the cells there that supply growth inputs needed to keep the stem-ness of the cells," she says.
Boekhoff-Falk believes the parallels to human stem cell biology may be strong. "Our model may be useful for further analysis of how this gene regulates stem cells," she says.
The experiments also opened the door to a better understanding of the evolution of the sense of smell.
"The prevailing view is that fly and mammal olfactory systems evolved independently, multiple times over history," says Boekhoff-Falk, who has a long-standing interest in evolutionary biology. "But our work challenges that view. We think that when it comes to the olfactory system there may be a common ancestor shared by flies and mammals."
Earlier work by others had shown that the "wiring diagrams," or the arrangements of nerves, involved in olfaction in flies and mammals are similar. However, this was attributed to convergent evolution, the process by which unrelated organisms independently evolve similar traits as a result of having to adapt to similar environments, rather than shared ancestry.
The new work from Boekhoff-Falk's group suggests that the underlying genetic mechanisms used in the developing olfactory systems of flies and mammals are similar.
"This supports the idea that the last common ancestor already had some form of olfactory system," she says, "and that the overall architecture and key elements of the underlying genetics have been well conserved over time."
The long-shared similarity makes studies of fly genes in the olfactory system more relevant to human disease than previously thought, she says.
All told, the findings make the fruit fly a powerful model for investigating dll function.
"We think these studies have the potential to be highly relevant to human biology," says Boekhoff-Falk.
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University of Wisconsin-Madison: http://www.wisc.edu
Thanks to University of Wisconsin-Madison for this article.
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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116905/Researchers_find_gene_critical_to_sense_of_smell_in_fruit_fly
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