tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31373386067608723832024-02-18T22:38:07.858-08:00Johny Simple MagazineRanveer Ranahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06135872453807858421noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3137338606760872383.post-18712388971341965692012-01-07T08:44:00.000-08:002012-01-07T08:44:48.629-08:0035 years for grandma who threw girl off walkway<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6HzzjpObg5UaZCP15pxI-GZTZa_xxAFl4gwAm8pxdQRao6sRdU9UEc8zd_UTOnF72gIPtwcTMT1sSnLi01YNPzhkpfI7rxwAluIIaxVE4ApwmbpH-UgM1YokyyJeO0kwijxJTCFp-OnU/s1600/grandma.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6HzzjpObg5UaZCP15pxI-GZTZa_xxAFl4gwAm8pxdQRao6sRdU9UEc8zd_UTOnF72gIPtwcTMT1sSnLi01YNPzhkpfI7rxwAluIIaxVE4ApwmbpH-UgM1YokyyJeO0kwijxJTCFp-OnU/s1600/grandma.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><b>FAIRFAX, Va. (AP)</b> — A Virginia woman was sentenced Friday to 35 years for throwing her 2-year-old granddaughter off a sixth-level walkway at a busy shopping mall, a murder the judge called "almost beyond comprehension."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Carmela dela Rosa, 51, of Fairfax, Va., offered a tearful, barely audible apology to her family, saying: "I'm very sorry for what I've done."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Circuit Court Judge Bruce White imposed the full sentence recommended by the jury that convicted her last year. Under Virginia law, White had the option to reduce the sentence to the mandatory minimum of 20 years, but could not go above the jury's recommendation.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Dela Rosa, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in the Philippines, killed her granddaughter Angelyn Ogdoc at the end of a family outing in November 2010 to Tysons Corner Center for dinner at the mall's food court. The evidence at trial showed that she deliberately hung back with Angelyn as the family exited along a nearly 50-foot skywalk connecting the mall to a multi-level parking garage, so she could scoop up Angelyn and toss her over the guardrail without any interference from her family.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a videotaped confession, dela Rosa told police she killed Angelyn to get back at her son-in-law for getting her daughter pregnant out of wedlock and ruining her daughter's opportunities for a better life.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Dela Rosa's lawyer, public defender Dawn Butorac, argued unsuccessfully that dela Rosa's mental illness — severe depression — rendered her legally insane and unable to appreciate the consequences of her actions or understand right from wrong.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Butorac said she will appeal the verdict, and that she believes the jury did not fully appreciate the depth of dela Rosa's depression, which had gotten worse in the year before the murder and led her to attempt suicide on multiple occasions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"When you say someone is depressed, there's a misapprehension of what that means," Butorac said. "She loved her granddaughter and would never do anything purposely to hurt her. Thus her mental illness is the only explanation for her actions."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Commonwealth's Attorney Ray Morrogh said that while it may be more comforting to believe that a grandmother must be crazy to kill her grandchild in such a brutal manner, the evidence showed that dela Rosa was a hateful, spiteful, jealous woman who harbored animosity not only against her son-in-law but also at Angelyn herself for stealing attention away from dela Rosa. She admitted exactly that during her videotaped confession.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"She was angry. She was jealous," Morrogh told the judge. "It's not a good reason, but I've never seen a good reason for a murder."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Morrogh called the case one of the worst he has ever seen in a long prosecutorial career</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Angelyn's parents, Morrogh said, were still too traumatized to write formal victim-impact statements. Morrogh said he took no pleasure in successfully prosecuting the case.</div><br />
"It's just been a real nightmare, to be honest with you," he said.<br />
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Source : <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/35-years-grandma-threw-girl-off-walkway-175508145.html">news.yahoo.com</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3137338606760872383.post-59648799398653375102012-01-07T08:41:00.000-08:002012-01-07T08:41:02.080-08:00Iran's Ahmadinejad to seek Latin American support<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLBe9HzZh_T2Nqx80bJffA4bN7U3KiP6vt9UqJqbBzPiiGe0Lo0X5suSEMe0KeLotQbNN8uXY5uXhKIpg63Ao2_PwWva978GsD6HjT1c0FngQLhFcoX4OA6CKYAEW_BAUCtuIcegv3brw/s1600/ahmadinejad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLBe9HzZh_T2Nqx80bJffA4bN7U3KiP6vt9UqJqbBzPiiGe0Lo0X5suSEMe0KeLotQbNN8uXY5uXhKIpg63Ao2_PwWva978GsD6HjT1c0FngQLhFcoX4OA6CKYAEW_BAUCtuIcegv3brw/s1600/ahmadinejad.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><b>(Reuters)</b> - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will seek support from Latin America's leftist leaders on a tour starting on Sunday after tough new Western sanctions targeted Iran's oil industry.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">With one eye on his standing at home ahead of March's parliamentary election, Ahmadinejad will meet other anti-American presidents on a trip Washington said showed Iran was "desperate for friends."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">His first stop is OPEC-ally Venezuela, where Ahmadinejad has been assured a warm welcome by President Hugo Chavez. He will also visit Cuba and Ecuador and attend the inauguration of re-elected Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We are making absolutely clear to countries around the world that now is not the time to be deepening ties, not security ties, not economic ties, with Iran," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said on Friday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"As the regime feels increasing pressure, it is desperate for friends and flailing around in interesting places to find new friends," Nuland said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">President Barack Obama signed new measures into law on New Year's Eve that will make it harder for most countries to buy Iranian oil. The European Union is expected to announce some form of ban on Iranian oil by the end of the month.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The sanctions are aimed at forcing Iran to halt its nuclear work, which the United States and its allies say is aimed at producing bombs. Iran says it is for power generation only.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The sanctions are already hurting Iranians. Faced with rising prices and a falling rial currency, they have been queuing at banks to convert savings into dollars.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The representative of the dignified people of Iran will be welcome," Chavez said last week as Iranian naval exercises helped push up global oil prices.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">But it remains to be seen how far Chavez would go in backing Iran's threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, the world's most important oil shipping lane, or how much he could undermine the sanctions by providing fuel or cash to the Islamic Republic.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Other regional leaders due to receive Ahmadinejad, such as Ortega and Ecuador's Rafael Correa, have a similar ideological stance to Chavez but fewer resources available to help Iran.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ahmadinejad, who is subordinate to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on foreign policy, has said little about the spike in tensions with the West, leaving it to military commanders to make the most bellicose statements.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Under increasing fire from rival hardliners aiming to stop his supporters making gains in the March election, Ahmadinejad will hope the foreign tour will show voters he still has international clout and is not, as his critics say, a lame duck.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">With less than 18 months left of his presidency, he will be keen to preserve his legacy as a leader who stood up to Washington in a changing Middle East.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">PRIVATE TALKS</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The friendly relations between Ahmadinejad and Chavez are a growing source of concern for Obama. In a newspaper interview last month, he said: "Sooner or later, Venezuela's people will have to decide what possible advantage there is in having relations with a country that violates fundamental human rights and is isolated from most of the world."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Chavez replied that Obama should mind his own business. In the past, Chavez has threatened to stop oil exports to the United States, but has never followed through.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">He and Ahmadinejad can be expected to announce new deals during the trip. Iran has built homes, dairies and vehicle factories in the South American country. But analysts say their private talks are likely to be more significant.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Washington D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) think-tank said this week Iran had funded joint ventures across the region that could help it sidestep trade restrictions with the West, and Venezuela led the rest of Latin America in such arrangements.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"In almost all cases, joint ventures and investments seem directed at either political objectives or possible clandestine technology transfer, not profits," the CSIS said in a report.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">It said Iran wanted to challenge the United States in its own backyard and the easiest way was to "exploit" the loose alliance of leftist leaders headed by Chavez.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">But Chavez's close ties with Iran are likely to be jumped on by opponents who hope to unseat him at an election in October.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I think it's absolutely harmful, a visit that gives no help at all to international politics, that keeps away investors and will contribute to bringing chaos to the country," opposition lawmaker Edgar Zambrano told Reuters TV.</div><br />
(<i>Additional reporting by Sebastian Rocandio in Caracas; Editing by Janet Lawrence</i>)<br />
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Source : <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/07/us-iran-latam-ahmadinejad-idUSTRE8060CH20120107">reuters.com</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3137338606760872383.post-55681553667031321812012-01-07T08:37:00.000-08:002012-01-07T08:37:08.435-08:00Iran welcomes U.S. rescue of sailors<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5oDGTfiWQogWDRX-qXNByOE9A6KmlqjC1YErBvIXAV25xyHcvxNp-Dou9I5KihuGTv3nFD3o9rGDQnVKstcOWPQtn2CWdoFMMrH4Oolwn3mk-OQfh2WxNIzmVQM9kCbPNM5FoKl64WDI/s1600/navy+rescue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5oDGTfiWQogWDRX-qXNByOE9A6KmlqjC1YErBvIXAV25xyHcvxNp-Dou9I5KihuGTv3nFD3o9rGDQnVKstcOWPQtn2CWdoFMMrH4Oolwn3mk-OQfh2WxNIzmVQM9kCbPNM5FoKl64WDI/s1600/navy+rescue.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><b>TEHRAN, Iran</b> — Iran's government on Saturday welcomed the U.S. Navy's rescue of 13 Iranian fishermen held by pirates, calling it a positive humanitarian gesture.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">U.S. officials announced Friday that the fishermen had been rescued by a U.S. Navy destroyer on Thursday, more than 40 days after their boat was commandeered by suspected Somali pirates in the northern Arabian Sea. The rescue came just days after Tehran warned the U.S. to keep the same group of warships out of the Persian Gulf in a reflection of Iran's fear that American warships could try to enforce an embargo against Iranian oil exports.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The rescue of Iranian sailors by American forces is considered a humanitarian gesture and we welcome this behavior," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted as saying by state TV's Al-Alam Arabic channel.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">U.S. rescues Iranian ship held by pirates</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Iran's hard-line Fars news agency had a different take, calling the rescue operation a Hollywood dramatization of a routine event.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Fars report noted that attacks by Somali pirates in the region are common and said that Iran's navy has itself freed many mariners held by pirates in recent years without seeking to highly publicize it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Amid escalating tension with Iran over its nuclear program, the Obama administration reveled in delivering Friday's announcement and highlighted the fact that the rescuing ships were the same ones Iran's army chief had just said were no longer welcome in the Persian Gulf.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Basically, rescuing trading and fishing boats from the hands of pirates in the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden is considered a completely normal issue," Fars said. "A U.S. helicopter filming the rescue operation from the first minute makes it look like a Hollywood drama with specific locations and actors. It shows the Americans tried to publicize it through the media and present the American warship as a savior."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The semiofficial Fars news agency is considered close to Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard military force.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Fars reported in April that Iranian naval commandos had driven off pirates attempting to hijack a supertanker off Pakistan's southwestern coast.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Iran's navy has rescued various foreign ships from the hands of pirates ... but never publicized that," it said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Naval forces from several countries patrol shipping lanes in the region in pursuit of Somali pirates. The pirates, who are after huge ransoms, have dramatically expanded their range in recent years and targeted some of the largest vessels to take to the seas, including oil supertankers.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The episode occurred after a week of tough talk from Iranian leaders, including the statement that American vessels were no longer welcome in the Gulf. Iran also warned it could block the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway through which a sixth of the world's oil flows to market.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Iranian threats, which were brushed aside by the Obama administration, were in response to strong economic sanctions against Iran over its disputed nuclear enrichment program. A week ago, President Barack Obama signed into law new sanctions targeting Iran's central bank and its ability to sell petroleum abroad.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">At the same time, Iran has sought to project its naval power, carrying out 10 days of military drills at sea near the strategic Strait of Hormuz.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">On Saturday, Iran's Revolutionary Guard began new war games near the Afghan border, according to the Guard's website, sepahnews.com.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mohammad Pakpoor, commander of the Guard's ground force, said the maneuvers began outside Khaf, an eastern town near the border. He said the war games were aimed at strengthening Iran's borders and increasing the combat readiness of the Guard's ground force.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Iran is also planning new military exercises near the Hormuz Strait next month.</div><br />
Source : <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57354437/iran-welcomes-u.s-rescue-of-sailors/?tag=cbsnewsSectionContent.2" target="_blank">cbsnews.com</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3137338606760872383.post-80735045093030006262012-01-07T08:33:00.000-08:002012-01-07T08:33:19.089-08:00Justin Timberlake gets engaged<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZFMBE0LbLXlnKs6xPSS4zh9eX1M6C_X173FRuRvslWD7sYx78OWgsRXvCuwa4R6xP676TloIM0FrjN1ltKv2f0k0KLvMWL1Z6BAaLMKZDwSk7_kanLWp-y50ZsHLncW3vfzpd97XnkBg/s1600/justin+timberlake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZFMBE0LbLXlnKs6xPSS4zh9eX1M6C_X173FRuRvslWD7sYx78OWgsRXvCuwa4R6xP676TloIM0FrjN1ltKv2f0k0KLvMWL1Z6BAaLMKZDwSk7_kanLWp-y50ZsHLncW3vfzpd97XnkBg/s1600/justin+timberlake.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel have reportedly got engaged.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The singer-and-actor is said to have proposed to the actress last month during a pre-Christmas break in Jackson, Wyoming, after they recently reunited following a three-month split.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">A source told UsMagazine.com: "Justin knows how much she loves snowboarding and the mountains, so it was the perfect place.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"This was the basis for getting back together. When they reunited they had a conversation about taking the next step."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The couple - who have dated on-and-off for the past four years - are believed to have then celebrated their engagement with their family and friends at Justin's home in Big Sky, Montana.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Although she has accepted his proposal, 'New Year's Eve' star Jessica recently admitted she is in no hurry to walk down the aisle.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">She said: "I was never one of those girls who dreamt of my wedding and my Prince Charming. To p**s off my mom, I used to say, 'I'm never having kids, and I'm going to be a fabulously rich old maid living in a house with cute butlers and dogs.' "</div><br />
Source : <a href="http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/entertainment/2012-01/05/content_14387223.htm" target="_blank">usa.chinadaily.com.cn</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3137338606760872383.post-24479776494360488252011-12-30T08:28:00.000-08:002012-01-07T08:27:43.811-08:00SXSW: The Strokes show how it’s done<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-0hbDgH_Dd2W95D0c5g9cPSX0Cn5QGv4uJr2RiQCF6-gfRCZV3BRoux8nELrsIrzcB6KNT3PGlgTYYHRgyRQujx2MPy76M_d4puNyBZPmEy7finlbZryctE_cQEIh4HL2WKB3tZFR2Ck/s1600/Julian-Casablancas-and-The-Strokes-perform-at-SXSW-PhotoAP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-0hbDgH_Dd2W95D0c5g9cPSX0Cn5QGv4uJr2RiQCF6-gfRCZV3BRoux8nELrsIrzcB6KNT3PGlgTYYHRgyRQujx2MPy76M_d4puNyBZPmEy7finlbZryctE_cQEIh4HL2WKB3tZFR2Ck/s1600/Julian-Casablancas-and-The-Strokes-perform-at-SXSW-PhotoAP.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The main strip in <b>South by Southwest (SXSW)</b>, the musical festival held in Austin, Texas, teems with small, dingy dive bars hosting the most important musical acts of 2011. On any corner you could run into Bob Geldof – the festival’s keynote speaker this year – Simon Le Bon, Jack White or Odd Future, the most exciting act in the world at the moment.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Guitar rock rules here. After many pale imitations, the talking point was the Strokes, who played in a riverside park outside the main area. The band, who are releasing their fourth album, Angles, today, performed at twilight before a backdrop of sci-fi skyscrapers and flitting bats. They sounded fresher and crisper than any of the indie bands playing at the festival. <br /><br />Julian Casablancas’s molasses-slicked voice and rock-star presence showed up many of the pretender bands and even the poorer songs from the new album were enjoyable. Most of the crowd stopped tearing into their enormous turkey legs as soon as they started. The fireworks at the end of the set provided an apt finale.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Legends of synthpop Duran Duran headlined on the first evening and, again, showed their progeny how it’s done. A synth (and a tattoo) in Austin is a standard accessory and the carbon new wave copies can get tiresome. But the lengthy queues for the Brummie band were deserved. They proved why they’ve been so popular for decades.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The highlight, the show that was talked about for the entire weekend, was Odd Future. They’re a macabre, lyrically knifesharp hip-hop collective in their late teens. They played in a skate park in the blazing sun and climbed on top of the speakers and the roof, rapping over the crowd before launching themselves like flying squirrels into the pit and continuing their songs, held up by their loyal fans.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3137338606760872383.post-61421705659278730452011-12-30T08:25:00.000-08:002012-01-07T08:27:43.839-08:00Real Madrid 1-3 Barcelona in Santiago Bernabéu<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVWWqJPtsyaOb8A8umuoZGoj1zvSMdJM8J5FNyJyxO8-CliS__fOaROMFUY-w4CBy9VO3tpVVsVLPUDU1jhoZAJjg7V7qqpfBiWhaR0MivqyE3JYOCFTEZvQBrlvS3RBxYya27bR6zXjo/s1600/barca-beat-madrid-in-santiago-bernabue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVWWqJPtsyaOb8A8umuoZGoj1zvSMdJM8J5FNyJyxO8-CliS__fOaROMFUY-w4CBy9VO3tpVVsVLPUDU1jhoZAJjg7V7qqpfBiWhaR0MivqyE3JYOCFTEZvQBrlvS3RBxYya27bR6zXjo/s1600/barca-beat-madrid-in-santiago-bernabue.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Barcelona were the comeback kings at the Santiago Bernabeu as the champions recovered from conceding within the first minute to defeat bitter rivals Real Madrid 3-1 in the seventh and final Clasico of 2011. Jose Mourinho’s men took the lead after only 22 seconds when Karim Benzema grabbed the quickest goal in Clasico history. The home side were pegged back on the half hour mark when Alexis Sanchez grabbed an equaliser in his first league appearance against Madrid.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">A Xavi volley took a fortuitous deflection off Marcelo to give the visitors the lead, before Cesc Fabregas’ header finished off a wonderful team move in the 66th minute in what proved to be the fixture’s final strike. The victory sends Barcelona level on points with Jose Mourinho’s men and to the top of the Liga table due to their superior head-to-head record against Madrid, who have a game in hand.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In one of the most astonishing starts in the history of the Clasico, Real Madrid were a goal to the good within 22 seconds. Victor Valdes’ poor clearance fell to the feet of Angel Di Maria who drilled the ball into the penalty area only for Sergio Busquets to block its progress. Mesut Ozil’s attempted volley deflected off Busquets into the path of <b>Benzema</b> to fire home six yards from goal.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Madrid were left to rue opportunities to double their lead when Barcelona drew level on the half hour mark with Messi on hand to turn provider. The 24-year-old bypassed several challenges before sliding a weighted through ball to <b>Alexis Sanchez,</b> who calmly slotted past Casillas from the edge of the area to bring his side back into the game and all square at the break.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">After a edgy opening to the second period, Barcelona were handed the lead thanks to a large slice of fortune on 53 minutes. Xavi’s speculative volley 25 yards from goal took a massive deflection off <b>Marcelo</b>, fooling a wrong-footed Casillas with the ball spinning off the post and into the back of the net.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Cristiano Ronaldo, who had in the first half skewed a shot wide of the target when Di Maria was perhaps better placed to his right, then squandered a golden opportunity to level the contest. Xabi Alonso’s cross found the Portuguese completely unmarked inside the area, but his header drifted wide of the post.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Madrid were made to pay, as Barca extended their lead in the 66th minute after a breathtaking counterattacking move. Messi slid the ball out to the right for Dani Alves to whip a beautiful cross towards the back post where an unmarked <b>Cesc Fabregas</b> was on cue to coolly head the ball into the far corner in what was to be the final goal of a pulsating encounter.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Next up for Real Madrid is a trip to Ponferradina on Tuesday as they look to defend their Copa del Rey title. Barcelona now head to Japan where they will feature in the Club World Cup. Their first task will be a semi-final meeting against either Esperance or Al Sadd on Thursday.</div><br />Source : <a href="http://www.goal.com/en/match/63067/real-madrid-cf-vs-fc-barcelona/report" target="_blank">goal.com</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3137338606760872383.post-5319691730190341742011-12-30T08:22:00.000-08:002012-01-07T08:27:43.860-08:00Julian Pavone is World’s Youngest Professional Drummer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKSjzSD3nuS5Mo5Qn_f28BBjkwM8N9BpXlgYU8Ack7qi03cJFJzEGmYhlZ8pjXn4PMWmZLE3povlLutu67Z7scPE5shCI_GZ3gs8GBXtwPWy4npvL-VfvudNXKf_xQteqAEVBIf49moVt3/s1600/Julian-Pavone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKSjzSD3nuS5Mo5Qn_f28BBjkwM8N9BpXlgYU8Ack7qi03cJFJzEGmYhlZ8pjXn4PMWmZLE3povlLutu67Z7scPE5shCI_GZ3gs8GBXtwPWy4npvL-VfvudNXKf_xQteqAEVBIf49moVt3/s1600/Julian-Pavone.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Guinness World Records has recognized a U.S. boy as the youngest professional drummer. Julian Pavone was certified as of March 21, 2010, when he was 5 years 10 months and 3 days old, Guinness announced Tuesday.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The rules for London-based Guinness say a drummer must play on at least one commercial record and be paid for the work. The drummer also must have given at least 20 concerts of 45 minutes or longer within five years. Julian is 7 and lives outside Detroit.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">His drummer-father, Bernie Pavone, said Julian’s percussion background dates back before birth. “I used to play music on my wife’s stomach all the time when she was pregnant with Julian,” Guinness quoted the father as saying.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Julian has appeared on about 150 television and news shows, including “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “Good Morning America,” “Martha Stewart,” “The Maury Show,” “FOX News Dayside” and “Inside Edition.”</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The previous record holder was Tiger Onitsuka of Japan, who was recognized at age 9 years, 9 months.</div><br />Source : <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/07/13/national/main20079116.shtml" target="_blank">cbsnews.com</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3137338606760872383.post-2000927454357075122011-12-30T08:02:00.000-08:002012-01-07T08:27:43.889-08:00Boxing Legend ‘Smokin’ Joe’ Frazier Dead at 67<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUxzH5AwB61rZ2XpdN4rZAQyq8FwoBiOWZoWIi1CbdQC26QZ0j6tR3mxOohIgc5R3dAAu4lu0ZXnwFs3pUWa4UW_KZ7zejkzs9kjXSzl0INTG_gaGTCUj9H25yQ6m-7xhqvo4oHpeafF0/s1600/Joe-Frazier.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="joe frazier" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUxzH5AwB61rZ2XpdN4rZAQyq8FwoBiOWZoWIi1CbdQC26QZ0j6tR3mxOohIgc5R3dAAu4lu0ZXnwFs3pUWa4UW_KZ7zejkzs9kjXSzl0INTG_gaGTCUj9H25yQ6m-7xhqvo4oHpeafF0/s1600/Joe-Frazier.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Former world heavyweight boxing champion Joe Frazier, who was known for his personal and professional battles with Muhammad Ali, has died at the age of 67 after a brief fight with cancer.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The youngest of 12 children, Frazier was born in 1944 into a working-class family on a farm in the racially-segregated southeastern U.S. town of Beaufort, South Carolina. Frazier dreamed of becoming a prize fighter from an early age, watching boxing matches on his family’s black-and-white television.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">After fighting as an amateur for several years, Frazier won a gold medal for the United States at the 1964 Olympic Games. But “Smokin’ Joe” Frazier really made his name in the 1970s during his epic rivalry with boxing legend Muhammad Ali.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Frazier became the first man to beat Ali, winning the heavyweight title in 1971 in a dramatic, 15-round unanimous decision at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Dubbed the “fight of the century,” an estimated 300 million people worldwide viewed the match, which left both men hospitalized.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">After Ali responded with a 12-round victory in 1974, the two men met in the Philippines for the famed “Thrilla in Manila,” considered as one of the most famous sporting events in history. After battering each other for 14 rounds, Frazier was forcibly held back by his trainer after nearly being blinded by Ali’s punches. Ali later said the match was the “closest thing to dying” that he had ever experienced.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The no-nonsense Frazier was often overshadowed by Ali’s more aggressive and charismatic personality. Frazier resented being verbally attacked by Ali, who referred to him as a “gorilla” and accused Frazier of being too accommodating to the white-dominated society.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The two men remained bitter enemies for decades. But in later years, Frazier came to forgive Ali, saying he felt no bitterness against him for his attacks outside the ring. Ali also later apologized, saying the insults were only meant to promote the fights. Ali said in a statement late Monday that “the world has lost a great champion,” and that he will always remember Joe with “respect and admiration.”</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Frazier’s aggressiveness, close-range style and devastating left hook compensated for his relative small size. He weighed just 93 kilograms – considered small for a heavyweight boxer. Frazier retired in 1976 with a record of 32 wins, 4 losses and 1 draw. The boxing icon’s family said late Monday that he died in his adopted hometown of Philadelphia – one month after being diagnosed with an advanced form of liver cancer.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Source : <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15632665" target="_blank">www.bbc.co.uk</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3137338606760872383.post-80817786349467586052011-12-29T06:10:00.000-08:002012-01-07T08:27:43.918-08:00Drinking 8 Glasses Of Water A Day Is ‘Nonsense,’ Doc Says<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzKapMDg_PETWdm1Uf0v4sMczvXp7KG-toVWSE3D78dFDoYzcSdIuWGxI5KH2YqaM9r0lVv1vdwvM7BBjH8XcfGjmTtYPHQUNbJV8qliLUq2X0k2jqLozlukWnY4d9hOB21XtaWs9-UX0/s1600/woman-drinking-water.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzKapMDg_PETWdm1Uf0v4sMczvXp7KG-toVWSE3D78dFDoYzcSdIuWGxI5KH2YqaM9r0lVv1vdwvM7BBjH8XcfGjmTtYPHQUNbJV8qliLUq2X0k2jqLozlukWnY4d9hOB21XtaWs9-UX0/s1600/woman-drinking-water.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The health recommendation to drink six to eight glasses of water a day is “thoroughly debunked nonsense,” a doctor wrote this week in a commentary in the British Medical Journal.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Many health departments and organizations tout the need to drink that much water every day, but there is no high-quality scientific evidence to support the recommendation, wrote Dr. Margaret McCartney, a general practitioner based in Scotland.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Some organizations backed by bottled-water makers — such as Hydration for Health, created by the makers of Volvic and Evian — say that it’s important to drink 1.5 to 2 liters (about 6 to 8 cups) of water a day, and that being even mildly dehydrated plays a role in disease development, McCartney wrote.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">However, no such claims have ever been confirmed in studies, she said, and drinking too much water can actually be dangerous by causing low blood sodium levels (a condition called hyponatraemia) and exposing people to pollutants in the water.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“People still think that we’re all going to die or our kidneys will shrivel up if we don’t drink eight cups of water a day,” McCartney told Postmedia News. “From what I can see, there’s never been any evidence in the medical literature about it.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The first recommendation to drink six to eight glasses of water a day has been traced back to a 1945 U.S. research paper, but even that isn’t for certain, Postmedia News reported.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Guardian reported that humans’ thirst mechanisms are so sophisticated that if our bodies are in need of water, they’ll let us know by making us thirsty.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3137338606760872383.post-62400122567062281532011-12-29T06:08:00.000-08:002012-01-07T08:27:43.941-08:00What to Eat to Beat Skin Cancer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjusFILYxOKE5eW-IgrirGy6sT54mdaziC61QQeHYcbPKFGNuvcFFIWqR0nltDGCkhncwexnKzjor97p6qrPK_JmAujb54T0jz6PvzSw7bCkJeVHAdO_Cu8aWzpLEB_jvDNIRfVDYYAo-w/s1600/watermelon_slice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjusFILYxOKE5eW-IgrirGy6sT54mdaziC61QQeHYcbPKFGNuvcFFIWqR0nltDGCkhncwexnKzjor97p6qrPK_JmAujb54T0jz6PvzSw7bCkJeVHAdO_Cu8aWzpLEB_jvDNIRfVDYYAo-w/s1600/watermelon_slice.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">You got the pale-is-the-new-tan memo years ago and have the sun smarts to prove it. Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States, and women age 39 and under have a higher probability of developing its most serious form, melanoma, than they do any other invasive cancer except breast cancer. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Yep; knew that. Slather on waterproof sunscreen before you exercise, sport floppy broad-brimmed hats at the beach, stay out of midday rays, and steer clear of tanning beds. Check; do all that. Still, despite your savvy and diligence, there’s a new stealth skin saver you may be missing: your diet.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“The research is preliminary but promising,” says Karen Collins, RD, clinical dietitian and nutrition adviser for the American Institute for Cancer Research in Washington, D.C. “In addition to limiting your sun exposure, eating certain foods may help reduce your risk.”</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3137338606760872383.post-46102662227182279392011-12-29T06:06:00.000-08:002012-01-07T08:27:43.965-08:00Get in Fighting Shape with Mayweather and Mosley<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7MAtEpkv6EK7B_JOZB2BT0iqWac9FqvckZiaOgB5-ksXidP_5u_Kpyn97NDLExpXSSszdkxljKCqzWtjds-Uf8fXCIV7OO33dyUdWfo4jl3bfEkeb2wwt8EAar1c5rIMp7ZCDWHVXrlA/s1600/floyd-money-mayweather-415x301-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7MAtEpkv6EK7B_JOZB2BT0iqWac9FqvckZiaOgB5-ksXidP_5u_Kpyn97NDLExpXSSszdkxljKCqzWtjds-Uf8fXCIV7OO33dyUdWfo4jl3bfEkeb2wwt8EAar1c5rIMp7ZCDWHVXrlA/s1600/floyd-money-mayweather-415x301-1.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Floyd Mayweather was dressed in a nice suit, standing on a stage in Manhattan in front of journalists and fans. His soon-to-be opponent, Shane Mosley, was equally dapper and only a few feet away. The press conference to announce their May 1 fight had just had just ended, but Mayweather was already pumped. Already competing.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">We asked him for his favorite workout, the one he’ll turn to as the fight day draws near, and he said, “Every day I go to the gym, the first thing I do is shadowbox. I probably shadowbox, I don’t know, 10 minutes.” He paused. Thought about what makes him a champion. Then he withdrew: “If I give my own gameplan, I’m giving the world my remedy on how I train. I can’t give the world my remedy.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Sounds kind of ridiculous, doesn’t it? Floyd Mayweather is a hell of a boxer. A fierce talent. Could his workout be that important to his success? You’d be surprised at the answer. A smart plan separates a strong body from an imbalanced one, and a top athlete from an injured one.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">These guys may be protective of their secrets, but we snagged a few from them anyway. We spoke with Mayweather, his trainer, and Mosley’s trainer, to give you the six keys to getting in top condition. Use them to succeed in any sport.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3137338606760872383.post-47066048695628943832011-12-29T06:03:00.000-08:002012-01-07T08:27:43.987-08:003 US ships in Vietnam to train with former foe<div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4KADZUIR1WMd6klfTNePEf2_moqbJMRLgcimCxj5wHHGPY3_p8bQ5HG_WC_I2EzcH5Hx5Ov__ibJtBMEslckYHe6uwCNQTvNGttLL73DGWl1wme__mViRAH-i55ls-kuohu_su8AaJ4A/s1600/3-US-ships-in-Vietnam-to-train-with-former-foe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4KADZUIR1WMd6klfTNePEf2_moqbJMRLgcimCxj5wHHGPY3_p8bQ5HG_WC_I2EzcH5Hx5Ov__ibJtBMEslckYHe6uwCNQTvNGttLL73DGWl1wme__mViRAH-i55ls-kuohu_su8AaJ4A/s1600/3-US-ships-in-Vietnam-to-train-with-former-foe.jpg" /></a></div><br /><b>DANANG, Vietnam</b> (AP) — Three U.S. Navy ships were welcomed Friday by former foe Vietnam for joint training, despite China’s irritation following weeks of fiery exchanges between the communist neighbors over disputed areas of the South China Sea.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">U.S. and Vietnamese officials have stressed that the seven-day ship visit and naval training are part of routine exchanges planned long before tensions began flaring between China and Vietnam in late May. China has criticized the port call as inappropriate, saying it should have been rescheduled due to the ongoing squabble.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The U.S. visit, however, did send a message that the Navy remains a formidable maritime force in the region and is determined to build stronger military ties with smaller Southeast Asian countries.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“We’ve had a presence in the Western Pacific and the South China Sea for 50 to 60 years, even going back before World War II,” Rear Adm. Tom Carney, who’s leading the naval exchange, told reporters. “We will maintain a presence in the Western Pacific and the South China Sea as we have for decades, and we have no intention of departing from that kind of activity.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He spoke on the pier in central Danang, once home to a bustling U.S. military base during the Vietnam War, in front of the diving and salvage ship USNS Safeguard. American and Vietnamese flags flapped in the steamy air from the ship, and two guided missile destroyers — USS Chung-Hoon and USS Preble — were visible off the coast.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The two navies will hold exchanges involving navigation and damage control along with dive and salvage training. No live-fire drills will be conducted.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Vietnam and China last month both announced their navies held such maneuvers individually in the South China Sea after relations hit a low point when Hanoi twice accused Beijing of hindering oil exploration within Vietnam’s economic exclusive zone.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">China responded that Vietnamese boats had endangered Chinese fishermen in a different area near the contested resource-rich Spratly islands, claimed all or in part by both nations and several others.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Tempers appeared to be cooling after Chinese and Vietnamese officials met last month and announced they would work to negotiate a peaceful resolution. But Vietnamese state-run media and a border official on Wednesday accused armed Chinese soldiers of attacking and chasing a Vietnamese fishing boat near the disputed Paracel islands claimed by both countries.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Philippines has also recently sparred with China, alleging similar interference with its energy exploration efforts in the South China Sea. The U.S. last month conducted similar joint naval exercises that included live-fire drills with the Philippines, a treaty ally.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On Monday in Beijing, top Chinese Gen. Chen Bingde criticized his U.S. counterpart for going forward with the exercises in Vietnam and the Philippines, calling it bad timing in light of the ongoing spats. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, defended the decision saying the exchanges were pre-planned.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“I don’t know when an appropriate time would be for these kind of activities, which are designed to promote friendship and cooperation,” Carney said from the Vietnam pier. “But I don’t think there’s ever a bad time to do those kind of activities.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Washington has said that the South China Sea, home to major shipping lanes, is in its national interest. China, which has an expanding maritime influence, has designated the area as a core interest — essentially something it could go to war over. Worried smaller neighboring countries have looked to the U.S. to maintain a strong presence in the region.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“The U.S. has made its point and will continue to do so if pressed, but does not appear to be looking for a fight with Beijing on this issue,” said Ralph Cossa, president of Pacific Forum CSIS, a Hawaii-based think tank. “It is not likely to heed or back down as a result of Chinese ‘warnings,’ however, which will likely make Washington feel more compelled to respond.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The current U.S. visit to Vietnam involves about 700 sailors and builds on the first postwar port call in 2003 made to the former Saigon, now called Ho Chi Minh City. Since then, military relations have continued to grow with high-level defense visits and exchanges.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The two sides recently began working together to clean up dioxin contamination from the defoliant Agent Orange. It was mixed and stored at the U.S. air base in Danang and remains one of the lasting legacies of the Vietnam War that killed some 58,000 Americans and an estimated 3 million Vietnamese.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The war ended in 1975 when U.S.-backed South Vietnam fell to northern communist forces and the country was reunified. The U.S. and Vietnam shook hands in 1995 and established diplomatic relations, signing a landmark trade deal six years later. Today, the U.S. is Vietnam’s top export market, while Americans are among the country’s leading foreign investors.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3137338606760872383.post-52739316866896127842011-12-29T06:02:00.000-08:002012-01-07T08:27:44.011-08:00India doesn’t let blasts derail Pakistan talks<div style="text-align: justify;"><b>NEW DELHI </b>(AP) — India brushed off speculation tying the Mumbai bombings to Pakistan and said Friday it remained committed to recently renewed peace talks with its rival neighbor. The moves showed how little appetite New Delhi has for escalating tensions in the region while it focuses on maintaining economic growth in the South Asian nation of 1.2 billion people.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-zdja9XLD-gAHtVJF-W_-59Zwi0BQCwNNZW4PGiwbmo7TntKzupTUiQhfL8MpTHT5OWpuUUYfXwJuu2Yu-HRn9E-hkmtOBbosQWsXzwIdHNi5yfAI3BfzGSzcaYq_E5trUQQftW9IPKg/s1600/India-doesnt-let-blasts-derail-Pakistan-talks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-zdja9XLD-gAHtVJF-W_-59Zwi0BQCwNNZW4PGiwbmo7TntKzupTUiQhfL8MpTHT5OWpuUUYfXwJuu2Yu-HRn9E-hkmtOBbosQWsXzwIdHNi5yfAI3BfzGSzcaYq_E5trUQQftW9IPKg/s1600/India-doesnt-let-blasts-derail-Pakistan-talks.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">While future revelations about the culprits in the blasts that killed 17 people Wednesday could still sabotage relations between the countries, the Indian government so far has rejected opposition demands for a heavy response against Pakistan.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On Friday, India said it was working out dates for the next round of negotiations expected this month between top officials from both countries. India doesn't let blasts derail Pakistan talks “The talks with Pakistan are on schedule,” foreign ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pakistan’s leaders had quickly condemned the blasts and have welcomed India’s measured response. In a statement Friday, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani “expressed satisfaction at the resolve of both Pakistan and India to continue with their bilateral dialogue, and not get deterred by terrorists’ designs to derail the dialogue once again.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The coordinated triple bombings were the worst terror attack in India since 10 Pakistan-based militants rampaged through the city in November 2008, killing 166 people.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Investigators examined forensic evidence and footage from closed circuit cameras Friday for clues about who orchestrated the blasts. “People are being questioned on the basis of our previous database and known linkages. We also have identified the scooter in which one of the bombs was planted,” India’s Home Secretary R.K. Singh told reporters in New Delhi.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He also said investigators had intercepted an email sent from outside Mumbai but declined to give details. Intelligence analysts say the attack bore the hallmarks of the Indian Mujahideen, a shadowy Islamic militant group.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A former top Indian intelligence official told The Associated Press that Pakistan’s Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group has been providing ideological and physical training to the Indian Mujahedeen since 2004. Leaders of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party strongly criticized the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for not taking a harder line with Pakistan.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Manmohan Singh, sir, what is the nature of your relationship with Pakistan?” BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad asked angrily at a news conference Friday. Government officials have refused to take the bait. Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said Thursday that investigators were not ruling out the possibility the attacks were aimed at scuttling the talks.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">G. Parthasarthy, a former Indian ambassador to Pakistan, said it would have been counterproductive for the government to overreact, especially on something as important as peace talks, before a culprit was named. “If concrete proof emerges, I have no idea what the government will do,” he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The talks, though unlikely to produce concrete results because of political weakness on both sides, at least will lower the temperature between the nations, said Ashok Mehta, a retired Indian army general and leading strategic analyst.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“They’ve tried both talking and not talking, and the experience has been that talking is the most viable option,” he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In addition, cutting off talks would be a politically damaging admission of failure for Singh, who is already fighting off a raft of corruption allegations against his government.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“The prime minister has staked his reputation and his political fortune on being able to change Pakistan’s behavior and get them to live as peaceful and friendly neighbors,” Mehta said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">India and Pakistan, nuclear powers that have fought three wars since independence in 1947, had been engaged in reportedly fruitful negotiations before the Mumbai siege nearly three years ago.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">India quickly broke off the peace talks, demanding Pakistan crack down on those accused in the attack, including Lashkar-e-Taiba. Last month, a Pakistani-American testified in a trial in Chicago that Pakistani intelligence was directly involved in plotting and funding the Mumbai siege, a charge denied by Islamabad.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Though India remained unsatisfied with Islamabad’s tepid effort to bring those responsible for the attack to justice, the two countries decided in February to restart a full-fledged peace process and have since held talks about the disputed region of Kashmir and the continuing threat posed by terrorism.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pakistani political analyst Khaled Mahmood said India has in the past been quick to suspend talks or consider military options, but that they “didn’t gain anything out of it.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This time, “the government’s approach has been more mature,” he said. “It’s a good development. The process is already on. If this would be interrupted, then it would take a lot of time and effort to resume it.” But Parthasarthy, the former ambassador to Pakistan, said India’s patience has limits.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Tensions will flare if there is one more terrorist attack,” he said. “I don’t think next time around our response will be as Gandhian as it was in the past.”</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3137338606760872383.post-30976865318639275622011-12-29T05:59:00.000-08:002012-01-07T08:27:44.031-08:00Mexican authorities find massive marijuana plantation<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOyL2FNiGYaMc2Li7hW8fFVxYkLFnr__Wq5mINfiHgbwJp9k1JkR-o9zlYZbHjBl1CEIbycKB5VYFGpirzitJ9ii2gvUu8oSQJfncSx0oZnr86ww983zdIL6cJq3xiUSUrxknHZZE3c5M/s1600/Mexican-authorities-find-massive-marijuana-plantation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOyL2FNiGYaMc2Li7hW8fFVxYkLFnr__Wq5mINfiHgbwJp9k1JkR-o9zlYZbHjBl1CEIbycKB5VYFGpirzitJ9ii2gvUu8oSQJfncSx0oZnr86ww983zdIL6cJq3xiUSUrxknHZZE3c5M/s1600/Mexican-authorities-find-massive-marijuana-plantation.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Tijuana, Mexico</b> (CNN) — Hidden between tomato stalks, the Mexican army found what officials describe as the largest marijuana plantation in the nation, a top military official announced Thursday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Gen. Alfonso Duarte Mugica said the plantation six hours south of Tijuana is 168 times larger than the soccer field in Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium. It spans for 120 hectares (about 300 acres), he said.Mexican authorities find massive marijuana plantation</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Tomatoes growing there hid marijuana plants that were up to 2.5 meters (8.2. feet) tall, Duarte said. Authorities detained six people this week during the operation to seize the field, which is located in the area of Ensenada, Baja California.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The takeover means drug traffickers will not receive 1.8 billion pesos ($153 million), he said, apparently referring to an estimated sales value of the crop. Duarte said 250 soldiers will destroy the drugs seized within the next week.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Since Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s administration began in December 2006, officials have destroyed more than 83,251 hectares (206,000 acres) of marijuana, according to a report from the country’s defense department.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3137338606760872383.post-53804678649485225542011-12-29T05:57:00.000-08:002012-01-07T08:27:44.047-08:00Bridesmaids Movie Review by Anna Smith at Empire<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1rP355-q-EzX_g1SdEBZm3_x6nBbTCKWcZMwcq4TymsvxhtKLamHpvVLBbaFIm6O5Fp0rZy3hmMn__QJbG9OZVdygyk5I3H28CeH8XRXpNwgbcvdegFw-_1I2-SAWDGDK2IjKxugHGnur/s1600/Bridesmaids-Movie-Review-by-Anna-Smith-at-Empire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1rP355-q-EzX_g1SdEBZm3_x6nBbTCKWcZMwcq4TymsvxhtKLamHpvVLBbaFIm6O5Fp0rZy3hmMn__QJbG9OZVdygyk5I3H28CeH8XRXpNwgbcvdegFw-_1I2-SAWDGDK2IjKxugHGnur/s1600/Bridesmaids-Movie-Review-by-Anna-Smith-at-Empire.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Anchorman, Superbad, The 40 Year-Old Virgin… Producer Judd Apatow has helped make the last seven years a lot funnier. Meanwhile, fans of mainstream female-focused comedies have mostly been offered insipid J-Lo vehicles and Sex And The City movies. Thankfully, Apatow has turned his attention to the fairer sex, although most members of this bridal party are far from coy. Kristen Wiig’s Annie has a blunt wit, a regular fuck-buddy (Mad Men’s Jon Hamm) and could drink Bridget Jones right under the table. She also has a tendency for self-doubt and a problem with organisation, both of which come to the fore when she’s asked to play Maid Of Honour for Maya Rudolph’s Lillian.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Co-writer Wiig has created a heroine with bitterly funny, relatable character observations and a genial, down-to-earth performance. Annie is no clotheshorse tripping in her heels, nor is she man-obsessed. She may go for the wrong kind of guys but her main concern is a female friendship, and it’s this that makes Bridesmaids stand out from the regular chick-flick crowd.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lillian’s engagement is a wake-up call for Annie, casting a spotlight on her singledom. The last thing Annie needs is an immaculate rich bitch upstaging her at every opportunity. Enter Rose Byrne as Helen. The mistress of the backhanded compliment, Helen’s always on hand with a patronising comment about Annie’s bridal party preparations. She also gives the nervous flyer something to calm her down on a plane, leading to the film’s funniest scenes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At its best, Bridesmaids is proper, laugh-out-loud, sides-clutching, grin-at- your-mates funny. The airplane scenes see a sky-high Annie trying to sneak into first class to join her friends, even failing in her attempts to insult the air hostess. Meanwhile, each character has a subplot building, including Megan (Melissa McCarthy), who’s confidently cracking onto a man she’s convinced is an air marshal. When these strands come together, it’s explosively hilarious — just like the bridal shop scene where the girls get sudden, debilitating food poisoning. Like many a guys’ comedy, the film isn’t afraid to flirt with gross-out, but doesn’t throw in toilet humour for the sake of it. It makes it relevant to both plot and character and, just possibly, funny to women who normally hate that kind of thing.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Regular Apatow fans will be on the floor at this point, and that’s another thing that makes Bridesmaids unusual: it appeals to men too. Yes, a lot of the humour revolves around female rituals and neuroses, but the writing’s strong enough to bridge the gender gap. It’s no surprise this has been compared to The Hangover, a buddy-wedding-comedy that drew fans from both sexes. Bridesmaids even has its very own Alan in Megan, the outspoken, overweight and somewhat deluded sibling of the groom.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It’s a shame, then, when Bridesmaids shoehorns in a romance, even if it is with the lovable Chris O’Dowd. Playing a kindly cop, O’Dowd provides a shoulder for Wiig’s character to cry on but their scenes cost the film its pace. Even Matt Lucas (Annie’s flatmate) feels like he’s wandered in from another film, albeit a very funny one. Still, while Bridesmaids isn’t perfect, it does have moments of comedy perfection. And precious little in the way of Manolos.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3137338606760872383.post-46884875507634615992011-12-29T05:55:00.000-08:002012-01-07T08:27:44.065-08:00The Tree Of Life Movie Review by Ian Nathan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-O-sem1SllDB-t3_ls9zIp1zjEDqCcAUlqR0TgOmpNY4g5X7-kga0IjdiU6bAeCNnYVSCoyScHpY7-WhBN4C-U5ifKwSKOuQlAZZRAptsplXDnILUyjBn3eH20Q_YDpfNpC29cg7y2Rk/s1600/The-Tree-Of-Life-Movie-Review-by-Ian-Nathan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-O-sem1SllDB-t3_ls9zIp1zjEDqCcAUlqR0TgOmpNY4g5X7-kga0IjdiU6bAeCNnYVSCoyScHpY7-WhBN4C-U5ifKwSKOuQlAZZRAptsplXDnILUyjBn3eH20Q_YDpfNpC29cg7y2Rk/s1600/The-Tree-Of-Life-Movie-Review-by-Ian-Nathan.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">For his fifth film in 40 years, you wonder whether magisterial slowcoach Terrence Malick took stock of his recent output — such abstruse meditations on war, colonialism, and the ineffable fabric of nature as The Thin Red Line and The New World — and felt it was high time he brought a halt to this worrying slide into crass commercialism. After six years chewing over a bit of Heidegger with his Weetabix, and smothering his intentions in a blanket of secrecy like an impenetrable hybrid of J. J. Abrams and J. D. Salinger, he has summoned forth a dizzyingly impressionistic study of family life that doubles as a vaulting enquiry into the very nature of the universe and the possibility of God.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Kubrick’s 2001 comes close, but Malick’s philosophy pines for the salve of love and spirit, and comes light on psychotic super-computers. Even the hardy concept of dialogue falls prey to his exquisitely aloof vision. Against the constant murmurings of nature, we catch only odd lines and whispered voiceovers querulously calling to a hard-of-hearing deity: “Where were you?”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In other words, the kind of highly personal filmmaking where we must first pass though the dawning of time — literally nebulous bodies billowing cloudlike against the black veil of the universe; raw planets spewing gas and lava, primordial pools fecund with boiling matter; sparks of life in the nuclei of swarming cells, dancing proto-fish spinning lightwards, and a wounded plesiosaur on a desolate beach as a meteor strike scours the surface clear for the birth of mankind — before we get to what is commonly referred to as a scene. Cycles of life and death on a cosmic scale contrasted with the intricate dynamics of family.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Actually, instead of beginning at the very beginning, the film kicks off in the mid-1960s with news of the death of R. L. (Laramie Eppler), our protagonist Jack’s (Hunter McCracken) brother, aged only 19. How he died remains elusive, but Malick’s younger brother is reputed to have committed suicide at 19. This shudder of grief will reverberate like a meteor crash through the film, stirring the first of so many questions: what does the loss of a loved one mean against the backdrop of eternity? Much, it transpires.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It is this unshakable heartache, as bitter as the taste of a madeleine is sweet, that casts Sean Penn’s grown-up Jack down a Proustian time tunnel from the metallic canyons of present day Houston, by way of the aforementioned Creation, to the sun-softened enchantment of his childhood. Jack and his two brothers (all three actors wonderfully naturalistic unknowns) are nurtured in an Edenic youth recalled via an organic pulse of ‘memories’: fragments of story, grace notes, wisps of emotion, the odd flicker of Lynchian weirdness. Together an uncanny distillation of how human memory stirs its keeper, awash in Malick’s transcendent imagery: light cascading through leaves, the kiss of a breeze on wild grass, filigree curtains billowing through window frames, dogs running wild.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Theirs is a harmony held in balance by the opposing poles of their parents. A luminous, angelic mother (Jessica Chastain), made holy by the exaltation of Jack’s recollection, bestows a lilting ideology: “The way of nature and the way of grace. You have to choose which one you follow.” She is exemplified as grace. While the astonishingly mature Brad Pitt as Jack’s terse patriarch — a soul damped down by quashed aspiration, veering between brutal discipline and astringent love — espouses the doctrine of nature: nothing can be achieved without will. Even without the scaffolding of story, this is a sublime evocation of the tides of ecstasy and torment flowing through an American boyhood.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Malick conducts his five editors the way great composers conjure art from thin air, creating an unforgettable symphony of beauty, introspection, and wells of unabashed feeling. And to accompany such cinematic inspiration, not for this director the dreadnought snarls of Nickelback, but extracts of Couperin, Berlioz, Brahms, Mahler and Bach, interposed with Alexandre Desplat’s yearning score. The very execution poses its own spiritual enquiry — how can such beauty be created in a meaningless void?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The result is so disarmingly unironic, and therefore open to mockery, it’s easy to see why it was met with a chorus of boos from Cannes’ sincerity-phobic critics. Sure, at times it lifts off too far, becoming too remote and self-involved to fully grasp. And the closing images of Sean Penn blundering across a metaphorical beach in his sodden Armani suggest a potential afterlife as drunkenly off-kilter as that rum-do at the end of Lost. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It is equally clear why The Tree Of Life landed the Palme D’or — against the brute attack of modern cinema it feels heaven-sent. A film awestruck by life: why are we here? What are we for? Where did it all go wrong? And where could it yet go right? Malick doesn’t pretend to have actual answers. But then neither, one suspects, does Transformers 3.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3137338606760872383.post-268181302097728012011-12-29T05:53:00.000-08:002012-01-07T08:27:44.083-08:00Craig Ferguson Gives Rose Byrne a Lap Dance on ‘The Tonight’We kind of think Craig Ferguson was just waiting for an invitation on ‘The Tonight Show’ (Weeknights, 11:35PM ET on CBS). He was sitting on the couch while Jay Leno was talking to Rose Byrne about her experience working on ‘Bridesmaids.’<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhza9IJ3EeBzNaVBb3AHf8kNyXP0WIeLtZd1YcCJTiE8EAITy-I8v_yQR_mvIU0IwpgFeloEdq930d3kv16_-EhdKjcswPxTJGGjO8lK6Z4kjH7P1fhigH8P0DfJ4sL_ilNH-Edat8nkbM/s1600/Craig-Ferguson-Gives-Rose-Byrne-a-Lap-Dance-on-The-Tonight-Show.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhza9IJ3EeBzNaVBb3AHf8kNyXP0WIeLtZd1YcCJTiE8EAITy-I8v_yQR_mvIU0IwpgFeloEdq930d3kv16_-EhdKjcswPxTJGGjO8lK6Z4kjH7P1fhigH8P0DfJ4sL_ilNH-Edat8nkbM/s1600/Craig-Ferguson-Gives-Rose-Byrne-a-Lap-Dance-on-The-Tonight-Show.jpg" /></a></div>When Byrne started talking about how Kristen Wiig took the ladies out for a night of bonding, that wound up at a male strip club, Leno started really probing her for details.<br /><br />“Oh, don’t act like you’ve never been there,” Ferguson said to him.Craig Ferguson Gives Rose Byrne a Lap Dance on 'The Tonight Show'<br /><br />Leno was asking if they were facing toward her or away from her, wanting an idea of how they straddled her. When Byrne started trying to explain, Leno asked Ferguson to demonstrate, and ‘The Late Late Show’ host was more than happy to oblige.<br /><br />He Tweeted about it shortly afterward. “Aw crap. I just gave Rose Byrne a lap dance on the Tonight Show. I may have gone too far,” he wrote, adding the hashtag #creepyscotsman.<br /><br />Well, Ferguson is okay with being kind of creepy on his own show, so why not ‘The Tonight Show’ as well?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3137338606760872383.post-15706470025338568672011-12-29T05:50:00.000-08:002012-01-07T08:27:44.100-08:00‘Rescue Me’ Items Head to Smithsonian, Callie Thorne Talks Final Season<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6rofl1MAsI4Yw_1NUZe-1Jkdk0wzjS0yt478B0hocfI0Xam8QX4bHXxN2OxIimFAxiscLn3q4j62BQX72q25XKHIbw5Fk1C3kaBCAEGeOXGWcP1r1E-UnB4YD7akpYLYqkicp8IwtsCg/s1600/Rescue-Me-Items-Head-to-Smithsonian-Callie-Thorne-Talks-Final-Season.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6rofl1MAsI4Yw_1NUZe-1Jkdk0wzjS0yt478B0hocfI0Xam8QX4bHXxN2OxIimFAxiscLn3q4j62BQX72q25XKHIbw5Fk1C3kaBCAEGeOXGWcP1r1E-UnB4YD7akpYLYqkicp8IwtsCg/s1600/Rescue-Me-Items-Head-to-Smithsonian-Callie-Thorne-Talks-Final-Season.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">‘Rescue Me’ is fast approaching its swansong. As the cast, crew and fans start to ponder life without the drama, it’s been revealed that creator Denis Leary is giving items — including his firefighter costume and tools — to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Executive producer Peter Tolan and actor Lenny Clarke (Teddy Gavin) will join Leary for a donation ceremony at 2PM ET Thursday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The objects will join the museum’s popular culture history collections. The Smithsonian says today’s ceremony is the first in a series of events to mark the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11 and examine how it will be remembered and how life has changed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">‘Rescue Me’ focuses on the professional and personal lives of a group of New York City firefighters in the fictitious Ladder 62/Engine 99 firehouse as they deal with the grief of losing friends and relatives at Ground Zero. It tackles the daily drama of the life-and-death situations associated with being a firefighter while exploring the ways the men use dark humor to protect their true emotions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">'Rescue Me' Items Head to Smithsonian, Callie Thorne Talks Final Season</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Series Finale of ‘Rescue Me’ is due to air on Wednesday Sept. 7th, a few days ahead of the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Leary’s co-star Callie Thorne, who’s played Shelia Keefe since the beginning, has spoken about the sadness of filming the final scenes after seven years of working with the same cast and crew.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">She told ‘People’ that “The final days of ‘Rescue Me’ were terrible. There were a lot of tears. Especially when people heard, ‘That’s a series wrap on Denis Leary.’ A lot of the guys got really choked up.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Denis didn’t cry,” she added. “But he was very quiet. Which is a big deal for Denis Leary.”</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3137338606760872383.post-77017025183298585312011-12-29T05:49:00.000-08:002012-01-07T08:27:44.117-08:00News Corp. Reports $125K In 2011 Political Donations<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9xvJ1QEcw9lkWlavy-geh7dYK2RJY0xEz9jYNUwSrdKR4repG1u4DEVItVRPxmMN7xo8jomkztb5VNKYQsyEYnOTDxM1pFxKo_1YUZJnOITwjWkDSndH92UR8Ph6f4UyklrHFz1ysowY/s1600/News-Corp.-Reports-125K-In-2011-Political-Donations.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9xvJ1QEcw9lkWlavy-geh7dYK2RJY0xEz9jYNUwSrdKR4repG1u4DEVItVRPxmMN7xo8jomkztb5VNKYQsyEYnOTDxM1pFxKo_1YUZJnOITwjWkDSndH92UR8Ph6f4UyklrHFz1ysowY/s1600/News-Corp.-Reports-125K-In-2011-Political-Donations.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>COLUMBUS, Ohio</b> — Under assault in a phone hacking scandal, News Corp. has met a self-imposed deadline for reporting its 2011 political contributions online.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On Friday, the media company reported a little more than $125,000 in donations, with the biggest single gift of $25,000 going to the Democratic Governors Association.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The company’s board approved a new disclosure policy for its political giving in April after two donations by Rupert Murdoch, the Australian mogul who controls the company, raised concern among shareholders. Murdoch gave $1 million to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and $1.25 million to the Republican Governors Association. He said the RGA contribution was intended to help Republican John Kasich (KAY’-sik), a former commentator on News Corp.’s Fox News. Kasich won the governorship.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3137338606760872383.post-39445698761068186782011-12-29T05:47:00.000-08:002012-01-07T08:27:44.133-08:00A Texas Two-Step: When Rick Perry Backed Al Gore<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqjjGMR7un6yFjHbk5F8tGez-ipr08Y2nKUKtk5Fv-s6BkDJjg77GCKDxCACMZ-tnhgXY5n2U4uZloIhmJQeETCFAG49e8QTVtVjFptmBYoUFT4PuYn40icTIOW_LFgdWTkxl5mAQCumM/s1600/Rick-Perry-Backed-Al-Gore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqjjGMR7un6yFjHbk5F8tGez-ipr08Y2nKUKtk5Fv-s6BkDJjg77GCKDxCACMZ-tnhgXY5n2U4uZloIhmJQeETCFAG49e8QTVtVjFptmBYoUFT4PuYn40icTIOW_LFgdWTkxl5mAQCumM/s1600/Rick-Perry-Backed-Al-Gore.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There’s an inconvenient political truth for Texas Governor Rick Perry: he was his state’s 1988 campaign chairman for then U.S. Senator Al Gore’s first run at the presidency.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The way their partnership has dissolved and their paths diverged in the past three decades speaks eloquently to the way American politics has been reshaped. Gore has sailed left, while Perry’s political odyssey has seen him tack in the other direction — and to the opposing party. The two men opted for different paths across a dynamic, changing political landscape, and while one man fell short of the White House, the other now contemplates that prize. (See the top 10 debate flubs.)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The tale begins in 1984, four years before Perry took the helm of Gore’s Texas campaign, when Gore, then 36 and a congressional wunderkind from Tennessee, followed in his father’s footsteps by winning a U.S. Senate seat. That same year, Perry, who was 34 and from much humbler roots as the son of a Texas Rolling Plains cotton farmer, won a seat in the Texas house of representatives. Both young men were handsome sons of the South and proudly touted their philosophical bearings in the regionally dominant conservative wing of the Democratic Party.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 1988, seizing on the opportunity afforded by a lineup of southern primaries on Super Tuesday, Gore announced his bid for the Democratic nomination for President. Ronald Reagan’s second term was drawing to a close, and Republicans were set to nominate the next in line, then Vice President George H.W. Bush. The Democratic field was wide open, with a raft of candidates to the left of Gore, who was dubbed the “southern centrist” by the press. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The young Senator, described by the New York Times as “solidly built, dark and indisputably handsome,” lined up a list of conservative Democratic big-name supporters, including Senators Howard Heflin of Alabama, Terry Sanford of North Carolina, Bennett Johnson of Louisiana and Sam Nunn of Georgia and Governors Jim Hunt of North Carolina and Buddy Roemer of Louisiana. (In 1991 Roemer, like Perry, left the Democratic Party for the GOP; he is now also reportedly considering a Republican presidential run.)</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3137338606760872383.post-14673341436557597452011-12-29T05:46:00.000-08:002012-01-07T08:27:44.152-08:00Tea Party: Polls Show Importance To GOP Base<div style="text-align: justify;"><b>WASHINGTON</b> — As negotiations continue over raising the debt limit, Republican leaders are at odds with their own base, amid reports that their electoral coalition is breaking down. Public polling data illustrating the growing importance of the Tea Party vividly depicts the intra-party split and demonstrates the pressure Republican leaders now face.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifD4eprIkL5KkGAQfzyZiIz23nnKrB-6WN_VKs1IiOyVBA3r9k43lb5pXA2G2QpExl-vFyZPM45VhLJNn4jefblAPTYCXhgGgCduHivFf6qZbWbIohZ7VuX5jmioftK6e_tAej5PH4LKs/s1600/Tea-Party-Polls-Show-Importance-To-GOP-Base.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifD4eprIkL5KkGAQfzyZiIz23nnKrB-6WN_VKs1IiOyVBA3r9k43lb5pXA2G2QpExl-vFyZPM45VhLJNn4jefblAPTYCXhgGgCduHivFf6qZbWbIohZ7VuX5jmioftK6e_tAej5PH4LKs/s1600/Tea-Party-Polls-Show-Importance-To-GOP-Base.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Many national media polls now track the number of Americans who consider themselves Tea Party “supporters.” As shown below, most now find between 25 and 30 percent of respondents fall into that category, with no consistent trend over the last year.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Republican pollster Bill McInturff has taken this measurement a step further in the polls he conducts with Democrat Peter Hart for NBC News and The Wall Street Journal. Since October of last year, their surveys have asked those who identify or lean Republican and consider themselves supporters of the Tea Party to choose the term that describes them better, between “supporter of the Tea Party Movement” and “Republican.”</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">According to a presentation McInturff posted on his company website, in the NBC/Wall Street Journal surveys conducted in October 2010, this question split Republican voters into roughly thirds.</div><ul><li style="text-align: justify;">10 percent (of all voters) think of themselves as Tea Party supporters first, Republicans second</li><li style="text-align: justify;">10 percent who think of themselves as Republicans first, Tea Party supporters second</li><li>12 percent who are Republicans but do not think of themselves as Tea Party supporters</li></ul>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3137338606760872383.post-83524435446885622752011-12-29T05:44:00.000-08:002012-01-07T08:27:44.168-08:00A Lesson From the World’s Richest People<div style="text-align: justify;">One of the most fascinating elements of Switzerland’s success is its determination to remain neutral under unimaginable pressure to pick sides. The country has not declared a state of war since 1847 (it never entered the World Wars or the Iraq war) and opted out of joining the European Union. They didn’t even join the United Nations until 2002 and that was only after a country wide referendum.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzMeDnl1agDHFbQx4A6TCWU4BavrGJvL7MrxBFXbN-ZdgB5CZ4MHw-5sGpZX1eFhX0HvBHlroSt8miGCouIoTwZQpH9qbY07jrOZ33Nv7dcgERenyVknaQx02K4noXIla4s9rdmvAVryY/s1600/A-Lesson-From-the-Worlds-Richest-People.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzMeDnl1agDHFbQx4A6TCWU4BavrGJvL7MrxBFXbN-ZdgB5CZ4MHw-5sGpZX1eFhX0HvBHlroSt8miGCouIoTwZQpH9qbY07jrOZ33Nv7dcgERenyVknaQx02K4noXIla4s9rdmvAVryY/s1600/A-Lesson-From-the-Worlds-Richest-People.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Despite what you may think of Switzerland’s neutral geopolitical stance, it is hard to argue with the economic results of neutrality:</div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>The World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report currently ranks Switzerland’s economy as the most competitive in the world.</li><li>In 2010, the Global Wealth Report by Credit Suisse Research Institute found that Switzerland has the highest average wealth per adult at $372,692, with wealth defined by the value of financial and nonfinancial (such as real estate) assets.</li><li>According to Trading Economics, the worst the Swiss unemployment rate ever got during the recent worldwide financial crisis was 4.2 percent in January 2010; today the unemployment rate is around 3.4 percent.</li><li>According to Mercer Consulting, in 2010, Zurich and Geneva were respectively ranked as the cities with the second- and third-highest quality of life in the world (behind Vienna).</li></ul>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3137338606760872383.post-11722037116066978272011-12-29T05:41:00.000-08:002012-01-07T08:27:44.187-08:00Obama Publicly Backs Means-Testing Medicare<div style="text-align: justify;"><b>WASHINGTON</b> - President Barack Obama formally acknowledged on Friday that he would support a plan to means-test Medicare as a part of a deal to raise the nation’s debt ceiling.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“I have said that means-testing on Medicare, meaning people like myself — I’m going to be turning 50 in a week, so I’m starting to think a little bit more about Medicare eligibility — but you can envision a situation for somebody in my position, me having to pay a little bit more on premiums or co-pays would be appropriate. And again, that would make a difference,” the president said at a press conference. “What we are not willing to do is restructure the program in the ways we have seen coming out of the House in recent months.”</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwIiRPCOst5QQFfGc0taKNLJjHfME7Mmz5guNyjtKCuD1iT25dY1eKosgHssF7bb6VIlw5mUMk-qsh82bkBK6-x_FxcUymANjqWgjHGh8jA6NGKU-auXSrf46cZa_Rt_2ONHfkwz4z9k0/s1600/Obama-Publicly-Backs-Means-Testing-Medicare.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwIiRPCOst5QQFfGc0taKNLJjHfME7Mmz5guNyjtKCuD1iT25dY1eKosgHssF7bb6VIlw5mUMk-qsh82bkBK6-x_FxcUymANjqWgjHGh8jA6NGKU-auXSrf46cZa_Rt_2ONHfkwz4z9k0/s1600/Obama-Publicly-Backs-Means-Testing-Medicare.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The comment was the first public acknowledgment from the White House that the president would support changing the payment structure of the entitlement program. Prior to Obama’s remarks, multiple sources in both parties told The Huffington Post that the administration was making it clear to debt ceiling negotiators that such a structural change to Medicare was on the table.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The proposal is not entirely controversial among health care economists. But it will rankle a good chunk of the president’s own party, which has sought to keep Medicare’s structure as a basic insurance program. Medicare premiums for doctors and for prescription drugs are already means tested. Making top earners pay even more — while potentially sound policy — opens the program to politically potent charge that it is health care welfare for lower income Americans.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Obama administration’s embrace of the idea came during talks between lawmakers and Vice President Joseph Biden. The exact contours of what was proposed are not entirely clear. But a version that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) proposed in later discussions would have saved the government an estimated $38 billion by charging those high-income beneficiaries 10 percent more for the cost of hospital stays and prescription drugs.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Obama’s nominal support for means-testing Medicare, however, does fit into the larger outlines of his plan for the debt ceiling debate. In an effort to both win the support of Republicans and tackle as many deficit-contributing issues as possible, the administration has placed entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare (“sacred cows” for the Democratic Party) squarely on the table. The president also lent his support to a plan to raise the eligibility age of Medicare from 65 to 67, over the course of roughly 25 years. His team has, additionally, discussed various changes to the way in which Social Security benefits are measured and paid.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3137338606760872383.post-3589285906569275902011-12-29T05:39:00.000-08:002012-01-07T08:27:44.412-08:00Going After Michele Bachmann Ahead Of 2012 Has Its Risks<div style="text-align: justify;"><b>ST. PAUL, Minn</b> - For Michele Bachmann, the laugh line doubled as a clear message that she thinks she’s ready for the rough-and-tumble of presidential politics.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“I had three brothers, no sisters – the best preparation for politics any girl could ever have,” the tea party favorite and three-term Minnesota congresswoman told a crowd in Waterloo, Iowa, on the eve of her campaign kickoff.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw-TiKQqNsIzoPJXE53AMuuVscFh4c6MXoIJ07bND0HmEPZFxDQS8UX-596hKBSbW4lk6KBLARjZx9X4WM_cILPLcaWbZvUYf2Btb05rMOlnQR1-Kv-8BqFRdRRObGOOIZ83sGgRanJ04/s1600/Going-After-Michele-Bachmann-Ahead-Of-2012-Has-Its-Risks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw-TiKQqNsIzoPJXE53AMuuVscFh4c6MXoIJ07bND0HmEPZFxDQS8UX-596hKBSbW4lk6KBLARjZx9X4WM_cILPLcaWbZvUYf2Btb05rMOlnQR1-Kv-8BqFRdRRObGOOIZ83sGgRanJ04/s1600/Going-After-Michele-Bachmann-Ahead-Of-2012-Has-Its-Risks.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">So far, however, Bachmann’s current opponents – all men – are treading lightly, seemingly sensitive both to offending her tea party supporters and to gender concerns.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">She’s risen in polls in the lead-off caucus state of Iowa and elsewhere since entering the race last month. Surveys show her challenging the front-runner, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, in Iowa, and well ahead of former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Going After Michele Bachmann Ahead Of 2012 Has Its Risks It’s clear that she’s becoming a threat and that her rivals aren’t sure how to derail her without risking a backlash.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Take Pawlenty, who’s suddenly in her shadow. When one of Pawlenty’s advisers mentioned Bachmann’s “sex appeal” as a political asset, his campaign rushed out an apology and the candidate distanced himself from a remark that some interpreted as sexist.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“It’s not an appropriate criteria for evaluating a candidate,” Pawlenty said. Last week, he told The Associated Press while campaigning in Iowa that he had no immediate plans to criticize Bachmann as he has Romney.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3137338606760872383.post-18967915709656294642011-12-29T05:36:00.000-08:002012-01-07T08:27:44.427-08:00Dalai Lama Visit: President Obama Meets Spiritual Leader, China Complains<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9QpjNKwDYOKn-2NTJDKY0bS6-ZXr2VsSQV-gCLX7O7BvYx7jRsqJVfdlDOedhl96s_3v_JNjocuMAgAC24z37FhQOHK22HDHnAmRdB5TZamgWkrSLUDGoSHXPEDUTPn67oBWz18EjTp4/s1600/President-Obama-and-Dalai-Lama.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9QpjNKwDYOKn-2NTJDKY0bS6-ZXr2VsSQV-gCLX7O7BvYx7jRsqJVfdlDOedhl96s_3v_JNjocuMAgAC24z37FhQOHK22HDHnAmRdB5TZamgWkrSLUDGoSHXPEDUTPn67oBWz18EjTp4/s1600/President-Obama-and-Dalai-Lama.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>WASHINGTON</b> — President Barack Obama held a White House meeting Saturday with the Dalai Lama, a fellow Nobel Peace laureate, hours after China called on the U.S. to rescind an invitation that could sour relations with Beijing.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Tibetan spiritual leader has been in Washington for an 11-day Buddhist ritual. Thousands of expatriate Tibetans joined a 76th birthday celebration Wednesday for the Dalai Lama, who’s just relinquished leadership of Tibet’s government-in-exile.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The White House said the 45-minute private session in the Map Room showed Obama’s support for preserving Tibet’s culture and protecting human rights, as well reaffirming his belief that Chinese government should engage with representatives of the Dalai Lama to resolve their differences.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A Chinese crackdown led the Dalai Lama to flee into exile in India in 1959. China says he’s welcome to return if he drops his separatist activities, accepts Tibet as an inalienable part of China and recognizes Taiwan as a province of China.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Hours before the Dalai Lama’s arrival, the Chinese Foreign Ministry urged the White House to cancel the visit.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“We firmly oppose any foreign official to meet with the Dalai Lama in any form,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in a statement posted on the ministry’s website.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“We request the U.S. side to honor its serious commitment that recognizes Tibet as part of China and opposes Tibet independence,” Hong said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The White House kept the meeting low-key, closing it from the news media. It chose the Map Room for the visit instead of the Oval Office, which is reserved for visiting heads of state.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The visit comes less than 10 days before U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is expected to visit the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen. Vice President Joseph Biden is also scheduled to visit China this summer, followed by a trip to Washington by his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0