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Monday, 28 November 2011
Arab League set to vote on Syria sanctions
BEIRUT?? The Arab League is set to vote Sunday on sweeping sanctions against Syria, which could include halting cooperation with the nation's central bank and stopping flights to the country.
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The 22-nation body will vote on the recommendations at the group's headquarters in Cairo.
If the Arab League were to go ahead with the move, it would be a huge blow for a regime that considers itself a powerhouse of Arab nationalism.
Syria is facing mounting international pressure to end the bloody crackdown on the uprising against President Bashar Assad, which the U.N. says has killed more than 3,500 people. The European Union and the United States have imposed several rounds of sanctions against Assad and his regime, including a ban on the import of Syrian oil.
Story: UN: 'Numerous' reports of child torture by Syria's security forcesReuters reported that Arab League's plan would cut commercial ties with Assad's government and freeze its assets.
It would also include a travel ban on senior Syrian officials and a halt to commercial flights to the country, according to an Arab League document seen by Reuters.
Hundreds of people ? civilians, soldiers and army deserters ? have been reported killed in Syria this month, possibly the bloodiest since the unrest broke out in March inspired by uprisings which overthrew leaders in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Activists said 42 civilians and soldiers died in Syria on Saturday.
Video: Inside Syria: Underground network of cyber activists keeps revolution alive (on this page)Damascus, where the Assad family has ruled for 41 years, says regional powers helped incite the violence, which it blames on armed groups targeting civilians and its security forces. Syria has barred most independent media, making it hard to verify accounts from activists or officials.
Syria's powerful non-Arab northern neighbor Turkey, a former ally, has now turned against Assad.
"It is important that the international community move to resolve this problem and deliver a powerful message to the Syrian government," said Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan.
Video: Start of a civil war in Syria? (on this page)Babacan said the sanctions must not affect the daily life of Syria's people or threaten basic needs such as access to water.
'Humanitarian corridors'?
The stepped-up pressure follows a French proposal for "humanitarian corridors" to be set up through which food and medicine could be shipped to alleviate civilian suffering.
The proposal could link Syrian civilian centres to the frontiers of Turkey and Lebanon, to the Mediterranean coast or to an airport, and enable supply of humanitarian supplies or medicines to people in need.
But United Nations humanitarian coordinator Valerie Amos suggested that setting up humanitarian corridors into Syria or buffer zones on the border could be premature.
"At present, the humanitarian needs identified in Syria do not warrant the implementation of either of those mechanisms."
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45451537/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/
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Sunday, 27 November 2011
India cops accused of beating AP cameraman, others (AP)
SRINAGAR, India ? An Associated Press cameraman and at least three other journalists said they were assaulted by police and paramilitary forces Friday as they covered a protest in Indian-controlled Kashmir.
Umar Meraj was beaten for several minutes by security forces using rifle butts, batons, fists and a barrage of kicks, according to Meraj and other witnesses.
Local journalists have repeatedly complained of harassment and assaults by police in the tumultuous Himalayan territory. Meraj was assaulted by police at a checkpoint in its main city of Srinagar last year along with his father, Meraj Uddin Dar, also an AP journalist.
Umar Meraj was covering a strike Friday that closed businesses and schools in the region to protest the alleged detention of young political protesters and stone throwers. Separatist protesters routinely take to the streets in Kashmir, calling for independence or merger with Pakistan.
Police said most of the minors had been arrested on charges of rape, murder and other crimes and released on bail.
Clashes broke out during a demonstration in downtown Srinagar and Meraj and two other journalists fled into an alley, the men said. Police and paramilitary forces entered the alley from both sides and began assaulting the journalists, Meraj said.
He fell to the floor and nearly lost consciousness during the assault, he said. Photographer Yawar Nazir, who said he was also beaten, said troops dragged Meraj back onto the main road where other security officials rushed to join in the assault. Freelance photographer Showkat Shafi was also beaten by security forces in the alley, the men said.
The security forces also grabbed Meraj's camera and hit it with their guns and batons as well, destroying it, Meraj said.
After the assault, Meraj was left battered and vomiting by the roadside, where an AP photographer found him. He was admitted to the hospital, where he underwent tests for internal injuries.
A fourth journalist covering the rally, a photographer for a Hindi newspaper, was assaulted by security forces in another area and then detained, according to witnesses.
Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah told AP he would look into the incident.
A police statement issued after the assault said security forces had "exercised maximum restraint" in the face of stone throwing at the rally, but eventually gave chase to protesters.
"Some photojournalists, who had intermingled with the crowd to cover this subversive activity, got trampled down by the fleeing miscreants," the statement said.
In August, Shafi and a Mexican photographer said police beat and detained them while they were covering a street protest. Doctors confirmed the photographers were badly bruised. Reporters Without Borders accused paramilitary forces of beating up 12 journalists covering a demonstration last year.
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"Happy Feet Two" flop leads to 600 layoffs: report (Reuters)
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) ? As a result of the poor box-office performance of "Happy Feet Two," 600 of the 700 employees at the digital production studio behind the animated movie reportedly have received their walking papers.
Employees at Dr. D Studios, which is based in Sydney, Australia, have been told they will be laid off in the coming weeks, according to IF.com.au. TheWrap was unable to reach Dr. D for comment.
The film, a sequel to 2006's Academy Award-winning "Happy Feet" -- which grossed $384.3 million off a budget of $100 million -- had amassed only an estimated $30.3 million worldwide as of Thursday.
There may be a silver lining for some of the employees, who reportedly have been offered a job at a new company that Kennedy-Miller Mitchell Films -- which launched Dr. D as a joint partnership with Omnilab Media -- plans to get off the ground in early 2012. KMM was founded in 1973 by "Happy Feet" director George Miller and producer Byron Kennedy.
In addition to the layoffs, KMM and Omnilab are reportedly at odds, and there is the possibility that the partnership between the two companies may be dissolved.
Released on November 18, "Happy Feet Two" has not found much success. It opened in 3,606 theaters and came in second at the box office during its debut weekend, grossing $21.2 million. Its estimated budget was $140 million.
"We obviously came in a little bit under our expectations on 'Happy Feet,' " Warner Bros. President of Distribution Dan Fellman told TheWrap. "The market expands enormously over the holiday. By next Monday, we'll know whether we're in good shape."
With three new family films released this week -- "The Muppets," "Hugo" and "Arthur Christmas" -- "Happy Feet Two" is unlikely to gain further traction.
Dr. D Studios, which specializes in digital feature film production and high-end special effects, reportedly had hoped to compete with Peter Jackson's Weta Digital in neighboring New Zealand. The studio is also attached to the long-delayed fourth "Mad Max" film, "Fury Road"; Miller was the director, producer and writer for the first three installments.
According to DrDStudios.com, "Fury Road" is in pre-production, although the site also includes an out-of-date notice that "Happy Feet Two" is in production. There are no job openings listed on the site.
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Singer Lily Allen Gives Birth To A Baby Girl!
Singer Lily Allen Gives Birth To A Baby Girl!
British singer Lily Allen welcomed her first child on Sunday, after two tragic miscarriages in the past several years. Lily’s ex-boyfriend, DJ Seb Chew, congratulated [...]
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Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2011/11/25/singer-lily-allen-gives-birth-to-a-baby-girl/
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Saturday, 26 November 2011
Video: Danger zone for Americans
>>> we're back now with a frightening look at the dangers facing american farmers and ranchers living under the constant threat of violence, in constant fear all because of where they happen to live and work along our nation's southern border with mexico. nbc's mark potter reports tonight in his award-winning series of reports "the war next door ."
>> there it is there. a large narcotics load under the helicopter.
>> reporter: south of the texas border on the mexican side of the rio grande , surveillance video of what police say are smugglers loading illicit drugs bound for the united states .
>> one, two, three, four, five, six, seven bundles.
>> reporter: they are floated in rafts and carries across private property in the u.s. where increasingly american farmers and ranchers along the border say they and their workers are being confronted, even threatened by armed mexican traffickers.
>> reporter: it clearly has intimidated u.s. citizens who, in many cases, don't believe they are safe on their own land in their own country.
>> they went off road, avoiding the spikes.
>> reporter: fearing retribution, this farmer says he was told by a federal agent to protect himself.
>> one of them recommended that i look into buying a bullet-proof vest.
>> reporter: while you're farming?
>> while i'm farming.
>> reporter: the problem isn't just confined to those right on the border. also affected are land owners miles inland where smuggling is still a huge problem.
>> how does this look? mike vickers leads a group of texas land owners who work closely with law enforcement . they worry about mexican drug and immigrant smugglers trampling their land.
>> this was cut, no question. it was cut and pulled up.
>> reporter: with hidden cameras they have documented waves of smugglers crossing private property .
>> he's carrying at least 40 pounds of drugs in that backpack. we suspect cocaine.
>> reporter: vickers said many families have moved for safety while others arm themselves.
>> this is happening on american soil. this is a war zone . no question about it.
>> right beside the helicopter.
>> reporter: the obama administration and local officials dispute the war zone claim but with mexican traffickers not letting up, u.s. land owners are asking for more federal protection at the front door to their own country. mark potter , nbc news along the rio grande .
Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/45440396/
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Pakistan: NATO helicopter raid kills 8
KHAR, Pakistan?? NATO helicopters from Afghanistan intruded into northwest Pakistan and attacked a military check post near the border on Saturday, killing eight troops and wounding four, Pakistani intelligence officials said.
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The attack comes as relations between the United States and Pakistan, its ally in the war on terror, are already strained following the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden by U.S. special forces in a secret raid on the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad in May.
A Pakistani military spokesman confirmed the pre-dawn attack in the tribal region of Mohmand and said casualties had been reported, but gave no details.
"NATO helicopters carried out an unprovoked and indiscriminate firing on a Pakistani check post in Mohmand agency, casualties have been reported and details are awaited," the spokesman told Reuters.
Two intelligence officials in the region said that eight Pakistani troops had been killed and four wounded in the attack on the Salala check post, about 1.5 miles from the Afghan border.
The attack took place around 2:00 a.m. local time in the Baizai area of Mohmand, where Pakistani troops are engaged in fighting Taliban militants.
A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Kabul said the coalition there was aware of "an incident" and was gathering more information.
U.S. helicopters accidentally killed two Pakistani soldiers near the border last year, prompting Pakistan to temporarily close the border to supplies shipped through the country to NATO troops in Afghanistan.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45442885/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/
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Friday, 25 November 2011
Portugal lowered to junk status as big strike hits (AP)
LISBON, Portugal ? Portugal's efforts to climb out of its economic crisis suffered a double setback Thursday as its credit rating was downgraded to junk status and a major strike gave voice to broad public outrage over austerity measures that have squeezed living standards.
Portugal's deepening plight underlined Europe's difficulties in finding a way out of the continent's government debt crisis which has recently shown alarming signs of spreading to bigger nations, most notably Italy.
Like others in the 17-country eurozone, Portugal has embarked on a big austerity program to make its debts sustainable. Earlier this year, Portugal followed Greece and Ireland in taking a bailout to avert bankruptcy.
As in Greece, though, the government's tough medicine, which is required by international creditors in return for the euro78 billion ($104 billion) in bailout money, is unpopular. The strike had a huge turnout, making it possibly the biggest walkout in more than 20 years.
Police detained three demonstrators who scuffled with police outside Parliament after a protest march, Associated Press Television News reported.
"They are trying to destroy the national health service, and salaries haven't gone up since 2004," striking Dr. Pilar Vicente told APTN.
International ratings agency Fitch blamed Portugal's "large fiscal imbalances, high indebtedness across all sectors, and adverse macroeconomic outlook" for its decision to cut the country's rating by one notch to BB+. Rival Moody's already rates Portuguese bonds as junk, but Standard & Poor's rates them one notch above.
Fitch's decision to cut Portugal to a non-investment grade will likely mean it's even more difficult for the country, which is already mired in a deep recession and is witnessing rising levels of unemployment, to return to bond markets by its 2013 goal. That raises the unappetizing prospect that Portugal, like Greece, may need a second bailout.
"Portugal's downgrade goes to show how hard it will be for troubled economies to pull themselves out of the crisis and how long this will take," said Sony Kapoor, managing director of Re-Define, an economic think tank. "The Portuguese downgrade highlights the limits of austerity policies both domestically in Portugal and in the wider euro area."
The 24-hour walkout came as Portugal, one of western Europe's smallest and frailest economies, endures increasing hardship as it tries to get its borrowing levels down.
The strike was called by Portugal's two largest trade union confederations, representing more than 1 million mostly blue-collar workers. Much of the private sector remained open for business, but a huge Volkswagen car plant south of Lisbon, which accounts for 10 percent of Portuguese exports, decided to shut down production for the day because of problems facing its suppliers.
Much of the disruption was centered on the transport sector. Airlines canceled hundreds of international flights, and the airports of Lisbon, Porto and Faro were mostly empty as tens of thousands of workers walked off the job. Commuters had to get to work without regular bus or train services. The Lisbon subway was shut, and police said roads into the capital were more congested than normal.
Few staff were working at government offices, local media reported. Many medical appointments, school classes and court hearings were canceled, while mail deliveries and trash collection were said to be severely disrupted.
An unsustainable debt load and feeble economic growth over the past 10 years pushed Portugal toward bankruptcy earlier this year, forcing it to ask for a financial rescue.
In return for the aid, Portugal agreed to cut its debt burden to a manageable level by 2013. That goal requires it to enact deep spending cuts and hike taxes. Income tax, sales tax, corporate tax and property tax are all being increased. At the same time, welfare entitlements are being curtailed. Falling living standards have stoked outrage at the austerity measures.
"All the sacrifices the Portuguese are making today will prove worthwhile in the future," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Miguel Relvas told reporters.
A key difference from Greece is that the markets have not given up completely on Portugal. Though Portugal's key 10-year borrowing rate in the market stands at a still-exorbitant 12 percent, it's way below the 30 percent or so Greek equivalent. The aim is to eventually get that rate down below the 7 percent threshold that eventually proved to be the trigger for this year's bailout.
The Portuguese government, which came to power in June, has already conceded that its deficit reduction efforts have gone "off track" this year but says one-off measures, such as a 50 percent tax on Christmas bonuses and transferring banks' pension funds to the Treasury, will ensure Portugal achieves its 2011 budget deficit goal of 5.9 percent. That is down from 9.8 percent in 2010.
Debt is also expected to surpass 100 percent of GDP this year and peak at 106 percent in 2013 before retreating.
The austerity drive is hitting the real economy hard. Unemployment is up to 12.4 percent and is forecast to hit 13.4 percent next year. The European Commission predicts the Portuguese economy will contract by 3 percent in 2012 ? the worst performance in the eurozone.
Fitch said the recession is making it more "challenging" for the government to achieve its deficit-reduction plan and will negatively impact bank asset quality. However, Fitch said the center-right government's commitment to the debt-reduction program is "strong."
Portugal has so far witnessed none of the violent demonstrations seen in Greece, though police said three Lisbon tax offices were vandalized Wednesday night.
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Thursday, 24 November 2011
Moroccan elections challenged by voter mistrust (AP)
RABAT, Morocco ? It should be a moment of excitement: Moroccans are choosing a parliament in elections Friday prompted by the Arab Spring's clamor for freedom.
Yet there are few signs here that elections are even taking place.
Posters and raucous rallies for candidates are absent in the cities and instead there are just stark official banners urging citizens to "do their national duty" and "participate in the change the country is undergoing."
"The parties have presented the same people for the past 30 years, the least they could do is change their candidates," said Hassan Rafiq, a vegetable vendor in the capital Rabat, who said he didn't plan to vote.
Like elsewhere in the Arab world, Moroccans hit the streets in the first half of 2011 calling for more democracy, and King Mohammed VI responded by amending the constitution and bringing forward elections.
But since then the sense of change has dissipated.
The real challenge for these polls, in which an opposition Islamist party and a pro-palace coalition are expected to do well, will be if many people come out to vote in the face of a strident boycott campaign by democracy campaigners.
It's a sharp contrast to the electric atmosphere that characterized Tunisia's first free elections just last month.
"Moroccans feel that aside from the constitutional reform, nothing has really changed, meaning that the elections of 2011 will be a copy of the elections 2007 and that is what will probably keep the participation low," said Abdellah Baha, deputy secretary general of the Islamist Justice and Development Party.
The 2007 elections, the first with widespread international observation, had just 37 percent turnout, and some fear it could be even lower this time around.
A close U.S. ally and popular destination for European sunseekers, Morocco with its many political parties and regular elections was once the bright star in a region of dictatorships.
But all that has changed with the Arab uprisings that toppled dictators in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt. Now a political system that holds elections but leaves all powers in the hands of a hereditary king does not look so liberal.
"Morocco can no longer say it is the only one with pluralism or that it has the 'most,' (pluralistic)," said Jeffrey England, of the National Democratic Institute, a U.S.-based organization dedicated to furthering democracy.
Yet the Arab Spring has not left the country untouched, and Moroccans today do expect greater freedoms and reform. "Even if the system structure hasn't changed much, it has certainly changed the population's perceptions and expectations," said England, the institute's resident director in Morocco.
But even people who voted in July's referendum for a new constitution may not come out come out to vote in this week's elections because of widespread suspicions the referendum results were skewed, said Mounia Bennani-Chraibi, a Morocco expert at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland.
The constitutional referendum passed with over 98 percent voting in favor, and a staggering 72 percent turnout, which most observers found hardly credible.
"There are people who have voted 'yes' for constitution and were then humiliated by the results, they regretted it and felt it was the same methods as before, and nothing has really changed," she said.
One new reform in these elections is that 90 seats have been added to the parliament, with 60 reserved for women, and another 30 for candidates under 40 years old.
But there's a pervasive sense that the murky electoral machine has been preserved intact.
The law organizing the parliamentary elections was passed in October with little discussion in wider society and preserves a complex system with disproportionate districts that favor rural voters and leaves a splintered parliament.
Larger parties often receive less seats than their proportion of the popular vote.
Traditionally, that has allowed the palace to pick one party to weld together a coalition of many small parties ? which then does the palace's bidding regardless of its ideological stripe.
Under the new constitution, the largest party must form the government, which could well be the Islamist party, known by its French initials PJD. But there's uncertainty over whether it can truly change anything.
Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi-Fihri dismissed any threat deriving from an Islamist party possibly leading the government.
"The parties will have to come together in coalitions, in fact some are already doing so, so I don't think there is much risk," he told French news channel France 24. "On the contrary, we have continuity with a change of face."
Moroccan political analyst Matti Monjib explained that the king "wants a government that doesn't govern too much," which could be a problem if any new coalition really tries to change things in the kingdom, such as the PJD's promised anti-corruption drive ? which might even target palace cronies.
Even with activists agitating against the vote and a middle class disillusioned with the process, Morocco's traditional voting machine will still be functioning on Friday.
In rural areas, notables will gather up peasants and bring them to polling stations and instruct them whom to vote for, while in the slums around the big cities, local power brokers will deliver the votes of the poor.
The traditional voting system could also buoy a coalition of eight pro-palace parties that could form the next government and ensure the king has a friendly prime minister carrying out his wishes.
But many see the status quo as dangerous for Morocco with an economy creaking from the amount of money the government has pumped into raising salaries and subsidies to keep people calm amid the Arab world turmoil.
"The palace must understand that it cannot continue like this, to guarantee the continuation of the monarchy it has to understand that it is no longer an authoritarian system, but a democratic one, there is no longer a choice," warned Bara of the PJD.
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Danish royal couple visit Australian capital (AP)
CANBERRA, Australia ? Danish Crown Prince Frederik and his Australian-born wife, Crown Princess Mary, have arrived in the national capital to meet Australia's leaders during their official weeklong visit.
The couple were guests of honor at a lunch at Parliament House on Tuesday after a private meeting with Prime Minister Julia Gillard in her office.
The couple and their four children landed in Australia on Saturday and spent the next two days in Sydney, where they met in a nightclub during the 2000 Olympics.
Since their last official visit as guests of the Australian government in 2005, the couple have made private visits to Australia in 2006 and 2008.
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Wednesday, 23 November 2011
Kate Major Checks Into Rehab
Kate Major of Jon Gosselin and Michael Lohan dating / restraining order fame has checked herself into rehab voluntarily. At least she'll be safe from Mike in there.
She will get treatment for alcohol abuse. Sources close to Kate tell TMZ she checked into a treatment center in Boca Raton, Fla., and will stay there for 90 days.
Kate made news last month when Lindsay's dad allegedly assaulted her when she failed to provide oral relief, then violated his no contact order twice ... MiLo was arrested a second time for that violation, and trying to flee the police.
This 911 call was made by Kate before the first of the back-to-back busts.
Major made the decision after an alleged drunken plane fight a few weeks back. Sources close to Kate feels that drinking changes her into somebody she isn't.
This may also help explain why in the HELL someone dates Michael Lohan.
We assume (and really hope) Kate is not really pregnant by MiLo.
Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/11/kate-major-checks-into-rehab/
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Tuesday, 22 November 2011
Billy Crystal Or Ricky Gervais: Which Awards Host Is Funnier?
Despite the ripples of anger and resentment felt across certain Hollywood circles in the wake of Ricky Gervais' controversial performance as host of the Golden Globe Awards in January, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) announced Friday that the British comedian will return to the podium at the annual awards gala in 2012.
According to those present at the vote - which saw 46 out of 62 members of the HFPA electing to retain Gervais - a majority of the dissenters were older members who found Gervais' material in January to be in poor taste. A blog post on the HFPA website stated, "While many welcome Gervais' return, not everyone is happy with the decision."
The HFPA's decision to bring back the unorthodox and unabashed Gervais comes on the heels of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science's announcement that veteran Oscars host Billy Crystal will replace Eddie Murphy as MC for the 2012 Academy Awards.
The choice of Crystal as a replacement for Murphy, who's resignation earlier this month followed that of director/pal Brett Ratner, who himself stepped down as producer for the awards ceremony after statements he made on the Howard Stern show were deemed homophobic and offensive, has been decried by critics as proof that the Oscars have stopped caring about appealing to younger audiences.
Still, some see Crystal's return to the hosting gig as a breath of fresh air after last year's telecast, in which twenty-something movie stars James Franco and Anne Hathaway drew both poor ratings and scathing reviews, despite their popularity among younger audiences.
In the words of Entertainment Tonight's Darren Franich, "It's almost as If the show has been going through a midlife crisis - buying a shiny new car, dating people young enough to be its grandchildren - and now it's admitting that, well, sometimes the safe choice is the best choice."
If the Oscars have in fact embraced the 'safe choice' with Crystal -- who once opened the show by wearing a Hannibal Lecter mask, embracing a smiling Anthony Hopkins and inviting him to dinner - then the Golden Globes are embracing their role as a contradictory identity to the Oscars with the choice to bring back Gervais -- who once introduced Mel Gibson as a presenter by quipping, "I enjoy a drink as much as the next guy, unless..." You can guess where he was going with that one.
Perhaps the dichotomy between the two comedians can best be summed up in this recent tweet from Gervais:
Ricky Gervais Just told Billy Crystal he'd better not use any of my holocaust or pedophile material at The Oscars. He agreed (true) http://t.co/s1JWOCiy
The battle over which comedic approach prevails - classic or cutting edge - won't be decided until both awards shows have aired and the Nielsen ratings assessed. In the meantime, we want to know who you think is funnier: Billy or Ricky?
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Billy Crystal's opening monologue from the 69th Annual Academy Awards in 1997.
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Billy Crystal's opening monologue from the 69th Annual Academy Awards in 1997.
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Video: Kyk won?t endorse any candidate? yet
October 30: Plouffe, roundtable
Nearly a year away from the 2012 election, we?ll talk to the president?s 2008 campaign manager, now White House Senior Adviser, David Plouffe. Then author of the definitive new biography on the late Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson; Author of the new book ?The Time of Our Lives,? NBC News Special Correspondent, Tom Brokaw; Former Governor of Michigan, Jennifer Granholm; and Republican strategist, Mike Murphy.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032608/vp/45375603#45375603
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Monday, 21 November 2011
Two Afghan police killed in clash with foreign troops (Reuters)
GHAZNI CITY, Afghanistan (Reuters) ? Two Afghan police officers were killed in a clash with foreign troops conducting a night raid southwest of the Afghan capital, Kabul, early on Saturday, police and military officials said, adding to Afghan pressure to stop the raids.
Night raids, which foreign troops say are one of their most effective weapons in the fight against insurgents, are a major cause of friction between President Hamid Karzai and his Western backers. Karzai has said repeatedly he wants them stopped.
Saturday's incident happened when the soldiers, who were involved in a night raid which had not been coordinated with the police, ignored orders to halt when spotted by officers in Ghazni province, said Ghazni police chief Zorawar Zahid.
Shots were fired in the resulting clash, he said.
"Foreign troops were planning to conduct night raids but a firefight took place when they failed (to obey) police orders to stop," Zahid said.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said a combined coalition and Afghan force called in air support after being fired on at a checkpoint by rocket-propelled grenades, mortar bombs and guns.
"After multiple attempts to identify themselves as friendly forces, the security force was unable to stop the threat and engaged the checkpoint in self-defense, killing two individuals," ISAF said in a statement.
Afghanistan wants the United States and NATO to agree to stop carrying out night raids on Afghan homes as a precondition to signing a long-term alliance with Washington, Karzai said at a meeting of Afghan political and community leaders on Wednesday.
That meeting, at which the future of Afghanistan's relationship with America is under discussion, is due to finish on Saturday.
Parts of Ghazni province are expected to be included in the next phase of a security handover to Afghan forces under a plan agreed by the coalition and for foreign combat troops to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.
(Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi; Writing by Jan Harvey; Editing by Daniel Magnowski and Paul Tait)
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T.C. Boyle discusses "The Lie" in movies (Reuters)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? T. Coraghessan Boyle has been entertaining readers for more than 30 years with such books as "Water Music" and "World's End," winner of the Pen/Faulkner Award for Fiction.
An ardent movie fan, Boyle's work has seldom been transferred to the big screen, with the exception of "The Road to Wellville" and now "The Lie," based on his short story of the same name about a man who tells a small lie to get out of work one day and it snowballs into a big problem.
The movie opens in U.S. theaters on Friday, and Boyle, 62, spoke to Reuters about it, his uniquely dour outlook on the world and the real-life battle between man and machine.
Q: In "The Lie," the main character Lonnie does some bad things but he isn't a bad guy.
A: "You sympathize with the guy because he married too young and he's going nowhere and he's pissed off and he regrets that. And he looks back on the day before he settled down and had a band and possibilities and things are good. And so there's sympathy in that way, but he's wrong and he's hard-core and he does something pretty despicable."
Q: Have you ever told a lie that gets as big and as potentially disastrous as the one Lonnie tells in the book?
A: "I make my living telling lies. Everything I do is a lie. It's an artistic lie, a story, an invention. That's how I live. The reason that we make art and love art is because the real world is out of control, utterly random and there's absolutely no purpose to human life. So what we do is we create our own scenario in our own world. When asked this question about why my characters suffer so much, it's because I'm the god of my own world and by god they're going to suffer! That's my pleasure."
Q: In the United States, reading has dropped off among young people due to video games and other emerging technology. Can you be hopeful about the future of American literature?
A: "I'm not hopeful about anything. I'm not hopeful about the future of our species. The larger problem isn't simply video games, film, TV, even the decline in film attendance. It's really that society is so busy because we have been taken over by technology and people can't unplug. We live in the world of 'The Terminator' right now, people just don't realize it yet. The machines have taken over. In order to read a good book or even to absorb a really good movie, you have to have contemplative time. You have to have that kind of culture. So fewer people are exposed to it and obviously fewer people will be reading good lit."
Q: So you see a dim future.
A: "Not to be too pessimistic. You never know what technology will do. It's moving so quickly. For instance, when the telephone came into being...people said the great letter writing tradition of America is over, and so it was. But who could foresee that eventually we would have email and instead of calling each other we would be writing each other again. So there's no way of telling exactly how this is going to play out."
Q: So you avoid social networking, video games, television?
A: "I'm hard-core. All I do is do my work, go on tour, and walk in the woods muttering to myself. That's it. That's the entire sum of my activity on this planet. But we have to include many hours in dark bars as well."
(Editing by Jill Serjeant and Bob Tourtellotte)
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How to Make Alcoholic Ice Cream, the Greatest Dessert of All Time [Video]
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Who is worth more: Ashton or Demi?
Two and a half is not just a number in Ashton Kutcher's successful TV show, but it's how many more zeros he has in his bank account than soon-to-be ex-wife Demi Moore.
Here's how an expert from Forbes breaks down the finances of the divorcing duo exclusively to E! News.
MORE: Demi Moore Divorcing Ashton Kutcher "With Great Sadness"
"As painful as this is to say, Ashton has great earning potential from here on out, and Demi Moore does not," says Dorothy Pomerantz, the magazine's L.A. bureau chief. "Because of 'Two and a Half Men,' he is earning close to $700,000 an episode, and if his show goes into syndication he will earn more from that. Having a hit show gives you amazing earning potential."
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Forbes estimates that Kutcher has made roughly $7 million so far this year from "Two and a Half Men," plus another $2 million from his movies, another $1 million from his restaurants and another $1 million from residuals of "That '70s Show" reruns.
MORE: Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher--Anatomy of a Split
Pomerantz says Ashton's investments in tech companies haven't given him significant earnings yet, but have potential for big returns down the line.
The future may be looking bright financially for Ashton, but it could only be getting worse for Demi.
"Maybe we are going to see her build back up her portfolio, but it's hard for women at her age [Moore turned 49 a week ago], there's just no way around that," said Pomerantz. "That's a scarlet letter on your forehead. She's too pretty to play the older mom roles."
Per Forbes estimates, Moore still gets residuals from her movies, and her lucrative endorsement deal with Ann Taylor brings in an estimated $2 million-$3 million per year, putting her somewhere close to $5 million for the year.
MORE: Demi Moore "Around All the Time" at Two and a Half Men, Says Ashton Kutcher Costar
Kutcher meanwhile has never made Forbes' Celebrity 100, but he has a good chance of making it next year.
"With the Celebrity 100 we look at earnings and fame," said Pomerantz. "The lowest earners on our list earn about $9 million a year, but they have to have a significant amount of fame too. We do the list in May, but Ashton wasn't on 'Two and a Half Men' at that point, so that's $7 million that he didn't have."
A yearly income of $12 million-$13 million would put Kutcher on the Forbes Top 100 Celebrity list next to individuals like Tina Fey, who earned $13 million in 2010, and Kate Moss and Eva Longoria, who each earned $14 million.
PHOTOS: Demi Moore &Ashton Kutcher: Romance Recap
? 2011 E! Entertainment Television, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45356747/ns/today-entertainment/
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Sunday, 20 November 2011
What bacteria don't know can hurt them
Friday, November 18, 2011
Many infections, even those caused by antibiotic-sensitive bacteria, resist treatment. This paradox has vexed physicians for decades, and makes some infections impossible to cure.
A key cause of this resistance is that bacteria become starved for nutrients during infection. Starved bacteria resist killing by nearly every type of antibiotic, even ones they have never been exposed to before.
What produces starvation-induced antibiotic resistance, and how can it be overcome? In a paper appearing this week in Science, researchers report some surprising answers.
"Bacteria become starved when they exhaust nutrient supplies in the body, or if they live clustered together in groups know as biofilms," said the lead author of the paper, Dr. Dao Nguyen, an assistant professor of medicine at McGill University.
Biofilms are clusters of bacteria encased in a slimy coating, and can be found both in the natural environment as well as in human tissues where they cause disease. For example, biofilm bacteria grow in the scabs of chronic wounds, and the lungs of patients with cystic fibrosis. Bacteria in biofilms tolerate high levels of antibiotics without being killed.
"A chief cause of the resistance of biofilms is that bacteria on the outside of the clusters have the first shot at the nutrients that diffuse in," said Dr. Pradeep Singh, associate professor of medicine and microbiology at the University of Washington in Seattle, the senior author of the study. "This produces starvation of the bacteria inside clusters, and severe resistance to killing."
Starvation was previously thought to produce resistance because most antibiotics target cellular functions needed for growth. When starved cells stop growing, these targets are no longer active. This effect could reduce the effectiveness of many drugs.
"While this idea is appealing, it presents a major dilemma," Nguyen noted. "Sensitizing starved bacteria to antibiotics could require stimulating their growth, and this could be dangerous during human infections."
Nguyen and Singh explored an alternative mechanism.
Microbiologists have long known that when bacteria sense that their nutrient supply is running low, they issue a chemical alarm signal. The alarm tells the bacteria to adjust their metabolism to prepare for starvation. Could this alarm also turn on functions that produce antibiotic resistance?
To test this idea, the team engineered bacteria in which the starvation alarm was inactivated, and then measured antibiotic resistance in experimental conditions in which bacteria were starved. To their amazement, bacteria unable to sense starvation were thousands of times more sensitive to killing than those that could, even though starvation arrested growth and the activity of antibiotic targets.
"That experiment was a turning point," Singh said. "It told us that the resistance of starved bacteria was an active response that could be blocked. It also indicated that starvation-induced protection only occurred if bacteria were aware that nutrients were running low."
With the exciting result in hand, the researchers turned to two key questions. First does the starvation alarm produce resistance during actual infections? To test this the team examined naturally starved bacteria, biofilms, isolates taken from patients, and bacterial infections in mice. Sure enough, in all cases the bacteria unable to sense starvation were far easier to kill.
The second question was about the mechanism of the effect. How does starvation sensing produce such profound antibiotic resistance?
Again, the results were surprising.
Instead of well-described resistance mechanisms, like pumps that expel antibiotics from bacterial cells, the researchers found that the bacteria's protective mechanism defended them against toxic forms of oxygen, called radicals. This mechanism jives with new findings showing that antibiotics kill by generating these toxic radicals.
The findings suggest new approaches to improve treatment for a wide range of infections.
"Discovering new antibiotics has been challenging," Nguyen said. "One way to improve infection treatment is to make the drugs we already have work better. Our experiments suggest that antibiotic efficacy could be increased by disrupting key bacterial functions that have no obvious connection to antibiotic activity."
The work also highlights the critical advantage of being able to sense environmental conditions, even for single-celled organisms like bacteria. Cells unaware of their starvation were not protected, even though they ran out of nutrients and stopped growth. This proves again that, even for bacteria, "what you don't know can hurt you."
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University of Washington: http://www.uwnews.org
Thanks to University of Washington for this article.
This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.
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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/115338/What_bacteria_don_t_know_can_hurt_them
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HBT: Astros moving to AL West in 2013
MLB?commissioner?Bud Selig?announced?Thursday afternoon that the sale of the Houston Astros from former owner Drayton McLane to new owner Jim Crane has been unanimously approved.
This according to CBS Sports? Danny Knobler.
As part of the agreement, the Astros will be moved to the American League West in 2013, with Crane getting a $70 million discount on the sale price of the team. That will even out baseball?s two leagues at 15 teams apiece and allow for the fair implementation of two additional Wild Card spots. It also means that interleague play is going to be a year-round thing.
The dual Wild Card system hasn?t been completely mapped out yet, but the expectation is that those two additional postseason teams will engage in a one-game playoff a day or two after the regular season. The other option, presumably, would be a three-game series.
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Saturday, 19 November 2011
Of Mice and Cancer
Maximum Prophet points out a series of articles in Slate about the role of mice and rats in the fight against cancer. The first article discusses the problem of using the same type of animal for many tests; the reactions may be consistent, but they can also be different from the reactions a human has to the same treatment. "The inbred, factory-farmed rodents in use today?raised by the millions in germ-free barrier rooms, overfed and understimulated and in some cases pumped through with antibiotics?may be placing unseen constraints on what we know and learn." The second article focuses on one particular type of mouse, bred specifically for consistency and for its suitability to labwork, which has come to dominate biological testing. The final piece examines what researchers are trying to learn from the naked mole rat, a species that doesn't seem to get cancer on its own, and is resistant to attempts to induce cancer. "Buffenstein and her students tried one of these shortcuts. They placed some mole rats in a gamma chamber and blasted their pale, pink bodies with ionizing rays. The animals were unimpressed."
Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/VDfQ9hXLLLY/of-mice-and-cancer
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Leila Khalil: Hire A Wedding Planner ... Or Else
To those of us in the wedding industry, hiring a planner to help with a wedding seems to be common knowledge. It's only when discussing the topic with family and friends that I realize people sometimes don't fully grasp the importance of one.
Haven't we all heard a story or two where something didn't go right at a wedding? It happens all the time no matter who is in charge, but the key is how those problems are managed. When a planner is not involved, is there someone designated to solve the issue of the caterer setting up in the wrong area? Who is making sure the gifts and cards are being accounted for? Or how about someone to find the cake knife and server when they disappear just minutes before its time to cut the cake? Most of the time the answer is no. Friends and family are left scrambling to solve these mishaps while also trying to enjoy the wedding as guests.
Almost every couple these days is working within a budget, but everyone seems to think they can save on costs by "doing it themselves." So they will invest in a great photographer to capture the moments and details, a floral designer is hired to make everything look pretty and money is spent on linens, favors and a dessert bar. However, when it comes to getting a professional wedding coordinator to pull together all those details, often times couples decide to skimp on that. A slew of money is spent in planning, but come wedding day, the execution of everything is pawned off on an aunt, family friend, catering manager, or bridesmaid. Paying to bring someone on board who knows what they are doing puts the day at ease no matter the scale of the wedding. Even if there are beautiful decor elements and photos to capture it all, if the bride and groom and their guests didn't fully enjoy it, that's what will be remembered.
Don't forget "you get what you pay for," and a wedding planner is no exception. Planners that actually service brides as a business and not as a hobby are indispensable and will typically charge a minimum of $2500 depending on wedding location, size, and tasks at hand. Anything less may indicate inexperience. Do the research; check out some of these blogs who have credible vendor directories and list wedding planners all across the US.
Not convinced? Below are accounts from actual brides who didn't hire the right professionals! Don't let this happen to someone you love.
?1. Transportation nightmare: The shuttle may forget to stop at one of the hotels and leave guests behind before the ceremony is about to start... so now what??
?2. Stranded at the altar: The couple may forget to designate someone to cue the musicians to know when the wedding party and bride should walk down the aisle. The groom and guests wait while nothing happens, but the same song plays over and over again.
3. Family Feud: Family members, who are helping run the day, may have a different vision than the bride and groom. With no third party mediator offering an unbiased opinion, the disagreements may escalate leaving the couple less than enthused about their wedding day.
4. Communication Meltdown: The bar tab may exceed the allotted budget, but no one checks in with the bartender so drinks are continuing to be served leaving the newlyweds with an unexpected bill at the end of the night.
5. Budget Blunders: Most couples overspend on their budget and waste a lot of time researching vendors within their price point. Planners are used to working within the confines of a budget, they do it every day. They already know which photographer is going to be in your price range and which caterer will give you the most for your money.
And P.S. -- A venue coordinator/catering manager is NOT a wedding planner. Stay tuned in the next few weeks to find out why.
To hear more from Be Inspired PR follow along @weddingPR and inspiredbythis.com
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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leila-khalil/hire-a-wedding-planner-or_b_1097889.html
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Online reviews site Yelp to go public (AP)
NEW YORK ? Popular online reviews site Yelp is going public, the latest in a slew of Internet businesses to do so.
Yelp Inc. said in a regulatory filing Thursday that it plans to raise $100 million in an initial public offering. The amount of money Yelp is seeking in its IPO will likely change as its bankers determine how many shares should be sold and at what price. That process typically takes three to four months.
San Francisco-based Yelp, a website best known for reviews of restaurants, bars and other local merchants, generated $58.4 million in net revenue in the first nine months of this year. It booked a net loss of $7.6 million in the same period. The company makes the bulk of its money from advertising.
Yelp filed its initial IPO papers the same day that another reviews site, Angie's List Inc., began trading its stock. Unlike Yelp, Angie's List charges a monthly fee for access to its reviews of local services such as dentists, veterinarians, roofers and plumbers. Yelp, meanwhile, is free.
And Groupon Inc., the online deals site, filed for its IPO earlier this month. The offerings have been successful, but it'll take some time ? and earnings reports ? to see how well the companies can do over the long term.
Yelp's underwriters include Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and others.
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