EU leaders to discuss growth as Greece case looms (AP)

BRUSSELS ? European leaders will try to come up with ways to boost growth despite steep budget cuts across the continent when they meet in Brussels on Monday.

The 27 heads of state and government will get a taste of the popular frustration with austerity and high unemployment as they try to get to the summit in a city paralyzed by strikes.

While the official theme of Monday's meeting is boosting growth and jobs, the elephant in the room will be Greece.

Leaders aren't expected to make any decisions on a new massive bailout for Greece until international debt inspectors have issued a new report on the country's finances.

Athens' euro partners have grown frustrated with its slack implementation of spending cuts and reforms almost two years after first receiving international aid.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_europe_financial_crisis

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[OOC] Vampire Prosecutor: NPC

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This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?the Vampire Prosecutor?. Anything posted here will also show up there.

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Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.

Name Abel
Gender male
Age appears to be in early thirties
Ethnicity English
Race Vampire
Significance He is a prosecutor, one who is actually responsible for the formation of the special investigation team. His identity as a vampire is secret to those around him and he survives because of a friend in the medical field who gives him blood-bags from people who donated blood. He formed the special team in order to catch Xia, a young vampire moved to New York City five years ago in hopes of finding a life-long companion.
History Much of his past before he was turned is a blur and as time has continued on, he has forgotten exactly how old he really is. He is constantly on the move, changing jobs and identities in order to locate those of his kind and keep them from exposing the truth about vampires. He truthfully believes that Xia is the woman who turned him into a vampire, but he cannot be sure.
Personality Abel is a guy who few try to grow close with. He is very mysterious, showing only a blank face and a smile that says he knows more than he tells. Rarely wasting a moment to joke, his seriousness is a plague that people try to avoid. In truth, he is very lonely, though his only true friend is his doctor friend who provides him with blood, and even he doesn?t understand him fully.
Other Like the vampire prosecutor, he is also strongly drawn to the female prosecutor?s blood.
Name Xia
Gender female
Age appears to be in mid twenties
Ethnicity Asian American
Race Vampire
Significance She is the one responsible for the ?vampire attacks? five years ago. Lately she has been laying low, however, only making kills every now and then to gain the attention of the vampire prosecutor, who she has fallen in love with. Every now and then she will visit him out of the blue or will call his phone and present him with information that helps him with his cases. Her attacks have been in precise locations. If you were to dot them out on a map and then connect the dots, they would be forming an arrow. This arrow is pointing to the part of the city where she is residing and where she awaits the arrival of the vampire prosecutor.
History For many years, Xia has been moving from place to place. Seven years ago while in Los Vegas, she ran into Abel who was visiting relatives. Impressed with his abilities, she turned him into a vampire. However, his response to the change angered her for he wasn?t overjoyed, but horrified. In her anger, she lost track of him. It was two years later when she found him in New York City. In order to gain his attention, she went on a mass killing spree. During the five years up until today, she has been diligently searching for a life-long companion; a mate. In the process she discovered the prosecutor. She turned him into a vampire, hiding her identity in order to force him to find her.
Personality You can sum up Xia in one word: self-centered. She is only out for herself, not thinking of how her actions can affect the lives around her. She lives for the moment and thrives for pleasure ? hence why she is searching for a mate. Because she is on her own, her frustration and anger often takes form of a vampire attack. She loves to play with people?s emotions and will do anything to get what she wants.
Other She is targeting the female prosecutor and the intern out of jealousy.
Name Neo Jelani
Gender male
Age 33
Ethnicity American
Race Human
Significance Neo is the guy that provides the vampire prosecutor the blood he needs. He is the owner of a club named Club Blood ? this is where he stores the blood. Generally he also provides insight and advice while the two sit to drink. Though he isn?t the only one who knows of the prosecutor?s vampire situation, he is constantly looking out for the guy and will try in every which way to help if needed.
History After working for several years as a doctor, Neo retired from his job. He and a friend had a serious argument over disappearing blood bags from the donation branch and in the end, he decided he was done. Wealthy from his years of working, he opened the club. (will add part of meeting the prosecutor later)
Personality Straight forward and honest, Neo is a friendly character. There aren?t many people who dislike him and vice versa. He is generally viewed as a fatherly figure and does his best to help those in need. However, this fatherly figure disappears when someone he treasures is threatened. He suppresses a dark side, one he developed after working as a depressed doctor for many years.
Other His wife died in a massive car accident two years ago.

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After Leo DiCaprio Invests, Lance Armstrong Races To Promote, Advise Mobli

Mobli, the startup behind the eponymous, much-hyped realtime photo and video sharing service, has struck a partnership with road racing cyclist and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong. Armstrong, a seven-time Tour de France champion, will be making use of a private Mobli channel to keep his fans and followers up-to-date on his life through videos, photos and whatnot.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/GIzDwIGbRzs/

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Avalanche kills snowboarder in half-mile slide

By msnbc.com staff and news services

A 24-year-old snowboarder has died after becoming trapped in an avalanche in a steep Utah backcountry area that the public was warned to avoid after potent snowstorms.

The death marks the ninth avalanche fatality in the West this season, and experts say the risk of additional slides could remain high all winter.

---

NBC affiliate KSL TV reported that Alecsander Barton was with two other men when the avalanche occurred Saturday morning in the Wasatch Range's Big Cottonwood Canyon near Salt Lake City.?

Heading back from Stewart, British Colombia, Aaron Garner captures a controlled avalanche technicians set off to clear a highway pass. TODAY.com's Dara Brown reports.

The other two ? a snowboarder and skier ? watched as?Barton descended Kessler Peak and triggered an avalanche that carried him an estimated 2,400 feet, or half a mile,?down the mountain. They found his body under three feet of snow about an hour later using avalanche beacons.?

STORY: Avalanche danger across West is high

Experts say a weak base layer of snow, packed with large grains of ice, is plaguing parts of Utah, Colorado, Montana and California. They say these conditions could keep avalanche risks high for the rest of the season.

Helmet-cam video shows a snowmobiler caught in an avalanche in Washington State and his friends quickly rushing to his rescue. KING-TV's Jim Forman reports.

So far, four people have died in avalanches in Colorado, three on the Wyoming-Montana border and two in Utah.

Last season saw 25 avalanche deaths, and the one before saw 36.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/29/10263387-avalanche-kills-snowboarder-in-half-mile-slide

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Open Thread (Balloon Juice)

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

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Iran vows to stop "some" oil sales as inspectors visit (Reuters)

TEHRAN (Reuters) ? Iran sent conflicting signals in a dispute with the West over its nuclear ambitions, vowing to stop oil exports soon to "some" countries but postponing a parliamentary debate on a proposed halt to crude sales to the European Union.

The Islamic Republic declared itself optimistic about a visit by U.N. nuclear experts that began Sunday but also warned the inspectors to be "professional" or see Tehran reducing cooperation with the world body on atomic matters.

Lawmakers have raised the possibility of turning the tables on the EU which will implement its own embargo on Iranian oil by July as it tightens sanctions on Tehran over the nuclear program.

But India, the world's fourth-largest oil consumer, said it would not take steps to cut petroleum imports from Iran despite U.S. and European sanctions against Tehran.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspection delegation will try to advance efforts to resolve a row about the nuclear work which Iran says is purely civilian but the West suspects is aimed at seeking a nuclear weapon.

Tension with the West rose this month when Washington and the EU imposed the toughest sanctions yet in a drive to force Tehran to provide more information on its nuclear program. The measures take direct aim at the ability of OPEC's second biggest Oil exporter to sell its crude.

In a remark suggesting Iran would fight sanctions with sanctions, Iran's oil minister said the Islamic state would soon stop exporting crude to "some" countries.

Rostam Qasemi did not identify the countries but was speaking less than a week after the EU's 27 member states agreed to stop importing crude from Iran from July 1.

"Soon we will cut exporting oil to some countries," the state news agency IRNA quoted Qasemi as saying.

India, a major customer for Iranian crude, made clear it would not join the wider international efforts to put pressure on Tehran by cutting oil purchases.

"It is not possible for India to take any decision to reduce the imports from Iran drastically, because among the countries which can provide the requirement of the emerging economies, Iran is an important country amongst them," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters on a visit to the Unites States.

The United States wants buyers in Asia, Iran's biggest oil market, to cut imports to put further pressure on Tehran.

DISCUSSION POSTPONED

Iranian lawmakers had been due to debate a bill Sunday that could have cut off oil supplies to the EU in days, in a move calculated to hit ailing European economies before the EU-wide ban on took effect.

But Iranian MPs postponed discussing the measure.

"No such draft bill has yet been drawn up and nothing has been submitted to the parliament. What exists is a notion by the deputies which is being seriously pursued to bring it to a conclusive end," Emad Hosseini, spokesman for parliament's Energy Committee, told Mehr news agency.

Iranian officials say sanctions have had no impact on the country. "Iranian oil has its own market, even if we cut our exports to Europe," Oil Minister Qasemi said.

Another lawmaker said the bill would oblige the government to cut Iran's oil supplies to the EU for five to 15 years, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

By turning the sanctions back on the EU, lawmakers hope to deny the bloc a six-month window it had planned to give those of its members most dependent on Iranian oil - including some of the most economically fragile in southern Europe - to adapt.

NUCLEAR WATCHDOG

Before departing from Vienna, IAEA Deputy Director General Herman Nackaerts said he hoped Iran would tackle the watchdog's concerns "regarding the possible military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program."

Mehr quoted Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi as saying during a trip to Ethiopia: "We are very optimistic about the outcome of the IAEA delegation's visit to Iran ... Their questions will be answered during this visit."

"We have nothing to hide and Iran has no clandestine (nuclear) activities."

Striking a sterner tone, Iran's parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, warned the IAEA team to carry out a "logical, professional and technical" job or suffer the consequences.

"This visit is a test for the IAEA. The route for further cooperation will be open if the team carries out its duties professionally," said Larijani, state media reported.

"Otherwise, if the IAEA turns into a tool (for major powers to pressure Iran), then Iran will have no choice but to consider a new framework in its ties with the agency."

Iran's parliament has approved bills in the past to oblige the government to review its level of cooperation with the IAEA. However, Iran's top officials have always underlined the importance of preserving ties with the watchdog body.

The head of the state-run National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) said late Saturday that the export embargo would hit European refiners, such as Italy's Eni, that are owed oil from Iran as part of long-standing buy-back contracts under which they take payment for past oilfield projects in crude.

The EU accounted for 25 percent of Iranian crude oil sales in the third quarter of 2011. However, analysts say the global oil market will not be overly disrupted if parliament votes for the bill that would turn off the oil tap for Europe.

Potentially more disruptive to the world oil market and global security is the risk of Iran's standoff with the West escalating into military conflict.

Iran has repeatedly said it could close the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping lane if sanctions succeed in preventing it from exporting crude, a move Washington said it would not tolerate.

(Additional reporting by Hashem Kalantari, Robin Pomeroy and Hossein Jaseb in Tehran, Svetlana Kovalyova in Milan and Fredrik Dahl in Vienna; Writing by Parisa Hafezi and Robin Pomeroy; Editing by William Maclean and David Stamp)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iran/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120129/wl_nm/us_iran

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Suspect shown by Mexico cops says he beat Canadian (AP)

CULIACAN, Mexico ? A Mexican man charged with severely beating a Canadian woman at a resort hotel has told journalists that he tried to hold her in an elevator and punched her several times when she yelled for help.

Jose Ramon Acosta said during a Saturday news conference held by police that he had sneaked into the hotel in Mazatlan early the morning of Jan. 20 and encountered Sheila Nabb of Calgary, Alberta, by chance.

State prosecutor Marco Antonio Higuera Gomez says Acosta had been drinking and using drugs. Prosecutor have said the suspect was seen on a hotel security camera as he left the elevator.

The victim has been flown to Canada where she remains hospitalized.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mexico/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_mexico_canadian_attacked

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Animals Get The Upper Paw, or Hoof, or Claw (preview)

Antigravity | More Science See Inside

Every so often a critter takes a shot at making headlines

By Steve Mirsky ?| January 29, 2012

Image: Matt Collins

In journalism, there?s what you call your dog-bites-man situation. Which is anything too common and expected to be a good story (unless the dog is one of those Resident Evil hellhounds, or the man is Cesar Millan). An example of a dog-bites-man science story is yet another confirmation of Einstein and relativity.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)

Steve Mirsky has been writing the Anti Gravity column since atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were about 358 parts per million. He also hosts the Scientific American podcast Science Talk.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=06f4ff3e53d3b8a10e479108af970713

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The working class rises up across Latin America (The Christian Science Monitor)

Mexico city; and Santiago, chile ? When parking attendant Hugo Enrique Vera was beaten by a wealthy client in Mexico, allegedly for refusing to show the man where to find the jack in his car, the surveillance camera captured a stereotype dating to colonial times: The wealthy resident asserts authoritarian control over the worker, who takes the beating without question.

But there was a twist: Mr. Vera filed a criminal complaint and condemned his perpetrator on national news, unleashing a charged debate about callousness toward the working class.

For two decades, social movements in Latin America have centered on indigenous rights. Today the indigenous have earned new political representation, and open mistreatment will draw complaints.

Yet daily life across Latin America is replete with symbols of stubborn class inequality that go unchallenged, such as condominium buildings that have separate elevators for domestic workers.

RELATED: Think you know Latin America? Take our geography quiz.

Such constant reinforcement of status differences helps to cement class privileges in what the United Nations has said is the world's most unequal region.

While maids in crisp uniforms and parking valets at every urban venue aren't about to disappear, they and other la-borers are increasingly better-educated and aspire to move into the middle class.

Less tolerant of abuse and discrimination, these maids and nannies, doormen and gardeners are demanding more pay and benefits and a baseline of respect.

"There's democratization in the political arena, participation, and citizenship rights ... [and] moderate economic development. So in this context, citizens start feeling they have the right to be seen as what they are ? citizens," says Florencia Torche, a sociology professor at New York University and Catholic University in Santiago, Chile.

An apology is offered

The parking attendant controversy, which went viral on YouTube and drew a public apology by perpetrator Miguel Sacal, wasn't an isolated event. Last summer, Mexicans were outraged after two upper-middle-class women in a rich district of Mexico City were caught on video calling a police officer a "crappy wage slave." The daughter of the leading presidential candidate caused an uproar in December after retweeting a message calling her father's opponents "a bunch of idiots who are part of the prole," a reference to the proletariat, or poor people.

"There is less tolerance for discrimination by society," says Ra?l Villamil Uriarte, an anthropologist at the Metropolitan Autonomous University in Mexico City. In the case of the parking attendant who brought attention to his own case, he adds, the classic "victim" devictimized himself.

Changes in the maid's quarters

Nowhere is more change taking place than in the domestic sphere. While in the United States only the wealthy can afford live-in nannies and daily housecleaning, in Latin America, maid's quarters are ubiquitous, even in the homes of the middle class.

But newer apartments increasingly are built without such spaces ? reflecting upheaval in the structure of the home.

In Chile, maids and nannies are demanding bigger salaries and more benefits and insisting on living with their own families, says Monica Escandon, who runs the nanny and maid service Nana.cl in Santiago. "[Domestic workers] know that their work has a high value and that they are necessary, especially for young couples who both work," she says.

Salaries have risen to at least $500 a month for a nanny who works five days a week and as much as $800 a month for a live-in maid, she says. Employers are also responsible for taxes, food, and transportation. As in the US, wealthier Latin Americans now hire immigrants from poorer countries like Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay to get the same amount of work for lower prices.

The rising wages and greater emphasis on professionalization is resulting in greater respect. When a popular gossip magazine in Colombia recently ran a picture of servants in uniform standing behind their wealthy employer, the depiction set off a storm of rebuke.

In Chile, meanwhile, a country club last month barred nannies from entering the pool with their young charges and said they had to wear their uniforms while on the premises. The club owners have faced a barrage of recriminations, with critics calling them snobs and classists.

RELATED: Think you know Latin America? Take our geography quiz. 

'Respect comes first'

Fighting back has come later for the working class in general than it did for the indigenous, says Christopher Sabatini, editor in chief of the policy journal Americas Quarterly in New York. For one thing, the working class did not have the advantage of identifying along ethnic and geographical boundaries.

But economics and the democratizing influence of social media have given them an edge: With positive economic growth across Latin America, poverty falling, more access to credit, and many entering the middle class ? 56 million households have joined the middle class in Latin America in the past decade and a half, according to the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean ? class is less static than it once was.

"The rigid status hierarchies of the past are starting to clash with notions of quality of opportunities," says Mr. Sabatini.

Pilar Montes, a maid who works in the upscale Santiago district of Las Condes, says that if she were mistreated, "I'd be out the door in a flash. Respect comes first."

Ms. Montes travels more than two hours each way to work for $700 a month ? better pay than she earned previously as a waitress, saleswoman, or cook. But she says she would discourage her children from choosing a similar career. They are all in school, with one studying accounting and another starting nursing school. "One has to keep moving up," she says.

That sentiment is reflected in data from Brazil, where 39 million people joined the middle class between 2003 and 2011. The government's economic research institute, IPEA, said in a May 2011 report that while domestic workers remain underpaid and undereducated, they are improving slowly on both fronts.

That fact might be behind a shift that shows that young people under 30 made up a smaller share of domestic workers in 2009 than they did in 1999, indicating that fewer young people are entering the field.

Marcelo Neri, an economist at the Getu?lio Vargas Foundation in Rio de Janeiro, says that the income of domestic workers increased 5.05 percent per year from 2003 to 2009, compared with 1.16 percent for employers; those receiving social security rose from 20 percent in 1995 to 31 percent in 2009. And they are not alone: From construction workers to waiters, all groups have seen improvement in their lives, from better pay to more respect.

Discrimination persists

The working class is still vulnerable. Arturo Alvarado, a sociologist at the College of Mexico in Mexico City, says that discrimination will persist as long as there is a supply of low-skilled labor working without proper contracts.

He says workers in many offices in Mexico must be submissive just to keep their jobs. But he agrees that changes are afoot.

Ms. Torche sees it as a longer-term dynamic toward more egalitarianism, but that it is fraught with contradictions, especially because political inclusion has outpaced economic equality.

"It is not going to be linear," she says. "[But] we have more political and economic integration and educational expansion. Many more people are exposed to the educational system and are learning what they deserve as citizens of a nation....

"Low-qualification labor is becoming scarce," she adds. "The Latin American elite will have to get used to it."

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mexico/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20120128/wl_csm/453460

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Iran hits back at EU with own oil embargo threat (Reuters)

TEHRAN (Reuters) ? Fighting sanctions with sanctions in a test of strength with the West over its nuclear ambitions, Iran warned on Friday it may halt oil exports to Europe next week in a move calculated to hurt ailing European economies.

The Tehran government grappling with its own economic crisis under Western trade and banking embargoes, will host a rare visit on Sunday by U.N. nuclear inspectors for talks that the ruling clergy may hope can relieve diplomatic pressure as they struggle to bolster public support.

Since the U.N. watchdog lent independent weight in November to the suspicions of Western powers that Iran is using a nuclear energy program to give itself the ability to build atomic bombs, U.S. and EU sanctions and Iranian threats of reprisal against Gulf shipping lanes have disrupted world oil markets and pushed up prices.

Amid forecasts Iran might be able to build a bomb next year, and with President Barack Obama facing re-election campaign questions on how he can make good on promises - to Americans and to Israel - not to tolerate a nuclear-armed Islamic Republic, a decade of dispute risks accelerating towards the brink of war.

The U.S. Treasury Department said on Friday it would send its undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, David Cohen, to Britain, Germany and Switzerland next week to talk about how to enforce sanctions against Iran's central bank.

Those sanctions aim to starve Iran of funds for developing nuclear weapons.

Western diplomats see little immediate prospect that renewed talks between Iran and the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency, scheduled from Sunday to Tuesday in Tehran, would result much in the way of concessions to Western demands.

For all the tension, there was little clear market response to Friday's talk by members of Iran's parliament that they may vote on Sunday to stop sending oil to the European Union - its second biggest customer - as early as next week, to spite EU states that gave themselves until July to enforce an oil import embargo on Iran.

Greek and Italian refineries which rely on Iranian crude face hardships - recession-hit Greeks have bought more than half their oil from Iran lately. But analysts see Arab producers satisfying some shortfall, and demand for Iranian oil from China and other Asian countries that do not back Western sanctions may mean world oil flows are merely diverted rather than blocked.

RHETORIC

Traders admit to wearying of rhetorical thrust and parry.

"They are the masters of bluffing," one Mediterranean crude oil trader said of remarks by Iranian lawmakers on Friday. "And they aren't very reliable when they threaten extreme measures," he said, noting the serious practical difficulties for tankers and storage plants of diverting 700,000 barrels of oil per day.

"That said, we are living in strange and difficult times," he added, as Brent crude futures gained 0.8 percent to $111.64 on the threat, while disappointing U.S. GDP data pushed prices back.

In Tehran, Hossein Ibrahimi, vice-chairman of parliament's national security committee, was quoted by the semi-official Fars news agency as saying: "On Sunday, parliament will have to approve a 'double emergency' bill calling for a halt in the export of Iranian oil to Europe starting next week."

Moayed Hosseini-Sadr, a member of the energy committee in the legislature, said there would be no delay of the kind the EU allowed to its members on Monday when it imposed a ban on oil imports from Iran that would take full effect only on July 1.

"If the deputies arrive at the conclusion that the Iranian oil exports to Europe must be halted, parliament will not delay a moment," Hosseini-Sadr said. "The Europeans will surely be taken by surprise and will understand the power of Iran."

Echoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who said on Thursday that Europe would be the loser from its sanctions policy, the hardline cleric leading Friday prayers at Tehran university jibed: "Why wait six months, why not right away? The answer is clear. They are in trouble; they are grappling with crisis."

That comment from Ahmad Khatami indicated the pre-emptive export ban is backed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The EU accounted for 25 percent of Iranian crude oil sales in the third quarter of 2011. But China, India and others have made clear that they are keen to soak up any spare Iranian oil, even as U.S. Treasury measures to choke Tehran's dollar trade make it harder to pay for supplies.

SANCTIONS

Highlighting the difficulties of securing global sanctions when many governments, including Russia and China, question their value or say they will only harden Iranian defiance, Turkish state-controlled Halkbank, a key player in handling payments for Iranian oil, said it would keep on doing so.

A manager at the bank told Reuters that, as far as it was concerned, it was not in breach of U.S. financial sanctions.

The EU's response was muted, saying that Iran's intentions had been reported. "We want to see Iran coming back to the negotiating table, engaging in meaningful discussion on confidence-building measures and demonstrate the willingness to address concerns over its nuclear program, without preconditions," said Maja Kocijancic, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

In Paris, where President Nicolas Sarkozy has been vocal in criticizing Iran, Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero stressed that EU countries were already in the process of finding alternative supplies of oil and he was dismissive of the comments from Tehran.

"It's the little game of statements that they carry out artistically," Valero said.

A senior European executive for an oil company that buys Iranian crude told Reuters there could still be problems for some if Tehran cut off supplies immediately. "We have to wait and be ready. The Iranians have been backed into a corner and it's hard to predict how they will react," he said.

Iran's conservative-dominated parliament has previously shown it is ready to force the government to take action against what it sees as hostility from the West, and oil analyst Samuel Ciszuk said it was likely the assembly would pass the EU ban.

"It makes sense to demonstrate Iranian resolve and that it is not on the back foot, particularly as the measure could hit European refiners at a time of deep economic weakness," said Ciszuk of London consultancy KBC Energy Economics.

An abrupt halt might, however, force Iran to offer discounts to other buyers in order to shift excess output, he added.

RISKS

Asian buyers might be tempted but are also wary of U.S. disfavor. "Even though China and India could take the opportunity to capitalize on Iran's weakness, they currently have little appetite for the resulting international fallout," said Paul Tossetti at consultancy PFC Energy in Washington.

Iran's clerical establishment, having faced down popular protests which followed Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election in 2009, is dealing with internal disagreement on policy while preparing to seek public endorsement at a closely managed parliamentary election in March.

Defending Iran's right to civilian nuclear has been popular, but galloping inflation, which saw the rial formally devalued this week, is fuelling discontent with a ruling class that is also accused of corruption and putting its own interests first.

The diplomatic battleground will move to Tehran with the weekend arrival of an IAEA delegation, expected to number about half a dozen led by inspections chief Herman Nackaerts.

The IAEA director-general, Yukiya Amano, said in Davos on Friday: "I expect through this high level mission Iran tells us everything we need to know and resolve the issue."

Western officials who work with his agency view that kind of sentiment as diplomatic, but wildly unrealistic.

"Nobody is optimistic," one envoy said.

(Additional reporting by Fredrik Dahl in Vienna, Richard Mably and Jessica Donati in London, and Glenn Somerville in Washington; writing by Alastair Macdonald; editing by Angus MacSwan and Mohammad Zargham)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120127/wl_nm/us_iran

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BP must cover some Transocean oil spill damages (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? A federal judge on Thursday said BP Plc must indemnify Transocean Ltd for some compensatory damage claims over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier, who oversees multistate litigation over the spill, agreed with Transocean that the Swiss driller was not responsible for compensatory damage claims raised by third parties for oil spilled below the ocean surface.

He also ruled, however, that London-based BP need not indemnify Transocean for punitive damages, or civil penalties imposed by the U.S. government under the federal Clean Water Act.

Thursday's decision reduces the potential liability Transocean faces over the April 20, 2010 Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion that caused 11 deaths and the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

Transocean owned the rig, while BP owned a majority of the Macondo well whose blowout led to the spill.

Shares of Transocean rose 8.9 percent in after-hours trading, and BP shares fell 0.6 percent.

"Indemnification from compensatory damages is key for Transocean," whose litigation exposure is now "materially diminished," UBS Securities LLC analyst Angie Sedita wrote in a research note. She has a "buy" rating on Transocean.

Sedita said BP has estimated its Clean Water Act liability at $3.5 billion, but that other estimates are as high as $6 billion. She also said Transocean has $950 million of insurance coverage for personal injury and third-party claims.

Barbier oversees several hundred cases related to the spill, including a $40 billion lawsuit that BP filed against Transocean last April.

Both companies welcomed parts of the judge's decision.

"This confirms that BP is responsible for all economic damages caused by the oil that leaked from its Macondo well, and discredits BP's ongoing attempts to evade both its contractual and financial obligations," Transocean spokesman Lou Colasuonno said in an email.

BP spokesman Daren Beaudo said in an emailed statement that the decision "holds Transocean financially responsible for any punitive damages, fines and penalties flowing from its own conduct. As we have said from the beginning, Transocean cannot avoid its responsibility for this accident."

Transocean had argued that its drilling contract obligated BP to defend it from claims over subsurface pollution, even if Transocean was found grossly negligent or "strictly liable."

BP countered that its responsibility to indemnify Transocean did not extend that far.

Barbier did not decide whether Transocean will be liable for punitive damages or the civil penalties, or rule on BP's claim that Transocean breached its drilling contract.

The New Orleans-based judge has set a February 27 start date for a trial to apportion blame.

Transocean shares rose $4.19 to $51.45 in after-hours trading in New York, after closing regular trading down 10 cents at $47.26.

BP's American depositary receipts fell 27 cents to $44.50 after hours, after dropping 13 cents to $44.77 during the day.

The case is In re: Oil Spill by the Oil Rig "Deepwater Horizon" in the Gulf of Mexico, on April 20, 2010, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana, No. 10-md-02179.

(Reporting By Jonathan Stempel)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120127/bs_nm/us_bp_transocean

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Research scientists illuminate cancer cells' survival strategy

Friday, January 27, 2012

A team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has discovered key elements of a strategy commonly used by tumor cells to survive when they spread to distant organs. The finding could lead to drugs that could inhibit this metastasis in patients with tumors.

A cell that breaks away from the primary tumor and finds itself in the alien environment of the bloodstream or a new organ, normally is destroyed by a process known as apoptosis. But tumor cells that express high levels of a certain surface protein are protected from apoptosis, greatly enhancing their ability to colonize distant organs. How this protein blocks apoptosis and promotes metastasis has been a mystery?until now.

"What we found in this study is that it's not the increased expression of the protein per se that protects a tumor cell, but, rather, the cleavage of this protein by proteolytic enzymes," said Scripps Research Professor James P. Quigley. "This cleavage triggers a signaling cascade in the tumor cell that blocks apoptosis." Quigley is the principal investigator for the study, which was recently published online before print by the journal Oncogene.

"We think that a reasonable strategy for inhibiting metastasis would be to try to prevent the cleavage of this surface protein using antibodies or small-molecule drugs that bind to the cleavage site of the protein," said Elena I. Deryugina, a staff scientist in Quigley's laboratory and corresponding author of the manuscript.

A Protein Linked to Poor Outcomes

The cell-surface protein at the center of this research is known as CUB Domain Containing Protein 1 (CDCP1). In 2003, a postdoctoral fellow in Quigley's laboratory, John D. Hooper, discovered and co-named CDCP1 as a "Subtractive Immunization Metastasis Antigen," also finding that it is highly expressed on the surfaces of metastasis-prone human tumor cells.

Quigley's laboratory and others soon found additional evidence that CDCP1 plays a major role in enabling metastasis. Clinical studies reported CDCP1 on multiple tumor types and linked its presence to worse outcomes for patients. Deryugina and Quigley reported in 2009 that CDCP1, when expressed in tumor-like cells, strongly promotes their ability to colonize new tissues and that unique monoclonal antibodies to CDCP1, generated in Quigley's lab, significantly block CDCP1-induced tumor colonization. Hooper, who now leads a laboratory at the Mater Medical Research Institute in Brisbane, Australia, reported in a cell culture study in 2010 that most of the CDCP1 protein on the cell membrane could be cleaved by serine proteases. This cleavage event seems to lead to the biochemical activation of the internal fragment of CDCP1 by a process called tyrosine phosphorylation, in this case involving the cancer-linked protein Src.

"What was missing was evidence in live animals that connected CDCP1 biochemically to the blocking of apoptosis and successful metastasis," said Deryugina.

In the new study, Deryugina and her colleagues in the Quigley laboratory, including first author Berta Casar, a postdoctoral fellow, set out to find such evidence.

In Pursuit of Evidence

Hooper supplied the Scripps Research scientists with transformed human embryonic kidney (HEK) cells, which don't naturally express CDCP1, but were forced to express the gene for CDCP1. Casar and Deryugina injected these CDCP1-expressing HEK cells into chick embryos, and found that the CDCP1 proteins on these HEK cells began to be cleaved by resident enzymes to the shorter form. After 96 hours, the proteins were no longer detectable in their full-size, pre-cleaved form. The CDCP1-expressing HEK cells were four times as likely to survive in the chick embryos than were control CDCP1-negative HEK cells. The same results were obtained with HEK cells that express a mutant, non-cleavable form of the CDCP1 protein.

The Scripps Research team then did experiments in live animals with human prostate cancer cells naturally expressing CDCP1 to show that the cleavage of CDCP1 by a serine protease enzyme is the key event that promotes tumor cell survival. "When we blocked CDCP1 cleavage using our unique anti-CDCP1 antibodies, or added a compound that selectively inhibits serine protease enzymes, CDCP1 was not cleaved, and the CDCP1-expressing cancer cells lost almost all their ability to colonize the tissues of chick embryos," said Casar.

Casar and Deryugina also confirmed that in live animals CDCP1's cleavage leads to the biochemical activation of its internal fragment by tyrosine phosphorylation involving the cancer-linked proteins Src and PKC?. This was followed by the downstream activation of the anti-apoptosis protein Akt and the inhibition of apoptosis-mediating enzymes. The team verified these results with a variety of experimental setups, including tests of tumor-cell lung colonization in mice and tests in which Src signaling was blocked with the anti-Src drug Dasatinib.

Another key experiment by Scripps Research scientists indicated that plasmin, a blood-clot-thinning serine protease, is the principal cleaver of CDCP1 in metastasizing tumor cells. In mice that lack plasmin's precursor molecule, plasminogen, CDCP1-bearing tumor cells showed an absence of CDCP1 cleavage and lost nearly all their ability to survive in lung tissue.

Toward a Promising Strategy

Breakaway tumor cells commonly travel to distant organs via the bloodstream, so their use of an abundant bloodstream enzyme such as plasmin as a survival booster makes sense. "Plasmin has long been linked to cancer," Quigley said. "Unfortunately, it has such an important function in thinning blood clots that using plasmin-inhibiting drugs in cancer patients might do more harm than good."

"Blocking the cleavage of CDCP1 using antibodies or other CDCP1-binding molecules seems to be a more promising strategy," said Deryugina. She and Casar are investigating.

###

Scripps Research Institute: http://www.scripps.edu

Thanks to Scripps Research Institute for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/117141/Research_scientists_illuminate_cancer_cells__survival_strategy

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David Arquette & Courteney Cox Reuniting? (omg!)

David Arquette and Courtney Cox are reuniting! However the duo are not rekindling be their romance, instead the former flames are going to work together on Cox?s hit sitcom Cougar Town, a show rep confirms.

Arquette, who danced his way into America?s heart on Dancing with the Stars, will play a hotel concierge on the season three finale of the ABC show, ABC confirms.

Cox and Arquette separated in October 2010 after 11 years of marriage, but Cox insists they are still best friends. "He's my favorite person in the world," she told People earlier this month. "No matter what happens in our future, he's my very best friend."

The pair first fell in love while on the set of the 1996 film Scream and just last year reprised their roles in Scream 4.

Cougar Town premieres Tuesday February 14 at 8:30 p.m. on ABC.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_david_arquette_courteney_cox_reuniting020500795/44334125/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/david-arquette-courteney-cox-reuniting-020500795.html

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The Love Box is an analog video mixer, house of mirrors for your iPhone (video)

There's something romantic about hacking the iPhone, especially when it means finding ways to personalize the massively popular handset. Apps like Instagram may help you realize artistic talent, but software just doesn't get those creative juices flowing like an old-fashioned piece of hardware can. Despite its taboo-sounding name, The Love Box isn't an adult toy in the traditional sense, instead serving as an analog video (and stills) mixer for your iPhone 4 or 4S. Consisting of a wooden box and an angled sliding mirror, the homegrown contraption lets you simultaneously capture the action in front of and behind you in a single image. It was originally designed in Barcelona to capture two people conversing for a documentary called "The Love Box Conversations," hence the name. The "lowest-tech accessory for the highest-tech phone" is available now as part of a very limited initial run of 100 units, and can be yours for €57.63 (about $77.50) if you hit up the source link below.

Continue reading The Love Box is an analog video mixer, house of mirrors for your iPhone (video)

The Love Box is an analog video mixer, house of mirrors for your iPhone (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Scientists create first free-standing 3-D cloak

ScienceDaily (Jan. 25, 2012) ? Researchers in the US have, for the first time, cloaked a three-dimensional object standing in free space, bringing the much-talked-about invisibility cloak one step closer to reality.

Whilst previous studies have either been theoretical in nature or limited to the cloaking of two-dimensional objects, this study shows how ordinary objects can be cloaked in their natural environment in all directions and from all of an observer's positions.

Published Jan. 26 in the Institute of Physics and German Physical Society's New Journal of Physics, the researchers used a method known as "plasmonic cloaking" to hide an 18-centimetre cylindrical tube from microwaves.

Some of the most recent breakthroughs in the field of invisibility cloaking have focussed on using transformation-based metamaterials -- inhomogeneous, human-made materials that have the ability to bend light around objects -- however, this new approach uses a different type of artificial material -- plasmonic metamaterials.

When light strikes an object, it rebounds off its surface towards another direction, just like throwing a tennis ball against a wall. The reason we see objects is because light rays bounce off materials towards our eyes and our eyes are able to process the information.

Due to their unique properties, plasmonic metamaterials have the opposite scattering effect to everyday materials.

"When the scattered fields from the cloak and the object interfere, they cancel each other out and the overall effect is transparency and invisibility at all angles of observation.

"One of the advantages of the plasmonic cloaking technique is its robustness and moderately broad bandwidth of operation, superior to conventional cloaks based on transformation metamaterials. This made our experiment more robust to possible imperfections, which is particularly important when cloaking a 3D object in free-space," said study co-author Professor Andrea Alu.

In this instance, the cylindrical tube was cloaked with a shell of plasmonic metamaterial to make it appear invisible. The system was tested by directing microwaves towards the cloaked cylinder and mapping the resulting scattering both around the object and in the far-field. The cloak showed optimal functionality when the microwaves were at a frequency of 3.1 gigahertz and over a moderately broad bandwidth.

The researchers, from the University of Texas at Austin, have shown in previous studies that the shape of the object is irrelevant; oddly shaped and asymmetric objects can both be cloaked using this technique.

Moving forward, one of the key challenges for the researchers will be to demonstrate the cloaking of a 3D object using visible light.

"In principle, this technique could be used to cloak light; in fact, some plasmonic materials are naturally available at optical frequencies. However, the size of the objects that can be efficiently cloaked with this method scales with the wavelength of operation, so when applied to optical frequencies we may be able to efficiently stop the scattering of micrometre-sized objects.

"Still, cloaking small objects may be exciting for a variety of applications. For instance, we are currently investigating the application of these concepts to cloak a microscope tip at optical frequencies. This may greatly benefit biomedical and optical near-field measurements," continued Professor Alu.

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Journal Reference:

1. D Rainwater, A Kerkhoff, K Melin, J C Soric, G Moreno, A Al. Experimental verification of three-dimensional plasmonic cloaking in free-space. New Journal of Physics, 2012; 14 (1): 013054 DOI: 10.1088/1367-2630/14/1/013054

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/1wOJuVCgzEI/120125195535.htm

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EU still sees chance for Israel-Palestinian talks (AP)

AMMAN, Jordan ? A low-level dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians is not at a dead end, the European Union's foreign policy chief said Thursday, hoping that contacts to get "real negotiations under way" will continue.

"I don't think there's an impasse," Ashton told reporters following talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the Jordanian capital.

Her remarks come a day after Abbas said informal talks between Israelis and Palestinians about the border of a future Palestinian state ended without any breakthrough.

"President Abbas is thinking carefully about how to move forward," Ashton said. Abbas has said he will consult on his next moves with the Arab League in a meeting planned for Feb. 4 in Cairo.

While frustrated with the lack of progress, Abbas is under pressure to extend the Jordan-hosted exploratory talks, which the international community hopes will lead to a resumption of long-stalled formal negotiations on establishing an independent Palestinian state.

The Arab League consultation stage could leave the door open to continue the low-level meetings.

A Palestinian walkout could cost Abbas international sympathy at a time when he seeks global recognition of a state of Palestine in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland expressed understanding. "It's not surprising that the sides need some time to pause and to reflect. Our hope is that this'll only be a little short period and that the will be able to get back to the table relatively quickly," she said. "And that's what we are urging them to do."

The border issue is at the heart of the current standoff. The Palestinians want Israel to halt construction in settlements in the territories they claim, along with an Israeli commitment to make the pre-1967 war lines the basis of a future agreement.

In Jerusalem, Israeli officials said they hoped Abbas would not end the talks. An official familiar with the negotiations said that during Wednesday night's meeting, the Israelis gave their "principles" for setting a border.

"We presented the Palestinian side the central points that determine our policy on dealing with the territorial issue," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was discussing sensitive negotiations.

He refused to elaborate on what was presented, or even to term it a proposal. He said the Palestinians had requested "clarifications on a number of issues," and Israel had also asked for clarifications on some Palestinian proposals presented so far.

The official said the Israelis believe it's "very important" to continue the newly resumed talks, with the goal of forging a comprehensive peace this year.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rules out a return to the pre-1967 war lines. He opposes any withdrawal from east Jerusalem and has signaled that he wants to retain an Israeli presence in key parts of the West Bank. Palestinians reject those positions.

Israel withdrew from Gaza, the other part of the state the Palestinians seek, in 2005.

After meeting with Abbas and Israelis in the past few days, Ashton said, "I still remain hopeful that with goodwill, they can continue to talk."

Under Jordanian mediation, Israeli and Palestinian envoys have met several times over the past month. The Quartet of international mediators ? the U.S., the U.N., the EU and Russia ? said last fall that it expected both sides to submit detailed proposals on borders and security arrangements in these meetings.

The Palestinians say that Thursday is a deadline for the proposals, while Israel says it is only in April. Ashton said the deadline was not "written in stone, but was there to give a sense of dynamic or momentum."

___

Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians

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79-cent Doughnut Theft Means $200 Fine For Criminal Justice Student Zack O'Dell

AP:

By Associated Press

POWELL, Wyo. ?- A 19-year-old college student accused of swiping a doughnut in Wyoming is going to be paying a pretty penny for that pastry.

The Northwest Trail reports that Zach O'Dell has agreed to pay a $200 fine, $10 in court costs ? and 79 cents to cover the cost of the doughnut.

O'Dell was accused of eating the treat in Blair's Market in Powell on Nov. 28 and leaving without paying for it. He was charged with shoplifting.

Attorney Sandra Kitchen says she has deferred the prosecution, and the charge will be dismissed in six months if O'Dell stays out of trouble.

The Trail reports that O'Dell declined to comment.

The Northwest College student has been studying criminal justice.

Related on HuffPost:

Read the whole story: AP

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/26/wyoming-19-year-old-fined-for-doughnut-theft_n_1233024.html

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Official: Iraq will take legal action over US raid (AP)

BAGHDAD ? Iraq will take legal action to ensure justice for the families of 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians killed in a U.S. raid in Haditha seven years ago, a government spokesman said Thursday, after the lone U.S. Marine convicted in the killings reached a deal to escape jail time.

Residents in Haditha, a former Sunni insurgent stronghold of about 85,000 people along the Euphrates River valley some 140 miles (220 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad, have expressed outrage at the American military justice system for allowing Staff Sgt. Frank Wultrich to avoid prison.

"The Haditha incident was a big crime against innocent civilians," said Ali al-Moussawi, a spokesman for the Iraqi government. "We will follow up all legal procedures and judiciary measures" to seek justice in the case, he added.

Al-Moussawi did not offer specifics and the Iraqi Justice Ministry declined to comment.

Wultrich was convicted of a single count of negligent dereliction of duty. He faces having his rank reduced but he will not go to jail as a part of a plea agreement that ended his long-awaited manslaughter trial.

He has apologized for the loss of life, but has said his squad did not behave badly or dishonorably. He also has defended his order to raid homes in Haditha as a necessary act and acknowledged to instructing his men to "shoot first, ask questions later" after a roadside bomb killed a fellow Marine.

Wultrich's sentence Tuesday ended a six-year prosecution that failed to win any manslaughter convictions in one of the worst attacks on Iraqi civilians by U.S. troops during nine years of war. Eight Marines were initially charged in the case. One was acquitted and six others had their cases dropped.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq_haditha_marines

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Newt Gingrich vs.the Establishment: South Carolina Sets Up Intra-GOP Conflict (Time.com)

"The Establishment is right to be worried about a Gingrich nomination," the winner of the South Carolina Republican primary, declared Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press. "Because a Gingrich nomination means that we're going to change things, we're going to make the Establishment very uncomfortable."

The Republican Establishment, such as it can be defined, is uncomfortable, alright. It is likely to re-mobilize, as it did in Iowa last month, to deflate his candidacy before Florida's Jan. 31 primary, in which a victory could turn Newt from an upstart into the likely nominee. Establishment money will flow to pro-Romney SuperPACs. Establishment pundits and politicos will enumerate (again) Gingrich's flaws and foibles.

But the Establishment isn't striking back for the reasons Newt claims. In reality, Gingrich's platform does almost nothing to threaten the Establishment's core interests. It's his candidacy that has the GOP powers that be gnashing their teeth. But as he tries to keep Mitt Romney from mounting a comeback after his South Carolina humiliation, Gingrich's anti-Establishment pose might be the best thing going for him. (PHOTOS: Newt Gingrich's Life in Pictures.)

Before going any farther, it's worth asking who this 'Establishment' really is. That's tricky, but let's stipulate that it roughly consists of a couple of hundred Republicans. They include the party's most powerful (and wealthy) Washington lobbyists; its senior members of Congress; marquee television and newspaper pundits; and a gaggle of elected officials, financiers and all-purpose operators around the nation. More specifically, Newt's key Establishment adversaries include the lobbyists Wayne Berman and Ron Kaufman, columnists George Will and Charles Krauthammer, elected GOP big shots like Chris Christie and Nikki Haley, and party elder statesmen like former President George H.W. Bush.

No one on that list is particularly threatened by a Gingrich presidency, at least not beyond the usual cost of backing the wrong candidate. Certainly not much in Newt's past record suggests as much. Yes, as a Congressional back-bencher in Congress in the 1980s, Newt was impatient with his party's more moderate, deal-making leaders (notably including Bush). His 1994 Contract With America did call for Congressional term limits, an idea despised by Washington lifers of both parties. (MORE: Gingrich South Carolina Upset Raises Chances of Long Nomination Fight.)

But since then, Newt has inarguably lived the good life of an Establishment man. As House Speaker he made no serious effort to take on the culture of Washington. Instead, he oversaw an expanded alliance between K Street lobbyists and congressional Republicans. And after he left Congress -- purged by his colleagues, not for threatening their interests but for botching the politics of Bill Clinton's impeachment -- he settled comfortably into a life of lucrative speaking and influence-peddling.

What about his current platform? On Meet the Press, Gingrich detailed the case this way: "We're going to demand real change in Washington, real audit of the Federal Reserve, real knowledge about where hundreds of billions of dollars have gone. And I think if you look at a lot of these guys, they have really good reason to worry about an honest, open candidate who has no commitment to them, who has no investment in them. And I think they should be worried because we intend to change the Establishment, not get along with it."

Given that scores of Washington Republicans are already on record as supporting a Fed audit, Newt's one specific argument above isn't very persuasive. So what about the rest of his platform? Well, he favors huge tax cuts -- probably the Establishment's top priority. He wants to cut regulations, slash entitlements, and kill off ObamaCare -- all sure fire applause lines at the American Enterprise Institute. True, his radical plan to rein in "activist judges" has drawn withering reviews from some certifiable Establishment men. But that's not enough to explain the strong opposition to him in the sitting rooms of McLean, Virginia, which has become to the Republican Establishment what Georgetown once was to the Democratic elite (and where, incidentally, Newt himself lives). The bottom line is that Gingrich has more in common with Ross Douthat than with Ross Perot.

To the extent Newt threatens the Establishment, it's because of his electability -- or lack thereof. The GOP's mandarins see Gingrich's nomination as a sure way to blow their chance of deposing Barack Obama. They see Gingrich as the political equivalent of a Fukushima nuclear plant worker, with polls showing him to be lethally irradiated by his negative approval ratings. Whereas Mitt Romney is running about even with Barack Obama in head-to-head polling, Newt loses by double-digit margins. Sure, those numbers could change if Gingrich beats Romney and wins the nomination, with all the accolades it entails. On the other hand, his grandiosity syndrome may kick in, as it has before, and render him a laughing stock. Hence the many Establishment Republicans now saying things like, "Newt means losing 45 states." (See more on Gingrich's win in South Carolina.)

In the end, though, it might not matter why the Establishment opposes Gingrich, only that it does. Playing the role of insurgent suits Gingrich perfectly. Some of it is characterological: Gingrich is always at his best when he's storming an enemy position; his problem has always been holding that hilltop. But more important is the political moment. While the Tea Party's spirit has dimmed some, it's hardly dead. And that spirit wasn't merely a reaction to Barack Obama. It was about challenging the Establishment of both parties, rejecting the wisdom of coastal financial and media elites who looked down at "real" Americans while wrecking the economy. It appears that the more Mitt Romney is anointed by this insider crowd, the more the GOP's activist base is determined to reject him. Gingrich seems to think so, at least, and is playing brilliantly to the sentiment -- spinning the Establishment's calculation about his electability into a commentary on his values and independence. If he manages to defeat Mitt Romney, he should send thank-you notes to his neighbors in McLean.

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