Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Court filing says Fine's wife slept with players (AP)

SYRACUSE, N.Y. ? An affidavit filed in a slander suit against Syracuse University and basketball coach Jim Boeheim says the wife of fired assistant Bernie Fine had sex with players, and several people associated with the program knew about it, including Fine.

In the affidavit, Bobby Davis, a former ball boy with the men's team, says he was present on several occasions with basketball players when he heard them speaking of having sex with Laurie Fine. Davis said players joked about it and it seemed to be an openly known fact that Laurie Fine had sex with basketball players. A lawyer for Laurie Fine said the accusations were "disgusting."

After Davis and his step-brother, Mike Lang, accused Bernie Fine of molesting them when they were boys, Boeheim vehemently defended his longtime friend and assistant coach. He said Davis was lying to cash in on the publicity generated by a sexual abuse scandal unfolding at Penn State University. The Hall of Fame coach later backed off, saying he based his defense on loyalty and two previous claims of abuse against Fine that authorities could not substantiate.

Boeheim apologized after a third accuser came forward at the end of November and a years-old audiotape surfaced of a phone conversation between Davis and Laurie Fine that some have interpreted as Fine acknowledging Davis was abused by her husband.

In December, Davis and Lang filed a slander suit in state court. The affidavit filed Monday repeatedly makes the point that Davis believes Boeheim knew or should have known what his players were up to. He also believes Boeheim should have backed his accusations.

"He knew or purposefully chose to ignore Fine and his wife's behavior," Davis said in the affidavit. "He had every reason to know that I was telling the truth, but he instead lashed out at me and called me and my brother liars."

Lawyers for Boeheim and Syracuse University did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

The court document also says Davis spoke directly to Bernie Fine about his wife's sexual relationships with players and that "Bernie Fine did not react in the slightest."

A lawyer for Laurie Fine calls the accusations in the affidavit a "desperate" attempt to keep the suit alive.

"Only the news media can think that 20-year-old hearsay is newsworthy if it is salacious enough," Edward Z. Menkin said in an email to The Associated Press. "This is both desperate and disgusting, an example of an irresponsible and unprofessional lawyer flailing about to keep a dying lawsuit in the public eye."

The affidavit was filed Monday in New York State Supreme Court by high-profile lawyer Gloria Allred.

"If Laurie Fine was having multiple sexual relationships with basketball players, then the university must explain how this could have been taking place for years right under Coach Boeheim's nose without his being aware of it and without the university's doing anything about it," Allred wrote in an email to The Associated Press.

Davis, now 40, and Lang claim they were repeatedly forcibly touched by Fine in the 1980s. Fine, who was fired Nov. 27, has not been charged and has denied any wrongdoing. His lawyer declined comment Tuesday.

Davis tried to get Syracuse police to investigate Bernie Fine in 2002 but was told the statute of limitations had expired. The same was true of any charges brought by Lang.

The U.S. attorney's office is investigating the claims of a third man, 23-year-old Zach Tomaselli of Lewiston, Maine, who says Fine abused him in a Pittsburgh hotel room in 2002.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120131/ap_on_sp_co_ne/bkc_syracuse_fine_investigation

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UK rowers rescued after capsizing mid-Atlantic (AP)

LONDON ? Six rowers who capsized in the Atlantic Ocean while attempting to row from Morocco to Barbados have been rescued.

Falmouth Coastguard said Tuesday that the rowers capsized 520 miles (837 kilometers) from Barbados and climbed onto a life raft tethered to their boat. Coast guards from Britain and Martinique launched a rescue mission after the rowers contacted their support team by satellite phone but the men were picked up by a cargo ship before the coast guards reached them.

Falmouth Coastguard said the cargo ship is now taking the rowers to Gibraltar.

The men were taking part in the Atlantic Odyssey Challenge to row from Morocco to Barbados in less than 30 days. Their boat capsized Monday, 27 days into their journey. The Atlantic Odyssey website said the crew were safe and well

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/britain/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120131/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_capsized_rowers

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Monday, January 30, 2012

Study may answer questions about enigmatic Little Ice Age

Monday, January 30, 2012

A new University of Colorado Boulder-led study appears to answer contentious questions about the onset and cause of Earth's Little Ice Age, a period of cooling temperatures that began after the Middle Ages and lasted into the late 19th century.

According to the new study, the Little Ice Age began abruptly between A.D. 1275 and 1300, triggered by repeated, explosive volcanism and sustained by a self- perpetuating sea ice-ocean feedback system in the North Atlantic Ocean, according to CU-Boulder Professor Gifford Miller, who led the study. The primary evidence comes from radiocarbon dates from dead vegetation emerging from rapidly melting icecaps on Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic, combined with ice and sediment core data from the poles and Iceland and from sea ice climate model simulations, said Miller.

While scientific estimates regarding the onset of the Little Ice Age range from the 13th century to the 16th century, there is little consensus, said Miller. There is evidence the Little Ice Age affected places as far away as South America and China, although it was particularly evident in northern Europe. Advancing glaciers in mountain valleys destroyed towns, and famous paintings from the period depict people ice skating on the Thames River in London and canals in the Netherlands, waterways that were ice-free in winter before and after the Little Ice Age.

"The dominant way scientists have defined the Little Ice Age is by the expansion of big valley glaciers in the Alps and in Norway," said Miller. "But the time it took for European glaciers to advance far enough to demolish villages would have been long after the onset of the cold period," said Miller, a fellow at CU's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research.

Most scientists think the Little Ice Age was caused either by decreased summer solar radiation, erupting volcanoes that cooled the planet by ejecting shiny aerosol particles that reflected sunlight back into space, or a combination of both, said Miller.

The new study suggests that the onset of the Little Ice Age was caused by an unusual, 50-year-long episode of four massive tropical volcanic eruptions. Climate models used in the new study showed that the persistence of cold summers following the eruptions is best explained by a sea ice-ocean feedback system originating in the North Atlantic Ocean.

"This is the first time anyone has clearly identified the specific onset of the cold times marking the start of the Little Ice Age," said Miller. "We also have provided an understandable climate feedback system that explains how this cold period could be sustained for a long period of time. If the climate system is hit again and again by cold conditions over a relatively short period -- in this case, from volcanic eruptions -- there appears to be a cumulative cooling effect."

A paper on the subject is being published Jan. 31 in Geophysical Research Letters, a publication of the American Geophysical Union. The paper was authored by scientists and students from CU-Boulder, the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, the University of Iceland, the University of California, Irvine, and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. The study was funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the Icelandic Science Foundation.

As part of the study, Miller and his colleagues radiocarbon-dated roughly 150 samples of dead plant material with roots intact collected from beneath receding ice margins of ice caps on Baffin Island. There was a large cluster of "kill dates" between A.D. 1275 and 1300, indicating the plants had been frozen and engulfed by ice during a relatively sudden event.

Both low-lying and higher altitude plants all died at roughly the same time, indicating the onset of the Little Ice Age on Baffin Island -- the fifth largest island in the world -- was abrupt. The team saw a second spike in plant kill dates at about A.D. 1450, indicating the quick onset of a second major cooling event.

To broaden the study, the team analyzed sediment cores from a glacial lake linked to the 367-square-mile Langj?kull ice cap in the central highlands of Iceland that reaches nearly a mile high. The annual layers in the cores -- which can be reliably dated by using tephra deposits from known historic volcanic eruptions on Iceland going back more than 1,000 years -- suddenly became thicker in the late 13th century and again in the 15th century due to increased erosion caused by the expansion of the ice cap as the climate cooled, he said.

"That showed us the signal we got from Baffin Island was not just a local signal, it was a North Atlantic signal," said Miller. "This gave us a great deal more confidence that there was a major perturbation to the Northern Hemisphere climate near the end of the 13th century." Average summer temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere did not return to those of the Middle Ages until the 20th century, and the temperatures of the Middle Ages are now exceeded in many areas, he said.

The team used the NCAR-based Community Climate System Model to test the effects of volcanic cooling on Arctic sea ice extent and mass. The model, which simulated various sea ice conditions from about A.D. 1150-1700, showed several large, closely spaced eruptions could have cooled the Northern Hemisphere enough to trigger Arctic sea ice growth.

The models showed sustained cooling from volcanoes would have sent some of the expanding Arctic sea ice down along the eastern coast of Greenland until it eventually melted in the North Atlantic. Since sea ice contains almost no salt, when it melted the surface water became less dense, preventing it from mixing with deeper North Atlantic water. This weakened heat transport back to the Arctic and creating a self-sustaining feedback system on the sea ice long after the effects of the volcanic aerosols subsided, he said.

"Our simulations showed that the volcanic eruptions may have had a profound cooling effect," says NCAR scientist Bette Otto-Bliesner, a co-author of the study. "The eruptions could have triggered a chain reaction, affecting sea ice and ocean currents in a way that lowered temperatures for centuries."

The researchers set the solar radiation at a constant level in the climate models, and Miller said the Little Ice Age likely would have occurred without decreased summer solar radiation at the time. "Estimates of the sun's variability over time are getting smaller, it's now thought by some scientists to have varied little more in the last millennia than during a standard 11-year solar cycle," he said.

One of the primary questions pertaining to the Little Ice Age is how unusual the warming of Earth is today, he said. A previous study led by Miller in 2008 on Baffin Island indicated temperatures today are the warmest in at least 2,000 years.

###

University of Colorado at Boulder: http://www.colorado.edu/news

Thanks to University of Colorado at Boulder for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/117183/Study_may_answer_questions_about_enigmatic_Little_Ice_Age_

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CEO pay cut: Who saw pay halved in '11?

CEO pay of $84 million earned him the top spot in 2010, but dropped to $43 million in 2011. So who was tops in CEO pay last year? Apple's Tim Cook.

Viacom Inc.'s Philippe Dauman led the list of America's top-paid?CEOs?in 2010 but his?pay package for 2011 was nearly halved, mainly because he didn't get stock bonuses for renewing his contract as he did a year ago.

Skip to next paragraph

Still, an Associated Press tally values Dauman's?pay?package at $43 million, down from $84.5 million a year ago.

The figures were contained in a securities filing the media company filed Friday.

Another reason he won't be the highest paid?CEO?last year: Apple Inc.'s Tim Cook was awarded a package valued at a whopping $378 million for replacing the late Steve Jobs at the helm.

Dauman's base salary rose 33 percent to $3.5 million, but the bulk of his?pay?came in the form of a $20 million bonus for good performance, a 78 percent increase from a year ago. The company said operating profits came in above the mid-point of its target range and free cash flow generation was near the top of its range.

Dauman's annual grant of stock awards was 68 percent smaller than a year ago at $13.3 million, and new stock options he was granted were valued at $6 million, down 79 percent from fiscal 2010.

He also received other compensation of $262,636, mainly for personal use of the company aircraft.

New York-based Viacom's executive chairman and 88-year-old founder, Sumner Redstone, saw a 39 percent boost to his?pay?package to $21 million.

Redstone, who controls the company through a special class of voting shares, pulled down a base salary of $1.75 million, up a third from a year earlier, and a performance bonus up 78 percent at $10 million. New grants of stock and stock options came to about $8 million, the same as the previous year.

Redstone also benefited from a preferential executive pension plan that grew by about $1 million, with other compensation totaling $30,955.

Over the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, Viacom's widely traded Class B shares rose 7 percent to $38.74 from $36.19. The company said its total shareholder return in fiscal 2011, comprised of $417 million in dividends and $2.5 billion in share buybacks, was 8.7 percent, compared to 0.8 percent for the companies of the S&P 500 Index.

Viacom owns?pay?TV networks such as MTV, Nickelodeon and VH1 and the Paramount Pictures movie studio.

The Associated Press formula calculates an executive's total compensation during the last fiscal year by adding salary, bonuses, perks, above-market interest the company?pays?on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock and stock options awarded during the year. The AP formula does not count changes in the present value of pension benefits. That makes the AP total slightly different in most cases from the total reported by companies to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The value that a company assigned to an executive's stock and option awards for 2011 was the present value of what the company expected the awards to be worth to the executive over time. Companies use one of several formulas to calculate that value. However, the number is just an estimate, and what an executive ultimately receives will depend on the performance of the company's stock in the years after the awards are granted. Most stock compensation programs require an executive to wait a specified amount of time to receive shares or exercise options

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/1-2YOSuSQHU/CEO-pay-cut-Who-saw-pay-halved-in-11

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Iran web developer sentenced to death (AP)

TEHRAN, Iran ? Iran's state media say the Supreme Court has upheld a death sentence against a web developer convicted of spreading corruption.

The semiofficial Fars news agency says blogger Saeed Malekpour was found guilty of promoting pornographic sites. It says the Supreme Court approved the death sentence handed down by a Revolutionary Court that deals with security crimes.

Malekpour was reported imprisoned in October, 2008 and confessed on Iranian TV that he developed and promoted pornographic websites.

The website gerdab.ir, affiliated with the elite Revolutionary Guard, called Malekpour the head of the biggest Persian-language network of pornographic websites.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iran/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120129/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran_death_sentence

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Japan population to shrink by one-third by 2060

FILE - In this Jan. 22, 2011 file photo, a kimono-clad elderly woman walks across a street in Tokyo. Japan's rapid aging means the national population of 128 million will shrink by one-third by 2060 and seniors will account for 40 percent of people, placing a greater burden on the shrinking work force population to support the social security and tax systems. The population estimate released Monday, Jan. 30 by the Health and Welfare Ministry paints a grim future. (AP Photo/Junji Kurokawa, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 22, 2011 file photo, a kimono-clad elderly woman walks across a street in Tokyo. Japan's rapid aging means the national population of 128 million will shrink by one-third by 2060 and seniors will account for 40 percent of people, placing a greater burden on the shrinking work force population to support the social security and tax systems. The population estimate released Monday, Jan. 30 by the Health and Welfare Ministry paints a grim future. (AP Photo/Junji Kurokawa, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 1, 2012 file photo, worshippers pack the compound of Sensoji temple to pray in the hope of receiving a New Year's blessing in the Asakusa district in Tokyo. Japan's rapid aging means the national population of 128 million will shrink by one-third by 2060 and seniors will account for 40 percent of people, placing a greater burden on the shrinking work force population to support the social security and tax systems. The population estimate released Monday, Jan. 30 by the Health and Welfare Ministry paints a grim future. The sign reads, "Please advance in good order." (AP Photo/Hiro Komae, File)

(AP) ? Japan's population of 128 million will shrink by one-third and seniors will account for 40 percent of people by 2060, placing a greater burden on a smaller working-age population to support the social security and tax systems.

The grim estimate of how rapid aging will shrink Japan's population was released Monday by the Health and Welfare Ministry.

In year 2060, Japan will have 87 million people. The number of people 65 or older will nearly double to 40 percent, while the national work force of people between ages 15 and 65 will shrink to about half of the total population, according to the estimate, made by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research.

The total fertility rate, or the expected number of children born per woman during lifetime, in 2060 is estimated at 1.35, down from 1.39 in 2010 ? well below more than 2 needed to keep the country's population from declining. But the average Japanese will continue to live longer. The average life expectancy for 2060 is projected at 90.93 for women, up from 86.39 in 2010, and 84.19 years for men, up from 79.64 years.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has pledged to push for social security and tax reforms this year. A bill he promised to submit by the end of March would raise the 5 percent sales tax in two stages to 8 percent in 2014 and 10 percent by 2015, although opposition lawmakers and the public pose challenges to its approval.

The institute says Japan has been the world's fastest aging country, and with its birthrate among the lowest, its population decline would be among the deepest globally in coming decades.

Experts say that Japan's population will keep losing 1 million every year in coming decades and the country urgently needs to overhaul its social security and tax system to reflect the demographic shift.

"Pension programs, employment and labor policy and social security system in this country is not designed to reflect such rapidly progressing population decline or aging," Noriko Tsuya, a demography expert at Keio University, said on public broadcaster NHK. "The government needs to urgently revise the system and implement new measures based on the estimate."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-30-AS-Japan-Population/id-25860afc89a847f4a4ab5b37d26ccca3

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Sunday, January 29, 2012

College presidents wary of Obama cost-control plan (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Public university presidents facing ever-increasing state budget cuts are raising concerns about President Barack Obama's plan to force colleges and universities to contain tuition prices or face losing federal dollars.

Illinois State University President Al Bowman says the reality is that deficits in many public schools can't be easily overcome with simple modifications. Bowman says he's happy to hear Obama call for state-level support of public universities but adds that, given the decreases in state aid, tying federal support to tuition is a product of "fuzzy math."

Obama spelled out his proposal Friday at the University of Michigan.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_college_costs

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Ukraine's president firm against Tymoshenko (AP)

DAVOS, Switzerland ? Ukraine's president showed no mercy Friday for imprisoned former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, despite increasing fears that her case will hurt his country's struggling economy and its relations with the European Union.

The gas contract with Russia that was the premise for Tymoshenko's conviction "is Ukraine's biggest problem today," President Viktor Yanukovych said at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. He added that he foresaw more judicial troubles for the ex-premier.

Tymoshenko, a bitter rival of the current president, is serving a 7-year sentence on charges of abuse of office in a case the West has condemned as politically motivated. Her family accuses prison authorities of denying her proper medical care.

Tymoshenko was found guilty last year of overstepping her authority while negotiating the natural gas import contract with Russia in 2009. Authorities say the contract was not in Ukraine's economic interest. She charges that Yanukovych has ordered her imprisonment in order to bar her from elections.

Yanukovych's presence at the forum in Davos was aimed at attracting investment from international CEOs at the invitation-only event, but his comments about Tymoshenko did little to soothe concerns about doing business in Ukraine.

Ukraine "cannot hope to attract investment if the law doesn't apply," Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said. He told The Associated Press that a landmark cooperation deal between Ukraine and the EU is "dead in the water" as long as Tymoshenko is jailed.

But Tymoshenko's jailing is a dilemma for the EU. Some experts believe the bloc should not be partners with a government that throws opposition leaders in jail. Others say that snubbing Ukraine would push it back under Russia's influence as Kiev is courting Moscow for cheaper natural gas.

Tymoshenko rose to fame during Ukraine's 2004 popular uprising. She became an opposition leader after losing the premiership in 2010.

Yanukovych has made membership in the 27-nation EU a top priority, but exhibited little sign Friday that he was ready to concede on the Tymoshenko case.

The state security service has launched a slew of new criminal investigations against Tymoshenko since her conviction, probes that Yanukovych defended.

"The Ukrainian part of the crimes committed by people who were in one way or another connected to Tymoshenko have not been fully investigated," he said ? adding that the cases will go to court soon.

Yanukovych was cold to efforts to adopt changes to the criminal code that would allow the former prime minister to be freed. "That is up to the parliament," he said. The parliament is dominated by his supporters.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_re_eu/eu_davos_forum_ukraine

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Saturday, January 28, 2012

Mutations in 2 Genes Linked to Rare Autism-Related Disorder (HealthDay)

THURSDAY, Jan. 26 (HealthDay News) -- Newly discovered mutations in two adjacent genes cause a rare genetic brain condition called Joubert syndrome, according to a new study.

People with Joubert syndrome have malformation or underdevelopment of the cerebellum and brainstem, resulting in a range of physical and mental disabilities such as poor muscle control and mental retardation.

As many as four in 10 people with Joubert syndrome meet the criteria for an autism diagnosis and other neurocognitive disorders, according to background information in a news release about the research.

In the study, a team led by University of California, San Diego School of Medicine researchers found that mutations in two adjacent genes -- TMEM216 and TMEM138 -- cause Joubert syndrome.

"It is extraordinarily rare for two adjacent genes to cause the same human disease," team leader Dr. Joseph Gleeson, a professor of neurosciences and pediatrics, said in the university news release. "The mystery that emerged from this was whether these two adjacent, non-duplicated genes causing indistinguishable disease have functional connections at the gene or protein level."

The researchers conducted evolutionary analysis and concluded that the two genes became joined end-to-end about 260 million years ago. The connected genes then evolved simultaneously and became regulated by the same transcription factors, the authors reported in the study published online Jan. 26 in Science Express.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has more about Joubert syndrome.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/biotech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20120127/hl_hsn/mutationsin2geneslinkedtorareautismrelateddisorder

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Scientists Organize Elsevier Boycott

An anonymous reader writes "The academic publisher Elsevier has attracted controversy for its high prices, the practice of bundling journals for sale to libraries and its support for legislation such as SOPA and the Research Works Act. Fields medal-winning mathematician Tim Gowers decided to go public with a blog post describing how he'll no longer have anything to do with Elsevier journals, and suggesting that a public website where mathematicians and scientists could register their support for an Elsevier boycott would further the cause. Such a website now exists, with hundreds of academics signing-up so far. John Baez has a nice write-up of the problem and possible solutions."

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/qcGHAvhFO80/scientists-organize-elsevier-boycott

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Friday, January 27, 2012

China says EU ban on Iran oil not "constructive" (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) ? China on Thursday criticized the European Union for banning oil imports from Iran, Beijing's third biggest crude supplier and a major trading partner.

The European Union agreed on Monday to ban imports of oil from Iran and imposed a number of other economic sanctions, joining the United States in a new round of measures aimed at pushing Iran into reining in its nuclear activities that Tehran says are for peaceful purposes.

China, the world's second largest crude consumer, has long opposed unilateral sanctions that target Iran's energy sector and has tried to reduce tensions that could threaten its oil supply.

Last week, Beijing told a visiting Iranian delegation that returning to nuclear talks was a "top priority." During a tour to Arab states earlier this month, Chinese premier Wen Jiabao also made a strong statement opposing Iran developing and possessing nuclear weapons, but defended China's right to buy Iranian crude oil as normal trade activity.

Asked about the EU embargo, China's Foreign Ministry said in a faxed statement: "It is not a constructive approach to simply pile up the pressure and impose sanctions."

"China hopes relevant parties to resort to measures conducive to regional peace and stability," the statement added.

China is the largest buyer of Iranian crude oil, importing 30 percent more from Iran in 2011 compared to the previous year. But China halved its purchases from Iran in January and February, following a dispute over the terms of payment.

(Reporting by Chen Aizhu and Tracy Zheng; editing by Miral Fahmy)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120126/wl_nm/us_china_iran

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Demi Moore Has Ashton Kutcher 'Deeply Concerned'

'He still cares about her and wants the best for her,' a source tells People following Moore's hospitalization.
By Kara Warner


Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore
Photo: Getty Images

In the days following Demi Moore's surprising hospitalization Monday night, the details that have emerged are even more perplexing, particularly the latest reports that Moore was inhaling nitrous oxide from aerosol cans, also known as whip-its, the night the 911 call was placed from her home in Los Angeles.

And although Moore has been released from the hospital, People magazine reports that the actress' health scare has her soon-to-be ex-husband Ashton Kutcher very worried about his wife of six years.

"Ashton is deeply concerned for Demi," a source told the magazine. "He still cares about her and wants the best for her. But their marriage is ending and they are both moving on with their lives."

Check out photos of Demi and Ashton in happier times.

Kutcher has yet to make any official statement about Moore, nor has he expressed anything about the matter via his frequently updated Twitter account. The "Two and a Half Men" star was out of the country working on an ad campaign when news of Moore's hospitalization broke. He is reportedly back in L.A. to return to work on "Men."

The theories about why Moore turned to nitrous oxide in the first place all relate back to her very public and emotional split from Kutcher back in November, when Moore announced the breakup with "sadness and a heavy heart" after months of not-so-quiet rumblings that her husband had been unfaithful.

Demi Moore's hospitalization caps a rough patch for the actress.

Friends have said that shortly after her split with Kutcher, the 49-year-old began to have trouble sleeping and developed a severe problem with prescription drugs.

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1678011/demi-moore-ashton-kutcher-hospital.jhtml

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Thursday, January 26, 2012

Scotland: Let 16-year-olds vote on independence (AP)

LONDON ? Teenagers of 16 and 17 would be eligible to cast ballots in a Scottish independence referendum that could see the breakup of Britain within four years, under proposals announced Wednesday by Scotland's leader.

First Minister Alex Salmond announced the Scottish government's preferred options for the vote on whether to sever ties from Britain, which it plans to hold in the fall of 2014. A "yes" vote would lead to independence taking effect with a May 2016 election for the Scottish Parliament.

Salmond told Scottish lawmakers in the Edinburgh assembly the ballot would ask "Do you agree that Scotland should be an independent country?" but could also include a third option, for increased autonomy short of full independence.

And he said the voting age should be lowered from the current 18.

"If a 16-year-old in Scotland can register to join the army, get married and pay taxes, surely he or she should be able to have a say in this country's constitutional future?" Salmond said.

The details are subject to consultation with Scottish voters ? and negotiations with the British government in London, which insists it has the final authority to authorize a binding referendum.

It has offered the Scottish administration the powers to hold such a vote, but wants a say in the timing and could insist that the Electoral Commission, which will run the referendum, be allowed to set the question. Salmond's proposed wording is likely to be seen by his opponents as slanted in favor of independence.

Opponents of independence want to hold the vote as soon as possible, because polls suggest only about a third of Scots favor independence.

Prime Minister David Cameron has said the ballot should pose a straight yes-no question, and not include a third option, which has been dubbed maximum devolution or "devo max."

But Salmond said that "if there is an alternative of maximum devolution which would command wide support in Scotland, then it is only fair and democratic that option should be among the choices open to the people of Scotland."

Cameron stressed Wednesday that everyone in Britain, not just Scots, should have a say in any changes to Scotland's status.

He said, "The point that everyone needs to understand is that options for further devolution, options for changes across the United Kingdom, are matters all of the United Kingdom should rightly discuss."

Michael Moore, the minister in Cameron's government responsible for Scotland, was due to hold talks with Salmond on Friday. But his office said the meeting had been postponed because Moore has chicken pox.

Scotland and England united in 1707 to form Great Britain. Scotland gained significant autonomy after voting in 1997 to set up the Edinburgh-based Scottish Parliament. But some Scots want to go further and make the nation of 5 million people an independent country within the European Union.

Salmond, who leads the separatist Scottish National Party, said that independence would bring "a new, more modern relationship between the nations of these islands ? a partnership of equals."

He said an independent Scotland would keep Queen Elizabeth II as head of state, but would not send troops to "illegal wars like Iraq, and we won't have nuclear weapons based on Scottish soil." Scotland is currently home to Britain's fleet of nuclear-armed submarines.

Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont, whose party opposes independence, accused Salmon of belittling Scots who wished to remain in Britain.

"Why does he assert as fact that we all wish to be independent of each other when we all know, as families and communities, we want to come together in partnership and cooperation?" she said.

____

Online: Scottish Government referendum consultation paper: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Consultations/Current

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_scotland

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Campaigning Mitt Romney seldom notes Mexican roots (AP)

COLONIA JUAREZ, Mexico ? White House hopeful Mitt Romney rarely mentions a key fact as he works to woo Hispanics ahead of Tuesday's Republican presidential nominating contest in Florida ? his own Mexican heritage.

"I would love to be able to convince people of that, particularly in a Florida primary," he said Wednesday in an interview with Univision, a Spanish-language television network. "But I think that might be disingenuous on my part."

His father, George, was born in Mexico, and his extended relatives still live in that same community, the border state of Chihuahua. The younger Romney's second cousins, tall men with light hair who speak American-accented English, share the family's last name and Mormon faith. They support his White House candidacy, but not his tough stance on immigration.

They've also never met him, though Romney's siblings have been to the house where their father was born on July 8, 1907, among a colony of Mormon pioneers in a stunning agricultural valley at the foot of the Sierra Madre. George Romney's family left Mexico when he was 5, returning to the U.S. to escape the violence of the Mexican Revolution.

"A lot of people ask why hasn't Mitt come back to see where his roots are. His father left here at such a young age and I don't think that he has that culture embedded like we do," said Leighton Romney, 52, who was born in the United States and is registered to vote in Arizona. "I live here because I love my country," he added. "That's Mexico."

He manages the fruit growers cooperative Grupo Paquime in nearby Nuevo Casas Grandes, and readily showed off his elaborately researched family tree to an Associated Press reporter who visited the office where he sells fruit to Walmart de Mexico and other large chains.

A two-term Michigan governor, George Romney faced questions about his eligibility to run for president in 1968 because he wasn't born in the United States. Yet, George was born a U.S. citizen, not Mexican, because his parents were U.S. citizens. And in those days, Mexico didn't grant dual citizenship so the parents had to choose one country or the other. Mitt Romney has said neither his father nor his grandparents spoke Spanish.

Like all U.S. politicians today, Romney walks a fine line between courting voter rage against illegal immigration, mostly from Mexico, and seeking the support of Hispanics, the fastest-growing voting group in America. In the rare cases where Romney has noted that his father was born in Mexico, he has done so to illustrate how the now-wealthy family came from humble beginnings rather than using the fact as a way to discuss immigration.

The Romneys can trace the family history to 1555, where they have records of a Mr. Romney, no first name, born in 1555 in the town of Tonbridge, England. The Mexican roots are intertwined with their Mormon faith.

The candidate's great-grandfather, Miles Park Romney, was born in 1843 in Nauvoo, Ill., where Joseph Smith founded the Mormon church. Miles Park Romney had five wives and 30 children, and fled to Mexico after passage of the 1882 Edmunson Act that barred polygamy. Among the first Mormons to settle in to the rolling Mexican valley bordering Texas, Miles Park Romney married his fifth wife after the church banned the practice in 1890.

Among the 11 children borne by Miles Park Romney's first wife were brothers Gaskell and Miles Archibold Romney.

The family fled back to the U.S. in 1912, when the Mexican Revolution struck Chihuahua and revolutionary forces invaded the English-speaking communities.

Gaskell Romney stayed in the U.S., with his five children, including Mitt's father, George.

But Gaskell's brother, Miles Archibold Romney, returned to Mexico.

The Mexican Romneys, who number about 40, live in solid brick homes with gingerbread accents and green lawns. They count themselves among the most prosperous ranchers and farmers in an area just 190 miles from the border city of El Paso, Texas. They ranch cattle and grow peaches, apples and chili peppers. They also run businesses, a prestigious school with an American football team and basketball program where the students emerge speaking flawless English.

"It is a very open community, where we have been progressive, and we have shaped a life for ourselves, our children, that we think is a healthy life," said Leighton Romney. "We have been here for generations."

Colonia Juarez and its surroundings have not escaped the drug violence that first terrorized the Mexican border and has now migrated to other parts. Meredith Romney, Leighton's brother, was kidnapped in 2009 and held hostage for two days in a cave until his family paid an undisclosed ransom.

The family says the area has gotten safer in the last year and that kidnappings have decreased. They credit Chihuahua's new governor, Cesar Duarte, who took office in 2010.

The town of 1,035 people has another emblematic symbol of the community's success: a white marble temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with a golden statue of Moroni, the angel said to have visited Joseph Smith. Next to it is the LDS-affiliated Academia Juarez, with three-story brick buildings and large lawns more reminiscent of Utah than Mexico.

Leighton's nephew, Brandon Romney, 33, grows chili peppers and helps with the school's sports teams. During a recent basketball game, he ran around giving instructions in both English and Spanish to teenagers playing on the court and stopped to talk about his famous relative.

"He's just another guy to me," Brandon Romney said. "Some people get kind of a sense of pride about it. I've never known him, never talked to him."

Brandon Romney and his other relatives who are eligible to vote in America plan to support their distant cousin. Some say they will donate to him if he wins the nomination.

The family generally sees him as a smart businessman who can lead America out of its economic turmoil. They only part ways on immigration, sharing the Mexican view that migrants seeking work in the U.S. should be given a legal means to do so.

The candidate has taken a hardline against illegal immigration. He favors a U.S.-Mexico border fence and opposes education benefits for illegal immigrants. He would support legislation that seeks to award legal status to some young illegal immigrants who serve in the armed forces, but not for those who attend college.

This week, Romney said he favors policies that encourage "self-deportation," where illegal immigrants decide on their own to leave the U.S., over those that would require the government to return the immigrants to their home countries.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_mexico_romney_relatives

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AP Interview: Davos founder: Focus on jobs, morals (AP)

DAVOS, Switzerland ? Capitalism is out of whack, the founder of the World Economic Forum says, welcoming critics' ideas of how to fix it ? even those camped out in protest igloos near his invitation-only gathering of global VIPs.

This anti-big money mood is surprising territory for a man who embraces free markets and whose livelihood consists of bringing world CEOs and political leaders together for elite brainstorming sessions.

Klaus Schwab is also unusually downbeat, his trademark optimism tempered by global economic turmoil and public unrest ahead of this year's forum.

"We have unfinished business and we have to act fast," he told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday ahead of the forum's Wednesday opening.

"I'm a deep believer in free markets but free markets have to serve society," he said in Davos, a ski resort tucked away deep in the Swiss Alps. He lamented excesses and "lack of inclusiveness in the capitalist system."

"We have sinned," he said, adding that this year's forum will place particular emphasis on ethics and resetting the moral compass of the world's business and political community.

Schwab said the forum had invited members of the Occupy protest movement camped in igloos in Davos to a session on the sidelines of the forum this week on reforming capitalism.

Protest organizer David Roth told the AP his group hadn't decided yet whether to accept. He said the event appeared to be a "staged self-criticism" by forum organizers. His group had suggested a debate at a neutral venue instead.

Thousands of Swiss soldiers and police have been shoveling snow to erect a 'ring of steel' against unwelcome demonstrators hoping to gatecrash the meeting. Some 3,500 soldiers are on hand to provide security to the VIPs, who include German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron and nearly 40 other world leaders.

President Barack Obama will not be coming, but his Treasury chief Timothy Geithner will be there along with some members of Congress.

Half a dozen demonstrators appeared briefly Tuesday outside the security perimeter, daubing the snow with anti-capitalist slogans. Police checked their IDs but allowed the protest to go ahead.

"Everybody who could make a constructive proposal is very welcome. We need new ideas," Schwab said.

He did note a general aversion to allowing too much anti-capitalist fervor to reach Davos.

"I also emphasize that Davos is a place for dialogue. ... The participants are usually reluctant to be confronted with people who are not open to dialogue and just want to serve their own sometimes one-sided interests," he said.

He warned that an "intergenerational conflict" could be looming as governments compromise future spending to pay today's debts.

"People feel it's a difficult time. They are irritated. There is, they feel, a lack of future perspective," he said.

Schwab also urged that more attention be paid by leaders and governments alike to jobs ? saying Davos participants should focus on "talentism" instead of capitalism ? and said leaders must work harder to win public trust.

Schwab has watched the world transform in the 41 years that he's nurtured the forum and turned it into one of the world's leading economic gatherings.

While China, Brazil and other developing economies remain robust, the United States and Europe are still struggling with financial issues that erupted in the credit crunch of 2008, including high unemployment. That contributes to a feeling that the world's economic problems are worse than leaders meeting at Davos in previous years had foreseen.

"We were too optimistic (last year)," Schwab acknowledged.

Meanwhile, scientists at the Swiss Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research are keeping a close watch on the nearby slopes, lest all the heavy snow they are carrying pose a risk to Davos and its high-profile visitors.

___

Frank Jordans contributed to this report.

___

Angela Charlton can be reached on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/acharlton.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_davos_forum

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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Man pleads not guilty to trying to kill Obama (AP)

WASHINGTON ? An Idaho man accused of firing shots at the White House pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges that he tried to assassinate President Barack Obama.

A lawyer for Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez entered the plea on his client's behalf during a brief appearance in U.S. District Court in Washington. Ortega did not say anything during the proceedings and will remain held without bond. He has another court date next month.

Prosecutors say Ortega used an assault rifle with an attached scope to fire a series of shots at the White House from long range on the night of Nov. 11. Obama and his wife, Michelle, were out of town at the time. In the months before the shooting, investigators say, he had had become obsessed with Obama, referred to him as the anti-Christ and told at least one person that he planned to "take care of" the president.

Prosecutors say he drove away after the shooting and crashed his car, then took off on foot. Authorities searching his car found a semi-automatic rifle, 12 spent shell casings and three fully-loaded magazines, and bullet impact points were located in the area of the White House that's known to be the living quarters of the First Family. Authorities recovered a bullet from a window frame on the Truman Balcony.

He was arrested on Nov. 16 at the same hotel where he had stayed before the shooting, authorities say.

Ortega, of Idaho Falls, Idaho, was indicted last week on 17 counts including trying to assassinate the president, transporting a firearm across state lines and assaulting officers or employees of the United States with a deadly weapon. Those charges three government employees who were on the grounds of the White House at the time of the shooting.

Ortega's federal public defender, David Bos, has previously argued that prosecutors have not established that Ortega was present at the shooting or that the president was the target of the attack. Bos declined to comment after the hearing.

Ortega could face up to life in prison if convicted of trying to assassinate the president.

The hearing took place in the same week that a lawyer for John Hinckley, who was found not guilty by reason of insanity in a 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan, is making his case for extended time away from the psychiatric hospital where Hinckley has been confined.

____

Eric Tucker can be reached at http://twitter.com/etucker

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_re_us/us_shots_fired_white_house

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Romney defends investments, readies tax returns

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks to reporters after a discussion on housing and foreclosure, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks to reporters after a discussion on housing and foreclosure, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

(AP) ? Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has criticized rival Newt Gingrich for earning more than $1.6 million in consulting fees from Freddie Mac even though he has as much as $500,000 invested in the U.S.-backed lender and its sister entity, Fannie Mae.

A day before Romney planned to release his income tax returns, his old investments in two controversial government-backed housing lenders stirred up new questions at the same time his campaign targeted Gingrich for his work for Freddie Mac.

The dimensions and the sources of Romney's wealth, which he has estimated to be as much as $250 million, have become pivotal issues in the roiling GOP primary campaign. For months, Romney dismissed calls to release his personal income tax records. But after mounting criticism from his rivals and others, coupled with his stinging weekend loss to Gingrich in the South Carolina primary, Romney agreed to release his 2010 return and 2011 estimate.

Romney's most recent financial disclosure report listed several investments in U.S.-backed lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Romney, Gingrich and other GOP critics repeatedly have all singled out the two quasi-government entities as prime villains in the housing crisis that played a central role in the nation's long and deep recession.

While continuing to hammer Gingrich for his consulting work for Freddie Mac, the Romney campaign sought to deflect questions about the former Massachusetts governor's investments. They include a mutual fund worth up to $500,000 that includes assets from both lenders among other government income, and separate investments in each of the lenders in Romney's individual retirement account, each worth between $100,000 and $250,000.

Romney campaign officials said Monday that a trustee handles the investments and that Romney had no role in choosing or managing them.

The tax returns Romney planned to release Tuesday could provide new details about his investments and his annual take as founder of the Bain Capital private equity firm. Gingrich released his own 2010 federal tax return last weekend, during a South Carolina GOP debate, and his campaign said he would disclose his full contracts with Freddie Mac on Monday night just before the debate in Tampa, Fla.

Romney's tax returns are likely to sketch out critical information about the tax strategies he employs. Tax experts said these likely include his use of a low 15 percent capital gains rate to reduce the taxes he pays on dozens of large investments that flow into his blind trust, charitable donation strategies that benefit philanthropies but also further reduce his tax burden and investments routed through offshore affiliates that could help him defer some tax payments.

Romney already has acknowledged that his current tax rate is about 15 percent, a level far lower than standard rates for high-income earners and similar to the capital gains rate. But some tax law and tax policy experts suggest that Romney likely has paid similarly low rates throughout his Bain years, continuing through the 13 years since he left the firm.

Joseph Bankman, a Stanford University business and law professor who has testified before Congress on the taxes paid by private equity firms like Bain, said Romney's background as a financier, coupled with his growing wealth and ability to use sophisticated tax tactics, makes it highly likely that he has paid taxes at the capital gains rate for most of his career.

"There is no reason to believe that Romney ever paid more that the going rate for capital gains," Bankman said.

The current lowest rate for long-term capital gains is 15 percent, but a higher rate of 20 percent had been in effect since 1981 until President George W. Bush signed into law a massive tax cut program in 2001.

Romney's 2010 return and 2011 estimate, Bankman said, could detail whether he continues to make any "carried interest," a lucrative investment arrangement typical among private equity managers that earns at least 20 percent of an investment fund's profits. The bulk of Romney's profits from his "carry," as the maneuver is often called in the private equity world, came during his tenure as Bain's founder and managing director in the 1980s and 1990s, but reportedly continued in the years after he left the firm.

At least six of Romney's investments, worth between $5 million and $25 million, were made in funds that have offshore affiliates based in the Cayman Islands, a well-known haven for companies seeking to attract foreign and non-profit investors. One of those funds, which is invested in Romney's retirement IRA, could be used to defer some of his tax payments, Columbia University law professor Michael Graetz said. It is uncertain if any offshore accounts would be identified in Romney's new tax disclosures.

Romney's vast investments contain other funds than the ones he profited from as a Bain Capital executive. But it was unclear Monday whether he had any direct role in handling the investments in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that appear on his 2012 presidential disclosure.

One investment, listed as a "Federated Government Obligation Fund" and worth between $250,000 and $500,000, was a mutual fund that included both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac assets among a larger pool that included other government securities.

The holding was not listed in Romney's blind trust, which led some Democratic Party activists to suggest that the investment was under his direct control.

"He is relentlessly attacking Newt Gingrich over his ties to Freddie Mac despite the fact that he personally invested up to a half a million dollars in both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac," said Ty Matsdorf, a senior adviser with American Bridge 21st Century, a PAC associated with Democratic Party and liberal causes.

Former GOP Rep. J.C. Watts, a Gingrich supporter, said Monday that Romney was on a slippery slope calling his opponent a lobbyist and raising doubts about Gingrich's work for Freddie Mac. But he did not directly address Romney's investments with the lender or with Fannie Mae.

"Some might see it as splitting hairs. But Newt Gingrich was not walking the halls of House and Senate," Watts said on a conference call arranged by the campaign. "He was never doing the hand-to-hand combat doing the lobbying, consulting, whatever you want to call it."

A Romney campaign official who insisted on anonymity to discuss that investment in greater detail said that Romney's trustee had bought the government investment fund in 2007, before the housing crisis broke.

The Romney official said that the government fund was purchased through a charity trust that does not appear in Romney's presidential disclosure but will show up on his income tax return for 2010. That trust, called a Charitable Remainder Unitrust, is a standard tax strategy among the wealthy that provides investors with a fixed payout each year. What remains in the account at a later date, or when the investor dies, is turned over to charity, the official said.

Romney does not directly control the investment account, Romney campaign senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom said earlier on Monday. "His investments are controlled by a trustee," Fehrnstrom said.

Separately, Romney's IRA retirement account lists both a Fannie Mae and a Freddie Mac security, each worth between $100,000 and $250,000. But because those are in Romney's IRA, they also appear to be under control of the trustee.

Tax experts said Romney's income tax returns may contain other charity structures and tax strategies designed to both boost his income and charity donations, while minimizing his involvement because of his presidential ambitions.

Roberton Williams, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center, a branch of the nonpartisan Urban Institute in Washington, said much can be gleaned by looking at Romney's sources of income and his itemized deductions. The latter would include Romney's 10 percent annual tithing to the Mormon Church, which would lower his tax liability and counteract higher taxes he would otherwise pay on non-investment income, like speaking fees.

An annual study of charity giving by the ultra-rich has shown that tax strategies are only one of several motivations, said Una Osili, a professor of economics and philanthropic studies at Indiana University. The most recent 2010 study of "high net-worth philanthropy" found that religious ties and volunteer and donor relationships are also important, said Osili, director of research for the studies.

Osili noted that more than 90 percent high net-worth donors tend to make donations in either cash or checks. But Romney's own family charitable foundation, the Tyler Charitable Fund, has showed signs that Romney has also donated stock investments to charity ? and his 2010 returns could provide more evidence of that trend.

___

Associated Press writers Kasie Hunt and Brian Bakst in Tampa contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-23-Romney's%20Wealth/id-6907fd64473f49a4851a1be1089183ed

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Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Lawmakers ponder major repairs to UK's Parliament

The Palace of Westminster including St Stephen's Tower housing the famous Big Ben clock in London, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. British lawmakers are considering whether they will need to abandon the House of Commons for the first time since World War II. Legislators were meeting Monday to discuss if future maintenance work to the Palace of Westminster _ home to the Commons and the House of Lords _ would need the two chambers to briefly move out. Consideration of possible repairs follows the disclosure in October that Parliament's clock tower _ often known as Big Ben _ is nearly 18 inches (nearly half a meter) out of line. The palace, which was rebuilt in the mid-19th Century, is expected to need major repairs in the coming years. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

The Palace of Westminster including St Stephen's Tower housing the famous Big Ben clock in London, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. British lawmakers are considering whether they will need to abandon the House of Commons for the first time since World War II. Legislators were meeting Monday to discuss if future maintenance work to the Palace of Westminster _ home to the Commons and the House of Lords _ would need the two chambers to briefly move out. Consideration of possible repairs follows the disclosure in October that Parliament's clock tower _ often known as Big Ben _ is nearly 18 inches (nearly half a meter) out of line. The palace, which was rebuilt in the mid-19th Century, is expected to need major repairs in the coming years. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

(AP) ? British lawmakers are considering whether they will need to abandon the House of Commons for the first time since World War II.

Legislators were meeting Monday to discuss if future maintenance work to the Palace of Westminster ? home to the Commons and the House of Lords ? would need the two chambers to briefly move out.

Between 1940 and 1941, both Houses of Parliament met in London's Church House, after bombs destroyed the Commons chamber and damaged the Lords.

Consideration of possible repairs follows the disclosure in October that Parliament's clock tower ? known as Big Ben ? is nearly 18 inches (nearly half a meter) out of line.

The palace, which was rebuilt in the mid-19th Century, is expected to need major repairs in the coming years.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-23-EU-Britain-Parliament/id-9564fe33bed445e0a57a41d86af8e2a2

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Tracy Morgan of '30 Rock' out of Utah hospital (AP)

PARK CITY, Utah ? Comedian and "30 Rock" cast member Tracy Morgan has been released from a hospital after collapsing during the Sundance Film Festival, and he says he'll be back at work Tuesday.

Morgan's publicist, Lewis Kay, confirmed Monday that the actor left the Park City Medical Center after he suffered from exhaustion and altitude Sunday night in Park City, where the elevation is 7,000 feet.

Morgan posted a comment Monday on Twitter that the high altitude "shook up this kid from Brooklyn."

"Superman ran into a little kryptonite," he quipped.

He also said on Twitter that he would be back to work Tuesday on "30 Rock."

Ron Nyswaner, co-director of the Sundance film "Predisposed," in which the actor stars, said Morgan's collapse resulted from "altitude sickness combined with his diabetes. And he hadn't eaten. He hadn't had enough water."

Kay said hospital officials report no drugs or alcohol were found in Morgan's system.

Morgan had been attending an event for the Creative Coalition at which he had just received an award.

In "Predisposed," which stars Jesse Eisenberg and Melissa Leo, Morgan plays a drug dealer caught up in the push-and-pull between a piano prodigy and his troubled mother.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/music/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_en_mu/us_film_sundance_tracy_morgan

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Monday, January 23, 2012

The Automotive Generation Drives Chevrolet | Magnificent Machine

They are called Baby Boomers, Generation Jones, and just plain Boomers ? a segment of the consumer market born between 1943 and 1964 that today, have already raised their families, have a sightline to retirement, and are now focused on what they want, or what they have dreamed about having all their lives. Chevrolet knows these Boomers well. They are the Automotive Generation and one thing is certain ? they love their ride!

A generation raised on muscle cars like the Camaro; on luxury cars like the Impala; on the affordable family-style Malibu, and on the sheer need for speed like the Corvette; unlike the generations before them, the Automotive Generation grew up on motorized vehicles and the freedom of the open road. Whether by interstates, highways, or byways, they demand fashionable, affordable, safe, and economical auto-mobility.

The Chevrolet family knows that most Boomers always remember their first car and according to Scotia Economics, a research and policy development company, Baby Boomers account for more than half of all new vehicle purchases and make up almost 60% of all drivers. According to George Hoffer, an auto analyst, they have a ?fixation? on their cars born out of the days when gas was cheap, credit was easy, and for the first time in history, you could just jump in your car and go. This generation of car buyers has driven automotive styling for the past 50 years, and that is why several of Chevrolet?s models have lasted just that long, evolving as times change.

No automobile proves this point better than the generation who grew up lusting after the Corvettes and Stingrays of the 1960s ? and turning 50 doesn?t seem to dampened the passion for the Vette?s sleek curves. According to Jesse Toprak, vice president of industry trends and insights for pricing at TrueCar, the lifelong dream of owning a Corvette is representative of a group of Boomers now known as empty nesters. Corvettes are ??aspirational vehicles. They?re getting it for themselves, not the family. It?s what they?ve always wanted.? And according to Mark Reuss, president of General Motors North American division who recently spoke about the next generation of Corvettes on FOX News, ?There is a good chance every new Corvette we do has got to be dramatically different? As we go through time, there will always be an evolution of materials? Fiberglass is at the heart of the car. Materials are continually more efficient, stronger, and I think you?ll see that in whatever we do with the Corvette.?

The Impala was the first of the full-sized luxury Chevrolet automobiles. From 1958 until the mid 1960s, it remained the most expensive Chevrolet on the market until they introduced the larger Caprice. Throughout the 1960s, the Impala was not only the best-selling automobile in America, but it was also the most collected car of its type. Redesigned in 1971 and again in 1980, the Impala became the favorite among law enforcement before discontinuing it in 1985. Resurrected in 2000, the 2010 Impala starts at just $23,000 and comes standard with six airbags. The Luxury Edition Package features E85 FlexFuel-capability, a versatile flip-and-fold-flat rear seat, a six-passenger option, heated front bucket seats, a Bose? premium sound system, Universal Home Remote, auto-dimming rearview mirror, outside heated mirrors, a rear spoiler, Automatic Crash Response, and OnStar Advisor.

Breaking out from the sporty Chevelle ?muscle car? lineup, the Chevrolet Malibu, named for Malibu, CA hit the market in 1964, designed as a typical American family car sold at an affordable price. Today, the Chevy Malibu is wildly popular as a conservative midsize sedan, famous for its safety, and beloved by American start-up families.

Source: http://www.versustwin.com/automotive-news/the-automotive-generation-drives-chevrolet.html

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Video: Texas Instruments Reports Q4 Results

CNBC's Jon Fortt offers a a look at Texas Instruments earnings. Vijay Rakesh, Sterne Agee, and Steve Smigie, Raymond James, also discuss how the company is navigating the impact from Thailand's flooding, economic weakness and the EU debt crisis.

Related Links:

Business & financial news headlines from msnbc.com

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/46106396/

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This Guy Didn't Know He Shot Himself in the Head with a Nail Gun [Wtf]

Dante Autullo is a tough guy. He's also, according to his wife, a very accident prone guy. So when he accidentally hit his head with a nail gun and only saw a scratch, he didn't think anything of it... EVEN THOUGH HE HAD A FREAKING NAIL LODGED IN HIS BRAIN. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/_jhjF14QHmw/this-guy-didnt-know-he-shot-himself-in-the-head-with-a-nail-gun

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Rapid Infant Growth Linked to Asthma in Study (HealthDay)

FRIDAY, Jan. 20 (HealthDay News) -- Rapid growth during the first three months of life is associated with an increased risk of asthma symptoms in preschool children, a new study indicates.

The findings suggest that early infancy might be a critical period for the development of asthma, said the researchers at Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands.

They examined data collected from 5,125 children who were followed from the fetal stage until they were 4 years old.

The researchers found no link between fetal growth and asthma symptoms. But in children with normal fetal growth, accelerated weight gain from birth to 3 months of age was associated with increased risk of asthma symptoms, such as wheezing, shortness of breath, dry cough and persistent phlegm.

The study appears online ahead of print in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Previous research has shown an association between low birth weight and increased risk of asthma symptoms in children. This is the first study to examine specific fetal and infant growth patterns on asthma risk.

"Our results suggest that the relationship between infant weight gain and asthma symptoms is not due to the accelerated growth of fetal growth-restricted infants only," researcher Dr. Liesbeth Duijts said in a journal news release. "While the mechanisms underlying this relationship are unclear, accelerated weight growth in early life might adversely affect lung growth and might be associated with adverse changes in the immune system."

She added: "Further research is needed to replicate our findings and explore the mechanisms that contribute to the effects of growth acceleration in infancy on respiratory health. The effects of infant growth patterns on asthma phenotypes [observable characteristics] in later life should also be examined."

More information

The American Lung Association has more about children and asthma.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20120120/hl_hsn/rapidinfantgrowthlinkedtoasthmainstudy

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Sunday, January 22, 2012

No joke: 3-inch nail removed from Ill. man's brain (AP)

OAK LAWN, Ill. ? Dante Autullo was sure he'd merely cut himself with a nail gun while building a shed, and thought doctors were joking when they told him what an X-ray revealed: A 3 1/4-inch nail was lodged in the middle of his brain.

Autullo was recovering Friday after undergoing surgery at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where doctors removed the nail that came within millimeters of the part of the brain controlling motor function.

"When they brought in the picture, I said to the doctor `Is this a joke? Did you get that out of the doctors joke file?'" the 32-year-old recalled. "The doctor said `No man, that's in your head.'"

As he was rushed by ambulance to another hospital for surgery, he posted a picture of the X-ray on Facebook.

Autullo, who lives in Orland Park, said he was building a shed Tuesday and using the nail gun above his head when he fired it. With nothing to indicate that a nail hadn't simply whizzed by his head, his long-time companion, Gail Glaenzer, cleaned the wound with peroxide.

"It really felt like I got punched on the side of the head," he said, adding that he continued working. "I thought it went past my ear."

While there are pain-sensitive nerves on a person's skull, there aren't any within the brain itself. That's why he would have felt the nail strike the skull, but he wouldn't have felt it penetrate the brain.

Neither he nor Glaenzer thought much about it, and Autullo went on with his day, even plowing a bit of snow. But the next day when he awoke from a nap, feeling nauseated, Glaenzer sensed something was wrong and suggested they go to the hospital.

At first Autullo refused, but he relented after the two picked up their son at school Wednesday evening.

An X-ray was taken a couple hours later. And there, seeming to float in the middle of his head, was a nail.

Doctors told Autullo and Glaenzer that the nail came within millimeters from the part of the brain that controls motor function, and he was rushed by ambulance to the other hospital for more specialized care.

"He feels good. He moved all his limbs, he's talking normal, he remembers everything," Glaenzer said earlier Friday. "It's amazing, a miracle."

Neurosurgeon Leslie Schaffer acknowledged that Autullo's case was unusual, but not extremely rare. Schaffer said having a nail penetrate the skull is not like being shot in the head, noting that a bullet would break into multiple pieces.

"This (the nail) is thinner, with a small trajectory, and pointed at the end," he said. "The bone doesn't fracture much because the nail has a small tip."

Schaffer said the man's skull stopped the nail from going farther into his brain. He said he removed the nail by putting two holes in Autullo's skull, on either side of the nail, then pulled the nail out along with a piece of the skull.

The surgery took two hours, and the part of the skull that was removed for surgery was replaced with a titanium mesh, Hospital spokesman Mike Maggio said.

Glaenzer said Autullo hasn't really talked about how scared he was about what might have happened, but he did express a recognition about coming close to death.

"He was joking with me (after surgery), `We need to get the Discovery Channel up here to tape this,'" she recalled him saying. "`I'm one of those medical miracles.'"

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120121/ap_on_fe_st/us_odd_nail_in_the_brain

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