Wash. family about to bury dog finds surprise

" Scamp"sits with his owner, Reta McKinley of Yelm, Wash. during a visit to the Lacey Animal Clinic on Friday, Dec. 9, 2011 in Lacey,Wash.. (AP Photo/The Olympian, Tony Overman)

" Scamp"sits with his owner, Reta McKinley of Yelm, Wash. during a visit to the Lacey Animal Clinic on Friday, Dec. 9, 2011 in Lacey,Wash.. (AP Photo/The Olympian, Tony Overman)

YELM, Wash. (AP) ? If Scamp the dog was living up to his name by playing a trick on his owners, a grandmother in Washington isn't laughing.

Reta McKinlay thought her grandchildren's puppy died after it escaped through a fence at her Yelm home and was hit by a car. The terrier-Shih Tzu mix was bleeding, his eyes fixed. He wasn't breathing.

McKinlay told The Olympian (http://is.gd/oSZowB) her husband wrapped him in a blanket on Dec. 3 and left him under a wheelbarrow to keep animals away. They prepared to bury him the next morning.

She told her 6-year-old twin grandchildren that Scamp had gone to heaven.

But when her husband returned, Scamp was sitting up.

The family has spent $3,000 on veterinary bills since. McKinlay says Scamp's return is the family's Christmas present.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/aa9398e6757a46fa93ed5dea7bd3729e/Article_2011-12-15-Dog%20Not%20Gone/id-aedea31b58d640e990a93053e5667beb

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Soyuz launches with 6 satellites in French Guiana (AP)

KOUROU, French Guiana ? A Soyuz rocket carrying six satellites launched Friday from French Guiana in the Russian-built rocket model's second mission this year.

It was to first release a French Earth observation satellite, Pleiades 1. Next to come would be four French micro-satellites and a Chilean Earth observation satellite was to be released last.

Pleiades is designed to provide images to military and civilian customers, while the four smaller satellites will be used to gather electronic intelligence for the military, according to Arianespace.

The Chilean satellite will take images for mapping, agricultural monitoring and the management of natural resources, said Arianespace, the commercial arm of the 13-country European Space Agency.

The satellites weighed a total of more than 4,400 pounds (2,000 kilograms).

The mission was the final one this year for Arianespace.

A Soyuz rocket first launched from Arianespace's complex in French Guiana in late October, carrying the first two satellites of the European Union's Galileo navigation system. It was the maiden voyage of the Russian rocket outside the former Soviet Union.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111217/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_french_guiana_rocket_launch

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2012 SAG Award Nominees: The Artist, Bridesmaids and More!

The 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards will be broadcast live on TNT on January 29. This morning, Judy Greer and Regina King announced the nominations for the only awards voted on by actors and actresses themselves.

And the nominees are...

MOVIES
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
DEMIÁN BICHIR: A Better Life
GEORGE CLOONEY: The Descendants
LEONARDO DiCAPRIO: J. Edgar
JEAN DUJARDIN: The Artist
BRAD PITT: Moneyball

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
GLENN CLOSE: Albert Nobbs
VIOLA DAVI: The Help
MERYL STREEP: The Iron Lady
TILDA SWINTON: We Need to Talk About Kevin
MICHELLE WILLIAMS: My Week with Marilyn

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
KENNETH BRANAGH: My Week with Marilyn
ARMIE HAMMER: J. Edgar
JONAH HILL: Moneyball
NICK NOLTE: Warrior
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER: Beginners

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
BÉRÉNICE BEJO: The Artist
JESSICA CHASTAIN: The Help
MELISSA McCARTHY: Bridesmaids
JANET McTEER: Albert Nobbs
OCTAVIA SPENCER: The Help

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
THE ARTIST
BRIDESMAIDS
THE DESCENDANTS
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

TELEVISION
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
LAURENCE FISHBURNE: Thurgood
PAUL GIAMATTI: Too Big to Fail
GREG KINNEAR: The Kennedys
GUY PEARCE: Mildred Pierce
JAMES WOODS: Too Big to Fail

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
DIANE LANE: Cinema Verite
MAGGIE SMITH: Downton Abbey
EMILY WATSON: Appropriate Adult
BETTY WHITE: The Lost Valentine
KATE WINSLET: Mildred Pierce

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
PATRICK J. ADAMS: Suits
STEVE BUSCEMI: Boardwalk Empire
KYLE CHANDLER: Friday Night Lights
BRYAN CRANSTON: Breaking Bad
MICHAEL C. HALL: Dexter

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
KATHY BATES: Harry's Law
GLENN CLOSE: Damages
JESSICA LANGE: American Horror Story
JULIANNA MARGULIES: The Good Wife
KYRA SEDGWICK: The Closer

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
ALEC BALDWIN: 30 Rock
TY BURRELL: Modern Family
STEVE CARELL: The Office
JON CRYER: Two and a Half Men
ERIC STONESTREET: Modern Family

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
JULIE BOWEN: Modern Family
EDIE FALCO: Nurse Jackie
TINA FEY: 30 Rock
SOFIA VERGARA: Modern Family
BETTY WHITE: Hot in Cleveland

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
BOARDWALK EMPIRE
BREAKING BAD
DEXTER
GAME OF THRONES
THE GOOD WIFE

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
30 ROCK
THE BIG BANG THEORY
GLEE
MODERN FAMILY
THE OFFICE

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/12/2012-sag-award-nominees-include-the-artist-bridesmaids-and-more/

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Howard Stern named judge on 'America's Got Talent' (AP)

NEW YORK ? Howard Stern will be joining the judges' panel on "America's Got Talent," and the NBC summer talent show will uproot itself from Los Angeles to accommodate the New York-based shock jock, the network said Thursday.

NBC confirmed weeks-old rumors of Stern's selection to join fellow "Talent" judges Howie Mandel and Sharon Osbourne. Nick Cannon remains host.

Stern, whose daily radio show airs on Sirius XM, is replacing Piers Morgan, who left "Talent" after last season to free up his busy schedule. Last winter, Morgan launched a weeknight interview program on CNN.

"Howard Stern's larger-than-life personality will bring a thrilling new dynamic to `America's Got Talent' starting this summer," said Paul Telegdy, NBC's president of alternative and late night programming. "He's a proven innovator and his track record in broadcasting is truly remarkable."

The Parents Television Council, a watchdog group, wasted no time condemning NBC's choice on Thursday.

Its president, Tim Winter, called hiring Stern "an act of desperation for a flailing network," and slammed Stern as "a performer who is synonymous with shock, profanity and obscenity."

"Talent" bills itself as TV's only such competition show that is open to any age and any talent. Auditions for season seven began in October in major cities nationwide. But now, with Stern aboard, production of the live broadcast of the show will relocate to New York.

Stern, who in 2005 took his long-running syndicated show from terrestrial radio to Sirius XM, signed a new five-year contract with the satellite-radio company a year ago after months of stormy negotiations.

___

Online:

http://www.nbc.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111215/ap_on_en_tv/us_tv_howard_stern_talent

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Scientists rediscover rarest US bumblebee

Monday, December 5, 2011

A team of scientists from the University of California, Riverside recently rediscovered the rarest species of bumblebee in the United States, last seen in 1956, living in the White Mountains of south-central New Mexico.

Known as "Cockerell's Bumblebee," the bee was originally described in 1913 from six specimens collected along the Rio Ruidoso, with another 16 specimens collected near the town of Cloudcroft, and one more from Ruidoso, the most recent being in 1956. No other specimens had been recorded until three more were collected on weeds along a highway north of Cloudcroft on Aug. 31, 2011.

"Most bumblebees in the U.S. are known from dozens to thousands of specimens, but not this species," said Douglas Yanega, senior museum scientist at UC Riverside. "The area it occurs in is infrequently visited by entomologists, and the species has long been ignored because it was thought that it was not actually a genuine species, but only a regional color variant of another well-known species."

Yanega pointed out that there are nearly 50 species of native U.S. bumblebees, including a few on the verge of extinction, such as the species known as "Franklin's Bumblebee," which has been seen only once since 2003. That species, as rare as it is, is known from a distribution covering some 13,000 square miles, whereas Cockerell's Bumblebee is known from an area of less than 300 square miles, giving it the most limited range of any bumblebee species in the world.

"There is much concern lately about declines in our native bumblebee species, and as we now have tools at our disposal to assess their genetic makeup, these new specimens give fairly conclusive evidence that Cockerell's Bumblebee is a genuine species," he said. "With appropriate comparative research, we hope to be able to determine which other species is its closest living relative. Given that this bee occurs in an area that's largely composed of National Forest and Apache tribal land, it's unlikely to be under serious threat of habitat loss at the moment. Since its biology is completely unknown, however, it nevertheless may require some more formal assessment in the future."

Yanega went on to point out that it is not especially surprising for an insect species to be rediscovered after decades, when people might otherwise imagine that it may have gone extinct.

"When an insect species is very rare, or highly localized, it can fairly easily escape detection for very long periods of time," he said. "There are many precedents ? some of them very recently in the news, in fact ? of insects that have been unseen for anywhere from 70 to more than 100 years, suddenly turning up again when someone either got lucky enough, or persistent enough, to cross paths with them again. It is much harder to give conclusive evidence that an insect species has gone extinct than for something like a bird or mammal or plant."

UCR entomologists rediscover many such "lost" insect species and discover entirely new species on a regular basis, at the rate of several dozen species every year, primarily in groups such as bees, wasps, beetles, and plant bugs. According to recent estimates, approximately 8 million species are in existence, the vast majority being insects of which only about 1 million have been described.

"It should come as no surprise that we discover so many new species of insects so easily," Yanega said. "But the pace of species discovery and description is incredibly slow because there are so few insect taxonomists relative to the number of undescribed insects. Moreover, the work is painstaking, time-consuming, and not very glamorous, at least in the public's perception, when compared to studying things like dinosaurs."

As for plans regarding additional work with Cockerell's Bumblebee, Yanega said that the recent expedition, carried out together with UCR scientists Keve Ribardo and Greg Ballmer, was funded in part by the Friends of the Entomology Research Museum, a non-profit organization supporting UCR's Entomology Research Museum, but that nothing further was yet planned. The DNA sequencing was also carried out at UCR, as part of a larger study on wasp and bee relationships.

"The first step is to come to a firm conclusion regarding the status of this bee as a species," he said. "The second step is spreading the word to the scientific community that this bee deserves some attention, as it has been completely overlooked. Here at UCR we may or may not be involved beyond that point, in gathering data on the distribution and biology of this species, but at the very least our discovery can get the proverbial ball rolling."

###

University of California - Riverside: http://www.ucr.edu

Thanks to University of California - Riverside for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/115727/Scientists_rediscover_rarest_US_bumblebee

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Grand Theft Auto III anniversary edition for iOS and Android exalts a decade of metropolitan mayhem

Before Niko Bellic, there was a man who was known as Claude, who was just as willing to terrorize Liberty City back in Grand Theft Auto III. If fond memories of carjackings and Flashback 95.6 are starting to rush back, know that Rockstar plans to sell you a fresh copy for your iOS or Android devices come December 15th. And just so we're clear, the $4.99 redux is a full re-release -- not some watered-down version with an alternate story line. Already counting the days? Peep the list of compatible devices after the break so it's not all for naught. Go on, we've left you a surprise.

Continue reading Grand Theft Auto III anniversary edition for iOS and Android exalts a decade of metropolitan mayhem

Grand Theft Auto III anniversary edition for iOS and Android exalts a decade of metropolitan mayhem originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Dec 2011 17:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/06/grand-theft-auto-iii-anniversary-edition-for-ios-and-android-exa/

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The Sad Fliers' Crusade for Airplane Mode (The Atlantic Wire)

After last week's New York Times column?on the pointlessess of making fliers turns off gadgets during take-off and landing, angry technophiles have?started a White House petition to get the rules changed. After two full days and a tweet from The New York Times's Nick Bilton's to his 88,879 followers, the petition only has 364 signatures.

Related: iPad Sales Have Reached a Plateau

When Bilton wrote his takedown last week, it wasn't all that convincing. In the days following his post, a few bloggers piped up to agree with Bilton, but even The Atlantic's own national correspondent and pilot, James Fallows, who?admitted "the rule is pure theater," pointed out that Bilton doesn't really have a case. "[H]ere is the only, admittedly weak rationale behind the 'turn all equipment off' diktat," Fallows wrote. "If anything went wrong on a crowded airline flight, the flight crew would need everyone's full attention, now." And for that, he will keep his iPad off at the flight attendant's?request.

Related: All the Ways Apple Keeps Secrets (That We Know Of)

Fallows isn't alone. A slew of commenters on Bilton's follow-up blog post note the inanity of the entire request. Some?pointed?out that interference can actually occur. Others suggested that a few minutes without iPad access is really a ridiculous thing to complain about. And as The Wire's Adam Clark Estes noted, one can never be too certain when an iPhone might?explode.?

Related: Issa Wants to Know What Obama's Hiding on His iPad

Yet, a week later, the crusade lives on and doesn't really look like it's going anywhere. If the White House gets "enough support," it months of talk, national attention and a study that moved Europe to ban the cancerous things, the TSA still?mostly?uses them.?

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/applecomputer/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/atlantic/20111205/tc_atlantic/sadflierscrusadeairplanemode45765

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Slovenia to turn center right for economic lift (Reuters)

LJUBLJANA (Reuters) ? Slovenians voted for a new government on Sunday with the centre-right opposition set to return to power on a pledge of painful reforms to halt the European Union member's slide back into recession.

Prime Minister Borut Pahor's Social Democrats look likely to be the latest casualty of the euro zone crisis, punished over rising unemployment and the threat of a credit rating downgrade.

"I hope for a high turnout and ... that Slovenia will get a strong new government," opposition Slovenian Democratic Party leader Janez Jansa said on Sunday, casting his vote shortly after polls opened in the town of Velenje in eastern Slovenia.

Jansa, who was prime minister of the former Yugoslav republic from 2004 to 2008, is eyeing a return to office, promising to cut the budget deficit, create jobs and raise the retirement age.

Polls suggest Jansa will regain the premiership but will need the support of smaller parties to secure a majority.

Pahor's government lost its majority in May amid internal policy squabbles and was ousted by parliament in September.

Euro zone member Slovenia, once a model of successful post-communist transition, is facing renewed economic contraction.

An Alpine state of 2 million people, Slovenia was the fastest growing euro zone member four years ago, but its export-driven economy was badly hit by the global crisis and contracted by 8 percent in 2009.

After a modest recovery, data released this week suggest another recession is on the way after the economy shrank 0.5 percent in the third quarter of 2011.

"There are problems in all areas and all of them will have to be tackled, but the (government's) main task is to improve the economic situation," said pensioner Joze Osterc after casting his vote in the capital, Ljubljana.

Jansa's SDS has pledged to cut Slovenia's deficit by trimming public administration and accelerating privatization. He proposes to ease a credit crunch by establishing a "bad bank" that would take over state-owned banks' non-performing loans.

The party would selectively raise the retirement age, currently among the lowest in the EU at 57 for women and 58 for men.

Centre-left Ljubljana mayor Zoran Jankovic is seen as Jansa's closest challenger for the premiership.

Polls close at 7 p.m. (1800 GMT). Preliminary results are expected by 2100 GMT.

(Additional reporting by Miran Jelenek, Editing by Matt Robinson and Tim Pearce)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111204/wl_nm/us_slovenia_election

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Italian Players Union president Damiano Tommasi tells athletes to stay in the closet

Dec 3rd, 2011 by Cyd Zeigler jr..

Yet another example how European soccer is one of the most homophobic corners of the sports world. Italian Players Union president Damiano Tommasi demonstrated an incredibly shallow understanding and compassion for living as a gay person when he said in an interview that gay athletes should stay in the closet, and that there is no need for anyone to ever come out to be happy. Some of the little gems from his interview, as reported on RawStory:

It?s to be discouraged. The fact of being identified or singled out as ?the one who is?, regardless of your profession, whether journalist, footballer or politician, I don?t think it would be an advisable path to take.

Homosexuality is still a taboo in football in the sense that there is a different kind of cohabitation to other professions.

But there is the risk that something intimate would then become uncontrolled public discussion. ?

I don?t think that people don?t come out in football due to fear but rather that they don?t do so for personal reasons. I don?t think there?s any need to express your sexual preferences in order to work or live in a civil manner with absolute tranquility.

While it may seem that Tommasi is simply expressing how he sees the state of soccer, let me give you an alternative way he could have expressed himself:

There is homophobia in football, but I for one will stand with anyone against it. Athletes should be able to come out freely and be themselves. And if a player wants to come out in soccer, I will stand by him and support him.

Big difference, right? Both express that there is homophobia in soccer; But one virtually defends it while the other stands against it. Unfortunately, Tommasi decided to stand by the homophobia and put the onus of dealing with it on closeted athletes.

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UN warns of possible new recession (AP)

UNITED NATIONS ? The United Nations has sharply cut its economic projections for global growth and says that the world is at risk for a new recession.

The U.N.'s report on the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2012, released on Thursday, forecasts 2.6 percent growth next year in its main, relatively optimistic scenario ? and just 0.5 percent growth in its pessimistic scenario.

That's significantly below its May forecast that the global economy would grow 3.6 percent in 2012.

Following two year of anemic and uneven recovery from the global financial crisis, the report said, "the world economy is teetering on the brink of another major downturn" and "the risks for a double-dip recession have heightened."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111201/ap_on_bi_ge/un_un_economic_forecast

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ACLU: FBI used outreach to collect info on Muslims (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Heavily blacked-out internal FBI documents released Thursday indicate that the FBI, in some cases between 2007 and 2009, ran background checks on people they encountered at Muslim-related events and recorded personal information such as email addresses, phone numbers, physical descriptions and opinions in reports marked "routine."

The American Civil Liberties Union, which obtained the documents under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, accused the FBI of misusing its community outreach programs to collect information on people at Muslim-related events that the FBI organized or was invited to attend. Those programs were intended to improve the relationship between Muslims and the FBI.

The bureau said some of the documents the ACLU published were not derived from outreach programs but were from actual criminal investigations in which it was appropriate to include specific details such as a driver's license number.

The blacked-out parts make it difficult to understand what the reports represent. But the disclosure comes at a time when the FBI has been criticized for some of its other programs, straining the fragile relationship between law enforcement and Muslims who widely believe they are subjected to surveillance and scrutiny because of their religion.

The ACLU said the FBI never told Muslims at outreach events such as job fairs, religious dinners or community meetings that it would record in government files the details about the events or who attended them.

The FBI's Community Outreach Program predates the terrorist attacks of September 2001 and is designed to improve the public's trust in the bureau and build partnerships. After the attacks, federal, state and local government officials stepped up this type of outreach to Muslim communities. Agents who attend such official events are instructed to file reports for what the FBI described as "internal oversight purposes."

Separate from outreach programs, FBI agents who are investigating a person or group may do their own outreach to as part of the investigation, said Jeff Mazanec, deputy assistant director of public affairs, who oversees the official program. But that is kept separate from what a community outreach coordinator does, he said.

For example, the ACLU cited a 2008 report describing an FBI agent in San Francisco attendance at a religious dinner. The agent documented who was sitting at a table, a cellphone number and details about a man the agent obtained from the California State Department of Motor Vehicles. The FBI agent also included details about a California man and a check deposited to a bank, referencing information from the FBI's internal case files. The names of individuals and other details were censored from the publicly available report for privacy reasons.

Mazanec said the FBI report was written as part of a formal investigation and not as part of the official community outreach program.

A board member at the Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California, Sara Mostafavi, said she was disappointed that the FBI's San Francisco division filed a report in 2007 that listed the names and organizations of people at a mosque meeting. It included the names of 50 people from 27 different organizations and identified the particular sect of Islam that each of the attendees followed.

"When you enter kind of a relationship with a sense of trust, you'd like to know that your privacy rights aren't going to get violated," Mostafavi said. "It's been difficult for some people to sometimes attend these meetings because they're afraid of what the repercussions will be."

Mazanec said the FBI includes such details in its files so that relationships can be maintained when agents leave or retire. "It's better than a Rolodex," Mazanec said. He said the FBI does not use outreach programs for terrorism investigations or assessments, and rules against this were sharpened this year.

Since 2001, advocacy and civil liberties groups have raised concerns that Muslim communities are unfairly targeted for counterterrorism purposes because of their religion. An Associated Press investigation into the New York Police Department's intelligence-gathering tactics in Muslim communities revealed widespread spying programs that documented every aspect of Muslim life in New York. Police infiltrated mosques and student groups and secretly spied on Muslims who were considered partners in the city's fight against terrorism.

___

On the Web:

ACLU: http://www.aclu.org

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111201/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_fbi_muslims

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Central banks act as euro zone crisis rages (Reuters)

BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) ? The world's major central banks acted jointly on Wednesday to provide cheaper dollar funding to European banks facing a credit crunch as the euro zone's debt crisis drove EU ministers to urge more IMF help to avert financial disaster.

The emergency move by the U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, and the central banks of Japan, Britain, Canada and Switzerland recalled coordinated action to stabilize global markets in the 2008 financial crisis after the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

In Italy, now the focal point of the euro debt crisis, the Treasury started emergency cash tenders for banks which have been squeezed particularly hard as Rome's borrowing costs have soared towards 8 percent, a level seen as unaffordable in the long term.

The euro and European shares surged on the central bank action, which came after euro zone finance ministers agreed to ramp up the firepower of their bailout fund but acknowledged they may have to turn to the International Monetary Fund for more help.

In a policy shift by Europe's main paymaster, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Germany was open to increasing the IMF's resources through bilateral loans or more special drawing rights, reversing the stance Berlin took earlier this month at the Cannes G20 summit.

The new openness to a bigger IMF role came as Germany presses its EU partners to agree next week on treaty changes to create coercive powers to make euro zone countries change their budgets if they breach EU deficit and debt rules.

"The economic and monetary union will either have to be completed through much deeper integration or we will have to accept a gradual disintegration of over half a century of European integration," Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn told the European Parliament.

Two years into Europe's debt crisis, investors are fleeing the euro zone bond market, European banks are dumping government debt, south European banks are bleeding deposits and a recession looms, fuelling doubts about the survival of the single currency.

Euro zone leaders have agreed belatedly on one half-measure after another but have failed to restore confidence and some analysts now see a December 9 Brussels summit as a make-or-break moment for the euro.

Finance ministers agreed on Tuesday night on detailed plans to leverage the European Financial Stability Mechanism (EFSF), but could not say by how much because of rapidly worsening market conditions, prompting them to look to the IMF.

"We are now looking at a true financial crisis -- that is a broad-based disruption in financial markets," Christian Noyer, France's central bank governor and a governing council member of the European Central Bank, told a conference in Singapore.

Italian and Spanish bond yields resumed their inexorable climb towards unsustainable levels on Wednesday, as markets assessed the rescue fund boost as inadequate, but fell back on news of the central banks' joint action.

"It must also be remembered that the EFSF is already funding at very wide levels (high borrowing costs) over Germany, struggled in its last auction to raise the required funds and would have its rating put under severe pressure by any rating downgrade of France," Rabobank strategists said in a note.

"This must call into question any plans related to the EFSF. It is yesterday's solution and the market has simply moved on."

IMF TO MATCH?

The 17-nation Eurogroup adopted detailed plans to insure the first 20-30 percent of new bond issues for countries having funding difficulties and to create co-investment funds to attract foreign investors to buy euro zone government bonds.

Both schemes would be operational by January with about 250 billion euros from the euro zone's EFSF bailout fund available to leverage after funding a second rescue program for Greece, Eurogroup chairman Jean-Claude Juncker said.

The aim was for the IMF to match and support the new firepower of the EFSF, Juncker told a news conference.

But with China and other major sovereign funds cautious about investing more in euro zone debt, EFSF chief Klaus Regling said he did not expect investors to commit major amounts to the leveraging options in the next days or weeks, and he could not put a figure on the final size of the leveraged fund.

"It is really not possible to give one number for leveraging because it is a process. We will not give out 100 billion next month, we will need money as we go along," Regling said.

Most analysts agree that only more radical measures such as massive intervention by the ECB to buy government bonds directly or indirectly can staunch the crisis.

The prospects of drawing the IMF more deeply into supporting the euro zone are uncertain. Several big economies are skeptical of European calls for more resources for the global lender.

The United States, Japan and other Asian states are hesitant to chip in unless Europe commits to first use its own resources to fix the problem and peripheral euro zone states map out more concrete steps on fiscal and economic reforms.

"Nobody wants to spend money on something they doubt would work," a G20 official said.

"That goes not only for Europe but for any other country outside Europe. The threshold for seeking IMF help is quite high. Those seeking help need to be willing to give up some of their jurisdiction on fiscal policy and willing to undergo painful reform. Mere pledges and speeches won't do."

MONTI DENIES IMF BID

New Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said he had received a very positive reaction from the euro zone ministers to his fiscal plans, although he was told to take extra deficit cutting measures beyond an austerity plan already adopted to meet its balanced budget promise in 2013.

He also said he had met the head of the IMF's European department on Wednesday but Italy had not considered taking help from the Fund.

Reuters reported on Tuesday that Italian and IMF officials have held preliminary discussions on some form of financial support for Rome, although no decision has been taken, according to sources familiar with the talks.

Italian bond yields are now above the levels at which Greece, Ireland and Portugal were forced to apply for EU/IMF bailouts, and Rome has a wall of issuance due from late January to roll over maturing debt.

The Eurogroup ministers agreed to release their portion of an 8 billion euro aid payment to Greece, the sixth installment of 110 billion euros of EU/IMF loans agreed last year and necessary to help Athens stave off the immediate threat of default.

Juncker said the money would be released by mid-December, once the IMF signs off on its portion early next month.

G20 leaders promised this month to boost the global lender's warchest. However, another G20 source said policymakers had made no progress since then in efforts to boost IMF resources, which at current levels may not be sufficient to overcome the crisis.

EU sources said one option being explored is for euro system central banks to lend to the IMF so it can in turn lend to Italy and Spain while applying IMF borrowing conditions.

With Germany opposed to the idea of the ECB providing liquidity to the EFSF or acting as a lender of last resort, the euro zone needs a way of calming markets and fast.

The ECB shows no sign yet of responding to widespread calls to massively increase its bond-buying although EU officials said it may have to shift, even if the EFSF gained IMF help.

A Reuters poll of economists showed a 40 percent chance of the ECB stepping up purchases with freshly printed money within six months, something it has opposed so far.

The poll forecast a 60 percent chance of an ECB rate cut to 1.0 percent next week and a big majority of economists said they expect the central bank to announce new long-term liquidity tenders to help keep banks afloat at its next meeting on Dec 8.

(Additional reporting by Marius Zaharia in London, Erik Kirschbaum in Berlin, Robin Emmott and John O'Donnell in Brussels, Saeed Azhar and Kevin Lim in Singapore; Writing by Paul Taylor/Mike Peacock; Editing by Janet McBride/Ruth Pitchford)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111130/bs_nm/us_eurozone

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Farmers worry new labor rules will end teen jobs (Providence Journal)

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Coming soon: The separated-at-birth hits (Politico)

A source sends over this unreleased Web video from Senate candidate Steve Welch of Pennsylvania, which asks if Democratic Sen. Bob Casey was ?separated at birth? from President Barack Obama.

Except this one doesn?t just ask the question rhetorically. The video is a faux documentary exploring the possibility that Casey and Obama are related, featuring fictional experts such as behavioral scientist Dr. Arthur Herberstein and probability expert Dr. Milo Kamdermann.

Continue Reading

The video is a clever and well produced new take on a familiar Republican attack line and a sign of things to come for swing-state Senate and House races next year.

Right now, a candidate like Welch ? a wealthy entrepreneur making his first bid for statewide office ? is looking to make a splash in a GOP primary. (Call him a "separated-at-birther"?) But this kind of hit against Casey sets the stage for a general election in which Obama?s coattails could very well be determinative.

UPDATE: Matt Canter, communications director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, scoffed at the Welch attack. "Congrats to some consultant who made a pretty penny on a web video no one will see," Canter said.?"Can't wait to watch the next episode about Welch, the guy who actually voted for Obama and now pretends he is a tea partier. But Welch is only polling at one percent right now, so he would never warrant a web video."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/politico_rss/rss_politico_mostpop/http___www_politico_com_news_stories1111_69142_html/43726274/SIG=11mo28ipr/*http%3A//www.politico.com/news/stories/1111/69142.html

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President Obama Addresses the Nation (ABC News)

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Thanksgiving Hangover

Thanksgiving Hangover

Celebrities Who Experiment with Sex–Girls Talkin Smack Scarlett Johansson to Direct New Movie–Tonic Gossip Britney Spears Opens Up About Crazy Life–Bitten & Bound Bruce Willis’ [...]

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S&P cuts Egypt sovereign rating (AP)

CAIRO ? Ratings agency Standard & Poor's says it has cut Egypt's sovereign credit rating, pushing it deeper into junk status on the back of the country's political turmoil and its weak economic profile.

S&P said Thursday it cut Egypt's long-term foreign and local currency sovereign ratings to B+ from BB-, with a negative outlook.

The agency says the cuts reflect its opinion that Egypt's "weak political and economic profile" had deteriorated further.

The cut comes after days of clashes between protesters and security forces in central Cairo ? battles that raised questions about the country's political situation days before the scheduled Nov. 28 parliamentary elections.

The vote is the first since former President Hosni Mubarak was ousted from power in February.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111124/ap_on_bi_ge/ml_egypt_economy

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Microsoft comments on Siri, proves they still don?t get it

In an interview with Forbes, Microsoft’s Chief Research and Strategy Officer Craig Mundie poopoos Apple’s Siri intelligent virtual assistant as unoriginal, and nothing Microsoft’s TellMe hasn’t been doing since the introduction of Windows Phone 7.

You can take these Windows Phones now and you can just pick

...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/hPkwgDDBp-E/story01.htm

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New Zealand votes as PM seeks outright majority (AP)

WELLINGTON, New Zealand ? New Zealanders voted in national elections Saturday, with popular Prime Minister John Key seeking to propel his center-right party to the country's first outright parliamentary majority in years.

Polling stations closed at 7 p.m. local time (0600 GMT; 1 a.m. EST), with a winner expected to emerge by 10 p.m. (0900 GMT; 4 a.m. EST).

Both Key and his main opponent, Labour Party leader Phil Goff, cast their ballots early in Auckland polling stations. If either man had anything political to say, local media weren't reporting it ? thanks to a ban in New Zealand on election day coverage that might influence voters.

The coverage ban extends to signs and placards, which were all taken down overnight.

If opinion polls hold, Key's National Party would be the first party to secure a majority on its own since the country abolished a winner-take-all voting system and replaced it in 1996 with a proportional one that generally results in a more fractured parliament.

Anything short of a majority, however, and Key will need to find political partners to form a stable government.

What's not in doubt is Key's personal popularity ? despite a scandal in recent days over a recorded conversation. After three years in power, polls show the former currency trader is far more popular than Goff. Key has earned the nickname "Teflon John" for the way that nothing politically damaging seems to stick to him.

"He's a clever strategist and a good manager," said Jennifer Lees-Marshment, a political studies lecturer at the University of Auckland.

She said Key has been adept at knowing when to forge ahead with policies and when to pull back. His common touch was reassuring to people when a deadly earthquake struck Christchurch in February, she said, and enabled him to share in their excitement in October when the country's national All Blacks team won the Rugby World Cup.

Key's campaign has focused primarily on the economy. He's promising to bring the country back into surplus and begin paying down the national debt within three years. Part of his plan to achieve that is to sell minority stakes in four government-owned energy companies and in Air New Zealand.

That's where the center-left Labour party has found its biggest point of difference. Goff is promising not to sell anything and to raise money by other means, including by introducing a capital gains tax and by raising the age at which people get government pensions by two years to 67.

On the campaign trail, however, those issues got crowded out by a mini-scandal known as the teapot tape saga. While he met at tea shop with a political ally, Key reportedly made rude and embarrassing political comments that were captured on a recording device left by a cameraman.

The tape has never been publicly aired, although opponents, who may have been leaked transcripts, claim the prime minister said that elderly supporters of one opposition party were dying out and also disparaged the leadership of another party. Three days before the election, police began serving search warrants on four media outlets, seeking the tape and related material on the grounds that it is illegal to tape a private conversation.

The cameraman says he left the device inadvertently, and besides, the conversation could hardly be considered private given that media were invited there by Key for an earlier photo opportunity.

Lees-Marshment said she thinks voters grew tired of the attention given to the story and may have begun feeling more sympathetic toward Key.

"It became a story about the story," she said. "The voters got put off by it."

The saga certainly didn't seem to do much to boost the campaign of Goff, who was effectively shut out of any coverage for a few days. Labour's lackluster polling, about 28 percent, has pundits speculating Goff will be replaced as leader of the party within days of the election.

But the saga did seem to boost the fortunes of Winston Peters, who leads the small New Zealand First party. Peters grabbed the headlines with pointed criticism of Key over the affair and his poll numbers shot up.

Another winner in the election is likely to be the Green party, which is polling about 12 percent, putting it on target for its best ever showing.

Voters will also decide whether to keep their electoral system, in which parties get a proportion of parliamentary seats based on the proportion of the votes they receive. Some want to return to a winner-takes-all format, although polls indicate most favor sticking with their current system.

(This version corrects EST times of poll closings in paragraph 2. Recorrects GMT times.)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111126/ap_on_re_as/as_new_zealand_election

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Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs Safe for Long-Term Use, Study Finds (HealthDay)

TUESDAY, Nov. 22 (HealthDay News) -- British researchers have good news for anyone taking the cholesterol-lowering medications known as statins: These drugs are effective and safe, even when used for long periods of time, they say.

The 11-year study found that simvastatin (brand name Zocor) reduced the risk of cardiovascular disease by almost one-quarter. In addition, the researchers found no increase in illness or deaths from cancer or other non-vascular causes.

"All those at increased vascular risk should start taking statins early and continue taking them long term," said the study's lead author, Dr. Richard Bulbulia, a consultant vascular surgeon and research fellow in the clinical trial service unit at the University of Oxford in England.

"This will maximize the reductions in heart attacks, strokes and other vascular diseases, and is safe," said Bulbulia, who added that the study's findings should provide reassurance to physicians and their patients.

There are numerous other drugs in this class of medication, and Bulbulia said, "it seems reasonable to assume that [this study's findings] should hold true for other currently prescribed statins." Other commonly used statins include Lipitor, Crestor and Mevacor.

Results of the study are published in the Nov. 23 online issue of The Lancet. Funding for the study was provided by the U.K. Medical Research Council, the British Heart Foundation, Merck & Co. (manufacturer of Zocor) and Roche Vitamins.

The study looked at the long-term safety of simvastatin because some research suggested that the rates of some cancers and non-vascular health conditions were increased in people who had lower levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol.

Initially, the study recruited more than 20,500 people who had a high risk of heart disease and other cardiovascular problems for a trial of simvastatin versus a placebo. The study volunteers were between 40 and 80 years old.

Half the group was randomly assigned to take 40 milligrams of simvastatin daily, while the other half took a placebo. At the end of the treatment phase of the trial, which lasted about five years, study participants were encouraged to continue on their study treatment for as long as another six years. About 17,500 of the initial participants continued in the follow-up phase, according to the report.

People taking simvastatin reduced their "bad" cholesterol an average of 1 millimole per liter over five years. This reduction translated into a 23 percent drop in the risk of major cardiovascular events, such as heart attack and stroke, the researchers said. This benefit continued throughout the follow-up, reported the study.

When the researchers examined the data from the treatment and follow-up phases for evidence of any increases in non-vascular events, such as cancer, they found no significant differences between the two groups.

"Statin therapy appears safe, with no hazards, such as an excess risk of cancer or other major non-vascular morbidity or mortality emerging during the 11-year post-trial period," said Bulbulia.

Another expert praised statins' record.

"I think the statin drugs are an extraordinary class of medications, and a necessity in Western populations, where there is less physical exercise and more calorie consumption," said Dr. Howard Weintraub, clinical director of the Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City.

"These are very safe drugs, and this study demonstrates that safety, and that the vascular protection continues well beyond the termination of treatment," said Weintraub.

"I think the picture for cardiovascular disease would be very different if these drugs weren't a part of our armamentarium," he added.

More information

Learn more about statins from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/meds/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20111123/hl_hsn/cholesterolloweringdrugssafeforlongtermusestudyfinds

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[OOC] Fighting The Inevitable

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"It was just one of those, And they died. The End! stories that make us demigods feel warm and fuzzy."Percy Jackson

Dancing Around Your Bedroom Like A Mad Idiot While Paramore Plays, Hoping Nobody Comes In.

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Is it okay if I make a person who has had the injection, but it was interrupted so they don't have full on side effects?

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Restraining order extended in Selena Gomez case (AP)

BURBANK, Calif. ? A civil judge extended a temporary restraining order Wednesday but refused to issue Selena Gomez a lengthier order against a man accused of stalking the singer-actress.

Superior Court Judge William Stewart said he will not grant a three-year restraining order while Thomas Brodnicki remains on a psychiatric hold unless he has assurances the man had an opportunity to be represented at a hearing.

Stewart did extend a temporary order requiring Brodnicki, 46, to stay 100 yards away from the "Wizards of Waverly Place" star until a Jan. 6 hearing.

Los Angeles Police Detective Jose Viramontes told Stewart that Brodnicki is in a hospital on an involuntary psychiatric hold and efforts are under way to place him under a conservatorship. Viramontes said those proceedings, which would place Brodnicki under court supervision and could establish a treatment plan, could take 10 months.

The judge said allowing Brodnicki time to contest the restraining order is a basic due process issue.

Gomez's attorney, Blair Berk, argued that Brodnicki had an opportunity to contest the order and briefly had a public defender in another case who could have handled the issue.

Another judge recently dropped a felony stalking charge against Brodnicki after determining prosecutors hadn't proven he had caused fear for the star.

Berk argued that the civil order was the only court protection for Gomez.

Gomez, 19, did not attend the hearing. She wrote in a sworn declaration that she was in extreme fear after learning that Brodnicki had threatened to kill her while he was on a previous psychiatric hold.

Prosecutors accused him of traveling to Los Angeles and stalking the actress between July and October.

___

Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tv/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111123/ap_en_tv/us_people_selena_gomez

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Opera soprano Sena Jurinac dies aged 90 (omg!)

LONDON (Reuters) - Bosnian-born soprano Sena Jurinac, who made her name at the Vienna State Opera in the 1940s and 50s, has died aged 90, the opera house said on Wednesday.

She passed away on Tuesday at her home near Augsburg in southern Germany, it added in a statement.

"We mourn the passing of a legendary artist who not only had a lasting influence on the Vienna State Opera but on the entire opera world as well," said Dominique Meyer, director of the company.

Jurinac was born in Travnik in 1921, and after training and singing in Zagreb signed up to the Vienna State Opera.

Her debut there came in 1945, in the opera's first performance after the end of World War Two, as Cherubino in Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro."

Among her most-performed roles in Vienna were Octavian in "Der Rosenkavalier," Mimi in "La Boheme," Donna Elvira in "Don Giovanni" and Elisabeth in "Don Carlos." She retired from the opera house in 1982.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_opera_soprano_sena_jurinac_dies_aged90_150457459/43694403/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/opera-soprano-sena-jurinac-dies-aged-90-150457459.html

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Retail groups file suit over debit card fee rules (AP)

NEW YORK ? A coalition of retail groups sued the Federal Reserve on Tuesday, claiming the regulator ignored the law by setting too high a cap on the fees that banks can charge merchants for handling debit card purchases.

The National Retail Federation and other groups claimed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., that the Fed buckled under pressure from bank lobbyists when it set the cap at an average of about 24 cents per transaction in late June. The previously unregulated fees used to average around 44 cents.

The cap, which took effect Oct. 1, was initially proposed at 12 cents.

American Bankers Association CEO Frank Keating accused retailers of "seeking more profits from government price controls" by filing the suit, and maintained that retailers have not passed on the savings that resulted from the cap to their customers.

The merchant groups said that in raising the cap, the Fed considered expenses that the law did not allow. Their lawsuit maintains that the board dropped its earlier view that the only costs that should be considered in the fee were those involving the authorization, clearing and settlement of a transaction. Instead, the retailers claim, the Fed added costs, such as fraud losses, associated with a bank's debit card operations that were not included in the law.

The result is that merchants sometimes now pay more in debit transaction fees. One of the plaintiffs in the case, Miller Oil Co. of Norfolk, Va., which operates convenience stores and gas stations, used to pay about 16 cents per transaction in bank fees.

The suit maintains the cap is an "unreasonable interpretation" that exceeds the authority delegated to the Fed under the law. And it complains the Fed wrongly interpreted another provision of the law that requires merchants have a choice of which network handles their transaction.

The law, commonly known as the Durbin Amendment after Illinois Sen. Richard Durbin, who championed it, is part of the financial regulatory reform passed in July 2010.

Banks lobbied hard against the fee cap. They maintain it will cost them about $7 billion in annual revenue. Attempts to compensate for the loss to this and other regulations by charging customers monthly fees for using debit cards sparked a nationwide furor in recent months, leading the banks to drop their plans.

Minnesota-based TCF Bank dropped an earlier lawsuit challenging the legality of the Durbin Amendment a day after the Fed set the cap above its original proposal.

"The merchants are extremely frustrated," said Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director for U.S. Public Interest Research Group. "Our position in favor of reform has always been based on the fact that (shoppers) were subsidizing bank customer rewards because of a broken market.

"The Fed essentially didn't fix the market as much as Mr. Durbin and the merchants thought they would," Mierzwinski said.

A Fed spokeswoman said the regulator is aware of the lawsuit and will review it.

In addition to the National Retail Federation and Miller Oil, the suit was brought by the National Association of Convenience Stores, the Food Marketing Institute and Boscov's Department Store of Reading, Pa.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111122/ap_on_bi_ge/us_debit_card_rules_lawsuit

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