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Swing-state voters closely divided - UPI.com 19 (UPI) -- Registered voters in key 2012 swing states say they're closely divided between U.S. President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney, Gallup said. Forty-eight percent said they back Obama and 46 percent said they support Romney, results of a USA Today-Gallup Swing States poll released Wednesday indicated. The results are based on a poll of registered voters in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Results indicated 22 percent of voters were either undecided or said they could possibly change their minds about whom to support between now and Election Day. The candidates have roughly the same percentage of committed voters, the Princeton, N.J., polling agency said. Thirty-nine percent of Romney supporters and 38 percent of Obama backers in the swing states say they wouldn't change their preference. Most swing-state registered voters, 74 percent, said the recent political conventions had little to no influence on them, Gallup said. Three in four said they didn't think the presidential debates would influence their vote. Results are based on telephone interviews conducted Sept. 11-17 with 1,096 registered voters living in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Guardian Open Weekend: a festival of readers and reasonableness "Curiosity and conviviality, the two Cs, were our watchwords," explained Madeleine Bunting, director of the Guardian's Open Weekend. There was, in fact, a third C - compote - which Felicity Cloake was making for breakfast in front of an audience of 100 or so as I arrived. Food for thought. It was Richard Littlejohn's worst nightmare. Not just Cloake's fruit compote and Scotch pancake - he is surely a bacon roll kind of guy - but 5,000 Guardianistas gathered under one roof at Kings Place in London at the weekend for a festival of reasonableness. The weather was perfect, proving that God, whatever the Bible might suggest, is a centrist. Not even the Heathen's Manifesto, being concocted by philosopher Julian Baggini at the same time as the compote, made Him veil the sun or send a plague of frogs, interesting though that might have been for Paul Evans's country ramble round King's Cross. The programme had been artfully devised to make you feel guilty. Each hour there were around 10 events. Cloake's compote was up against not just the Heathen's Manifesto but the Role of Women in the Arab Spring, Zac Goldsmith being brutally honest about the limitations of Tory environmentalism, and a talk on terrorism in Kashmir. When it came to a choice between What is the Future of Capitalism? and The Art of the Cryptic Crossword, there could only be one winner. John Halpern, aka crossword-setter Paul, was generating waves of love among the cryptologists gathered in the Scott Room. Except for one woman, who said she found his puzzles too hard. "I see your name on a crossword and give up immediately," she said. What is the secret of solving them? Can you give me a clue? "Perseverance," said Halpern sternly and uncryptically. Another woman had a more practical suggestion. Work backwards. Look at the answers the following day, and try to get inside Paul's head. It took Halpern 10 years to become a full-time setter, and in his early days he had to do other jobs to make ends meet, including transporting urine samples from a hospital to a lab for testing. "I was the official piss-taker," he said. In a way, he still is. His crosswords aren't just puzzles; they're offbeat views of the world. He aims to subvert and satirise, and also likes to smuggle in smut. Mistakes are a catastrophe. When he placed Settle in Cumbria rather than North Yorkshire, the Guardian switchboard was jammed for days. As an act of reparation, he had to compose a puzzle in which settle featured in every clue. "I had to settle up and settle down," he said. The weekend was challenging to report. There were an awful lot of wannabe journalists, including James Carroll, a student doing English at Oxford, who pointed out that my scribble was not proper shorthand. "We're told you have to have shorthand now to get hired," he said. He had come as an antidote to reading Chaucer for his imminent finals. How did the weekend compare? "Faster paced, but just as difficult to understand," he said pithily. He will go far, damn him. I also talked to the editorial team from the Boar, Warwick University's student newspaper. They were £17,000 in debt, but were pinning their hopes on a digital future, rejected the idea of a paywall and hoped to break even through advertising. "If we had a paywall we would just be talking to ourselves," said editor Natasha Clark. Perhaps they could consider a festival.There was a farmers' market next to the canal with olives, crepes and a juice bar, as well as a cheese boat where you could taste Welsh cheeses. The queues at the stalls were long; the cheese disappearing rapidly. I bumped into Alan Rusbridger, editor-in-chief of the Guardian, who was on his way to a debate about phone hacking, and told him I'd found a new business model for the media. Forget all this digital stuff and concentrate on pancakes, smoothies, mature cheddar laced with whisky, and of course crosswords. He gave me a slightly quizzical look. Grayson Perry, in conversation with Decca Aitkenhead, was a great hit. "It's one of my deep fears that I might become fashionable," said Perry, a natural aphorist. All that means is that you are on the verge of being unfashionable. Most of the questions were posed online by readers. The first came from Perry's wife. What's for dinner? It was Perry's birthday and at the end of the session he was presented with a cake. "Very unusual," he said. It looks like spam and avocado. Guardian Society editor and committed apiarist Alison Benjamin presented a talk on keeping bees in cities. How did it go? I asked her afterwards. "Buzzing," she said. Because I was late I wasn't allowed into the How to Be Happy session, which made me furious. But I was cheered up by Simon Hoggart's one-man show, which was wise as well as witty. "Why have you stayed at the Guardian for 45 years?" he was asked. Because they let you write what you want. As for parliamentary sketchwriting, it was better than working, he said. Though he admitted Welsh questions on a wet Tuesday was tough. Steve Bell also did a brilliant turn, running through the past 30 years of British history as seen through his cartoons. Very occasionally his scabrous humour had been too much even for the Guardian's liberal editors, and he showed one cartoon from the Falklands war which had never seen the light of day. "But on the whole I've been very lucky," he said, "though I suppose I have to say that because I'm here in the editorial conference room." Sunday morning was tough. "Did no one planning this realise we were losing an hour?" complained one frazzled woman as she bought her latte. Ed Balls, on early in the main hall, was undeterred, telling interviewer Katharine Viner he was in training to run the London marathon. Probably wise as Labour's road back to power could be long and arduous. The foyer at Kings Place had a stage with musicians and dancers performing energetically throughout the weekend, and there was a wall on which cartoonist Martin Rowson and illustrators Scriberia (motto "Visualise your thinking") were mapping the day's events. I noticed that when they went home on Saturday evening, a sign was pinned to it - "Please Do Not Draw On This Wall." Crowdsourcing and mutualisation evidently have their limits. I liked the middle-aged group who spent a large part of Saturday sitting in the foyer reading the Guardian. It felt like a piece of situationist art. Everywhere you looked there were live-bloggers, tweeters and vox poppers. I vox-popped a trendy young woman reading Sartre's Iron in the Soul and asked her what she thought of the weekend. It transpired she was at Kings Place for an ultra-cool jazz concert that had nothing to do with the Guardian. "I'm probably not the best person to ask," she said with what I thought was unnecessary condescension. I did steel myself go to some of the more serious events. Andrew Adonis and Simon Hughes debated Britain's "progressive dilemma." I'd expected Hughes to be torn apart by the audience, but he was treated relatively gently. "You never fend people off by not coming and having the debate," he told me afterwards. Some people think we have betrayed them, but in coalitions you can't deliver everything you want. Come the next election, he said the Lib Dems would present themselves as "a progressive party willing to do a deal with a progressive Labour party." The question of whether that other C would form part of this potential progressive alliance was left hanging. David Miliband was less forthcoming when I buttonholed him after his session, which posed the question "Are we facing a crisis of democracy?" "Are you writing a puff piece for the Guardian?" he said. No, a hard-hitting piece of investigative reporting, I insisted. The philosophical starting point for the weekend was, where does the Guardian go from here? How do we carry on in a world where newspapers are dying and social media are becoming ever more central? Here made manifest was the community which might eventually replace the traditional us-and-them relationship. Clay Shirky, the pope of openness, was interviewed by Rusbridger on Sunday morning, and even a dinosaur like me who thinks this piece should be 5,000 words long and written in dactylic hexameters found him persuasive. "Every time a technology comes along that allows citizens to communicate more freely the legacy industries flip out," he said. He recalled that TV companies had likened the video recorder to the Boston Strangler when it was launched. Shirky argued that in the modern media world, loyalty was everything. Should media organisations offer a product, a service, or strive to build a different sort of organisation - a group of like-minded people who thought "God forbid that the Guardian should ever go out of business?" It was clear what shape the 300-strong audience thought the Guardian of the future should take. These, after all, were the loyalest of the loyal, people who had given up their lost-hour Sunday to ponder existential media questions and eat a lot of free cheese. The weekend was principally about those readers, and meeting Cathy Robertson, who had come down from Liverpool with her Guardian-agnostic husband, summed up its purpose. "It's a fantastic opportunity to get closer to the paper I've read for years," she said. After this I'll be reading it with new insight. I'll feel closer to it; feel it's even more my paper and that it reflects my values. It's been a wonderful experience. And, with apologies to Miliband, it had. Hardly any children fell in the canal; I managed to miss Tim Dowling's banjo session; and very few people mentioned "the digital journey." Rusbridger told me the festival would definitely be staged again next year, though that this overview would probably be compiled by multiple interactive curators and presented as a videographic. Truly a revolution. Yet the Guardian likes to stress continuity too, and in 84-year-old Alec Gilmore, who was here with his wife Enid for the whole weekend, I found a man who embodied it. He had been reading the paper religiously (he is a Baptist minister) since he was 18. More than that, as a boy his printer father had given him a tour of the Guardian's office and printworks in Manchester. That was in 1938, and here he was in 2012 visiting the new digitalised, mutualised, Shirkyised Guardian. Did he recognise the Guardian across those 70-odd years? "The grammar's not what it used to be," he said, "but the spirit of the thing hasn't changed."

Playing J.R. like coming home, says Larry Hagman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Larry Hagman's conniving Texas oil baron J.R. Ewing helped turn "Dallas" into a worldwide hit more than 30 years ago, and gave television one of its most alluring and dastardly villains. Hagman, now 80, is putting on his boots, his wicked grin and 10-gallon cowboy hat for a new version of the TV series, starting June 13 on cable channel TNT. The TV veteran sat down with Reuters recently to talk about returning to the Southfork Ranch, his off-screen passion for alternative energy and his hatred of cowboy boots. Q: What was your first reaction when this new "Dallas" TV series was pitched to you? A: "I said, 'who's on the show?' and they said Linda Gray, Patrick Duffy. I said 'done deal' before I even saw the script. We're buddies. It's three musketeers kinda stuff. We like working with each other. Q: How hard was it to get back into the character of J.R. after all these years? A: "Honey, it was like coming home. It's no trouble getting into that character. I don't know how much is the character and how much is me anymore. Q: You gave me a fright in the premiere, with J.R. spending so much time sitting silent in a chair with his eyes closed. A: "That was just a hook to get me back in and to explain what I've been doing for the past 20 years. I've been in this place, kind of sequestered. Assisted living, I believe they call it. In the old days, they would call it bedlam. Depression - that is how they described it. Anyhow, it gets us going. Q: How much can you tell us about the plot of the new show? Has J.R. mellowed at all? A: "I think you will find he is just as big a cad now as he was then." Q: You told me last year when you were selling memorabilia that you hated cowboy boots because they were so uncomfortable. So how are you managing with having to wear them again? A: "Wear two sizes too big and don't walk very far. And when you sit down and they are doing close-ups, take them off. Q: You announced you had cancer just as filming started. How are you doing now? They gave me a few weeks off in the middle as I'm not heavy in every show. Then I shot a lot at the end. It didn't affect my presence on the show. Q: Do you think the new "Dallas" will have the same kind of appeal it did 30 years ago? A: "I sure hope so, otherwise we are wasting our time! No, listen. If it gets half the people watching that we had for the original, we would probably be No. 1 nowadays. With the built-in audience we have left from a couple of generations ago, and the new kids that are really good actors, and good scripts, I think it will be successful. And if it is not, it's fun anyway. Q: "Dallas" still has a big following abroad. Where are most of your own fans now? A: "Germany, England, Ireland, France, North Africa, South America, India ... I was amazed to find out that 'Dallas' is very popular in India, so I will have to go over there and do some personal appearances. Q: Is it true you have been a user of alternative energy long before you started playing a wealthy oil baron on "Dallas"? A: "I used to have all my cars running on propane, that was about 40 years ago. Then I investigated wind power and sun power and thermal power and stuff like that. I live on the top of a mountain in Ojai, California - about 1,000 meters high. My sun starts at sun-up and goes all day, so I have an ideal place to put solar panels. I have the largest private solar home in America! I manufacture electricity so the electric company has to pay me about $10,000 a year for what I don't use. Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte and Gunna Dickson

When the President Orders a Killing Re "Secret "Kill List" Proves a Test of Obama's Principles and Will" (front page, May 29): If President Obama is allowed to execute American citizens without judicial review and outside the theater of war, that astonishing power will forever reside in the hands of future presidents. No president should be given that breathtaking level of power - essentially serving as judge, jury and executioner without any check or balance. This abuse of power must be curtailed, not merely because of the possibility of current abuses but because of the certainty of future abuses. The American Civil Liberties Union has brought - and will continue to bring - litigation on the targeted killing program and the need for greater transparency. Time and again, the Obama administration seeks to dismiss those suits on state secrets grounds, arguing that to allow judicial review of such policies would harm national security. It has also permitted the Central Intelligence Agency to tell courts implausibly that the public does not even know the program exists. If numerous administration officials can defend the targeted killing program to Times reporters, then surely our federal courts and the American public should be granted that same level of respect. The administration shouldn't hide its actions in court and then trumpet its achievements in the press. America's moral standing depends on it. ANTHONY D. ROMERO Executive Director American Civil Liberties Union New York, May 29, 2012 To the Editor: I was among the "phalanx of retired generals and admirals" who stood with President Obama as he signed executive orders to ban torture, close the C.I.A."s secret prisons and set a timetable for closing Guantánamo. President Obama did not break faith with us, but we must remain vigilant in our efforts to ensure that he fulfills his promises. President Obama has already eliminated torture and closed C.I.A. secret sites, but he must not stop there. He should bring the number of Guantánamo detainees down to zero and prosecute accused terrorists in federal courts rather than creaky military commissions. He has a responsibility to work beyond the politics and restore America's reputation as a beacon for the rule of law. Our group of retired military leaders knew that progress would take time. We also knew that it would be worth the wait. The writer is a retired rear admiral and former Navy judge advocate general. Re "Too Much Power for a President" (editorial, May 31): Assassination cannot somehow be made right with court review or delegating the task to nonpoliticians, despite what you suggest. The deeper problem is that President Obama is pursuing the Bush administration's "war on terror" with lethal absurdity. A nonterritorial war, which cannot be won with the capture of a hill or a city, is an open license to murder. If we recognize terrorism as a crime, then suspects need to be captured and tried on the basis of evidence, with due process. From expediency and a desire to look tough, Mr. Obama has adopted a policy that has turned into Buy One, Get Two Free: Kill One, Make Two New Ones. Drone strikes create intense hostility in Pakistan and Yemen, breeding new terrorists. The United States is setting a precedent for Russia, China and, in time, terrorist organizations to use drones. Like Harry S. Truman with nuclear weapons, Mr. Obama is opening a Pandora's box. DAVID KEPPEL Bloomington, Ind., May 31, 2012 Especially for liberals, the very idea of a sanctioned assassination list is troubling. But your editorial's objections to it are untenable on several counts. One sympathizes with the desire for oversight, but targeted assassination cannot be the official policy of our court system or of our military hierarchy, and military action against implacable enemies cannot be hostage to the vagaries and complexity of legal briefs. The courts are responsible to the Constitution; the military is bound by the rules of war. Only the president, in his capacity as commander in chief, has both the civilian and military authority necessary to make such decisions. One also sympathizes with the desire for such decisions to be nonpolitical, but the fact that the president, unlike generals or most judges, is elected by the people means both that the people are responsible for the president's actions, and that the president will be held accountable to the people. For better, as in the Obama administration, or worse, as during the Bush years, we, the people, are the assassins, which is as it should be. The buck stops here.

Liverpool to open talks with Roberto Martinez about succeeding Kenny Dalglish Wigan have given Liverpool permission to speak to their manager Roberto Martinez over the vacancy at Anfield. Speaking to Sky Sports this afternoon, Wigan's chairman Dave Whelan, confirmed Liverpool had been in contact. "I was with Roberto when they phoned," he said. I have always said when a big club comes I will give permission and they don't come any bigger than Liverpool. I gave them permission and he will be talking to Liverpool soon. The news would appear to show Liverpool's owners Fenway Sports Group are moving quickly to appoint a successor to Kenny Dalglish, who it was announced had been sacked yesterday. It is understood that Martinez will not be the only manager approached, with The Independent reporting today that former Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas has already been sounded out about the possibility of filling the role. Should Martinez be appointed, it would be a brave move from the Liverpool owners. After dismissing the hugely popular Dalglish, supporters have been demanding clear signals that the American owners know what they are doing. It was expected a senior, experienced manager would be favoured as Liverpool look to re-establish themselves in the top-four, with former manager Rafael Benitez and former England manager Fabio Capello mooted. Therefore the decision to approach 38-year-old Martinez may not be well received. Martinez began his managerial career in 2007 with Swansea. Quickly he began to establish a passing style of football that won many plaudits, although it did not win his side promotion from the Championship during his tenure. His successor, Brendan Rodgers, continued what Martinez had started and Swansea have just completed their first season in the Premier League, finishing 11th. In 2009 he took over at Wigan, where he has been able to retain the Latics' Premier League status despite a lack of funds and some relegation scares along the way. Last summer, he was approached by Aston Villa to take over from Gerard Houllier. The Spaniard opted to remain at Wigan, feeling he owed the club his loyalty due to owner Whelan having stuck by him in the past. Wigan looked in danger of relegation this season, but would win seven of their last nine games, including victories over Manchester United, Arsenal, and perhaps most importantly considering today's news, Liverpool. Whelan has expressed the disappointment he will feel should Martinez depart, but said he would not stand in the manager's way. For Wigan he has been a fantastic, superb manager, he'd be a very difficult act to follow but things happen, managers change clubs, you've just got to accept it. I don't know who's interviewing him at Liverpool or Roberto's feelings about Liverpool, I think he's going with an open mind. I'd love to keep Roberto, he's a great manager but unfortunately we may lose him.

N. Korea launch won't affect humanitarian aid SEOUL, April 18 (UPI) -- North Korea's botched rocket launch will not stop Seoul from providing humanitarian aid to Pyongyang, a South Korean official said Wednesday. Unification Minister Yu Woo-ik said that in addition to providing its own aid, South Korea will continue to permit private agencies to do so, the Korea Times reported. However, he said the international community and South Korea's allies would take necessary punitive action against the North for the failed rocket launch that violated a United Nations Security Council resolution. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak met with an advisory panel of security experts Wednesday to discuss the matter, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported. Participants said Lee provided a positive assessment of China for joining the Security Council in adopting a presidential statement Monday condemning the April 13 launch.

Hull City offer Steve Bruce manager's position

IMF warns China on eurozone fallout By Jamil Anderlini, FT.com February 6, 2012 -- Updated 2304 GMT (0704 HKT) Chinese paramilitary policeman stands guard outside the European Union Delegation in Beijing on October 30, 2011. IMF: Growth in China could drop by half if a sharp recession hits Europe Underscored the importance of global trade to the world's second largest economy (Financial Times) -- Economic growth in China could drop by half this year in the event of a sharp recession in Europe, the IMF predicted on Monday in a report that underscored the importance of global trade to the world's second largest economy. "The risks to China from Europe are both large and tangible," and "China would be highly exposed through trade linkages," said the report, which was published by the IMF's resident representative office in China. The IMF's forecast for China's annual growth in 2012 has already been lowered to 8.2 per cent from a previous forecast of 9 per cent but if Europe's performance is worse than expected then China's export-driven economy would be badly hit. "In the absence of a domestic policy response, China's growth could decline by as much as 4 percentage points relative to the baseline projections [of 8.2 per cent] leading to broad-based consumer and asset price deflation," the report warned. That would entail a growth rate far below the level the ruling Communist Party has identified as necessary to create enough jobs for it to maintain its grip on power. But Beijing has been loathe to run large government deficits in past years and this means the government could probably afford a relatively large stimulus in the event of such a downturn. The IMF recommended that China respond with a fiscal package of around 3 per cent of GDP to be spent on reducing taxes, subsidizing purchases of big-ticket consumer items, improving social services and ramping up the country's already enormous social housing plan. The fund reckons such a plan would allow China to still hit a growth rate of around 7.2 per cent this year, even if Europe were to slip into a deep recession. In November 2008, in the midst of the global financial crisis, China unveiled a Rmb4tn stimulus package to counter the effects of collapsing trade and investment. While economists estimate this massive response boosted domestic growth by at least 6 percentage points, the country's overall growth rate still fell by 5 percentage points from its pre-crisis level. One major problem with that previous stimulus plan was how it was structured and implemented -- Beijing effectively ordered the country's state-owned banks to lend the bulk of the stimulus directly to state enterprises and local governments. On Monday, the IMF recommended that any new stimulus should pass through the central government's budget rather than relying on public infrastructure paid for by bank loans and local government contracts. "China still has a long way to go to digest the side effects of the surge of credit unleashed in the wake of the global crisis," the report said. Residual concerns about credit quality and bank balance sheets from the 2009-2010 stimulus would mean that any monetary response to an unfolding European crisis should be limite

Al Qaeda's No. 2 in Yemen killed in airstrike (AP) SANAA, Yemen - An airstrike killed al Qaeda's No. 2 leader in Yemen along with six others traveling with him in one car on Monday, U.S. and Yemeni officials said, a major breakthrough for U.S.-backed efforts to cripple the group in the impoverished Arab nation. Saeed al-Shihri, a Saudi national who fought in Afghanistan and spent six years in the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, was killed by a missile after leaving a house in the southern province of Hadramawt, according to Yemeni military officials. They said the missile was believed to have been fired by a U.S.-operated, unmanned drone aircraft. Two senior U.S. officials confirmed al-Shihri's death but could not confirm any U.S. involvement in the airstrike. The U.S. doesn't usually comment on such attacks although it has used drones in the past to go after al Qaeda members in Yemen, which is considered a crucial battleground with the terror network. Yemeni military officials said that a local forensics team had identified al-Shihri's body with the help of U.S. forensics experts on the ground. The U.S. and Yemeni military officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information to the media. Norwegian at center of new al Qaeda plot fears Yemen: Al Qaeda land mines planted by fleeing militants kill 73 civilians Yemen army general leading fight against al Qaeda killed by suicide bomber Clinton: U.S. hacked Yemeni al Qaeda websites Late Monday, after speculation surfaced that the attack was carried by a U.S. drone, Yemen's Defense Ministry issued a statement saying al-Shihri and six companions were killed during an operation by Yemeni armed forces in Wadi Hadramawt, but it did not elaborate on how they were killed. Yemeni military officials said they had believed the United States was behind the operation because their own army does not the capacity to carry out precise aerial attacks and because Yemeni intelligence gathering capabilities on al-Shihri's movements were limited. A brief Defense Ministry statement sent to Yemeni reporters on their mobile phones earlier in the day only said that an attack had targeted the militants. It did not specify who carried out the attack or when it took place. Al-Shihri's death is a major blow to al Qaeda's Yemen branch, which is seen as the world's most active, planning and carrying out attacks against targets on and outside U.S. territory. The nation sits on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula and is on the doorstep of Saudi Arabia and fellow oil-producing nations of the Gulf and lies on strategic sea routes leading to the Suez Canal. The group formally known as Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula took advantage of the political vacuum during unrest inspired by the Arab Spring last year to take control of large swaths of land in the south. But the Yemeni military has launched a broad U.S.-backed offensive and driven the militants from several towns. After leaving Guantanamo in 2007, al-Shihri, who is believed to be in his late 30s, went through Saudi Arabia's famous "rehabilitation" institutes, an indoctrination program that is designed to replace what authorities in Saudi Arabia see as militant ideology with religious moderation. But he headed south to Yemen upon release and became deputy to Nasser al-Wahishi, the leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Al-Wahishi is a Yemeni who once served as Osama bin Laden's personal aide in Afghanistan. Al Qaeda in Yemen has been linked to several attempted attacks on U.S. targets, including the foiled Christmas Day 2009 bombing of an airliner over Detroit and explosives-laden parcels intercepted aboard cargo flights last year. Last year, a high-profile U.S. drone strike killed U.S.-born Anwar al-Awlaki, who had been linked to the planning and execution of several attacks targeting U.S. and Western interests, including the attempt to down a Detroit-bound airliner in 2009 and the plot to bomb cargo planes in 2010. Unlike other al Qaeda branches, the network's militants in Yemen have gone beyond the concept of planting sleeper cells and actively sought to gain a territorial foothold in lawless areas, mainly in the south of Yemen, before they were pushed back by U.S.-backed Yemeni government forces after months of intermittent battles. The fighting has killed hundreds of Yemeni soldiers. The Yemen-based militants have struck Western targets in the area twice in the past 12 years. In 2000, they bombed the USS Cole destroyer in Aden harbor, killing 17 sailors. Two years later, they struck a French oil tanker, also off Yemen. U.S. drone strikes have intensified in Yemen in recent months, killing several key al Qaeda operatives, including Samir Khan, an al Qaeda propagandist who was killed in a drone strike last year.

Evening News Online, 02.21.12 - CBS News Video Evening News Online, 02.21.12 Tuesday: The Dow Jones industrial average reaches a major milestone in its recovery from the financial meltdown, crossing 13,000 for the first time in four years; Also, patients in Texas who are considering having an abortion are now required by law to have a sonogram and have the doctor describe what he sees, then wait an extra 24 hours before committing to the procedure; And, a study in the journal of the American Medical Association reveals a dangerous difference in the symptoms men and women experience during a heart attack.

Tel Aviv bus bombing shatters any illusions of safety TEL AVIV - A bus bombing in downtown Tel Aviv, the first in the city in years, injured 21 people Wednesday, shattering windows, nerves and illusions. Coming after a handful of rocket strikes on the outskirts of Israel's largest city in recent days, the attack reinforced the view that no one in the country is secure. "People in Tel Aviv are used to feeling more safe than other parts of the country," said Matti Schik, 48, a medical administrator who works a few feet from where the bus bomb exploded. Now that's changed. PHOTOS: Gaza conflict Though news of Wednesday's cease-fire was welcomed, many said they didn't expect it to last given the poor record of such agreements in recent years. "This isn't going away," said Metuka Orevi, a grandmother in Beersheba, in southern Israel, a city that's seen dozens of rocket attacks over the last week. But maybe we can have a few months of quiet. That's all you can ask for. Police stepped up security in Tel Aviv after the noontime attack, which occurred as the bus rounded a corner near the justice and defense ministries. Analysts said the lack of fatalities and limited damage suggested a relative amateur used a crude device. Buses were noticeably empty as word spread, however. Forensic specialists combed the debris for clues. "It was a terrible thing," said Israel Kornik, a medic who witnessed the explosion. There was lots of blood. Tel Aviv has long enjoyed a reputation as a party town somewhat insulated from the airborne attacks seen in areas of Israel closer to the Gaza Strip, although the city came under fire from Iraqi Scud missiles during the 1991 Persian Gulf War and has experienced other bombings. "I've never been one to condemn Tel Aviv for drinking espresso while a crisis happens," said Gadi Taub, a public policy professor at Hebrew University. The fact is they try to live life normally. But this crisis has given them a greater understanding of what southern communities have been going through. Though the cease-fire lends hope that rockets will stop causing terror and anxiety, some analysts said the long-term picture suggests that the Palestinian weapons will only increase in range and accuracy over time. "They're learning and making progress," said Meir Elran, an analyst with the Institute for National Security Studies, a think tank. Some of their people are innovative and entrepreneurial. At the Natal trauma center for victims of terrorist attacks, a few blocks from where the bus bombing occurred, volunteer counselor Efrat, who would give only her first name, worked the phones from a cubicle, taking notes as she advised frightened Israelis a few hours before the cease-fire went into effect. In the last week, 25% of the calls to the center's hotline have been from Tel Aviv, up from 5% before the latest violence. Stress throughout Israel's population has surged, mental health experts said, and that's likely to continue even if the cease-fire holds. Orevi said her 2-year-old grandson had taken it the hardest in the family, refusing to eat or play. "I stood on my head yesterday trying to liven him up," she said. No one can say they're not afraid. We're all afraid. People have their own coping mechanisms. Some have clung desperately to daily routines to maintain the illusion of normality and sense of control, said Yehudit Bar Hai, a trauma expert. Others avoid taking showers, fearful they couldn't react fast enough in a rocket attack. Others have slept on porches, believing that being that much closer to a shelter made them safer. The stress has also given rise to dark humor. "You understand how screwed up things are if your brother calls from Gaza to ask if you're OK," said one message on Facebook. "Lost my rocket virginity last week, not a direct hit but Oh baby I felt the earth move," said another. Repeated trips to air raid shelters, sometimes two or three times a night, have left many Israelis short on sleep. "Between the sirens, bombings and a 4 a.m. attack that really shook my house, I'm so tired my body feels like it's night right now," said Orly Gal, Natal's executive director. But we're getting by on adrenaline. Everyone's a bit cranky, but what can you do? A few miles south of Tel Aviv in Rishon Le Zion, Israel's fourth-largest city, Sharon Savariego, a 27-year-old high-tech executive, showed off the family bomb shelter, a small room with foot-thick concrete walls. Tuesday night, after a rocket hit the neighborhood, she had desperately tried reaching her family by phone but had trouble getting a connection. "It was panic until we got through," she said. I hope we can put all this behind us.

Tymoshenko to file new court appeal KIEV, Ukraine, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- Lawyers for jailed Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko said they planned another appeal after she was sent to a penal colony on corruption charges. Serhiy Vlasenko, a lawyer for Tymoshenko, said after meeting with the jailed opposition leader that he planned another appeal. "We are planning the appeal and it will be lodged today or tomorrow," he was quoted on her Web site as saying. Tymoshenko lost a presidential election in 2010 to pro-Kremlin leader Viktor Yanukovych. She was sentenced last year to seven years in prison following a corruption conviction tied to a 2009 natural gas deal reached with Russia's Gazprom when she was Ukrainian prime minister. After losing a previous appeal, she was transferred last week to a penal colony in northeastern Ukraine. Her allies say the charges filed against her are part of a political ploy by the Yanukovych administration, a charge his government denies. Washington before the appeals court ruling pleaded for her release. British Minister for Europe David Lidington said the decision by a court of appeals in Kiev was an assault to justice. The trial, he said, was "subject to numerous and serious violations of legal principles."

How the 'Flight' crew controlled chaos Robert Zemeckis' "Flight" is a sober drama about addiction, with Denzel Washington as boozy airline pilot Whip Whitaker. But what launches the story is a bravura sequence in which Whip undertakes extraordinary measures to try to save his crippled, diving plane and the 102 people on board. Here, we speak with the craft people involved in creating the edge-of-your-seat crash scene. Script excerpts by screenwriter John Gatins. Descend and maintain 30 thousand. Director Robert Zemeckis: A set like that is basically a tube - cockpit and cabin. Literally, there's only one way in and one way out for everybody. So the hardest thing to do is to figure out what technicians, what actors, what equipment, goes in, in what order, and what goes out in what order, because it takes forever to load everyone and everything. And then you do the shot and everybody's got to come back out and go to the bathroom. Special effects supervisor Michael Lantieri: I went to the Delta flight training simulators through Larry Goodrich, our technical advisor. I had them program the problem into the simulator and feel the exact pressure on the yoke, the frequency of the vibrations that would happen, how it would feel. That gave me something to mimic, right down to how hard Denzel had to pull on the yoke, how fast were the bumps and vibrations. The wind ROARS as the gear doors drop. The airframe shakes and rumbles violently. Sound designer Randy Thom: When we got the tracks initially, there was no vibrating at all. For the fuselage, we used a big semi tractor-trailer truck. We were shaking the whole truck. We also got a paint shaker that allowed you to adjust the frequency of shaking. We attached plastic cabinets and overhead luggage compartments, ladders and other metal objects. We started with a low-frequency vibration and ramped it up faster and faster. into his mike We are in a descent, an uncontrolled ... WHOOOAAAA!! Director of photography Don Burgess: How do you get people to experience the fear of falling inside an aircraft? The plane is going into a vertical dive, and we've rolled the plane over - how do you make the audience feel that? I've shot it for real, aerobatics, but you don't feel it. You have to manipulate the camera, use the angles, movement, to sell those ideas. Visual effects supervisor Kevin Baillie: It doesn't matter if it looks exactly like a plane free-falling at 400 mph; that might look too slow. It might look too fast. Don Burgess worked with the camera manufacturer to create a custom mount that would hold three Red Epic cameras on the nose of a helicopter [to get the aerial footage], but you simply can't fly a helicopter fast enough to trick the audience into thinking it's a 400 mph nose dive. So the way we gave it that energy was making all those digital clouds that flew by the camera really quickly to give it that extra sense of speed and urgency. It's not just one trick we use throughout the sequence: sometimes it's helicopter footage, sometimes it's a digital environment, sometimes we use real clouds, then we mix computer-generated clouds with them. Margaret, what's your son's name? Trevor. Say "I love you Trevor."

Bittersweet emotions as Greeks watch torch lighting ANCIENT OLYMPIA, Greece (Reuters) - Aphrodite Tagios broke down in tears as cream-robed priestesses struck graceful poses on a grassy slope at the birthplace of the Olympics in a solemn ceremony that reminded her of her country's glorious past and how far it has fallen since. With debt-stricken Greece risking bankruptcy and an exit from the euro zone, many Greeks watched the Olympic torch-lighting ceremony in the ruins of ancient Olympia on Thursday with bittersweet pangs of pride mixed with sadness and anger. "I wanted to scream to all Greeks that they have to remember the Greek spirit because we're losing it," said the 33-year-old Tagios, one of some 5,000 spectators who gathered on the slopes of an ancient arena to watch the ceremony unfold. The spirit that we saw here and what it represented - we just don't have it anymore. After an economic boom in the early 2000s, the country that gave birth to the Olympics today is mired in its fifth year of recession that has left one in five Greeks jobless. While ceremonial priestesses danced in sandals and invoked the sun god Apollo to light the Olympic flame, Greek politicians in Athens, a four-hour drive away, squabbled over forming a new government after elections last week, pushing the country deeper into turmoil. The once-mighty nation today depends on financial aid from partners to avoid running out of money, and its current state of affairs is particularly galling to local archaeologist Kostantinos Antonopoulos. He gets a daily taste of Greece's past splendor as he works amid the toppled columns and ruins of this small town where men from all over Greece first competed in 776 BC, in honor of the father of the gods Zeus, for a wild olive wreath. Tucked away amid olive, pine and towering oak trees, the ancient arena where the high priestess handed the flame and an olive branch to the first torchbearer on Thursday was measured by Hercules, according to myth. "I think every day - how is it possible that a country with this civilization, with this cultural heritage, ended up in a situation like this?" said the 38-year-old Antonopoulos. Like many others across Greece, he has felt the blow from the crisis first hand. Multiple rounds of spending cuts imposed by Greece to get its finances on track have slashed his salary by 40 percent, leaving him with 800 euros to get by each month. "We're hanging on by our fingernails," he said. Reinforcing the sense of despair, armed thieves overpowered a female guard and looted a museum in Olympia earlier this year, making off with over 70 bronze and pottery artifacts. The town's mayor, Eythimios Kotzas, says Olympia is surviving the crisis better than many others in Greece due to a reliance on foreign tourists, who continue to arrive in buses and cruise ships. However, locals say the Greek tourists who arrive rarely spend much money and the Olympic torch-lighting ceremony - and the crowds it brought to the restaurants and shops - was a welcome break. "The Olympics are very poignant for us," said Nikos Doulas, a 32-year-old as he sat in the town-centre restaurant that his grandfather opened in 1937. I am proud of the Olympics but disappointed by our present state. We are just not the same as our ancestors.

Nokia warns of losses in first and second quarters

IMF still won't admit truth about the euro That, in turn, makes it harder for the IMF to raise the $600bn of additional funding it was originally demanding to create a wider, international firewall that would supplement the European one. At Davos this year, the talk was of a bailout fund - eurozone and IMF combined - with potential firepower of $2 trillion or more. Only a firewall of this magnitude, it was said, would backstop Spain and Italy against further speculative attack. These hopes now looks like pie in the sky. In recognition, Madame Lagarde has said in recent weeks that perhaps she doesn't now need the whole of the $600bn originally demanded. Yet she's being somewhat disingenuous in suggesting that this is because the crisis has abated to the degree that she no long requires as much. The true reason is that she can't raise it. Member nations are understandably reluctant to cough up for a cause whose endgame is still so uncertain. The US, knowing it could never get enhanced IMF support through Congress, has already said it won't contribute any additional funding, while even the UK is beginning to get cold feet. A previously compliant George Osborne does not believe the conditions he listed a little while back, not least a much bigger European rescue fund, have been met. So the charade continues, casting a pall of uncertainty over all gainful economic activity. No one will invest on the level needed for sustainable growth until things seem clearer. We may have to wait for the crisis to intensify further still, and the G20 meeting of premiers in Mexico next June to come and go, before we see significant movement. Economic collapse in parts of the European periphery is apparently not enough. Progress, it would seem, requires force of circumstance rather more potent than 25pc unemployment in Spain and other such stains on Europe's claim to advanced economy status. Yet unhappily, the crisis still won't go away, even if and when the institutions are created to bring about the required degree of debt mutualisation, for the problem of widely divergent competitiveness would persist. New imbalances would fast establish themselves, requiring more or less permanent transfers from North to South. Despite the punishing mix of austerity and structural reform being imposed on the South, the idea that Europe's periphery can in time be made as competitive as Germany is just fantasy. Whatever the South does, the North will ensure it remains one step ahead. As things stand, Germany has a great deal more to lose from any substantive break-up of the euro than to gain. German lending to Spain alone is in the region of €1 trillion. Spanish devaluation could as much as halve the value of these loans, never mind contingent claims and likely further losses resulting from contagion to other parts of the eurozone. There would also be the loss of export competitiveness to content with. Exporting to the periphery at a highly competitive exchange rate is a key part of the German success story. For all the misery the single currency is inflicting on the South, the costs of allowing the euro to fall apart would for Germany significantly exceed those of keeping it together, at least in the short term. Politically unpalatable though it might seem, socialisation of the periphery's debts might for Germany be a price worth paying. It may even be worth the rather higher rate of inflation that seems inevitable for Germany if the Club Med is ever to return to reasonable levels of growth. Those who believe the euro will survive, on the basis of reasoned economic argument as opposed to the blind faith that seems to colour much European thinking, tend to do so from this perspective. Germany cannot afford to let the project go and therefore won't. The priority for Germany is to ensure sufficient structural and fiscal reform in the deficit nations to ensure the ongoing transfers are both affordable, and perhaps more importantly, politically acceptable. It's going to be a close run thing. Both sides are having to accept a degree of punishment neither bargained for when they signed up to monetary union - Germany to permanent transfers, and the South to levels of reform that test the boundaries of democratic acceptability to breaking point. Who blinks first? With its belly aching over the size of firewalls, the IMF remains firmly stuck in the foothills of this debate. It dare not scale the peaks, for they remain strictly taboo. A Washington moment? I fear it's just more wishful thinking. Like poverty, this is a crisis that seems destined to be always with us.

Russia Moves to Broaden Definition of High Treason MOSCOW - Russia's lower house of Parliament on Friday unanimously approved amendments substantially broadening the legal definition of high treason, so it applies not only to acts that jeopardize state security but also to those that undermine "constitutional order, sovereignty, and territorial and state integrity." Another proposed change would allow the charge to be applied to Russian citizens providing assistance to foreign states or international organizations. Addressing lawmakers, the deputy director of the Federal Security Service said the step was necessary because foreign intelligence services "actively use" such organizations "as a cover and they conduct independent intelligence activities." To become law, the bill must pass two additional readings and be signed by President Vladimir V. Putin. Rights activists immediately condemned the initiative. Russian leaders "have now chosen an ideological course - you can even call it a national idea - to search for external and internal enemies," Lev A. Ponomarev, a veteran activist, said in an interview with Dozhd TV. Lyudmila M. Alekseyeva, a human rights advocate, told the news service Interfax that she had "a feeling that they are again pulling down the Iron Curtain." Earlier this week, the United States Agency for International Development announced that it would end its 20-year-old program in Russia at the Kremlin's request. On Friday, the Moscow office of Radio Liberty, which is financed by the American government, announced that it was ending medium-wave broadcasts because of a tough new media law that prohibits such broadcasting when more than 48 percent of an outlet's founders are foreigners. The station will continue its broadcasts online. A law passed this summer will require nonprofit organizations that receive foreign financing to identify themselves as "foreign agents," a term that evokes cold-war espionage in Russia.

Hollande acts over wealth tax crisis Francois Hollande said on Sunday there would be "no exceptions" in the imposition of his incoming 75 per cent marginal tax rate on incomes over €1m but that the measure would be dropped after two years because the economy was likely to have recovered by then. The French president spoke during a 25-minute, prime-time television interview aimed at countering falling opinion poll ratings and dispelling accusations of inertia after a weekend dispute over his flagship election measure. IN Europe He spoke a day after Bernard Arnault, France's richest man, confirmed he had applied for Belgian citizenship. Mr Arnault, head of Paris-based LVMH, the world's biggest luxury goods group by sales, told AFP news agency on Sunday: "I am and will remain fiscally domiciled in France ... our country should be able to count on the contribution of each person to face up to a profound economic crisis in an exceptionally tight budgetary context." Mr Arnault's application for joint Franco -Belgian citizenship - which the entrepreneur attributed to his personal Belgian business interests - set off a heated debate about the efficacy of high taxes on the very rich, which even the government has described as principally symbolic. Benoît Hamon, a junior Socialist minister, accused Mr Arnault of being unpatriotic, while the UMP opposition said the Hollande government was paying the price of ill-thought-out policies. Frédéric Lefebvre, former UMP minister for small industries, criticised the government for "coming up with demagogic solutions and then crying over their inevitable consequences." The promise to tax earnings above €1m at 75 per cent was one of Mr Hollande's most popular pledges ahead of his May victory over Nicolas Sarkozy, the centre-right former president, who accused the then-Socialist leader of being "useless" and inexperienced. However, the threat of a mass exodus of high-earning footballers, singers and captains of industry helped provoke recent reports that the government was seeking to water down the measure - which Mr Hollande countered last night. He said a rise in personal taxes would contribute one-third of the €33bn financing gap next year. Another third would fall on businesses while spending cuts would account for the rest. The two-thirds contribution of €20bn from taxes and just one-third from cuts represents a higher tax burden than the 50-50 split the government had previously indicated. Moreover, €33bn may end up not being enough, since the funding gap is likely to widen following Mr Hollande's disclosure in the interview that the government would cut its 2013 growth forecast to 0.8 per cent from 1.2 per cent previously. Mr Hollande's election promises to foster growth and create jobs have been dealt a blow by gloomy economic indicators since the May election. Media taunts of indecisiveness and inaction have given the president a rude start to the rentrée, when France hunkers down to work after the summer holidays. "Wake up, Hollande, there's a fire," ran a headline in Marianne, a weekly. "Are they useless?" asked Le Nouvel Observateur, while L'Express demanded: "What if Sarkozy was right?" But the left-leaning Le Monde newspaper accused the weeklies of "Hollande-bashing" headlines to boost sales. A BVA poll published for Le Parisien on Sunday showed almost 60 per cent of French people are "relatively unhappy" with the president's start, compared with 34 per cent on May 31.

MPs lambast the Financial Services Authority for failing to protect consumers The report focused on the FCA, a business regulator which is to form part of the new system. It said the FCA must have more reliable estimates of its own cost-effectiveness and be more accountable to Parliament, as well as communicating better with the financial services industry. Mr Tyrie said: "Too often we've heard that the FSA is aloof and unapproachable and that, in any case, firms are nervous about approaching them - we must break with that culture. Encouraging a greater level of engagement between firms and the regulator is in the consumer interest. The FSA, a "super regulator" set up in 1997 to supersede various bodies, recently said that more than £1 billion was paid out in the first 10 months of 2011 to customers complaining about PPI. Consumers took the insurance out to help repay their loans if they fell ill for a long period or became unemployed, but a widespread mis-selling scandal emerged. The Financial Ombudsman Service is expecting to have to clear up a record number of PPI cases this year and has said it is "disappointing" that a significant number of consumers are still waiting for businesses to tackle their complaints. The BBC found this week that the FSA has not used mystery shoppers to protect consumers for more than 18 months. In response to a Freedom Of Information request, the FSA said no mystery shopping exercises had been carried out since March 2010. The Treasury opened a public consultation on the new financial regulation plans in July 2010, with the creation of the FCA being among the proposals. It announced an inquiry into the FCA in September 2011 to ensure the body's objectives will be "clear and appropriate."

updated 10:47 p.m. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The U.S. Open featured two marquee groups, but only one marquee player. Take Tiger Woods out of the equation and the top five players in the world were no match for unforgiving Olympic Club. Then again, not many were. The lead belonged to Michael Thompson, a 27-year-old in his first U.S. Open as a pro. He made seven birdies - that's seven more than Luke Donald - for a 4-under 66 that gave him a three-shot lead over Woods and the four other lucky souls to manage to break par Thursday. The buzz came from Woods. Even as Thompson strung together four birdies on the back nine, Woods put on a clinic on the other side of the course on how to handle the toughest test in golf. Woods was never out of position. There was hardly any stress in the most demanding of majors. With consecutive birdies late in his round, including a 35-foot putt that banged into the back of the cup, Woods opened with a 1-under 69 to raise hopes that he can finally end that four-year drought in the majors. For so many others, the game plan was simply to survive. Thirteen players shot in the 80s, and the average score was 74.9 The best tribute to the toughness of Olympic was the top five players in the world. They combined to go 26-over par, which includes Woods at 69. Perhaps it was Ryo Ishikawa who best summed up the day after a hard-earned 71: "I'm very tired right now." Woods stood out on a day when the game's best struggled mightily. He was in the marquee group in the morning with four-time major champion Phil Mickelson and Masters champion Bubba Watson. Mickelson never found his opening tee that he hooked into the trees and shot 76. Watson could only say that Olympic "beat me up" on his way to a 78. In the afternoon, the USGA put together Nos. 1-2-3 based on their world ranking, and it was a rank performance. Donald failed to make a birdie in his round of 79. Rory McIlroy, the defending champion, bogeyed three of his last four holes for a 77 and then declined interview requests, instead speaking to a pool reporter. Lee Westwood was 4 over through six holes, and made an impressive rally for a 73. The shocking numbers: The top three in the world ranking combined for three birdies. "It shows how tough it is," Donald said. There aren't that many opportunities out there. Only six players managed to break par in the opening round, which would have come as a surprise to none of the players. After opening with a birdie, Joe Ogilvie turned to his caddie and said, "Seventy-one more pars and we're hoisting the trophy." He shot 73. Woods and David Toms opened with 69 in the morning, with overcast conditions from a marine layer off the Pacific Ocean. Graeme McDowell, who won the U.S. Open two years ago down the coast at Pebble Beach, Justin Rose and Nick Watney each had 69 in the afternoon. Watney would not be in that group except for the rarest shot in golf - with a 5-iron from 190 yards, the ball well below his feet on the canted fairway, he made an albatross 2 on the par-5 17th that saved his day. McIlroy said he simply got out of position. What didn't need to be said by anyone was that Olympic Club is a far different test from Congressional, where the 23-year-old shattered the U.S. Open scoring record at 16-under 268. The good news for McIlroy? His record is safe here. "Anything just a little off and it really punishes you," McIlroy said. You have to be precise with your tee shots and your iron shots and leave it on the right side of the pins, and today I didn't really do any of that. Toms relied on a superb short game and an even better attitude. The group at 70 included Jim Furyk, Matt Kuchar and 17-year-old Beau Hossler, already playing in his second U.S. Open. "On the back side, the putter ... seems like every putt went in the hole," Thompson said. The marine layer in the morning allowed for cool, overcast conditions that eventually gave way to sunshine.

Lewes bonfire celebrations: Scores treated by medics

Switzerland: Gotthard rail tunnel reopens Switzerland's main north-south railway has been re-opened to goods trains one month after it was closed because of a landslide. The line, which passes under the Gotthard mountain range, was due to reopen to passenger trains on Tuesday. Up to 3,000 cubic metres of debris blocked the line at the beginning of June killing a railway worker. More about: Landslide, Public transport, Rail transport, Switzerland

Market conditions remain tough for homeowners, experts warn HOMEOWNERS in Scotland banking on a resurgence in house prices face a long wait as lenders remain cautious and buyers sit on the sidelines, experts warn. Sales levels may improve slightly over the coming months, but prices are unlikely to move significantly in either direction, according to forecasts shared with The Scotsman. House prices north of the Border flatlined in 2012, defying predictions of a fresh slump in values as the economy continued to struggle. But while some parts of the country saw something of a rebound, including large parts of the capital, property prices fell sharply in others. Of the ten UK towns to have experienced the biggest price falls in 2012, four were in Scotland, according to research by the Halifax. Even in Edinburgh, where sales levels improved towards the end of the year, almost 80 per cent of properties sold were bought for below the home report valuation, according to ESPC. Little is expected to change in the year ahead. Sales numbers may edge up in the capital, but homeowners expecting prices to rise significantly will be disappointed, according to David Marshall, business analyst at ESPC. "Economic conditions should show some modest improvement compared to 2012, but this improvement comes from a low base," he said. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Scotland was similarly cautious, although it believes sales levels are set to pick up. The average house price will remain around the same level, said Rics, even though the number of homes sold north of the Border is likely to hit a five-year high over the coming 12 months. We expect the number of transactions to rise by 4 per cent, moving up from 74,000 in 2012 to 77,000 in 2013. To put this figure in some context, total sales in Scotland in 2007 were close to double this at 148,000," it said. Estate agent Rettie & Co believes the increases in the number of homes sold will be more modest, while it predicts house price growth of 1.5 per cent at best. Demand remains subdued, especially among first-time buyers struggling to secure mortgage finance. Mortgage availability has improved in recent months, while government and developer initiatives have sought to boost first-timers. Yet those with small deposits continue to be hampered by limited bank lending, said Dr John Boyle, head of research at Rettie. This is unlikely to change over the coming year, he warned, while the supply of homes for sale is also a problem. "The banks are still unwinding many of their property market exposures and many mortgages - around one in eight nationally - are in some form of forbearance," said Boyle. Alison Mitchell, mortgage expert at Robson Macintosh, agreed: "In the short term, I think if we expect much of the same, then we won't be disappointed," she said. Expect too much and it will feel like the crash all over again. Some are more upbeat, however. Robert Carroll, managing director and solicitor at MOV8 Real Estate in Edinburgh, believes the year ahead will bring house price stability and a marked increase in the number of homes sold. "There has been a general improvement in confidence in the property market," he said. "Interestingly, the number of buy-to-let buyers has risen quite significantly, suggesting that investors believe that the market has "bottomed-out.""

Voyager space probe reaches edge of solar system LONDON (Reuters) - The Voyager 1 space probe has reached the edge of the solar system, extending its record for being the most distant man-made object in space. According to a statement from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the spacecraft is sending back data to Earth showing a sharp increase in charged particles that originate from beyond the solar system. "Voyager scientists looking at this rapid rise draw closer to an inevitable but historic conclusion - that humanity's first emissary to interstellar space is on the edge of our solar system," NASA said in the statement. Voyager 1, along with its sister spacecraft Voyager 2, was launched in 1997 and is now about 18 billion kilometers from the Sun. It is moving at a speed of about 17 km per second and it currently takes 16 hours and 38 minutes for data to reach NASA's network on Earth. Voyager 2 is about 15 billion kilometers from the Sun. Between them, the probes have explored all the giant planets of the solar system; Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, as well as 48 of their moons. They both carry a greeting for any extraterrestrial life they may bump into, a phonograph record and 12-inch gold-plated copper disk with sounds and images of life and culture on Earth selected by a group chaired by the famous space scientist Carl Sagan. The charged particles hitting Voyager 1 originate from stars that have exploded elsewhere in the galaxy. They have been steadily rising as it approaches interstellar space but that trend has become sharper in recent months. "From January 2009 to January 2012, there had been a gradual increase of about 25 percent in the amount of galactic cosmic rays Voyager was encountering," said Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. More recently, we have seen very rapid escalation in that part of the energy spectrum. Beginning on May 7, the cosmic ray hits have increased five percent in a week and nine percent in a month. The exact position of the edge of the solar system is unclear but another indicator that Voyager has entered interstellar space is expected to be a change in the direction of the magnetic fields around the space craft. NASA scientists are looking at data from the craft to see if this predicted change has occurred. "The laws of physics say that someday Voyager will become the first human-made object to enter interstellar space, but we still do not know exactly when that someday will be," said Stone. The latest data indicate that we are clearly in a new region where things are changing more quickly. It is very exciting. We are approaching the solar system's frontier. The plutonium power sources on the Voyager probes are designed to last until 2025. When they die, the probes will keep hurtling through space towards other stars in the Milky Way but they will no longer transmit data back to Earth.

UK supreme court says rendition of Pakistani man was unlawful Undated Reprieve handout photo of Yunus Rahmatullah. Photograph: Reprieve/PA Human rights campaigners have called for a full criminal investigation into the rendition of a Pakistani man by UK and US forces to Afghanistan, following a supreme court judgment describing his subsequent detention at the notorious US prison at Bagram as unlawful. Yunus Rahmatullah has been imprisoned ever since he was handed over by the SAS to American forces in Iraq in 2004, and has never been charged. Lawyers for the man argued before the UK's highest court that the government should apply pressure on the US to release him. The court of appeal had previously issued a writ of habeas corpus - an ancient law that demands a prisoner is released from unlawful detention - requiring the UK to seek Rahmatullah's return or at least demonstrate why it could not. However, the US authorities refused to cooperate, arguing that they would discuss Rahmatullah's situation with the Pakistani government. Lawyers for William Hague and Philip Hammond, the foreign and defence secretaries, had argued that they had no power "to direct the US" to release him and that it would be inappropriate for the courts to instruct them to ask the US authorities to return Rahmatullah. Rejecting this argument, a panel of seven supreme court judges ruled that the UK did not need to have actual custody to exercise control over his release. The UK's most senior judges also declared that there was clear evidence that Rahmatullah's rendition and detention was a breach of international human rights law, despite "memorandums of understanding" Britain had agreed with the US over treatment of detainees. Lord Kerr said: "The, presumably forcible, transfer of Mr Rahmatullah from Iraq to Afghanistan is, at least prima facie, a breach of article 49 [of the fourth Geneva Convention]. On that account alone, his continued detention post-transfer is unlawful. Kerr also said that he would have "little hesitation in dismissing" arguments from former US assistant attorney general Jack Goldsmith asserting that al-Qaida operatives found in occupied Iraq were excluded from protection under the Geneva Conventions during armed conflict. However, the court was split 5-2 in a decision to reject arguments by Rahmatullah's lawyers that there was more that the UK government could do following the American's refusal to respond to the habeas corpus writ. Rahmatullah was represented by legal charity Reprieve and solicitors Leigh Day, who argued that the UK should have made more effort to demand his release. In a dissenting judgment, Lady Hale and Lord Carnwath said: "Where liberty is at stake, it is not the court's job to speculate as to the political sensitivities which may be in play." Reprieve's director, Clive Stafford Smith, said: "This powerful supreme court decision has huge ramifications. Clearly there will now have to be a full criminal investigation. But if the US has 'dishonoured' its commitment to the UK in this case for the first time in 150 years, and continues to violate law as basic as the Geneva conventions, this also throws other extradition agreements with the UK into doubt. Reprieve's legal director, Kat Craig, added: "The UK government has nowhere left to turn. The highest court in the country has expressed serious concerns that grave war crimes may have been committed as a result of which a police investigation must be initiated without delay. Yunus Rahmatullah and Amanatullah Ali, both Pakistani men, are suspected of having travelled to Iraq to fight for al-Qaida. MI6 is understood to have tracked them as they travelled across Iran and into Iraq early in 2004. After they settled into a house in southern Baghdad a decision was taken to raid the building. In an operation codenamed Op Aston, SAS troopers attacked the house, shooting dead two men and capturing several others. After the detainees were handed over to the US military, Rahmatullah and Ali were held at a prison at Baghdad international airport, according to a British military source. They were then flown to Afghanistan and taken to the US-run prison at Bagram, north of Kabul, a transfer that was in breach of the Geneva conventions. SAS troopers detaining suspected militants in central Iraq were usually accompanied by one US special forces soldier, and the prisoners were then deemed to be the legal responsibility of the US government. For reasons that are currently unclear, no US forces accompanied the SAS on the Op Aston raid. The aircraft that took the two men to Afghanistan is thought to have been the Boeing 737 that had a few days earlier carried Abdel Hakim Belhaj and his pregnant wife Fatima Bouchar to Tripoli, in a so-called rendition operation mounted by MI6 and Muammar Gaddafi's intelligence agencies. This operation is now the subject of a Scotland Yard inquiry.

Violent protests erupt in Spain after miners' protest Among the protestors were miners who had marched south for 18 days, many from the mining heartland of Asturias, covering more than 250 miles, in protest at a cut in state coal subsidies that will force the closure of many mines and put hundreds out of work. Others had staged underground sit-ins deep within the mines and were bussed down from mining towns in conveys converging on the capital against Madrid's decision to slash coal industry subsidies this year to €111m from €301m in 2011. In the early hours of this morning the miners gathered in Madrid's central Puerta del Sol for a vigil illuminated by the lamps on their helmets as their numbers were swelled by supporters and the ranks of those who have already lost jobs since the start of the economic crisis. "We have to take to the streets to fight because the time is coming when we won't have enough to eat," said miner Jose Ramon Pelaz, 38. "Rajoy is defending the banks and the rich," she said voicing a common sentiment. He would rather save the bankers than the miners. Alejandro Casal, 28, a factory worker walking with fellow union members, said: "This is a struggle for the working class.The people need to be here on the street to say 'enough is enough." Another protestor said he blamed the politicians for all of Spain's ills that have left the nation sinking into a second recession and with an average unemployment rate of almost 25pc, rising to 50pc among the under-25s. "Rajoy promised he wouldn't touch our health care or education or raise taxes," he said. The reality is everything is falling apart. What's happening here is like a dictatorship, it's unjust and I am so angry.

As Troops Advance in Somalia, Thousands Flee Thousands of people in speeding trucks or pulling carts piled high with clothes and furniture fled a region north of Mogadishu on Thursday amid the sounds of gunfire and explosions as government troops and their allies tried to take more ground from Islamist insurgents. The Afgoye corridor has been a shelter for hundreds of thousands of people seeking relief from violence that has plagued Mogadishu the last several years. African Union and Somali forces pushed al-Shabab militants out of Mogadishu last August and are now trying to seize areas outside of Mogadishu. This week, they moved into the Afgoye corridor to pursue al-Shabab. It was a scary situation. Fighting has been going on since yesterday, so this is a chance to escape," said Hakimo Ahmed, who fled from Afgoye town, 30 kilometers (20 miles) outside Mogadishu, with her five children. Everyone has fled. Only animals and armed men are on the streets. Somali civilians fleeing fighting in the Afgoye corridor carry their belongings as they pass across a checkpoint in Mogadishu, Somalia,Thursday, May 24, 2012. Thousands of people in speeding trucks or pulling carts piled high with clothes and furniture fled a region north of Mogadishu on Thursday, as the sound of gunfire and explosions rocked the region. The Afgoye corridor has been a temporary shelter for hundreds of thousands of people seeking relief from fighting in the capital after Ethiopian troops entered Somalia in 2007 to fight al-Shabab militants. This week African Union and Somali troops moved into the Afgoye corridor for the first time in years to pursue al-Shabab. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh) Close She spoke with a reporter at a checkpoint where police searched people and their household goods. Another Somali fleeing the fightingsaid anti-aircraft missiles were slamming into homes. Heavily armed soldiers and tanks massed on scrubland on the edge of Afgoye town. Military officials predict they will soon control it. "Al-Shabab is on the backfoot," claimed Paddy Ankunda, the spokesman of the African Union force in Somalia. The idea is to set free the displaced people in Afgoye so that they can access humanitarian aid. An estimated 400,000 refugees had been in the agricultural town. The top U.N. humanitarian official for Somalia, Mark Bowden, on Wednesday called on African Union and Somali troops to minimize the impact of the fighting on civilians. He said he is concerned prolonged fighting could lead to displacement of settlements where victims of last year's famine now live. Mogadishu is already teeming with thousands of displaced people, including squatters recently evicted from government-owned buildings. Rental prices have recently shot up as Somalia's capital undergoes normalization after two decades of anarchy. "I don't know where I shall stay with my children, because there are no homes," Mahad Tifow, a refugee, said in Mogadishu. We can't rent homes because they are overpriced.

Rangers takeover: Walter Smith defends Ally McCoist over SFA outburst By STUART BATHGATE Published on Friday 27 April 2012 01:23 Attack on sanctions panel shows passion, says former manager FORMER Rangers manager Walter Smith has defended Ally McCoist's outspoken outburst against the sanctions imposed on the club by the Scottish Football Association. Smith, who handed the reins over to McCoist at the end of last season, said he understood the frustration expressed by his successor, who has been widely criticised this week for going too far in his condemnation of the governing body. "He's passionate about Rangers Football Club," Smith said yesterday of McCoist. Never mind the fact he has the job of manager to do, he has also been a supporter since he was a boy. He doesn't like to see what is happening to his club at the present moment. If you add the frustrations he will feel in his first year as a manager - and finding himself dealing with circumstances that very few of us, regardless of how experienced we are, have had to handle - there will be a lot of frustration there. And that came out the other day, and came out quite rightly in my opinion. I think he's handled himself extremely well, and no-one has been able to help him, because how can anyone help him when you have never been in those circumstances? The frustration came to the fore the other day, but there was a point to what he was saying. I don't think anyone, especially if you are a Rangers supporter, would disagree with what he said. What you have to remember is it affects his job and it affects his life. He's starting his first year in management, and he wants to be a manager at Rangers Football Club. He knew it was going to be tough, because circumstances weren't settled when I left last year. But it's his career that is on the line as well. He has given up a lot to come into football and he finds himself in this circumstance. So he was only reacting to something he felt was an injustice for the club and in many ways that impacts personally on him as well. Smith also criticised the proposed financial reforms which will be debated by the Scottish Premier League on Monday, arguing that it was unfair for the other clubs in the top flight to try to retain the benefits of having Rangers in the league while simultaneously wanting to hit them with heavier sanctions if they go from their present state of administration into liquidation. "The sanctions don't include Rangers not being in the league, so there is a certain hypocrisy among the whole lot of them there," Smith added. They have a situation where they still want the money that Rangers bring to the SPL, but they will try to impose sanctions that will make it impossible for them to be competitive, or as competitive as they should be. I think the SPL have to be very careful in terms of how they handle the overall situation in case something similar could happen to other clubs. I don't think we've seen the worst. If the sanctions that were imposed take place, and there are no new owners at the club, then there is obviously worse to come. Asked if he felt liquidation was now almost inevitable for Rangers, Smith added: "The longer the situation goes on, it starts to become more inevitable it will happen. I don't think there is any doubt about that. Speaking on Tuesday, McCoist lambasted the SFA for fining Rangers £160,000 and placing a year-long transfer embargo on the club. That punishment - which the club are appealing against - came in addition to a stiffer sentence on the club's majority shareholder Craig Whyte. "Plain and simply, I think it is an absolutely shocking decision," McCoist said of the action against Rangers. I was shocked and absolutely appalled by the way this supposedly independent judicial panel was coming down on us in this form. If McCoist had left his criticism of the three-man panel there, his words might have been accepted as understandable. But he went further, demanding the panel be identified - something which has since happened, and which has resulted in the men in question receiving numerous threats. Who are these people? McCoist continued. I want to know who these people are. I'm a Rangers supporter, and the Rangers supporters and the Scottish public deserve to know who these people are, people who are working for the SFA. The use of the word "frustration" was as close as Smith came to implicitly accepting that his former assistant manager had gone too far. But McCoist himself yesterday issued another statement, explaining that his call for "clarity" did not extend to hoping that any kind of threat would be made against the panel. "I would like to make quite clear my position in relation to the decision by the SFA's judicial panel which earlier this week imposed sanctions against Rangers which have far reaching consequences for our club and Scottish football," he said. I firmly believe that decisions of this magnitude should be fully transparent and everyone should have confidence in the system that has been created to deliver such a finding. When I called for full transparency on Tuesday I took the view that the decision by the judicial panel should be subject to proper scrutiny. It is unthinkable in any walk of life that such a significant punishment would be meted out without full transparency. I fully understand that there are difficult decisions to be taken in football and they will never suit everyone but, in this day and age, clarity and transparency are surely of paramount importance. That said, I would not for one moment want anyone to interpret my remarks as a signal to engage in any form of threatening behaviour. Such activity disgusts me and anyone who engages in it does Rangers Football Club nothing but harm. No Rangers supporter should get themselves involved in it - not now nor at any time. Our focus has got to be firmly on ensuring that the club's case in appealing the sanctions imposed on us is put forward robustly and in the appropriate manner. Rangers Football Club was a victim of what happened during the tenure of Craig Whyte. The club was not an accomplice, a co-conspirator nor a perpetrator of wrongdoing. We suffered from it and still are. I hope that our appeal can be dealt with by the SFA as quickly as possible as the situation for the club and the possible ramifications for Scottish football are very serious.

Iraq abuse inquiry is 'little more than a whitewash', says former investigator An inquiry into allegations that British troops abused Iraqi prisoners has become "little more than a whitewash," a former investigator has claimed. Louise Thomas, a former Royal Navy Wren and police officer who worked with the Iraq Historic Allegations Team (IHAT), told the Guardian newspaper that she resigned after six months because she was unhappy at the lack of progress. She told the paper she had seen around 1,600 videos of interrogation sessions showing prisoners being abused and humiliated, including extreme sleep deprivation and beatings between interrogation sessions. She accused investigators of being ineffective and showing little concern for what they were seeing. "I saw a really dark side of the British Army," she told the newspaper. The videos showed really quite terrible abuses. But some of the IHAT investigators just weren't interested. Some 128 Iraqis complain that the UK armed forces were guilty of systemic abuse of detainees between March 2003 and December 2008 when they controlled the Basra area in southern Iraq following the overthrow of Saddam Hussain. In March this year the Royal Military Police were removed from IHAT following a critical ruling by the Court of Appeal. Three appeal judges said IHAT lacked "the requisite independence" and that the involvement of RMP investigators could give rise to "the public perception of the possibility of bias." Their role was given to the Royal Navy Police under the command of the Provost Marshal (Navy). Ms Thomas told the Guardian that some IHAT investigators made comments including "who cares, they're terrorists" or "they're only bombers" while watching interview videos. "They would laugh at me, because I was interested and concerned," she told the paper. They would say 'Here comes Miss Marple' when I came by. She also claimed the Ministry of Defence had not released all the videos to IHAT. British troops ended combat operations in Iraq in April 2009 after a war that lasted over six years, claimed the lives of 179 UK personnel and cost more than £9 billion. An MoD spokesman said: "All of these allegations of abuse are known to the Ministry of Defence and Iraq Historical Allegations Team, which is why the independent IHAT is already investigating them. The MoD has co-operated fully, including the provision of all known evidence. We are confident in the IHAT's abilities and following the outcome of their investigations, action will be considered against individuals where appropriate. Any criticisms about IHAT itself are for the organisation to answer.

US students survive for 9 day in New Zealand wilderness by warming in hot springs The couple's ordeal began June 1 when friend Katie Jenkins, another UW student, dropped them off at a national park on the South Island's West Coast so they could hike in and camp for a few days. "They were just going to the hot springs, to chill out and study for finals," Miss Jenkins said, adding that she continued on with her own travels and didn't realize the couple were missing until eight days had passed, which is when she raised the alarm. The couple did not take much food - some carrots, rice, peanut butter and trail mix, according to Police Sgt. Sean Judd, who coordinated rescue attempts. He said that after three days, a steady rain started. "Then on Wednesday the snowstorm hit and it got progressively worse," Sgt Judd said. Mr Brown said that soaking in the hot pools "helped keep us warm and slow energy loss." It was not until Sunday, Mr Brown said, that the river finally seemed safe enough to cross again. He and Miss Klintworth prepared for their hike out by cooking up a "good meal" of rice, marshmallows, peanut butter and chocolate, he said. "We then left and crossed the icy waters only up to our waist," he said. We were climbing the mountains under the dense tree cover when we first heard the helicopter we assumed was looking for us. The copter never saw us and we walked out just fine and met up with the search and rescue by the road.

Stone Roses guitarist John Squire's art studio burns down

The Making of a Lady, ITV1: costume drama meets the macabre Like the book, the film will begin as a Victorian fairytale, duping us into a false sense of familiarity. Emily Fox Seton, who will be played by Lydia Wilson, is a "nice overgrown girl... whose life was a continuous struggle with the narrowest of mean fortunes" who provides companionship to grand Lady Maria Bayne (Lumley). She takes the fancy of the stiffly unglamorous widow Lord Walderhurst (Linus Roache), and soon becomes the unlikely lady of his country mansion. Until this point, our full attention rests on the demure petty concerns of social rivalry, but things become more complicated when Emily befriends Walderhurst's wildly handsome young relative Alec Osborne (James d'Arcy) and his exotic wife (Casualty's Hasina Haque), who turn out to be very dark characters. When Walderhust joins his regiment in India, Emily is left alone, unaware of the bitter dangers and social implications that came with defending a huge fortune. Ultimately, Burnett asks, must fame and fortune come at the expense of the purity and kindness that our heroine embodies? The drama is being filmed on a modest budget of £1.2 million in just four weeks. Filming has taken the production to three stately homes including Jacobean Cheshire mansion Dorfold Hall, which is to be Walderhurst's country pile. It comes as no surprise when d'Arcy - fresh from filming lavish Hollywood blockbuster Cloud Atlas with Tom Hanks, and a Hitchcock biopic with Antony Hopkins - tells me at lunch that there has been something of a "Dunkirk spirit" on the set. According to Curson Smith, though, managing the tight budget has been nothing compared to the challenge of blending costume drama and psychological horror. He calls his hybrid "a cross between Martin Scorsese's The Age of Innocence, and Rosemary's Baby." How has he done it? With careful manipulation of the camera so that, as in the novel, we only see the world through Emily's eyes and "never quite know what's real and what she's imagining. It is about a girl being immersed in a world she doesn't understand, and we go on that journey with her. The fact that two plot threads, one a romance, the other a thriller, are woven together through the film, has resulted in the creation of a strange dichotomy on set. D'Arcy is channelling childhood trauma to get inside the head of villainous Alec, whom he describes as "a sick puppy... but quite good at badminton." In the other camp, Roache says playing the part of Victorian gentleman Walderhurst has been "delicate, like fine lace work." "I accepted this job because I loved the romance," says Roache - admitting that it's been a bonus to be able to stay down the road with his father, aka Coronation Street's Ken Barlowe. For me, it's about two people who are getting married for different pragmatic reasons. It's so unusual, so human, and so delicately written. He's just finished filming the "awkward" first lovemaking scene with Wilson, which both actors think is a pivotal moment for their characters. "Women have changed their relationship to their bodies since then," says Wilson, who has spoken to a movement coach to help her create Emily. She encouraged me to think about Emily's sexuality as this absolute mystery to her. All her movement flows out of her guardedness. When she does have sex with her new husband, it's this huge game-changing thing. Both Wilson and Curson Smith agree that Emily, Burnett's rather pale heroine, may be the reason the story dropped out of fashion. Jane Austen's heroines are witty and concerned with image. Emily doesn't have any of the commodities that make someone successful in the modern world. She's not exactly a little sex bomb [in the book]. She's more like a lovely kind cow with big eyes. The 28-year-old Wilson, whose film credits include parts in Never Let Me Go and Channel 4"s Any Human Heart is a Cambridge English graduate and says she "wolfed down" Burnett's novel before taking the role. She wants to be as faithful as possible to Burnett's Emily, though the script has admittedly taken some licence with her character. But the production has been faithful to Burnett's writing in at least one vital arena: the wardrobe. The author, said to have been disappointed with her first husband, once complained to her friend, "he does not know the vital importance of the difference between white satin and tulle, and cream-coloured brocade." In the books, her descriptions of clothes, sometimes pages long, are bordering on the fetishistic. So it seems only right that Wilson should have had a staggering 42 costume changes for 100 minutes of drama. She talks extensively about her "top 10 outfits" including "a cream suit that has a gorgeous little cravat around her neck, a huge hat, and a garnet-coloured rope that does it up at the front..." So, ladies and gentlemen, prepare yourself for a new entry in a distinctive genre, the obsessively detailed costume horror. "The Making of a Lady" is on ITV1 at 8.00pm on Sunday 16 December

Booker Prize: Hilary Mantel is the favourite Author Will Self is no longer the favourite for the Man Booker Prize, according to bookmakers William Hill. After edging into the lead last week with Umbrella, his fictional account of a patient waking up from a 50-year coma, Self is now second place to Hilary Mantel for Bring up the Bodies, the second part of her Tudor trilogy about the life of Thomas Cromwell. The first in the series, Wolf Hall, won the Man Booker Prize in 2009. First Will Self was favourite, then Hilary Mantel edged into the lead, then punters couldn't split them and now we are making Hilary a very narrow favourite. I don't envy the judges having to split them, it could be the most difficult decision yet" said Hill's spokesman Graham Sharpe." 6/4 Hilary Mantel (Bring Up The Bodies) 5/1 Alison Moore (Lighthouse) 5/1 Tan Twan Eng (Garden of Evening Mists) 6/1 Deborah Levy (Swimming Home) 10/1 Jeet Thayil (Narcopolis). The Man Booker Prize is announced today at 9.45pm. Follow Telegraph Books on Twitter for the result.

Hurt Locker director Kathryn Bigelow 'given access to Osama bin Laden intelligence' Neither the CIA nor the Pentagon disputed the authenticity of the documents. A spokesman for the National Security Council said the White House would have no comment on the documents beyond those issued last August by presidential press secretary Jay Carney, who said the White House had not given the filmmakers classified information. The CIA and Pentagon said there was nothing unusual about their dealings with the filmmakers. "The CIA has been open about our engagement with writers, documentary filmmakers, movie and TV producers, and others in the entertainment industry," said Jennifer Youngblood, an agency spokesman. She added: "Our goal is an accurate portrayal of the men and women of the CIA, their vital mission and the commitment to public service that defines them. The protection of national security equities is always paramount in any engagement with the entertainment industry. Pentagon spokesman George Little said, "The Department of Defence, as well as other agencies and departments, regularly engage with the entertainment industry to inform projects ranging from books to documentaries to feature films. "Many individuals in the industry expressed interest in developing projects on what can only be described as one of the top intelligence and military successes of a generation," Mr Little added. "Our engagement on these projects was driven by a desire to inform, not by timing."In a statement posted on its website, Judicial Watch said the documents indicate that the Pentagon granted Bigelow and Boal access to a "planner, Operator and Commander of SEAL Team Six," the Navy commando unit that carried out the raid during which bin Laden was killed in Abbotabad, Pakistan, where he apparently had lived for years. Among the documents the group said it obtained is a transcript of a July 14, 2011, meeting with Pentagon officials in which Bigelow and Boal indicate that Boal met with White House National Security Council official Denis McDonough and chief counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan to discuss the film project. According to Judicial Watch, the transcript quotes Michael Vickers, the Pentagon's intelligence chief, giving the filmmakers the identity of a senior SEAL team member involved in the raid on the condition that "you not reveal his name in any way as a consultant, because ... he shouldn't be talking out of school." The group says that it also obtained an internal CIA email that indicates Bigelow and Boal were granted access to "the vault," a CIA installation where some of the planning for the bin Laden raid took place. However, the group says that other correspondence released by the government indicates that although they were helping the filmmakers, Obama administration officials otherwise sought to limit media access to those involved in the bin Laden operation and other counter-terrorism insiders. Judicial Watch says that it has a June 13, 2011, email in which Vickers advises Douglas Wilson, the Pentagon's public affairs chief, that the Defence Department "would like to shape the story to prevent any gross inaccuracies," but it did not "want to make it look like the commanders think it's OK to talk to the media." Judicial Watch said another Pentagon email describes how a representative of the Glover Park Group, a Washington lobbying firm with close ties to the Democratic Party, helped arrange the filmmakers' access to administration officials. The Glover Park group had no immediate comment. Judicial Watch said it launched its investigation of the Obama administration's dealings with the filmmakers after seeing press reports suggesting that the administration might have leaked classified information as source material for the film. Zero Dark Thirty is being filmed in India and Jordan and stars Chris Pratt, Jessica Chastain and Joel Edgerton, according to the film website IMDB. It is schedule for release in December.

The Morning Fix: Exodus at 'X Factor.' Stuntmen want their Oscar. After the coffee. Before auditioning for "The X Factor." The Skinny: I guess it is time for me to watch "Downton Abbey." I'm feeling so left out of everything! Also feeling left out today are "X Factor" judges Nicole Scherzinger and Paula Abdul after a big shake-up at the musical competition show. Other news includes the push from stuntmen to get their own Oscar, and Ryan Seacrest and Clear Channel inking a big deal. The Daily Dose: Over the weekend, Sony Pictures unveiled plans to show fans advance footage from this summer's "The Amazing Spider-Man" in a very 21st century way, my colleague Ben Fritz informs us. Rather than "announcing" the screenings, which will take place in 13 cities worldwide on Feb. 6, the studio did their version of the Bat Signal and projected Spider-Man images in public locations, along with the address of a website where fans could order tickets (which sold out rapidly, natch). And for those wondering how Sony will differentiate July's reboot from the original "Spider-Man" movie just 10 years ago, the URL of the website selling the tickets shows that the studio is confronting that question head-on: www.theuntoldstorybegins.com. Oscar stunt. Jack Gill has pulled off a lot of big stunts in his career, but the biggest still eludes him. The veteran stuntman is trying to persuade the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to create an Oscar for the folks behind the big stunts in movies. "It's ridiculous that we're not honored," Gill, told the Los Angeles Times. Don't let the door hit you on the way out. Simon Cowell and the other producers of Fox's musical competition show "The X Factor" did some housecleaning Monday night. Officially gone from the show, which finished its first season without the spectacular ratings the network and Cowell expected, are host Steve Jones and judge Nicole Scherzinger. Unofficially gone is Paula Abdul, who of course worked with Cowell on the massive Fox hit "American Idol." Fox confirmed the exits of Jones and Scherzinger, but as of late Monday night not Abdul. The dirt from from Deadline Hollywood, which looks to have been first to say Abdul was toast along with Jones and Scherzinger. Additional coverage from the Hollywood Reporter. Seacrest in! Ryan Seacrest and Clear Channel Communications, already partners on Seacrest's popular radio show, made a deeper commitment to each other. Not only have private equity funds controlled by Clear Channel's majority owners THL and Bain Capital pumped $300 million into Ryan Seacrest Media, the producer and personality's investment company, but Clear Channel itself has also taken a stake in the Ryan Seacrest Productions company. Word of the agreements, announced Tuesday morning, appeared in the New York Times. Do they get their own trailers too? Spanish-language network Univision is taking product placement to a new level in its new telenovela "El Talisman." Not only are Chevrolet products seen throughout the show, one even has a name, and another has its own website. More on how Chevy is driving "El Talisman" from Variety. Inside the Los Angeles Times: Patrick Goldstein on whether pro athletes are surpassing Hollywood stars in the eyes of the public. Concert promoters are optimistic about 2012. Follow me on Twitter. It makes me smile. Twitter.com/JBFlint Photo: Pre-shakeup cast of "The X Factor." Credit: Nino Munoz / Fox

Stone Roses play first gig in 16 years A crowd of 1,000 Stone Roses fans saw the newly reunited band play their first gig in 16 years last night. Former Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher was reported to be among the devotees at Warrington's Parr Hall in Lancashire as the seminal indie band opened with their cult track "I Wanna Be Adored." The music magazine NME said the band were "light years from how they sounded in '96." The free show was announced just hours in advance and only people with one of the band's record sleeves, T-shirts or tickets to an upcoming gig were admitted.

Chris Paul's rebounding helps spark Clippers' win over Grizzlies Chris Paul, the shortest player on the Clippers roster, led the team in rebounds Monday evening. "That was an accident," said Paul, who at 6 feet is a mere pipsqueak among a starting lineup that includes two players who are nearly a foot taller. He finished with nine boards, equaling the combined total of Blake Griffin (five) and DeAndre Jordan (four). Jordan had a theory as to why the team's diminutive point guard dominated in such an unusual category. "I think he steals all our rebounds," Jordan joked. We box the big guys out and he comes in and gets them. The Clippers were outrebounded, 47-36, yet managed to pull off a 101-97 overtime win against the Memphis Grizzlies in Game 4 of their first-round Western Conference playoff series. Clippers Coach Vinny Del Negro knows that is not sustainable. "We're going to have to continually focus in on that and do a much better job than we did [Tuesday]," Del Negro said. The Clippers have the worst postseason rebound average in the league, a woeful 36.5 a game. On Monday, the Grizzlies scored 20 points on second-chance points while the Clippers had only five. Griffin, who averaged 10.9 rebounds during the regular season, is averaging 6.3 in the playoffs. Jordan has seen his rebounding average decline from 8.3 to 5.5 in the postseason. That's partially because of the extreme physicality of the series. Griffin, Jordan and Reggie Evans are often entangled in the arms of the Grizzlies' big men, which makes rebounding much more of a team effort than it has ever been. "Our big guys are sacrificing some of their rebounds sometimes just to try to get bodies on Marc [Gasol] and Zach [Randolph] a little bit and other guys," Del Negro said. They have to face-guard and battle with them, so it's very important that our guards get in there and get long rebounds and get anything they can. We gotta get five guys in the paint helping each other. Paul, who is determined to take his team deep into the playoffs, said he's willing to help in any way possible, even if that means entering and patrolling territory in which his head reaches some of the other players' elbows. "Us guards have to get back in the play and help those guys," Paul said. They can't do it alone.

Kilmarnock 0-6 Celtic: "Hollywood" epic as championship clinched in style Published on Monday 9 April 2012 02:54 SO FATE ensured that Celtic claimed the title on the ground where their season had threatened to unstitch just a few months ago. The spectators at Rugby Park witnessed another six goals. This time, rather than being shared out, they were all greedily, and hurriedly, collected by the visitors. Two goals at the start meant the party needed little time to get going and the fourth goal, scored just before half-time, saw the interval go with a swing. Two goals at the end were yet more fuel for the celebrations, which continued long after the final whistle. It couldn't have gone more smoothly for Celtic, who were back to their confident, merciless best. There had been some talk of the visitors perhaps playing for the point required to clinch a first championship since 2008. Some chance. It was remarkable to think that on the Hampden Park stage just a few short weeks ago, Celtic had been undone by the same Kimarnock side. Here Neil Lennon's team, liberated by the knowledge they had room for error, exacted revenge. Urged on in the first half by the tireless midfield work of Scott Brown and Ki Sung-Yeung, they quickly established a hold on the game. To the detailed extent that Celtic were even shooting the same way, Kilmarnock quickly recognised the movie; this was a re-run of the impossible task which the home side had been handed in May last year, when Rangers arrived in search of goals and glory. The Ibrox side, who claimed the title in the same setting last year, had been three up by the time Celtic claimed their first on Saturday, when an unmarked Charlie Mulgrew headed in Ki's corner after eight minutes. But Celtic exhibited the same delirious appetite and had four goals before half-time, by which stage Rangers were only three up last May. After 16 minutes Mulgrew whipped in a left-foot cross from the right which proved impossible to defend against, and Glen Loovens had the simple task of heading the ball past an exposed Cammy Bell. Mulgrew himself was proving unplayable. After 34 minutes, the rampaging full-back cut inside James Fowler and curled a shot wide of Bell with his apparently weaker right foot. Mulgrew was also the architect of Celtic's fourth, with Gary Hooper sweeping his cross into the roof of the net from the distance of a few yards. It was stirring stuff. And what an atmosphere. Much was made of Celtic having been frustrated in their aim to clinch the title at Celtic Park last weekend. But this, certainly as far as the 13,000 away supporters who gained admission were concerned, was surely more fun. The compact ground was three-quarters full of rejoicing Celtic fans. Rugby Park shook with their songs of love and devotion, and also wry paeans to one of the men who had helped make it all possible, Craig Whyte. Would a full-strength and financially-sound Rangers have lived with Celtic's vigour? You have to doubt it. Lennon later noted the youth which Celtic have on their side at present. Giorgios Samaras, Kris Commons and Loovens were the senior members in Saturday's team, and they are only reaching their late twenties. Lennon marvelled at the others. "I look back to what I was doing when I was the same age as [Adam] Matthews and [James] Forrest," he said later. I was at Crewe in front of maybe 3000 or 4000 people, under no pressure. These guys are doing it in front of 60,000 every other week, with huge expectations. Not only have they got the talent but they have great temperaments as well. Kilmarnock tried their best to play a part but were caught in the slipstream of a team on a mission. You have to feel for the Rugby Park side's fans, many of whom had been removed from their usual seats to make way for the Celtic supporters, and who then had this humiliation piled on for good measure. There was not much Kilmarnock could do. When even Loovens is scampering up the park looking to get on the end of crosses - as he did in the second half, having already scored a more routine header - then you know something's up. Bell was injured in the clash with a diving Loovens, and, for a moment, it looked as though Kilmarnock, who had used all three substitutes, might have to try and stem the flow of attacks with only ten men, and with an outfield player in goal. It didn't bear thinking about. Fortunately for them, Bell struggled back to his feet. There wasn't much he could do about the final two goals, scored in the last few minutes. Joe Ledley dinked in an exquisite finish after a neat back-heel from the impressive Filip Twardzik, who replaced Brown shortly after half-time. Hooper then wrapped things up with a collector's item - a goal from outside the box, with the striker having flicked the ball up for himself before unleashing an unstoppable effort from 20 yards into the top corner. Kilmarnock improved towards the end, but not enough to claim even the consolation of a goal. Their players quickly scampered off and left the way clear for the celebration. They had again been the victims of circumstance as much as anything else. Title win means the probation is over for Lennon While it might be Celtic's 43rd championship success, Saturday's 6-0 win over Kilmarnock saw confirmation of Neil Lennon's first title as manager. Just as there was much talk of something having begun at Rugby Park, there was also the sense of an ending.

Greek exit polls: Top 2 parties neck-and-neck (AP) ATHENS, Greece - In an election crucial for Greece, Europe and the world, exit polls on Sunday showed the two top contenders in Greece to be neck-and-neck. The outcome of Sunday's vote could determine whether Greece remains in the euro or is forced to leave the joint currency, a move that could drag down other European countries and have potentially catastrophic consequences for the global economy. The exit polls showed that the conservative New Democracy party is projected to win between 27.5 and 30.5 percent of the vote while the anti-bailout radical left Syriza party may get 27 to 30 percent. Syriza head Alexis Tsipras has vowed to cancel the terms of Greece's international bailout deal and repeal its austerity measures - a move many think will force Greece to leave the 17-nation eurozone. New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras says his top priority is to stay in the euro but renegotiate some terms of the bailout. Whichever party comes first in Sunday's vote gets a bonus of 50 seats in the 300-member Parliament. Greek election may decide future in eurozone Greeks, Spaniards withdraw euros by the billions British chancellor: "Moment of reckoning" for Europe this summer As central banks stood ready to intervene in case of financial turmoil, Greece held its second national election in just six weeks to try to select a new government after an inconclusive ballot on May 6. The two parties vying to win have starkly different views about what to do about the 240 billion euros ($300 billion) in bailout loans that Greece has been given by international lenders. One wants to tear up the deals and void the harsh austerity measures demanded by lenders that have caused Greek living standards to plummet. The other backs the bailout deal but wants to amend it. The choice - the most critical in decades - could determine whether Greece abandons the joint euro currency and returns to its old currency, the drachma. But there are no rules governing a country's exit from the eurozone, and a Greek exit could spark a panic that other debt-strapped European nations - Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Italy- might also have to leave. That domino scenario - known in economic terms as contagion - could engulf the euro, causing a global financial panic not unlike the one that gripped the world in 2008 after the investment firm Lehman Brothers failed in the U.S. The vote Sunday was also coming after a difficult week for Spain and Italy, which saw their borrowing costs soar. Tens of thousands of Italian workers rallied Saturday in Rome to protest pension cuts, tax hikes and labor reforms. The big question Sunday was how far deep Greek anger at the bailout terms would propel the radical left, anti-bailout Syriza party led by 37-year-old Alexis Tsipras. "I'd like to see something change for the country in general, including regarding the bailout," said Vassilis Stergiou, a voter in Athens.

Two states push for early BP trial Two US states affected by the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill are pressing for an early trial of their case against BP and the other companies involved, following BP's agreement to settle claims from more than 100,000 individuals and businesses. Officials from Alabama and Louisiana, the states most closely involved in the case, have urged the New Orleans court that is hearing the case to move quickly to set a new trial date in the near future, after it agreed to a postponement on Friday. The trial, already delayed by a week, had been due to start on Monday. Lawyers from all sides are expected to meet the judge soon to discuss a new date. Setting an early date would increase the pressure on BP and the other defendants to agree to settlements of the claims against them, including the actions for civil penalties and damages brought by US federal, state and local governments. However, the states" calls set up a potential contest over the trial date, because the complex administration of the settlement between BP and the private-sector plaintiffs could take several months to work through, and it may be difficult to begin a trial until that is concluded. Investors" cautious reaction to that settlement agreement was reflected in a rise of just 1 per cent in BP's shares in New York on Monday. The company estimated that deal would cost $7.8bn, but the outstanding claims from US authorities could be significantly greater. Garret Graves, who leads oil-spill recovery efforts for Louisiana, said the settlement between BP and the private plaintiffs made no difference to the action by federal and state governments. "We are encouraging the court to expedite the trial," he said. The only way we can ensure the long-term health of our communities is by restoring our coastline. Luther Strange, attorney-general of Alabama, who has been leading the court case for the states, said in a statement, "We are fully prepared to try our case, and we hope that the court sets a new trial date in the near future." The US Department of Justice has not yet taken a public view on a new trial date, but over the weekend issued a statement saying the US would "continue to work closely with all five gulf states to ensure that any resolution of the federal law enforcement and damage claims, including natural resources damages ... is just, fair and restores the gulf for the benefit of the people of the gulf states." Tony West, newly appointed acting associate attorney-general at the DoJ, said on Monday that talks were continuing over a possible settlement. The prospect of a postponement of the trial date has raised speculation about what could happen if the delay extended into next year, when there could be a new administration in place. A Republican victory in the November presidential election would bring in a party with a history of more explicit support for the oil industry. However, David Uhlmann, a former senior DoJ official now at the University of Michigan, said the department would not allow criminal and civil enforcement decisions to be politicised. "Even if there is a change in administrations, no one wants to be seen as coddling polluters," he said. I served at the justice department during Democratic and Republican administrations. Both took a hard line in enforcement actions.

Vicente del Bosque unapologetic about possession football Published on Wednesday 27 June 2012 02:05 VICENTE del Bosque defended Spain's style of play on the eve of their European Championship semi-final with Portugal, defying critics who say their possession-based football is boring. Tonight at the Donbass Arena, Spain will be just one victory away from becoming the first team since the West Germany team of the 1970s to reach three successive championship finals. However, they have come under fire for not dazzling as they did when winning the trophy four years ago. Del Bosque, who took over as coach after that victory and guided a more subdued Spain to their first World Cup triumph two years ago, described the contest with Portugal as "the most important match of our lives." "Let's hope that we can continue this way going forward so that Spain stays among the elite in world football," Del Bosque said. We're talking about a great era when we have used the same style for years and which has yielded all of our achievements. Spain have won their last six knockout round games at major tournaments by a combined score of 7-0. They have shown patience and maturity to break down opponents who nearly always "park the bus," or take a completely defensive approach. "I would prefer if they play back in their own half, it's a satisfaction for us to keep possession," Del Bosque said of the Portuguese. They have enough players that can provide alternatives to their attack but I would like it if they played in a defensive way because we have solutions to combat that. Andres Iniesta also leapt to Spain's defence as they look to eliminate their Iberian rivals from a second straight major tournament and bid to become the first team to retain the European crown. "Football is great for this reason, people don't always like the same thing, don't agree on everything, that's the diversity of opinions," the Spanish midfielder said. When a team wants to attack and comes up against an opponent that sits back and tries to close the space and not try to create its own chances, that's not always the football you want to watch. It's easy to forget that only a few years ago this style is what changed the story of Spain. Cristiano Ronaldo presents Portugal's most dangerous scoring threat. He has netted three times in Portugal's last two games and is one goal from setting his country's all-time European Championship scoring record, at seven. But he has never found the net against Spain in two previous competitive fixtures. We intend to throw him off his game. The best example of that is the second round win at the World Cup, where we managed the better result," Del Bosque said of a 1-0 win over Portugal in Johannesburg. Spain also downplayed thoughts that they may be more fatigued than their opponents, who have had an extra 48 hours to recover from their quarter-final victory over the Czech Republic.

Rating risk and Greece loom over bonds Anyone expecting a big reaction in financial markets to Friday's eurozone downgrades by Standard & Poor's would have been wrongfooted on Monday. European stocks, the prices of government bonds and the euro were impressively unmoved by the news France had lost its triple A rating. The breakdown of talks with bondholders over restructuring Greece's debt, raising the prospect of disorderly default, also failed to rattle investors. The euro slipped later on Monday on reports that S&P had cut its credit rating for the European Financial Stability Facility, the eurozone rescue fund, by one notch from triple A to AA+. Yet only Portugal saw bond yields, which have an inverse relationship with prices, leap. Many investors in its debt were forced to sell bonds because S&P's two-notch downgrade to junk status meant they were no longer allowed to hold Portuguese government bonds. In part, the risk of the S&P downgrade, already well flagged, was priced in. But for now, the markets are prepared to back the efforts of Europe's leaders to resolve the debt crisis. Yields on 10-year Italian debt were hovering around 6.64 per cent on Monday which, while unsustainable, were well below their euro-era high of almost 7.5 per cent. Spanish yields have fallen right back from 6 per cent plus to 5.2 per cent. "There is some optimism in the market," says Alan Wilde, head of fixed income and currency at Barings. Policymakers seem to be going in the right direction and the three-year loans offered to the banks by the European Central Bank have settled nerves. Mr Wilde, though, like many fund managers, remains deeply concerned about the eurozone's longer-term prospects, pointing to fundamental problems over growth and the design of the single currency. As such, the coming days and weeks will be critical. The most immediate concern is Greece. Meetings to revive private sector involvement in the planned debt restructuring are due to resume on Wednesday. A speedy resolution is needed if Athens is to avoid defaulting on €14.5bn of bonds that are due for repayment on March 20. A Greek default could intensify the wider eurozone debt crisis by sending borrowing costs for so-called peripheral countries, and even "core" nations like France, sharply higher. Worse, if Greece were to suffer a disorderly default, the European Union and the ECB could end up writing off a substantial amount of money, possibly upwards of €50bn, all of which has been invested in bonds or lent over the past two years, say investors. One senior fund manager says: "The political fallout from a disorderly default could be huge. Imagine being a politician trying to persuade voters of closer fiscal co-operation under that scenario. Not to mention the impact on other sovereign bond markets and the banking system. Richard McGuire, fixed-income strategist at Rabobank, says: "A messy default in Greece could well linger for some time - and perhaps continue perilously close to March 20 [when Athens needs money to refinance bonds]. That will be very unsettling for the markets and could send yields much higher. Other investors say Europe's politicians are unlikely to allow Greece to slip into a disorderly default because of the risks to other markets and the euro as an entity. Another risk is further credit downgrades, which could sharply increase the cost of borrowing for countries such as France, Italy and Spain. Though yields have fallen for these three countries since the start of the year, sentiment could rapidly deteriorate should rating agencies Moody's and Fitch follow S&P's lead. In a credit opinion on France published on Monday, Moody's said the country's debt metrics and potential contingent liabilities were putting pressure on the stable outlook for its debt, Reuters reported. The agency planned to update its position on France later this quarter. The regular government debt auctions are another hurdle, with bond auctions for France and Spain on Thursday. Paul Griffiths, global head of fixed income at Aberdeen Asset Managers, says: "The fact is, a lot of things can go wrong. A disorderly Greek default could lead to contagion elsewhere as people worry about what will happen in Portugal, then Ireland . . . Then, downgrades or poor auctions can always upset the markets. He fears eurozone bond markets are likely to come under pressure soon, putting stresses on the region's banks, which hold large amounts of eurozone sovereign debt. The ECB, suggests Mr Griffiths, is likely to have to follow the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England by launching "quantitative easing" - a big increase in its government bond buying programme - to bring yields permanently lower. "The ECB's offer of three-year loans [in December] is QE by the back door," he says. Until we see the ECB become a proper backstop of the debt markets and a buyer of last resort, then this crisis will continue.

Treasury: Iranian oil company part of IRGC 24 (UPI) -- The Iranian National Oil Co. is linked to the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and is subject to sanctions, the U.S. Treasury Department said Monday. Because of the determination, foreign financial institutions found to have knowingly facilitated significant transactions or provided major financial services for the Iranian National Oil Co. will be subject to sanctions, the department said in a release. The Revolutionary Guard is part of Iran's military and also is a powerful economic entity, dominating many sectors of the economy, including energy, construction, and banking, the Treasury Department said. Already a target of U.S. sanctions, it also has a history of trying to evade the punitive measures by maintaining a network of front companies. The IRGC and some IRGC-related people and entities have been sanctioned for activities involving Iran's nuclear program, terrorism support, commission of serious human rights abuses, and most recently, activities related to human rights abuses in Syria. The Treasury Department said the Revolutionary Guard recently coordinated a campaign to sell Iranian oil, trying to evade international sanctions, especially sanctions imposed by the European Union that prohibit the import, shipping and purchase of Iranian oil. The EU sanctions went into effect July 1. The Treasury Department also noted that a former IRGS brigadier general was named minister of the Petroleum Ministry, which oversees the oil concern.

FT markets round-up: "Asian stocks were mixed and activity low with investors reluctant to make any big bets on the last trading day before the closely contested US election and with an eye on China's leadership transition later in the week. The MSCI Asia Pacific index inched down 0.1 per cent with Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average off 0.3 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index down 0.2 per cent and the Shanghai Composite index retreating 0.3 per cent. South Korea's Kospi Composite index added 0.3 per cent while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.3 per cent as the Reserve Bank of Australia is expected to cut interest rates later in the day. "France risks falling behind crisis-hit Italy and Spain if it does not reform its economy, the International Monetary Fund has warned, adding to pressure on President François Hollande to stem the country's industrial decline," reports the FT. "In its annual report on the French economy, the IMF on Monday called for "a comprehensive programme of structural reforms."" "Europe's governments and the European Central Bank are at odds about who should shoulder the financial burden of giving Greece more time to repay its loans and remain part of the euro zone," reports the WSJ. Morgan Stanley has announced the departure of Paul Taubman, co-head of the securities division, ending a fraught two-year partnership at the top of the investment bank. People familiar with the matter said Mr Taubman offered his resignation after James Gorman, Morgan Stanley chief executive, decided to promote Colm Kelleher, the other institutional securities co-head, to president of the division. Apple is considering replacing the intel chips in its line of Mac computers with "a version of the chip technology it uses in the iPhone and iPad," reports Bloomberg, citing three people "with knowledge of the work." Bloomberg, Quartz The pace of US bond deals has accelerated sharply in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, with a sale by an arm of Abbott Laboratories, the drug and medical device maker, becoming the single largest debt deal in the US this year. In conclusion, Barack Obama will probably win the election, and Nate Silver should fight crime. The Atlantic Wire Why do the betting sites disagree? (self-evident) Why vote? Steve Randy Waldman Gideon Rachman says Romney president wouldn't be such a big disaster. Charles Ferguson on Glenn Hubbard. Zero Hedge "Stirred, but not shaken," or what makes James Bond great. Slate Asian markets Nikkei 225 down -46.91 (-0.52%) at 8,961 Topix down -4.24 (-0.57%) at 743.71 Hang Seng down -137.23 (-0.62%) at 21,869 US markets S&P 500 up +3.06 (+0.22%) at 1,417 DJIA up +19.28 (+0.15%) at 13,112 Nasdaq up +17.53 (+0.59%) at 3,000 European markets Eurofirst 300 down -6.61 (-0.59%) at 1,109 FTSE100 down -29.49 (-0.50%) at 5,839 CAC 40 down -43.96 (-1.26%) at 3,449 Dax down -37.38 (-0.51%) at 7,326 Currencies €/$ 1.28 (1.28) $/¥ 80.04 (80.28) £/$ 1.60 (1.60) Commodities ($) Brent Crude (ICE) up +0.02 at 107.75 Light Crude (Nymex) down -0.08 at 85.57 100 Oz Gold (Comex) unchanged 0.00 at 1,682 Copper (Comex) unchanged 0.00 at 347.05 CDS (closing levels) Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe +0.19bps at 109.88bp Markit iTraxx Europe +1.13bps at 129.06bp Markit iTraxx Xover +3.34bps at 518.26bp Markit CDX IG -0.47bps at 97.03bp

Poll: Andy Carroll or Carlos Tevez: which striker would you rather have at your club? This January needs a dose of shocking moves, but it's hard to see in what world Manchester City would fancy taking a punt on Andy Carroll, or Carlos Tevez being up for a move to Liverpool. Alright, it's marginally closer to Argentina, but Carlos is probably looking for a slightly more drastic move than 32 miles west. Let's imagine for a second that your club could sign one of these players. If it was purely about ability it would be no contest. Carlos Tevez has international pedigree, multiple trophies to his name, and a goalscoring record that Liverpool's long-haired striker would give up Newky Brown for. But it's not quite such a clear cut decision when you consider Tevez's appalling behaviour this season for City. Refusing to come off the bench, mooching off to Argentina and going on a strike. Carroll has shown signs of improvements in recent games for Liverpool, and while he has had several off-field issues of his own he's never had a hissy fit and stormed back to Newcastle in a huff. He's also four years younger than Tevez, so surely worth a gamble. Which would you take? Which player would you rather have at your club?

NHL: Columbus 4, Edmonton 2 COLUMBUS, Ohio, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- Derek MacKenzie netted the go-ahead goal in the third period Tuesday and the Columbus Blue Jackets rallied for a 4-2 win over Edmonton. The Oilers, who were playing without forward Taylor Hall -- because he was cut on the forehead by a skate before the game -- grabbed a 2-0 lead on first-period goals by Anton Lander and Ben Eager. Columbus scored the next four goals to take control of the game. Ryan Johansen and Derick Brassard scored in the second period. Then, 32 seconds into the final frame, Colton Gillies worked his way down the left side a slid a pass to McKenzie, who poked it home for a 3-2 lead. Derek Dorsett also scored and Curtis Sanford made 21 saves for the Blue Jackets. Devan Dubnyk stopped 21 shots for the injury-plagued Oilers, who fell to 1-5-1 in their last seven games.

Did Missing Millionaire Jump to Another Boat? Deepening the mystery of missing millionaire Guma Aguiar's disappearance, experts examining newly released GPS data from Aguiar's boat say it could suggest a scenario in which he jumped ship and boarded a waiting boat mid-sea. The pattern is very identifiable. It just sort of fits as a scenario," boat expert Henry Pickersgill told ABCNews.com. There appears to be a pattern in the vessel's track, speed, longitude and latitude to indicate that it may have stopped briefly for enough time for Mr. Aguiar to have transferred to another vessel. Pickersgill is an independent marine surveyor based in Brooksville, Fla. He has been in the boat and yacht industry for over 40 years. Early the next morning, his 31-foot fishing boat, the T.T. Zion, washed up on a Fort Lauderdale beach with the engine running and lights on, but with no sign of its Brazilian-born owner. Police are investigating his disappearance as a missing person case. While some have suggested that the financially and mentally troubled millionaire may have committed suicide, no body has been found. There have also not been any reported sightings of Aguiar. The 37-page GPS analysis report was released by the U.S. Coast Guard on Thursday. A series of maps show Aguiar's route from the night of his disappearance, including the speed at which he was traveling at all points. Click here for a map of Aguiar's GPS route the night he disappeared. A witness told police the boat was traveling very fast "wave jumping" at some points. The GPS data starts at 7:29 p.m., once Aguiar had already departed from the inlet near his home. The data shows that the boat traveled northeast until it was about four miles from shore, made an unusual triangle and then drifted slowly back to shore. "You can easily say he keeps working northeast towards whatever he's looking for, sees it at the top of the triangle, goes to it, steps off the boat quickly, doesn't even turn the engine off and lets it go," expert Nathan Spaulding told ABCNews.com. It takes half a second to jump off another boat. Spaulding is an associate of Pickersgill's. Spaulding, who is based in Marathon, Fla., is also an independent marine surveyor with over 40 years of experience. The two men looked at the Coast Guard analysis separately and then each spoke to ABCNews.com separately. "The top speed of the vessel was approximately 31 miles per hour at 7:35 P.M.," the Fort Lauderdale police wrote in a news release. At 7:56 P.M., the vessel's GPS data shows an abrupt decrease of speed, slowing down to approximately 0.6 miles per hour, as well as a drastic change in course to head westbound. Click here to see where Aguiar may have jumped ship. From there, the boast drifted southwest with speeds no greater than 3 miles per hour before it washed up on the beach and was eventually towed back to an inlet. "The track, from where it starts, to the loop before it starts to drift west, looks like someone looking for something," Spaulding told ABCNews.com. The squiggly areas, where the vessel slows and veers around, is likely [so that someone is able] to talk on the cellphone -- very, very difficult, if not impossible, at high speed. When Aguiar dramatically slowed his speed, he did a 360-degree spin and then veered three times from his relatively straight northeast trajectory. "Something distracted him there," Spaulding said. He theorized that Aguiar may have been on the phone or veering to avoid wind or the night's stormy weather. After the three bumps, Aguiar picked up speed again until he made a dramatic right turn and then the boat moved diagonally, forming a small triangle, before it began its slow drift back to shore. Both Spaulding and Pickersgill interpreted this triangle as an unusual maneuver. "There's a recognizable pattern in the GPS speed and data spots to indicate that if this person were to have stopped to transfer to another boat, this is where it could have happened," Pickersgill said. It looks to me as if we've got a transfer point. Spaulding echoed his thoughts. "It just so looks like he was looking for something in that direction," he said. Police said that detectives had found "no evidence to suggest the boat ever came to a complete stop in the Atlantic Ocean," but Pickersgill said a full stop would not be required for a transfer. "A transfer would not involve stopping the boat in the ocean," he said. As a master mariner, the way you do that is to bring the boat slow and kind of tuck it up into the waves, into the wind in that direction. The transfer comes alongside and one quick jump and the other boat is kept running. It looks like it was in neutral to drift ashore. He said that the boat's southwest trajectory after the triangle is consistent with the current in that area. When the boat washed up, the engine was running and the lights were on. The only damage reported by police was a broken tie rod, the metal rod that connects the boat's two engines. Click here to see the boat's route as it washed ashore. "That's a hard thing to break," Spaulding said. You'd have to hit an engine real hard, just one. If it came up aside another boat, did it bang one of the engines? Pickersgill said the break could have also happened upon impact with the beach. The Fort Lauderdale police department did not respond to request for comment.

Human remains found at home of gunman who ambushed firefighters Officials provide the latest details on the ambush that killed two firefighters while responding to a blaze in Webster, N.Y. ET: Police investigating the ambush Monday in upstate New York in which two firefighters were killed said Tuesday that they had found what appeared to be human remains at the gunman's home believed they were those of his 67-year-old sister, who lived with him. William Spengler, 62, opened fire on the volunteer firefighters as they responded to a blaze in Webster just before 6 a.m. ET Monday in a small cluster of homes near Lake Ontario, police said. The firefighters - Michael Chiapperini, 43, a lieutenant with the Webster police, and Tomasz Kaczowka, 19 - were shot dead, and Spengler killed himself as seven houses burned around him. Earlier, police said Spengler had left a three-page typewritten note saying he wanted to burn down the neighborhood and "do what I like doing best, killing people." Two firefighters, police Lt. Michael Chiapperini and Tomasz Kaczowka, were shot dead. At a second briefing Tuesday, Webster Police Chief Gerald Pickering said police believed the probable human remains were those of Cheryl Spengler, 67, who had been missing since the ambush. Pickering said two other firefighters shot during the ambush, Joseph Hofstetter and Theodore Scardino, were recovering at a hospital in Rochester. A spokeswoman at Strong Memorial Hospital said the two were in guarded condition and were alert and oriented, but she didn't expect them to be released for a few more days. An off-duty police officer also was hit by gunfire as he drove past the scene Monday morning. No information on his condition was immediately available Tuesday. Pickering said Spengler armed himself with three weapons and set his house afire to lure first responders into a death trap. Spengler's note didn't appear to offer a motive, Pickering said, but "he was equipped to go to war and kill innocent people." "I'm not sure we'll never really know what was going through his mind," the chief said. Despite being shot, one of the injured firefighters was able to flee from the scene under his own power. But the others remained pinned down on the narrow strip of land near Lake Ontario until a SWAT team arrived. Monroe County Sheriff's Office William Spengler, 62, in an undated booking photo. Spengler had lived in the house with his sister and mother, Arline, who died in October at 91. The neighbor said he thought Spengler "went crazy" after his mother died. Spengler was convicted of manslaughter in 1981 after the death of his grandmother, Rose Spengler, 92, and was paroled in 1998. Before Monday's shooting, Webster police hadn't had any run-ins with Spengler since he was paroled, they said. Although Spengler couldn't legally own firearms as a convicted felon, police said he was armed with a Smith & Wesson .38 revolver, a 12-gauge pump shotgun and a Bushmaster .223 caliber rifle. At least 33 people were displaced by the fire, which engulfed at least seven homes and a motor vehicle. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued a statement offering his "deepest condolences." Tom Winter, Ranjani Chakraborty and Rosanna Arlia of NBC News contributed to this report.

Greek Election Victor Samaras Gets Presidential Mandate to Start Coalition-Building Effort

Penn State students show support for ill Paterno (AP) - About 200 students and townspeople gathered Saturday night in State College at a statue of former Penn State Coach Joe Paterno, who is seriously ill at a local hospital. Paterno's doctors say his condition has become "serious" after he experienced complications from lung cancer in recent days. Paterno's son, Jay, tweeted, "Drove by students at the Joe statue. The statue is just outside a gate at Beaver Stadium.

Havana Sees US Invasion at Key Art Festival Ruben Alpizar never met the American collector who fell in love with his painting of a plummeting Icarus against a starry background, hanging on the wall of a Spanish colonial-era fortress across the bay from Havana. Nor did he get a name or a hometown, or even learn whether the buyer was a man or a woman. It all happened quickly, starting with a phone call from a broker. How much for the painting? Look, I think somebody wants it. I'll call you right back. Soon after, the phone rang again: "Sold." "We need more people coming from Gringoland," Alpizar said with a smile, not a hint of derision in his voice as he employed a term that can be either affectionate or pejorative depending on the context. They pay the price you ask. The streets of the Cuban capital are, in fact, awash with American art pilgrims during the monthlong Biennial, a showcase connecting local contemporary artists with well-heeled foreign collectors - key clients in a country whose citizens have little real purchasing power. Alpizar, for one, would not say how much his painting sold for, but offered that his work normally goes for between $3,000 and $15,000, a windfall in a country where most people earn the equivalent of $20 a month. A visitor takes a picture of "My Ark" by Cuban artist Ruben Alpizar at the San Carlos de La Cabana fortress as part of the 11th Havana Biennial exhibition in Havana, Cuba, Friday, May 25, 2012. The piece was bought by an American art collector during the month long art event. An unusually large delegation of American artists, curators, collectors and fans were accredited to attend the Biennial, organizers say. Unlike with other island goods, it's perfectly legal for Americans to buy Cuban art, which is covered under an exemption to the 50-year-old U.S. embargo allowing the purchase of "informational materials." (AP Photo/Franklin Reyes) Close The Americans are arriving in larger numbers because of the Obama administration's relaxation of U.S. embargo travel rules. They say they see a chance to explore the unknown and look for the ultimate conversation piece to hang on the living room wall. "I think there is a mystique and the association with the 'time-capsule island' and all that's inaccessible," said Rachel Weingeist, an adviser to Shelley and Donald Rubin on their Cuban art collection. The couple's New York-based Rubin Foundation promotes the arts and humanitarian causes. "Frankly we haven't had much access until recently," Weingeist said. The Americans say they're impressed by the island's sophisticated fine arts scene compared to those in other countries in the Caribbean and elsewhere. Auctions by Christie's and Sotheby's have firmly cemented Cuban art in the U.S. consciousness, such as this week's sale of a painting by the late surrealist Wilfredo Lam for $4.56 million. There's so much heart. It's about a sense of place," said Jennifer Jacobs of Portland, Oregon, who led a private group of 15 collectors from Seattle to the Biennial. It really spoke to me personally. Terry Hall, an art collector and accountant from Gurnee, Illinois, just south of the Wisconsin border, said she was surprised by the variety she saw. Cuban art embraces diverse themes and styles, and even ventures into the political. One piece on display at the Biennial, shaped like a mailbox, has a slot with large, sharp bloody fangs and an invitation for "Complaints and Suggestions." "I came down here expecting art that was more colorful, more Caribbean in flavor and what I found is more international, more cutting-edge, more ambitious art," said Hall. I've really been very excited about it. I think it rivals anything I've seen anywhere else as far as the execution, the expertise and the ambitious ideas.

Windsurfing will return for 2016 Games LONDON (Reuters) - Windsurfing has reclaimed its place in the Olympic program after the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) voted on Saturday to reinstate it at the expense of kiteboarding. The ISAF decided to retain men's and women's windsurfing at the governing body's annual general meeting in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland. The vote reversed the organisation's surprise move in May to drop windsurfing in favour of kiteboarding at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The ISAF at the time described the move as a "fantastic addition" but windsurfing federations vowed to pressure sailing chiefs to reinstate the discipline. Israel's sailing chief Yehuda Maayan told Reuters that, in voting for kiteboarding, delegates had probably been confused or did not understand the motion because of language difficulties. The Spanish Sailing Federation has since acknowledged that its representative voted for kiteboarding by mistake. Writing by Stephen Wood; editing by Tony Jimenez

To Our Readers - NYTimes.com This is the first issue of the Sunday Review, a new section that replaces the Week in Review. It features news analysis from Times reporters and opinion writing from our columnists, as well as essays and reported opinion pieces from outside contributors. We hope you enjoy the changes, and if you have criticisms, thoughts or suggestions, please get in touch with us at oped@nytimes.com. - The Editors

Sun Jan 1, 2012 8:05pm EST (Reuters) - A gunman shot and killed a ranger in Mount Rainier National Park in Washington state on Sunday after a traffic stop, and authorities shuttered the park as a search for the shooter got underway, park officials said. Ranger Margaret Anderson, a 34-year-old mother of two young children, stopped the gunman's vehicle at a roadblock on Sunday morning shortly after another ranger tried to stop the same car about a mile away, park spokesman Kevin Bacher said in a recorded statement. "The suspect fled and is still at-large on foot," Bacher said, adding that local law enforcement and the FBI were assisting in the manhunt. Authorities closed the park, which welcomes around 2 million visitors a year at its site on the west side of the snow-capped Cascade mountain range, and were evacuating visitors, a spokeswoman said. About 85 visitors and 15 park staff remained inside the park's visitor center, along with law enforcement officers, and were being held there until it was deemed safe to leave, spokeswoman Lee Taylor said. "They're safe and secure where they are," she said. I don't know how long we're going to ask them to stay there. We certainly don't want them driving down the road if there's a gunman who might take a pot shot at them. Taylor had earlier told CNN that Anderson, the ranger who was killed, was married to another ranger at the park. She is a dedicated public servant, very committed to visitors to the park and to helping to protect park resources. Her husband is also a ranger at Mount Rainier and they have two small children... So it's a horrible tragedy. It's a terrible loss of life of somebody who had dedicated herself to serving the public," she said.

Amar'e Stoudemire's Deal With Knicks Is Worst in New York Sports It has often been said, never more so than in the past few weeks, that Alex Rodriguez's contract could be the most onerous individual deal ever struck by a professional sports team. But as we turn from the Yankees" great power outage of October to the start of a new Knicks season in November, here comes Amar'e Stoudemire to give A-Rod a run for his allegedly unearned money. Stoudemire will begin the season pretty much where Rodriguez finished his: on the bench, trying to ignore increasingly strident denunciations of him as a brittle and payroll-busting albatross. Stoudemire's left knee, in which he recently suffered a ruptured cyst and will now need to be surgically cleaned out, will sideline him for up to two months. And the long-term prognosis - it's always something - does match Rodriguez's continuing affliction. In terms of sheer magnitude and organizational magnanimity, it seems like a reach to compare Stoudemire's five-year, $100 million contract to Rodriguez's 10-year, $275 million haul that could reach $300 million depending on since-discredited home run benchmarks. But factoring in a few apples-and-oranges variables does raise an intriguing question: How can A-Rod's deal be the absolute worst ever when, within the same city, Stoudemire appears to be having a more deleterious effect on the Knicks" ability to so much as sniff championship contention. Let me say that I am not in the habit of blaming any athlete for what he or she negotiates and shall not begin here. But frustrated fans generally do not absolve the highest-paid players for their perceived failure to live up to their contracts, for it's the performers who are the ones on stage, within earshot. Furthermore, it's not as if Hank Steinbrenner or James L. Dolan are about to work the phone bank for season-ticket renewals. But let's be abundantly clear: nobody forced either franchise to commit to these now-regrettable deals. Unlike the Yankees in the case of Rodriguez, the Knicks can at least defend the Stoudemire signing by insisting they had no other workable option: in the summer of 2010, they were spurned by free agents more prized than Stoudemire, and this after a two-year roster purge and grand promises made to the long-suffering New York fan base that better times were directly ahead. Stoudemire would likely have remained in Phoenix had it come close to the Knicks" maximum offer to a player the Suns drafted out of high school and developed into an All-Star. He did, however, "embrace the city and the Knicks" - as Donnie Walsh, their former president, reminded me recently - when others wanted no part of the daunting challenges of New York. "You don't realize how hard he works, how much he does, just to keep his knees going," Walsh said. I had no idea he was that good a guy and, in a way, that's what the most refreshing thing was. That impression, unfortunately, was based on the first one Stoudemire made on New York, when he was healthy and the hub of a revived and appealing young team. It is also the one Walsh apparently took with him upon leaving town after Stoudemire's first season with the Knicks, only months after the acquisition of Carmelo Anthony dramatically altered the core conditions under which Stoudemire arrived. That's another debate, not the one we are having here. We have since seen a different Stoudemire, ailing and ornery after the shotgun marriage to Anthony. Few people believe Anthony and Stoudemire, given their disparate styles as front-line scorers, can successfully coexist, and fewer expect that Stoudemire's knees will allow him the privilege of again being an elite player. With three years remaining on his deal, Stoudemire is probably as untradeable as Rodriguez, at least until he approaches the final year and becomes a potential asset as an expiring contract in another team's attempt to clear salary-cap space. And unless he soon reverses a pattern of decline, the nearly $20 million that he will earn this season will certainly limit the Knicks" competitive prospects within an N.B.A. financial system that is more restrictive than baseball's. After a decade of fielding teams that were not only terrible but distinctly unlikable, the Knicks believed they were opening a multiyear window to contend with Anthony, Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler in the prime of their careers. But with reinforcements long past their best days now added to a team that has won one playoff game in the last two seasons, the argument could be made that within two to three years the Knicks will be back to where they started in the summer of 2010. Though the Yankees have expressed a strong desire to avoid paying steep revenue-sharing taxes in the future, they might just put that objective aside if the continued and costly presence of Rodriguez forces them to keep their payroll above $200 million. Even if they do bring the payroll down to the $189 million limit they covet, they will still outspend most competitors, even if you exclude the huge sum being paid to A-Rod. And no matter how bitter Rodriguez's contract tastes, and assuming he stays to the end, he will always have 2009, when he finally seized the postseason spotlight and the Yankees broke an eight-year World Series title drought. The Knicks, in sharp, damning contrast, will note the 40th anniversary of their last N.B.A. title next spring. That, ultimately, makes their expensive mistakes more injurious to the greater cause than those of the Yankees. The malady known as "it's always something" is exceedingly worse when there is never a full postseason of relief from the pain.

Bret Michaels settles suit over onstage Tony Awards accident Bret Michaels arriving at the 2009 Tony Awards. His exit would be less lighthearted. Peter Kramer/Associated Press / May 15, 2012 May 15, 2012, 7:05 a.m. Bret Michaels and organizers of the Tonys have settled a lawsuit that the Poison frontman had filed after he was hit by a piece of scenery during the 2009 award show. After performing "Nothin' But a Good Time" with the cast of "Rock of Ages," the rocker/reality-TV star was knocked to the ground by an enormous descending set piece as he was exiting the stage. Michaels sustained several injuries -- including a busted lip and a fractured nose -- and 10 months later he was almost killed by a brain hemorrhage he said was related to the accident, according to the suit. An agreement came last week after mediation. The confidential settlement also covers CBS Broadcasting, which aired the show. The suit, filed in March 2011 in Los Angeles Superior Court, said producers never informed Michaels of the scenery or potential hazards. "Quite the opposite, Michaels specifically asked for instructions regarding how to exit after his performance and was just told to walk off the rear of the stage -- in what was ultimately the danger zone," according to the legal papers. Michaels" lawyer Alex Weingarten issued a statement saying that "Mr. Michaels would like to thank his fans for their continued support." The entertainer has recovered and returned to work, although he had to cancel several concert dates, according to the suit. The singer is currently on tour with Poison and fellow '80s rock staple Def Leppard, the band that inspired the "Rock of Ages" Broadway musical. Michaels' Tony incident went viral on YouTube, racking up millions of views.

Johnson, Melvin Picked as Managers of the Year Davey Johnson of the Washington Nationals, and Bob Melvin of the Oakland Athletics were chosen as managers of the year on Tuesday after guiding their teams to huge turnaround seasons. Melvin beat out Baltimore's Buck Showalter for the AL honor in a close vote by a Baseball Writers' Association of America panel. Under Melvin, the A's made a 20-game improvement, finished 94-68 and won the AL West. Johnson was an easy choice for the NL prize after the Nationals - who had never enjoyed a winning year - posted the best record in the majors and made their first playoff appearance. Johnson, who turns 70 in January, was honored for the second time. He was tabbed as the AL's top manager in 1997, hours after he resigned from the Orioles in a feud with owner Peter Angelos. This time, Johnson will get a while to enjoy the accolade. The Nationals announced this month that he will guide them in 2013, when he will be the oldest manager in the majors. He's set to leave the Washington dugout and become a team consultant in 2014. "World Series or bust," Johnson said on the MLB Network. It's going to be my last year, anyway. Melvin also became a two-time winner, having been chosen in 2007 with Arizona. Melvin got 16 first-place votes. Showalter got the other 12 firsts, and Robin Ventura of the Chicago White Sox finished third. The A's were one of baseball's biggest surprises this year, especially after trades and injuries wreaked havoc with the roster. Oakland never panicked under Melvin's cool demeanor and overtook Texas in the final week to win the division. The Athletics lost in the first round of the playoffs to Detroit. FILE - In this Oct. 10, 2012, file photo, Washington Nationals manager Davey Johnson watches his players take batting practice before Game 3 of the National League division baseball series against the St. Louis Cardinals in Washington. The Nationals are bringing back Johnson for one more season as their manager. Johnson then will move into a role as a consultant to the club in 2014. The Nationals announced the arrangement Saturday, Nov. 10, 2012. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)) Close Johnson received 23 of the 32 first-place votes, Dusty Baker of NL Central winner Cincinnati got five firsts and was second. Bruce Bochy of the World Series champion San Francisco Giants got four firsts and was third. Washington won its second-ever major postseason award. Bryce Harper was voted NL Rookie of the Year on Monday. Washington went 98-64 this year, taking over the NL East lead in late May and staying in first place the rest of the way. Boosted by Harper, Cy Young candidate Gio Gonzalez and their fresh "Natitude," they brought postseason baseball to Washington for the first time since 1933. The playoffs didn't go quite so well. Minus Stephen Strasburg - team execs decided the ace had pitched enough while recovering from elbow surgery - Washington blew a 6-0 lead and lost the deciding Game 5 of the division series to St. Louis. Voting for the BBWAA awards was done before the playoffs. Johnson oversaw a diverse roster, one made up of young and old, Washington veterans and newcomers. A four-time All-Star, three-time Gold Glover, two-time World Series champion and the last big leaguer to get a hit off Sandy Koufax, Johnson spoke with a soft, raspy tone but always held his team's attention. He would occasionally raise his voice - he liked to holler "whack-o!" when the Nationals homered. Johnson managed the New York Mets to the 1986 championship and later guided Cincinnati and the Orioles. He returned to managing in 1999 with the Los Angeles Dodgers for two years. In June 2011, Johnson was working as a senior adviser with the Nationals when Jim Riggleman suddenly resigned midway through the season. Johnson took over and agreed to be part of a search committee to select a manager for 2012, allowing that he could be a candidate for the post, too. The Nationals finished 80-81, barely missing out on their first winning season, and Johnson was brought back for another try. Washington was minus baseball for more than three decades. The Senators moved to Texas after the 1971 season, then the Montreal Expos moved to D.C. to start in 2005. Under Johnson, the Nationals put aside their losing past and set up a winning future.

Did 'Teen Mom' Amber Portwood scam her home state for cheap housing? Madison County Sheriff Dept. There could be more trouble for "Teen Mom" Amber Portwood, seen here in her most recent mug shots. As if things weren't bad enough for "Teen Mom" Amber Portwood, currently residing in a Madison County jail following a variety of past offenses, there's now a claim that she lied about her income in order to live in government-subsidized housing. Not the jail housing - she earned that fair and square. It's the Anderson, Ind. home Portwood recently left behind that's now the problem. According to TMZ, a lease agreement reveals that the house was rented under the state's Low Income Rental Housing Tax Credit program, which requires that applicants actually have a low income. Portwood allegedly stated that she only made around $10,000 a year, a far cry from the $280,000 she made in 2010 alone, which according to the report is why Portwood's former landlord attempted to evict her. In late January, a court ruled that eviction wasn't necessary, as Portwood had already moved out and the landlord was free to take over the property. Still, the reality star, or at least her lawyer, will face her former landlord once again on March 19 to settle the matter of money owed on the lease. What do you think of the latest problems for Portwood?

Channel Surfing: 'The Injustice Files: At the End of a Rope' February 21, 2012, 2:02 pm Since making his name with the 2005 documentary "The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till," Keith Beauchamp has continued to work in the specific field of African-American cold cases, looking into unsolved and almost certainly racially motivated murders in the series "Murder in Black and White" on TV One and "The Injustice Files" on Investigation Discovery as well as the History Channel documentary "Wanted Justice: Johnnie Mae Campell." The two-hour special "The Injustice Files: At the End of a Rope," Tuesday night on Investigation Discovery, gets even more specific. In each of the four cases it looks at, a black man was found hanging from a tree and his death was ruled a suicide. Family members disagree, and Mr. Beauchamp does what he can, using the methods and resources of true-crime television, to look at the record, re-examine the facts and track down witnesses. Making these possible lynchings more chilling is the fact that the oldest dates to 1986 - the other three took place in this century, most recently in 2005 in upstate New York. The enormous frustrations that the stories hold for relatives and friends of the victims filter through to the viewer, because Mr. Beauchamp is never able to build more than circumstantial cases for murder. Hired experts speculate and possible witnesses testify, their backs to the camera and their voices distorted; much of it is persuasive, but none of it is evidence. Past negligence and mistakes suggest cover-ups, but even five or 10 years is too much of a gap to bridge. At the end of the two hours, Mr. Beauchamp, who is an executive producer of the show and its omnipresent host, says it himself: "It frustrates me that I cannot give more to these grieving relatives." The death of 17-year-old Raynard Johnson in southern Mississippi in 2000 is the best known of the cases Mr. Beauchamp revisits, and he paints a convincing, disturbing picture of a place where blatant, murderous racial hatred - and the possibility of being killed for dating white women - are still everyday facts of life. But in the final analysis, the best argument Mr. Beauchamp can offer in Raynard's case is the one that's there from the beginning, obvious to anyone who cares to look: "It's hard to imagine that he would hang himself from a tree."

Syria protesters fired on as observers visit BEIRUT - Syrian troops fired on protesters Monday in the restive city of Homs as Arab League observers toured the area to see whether President Bashar Assad's regime is abiding by its pledge to halt the 10-month-old crackdown on dissent, activists said. In the capital Damascus, thousands held prayers for those killed since the uprising began in March. Christian and Muslim religious leaders attended the service, and throngs packed the city's Holy Cross church, its yards and a nearby street. "Enough killings in our beloved Syria," the country's top Sunni clergyman, Grand Mufti Ahmad Badreddine Hassoun, told the crowd at the prayer service. His son was shot dead in October. The 165 foreign monitors are supposed to be ensuring that Syria complies with the Arab League plan stipulating the regime stop killing protesters, remove heavy weaponry, such as tanks, from all cities, free all political prisoners and allow in human rights organizations and foreign journalists. Syria agreed to the plan on Dec. 19. However, the crackdown has not stopped and opposition activists say around 450 people have killed by the regime since observers began work on Dec. 21. On Monday, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said security forces shot dead four people around the country and returned the bodies of 10 other people to their families in several Homs neighborhoods. The U.N. estimated several weeks ago that more than 5,000 people have been killed in political violence since March. Since that report, opposition activists say hundreds more have died. On Sunday, the Arab League repeated its demand for the Syrian government to immediately stop all bloodshed. Deadly Syria blast kills dozens in Damascus Qatar: Arab monitors made mistakes in Syria It was not immediately clear whether the foreign observers witnessed the regime forces opening fire in the Khaldiyeh neighborhood of Homs. Several people were reported wounded. Majd Amer, an activist in Homs, said the shooting started after thousands of protesters surrounded a group of observers, urging them to go to Khaldiyeh, where anti-regime protesters are known to be active. The observers' Syrian escorts wanted to take them to the nearby Abbassiyah neighborhood, where many regime supporters live, he said. "Sporadic shooting was heard for a few seconds," Amer said. The opposition has accused Syria of trying to mislead the activists by showing them areas where regime support is strong.

Heartless thieves pick lovers' padlocks in Germany BERLIN (Reuters) - German police caught two thieves breaking open "lovers' padlocks" attached to a bridge over the Rhine River in the city of Cologne. The pair were cutting padlocks, left by amorous couples to symbolize their eternal love, off a railing on the Hohenzollern Bridge presumably to sell as scrap metal, police said. "I spotted two men on the other side of the bridge tampering with the lovers' padlocks, so I called for back-up straight away," a police officer said. The men tried to escape with their loot after spotting police but were apprehended on the bridge. Police discovered over 50 padlocks along with lock cutters in a trolley suitcase, wheeled along by the men. The pair will appear in court on charges of property damage, police said. Love-struck couples have been fastening padlocks to railings of bridges, engraving them with their initials or adding a few sentimental words and then tossing the keys into the rivers below to symbolize their eternal love.

Blast in Northern Syria Targets Troops An explosion targeting Syrian regime forces killed at least three people in northern Syria on Wednesday - and possibly up to 18 - amid rising violence ahead of a visit by the new U.N.-Arab League envoy who is trying to end the country's civil war. Diplomatic efforts have so far failed to halt the bloodshed in Syria, but the new international envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, will be in Syria on Thursday for talks with Foreign Minister Walid Moallem, according to ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Brahimi also will meet with President Bashar Assad during the trip to Damascus. There were conflicting accounts of the nature of Wednesday's blast and the number of casualties. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement that a car bomb exploded, and that 18 security agents were killed. The Observatory said dozens of rebels attacked the post in the wake of the blast in the Idlib province town of Saraqeb. But a government official told The Associated Press that a suicide attacker blew himself up in Saraqeb, killing two policemen and a civilian. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. An activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisals, also said the blast was carried out by a suicide bomber driving a car. Syria restricts media access, making it difficult to independently verify such accounts. Al-Qaida-style suicide bombings have become increasingly common in Syria, and Western officials say there is little doubt that Islamist extremists, some associated with the terror network, have made inroads in Syria as violence has engulfed the country. But the main fighting force looking to oust Assad is the Free Syrian Army, a group made up largely of defected Syrian soldiers. The attack came after a blast Sunday in the northern city of Aleppo destroyed parts of two hospitals where soldiers are usually treated. State media said 30 civilians were killed and 64 wounded in the Aleppo bombing. Elsewhere, activists reported heavy fighting between government troops and rebels in Syria's largest city of Aleppo, much of it near the government-held Aleppo International Airport. Activist Mohammed al-Hassan, who is based in the city, said the airport, which includes a military base, is widely used by the regime to bomb rebel-held areas in Aleppo. "Fierce battles are taking place as aircraft zoom overhead," al-Hassan said. The state-run news agency, SANA, said troops repelled an attempt Wednesday by rebels to enter Aleppo and killed and wounded "a large number of them." The Observatory and another activist group, the Local Coordination Committees, said at least 11 bodies were found in the central town of Halfaya in Hama province. They said the bodies were found in fields a day after government troops stormed the town. To the east, the LCC said Syrian warplanes attacked the village of Souseh near the border with Iraq, killing at least nine people. Activists also reported violence in the suburbs of the capital Damascus, the southern province of Daraa and the central region of Homs. Activists say that more than 23,000 people have been killed since Syria's crisis began in March last year. Syria's uprising began with largely peaceful protests against Assad's regime, but has since morphed into a civil war in the face of a brutal government crackdown. The violence has force nearly 300,000 Syrians to flee the country, and the vast majority of them have sought refuge in neighboring Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon. On Wednesday, actress Angelina Jolie met with Syrian refugees in Lebanon a day after visiting a refugee camp in Jordan. Jolie, who came along with U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, held talks with Lebanese Prime Minster Najib Mikati. There are more than 65,000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Associated Press writer Albert Aji contributed to this report from Damascus, Syria.

Bill Miller 'did not understand Rangers' says fans chief

Father of NFL player Andre Fluellen dies in charity game CARTERSVILLE, Ga., Feb. 27 (UPI) -- Funeral arrangements were pending Monday for the father of Detroit Lion Andre Fluellen, who collapsed and died during a charity basketball game in Georgia. The Rev. Charles Fluellen, 57, complained of chest pains and lost consciousness Saturday night at the game in Cartersville, in northwestern Georgia. He was pronounced dead at Cartersville Medical Center, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Fluellen was playing in a "Pastors vs. Politicians" fundraiser basketball game to benefit the Excel Christian Academy athletic booster club, featuring local ministers against local government officials. A director of the Bartow County Transit Department and pastor of Glory Harvester Church, Fluellen was the father of 4th-year defensive tackle Andre Fluellen, who grew up in Cartersville before attending Florida State University, and being drafted by the Lions in 2008. Funeral arrangements were to be made by Mack Eppinger & Sons Funeral Home in Cartersville.

Travel Postcard: 48 hours in wintry Helsinki HELSINKI (Reuters) - Don't let sub-zero temperatures and darkness put you off visiting Finland's capital city in the winter, when its Art Nouveau and modernist buildings are covered in a layer of snow. Finns know how to make the best of wintry weather, keeping warm with saunas and strong drinks or enjoying music and art indoors when they are not out cross-country skiing. Reuters correspondents with local knowledge help you to get the most out of a two-day stay in Helsinki during the winter. 6 p.m. - Drop off your luggage and head to fashionable Liberty or Death for an inventive cocktail and an introduction to Finns' quirky sense of humor. The menu, which changes monthly, includes "This isn't the drink you were looking for" -- a drink based on Finlandia vodka mixed with tomato, coriander, beer and chili. The bar describes it as a "cocktail nobody will probably like, ever." 8 p.m. - For more traditional Finnish fare, have dinner at restaurant Sea Horse in Ullanlinna. National favorites such as fried herring and Vorschmack are served in a dining room that looks little changed from the 1930s. 9 a.m. - Head for Senaatintori square and have breakfast at Cafe Engel, located in one of the oldest houses in Helsinki. Window-side seats offer breathtaking views of the Helsinki Cathedral's green dome. 10 a.m.- Take tram 7B to the Hakaniemi market in the working-class but increasingly gentrified Kallio neighborhood. The two-storey indoor market offers everything from reindeer rugs to vintage Finnish glass by Kaj Franck and Tapio Wirkkala. 12 p.m. - The market's soup restaurant is popular for its delicious bouillabaisse, but can get crowded. For an alternative, try Weeruska, a restaurant near the Linnanmaki amusement park serving goatcheese-beetroot patties and reindeer stew. 1 p.m. - No visit to Finland is complete without a visit to a sauna. Sweat it out at Kotiharju, one of the last remaining public saunas with a real, wood-burning stove. There are separate saunas for men and women. The uppermost benches are the hottest, so try the lower rungs if you prefer gentler steam. 3 p.m. - See Finland's largest classical art collection at the neo-Renaissance Ateneum museum, situated on the railway station square Rautatientori. Don't miss the works of national epic Kalevala's illustrator Akseli Gallen-Kallela and Helene Schjerfbeck's poignant self-portraits. 5 p.m. - Round off the day with classical music at the new Musiikkitalo concert hall or the opera house, both near Toolo bay. Finland is known for its love of classical music, as seen by the number of top Finnish conductors including Sakari Oramo and Esa-Pekka Salonen. The opera house this season will show works by Giuseppe Verdi, including Rigoletto featuring world-class baritone Paolo Gavanelli. For a different kind of passion, go see an ice-hockey match. HIFK and Jokerit are Helsinki's arch-rivals and tickets are available on www.lippupalvelu.fi. 9 p.m. Have dinner at Muru, one of the most popular restaurants in the city for its relaxed atmosphere and fusion of French and Finnish cooking. 10 p.m. Check out the Finnish rock scene at Tavastia, known as Helsinki's equivalent of CBGB. Unlike the New York club, the Tavastia is still alive with "Suomirock" bands and visiting acts. 10 a.m. - Go cross-country skiing at Paloheina recreational park in the northern part of the city. The park offers rental equipment including skis and snowshoes, and its well-maintained skiing tracks include those for beginners. 12 p.m. - Reward yourself with meatballs in brandy sauce at Tori, a restaurant in the Punavuori design district. The portions are generous. 1 p.m. - Had too much? Burn off the calories with a swim at the Yrjonkatu swimming hall, housed in a beautiful art deco building. Bathing suits are optional and were in fact prohibited until 2001. Women and men have separate hours, so check ahead. tinyurl.com/69pp4m Finish by relaxing in their wood-burning sauna and a glass of sparkling wine on the second floor. 3 p.m. - Check out the best of Finnish design at the Design Museum, including the iconic works of Finland's most famous designers including Alvar Aalto and Ilmari Tapiovaara. 5 p.m. - Shop for gifts at Stockmann, a landmark department store. Finns say that if you can't find it at Stockmann, you don't need it. Both book lovers and design aficionados should check out the adjacent Akateeminen book store designed by Aalto. Reporting by Terhi Kinnunen, Ritsuko Ando and Jussi Rosendahl; Editing by Paul Casciato

NCAA tournament 2012: Maryland storms back, advances to Elite Eight RALEIGH, N.C. - The Maryland women's basketball team fell behind by 18 points late in the first half, but as it has done time and again this season, the Terrapins forged back to craft an improbable 81-74 victory over Texas A&M on Sunday in the NCAA tournament Sweet 16 at PNC Arena. Playing in the region semifinals for the first time since 2009, the Terrapins extended their winning streak to 10 and triumphed for the 13th time in 14 games. Sophomore guard Laurin Mincy led Maryland with 21 points and 10 rebounds for her first career double-double, and sophomore forward Alyssa Thomas had 21 points and nine rebounds. Second-seeded Maryland (31-4) advanced to its fourth region final in Coach Brenda Frese's 10 seasons and will play either top-seeded Notre Dame or fifth-seeded St. Bonaventure on Tuesday night. In erasing the first-half deficit - their largest since trailing Georgia Tech by 20 in January - the Terrpains went ahead to stay, 75-74, on senior center Lynetta Kizer's layup with 3 1/2 minutes to play. Mincy followed with a fast-break layup off a pass from Thomas to make it 77-74, and Maryland could begin to exhale. The Terrapins trailed 36-18 with 7 minutes 10 seconds to play in the first half, but they stormed back with a 21-6 flurry before the break. Then, on its first possession of the second half, Maryland got a basket from Thomas to pull within 44-43. From there, though, the reigning national champion Aggies scored eight in a row to keep Maryland at bay momentarily. The Terrapins rallied again, though, this time trimming the deficit to 70-65 with eight minutes to play on Thomas's foul-line jumper. After Texas A&M (24-11) pushed the lead to seven on a layup from center Kelsey Bone, Maryland got four consecutive points from Kizer, and it could have been more. Kizer missed three foul shots during that stretch. But Mincy got an offensive rebound on the next possession and scored, and after freshman guard Alexia Standish answered for third-seeded Texas A&M, Maryland pushed ahead for good.

Wrecked liner's captain detained by police PORTO SANTO STEFANO, Italy - Italian media report that the captain of a cruise liner that ran aground with some 4,000 people aboard has been detained for questioning in the case. Sky Italia reported Saturday that investigators based in the Tuscan city of Grosseto confirmed Francisco Schettino, captain of the Costa Conchordia, was detained for investigation of alleged manslaughter, abandoning his ship while people were still aboard and causing a shipwreck. Three bodies have been found, and dozens more are still missing, after thousands were evacuated from the listing vessel. Cruise ship runs aground off Italy, 3 dead Fact sheet: The Costa Concordia cruise liner The ANSA news agency said he was taken to Grosseto's jail, to be held until next week, when a judge will decide whether he should be released or formally put under arrest. The courthouse was closed late Saturday and couldn't be reached. In Italy, suspects can be held without charge for 48 hours for investigation. A judge must either validate the jailing, putting the suspect under arrest, or declare him free to go.

Free Hawaii electric vehicle charging through 2012 HONOLULU (AP) - Hawaii's electric vehicle drivers will have free access to more than 130 charging stations across the state through the end of 2012. Electric car network provider Better Place says it is activating the state's largest electric vehicle charging network on Oahu, Maui, Kauai and the Big Island, including at hotels, office buildings and shopping centers. Beginning Jan. 1, 2013, drivers will have the option to sign up for a Better Place membership plan. With federal and state funding, Better Place has been working with businesses and property owners to install charging infrastructure across the state. In April last year, Better Place installed its first charge spots in the parking structure of a Waikiki hotel. There are now charge spots at five hotels and resorts on Oahu, Maui and Kauai.

Police: Airport security worker likely bought ID (AP) NEWARK, N.J. - Police believe a New Jersey airport security supervisor purchased a birth certificate and Social Security number 20 years ago from an intermediary who had bought them from a man who was later murdered. Police in New York say they suspect that's how Bimbo Olumuyiwa Oyewole (ohl-oo-moo-YEE'-wah oh-YEH'-woh-leh) assumed the name of Jerry Thomas and hid the fact he was in the country illegally. Oyewole was arrested Monday. The 55-year-old Nigerian faces an identity theft charge and possible deportation. NYPD police spokesman Paul Browne said Wednesday it's believed Thomas sold his identification papers to a Nigerian cabbie and then the driver later sold them to Oyewole. New Jersey officials say the airport worker began using the papers three weeks before Thomas' 1992 murder. Until his arrest, Oyewole worked for a private security company at Newark's Liberty airport.

Canadian Navy officer admits to spying for Russia HALIFAX, Nova Scotia A former Canadian Navy intelligence officer who pleaded guilty to espionage on Wednesday was selling secrets to the Russians for about $3,000 a month. Sub-Lt. Jeffrey Paul Delisle showed no emotion as he acknowledged to a Nova Scotia provincial court judge that he understood the consequences of entering guilty pleas to three charges and was voluntarily giving up his right to a trial Federal prosecutor Lyne Decarie outlined the case against Delisle during a bail hearing in March, saying he voluntarily entered the Russian embassy in Ottawa in 2007 and offered to sell information to them. A publication ban was imposed on those hearings at the time. At the bail hearing, Decarie read portions of a police statement where Delisle reportedly described the day he walked into the embassy as "professional suicide." "The day I flipped sides ... from that day on, that was the end of my days as Jeff Delisle," Decarie read from his statement. She said he claimed to police that his betrayal "was for ideological reasons" and that he wasn't doing it for the money." Delisle, 41, worked at a naval communications and intelligence center in Halifax that was a multinational base with access to secret data from NATO countries. Decarie alleged in court that Delisle had access to the facility's secure and unsecured systems that contained information from Canada and allies, and that he shared mostly military data. Decarie said Delisle was asked to search for Russian references in the past month on his work computer, then copy it onto a USB key and take it home with him where he uploaded it to an email program that he shared with his foreign handler. Decarie said Delisle, a father who is divorced from his first wife, received $5,000 for the first couple transfers and then $3,000 every month. Decarie said he began doing it "following some personal problem." He came to the authorities' attention when he was returning from a trip to Brazil to meet a Russian handler in the fall of 2011, Decarie said. He was carrying several thousand dollars after staying the country only four days, raising the suspicions of Canada Border Services agents who shared their concerns with the police and military. The prosecution said some time after, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police took over the account he shared with the Russians, allowing him to think he was transmitting material to a Russian agent when "it was actually the RCMP opening the email." Delisle was arrested in Halifax last Jan. 13 and charged with espionage and breach of trust, making him the first person in Canada to be convicted under the country's Security of Information Act which was passed by Parliament after the terrorist attacks on the United States on Sept. Defense lawyer Mike Taylor said the evidence against his client is overwhelming. "You reach a point in which you say, 'OK we're toast,'" Taylor said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. Barring some catastrophic happening there was going to be a conviction. Taylor said at no time did his client put any Canadian troops in danger. "There was no information that indicated where troops were or ships were," he said. Taylor also suggested the Russians put pressure on when at one point he tried to stop spying. Decarie said Delisle told officers that the Russians had pictures of his children. They had all my information. They had photos of me," Decarie read from the statement. They had photos of my children and I knew exactly what it was for. Delisle, wearing a blue hooded sweat shirt, jeans and glasses, clasped his hands and appeared unmoved as the judge asked him if he understood the consequences of the plea on Wednesday. Taylor said no deal on sentencing was reached with the prosecution. Delisle is looking at life in prison, but Taylor said it will be up to the judge. Two days of sentencing hearings will start Jan. 10. The Canadian military, the government and police have not revealed any details about what information is alleged to have been disclosed. A spokesman for Canada's defense minister said they'll reserve comment as the judicial process continues. Delisle, who joined the navy as a reservist in 1996, became a member of the regular forces in 2001 and was promoted to an officer rank in 2008. He had access to systems with information shared by the Five Eyes community that includes Canada, the United States, Britain, Australia and New Zealand. In damage assessments read in court, officials in the Canadian intelligence community said the breaches from 2007 to 2012 could unmask intelligence sources and place a chill on the sharing of vital security information among allies. "Delisle's unauthorized disclosure to the Russians since 2007 has caused severe and irreparable damage to Canadian interests," one official wrote in a statement read by Decarie.

A night that put Israel to shame African immigrants drive a car whose windows were shattered by Israeli protesters in Tel Aviv on May 23. Frida Ghitis: A demonstration against immigrants turned violent in Israel She says members of parliament added to the inflamed rhetoric Israel, of all places, should avoid intolerance of those seeking asylum, she says Ghitis: Israelis condemned the rioting, and Israel is not alone in its immigration problem (CNN) -- One of the unintended consequences of the Arab revolutions has become evident in Israel, where a surge in the number of refugees from Africa has created new tensions in a country with no shortage of practical and ethical dilemmas. In the face of the new challenge, a number of Israeli politicians have sunk to the occasion, exploiting raw emotions and fueling a display of violence that should shame Israelis. To be sure, Israel is not the first nation whose handling of illegal immigration deserves criticism. But the anti-immigrant riot that took place in a Tel Aviv neighborhood on May 23 should rise as a rallying cry for Israelis who believe their country should shine as a "light unto the nations." Since Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was overthrown last year, Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, the border between the two countries, has become a mostly lawless land where Bedouin gangs freely traffic in, among other things, human beings. Migrants who come mostly from Sudan and Eritrea have chosen Israel as their destination because it is one of the most prosperous states in the region and because it offers some protection for refugees. Despite the protests of right-wing politicians and of some sectors of the population, Israel has so far refrained from forcing the vast majority of refugees to return to their native countries. Many countries keep asylum-seekers in prison-like camps under indefinite detention. Israel is building a detention facility where refugees would remain while their cases are processed. But until now, they have been receiving visas that allow them to live anywhere in the country. Still, they live in limbo without a right to work legally. Unlike other countries that have returned refugees to their nation of origin or pushed them back to the state from which they crossed the border, Israel, a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, has done neither. But the situation is becoming untenable and pressure for deportations is growing. Government figures say about 60,000 African migrants now reside in Israel, double the figure from 2010, with between 2,000 and 3,000 more arriving each month. The numbers are enormous for a country the size of Israel. It is roughly equal to the number of illegal immigrants found, for example, in Australia, a country 350 times the size and triple the population of Israel. Israel is hardly the first place to experience anti-immigrant riots. And anti-immigrant sentiment there is part of a wave sweeping the globe. As in most places where illegal immigration has suddenly increased, much resentment has come from the poor who see the unfamiliar new arrivals settling in their midst, view the newcomers as a threat to their livelihoods and are highly sensitive to reports of criminal activity. Eritrean and Sudanese refugees have been arrested in a number of rape and stabbing of cases in Tel Aviv, but there is no evidence that the crime rate among them is higher than in the rest of the population. That, however, has not stopped Interior Minister Eli Yishai from tarring migrants as criminals and suggesting that most should be summarily deported. The country's leaders should seek to calm tensions and find a humane solution to a growing human problem. But responsible, statesman-like behavior is apparently too much to ask. When the residents of the south Tel Aviv neighborhood of Hatikva held a protest last week, one member of parliament, Miri Regev, referred to Sudanese "infiltrators" as "a cancer," stoking the inexcusable outbreak of violence. She later apologized for using the term "cancer." Another member of parliament, Danny Danon, turned up the rhetoric, shouting "Expulsion now!" and calling the migrants "a plague." While some Israelis expressed sympathy for the protesters, many lashed out against the shocking display of intolerance in Tel Aviv, of all places, a city known for its open-mindedness. Although no one was seriously injured and the police intervened, arresting 17 people, the language and the behavior would be unacceptable anywhere, but in Israel more than anywhere. Reuven Rivlin, speaker of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, characterized the event as reminiscent of the early days of World War II, saying the words "remind me of the hate speech aimed against the Jewish people." Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared "there is no place for the statements and actions which we saw last night." The day after the riot, Israelis held a vigil against racism in front of the prime minister's residence. But the reaction on the political scene was not uniformly conciliatory, with new calls for deportations and more irresponsible and inflammatory language from some political leaders. Israel faces a serious moral and practical dilemma. And although the problem has unique aspects because it is occurring in Israel, it is a quandary familiar to every country that has faced a large inflow of refugees and migrant workers. In Israel's case, the prospect that the stream of refugees could grow into a flood raises the added specter that it could transform the Jewish character of the state. Despite Netanyahu's claim, that is not an imminent danger. But the question also tugs, urgently, at another aspect of the country's identity. Israel, after all, was founded as the nation-state of the Jewish people; a people that saw millions of its numbers murdered while other countries closed their doors during World War II and at other times in history. Israel has not dealt with its refugees more harshly than most countries, despite the exaggerated claims about the events in Tel Aviv. But that is not a good enough standard. Israelis need to deal fairly and humanely with the refugees. Israelis are building a barrier at the Sinai border, which should cut down on the smugglers' cruel traffic in human beings. Israel should formalize and legalize the status of a portion of the migrants and work with international agencies to find homes in third countries for others. In the meantime, it's a good time for Israelis of all stripes to look at their own history and send a strong message to politicians who seem to have forgotten not only the country's claim to high ethical standards, but an admonition from an ancient text, from Exodus, recently cited by a hospital manager writing about the serious medical needs of African migrants. Do not oppress the stranger among us. You know how it feels to be strangers, for you, too, were strangers in Egypt.

Winter weather: As it happened February 10 With further snow falls last night we now have some deceptively dangerous roads with a light cover of snow and sheet ice below. Drivers need to expect the unexpected and drive with extreme caution on local roads. It doesn't matter what vehicle you are in but if you get a heavy downpour of rain that almost instantly turns to ice, it is very difficult for grit to be effective. 15.10 The British Red Cross have said their response teams are on standby to help the public cope with the weather. The organisation has urged people to be prepared at all times. Joe Mulligan, head of first aid education, said: Severe weather in winter can potentially be life-threatening especially to the elderly. But there are a few simple steps you can take to prevent developing conditions like hypothermia such as wearing a hat and lots of clothing layers; and buying portable gas or oil-fired heaters in case your heating breaks down. If you have elderly relatives and neighbours, be sure to call in on them regularly and make sure they are warm enough and have enough provisions. If the worst does happen with some first aid knowledge you can respond to a range of emergencies. 14.48 Temperatures are likely to drop to -10C (14F) tonight in some parts. Here's an update for Wales where lows of -7C (19.4F) are expected. 14.30 Here was the scene in Grantham, Yorkshire earlier. A number of schools are closed today because of the bad weather. 14.25 The British Red Cross has some advise for anyone who has fallen on the ice. 14.03 An update from the Met Office suggests the worst of the cold weather will start to peter out from tomorrow. Meanwhile, people in Amsterdam have been enjoying their cold snap. 13.50 Our first picture of dogs in the snow of the day. There are more in our weather photos gallery. Two dogs play next to the frozen Queen's Mere pond in the snow on Wimbledon Common 13.39 Telegraph journalist Adrian Addison hasn't managed to make it into work nor back home to the south coast yet due to a broken rail. All passengers were kicked off his train at Haywards Heath at about 9am. He reports: I spent a month in northern Japan around March last year. The entire north eastern coastline had been smashed by an earthquake that shifted the world on its axis, the giant wave that followed reduced most coastal towns to kindling. Yet, aside from services that ran passed the Fukushima nuclear plant which was spewing radioactive material, the trains were soon running on time through the ice and snow (mountainous northern Japan is much colder than the UK this time of year). Nuclear disaster, pretty good excuse. A mild frost and a light dusting of snow, and the UK system shatters. Pathetic. We have a Third World transport system here built on top of a state of the art rail network - state of the art when Queen Victoria was on the throne, that is. 13.31 There are delays on the M67 near Manchester between junction 1 and the M60 because of a broken down vehicle closing one lane. Elsewhere, there is congestion on the M5 at junction three and four, and the M62 between junction 23 and 24 because of earlier accidents. 13.20 The latest from the Met Office is a severe weather warning for ice across England and Wales. The alert for snow has now been lifted. 13.00 An update on the fatal accident in the Brecon Beacons: police say the collision was between a car and a lorry. A man who was travelling in the car has died and two others have been taken to hospital with serious injuries. The road - the A470 - is partially open. A spokeswoman said it was "very icy" on the road at the time of the accident. 12.55 It was a chilly night last night for the Occupy London prostesters. A demonstrator walks through the Occupy London protest camp, covered in snow and frost, outside St Paul's Cathedral in London 12.41 There is an update from the West Midlands Ambulance Service on conditions in Stoke on Trent. There were 123 calls from the city between 7am and 10.30am, 74 of which were falls. The service said in a statement: West Midlands Ambulance Service is getting to the calls as quickly as it can but our staff are having to cope with the same icy conditions as they try to get to patients safely. Please consider whether you really need to call 999 as the ambulance service is there for genuine life-threatening cases such as choking, chest pain, stroke, serious blood loss or a state of unconsciousness. Other areas of the NHS may be able to help, such as NHS Direct (0845 46 47), a pharmacy, GP surgery or walk-in centre. 12.26 Dyfed Powys Police in Wales is reporting that a man in his 20s has been killed in a crash on the A470 near Storey Arms in the Brecon Beacons. The two-vehicle accident happened just after 6.30am when temperatures were below freezing. A spokeswoman for Dyfed Powys Police said: "The deceased is a young man and officers are in the process of contacting next of kin." 12.23 A number of other football matches have now been postponed, including Stevenage's home game to Carlisle tomorrow because of a frozen pitch. Accrington v Oxford United, Barnet v Swindon and Macclesfield v Plymouth have also been called off. 12.12 Farmers can use red diesel in their tractors to help keep public roads clear of grit and ice, HMRC has confirmed. Under normal rules any vehicle that is being used to clear snow from public roads using a snow plough or similar device is entitled to use red diesel. However, only vehicles that are constructed or adapted and used solely for spreading material on roads to deal with frost, ice and snow can undertake gritting work while using red diesel. HMRC recognises the vital role played by farmers in helping to keep rural roads clear. So during this period of extreme weather, HMRC will adopt a pragmatic approach to the rules. This means that agricultural tractors on public roads clearing snow or gritting to provide access to schools, hospitals, a remote dwelling, or communities cut off by ice and snow can continue to use red diesel. 11.55 National Rail is now reporting delays between Reading and Guildford until 1.30pm because of an operating problem at Blackwater. Services through Grantham are also delayed until further notice. 11.53 More burst pipes, and the Stourbridge Road in Dudley was closed for 24 hours on Wednesday because of a burst water main. Keith Marshall, supply director at South Staffs Water, said the company has an action plan in place should there be an increased number of jobs. 11.50 Meanwhile, the National Trust's nature and wildlife specialist Matthew Oates explains why we might see more unusual birds during the cold spell. 11.39 The cold weather is causing burst pipes in London with police warning drivers to avoid Bayswater Road and Old Kent Road after flooding. Jerry White, Thames Water's head of water production, said: We're getting our crews ready to tackle the bursts and we've got an additional 12 gangs getting ready to repair them as quickly as possible. As well as being disruptive, bursts and leaks waste water and with a drought looking more and more likely, saving water is more important now than ever.

Can Teens Game Away Their Depression? Teenagers seem to be doing everything in front of a computer screen these days - watching movies, homework, socializing. So the idea that a computer game could treat depression in these teens may not sound so far-fetched. Now, new research suggests that a specially designed computer game may be able to do just that - treating teenagers" depression perhaps even as effectively as a human therapist. In a new study, researchers at the University of Auckland in New Zealand examined the use of an interactive fantasy game termed SPARX, in which users go through a series of challenges to restore balance in a fantasy world dominated by "gloomy negative automatic thoughts." The game takes players through seven levels, termed "provinces," which guide them through core skills including finding hope, overcoming problems, and challenging unhelpful thoughts. The game approach was compared to conventional care, which for most people included face-to-face sessions with trained counselors or psychologists. When adolescents and teens aged 12 to 19 with mild to moderate depression played SPARX over a four- to seven-week period, they experienced a reduction in their scores for common depression that was similar to the reduction seen in teens who had undergone counseling sessions instead. The researchers also found that 43 percent of the adolescents and teens who played SPARX were no longer depressed by the end of the study period, compared to just 26 percent of their counterparts who received treatment as usual. The results were published in the British Medical Journal on Thursday. According to the National Institutes of Mental Health, 11 percent of 13- to 18-year-olds develop depression at some point their adolescence. And for those with mild to moderate depression, the recommended approach to manage this depression is through psychological therapy. One approach that has been shown to be particularly effective is known as cognitive behavioral therapy, which teaches people how to deal with stress and unhealthy thoughts and behaviors. However, many places don't have the resources to provide this therapy. One study published in 2002 found that nearly 80 percent of children and adolescents in the U.S. who need mental health services don't receive them. Dr. Harold Koenig, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., who was not involved in the study, said he was impressed with results. "In areas that don't have resources - which is most of the world right now, including the U.S. - this program would be very useful," he said. Koenig did, however, offer the caveat that longer term follow-up is needed to see if the results hold up. Randy Auerbach, director of the Child and Adolescent Mood Disorders Laboratory at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass., agreed. Computerized interventions have the potential of removing many barriers to mental health services, which may facilitate patients receiving treatment at early stages in the development of these debilitating disorders. However, adjusting to the idea of gaming as therapy may take a while for some. Case in point - while 80 percent of adolescents in the SPARX group would recommend the game to their friends, many more who received conventional therapy - 96 percent - said they would recommend it to others. Still, mental health experts agreed that when mental health resources are not readily available, this computerized approach may have potential as a widely available tool for adolescents dealing with depression.

Today's the day for new blood in the radio programme's editor's chair The names of the guest editors lined up for Radio 4's Today show were released today. Between 27 December and New Year's Day, the 6am to 9am slot will be in the hands of the Nobel prize-winning geneticist Sir Paul Nurse, journalist Dame Ann Leslie, comedian Al Murray, poet Benjamin Zephaniah and the US philanthropist Melinda Gates, wife of Bill. Previous guest editors have included Thom Yorke, Stephen Hawking and the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Willams. A worthy list, for sure, but not one to excite the spirits. So we've come up with our own, starting with Rihanna. The singer is used to making headlines, so why not have her controlling the news agenda? For something a bit cerebral, we suggest Slavoj Žižek, though the quixotic Slovenian philosopher may be a little hard on the pre-9am digestion. Pippa Middleton, the author of Celebrate, could give some of her, er, celebrated party tips for New Year's Eve. As it's a time of nostalgia, let's call on Michael Heseltine, who seems to have been resurrected this year. And, finally, on 1 January, why not ease the nation awake and get Alan Bennett in to read his latest play?

LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - Europe's second-highest court on Thursday threw out MasterCard's (MA.N) challenge of a European Union ban on its cross-border credit card fees. The court ruling could spur EU antitrust regulators to pursue other card companies such as Visa Europe, the European licensee of Visa Inc (V.N), over its credit and deferred debit card fees. The EU ban, introduced in 2007, aims to break down barriers to e-commerce and cut costs for businesses in the 27-country European Union. EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said earlier this month that fees on card transactions were too high. Almunia told Reuters in January that he was readying formal charges against Visa Europe but had not decided when to notify the company. In a December 2007 decision, the Commission had said MasterCard's cross-border multilateral interchange fee (MIF) levied on retailers' credit and debit card transactions breached EU antitrust rules and had to be changed. The world's second-largest credit and debit card network then took the case to the General Court in Luxembourg, Europe's second-highest. "This is an excellent result for retailers in Europe, for businesses and consumers," said Christian Verschueren, Director General of EU retail lobby EuroCommerce. Ahead of the verdict, MasterCard decided to settle with the regulator in April 2009, by halving its fees to avoid penalty payments for not complying with the EU decision. Cross-border credit and debit card fees account for 3 to 5 percent of the value of all card transactions in western Europe, according to MasterCard. MasterCard made $682 million in net income in the first quarter, up 21 percent, thanks to higher consumer spending with cards [ID:nL1E8G225I]. MasterCard was not immediately available to comment on the ruling. Visa Europe, Europe's largest card network, cut its debit card charges in December 2010 to settle the Commission's investigation into this part of its business, which followed a complaint by EuroCommerce. The case is T-111/08, MasterCard and others v. European Commission. Reporting by Foo Yun Chee.; Editing by Charlie Dunmore and Jane Merriman

Retired Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf Dies at Age 78 Retired Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, who topped an illustrious military career by commanding the U.S.-led international coalition that drove Saddam Hussein's forces out of Kuwait in 1991 but kept a low public profile in controversies over the second Gulf War against Iraq, died Thursday. He was 78. A sister of Schwarzkopf, Ruth Barenbaum of Middlebury, Vt., said that he died in Tampa, Fla., from complications from pneumonia. "We're still in a state of shock," she said by phone. This was a surprise to us all. A much-decorated combat soldier in Vietnam, Schwarzkopf was known popularly as "Stormin' Norman" for a notoriously explosive temper. He served in his last military assignment in Tampa as commander-in-chief of U.S. Central Command, the headquarters responsible for U.S. military and security concerns in nearly 20 countries from the eastern Mediterranean and Africa to Pakistan. Schwarzkopf became "CINC-Centcom" in 1988 and when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait three years later to punish it for allegedly stealing Iraqi oil reserves, he commanded Operation Desert Storm, the coalition of some 30 countries organized by President George H.W. Bush that succeeded in driving the Iraqis out. FILE - In this Jan. 12, 1991 file photo, Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf stands at ease with his tank troops during Operation Desert Storm in Saudi Arabia. Schwarzkopf died Thursday, Dec. 27, 2012 in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Bob Daugherty, File) Close "Gen. Norm Schwarzkopf, to me, epitomized the 'duty, service, country' creed that has defended our freedom and seen this great nation through our most trying international crises," Bush said in a statement. More than that, he was a good and decent man - and a dear friend. At the peak of his postwar national celebrity, Schwarzkopf - a self-proclaimed political independent - rejected suggestions that he run for office, and remained far more private than other generals, although he did serve briefly as a military commentator for NBC. While focused primarily in his later years on charitable enterprises, he campaigned for President George W. Bush in 2000 but was ambivalent about the 2003 invasion of Iraq, saying he doubted victory would be as easy as the White House and Pentagon predicted. In early 2003 he told the Washington Post the outcome was an unknown: What is postwar Iraq going to look like, with the Kurds and the Sunnis and the Shiites? That's a huge question, to my mind. It really should be part of the overall campaign plan," he said. Initially Schwarzkopf had endorsed the invasion, saying he was convinced that former Secretary of State Colin Powell had given the United Nations powerful evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. After that proved false, he said decisions to go to war should depend on what U.N. weapons inspectors found. He seldom spoke up during the conflict, but in late 2004, he sharply criticized then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the Pentagon for mistakes that included inadequate training for Army reservists sent to Iraq and for erroneous judgments about Iraq. In the final analysis I think we are behind schedule. ... I don't think we counted on it turning into jihad (holy war)," he said in an NBC interview. Schwarzkopf was born Aug. 24, 1934, in Trenton, N.J., where his father, Col. H. Norman Schwarzkopf Jr., founder and commander of the New Jersey State Police, was then leading the investigation of the Lindbergh kidnap case, which ended with the arrest and 1936 execution of German-born carpenter Richard Hauptmann for stealing and murdering the famed aviator's infant son.

Gift fit for a queen: Four nights in Kate Middleton's wedding hotel go on sale for £1 million "We understand it is a niche product, as it is definitely the most luxurious Diamond Jubilee package on the market," a spokesman for the hotel tells me. It hasn't gone on sale just yet, but we think it will be of interest to customers. The package includes four nights in the Royal Suite, where Kate spent her last night as a commoner; a reception on arrival with vintage Cristal champagne; a specially created Jubilee dinner; the use of a chauffeur-driven Bentley; a horse-and-carriage ride retracing the Queen's original Coronation route; and an afternoon tea for two. The hotel insists that the holiday is a snip. "You definitely save money with the package," the spokesman says. The ring itself is worth £1 million, so, with additional services like the horse and carriage and chauffeur-driven Bentley, you get more than your money's worth. Guests unable to afford the Royal Suite can make do with the hotel's Diamond Jubilee cocktail - at £120 a glass. "The 1952" is based on a royal favourite - a gin martini with a dash of Noilly Prat vermouth. Drinkers are allowed to keep the Swarovski glass in which the cocktail is served. Before the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's wedding last year, the Middleton family took over the five-star hotel, which the Queen and other members of the Royal family have often visited. The bill for the hire of the 71-room hotel is estimated to have been £85,000.

Top 13 perform on 'American Idol' The TV Column: Top 13 perform on 'American Idol' By Lisa de Moraes Thursday, March 10, 2011; 8:18 AM The 13 Idolettes sing tunes by their personal idols Wednesday night. Or, tunes by people the judges told them they were just like, during previous weeks of American Idol" 2011. In honor of the first actual night of finalists competition, "American Idol" in-house mentor Jimmy Iovine is unveiled. Iovine, CEO of Interscope record label, has brought with him his merry posse of celebrity producers, who plan to foist their various visions on the Idolettes. Judges Randy Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, and Steven Tyler have carefully coordinated their outfits this week; they're all dressed in black and white, and they clutch each other around the waist for support as they walk out on stage. When Randy bought his black-and-white high school letter jacket, he was much thinner than he is now. Special congrats to Jennifer Lopez -- her single is No. 1 on iTunes, says show host Ryan Seacrest. JLo graciously extends her arms outward, by way of acknowledging all the little people in the studio audience who bought that download and made it possible. Teenager Lauren Alaina does Shania Twain tune "Any Man of Mine" just fine, though she doesn't make it her own, in the usual sense of "Idol" judging - i.e. hamming it up. She's not trying too hard on the choreography - more like she's strolling back and forth at the mall on a Saturday afternoon. But she's just a comfortable kinda girl and that comes through. Sadly, it's not what the judges are looking for. The notes have barely died in the hall when Tyler hits her with a wish that "it'd been a little more kickass." Can he say that to a 16-year-old on national prime time TV? JLo and Randy echo the sentiment. "Ah mean, ah had a good taahm," Lauren drawls when Seabiscuit asks how she thinks it went. She adds a pouty look as Seabiscuit reads off her viewer voting number. Girl knows her stuff. Casey Abrams's segment kicks off with Joe Cocker's name being plentifully invoked as Casey's role model - he loves him from "The Wonder Years" and, besides, Cocker's "got that growl in his voice, and he doesn't look that hot either," Casey explains. But when Casey hits the stage, his voice turns out to be more like Cocker's after a quart of hot lemon tea. The Iovine Posse-produced arrangement is a screamer, however, and drowns out Casey's finale, which was probably just as well because he's sounding kinda pitchy, as near as we can make out. Man, we are disappointed after Casey's performance last week of "I Put a Spell on You." He's got a lot of range but the producer's didn't even try to release it. It was like--Joe Cocker? Got it. Ashthon Jones has got her act down --she's the diva. Actually she's a semi-diva. Make that a hemi-semi-diva. On an earlier episode of "Idol" she was told she should be Diana Ross. So this week, she's doing Diana Ross. Specifically, Ross's "When You Tell Me That You Love Me." She's got the Diana Ross arm action going, like she's blessing the crowd. We're indeed grateful to be in her presence -- it's not often you see such a thoroughly inaccurate performance, pitch-wise. This is like Diana when your iPod is fading. The judges take the attitude of, "You're a diva, don't bother me with the details." They go out of their way to be nice to her. Randy says that when she was "going a little sharp or flat you pulled it back in with the vibrato" which proves what a professional she is. Is it because Jimmy Iovine invited Motown founder Berry Gordy over to hear this performance tonight that they have to be nice? Let's hope Berry didn't have to drive far. Paul McDonald is back -- the quirky one. His quirky voice is way underpowered tonight, so he's left with all the static and not much of the tone. And no wonder, he's putting all his energy into his quirky dance moves; he dances like a member of the cast of "Riverdance" on Day 3 of a three-day bender. The judges are just determined not to show any signs of anti-quirky prejudice, so they're very nice about his rendition of Ryan Adams's "Come Pick Me Up." Tyler says he's sure Paul will "nail it next time," and JLo says, in reference to America, "I hope they get it because I really do think you're great." Pia Toscano is going to do a Celine Dion tune because she's family oriented, she explains, but with no real conviction. We see Pia with her family in a taped bit; we also see her wearing glasses and with her hair pulled back, looking like the 22-year-old she is - not like the 32-year-old the "Idol" stage makeup artist has turned her into. Pia uncorks an almost Celine-like performance of "All By Myself" that is by far the best yet this evening. Pia really knows her niche. JLo is actually rendered speechless, though it wasn't that good. Tyler has something to say, though. Happy International Women's Day! Nobody mentions that International Women's Day was the day before. What does it say about Tyler that he's a day late on International Women's Day? Anyway, Pia's a woman, so points for trying, Tyler. James Durbin pulls off a character change. Just when we'd pegged him as a shrieker, he opens up with a straight ahead, clear toned go at Paul McCartney, with "Maybe I'm Amazed," and shows he's got unsuspected range. He could be more of a contender this year than we thought. Most impressively, he does a good job of projecting his voice over the crashingly loud arrangements that seem to be the norm tonight. Randy is thrilled. James Durbin is dangerous, America! This man can sing! JLo agrees. You have what the greatest rock singers have...a melodic quality. Big night for James. Haley Reinhart shows herself to be one gutsy, self-confident singer, picking the old-school country song "Blue" that flips in and out of yodeling -- which can't be easy to do technically, and certainly isn't easy to do without sounding just plain silly because yodeling is well, just plain silly if you stop to think about it. To further mix media, she's wearing an elegantly sexy gown and doing something hula-like with her arms -- or maybe it's some kind of signing for people who can't listen to yodeling. Anyway, her tone and pitch are fantastic -- way ahead of everyone else we've seen tonight. Tyler approves and tells her that "you can hear the rest of America roaring" after that performance -- or at least "the country and western part" of the country. But Randy thinks it was "a little boring, a little sleepy," and Randy certainly knows from boring! But JenPez correctly corrects him, saying, "Everybody doesn't have to run all over the stage." Jacob Lusk is treated so reverently by everybody that it's no surprise at all he's laying the uplifting "I Believe I Can Fly" on us, complete with a chorus wearing church robes. If a message for donations flashed across the screen, they could've raised millions. But, you close your eyes and listen carefully -- Jacob's performance is just alright. Jacob is a true talent but he'd probably be well served if someone encouraged him to mix up his shots and stretch a bit - like that's going to happen! Tune in next week when he'll be backed by the Three Tenors! "I can't even judge it, that's how good you are!," gushes Tyler, speaking for all the judges. Poor little Thia Megia. First Randy tells her she sings like Michael Jackson, so this week she picks a song, "Smile," from a Michael Jackson album. Only then some adult confuses her by telling her that the tune was actually not only written by Charlie Chaplin but during an age when there was no sound in movies, and Chaplin is famous for playing The Little Tramp. Thia takes it hard. "Charlie Chapman?" she says. Oh, snap, we punked the little kid! But the worst setup is the Iovine Posse-produced arrangement with which she is stuck. It starts out okay and showcases her lovely voice in a slow tempo. But then someone had the bright idea to speed up the tempo and add a drum machine behind her. She struggles to adjust and, just as she gets into the groove - a really awful groove, but not a groove of her doing -- the arrangement reverts back to the original, slow tempo. Aren't there laws in California protecting minors in showbiz? "It doesn't matter, you sing like an angel," JLo says maternally, after the other judges take some whacks at her. Later, Thia's seen backstage fighting tears, and hoping to get another chance. Stefana Langone is going to perform the Stevie Wonder tune "Lately." Yeah - the Donna Summers disco "Lately," you mean! But not right off the bat. We're lulled into thinking it'll be a fairly traditional version of the song. Then, all of a sudden, up pops the synthesizer and it's party hardy time! Stefano does a game job trying to keep up with the new tempo he's been handed, but it's a mess. Except in the judges's heads. "You pulled it off," raves Tyler, adding that Stefano "soared like a volcano." Volcanos fly? You had me dancing here! JLo rants. Again - a ballad is not a dance remix. Randy insists Stefano "slayed it." Slaughtered it, we'd say. How devoted is Karen Rodriguez to Selena? Her mother dressed her up as Selena and videotaped her singing Selena songs as a little girl. And now she keeps Selena Barbie dolls by her bed in the Idolettes mansion-cum-dormitory. Think Selena chases her around in her dreams, like the Black Swan, saying "You'll never be as good as me"? Anyway, this is not going to be Karen's best Selena night. It sounds like she's got a cold that's turned her lower register into chesty sounds, like we're listening to her through a stethoscope. Her upper ranges are clear, though. Maybe that's why we saw Jimmy Iovine telling her in the taped bit, "Do not talk on the phone." "It felt like you were kinda fighting the song," Randy says. Karen's energy was "lacking," Tyler weighs in. Brilliant coaching, guys. So next week she should be sure to, what, feel better? Scotty McCreery tells us his game plan in a taped bit: "Don't want to change it up too much and change me too much." So we pretty much know what we're going to get in this performance: head cocked to the side, steady eye contact with the camera, singin' out of one side of his mouth with voice down in the Ferrari-in--first-gear range. The song has determined lyrics that are right on target for Scotty: "I will sail my vessel till the river runs dry." "Idol" set designers take an unusually literal approach, and project a photo of a river behind him so he looks like an actor in an old movie before blue screens got so good. If they'd run the whole thing in black-and-white, and had Minnie Pearl introduce him, that would have been even better! The judges conserve brain cells and go with "You're a country star, don't bother us with the details!" Or, as Randy puts it "If it ain't broke, don't even consider fixing it!" Tyler seems to want badly to get into the spirit, too, but the only thing that comes to mind is an Elton John song, with the lyrics: The carpet's all paid for / God bless the TV. / Let's go shoot a hole in the moon. / And Roy Rogers is riding tonight. Well, anyway, it does mention Roy Rogers. More death by arrangement! Jimmy Iovine's hit squad (that's "hit," not "hits") sends poor Naima Adedapo out to do the Rihanna number, "Umbrella" with more change-ups than - well, if I knew the name of any Major League Baseball pitcher I'd say it right now, believe me! It starts out Rihanna-ish, then goes into the style of - well, if knew the name of any reggae rappers, I'd just go ahead and say that, too. Meanwhile in the too-frequent instrumental breaks, they make her do an only slightly dignified version of The Funky Chicken, messing with her breath control. This was particularly cruel, because Naima seemed to have very good breath control doing her jazzy numbers in earlier weeks. We get it that she's not going to win the competition being jazzy, but she's not going anywhere as a breathless chicken either.

Violent Dolphin Deaths a Mystery for Scientists Over the past several months, dolphins have washed ashore along the northern Gulf Coast with bullet wounds, missing jaws and hacked off fins, and federal officials said they are looking into the mysterious deaths. The most recent case was of a dolphin found dead off the coast of Mississippi, its lower jaw missing. Officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday they're asking everyone from beachgoers to fishermen to wildlife agents to be on the lookout for injured or dead dolphins - and any unusual interaction between the mammals and people. "It's very sad to think that anyone could do that to any animal," said Erin Fougeres, a marine mammal scientist for NOAA's southeast office in St. Petersburg, Fla. There have been some obviously intentional cases. Fougeres said five dolphins have been found shot. In Louisiana, two were shot in 2011 and one in 2012. And in Mississippi, three were found shot this year, the most recent one last week, which was first reported by the Sun-Herald newspaper. Besides the shootings, a dolphin in Alabama was found with a screwdriver stuck in its head over the summer. Another in Alabama had its tail cut off, and that animal survived. Still others were missing fins or had cuts to their bodies. "I think it is outrageous," said Moby Solangi, the executive director of Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport, Miss. These animals are very docile, very friendly and they're very curious. They come close to the boats, so if you're out there, you'll see them riding the bows. And their curiosity and friendship brings them so close that they become targets and that's the unfortunate thing. Dolphins are among the species protected by the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act. Violators can be fined up to $10,000 per violation and sent to prison for a year. The California-based Animal Legal Defense Fund said it is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whomever harmed the dolphins. The gruesome discoveries are heartbreaking for Gulf Coast scientists, who follow the population. Fougeres said that two months before the 2010 oil spill disaster off the coast of Louisiana, dolphins began stranding themselves and that there were unusually high mortality rates - possibly due to a cold winter that year. Since then, the spill and another cold winter in 2011 have contributed to several deaths within the Gulf's dolphin population, experts say. Investigators have also found discolored teeth and lung infections within some of the dead dolphins. Since Feb. 2010, experts have tallied more than 700 recorded dolphin deaths. Experts have also found increased "human interaction" cases, which include dolphins tangled in fishing lines - and the more violent incidents. Fougeres cautions that some of the dolphin mutilations might have happened after the animal died from natural causes and washed ashore. She said that in the case of the dolphin with the lower jaw missing, someone could have cut off the jaw for a souvenir after the animal died. "We have to do a necropsy on the animal and collect tissue samples to try to determine whether or not the injury was pre-or post-mortem" she said. She also said that the increase in cases might be due to NOAA's dolphin stranding network becoming better trained to notice cruelty cases or unusual deaths.

Markets close mixed after ADP report In addition, it was the first month out of the past five in which private employers added fewer than 200,000 jobs. By close of trading on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 10.75 points or 0.08 percent, to 13,268.57. The Nasdaq composite index added 9.41 points, or 0.31 percent, to 3,059.85. The Standard and Poor's 500 index gave up 3.51 points, or 0.25 percent, to 1,402.31. On the New York Stock Exchange, 1,326 stocks advanced and 1,700 declined on a volume of 3.8 billion shares traded. The 10-year treasury note was yielding 1.929 percent. Against the yen, the dollar rose to 80.14 yen from Tuesday's 80.09 yen.

Savvy supermarket shopper: three cast-iron ways to save However, IGD reports that more people than ever are now planning to shop around for supermarket goods - which should have the positive effect of ensuring that supermarkets continue to woo dithering consumers with good prices. I shall be using website Mysupermarket.com to help me compare the cost of my weekly shop with other supermarkets, but I'm also planning to visit specialist stores more often for better deals. Discounters such as Lidl and Aldi have good-quality products at great prices - but I would struggle to do my whole shop there due to the range. I hope to be more organised in the coming year. Plan my meals As well as shopping in different stores, I am hoping to tackle the twin problems of food waste and top-up shopping in one fell swoop. Top-up shopping (those secondary supermarket trips where you pop in just for milk and bread and come out with £20 worth of items without thinking about it) pushes up the cost of your annual consumption considerably. Throwing away food is at its worst at Christmas. A recent survey from Unilever showed that over a third of us throw more food away at Christmas than at any other time of year - with 74 million mince pies and two million turkeys being carted away by the dustmen at the end of the festive period. However, the problem is endemic throughout the year. To keep a lid on it, I'm going to use the lovefoodhatewaste.com website for tips on how to plan meals and shop accordingly. The site shows you how much is enough, however many you are cooking for. It also has recipes for leftovers that may prevent you throwing out quite as much of this year's festive meal. In a bid to stop the top-up shop, I'll also be freezing my milk (it defrosts fine) and making my own bread. Not going into the convenience stores is the surest way to resist temptation. Back out of Bogof Supermarket offers are tempting, but do not always end up with you leaving the supermarket with the products you want. Whether it is a buy-one-get-one-free offer that results in twice as much food as you need or a "bigger pack, better value" product that is actually more expensive than the smaller version, offers can be a minefield. The Office of Fair Trading has signed up eight big supermarkets (Asda, notably, is not part of the list) to a new list of principles that should help to make offers fairer - but it is a voluntary code. Being on your guard with the supermarkets means asking yourself, "Is it cheaper by weight in a big pack?," "Do I really need this much of this product?," "Has this product been placed deliberately at the end of a supermarket aisle to lure me to buy it when there are cheaper versions elsewhere?." Some offers, of course, are genuinely worth having. The list of products below may be worth a look. It is the final call for New Year's party food, and supermarket offers for party products are still very much on the menu. If you still haven't bought your festive fizz, Morrisons is selling pink cava for £4.99 a bottle - that's a third off. If prosecco is more your thing then the supermarket has this on offer from £6.66 a bottle. These offers are available until January 6. Lidl is also offering products to see in the New Year. It is selling fireworks, including a selection box for £12.99. For the inevitable morning-after cooked breakfast, the store is offering half-price bacon at £1.14 for 400g, and four tins of Branston baked beans for £1 instead of £2. Mushrooms are also half price, at 42p, down from 85p.

NRC sets vote on approving Ga. nuclear plant Feb 3 12:03 PM US/Eastern ATLANTA (AP) - Federal safety officials will vote Feb. 9 on whether to approve what could become the nation's first nuclear plant in a generation. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has scheduled a hearing on the Atlanta-based Southern Co.'s request to build two new reactors at Plant Vogtle in eastern Georgia. If the commissioners approve the project, NRC staff would next issue the power company a license to construct and operate the facility. Southern Co. officials estimate the project will cost roughly $14 billion. The NRC last gave a utility permission to start building a nuclear plant in 1978. The last nuclear plant to start commercial operation was the Tennessee Valley Authority's Watts Bar plant in 1996.

Nord Stream closed for integration ZUG, Switzerland, April 16 (UPI) -- The Nord Stream natural gas pipeline through the Baltic Sea is closed through the end of the month for control system testing, the project consortium announced. "The two-week process of adapting, testing and certifying the integrated control system for the twin pipelines requires the valves at both Russian and German landfall to be shut, gas from the Portovaya compressor station to be stopped and the flow of gas through the pipeline to be temporarily halted," the Nord Stream project consortium said in a statement. Russia aims to diversify European transit options through Nord Stream. The dual pipeline runs from the shores of the Gulf of Finland through the Baltic Sea to Germany. The consortium said it was entering "an intensive period" as it prepares the control system for the integration of the twin pipelines into a single network. Completion of the second line is expected by June. Both lines, once fully operational, will transport around 1.9 trillion cubic feet of Russian gas each year to European consumers for at least 50 years.

The most popular graduate degrees MBA programs are regarded as one of the most financially rewarding advanced degrees. Despite the major commitment, the popularity of graduate degrees is on the rise The number of applications to grad school shot up 8.3 percent between 2008 and 2009 51 percent of master's degrees awarded in 2009 were in either business or education Those who attend full-time MBA programs earn 64 percent more than before their degree (CareerBuilder.com) -- Attending graduate school is a big decision -- there's a lot of time, effort and money involved in earning an advanced degree. Yet despite the major commitment, the popularity of graduate degrees is on the rise. According to the annual Survey of Graduate Enrollment and Degrees conducted by the Council of Graduate Schools, the number of applications to grad school has increased by an average of 4.8 percent per year between 1999 and 2009, and shot up 8.3 percent between 2008 and 2009 alone. Though the CGS study reported that the number of graduates from advanced degree programs increased across almost all disciplines last year, it seems some programs hold a stronger appeal than others. The study found a combined 51 percent of the total number of master's degrees awarded in 2009 were in either business or education. By contrast, 7.2 percent of master's degrees were granted in engineering, 8.6 percent were in health sciences and 4.1 percent were in either mathematics or computer science. While the large number of master's degree earners in business and education is definitely a testament to the popularity of those professions -- it doesn't necessarily attest to the growth of these particular industries and vice versa. CareerBuilder.com: What your pet says about your career Despite the fact that only 4 percent of master's degrees were awarded in math or computer science in 2009, for example, many of today's fastest growing professions are in these disciplines. The same goes for health science and engineering -- though these graduate programs may not be as popular as those in business and education, job opportunities are expected to abound. To illustrate, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the following jobs will experience the fastest growth from 2008-2018 (based on percentage change in number of jobs). Most are in health care, computer science and engineering: Biomedical engineers Network systems and data communications analysts Home health aides Personal and home care aides Financial examiners Medical scientists, except epidemiologists Physician assistants Skin care specialists Biochemists and biophysicists Athletic trainers Physical therapist aides Dental hygienists Veterinary technologists and technicians Dental assistants Computer software engineers CareerBuilder.com: 5 jobs that let you try before you buy Even though education and business aren't widely represented among the fastest-growing industries doesn't mean that entering into and M.Ed or MBA program is a loss, however. MBA programs are regarded as one of the most financially rewarding advanced degrees, and for good reason. According to research done by the Graduate Management Admissions Council, students who attend two-year, full-time MBA programs earn an average of 64 percent more than they did pre-MBA. For those in part-time programs, salaries increased by about 55 percent post graduation. Additionally, chief executives, marketing managers, financial managers and sales managers -- all jobs that usually require an MBA -- are consistently among the BLS' list of top-25 highest-paying occupations. As far as education degrees go -- just because teaching isn't one of the fastest- growing occupations percentage-wise, doesn't mean the industry won't have a need for qualified professionals. In the BLS report of the occupations expected to have the largest number of job openings through 2018 (measured by anticipated number of jobs added from 2008-2018), both post-secondary and elementary school teachers break the top 15. Job openings for post-secondary teachers are expected to jump by 257,000 through 2018, while jobs for elementary school teachers will grow by 244,000. For more information on the best graduate degrees, visit the Council of Graduate Schools, the Graduate Management Admissions Council or the National Association of Colleges and Employers. The BLS defines Fastest growing occupations as those experiencing the most percentage growth from 2008-2018. Occupations with the largest employment growth are those expected to add the largest number of jobs from 2008-2018.

How can Yahoo be saved? A new focus on innovation and core products is needed for new CEO Marissa Mayer to turn around Yahoo, analysts say. Analysts break down what Yahoo needs to do to turn its business around The key is defining what Yahoo is and stripping away what it's not Analysts say the company needs more innovation, which has been lacking Google alum Marissa Mayer has been named Yahoo's new CEO (CNN) -- In the wake of Google alum Marissa Mayer's surprise hiring as CEO, variations of the same question are popping up again and again: What can be done to turn once-mighty Yahoo around? In the salad days of the late '90s and early 2000s, Yahoo was the very face of the Internet for many people. Its search engine was the Web's most-used, letting the company demand top dollars for advertising. As a Web portal, it helped hundreds of million of people take their first tentative steps online. Opinion: What signal is Marissa Mayer giving to Yahoo employees? But along came a company called Google, whose algorithm-based search feature came to dominate the market quickly and whose e-mail service, while not supplanting Yahoo's, played a part in stripping away the company's fading sheen of Internet chic. Yahoo's stock price spiraled to $118.75 in early 2000. That number sat at $15.62 Wednesday morning, about three months after the company laid off 2,000 workers. The once-dominant photo site, Yahoo-owned Flickr, has been increasingly shoved aside in favor of mobile apps such as Instagram and blogging sites such as Tumblr. And even online advertising, which Yahoo once dominated, is slumping. Yahoo's ad revenue has been passed by both Google and Facebook, and its overall share of online ad sales in the United States has been cut in half since 2009. The company has churned through four CEOs in four years. And the last, Scott Thompson, left in May after he was discovered to have padded his resume with college credentials he didn't really earn. So what's to be done? Defining Yahoo Analysts say the Sunnyvale, California, company needs to start by deciding what it is. Take a quick look at this list of products: Yahoo Mail. Yahoo Messenger. Yahoo Groups. Yahoo Voice. Yahoo Voices (yes, they have both). Yahoo Sports, Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Shopping. That's just the tip of the digital iceberg, and doesn't even get into Yahoo-owned services such as Flickr, Delicious and Rivals.com. Oh yes, and Yahoo still has a search engine, too (although its inner workings have been farmed out to Microsoft). "Yahoo!'s fundamental problem is that it has too many disparate products with no clear unifying thread that ties them all together," analyst Shar VanBoskirk of Forrester Research wrote on the company's blog this week. VanBoskirk, who has followed Yahoo closely, said Mayer must be open to killing the company's lesser products as she seeks to move things in the right direction. According to VanBoskirk, Yahoo's new chief needs to do three things: Define a clear vision for the Yahoo brand, get rid of products that have nothing to do with that vision and then "market the new vision clearly so that business and consumer customers know what Yahoo! is and why to use it." And while she lauds Mayer's experience and knowledge, VanBoskirk said she is not sure the 37-year-old is up to the task. "Mayer's background is in product development ... not corporate strategy, not marketing, not brand definition ... the areas where Yahoo! has the most critical need," she wrote in the post, which a Forrester spokeswoman cited when reached for comment on this story. Attracting talent Evercore analyst Ken Sena doesn't necessarily agree. He said innovation is the key for Yahoo, a company that, in the eyes of many, has remained stagnant while rivals better anticipated such digital trends as the growth of social media and mobile networking. Those competing companies, including Google, have repeatedly disrupted a Web landscape that's dramatically different than when Yahoo ruled. "Her experience will be valuable there," Sena said. I think the argument can be made that Marissa probably already knows Yahoo very well. She's probably studied it for some time. He too suggests streamlining, saying that some Yahoo services will need to be "pared down and, ultimately, outsourced or shuttered." The company needs to address the growth of the mobile Web, he said, or as VanBoskirk puts it, develop "a plan for The Splinternet." And to innovate truly, Sena said Mayer will need to bring in the sort of people who helped turned Google into a powerhouse. Popular tech blogger Robert Scoble agrees. He's bullish on Mayer as CEO, even though she "does face huge problems at Yahoo," he wrote on his Google+ page. He said she's uniquely suited to do what any good leader must do: surround herself with other talented people. "That company has been abused by its leaders for so long and has lost so much talent," he wrote. That said, one thing I watch is who would join a new leader. I've been at several events and have seen first hand the people that Marissa inspires. She'll probably bring in her own innovation team that will be world class pretty quickly. This will be an innovation shock to Yahoo that's definitely needed. Leading with products, not content By selecting Mayer over interim CEO Ross Levinsohn, Yahoo could be tipping its hand as to what users can expect. Levinsohn's background is in content, such as Yahoo News and related offerings such as Yahoo Voices (formerly Associated Content, a publishing platform that's been criticized as a low-quality "content farm.") Mayer, meanwhile, comes from a product-development background. In her 13 years at Google she helped create the look of a number of services, from Gmail to Google Maps. Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen, now head of influential venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, said that could mean Yahoo is ready to focus on innovating and improving products such as Yahoo Mail and Yahoo Messenger instead of pumping up Web content such as Yahoo News (which is hugely popular but is largely populated by material gleaned from outside news services). "It's a huge statement on the part of the board that they want the company to be product-led," Andreesen told Business Insider, a CNN content partner. I say that because they had a great CEO (Levinsohn) if they wanted to be media-led. It's a huge double down on product. Andreessen said he wouldn't have gone in that product-focused direction, but "I didn't think they could get someone like Marissa." Yahoo will need to figure out how to make users want those products though, according to Sena. Tools such as Yahoo Mail and the popular portal page don't translate well to mobile devices, which are, increasingly, how people access the Web. But analysts point to some positives on which Mayer can build. While it's sliding in the United States, Yahoo Mail is still the second-most popular e-mail service in the world (behind Microsoft's Hotmail) and a top portal for many. The company said 700 million people a month still visit Yahoo sites -- a lot of eyeballs to look at advertising, which both Sena and VanBoskirk see as a logical focus moving forward. "Its reach and available inventory is massive," VanBoskirk wrote last year. And its ad marketplace is making real-time ad buying mainstream.

Diamond Jubilee: how much was £1 worth in 1952? We have become used to reading about poverty in retirement, and how the fact that we are all now living longer has caused huge problems for those looking to fund 20-plus years of retirement. This is undoubtedly true, but it disguises the fact that those in retirement today are often significantly better off than pensioners 60 years ago. Back then, a state pension was £1.50 - with a further £1 paid to married women. If this had been uprated in line with price inflation, a single pensioner - who qualified for the full state pension - would get just £36.04. But today the state pension is more than three times this at £107.45. And most pensioners should claim significantly more than this, through the State Second Pension (formerly Serps) and the means-tested Pension Credit. In fact, the guaranteed weekly sum paid out should be £142.70 - although many won't get this because they don't realise they qualify, or are too proud to claim means-tested benefits. But it is not hard to see why pensions have cost successive governments more and more. Not only has this payment increased (although it hasn't always kept pace with earnings inflation) it is also paid to far more people, and for far longer periods. In 1952 there were 6.8 million pensioners, a mere 6pc of the population. Today there are twice as many, 12.4 million, of pensionable age - 14pc of the population. And more of them are living longer, thanks to improved diet, medical advances and warmer centrally-heated homes. This has led to a fourfold increase in the number of people celebrating their 100th birthday: in 1952 just 300 people in England and Wales reached this milestone, last year 13,420 did. Life expectancy has increased exponentially - and is still rising. A boy born at the start of this Elizabethan age could expect to live to 78, a girl to 83. Boys born in this Jubilee year can expect to live, on average to 91, girls to 94. Family life has also been transformed. Families are smaller (today we have on average 1.7 children per family, back in the early Fifties it was 3.5). But given that 1952 was the midst of the baby boom, it is perhaps surprising to learn that there are more live births today than there were then - although this figure is no doubt helped by huge differences in infant mortality. Back then just 4pc of children were born out of wedlock, today almost half of babies are. But marriage hasn't gone completely out of fashion, although the number of divorces has rocketed from 33,000 to almost 120,000 a year. In the post-war years far more families rented - with just a third being able to afford to buy their own home. Today, more than seven out of 10 families have a mortgage or own their property outright, although this figure may dip in future, given the high cost of housing and paucity of mortgage lending. It is not surprising why home ownership has soared over the past 60 years - helped by a boom in house building in the post-war years, then initiatives like "right to buy," which enabled many to buy their own council-owned property. This demand has helped fuel prices in what has been (with a few significant dips) a 40-year housing boom. Back in 1952, the average house cost just £1,891. This must seem like a ridiculously modest sum to the legions of twentysomethings today struggling to afford a home. Over this period there has been almost a hundredfold increase in prices, with the average property costing £162,338 today. Of course, these figures are relative; inflation - and wage inflation in particular - has also risen strongly over this period. But it is true that property is more unaffordable, with the average house price 3.85 times the average household income - back then it was just 2.59 times household income. Many people underestimate the effect of inflation over longer periods of time - for instance, £1 in 1952 would be worth £24.34 today. But perhaps it is the reverse way of looking at this which shows how the purchasing power of money decreases over time. What we can buy with £1 today would have cost just 4p back then.

Bid to defeat granny tax ends in failure as only one Tory MP rebels Published on Friday 20 April 2012 01:33 THE government has seen off an attempt to scrap the so-called "granny tax." Labour forced a vote, but an expected rebellion by back-bench MPs failed to materialise. There was known to be some Tory disquiet about the move to freeze pensioner income tax allowances and deny them to those about to retire. Labour had appealed for coalition backbenchers to help derail the plans to end age-related allowances, which it estimates will cost some pensioners on relatively modest incomes up to £323 a year. But in the end, only Philip Hollobone, the MP for Kettering, rebelled, with the government winning a majority of 63. Shadow chief secretary Rachel Reeves accused Chancellor George Osborne and Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander of seeing pensioners as a "soft touch" who were "ripe for a sneaky tax grab." "This is yet another broken promise from the Conservatives and their Liberal Democrat friends," she told the Commons. It is all too clear why this Chancellor didn't bother to wait for the final report [from the Office of Tax Simplification]. He wasn't really interested in simplifying taxation for older people. "His single-minded focus, his overriding priority, was getting through his millionaires" tax break and he was willing to fund this by cutting the incomes of pensioners." But Exchequer Secretary David Gauke said: "The idea of having the same personal allowance whether you're 64, 65 or 75 seems to me something that is perfectly sensible. The changes made by this clause will help ensure that people get the allowances they are entitled to, pay the right amount of tax and make it more straightforward for government to administer, thereby minimising costs to the taxpayer. The "granny tax" is one of a number of measures from last month's Budget that has attracted a slew of negative headlines and criticism from campaign groups. But instead of the expected rebellion Tory MPs stood up to back the measure. Nigel Mills, MP for Amber Valley, said: "I think the direction we're trying to take here is clearly the right one. I think clearly it's not something that any of us would have wanted to do and I feel sympathy for all those pensioners, my parents included, who are going to lose money from this, and it's one of those issues which I think we don't just get grief from our constituents - we get grief from our own families. Ipswich MP Ben Gummer said: "At some point, someone needs to face up to the fact that we are going to increase spending on old age pensions by almost double between now and 2040." The government managed to comfortably see off Labour challenges, including a bid to reverse the cut in the top rate of income tax from 50p to 45p. A move to block the imposition of VAT on hot takeaway snacks - the "pasty tax" - was also defeated.

Laundry detergent capsules mistaken for candy by kids When single-dose laundry detergents entered the market earlier this year, they were hailed for their efficiency. Not only do they use less water and less packaging than traditional detergents but they also are more convenient for consumers, who can drop a soap capsule into the washer -- no measuring or pouring needed. But products such as Tide Pods, All Mighty Pacs and Purex UltraPacks now are being blamed for hundreds of calls to poison-control centers, which report that children are mistaking the small, brightly colored capsules for candy. In California alone, 307 accidental ingestions of single-dose laundry detergents were reported between March 7 and Sept. That number included 13 admissions to a hospital, six of which were to critical care units, according to Dr. Richard Geller, medical director for the California Poison Control System. "Overwhelmingly, these occurred in children less than 5 years of age," Geller said. While pediatric exposure to powdered laundry detergent is not new, the degree of illness associated with these new products appears unique. About 1,400 accidental ingestions were reported to poison control centers nationwide. Nausea, vomiting and respiratory difficulty are among the health effects of ingesting concentrated laundry detergent, Geller said. The 307 cases in California so far this year represent a tiny fraction of the 240,000 cases called into the state's Poison Control Center annually. Still, it points to "a longstanding problem of nonfood consumer products that are packaged and marketed way too similarly to food products," Geller said. We see kids getting into motor oil thinking that it's honey. We see them getting into cleaning products thinking it's apple juice. Geller recommends that parents store single-dose laundry detergents at a height that children can't reach or behind a locked door. We're very concerned whenever these situations occur. For the manufacturers, safe and proper use of these products is a priority," said Brian Sansoni, spokesman for the American Cleaning Institute, a Washington, D.C., trade association. Sansoni said the industry is responding to the accidental ingestions by creating educational materials that teach safe and proper laundry detergent use. Manufacturers are also examining the incident reports from poison control centers nationwide to better understand situations that have required medical attention, Sansoni said. "The most important thing is the safety message," Sansoni said. Safe storage is key to prevention of injury when using these products in the home.

Bin Laden's dept of inhuman resources Documents seized from Osama bin Laden's last hiding place and selectively released by the Americans show the terrorist leader sought a "résumé" for Anwar al-Awlaki, who was being proposed as head of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Some have suggested the letters show how detached bin Laden had become from the active al-Qaeda cells but in fact it demonstrates an active manager attempting to instil a culture of best practice in hiring. It is a fascinating insight into a little reported side of the terrorist leader; bin Laden the man-manager has too often been obscured by bin Laden the mass murderer. It is reassuring to know that even in the service of bloody mayhem, certain professional standards were being maintained. Far too many terrorist groups let these formalities slide. Further evidence of his style can be found in letters plucked from the archive of our fevered imagination. To esteemed brother Mukhtar, assistant director, human resources Greetings and a thousand thanks for résumé of brother Awlaki, your candidate for the regional VP role in the Arabian Peninsula. He looks good on paper but we should not be appointing such a key role without thorough due diligence. I've looked for him on LinkedIn but he doesn't seem to be there. Does he use a different name in the social space? More importantly, did we look at any outside talent? It is always a good idea to do so; a movement can become very inward-looking without it. Please enclose a report on how he fared in our psychometric tests. What do we know of his vision for the region? It is a classic recruitment error to appoint people solely on the basis of a good record in their last job. Look what happened with Grübel at UBS. Good credentials are all very well but anyone stepping up to a major leadership role needs to be able to offer a vision for the future. Brother Awlaki may indeed be impressively brutal but can he draw up a mission statement or a convincing five-point plan for the movement going forward? Can he manage a team? On remuneration, I understand that he sees little benefit in the pension scheme but have you mentioned our legal insurance? Many of our people have found it useful. Greetings, Now that, by the grace of God, we have proceeded with the Awlaki hire, what plans do we have for his future development? As the Harvard Business Review makes clear in its annual rankings of the best-managed terror movements, best human resource practice does not stop at the moment of recruitment. Clearly he will be measured against key performance indicators - which will definitely have to include how he nurtures his team; too many of them seem to be volunteering for suicide missions. Perhaps now is the time to go for 360-degree appraisals. I know al-Zawahiri has been giving great thought to our career reviews. We should loop him in on this and perhaps set up a conference call. We must do this. We have had some setbacks in recent years but I am determined that no one will say a failure to follow best practice in recruitment was one of the causes. Shareholder springs As every modern scandal secures the suffix "gate," it now seems that any whiff of dissent is referred to as a "spring" - a nod to the Arab (and Prague) springs. So inevitably the wave of investor rebellions over executive pay is labelled the "shareholder spring." One can imagine the on-the-ground report: "I'm standing in the Barbican in the City of London, scene of some of the fiercest fighting, now renamed "Shareholder Square." CEOs have been toppled. The hated regimes at AstraZeneca, Aviva and Trinity Mirror have been blown away. Only a few people are actually here but many others are rebelling by proxy. Like other risings, this one utilises social media, but here it is less about Twitter and more about ringing up a friendly journalist and anonymously briefing against the CEO. They say they have been driven to this extreme measure of voting against the remuneration package in a non-binding resolution after all previous action failed. We are desperate. We tried raising our eyebrows at investor meetings; we even had a word with the senior independent director, but they just ignored us," said one protester. Now their fury has burst into the open and companies have learnt to fear their war cry: "What do we want? Greater return on capital employed? When do we want it? In the current financial year.

Turkey ex-army chief held for alleged bid to topple govt Turkey's former army chief Ilker Basbug was arrested Friday over an alleged bid to topple the Islamist-rooted government, the Anatolia news agency reported on Friday. "The 26th chief of staff of the Turkish republic has unfortunately been placed in preventive detention for setting up and leading a terrorist group and of attempting to overthrow the government," Ilkay Sezer, a lawyer for Basbug, was quoted as saying by Anatolia. Dozens of army officers have been jailed in recent years as part of several investigations into alleged plots targeting the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. But it is the first time in the history of the republic that a former chief of the Turkish military has been arrested. Basbug, who retired in 2010, is the highest-ranking officer in a massive investigation into the so-called Ergenekon network, accused of plotting to topple the ruling Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP). The arrest came hours after Basbug testified as a suspect at an Istanbul court on Thursday as part of a probe into an alleged Internet campaign to discredit the government. Among the allegations is an attempt by a group of army officers to establish websites to disseminate anti-government propoganda in order to destabilise the country. Turkey's military, which considers itself as the guardian of secularism, has carried out three coups -- in 1960, 1971 and 1980. This latest move appears to be a fresh warning to the military whose political influence has decreased since the AKP came to power in 2002. Basbug was later sent to a prison at Istanbul's Silivri prison where other suspects of alleged Ergenekon network are jailed.

Europeans show love for late Ballesteros in Ryder comeback MEDINAH, Illinois (Reuters) - They wore the colors loved by the late Seve Ballesteros and a silhouette of him on their sleeves, and then Team Europe rode his spirit on Sunday to the greatest Ryder Cup comeback victory ever. "We wanted to do it for Seve," said Englishman Luke Donald, who started Europe on their way to erasing a massive four-point deficit with a 2&1 victory over American Bubba Watson. Spaniard Sergio Garcia turned around his match against Jim Furyk by winning the last two holes for a one-up victory. "I have no doubt in my mind that he was with me today all day," Garcia said about compatriot Ballesteros, who breathed fire into the Ryder Cup after the Britain-Ireland team was expanded to include players from all of Europe. Because there's no chance I would have won my match if he wasn't there. Europe captain Jose Maria Olazabal had long ago been taken under the wing of Ballesteros, who ignited a proud surge in European golf with his three British Open crowns and two Masters triumphs. Olazabal, who formed the most successful Ryder Cup tandem alongside Ballesteros, told the team in their meeting on Saturday night that he felt Seve in the room and that he could help propel the Europeans to a victory despite trailing 10-6. Seve will always be present with this team. He was a big factor for this event, for the European side and last night when we were having that meeting I think the boys understood that believing was the most important thing," said Olazabal. Wearing blue and white, the favorite colors of the fiery Spanish competitor, Europe took apart the host team to match the biggest final-day points comeback ever in the Ryder Cup. The U.S. team had overtaken Europe by the same margin to prevail in 1999 at Brookline, with Olazabal left gloomy on the 17th green in the clinching match. But that record Ryder comeback took place before a roaring U.S. home crowd and this amazing Europe fight back came on foreign soil. The first five European players won their singles matches and the competition came down to the final two matches when 2010 PGA Championship winner Martin Kaymer sank a five-footer at the 18th to clinch it. We wanted to show our grit. We've been known for not being that great in singles, and we showed that we can win," said Donald. It's going down in history. We talk about Brookline in '99, losing that one. We wanted to come back and show that we could win from behind, too. Englishman Ian Poulter, added to the team as a wild-card pick by Olazabal, beat U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson two up to complete an impeccable Cup with wins in all four of his matches. "My captain picked me to come and play, and you know, I owe it to him, and Seve, to be here today," he said.

Private companies added 325K jobs in Dec. ROSELAND, N.J., Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Payroll firm Automatic Data Processing Inc. said the U.S. economy added 325,000 private sector jobs in December, well above the 175,000 economists predicted. Small businesses, those with fewer than 50 employees, added the largest share, with employment gaining by 148,000. Medium-sized businesses, those with 50-499 workers, added 140,000 jobs, ADP said. Larger businesses added 37,000 jobs in the month. Reflecting that breakdown, goods-producing businesses added 52,000 jobs, while service-providing businesses added 273,000 jobs. The New York Times in a recent article said 40 percent of the jobs added to the economy since June 2009 -- the official end to the recession -- were low-paying, typically in hospitality and retail. The large number of jobs added in service work appears to bear this out. For the month, manufacturing added 22,000 jobs, ADP said. "December's advance was the largest monthly gain since December 2010, reflecting strong job creation across most industries," ADP President and Chief Executive Officer Carlos Rodriguez said in a statement.

Valuable Gains for China in Emerging Auto Markets Victor Ruiz Caballero for The New York Times Jessica Gonzalez, who lives in Chile, bought a Chinese car that cost less than half the price of a Toyota with similar features. BEIJING - For more than a decade, automakers around the world have been nervously awaiting the day when China would start exporting sizable numbers of cars to the West. Now it seems they were worried about the wrong threat. China is shipping just a few thousand cars a year to the European Union and virtually none to the United States. But China's exports to emerging markets are surging as its own auto market slows and its automakers keep pouring billions into new factories. Roads in countries like Algeria, Brazil, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia and South Africa are increasingly dotted with cars from manufacturers like Geely, Great Wall Motors and Chery. Less affluent buyers from Santiago to Baghdad are starting to buy cheap Chinese cars as alternatives to used cars, motorcycles and low-end models sold by multinationals. Chinese car exports were up 21 percent in the first five months of this year, and up 43 percent in May from a year ago. The buyers are men and women like Jessica Gonzalez, a 43-year-old agronomist in Santiago, Chile. After owning several used cars, she wanted her next car to be new, but the more established models from Japanese, European and United States companies were out of her price range. Although her mechanic criticized the quality of Chinese cars, she ended up choosing a Chery S21 because it was roomy and well equipped. "The price factor is fairly decisive," Ms. Gonzalez said. I paid $5,500 new and full. Toyota with similar features costs around $12,000. Chinese automakers said they were preparing for further expansion in exports to developing countries. "They're easy for us to operate in," said Steven Wang, the deputy general manager for exports at Great Wall Motors Company. In Europe, they have lots of laws for new entrants, and in Europe and the United States, customers like to keep familiar brands. The Chinese companies pose a potential challenge for the overseas divisions of companies like General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Volkswagen and Fiat, all of which are looking to emerging markets for growth and watching the Chinese contenders with varying levels of concern. Annual auto sales in developing countries other than China have risen by 45 percent since 2005, to 21.3 million cars and light trucks last year, according to LMC Automotive, a global data company. Including China, emerging markets passed industrialized countries in 2010 for the first time in the number of cars and light trucks sold. Since 2005, auto sales in industrialized countries have fallen 17.4 percent, to 36.2 million cars and light trucks last year. The market in industrialized countries was still worth more than emerging markets, however, because sticker prices tend to be considerably higher. But with so much growth in developing countries, "you have to be incredibly aware of the domestic brands" emerging in China, said Michael Manley, the head of Chrysler's international operations. Western automakers have been buying a wide range of Chinese cars and then having engineers dismantle them to study the quality and likely cost of major components. "We have a very thorough benchmarking process" to assess Chinese competitors, said Kumar Galhotra, Ford's vice president for product development in Asia, the Pacific region and Africa. So far, the quality of the best Chinese cars has been well short of their Western counterparts, leaving even many Chinese customers dissatisfied. When J. D. Power & Associates, the consulting company, surveyed new-car buyers in China last year, it found that they reported 232 quality problems for every 100 Chinese-brand cars purchased. For cars carrying international brands, 131 defects were reported for every 100 cars. Jacob N. George, the managing director of J. D. Power's China division, said that Chinese automakers had been steadily closing the gap with their overseas rivals since his company began doing annual surveys in 2000. If trends continue, he predicted Chinese manufacturers would catch up in quality by 2018. The shortcomings of Chinese cars tend to lie in basic designs. Chinese automakers spend an unusually low share of revenue on design, focusing on ruthless cost-cutting instead. J. D. Power also surveys buyers in China on how appealing they find their cars after three months of use. Chinese brands consistently score worse than international ones, particularly in categories like engine noise, driving dynamics and seating comfort, Mr. George said. Aaron Nelsen contributed reporting from Santiago, Chile.

Romney singing video pulled from YouTube A web video using President Obama's singing skills against him has been pulled from YouTube for copyright infringement. "Political Payoffs and Middle Class Layoffs" used a clip of Obama singing Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" at a fundraiser to suggest that the president loves his donors so much, he funneled billions of dollars in stimulus money into their pockets. Obama campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith called that a "warmed over and false line of attack that has already been debunked." If you haven't seen the video yet, you can't - it's no longer on YouTube. It's been replaced by this message: "This video is no longer available due to a coyright claim by BMG_Rights_Management." Bertelsmann Music Group. was until recently one of the biggest music publishers in the world; the company left that business in 2008 and now focuses on representing artists as BMG Rights Management. Romney's campaign plans to fight the decision. "Our use was 100 percent proper, under fair use, and we plan to defend ourselves," a spokesperson said. Other videos featuring the same clip of Obama remain on YouTube. It's not clear why the company has not challenged those videos. Romney's team can file a counter-notification with YouTube under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, which would require BMG to get a court order to keep the video offline. But that process takes at least ten days. "Political Payoffs" was a response to an Obama ad using a clip of the Republican singing "America the Beautiful." But the president can rest easy - that song is in the public domain.

Third-deadliest U.S. food outbreak was preventable, experts say 2011's U.S. food illness -- the deadliest in nearly a century -- killed more than 30 people It could have been prevented, say numerous food safety experts and federal health officials Victims suffered very painful deaths, says food safety lawyer 28-state outbreak blamed on a Colorado fruit farm that removed an anti-microbial wash Washington (CNN) -- On a sunny morning early last September, Susanna Gaxiola fed her husband a healthy breakfast of fresh cantaloupe in their Albuquerque, New Mexico, home. Her husband, Rene, a Pentecostal pastor and minister, had been fighting a rare blood cancer and he was eating fresh cantaloupe and other fruit daily. Around the same time, Paul Schwarz ate fresh cantaloupe in his home in Independence, Missouri. Though 92 years old, Schwarz was still active and healthy, and ate fresh fruit often. And Dr. Mike Hauser, a podiatrist, also ate fresh cantaloupe with his family in Monument, Colorado. Hauser, 68, had been fighting myeloma, a blood cancer, but he was recovering well, even planning a bow-hunting trip in the mountains. Within days or weeks of eating the cantaloupe, all three men became horribly sick, and all eventually died painful deaths. Their deaths were directly caused by the cantaloupe, which was contaminated with the deadly bacteria Listeria, according to health officials. After a months-long investigation surrounding the outbreak, CNN has found serious gaps in the federal food safety net meant to protect American consumers of fresh produce, a system that results in few or no government inspections of farms and with only voluntary guidelines of how fresh produce can be kept safe. Just days after Paul Schwarz, 92, ate cantaloupe he became horribly sick and eventually suffered a painful death. Gaxiola, Schwarz and Hauser were among the roughly three dozen Americans who died last winter after consuming the infected fruit. More than 110 other Americans across 28 states were sickened, many hospitalized, from eating the cantaloupe. The 2011 listeriosis outbreak turned out to be one for the record books. It was, in fact, the most deadly food outbreak in the United States in nearly 100 years. It was the third-deadliest outbreak in U.S. history, according to health officials. It should not have happened, and it could have been prevented, according to numerous food safety experts and federal health officials. Among those most vulnerable to infections from Listeria are pregnant mothers, unborn fetuses, the elderly, and those ill with a compromised immune system. Michelle Wakley was in her sixth month of pregnancy in September when she ate fresh cantaloupe in her home in Indianapolis. Within days she was rushed into a hospital emergency room, forced into premature labor from the infection ravaging her body. "I wasn't feeling well, I had flulike symptoms," Wakley said. I had a headache, but it was not a migraine. Every day when I woke up my head hurt. My legs were killing me. ... They ached. Kind of like when you get the flu, your body aches. It was painful! ...and I had chills. I should've gone to the hospital but knowing ... you get fluike symptoms when you're pregnant, I didn't go. and I felt awful. My teeth were chattering, I was hot and cold. I had sweats and dry heaves. Wakley and her husband, Dave Paciorek, were startled when their baby daughter, Kendall, pushed her way out of her mother nearly three months early. "It hurt so bad," Wakley said. And the reason why it hurt so bad is that the baby was trying to come, because the infection at that point was pretty far into my bloodstream. ... That's why the contractions were so bad and so painful, (because) she knew she needed to come out to live. Baby Kendall had to be whisked immediately into a neonatal incubator and attached on all sides to tubes and machines. She remained that way for weeks, with her parents unable to hold her. "I remember that time that the doctor came in and he told us about the problems that that could happen with a baby that was born that premature, and it was devastating," Wakley said. She could be blind, she could be deaf. She could have heart problems, cerebral palsy, ADHD, and the list went on and on. It was -- it was just horrible. And you think, a day ago we thought we were fine, and and now you're having the baby and she might not even live? It was just awful. Most of these people who died, died very, very painful deaths. Bill Marler, nationally-known food safety lawyer Today Kendall still is on 24-hour watch and needs to be fed through a tube in her stomach. There are still larger questions about whether other physical or developmental problems occur later. And yet, baby Kendall and her mother are today among the lucky ones. They lived. Last fall, as people began to die and fall sick, investigators from the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention fanned out across two dozen states. The investigators worked through the Labor Day weekend doing real scientific detective work and gumshoe reporting to find links to what was causing the sudden, deadly food outbreak. They interviewed people who were sick and relatives of those who died. The scientists collected samples of blood and samples of fruit still sitting in refrigerators. They collected fruit from stores and warehouses. And the trail of evidence, the cantaloupes themselves, eventually led to a remote part of eastern Colorado, near the town of Holly, and a single farm known as Jensen Farms. 'Tragic alignment' of poor practices Investigators and health experts eventually descended on Jensen Farms and would determine that the outbreak occurred because a pair of brothers who had inherited the fourth-generation farm had changed their packing procedures, substituted in some new equipment and removed an antimicrobial wash. "It truly was an 'Aha!' moment," said Dr. James Gorny, the FDA chief investigator who led a team to Jensen Farms. We had melons from the grocery stores which were positive for Listeria, with the exact same genetic fingerprint as we found in all of the ill individuals. We had ill individuals with that same genetic strain of Listeria. We had food contact surfaces at the packing house of Jensen Farms with the exact same, genetically matched strain of Listeria. So we had lots and lots of evidence that this was ... as definitively as possible, a smoking gun, that this was the source of the contamination. ... The evidence is very, very strong in this case. Some of strongest I've ever seen. Jensen Farms has been a fixture in the dry plains of southeastern Colorado since the early 1900s, when the first Jensen arrived from Denmark. Brothers Ryan and Eric Jensen inherited what was an approximately 160-acre farm from their father after he died several years ago, and they expanded it out to about 6,000 acres, growing cantaloupes along with hay and alfalfa and other grains. The brothers grew up cultivating cantaloupes and knew the business by heart. But last year they decided to make a few changes, and it would cost them everything, along with lives of some three dozen Americans they never met. "What turned the operation upside-down was some significant changes they made," said Gorny. It was a very tragic alignment of poor facility design, poor design of equipment and very unique post-harvest handling practices of those melons. If any one of those things would have been prevented, this tragedy probably wouldn't have occurred. But the story of what happened at Jensen Farms, and why no one stopped the sale and shipments of the cantaloupes, also sheds light on serious problems in the nation's fresh produce food safety net, and a voluntary system created by businesses to ensure a quality product, known as third-party audits. Gorny and his team of experts from the FDA, the CDC, and other food safety experts would discover a multitude of problems at Jensen Farms, all tied to a series of changes that the Jensen brothers instituted in the packing shed on their farm just before the 2011 harvest. The investigators said they found, among other things, a dripping, potentially contaminated condensation line allowing water to get onto the floor; water was pooling on the floor; sections of the floor had cut holes and jagged sides that were difficult to clean. Samples taken from the pooled water were positive for the Listeria that sickened people. On the rolling line where the melons moved, investigators found dirty equipment used to wash and dry the melons, and it could not be easily cleaned. The FDA report stated that "several areas on both the washing and drying equipment appeared to be un-cleanable, and dirt and product buildup was visible on some areas of the equipment, even after it had been disassembled, cleaned, and sanitized." What's more, inspectors found that an older, secondhand washing machine designed for cleaning potatoes had been substituted to clean the melons. "Because the equipment is not easily cleanable and was previously used for handling another raw agricultural commodity with different washing and drying requirements, Listeria monocytogenes could have been introduced as a result of past use of the equipment," the FDA report stated. The equipment on the line, including rollers and pads that touched many melons as they passed by also yielded numerous positive genetic matches of Listeria, according to Gorny. But there was also one other significant point, Gorny and many other food safety experts said. The change in procedures and equipment had also resulted in the removal of what had been used previously to decontaminate melons of bacteria; the farmers had removed their antimicrobial wash. Without it, melons that pass along the packing equipment and are placed in pools of water to rinse can cross-contaminate one another, and an entire production line can spread dangerous bacteria. "That water can then become a source of contamination, so that if one bad melon gets into that system, you can imagine it can contaminate the water and basically contaminate every melon that comes after it," Gorny said. The contaminated melons were shipped out and distributed across the country through an efficient system that took them to hundreds of supermarkets and retailers, and then into people's homes. The sick, the elderly and pregnant women were the most vulnerable. Expert calls third-party audit system worthless Since September, at least 30 people in the United States have died, many of them after suffering excruciating pain and some having gone into comas for weeks. One died as recently as March. And every single death has been linked genetically to Jensen Farms, according to FDA investigators. Dr. Mike Hauser, 68, was recovering from myeloma, a blood cancer. Health officials blamed his death on listeria. Although the CDC's official death toll stands at 30, CNN has confirmed death certificates giving Listeria as the cause in at least two other deaths linked to the outbreak. CDC officials say they plan to continue tracking victims and will update records later this year. The cantaloupes, like much of the produce Americans eat, were not inspected by any government body. The reason is that the FDA simply does not have the money or the manpower to inspect all fresh produce on all farms. The agency is responsible for watching over some 167,000 domestic food facilities or farms, and another 421,000 facilities or farms outside the United States, according to FDA officials. But there are only about 1,100 inspectors to oversee these facilities, officials said. In the absence of FDA inspectors, food retailers and the industry have created the third-party audit system, in which auditors are hired by farms or facilities to inspect their premises and provide scores. But many food safety experts, and some members of Congress, have assailed the audit system, saying it is unreliable and full of conflicts of interest. Just days before the Listeria outbreak, Jensen Farms paid a private food inspection company called Primus Labs to audit their operation. Primus Labs subcontracted the job to another company, Bio Food Safety, which sent a 26-year-old with relatively little experience to inspect Jensen Farms. The auditor was James DiIorio, and he gave Jensen Farms a 96% score, and a "superior" grade. On the front page of his audit at the farm, DiIorio wrote a note saying "no anti-microbial solution" was being used to clean the melons. Dr. Trevor Suslow, one of the nation's top experts on growing and harvesting melons safely, was shocked to see that on the audit at Jensen Farms. "Having antimicrobials in any wash water, particular the primary or the very first step, is absolutely essential, and therefore as soon as one hears that that's not present, that's an instant red flag," Suslow said. The removal of an antimicrobial would be cause for an auditor or inspector to shut down an entire operation, he said. "What I would expect from an auditor," Suslow said, "is that they would walk into the facility, look at the wash and dry lines, know that they weren't using an antimicrobial, and just say: 'The audit's done. You have to stop your operation. We can't continue.' The auditor, James DiIorio, did not return CNN's calls. The subcontractor, Bio Food Safety, and Primus Labs, declined CNN's interview requests. Eric and Ryan Jensen, the young farmers who changed their procedures, also declined an on-the-record interview. To some food safety experts, the third-party audit system the Jensens relied on is a joke. These so-called food safety audits are not worth ANYTHING. Dr. Mansour Samadpour, president and CEO of IEH Laboratories "These so-called food safety audits are not worth anything," said Dr. Mansour Samadpour, president and CEO of IEH Laboratories, one of the nation's largest food safety consulting labs for industry. They are not food safety audits. They have nothing to do with food safety, Samadpour said consumers should have no faith in the current system of farm audits, because farms pay for their own inspections. "If this industry is sincere and they want to have their products be of any use to anyone, they should be printing their audit reports on toilet paper," Samadpour said. People who are commissioning these audits don't seem to understand that they are ... not worth the paper that they're written on. Some industry officials have confidence in the audit system, and some of the audits are rigorous and thorough. But the entire system is a voluntary patchwork of unregulated guidelines with no national standards or actual regulations. And, however flawed, it is what most farms rely on; the auditors are often the only people who have inspected fresh fruit or produce in some fashion. Improvements may lie ahead Gorny and his team of experts were the first FDA inspectors ever to set foot on Jensen Farms. Samadpour said he finds that appalling. "Too often we are willing to send paratroopers after something goes wrong and -- you know, we kill so many people," he said. But the question is: Where were these guys before? Why should anyone be allowed to have a processing plant without the required amount of expertise, without having the food safety systems in place, (to) produce food and send into the chain of commerce? We have had failures at multiple levels. Changes for the better in the food safety system and inspections may lie ahead. The federal Food Safety Moderization Act became law last year, and the FDA is currently writing new regulations to increase food inspections and push for better audits. But even under the new law, officials said, farms might only be inspected once every seven to 10 years. Consumer advocates doubt the new law is likely to solve all the problems in the system. Pastor Rene Gaxiola, left, died not long after eating fresh cantaloupe. He had been fighting a rare blood cancer. Back in Indiana, Michelle Wakley doesn't care much about the FDA, the private inspector or the audits. She and her baby, Kendall, got sick eating cantaloupe grown by farmers who, she says, should have known better, and who need to answer questions from victims' families. "Why?" she asked. They said that their facilities weren't clean. They said everything about the process was not done correctly according to the guidelines issued by the government. They they didn't use chlorine to wash the fruit with. They had dirty floors. The Listeria was found on the floors, on their equipment. There were so many things that they weren't doing correctly. To save a dollar? People have died. Bill Marler, a nationally known food safety lawyer in Seattle, represents Wakley and her husband, and many families of the victims who died from the cantaloupe who have filed multiple wrongful death lawsuits. "Listeria is a really a nasty bug," said Marler. Listeria gets into the bloodstream and it causes enormous problems. They had neurological symptoms, physiological symptoms, they suffered lots of pain, and in some cases it was like losing their minds. That just that shouldn't happen from eating fresh cantaloupe. It shouldn't happen. Jensen Farms will likely now soon fall into bankruptcy, its assets sold to pay medical claims. Most troubling of all, there is virtually nothing in place, no protective systems that could prevent this from happening again, someplace else.

MLB: St. Louis 3, Cincinnati 1 CINCINNATI, April 10 (UPI) -- Kyle Lohse tossed his second straight strong game to start the season, handcuffing Cincinnati for six innings in the St. Louis Cardinals' 3-1 win. Lohse (2-0), who took a no-hitter into the seventh inning of St. Louis' season-opening victory over Miami Wednesday, held the Reds to one run on four hits, walking two and striking out a pair. Mitchell Boggs followed with two shutout relief frames and Jason Motte picked up his second save as the Cards won for the fifth time in six contests. David Freese connected for a two-run homer and Carlos Beltran added a solo shot for the winners. Cincinnati starter Mike Leake (0-1) surrendered three runs on seven hits through six innings. Joey Votto got the only RBI for the Reds, who fell to 2-3.

Lenny Dykstra pleads guilty to bankruptcy fraud, could get 20 years Former New York Mets star and self-styled financial guru Lenny Dykstra pleaded guilty Friday to three federal bankruptcy fraud charges for pilfering from his Ventura County mansion, according to the U.S. attorney's office. Dykstra has acknowledged that he took more $200,000 in assets out of the home and other locations as he struggled to battle numerous creditors. He pleaded guilty to bankruptcy fraud, concealment of assets and money laundering. He could face up to 20 years in prison but is likely to be sentenced to far less because of his plea. Mr. Dykstra's days of playing games with the public and the legal system are over. With these federal convictions, Mr. Dykstra's fraud and deceit have been exposed for all to see," said U.S. Atty. André Birotte Jr. These convictions should serve as a cautionary tale of a high-flying sports celebrity who tried to manipulate and exploit both his creditors and the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Dykstra is in state custody after having been convicted in Los Angeles County Superior Court on unrelated charges. He admitted that he filed a bankruptcy case in 2009 and later lied about taking and selling items that were part of the bankruptcy estate. Dykstra admitted lying about whether he had taken and sold items from the $18-million Sherwood Estates mansion that he had purchased from Wayne and Janet Gretzky. Dykstra also admitted that he concealed property from the bankruptcy estate, items that included baseball memorabilia stored in his other Sherwood Estates mansion. And he admitted that he sold some of the memorabilia and laundered the proceeds by taking $15,000 earned from the sale and purchasing a cashier's check in another person's name. Dykstra helped the New York Mets win the 1986 World Series and later became a celebrity stock picker before his finances dissolved into chaos in 2009. He has racked up numerous criminal charges in recent years. Nicknamed "Nails" by baseball fans for his raucous style on the diamond, the Garden Grove native turned to bankruptcy court in July 2009 to try to save his lavishly furnished Sherwood Country Club estate. Despite those efforts and a protracted and ongoing battle with court officials and numerous creditors, the home was sold in 2010 to the private equity firm Index Investors, one of Dykstra's creditors. His fall from grace during the last two years has resulted in conviction for a car finance scam and separate charges of lewd conduct and assault with a deadly weapon. He has already been sentenced to three years in state prison. He pleaded no contest to grand theft auto and filing a false financial statement. During the sentencing, Dykstra addressed the court. Did I do something I'm not proud of? Yes," he said. Am I a criminal? Lenny Dykstra sentenced to three years in prison Lenny Dykstra pleads no contest to lewd conduct, assault Lenny Dykstra 'unhappy' during jail stint, wants to fight charges Photo: Lenny Dykstra. Credit: Katie Falkenberg / For The Times

How Much Caffeine Is Fatal? A wrongful death lawsuit against Monster Beverage Corp., and the release of Food and Drug Administration incident reports indicating that Monster Energy drinks might have been responsible for five deaths since 2009, have brought questions about death by caffeine back into the national spotlight. Although death by caffeine is possible, it generally takes 5 to 10 grams of the stimulant to kill someone, toxicologists say. Anais Fournier, the 14-year-old Maryland girl at the heart of the lawsuit, whose parents allege the energy drinks caused her death, consumed 480 mg of caffeine over two days, or less than a gram of the stimulant. "This dose would not be expected to be fatal in a normal person of that age," said Dr. Christopher Holstege, director of toxicology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. Then again, what's lethal depends on several factors, including a person's weight, medications and underlying health conditions. A 41-year-old woman lived after consuming 50 grams of caffeine, up to 10 times more than what's considered a lethal dose, according to a 2003 Journal of Toxicology article. It is very difficult to predict one's response to caffeine. Some people are more sensitive than others," said Bruce Goldberger, the director of toxicology at the University of Florida College of Medicine. Therein lies the problem. If someone has an undiagnosed medical condition, they may ingest caffeine not knowing it may have a deleterious effect, such as a cardiac arrhythmia, hypertension or anxiety. Fournier drank two 24-ounce cans of Monster Energy during two consecutive day trips to the mall last December, before going into cardiac arrest at her home on Dec. 17, according to the criminal complaint filed in California Superior Court last week. She never regained consciousness and was taken off life support two days before Christmas. Medical examiners determined that Fournier died of "cardiac arrhythmia due to caffeine toxicity complicating mitral valve regurgitation in the setting of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome." In other words, the caffeine caused her irregular heartbeat, but Fournier had a heart valve that was already leaking because of an underlying genetic disorder before she consumed the energy drinks. "It would be difficult to specifically attribute caffeine as the primary cause of an aneurysm rupture and subsequent death in such a patient, even following high doses," Holstege said, adding that Ehlers-Danlos syndrome has several complications, including aortic and cerebral aneurysms. Doctors never analyzed the caffeine in Fournier's blood, according to the autopsy report. The 480 mg figure stated in court documents comes from the knowledge that Fournier drank two 24-ounce cans, containing 240 mg of caffeine each. It's possible that her caffeine consumption was underreported, which is a problem in the field of toxicology with teenagers and adults, said Marcel Casavant, the chief of toxicology at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Ohio. Fournier's parents claim in their lawsuit, among other allegations against Monster Beverage Corp., that the energy drink giant failed to warn consumers about the dangers of the high caffeine content in its beverages, and that the company uses names like "Assault" and "Dub Edition" to market its drinks to young people. Labels on Monster cans do not say how much caffeine is inside, but they warn that the product is not recommended for children or people who are sensitive to caffeine. Depending on the size of the can, labels suggest limiting the number of cans consumed per day to two or three. In its response to the lawsuit, Monster Beverage Corp. said in a statement that it was "saddened by the untimely passing of Anais Fournier. ... Over the past 16 years, Monster has sold more than 8 billion energy drinks, which have been safely consumed worldwide. Since energy drinks are classified as dietary supplements, they are not limited to the FDA's 200 parts per million caffeine limit on sodas. Coca Cola Classic has 30 to 35 mg of caffeine per 12-ounce can, but 12 ounces of the Monster drink Fournier consumed would have four times that. The FDA, however, still keeps track of deaths and hospitalizations attributed to products, FDA spokeswoman Shelly Burgess told ABCNews.com. Since 2004, 18 hospitalizations and five deaths have been reported in connection with Monster Energy drinks, according to reports obtained by ABCNews.com from the American Association for Justice. It is not clear from the reports whether the victims had underlying health conditions. AAJ got the "adverse event" reports from Wendy Crossland, Fournier's mother, who submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the FDA for Monster-related health problems after her daughter's death. Other energy drink brands are not included in the reports. The FDA has not launched a formal investigation of Monster Beverage Corp., Burgess said. Monster Beverage Corp. stock fell by 10 percent this afternoon, after it fell by more than 14 percent on Monday, following news stories about the deaths.

Coyotes Beat Blackhawks to Advance to Round 2 CHICAGO (AP) - Mike Smith made 39 saves and the Phoenix Coyotes scored three times in the final period to beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 4-0, on Monday night and capture their opening-round series in six games. Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored in the second and Gilbert Brule, Antoine Vermette and Kyle Chipchura had goals in the third as the Coyotes won a first-round series for the first time since moving to Phoenix for the 1996-97 season. It is the first series triumph for the franchise since 1987, when it was still the Winnipeg Jets. The Coyotes won all three games at the United Center - Monday night's game was the first in the series not to be decided in overtime - and now move on to play the Nashville Predators in the conference semifinals. Smith was steady all night and spectacular at times, especially early, in recording his first playoff shutout. He had 229 saves in the six games. Chicago's Jimmy Hayes was given a game misconduct after slamming Michael Rozsival from behind and driving him face first into the glass. After winning the Stanley Cup in 2010, the Blackhawks have been ousted two straight years in the first round.

Pocklington town centre hit by flooding