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Outrage over 'insanity' of Shell South Africa fracking plans "Fracking" controversy in South Africa Energy companies plan to start drilling for natural gas to help ease energy deficit in South Africa. Campaigners say fracking, the drilling technique could damage environment irrevocably Shell South Africa is one of the main companies lobbying to begin fracking Shell says it will bring economic benefits and help ease South Africa's energy crisis. Watch the full story of the Marketplace Africa's team inside on Friday March 23 at 1945, Saturday March 24 0245, 0515,1515, and Sunday March 25 0015, 1515 (All times GMT). Western Cape, South Africa (CNN) -- South Africa has an energy deficit on its hands. Too many people want fuel for their cars and electricity for their homes, and the country is struggling to keep up with demand. To help ease this perceived crisis the big companies want to start drilling for natural gas using a controversial drilling technique called fracking. Under the plans the drilling will be done in one of the most remote and beautiful places in South Africa, the Karoo. Fracking has caused controversy and protests across the globe, and South Africa is no exception. To release the natural gas the companies drill down and sideways into a rock called shale, and pump large quantities of water and other chemicals to release the gas. Anti-fracking campaigners warn that this could have an irrevocable impact on this semi-desert region. Jonathan Deal has written a book on the Karoo and he is now leading the campaign against fracking. "It is a special place, it is irreplaceable" he told CNN, just outside the town of Sutherland in the Karoo. My concern is that we would make decisions chasing fossil fuels in this country where this generation is making a decision that is going to affect unborn generations who would not be happy about it, when we should perhaps be pursuing renewable energies or looking at different energy mixes. Muna Lakhani from Earthlife Africa warns that water in the area could become contaminated as a result of fracking. "The chances of damaging aquifers is very high and South Africa is a water scarce country," he told CNN in Cape Town. "The Karoo happens to be the driest part of our country so to threaten our water supply with a system that uses massive amounts of water that can never be cleaned up, that contains toxic chemicals, seems to be insanity of the first order," he added. Read more: Explain to me: Fracking Shell South Africa, one of the main companies lobbying to begin fracking, denies there is any "insanity." Bonang Mohale, the company's chairman, told CNN's Robyn Curnow, that: "It is possible to have responsible fracking with respect to the environment and to the people of the Karoo." The first commitment that we made was never to compete with the people of the Karoo for their water needs in this pristine and ecologically sensitive area so we, in the initial stages, certainly when we drill the first well, bring portable water in from outside. The risks to the environment are well understood, well articulated and I think they can be totally and utterly mitigated, especially the issues of water contamination, the aquifers, and the scarcity of water. Sutherland is a small town on the edge of the area that could be affected by fracking. It is so small you can stand on one side of the town and see straight down the main road to the other side. But despite its literal size, it has a big reputation because of its internationally recognized astronomical observatory. Tourists and scientists flock here but even so, the place is quiet. This generation is making a decision that is going to affect unborn generations who would not be happy about it Jonathan Deal, campainer Jurgens Wagener runs a bed and breakfast in Sutherland and every evening he takes his guests into the Karoo to see the bright canopy of stars. He acknowledges that the town needs jobs but he is worried about the long term impact of fracking on his community. In the ten years we have been here I can say that it developed very much into a tourist attraction. We are just very concerned that if fracking does take place, there might be a boom for a very short period but what is it going to be like after that? According to a recent report by a South African think tank, paid for by Shell, the whole of South Africa and towns like Sutherland will get an economic boost if fracking goes ahead. "The successful development of the shale gas reserves would result in approximately $11 billion to $30 billion contribution to the South African GDP," Rob Jeffrey from Econometrix told CNN. In South African terms that is between three and 10% of South Africa's GDP, it is enormous. By the same token there would be a significant impact on employment. But others believe Econometrix's employment figures have been exaggerated. See also: Fracking in New York: Risk vs. Reward "The aspect of the report that I most disagree with deals with the jobs numbers," Peet Du Plooy, an economist with the Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies told CNN. The report cites 700,000 jobs, which is more jobs than the entire mining sector combined. I can understand the motivation to cite such a high number but I don't think it is realistic. It is possible to have responsible fracking with respect to the environment and to the people of the Karoo. Bonang Mohale, chairman of Shell S.Africa In America, the debate over fracking is just as fractured. In Ohio there have been accusations that fracking causes earthquakes and water has become so contaminated that it can be set on fire. In France protests by anti-fracking campaigners and some politicians has resulted in the drilling technique being banned altogether. Campaigners in South Africa argue that the lack of international and scientific consensus on the economic benefits and environmental impact of fracking mean it should not be allowed in the Karoo. Shell argues that they are pushing for fracking to begin because they want a new source of energy to help solve the country's energy crisis. "We are up to solving the vexing challenge that South Africa has and that challenge is that of the 50 million South Africans, 20% of this population has absolutely no access to energy whatsoever," Bonang Mohale, Shell South Africa's Chairman told CNN. "That's 10 million South Africans," he continued. They are the ones that have been busy chopping down our forests just to heat themselves and to cook and we are saying the case for gas is absolutely compelling because gas is much better as far as the environment is concerned than coal-fired power stations. The South African government has stopped licensing for fracking while it studies all the arguments. The fate of the Karoo, South Africa's most fragile landscape, could be decided by the end of March.

Lauryn Hill Facing Possible Prison Sentence After Guilty Tax Plea Image Credit: Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images Eight-time Grammy Award winning singer Lauryn Hill could face up to three years in prison after pleading guilty to evading federal taxes. The former Fugees star made the guilty plea today in U.S. District Court in Newark, N.J., after being charged three weeks ago with three counts of failing to pay taxes on the more than $1.5 million she earned in 2005, 2006 and 2007 from recording and film royalties. Each count carries a maximum one-year prison sentence, meaning the 37-year-old singer and mother-of-six could face up to three years in prison. Hill began her musical career with The Fugees but broke out as a solo artist with the 1998 release of award-winning album "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill." One day after the charges against her were made public, Hill issued a statement on her Tumblr account to explain why she failed to pay the taxes, saying she withdrew herself and her family - including her five kids with Rohan Marley, the son of famed reggae singer Bob Marley - from the public eye to distance them from a lifestyle "that required distortion and compromise as a means for maintaining it." "For the past several years, I have remained what others would consider underground," she wrote. I did this in order to build a community of people, like-minded in their desire for freedom and the right to pursue their goals and lives without being manipulated and controlled by a media protected military industrial complex with a completely different agenda. Hill, dressed in a dark jacket and long skirt as she made her way into court today, plans to repay the taxes she owes the government, her attorney said in court. That was a similar pledge she made in her earlier online statement. "Obviously, the danger I faced was not accepted as reasonable grounds for deferring my tax payments, as authorities, who despite being told all of this, still chose to pursue action against me, as opposed to finding an alternative solution," she wrote. My intention has always been to get this situation rectified. After pleading guilty, Hill was released on $150,000 bail. U.S. Magistrate Michael Shipp delayed Hill's sentencing hearing until late November in order to give Hill time to make the payments, court records show.

Jubilee effect boosts Scottish visitors The Queen's Diamond Jubilee has boosted the number of visitors coming to Scotland's major tourist attractions, with Edinburgh Castle recording the highest number of people over the five-day holiday period. Historic Scotland recorded 84,643 people visiting its sites over the jubilee weekend. Edinburgh Castle attracted 30,769 visitors - a new record for June when more than 7,000 people came to the castle on two separate days. A total of 10,166 visitors went to Stirling Castle over the weekend, up 14 per cent on the same bank holiday weekend last year. Edinburgh Castle also retained its status as the most popular visitor attraction in Scotland last year in what the agency described as a record-breaking period for its properties, which saw footfall and income soaring. Figures released yesterday show a total of 1,314,975 people visited Edinburgh Castle during 2011-12 - up 10 per cent on the year before. In second place was Stirling Castle which, after a £12 million restoration, saw a 17 per cent increase in visitor numbers. Urquhart Castle was ranked third with visitor numbers rising 10 per cent to 317,811. Fiona Hyslop MSP, culture and external affairs minister, said one of the key factors was better interpretation of Scottish history such as Stirling Castle had undertaken. These statistics speak for themselves and show Scotland's historic visitor attractions continue to play a vital role in the tourism industry and wider economy. Many visitors come to Scotland to experience our rich, diverse and colourful history and Historic Scotland's properties provide them with a unique experience to see our history up close. The rise in income is welcomed as it allows Historic Scotland to continue reinvesting in the historic environment and the visitor experience. While we have seen major improvements in areas such as the retail offering, what has also been key has been the continued improvements in the interpretation of these sites such as the major investment at Stirling. Ronnie Cramond, former chairman of the Scottish Mu-seums Council, said he believed an increasing awareness of Scottish identity was helping boost visitor numbers. We've had devolution and our own Scottish Parliament, the opening of the Museum of Scotland, and various programmes on television covering Scottish history. I believe a lot of the interest dates back to the flood of excellent history books following TC Smout's A History of the Scottish People 1560-1830, published in 1969. What this showed was an enormous increase in people's wish to learn about Scottish history. Mr Cramond added: "Even a film like Braveheart, which took a lot of liberties with history, although its main theme was correct that William Wallace was a freedom fighter, got people interested in the subject." Despite the increases across visitor sites, there was a 4 per cent drop in income to £414,385 from corporate events as companies tightened their belts.

Millsap's double-double leads Jazz past Nuggets Jan 15 11:44 PM US/Eastern DENVER (AP) - Paul Millsap had 26 points and 12 rebounds, Al Jefferson added 18 points and 12 rebounds and the Utah Jazz beat the Denver Nuggets 106-96 on Sunday night. Gordon Hayward scored 19 points and Devin Harris and Alec Burks added 10 each for the Jazz, winners of seven of their last eight. Danilo Gallinari scored 18 points, Nene had 17 and Arron Afflalo 16 for the Nuggets. The game was close throughout until Millsap got going early in the fourth quarter. He scored 16 points in the period and gave the Jazz control of a close game. After a 3-pointer by Gallinari cut the lead to 81-79, the Jazz went to Millsap down low. The forward responded by scoring Utah's next 14 to give the Jazz a 95-83 lead midway through the period.

Possible arsenic poisoning probed in death of coroner's official Authorities said a Los Angeles County coroner's official, Michael Cormier, appears to have died from poisoning. Law enforcement sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing, said that finding the presence of poison does not necessarily mean the death was a homicide because the substance could have accidentally entered his system. According to sources, arsenic was one poison being examined as potential cause but stressed no final determination has been made. Ed Winter, deputy chief coroner, said that an autopsy had been performed but that a determination of the cause of death has been deferred pending further tests. Authorities examined Cormier's Auckland Avenue home for clues in the death. Sources said several hazardous materials experts and officers searched the small home. Cormier, who also worked as a coroner's photographer, had registered a small business under the name MAC Autopsy Services at the home. Photo: Michael Cormier. Credit: KTLA News

Volvo Ocean Race: Groupama jump on Telefonica skipper's 'worst career mistake' to trim lead The 34-year-old Martinez did not try to dodge blame for Saturday's calamitous mistake. "We had sailed a nearly perfect race until then," he said. There were two marks and I chose the wrong one. It's the first time in my life I've ever made a mistake like that so I feel terrible for the shore crew who had worked so hard. Cammas added: "We were very close to making the same mistake but (helmsman) Charles Caudrelier made a good call and we were lucky." The fleet next heads to Miami starting on Sunday. All but leg victors Puma suffered damage in the treacherous leg five from Auckland to southern Brazil and China's Team Sanya (broken rudder) will not rejoin the race until it arrives in Florida next month. The 39,000-nautical mile, eight-month marathon - offshore sailing's longest and toughest professional race - is scheduled to finish in Galway, Ireland in early July. Team Telefonica (Spain) 149 points, 2. Groupama (France) 133, 3. Camper (NZ/Spain) 124, 4. Puma (U.S.) Abu Dhabi 58, 6. Team Sanya (China) 25

If You Think Your Neighbors are Bad, Try a Grizzly Bear Sept. Alaska is a land of contrasts. Thirty minutes in a bush plane will transport a visitor to another world, somewhere over the rainbow-trout streams. Glaciers of turquoise ice float next to forests in this wilderness. Bear country, as nature intended -- and then altered by man. It is a fitting place for eccentric bear enthusiast Charlie Vandergaw to play by his own rules. That's what I like about Alaska, because I can live like I want to live. Fish or hunt, and you don't have to answer to anyone out here. You're not controlled by other people," Vandergaw said. But he does need to answer to the grizzlies. They are among the largest predators walking the planet, quietly moving through the last remnants of wild nature -- and into Vandergaw's imagination. I think I'm mesmerized by grizzly bears. I love the black bears, but there's just something about a grizzly bear that is hypnotic to me," he said. By anyone's standard, Charlie Vandergaw lives a life less ordinary. The 71-year-old retired science teacher from Anchorage has spent the last two decades in the remote Alaskan bush where, by his own choice, his closest neighbors are animals powerful enough to kill him with a swipe of their 5-inch claws. I got started on this innocent enough. I was living out here alone and they became friends. A couple different ones actually came in and sought my friendship and once I had that happen to me I was lost," Vandergaw said. Vandergaw has admittedly succumbed to the spell of bears. He's carved a life for himself out of pine trees and dirt, constructing a cabin he calls "Bear Haven," along with a few other outpost buildings. Otherwise, his remaining 40 acres are untouched. Yet such beguiling peace can be deadly, luring visitors into forgetting that this is the kingdom of grizzlies. Vandergaw's life depends on his remembering this fact. There's something about their aura, the way they look at you. It's a whole different energy level than the black bears. You know something is about to explode when a grizzly comes in," Vandergaw said. Last year, Vandergaw invited British filmmaker Richard Terry to Bear Haven to document what conventional wisdom had always deemed impossible: that humans and wild bears can peacefully coexist. 'I'm Obsessed With Touching the Bears,' Vandergaw Says For six months, Terry filmed Vandergaw in his hidden world, one where the line of what's possible -- and what some experts say should never be dared -- was long ago crossed by a man driven by something more powerful than instinct: obsession. "I'm obsessed with touching the bears," Vandergaw admitted. Vandergaw's innate ability to decipher the bears' nuanced behavior and sounds, coupled with their habituation to his presence, make him something of a modern-day Grizzly Adams. You've got to listen constantly. After a while you find out that certain vocalizations demand more attention than others," he said. That roaring that the grizzlies do, that's just bear talk. They're just yelling at each other. Although bears are naturally solitary animals, large numbers can be found surrounding Vandergaw's cabin as they noisily anticipate his arrival. The memory of Vandergaw having formerly carried a food bucket into their midst still provides a kind of gravitational pull back to his cabin, for black bears and grizzlies alike. Vandergaw wades among the bears carrying only a stick for protection. He does not permit the use of deadly force. It is a risk Terry accepts when he follows Vandergaw with his camera, passing within arm's reach of grizzlies that can weigh more than half a ton. Isolated here in the deep woods, Terry is honing the art of living dangerously. Every day is a learning curve of both survival and the unexpected intimacies of filming close to the great predators. "I can't film if you put, now look, now you put slobber all over the lens," Terry said when a bear licked the camera lens. There's even the occasional terrifying run-in at the outhouse, its door long ago ripped off by a marauding bear. Right in front of this doorway, here came a great big grizzly. She put her claw inside and grabbed hold of my boxers – and the boxers were attached to me! So I literally had to rip the boxers from her claws and try and push her off with a stick and make a hasty retreat," Terry recalled. During the half-year shoot done for the Cable TV channel Animal Planet, Terry documented both the strange and the sublime. There was the evening when a black bear wandered into Vandergaw's kitchen. Of all the bars, you had to come into mine. Give me a kiss," said Vandergaw. Come on, give me a kiss. In another intimate moment, a mother grizzly lay near Vandergaw while nursing her cubs -- as the cameras rolled. I can't believe it. She's laying down nursing right in front of me. It's amazing," Vandergaw said. For Terry, having grown accustomed to the strange yet wondrous rhythms of Bear Haven, it has begun to feel like home. "I'm either going mad, losing the plot, or I'm just becoming soft because this really makes me happy," Terry said. One of These Days, the Bears Will Come Back and Not Charlie But it also scared him. Living and working together in the Alaskan bush, the bear enthusiast and the enthusiastic filmmaker have developed an extraordinary trust. When a large grizzly emerges from the woods, Vandergaw gave directions on what to do that possibly saved Terry's life. "No bites," Vandergaw commanded an approaching female grizzly. "I'm feeling a little vulnerable, Charlie," said Terry as he continued to film the encounter. "Just keep backing away from her," said Vandergaw. It is a tense moment caught on film and a stark reminder of the constant threat posed by these creatures. "Just to see someone get that close to the grizzlies and the black bears and all the confusion seems insane," Vandergaw said. But it's like taking something out of context. I mean you have to see the whole thing. You have to understand the number of years of experience. Of course, saying all of that I can get chewed on tomorrow. And that's what has experts like Sean Farley, a bear biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, so worried. It's a definite safety concern. One of these days, the bear will come back and not Charlie," said Farley. Over many summers, Vandergaw has watched generations of bears come and go. He knows most by name, including Walt, a 500-pound creature who walks right into his kitchen. If I can control him in here and keep him from tearing things up then I'll let him in. He's been in here for years," Vandergaw said. It is a surprising evolution of a man who began as a hunter, when this land was a hunter's paradise. Gradually, the hunter hung up his gun. "I couldn't kill a porcupine if it was chewing on the cabin," Vandergaw admitted. Remarkably, much of Vandergaw's transformation from bear hunter to steward of Bear Haven is captured on videotape he shot himself, well before Animal Planet's cameras arrived. His video archives reveal a pivotal moment of a bear seeking contact with Vandergaw in the grass. Vandergaw recalled the interaction: "I had a bear that would not approach me unless it was dragging itself on its belly. I let him do that for a while and then I started dragging myself to him. And when we touched noses then he'd get up and we'd go about our business. Hypnotized by the solitude of grizzly country, Vandergaw has bid a farewell to arms, but others have not. And after spending more than 20 years trying to teach wild bears to trust humans, his beloved companions are a trigger pull away from being killed. Can Vandergaw's Bear Haven Survive Legal Threat? As cameras rolled Vandergaw spotted a rifle-toting hunter taking aim in the woods. He didn't take the intrusion lying down. If there's one shot that goes off, buddy, you're going back to town in handcuffs. Put your gun down. Anybody who wants to come here and see the bears is welcome to do that. But no guns, and no one will be tolerated hunting around here," Vandergaw said. In a disarming gesture, Vandergaw then welcomed the intruder. Whether out of good manners or as a protective peace offering, Vandergaw invited him to watch bears over a cup of coffee. Initially charmed, the hunter was spooked by Vandergaw's nonchalance as black bears draped their arms around his shoulders and neck. "That feels unnatural," he said as the startling physical interaction played out before his eyes. Vandergaw will be the first to tell you that by having formerly fed bears at his cabin he has created an unnatural, natural place, at least to the edge of his lawn. I've created a fairyland here. This is not the real world. This is a place that they feel very comfortable in. They're comfortable with me, and they're comfortable with other humans here," said Vandergaw. But for how long? Farley is cautious about the future of anyone who wants to get close to these predators. Why do we want to give a hug to something that's big, warm and fuzzy? The difference here is, this big, warm fuzzy thing will rip your head off and eat you, depending on the circumstance," Farley said. For a quarter century, Vandergaw's greatest fear has not been the grizzlies and black bears in his backyard, but human intrusion on his paradise. Paradise is about to be lost. State authorities are mounting a legal fight, and they're gunning for bears – Vandergaw's. And watch Richard Terry's six-part series on Charlie Vandergaw airing on Animal Planet's "Stranger Among Bears." For more information on Charlie Vandergaw and Bear Haven, click here. For more information on the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, click here.

type' bomb in north Belfast

Obituary: Sgt. Richard Essex; Army sergeant killed in Afghanistan After a fellow soldier died, Army Sgt. Richard Essex watched his friend's family agonize over funeral details. He vowed to never let the same thing happen to his family. So while he was home for his sister's wedding last October, the Kelseyville, Calif., native gave his family some specifics. If anything happened to him, he didn't want to burden them with decisions. His car should go to his older brother and his guitar to a friend who wrote music. He made his family promise that the procession would pass in front of Kelseyville High School, from which he graduated in 2008. When he was growing up, his tongue tangled his words and the charming, blue-eyed boy got most everything he needed with a point and a grunt. Essex didn't say much, but he knew what he wanted. He wanted to join the Army and fly helicopters. He achieved his first goal a couple of days out of high school, when he enlisted in the Army. But his eyes - one nearsighted and the other farsighted - made achieving his second goal a bit more difficult. While stationed in Washington, after returning home from a two-year stint as a tank mechanic in Iraq, Essex put in for a position as a helicopter gunner. He knew it was the closest he'd get to the helicopter's steering stick. "When this opportunity came up, he jumped at it," Essex's mother, Marion Hopkins, said. Hopkins and Essex had an agreement. Each time he returned from a dangerous mission he had to get on Facebook and send her a one-word message: "OK." One afternoon in August, Hopkins answered a knock at her door. She saw two men dressed in military uniforms, one carrying a cross. She frantically slammed the door. The dogs had been howling all day; she knew why the men were there. When she finally opened the door, the strangers on her stoop told her that her 23-year-old son and 10 others had died in a Black Hawk helicopter crash northeast of Afghanistan's Kandahar province. "They were bad missions," Hopkins said. He knew that. We knew that. But we never said goodbye. Richard Allen Essex was born on May 6, 1989, in Blythe, Calif., where his father, Charles Essex, worked as a prison guard. His parents divorced and he was reared mainly in Kelseyville, north of San Francisco, by his mother and stepfather, Brett Hopkins, along with his two sisters, Stacey and Jennifer, and his brother, Michael. More than 1,000 people packed Kelseyville High School's football stands Sept. 1 for his memorial, and the service happened just the way he wanted. His friends spoke, the meal he planned followed and everyone used Sharpies to scribble him notes on balloons, which they later released. "It kind of jerked everybody in this town together," Hopkins said. In school, everyone knew him. To John Traphagan III, Essex will always be the fun-loving, goofy friend he shared poetry and teenage shenanigans with. The friends ran into each other at the Lake County Fair last year while Essex was on leave. They talked about the Army and life. Traphagan had gotten married and had a child since they last spoke. He gave me a big ol' bro hug and said, 'Next time I come back, I'll have a gift for you for your wedding.' Traphagan's voice dropped to a whisper. The next time he came back, he was in a casket. Hopkins still gets up each morning, walks to the urn in her living room and talks to her son. Maybe eventually she'll spread his ashes, she says, but not yet. "I like to say he's grounded," she says through a subdued laugh. I'm not letting him go.

D.C. area forecast: A splendid Sunday, then increasing clouds and rain chances Today: Partly to mostly sunny. 30-40% chance of p.m. showers. Could turn out to be a 10 just like Saturday. But hedging down one in case some clouds try to get in the way. Clouds and rain are on the way, but we've got more than enough time to squeeze out another gem to close out the weekend. Even a good part of Monday may not be bad despite more clouds. A moisture-laden cold front (with low pressure developing along it) brings rain chances starting tomorrow afternoon, though the best odds for steadier, heavier rain should wait until Tuesday. Today (Sunday): I'm going to call it a nice day today, but hold off on the official Nice Day Sun given the potential for some cloud cover from time to time. Still, the day should see a good deal of sun overall, and not a whole lot to complain about. Winds are light out of the south/southwest, and highs get to the upper 70s to near 80. Tonight: Clouds increase a bit more overnight as light winds from the south bring in moister air. An isolated shower or two is possible south of the area toward central Virginia, but around here we should just see partly to mostly cloudy skies. Overnight lows reach the upper 50s to mid-60s (suburbs to city). Tomorrow (Monday): A storm system slowly moves our way from the southwest. But the risk of rain here should hold off for much of the day, leaving us with partly to mostly cloudy skies and highs in the mid-70s to near 80. A few showers could arrive during the afternoon (30-40% chance). Tomorrow night: Low pressure still to the southwest starts to ride up the Appalachians. That keeps the best chance of rain to our west, toward and over the mountains. But we still stand a 50% chance of mainly light to moderate showers here in the D.C. area. Lows are mild, in the mid-to-upper 60s under cloudy skies. The way it looks now, the best chance of moderate to heavy rain stays west of the area Tuesday morning, with a continued 50% chance of mainly light to moderate showers in and around D.C. as highs head toward the mid-to-upper 70s. As we get into afternoon, our odds of steadier, heavier rain increase to around 70%, and we could see some thunderstorms too. Shower/storm chances stay up around 70% into Tuesday night. Some areas may see total rainfall amounts approaching or over an inch, though confidence in just how much rain will fall around D.C. compared to areas off to the west is on the low side. Rain should taper toward morning with overnight lows near 60. Rains should be ending during the early morning hours Wednesday with clearing skies to follow. Despite the increasing sun, cool breezes behind a cold front should limit highs to the 70s.

Battle lines are drawn as David Laws returns to take on Danny Alexander It was assumed that Alexander would be out of his depth in this because previously the most testing job he'd ever had was head of communications for the Cairngorms National Park Authority. In fact he has entrenched himself, mainly through his membership of the "quartet" of David Cameron, George Osborne, Clegg and Alexander, who sort out differences between the Coalition partners. There is now a contest under way over who will have the bigger input into the mid-term review. Alexander has the status as a Cabinet minister, but Laws is the one whose judgement Clegg trusts most. My colleague Donald Macintyre paid tribute in yesterday's Independent to the Toad-of-Toad-Hall-like performance of the Energy minister, John Hayes, when called to the Commons to explain what David Cameron meant when he said that all energy consumers were going to be compelled "to give the lowest tariff to their customers." It was such a virtuoso performance that reading the Hansard record leaves me agog. "Alacrity and defence of the common good lie at the heart of all I do," he announced. His reply to a Labour MP who demanded a "yes or no" answer was: "A yes or no answer would be insufficient to deal with the hon gentleman's question. Indeed, it would be almost an insult to him to reduce my answer to that level. His very next words were "Let me be plain..." when plain was something he could not be, because he was answering questions on Government policy when he did not know what Government policy was. One reason that so few people run for political office is the risk that any embarrassing secrets they may have, no matter how trivial, are likely to be used against them. When Tom Turner, from Buith Wells, was 15, he took a picture of himself in the nude on his mobile phone and forwarded it to his girlfriend, who forwarded it to some of her friends. His head teacher found out, and he had to apologise. Now, aged 20, he is a Tory member of Powys County Council and a school governor. An independent councillor, Nathan Casey, is collecting signatures to get Turner barred from being a governor. "I haven't seen the photograph, but I have been told it is disgusting," Cllr Casey told WalesOnline. On the subject of young Tory councillors, Jonathan Gillis secured an early start in politics by being elected to Stratford-on-Avon District Council last year aged 21, but then landed a job in London and had to resign. His resignation needed to be in by 5pm on Thursday. Sadly, he handed it in three hours late. That delay, the Stratford -upon-Avon Herald reports, could set local ratepayers back by £5,155.

Dodgers deal pitcher John Ely, receive Rob Rasmussen The Dodgers dealt pitcher John Ely to the Houston Astros for pitcher Rob Rasmussen on Wednesday. Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times / June 11, 2012 December 19, 2012, 5:23 p.m. The Dodgers traded John Ely on Wednesday to the Houston Astros for minor league pitcher Rob Rasmussen. Ely debuted in 2010, and after his first seven starts he was 3-2 with a 2.54 earned-run average. He finished the season 4-10 with a 5.49 ERA and went back to Albuquerque, where he fared no better (5-4, 6.22). He made one Dodgers start in 2011 and a pair of relief appearances last season. Rasmussen, 23, was almost a Dodger previously. He was drafted in the 27th round out of Pasadena Poly in 2007, but instead went to UCLA. The Marlins then drafted him in the second round in 2010 and he was one of two minor leaguers traded to the Astros last July for Carlos Lee. Rasmussen, 23, is a 5-foot-9 left-hander who was 8-11 with a 4.25 ERA in two minor league stops last season as a starter, though his future could be in the bullpen. In three minor league seasons he is 20-21 with a 3.88 ERA. Trading Ely leaves the Dodgers with 39 players on their 40-man roster. Ronald Belisario, winter league team part ways Dodgers reliever Ronald Belisario's winter league team in Venezuela said Belisario would not play for the rest of the season because of disciplinary reasons. The Ultimas Noticias newspaper said Belisario, 29, had asked for and been granted permission to leave the Margarita team for personal reasons, but when he did not return as scheduled he was removed from the roster. Belisario maintains he did return as scheduled. Belisario went 8-1 with a 2.54 ERA in 68 games last season. Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti said Belisario would miss only Margarita's final eight games.

Travel tech: Make your phone work magic when you're abroad Your smartphone remains a crucial travel companion: currency converters with the latest rates, Skype to make calls home, ebook readers to keep you amused. But travel apps offer much more. There are lots of them - 49,000 on the iPhone alone. Here are a few you shouldn't be without. Electronic boarding passes save you scrabbling for pieces of paper. The British Airways app (iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry; free) is one of the best around. It's simple and informative. But now there's a new app which comes built in to the iPhone called Passbook (iPhone, free). It gathers together your store cards, money-off coupons, concert tickets and boarding passes in one place. United and Delta are signed up already and more airlines will join. The neatest thing is that when you get to the airport, the phone's GPS knows this and automatically loads the boarding pass onscreen. Once abroad, you'll need to find your way around. Apple has just updated its maps software with cute photo-realistic 3D representations of buildings in some central city locations. However, you need a data connection to make it work and overseas roaming costs add up fast. The new version of Nokia Maps, out next month on Nokia's latest Windows Phone handsets, allows you to download country maps in advance and offers turn-by-turn navigation without data. If you don't speak the lingo where you're going, you'll need help. There are plenty of good apps, but the best is Google Translate (iPhone, Android; free). Again, you'll need to have a data connection for this. Speak into the phone: your words go to Google's servers to be translated into one of 64 languages, then show up as translated text onscreen; most are also relayed as spoken words. A conversation mode means that it knows to listen to the other party in Spanish, say, and translate to English. Slightly magical. If you're in New York, one of the coolest apps is New York Nearest Subway (iPhone; £1.49). It uses AR (augmented reality), where the view from the phone's camera is supplemented onscreen by extra information. Hold the phone in front of you and colour-coded signs appear to float in the air, pointing to the nearest station. There are now companion apps for lots of cities, including Paris, London, Barcelona, Chicago and Tokyo. Among apps that provide useful information without data charges are travel guides, including TripAdvisor Offline City Guides (iPhone, Android; free). There are more than 50 cities, with maps, photos, tourist attractions, restaurants and more, plus TripAdvisor reviews. Rather than putting the whole thing on your phone, choose cities to download before you travel. While you're away, send a postcard home using Touchnote Postcards (iPhone, iPad, Android; free). Take a photo on the phone, choose the recipient's address, write your message and it's done. It'll be delivered on glossy card to an address anywhere in the world. Each postcard costs £1.49 and you can buy credit in advance. Finally, keep the kids happy with Barefoot World Atlas (iPad, iPhone; £2.99), an interactive 3D globe with clever graphics that illuminate wildlife, landmarks and shipping vessels, along with interesting country stats.

Adam Gemili becomes the all-time third fastest British junior over 200m but insists his main target is still the 100m Gemili's withdrawal was a disappointment because there was every chance he would have run the Olympic "A" qualifying time of 20.55 sec in the final, though he insists his priority remains the 100m. He said he would be talking to his coach, Michael Afilaka, today to discuss plans for this week's Olympic trials in Birmingham, though he is unlikely to risk overloading himself by doubling up in the 100m and 200m. "It's a possibility, but I don't know," he said. My main event is the 100m. That's my stronger event and I'm not really a 200 guy. That's what I'm going to have talk to Michael about, but I've still got the World Junior Championships coming up, so I don't want to do too much. Afilaka had expressed concern that the short recovery period between the junior and senior trials could be too much for Gemili to handle, but UK Athletics stepped in to reduce his workload by offering him an exemption from the junior 100m trials on Saturday. The governing body confirmed that Gemili would be on the start-line for the first round of the 100m at the Olympic trials next Friday. The semi-finals and final take place on Saturday. Gemili says the World Junior Championships, which take place in Barcelona from July 10-15, remain his primary focus but his performances this summer have shown he is ready to step up to the biggest stage of all. He leads the UK 100m rankings by a tenth of a second and is the second fastest sprinter in European this year behind Frenchman Christophe Lemaitre. Yohan Blake, the Jamaican world 100m champion, was only marginally quicker than Gemili's season's best time when he won in windless conditions in Edmonton, Canada, on Saturday in 10.05 sec.

French costs rise but demand solid at debt sale PARIS (Reuters) - French borrowing costs rose slightly when the euro zone's second-largest economy sold debt for the first time this year on Thursday but demand was solid despite concerns the country could lose its AAA credit rating. With a heavy schedule of debt redemptions in the first quarter, market fears about euro states' ability to fund their debts remains high. France, which has a slowing economy and a presidential election looming in April, is seen by many to be at greater risk from ebbing investor confidence than regional powerhouse Germany. France sold 7.96 billion euros ($10.3 billion) of 10- to 30-year bonds at the auction, at the top of its projected range, after receiving total bids for nearly 15 billion euros. The yield on the benchmark October 2021 bond rose slightly to 3.29 percent to above the 3.18 percent fixed when it was last auctioned on December 1, but remained in line with yields in the secondary market of around 3.3 percent. The 10-year spread over Bunds was a whisker higher after the auction at 143 basis points, remaining well below its euro-era high of more than 200 basis points reached in November. "Overall it's a pretty solid auction," Michael Leister, strategist at DZ Bank in Frankfurt. It should be enough to dispel concerns with regards to France's funding capacity for the time being. The yield on the 4.5 percent 30-year OAT maturing in April 2041 rose to 3.97 percent from 3.94 percent in the December 1 auction, the Agence France Tresor debt management agency said. The Treasury placed 4.02 billion and 2.165 billion euros respectively of the 3.25 percent and 4.5 percent OATs. It also sold 690 million euros of its 4.25 percent OAT maturing in October 2023 and 1.088 billion euros of its 4.75 percent OAT due in April 2035. Those bonds were last auctioned in June 2011, and April 2010, respectively, so yields are not comparable. France's top-notch credit rating is hanging by a thread due to its slowing economy, high structural deficit and banking exposure to the euro zone's most troubled debtor states. In recent days, analysts said there was decent domestic demand for French 10-year bonds from local investors, particularly insurance companies. The solid French sale came after Germany successfully sold 4.06 billion euros of 10-year bonds at its first auction of 2012 on Thursday, with a recovery in demand supported by redemptions and coupon payments which left investors flush with cash. That came as a relief after the upset of a November auction which drew bids worth less than the 6 billion euros on offer and sowed fears that contagion could touch the heart of the euro zone. With a heavy schedule of euro zone debt maturing this year, particularly in the region's No. 3 economy, Italy, traders remain nervous about government finances despite an unprecedented injection of nearly half a trillion euros of cheap ECB funding for banks last month. "Given the clear risk of an imminent ratcheting up of market tensions as Italy's February-April redemption hump looms closer, today's sales should be seen as a successful battle rather than in any way determining the outcome of the war," said Richard McGuire, senior fixed income strategist at Rabobank in London. France plans to issue up to 178 billion euros in medium- and long-term government debt, net of buybacks, this year, down only slightly from 184 billion euros in 2011, despite the threat to its rating. With its economy expected to enter recession in the first quarter of this year, France will need more painful austerity measures to reach a deficit target of 4.5 percent of gross domestic product this year, though the impending election may complicate that. Adding to investors' concerns, Socialist election frontrunner Francois Hollande -- who leads Sarkozy by a wide margin in polls -- has pledged to renegotiate a fiscal compact being agreed by the European Union, potentially complicating efforts to solve the debt crisis. ($1 = 0.7747 euros) Additional reporting by Blaise Robinson in Paris and London government bond desk; Editing by Ruth Pitchford

Apple Targeted in DC Rally Over Ethical Manufacturing WASHINGTON, D.C. - Protesters rallied at the Apple store in Washington, D.C., Thursday morning to deliver roughly 250,000 signatures in a demonstration calling for an end to what they call unethical manufacturing practices at the tech giant's factories in China. The protest was one of six being held in cities around the world inspired by Mark Shields - a consultant from Washington D.C. - who launched a petition on change.org in January. Shields is a self-described Apple user who became mobilized after hearing reports of poor working conditions at factories run by Foxconn, one of Apple's biggest suppliers. Shields says he heard about reports of abuse while listening to the radio. I was pottering around my kitchen...[the radio] was all streaming through my MacBook on my Apple AirPort - it was a great yuppie moment - and it was a terrible story about what is happening at the factories making Apple products. According to a New York Times investigation, Foxconn's Chinese workers are subjected to poor conditions at the company's factories. The reports claim that there have been multiple attempted suicides at its plants, including recently when 150 workers threatened to jump from a roof following a dispute about pay. Other charges against Foxconn include unfair wages and hazardous working conditions. Shields" demonstration included a small group of signatories and representatives from sumofus.org, another organization which has been collecting signatures to encourage Apple to make the iPhone5 the first ethically manufactured Apple product. Change.org's petition demands that Apple announces "a worker protection strategy for new product releases, which are the instances when injuries and suicides typically spike because of the incredible pressure to meet quotas timed to releases." Shields is hopeful that his petition drive will induce a response from Apple. He says he got a very polite response from clerks at the Apple store in Georgetown after delivering three boxes of petitions. "They said that they would share the names and information up the chain of Apple and that I would hear back," he said, "I left my name and phone number and I look forward to hearing back about this." Asked what Apple products he owns, Shields said, "I've got my iPhone, I've got a MacBook Pro at home, my Apple AirPort which is how I listen to music at home. I've got a couple of old iPods kicking around. I've been an Apple user for a long time. While he did not say whether he would give up using Apple products, he did admit to having a "knot in his stomach" about the company. If they want to be a leader, we hope that they'll lead. Apple's branding is about think different, we are here today to say Apple, please do that. Do spend your energy and think differently about how these products are made. Protests were also held at Apple stores in New York, San Francisco, London, Sydney and Bangalore on Thursday. In a statement to ABC News, Apple said: "We care about every worker in our worldwide supply chain. We insist that our suppliers provide safe working conditions, treat workers with dignity and respect, and use environmentally responsible manufacturing processes wherever Apple products are made. Our suppliers must live up to these requirements if they want to keep doing business with Apple. Every year Apple inspects more factories, going deeper into the supply chain and raising the bar for our suppliers. In 2011 we conducted 229 audits at supplier facilities around the world and reported their progress on apple.com. Last month Apple became the first technology company admitted to the Fair Labor Association, a leading nonprofit organization dedicated to improving conditions for workers around the world. The FLA's auditing team will have direct access to our supply chain and they will report their findings independently on their website. SHOWS: 20/20 World News

Google Drives for Dropbox with new cloud storage service The service, to be called Google Drive, could be announced as soon as Tuesday and would be offered with both free and premium, paid versions, the source said. Consumers will get 5 Gigabytes of storage for free with Google Drive, while various versions with incrementally more storage capacity, up to a terabyte, will be available for monthly fees, the source said. Some of those services, such as Box, have offered an increasing array of business-oriented features such as online collaboration capabilities. Google is increasingly developing services to let consumers store their personal information, from digital music to photos, on remote internet servers and access the data any time with any device, such as smartphones, tablets and desktop computers. Google Drive will work with sophisticated image search technology to let consumers sift through a wide variety of document types, which could include the likes of Adobe PDF files and photographs, the source said. Some details of Google Drive have appeared in various online blogs in recent months, including The Next Web, which first reported that the service could be rolled out this week. A Google spokeswoman said the company does not comment on rumour or speculation.

Housing: The Grant Shapps v Jack Dromey row deconstructed

Autopsy can't rule out fall in lacrosse player's death CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va (Reuters) - A medical examiner testified on Monday that a fall could have caused fatal brain trauma for a former University of Virginia lacrosse player, potentially bolstering the defense of the fellow student accused of killing her. George Huguely V, 24, is standing trial in Charlottesville, Virginia, on charges of first-degree murder and other allegations stemming from the 2010 death of 22-year-old Yeardley Love, his on-again, off-again girlfriend. Love, of Cockeysville, Maryland, appeared to have died from blunt force trauma when her head banged against a large surface, assistant medical examiner Bill Gormley testified on Monday. Gormley said it appeared unlikely that Love's brain trauma was caused by a fall to the ground, in part because she didn't suffer a major nose injury. But the medical expert agreed with defense attorney Rhonda Quagliana that the possibility of a fall could not be ruled out by the autopsy. The defense has argued that Love's death was a tragic accident. Prosecutors say Huguely, of Chevy Chase, Maryland, broke down Love's bedroom door in her apartment in May 2010, battered her against a wall and left her bleeding. Love, who like Huguely had been drinking that evening, was found by her roommate and an acquaintance face down on her bed. Gormley said the autopsy showed significant bruising on Love's knuckles, left forearm and left index finger. There were also oval-shaped bruises on her chest, consistent with the size of someone's fingertips, he said. The trial, now in its second week, has drawn national media attention to the normally quiet college town in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Love and Huguely were both seniors and members of the university's nationally ranked men's and women's lacrosse teams at the time of the incident. Huguely admitted to police that he kicked in Love's bedroom door in May 2010, wrestled with her and "may have shook her a little bit." But in a police interrogation video played for jurors last week, Huguely said Love bloodied herself by banging her own head against the wall. She had only a bloody nose when Huguely left her room, his attorneys have said. Investigators on Monday testified that they noticed Huguely had fresh injuries on his knuckles and arms the morning after Love was found dead. The defense team has said those injuries resulted from lacrosse rather than a brawl with Love. Blood-colored stains were also found in Huguely's bathtub as detectives were investigating Love's death, according to Charlottesville police Officer Eric Pendleton. Forensic scientists did not answer whether those red stains were indeed blood during the proceedings on Monday.

1909 Honus Wagner baseball card goes for $1.2M in online auction LOUIS - A New Jersey man paid $1.2 million for a rare 1909 Honus Wagner baseball card in an online auction that brought interest from many potential buyers who had never owned a card before, the sale organizer said. The buyer hasn't decided whether to come forward publicly, and the seller, a Houston businessman, wants to remain anonymous, said Bill Goodwin, the suburban St. Louis collectibles dealer who ran the auction that ended Friday. The buyer's bid was the highest of 14 made since the auction began last month. "We're thrilled with the outcome," Goodwin said. There's been so much media attention surrounding this card, and the final price proved this card was worth watching. Wagner was a member of the first class of Hall of Fame inductees. The shortstop, nicknamed "The Flying Dutchman," spent most of his 21-year career (1897 to 1917) with the Pittsburgh Pirates, winning eight batting titles and hitting a career .327. The 2½- by 1½-inch card was released in cigarette packs sold by the American Tobacco Co. from 1909 to 1911. What makes the card special, in addition to Wagner's fame, is the fact that it was pulled from circulation after about 200 were issued. The consensus among many was that Wagner didn't want to encourage smoking, especially to children. Goodwin said it may have simply been a matter of Wagner wanting to be compensated for his likeness, since he was photographed with chewing tobacco in his mouth and did advertisements for tobacco companies. Historians believe only about 60 of the Wagner cards still exist, though many are in poor condition. Based on a rating system by Sportscard Guarantee Corp., the quality of the card Goodwin auctioned was better than all but five of the Wagner cards in existence. Arizona Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick paid a record $2.8 million for the highest-graded Wagner card in existence in 2011. Bidding for the Wagner card auctioned by Goodwin opened at $300,000. The final sale price was $300,000 more than the previous high for a Wagner card of similar quality, Goodwin said. The auction suggested that people beyond sports memorabilia collectors are becoming interested in baseball cards, said Bill Shelton, who worked with Goodwin. The winning bidder for the Wagner card "came in completely off the radar," Shelton said. He said a lot of those who expressed interest in the card had never owned a baseball card. "A lot of people were talking about investment and return on investment," Shelton said. I think people are starting to see these high-end cards in the same terms as art and antiques. Goodwin auctioned off other cards that also brought in prices exceeding expectations, he said. A card for Hall of Fame pitcher Eddie Plank, also pulled from circulation, sold for $330,825. Plank won 326 games, mostly with the Philadelphia A's, in a 17-year career that ended in 1917. A card that misspelled the last name of early 20th century Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Sherry Magee (misspelled as "Magie") fetched $80,000 - $30,000 more than Goodwin predicted when the auction began. Among other cards that sold, four featuring the likeness of Ty Cobb brought in a combined $10,000. Goodwin has already begun planning his next auction, which includes a complete set of 200 baseball cards distributed through the Famous-Barr department store chain in 1916. The cards, including a Babe Ruth rookie card showing the baseball legend as a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, and one featuring Jim Thorpe during his brief time as a ballplayer, will be sold individually. Goodwin believes the Ruth card could bring up to $75,000. That auction begins in June.

Monti govt faces 1st scandal, minister quits ROME (AP) - Italian Premier Mario Monti's new government suffered its first ethics casualty Tuesday with the resignation of a top official who allegedly received complimentary vacations at an exclusive Tuscan resort. Carlo Malinconico, Monti's undersecretary, quit Tuesday although he insisted he did nothing wrong. Italian media have reported that a businessman under investigation for alleged corruption in a public contracts case paid at least part of the euro19,876 (over $25,000) bill for Malinconico's summer weekend getaways in 2007 and 2008 at the five-star Il Pellicano resort on the Tuscan coast. Il Pellicano, located in Porto Ercole, is one of Italy's most exclusive resorts, with high season rooms this year ranging from euro630 to euro2,500 ($800 to $3,200) a night. Monti's government came into office in November pledging transparency and rigor to help rescue Italy from financial disaster, imposing tough austerity measures that include higher taxes and pension cuts. Monti, a well-respected economist and former European commissioner, insisted that his government of technocrats be free of any conflicts of interest or other impediments as they demand financial sacrifices from ordinary Italians. The Malinconico case represented this government's first hint of scandal, and Monti dispatched with it quickly, accepting Malinconico's resignation after meeting with him Tuesday. In a statement, Monti thanked Malinconico for his "sense of responsibility in putting the public interest before any other consideration." The statement noted that Malinconico says he had acted properly. At the time of the resort stays, Malinconico was the secretary general in Romano Prodi's center-left government. In a statement Monday, Malinconico said he had asked an acquaintance, Angelo Balducci, for help in securing high-season reservations at Il Pellicano and only found out later that he had also paid the bill. Balducci at the time was the well-regarded president of a public works commission, but he has since been embroiled in a corruption scandal over contracts for the 2009 Group of Eight summit in L'Aquila. r News reports citing telephone wiretaps have recently said a businessman also under investigation in the G8 case actually gave Balducci the cash to pay the Malinconico bill. In his statement, Malinconico insisted he had never done any favors for either Balducci or the businessman, Francesco Maria De Vito Piscicelli. He said he had tried to pay but the hotel told him the bill was already paid. He said he only found out recently that Piscicelli had made the payment. The high-end vacations that are a staple of Italy's political elite have come under fire recently amid suggestions the politicians are either getting things for free or are simply earning far more than a public servant should in times of financial crisis.

Alex Karras, N.F.L. Lineman and Actor, Dies at 77 Alex Karras, a fierce and relentless All-Pro lineman for the Detroit Lions whose irrepressible character frequently placed him at odds with football's authorities but led to a second career as an actor on television and in the movies, died Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles. Karras had kidney disease, heart disease and stomach cancer, his family said in a statement announcing his death, as well as dementia. He was among the more than 3,500 former players who are suing the National Football League, in cases that have been consolidated, over the long-term damage caused by concussions and repeated hits to the head. To those under 50, Karras may be best known as an actor. He made his film debut in 1968, playing himself in "Paper Lion," an adaptation of George Plimpton's book about his experience as an amateur playing quarterback for the Lions, which starred Alan Alda as Plimpton. His rendering of his own roguish personality led to several appearances on "The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson," and in the 1970s he played numerous guest roles on series television, on shows like "McMillan & Wife," "Love, American Style," "M*A*S*H" and "The Odd Couple," in which he played a comically threatening man-mountain, the jealous husband of a woman who had become friendly with Felix (Tony Randall). Perhaps most memorably, he played Mongo, a hulking subliterate outlaw who delivers a knockout punch to a horse, in the Mel Brooks Western spoof "Blazing Saddles." In 1975, he played George Zaharias, the husband of the champion track star and golfer Babe Didrikson Zaharias, in the television movie "Babe." The title role was played by Susan Clark, who became his wife, and from 1983 to 1989, they starred together in the gentle sitcom "Webster," about a retired football player who takes in a black boy (Emmanuel Lewis), the orphaned young son of a former teammate. But Karras, at 6 feet 2 inches and 248 pounds - large then but smaller in comparison with today's N.F.L. linemen - first earned fame as a ferocious tackle for the Lions. He anchored the defensive line for 12 seasons over 13 years, 1958 to 1970. It was an era when the N.F.L. had abundant talent at the position; Karras's contemporaries included the Hall of Famers Bob Lilly and Merlin Olsen. But Karras was an especially versatile pass rusher, known around the league for his combination of strength, speed and caginess. His furious approach - Plimpton described it as a "savage, bustling style of attack" - earned him the nickname the Mad Duck. "Most defensive tackles have one move, they bull head-on," Doug Van Horn, a New York Giants offensive lineman who had to block Karras, said in 1969. Not Alex. There is no other tackle like him. He has inside and outside moves, a bull move where he puts his head down and runs over you, or he'll just stutter-step you like a ballet dancer. Karras was named to four Pro Bowls, and he was a member of the N.F.L's All-Decade team of the 1960s. He was not elected to the Hall of Fame, however, which has sometimes been attributed to the fact that the Lions fielded mostly undistinguished teams during his tenure. In Karras's only playoff game, the Lions lost to the Dallas Cowboys by the unlikely score of 5-0 in 1970. But another theory is that his unwillingness to be an obedient N.F.L. citizen - especially his antagonism toward the longtime N.F.L. commissioner Pete Rozelle - resulted in an unofficial blackballing. Witty, brash and probably smarter than your average bear (or Lion or Packer or Giant, for that matter), Karras was, throughout his career, a thorn in the side of league authorities, speaking out against team owners in general and the Lions" management in particular. He deplored the way players were treated like chattel on the one hand, deployed as seen fit, and children on the other, held to restrictive behavioral standards, scolded and disciplined. His reputation as a league outlaw was cemented in 1963 when Rozelle suspended him indefinitely, along with Paul Hornung, the star running back of the Green Bay Packers, for betting on N.F.L. games, and both players missed the entire season. Hornung was immediately contrite, but Karras was angry, asserting that his half-dozen or so $50 and $100 wagers were no threat to the integrity of the game. Neither man was accused of betting against his own team, providing inside information to gamblers or giving less than his best on the field. Later that year Karras reportedly sold his ownership share in the Lindell A.C., a Detroit bar that was frequented by athletes and, according to the Detroit police, "known hoodlums," to convince Rozelle that he was repentant - he denied this later - and Rozelle reinstated both men after 11 months, in time for them to play in 1964. Shortly after Karras returned, an official asked him to call the pregame coin toss and Karras, with cheeky disdain, refused. "I'm sorry, sir," he explained, "but I'm not permitted to gamble." Alexander George Karras was born on July 15, 1935, in Gary, Ind., where his father, George, a Greek immigrant, was a doctor, and his mother, the former Emmeline Wilson, was a nurse. An all-state football player in high school, he attended the University of Iowa, where in 1957 he won the Outland Trophy as the outstanding interior lineman in college football. In 1958, he was drafted in the first round by the Lions. Karras's other film credits included roles in the raunchy comedy "Porky's," the suspense thriller "Against All Odds" and the gender confusion comedy "Victor/Victoria." He spent three seasons in the broadcast booth, working with Howard Cosell and Frank Gifford on ABC's "Monday Night Football," and later wrote a novel, "Tuesday Night Football," sending up his experience. He also wrote an autobiography, "Even Big Guys Cry." In addition to his wife, he is survived by their daughter, Katherine Karras; a sister, Nan Reisen; three brothers, Louis, Paul and Ted; five children from a previous marriage, Alex Jr., Peter, Carolyn Karras, George and Renald; and five grandchildren. Karras named one of his sons after Plimpton, and for years he told journalists he named another after Rozelle, as a way of remembering the humbling experience of his suspension. But he put an end to that charade in an interview with Sport magazine in 1970, in which he said that though he was wrong to gamble on games, the punishment was overly harsh, and that Rozelle had used him to establish his reputation for toughness. His son Peter, he said, was named after his father-in-law. He used to tell people, ""Yeah, I named him after Rozelle," " he told the magazine, "which is a lie "cause I wouldn't name anyone after that buzzard."

Peter Ross: Coming to a lounge near you DOUGLAS Robertson has hosted hundreds of musical acts in his city flat but will a council ruling spell the end of his unconventional venue? In Douglas Robertson's living room, tonight's band are sound-checking. Finger-picked guitar and mellow flute drift from the speakers, while downstairs in the kitchen, his girlfriend Jane-Anne provides ersatz percussion - chopping leeks for soup to feed the musicians. "At what point," muses Robertson, philosophically, standing on the arm of a sofa and tinkering with the lights for the gig, "does a house become a venue and a venue become a house?" Since 2003, Robertson, a 59-year-old freelance photographer, has been staging concerts in his flat, 42 Royal Park Terrace in the Abbeyhill area of Edinburgh. Actually, "staging" is the wrong word. There is no stage as such. Musicians play in the living room in front of a red curtain pulled across a window which, otherwise, would give views over the back green and the main line to London. Those members of the audience with the foresight to turn up early can enjoy the gig from the comfort of couches; everyone else makes do with an extraordinary variety of stools and chairs which appear, as if by magic, from every corner of the flat and are set out by Jason Stein, a young and rather earnest Canadian musician who is the closest thing the flat has to a roadie. This evening's concert, by the folk/jazz duo Fraser Fifield and Graeme Stephen, is the 105th gig of the year, the final show of 2012, and may very well be the last ever. Edinburgh City Council, on the grounds that a home in a residential area is being used as a live music venue and thus contravening planning regulations, has instructed Robertson that he must stage no further concerts after a Hogmanay deadline. To do so could result in him being charged with a criminal offence. The stand-off has fuelled front page headlines in the ­local press, and strong opinions on both sides. The house concerts are vital to the music scene, say those in favour, and banning them is jobsworth nonsense. Those against, however, insist that it's just not on to hold regular gigs in a tenement flat. But, until now, no one has reported what these evenings are actually like. The flat is unusual, a converted Co-op, covering ground and basement levels. The main living areas are open-plan, with exposed steel pillars, a metal walkway as a mezzanine, and vintage advertising posters on the walls. Robertson is tall and gently spoken with a white Zappa-ish beard. He is confused and saddened by the whole situation with the council, and it is clear he is pretty angry too. He doesn't care for authority and seems unimpressed by conciliatory noises coming from the council about helping to find him an ­alternative venue. This is his home, he insists, and if he wants to allow some people in to play music and others to listen to it then he should have that right. "Honestly," he says, "I don't know whether, if you go upstairs and play the piano, I would have to evacuate the building." In the course of almost a decade, the flat has played host to hundreds of acts, including one extraordinary performance a year ago by the late great Michael Marra, who sang to an audience of 80 people which, by the standards of the flat, is a jam-packed sell-out. More recently, an Argentinian folk group provoked an impromptu tango between the pot plants and the book case. What Colin, the amiable wee terrier who lives here, made of that particular hoolie has gone unrecorded. He certainly seems unfazed by the musicians and audience members, contenting himself with chewing on an empty plastic cup which, until recently, contained a half-decent Merlot. From about 7.30pm, the audience start to turn up, about 50 people in total. Robertson seems to know most of them. He stands by the front door and greets new arrivals. Mwah. Plenty of air-kissing. Find a seat, he tells them. Get yourself a plastic cup. Bring your own bottle is the policy here. Soon, the smells of wine and whisky mingle with the vegetable soup. It's cosy and domestic. The audience, more or less equal numbers of men and women, are a mix of ages and types, but in the main you might call them well-heeled bohemian. There are hipster couples in their twenties; hippy couples in their thirties; middle-aged men with middle-aged spread drinking mid-priced reds. Before the show starts, I chat with the neighbours. Paul Coppola lives next door and invites me in. He's 59 and in the property business. Do the concerts bother him? "No," he says. I can hear the music faintly but it's not obtrusive in any way. It's not a problem. He attends the concerts from time to time. He popped next door to see Michelle Shocked and considers it one of the best shows he's ever seen in his life. It's great that I can come back here during the interval and get a cup of tea or another beer from the fridge. And I don't have to wait to use Douglas's toilet. Not everyone is so enamoured of course. The council's action began with a complaint from someone who lives locally; not about noise, apparently, but rather the disturbance caused by audience comings and goings. The gigs, typically, go on until about 10.30pm; very occasionally as late as 11. Another neighbour, who prefers not to be named, complains about the difficulties getting parked, and the noise from people drinking and smoking in the street. In the main, though, the public reaction seems positive. Susan Robertson lives upstairs and has come down to show her support. She is a nice old lady in a fur-trimmed coat, petite and full of vim. "I'm coming up on 80," she says, "I'm coming up on five foot. I'm coming up on eight stone. She was a performer on the Edinburgh folk scene in the early 70s, and would play with her late partner Dave, a guitarist, in Sandy Bell's and other pubs. Her great thing was to sing ­Edith Piaf's Autumn Leaves in the original French. It's a bittersweet memory. "He was a chain-smoker and didn't reach 50," she says. We had looked forward to a life of music ­together. At ten past eight, with everyone settled, Robertson makes a few introductory remarks, asking that mobile phones be switched off, and for money for Fraser and Graeme. The suggested donation is a tenner. All the cash goes to the band. In fact, it is handed over straight away. This alone makes these house concerts important for musicians who may be struggling to make ends meet, especially within a city where several small venues have closed in recent times. But it's more than economics. What Robertson's flat offers is an atmosphere of intimacy and respectful attention - no chat, no shouted drinks orders, no noisy tills - which musicians love. Also, and this seems key, there is something about the domesticity of the situation, that whiff of soup, the Christmas cards on the cabinet, that brings a particular magic. There's a generosity of spirit that perfumes the atmosphere. Robertson not only puts bands on, he puts them up. Mike West and Katie Euliss, the husband and wife duo who perform punky bluegrass as Truckstop Honeymoon, lost their New Orleans home to Hurricane Katrina and have been on the road since. They played 42 Royal Park Terrace last year, staying there for a few days with their four kids and a nanny, walking up Arthur's Seat in the rain. "We hung out and Doug plied my wife with whisky," says Mike. It was a beautiful thing. In America, there is a long-established network of house concerts and "listening rooms." Bands can go from coast to coast, playing these places. In Scotland, the scene is not ­really a scene at all, just a few scattered places in some of the bigger cities. But it taps into something of the old ceilidh spirit and may be an idea which is about to have its moment. One visitor to Robertson's flat, a tax accountant called Caroline Bond, tells me she has already put on two jazz parties at her top-floor flat in the New Town and plans to begin a series of monthly house concerts, following the Royal Park Terrace model, which she and her friends will take it in turns to host. Her motives are not entirely altruistic. "Jazz is good for my psyche," she says. It does something to my soul. Tonight's music is suitably melancholy and elegiac in places, with a sense of something ending. Some of Fraser Fifield's music is based on old pibroch laments. It is received in perfect attentive silence and rewarded with sustained and sincere applause. During the interval I get talking to Cera Impala, a 33-year-old "wild, banjo-wielding mama," originally from Flagstaff, Arizona, who is drinking Guinness from a pint glass. She has performed here, but more often comes along as a member of the audience. She moved to Edinburgh from Berlin, where acoustic venues are closing down, having heard about what was going on at Royal Park Terrace. "It's tragic and heartbreaking that this might end," Impala says. She sees the council's action as part of a wider problem about a culture that seems happy for its artists to stay poor. Douglas is the Robin Hood of musicians in a way. So has Royal Park Terrace hosted its last concert? Unlikely. Douglas Robertson doesn't want the police at his door, but says he is prepared for it to go that far if he cannot reach an agreement with the council. Tonight, the music was sweet, but there may be discord ahead. "We'll see you soon," he tells the audience.

Newspaper review: Boat Race swimmer drama amuses papers

Zoo in shock after baby chimpanzee killed by adult chimp L.A. Zoo officials expressed shock after a baby chimpanzee was killed Tuesday afternoon by an adult male chimpanzee as visitors watched the attack. The chimpanzee, which was born in March, was killed in a habitat with other chimps, the zoo said in a statement. The baby chimpanzee had been gradually introduced to the chimps in the habitat, but there were no indications of problems, according to zoo officials. "Chimpanzee behavior can sometimes be aggressive and violent, and the zoo is sorry that visitors had to be exposed to this," the statement said. This is a heartbreaking and tragic loss for the zoo and especially the Great Ape Team who have worked diligently to care for the infant and its mother since its birth. Zoo staffers were shaken by the attack.

FT Alphaville " Weekender This week on FT Alphaville, Isda was asked if there was a credit event... ... and answered. Though we had some beef with its comms strategy... ... given the opacity surrounding its determinations committee. We wrote a lot about LTRO 2 - just click here. Seriously, it was a circus. We played the Warren Succession guessing game. Portugal's outlier-y-ness was demystified. European banks have made decent progress in reducing RWAs. US consumption growth turned out not to be so unsustainable after all. We got an update on emerging market debt markets. And we revealed Finland's secret (though in Finnish). This entry was posted by Cardiff Garcia on Friday, March 2nd, 2012 at 23:25 and is filed under Capital markets.

Softball: West Potomac, Stone Bridge, South County, Oakton into Northern Region semifinals The Wolverines will play Stone Bridge in the region semifinals on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at Madison after the Bulldogs beat Lake Braddock, 15-5, in another quarterfinal Monday. "In my head I was thinking it could be the last time I ever step into batter's box and have it mean something," Maniglia said. That was pumping me up. Maniglia's blast broke a deadlock that had stood since Chantilly first baseman Colleen O'Brien hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth inning. Chantilly had the winning run on base in every inning from the seventh through the 10th, but couldn't scratch across another run. "It was so hot I was feeling light-headed," Maniglia said. "In the fifth inning I had to pour a whole water bottle on my head and I said "I don't know how we're going to finish this," but I just pulled some energy together." Chantilly pitcher Alex Sallberg was equally tough in her complete game effort. The junior right-hander completely shut the West Potomac offense down from the second inning until Maniglia's home run in the 11th. Senior catcher Jasmine Picini gave West Potomac a 1-0 lead with an RBI single in the top of the first inning, but that was the Wolverines" last hit until the top of the sixth. Sallberg retired 14 hitters in a row at one point even though she didn't strike anybody out during that stretch, and finished the game allowing just six hits over the 11 innings. "She has off-speed stuff and she pitched a lot of East-West," West Potomac Coach Craig Maniglia said. It caught them off-guard so everybody was either popping up or topping the ball. Chantilly, meantime, had at least one runner on base in every inning, but Maniglia continually pitched out of trouble and was helped by a stellar defense. In earlier quarterfinals Monday at Falls Church, South County beat Robinson, 5-0, behind a one-hit shutout from pitcher Rebecca Martin, and Oakton beat Hayfield, 6-0, on the strength of a two-hit shutout from sophomore Allison Davis. South County and Oakton will play the first semifinal at Madison on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m, immediately followed by West Potomac vs. Stone Bridge. The two semifinal winners will advance to the Virginia AAA state tournament scheduled to begin on Tuesday and will play in the Northern Region final on Friday.

Russian Rights Activists to Boycott Law on NGOs Leading Russian activists pledged on Monday to boycott a new law that they warn will help the Kremlin stifle critics with a draconian mixture of repression, fines and inspections of non-governmental organizations. A law comes into force Wednesday obliging NGOs that receive foreign funding and are involved in loosely defined political activities to register as foreign agents. Rights defenders and civil society activists see it as a tool intended to erode their credibility in the public eye and make it easier for the government to crack down on them. "This law is infamous and immoral," said Lyudmila Alexeyeva, the 85-year-old leader of the Moscow Helsinki Group, a human rights watchdog. The new measure is part of a series of repressive bills passed by the Kremlin-controlled parliament since President Vladimir Putin began his third presidential term in May. Along with a campaign of arrests and searches targeting opposition activists, they are seen as Putin's response to a series of mass street protests against his rule. Putin defended the new law on NGOs as necessary protection against foreign meddling in Russian political affairs. But Alexeyeva and other Russian NGO leaders said they need to tap foreign funds because local business is afraid of bankrolling Kremlin critics. "We would prefer to raise funds in Russia for our work," Alexeyeva said. But any businessman giving assistance to such organization would put his business, and even freedom, at risk. In this Sunday, March 18, 2012 photo, police officers detain Sergei Udaltsov outside the Kremlin-loyal NTV television station, in Moscow. Russian opposition and human rights groups on Monday, Nov. 19, 2012, urged Western consumer products giants to stop "financing politically motivated persecution" by advertising on a Kremlin-friendly TV network known for its biased coverage of government critics and demonstrations against President Vladimir Putin. In the wake of unprecedented anti-Putin protests that followed last December's rigged parliament vote and Putin's return to the Kremlin in May, NTV has run dozens of news reports, talk shows and pseudo-documentaries accusing opposition leaders of plotting coups and terrorist attacks, of receiving money from Western governments, and of hiring migrant workers and neo-Nazis to participate in anti-Putin rallies. She and other activists said they don't consider themselves a conduit of foreign influence and pledged to ignore the new law. "We are working for the benefit of our citizens, not at the behest of a foreign state," Alexeyeva said. And we aren't going to slander ourselves. Russia's only independent vote monitoring group, Golos, and a widely respected rights group, Memorial, were also among those who pledged to boycott the new law. Golos chief Liliya Shibanova said her organization, which exposed widespread violations in recent elections, had faced tax checks that had been going on for months. She said that officials have demanded personal data of all regional activists and other information unrelated to tax matters. "Such questioning has been going on across the country," said Shibanova. She added that she was concerned that authorities may use the information to push activists to make incriminating statements about the organization. Putin has accused the United States of fomenting anti-government protests in Russia as a means to weaken the country. Kremlin-controlled television broadcasters, meanwhile, accused Golos of working to discredit the Russian elections on orders from Washington. In October, Moscow ended the U.S. Agency for International Development's two decades of work in Russia, saying the agency that funded Golos and other Russian NGOs was trying to influence Russian elections. The U.S. denied the claim. Memorial head Oleg Orlov said the new law would give Russian authorities the right to carry out continuous audits and other inspections of groups that get money from abroad. "They don't even need to close an organization, they can effectively paralyze it with endless checks," he said. Orlov warned that registering as a foreign agent could expose an NGO to possible charges under another new law that made the definition of treason so loose as to brand any dissenter a traitor. Asked to comment on activists' intention to boycott the new law, the speaker of parliament's lower house, Sergei Naryshkin, said that the law "must be unfailingly observed."

Celtic 2-0 Dundee: Plenty of chances but Celtic lack the killer instinct THEY say you can bend statistics any way you like, but some numbers are simply not for bending. The bottom line at Celtic Park was an inarguable 2-0 victory and, in every other category you could care to mention, the home team were, as you'd expect, vastly superior. They had 23 shots on goal compared to Dundee's six. They had 11 on target to Dundee's two, including one penalty. They had eight corners, Dundee had none. They had 67 per cent possession, Dundee had 33 per cent. All of this tells the story of a one-sided day but it does rather raise a question about the quality of Celtic's finishing. If there was a cloud over the win it was that Neil Lennon's team are still not looking remotely clinical enough in front of goal despite creating many, many chances. The Celtic manager says he's slightly concerned about the lack of a killer instinct up front. It's not something that will keep him awake at night, you wouldn't have thought, but it's got to be a little frustrating. Against the fodder of the SPL, it wasn't an issue on Saturday, but the previous week it was and it'll certainly be again in the unforgiving terrain of European competition if they don't get their eye in. It's on days like this that they miss Anthony Stokes, an out-and-out finisher who is absent through injury. Stokes is an uncomplicated player whose purpose in life is to put teams like Dundee to the sword, something he is quite adept at doing. Gary Hooper is good at it, too, but Hooper hasn't been himself. Lennon will have been relieved to see Hooper opening the scoring in this match in a way that was redolent of the striker in his pomp. When he took a pass from Scott Brown the quality of his work thereafter was Hooper at his best, a neat bewildering of the last Dundee defender and a thumping finish past Rab Douglas. It was Hooper's first goal of the SPL season, a statistic that tells of a player who is still feeling his way back to form. By this time last season - six games into the league season - he had three times as many league goals. All of Celtic's numbers are worse when set against their equivalents 12 months ago. They have won two fewer games, have dropped seven points as opposed to three, have scored fewer and conceded more. Domestically, they're nowhere near the level they are capable of but to criticise all that much would be unfair. Their stellar work in Europe negates any early season wobbles on the home front. They are a side that is still learning how to deliver its best stuff in the two biggest competitions they are ever going to play in. It's the first time this side has ever had to do it. It probably takes time. If they have some question marks about their goalscoring there are no such complexities about other areas of the field. In the heart of the midfield Lennon has a pair of characters whose understanding of each other is fast developing into a hugely impressive feature of the team. God knows, Brown has had his critics, many of them within the walls of Celtic Park, but his performances, albeit not as plentiful as his manager would like, have been largely excellent. Brown doesn't look like the headless chicken he once resembled. Where once his passing was routinely awry, now it's dependable and his presence is that of a rock alongside his younger partner, Victor Wanyama. Wanyama was wonderful in this game. Sure, it's easy to stand out against the bottom team in the league but he was equally as good against Benfica last midweek, further proof that he is one hell of a find, a player with an enormous future ahead of him. His goal was typical of him, a rasping shot from distance, hit first time with great technique, low to Douglas" right and into the net via the inside of a post. That made it 2-0 early in the second half and, by then, Dundee's early promise had long since faded away. Before they got over-run, they actually had some bright moments and carried a decent level of threat. They might have had a penalty in the eighth minute when Emilio Izaguirre appeared to clip Gary Irvine in the box, but referee John Beaton was having none of it. Not long after that, they wasted the kind of chance that no visiting side can really afford to spurn when they come here. Ryan Conroy capitalised on a slip by Kelvin Wilson to deliver a ball into the Celtic penalty area, whereupon Dundee had two bites at the cherry and failed to get the job done either time, Colin Nish failing to beat Fraser Forster with the first attempt and then, latching on to the breaking ball, John Baird scooping his shot over the crossbar. Dundee didn't really have a look-in after that. In quick succession, Lassad, Charlie Mulgrew and James Forrest had chances but none of them could get the better of the inspired Douglas. Brown couldn't do it either when presented with the easiest chance of the lot, from the penalty spot after Lassad had been taken down by Kyle Benedictus. Brown's penalty was well-struck, but Douglas stuck up an arm and saved brilliantly. The respite didn't last. Just before the break, Brown and Hooper combined and finally Douglas was beaten. Just after the break, Wanyama drilled in number two from outside the box. Something of a siege soon developed. A ball rolled across the Dundee line and a ball hit one of their posts (from a Hooper shot). Commons fired just wide and a Lassad header was put over by Douglas. It could have been four or five goals. A comfort and a worry for Lennon. They're making chances but their conversion rate is not good. You fancy, though, that somebody is going to take an unmerciful battering at their hands pretty soon. Lennon has many strikers. Somebody is surely going to suffer when more of them begin to strike.

Christmas songs advent calendar: Day 22. Frankie Goes to Hollywood - The Power of Love Written as a ballad rather than a Christmas song, this dramatic number from the Liverpool group's debut album Welcome to the Pleasuredome was changed forever when it was released in December and paired with a Godley and Creme video recreating the nativity. Luckily, Holly Johnson's grandiloquent lyrics contain such medieval religious imagery - lots of soul purging and flame burning - that it practically sounds like a hymn. The number has also proved rather durable, appearing this year in the John Lewis advert, the climax of the black comedy Sightseers and on X Factor as one of James Arthur's winning songs.

Netanyahu: Israel 'prepared for a significant expansion' of Gaza operations Israel's prime minister warns he is prepared to escalate the Gaza operation France and Egypt are trying to broker a cease-fire An Israeli airstrike targeted Palestinian media, injuring six journalists, Hamas says The IDF insists that it used precision targeting to only hit the roof of the building Near the Israel-Gaza border (CNN) -- Israel is prepared to significantly escalate its military operation against Palestinian militants in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday. The comments come on the heels of reports that the Israel Defense Forces have widened the scope of their effort to stop rocket attacks from Gaza, targeting Palestinian media organizations, government buildings and the homes of Hamas officials in Gaza. "We are exacting a heavy price from Hamas and the (other) terrorist organizations, and IDF is prepared for a significant expansion of its operations," Netanyahu told reporters shortly before the start of a weekly Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem. The United States and a number of European countries have put the brunt of the blame for the current crisis on Hamas, saying Israel has a right to protect itself. Arab and Muslim nations, meanwhile, have accused Israel of being the aggressor. Rocket attacks into Israel were the "precipitating event" for the fighting under way now, U.S. President Barack Obama said during a stop in Thailand Sunday. We are actively working with all the parties in the region to see if we can end those missiles being fired without further escalation of violence in the region. U.S. fears Israel-Hamas conflict escalates to ground invasion Over the weekend, Netanyahu said he spoke with a number of leaders, including Obama. "In my talks with leaders, I emphasize the effort Israel is making to avoid hitting civilians, and this at a time when Hamas and other terrorist organizations are making every effort to hit civilian targets in Israel," the prime minister said. Even so, the casualties have been heavily lopsided since Israel launched its offensive on Wednesday in response to persistent rocket attacks that have plagued portion of southern Israel for months. At least 50 people have been killed in Gaza since the Israeli offensive began, according to Palestinian officials and Hamas media reports. Among the casualties are 13 children, including a young girl who was killed Sunday in an airstrike that targeted the town of al-Shati in western Gaza, Hamas-run al-Aqsa TV reported. A man was also killed in the strike, according to the news agency. At least 440 people have been injured in airstrikes, according to Palestinian government and medical officials. Among those are six Palestinian journalists who were wounded Sunday when Israeli warplanes targeted two buildings that housed Palestinian and Hamas news organizations as well as a handful of international news outlets, according to Palestinian government and media reports. The IDF released a video later in the day saying it showed the "surgical" targeting of Hamas communication operations on the roof of a media building in Gaza, and that only the antenna atop the building was struck. "If Hamas commanders in Gaza can communicate with each other, then they can attack us," the IDF said in one of its several Twitter posts on the issue. This is the capability that we targeted ... We did not target any other floors. The IDF also urged reporters to "stay away from Hamas positions and operatives." In Israel, the rocket attacks have killed at least three people and wounded 68, including a number of soldiers along the Israel-Gaza border, the Israel Defense Forces said. Leaders across the world have called on Israeli and Palestinian governing bodies to show restraint, fearing at a minimum a possible repeat of Israel's 2008 invasion that left at least 1,400 people dead. But the crisis showed no sign of abating Sunday despite reports Egypt and France were attempting to broker cease-fires. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius was en route to Israel Sunday "to work out a cease-fire with all parties involved" as part of an effort to de-escalate the conflict, according to a ministry statement. Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy, meanwhile, said discussions were underway about how to bring about a cease-fire. "But there are no guarantees at the moment," Morsy said Saturday in Cairo, where he met with Hamas officials and other Arab diplomats. Morsy did not go into details of the effort, though an Egyptian military official told CNN the nation's intelligence chief, Mohammed Shehata, was spearheading talks with Hamas and Israel. Shehata contacted Israel and requested it "calm down" the situation, said the military official, a general, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject matter. It is not known what, if anything, Israel said in response to the request. Hamas, however, put conditions on cease-fire talks. Israel must cease its attacks and lift its blockade of Gaza in exchange "for stopping the rockets" targeting Israeli cities, according to a report by the Palestinian Information Center, a Hamas-run media outlet. Israel is unlikely to consider such a request as it sees the blockade as vital to its national security. Palestinian lawmaker Mustafa Barghouti told CNN Sunday that, "We are very worried about three things: the Israeli preparation for a big ground operation, second that Israel is bombarding journalists and trying to silence the media from reporting what is happening in Gaza, and third the Israeli attacks on the West Bank against non-violent protesters." The Israeli government has called up 75,000 reservists, while it simultaneously deployed 30,000 troops to the Gaza border, the IDF said. "Israel will take all necessary and legitimate measure to defend its citizens, including ground operations," Michael Oren, Israel's ambassador to the United States, told CNN late Saturday. Message of Gaza violence: Hamas can't be ignored Israel has been using shelling and airstrikes to target what it describes as rocket-launching sites and infrastructure operated by Hamas and other militant groups. Hamas' military wing, the Izzedine al Qassam Brigade, claimed to have fired 34 rockets on Sunday, adding to the more than 900 it says its fired at Israel since the fighting began. A spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces put the number at more than 1,000. Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system is credited with stopping hundreds of the rockets fired at its cities, but hundreds have gotten by the system. On Sunday, air raid sirens sent Israelis in the southern city of Ashkelon, a few kilometers from the Gaza border, running for shelters from rockets. One struck the carport of a home in a residential neighborhood, CNN's Frederik Pleitgen reported. As clean-up crews worked to remove debris from around the house, another air siren sounded. Minutes later, the attack was over. The rocket struck some distance where Pleitgen was reporting, though he said there was "definitely an impact." On the other side of the border, an Israeli airstrike targeted two buildings that housed Hamas-run media as well as international journalists. Video broadcast on al-Aqsa TV showed people running from the smoldering buildings, while others helped the injured. The journalists wounded in the attack worked for Palestinian-owned, Beirut-based Alquds TV, according to the Hamas Ministry of Interior. Q&A: What is Hamas? CNN's Sara Sidner reported from Gaza City; CNN's Fred Pleitgen reported from southern Israel; and CNN's Chelsea J. Carter from Atlanta. CNN's Kindah Shair, Amir Ahmed, Jessica Yellin, Ben Wedeman and Mohamed Fadel Fahmy contributed to this report.

Study: Soccer Players Without Concussions Still Have Brain Changes Jim Cummins / Getty Images A small study of professional soccer players found that even those who have never experienced a concussion still have changes in the white matter of their brains, likely from routine and unprotected headers. The brain's white matter are nerves that play a significant role in connecting brain regions and are associated with cognition. Previous studies have looked into how concussions lead to changes in this white matter, but a new study lead by Dr. Inga K. Koerte of Harvard Medical School in Boston, is one of the first to look at how subconcussive blows to the head may lead to traumatic brain injury. MORE: NFL Players Have a Higher Risk of Death from Brain Disease In the study, the researchers compared bran scans of 12 male soccer players from German elite-level soccer clubs who had not experienced a concussion, to brain scans of 11 competitive swimmers who had similarly never experienced repetitive brain trauma. The research team used high-resolution diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), which looks at the brain microscopically and is much more effective at catching white matter changes than the standard MRI. The researchers found surprising alterations in the white matter that were "consistent with findings observed in patients with mild TBI, and suggesting possible demyelination [nerve disorder]." Even though the players had no concussions, their brain told a similar story of damage, like changes to nerve fiber protectors in the brain. "Although our study is small, it is the first to look at soccer players with no symptoms and no diagnoses of concussions," says Dr. Koerte. We think it is an important finding not just for soccer players, but other athletes of other sports too. MORE: Study: Brain Injuries in Childhood Have Lasting Effects on Learning Research into brain changes repetitive blows to the head is a relatively new area of research. "[Brain damage from repetitive blows] would have tremendous public health implications," says Dr. Jeffrey Bazarian, an associate professor of emergency medicine at URMC. If players are damaging their brains, it is a large public health issue because everyone, even at a young age, hits their head like this. But right now we really don't have enough information. Dr. Bazarian was uninvolved with the study, but has also used DTI to assess mild brain injury in high school football and hockey players. Although Dr. Bazarian gives credit to the study authors" use of DTI, he cautions against linking the results to only routine head hits. According to Dr. Bazarian, it's very difficult to diagnose concussions, and even if the athletes self-reported having no concussions, he says it is unlikely professional players will admit to having a concussion, especially when their pay depends on it. "The athlete themselves will know if they've had a concussion or not, but there is no way to call them out on that," says Dr. Bazarian. MORE: Frequent Soccer-Ball Headers Linked to Brain Injury Dr. Koerte says more research is needed in larger cohorts and her team is also looking at white matter changes among different age groups. If it turns out repetitive head bumps are harming cognition, Dr. Koerte says regulations like sitting out after so many hits may need to be put in place, or heading shouldn't be allowed until a certain age. The study is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

EFG-Hermes faces own Arab spring It has been a difficult 12 months for EFG-Hermes, the leading Middle East investment bank, which now finds itself in the teeth of a financial storm as the subject of an unwanted takeover battle. The Cairo-based bank, founded in 1984, has seen its market value drop steeply since the turmoil of last year's uprising in Egypt. Its shares have lost more than a third of their value in the past year, giving it a market capitalisation of $850m. A further shadow has been cast over the bank by its association with Gamal Mubarak, son of the ousted Egyptian president who owned a stake in its private equity business. Last week EFG's two co-chief executives, Hassan Heikal and Yasser El Mallawany, were charged with insider trading alongside Gamal Mubarak and his brother Alaa. But the bank, whose largest shareholders are Dubai Financial Group with an 18.5 per cent stake and Abu Dhabi Financial Authority with 9.8 per cent, moved fast to deny any wrongdoing and express confidence in its co-CEOs. Despite its recent troubles, analysts say EFG-Hermes is a well run business with extensive expertise in its region. They point to the battle for control of the bank as a sign of confidence in its future. Profiles Sheikh Tariq bin Faisal al-Qassimi, a relative of the ruler of conservative emirate of Sharjah, is a well known businessman in the United Arab Emirates. With a master's degree from Westminster University, he has a large real estate and hospitality portfolio in Dubai's crisis-hit real estate sector, as well as business interests in Pakistan. Shahzad Shahbaz, appointed chief executive of QInvest in 2008, after a brief stint in Dubai. Before moving to the Middle East, the Oberlin College, Ohio graduate had gained 25 years" experience at Bank of America, where he had to deal with the fallout from Italy's Parmalat scandal. Yasser El Mallawany and Hassan Heikal are co-chief executives of EFG Hermes. Mr El Mallawany began his career with 16 years at Commercial International Bank, formerly Chase National Bank. He is considered a driving force in consolidating Egypt's investment banking sector. Mr Heikal joined the company in 1995 from Goldman Sachs and helped create the leading investment bank of the Arab world. "It is a good franchise with a good team of people," says Aybek Islamov, analyst at HSBC. EFG proved on many occasions that they were professional and able to lead deals and work alongside international banks and have equal expertise in the market. I don't see any overleveraging or any risky investments on its balance sheet. EFG shareholders last week approved a joint venture deal with QInvest, in which the Qatar investment group would inject $250m in return for control of the bank. The deal would leave in EFG in sole control of its private equity arm and its 60 per cent stake in Credit Libanais, a Beirut-based lender. But EFG has also been fighting off what may turn into Egypt's first ever hostile takeover bid. Planet IB, a nascent buyout group backed by Arab and Egyptian investors, has announced a rival bid valuing the entire group at about $1bn and asked the regulator to allow it to carry out due diligence. One its backers is thought to be Sheikh Tariq bin Faisal al-Qassimi, a relative of the ruler of Sharjah. Planet IB says it is also backed by Egyptian telecoms mogul Naguib Sawiris, but EFG insists he has dropped out. "We think there is lot of merit to an agile, nimble, fast-moving investment bank in the Middle East market once activity has picked up in 18 to 36 months," says Ahmed El-Houssieny, Planet IB's chief executive. Planet IB's offer has been dismissed as not serious by EFG. Independent analysts say its offer has lacked proof of availability of funds and information about the investors" identities. But Mr El Houssieny, who says his bid is backed by private investors from Gulf countries including Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, charges that EFG's management is wrong to "extinguish competition." For QInvest, a Doha-based investment bank, the potential tie-up with EFG presents an opportunity to grow from a domestic to regional player. "It's a marriage of convenience," says one Gulf banker. The Qataris can yoke themselves on to the region's biggest investment bank, while EFG can expand in the Gulf and try to forget its Egyptian worries. QInvest, part-owned by Qatar Islamic Bank, is chaired by Jassim bin Hamad al Thani, the son of the country's prime minister, an influential businessman who plays an important role in guiding the country's investment strategy. "There has been a limit to its origination ability beyond its chairman," says the banker. Linking up with EFG will broaden that ability. QInvest, which has hired a phalanx of well paid investment bankers, would benefit from the execution capabilities and record of EFG-Hermes, he adds. EFG, meanwhile, has long sought to break into the Gulf from its Egyptian base, but bankers say its franchise has failed to flourish much beyond the UAE brokerage business. The Cairo-based bank was formed out of the 1996 merger of the Egyptian Financial Group, which was founded in 1984, and Hermes, a company formed by two Wall Street-trained Egyptian bankers. Mr Heikal, one of the bank's current co-CEOs, is a Goldman Sachs veteran who worked in the earlier EFG. "I think there will be immediate synergies," says Mr Islamov at HSBC. QInvest is owned by Qatar Islamic Bank so there would be cross selling more into Qatar, and as a regional investment bank servicing high-net worth individuals, EFG could reach more high net worth people in Qatar.

Nike apologises for 'Black and Tan' trainers that evoke memories of notorious paramilitary unit Retail displays in stores around the country directly describe the shoes as "Black and Tans," although this is not the official name given by the shoe's manufacturer. A spokesman for Nike said: "This month Nike is scheduled to release a version of the Nike SB Dunk Low that has been unofficially named by some using a phrase that can be viewed as inappropriate and insensitive. We apologise. No offence was intended. Ciaran Staunton, President of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform said: "Is there no one at Nike able to Google Black and Tan?" The Black and Tans were World War One veterans recruited by the Royal Irish Constabulary as temporary constables and deployed in Ireland to help suppress the IRA uprising which led to the formation of the Irish Republic. They became infamous for their brutal treatment of civilians including women and children, burning and sacking towns and villages in revenge for IRA assassinations. Much of the centre Cork was destroyed by the Black and Tans after a constable was killed in the city in December 1920, and the force was condemned by the local cardinal who called them: "a horde of savages, some of them simply brigands, burglars and thieves." "Black and Tan" remains a pejorative name for the British security forces to this day in Ireland.

Independents in Washington - Slide Show - NYTimes.com The once gritty 14th Street corridor between P and U Streets in Washington is reinventing itself and morphing into an upscale residential district. Between old warehouses in the midst of becoming trendy lofts and cranes in vacant lots pulling up high-end glass condos are growing pockets of refined taste and class. Lower rents have enabled a host of independent shopkeepers to let loose creative spirits. And on weekends 14th Street comes alive with pedestrians, along with their dogs and strollers, ambling wide streets, and cyclists pedaling along the neighborhood's bike lanes. - AUDREY HOFFER

Mayor calls for cutting 669 city jobs In his new city budget, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called Friday for the elimination of 669 city jobs -– 231 through layoffs -- even as he sought increased staffing levels for police officers and the restoration of some services at the Fire Department. One-third of the jobs targeted by the mayor in his $7.2-billion budget are currently filled, including 159 civilian clerk and secretary positions at the Los Angeles Police Department. The rest of the layoffs would take place in other city agencies, including the Department of Animal Services and the city clerk's office. City Councilman Eric Garcetti said he would oppose the push for more layoffs, saying civilian city employees have repeatedly made sacrifices to solve the multi-year budget crisis. "Creating a climate of fear among our employees is a dangerous path," he said. Garcetti, who is running to succeed the termed-out Villaraigosa, said he is especially worried about reductions in the number of civilian clerks in the Police Department, which will see a major portion of the layoffs. I do not want to see our police officers behind desks. I want to see them on the streets. They need critical support to do their jobs and [LAPD clerical staff] are as critical to public safety as the officers in the cars," he said. City Controller Wendy Greuel, another mayoral candidate, also spoke out against the budget, saying the city "can and must do better" than making more job cuts. "Layoffs as a first resort not only does a disservice to the city's workforce, but it also fails the residents of Los Angeles, because reductions in the workforce equate to reduction in services," she said. The city faces a $238-million shortfall, with more expected in the next few years. As he called for reductions to the Police Department's civilian workforce, Villaraigosa also laid out a plan that could allow the department to bolster the ranks of its officers by absorbing the security force that patrols city buildings and parks. Under Villaraigosa's proposal, about 97 sworn police officers at the General Services Department, which has a security force to patrol city buildings, could become LAPD officers. The consolidation could push the number of police officers on the force past 10,000, a goal long sought by Villaraigosa and the City Council, depending on how it is executed. Meanwhile, in a reversal from previous years, Villaraigosa called for the addition of six new ambulances at the Fire Department during peak call-load hours, as well as the hiring of new firefighters in 2013. Since 2009, the mayor and the council have cut more than 15% from the Fire Department's budget, resulting in a hiring freeze and a reduction in fire trucks and ambulances from more than a fifth of the city's 106 stations. In a presentation to the Fire Commission in December, department officials acknowledged that emergency response times had increased in some parts of the city as a result of the cutbacks. Scrutiny over the department's response times, as well as ongoing problems with its emergency dispatch system, also have plagued fire officials in recent months. To address the dispatch problems, Villaraigosa's budget calls for the replacement of a key piece of equipment, which budget officials said would cost $12 million. He also called for the funding of a third-party analysis of the department's deployment. Villaraigosa is hoping to help close the budget shortfall by tapping $29 million in new revenues from ambulance billing and $48 million coming from the elimination of the Community Redevelopment Agency. His proposal also: Expands library hours on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Adds funding for 50,000 new pothole repairs. Cuts the budget for the mayor and City Council by 8%. The City Council is expected to take up the budget in the next few weeks.

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NYPD officer accused of plotting to kidnap, cook women NEW YORK A city police officer was charged Thursday in a ghoulish plot to kidnap and torture women and then cook and eat their body parts. Gilberto Valle sent numerous emails and other Internet communications about the torture and cannibalism scheme, according to a criminal complaint. He identified and catalogued at least 100 women on his computer, investigators said, but there was no information that anyone was harmed. "I was thinking of tying her body onto some kind of apparatus ... cook her over low heat, keep her alive as long as possible," Valle allegedly wrote in one exchange in July, the complaint says. NYC cop accused of plot to kidnap and cook women In other online conversations, investigators said, Valle talked about the mechanics of fitting a woman's body into an oven (her legs would have to be bent), said he could make chloroform at home to knock a woman out and discussed how "tasty" one woman looked. "Her days are numbered," he wrote, according to the complaint. Valle was to appear in federal court in Manhattan on Thursday afternoon to face charges of kidnapping conspiracy and unauthorized use of law enforcement records. The name of his attorney was not immediately available, and no one answered the door to his home in a quiet, middle-class Queens neighborhood. A search of Valle's computer found he created records of at least 100 women with their names, addresses and photos, the complaint says. Some of the information came from his unauthorized use of a law enforcement database, authorities said. He claimed, according to the complaint, that he knew many of them. "The allegations in the complaint really need no description from us," said Mary E. Galligan, acting head of the FBI's New York office. They speak for themselves. It would be an understatement merely to say Valle's own words and actions were shocking. There was no immediate response to a message left with the NYPD on Thursday. Valle met one potential victim over lunch, authorities said. The complaint alleges that in February, Valle negotiated to kidnap another woman for someone else, writing, "$5,000 and she's all yours." He told the buyer he was aspiring to be a professional kidnapper, authorities said. "I think I would rather not get involved in the rape," he wrote, according to the complaint. You paid for her. She is all yours, and I don't want to be tempted the next time I abduct a girl. It says he added: "I will really get off on knocking her out, tying up her hands and bare feet and gagging her. Then she will be stuffed into a large piece of luggage and wheeled out to my van. Cellphone data revealed that Valle made calls on the block where the woman lives in March, the complaint says. An FBI agent interviewed the woman, who told them that she didn't know him well and he was never in her home. Valle, 28, lives in Queens. He had been assigned to a Manhattan precinct before his suspension on Wednesday. His Facebook page cultivated the image of a very different man. Postings were filled with photos of a smiling wife, a baby girl and an English bulldog puppy named Dudley. A Maryland football and Yankees fan, Valle had more than 600 Facebook friends, including dozens of young women. Valle respected his colleagues on the force, took the sergeant's exam and spoke out against Occupy Wall Street, cop killers and others who broke the law, according to the page. His current photo was a blue line, a sign of mourning for when an officer is killed, and expressed condolences for the family of a Nassau County officer who was shot to death this week. "Keep Nassau County police in your prayers what a brutal week," he wrote earlier this week. The page was taken down Thursday afternoon. A man who identified himself as Valle's younger brother but did not give his name told reporters outside the officer's home that he was surprised by the arrest. "You guys know more than I do," he said. More from CBS New York:

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George Michael back on tour George Michael returns to the stage to resume his "Symphonica" tour, ten months after the gig had to be cancelled as he faced a life threatening lung infection. In November the 49-year-old former Wham! front-man had been in the middle of a European tour, when he fell ill in the Austrian capital and was rushed to Vienna's General Hospital where he spent a month in intensive care. His fans welcomed his return, one who travelled all the way from Scotland for the gig said: "I think his voice is better than ever and and tonight's performance will be something really special because I think George feels he owes his life to the people in Austria and this is his way of repaying them. They saved his life. While another from Berlin said: "When I heard about his illness last year it was a great shock because I saw him at the last concert in Frankfurt, and as far as I know that was the last concert before his illness, and for me this is a good reason to come here to Vienna today and to see his first performance. Austrian media report that 300 hospital staff will attend Tuesday evening's show and with his permission, the hospital also put a further 700 tickets, which he donated, on sale to raise money for lung disease research. His recent near-death experience inspired Michael's new single "White Light," which he performed at the closing ceremony of the London Olympic Games. This show is the first of a number of rescheduled dates around Europe, including Paris, Birmingham, Cardiff and London. More about: Pop music

Paul-Emile Deiber, French Theater Director, Dies at 86 Paul-Emile Deiber, an actor and director with the Comédie-Française for nearly three decades who brought his dramatic expertise to a second career as an opera director, died on Dec. 14. He died after a fall at his home in Klosterneuberg, Austria, near Vienna, his wife, the former mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig, said. From 1942 to 1972, Mr. Deiber (pronounced deh-BAIR) assayed dozens, perhaps hundreds of roles with the Comédie-Française, the state-supported theater in Paris with roots dating back more than three centuries. Known for his deep voice, precise diction and command of the classical repertory, he performed in the works of Molière, Racine, Corneille and Shakespeare, among many others, as both a leading man and a featured actor, playing romance, tragedy and comedy with equal skill. His signature role was Cyrano de Bergerac, Rostand's articulate, lovesick romantic hero, which he played more than 150 times. As a director, he was known for wringing fine performances from his actors, particularly in the works of French masters. Reviewing Racine's tragedy "Phèdre," which Mr. Deiber directed in New York in 1966 with Mildred Dunnock and Beatrice Straight, Stanley Kauffmann of The New York Times called it "the best performance in English of a classic French tragedy that I have seen." "Mr. Deiber knew, as classicists must," Mr. Kauffmann wrote, "that this style depends not on trickery or splashy effects, but entirely on what the actors do with the lines. They do admirably. Beginning in the late 1960s, Mr. Deiber increasingly turned his attention to opera. In 1970 he became part of a management change at the Paris Opera, in charge of rejuvenating its stage productions. He directed several productions at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, including Gounod's "Roméo et Juliette," with Mirella Freni and Franco Corelli, in 1967; Bellini's "Norma," with Joan Sutherland, in 1970; Massenet's "Werther," with Corelli and Mr. Deiber's future wife, Ms. Ludwig, in 1971; and Debussy's "Pelléas et Mélisande," with Judith Blegen and Barry McDaniel, in 1972. His operas were known for being not only well sung but also well acted, Fabrizio Melano, a director who assisted Mr. Deiber on "Werther" and "Pelléas," said in an interview. "He was a wonderful actor, and he had wonderful rapport with actors," Mr. Melano said. He also knew music very well, so he could transfer that rapport to singers. He could not only demonstrate, but he understood what they were going through. Not every stage director can. Mr. Deiber was born on Jan. 1, 1925, in La Broque, a village in the Alsace region of France, near the German border. His father chopped and sold wood. During World War II he was a member of the French Resistance and imprisoned briefly in Paris, Ms. Ludwig said. Mr. Deiber studied violin and voice before becoming an actor, first appearing with the Comédie-Française in a small role in "Cyrano de Bergerac" in 1942. He played Bernardo in "Hamlet" the following year and joined the company in 1944. His first two marriages ended in divorce. In addition to Ms. Ludwig, whom he married in 1972, he is survived by a son, Philippe, and a granddaughter. The Met production of "Werther" was full of drama behind the scenes. Corelli, the recipient of letters threatening him physically by an irrational opera fan, according to René Segher, a biographer of his, canceled his appearance on opening night within minutes of the curtain. His replacement, Enrico Di Giuseppe, was a head shorter than Corelli, and Ms. Ludwig had to look frantically for a pair of flat shoes to change into. Still, Ms. Ludwig remembers the production for another reason entirely: it was where she met her husband. "I didn't know the part, and it was in French, and I didn't speak French," she said in an interview. And so he came to my apartment and he taught me the part in French. And so we married.

Cargo protection product receives patent NEW YORK, June 28 (UPI) -- A new reusable protective covering from Sentina Inc., which guards against tampering of cargo, has been given a U.S. patent. Sentina said the covering, which meets government standards regarding secure cargo, is a one-piece, vacuum-sealed product that fully encapsulates shipments. "Corporations worldwide are continually looking for ways to insure the integrity of their goods in transit, while also attempting to reduce the overall costs and harmful waste, associated with one-time use packagings," said Sentina President Jeff Garfinkle. Sentina coverings meet these needs. It is vacuum-sealed, providing an airtight, watertight and secure environment that protects against both intentional and unintentional tampering -- from the moment it is applied until the moment it is removed. Any tampering of the cover or its contents is immediately evident -- affording unparalleled peace of mind to manufacturers and shippers using Sentina's coverings. The covering is made from nylon, with a thick polyurethane coating and has a special zipper and vacuum port.

Activists Report Heavy Fighting in Syria's Aleppo Activists and opposition groups say Syrian troops and rebels have clashed for a second day in the northern city of Aleppo. They say the overnight clashes with heavy machine guns were some of the fiercest to date in the heart of Syria's northern commercial hub. A Jordanian shepherd tends his flock near the Syrian-Jordan border on the outskirts of Ramtha, Jordan, in Al-Torra village, which borders Daraa, Syria, Friday, July 20, 2012. The fields behind the shepherd are part of Syria, where many refugees cross the fence at night. (AP photo/Mohammad Hannon) Close Aleppo has been largely shielded from the violence that has plagued other Syrian cities over the course of the uprising against President Bashar Assad, now in its 17th month. Aleppo-based activist Mohammad Saeed said dozens of rebels from the Free Syrian Army were now in the city. He said fighting was mostly in the Salaheddine district in the city center. The Local Coordination Committees activist network and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Friday's fighting forced many residents to flee to safer areas.

BBC News - Moira shopkeeper identity crisis

New Imaging Technique Helps Clarify Concussions Little Girl Dies from Suspected E. Coli Outbreak Source of bacteria unknown as nearly a dozen cases surface in southern states. E. Coli Outbreak: Tracking Down the Source Dr. Richard Besser explains how officials try to prevent further illnesses. E. Coli Outbreak: Baby Girl Dies New cases of particularly virulent strain linked across several states. NFL Lawsuit Filed Over Head Injuries Former football players accuse league of covering up health risks. Dr. Michael Lipton says new technique helps in assessing concussion patients. Vaccines Stored Improperly: Warning for Parents Many vaccines intended for poor children could be ineffective if handled wrong. How to Treat Aging Cystic Fibrosis Patients Dr. Marie Budev says treatment for older CF patients is multi-disciplinary. Improper Vaccine Storage Not Good for Children Dr. Kord Honda explains how vismodegib fights skin cancer.

Illegal workers found at Aberdeen restaurants

Reading v Tottenham - live! 43 min: Here's a gallery of match pics for you to peruse. Gorkss is let down by his team-mates up front from Guthrie's corner. He stayed up when it broke down but when he won it and attempted to tee up one, any, of his team-mates by guiding the ball towards the penalty spot, no one anticipated it and made a run to meet him. 41 min: Jermain Defoe is not having the confidence problems seeming to affect Reading, shooting again when gifted a half-chance from 25 yards. Nothing wrong with his self-belief but there's a little bit wrong with his accuracy. 38 min: But you can't count Reading out and they almost strike back having made headway up the right through McAnuff. It's as if they need a half-time spot of counselling to address their nerves. It's only 1-0 and should be retrievable. 35 min: Oh dear, Reading's bag of cement approach to trapping the ball is gifting Tottenham chances and momentum. Ian Harte, under little pressure, 35 yards from his own goal, fumbles his attempt to kill a pass and lets in Defoe for a a run on goal. He has only punished such lax basics once so far and wasted three more openings but he will score again if Reading don't get a grip. 33 min: The final ball lets Tottenham down after Sandro and Walker combine up the right, Defoe switching with Lennon and drawing Gorkss out with him. It created some space between Harte and Pearce but the pass to free Walker was too firm. 31 min: McCarthy was just about to get his first PL assist with some awful, leaden footed control, letting Defoe take the ball wide and he had to go after him leaving an empty goal. When Defoe, though, turned and pulled the ball back after getting to the touchline, Reading had got two men back and Sigurdsson's scuffed shot was blocked on the line. 29 min: It's been a bit meh since Defoe spurned his second chance. "Surely Parker is Ringo, unshowy but vital to maintain the tempo and noticeable when absent," writes David Wall. Who's George then? 27 min: Reading have had a better few minutes using the time they've won to play it across the back four then up to McAnuff who gets picked off after a surge forward, Walker and Sandro winning it off him. 25 min: Sam provides this thought for the MBM merchandise department: "Thought for a T-shirt: 'Half 11 at night (in HK) and all I've got is this lousy minute by minute (debatable) match report'." That'll have Superdry quaking, Sam. It's that slow When the Spurs go Marching In drowning out the Reading fans who have been silenced by their side's tentative performance, sitting back and ceding ground. . 22 min: McCleary speeds past Bale but Naughton is not going to let him past and clips his heels. Free kick to the right of the box whipped in by Harte without the bend he intended to reach the far post run of Pearce who has to improvise and in doing so makes a defensive clearance away from goal. Spurs break quickly, Defoe running through the middle and chances his arm with a shot off the outside of his boot that flies wide. 19 min: Reading's defending and communication among the back four and Leigertwood and Karacan is making this easy for Tottenham who are exploiting the space down the inside forward channels and on the outside of the full-backs with some excellent passing and intelligent running from Defoe, Lennon and Bale. Reading 0-1 Spurs (Defoe) Excellent pass splits Ian Harte and Kaspers Gorkss and Lennon had made the run on the outside of Harte into space. He picks it up and taps it back on the run to Defoe who has run three yards or so into the box and he clips his firm finish under McCarthy's dive. 14 min: Sorry - have just had a couple of technical stoppages, the TV feed freezing then having to reboot this programme. Naughton again does well up the left, going past Gunter and swinging in his cross that goes over the box and Lennon had not read it, letting it roll beyond him and out. 10 min: Short break while boots and the wrong colour shin pad support tape are changed ends with the re-start and within a few seconds Vertonghen gives away a free kick. When the ball is played into the box to the far post, up goes to challenge. Kyle Walker or his doppelganger I didn't see who's swinging arm knocks it off the head of the Reading attacker but the ref says he was pushed and the evidence supports him. 7 min: "As they said in the 60s, Clapton is God," writes Mike Wilner. I say Modric is Clapton. If Dembele is better than Modric, well, finish the equation... Lennon is Ringo? Tottenham look patient and very comfortable in possession, trying to establish a bridgehead up their right flank to get Lennon running at Harte with Walker ready to bomb on outside. 5 min: Double save from McCarthy when Bale shoots from a free-kick 20-plus yards out, pushing it wide and then getting up quickly when Sigurdsson latches on to the rebound and battering it away. They look very loose at the back, Reading. 3 min: McCleary launches Reading's first attack up the right flank but can't find Pogrebnyak and Friedel snuffs out the cross. 1 min: What on earth are Spurs wearing, a black and silver Blackburn Rovers tribute? Any how, Naughton makes some progress up the left, linking with Bale, before centring to Walker who has Lennon outside him but shoots from 25 yards, the ball flying several yards over the bar. Alex McCarthy's PL debut means Federici's been dropped after a couple of mistakes. We had him on loan at Leeds last year and he was very secure. Reminded me a bit of Tim Krul. "Dembélé could be better than Modric," says Glenn Hoddle. He has a greater impact on the game, apparently. "Re: Levy," writes Gary Naylor. The Society of Great Football Club Administrators could hold their AGM in a phonebox couldn't they? That player (was it Len Shackelton?) who left the famous blank page in his biography wasn't wrong was he? It was him, Gary, the Clown Prince. And he wasn't far wrong. Maybe Benoit Assou-Ekotto isn't injured: He posted one of his rare tweets four hours ago which didn't suggest knack of any kind: "Today is the day...cant imagine as. We loose. COYSsssssssssssssssssss. LOL," he wrote. Why the LOL? And of COYS - well YNWA has just been played and met with a fine reception by both teams' fans. Simon McMahon writes: "Afternoon Rob. Two of the more interesting and likeable managers in British and European football on show today. Hoping for a game to match. After all yesterday's shenanigans about handshakes, should be one for the romantics. Team news: Kyle Naughton at left back. BAE is injured but I can't remember seeing him play on that flank but Danny Rose is out on loan. Seems odd to me that he isn't going to start with Adebayor if he's looking for Sigurdsson and/or Dembele to make support runs into the box and Dempsey is also made to wait. Here's Rob Moline: "Saw that 'relegation six-pointer' and arched an eyebrow, a la Roger Moore (in the crap Bond movies). Regarding your intro, I see Daniel Levy as an incurable negotiator. He's brilliant at getting top dollar for players he sells, but sometimes it seems the excitement of the deal overcomes common sense. Like when he sold Berbatov and Keane out from under Juande Ramos on the last day of the transfer window that time. Got 50 million quid right enough; but then a couple of weeks later Spurs were deep in the relegation battle and he was forced to sack a totally disillusioned and no-longer-trying manager. So for my money drives Levy; not patience as you suggest. I see your point, Rob, but I think it's the deal and winning the deal or being seen to have won the negotiations that drives him, screaming, as it were, "no one makes a mug of Daniel Levy" to the big boys in the playground. Team news: Reading: McCarthy; Gunter, Pearce, Gorkss, Harte; McCleary, Leigertwood, Karacan, Guthrie, McAnuff; Pogrebnyak. Subs: Taylor, Shorey, Mariappa, Le Fondre, Hunt, Robson-Kanu, Cummings. Tottenham: Friedel; Walker, Vertonghen, Gallas, Naughton; Sandro, Dembele; Lennon, Sigurdsson, Bale; Defoe. Subs: Lloris, Dempsey, Huddlestone, Adebayor, Dawson, Townsend, Caulker. Referee: Howard Webb (S Yorkshire) Holiday and cricket duties means I've seen these two only once each for the full 90 minutes this season though I saw loads of Reading's promotion campaign. I though Spurs, in spells, and particularly the first half of the first half against Newcastle in their first match looked dangerous, with Sigurdsson and Bale, in particular, a threat. They simply ran out of breath after playing such a high tempo, fortune, to a certain extent, and striking options. Reading impressed me against Chelsea and if Alex Pearce had headed in Ian Harte's free kick to make it 3-1 before half time I think they would have held on to win - in the end it took an offside goal and a sucker-punch with their keeper up in the Chelsea box desperately looking for an equaliser to make it a 4-2 defeat. Good afternoon and profound thanks to the scamp who lit the fuse by writing "relegation six-pointer" in the intro before withdrawing to a discreet distance. Yes, I know those media people looking for a fresh angle after the weekend's PL results delivered few dramatic talking points are keeping a close eye on this one in case the AVB "crisis" talk makes a front-page splash should Tottenham lose today but I can't see Daniel Levy doing anything rash after the club changed tack in the summer. He seems far more the type to plan, mull and then strike rather than act in haste to me. He believes patience brings far more rewards than impetuosity. Looking back at the Premier League head-to-heads at the Madejski - a 1-0 Spurs victory in May 2008, a 3-1 win for the Royals in November 2006 - the thing that stands out most from the earlier game (apart from a Spurs midfield of Lennon, Jenas, Zokora and Ghaly [I'd forgotten entirely about Ghaly]) is just how many players Reading have sold for more than £1m since their relegation. By my reckoning they've sold Dave Kitson, Nicky Shorey, Ibrahima Sonko, Emerse Fae, André Bikey, Stephen Hunt, Kevin Doyle, Marek Matejovsky, Shane Long, Matt Mills, and most pertinently today, Gylfi Sigurdsson. By the time they won promotion back to this league in the summer, that income plus parachute payments must have meant the club didn't need much in the way of subsidy from the owner, which is a round about way of saying Steve Coppell's legacy has sustained the club long after his departure.

AP Source: Rifle in Colo. Theater Shooting Jammed A federal law enforcement official says the semi-automatic assault rifle used in the deadly Colorado movie theater shooting jammed during the attack. The official said late Saturday the rifle had a high-capacity ammunition magazine which, based on witness accounts and evidence collected at the scene, apparently jammed. The rifle's malfunction then forced the suspected shooter, James Holmes, to switch to another weapon. Firefighters walk to shade as temperatures near 100 degrees, Saturday, July 21, 2012, at the booby trapped apartment of James Eagen Holmes, who police have identified as the suspect in the deadly shooting at a crowded movie theater a day earlier, in Aurora, Colo. Holmes has been charged in the shooting that killed 12 people and injured dozens more. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation. Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates has said a 100-round drum magazine was recovered at the scene of the shooting in suburban Denver. Oates said such a weapon was capable of firing 50 to 60 rounds a minute. Police said Holmes also had two Glock pistols and a shotgun. Holmes, a 24-year-old former graduate student, is in custody. The attack early Friday killed 12 people and wounded nearly 60 others.

Rand Paul: GOP in danger of becoming a dinosaur

How to Apply for a Student Visa to Study in the United States Martin Bennett is the EducationUSA outreach coordinator at the Institute of International Education. If you are a senior in high school, you hopefully have made that all-important decision as to which U.S. college or university you will attend this fall. As an international student, you have another critical step to take before your dream becomes a reality: the student visa interview. There is no need to feel anxious about your student visa interview. International students who are currently studying in the United States have reported that their initial fears were unfounded, and instead gave way to excitement and anticipation after their visas were approved. Here is some advice about obtaining your student visa: Schedule your student visa appointment. Receive your certificate of eligibility for nonimmigrant student status: either Form I-20 (for F or M visa) or Form DS-2019 (for J visa). To apply for a visa, you must first have received a Form I-20 or Form DS-2019. The academic institutions that admit you will send a Form I-20 (for F or M visa) or Form DS-2019 (for J visa) depending on the visa that matches your study status. You will receive the form only after you have: Pay the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System fee. You must pay a S.E.V.I.S. fee (currently $200 for F or M visas) and complete the relevant forms before your visa interview. Follow the instructions carefully. For more information, you may also visit the U.S. government's Study in the States Web site for students. Schedule your appointment. Once you receive the required documentation (I-20/DS-2019 and your S.E.V.I.S. fee receipt) for the school you wish to attend, you can make an appointment with the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate to apply for a student visa. Your visa can be issued up to 120 days before your arrival in the United States, so it is best to apply for your appointment as early as possible. Visa interview scheduling is done online or by phone at most U.S. embassies and consulates. In India, the appointments are made through V.F.S. Global. You may go online to complete the U.S. Nonimmigrant Visa Application (DS-160) and pay the application fee. Be prepared on the day of your student visa appointment: Before you go to the U.S. consulate or embassy for your visa appointment, be sure to complete this quick checklist, as any inconsistencies in your information may delay the issuance of your visa. Ensure your passport is valid for at least six months beyond the end of your study in the United States and that your name is spelled correctly and appears the same on all documents. Be sure to have your Form I-20 or Form DS-2019 and your S.E.V.I.S. receipt. Confirm the date and time of your visa interview and that you have followed the instructions on the Web site of your nearest U.S. embassy or consulate. During the interview, be prepared to answer questions regarding ties to your home country, your English language skills, your academic background, the program in the United States to which you have been admitted and proof of your financial ability. A vice consul at the U.S. Consulate in Monterrey, Mexico, offered the following advice to student visa applicants that sums up what the interviewing officers are looking for in visa applicants: "Because interviews are short, do your best to explain why you want to study in the United States, how you plan to support yourself while in school, and what your plans are for when your studies are finished." The U.S. Department of State issued 781,719 student and exchange visitor visas in fiscal year 2011. That is a worldwide acceptance rate of almost 86 percent. Monica Shie, a consular officer at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, reports that nearly one million Indians have received student visas over the last 10 years to study in the United States. I wish you good luck. If you would like to speak with someone in person about the process, contact one of our EducationUSA Advising Centers, which host visa information sessions for students.

Consumer advocates lead push for 'green' cosmetics The FDA doesn't have to approve most beauty aids before they go on the market Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011 seeks to remove harmful ingredients from products The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics is working with Congress to support the bill Johnson & Johnson pledged this year to remove potential toxins from its toiletries (CNN) -- Cosmetics are a part of the daily grooming regimen for women across the country, but now consumer advocates say your favorite lipstick or mascara may be harmful to your health. "There's lead acetate in hair dyes, lead in lipsticks, formaldehyde and 1, 4-dioxane in baby shampoos and other shampoos," said Lisa Archer, co-founder and former director of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and current director for the environmental group Friends of the Earth. Health-care giant Johnson & Johnson pledged in August of 2012 to remove trace amounts of carcinogens and other potentially toxic chemicals from its toiletries and cosmetics by the year 2015. The company had previously pledged to remove such ingredients in baby products by the end of 2012. According to the federal laws enforced by the Food and Drug Administration, cosmetics companies are responsible for ensuring the safety of their products. Unless there is a color additive, the FDA does not require ingredients in beauty aids to be approved before going on the market. Regulation dates back to 1938 and has seen minor changes over the years. The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics is working with U.S. representatives to support the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011. The organization was also a driving force behind Johnson & Johnson's monumental announcement. In a statement to CNN, Johnson & Johnson said, "Nothing is more important to us than the peace of mind of people using our products, that's why on August 15th, we made a global commitment to remove a number of commonly used ingredients from our baby and beauty consumer products." The company created a website where consumers can view its polices and procedures on its ingredients and safety measures. Johnson & Johnson also stated that despite the change, the company believes the products it currently sells are safe. What matters most isn't what we think. It's what our customers think. That's why we decided to take the unprecedented step of removing or reducing ingredients that, at their present levels, are safe by scientific standards and considered safe by key regulators around the world, including the EU, the U.S. and China," said the company in its statement to CNN. Archer disagrees. "It's really important for consumers to know that small doses can add up to harm and the timing of the dose of the toxic chemicals really matters as well," she said. The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics' website offers resources for consumers to research what is in their products. The site also lists what the organization calls "chemicals of concern." For Nakia Evans, an Atlanta medical assistant who has suffered with breakouts and skin irritation for years, the discovery was an epiphany. "We want to look great on the outside, but we also have to educate ourselves when we're applying makeup about what we're doing not only to our skin, but internally," she said. Evans has since discovered natural and organic skin care products such as LAMIK Beauty. "We are paraben free, we are talc free and we are free of those things because we feel that you should not have to sacrifice your health for beauty," said Kim Roxie, creative director of LAMIK Beauty. In 2010, the company was a finalist for HBA Global's International Package Design Awards for its green packaging. HBA Global is a product development source for the beauty and personal care industry. "It's really about educating the consumer and making them more aware," Roxie said. Meanwhile, Evans said her new discovery means a new way of thinking for her and no more breakouts. "It actually helped my skin, so I would recommend that you research what you're putting on your skin," she said. Archer said she hopes other multinational companies follow Johnson & Johnson's lead by removing the potentially toxic chemicals from their products, but she also advises consumers to continue to do their homework. "We encourage buyers to beware and do your research," she said. Because it's the wild wild West and nobody is actually monitoring that aisle in the store.

Behind The Wall - Not Chinese enough in China? Chinese-Americans caught between 2 worlds Brittany Tom A shopper at an Adidas outlet in Beijing prepares to buy a souvenir Jeremy Lin T-shirt. BEIJING - Asian-Americans continue to be the fastest growing ethnic population in the U.S., according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics released on Wednesday. The data, which come weeks ahead of Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month in May, also demonstrates how integral a part of the American fabric Asians have been. As many as 1.5 million businesses in the U.S. are owned by Asians. More than a quarter million have served in the U.S. military. And nearly half of the Asian-American electorate voted in the 2008 presidential election. And yet while generations of Asians have integrated into American society, a small but growing number of the 3.8 million Asian-Americans of Chinese descent are finding themselves in mainland China to study or to work. Especially since the 2008 global economic crisis, many ethnic Chinese are seeking economic opportunities in China as emigrants. Almost all are also motivated by cultural heritage interests. At the same time, Jeremy Lin's popularity has reignited discussions about identity among Chinese-Americans that are unlikely to wane as quickly as Linsanity. A cupcake shop, a brewery and a barbecue restaurant are just three of a growing number of small businesses started by Americans in China. Rock Center travels to Beijing to see how some are pursuing their entrepreneur dreams in another country. One writer for the sports website Grantland hit on the issue during the height of Lin hype last month: "These have been a revealing two weeks, not only for the Asian-American community or the Ivy League basketball community or the talent evaluator committee, but also for the watchdogs, handwringers, and pulpit-thumpers. Not since Barack Obama's presidential campaign has there been so much national discussion about the appropriateness of discussing race. And in China, where many American-born Chinese have gravitated over the past few years, race and nationality intersect in interesting, sometimes confusing, ways. Brittney Wong feels "even less Chinese" in China than she expected. "I realized how American I am," said the 23-year old Seattle native, who recently arrived in Beijing for a year-long intensive Chinese language course. Which is strange, because I just assumed I would just blend in perfectly here. Cultural disconnect But in trying to befriend local Chinese, Wong came to see that "learning about their experiences in high school and their lives, how they lived so far, [are] so different from my experiences. Even their personalities. The cultural disconnect is compelling enough to have provided some inspiration for a new feature-length film. Daniel Hsia is a Los Angeles-based filmmaker who has just wrapped up production for "Shanghai Calling," a movie about American expats in Shanghai. The world is turning on its head. Expectations are being reversed all the time," said Hsia. In the movie, the main protagonist is a Chinese-American executive whose employer sends him to Shanghai. I thought it would be more interesting to have the character [be] of Chinese descent but completely ignorant of Chinese culture. It just creates more conflict. It's more interesting to watch a character who looks like he fits in but doesn't. Sometimes the cross-culture experience makes people feel even more American. "In many ways, being in China has caused me to have a strong appreciation for just how American I am," said Jason Chu, a 25-year old Delaware native. It has helped me come to terms or embrace the positive aspects of being distinctly Asian-American. Chu is wrapping up two years in Beijing, where he has been dividing his time between serving as a pastor and writing music. The child of ethnic Chinese parents from Malaysia and Thailand, he grew up speaking English and began learning Chinese in college in the U.S. Novelist Gish Jen discusses the sometimes complicated relationship between native Chinese and Chinese Americans with NBC's Adrienne Mong. Speaking fluent Chinese, Chu has found, is perhaps the most critical determinant of authenticity. "There is this sort of disappointment that many Chinese-Americans are familiar with, where if you look Chinese or people know you're Chinese and your Chinese language isn't good, you're less of a person," he said. Writer Gish Jen, on a recent trip to Beijing, recalled similar reactions when she first visited the mainland in the 1980s. "In the early days, I used to feel they were quite critical," said the novelist, one of a handful of hyphenated American novelists who led the multicultural wave of fiction in the U.S. in the early 1990s. They saw me as a sort of fallen Chinese... You don't even speak Chinese, what's the matter with you. Asian body with a Western mind Although Jen believes mainstream Chinese attitudes toward overseas Chinese such as herself have improved, she thinks many still fail to understand what it means to be American. "I don't think they understand what it means to be in between [China and the U.S.]," she explained. The Chinese "don't distinguish between nationality and ethnicity," said Chu. They don't understand that it's possible to have an Asian body but a Western mind. That seemed to be the case when U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke arrived on the mainland last year. Some Chinese media commentators and bloggers voiced expectations that Locke, an ethnic Chinese born in the U.S., would be more sympathetic to Beijing's point of view. When it became clear that he was here to represent America, some of those same voices accused him of betrayal. One critic called him a "fake foreign devil who cannot even speak Chinese." For Chinese-Americans like Chu, being in China means more about being American and behaving more overtly like an American. "I dress more differently [than the Chinese here]," he said. I over-emphasize my foreignness. Sense of apartness Similarly, Toronto native Lili Gao thinks living in China has brought out a sense of apartness that she said she never experienced growing up in Canada. I never had any cultural identity issues in Canada. I speak Chinese, but I'm Canadian," said Gao, who was born in Shanxi before moving to Canada when she was 6 years old. But then, coming back here, I realized I really was not Chinese. That was an interesting experience to have a clearer idea of identity. As with many other Westernized Chinese, Gao found the issue of identity to be rooted in communication. Although she speaks fluent Mandarin, the young marketing executive said that social culture was a large hurdle. "I couldn't possibly get used to it...the way people interact [here,]" she said. "The Chinese have a different way of communicating" that is not simply about language. Now, having lived in Beijing for five years and working at Chinese companies, Gao finds herself "over-interpreting all the time, even when I'm communicating with foreigners!" For someone like Jonny Chin, an 18-year-old senior at an international school in Beijing, it's simply that his American identity is much stronger. Even though he was only 6 years old when his parents, originally from Hong Kong, moved the family to China from San Francisco - meaning he has spent two-thirds of his life in Beijing. "I still refer to America as home," he said. Like when I say I'm 'going home' for Christmas. And when people ask, 'Where are you from?' I say I'm from the U.S. With additional research from Brittany Tom and Isabella Zhong

Facebook vest hugs user every time they receive a 'like' on social networking site The vest's creators say the invention allows us to "feel the warmth, encouragement, support, or love that we feel when we receive hugs." MIT student Melissa Kit Chow, who designed the jacket, said: "The project was done as an exercise and exploration in shape display. We came up with the concept over a casual conversation about long-distance relationships and the limitations of video chat interfaces like Skype. The result was Like-A-Hug. Connecting it to Facebook conceptually was simply a way to explore how social media might push past the traditional graphic user interface (GUI). Since Facebook began, more than 1.13 trillion items have been 'liked' on the site, the firm recently revealed.

France held goalless by Sweden at halftime KIEV (Reuters) - France were being held to a 0-0 draw by eliminated Sweden at halftime in a cagey final Euro 2012 Group D game on Tuesday. Sweden went closest to scoring after 12 minutes when Philippe Mexes botched a defensive header to allow Ola Toivonen to run free but his shot clipped the outside of the post after goalkeeper Hugo Lloris forced him wide. Franck Ribery threatened the Swedish defense but his rising angled shot was superbly blocked by Andreas Isaksson as France dominated possession. The French will qualify with a draw or win and a defeat could also see them through depending on the result of the other group game between co-hosts Ukraine and England. Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Ed Osmond

Central Figure in Miss. Integration Defies Labels James Meredith is a civil-rights icon who hates the term "civil rights." It's as if civil rights were somehow set apart from - well, rights. When it comes to my rights as an American citizen, and yours, I am a triumphalist and an absolutist. Anything less is an insult," said the black man who 50 years ago inflamed the anger of white Mississippi by quietly demanding admission to the state's segregated flagship university. Now 79 and living in Jackson, Meredith sees himself as a messenger of God - a warrior who crippled the beast of white supremacy by integrating the University of Mississippi. These days, he frequently wears an Ole Miss baseball hat in public. When the university's football team recently played the University of Texas in Oxford, Meredith was a guest in the chancellor's stadium skybox, and the crowd applauded when that was announced over the loudspeakers. Yet he says he doesn't plan to participate in the university's commemoration of his history-making enrollment, which prompted a state-federal standoff, sparked deadly mob violence and ultimately ended the university's official policy of racial segregation. The university says Meredith has been invited to take part in events to mark the anniversary, including a walk that student leaders will take Monday to retrace his first day on campus. In this Aug. 14, 2012 photo James Meredith, the first black student to integrate the University of Mississippi in 1962, speaks to an audience at a reading at a Jackson, Miss., book store. Meredith's current book outlines his impression of race relations, integration and the statue the university erected to commemorate his integration of the liberal arts school. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) Close Meredith says he doesn't see the point. "I ain't never heard of the French celebrating Waterloo," he told The Associated Press. I ain't never heard of the Germans celebrating the invasion of Normandy, or ... the bombing and destruction of Berlin. I ain't never heard of the Spanish celebrating the destruction of the Armada. Asked to clarify, Meredith said: "Did you find anything 50 years ago that I should be celebrating?" Ole Miss administrators today don't shy away from the history of a half century ago. For the past year, Ole Miss has sponsored lectures and other events to commemorate Meredith's Oct. 1, 1962, enrollment and the ensuing changes that have made the university more diverse. In a state with a 37 percent black population, Ole Miss now has a black enrollment of about 16.6 percent, and the current student body president, Kim Dandridge, is black - the fourth black person elected to the post. University officials are careful to say the events are for commemoration, not celebration. Mississippi's segregationist governor in 1962, Ross Barnett declared that no school would be integrated on his watch. He denounced the federal government as "evil and illegal forces of tyranny" for ordering Ole Miss to enroll Meredith, a 29-year-old Air Force veteran who had already taken classes at historically black Jackson State College. But even as Barnett whipped the white populace into a segregationist frenzy, he privately negotiated with President John F. Kennedy and his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, to try to save face as it became clear that federal authorities would escort Meredith onto campus and make sure he enrolled. In the face of Mississippi's defiance, federal authorities deployed more than 3,000 soldiers and more than 500 law enforcement officers to Oxford. An angry mob of students and outsiders yelled and hurled bricks. Tear gas canisters exploded amid the oaks and magnolias. Two white men were killed. More than 200 people were injured, including 160 U.S. marshals.

Brandt Snedeker surges to lead at British Open; Tiger Woods close behind ANNES, England - Amid plenty of wayward swings, Brandt Snedeker and Adam Scott were steady as can be at the British Open. And look who's lurking right behind them: Tiger Woods. Snedeker, a 31-year-old Tennessean who had never made the cut in golf's oldest major, surged to the lead with another bogey-free round Friday, shooting a 6-under 64 that left him tied with Nick Faldo for the lowest 36-hole score in Open history. CBSSports.com: 2012 British Open Leaderboard Faldo posted a 130 total at Muirfield in 1992 - the lowest halfway total in any major, for that matter - on the way to the last of his three British titles. Snedeker matched him with a 10-under showing over the first two days, and can only hope that come Sunday he'll be in the same position Faldo was two decades ago. Holding the claret jug. "I'm sure everybody in this room is in about as much shock as I am right now," Snedeker said after coming to the media center. My mantra all week has been to get the ball on the greens as fast as possible. Once I'm on there, I have a pretty good hand on the speed of the greens. I'm just going to try and keep doing that over the weekend. Scott and Woods may have something to say about that at Royal Lytham & St. Annes, where the weather hasn't been much of a factor but some devilish pin placements began to spread out the field. Rory McIlroy went tumbling off the leaderboard. Phil Mickelson went home, missing the cut for only the fourth time in 19 Open appearances. Scott, who has Woods' former caddie on his bag, teed off in the afternoon after tying the course record with a 64 on Thursday, a mark that Snedeker quickly matched again 24 hours later. Even though the first-round lead was gone by the time he stepped on the course, the Aussie didn't wilt after seeing a new name atop the scoreboard. Instead, he turned it up on the back side, making three birdies capped by a 10-footer at the tough finishing hole, leaving him at 67 for the day and 131 overall. "It's kind of a culmination of everything I've done over the last couple of years," Scott said. I feel like this is the path I've been going down and just happens to have happened here that I've put myself in good position after two days at a major. Woods, whose ex-caddie Steve Williams now works for Scott, had the crowd roaring late in the day, holing out from the bunker behind the 18th green for a closing birdie. He pumped his fist and let out a yell - just like old times, before injuries and personal problems sidetracked his quest to beat Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 major titles. Woods has been stuck on 14 for more than four years, but he's got himself in position to break the drought with a 67 Friday that pushed his total to 134, just four strokes off the lead heading into the weekend. Snedeker kept up his assault on the fairways, the key to navigating the claustrophobic layout in northwestern England. He rapped in four birdies on the front side to make the turn with a 4-under 30. He rolled in a 25-footer for another birdie at the par-5 11th, then put his tee shot in the middle of the green on the par-3 12th and calmly sank the putt - his sixth birdie of the round. He's got 10 of those over the first two days. Just as important, Snedeker has yet to make a bogey. "No bogeys around here is getting some good breaks and playing some pretty good golf," he said. Woods rolled in a couple of early birdies before some misadventures in the rough at the par-5 11th cost him a bogey. But he sank an 18-footer for birdie at the 16th before stealing another stroke at the end. Having his ex-caddie Steve Williams on the bag for Scott only adds to the potential drama on the weekend. Matt Kuchar (67), Graeme McDowell (69) and Paul Lawrie (71) kept themselves in the hunt at 136. Out on the course, Jason Dufner and Thomas Aiken were also at 4 under. Ernie Els (70) was another stroke back, while the group at 138 included No. 1-ranked Luke Donald and Steve Stricker. Snedeker is mostly remembered for making an emotional run at the 2008 Masters and winding up in a tie for third. Otherwise, he's never been much of a factor in the majors; in fact, he was 0-for-3 in making the cut at his previous British Opens. That wasn't a concern this time, not the way he's been playing. Snedeker proved there were plenty of birdies to be had if you kept the ball in the fairway, allowing him to reach 31 of 36 greens in regulation (86 percent) over the first two days. For many players, that sort of consistency proved elusive. McIlroy, who opened with a 67, knocked his ball onto an adjoining tee box at No. 3, needed a couple of whacks to escape a towering pot bunker on the ninth, and struggled to a 75 that left him a daunting 10 strokes out of the lead. "It's just tough when you're really trying to get something going and it's just not quite happening," McIlroy said. Mickelson, the runner-up last year at Royal St. George but never an Open champion, could've warmed up the jet before he even made the turn. Three double-bogeys led to a 78 and an 11-over 151 total. Late in the day, only eight players in the 156-man field were below him on the scoreboard. "I really don't know what to say," Mickelson said after his worst Open round since 2008. I obviously played terrible. But Donald gave the English fans a thrill with four birdies in five holes on the front side, pushing him onto the leaderboard. "Luuuuuke!" the gallery chanted after Donald rolled one in at No. 8 and pumped his fist. He dropped back with a sloppy approach shot at the 13th that rocketed through the green and disappeared into an especially tall patch of grass. Unable to play it, he had to take a one-stroke penalty. But he recovered for a 68, leaving him at least in the mix for his first major title. "I'm certainly feeling more and more comfortable," Donald said. It's nice to string a couple of solid rounds together in a major. Obviously where I am in my career, I need to be contending. And obviously this was a good solid two rounds. I'm looking forward to the weekend. The weather has been largely uneventful, except for the remnants of a heavy rain overnight. The course was inundated, turning some bunkers into ponds and prompting the R&A to request fans delay their arrival so the grounds could dry out. The bunkers were the main issue for the players. Already vulnerable to flooding because of the closeness of the Irish Sea and rains that have been over the top even by English standards, several traps were transformed into small ponds by the latest batch of showers. PGA champion Keegan Bradley had to hit one of his bunker shots out of a couple of inches of water because there was no place to drop it. But the forecast for the weekend was mostly dry.

Missed Chances to Stop Dugard's Kidnapper The Jaycee Dugard case is a story of more than two decades of failures by three separate governmental entities that were supposed to supervise Phillip Garrido, the registered sex offender who would hold Dugard captive for 18 years. The United States Parole Commission, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the local Contra Costa Sheriff's office all missed opportunities to prevent or stop Garrido's unspeakable crimes. Here are some of their most glaring alleged mistakes. Releasing Garrido: The first big mistake was apparently made by the U.S. Parole Commission, which released Garrido from prison on Jan. 20, 1988. After kidnapping Katie Callaway Hall in 1977, Garrido received a 50-year federal sentence. In his 2009 report on the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's supervision of Garrido, California Inspector General David R. Shaw called Garrido's release "inexplicable." Had the U.S. Parole Commission never let Garrido go, he would have never been able to abduct, rape and father children with Jaycee Dugard. Early Parole Termination: The U.S. Parole Commission granted Garrido early termination of his federal parole on March 9, 1999, basing its decision on his clean record. At the time, a U.S. parole agent wrote Garrido a letter thanking him for his "cooperation," according to parole documents released to the media last year. Multiple Home Visits Missed Crime Despite Dugard Sighting: The California Department of Corrections took charge of Garrido's supervision in 1999. The California Inspector General's report said that CDCR officers paid 60 home visits to Garrido between June 1999 and August 2009 when he was arrested for abducting Dugard. Yet during those visits, parole officers failed to detect Dugard and her daughters living on Garrido's property, despite some obvious evidence. A 2010 report from the California state attorney general's office later revealed that parole agents had in fact seen and spoken to Dugard but also failed to take action. It was not clear when agents made contact with Dugard. No Action Taken on Girl Seen at Garrido's Home: On June 17, 2008, a parole officer noticed the presence of a 12-year-old girl -- later determined to be one of daughters Garrido fathered with Dugard -- on Garrido's property during at least one visit but failed to act. At the time, Garrido said the girl was his brother's daughter, according to the California Inspector General's report. Garrido's brother does not have a daughter. "If the parole agent had taken this basic investigative step (of contacting Garrido's brother), he would have determined that Garrido had been dishonest and could have investigated further," the IG's report said. The report also cited the following failures by authorities: Wrong Classification: The CDCR failed to adequately classify Garrido, given his history as a violent sexual predator, and failed to supervise him accordingly. Late Visit: A parole agent for CDCR did not first visit Garrido's home until 2000, even though CDCR parole officers were assigned to the case in 1999. Missing Information: The CDCR failed to obtain key information from federal parole authorities about Garrido. Poor Communication: The CDCR failed to talk to neighbors or local public safety agencies about Garrido. Missed Clue -- Utility Wires: The CDCR failed to investigate visible utility wires running from Garrido's house toward the concealed compound where Jaycee Dugard was kept prisoner. Parole Violations: The CDCR failed to act on information that Garrido had violated his parole terms. Warning of Children on Property Dismissed: The Contra Costa Sheriff's office had the opportunity to stop Garrido in November 2006 after it responded to a 911 call, claiming there were children living on Garridos' property. A representative from the sheriff's office visited the house after the call, met Garrido on his front lawn, determined there was no threat and left. At an August 2009 press conference, Sheriff Warren Rupf took responsibility for the error but said that his office was not aware of Garrido's sex offender status. Last year, the California state legislature approved a $20 million settlement to compensate Dugard for failing to properly supervise Garrido. Watch more about Jaycee Dugard, including her recovery, on "20/20."

Greek state television channel criticised for cutting Downton Abbey gay kiss Greek state television came under fire from the country's main opposition party and critics for editing out a gay kiss on Monday's primetime premiere of popular British period drama Downton Abbey. Greeks took to social networking sites such as Twitter to complain about the NET channel's decision to axe a scene from episode one of the first series showing a kiss between a visiting duke and Downton's unscrupulous footman Thomas. NET defended its move, citing parental guidance viewing rules. "As incredible as it may seem for a democratic country in the 21st century, officials of the NET television channel censored the scene of a kiss between men from the TV drama Downton Abbey," the SYRIZA party said in a statement. This is of course an obvious case of censorship, an extreme act of homophobia and discrimination which unfortunately, after what has been happening recently, we cannot characterize as unprecedented. One SYRIZA lawmaker, Dimitris Papadimoulis, questioned whether the omission was due to pressure from the far-right Golden (GD) Dawn party or religious authorities with a tweet asking: "NET 'cut' a gay kiss on the premiere of a top TV series. Who decided this censorship? (Bishop) Seraphim of Piraeus and GD? Greek state television said the kiss was not censored but rather edited out to comply with rules on the time slot and parental consent label given to the show, which was aired at 10:05 p.m. An unedited version will be broadcast later on Tuesday night, it said. "The love affair between the two men... was not censored," said Costas Spyropoulos, managing director of the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation. The kiss was not shown because of the time the programme was broadcast and the corresponding parental guidance warnings. Greece has seen an upsurge in right-wing extremism since a national election in June ushered the ultra-nationalist Golden Dawn party to parliament for the first time in its history. The latest controversy comes days after dozens of demonstrators, including Golden Dawn lawmakers, clashed with police outside an Athens theatre and forced the postponement of an American play that depicts Jesus and his apostles as gay. Television images showed bearded black-robed priests with crosses in their hands tearing up posters promoting the play, while one woman was shown giving a Nazi-style salute. The third series of Downton is currently being broadcast to British ITV audiences on Sunday evenings.

CNN's Crowley to be a journalist during debate Candy Crowley, the moderator for Tuesday's second presidential debate, isn't backing down. The CNN reporter and host said Monday that she intends to take an active part in the town-hall-style debate, despite efforts by the campaigns of President Obama and GOP nominee Mitt Romney to curtail her role. The campaigns told the sponsoring Commission on Presidential Debates they were concerned that Crowley would ask the candidates follow-up questions after a pre-selected group of voters posed theirs. Campaign reps said that was outside the debate rules and voiced their concerns Monday to debate commission co-Chairman Frank Fahrenkopf. Crowley left little doubt Monday that she plans to function as a journalist during the debate at Hofstra University in New York. On CNN's "The Situation Room," she told colleague Wolf Blitzer: "I'm trying to just know what the facts are, what the [candidates"] positions are, so that when something comes up that maybe could use a little further explanation, it might be as simple as: "But the question, sir, was oranges and you said apples. Could you answer oranges? Or it might be as simple as: "But, gee, how does that fit with the following thing?" " In July, Crowley and the debates commission agreed with the campaigns that the moderator would "facilitate discussion," Fahrenkopf said Monday. That meant she could ask a follow-up question on the topic under discussion, but not raise a new subject, he said. "The commission and the moderator are not parties to" any agreement the campaigns may have, said Fahrenkopf, former chairman of the Republican National Committee, adding: "She agreed to abide by the rules of the commission, not the campaigns." Fahrenkopf said "facilitating discussion" is "a very broad thing. As long as she stays within her mandate, she's not breaking any rules. She's not supposed to be someone who's arguing with the candidates. She's not supposed to be an advocate in any way or inject herself into the debate. Beyond that, she's not bound by whatever the campaigns agreed to. Crowley is the first woman in 20 years to moderate a presidential debate; Carole Simpson, then of ABC News, moderated a similar town-hall-style debate in 1992. Simpson didn't initiate questions but did ask follow-up questions. Former network anchors Tom Brokaw and Charlie Gibson have also moderated town-hall debates.

Police Find Body Inside Fire-Gutted Calif. Home After Daylong Standoff Over Deputy Killing

Killer kept wife's body in suitcase 2 days VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- A Canadian man confessed to killing his wife, stuffing her body in a suitcase and driving it around for two days in the Vancouver area. Prosecutors at the British Columbia Supreme Court said 36-year-old Zhongming Mou admitted to strangling his wife in a custody dispute over their two children. He said he drove the children around to church and tourist destinations in July 2011 with the woman's body in the suitcase in the car, The (Vancouver) Province reported. Mou was originally charged with first-degree murder, but in exchange for his confession, the charges were reduced to second-degree, which allows for an earlier bid for parole. The two sons are now 4 and 3 years old. When Mou is sentenced Friday, prosecutors said they will ask for a sentence of 15-20 years, the newspaper said. Mou said after two days, he weighted the suitcase with rocks and put it in the Fraser River. It was later found by fishermen. Personal effects of his wife, Yating Hu, were found buried in the backyard of his parents' home, the court heard.

Getting started on your small business tax return NEW YORK (AP) - Do not look at the calendar and think, "I don't need to start on my small business tax return yet. I have more than three months to do it. That attitude is begging for last-minute panic and mistakes that will cost you money. Tax returns are due April 17 this year. The usual deadline, April 15, falls on a Sunday. And the 16th is Emancipation Day, a holiday in Washington, D.C. So you get two extra days to get your return filed. Here's how to avoid problems when April arrives: If you're planning to have your return done by a certified public accountant or other tax professional, you need to make an appointment now to get the process started. If you don't have a preparer yet, don't hire a friend of a friend or someone's brother. Start looking now for someone who understands your kind of business. There are two reasons for this. First, there are federal and state tax laws that govern certain kinds of businesses, so you want a preparer who's familiar with what you need to pay. Second, it's a good idea to hire someone who'll do more than help you with taxes. You'll better off with someone like a CPA who can advise you on running your business year-round. You want to sign on early with a tax professional. Their schedules fill up fast, and the closer you get to April 17, the less time they'll have to get to know you and your business. And anyone who shows up at a CPA or attorney in early April and expects to start the process then is likely to hear: "We're going to get you an extension" of the filing deadline. If this is the first time you're doing your own business tax return, start learning how to use tax prep software now. Rushing at the last minute means you can make a mistake. You need to have time to understand what you're doing, and to get some help if you can't figure out the software or the tax laws. Here's a for-instance: You lost money last year. It's the eleventh hour and you don't know much tax law. So you might be inclined to take the full loss for 2011. But you might be able to apply some of the loss to previous years -- or use it to reduce your taxes in the future. The government calls that a net operating loss carryback or carryforward. If you don't take the time to learn, you can miss out on tax breaks. And mistakes can cost you more than you know. A return that has a lot of problems is likely to be singled out for closer review by the IRS or state tax authorities. And if you haven't paid enough taxes, you'll be facing interest and late penalty payments. They add up. No matter who's doing your return, you need to have your invoices, receipts, checkbook and ledger in good shape. Ideally, if you've been using accounting software to keep your books, you can import your data into a tax prep program, or just hand over files to your accountant. But if you're what CPAs ruefully call a "shoebox client," and have a pile of unsorted papers, you're a recipe for disaster unless you get everything straightened out now. If you hand the pile over to your preparer and let them figure it out, remember that you're paying by the hour to do something you could do. If you don't have time to do the sorting, hire an accounting student as an intern. You'll pay less than if your CPA does it. And, by the way, some accountants will refuse to do it for you. Trying to do your own taxes with that pile in front of you is an invitation to leave something out. Another expensive mistake. And realize you're overwhelmed and can't get your taxes done on time or right, file for an extension. There's no harm in it -- many business owners routinely get six-month extensions of the filing deadline as a way to manage their cash flow. Tax professionals agree, filing for an extension is highly unlikely to make the IRS want to audit you. The government doesn't have enough employees to look into why millions of taxpayers file extensions. A tax preparer can easily file an extension for you. Tax prep software is another easy way. Or go to the IRS website, www.irs.gov, and download Form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time To File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return. Owners with corporations need to file Form 7004. You can e-file them through the IRS site.

Judge orders tobacco companies to say they lied about smoking risk WASHINGTON - A federal judge ordered tobacco companies to publish corrective statements that say they lied about the dangers of smoking and that disclose smoking's health effects, including the death on average of 1,200 people a day. U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler previously had said she wanted the industry to pay for corrective statements in various types of advertisements. But Tuesday's ruling was the first time she had specified what the statements will say. Each corrective ad is to be prefaced by a statement that a federal court has concluded that the defendant tobacco companies "deliberately deceived the American public about the health effects of smoking." Among the required statements are that smoking kills more people than murder, AIDS, suicide, drugs, car crashes and alcohol combined, and that "secondhand smoke kills over 3,000 Americans a year." The corrective statements are part of a case the government brought in 1999 under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Kessler ruled in that case in 2006 that the nation's largest cigarette makers concealed the dangers of smoking for decades, and said she wanted the industry to pay for "corrective statements" in various types of ads, both broadcast and print. The Justice Department proposed corrective statements, which Kessler used as the basis for some of the ones she ordered Tuesday.

Wife's alleged acid attack kills Cambodian PUMRON, Cambodia, March 12 (UPI) -- A Cambodia man died after his wife allegedly attacked him and a woman identified as his girlfriend with acid, authorities said. Horng Lairapo, the medical and legal manager for the Cambodian Acid Survivors Charity, said Sim Yi, 42, died of his injuries at 6 p.m. Friday at Preah Kosamak Hospital in Phnom Penh after being transferred there from a provincial hospital, The Phnom Penh Post reported. About half of Sim's body had been burned in the attack in Kampong Cham province's Pumron village, Horng said. Srei Leak, 19, identified as Sim's girlfriend, suffered burns to about 20 percent of her body and underwent the first of a series of skin grafts Friday at the Children's Surgical Center in Phnom Penh, Horng said. He said she may not recover normal sight in her right eye. Sim's wife, Chheng Mao, 50, allegedly doused him and Srei with acid Friday morning after her husband took the younger woman back to the couple's house, Memot district police officer Him Sarak said. He said Chheng fled after the attack and had not been arrested. Sim became the first person to die of an acid attack since passage of a Cambodia law in November that makes acid attacks punishable by up to life in prison.

Severn Trent customers see water bills rise 5.2pc in three months "Customer prices in Severn Trent Water increased by 5.2pc [including inflation] from April 1, 2012," Severn said in a trading update. Consumption across our measured income base has declined year on year in the period, in line with our expectations. The utilities group, which serves 8m customers in the UK, also said it is "continuing to monitor... unemployment levels" as fears grow that more people will be unable to pay their bills as household costs rise. It forecasts a bad debt level of around 2.2pc of turnover for the full year. The company added that operating costs are set to rise, due to an expected increase in inflation (currently at 2.4pc), "a full year of operating private drains and sewer assets and increases in quasi taxes." However, it expects to offset these with improvements in efficiency. The group's interest charge is expected to be slightly lower year on year, and the current tax rate 2012/13 remains at 24pc to 26pc. Angelos Anastasiou, an analyst at Investec, said: "Today's statement confirms that 'trading across the group has been in line with its expectations and prior guidance', and the accompanying comments confirm this. There are no surprises, but we have updated our numbers, leading to modest upgrades. Severn came under fire in May over its decision to pay a £150m special dividend, despite rising consumer water bills and a slump in annual profits. At the time, chief executive Tony Wray said that "our customers get the lowest combined bills in the UK." The shares fell 0.6pc to £16.94.

Britain weather: despite deluge, ministers tell us to do more to save water Caroline Spelman, the Environment Secretary, said the spring deluge would not be enough to end the drought affecting many parts of the country. "I could be deluded into thinking that I had the power to make it rain this week," she joked. Labour MPs questioned the Government's competence. Mary Creagh, the shadow environment secretary, told MPs the hosepipe ban had prompted a "bore hole boom," as home owners took measures into their own hands. Tornadoes left a trail of damaged cars, uprooted trees and fallen power lines in parts of Britain yesterday. A farmer in Essex said he was knocked to the ground as a tornado swept through his buildings, while a dog walker in Rugby said he was spun round after he saw a "black sky" sweep towards him. Forecasters said there was the potential for more tornadoes, with thunderstorms likely this weekend.

China dairy recalls hundreds of cartons of tainted milk BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese dairy company has recalled hundreds of cartons of milk after a mechanical error tainted the batch with alkaline water, the latest blow to China's scandal-plagued dairy industry. The recall comes just weeks after China's top-selling dairy firm, Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co, pulled six months' worth of infant formula from shelves due to mercury contamination. China's milk industry is struggling to restore consumer confidence after a series of scandals, the worst of which was in 2008 when milk and infant formula laced with the industrial chemical melamine killed at least six children and made nearly 300,000 ill. In the latest incident, the Bright Dairy & Food Co., called Guangming in Chinese, posted a recall notice on its website after customers complained online of bad smelling and discolored liquid in the company's 950 ml cartons (about a quarter gallon) of Ubest milk, state media reported on Thursday. A seconds-long mechanical delay during routine maintenance at one of its Shanghai factories caused a "small amount" of alkaline cleaning solution to be flushed into 300 cartons of milk produced on Monday, the company's notice said. We deeply apologize for any impact this has had on our customers. From today on, we will strictly strengthen relevant management procedures," it said, thanking media and customers for their "supervision." Bright Dairy said it would provide door-to-door apologies to customers who bought the bad milk and carry out a strict factory inspection. The Shanghai Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision said it was investigating the case. China has struggled to rein in health violations in the unruly and vast food sector despite harsh punishments and repeated vows to deal with the problem. The country is notorious for its food safety woes, with frequent news reports of fake cooking oil, tainted milk and even watermelons that explode from absorbing too much fertilizer. Reporting by Michael Martina and Sabrina Mao; Editing by Ken Wills

Charles Walker MP on his mental health issues

Brad Pitt stages "mini-Grammys" show to help New Orleans By Kathy Finn NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Every time he crosses the Claiborne Avenue bridge heading east across the New Orleans Industrial Canal, actor Brad Pitt gets a lump in his throat. From that vantage point, he can look down on a section of the city's Lower Ninth Ward that is ground zero for "Make It Right," a home rebuilding initiative Pitt launched to help people whose homes were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which killed 1,500 people and devastated the historic Southern city. "Each time I come back to New Orleans and drive over that bridge, I get this swell of joy," Pitt told Reuters, his eyes going watery. It's means a lot to me to watch that neighborhood take shape. Pitt and his movie star partner, Angelina Jolie, own a house in the city's French Quarter, and they visit the city regularly with their six children. The actor shares his feelings about the city and its recovery with a few thousand people on Saturday evening, as he and comedian Ellen DeGeneres, a New Orleans native, host the Make It Right Foundation's biggest fundraiser at a New Orleans hotel. Billed as "A Night to Make It Right," the star-studded, sold-out gala is expected to draw 1,200 guests who paid between $1,000 and $2,500 to attend a dinner prepared by New Orleans celebrity chefs John Besh and Emeril Lagasse, and a concert featuring musical stars Rihanna, Sheryl Crow, Seal and Dr. John. The lineup includes Hollywood luminaries and honorary hosts Sean Penn, Spike Lee, Josh Brolin and Kevin Spacey. In addition, some 2,000 people have anted up $150 for an "after party" hosted by actor-comedian Aziz Ansari, with musical performances by Kanye West, Snoop Dogg and the Soul Rebels. Asked if it was difficult to get the big names to journey to New Orleans for the event, Pitt joked, "Even though these people don't like me that much, it really was simple." Noting that the celebrities traveled from as far away as Paris for the event, Pitt said the turnout was a mark of their regard for New Orleans. "They carved this time out of their schedule strictly for this event, and came on their own dime," he said. We have so much incredible talent that wanted to come and support the city - it's going to be like a mini-Grammys show. Pitt estimated the events and sponsorships would raise $4 million for Make it Right, which aims to build 150 homes in the Lower Ninth Ward and has pulled in about $30 million since its founding four years ago. Since 2007, 75 homes have sprouted in a 16-block area that was at the epicenter of the Hurricane Katrina tragedy. Built to the specifications of architects selected through an international design competition held by Make It Right, all of the homes stand 5 to 8 feet off the ground, on pilings designed to keep the homes dry in the event of another flood. Multi-angled steel roofs, windows of ultra-strong glass and tough siding materials are designed to withstand hurricane-force winds. Solar panels, rainwater collection systems and maximum air-circulation designs created homes with low utility bills. The new houses are a sharp contrast to the modest, mostly one-story homes that characterized the neighborhood before Katrina. Many of them stand just yards (meters) away from the spot where an Industrial Canal floodwall ruptured after the storm, putting the neighborhood under several feet of water. Gloria Mae Guy still talks about how she and her neighbor climbed to a rooftop as the rising water forced them from their homes. "We held on all night until a boat came and they helped us get out," she said. Guy, 72, is back in the spot where she and her husband raised their five children, but now she lives in a modern, energy-efficient, two-story home, designed and built by Make It Right contractors. "I'm happy to be home, and I wouldn't be here if it weren't for Brad Pitt," she said. Tom Darden, executive director of the Make It Right Foundation, said Pitt made the goal of rebuilding according to standards of sustainable construction clear from the beginning, but equally important was finding ways to reduce construction costs. "Brad said, 'We're going to build the best house we possibly can build and figure out how to make it affordable,'" Darden said. It was a tall order, but through several years of studying sustainable building techniques and amassing contractors familiar with the methods, the foundation is gradually bringing its costs down, Darden said. Darden emphasized that while Make It Right was formed to help low-income residents remain in the neighborhood where generations of their families have lived, the initiative was not about handouts. Applicants for the Make It Right homes must pass an approvals process that requires showing proof of income and the ability to make payments on a mortgage, along with insurance and maintenance costs. Another goal is to apply the techniques learned in New Orleans to other areas in need, Darden said, noting that Make It Right had recently begun projects in Newark, New Jersey, and Kansas City, Missouri. "Brad is our visionary," he said. I think for him it's largely a social justice issue and he wants to help as many people as he can. Editing by Greg McCune and Peter Cooney

'American Horror Story' is renewed for a third season Frank Ockenfels / FX Jessica Lange as Sister Jude on "American Horror Story: Asylum." Get ready for more twisted and creepy things to happen on FX. The network announced Thursday morning that it has ordered a third season of "American Horror Story." The series, created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk of "Glee," will return with a new story line in fall 2013. Jessica Lange, who played Constance Langdon in season one and Sister Jude in the current season, will also be back in a new role. Murphy and Falchuk have not yet announced what the upcoming miniseries, which will have 13 episodes, will be called. "With 'American Horror Story: Asylum,' Ryan and Brad have raised the bar in every way from Murder House, the fist 'American Horror Story' miniseries," FX Networks president John Landgraf said in a statement. And their original idea - the notion of doing an anthological series of miniseries with a repertory cast - has proven groundbreaking, wildly successful and will prove to be trendsetting. We can't wait to see what deviously brilliant ideas they come up with for their third miniseries. "The 'American Horror Story'anthology is a labor of love for all of us and we could not be prouder of the work our brilliant company of actors and everyone on the production team is doing this year," said Murphy. To John and our friends at FX and Dana Walden and Gary Newman at 20th, we thank you for your vote of confidence -- and to our loyal audience, keep watching! The current season of "AHS" ends on Jan. 23. The show will resume production in the summer. Besides Jessica Lang, which actors would you like to see return for season three? Give us your picks on our Facebook page!

Is sharing the bed with baby safe? If Facebook is any indication, new parents love to take photos of their partners happily dozing with a sleeping baby. But while this moment may be picturesque, how safe is it? The practice of having infants sleep in the same bed as mom and dad is known as bed-sharing. Sometimes done deliberately and sometimes done out of sheer exhaustion, it has become a hot-button issue among child sleep experts and parents alike. The American Academy of Pediatrics frowns on bed-sharing and called it "hazardous" in a 2005 policy statement. The main concern is that it increases the risk of death for the child, either by being smothered or from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Advocates of the practice say that when done correctly, sharing a bed helps parents - particularly nursing mothers - bond with their infants and even get a better night's sleep. Read on for two views on the topic. Bed-sharing is dangerous and should be avoided in the interest of the baby's safety. Dr. Marian Willinger is the special assistant for SIDS at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. There's simply no scientific evidence that says bed-sharing is safe. There is scientific evidence, though, that bed-sharing increases the risk for SIDS, as well as the child's risk of suffocation. The baby can be overlain by the parent, they can get entrapped between the mattress and the box spring or under the pillow, or they can be suffocated by heavy bedding. A baby is diagnosed as dying from SIDS if - after a complete review of the medical history, an autopsy and examination of the death scene - no other cause of death can be found. Studies have found that the risk of SIDS increases anywhere from two to tenfold when parents bed-share, depending on the bed-sharing situation and the age of the baby. We don't know exactly why that is, but we do know that babies who die of SIDS often have brainstem deficits associated with their ability to regulate their breathing and heart rate, specifically when faced with reduced carbon dioxide and elevated temperatures. In a bed-sharing environment, given that the baby is sleeping with other bodies and potentially with blankets, we can hypothesize that SIDS would be consistent with these potential environmental stresses. When we talk about the potential risk for overlay, entrapment and suffocation, it's a little more clear-cut. Parents can't always be awake and can't always be watching their baby. Babies have very compressible chests when they're little, as well as tiny little heads and tiny noses and tiny mouths. If these get covered, it's very dangerous. In our day and age, when everybody is working just to make ends meet and new parents don't have a lot of time to spend with their baby, I completely understand that there are a lot of reasons why parents would want to bring their baby in bed. And that's fine, as long as they're awake. When it's time for the parent or the baby to go to sleep, the baby needs its own separate place. The best sleeping environment for babies is to have their bed or crib in the parents' room. We don't really know why, but we do have evidence that room-sharing reduces the risk of SIDS. It's good for the baby and a wonderful way to bond. But bed-sharing is dangerous. I've seen what SIDS or overlaying has done to the families of parents who have overlain their children - some families do well and some families fall apart. But I can tell you one thing, they never forget that baby. I know that there are bed-sharing advocates that say they've always done this and they've never lost a baby, but this is about probabilities. When parents and babies share a bed, it promotes bonding, good sleep and wellness for the whole family. Dr. William Sears is a pediatrician in Dana Point and the author of the book "The Baby Sleep Book: The Complete Guide to a Good Night's Rest for the Whole Family." What I tell patients is that the best place for a baby to sleep is wherever the parents and baby get the best night's sleep. Research has shown, though, that it's best for babies to be within sensory distance from mom, so they could be in a co-sleeper that's attached to or near the bed, or safely placed in the bed with the parents. I don't think bed-sharing is right for everyone, but I do think that it can be very beneficial. First of all, bed-sharing makes nighttimebreast-feedingeasier.Breast-fedbabies wake up more often, since breast milk is digested faster. When a baby and mother share a bed, the mother often wakes up just when, or even just before, the baby is ready to wake up, and she is able to easily nurse the baby with a minimal disruption to her own sleep. Babies get more milk this way, which helps them thrive. Many moms even find that despite the baby waking up more to breastfeed, both baby and mother are better rested. Many mothers also work outside the house during the day. When they share a bed with their babies at night, it gives them the closeness and touch that they miss during the day. That is also beneficial to the baby's development. Researchers at the University of Notre Dame have even speculated that bed-sharing may have a protective mechanism. Because of what might be an increased sensitivity to one another in a bed-sharing situation, the mother may instinctively awaken if the baby's breathing changes. There are some potential downfalls to parents and babies sleeping separately. When a baby is unattended to at night or sleeps apart from its mother, its stress hormones may become higher. When the baby has high stress hormones, it depletes the immune system, raises the heart rate and can even damage the brain, particularly since babies don't yet have the cerebral maturity to detoxify excess stress hormones. When babies and moms are closer together, on the other hand, the baby's stress hormones have been shown to go down and its oxygen intake is more stable. Not all parents should bed-share. Parents who are under the influence of drugs or alcohol should not sleep in the same bed with their babies, nor should very obese parents or parents who smoke. Mothers, who have a heightened awareness of the baby, should sleep next to the infant while bed-sharing rather than fathers, and no baby-sitters, aunts, uncles or other caregivers should bed-share. Parents should not sleep with their infants on a couch, beanbag or water bed - only a safe, firm mattress with light bedding and no excess pillows, stuffed animals or throws.

U.S. designates Afghanistan a major ally, creates defense ties Afghan president Hamid Karzai and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at a press conference in Kabul on July 7, 2012. Other nations including Japan, Pakistan and Egypt have non-NATO ally status The status allows Kabul and Washington to maintain defense relations Secretary of State Hillary Clinton makes the announcement in Kabul She says the designation is beneficial as U.S. troops withdraw (CNN) -- The United States named Afghanistan a major non-NATO ally Saturday, clearing the way for the two countries to maintain a defense and economic relationship even as American combat troops withdraw. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the designation during a surprise visit to Kabul. A day after the announcement, she will attend a gathering of international donors in Tokyo who will be asked to pledge financial support for Afghanistan after nearly all U.S.-led NATO troops pull out of the country by the end of 2014. The relationship is beneficial during the transition as both nations prepare for post-2014, according to Clinton. "It will open the door to Afghanistan's military to have a greater capacity and broader kind of relationship with the United States, and particularly the United States military," Clinton told reporters in Kabul. By granting such ally status, it makes Afghanistan eligible to receive military training and assistance, including expediting the sales and leasing of military equipment long after NATO troops leave. "There are a number of benefits that accrue to countries that have this designation," she said. They are able to have access to excess defense supplies, for example, and they can be part of certain kinds of training and capacity building. The United States gave Afghanistan the designation as part of an Enduring Strategic Partnership Agreement signed in May by President Barack Obama and his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai. Afghanistan joins Japan, Pakistan, Egypt, Israel and Australia, among others, granted major non-NATO ally status by the United States. Unlike NATO allies of the United States, who are bound together by a joint defense pact, there is no mutual defense guarantee as a non-NATO ally. Clinton made it clear the United States has no intention of abandoning Afghanistan after the troops withdrawal. "We will continue, of course, to protect Afghanistan from any efforts by insurgents and outsiders to destabilize Afghanistan," she said. Clinton and Karzai are headed to the meeting Sunday in Tokyo, where private and public donors are expected to pledge nearly $4 billion in aid for reconstruction. During the news conference, Clinton also hinted at thawing U.S.-Pakistani relations, which were virtually frozen after the killing of Osama bin Laden, U.S. claims that Pakistan failed to crackdown on insurgents conducting cross-border attacks in Afghanistan and Islamabad's demand that Washington apologize for the killing of 24 Pakistani soldiers in November 2011. Clinton apologized Tuesday for the killings, prompting Pakistan to allow trucks carrying supplies to NATO troops to cross from Pakistan into Afghanistan for the first time in seven months. "We were struck by the recent call from Pakistan's parliament that Pakistani territory shall not be used for any kind of attacks on other countries, and all foreign fighters, if found, shall be expelled from Pakistani soil," Clinton said during the news conference. So we want to deepen our security cooperation with Pakistan. Clinton said there would be a meeting on the "ministerial level" between Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United States at the Tokyo gathering. The United States has not publicly said how much money it will pledge, though Clinton said Saturday that "of course the United States will be making a substantial commitment." There are questions, though, about whether private and commercial donors will commit to large handouts without a guarantee that money won't be siphoned off by corruption rampant in Afghanistan. Clinton told reporters that she was "encouraged by what she was hearing" about financial pledges at the Tokyo meeting, but conceded corruption was a major challenge. Poverty and corruption are widespread in Afghanistan. It came in 172nd out of 187 countries in the United Nations' 2011 Human Development Index, which ranks nations based on life expectancy, education and living standards. Questions were raised after the United Nations announced an investigation in June into its Afghanistan development fund that pays the salaries of Afghan police amid allegations of misuse of funds. We take seriously any allegations of corruption that involve U.S. funds, and we are working with the United Nations to support the steps they have said they would take to address the concerns raised by donors about allegations of mismanagement of the Law and Order Trust Fund. Clinton said "mutual accountability would be discussed" at the meeting in Tokyo. CNN's Greg Seaby and Chelsea J. Carter contributed to this report.

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Jennifer Aniston tears up while talking engagement on "Chelsea Lately" Jennifer Aniston attends the 40th AFI Life Achievement Award honoring Shirley MacLaine held at Sony Pictures Studios on June 7, 2012, in Culver City, Calif. / Christopher Polk Jennifer Aniston got emotional during an appearance on "Chelsea Lately" while talking about her recent engagement to Justin Theroux. "I just got verklempt," the actress said, wiping away tears after host Chelsea Handler brought up the topic. Handler also shared some kind words for her friend. "He's the greatest guy ever," she told Aniston. You guys make the greatest couple ever. And I'm so happy for you too. Aniston, 42, and Theroux, 41, an actor-screenwriter, got engaged in August after dating for more than a year. Watch part of the "Chelsea Lately" interview below:

North Korea proclaims itself a nuclear state in new constitution May 31, 2012 -- Updated 0417 GMT (1217 HKT) North Korean soldiers salute during a military parade to mark 100 years since the birth of the country's founder Kim Il-Sung on April 15. North Korea proclaimed itself a "nuclear state" in a revised constitution this week Analyst: Appears to be directed at the U.S. as the rhetoric from Pyongyang rises Comes as signs are growing of activity at North Korea's nuclear test site Seoul (CNN) -- North Korea proclaimed itself a "nuclear state" this week following a revision of its constitution earlier this year. Kim Jong-Il has "transferred the country into an undefeated country with strong political ideology, a nuclear power state, and invincible military power," according to the updated constitution posted on its portal website Naenara. The website posted the revised constitution on Wednesday, according to Yonhap, the South Korean state affiliated news agency. The statement looks all too familiar. North Korea previously announced its nuclear capability through its state-run broadcaster and newspapers, "but no expression can be stronger than including it in their constitution," Professor Choi Jong Kun of Yonsei University told CNN. "It is an announcement of confirmation," he added, "and it appears to be directed to the U.S. and other relevant nations." The communist state carried out nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009. Pyongyang recently announced that it will press on with its nuclear program in response to what it calls "hostility from the United States." A defense publication, IHS Janes, also said it detected signs of activities ramping up at North Korea's nuclear test site, raising speculation Pyongyang may be preparing for a third nuclear test.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to learn today if he will be extradited to Sweden If the Supreme Court rejects his appeal it will mark the end of his lengthy legal battle in the UK, but it will still be open to him to ask the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg to intervene. Special arrangements are being made by the Supreme Court for today's ruling because of the worldwide interest of press and media in the judgment. The High Court declared that it would not be unfair or unlawful to extradite Assange. But his QC argued in the Supreme Court that the Swedish public prosecutor who signed the arrest warrant could not issue a valid document because she lacked impartiality and independence. Assange, who is on bail living with friends, attended the two-day hearing in person. Dinah Rose QC, for Assange, said his latest appeal raised the single issue of law as to whether the Swedish public prosecutor constituted a "judicial authority" capable of issuing a valid warrant under the provisions of the 2003 Extradition Act. It was common ground that if she did not, there was no legal basis for extradition. Ms Rose suggested it was obvious that a public prosecutor whose function it was to investigate and prosecute an individual "cannot exercise judicial authority in relation to that individual." As a matter of fundamental legal principle dating back hundreds of years, a judicial authority had to be impartial and independent both of the executive and the parties in a case. Clare Montgomery QC, for the Swedish Prosecution Authority, urged the judges - Lord Phillips, Lord Walker, Lady Hale, Lord Brown, Lord Mance, Lord Kerr and Lord Dyson - to reject the Assange appeal. She argued that the High Court was plainly correct to accept that the term "judicial authority" had a wide and autonomous meaning, and it was not restricted in the way contended for by Ms Rose. Since the start of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) scheme it had been the practice of a number of prominent member states to issue EAWs through public prosecutors. Ms Montgomery argued: "There is no conceivable breach of fundamental rights involved in such a process."

Quake tests looks for ways to shore up hospitals (AP) SAN DIEGO - What happens when a series of massive earthquakes hits a five-story medical facility with an intensive care unit, operating room and elevator? Structural engineers at the University of California, San Diego, hope to find out by repeatedly shaking such a building over the next two weeks as part of a $5 million experiment funded by government agencies, foundations and others. The experiment starts Tuesday. The project reflects a new way of thinking among earthquake safety experts who have been focusing on shoring up hospitals, large apartment buildings and schools so that communities can rebound quickly after a disaster. Since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in the San Francisco Bay Area and the 1994 Northridge temblor near Los Angeles, billions of dollars have been spent on retrofitting thousands of unreinforced brick buildings, roads, bridges and university buildings. Yet thousands of potentially dangerous concrete school buildings, high-rise apartments and hospitals that were built before California changed its building code in 1976 haven't been identified, according to experts. "What we are doing is the equivalent of giving a building an EKG to see how it performs after an earthquake and a post-earthquake fire," said Tara Hutchinson of the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego, the project's lead principal investigator. The project stands out because it will test what happens to items inside a building - such as elevators, stairs and medical equipment - rather than the building itself. The project's 80-foot structure was built atop a giant table that will shake in ways similar to recent major quakes, such as the Northridge quake and Chile's magnitude-8.8 temblor, which struck in 2010. The top two floors are outfitted with a surgery room and intensive care unit. More than 500 sensors and 80 cameras will be placed strategically throughout the building to monitor everything from the deformation of the rebar buried in its concrete foundations to the vibrating hospital beds and swaying surgical lights. There are modern ceiling systems, a heating and air conditioning system, functional sprinklers, computer servers, large and small laboratory equipment and electrical equipment and wiring. Researchers also will look at fire barriers and will run controlled burning tests following the two-week experiment to help understand how flames and smoke might spread in such a building. Researchers expect to publish their findings after spending the next year analyzing the data.

David Marshall: Andy Murray as created a buzz around tennis There was not a dry eye in Scotland on Sunday evening following Andy Murray's amazing exploits on Centre Court in one of the greatest Wimbledon men's singles finals of the modern era. Despite the nation willing Andy on, Roger Federer proved just too good, but the Scot's time will surely come and the legacy will be the inspiration he offers to people the length and the breadth of the country and beyond. Andy has created a real buzz around the sport which will undoubtedly lead to more people picking up a racquet. Through allplay, the national campaign to encourage more people to play tennis, those new to the sport can discover places to play close by, find friends to play against and record and track results, all for free. We do have some outstanding tennis facilities in Scotland, from 220 member clubs to pay-and-play facilities such as the Craiglockhart Indoor Tennis Centre here in the Capital. However, not all parts of Scotland have the same opportunity, and we are undertaking a full audit of places to play tennis as part of our four-year facilities strategy to identify gaps and priorities for investment. It is important that we ensure that the infrastructure is in place to support the growth of the game and we will require the support of our funding partners to ensure adequate provision to allow us to meet the increasing demand. Tennis Scotland is working in partnership with the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) to look at the development of park sites. While there are many good examples such as the Meadows, 16 outdoor acrylic courts in an excellent condition in the heart of Edinburgh, there is also a significant number in disrepair. We will ensure that we work with local authorities to open these sites up, establishing tennis beacons in our communities and offering more people the chance to play tennis. Having a boy from Dunblane competing on tennis's greatest stage has given our youngsters the belief that they, too, can do it. You can see that this week at Craiglockhart, where the best of Scotland has been competing against the rest of the world at the Aegon Junior International Edinburgh. Of course, we'd love to see more children taking part, and we are working to support tennis delivery in schools. Across Scotland, more than 1000 schools have received £500 equipment packs through the Tennis Foundation and the Aegon schools tennis programme. We still have work to do to challenge people's perceptions about the sport - in particular in relation to the cost of participating. On average, club membership costs £2.81 a week for an adult, 94p per week for a junior and only 40p per week for an under-10 competing in LTA Mini Tennis. Many park sites across Scotland now offer tennis for free, so if your child is a budding Andy Murray now is the ideal time to get involved. David Marshall is chief executive officer at Tennis Scotland THE good news for those suffering withdrawal symptoms is that another bout of Murray mania is just around the corner, with Andy going for gold at the London Olympics. But the world number four isn't alone in flying the flag for Scotland on the court. Brother Jamie already has a Wimbledon title to his name, triumphing in mixed doubles with Serb Jelena Jankovic in 2007. Scots duo Colin Fleming and Jocelyn Rae already have gold medals round their necks after glory at the Commonwealth Games in India two years ago, while Britain's Davis Cup team is led by Glasgow-born Leon Smith.

Recipes for Rosh Hashana - Slide Show - NYTimes.com

Anger and Despair in Video Messages From Besieged Syrian City of Homs Video said to have been recorded early on Wednesday in Baba Amr, a district of the Syrian city of Homs, as a rocket struck near a mosque. Syrian activists inside besieged neighborhoods in the city of Homs posted more disturbing and often graphic video on YouTube on Wednesday, showing what they said was the deadly toll of the continuing assault on civilian areas that have slipped out of government control. In one angry message, said to have been recorded on Wednesday in a field hospital in the Baba Amr neighborhood, an English-speaking activist showed the camera the body of a 2-year-old boy, and part of the rocket said to have killed him, and asked: "Is this what the U.N. is waiting for? Is this what the U.N. is waiting for, till we have no more children left? Till they kill all the children, kill all the women? According to the BBC, which had a crew inside Homs this week, the activist is a British citizen of Syrian descent named Danny Abdul Dayem. In the new video message, he also described the head wound that killed the boy and said: "Two children died, him and his sister. What is the U.N. waiting for? Are these animals dying? At the start of another message uploaded to YouTube on Wednesday, Mr. Dayem pointed to smoke rising from a building and said: "This is Homs, Baba Amr. You can see over there another rocket landed in one of the civilians" houses. This has been going on all day long, from 5 a.m. It's about 8 a.m. right now. This is going to keep going on until 7 p.m. This is the life we've got used to: rockets, bullets, killing children dead in the streets, body parts. Why is no one helping us? Where's the humanity in the world? Later in the clip, after a loud explosion and machine-gun fire, the activist added: "Where's America? Isn't America supposed to defend the humanity? Isn't U.N. supposed to defend the humanity? Are we animals dying here? Are we supposed to live like this our whole lives? This is Syria, Homs. This is Baba Amr. This is one neighborhood, Baba Amr - imagine what's going on all over Syria then. Video uploaded to the same activist YouTube channel as Mr. Dayem's outraged pleas, and also said to have been recorded on Wednesday, appears to document rockets landing near a mosque in Baba Amr, and tanks on the streets of the neighborhood. While restrictions on independent reporting imposed by the Syrian government make it difficult to verify video posted online by activists, Paul Wood, a BBC correspondent who made his way into Homs this week without permission, filed a series of remarkable video reports documenting the shelling, including one that features an interview with Mr. Dayem. Reporting from Homs on Monday, Mr. Wood wrote: Syrian state television denied that there had been any bombardment. It said residents were setting fire to piles of rubbish on the roofs of their homes to trick the world into thinking that there was an attack. There is no doubt, however, from what we have seen and heard, that hundreds of shells and mortars have been fired at this place during the day. As I write this, the windows of the house we are in are still reverberating from the impact of a shell, probably in the next street. It is true that people have been setting fire to rubbish in the streets. They believe it will confuse the guidance systems of rockets apparently being fired at them. They are probably mistaken. A number of extremely graphic video clips said to have been filmed in Homs have been collected on a Facebook page called "We Are All Hamza Alkhateeb," in memory of a 13-year-old protester whose mutilated body was returned to his parents by the authorities last May. Video posted on another activist YouTube channel also appeared to document extremely grave injuries and shells landing in Baba Amr. Activists have continued to post video recorded in other parts of Syria, documenting what they call a widespread campaign of atrocities and killing. A particularly disturbing clip, said to have been recorded on Tuesday in the southern city of Dara'a, where the uprising began last March, showed men in uniforms standing over a pile of bodies, near a window splattered with what looked like blood. A blogger who writes as SeekerSK on Twitter explained that the bodies seen in the clip were said to be those of schoolchildren, and noted that the video seemed to echo a similar scene recorded in the northeastern town of Bayda last April. On Wednesday, the medical charity Doctors With Borders released a series of witness statements recorded by staff members in Syria in the past two weeks from six men who said they had been injured by government forces. The charity obscured the faces of the wounded men and deleted references to the towns they lived in for their protection. In one clip, a man who said that machine guns had been fired at protesters during the first demonstration he attended. He added that injured demonstrators avoided hospitals because they feared arrest and that one local doctor who supports the government had refused to treat people wounded at protests. Another man who spoke to the charity described being shot by a government sniper as he was filming a raid on the home of a man wanted by the security forces.

Journalists' deaths no cause for retreat from war reporting Marie Colvin and I covered our first combat together in 1986, after the U.S. bombed Libya. She was 30, pretty, ambitious and talented. She soon had Col. Moammar Kadafi and his aides in her thrall and parlayed her many scoops for United Press International into a job as a foreign correspondent for the Sunday Times of London. I last saw her a year ago, in Cairo during the revolution. Three decades of bearing witness to war showed in her face: I recognized her only from her black eye patch, which she had worn since a hand grenade destroyed her left eye in Sri Lanka in 2001. She seemed sadder and lonelier, and it was no wonder, given what she had been doing all those years. Other correspondents cover conflicts for a few years and move on. Marie made war a steady diet. She was at the front lines in Iraq (during three different wars), Chechnya, Gaza, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Libya and many other places. She had defied death so many times, she seemed immortal. But then, on Wednesday, she was killed by a rocket while covering the conflict in Syria. Her death came less than a week after that of Anthony Shadid, also in Syria. The New York Times correspondent - a friend from the old days and a former colleague - had sneaked into Syria to report on the violence there and apparently succumbed to an asthma attack triggered by the horses of the guides leading him back to Turkey. Marie would not have been in the rocket's path, and Anthony would not have been near those horses, if they had not considered it their duty to tell the world what was happening to the civilians of Syria. Anthony's calling card was his fluency in Arabic and the elegance of his writing. People in the Arab world are often portrayed one-dimensionally in the Western press, partly because correspondents are able to talk to them only through an interpreter. Born in Oklahoma City and educated at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Anthony went to Cairo as a reporter for the Associated Press, determined to master the language of his grandparents and to use his skills to convey the complexity of life in the Middle East. In his quest to do so, he was shot in the shoulder while covering the West Bank in 2002 and captured by the Libyan army and held for a week last year. I am often asked why journalists willingly put themselves in harm's way. Anthony was a star, with two Pulitzer Prizes, who had nothing left to prove. Marie, who had been married but was childless, had more combat experience than any general but had no desire to stop. Part of the reason war correspondents keep going is that there is thrill in danger, a thrill exacerbated by the closeness of death. But the larger, much more important answer is that they feel an overwhelming sense of duty to those whose lives have been torn apart by conflict. Would President Obama have intervened in Libya last year if U.S. journalists had not been covering the plight of the people of Benghazi? Could more coverage from the Western press have whipped up sentiment to stop a genocide in which 800,000 people died in Rwanda in 1994? What will stop the Syrian army from continuing to shell and shoot its own people if the stories of people like the 2-year-old baby whose death Marie chronicled in the days before her own death aren't being told? Shadid told NPR's Terry Gross recently about an earlier illegal foray he made into Syria, saying he felt he had to go because "that story wouldn't be told otherwise." That story was so important, he said, "that it was worth taking risks for." But not, as war correspondents often say to one another, worth getting killed for. As if we could prevent death by making that distinction. A number of journalists lost their lives covering the war in Iraq. But not a single U.S. staff correspondent was killed by hostile fire during eight years of war. Now, in less than a year we have lost, among others, photojournalists Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros in Libya, and Anthony and Marie, along with French photographer Remi Ochlik, in Syria. Losing these courageous journalists is tragic. But there is also reason to worry about another tragedy in the offing: the pulling back of media outlets from covering wars. Part of the reason is cost. Covering wars can be expensive, as we discovered in Iraq. There, Western news agencies took serious security precautions, buying expensive armored cars, hiring armed guards and carefully calibrating their reporters' movements with the help of security consultants. That wasn't feasible in fast-moving Libya, and it is impossible in Syria, where reporters have to operate mostly undercover because of restrictions on their movements. Still, some editors, concerned about safety and facing shrinking budgets, have begun to pull back. Indeed, Marie's editor told her mother he had told her to leave Homs, that it was too dangerous. Marie had promised to leave after one more day. Now, with Homs surrounded and without a functioning morgue, it is unlikely she'll return home even in death. No editor wants to place a correspondent in jeopardy. But I know that Marie and Anthony would not want their deaths to be used to justify retreating from dangerous but important journalism. Timothy M. Phelps, an editor in The Times' Washington bureau, covered the Middle East for Newsday from 1986 to 1991.

James Cameron Prepares to Dive Into Mariana Trench As a boy, he used to squeeze his body into drainage pipes, snaking along to see how far he could go. As an adult, he made the two top-grossing movies of all time, "Avatar" and "Titanic." And on Wednesday, James Cameron folded his 6-foot-2-inch frame into a 43-inch-wide capsule and plummeted, alone, down five miles in the New Britain Trench off Papua New Guinea. His feat, in a 24-foot-long craft dubbed the Deepsea Challenger, broke by a mile the world depth record for modern vehicles that a Japanese submersible had held. But he wants to go deeper: This month, Mr. Cameron plans to plunge nearly seven miles to the planet's most inaccessible spot: the Challenger Deep in the western Pacific, an alien world thought to swarm with bizarre eels and worms, fish and crustaceans. He wants to spend six hours among them, filming the creatures and sucking up samples with a slurp gun. "It's a blast," Mr. Cameron said in an interview during sea trials of his new craft. There's nothing more fun than getting bolted into this and seeing things that human beings have never seen before. Forget about red carpets and all that glitzy stuff. His attempt is also dangerous. Two people once died in a submersible. Last month, Mr. Cameron lost two members of his team in a fatal helicopter crash. He built his miniature submarine secretly in Australia, and already it has outdone all other watercraft in its ability to ferry people through the deep's crushing pressures. As with the birth of the private space rocket industry, where commercial companies are building ships to take astronauts aloft, the debut of Mr. Cameron's submarine signals the rising importance of entrepreneurs in the global race to advance science and technology. His goal with his next dive is to tackle a much older record. A half century ago, in a technical feat never equaled, the United States Navy sent two men down nearly seven miles into the Challenger Deep, their vehicle 60 feet long. A window cracked on the way down. The landing stirred up so much ooze that the divers could see little through the portholes, took no pictures and began their ascent after just 20 minutes on the seabed. Mr. Cameron's bid is to be unveiled Thursday in Washington by the National Geographic Society, where he holds the title of Explorer-in-Residence. Both the society, which is helping pay for the expedition, and Mr. Cameron took pains to characterize the effort as purely scientific rather than competitive. It comes as a number of wealthy men - including Richard Branson of the Virgin empire and the Internet guru Eric E. Schmidt - are building or financing miniature submarines meant to transport them, their friends and scientists into the remotest parts of the world's oceans, including the Challenger Deep. Mr. Cameron will collect samples for research in biology, microbiology, astrobiology, marine geology and geophysics. "The science is paramount," Ellen Stanley, a National Geographic spokeswoman, said in an interview. We're out to learn what's down there. Mr. Cameron called his venture "very different from going down and planting a flag" - a seeming reference to how Russian explorers in 2007 put a flag on the seabed under the North Pole. Their deed was meant to strengthen Moscow's claims to nearly half the Arctic seabed. The Challenger Deep is in the Mariana Trench, the deepest of the many seabed recesses that crisscross the globe. Over the decades, biologists have glimpsed their unfamiliar inhabitants mainly by lowering dredges on long lines. Up have come thousands of strange-looking worms and sea cucumbers. More recently, robot cameras have spied ghostly fish with sinuous tails. Aboard Mr. Cameron's expedition is Douglas Bartlett, a professor of marine microbial genetics at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, an arm of the University of California at San Diego. Last year, Dr. Bartlett led a team that dropped cameras into the Mariana Trench and observed giant amoebas - a first in the inhospitable zone. Known as xenophyophores, these mysterious life forms consist of a single cell and appear able to grow to the size of a fist. Scientists find them exclusively in the deep sea. National Geographic said the public would be able to follow Mr. Cameron's expedition at www.deepseachallenge.com. It described the project's main science collaborator as Scripps, followed by the University of Hawaii, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the University of Guam. The film director has long exhibited a fascination with the deep sea, making "The Abyss" (1989), "Titanic" (1997) and a number of documentaries about lost ships, including "Bismarck" (2002) and "Ghosts of the Abyss" (2003), a 3-D tour of the Titanic's interior. National Geographic said that Mr. Cameron had now made a total of 76 submersible dives, including 33 to the famous luxury liner. The crew capsules of submersibles are made small to better withstand tons of crushing pressure, and thus have no amenities. Mr. Cameron's solo model is unusually small, its inner diameter less than four feet. He said the vehicle over all had many cameras but only one thick porthole, its inner diameter three inches. He described the craft as a "vertical torpedo," meant to fall and rise quickly so as to maximize time for exploring the seabed. "You'd be an idiot not to be apprehensive, but I trust the design," Mr. Cameron said as he contemplated his impending dive. You're going into one of the most unforgiving places on earth. He said the deaths early last month of his two crew members, Mike deGruy and Andrew Wight - both celebrated filmmakers who specialized in carrying viewers into the sea's depths - initially prompted him to want to scrap the expedition. The two were preparing to film a sea trial of the Deepsea Challenger when their helicopter went down shortly after takeoff from an airstrip south of Sydney, Australia. "It was a horrible day," Mr. Cameron recalled. We felt sick at heart. It caused us to question risk and the meaning of life. I personally did not want to continue at that point, but the team rallied. Mr. Cameron said the project, if successful, will result not only in a number of new scientific findings but two documentary films - one a 3-D production for wide-screen theaters, and the other a National Geographic TV special. He said that he would take some protein bars with him for the historic dive, but that much of his space was taken up with digital recording decks. "It's full of electronics," Mr. Cameron said. It's tight, like a Mercury space capsule.

Top lawmakers declare war on intelligence leaks (AP) WASHINGTON - Leaders of the Senate and House intelligence committees said Thursday they were drafting legislation to further limit who can access highly classified information and possibly impose new penalties for revealing it. The head of the House intelligence committee said he will investigate recent leaks, but the CIA and the Justice Department national security division said they would not cooperate. The action comes after recent leaks of sensitive information about the covert drone and cyber wars against terrorism. "There has been just a cascade of leaks coming out of the intelligence community in the last several weeks and months," the vice chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., told reporters. It's our clear intention to put a stop to this. The bipartisan news conference of the four top lawmakers was spurred by a series of media reports detailing everything from White House policy on the highly classified targeting of al Qaeda militants by drones and raids, to the White House reportedly deploying the cyber weapon known as Stuxnet, a malicious computer code that knocked Iranian nuclear processing centrifuges offline. McCain doubles down on leak inquiry McCain slams White House for alleged security leaks McCain on his call for probe of security leaks The House Intelligence Committee chairman, Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., said his committee would formally investigate the leaks, though he said the process would be hampered because two critical government agencies said they would not participate. "Just today the CIA informed the (committee) that it cannot respond to our request for information regarding the leaks, a very troubling event indeed," Rogers said. The CIA has come under fire for allegedly sharing with Hollywood filmmakers classified details of last year's U.S. raid into Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden. Rogers said the Justice Department's National Security Division also withdrew itself "with respect to at least one investigation regarding disclosures." Rogers initially said that indicated the leaks may have come from the FBI or Justice Department, but later clarified that it showed "the serious complications facing the department in investigating these matters." There are at least three investigations ongoing into disclosures of classified information. Leading Republicans like Arizona Sen. John McCain have accused the White House of spilling national security secrets to boost the president's reputation in an election year - a charge the White House dismissed Thursday. "The president feels very strongly that we must prevent leaks of classified or sensitive information" that could jeopardize intelligence or other operations, White House spokesman Jay Carney said. Any suggestion that the White House has leaked sensitive information for political purposes has no basis in fact. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said Congress wants the White House to notify lawmakers at least 48 hours in advance and explain when it chooses to disclose national secrets.

Think Tank: Brands are not that important, just ask the BBC I suspect, however, that rumours of their demise will prove exaggerated. I doubt Children in Need will face boycotts or that sales of eggnog latte will fall. The corporate brand behind the consumer brand is more exposed than ever before, and happily so. There is broad consensus that such transparency is not just a good thing for consumers but also for the responsible development of capitalism. But it's crucial, and ironically enough especially so for marketeers, that we are careful not to overstate the role of brands in people's lives, and therefore the degree to which brands will be punished for transgressions that live above and beyond consumers" everyday transactions with them. After all, we still tend to "bank for life" and indeed to use the closest supermarket or coffee house. And for all social media's noisy clamour, most of us use it to connect with each other, not brands. Or, as Bruce McColl, chief marketing officer of Mars, rather splendidly puts it: "Most of us go through life finding it hard enough to have good relationships with the real people in our life, let alone all the brands we buy." An age-old spat between advertising academics helps to illuminate the debate. Their differences reward examination by brandsmiths, since they explain why brands may or may not bend in the reputational wind and - more fundamentally - calibrate an organisation's expectations of the returns on branding. Pioneers of marketing effectiveness, John Philip Jones and Andrew Ehrenberg, occupied contrary positions. Jones advanced what became known as the "strong theory" of advertising - here it persuades passive, apathetic consumers and generates repeat-purchase behaviour, and so drives sales and category growth. Ehrenberg, more radically, questioned advertising's power to persuade and depicted the consumer as an active problem-solver driven by habit to make a purchase. For him, advertising worked by reminding and nudging existing customers towards a particular brand, reinforcing opinions formed elsewhere: the so-called "weak" or reinforcement theory. Whisper it quietly in some marketing circles, but there is increasing evidence that the weak theory is dominant. The defence of profitable brands (Ehrenberg's "status quo") is often more rewarding than attempts to jump-start growth on the incorrect assumption that advertising is a "strong" force. Indeed, the past year's most garlanded advertising campaign, for John Lewis last Christmas, could be said to be a prime example. Company leaders are right to clean out the corporate stables with an eye to the long term and the halo they might then confer on their consumer-facing brands (Unilever's Paul Polman currently leads the way). But they must never forget that it will be their brands" ability to meet basic needs and wants that matters most, to most. Laurence Green is a founding partner at the 101 marketing agency. He tweets at laurence@101london.co.uk

Charlie Sheen to Rolling Stone: 'I was in total denial' June 6, 2012 -- Updated 1411 GMT (2211 HKT) I mean, how does a guy who's obviously quicksanded, how does he consider any of it a victory? Charlie Sheen said. Charlie Sheen will soon star in the new FX show "Anger Management" "I don't see what's wrong with a few drinks," Sheen told Rolling Stone "He and I are like best friends now," says ex-wife Denise Richards (Rolling Stone) -- Charlie Sheen looks back on his rocky past while plotting the next phase of his career in the new issue of Rolling Stone, on newsstands Friday. The actor, who walked away from the massively popular CBS sitcom "Two and a Half Men" last year after a bizarre public meltdown -- complete with its own set of memorable catchphrases, from "Winning!" to "Tiger Blood" -- will soon star in the new FX show "Anger Management." On his post-"Two and a Half Men" antics: "Clearly, a guy gets fired, his relationships are in the toilet, he's off on some f****** tour, there's nothing 'winning' about any of that. I was in total denial. On being off the wagon and making no bones about it: "I mean, the s*** works. Sorry, but it works. Anyway, I don't see what's wrong with a few drinks. What's your drink? Tequila? Mine's vodka. Straight, because I've always said that ice is for injuries, ha ha. On his foot fetish: "I've not dated girls because of their feet, just the length of certain toes and the shape of where things should be and they're not. Hammertoes are bad. And the second toe being too long? That's bad, too. On his mended relationship with ex-wife Denise Richards: "He and I are like best friends now," says Richards. Confidants. He tells me everything. Adds Sheen, "And we sleep in separate rooms. Everybody's going to want to know that, too.

Beyonce crowned 'world's most beautiful woman' as she reveals new DIY beauty regime Speaking of her previously high-maintenance hair, she said: "I recently cut two inches myself. I just parted it in the middle and snipped. The multi-million-selling singer also said she had found a new love for comfortable flat shoes. She said: "I never thought there would be a day when I wouldn't wear heels. Now that I have a child, I walk around holding her all day, I'm buying loafers and oxfords. I love them because they're comfortable, and shorter heels too. Beyonce, who stars on the cover of a special issue of the People, has been awarded the magazine's "World's Most Beautiful Woman" title. She told them: "I "I feel more beautiful than I've ever felt because I've given birth. I have never felt so connected, never felt like I had such a purpose on this earth. Since the arrival of Blue Ivy, the couple have shunned the celebrity trend of selling their pictures, instead opting to publish a select few on their own website. The adorable photographs, showing the newborn snuggling in her cot and being cradled by her parents, are accompanied by a message reading: "We welcome you to share in our joy." Since then, Beyonce has been photographed in a range of casual outfits and flat pumps, shielding her daughter from the paparazzi. The accolade is the latest in a long line of awards for the singer, including 16 Grammys, 11 MTV Video Music Awards and seven Billboard Music Awards.

crossing woman drives along tracks

Syria's rebels fear foreign jihadis in their midst In early summer, Abu Ismael, a six-year veteran of al-Qaida, left the insurgency still blazing in his homeland of Iraq and travelled to what he believes is the start of the apocalypse. He secured cash from a benefactor in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil, then approached a weapons dealer in Anbar province, a desolate corner of the country that was not long ago a staging point for jihadis arriving from Syria and is now a gateway for those going the other way. "It was easy," he said, in the sitting room of a house in the Syrian city of Aleppo. The money was no problem, neither was the weapon, or the motivation. This will be a fight against the great enemy. Around the hard-bitten 23-year-old sat three members of a Syrian rebel militia who were acting as his hosts. They looked at the floor as the young jihadi explained Qur'anic teachings that he said were shaping the battle ahead. "I don't care about the future," he said. I care about today. Muhammad the Messenger said there would be a battle between the Persians and the Sunnis. And it is coming. "When the regime falls, all those who fought against the Muslims will be my enemy, especially the Shias," he said, reiterating a view held by some Sunni extremists that Shia are their biggest foes. The hosts shifted nervously, still avoiding eye contact. The stranger in their midst had sought refuge among them two months ago. Since then he had rented a house, won a ride to the battle zone whenever he wants and earned the support of some of the area's rebel units. He has even won a more coveted prize: the right to marry the daughter of one of the fighter's cousins, a union that took place on Thursday with the qualified blessing of residents and clerics. Not everyone in the unit was happy with the wedding. "It's you scratch my back, I scratch yours," said one young rebel, Abu Saif. "He's a Salafi, there is no doubt about that," he added, referring to the ultra-fundamentalist school of Qur'anic thinking. And he doesn't represent what we believe. Remonstrating with the unnamed young girl's uncle sitting nearby, Abu Saif said: "You tell me what benefit we get from him, or that your family gets." The uncle shrugged, offering no reply. As Syria's civil war grinds inexorably on, it is becoming as much a clash of ideologies as a battle of military will. The frontlines that were hurriedly carved out of Aleppo's ancient stone heart and concrete suburbs during the heady days of summer now seem almost secondary in the contest to determine the type of society that will one day rise from the ruins. For the most part, the opposition movement is staying true to the ethos that led many of the country's towns and citizens to mount a challenge to President Bashar al-Assad's absolute state control over their lives. But around the fringes, there are signs that the revolution's original values are starting to fray. The narrative of a defiant street versus a draconian state, so simple in March 2011, is now far more complicated. "We want just what they got in Tunis and Egypt," said Mahmoud Razak, a shop-keeper in the outer suburbs. Freedom and the chance to progress in life. But we thought it would take 19 days like it took [in Egypt]. It's now 19 months. We didn't know it would be this difficult. To those now hosting Abu Ismael, the Iraqi jihadi embodies one of the major problems. Though for the most part conservative and pious, the men of this part of Aleppo refuse to see the crisis now consuming Syria in existential terms. To them, this is still a fight for self-determination, not the forum for an apocalyptic showdown with a preordained foe. "What is this global jihad that he talks about?" asked a town elder, Abu Abdullah, after the Iraqi had left to prepare for his wedding. We will be used as toys by them, just as the Sunni communities were in Iraq. When they have had their way with us they will demand that we return to the seventh century under the blade of a sword. Abu Ismael made no secret of his wish for Syria to be the heartland of an al-Qaida-led renaissance. Nor, unusually, did he hide what he had done in Iraq, or what he planned to do in the new war. In a candid hour-long discussion, he offered a rare insight into the terror group's designs on Syria and the organisation's fraught battle to assert itself. "I was a member of the al-Qaida organisation from 2005-11," he said, his black eyes set in an unflinching stare. I joined them with my father when I was 16 and apart from one and a half months in prison, I was very active in every way. The young Iraqi's attire and demeanour were unmistakably those of a Salafi. He refused cigarettes, cuffed the bottoms of his fatigues at ankle level and wore a black skull cap over closely cropped black hair. More instructively, he spoke with derision about Shia Muslims, whom he said were increasingly travelling to Syria to fight the Sunni-led opposition. "They are saying they are going to protect the Sit Zeinab mosque in Damascus," he said of a shrine revered by Shias. The Jaish al-Mahdi [Mahdi army] and Hezbollah are just using that as cover to enter the rest of Syria. We will not let them. We will attack it, perhaps not to destroy it, but to drive them out. There are around 50 Iraqis in each area of northern Syria. Perhaps more. It was not difficult to get here and it is not hard to find other mujahideen. We can fight where we want to and when we want to. And God willing we will prevail. His restless hosts were not so sure. Bound by social customs that offer wayfarers shelter and hospitality, this rebel unit seemed to sense that trouble is brewing between them and the growing band of global jihadis. Many rebel groups the Guardian spoke to this week said a showdown was looming with the new arrivals. "I give it six months," said one rebel officer at a checkpoint in the old market place in the central Aleppo suburb of Midan on Thursday. "Maybe a year," said another. I was in Iraq fighting the Americans and I saw how they changed once they sensed they had power. "It's so mixed up," said a third young rebel, a defector from Damascus. And this is just how Bashar wants it. Bashar al-Assad has insisted from the start that Syria was facing attack by "armed terrorist gangs," not a popular uprising - though there is ample evidence of the army firing on mostly unarmed demonstrators. But it has become clear that extremist Salafi or jihadi groups, some linked to al-Qaida, are now a significant element of the armed opposition. Alongside fighters from al-Qaida in Iraq or Fatah al-Islam from Lebanon is the mysterious Jabhat al-Nusra, which has claimed responsibility for suicide bombings in Damascus and Aleppo. It is sympathetic to al-Qaida. Others hail from Jordan, Libya and Algeria. The overwhelming majority of jihadis are Syrian, with the number of foreigners ranging from 1,200 to 1,500 members. Jihadi groups in Syria represent less than 10% of all fighters. Still, many have combat experience in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, and Libya and compete for funds and weapons with the Free Syrian Army, the main armed opposition group. "Most foreign fighters go abroad to defend their fellow Muslim brethren from being slaughtered," according to Aaron Y Zelin, an analyst at the Washington Institute. Once in the area of battle, though, many come into closer contact with hardline jihadis, as well as fighters from other countries, and are exposed to new ideas. Therefore, portions of foreign fighters are not fighting to help establish a future state for Syrian nationals. Rather, they hope to annex it to be part of their grander aims of establishing emirates that will eventually lead to a re-established caliphate - however fanciful this project might be. Ian Black

Votes in six House races still being counted, seventh will see runoff Several House races are still too close to call, although Democrats stand to gain up to eight seats if they maintain their leads. Six of seven unresolved House races remain too close to call on Saturday If the current leads hold up, Democrats will gain eight seats in the House Florida Rep. Allen West is in one of the most heated races, against Democrat Patrick Murphy (CNN) -- When seven-term Republican Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack conceded to her Democratic challenger Raul Ruiz on Friday, she left two other members of California's GOP House delegation still trailing in tight, unsettled races. As of Saturday, six of seven unresolved House races remain too close to call. In the seventh, two Louisiana Republicans will face off in a December 8 runoff for the 3rd District seat after none of the five candidates got the required 50%. Democrats hold narrow leads in all six of the too-close-to-call races. Should all win, they will have picked up a net gain of eight seats in the House after losing the majority in the chamber and suffering the largest loss of seats since 1948 in the 2010 midterm elections. Going into Tuesday's elections, Republicans held a 242-193 majority in the House. Mack took over her seat after her husband Rep. Sonny Bono was killed in a skiing accident in 1998. In a heartfelt statement conceding defeat on Friday night, she congratulated her opponent, an emergency room physician, and thanked her family. "Today, I called Dr. Ruiz and congratulated him on his impressive victory," Mack said. Dr. Ruiz will do a fine job if he is guided as well by the people of the congressional district as I was. Please give him the opportunity to succeed. "It was almost 15 years ago that Sonny died and I became a congresswoman," she continued. Honestly, nobody worked harder or gave more since then than my two amazing children. They, along with my stepson Chaz, my grandson Sonny and my beloved husband Connie have been so supportive of me this week. I simply couldn't ask for more. Mack lost by 4% of the vote or more than 7,200 ballots out of the almost 200,000 cast in the race for 36th District. The loss marks the first in her 14-year congressional career. Her husband, former Rep. Connie Mack IV, also lost this week in his bid for U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson's seat in Florida. Mack, who has faced redistricting twice before, once again saw her district's lines redrawn ahead of the 2012 election by a bipartisan commission in California based on 2010 census data. The California delegation, which has been historically heavily Democrat, will send 36 Democrats and 15 Republicans to Washington as of Saturday, but that number could grow to 38 Democrats if the other two Republicans -- Rep. Dan Lungren and Rep. Brian Bilbray - are defeated. Neither Lungren nor Bilbray have conceded, with provisional and absentee ballots still being recounted in both races. Bilbray spokesman Patrick Howell said the race was "far from over," as additional ballots are processed. Bilbray trails Democrat Scott Peters by 1,334 votes in California's 52nd District. Lungren trails his Democratic challenger Ami Bera by 1,779 votes as of Saturday. The race could drag on for weeks as Sacramento County election officials count the 98,464 vote-by-mail and 31,000 provisional ballots still outstanding. Lungren's district is one of four in Sacramento County. Another potential upset across the country could add yet another tick in the Democrats' tally. Rep. Allen West rode the tea party wave to office in Florida's 18th Congressional District during the 2010 midterm elections, unseating three-term Democrat Rep. Ron Klein with more than an 8-point win. "We will continue to fight to ensure every vote is counted properly and fairly, and accordingly will pursue all legal means necessary," the statement said. The fiery tea partier isn't guaranteed a recount under Florida election law, which only stipulates an automatic recount in races if the margin of difference between the candidates is a half-percent or less. The West-Murphy contest is expected to be one of the most expensive congressional races in history, with the national parties and outside groups pouring money into the efforts. Two races in Arizona also remain uncalled. The contest for former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' seat between Democrat Rep. Ron Barber and Republican Martha McSally finds Barber behind by 426 votes. And in a district across the state, Democrat Kyrsten Sinema is holding onto a 2,715-vote lead over Republican Vernon Parker while provisional and absentee votes are counted. The unresolved contest in North Carolina could be the second tightest 2012 congressional race after provisional and absentee ballots are counted for the district that encompasses Wilmington and the area northwest to the Raleigh suburbs. Democratic Rep. Mike McIntyre faced a tough re-election challenge. His district added Johnston County and his hometown of Lumberton was cut from the 7th District this year after redistricting. The new American electorate has arrived CNN Political Research Director Robert Yoon contributed to this report

Ofqual 'to look closely' at GCSE grade changes

France boosts security as magazine publishes new cartoon depicting Prophet Muhammad (CBS/AP) PARIS - France stepped up security at some of its embassies on Wednesday after a satirical Parisian weekly published crude caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. The prime minister said he would block a demonstration by people angry over a movie insulting to Islam as the country plunged into a fierce debate about free speech. The government urged the magazine Charlie Hebdo not to publish the cartoons, but defended its right to do so. The cartoon played off of the U.S.-produced film "The Innocence of Muslims," and riot police took up positions outside the offices of the magazine, which was firebombed last year after it released an edition that mocked radical Islam. CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips reports that the French government has also decided to temporarily close diplomatic offices and schools in 20 countries on Friday, the holy day in the Muslim world which often sees protests form as worshipers pour out of mosques following Friday prayers. Protests at U.S. offices in Pakistan, Indonesia Egypt seeks arrest of anti-Islam filmmaker French leaders fret over new Mohammad cartoons The amateurish movie, which portrays the prophet as a fraud, a womanizer and a child molester, has set off violence in seven countries that has killed at least 28 people, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya. The French Foreign Ministry issued a travel warning Wednesday urging French people in the Muslim world to exercise "the greatest vigilance," avoiding all public gatherings and "sensitive buildings" such as those representing the West or religious sites. Government authorities and Muslim leaders urged calm in France, which has western Europe's largest Muslim population. Phillips reports Muslim organizations in France have warned the publication of the cartoon will likely exacerbate relations between Muslims and the rest of the French population, and may provoke further violence around the world, but the groups have called for peaceful demonstrations in France. "This is a disgraceful and hateful, useless and stupid provocation," Dalil Boubakeur, rector of the Grand Paris Mosque, told The Associated Press. We are not like animals of Pavlov to react at each insult. CFCM, an umbrella group for French Muslims, issued a statement French Muslims to "not cede to provocation and ... express their indignation in peace via legal means." Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said organizers of a demonstration planned for Saturday against "Innocence of Muslims" won't receive police authorization. "There's no reason for us to let a conflict that doesn't concern France come into our country," Ayrault told French radio RTL. Paris prosecutors have opened an investigation into an unauthorized protest last Saturday around the U.S. Embassy that drew about 150 people and led to scores of arrests. The tensions surrounding the film are provoking debate in France about the limits of free speech. The small-circulation weekly Charlie Hebdo often draws attention for ridiculing sensitivity around the Prophet Muhammad, and an investigation into the firebombing of its offices last year is still open. The magazine's website was down Wednesday for reasons that were unclear.

In Boardwalk Towns, a Way of Life Lies in Splinters Adam Hunger/Reuters The Boardwalk of Spring Lake, N.J., just south of Belmar, was ravaged last week by Hurricane Sandy, as were many other boardwalks along the Jersey Shore, in Queens and on Long Island. BELMAR, N.J. - Of course the boardwalk had changed over the last 100 years: Carousels switched to electric from gas power, sunblock replaced baby oil, stuffed animals supplanted cigarettes as prizes at the booths where the barkers found new ways to wrangle dollar bills from the tourists who flocked to the Jersey Shore. But mostly, it played the role of a constant, linking a century of summers. Just the word "boardwalk" evoked timeless images of warm breezes, dates walking arm-in-arm, the sticky sweet of Italian Ice - "our carnival life forever" as the state bard, Bruce Springsteen, sings in a song, "Sandy," that local radio stations have turned into the anthem of the Fourth of July. And in a stroke, it became a symbol of Hurricane Sandy's destruction, with boardwalks shredded, buckled, gone, from shore towns in New Jersey and on Long Island. The bigger casualties were almost incalculable: the homes, businesses and lives lost to fire and flooding. But for many wading through the wreckage, the boardwalks summed up a ruined way of life. These wood-plank promenades sustained businesses and tied together communities, serving as something akin to town squares on stilts. But blasted three blocks into town or dumped implausibly onto roofs of seaside retreats, their destruction served notice that for all the romance of the ocean, it can also wreak havoc - and in a warming world, increasingly does. In Seaside Heights, south of here, the 17-block Boardwalk settled in splintered heaps, the Star Jet roller coaster that once stood on it now ducking in and out of the waves like a skeletal serpent. In the Rockaways, in Queens, some residents returned as soon as the storm had subsided to check on the planks clustered like a game of pickup sticks, while others said they could not bear the sight. In Long Beach, on Long Island, the police tried unsuccessfully to keep residents away from mourning over the ruins of the 2.2-mile Boardwalk, parts of which were whipped half a mile away. "The first thing I had to do was check out the Boardwalk," said Chris Cori, 19, a Long Beach native, looking down and biting his lip. I just couldn't believe it. I didn't expect it. With strips blown away from shore towns up and down the East Coast, it was the rare exception that the celebrated Boardwalks in Atlantic City and Coney Island, where much of the wooden structure was recently replaced with concrete, remained largely intact. In the less fortunate communities along the New Jersey and New York coastlines, longtime residents and seasonal faithful talked of what has become a sad seaside ritual, rebuilding a storm-damaged boardwalk. They generally were not at all ready or willing to question the wisdom of rebuilding on a ribbon of sand buffeted by the Atlantic Ocean and directed by nature to shift with winds and tides. Perhaps it is because the Jersey Shore drives so much of the state's $38 billion tourism industry. Perhaps it is because they have seen this before: The Great Hurricane of 1938 and the Ash Wednesday storm of 1962 struck the East Coast like freight trains, ripping up these beach-town boulevards from Virginia to New England. The boardwalks were built back, at great expense. The destruction now seems faster and more severe; last year, the boardwalks along the Jersey Shore suffered damage from the one-two punch of an earthquake and Hurricane Irene in the same week. Here, the town merely continued, as it had over the years, replacing wooden planks with composite lumber supposed to last decades. The repairs were finished in May. The Belmar Boardwalk served as the staging ground of summer for Matt Doherty, the mayor of this town, and his daughters, 5 and 8. "I would come home from work, we would ride our bikes, go up to the boardwalk, get our ice cream if they were good that day, go play on the Boardwalk, they would get all sandy," Mayor Doherty said. They would always want to go down to the water, that would always be an argument, and they would go into the water because I would lose that argument. They would get wet. They would get back on the bikes. They would complain that they were wet. And we'd go home. And we'd repeat. Now, James Robinson, 46, who grew up here, sat on his bicycle, sniffing rot in the air and watching planks floating in deep pools of water.

Death row inmate claims gruesome home invasion influenced Conn. law SOMERS, Conn. - Convicted killer Daniel Webb says he and others on Connecticut's death row are also being punished for the crimes committed by two men convicted of the brutal home-invasion slayings of a Cheshire mother and her two daughters. Webb tells The Associated Press in an exclusive interview from prison that he believes Connecticut would have repealed capital punishment for all inmates if not for the 2007 killings by Joshua Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes. Connecticut instead abolished the death penalty in April for all future crimes. Webb is on death row for the 1989 murder of Diane Gellenbeck, a 37-year-old banking executive who was abducted from a Hartford parking garage and shot multiple times. Webb says he attempted suicide in January, but still hopes the courts will overturn his sentence.

Bruce Bartlett: The Real Barrier to Tax Reform Across the political spectrum, it is generally accepted that the basic goal of tax reform should be to broaden the tax base by eliminating tax preferences and lowering statutory tax rates. It is also believed that the principal barrier to such a reform is the resistance of special interests to the elimination of any particular preference that benefits them. But what if, to paraphrase Pogo, the special interest is us? In all my years in Washington, I have never met anyone, even a professional lobbyist, who thought she was a special interest. That's always somebody else, someone selfish whose interests are contrary to the national interest. Everyone always says, and may even believe, that whatever special deal they want or wish to preserve in the budget or the tax code is for the benefit of a broad segment of society or the economy. At least insofar as tax expenditures are concerned, this is basically true. What follows are the top 10 special provisions of the tax code that reduce revenues, with the estimated annual revenue loss. It's easy to make a case for each of these tax preferences. The exclusion for health insurance lowers the cost of it and encourages employers to provide it; deductibility of mortgage interest lowers the cost of owning a home; preferences for pensions help people save for retirement; lower tax rates on capital gains and accelerated depreciation encourage investment; the deduction for charitable contributions helps churches, hospitals and groups like the Salvation Army; the deduction for state and local taxes reduces the burden of such taxes; and the exclusion for interest on state and local government bonds reduces the cost of borrowing to build schools and roads. The exclusion for imputed rent needs a little more explanation. If you live in your own home you are wearing two hats: landlord and renter. In effect, you are paying rent to yourself, which is a flow of income, conceptually, that is not taxed. To understand this, imagine that you trade houses with someone who has the same identical house; your mortgage is the same but now you are paying rent to each other. Nothing has changed except that the implicit rent has become explicit. These and other tax expenditures enjoy wide support, and it is almost impossible to imagine them being abolished, even in return for lower statutory tax rates. For one thing, the value of these deductions and exclusions is capitalized into prices. It is commonly estimated that elimination of the mortgage interest deduction would lower home prices by about 15 percent. So if you are a homeowner, you would lose out even if your tax payments remained the same under a tax reform that eliminated the deductibility of mortgage interest. Keep in mind also that the political forces supporting the status quo are very strong and already organizing to keep existing deductions and exclusions, and even expand them. On Oct. 25, David Liniger, chairman of RE/MAX, one of the nation's largest real estate brokers, wrote an open letter to President Obama and Mitt Romney, insisting that the deduction for mortgage interest not be touched. Said Mr. Liniger: One proposal being considered that really shocks most of us in real estate is the elimination or reduction of the mortgage interest deduction. This is not simply a loophole for the wealthy. It has been a mainstay of the middle class for many years, and by promoting homeownership it promotes a strong economy. Over 75 percent of homeowners utilize the deduction over the time of their ownership. Even a gradual elimination gives pause to many potential homeowners. This is the wrong approach at the wrong time. That same day, a coalition of charitable organizations sent letters to President Obama and Mr. Romney warning against any undermining of the deduction for charitable contributions. The letters are slightly different, but both said this: The charitable deduction is different than other itemized deductions in that it encourages individuals to give away a portion of their income to those in need. It rewards a selfless act, and it encourages taxpayers to give more funds to charities than they would otherwise have given. Data suggests that for every dollar a donor gets in tax relief for his or her donation, the public typically receives three dollars of benefit. No other tax provision generates that kind of positive public impact. Of course, if one receives a reward for the donation it's not entirely selfless. And for those donating appreciated property, which is often appraised at far above market prices, the charitable contributions deduction might even make them money. That point aside, it's important to remember that the deduction for mortgage interest and charitable contributions are not as egalitarian as their promoters would have us believe. For starters, they are only available to those who have a positive income tax liability - that leaves out Mr. Romney's 47 percent - and only to those who itemize. Those using the standard deduction get no benefit, no matter how much they throw in the collection plate on Sunday. Those who own their homes without a mortgage, which includes many older people, save no taxes from the mortgage interest deduction. Not surprisingly, the mortgage interest deduction is very popular. According to a New York Times/CBS News poll, 63 percent of people say they think it is very important, 30 percent think it is somewhat important, 3 percent think it is not very important and 2 percent say it is not important at all. President Obama and Mr. Romney have promised to protect the mortgage interest deduction. The problem is that when you take one popular deduction off the table, that becomes the best possible argument for keeping the next most popular deduction or exclusion and so on. Taking the top 10 off the table means taking more than 70 percent of the dollar value of all tax expenditures off the table, thus greatly limiting the potential for tax reform to lower rates.

Vikings CB Sapp cited for misdemeanor assault Dec 31 09:23 PM US/Eastern MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Police say Minnesota Vikings cornerback Benny Sapp has been cited for fifth-degree assault and careless driving, both misdemeanors, after a run-in with security at Children's Hospital in Minneapolis. Officers were called Friday morning after police say Sapp and his 11-year-old son tried to enter the hospital through a closed entrance. The Star Tribune reports Sapp left his son with a hospital security guard, saying the boy's mother was inside and he had to go to work. Sapp allegedly pushed a security officer who tried to detain him in the parking ramp. Police Sgt. Bill Palmer says Sapp then chest-bumped a security officer who was standing in front of his vehicle. A Vikings spokesman says the team is aware of the incident. Messages to Sapp's agent were not returned Saturday.

Dame Vera Lynn's Amsterdam - Telegraph I've usually stayed at the Hilton (0031 20 710 6000; hilton1.com; €219/£175), and have never had any complaints. It's a first-rate hotel, and is very handy for everywhere. I like to stop off for a coffee at somewhere like Café de Jaren (625 5771; cafedejaren.nl; Nieuwe Doelenstraat 20-22) - it boasts a perfect location by a canal. I like the Dutch-style open sandwiches they serve at bakeries - they're just the job if you want a light snack, and are usually enough to keep me going until dinner time. I like the Haesje Claes (624 9998; haesjeclaes.nl; Spuistraat 273-275), a traditional and charming Dutch restaurant in the historic heart of the old city. The food's delicious, and the interior is beautifully decorated and has so much character. You have to visit the Anne Frank House - because it tells the terribly sad story of the poor little Jewish girl who, of course, met such a tragic end during the German occupation. Everyone who goes should learn about the terrible suffering experienced by Jews during the war. The city's Red Light District might not be to many people's liking. We passed it once, and I remember seeing some girls sitting in a window. That's something I'll never forget, believe me. I've picked up lots of little souvenirs there over the years - blue and white clogs, Dutch houses and even a windmill, all in china. I've found something of interest in just about everywhere I've visited. I'll never forget singing in Rotterdam after the war, and even though it had suffered terrible damage, I still found nice restaurants and other places to visit. Dame Vera Lynn is writing a book about her wartime tour of Burma. If any readers" relatives served there and met her, please send your memories to: Burma Book, PO Box 105, Hassocks, BN6 0EF Amsterdam essentials Budget stay The Blue Sheep (0031 6 2962 3499; thebluesheep.net; doubles from £93) is a family home, run as a b & b by Jan Willem Scholten and his Italian wife Novella. It is a former artisan's cottage, dating in part from 1600. Inside, family spirit and designer style rule. Where to eat Koevoet (Lindenstraat 17; 20 624 0846; reservations essential) may be a folksy, very traditional Dutch café, but the food comes from a wildly talented Sicilian family that supplies home-made pastas, their own sausages, and other fine flavours of the south. More expensive is Envy (Prinsengracht 381; 20 344 6407; envy.nl), where a battery of chefs produces some of the most inventive new-Dutch cuisine in town. Go for individual menus, or share five or six dishes in haute-tapas style. New film museum EYE (eyefilm.nl), the former Netherlands Film Museum, has moved to an aerodynamic zigzag of a new building that is already a hot city hangout. The collection - ranging from 19th-century film through such rarities as hand-painted silent movies to 20th-century classics and the present day - is world class. There's a permanent display, including pods for private viewing, but the true attractions are a varied daily programme and festivals, such as the Stanley Kubrick retrospective (June 21 to September 9). EYE has become an instant Amsterdam landmark, with a waterside café-restaurant worth a visit even if you're not taking in a film.

Morsi's decree sparks rival rallies in Egypt State television reported that offices of the Muslim Brotherhood and its Freedom and Justice Party were torched in several cities by protesters angry at Morsi's decree Thursday, which exempted his decisions from judicial review and ordered retrials for former top officials, including Mubarak. The decree, issued a day after Morsi won international praise for fostering a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, appears to leave few if any checks on his power. The president said all of the decisions he has made since he took office in June - and until a new constitution is adopted and a parliament elected - were final and not subject to appeal or review. The announcement, read on state television by Morsi's spokesman and broadcast repeatedly with accompanying nationalistic songs, shocked many in this struggling country, and street protests quickly erupted. In the port city of Alexandria, protesters stormed the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters Friday, threw books and chairs into the street and set them on fire, Reuters news agency reported. It said supporters and opponents of the president also threw rocks at each other near a mosque in Alexandria. In Geneva, a spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said Morsi's decree raises serious concerns. "We are very concerned about the possible huge ramifications of this declaration on human rights and the rule of law in Egypt," Rupert Colville told reporters Friday. We also fear this could lead to a very volatile situation over the next few days, starting today in fact. Morsi's broad assertion of control came less than 24 hours after a diplomatic triumph in arranging the cease-fire in Gaza had given new credence to Morsi's international bona fides. And it raised questions about whether Egypt might be headed to a return of its Mubarak-era arrangement on the world stage: a country praised for bringing stability to a volatile region and tolerated for abusing rights at home. Muslim Brotherhood officials, with whom Morsi is allied, said the measures were necessary to ensure the country's full and healthy return to democracy. "This level of immunity for presidential decrees is indeed unprecedented, but it is necessary, and it is controlled by a time frame" that ends with the election of a new parliament, said Gehad el-Haddad, a senior Muslim Brotherhood adviser. This constitutional declaration cements the way forward in terms of time frame and powers. But the decision raised immediate concerns among many liberal activists who had already been worried that Morsi had taken a distinctly authoritarian air in the three months since he swept out the top ranks of the military and sidelined what had long been a powerful independent institution in Egypt. Egypt's short-lived parliament was dismissed by the country's high court shortly before Morsi took power, so legislative powers also are concentrated under the president. Taking the courts out of the equation means there will be no judicial review of Morsi's decisions.

In Michigan, Santorum Returns to Message of Energy and Manufacturing MUSKEGON, Mich. - After several days of sticking to social issues, and sometimes being called to clarify controversial statements, GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum came to Western Michigan preaching a purely economic message, focusing on energy and manufacturing. "Skyrocketing gas prices may put a halt to the improving economy - such that it is," Santorum said. It's not going to take much to slow down this little train. Santorum pledged to open ANWAR to drilling, approve the Keystone Pipeline and allow for more hydrofracking to tap domestic natural gas reserves. He again clarified his recent comments about President Obama's "theology." I was criticized the other day. I don't know if you saw Bob Schieffer's show ['Face the Nation' on CBS]. I was criticized [for saying] that the president has radical environmental ideology, even theology," he said. It's one that puts man just like any other species out there. The Earth is the objective. We focus on the Earth and we don't worry about man. ... We believe man has dominion over the Earth and is steward of the Earth... Man has an obligation to protect Earth, be good stewards. Santorum subtly jabbed Mitt Romney, but did not mention him by name, suggesting it was hypocritical for the former Massachusetts governor to have supported the Wall Street bailout, but not a bailout for Michigan's auto industry. "Other folks competing here in Michigan supported the financial bailout of Wall Street but not bailout here of auto industry," he said. I was opposed [to the bailout] on principal, but also from experience. To be for one [bailout] and not the other, you have to explain that to me. He did, however, name Romney surrogate billionaire Donald Trump, who will campaign in Michigan for Romney. "I get a kick out my "friend" Donald Trump. I put "friend" in quotes," Santorum said "He says of me, "He can't win, he failed his last race." Oh, I guess Donald has never failed in anything.

Gun Sales Booming: Obama or Zombies? Buyers in record numbers are flooding into gun stores, retailers say. Ammo, too, is flying off the shelves. The reasons for the spike, last seen in 2009, include fears that a second Obama administration might restrict gun ownership and the popularity of TV shows devoted to doomsday preparation and killing zombies. "He's never been pro-gun," says Cris Parsons of President Obama. Parsons, 31, owns a Texas gun purveyor called the Houston Armory. So far, Parsons insists, Obama has been "pretty coy" about his antipathy toward guns--and he likely will remain so during the campaign. To do otherwise would "upset a lot of people." But if Obama wins a second term, he'll have "nothing to lose," says Parsons. Alan Korwin, author of nine books on gun laws, including "Gun Laws of America," says gun owners are worried that the president, as a lame duck, will clamp down as never before on gun ownership. Parsons says about 40 percent of Armory customers cite this fear as their reason for stocking up on guns and ammo now, before the election. "Frenzy" is the word he uses to describe their buying. Dollar sales for the Armory are up 30 to 40 percent this quarter compared to last. Parsons thinks his store's performance is indicative of sales nationally, based on what he hears from dealers, suppliers and other store owners. Gun maker Sturm, Ruger says that in the first quarter it received orders for more than 1 million firearms--so many that it has now had to stop taking orders. Says a notice on its website: "Despite the company's continuing successful efforts to increase production rates, the incoming order rate exceeds our capacity to rapidly fulfill these orders. Consequently, the company has temporarily suspended the acceptance of new orders. It expects to resume accepting orders, it says, at the end of May. Stocks of gun makers are surging. Sturm, Ruger's share price is up 55 percent this year. Smith & Wesson soared 91 percent. Sporting goods and hunting retailer Cabela's is up 53 percent. Other forces besides politics, though, explain the current boom. "There're the 'preppers," explains Parsons, "and then there's this whole Zombie Apocalypse thing." He refers to two hot trends in popular culture. The first is a National Geographic TV show called "Doomsday Prepers" that chronicles the preparations being made by people convinced that a doomsday of some kind is coming. A whole industry has sprung up to sell preppers survival and self-dense goods, including guns and ammo. Then there are zombies--zombie movies, zombie comics, zombie novels, zombie TV shows. Americans' fascination with all things zombie, Parsons says, has grown to such proportions that arms manufactures now have come out with zombie-specific firearms and ammo. Products include a line of Zombie Max ammunition (slogan: "just in case") made by Hornady Manufacturing. "We can't keep it in stock," says Parsons. It comes in a cool, colorful box with a Zombie on it. There are more than a dozen manufacturers, says Parsons, making zombie riffles, some with a picture of a zombie on them The two position on a zombie rifle's safety, instead of being marked "safe" and "fire," are labeled "dead" and "undead." Gun maker DPMS Panther Arms is taking sign-ups now for its fifth annual zombie shoot, "Outbreak: Omega" set for June 23. "DPMS' Outbreak: Omega," says the company's website, "is the Original Zombie Shoot, and the largest. It is a non competitive 3-gun style fun shoot. All are invited to come and try your hand at killing Zombies. Tons of Prizes...followed by a HUGE after party! Attendees don't actually shoot Zombies, which, last we heard, don't actually exist. They shoot targets that are zombie stand-ins. Says Parsons, summing up the reasons for record gun sales, "You got zombies, you got 'preppers, and you got Obama."

MLB: San Francisco 7, St. Louis 1 St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher Jason Motte (R) celebrates with manager Mike Matheny after earning the save against San Francisco Giants during game one of the National League Championship Series at AT&T Park in San Francisco on October 14, 2012. St. Louis takes a 1-0 NLCS series lead with a 6-4 win over San Francisco. SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- Ryan Vogelsong tossed seven innings of one-run ball and San Francisco banged out 12 hits Monday, evening its playoff series with a 7-1 win over St. Louis. Vogelsong (1-0) stifled the Cardinals on four hits, walking two and striking out for as the Giants forged a 1-1 tie in the National League Championship Series. Marco Scutaro went 2-for-3 and broke the game open with a two-run single to cap a four-run fourth inning that broke the game open for the NL West champions. Scutaro got the key hit after shaking off a hard hit from the Cardinals' Matt Holliday, who slid aggressively into the Giants infielder while trying to break up a first-inning double-play opportunity. Ryan Theriot added a two-run single in the eighth and Angel Pagan homered as the Giants rebounded from a 6-4 loss in Sunday's Game 1. Chris Carpenter (0-1) absorbed the loss, surrendering five runs -- only two of which were earned thanks to his own fourth-inning throwing error. The right-hander yielded six hits and walked two over four full innings. Carpenter also drove in the only run for defending world champion St. Louis, which now returns home to host the next three NLCS games.