Saturday, December 31, 2011

Gingrich thinks Palin would be a darned fine energy secretary

Sarah PalinHey, lemme tell you about gas prices ...Photo: Roger H. GounNewt Gingrich told conservative activists on Wednesday that Sarah "Drill Baby Drill" Palin would be an ideal candidate for secretary of energy.

"I can't imagine anybody who would do a better job of driving us to an energy solution than Gov. Palin, for example," Gingrich said during a conference call hosted by Ralph Reed's Faith and Freedom Coalition. "Tell her that she would certainly be on the list of one of the people we would consider."

No matter that Palin is clueless about how global energy markets work. In trying to blame President Obama for high gas prices in May 2011, she made these rambling and nonsensical remarks to Fox News: "But rising gas prices -- there is an inherent link, David, between energy and security, energy and prosperity, and energy and freedom, and this is something that obviously our president doesn't understand because he's doing all that he can to manipulate the U.S. supply of energy. He is diminishing and decreasing the amount of energy in our market domestically and that, of course, resulting in prices that are rising and gas having doubled since he has been in office."

She also doesn't understand climate change, cap-and-trade, and, oh, so much else.?

Of course, Gingrich's own energy and climate views are awfully muddled, so perhaps he hasn't noticed.?

Gingrich also said he would consider Palin as a running mate, though one might figure he was just being courteous, as that strategy didn't work out so well for the last Republican presidential nominee. Considering how Gingrich's poll numbers are tanking in Iowa, it's unlikely we'll? get the chance to find out how sincere he really was.

Source: http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=8e432485bcd38dc7b189abf128c0ef79

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Friday, December 30, 2011

Presseurop: EU-Africa | Belt-tightening | Cartoon (Le Journal du jeudi, Ouagadougou) http://t.co/pUTE4XnI

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Bill Maher Sparks a Twitter War Over Tebow Tweet

Bill Maher isn't making any fans when it comes to his views on football player Tim Tebow. After the 24-year-old quarterback led his team, the Denver Broncos, in a loss Christmas Eve against the Buffalo Bills, the HBO late-night host (who's an admitted atheist) tweeted a scathing post with a reference to the football star's religious beliefs and famous pose.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/bill-maher-sparks-twitter-war-over-tebow-tweet/1-a-414111?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Abill-maher-sparks-twitter-war-over-tebow-tweet-414111

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Thursday, December 29, 2011

Federal judge ends BP's probation for Alaska spill (AP)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska ? A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed prosecutors' argument that a BP subsidiary violated its probation after an oil spill because of another spill on Alaska's North Slope.

Judge Ralph Beistline also lifted BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc.'s probation altogether.

BP had been convicted of negligent discharge of oil in 2007 for a 200,000-gallon spill on the North Slope a year earlier. There was another spill of 13,500 gallons in 2009.

Last month, government lawyers sought to have BP's probation revoked for the latest spill, meaning the probation period could have been lengthened or the company could have faced additional penalties.

In his ruling, Beistline said the government failed to prove the company committed criminal negligence.

"We are pleased with the decision and appreciate the court's attention," BP spokesman Steve Rinehart said in an email to The Associated Press. "We know that the privilege of working in Alaska comes with a responsibility to maintain high standards. We will continue our commitment to running safe and compliant operations."

Emails seeking comment from the U.S. attorney's office in Anchorage were not immediately returned.

Prosecutors said BP's history of environmental crimes in Alaska began in February 2001 when it pleaded guilty to releasing hazardous materials at its Endicott facility on the North Slope. The company was fined $500,000, placed on probation for five years and ordered to create a nationwide environmental management program, prosecutors said.

The March 2006 spill of 200,000 gallons of crude was caused by corrosion, and BP's leak detection system failed to notice it, they said.

The company's guilty plea to a misdemeanor violation of the Clean Water Act in 2007 resulted in three years' probation, a $12 million fine, and restitution and community service payments totaling $8 million to the state of Alaska and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

Prosecutors contended BP violated the conditions of its probation by allowing the 2009 spill from an 18-inch pipe that moved oil, water and gas from drill pads to BP's Lisburne Processing Center. That spill, prosecutors said, leaked 13,500 gallons of oil onto tundra and wetlands.

The government said it was similar to the 2006 spill because BP ignored alarms that warned of the pipe's eventual rupture and leak. The 2009 spill also came after a similar pipe froze and ruptured in 2001, they said, and BP failed to put in place preventative measures that their own experts recommended.

But in his ruling, Beistline wrote: "The investigation concluded, based on the metallurgy report, that the pipeline rupture was not caused by corrosion or improper maintenance, but was caused by a sequence of circumstances, including cooling and warming of ambient temperature after the flow stopped, which led to the freezing of both water and hydrates. This ultimately resulted in increased gas pressure within the pipeline that caused the rupture. Why the flow slowed initially remains a mystery to all."

Beistline said BP followed "accepted industry practices at all relevant times and could not have reasonably expected a blowout similar to the one that occurred on November 29, 2009. Further, the court concludes that once the freeze up was discovered, BP acted reasonably in addressing the problem."

He also said BP's efforts to return the spill site to pre-spill conditions were "impressive."

"An untrained observer would likely be unable to find any indication that a spill had occurred," he wrote, adding there was no evidence that contaminants reached any nearby lakes or Prudhoe Bay.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/environment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111227/ap_on_re_us/us_bp_spills_probation

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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Death Valley Sand Dunes, California

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Hopkins researchers nab $8M to study new cancer treatments

Ryan Sharrow
Web Editor - Baltimore Business Journal
Email ?|?Twitter

Johns Hopkins Medicine?

The five-year grant was made through the U.S. National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health.

A team of cancer imaging experts at Hopkins will search for ways to detect cancers in their earliest stages inside cells, and for ways to stop or kill them before the disease can spread to other tissues and organs.

The team will do so using imaging tools developed or used for the last decade at the Johns Hopkins In-Vivo Cellular and Molecular Imaging Center.

The initiative will be headed by Zaver Bhujwalla.

Hopkins? In-Vivo Cellular and Molecular Imaging Center is one of 10 such federally funded research centers in the U.S.

Johns Hopkins Medicine?

The five-year grant was made through the U.S. National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health.

A team of cancer imaging experts at Hopkins will search for ways to detect cancers in their earliest stages inside cells, and for ways to stop or kill them before the disease can spread to other tissues and organs.

The team will do so using imaging tools developed or used for the last decade at the Johns Hopkins In-Vivo Cellular and Molecular Imaging Center.

The initiative will be headed by Zaver Bhujwalla.

Hopkins? In-Vivo Cellular and Molecular Imaging Center is one of 10 such federally funded research centers in the U.S.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/vertical_61/~3/F9TDCOp9QO8/hopkins-researchers-nab-8m-to-study.html

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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Tanier: Brees already among the greats

Saints QB under the radar, but he's Hall of Famer even if he quits today

Image: BreesGetty Images

Everyone seems to overlook Drew Brees as being a product of today's pass-happy game, but he's a legitimate Hall of Famer, NBCSports.com contributor Mike Tanier writes.

ANALYSIS

updated 11:58 p.m. ET Dec. 26, 2011

Mike Tanier

If you have felt underappreciated during the holiday season, remember that it could be worse. You could be Drew Brees.

Brees broke Dan Marino?s single-season passing record of 5,084 yards ??with his final pass on Monday night's win against the Falcons. Ho-hum, you say: Passing records fall every season. Except that Marino?s standard has held for 27 years, and only one other quarterback has ever surpassed 5,000 yards: None other than Brees, who threw for 5,069 yards in 2008.

Brees? pursuit of Marino?s milestone has gotten the ?oh, by the way? treatment from some outlets, while a few analysts cared just enough to give Bress the Roger Maris brush-off. ?Brees' record will be severely watered down. So much so, that it almost deserves an asterisk," wrote Mike Freeman of CBSSports.com, alluding to today?s liberal passing rules and strategies.

Last week, Brees became the 13th quarterback in NFL history to surpass 40,000 career passing yards. You might have missed the fanfare and the parade: The story got buried in the stats ?n? notes section of most sports sections outside of Louisiana. Brees will pass Johnny Unitas on the all-time yardage list before breaking Marino?s record, and he could also pass Joe Montana by season?s end. It?s not clear what punctuation marks he must use as apologies for passing those legends: Maybe an ampersand and a pound sign, harsh symbols for our ?severely watered down? times.

When not cruising past Marino, Unitas, and Montana, Brees is being a solid citizen about his contract situation. He becomes a free agent in March, but negotiations on a new deal have been tabled until the offseason. Saints president Mickey Loomis has praised Brees for not letting the slow/nonexistent negotiations become a distraction, but Loomis has not exactly sped things along, either. Apparently, things have become so severely watered down 32-year-old all-time record holders just grow on trees.

Granted, Brees is getting some props: He is often mentioned as this year?s ?runner-up MVP,? and the Saints are quietly 12-3, in the playoffs, and in good position to wrap up the second seed in the NFC. But Brees deserves to be seen as more than a runner-up. He deserves a heck of a lot better than the asterisk treatment. Brees is a future Hall of Famer, and he should be acknowledged as one of the best quarterbacks, not just of this generation, but of any generation.

In good company
Yes, Brees is a Hall of Famer. He?s not a Hall of Famer if he wins another Super Bowl, or if he has three more good years, or if he breaks the right combination of records. He is a Hall of Famer even if he announces before kickoff Monday that he is giving up football for tiddlywinks. Brees is not ?on his way.? He is there.

Brees is about to be named to his sixth Pro Bowl and has led his team to a Super Bowl victory. Every eligible quarterback in history with six Pro Bowls and a ring has made the Hall of Fame. In fact, the only quarterback in history with six Pro Bowl selections who is not in the Hall of Fame is John Hadl, the Chargers legend who earned much of his all-star notice in the wild-and-woolly days of the early AFL. Brees? record blows away top Hall of Fame argument starters such as Ken Stabler (four Pro Bowls, one ring) and Ken Anderson (four Pro Bowls, zero rings). Brees fits much more comfortably among second-tier Hall members such as Dan Fouts (six Pro Bowls, zero rings) and Bobby Layne (five Pro Bowls, two rings), well above the Joe Namath-George Blanda class of quarterbacks who made the cut for other contributions. You can argue that multiple Pro Bowl appearances were harder for old-time quarterbacks to achieve, because careers were shorter, but Brees is only 32, and we are giving him zero credit for what he might accomplish in the next decade.

Counting Super Bowls and all-star appearances is a rather simple-minded way of ranking quarterbacks. But we cannot use statistics, because Brees blows the field away. He has the highest career completion percentage in history of any quarterback with over 3,000 pass attempts. He just passed Montana for 10th on the all-time touchdown list. Brees, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady are carving the record book up in unequal thirds, or at least all the parts of the record book that Favre didn?t shred by trying to play until the sun went nova. Give Brees five more modest seasons in the 3,000-yard, 20-touchdown range (and account for Brady's having similar production), and Brees will retire among the top five quarterbacks in every meaningful category.

And despite our ?watered-down? times, Brees? totals will stick -- other than Brady, other quarterbacks in Brees? age group (Tony Romo, Eli Manning, and the like) are thousands of yards and many touchdowns behind.

Brees lacks an MVP award, but he has a shelf full of everything else: the Bert Bell Award, Offensive Player of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year, Super Bowl MVP and the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, which acknowledges community service as well as on-field success. This is not the r?sum? of a borderline Hall of Fame candidate; it is overwhelming evidence of greatness, a slam dunk that is only going to rattle backboards even harder after a few more seasons like the past five.


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Brees surpasses Marino

??Drew Brees set the NFL record for yards passing in a season, breaking a mark that Dan Marino had held since 1984, and the New Orleans Saints clinched the NFC South title with a 45-16 victory over the Atlanta Falcons on Monday night.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45768359/ns/sports-nfl/

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Figure Skating: Asada to lead Japan at world championships

TOKYO: Two-time world champion Mao Asada will spearhead the Japanese team at the world figure skating championships in France next year, the Japan Skating Federation announced on Sunday.

The 21-year-old Asada claimed her first women's singles title in two years and fifth in her career at Japan's national championships Sunday, which serve as trials for the world championships in Nice from March 26 to April 1, 2012.

Also joining Asada in the team are Grand Prix Final silver medallist Akiko Suzuki, who also won silver on Sunday and bronze medallist Kanako Murakami.

Men's winner on Saturday Daisuke Takahashi has been named for the men's team, along with Takahiko Kozuka and Yuzuru Hanyu.

"I was disappointed that I failed to land a triple loop, but I'm happy that I was able to finish the year by winning the title. I was in a difficult condition, but I was able to perform my usual free skating," said Asada.

Asada pulled out of the Grand Prix Final in Quebec earlier this month to be with her mother, Kyoko, whose health had deteriorated. Kyoko died before Mao arrived at the hospital.

- AFP/de

Source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_sports/view/1173324/1/.html

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Monday, December 26, 2011

The Note's Must-Reads for Monday, December 26, 2011 (ABC News)

Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/179194593?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Robert Creamer: Why GOP Collapse on the Payroll Tax Could be a Turning Point Moment

In recent American politics, every major shift in political momentum has resulted from an iconic battle.

In 1995 the tide of the 1994 "Republican Revolution" was reversed when Speaker Newt Gingrich and his new Republican House majority shut down the government in a battle over their attempts to cut Medicare to give tax breaks to the rich (sound familiar). The shutdown ended with - what pundits universally scored -- as a victory for President Clinton. That legislative victory began Clinton's march to overwhelming re-election victory in 1996.

In 2010, Democrats passed President Obama's landmark health care reform. But they lost the battle for public opinion - and base motivation. That turned the political tide that had propelled President Obama to victory in 2008 and ultimately led to the drubbing Democrats took in the 2010 mid terms.

The Republican leadership's collapse in the battle over extending the payroll tax holiday and unemployment benefits could also be a turning point moment that shifts the political momentum just as we enter the pivotal 2012 election year.

Here's why:

1). Since the President launched his campaign for the American Jobs Act, he has driven Congressional Republicans into a political box canyon with very few avenues of escape. The jobs campaign has made it clearer and clearer to the voters that the "do nothing Republican Congress" bears responsibility for preventing the President from taking steps that would create jobs.

Until the payroll tax/unemployment victory, the President had failed to persuade the Republican dominated Congress to pass any provision of the bill - save one aimed at helping veterans. But the polling shows that the public has become more and more disgusted by Congressional intransigence. Since 64% of Americans believe that Congress is run entirely by the Republicans (and from the stand point of stopping legislation it is managed entirely by Republicans), the overall unhappiness with Congress has translated into distain for the "do nothing Republican Congress".

Congress now has lower approval ratings (11% in the latest poll) than at any time in modern history. Senator Michael Bennett presented data on the Senate floor that showed that Congress is less popular than BP during the gulf oil spill. It is way less popular than Nixon during Watergate. About the same number of Americans have a positive view of Congress as support America becoming a Communist nation. That makes it the worst time imaginable for House Republicans to throw a political tantrum that threatened to increase the tax burden of everyday Americans by $40 per paycheck -- $1,000 next year - right after Christmas.

Last weekend, the Senate Republican Leader thought he had blazed a path for Republicans that led out of that political box canyon - at least in so far as the extension of the payroll tax holiday and unemployment. The bi-partisan agreement to temporarily extend the payroll tax holiday and unemployment insurance seemed to give Republicans a face saving option that - at least temporarily -- took them off the political hook. But Tea Party stalwarts in the House threatened to mutiny if Boehner went along - and all week - there the House Republicans sat, at the bottom of that canyon with no escape.

House Republicans bet that the President and Democrats were desperate enough to extend the payroll tax and unemployment that they could hold those provisions hostage the way they had held hostage the debt ceiling in August. In an act of unfathomable political ineptitude, they failed to appreciate that this time, Democrats occupied vastly higher political ground.

Failure to continue the payroll tax holiday would have immediately decreased the take home pay of 160 million Americans. By refusing to agree to the compromise that had passed the Senate with an overwhelming bi-partisan majority, House Republicans made it certain that they would have been held responsible.

They might as well have hung out a huge flashing sign in Times Square that said: "Republicans are responsible for cutting your take home pay and eliminating your unemployment benefits."

Even the conservative editorial page of the Wall Street Journal called on them to throw in the towel.

Democrats had every incentive to hang tough. In the end by refusing to take the escape hatch opened for them by McConnell, the nation watched House Republicans dragged kicking and screaming to support the President's popular payroll and unemployment extensions.

The outcome of the battle was unambiguous. No one could doubt who stood up for the economic interests of the middle class and who did not. And no one could doubt who won and who lost.

National Journal reported that:

House Republicans on Thursday crumpled under the weight of White House and public pressure and have agreed to pass a two-month extension of the 2 percent payroll-tax cut, Republican and Democratic sources told National Journal.

In the end, Republican intransigence transformed a moment that would have been a modest win for President Obama into an iconic victory.

2). Strength and victory are enormous political assets. Going into the New Year, they now belong to the President and the Democrats.

One of the reasons why the debt ceiling battle inflicted political damage on President Obama is that it made him appear ineffectual - a powerful figure who had been ensnared and held hostage by the Lilliputian pettiness of hundreds of swarming Tea Party ideological zealots.

In the last few months -- as he campaigned for the American Jobs Act -- he has shaken free of those bonds. Now voters have just watched James Bond or Indiana Jones escape and turn the tables on his adversary.

Great stories are about a protagonist who meets and overcomes a challenge and is victorious. The capitulation of the House Tea Party Republicans is so important because it feels like the beginning of that kind of heroic narrative.

Even today most Americans believe that George Bush and the big Wall Street Banks - not by President Obama -- caused the economic crisis. Swing voters have never lost their fondness for the President and don't doubt his sincerity. But they had begun to doubt his effectiveness. They have had increasing doubts that Obama was up to the challenge of leading them back to economic prosperity.

The narrative set in motion by the events of the last several weeks could be a turning point in voter perception. It could well begin to convince skeptical voters that Obama is precisely the kind of leader they thought he was back in 2008 - a guy with the ability to lead them out of adversity - a leader with the strength, patience, skill, will and resoluteness to lead them to victory.

That now contrasts with the sheer political incompetence of the House Republican Leadership that allowed themselves to be cornered and now find themselves in political disarray. And it certainly contrasts with the political circus we have been watching in the Republican Presidential primary campaign.

3). This victory will inspire the dispirited Democratic base.

Inspiration is the feeling of empowerment - the feeling that you are part of something larger than yourself and can personally play a significant role in achieving that goal. It comes from feeling that together you can overcome challenges and win.

Nothing will do more to inspire committed Democrats than the sight of their leader -- President Obama - out maneuvering the House Republicans and forcing them into complete capitulation.

The events of the last several weeks will send a jolt of electricity through the Progressive community.

The right is counting on Progressives to be demoralized and dispirited in the coming election. The President's victory on the payroll tax and unemployment will make it ever more likely that they will be wrong.

4). When you have them on the run, that's the time to chase them.

The most important thing about the outcome of the battle over the payroll tax and unemployment is that it shifts the political momentum at a critical time. Momentum is an independent variable in any competitive activity - including politics.

In a football or basketball game you can feel the momentum shift. The tide of battle is all about momentum. The same is true in politics. And in politics it is even more important because the "spectators" are also the players - the voters.

People follow - and vote -- for winners. The bandwagon effect is enormously important in political decision-making. Human beings like to travel in packs. They like to be at the center of the mainstream. Momentum shifts affect their perceptions of the mainstream.

For the last two years, the right wing has been on the offensive. Its Tea Party shock troops took the battle to Democratic Members of Congress. In the Mid-Terms Democrats were routed in district after district.

Now the tide has turned. And when the tide turns -when you have them on the run - that's the time to chase them.

We won't know for sure until next November whether this moment will take on the same iconic importance as Clinton's battle with Gingrich in 1995. But there is no doubt that the political wind has shifted. It's up to Progressives to make the most of it.

Robert Creamer is a long-time political organizer and strategist, and author of the book: Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can Win, available on Amazon.com. He is a partner in Democracy Partners and a Senior Strategist for Americans United for Change. Follow him on Twitter @rbcreamer.

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Follow Robert Creamer on Twitter: www.twitter.com/rbcreamer

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-creamer/why-gop-collapse-on-the-p_b_1167491.html

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Sunday, December 25, 2011

Friday KULR-8 Sports On-Demand 12-23

Story Published: Dec 23, 2011 at 6:07 PM MST

Story Updated: Dec 23, 2011 at 6:07 PM MST

Griz senior cornerback Trumaine Johnson gets named to yet another All-America team.

Your source for local and surrounding area scores and sports news.
Be sure to watch KULR-8 News @ 6 and 10 M-F, and weekends @ 5
and 10 for complete coverage.

Have a score to report? Sports story idea?
Send to our Sports Department: sports@kulr.com or give us a call, 406-656-8558.

Source: http://www.kulr8.com/sports/local/Friday-KULR-8-Sports-On-Demand-12-23-136168413.html

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Saturday, December 24, 2011

Israel sees Hezbollah responsible for security incidents in Lebanon

BEIRUT: Israeli defense officials say Hezbollah is responsible for recent security incidents in south Lebanon, hinting at a possible change in the party?s policy toward the Jewish state since 2006.

Haaretz newspaper released a report Thursday saying that?Israeli experts believe there is a "connection" between Hezbollah and recent security incidents in south Lebanon, including the attack earlier this month against members belonging to the French convoy of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon that left five French peacekeepers wounded.

It was the third roadside bomb targeting a UNIFIL convoy this year, with six Italian peacekeepers being wounded in May, while in July five French soldiers were wounded in another blast. Both occurred in the southern city of Sidon and no group has claimed responsibility for either attack.

According to the paper, ?Israeli defense officials are worried about an increase in violent activity by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon,? particularly ones involving rocket attacks aimed at Israel.

In late November, one rocket was fired from southern Lebanon and landed into Israel overnight, prompting Israeli troops to retaliate by firing six artillery shells. No group has claimed responsibility. In another incident, one woman was wounded in the south when a Katyusha rocket, apparently aimed at Israel, hit her home.

France?s Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has accused Syria of ordering the attack against the French soldiers and that Hezbollah was involved in it. However, the French official said he had no proof to back his claims.

Hezbollah denies any involvement in the attacks against U.N. peacekeepers in the south.

Lebanon?s Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn has hinted that Israel was behind the mysterious rocket attacks from south Lebanon into the Jewish State in an attempt to undermine security and stability in the area.

"Israeli defense officials believe that Juppe is right. They say Hezbollah is trying to intimidate UNIFIL, particularly the French troops ? considered especially assertive ? so that they won?t monitor Hezbollah?s activities in southern Lebanon too closely,? the Haaretz report said.

?The attacks are apparently carried out by proxies, smaller organizations, so that they cannot be linked directly to Hezbollah,? it added

The report said that such incidents indicate that Hezbollah has changed its strategy against Israel, since the resistance group had adopted a non-confrontational policy against its enemy on the border since the July-August war of 2006.

"The recent incidents could be important as a whole, indicating that Hezbollah is shedding its policy since the 2006 war. If this is so, the change stems from the worsening crisis in Syria, motivating Hezbollah?s leaders to take action, however constrained,? the report said.

Hezbollah?s chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah has warned that any attack against Syria or Iran would engulf the entire region, hinting that his group would interfere if one of its allies was attacked.?

?Hezbollah is in a turbulent state,? an Israeli defense official was quoted by Haaretz as saying. ?On the one hand, Assad?s regime faces collapse; on the other, Iran has been forced to cut back its financial aid to the organization due to the international sanctions that Tehran faces.

?Under such circumstances, Hezbollah is liable to make a mistake and pursue courses of action that would further complicate its situation," the official added.

Source: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2011/Dec-22/157672-israel-sees-hezbollah-responsible-for-security-incidents-in-lebanon.ashx

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It's the World's First Gaming Laptop Delay

It's the World's First Gaming Laptop DelayOriginally slated for release before Christmas, Razer's ambitious Blade gaming laptop has run into supply issues pushing shipping back to mid to late January. Don't cry, they're throwing in a free gaming mouse. You can't cry when there's a free mouse involved.

In a comment posted on Razer's Facebook page earlier this week, company CEO Min-Liang Tan apologized for the unexpected delay of the Razer Blade, apparently caused by a smaller-than-expected supply if the 256GB solid state drives the $2799.99 gaming laptop were recently been upgraded with (the system was originally configured with a 320GB SATA drive). While Razer didn't add to the price of the machine to reflect the $300-$500 price of the new drives, it looks like customers will instead be paying in time.

We worked really hard to have the Razer Blade ready for launch and it was a painful decision for us to delay this till after Christmas but we decided the upgrade from the HDD to the SSD drive was just something we wanted to have as gamers ourselves.

It's the World's First Gaming Laptop DelayWe apologize to all those of you who have been eagerly looking forward to getting a Razer Blade for yourself for Christmas and we're truly sorry for disappointing you.

To show how sorry they truly are, folks that head to the product page for the Blade and click the "Notify Me" button will score a free Razer Orochi Blade Edition gaming mouse for their trouble. Decked out in black and green, the mouse was originally planned to be an accessory marketing with the laptop; well now it's included.

Hopefully we'll be able to get our hands on one of these babies somewhere around launch time so we can let you know how well $2,800 of laser-focused gaming laptop works out.

Good News & Bad News - Blade Shipment Status [Facebook]

Source: http://kotaku.com/5870551/its-the-worlds-first-gaming-laptop-delay

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Friday, December 23, 2011

Michael Fassbender Puts On His Best Android Face in Latest 'Prometheus' Imagery

Pometheus

It's the week of Prometheus! While Fox appears to have successfully pulled the bootlegged trailer offline, Empire Magazine has landed an exclusive new photo that depicts Michael Fassbender as what they call "a paranoid android".

"Ridley Scott, director of 'Alien' and 'Blade Runner,' returns to the genre he helped define. With 'Prometheus', he creates a groundbreaking mythology, in which a team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a thrilling journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race."

In theaters June 8 (shot in 3-D nonetheless!), Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, Sean Harris, Guy Pearce, Kate Dickie, Rafe Spall, Logan Marshall-Green, Benedict Wong, Emun Elliott, Ben Foster, Patrick Wilson all star.

Pometheus

Source: http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/27640

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Thursday, December 22, 2011

HUD awards $71.9 million to Florida homeless programs

U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan this week awarded $1.47 billion to renew funding to more than 7,100 local homeless programs operating across the country.

Approximately $71.9 million of that will renew funding to 331 homeless programs operating in Florida; about 40 of those programs are in the Tampa Bay area, according to a HUD statement.

The funding is meant to ensure the programs remain operating in 2012. The announced amount is $62 million more than last year, the most homeless assistance ever awarded by the department, according to the statement. The department is renewing funding through its ?Continuum of Care? programs to existing local programs to prevent interruption of federal assistance, and will award funds to new projects in early 2012.

U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan this week awarded $1.47 billion to renew funding to more than 7,100 local homeless programs operating across the country.

Approximately $71.9 million of that will renew funding to 331 homeless programs operating in Florida; about 40 of those programs are in the Tampa Bay area, according to a HUD statement.

The funding is meant to ensure the programs remain operating in 2012. The announced amount is $62 million more than last year, the most homeless assistance ever awarded by the department, according to the statement. The department is renewing funding through its ?Continuum of Care? programs to existing local programs to prevent interruption of federal assistance, and will award funds to new projects in early 2012.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/vertical_61/~3/EHRKUoCb-rA/hud-awards-719-million-to-florida.html

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Monday, December 19, 2011

Penn St. coach says he saw, reported molestation (AP)

HARRISBURG, Pa. ? As soon as he walked into the Penn State locker room, Mike McQueary heard running water and rhythmic, slapping sounds of "skin on skin." He looked in a mirror and saw a naked Jerry Sandusky, the former assistant coach, holding a young boy by the waist from behind, up against the wall in the campus shower.

"I just saw Coach Sandusky in the showers with a boy and what I saw was wrong and sexual," McQueary recalled telling his father that night in 2002. He repeated it the next morning to coach Joe Paterno, who slumped deep into his chair at his kitchen table.

"He said, `I'm sorry you had to see that,'" McQueary said.

McQueary's testimony Friday at a preliminary hearing for two Penn State officials accused of covering up the story was the most detailed, public account yet of the child sex abuse allegations that have upended the university's football program and the entire central Pennsylvania campus. Paterno and the university president have lost their jobs, and officials Tim Curley and Gary Schultz are accused of lying to a grand jury about what McQueary told them.

A Pennsylvania judge on Friday held Curley, the university's athletic director, and Schultz, a retired senior vice president, for trial after the daylong hearing.

Curley said that McQueary never relayed the seriousness of what he saw, and said he was only told that Sandusky was "horsing around" with a boy but that his conduct wasn't sexual.

He said he told the university president about the episode and the top official at a children's charity that Sandusky founded, but never told university police. "I didn't see any reason because I didn't think at the time it was a crime," he told the grand jury, according to testimony read into the record on Friday.

Curley, Schultz and Paterno have been criticized for never telling police about the 2002 charges. Prosecutors say Sandusky continued to abuse boys for six more years. Sandusky has denied having inappropriate sexual contact with boys.

In about two hours on the witness stand, McQueary said again and again that what he saw was a sexual act, although he stopped short of saying he was sure that Sandusky, now 67, had raped the boy.

"I believe Jerry was sexually molesting him and having some type of sexual intercourse with him," McQueary said on Friday. He said later he "can't say 100 percent" that Sandusky and the boy were having intercourse because he was seeing Sandusky from behind.

He said after talking to his father, he went over to Paterno's home the next morning and said that what he had seen "was way over the lines, it was extremely sexual in nature." He said he would not have used words like sodomy or intercourse with Paterno; he did not get into that much detail out of respect for the coach, he said.

Paterno told the grand jury that McQueary said he saw Sandusky doing something of a "sexual nature" with the youngster but that he didn't press for details.

"I didn't push Mike ... because he was very upset," Paterno said. "I knew Mike was upset, and I knew some kind of inappropriate action was being taken by Jerry Sandusky with a youngster."

Paterno told McQueary he would talk to others about what he'd reported.

McQueary said he met nine or 10 days later with Curley and Schultz and told them he'd seen Sandusky and a boy, both naked, in the shower after hearing skin-on-skin slapping sounds.

"I would have described that it was extremely sexual and I thought that some kind of intercourse was going on," said McQueary.

McQueary said he was left with the impression both men took his report seriously. When asked why he didn't go to police, he referenced Schultz's position as a vice president at the university who had overseen the campus police

"I thought I was talking to the head of the police, to be frank with you," he said. "In my mind it was like speaking to a (district attorney). It was someone who police reported to and would know what to do with it."

The square-jawed, red-haired assistant coach spoke in a steady voice in his first public account of the alleged abuse, sometimes turning his seat and leaning toward defense lawyers to answer questions. His voice rose a few times and he blushed once when describing the sexual encounter in the shower.

Defense lawyers for Curley and Schultz argued that a perjury charge should not be based solely on a person's testimony under oath contradicting someone else's testimony. The defense said uncorroborated testimony from McQueary is not enough and sought to pick apart the ways he described the shower scene differently to different people.

The defense noted that McQueary admitted changing his description of the shower encounter when speaking with Paterno ? enough so that the coach didn't believe a crime had occurred.

McQueary said he had stopped by a campus football locker room to drop off a pair of sneakers in the spring of 2002 when he saw Sandusky with the boy, who he estimated was 10 or 12 years old.

McQueary, 37, said he has never described what he saw as anal rape or anal intercourse and couldn't see Sandusky's genitals, but that "it was very clear that it looked like there was intercourse going on."

In its report last month, the grand jury summarized McQueary's testimony as saying he "saw a naked boy ... with his hands up against the wall, being subjected to anal intercourse by a naked Sandusky."

McQueary said he peeked into the shower three times ? the first via a mirror, the other two times directly. The last time he looked in, Sandusky and the boy had separated, he said. He said he didn't say anything, but "I know they saw me. They looked directly in my eye, both of them."

McQueary said the entire encounter ? from when he first entered the locker room to when he retreated to his office ? lasted about 45 seconds.

Curley told the grand jury that he couldn't recall his specific conversation with McQueary, but McQueary never reported seeing anal intercourse or other sexual conduct. He said he spoke to Sandusky about it, who first denied having been in the shower with a boy, but later changed his story.

Schultz said he remembered McQueary and Paterno describing what the younger coach saw only in a very general way.

"I had the impression it was inappropriate," Schultz told the grand jury. "I had the feeling it was some kind of wrestling activity and maybe Jerry might have grabbed a young boy's genitals."

Under cross-examination, McQueary said he considered what he saw a crime but didn't call police because "it was delicate in nature."

"I tried to use my best judgment," he said. "I was sure the act was over." He said he never tried to find the boy.

Paterno, Schultz and Curley didn't testify, but District Judge William C. Wenner read their grand jury testimony from January at the Dauphin County hearing.

Curley's attorney, Caroline Roberto, said prosecutors "will never be able to reach their burden of proof at a trial."

Schultz's attorney, Tom Farrell, predicted his client would be acquitted.

He also took a shot at Paterno, saying, "I'm an Italian from Brooklyn, and he may not have called the police but he may have done what I would have done, which is get the boys in the car with a few baseball bats and crowbars and take it to the fellow."

Sandusky says he is innocent of 52 criminal charges stemming from what authorities say were sexual assaults over 12 years on 10 boys in his home, on Penn State property and elsewhere.

Curley, 57, was placed on leave by the university after his arrest. Schultz, 62, returned to retirement after spending about four decades at the school, most recently as senior vice president for business and finance, and treasurer.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111217/ap_on_sp_ot/us_penn_state_abuse

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Sunday, December 18, 2011

Barry Bonds gets 2 years probation in steroids probe (Reuters)

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) ? Home-run king Barry Bonds was sentenced on Friday to 2 years probation, with no prison time, for his conviction on a single criminal count related to an investigation over steroids use in sports.

Bonds also was sentenced to 30 days of home confinement, 250 hours of community service, and must pay a $4,000 fine.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston handed down the sentence in a San Francisco federal court, and she immediately stayed it pending appeal. U.S. prosecutors had sought a 15-month prison sentence, while Bonds asked for probation.

A Northern California jury convicted Bonds in April on one count of obstruction of justice, but deadlocked on three other counts of lying to a grand jury.

The steroids scandal has tarnished some of the biggest stars in baseball.

Bonds, a seven-time Most Valuable Player in the National League, more than any other player ever. He made the league all star team 14 times, playing for the San Francisco Giants and Pittsburgh Pirates.

Other stars tainted by the dopping scandal include sluggers like Mark McGwire and Jason Giambi and pitcher Roger Clemens.

The Bonds prosecution stemmed from his testimony to a 2003 grand jury investigating the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative, or BALCO.

Testifying to the grand jury, Bonds admitted getting flaxseed oil, vitamins, protein shakes and creams from his trainer, but he said he had no knowledge of human growth hormones or steroids. He said no one ever injected him other than medical doctors.

(Reporting by Dan Levine; Writing by Peter Henderson; editing by Philip Barbara)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111216/sp_nm/us_usa_bonds_steroids

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Saturday, December 17, 2011

NYC protesters scale fence at vacant lot

Occupy Wall Street protestors lift the fences surrounding a park near Duarte Square in an effort to occupy the space they were previously removed from weeks prior, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011, in New York. While officers made arrests, protesters chanted obscenities and screamed: "Make them catch you!" About a thousand people gathered across the street at a city-owned park. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

Occupy Wall Street protestors lift the fences surrounding a park near Duarte Square in an effort to occupy the space they were previously removed from weeks prior, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011, in New York. While officers made arrests, protesters chanted obscenities and screamed: "Make them catch you!" About a thousand people gathered across the street at a city-owned park. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

Occupy Wall Street protestors lift the fences surrounding a park near Duarte Square in an effort to occupy the space they were previously removed from weeks prior, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011, in New York. While officers made arrests, protesters chanted obscenities and screamed: "Make them catch you!" About a thousand people gathered across the street at a city-owned park. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

An Occupy Wall Street protestor heads up a ladder to scale the fences surrounding a park near Duarte Square in an effort to occupy the space they were previously removed from weeks prior, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011, in New York. While officers made arrests, protesters chanted obscenities and screamed: "Make them catch you!" About a thousand people gathered across the street at a city-owned park. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

Occupy Wall Street protestors are shoved onto the street by police near Duarte Square after an effort to occupy the space they were previously removed from weeks prior, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011, in New York. While officers made arrests, protesters chanted obscenities and screamed: "Make them catch you!" About a thousand people gathered across the street at a city-owned park. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

(AP) ? Dozens of Occupy Wall Street protesters were arrested Saturday after they scaled a chain-link fence or crawled under it to get to an Episcopal church-owned lot they want to use for a new camp site.

Protesters used a wooden ladder to scale the fence or lifted it from below while others cheered them on. A man wearing a Santa suit stood on the ladder among others, as they ignored red "Private Property" signs.

As officers made arrests, protesters shouted obscenities and hollered: "Make them catch you!" The group was inside the lot for a short time before being led out by police in single file through a space in the fence. About 50 people were arrested, police said.

"We're just trying to say that this country has gone in the wrong direction, and we need spaces that we can control and we can decide our future in, and that's what this is about," said David Suker, who was among those who scaled the fence.

Before the arrests, several hundred gathered in Duarte Square, a half-acre (0.2 hectare) wedge of a park at the edge of Manhattan's Tribeca neighborhood and across the street from the vacant lot.

They gathered partly to mark the three-month anniversary of the Occupy movement and partly to demand use of the lot, owned by Trinity Church.

The original Occupy Wall Street camp in Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan was shut down last month.

Trinity is a Zuccotti Park neighbor that helped demonstrators assemble, and provided them shelter in the three months since the movement began. The day after authorities moved in and cleaned out Zuccotti Park, about a dozen protesters went to the vacant lot, clipped the fence at the church-owned property and were arrested, along with some journalists.

Since then, some Occupy protesters have launched a bid to gain the church's consent for them to use the space. Trinity's Rev. James H. Cooper said giving the protesters access to the lot would not be a safe or smart move.

"There are no facilities at the Canal Street lot. Demanding access and vandalizing the property by a determined few OWS protesters won't alter the fact that there are no basic elements to sustain an encampment," he wrote in a statement. "The health, safety and security problems posed by an encampment here, compounded by winter weather, would dwarf those experienced at Zuccotti Park."

On Friday, the top bishop of the Episcopal Church asked protesters not to trespass on the property. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori warned it could result in "legal and police action."

Trinity Church dates back to the colonial era and was a refuge for relief workers after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack. A sculpture out front was made out of a giant sycamore tree destroyed on 9/11.

"I feel it is very much in keeping with the tradition over the years of Trinity to work with poor people, to help poor people," said Stephen Chinlund, 77, a retired Episcopalian priest and one of several at the square Saturday.

Chinlund held a sign that read: Trinity, hero of 9/11, be a hero again!"

___

Associated Press broadcast newsperson Julie Walker contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-12-17-Occupy%20Wall%20Street/id-df4951147d00416c80d5b19dee3c5ebb

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Iran says it has arrested suspected US spy (AP)

TEHRAN, Iran ? Iran's Intelligence Ministry says its agents have arrested a person of Iranian origin suspected of spying for the United States.

A ministry statement broadcast on state TV Saturday said Iran's secret services identified the suspect at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan and detained the individual after crossing into Iran. The report did not elaborate.

Bagram is the main base for American and other international forces outside Kabul.

State TV alleged the suspect, who was not identified, received special training and sought to infiltrate Iran's secret services and funnel false information to deceive Iranian intelligence.

Tehran periodically announces the capture or execution of alleged U.S. or Israeli spies, and often no further information is released.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iran/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111217/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran_us

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Friday, December 16, 2011

Director of Communications and Marketing - HigherEdJobs

Responsibilities:
Reporting to the President, the Director of Communications and Marketing leads the identification, development, implementation, and evaluation of internal and external communications for Bemidji State University and Northwest Technical College.

  • Develop and execute an annual work plan and longer term strategic plan for marketing, advertising, and communications for both the university and the college.
  • Direct the creative functions so that the environment, culture, team, capabilities, tools, processes, expectations, work style, and other elements support the mission and goals of the university and the college.
  • Set vision, drive concepts and strategies, and execute tactics through the entire creative development and comprehensive campaign(s) execution process.
  • Manage marketing, advertising, and communication budget.
  • Manage multiple projects simultaneously,overseeing work of team members in roles of production,communications, and web content management, as well as external resources.

Minimum Qualifications:

  • Bachelor's degree
  • Five years of related experience required, including at least one year in a supervisory role.

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Master's degree preferred with an emphasis in communications, marketing, design, fine arts and/or journalism.
  • Experience working with faculty and administrators at a comprehensive university and/or college

NOTE: BSU and NTC are tobacco free workplaces (see policy)

Applicati on Procedure:
Apply online at http://agency.governmentjobs.com/bemidj i/default.cfm

A complete application will include the following:

Send materials to:
http://agency.governmentjobs.com/bemidj i/default.cfm
Bemidji State University
1500 Birchmont Drive NE
Bemidji, MN 56601

Contact:
Dr. Mary Ward
Vice President for Student Development & Enrollment, Interim
Email: mward@bemidjistate.edu
Phone: 218-755-2075

Minnesota State Colleges and Universities is an Equal Opportunity employer/educator committed to the principles of diversity. We actively seek and encourage applications from women, minorities, and persons with disabilities. All applicants must be able to lawfully accept employment in the United States at the time of employment. This document can be made available in alternative formats such as large print, Braille or audio tape by calling (651) 296-3816, 1(888) MnSCU-4-U or TTY (651) 282-2660. Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Employment Opportunities is available on the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities web site: http://www.mnscu.edu/about/jobopportu nities/index.html

Source: http://www.higheredjobs.com/details.cfm?JobCode=175584637

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Southern Baptist bookstore recalls pink Bibles (AP)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. ? The Southern Baptist Convention's bookstores are recalling pink Bibles, saying some of the money raised through their sale was being given to Planned Parenthood.

Lifeway Christian Resources no longer markets the pink-bound version of The Holman Christian Standard Bible and is recalling copies it sold, according to The Tennessean (http://tnne.ws/u90K40).

A portion of the purchase price went to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

The Komen foundation issued a statement in which it said all proceeds from the Bible sales were going to breast cancer screenings and expressed disappointment in Lifeway's decision.

Lifeway's move came after complaints that some local Komen affiliates were helping fund cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood, which also provides abortions.

The pink Bibles had been in stores since October.

___

Information from: The Tennessean, http://www.tennessean.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111215/ap_on_re_us/us_southern_baptist_pink_bibles

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Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Probe finds elaborate cover-up at "rotten" Olympus (AP)

TOKYO ? A panel probing an accounting scandal at Japan's Olympus Corp. said Tuesday an elaborate scheme to cover up $1.5 billion of investment losses was orchestrated by a group of top executives who were "rotten to the core."

The panel also credited the company's ex-CEO, Michael Woodford, for bringing the deception at the camera and medical equipment maker to light. Woodford, a Briton, was fired in October after questioning the dubious transactions that have become one of Japan's biggest corporate fiascos.

Led by former Supreme Court judge Tatsuo Kainaka, the third-party panel found that as of 2003, Olympus had racked up 117.7 billion yen ($1.5 billion) in investment losses dating back to the 1990s.

"The management was rotten to the core and contaminated what was around it, creating in the worst sense a group mentality of the typical salarymen," the report said in a reference to Japan's culture of corporate loyalty.

It said it found no involvement of "anti-social groups," a euphemism for Japanese criminal gangs, as some news reports have speculated. The panel said it traced the money and the various funds used to cover up investment losses, and no underworld groups were involved.

Olympus initially denied any wrongdoing, but later admitted it had used a $687 million fee for financial advice when it bought British medical instruments maker Gyrus Group, as well as overpayments for acquisitions, to hide losses from past investments gone bad.

Olympus said it took the panel's report "very seriously," but also noted that no new off-book liabilities or gangster involvement had been found.

The company was considering measures to restore confidence, it said. President Shuichi Takayama is scheduled to address the panel's findings at a news conference Wednesday.

The panel identified at least six Olympus employees as part of the scheme, including President Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, Executive Vice President Hisashi Mori and auditor Hideo Yamada, all of whom have resigned.

It said other board members were familiar with the cover-up that started from about 2006 and lasted through last year, and recommended they resign too.

It also said that, when scheme management expenses were added, the loss cover-up ballooned to 135 billion yen ($1.7 billion).

It urged Olympus to beef up its corporate governance to prevent future problems, pointing to a small group of people who engineered the deception but were protected from scrutiny so that the dubious accounting could be kept secret for so long.

The panel pointed to one board meeting in which a part of the scheme was approved in just 15 minutes.

Woodford praised the panel for calling for a new board, as he had earlier, and said he wanted to work with shareholders and employees to revitalize Olympus.

"Today's report must be the beginning, and not the end, of our efforts to discover what has happened at Olympus," he said in a statement. "Elucidating the full extent of the wrongdoing cited in the panel's report will require a wide-ranging investigation."

The Tokyo Stock Exchange said it is looking at the panel's report for possible reasons to remove Olympus from the stock market. The company was already at risk of delisting after failing to report its earnings. It was given a new deadline of Dec. 14.

The panel stressed its findings, summarized in a 24-page document released at a press conference at a Tokyo hall Tuesday, were based on voluntary hearings and analysis of company computers, but that it was not authorized to pursue a criminal investigation.

Japanese financial and criminal authorities are investigating the Olympus scandal.

Kainaka, the former judge, said that some Olympus people may face criminal charges, while declining to give names. He said none had pocketed the money for personal gain.

Olympus risks being delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange if it doesn't rectify past filings with regulators by reporting revised earnings by Dec. 14.

The company's bookkeeping is now under investigation in Japan, the U.S. and Great Britain. Woodford has met with authorities in all three countries.

The scandal has cast a harsh light on Japanese corporate governance, which has been criticized as lagging global standards.

Last week, Economy Minister Yukio Edano defended Japan, saying its corporate governance standards were on par with the U.S. or even better. He didn't specify any cases, but there have been a string of accounting scandals at major U.S. companies, including Enron and AIG.

Kainaka denied the Olympus scandal exemplified Japan Inc.

"This is not just a Japan problem. It could have happened anywhere in the world," he said.

But others say Japan needs more transparent, accountable and knowledgeable boards at companies.

Nicholas Benes, head of The Board Director Training Institute of Japan, a nonprofit group that specializes in corporate governance training, said the panel was a start but it lacks legal authority under Japanese law.

"I applaud, but obviously its work hasn't been finished," he said.

Tuesday's panel report raps the Olympus board as insular, calling for better outside members.

"Most board members were mere yes-men," it said.

Olympus stock, which at one point lost 80 percent of its value after Woodford's whistleblowing, has recovered over the last three weeks, and surged 9 percent Tuesday amid optimism the company may avoid delisting. The panel released its findings after trading ended in Tokyo.

___

Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at http://twitter.com/yurikageyama

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111206/ap_on_bi_ge/as_japan_olympus

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World debates price of peace in Afghanistan

Martin Meissner / AP

German chancellor Angela Merkel and Afghanistan's president Hamid Karzai, center, pose with the foreign ministers and delegation members for a group photo at the international Afghanistan conference in Bonn, Germany, Monday.

By Msnbc.com staff and wire services

World leaders were meeting in Germany Monday in the hope of creating a "peaceful Afghanistan that will never again become a safe haven for international terrorism," according to German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle.

But, according to a report by the news service Bloomberg, this could mean a commitment to the country lasting nearly 20 years.

The conference in Bonn is focused on the transfer of security responsibilities, long-term prospects for international aid and, ten years after U.S.-backed forces toppled the Taliban, a possible political settlement with the insurgent group.?

Afghanistan is planning to ask the world for economic aid to last until 2025 and for help paying for the country's security forces until 2030, Bloomberg said.


It added that the World Bank has estimated that Afghanistan will need about $70 billion over the next 10 years and that unless the country's budget gap was met "the good work of the past ten years will come undone."

"I'm hopeful but dubious," Robert Hathaway, director of the Asia Program at the Wilson Center in Washington, told Bloomberg about Afghanistan's future prospects. "Even if Pakistan were fully participating, I think the idea of a regional cooperation toward a settlement is going to be very difficult."

Afghanistan's neighbor Pakistan is a central player in regional efforts to improve trade and strengthen historically weak economies in what is a strategically important part of the world. But its boycott has cast a pall over the session, because it points out that nation's influence in Afghanistan and its ability to play the spoiler.

U.S.-Pakistan relations, a new 'all-time low'?

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton pledged ongoing support for Afghanistan, telling the conference that "the United States is prepared to stand with the Afghan people for the long haul.

The international community has "much to lose if the country again becomes a source of terrorism and instability," she added.
In addition to a financial cost, there were fears that achieving peace in the war-torn country could come at the cost of human rights.
Leading activist Selay Ghaffar told The Guardian newspaper that she is worried that improvements in women's rights could be short-lived if the international community goes into closed-door peace talks with insurgent groups such as the Taliban and Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government.

"The biggest fear we have right now is reconcilliation with the Taliban," Ghaffar told the U.K. paper. "Will women play a role in these discussions? Will women's rights be part of the negotiations?"

The lack of progress toward a political settlement with the Taliban is a major disappointment for the United States, which sees a deal as the key to ending the war. But the prospect of some accommodation with the hardline movement that once forbade Afghan girls to go to school is a bitter pill for many of the leaders Clinton addressed Monday.

"Reconciliation holds promise, but it cannot be at the cost of the gains you have suffered for," Clinton said.

?

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/05/9217804-world-debates-price-of-peace-in-afghanistan

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Monday, December 5, 2011

92% Take Shelter

schizophrenia or prophecy? this is a hard film to score. its at least a 4 star film, and potentially 5, so ill go in between. it doesnt have a high re-watchability factor which is my only criticism, and that isnt really a criticism because its more a product of the material then the quality of the film. this is easily one of the best films of the year, and one of the better films in the past few years. shannon and chastain were both amazing in their roles, which for chastain amazes me because she has so little experience in film, and even the supporting players around them all added wonderful performances. the subject matter is as engaging as it gets, and as i hoped for through the entire film, things are not what they seem. beautiful direction by nichols, amazing cinematography for such a small scale story, and the material was handled with perfect care. nichols, shannon, and chastain probably all deserve oscar noms, and this is the type of soul stirring film that must be seen. i havent felt like this leaving a film since "a serious man".

November 7, 2011

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/take_shelter/

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