সোমবার, ৩১ অক্টোবর, ২০১১

Ancient rules give prince veto on planned UK laws (AP)

LONDON ? Prince Charles will keep his little-known veto over some planned laws, a power that dates back to the Middle Ages, after the British government said Monday it was not going to rewrite ancient constitutional rules.

New evidence that the heir to the throne has been playing an active political role has touched a nerve among anti-monarchists, but Prime Minister David Cameron's office said it did not plan reforms.

Parliamentary records show that Prince Charles has been consulted over at least 12 different planned laws over the last six years, with his consent sought over proposals on subjects including gambling, road safety, London's 2012 Olympics and housing.

Concern was raised after The Guardian newspaper published a letter obtained under a freedom of information request showing that Parliamentary officials had reminded a House of Lords member that a proposed law would need consent from the prince.

Since around the mid-1330s, the Prince of Wales ? who was then Edward of Woodstock, also known as the Black Prince ? has been asked to approve legislation that could affect the Duchy of Cornwall, the 136,000-acre (55,000-hectare) estate established by Edward III to provide income for the heir to the throne.

Cameron's office said constitutional law dictates that Charles is currently consulted over laws that could potentially have an impact on the duchy, or on his interests in Wales or Chester. Charles is Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall and the Earl of Chester.

"If it is something that is specific to the Principality of Wales, the Earldom of Chester or the Duchy of Cornwall, then that consent is required and it's long been the case," a spokeswoman for Cameron said, speaking on customary condition of anonymity in line with policy.

Queen Elizabeth II ? who has a ceremonial role in granting approval to every law passed by Parliament ? must also offer consent to legislation that affects her personal property or hereditary revenues, Britain's Cabinet Office said.

Neither Cameron's spokesman nor Prince Charles' office would say whether the prince had vetoed any planned legislation or demanded alterations.

"This is not about seeking the personal views of the prince but rather it is a long-standing convention in relation to the Duchy of Cornwall, which would have applied equally to his predecessors," the prince's office said in a statement.

Opponents said the disclosure threatened to undermine Britain's democracy and muddied the conventions under which the royal family are expected to refrain from involvement in day-to-day politics.

"That such a loophole exists shows our constitution is fundamentally antidemocratic," said Graham Smith, spokesman for Republic, which campaigns for the abolition of the monarchy.

Prince Charles has been known to publicly air his views on environmental issues, warning in 2008 of what he claimed were the dangers of genetically modified crops. He also successfully lobbied developers to switch their plans for a glass-and-steel tower on the site of a former London army barracks to a more conservative architectural style.

Last week, Britain won agreement from 15 other Commonwealth nations where the queen is head of state to modernize ancient royal succession laws. It means princesses will now have the same right to the British crown as their male siblings.

But Cameron's spokeswoman said reforms wouldn't extend to changing the process for consultations over proposed laws.

"I know of no plans at the moment to look into it," she said.

___

Associated Press Writer Cassandra Vinograd contributed to this report

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111031/ap_en_ce/eu_britain_royal_veto

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Japan's Noda seeking clarification from Olympus over payments (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) ? Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has called for clarification about a string of controversial payments made by Olympus, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

Noda acknowledged it might be considered inappropriate for a prime minister to comment on a private company but told the FT that Olympus had indicated that it would set up a third-party committee to look into the payments.

"I want them to fully clarify the facts and act on them appropriately," he said.

Noda expressed his unease about the impact the scandal involving Olympus could have on Japan's reputation as a rules-based market company.

"What worries me is that it will be a problem if people take the events at this one Japanese company and generalize from that to say Japan is a country that the rules of capitalism."

The scandal surrounding the Olympus began when the company fired its British President and Chief Executive Michael Woodford on October 14, just two weeks after his appointment as CEO, saying he failed to understand the company's management style and Japanese culture.

Woodford in turn said he was sacked for questioning a $687 million advisory fee paid in relation to a $2.2 billion takeover in 2008, as well as other deals.

(Reporting by Stephen Mangan; editing by Sofina Mirza-Reid)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/japan/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111030/tc_nm/us_japan_olympus_pm

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X Prize Foundation takes on the human genome

The X Prize Foundation, which offers monetary awards for solutions to pressing scientific challenges, has tackled space travel, moon missions and oil spill cleanups. Now it's taking on the human genome. The Archon Genomics X Prize presented by Medco is challenging teams to accurately sequence the DNA of 100 centenarians within 30 days at $1,000 or less per genome.

The first team to complete the task successfully will receive $10 million, and the sequenced genomes will be published for use in research.

J. Craig Venter, a genome-sequencing pioneer and a principal player in the successful push to sequence the human genome, is co-chairman of the competition, which will begin in January 2013.

Venter, founder and president of the J. Craig Venter Institute, spoke with The Times about why modern medicine needs an affordable "medical grade" genome, and how the X Prize could speed its development.

How long have you been involved with the X Prize, and why did you get involved?

I originated this prize in 2003, but it was only a $500,000 prize.

After we finished sequencing the first draft of the human genome, pundits were saying there was no point going forward in DNA sequencing because the human genome was already sequenced. They missed the point: That was the start, not the end. The only way it would meaningfully improve medicine was if we had a very rapid, accurate method of DNA sequencing.

So we started the prize as a way to encourage people to invent new sequencing methods.

The X Prize Foundation asked me to consider merging the prizes, which I thought was a great idea. Participants were motivated by the half-million-dollar prize, so I can only assume they will be even more motivated by the $10-million version.

What is a medical-grade genome?

It's a term we sort of invented. Most people don't know that the existing sequencing technology, these faster and cheaper methods, have lower accuracy than we would need for true diagnostic sequencing.

To be a good diagnostic tool, it can't have false positives or false negatives. You want it to be highly accurate, meaningful information if you're going to direct people's health plans to prevent diseases that they might be subject to.

None of the technology is there yet, with the exception of the Sanger sequencing technique, which was used for my own genome in 2007. But it's very expensive. We need new technologies to improve the accuracy and lower the cost.

Who would the competitors be ? people at universities, or at companies?

A little bit of both. Obviously there are companies that make and sell DNA-sequencing instruments. In my view, none of the existing technologies would be likely to win.

But at universities and new fledgling startups, people have invented some pretty awesome-sounding solutions that would be faster, lower costs and produce better-quality information.

Like what?

It's a combination of mathematical approaches and technology. Today, you can get your genome sequenced for $4,000 or $5,000. The problem is, if you have your genome sequenced with any two technologies, they don't completely agree on your genome sequence. That is the problem for the diagnostic part of this.

Different technologies have different problems. Some have trouble getting through unusual repetitive sequences in DNA. Others, for some reason ? we don't know why ? will occasionally drop out a letter of the genetic code. That's perhaps the most problematic.

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/news/science/~3/bff3GODPqWQ/la-sci-venter-q-a-20111029,0,117212.story

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In Pakistan, a militant deal sours (AP)

ISLAM NAGAR, Pakistan ? The deal saw one of Pakistan's most feared militants walk from jail apparently in exchange for his commitment to nonviolence, help in reining in other fighters and possibly delivering the votes of his followers.

Supporters showered Malik Ishaq with rose petals when he left the prison in the eastern city of Lahore in July. Days later, he was preaching murderous hatred toward minority Shiites to crowds of cheering Sunnis, energizing a network whose members have joined al-Qaida for terror strikes. That was too much for Pakistani authorities, who arrested him again last month.

Pakistan has a well-documented history of trying to coopt or strike deals with militants of various causes, and a close examination of the Ishaq case shows how that can play out.

It's a cautionary tale, perhaps, for U.S. officials who are urging Pakistan to bring to the negotiating table Afghan militants who enjoy safe havens in the country's lawless border regions.

Fifteen years ago, Ishaq founded Laskhar-e-Jangvi, or LeJ, which allies itself with al-Qaida and the Taliban. The LeJ is blamed for scores of attacks on Shiites, regarded as infidels, and on Pakistani and U.S. interests.

Ishaq was arrested in 1997 and accused in more than 200 criminal cases including the killings of 70 Shiites.

But the state could never make the charges stick ? in large part because witnesses, judges and prosecutors were too scared to convict.

Frightened judges treated him honorably in court and gave him tea and cookies, according to Anis Haider Naqvi, a prosecution witness in two cases against Ishaq. One judge attempted to hide his face with his hands, but Ishaq made clear he knew his identity in a chilling way: He read out the names of his children, and the judge abandoned the trial, he said.

Despite the lack of convictions, Ishaq remained in prison for 14 years as prosecutors slowly moved from one case to the next.

Ishaq proved his usefulness to the army in 2009, when he was flown from jail to negotiate with militants who had stormed part of the military headquarters in Rawalpindi and were holding hostages there, said Hafiz Tahir Ashrafi, who used to advise the Punjab provincial government on religious matters.

A behind-the-scenes effort by the government to co-opt the leaders of militant outfits and bring them into mainstream political life, or at least draw them away from attacking the state, helped Ishaq secure his July 15 release, according to Ashrafi.

"I met Ishaq several times in prison," Ashrafi said, emphasizing that Ishaq assured him that he wanted to contribute to peace. "If someone wants to get back to normal life, yes, why not, we do help him," said Ashrafi. "These are our own men." He said he was disappointed to see him back in jail.

Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah Khan denied there was any deal behind Ishaq's release, but said extremist leaders were free to join politics if they eschewed violence. "We are in touch with those who have become, or want to become, useful citizens," he said.

The Punjab is the key battleground between the ruling party of President Asif Ali Zardari and the party of opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, currently in power in that province.

Maulana Ahmad Ludhianvi, the head of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, or SSP, LeJ's parent sectarian group, told a rally last year that Nawaz's brother, Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif, had promised that Ishaq's release "would be settled in meetings" with him.

"After that meeting, the time is not far when the prison door would break open and Malik Ishaq would be released," he said.

LeJ and other militant groups can muster significant support in Punjab and parts of Sindh province through their schools and mosques, making them an important political force. Mainstream politicians have shown no hesitation in courting them despite their links to violence.

Local SSP leader Mohammad Tayyab said a recent SSP-backed candidate for a regional assembly seat in southern Punjab got 17,000 votes.

"That is what Zardari's party and Sharif's know very well," he said.

Khaled Ahmad, an expert on Pakistani militant groups in Punjab, said there is "no doubt" that the SSP and Sharif's party would cut deals as they have done in the past. "It is dangerous now because the group and its offshoots are in alliance with al-Qaida."

Government intelligence reports obtained by The Associated Press show Ishaq made threats in his public appearances after his release from prison.

He urged his supporters not to be afraid of Pakistani laws or prisons, and told them to "get on the streets and crush publicly the Shiites who abuse the Prophet Muhammad's companions."

"We know how to kill and how to die," he told a gathering near Rahim Yar Khan on Sept. 4, according to one report.

Ishaq's aides denied he made such remarks.

The government suspected Ishaq of coordinating meetings in recent months of 50 or so alleged terrorists, said Khan, the law minister. Some of the men Ishaq visited directly after his release had allegedly been involved in terrorism and were being watched by law enforcement and intelligence agencies, said the government reports.

LeJ's stronghold is south and central Punjab, a neglected, blisteringly hot part of the country that has long been the recruiting ground for state-sanctioned jihadi groups. Wealthy families, disproportionately Shiite, own large swaths of land where tenant farmers grow cotton, sugarcane and wheat and work at mango orchids.

Visitors to Ishaq's house in Islam Nagar in the southern Punjabi city of Rahim Yar Khan are greeted by an SSP member with an automatic rifle, against a backdrop of flags and banners glorifying the group.

"My father's mission is a true one," said his son, Malik Usman. "We will seek our reward from Allah."

___

Associated Press Writers Aqeel Ahmad in Mansehra, Pakistan, Khalid Tanveer in Rahim Yar Khan, Pakistan and Abdul Sattar in Quetta, Pakistan contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111028/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan_militant_bad_deal

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রবিবার, ৩০ অক্টোবর, ২০১১

Video: The Player, Part 5

Dateline NBC

'Dateline NBC,' the signature broadcast for NBC News in primetime, premiered in 1992. Since then, it has been pioneering a new approach to primetime news programming. The multi-night franchise, supplemented by frequent specials, allows NBC to consistently and comprehensively present the highest-quality reporting, investigative features, breaking news coverage and newsmaker profiles.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032600/vp/45084985#45084985

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Faster-than-light test runs again

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Faster-than-light test runs again
Scientists who announced that sub-atomic particles might be able to travel faster than light are to repeat their experiment in a different way.

Source: BBC News
Posted on: Friday, Oct 28, 2011, 7:28am
Views: 28

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/114734/Faster_than_light_test_runs_again

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China defines terrorism to win global support (AP)

BEIJING ? China's legislature authorized new guidelines Saturday to define and combat terrorism, inching closer to international practices as the nation grapples with a sporadically violent rebellion in Central Asian border lands.

The resolution clearly sets China's legal definition of terrorism and the steps for formally declaring groups and individuals terrorists and for freezing their assets. The measure should help law enforcement prosecute terrorists differently from other criminals and to promote international cooperation on terrorism, said Li Shouwei, a criminal law expert for the legislature.

"Our country faces a real threat from terrorist activities, and the long-term, complex and sharp counterterrorism struggle is increasingly prominent," Li told reporters after the legislative session.

Separatist sentiment among Uighurs, a Turkic and traditionally Muslim ethnic group, in China's western Xinjiang region has occasionally erupted in riots, bombings and other acts of violence. Despite pouring in billions of dollars in investment and the migration of millions of Han Chinese into the largely poor, remote territory, China has been unable to squelch the violence. A raid on a police station and an arson-stabbing attack took place in July.

Many attacks seem unsophisticated and directed against symbols of Chinese government power, like court houses or troop barracks. The government and some security experts say that the violence is becoming more indiscriminate and is being carried out by militants trained and based across the border in Pakistan and with possible links to other radical Islamic groups.

"Increasingly the Chinese government has realized it must work with international partners to fight the existing terrorist threat to China," said Rohan Gunaratna, a terrorism expert at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University.

While Beijing has sought for much of the past decade to link the situation in Xinjiang with the broader U.S.-led efforts to fight jihadist groups, Chinese methods have often undercut its quest for wider support. Instead of prosecuting Uighurs as terrorists, authorities have preferred to accuse them of "endangering national security," charges frequently used against political dissidents.

Beijing has also restricted the practice of Islam and bandied the terrorist label against the Dalai Lama and supporters of the Tibetan Buddhist leader who oppose Chinese rule.

In a measure of its uneasiness with Beijing, the U.S. government refused to turn over Uighurs captured in Afghanistan and interned at Guantanamo Bay, though it repatriated the captured nationals of many other countries.

Pakistan, which abuts Xinjiang and is a long-term ally of China, generally assists Beijing in trying to clamp down on militant Uighur separatists. But the most radical groups, the Turkistan Islamic Party and its East Turkistan Islamic Movement offshoot, operate in Pakistan's tribal areas where Islamabad is unable or unwilling to act.

Gunaratna, the terrorism expert, said Beijing realizes it needs intelligence from Gulf coast countries, Germany and others to better deal with the Uighur threat.

The terrorism resolution is intended to bridge gaps between China and other countries. It defines terrorism as an act whose "goal is to create terror in society, harm public security or threaten national institutions and international organizations and by using violence, sabotage, intimidation and other methods to cause or intend to cause human casualties, great loss to property, harm to public infrastructure, chaos to the social order and other severe social damage."

Li, the criminal law expert, said the definition roughly aligned with those of other countries. Agencies involved in counterterrorism will apply that definition to determine which groups or individuals should be placed on terrorist lists, and once listed the government will freeze their assets, according to the resolution.

More importantly, Li said, the resolution helps to make sure that terrorists are charged as such and not with other crimes ? an apparent reference to the prevailing practice of using state security charges instead of terrorism.

"By defining terrorist activities more clearly in regulations, it makes it easier to distinguish in practice terrorist crimes from other crimes," Li told reporters.

The measure itself is unlikely to end all differences. A host of government agencies, Communist Party bodies and the military are involved in counterterrorism and Xinjiang. Li suggested that differences among competing bodies meant that "the time is not mature for enacting a full counterterrorism law."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111029/ap_on_re_as/as_china_terrorism

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Game 7: Comeback complete as Cardinals win crown (AP)

The comeback is complete, and the Cardinals are the champs! St. Louis beat the Texas Rangers 6-2 in Game 7 to win its second World Series title in six years.

___

Lance Lynn pitches a perfect eighth, striking out Adrian Beltre to end the inning.

It's been a wild ride of a season for the Cardinals, who were 10 1/2 games out in the wild-card race on Aug. 25.

And don't forget, this team lost a legitimate ace in spring training when Adam Wainwright had major elbow surgery. Wainwright, who won 39 games the past two years and had a pair of top-3 finishes in Cy Young Award balloting, has missed the entire season.

Nelson Cruz, Mike Napoli and David Murphy due up in the ninth for Texas against closer Jason Motte.

___

Murphy's leadoff double chased Chris Carpenter in the seventh. Strong effort on three days' rest by the Cardinals' ace.

Arthur Rhodes and Octavio Dotel got out of the inning with St. Louis' three-run lead intact. Yadier Molina added an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh to make it 6-2.

After scoring twice in the first inning, the Rangers haven't been able to push anyone else across.

Texas pitchers have issued 41 walks in the World Series, breaking the previous record of 40 set by the 1997 Florida Marlins.

___

A close call goes to the Cardinals in the fifth inning.

With first base open, Texas intentionally walked David Freese to load the bases with two outs. Scott Feldman fell behind 3-1 on Molina, then threw a strike. The full-count pitch also looked like a strike, right on the outside corner, but this time Feldman didn't get the call from plate umpire Jerry Layne.

Ball four, 4-2 Cardinals.

Hard to argue with walking Freese in that spot, even though Molina has a clutch pedigree. Freese has just been on such a tear lately, especially in big situations. It was the first time he was intentionally walked all year.

C.J. Wilson came on and hit Rafael Furcal with his first pitch, forcing in another run. Skip Schumaker strikes out to end the inning.

St. Louis leads 5-2.

___

Allen Craig makes a leaping catch at the left-field fence in the sixth, probably taking a home run away from Cruz. Carpenter works a 1-2-3 sixth.

___

Big sequence in the top of the fifth inning.

Ian Kinsler hit a leadoff single and was sacrificed to second by Elvis Andrus. Carpenter fell behind 3-1 on Josh Hamilton ? the only strike may have been a generous call. Hamilton then swung at an inside pitch that might have been ball four and lofted a foul popup wide of third. Freese caught it at the dugout railing for the second out.

Freese had a similar chance Thursday night but was unable to make the play.

Michael Young struck out to end the inning.

Feldman has replaced Texas starter Matt Harrison in the bottom of the fifth. The Cardinals still lead 3-2.

___

Harrison worked a scoreless fourth. He pounded Skip Schumaker in on the hands, shattering his bat on a groundout, and retired Carpenter on an easy fly with runners at second and third to end the inning.

Furcal, dropped from his leadoff spot to seventh in the lineup, is 2 for 2 with a pair of singles.

___

Craig hits his third home run of the World Series to give St. Louis a 3-2 lead after three innings.

Craig's opposite-field fly to right appeared to carry and carry before landing in the Cardinals' bullpen as St. Louis relievers danced with glee.

Wilson is warming up again for Texas, with Harrison due up third in the fourth inning.

___

With runners at the corners in the second, Carpenter retired Andrus on a comebacker to end the inning.

Carpenter is the first pitcher to make three starts in one World Series since Curt Schilling for Arizona in 2001. Carpenter, who beat Texas 3-2 in Game 1 and took a no-decision in Game 5, is 6-0 at home in his postseason career. His eight career postseason wins tie him with Yankees closer Mariano Rivera for most among active pitchers.

___

Harrison looked more comfortable in the second. He was helped out when Young made a nice stretch at first to complete a double play.

Score tied at 2 in the bottom of the third inning.

___

Back and forth again.

Texas scored twice in the top of the first inning, only to have the Cardinals tie it right away on Freese's two-run double to left-center in the bottom half.

What a run for Freese! Two-run triple Thursday night to tie it with two outs in the ninth inning, followed by his homer in the 11th to win it. All after the hometown kid (Freese grew up in a St. Louis suburb) was MVP of the NL championship series.

Molina flied out to the center field fence to end the inning, with Hamilton making a nice catch to keep it tied at 2.

Hamilton and Young had RBI doubles in the first off Carpenter.

Harrison got into trouble with consecutive two-out walks to Albert Pujols and Lance Berkman. Wilson began warming in the bullpen.

___

It didn't take long for the Rangers to make a mistake. Kinsler opened the game with a single, then was promptly picked off first base by Molina, the Cardinals' strong-armed catcher.

Not sure if Kinsler was trying to bluff a stolen base attempt and simply slipped, or if he was really going and felt as though he didn't get a good jump. Either way, he stopped and got caught in between and was picked off pretty easily.

Pained look on manager Ron Washington's face.

But that changed quickly. Andrus walked and Washington was undeterred, putting Andrus in motion on a hit-and-run. Hamilton ripped an RBI double past Pujols at first base and Young fisted a run-scoring double inside the right field line to make it 2-0 Texas.

That was all Carpenter allowed. He struck out Adrian Beltre and retired Cruz on a groundout.

___

Game 7 of the World Series. The most exciting night in baseball.

Except for last night, that is. What could possibly top that?

Following one of the most thrilling finishes in postseason history, the Rangers and Cardinals are back at it tonight, less than 20 hours after Freese's 11th-inning homer for St. Louis pushed the Series to the limit.

Truly, a Fall Classic.

Winner takes all tonight. First pitch is 8:05 p.m. EDT at Busch Stadium.

The Cardinals seem to have everything on their side ? momentum, history and their No. 1 pitcher on the mound. After much debate about what manager Tony La Russa would do, Carpenter is set to start on three days' rest for the second time in his career.

The first time was Game 2 of the NL division series in Philadelphia, and that one didn't go very well. But the 36-year-old right-hander says he learned a few things about how to handle pitching on short rest.

The home team has won eight straight Game 7s in the World Series, a streak started by the Cardinals in 1982 against Milwaukee. This is the first time the Series has gone the distance since 2002, when the Angels beat San Francisco.

Harrison gets the ball for Texas. Let down by his defense, he was pulled in the fourth inning of a Game 3 defeat.

Twice, the Rangers were one strike away from their first World Series championship Thursday night. They couldn't nail it down.

Now, after such a painful defeat, can they possibly recover? The last team to win Game 7 of the World Series on the road was the Pittsburgh Pirates at Baltimore in 1979.

Texas hasn't lost consecutive games since Aug. 23-25.

Almost lost in all the back-and-forth excitement Thursday night were injuries to several key players. Cruz strained his right groin and Napoli twisted his left ankle, but both Rangers sluggers are in the Game 7 lineup.

Matt Holliday, however, was removed from the St. Louis roster with a bruised right wrist. Craig starts in left field in place of Holliday.

La Russa also dropped a slumping Furcal to seventh in the lineup and Schumaker to eighth. Second baseman Ryan Theriot is at the top of the order and Craig bats second in front of Pujols.

Holliday's absence might not be such a terrible thing for the Cardinals at this stage.

Sure, it shortens their lineup. He's a dangerous hitter and a legitimate All-Star. But he really struggled with his swing during the World Series (.158) and he hurt the Cardinals with his glove and on the bases in Game 6, too.

With Holliday out, Freese moves up to fifth in the lineup, perhaps providing better protection for Pujols and Berkman. Freese has been a clutch hitter throughout the postseason, never more so than Thursday night.

Speedy outfielder Adron Chambers, a rookie, replaced Holliday on the active roster. Fox sideline reporter Ken Rosenthal says Chambers was grabbing a bite to eat with his girlfriend at a TGI Friday's when he saw the scroll on television saying he'd been added to the roster for Game 7. That's how he found out.

Clear skies at Busch Stadium. The temperature is 51 degrees, with a little light wind.

All set to play ball.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111029/ap_on_sp_ba_ne/bbo_world_series_online

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শনিবার, ২৯ অক্টোবর, ২০১১

Consumer sentiment picks up in late October: survey (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? U.S. consumer sentiment improved in October for the second month in a row as consumers felt more upbeat about the economy's prospects, a survey released on Friday showed.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's final reading on consumer sentiment overcame the weakness reported in the preliminary survey at the beginning of the month, though consumers' personal finance expectations remained gloomy.

The sentiment index picked up to 60.9 from 59.4 the month before, topping expectations for 58.0 among economists polled by Reuters. The preliminary October survey had seen a decline to 57.5.

The survey's gauge of consumer expectations also improved from the more than 30-year lows registered in the preliminary reading. The index rose to 51.8 from 49.4 in September, while the barometer of current economic conditions was up at 75.1 from 74.9.

A gauge of current personal finances edged up to 77 from 76, but expected personal finances eased to 103 from 104.

"Overall, it is still likely that real consumer expenditures will not be strong enough during the year ahead to enable the more robust economic growth that is needed to offset the negative grip of income and job stagnation on consumers' spending behavior," survey director Richard Curtin said in a statement.

The one-year inflation expectation eased to 3.2 percent from 3.3 percent, and the survey's five-to-10-year inflation outlook also declined to 2.7 percent from 2.9 percent.

(Reporting by Leah Schnurr; Editing by Padraic Cassidy)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111028/bs_nm/us_usa_economy_sentiment

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Qantas Airways grounds its entire worldwide fleet (AP)

CANBERRA, Australia ? Qantas Airways grounded all of its aircraft around the world indefinitely on Saturday due to ongoing strikes by its workers.

The Australian carrier's entire fleet of 108 aircraft will remain grounded until unions representing pilots, mechanics and other ground staff reach an agreement with the airline over pay and conditions, Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce told a news conference in Sydney.

"We have decided to ground the Qantas international and domestic fleets immediately," Joyce said.

Flights already in the air when the announcement was made were to continue to their destinations.

Staff will not be required to show up at work and will not be paid starting Monday, Joyce said.

Joyce said he made the decision early Saturday and then gained the approval of the Qantas board.

The airline had been forced to reduce and reschedule flights for weeks because of a series of strikes and overtime work bans over staff concerns that their jobs are being moved overseas.

Joyce estimated the grounding will cost the airline $20 million a day.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111029/ap_on_bi_ge/as_australia_qantas

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শুক্রবার, ২৮ অক্টোবর, ২০১১

Ohio man's widow not getting surviving exotic pets (AP)

COLUMBUS, Ohio ? The six surviving exotic animals freed by their suicidal owner in Ohio will be kept under quarantine at a zoo for now instead of going to the man's widow, the state Agriculture Department ordered Thursday.

The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium was trying to stop Marian Thompson from reclaiming three leopards, two primates and a young grizzly bear that have been cared for by the zoo since last week, when Terry Thompson mysteriously set them free in a rural area of eastern Ohio.

The zoo said it had Marian Thompson's permission to care for the six surviving animals, which have been kept separate from other animals, but has no legal rights to them. A private veterinarian for the Agriculture Department looked at the animals and determined they needed to remain quarantined, as allowed by Ohio law.

The Agriculture Department said it was concerned about reports that the animals had lived in unsanitary conditions where they could be exposed to disease, and the order provides a chance to investigate their health. It prevents the zoo from releasing them until it's clear they're disease-free.

It appeared Thompson had planned to take them back to the farm near Zanesville, department spokesman Andy Ware said.

Thompson and her lawyer were informed of the order when they arrived at the zoo with a big truck on Thursday afternoon. The order is indefinite, but Thompson is entitled to a hearing within 30 days if she wants to appeal. Her attorney was traveling with her and could not be reached for comment.

The animals have appeared healthy, perhaps a bit underweight, but the zoo did not conduct its standard medical tests because it doesn't own the creatures, zoo President and CEO Dale Schmidt said.

"These animals are the innocents in this situation and our job is to really take care of them as much as we can and make sure their welfare is looked out for," Schmidt said.

Ohio has some of the nation's weakest restrictions on exotic pets, and efforts to strengthen the regulations have taken on new urgency since Terry Thompson opened the cages at his farm last week, freeing four dozen animals that were later shot by authorities.

Officers were ordered to kill the animals ? including rare Bengal tigers, lions and bears ? instead of trying to bring them down with tranquilizers for fear that those hit with darts would escape in the darkness before they dropped and would later regain consciousness.

Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz said his office isn't taking a stance on whether the creatures should return to Zanesville but was evaluating that option.

"If she wants to bring them back here, to this farm, then we're working on what we're allowed legally to do to make sure that everything is safe and appropriate," Lutz said.

Sam Kopchak, whose property abuts Thompson's, said he has mixed feelings about whether Marian Thompson should get the animals back, because he found himself standing about 30 feet from an escaped lion before it was killed. He said he feels for Thompson and recognizes her loss but would prefer not to have lions and tigers as neighbors.

"I'd rather them not be here after what I experienced because of having the animals being out in the situation we were in," he said Thursday. "And I think most of the neighbors around here would probably say the same thing."

It's not unusual for Ohio to issue an animal health quarantine, and it does so about 150 times annually, said Ware, the Agriculture Department spokesman.

Until earlier this year, Ohio was under an executive order that banned the buying and selling of exotic animals, but the newly elected Kasich let it expire, saying the regulations were not enforceable. He last week put temporary measures in place to crack down on private ownership. A study committee has until Nov. 30 to draft permanent legislation.

___

Associated Press writer Andrew Welsh-Huggins contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111027/ap_on_re_us/us_exotic_animals_loose

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iPads and Angry Birds are headed to the International Space Station (Yahoo! News)

Astronauts will enjoy some down time with Apple's tablet

Many of us may dream of what it would be like to visit space, or even spend a night in a hotel room orbiting earth, but passing the time once you're actually there may have never crossed your mind. It appears that even astronauts get a wee bit bored every now and again, and to help keep them busy, the crew of the International Space Station will soon take delivery of the planet's most popular tablet ? Apple's iPad.

On October 30, the Russian space program will launch a resupply vehicle towards the ISS to deliver some much needed supplies, as well as a pair of iPad tablets. The new slates will be used strictly for entertainment purposes, and they will join other Apple products already on board, such as a number of iPods and an iPhone.

While we have to imagine there will be plenty of Angry Birds played during slow evenings aboard the complex, a manned flight to the station on November 14 will add even more avian excitement. A trio of Russian cosmonauts will carry an Angry Birds plush toy along with them on their ride skyward, using it as a zero-gravity indicator. We can only pray that Birds developer Rovio takes a cue and lets us get in on the interstellar fun.

(Source)

This article originally appeared on Tecca

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Phone foulup leaves Cards on World Series brink

In this photo taken Monday, Oct. 24, 2011, the visiting team's dugout phone to the bullpen is shown after Game 5 of baseball's World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas. Cardinals manager Tony La Russa is taking full responsibility for the bullpen phone mix-up that dearly cost the Cardinals Monday night. The Rangers won 4-2 and took a 3-2 edge in the Series. (AP Photo/Jamie Aron)

In this photo taken Monday, Oct. 24, 2011, the visiting team's dugout phone to the bullpen is shown after Game 5 of baseball's World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas. Cardinals manager Tony La Russa is taking full responsibility for the bullpen phone mix-up that dearly cost the Cardinals Monday night. The Rangers won 4-2 and took a 3-2 edge in the Series. (AP Photo/Jamie Aron)

In this photo taken Monday, Oct. 24, 2011, the visiting team's dugout phone to the bullpen, bottom, left is shown after Game 5 of baseball's World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas. Cardinals manager Tony La Russa is taking full responsibility for the bullpen phone mix-up that dearly cost the Cardinals Monday night. The Rangers won 4-2 and took a 3-2 edge in the Series. (AP Photo/Jamie Aron)

St. Louis Cardinals' Yadier Molina, left and Tony La Russa wait for relief pitcher Jason Motte to enter the game during the eighth of Game 5 of baseball's World Series against the Texas Rangers Monday, Oct. 24, 2011, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa answers a question during a news conference Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011, in St. Louis. The St. Louis Cardinals are scheduled to play the Texas Rangers in Game 6 of baseball's World Series Wednesday in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

A telephone hangs on the wall inside the St. Louis Cardinals' dugout Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011, at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. After Cardinals manager Tony La Russa wasn't able to properly communicate with his bullpen during Game 5 of baseball's World Series, perhaps it's time for baseball to consider upgrading from a device that's been around since Alexander Graham Bell invented it in 1876. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

(AP) ? Bobby Valentine thought about the bizarre events he had seen in Game 5 of the World Series, when 19th-century technology fouled up Tony La Russa and the St. Louis Cardinals.

"It's kind of stupid, isn't it?" said Valentine, who's managed more than 2,000 major league ballgames.

In the age of email, texting, iChat and Skype, baseball remains tied to the traditions established in the Civil War era of flannel uniforms. La Russa conveyed his decisions to the bullpen with a device born the same year as the National League: the telephone.

And when the instructions didn't get through to bullpen coach Derek Lilliquist ? twice! ? baseball lore was made with the Cardinals' 4-2 loss to the Texas Rangers on Monday night, a game that will be forever known as the "Phone Foulup."

Now St. Louis is trailing 3-2 in the Series and must win two in a row for the title.

"It's amazing," said baseball historian Keith Olbermann, a commentator on Current TV. "With all this technology here, they can't get a phone call completed from one part of the building to another part of the building? You go to an Apple store, the communications device the salesman is carrying is capable of launching a nuclear device. It's mind-boggling."

For all the high-tech scoreboards in each ballpark and computers in each clubhouse that track every pitch, decisions on which relievers to warm up are passed along on Alexander Graham Bell's invention of 1876. While there were 328 million wireless devices in the U.S. as of June, according to CTIA-The Wireless Association, baseball sticks with land lines, of which there are 114 million.

And because of that, the World Series rings fans were talking about Tuesday had nothing to do with the shiny ones on players' fingers, but rather the old-fashioned-sounding bells that sound off on bullpen phones.

After the game, with Rangers Ballpark nearly empty, the bullpen phone 400 or so feet away could be heard ringing when the narrow black handset with the gray pushbuttons was picked up in the visitors dugout on the third-base side. But with a crowd of 51,459 a few hours earlier, an unbelievable meltdown occurred.

With the score 2-all, right-hander Octavio Dotel replaced Chris Carpenter to start the eighth inning and Michael Young doubled. Adrian Beltre struck out and Nelson Cruz was intentionally walked.

La Russa said he had told Lilliquist to have the left-hander Marc Rzepczynski and right-hander Jason Motte warm up, but Lilliquist only heard "Rzepczynski" ? La Russa now thinks Lilliquist may have hung up after hearing the first name.

Going by the numbers (lefties hit .163 off Rzepczynski during the regular season and righties batted .275), La Russa brought in Rzepczynski to face lefty David Murphy.

Murphy hit a comebacker that could have become an inning-ending double play, but instead deflected off the reliever's bare hand for an infield single that loaded the bases and caused La Russa's head to snap back in shock. Then La Russa noticed that Motte was not warming up, and he called the bullpen again to have his closer start throwing. But Lilliquist said he thought he heard "Lynn," for right-hander Lance Lynn, who was supposed to be resting after throwing 47 pitches in Game 3.

With Motte (.162 vs. righties and .270 vs. lefties) still not warming up, La Russa left Rzepczynski in to face Mike Napoli, who sent a slider into the right-center gap for a two-run double.

Puzzled Cardinals fans Tuesday might have been thinking of the famous line from "Cool Hand Luke" ? "What we've got here is a failure to communicate."

"I said, man, this is stuff that I hope happens on a Wednesday game on the road someplace that nobody is there. Then of course it wouldn't have happened that way," La Russa recalled. "The phones are preventable. It's my fault for not handling it better and making sure. All I had to do was look in the bullpen ? repeat ? to make sure."

Managers are obsessive about their dugout phones, checking them before every game to make sure they're operational. The problem in Rangers Ballpark is you can't see the visiting bullpen from the third-base dugout. Cleveland and Toronto already have screens for the managers to monitor the pens.

"They need to put TV monitors in all the ballparks you can't see," said La Russa's good buddy, Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland. "I guarantee you they'll be a proposal made at the general managers' meetings. That's all that's going to come from this. You live and learn."

In other words, don't expect laptops in the dugouts. Major League Baseball isn't about to replace phones with Microsoft Communicator.

"I think that's getting a little too technical," Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "We've got enough tech stuff going on."

He has his own backup system in case the phones go down.

"You come up with signals, like one for get the big guy up, or another for the short fat guy or the guy with the long hair," he said. "But when you've got a stadium like that, if you can't see, then you don't really know what's going on."

Now an ESPN analyst, Valentine was manager of the Rangers when the ballpark was being planned.

"That's faulty design, and I helped design it, so it's my fault," he said.

Until now, communication between the dugout and bullpen hasn't really been an issue. The bullpen phone has been around since everyone in the game first walked into a ballpark.

Most stadiums have a couple of dugout phones, in fact. During the NL playoffs, Milwaukee manager Ron Roenicke intended to call the bullpen to get Chris Narveson loose. Instead, Roenicke mistakenly grabbed another phone at Busch Stadium and told the person who answered ? in the press box ? to "Get Narv up."

Oops, wrong number.

"The answer is baseball tradition. I really think that's it. I don't think anyone's looked into it in recent years," Boston Red Sox president Larry Lucchino said. "In the years I've been in baseball I can't remember it ever coming up as a topic."

Baseball's concern with phones focuses on advertising: Signs in both Busch Stadium bullpens for "U.S. Cellular," and frequent "AT&T Calls to the Bullpen" are heard on broadcasts.

Now, the nature of pitching changes has changed. Alongside all his accomplishments, La Russa will be remembered for this famous failure to communicate.

"Hey, it's my fault," he said. "Maybe I slurred it, whatever it is. It comes down to who has the responsibility when there's those kinds of miscommunications."

___

AP Sports Writer Howard Ulman contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-10-25-BBO-World-Series-Phone-Foulup/id-f30f0c5e05474c73b8e95adfbb37b246

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Peter Z. Scheer: 10 Non-Jobs: Career Alternatives in a Broken Economy

The economy is getting better. Didn't you notice? We're in a "technical recovery," which is economist jargon for "screw you."

About 25 million Americans are unemployed, underemployed or have simply given up looking for a crappy job. Millions more -- the lucky ones -- are unhappy and underpaid. More than 6 million Americans have not worked in 27 weeks or more.

With a lost generation graduating into this jobless economy, we're going to have to come up with some creative ideas for staying fed and housed without a paycheck. Here are 10 survival schemes, ranging from adventurous to asinine. Hey, beggars can't be choosers--and we'll all be begging soon enough.

(One rule: no freebies. Internships may be good for r?sum? building, but unless they come with three squares and a cot to sleep on, they don't qualify.)

Go Back to School

Now would be a great time to get that master's in sustainability--especially if you qualify for student loans to cover the saltines and ramen you'll be eating for the next couple of years.

You don't need to get a full-blown postgraduate degree to get loans, either. Try picking up a cheaper certificate or taking classes. I have a friend who lives off of the loans he got for a distance learning animation mentorship, whatever that is. The debt he picked up is scary, but so is homelessness.

Join the Peace Corps

In exchange for 27 months of your life, the Peace Corps will fly you to an exotic land and pay a stipend comparable to what the locals live off -- in other words, just barely enough to keep you alive. When you return home (hopefully to a friendlier job market), the Corps will provide $7,425 in "transition funds." Other advantages include free language training, possible student loan deferment or cancellation, and "affordable" health care. On the downside, you could end up as a glorified sanitation worker in the Kyrgyz Republic. Adventure!

Teach Abroad (or For America)

As long as we're globetrotting, why not make a little money while we're at it? According to "Good Morning, Vietnam," teaching English is a rewarding and oddly comical experience. It also pays (unless you're volunteering with those Peace Corps hippies).

There's another way to go: Some people hop around the planet from post to post, teaching the children of diplomats and admirals at schools that specialize in American education.

Either way, the cost of living in foreign countries can be significantly less than it is in the United States.

Not a fan of the Travel Channel? Teach For America is looking for idealistic young people and aspiring lawyers to go to work at schools right here in the States. Like all teachers, the work pays (not well) and, as a bonus, you get to help raise children while politicians and business leaders talk about what a terrible job you're doing.

Occupy Someplace

From Liberty Square in New York to City Hall in Los Angeles, urban camping is all the rage. Bring a tent and some signs. Donors will provide food and whatever else they can. It helps if you're in a city like Los Angeles that supplies restroom facilities, trash bins and a sympathetic local government. No rent, free food and good company--who says the American dream is dead?

Start a Business

It's popular in politics to point out that small businesses create jobs, but what if nobody's hiring? Why not start a business of your own? Getting a loan from anybody for anything is difficult these days, but it can't hurt to try. The Small Business Administration has a super-fun website that gives IRS forms a run for their money. Bless the bureaucrats who decided "7(a)" and "CDC/504" would be good names for loan programs. That's not at all confusing or opaque. Anyway, dream big. You might just have the next Godfather's Pizza sitting in your brain. Actually, half of all small businesses fail within five years, but hey, five years from now Banana Republic might be hiring again.

Then again, why deal with all the fuss of a business when you can just create, scavenge and sell on Craigslist, eBay, Amazon, iTunes and the like? A friend picked up a stack of L. Ron Hubbard books on tape that had been donated to would-be Scientologists. "You're an L. Ron Hubbard fan?" I asked, incredulous. "What? No," he explained. "eBay." Speaking of L. Ron Hubbard ...

Join a Cult -- or a Monastery

Yes, there are still monks, not to mention nuns, and they take applications. There's a downside for fans of sex and worldly possessions, but who even has worldly possessions anymore?

Don't believe in God? Fake it until the jobs come back.

Failing that, there's probably a creepy collective out there willing to feed worshipers of His Holiness John Doe. Just don't drink the Kool-Aid--seriously.

Enlist

Congratulations! You just won a free trip to Afghanistan (return flight not guaranteed). Try not to bomb anybody.

The military has long understood the power of economic suffering to drive recruitment, hence the college tuition, signing bonuses and free health care. But with troops withdrawing from Iraq and the Pentagon facing the threat of budget cuts, it's not quite the meat buffet it was under George W. Bush. For the first time in years, the Marines have a waiting list.

Get a Grant

Foundations give away ridiculous amounts of money every year to fund projects that are generally safe and wholesome. Think of such a project and start applying.

Or look for something more practical. Example: A journalism fund is offering $5,000 to independent journalists. That's not enough to pay the mortgage, but it's real money for good work. Just remember to maximize traffic by writing your stories in the format of numbered lists.

Go to Prison

Go to jail, directly to jail. Do not pass go, do not take this seriously. Crime doesn't pay. Then again, California spends $49,190 per prisoner per year. That doesn't make up for all of the overcrowding, rape and guard beatings, but it's room and board nonetheless. Just remember to shiv someone on the first day so they know you're not a bitch.

Try, Try, Try to Survive on What's Left of Public Benefits and Credit Cards

This is both a terrible idea and, I'm assuming, what a lot of people are doing.

Most states have whittled their poverty programs down to almost nothing. Anyone applying for disability, welfare or food stamps should remember not to take no for an answer. In Los Angeles, Public Counsel provides free representation to make sure applicants get their full benefits -- they are often otherwise denied for bogus reasons.

President Obama won an extension of unemployment benefits by agreeing to also extend the Bush tax cuts. He has since asked Congress to continue payments for an additional year, but Congress is stalling and some 2 million people are set to lose their unemployment checks come January.

Food banks are hard-pressed, but they're doing the best they can.

Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid recipients face constant threat from opportunistic lawmakers.

With all this going on, one would think of those devastating debt statistics and assume people are putting what they can on the card, but actually credit card use is reportedly in decline. The CARD act brought restrictions the banks don't like and they're less eager to spread the plastic than they were before the crash. Consumers, meanwhile, are starting to pay more with cash, having already experienced the tonnage of human misery dropped by that last debt bubble bursting.

***

There you have it. Ten ideas for getting by. Feel free to mix and match. You could always go back to school and then join the Peace Corps to work off that debt, or occupy Wall Street until the man arrests you and takes responsibility for your food needs.

Most of these ideas won't work, and the opportunities above that aren't completely stupid are probably hard to get. I wouldn't be surprised if the Peace Corps and Teach For America are overwhelmed with applications right now. Just don't give up. And if you have any better ideas, we need to hear them. Tell us in the comments below how you're getting by.

This post originally appeared at TruthDig.

?

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-z-scheer/10-nonjobs-career-alterna_b_1031880.html

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Teaching Computers to Find Your Good Side [Video]

To ensure we never miss a moment, it's entirely plausible that one day cameras will just continuously record video, instead of snapping individual shots. But when all you want is a single photo, pouring through hundreds of frames in a clip for that perfect shot is overly tedious. So researchers have come up with a better approach to automatically analyzing videos and selecting only the best candid portraits. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/WlsfZjVFaAY/teaching-computers-to-find-your-good-side

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Girls Generation Talk 'Epic' Madison Square Garden Show

MTV News gets to know the multiplatinum, nine-member Korean pop girl group behind hit single 'The Boys.'
By Christina Garibaldi


Girls Generation
Photo: MTV News

They're most likely one of the biggest pop acts you have never heard of, but Girls Generation, a nine-member Korean pop group that came together in 2007, have since become a national phenomenon.

Their 2009 hit "Gee" is the longest-running #1 song on the Korean Broadcasting Charts; their self-titled album released in Japan in June went double platinum, a first for a Korean girl group; and their latest music video, "The Boys," has racked up nearly 12 million YouTube views in just one week.

Girls Generation (a.k.a. Soshi or SNSD by their international fans) are now gearing up to take over the U.S. airwaves. After releasing their third studio album The Boys last month in Korea and then worldwide, the ladies have signed with Interscope Records. On Monday, all nine girls stopped by the MTV Newsroom and talked to us about their success, including performing to a sold-out crowd at Madison Square Garden this week alongside several other Korean pop acts.

"Performing at Madison Square Garden is a real honor, so we had a lot of fun," Jessica told MTV News.

"It was epic," Tiffany added.

During the performance the girls sang, for the first time, the English version of "The Boys." The track has a heavy beat and a radio-friendly sound, showing off not only their strong vocals but their rapping skills.

"It went pretty well," Jessica said of "The Boys" performance. "They all sang along, so we were really happy to sing it in front of our fans for the first time and we thank everyone for singing along."

So with "The Boys" single about to hit the States and the video already out, will the girls work on a full-length English album?

"Yes!" Tiffany revealed. "Our U.S. maxi single will be released November 19, it will be in stores, and we're just as excited as anybody else. We haven't started on a full-length album, but we're kicking off with this maxi single and hopefully it will lead to a full-length album."

While the girls are still expanding their Stateside fanbase, they were overwhelmed by the outpouring of love from fans during their visit. "This whole situation itself has been pretty surreal," Tiffany admitted. "So we are just very fortunate and we're just really excited to be able to meet our fans here in the East Coast and in the U.S."

Jessica chimed in, "We're just very lucky to have all these fans supporting us."

What do you think of Girls Generation's music? Let us know in the comments!

Related Artists

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1673186/girls-generation-the-boys-us.jhtml

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German police say violence up at football matches

Associated Press Sports

updated 9:36 a.m. ET Oct. 25, 2011

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -German police say the number of fans injured in violence at matches in the top two divisions last season reached a 12-year high.

A report published Tuesday says 846 people were injured in clashes between rival fans. Counting the third division, more than 1,000 people were injured.

However, there were fewer arrests with 6,061, a decrease of 723 over the previous season.

About 2,500 known trouble-makers are currently banned from attending matches nationwide.

Police say 9,685 fans are registered as violence-prone across the country.

? 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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'It was our worst ever day'

The Alex Ferguson era isn't over at Manchester United, but this did feel like the beginning of the end. A 6-1 humiliation to Manchester City.

Eriksson fired

Former England coach fired as manager of the second-tier club Leicester.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45029769/ns/sports-soccer/

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Video: Read between the lines!

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AP Enterprise: Ukraine accused of dog slaughter (AP)

KIEV, Ukraine ? One sunny summer morning, a stray mongrel the neighbors called Naida swallowed a piece of sausage she found on the ground. Soon after, she collapsed.

For the next two hours the dog convulsed in agony, barking and howling in a high-pitched voice, saliva and blood dripping from her mouth.

"What did they punish you for, my good girl?" an elderly woman said as she wept and doused the dog with water, hoping to relieve some of the pain. Then Naida died.

Animal welfare groups accuse Ukrainian authorities of using illegal and inhumane methods of killing stray dogs that cause long, agonizing deaths. They say dogs are often poisoned or injected with banned substances as officials rush to clear streets ahead of the Euro 2012 soccer championship next summer.

Euro 2012 organizers deny any involvement in a stray eradication campaign.

Full official statistics are hard to come by, but figures and estimates provided to The Associated Press by authorities in the Euro 2012 host cities of Kiev, Donetsk, Kharkiv and Lviv show more than 9,000 dogs have been put to death over the past year. Animal protection groups believe the number is far higher.

"It's a slaughterhouse," said Asya Serpinska, head of the Ukrainian Association of Animal Protection Organizations. "We are convinced that there is an unofficial order to purge Euro cities of stray animals so that, God forbid, some stray dog doesn't bite some foreigner."

Ukraine has a large stray dog population, estimated at tens of thousands in some cities. The dogs, often running in packs, can be seen on streets, in parks and even children's playgrounds. Nearly 3,000 people reported being bitten by stray dogs last year in Kiev and about 1,900 in Kharkiv, according to city officials.

On paper, officials have embraced the internationally accepted practice of sterilizing strays, then releasing them into areas where they pose no public threat, placing them in shelters or finding them homes. Sick or aggressive dogs are humanely euthanized.

But in reality, activists contend, a stray dog handled by authorities has little chance of survival. The only question, they say, is how much it will suffer before it dies. Shelters are virtually nonexistent, pet adoption unpopular and sterilization costly; most dogs are simply put down, they say.

"It's capture and kill," said John Ruane of Naturewatch, a British-based animal welfare group that monitors the situation in Ukraine. "It's just barbaric."

Naturewatch has been campaigning for the Euro 2012 organizer, the European soccer body UEFA, to cancel the championship in Ukraine and move all the events to neighboring Poland, which is co-hosting the event, because of the dog killing. UEFA told the AP that it never requested that strays be culled and has used "the extent of our influence" to address the issue and make sure animals are treated humanely.

Yulia Shapovalova, an animal control official in Kharkiv, acknowledged that 95 percent of the 550 dogs her facility handles each month are euthanized. This compares with 8 percent of stray dogs euthanized in Britain and about 50 percent in the United States, according to animal welfare groups in those countries.

Another city animal control group, the Kharkiv State Veterinary Academy, is accused of keeping dogs locked inside cages so small the animals can barely move. Photos taken by activists show wooden cages sealed shut with virtually no light coming in, the animals condemned to darkness.

Captive dogs are given little food and water, and are forced to urinate and defecate in the cages, said Yelena Ratnikova, head of Kharkiv Adopt-a-Pet Center.

Igor Furda, an animal control official at the facility, insisted the concerns were groundless. "If the dog is going to be euthanized, does it matter what cage it is kept in?" he asked.

Viktoria Bohatyr, a Kharkiv dog control official, acknowledged problems at the academy. But she denied that dog killing in the city was connected with the soccer championship.

"Our task is to lower the number of stray animals," she said. "We don't make it our goal to kill off all the dogs ahead of Euro 2012. That is impossible."

In Donetsk, Oleksandr Reingold, a dog control official, said that of the 20 dogs picked up every day, only 30 percent are euthanized. Most others are placed in the city shelter, he said.

Serpinska disputed those figures, saying records from a Donetsk dog control facility, Animals in the City, showed some 50 dogs were killed there daily ? 98 percent of all the dogs handled. Animals in the City declined to comment or provide any figures on dog control.

Naida's agonizing death in central Donetsk in June 2010 was filmed by activists from Animal Protection.

The group's director, Lyudmila Novikova, says Naida and two other dogs that died in the same neighborhood that day were poisoned by Grinkodon, a company the city hired to control stray animals.

Residents said a pickup truck had parked on their street and the driver was seen throwing something on the ground. The truck came back several hours later to pick up Naida's lifeless body and the two other dead dogs.

A search turned up pieces of sausage containing white pills strewn on the ground. Tests determined the pills were Isoniazid, a medication used to treat tuberculosis in humans that causes seizures in dogs and can be lethal, Novikova said. She said she kept a piece of the sausage in her freezer, but city authorities have refused to investigate.

Grinkodon spokesman Serhiy Ustimov denied the allegations, saying the company did not resort to "barbaric" methods. Reingold, the city official, also denied the city was involved. "We don't do such things," he said.

Activists in Donetsk and Kharkiv say stray dogs are also routinely killed by blowgun syringes loaded with dithylinum, a substance banned in Ukraine and the West for animal euthanasia. It paralyzes the respiratory system, so the dog dies slowly of asphyxiation, suffering for up to an hour.

The activists say they have received numerous complaints from residents who found dogs lying helplessly on the ground, still alive but unable to breathe or move and doomed to a painful death. City officials deny use of the drug.

In Kiev, Taras Smurniy, head of a municipal animal control organization called Animal Shelter, said the capital does not euthanize dogs. He said that of 300 dogs picked up over the past three months, all were sterilized and released. That statement was disputed by the Kiev city administration, which said that stray dogs are euthanized when they are seriously ill, as well as in "other circumstances." It did not specify what those might be.

Animal protection groups say dozens of dogs, including family pets, have been fatally poisoned in Kiev in recent months, and they blame city authorities.

In January, James Wolf, the press attache at the U.S. Embassy, took his 4-year-old Golden Retriever, Arien, to a park. The dog ate something on the ground and soon suffered a seizure. In severe pain, she died before Wolf could get her to a veterinarian. Five other family pets were poisoned in the park that evening.

Wolf does not know who poisoned Arien, but he laments that city officials did not investigate and that dogs continue to die the same way. He also warns that children could eat the poisoned food.

"It was very upsetting," Wolf said. "If something like this happened in the United States or Western Europe, I would imagine the outcry would be sufficient so that somebody gets to the bottom of it and makes sure it stops."

Kiev city administration head Oleksandr Popov insisted authorities have never given orders to poison dogs.

However, an invoice shown to the AP indicates that Kiev animal control officials last year purchased a large quantity of zinc phosphate, a poison that kills dogs by causing internal bleeding. The invoice was leaked to activists by a city official who sympathizes with animals, according to Tamara Tarnavska of the animal rights group SOS.

"They deal with stray dogs in the cheapest possible way," said Naturewatch's Ruane.

In the western city of Lviv, at least 70 dogs, both strays and pets, have been poisoned since April, according to city officials. Authorities deny involvement and say people who dislike dogs are behind the poisoning.

Roman Harmatiy, head of a city-funded animal control group, Lev, said that of the 100 dogs it handles every month, half are euthanized and the rest sterilized and released. However, city veterinary official Yuri Mahora questioned that, saying Lev received no funding for sterilization this year.

Questions were also raised about how dogs are euthanized. According to Harmatiy, the facility uses injections of magnesium sulfate, which causes cardiac and respiratory arrest through muscle paralysis. However, this must be preceded by general anesthesia so animals don't suffer agonizing muscle spasms prior to death, according to the London-based World Society for the Protection of Animals.

Harmatiy insisted the dogs were premedicated. However, ex-Lev employees contend anesthesia wasn't used in order to save money, and dogs were left to die in agony, according to activists. Residents who live nearby complain of agonizing howls and wails coming from the facility, said Yevhen Fursov, head of the Lviv Association for Animal Protection.

Animal protection groups say euthanizing stray dogs is not only inhumane but ineffective: A successful animal control program combines sterilization and release, as well as promoting responsible pet ownership.

"You are putting a Band-Aid on the problem, you are not doing anything to solve the problem," said Kelly Coladarci of Washington-based Humane Society International.

___________

Svetlana Fedas in Lviv, Ukraine, contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111024/ap_on_re_eu/eu_ukraine_dog_killing

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Radio Shines In Journal Communications Q3 Report | AllAccess.com







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Radio Revs Up, TV Down

Although JOURNAL COMMUNICATIONS reported that Q3 revenue was down 4.4% to $87.8 million, core broadcast revenue -- excluding political and issue advertising revenue -- rose 2.2% Operating earnings fell to $8.1 million, down 26.9%

Radio revenue was the key to the broadcasting earnings positive results. Q3 revenue from radio stations increased 2.7% to $19.0 million. Radio political and issue advertising revenue was $0.4 million in each of 2011 and 2010. TV revenue, on the other hand, decreased 6.8% to $27.9 million. Excluding political and issue advertising revenue of $1.8 million in 2011 and $4.3 million in 2010, revenue from television stations increased 1.6%.

"JOURNAL COMMUNICATIONS remained focused on growing our local market revenue share in a soft economic environment in the third quarter," JOURNAL CEO/Chairman of the Board STEVEN SMITH said. "While total Broadcast revenue was down, core revenue, excluding political and issue advertising, was up. On the Publishing side, a challenging advertising revenue environment was offset by improved circulation revenue and a solid increase in commercial print and distribution revenue.

"We continue to position JOURNAL COMMUNICATIONS for growth in our markets by expanding our relevant local content, investing in interactive media and providing an enhanced value proposition for our advertising customers."

? see more Net News

Source: http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/98130/radio-shines-in-journal-communications-q3-report

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মঙ্গলবার, ২৫ অক্টোবর, ২০১১

APNewsBreak: Texas DA offered leniency for cash (AP)

CENTER, Texas ? The district attorney in a Texas county with a well-known drug-trafficking route repeatedly allowed suspected drug runners and money launderers to receive light sentences ? or escape criminal charges altogether ? if they forfeited their cash to prosecutors.

As a result, authorities collected more than $800,000 in less than a year using a practice that essentially let suspects buy their way out of allegations that, if proven, would probably have resulted in prison sentences.

"They were looking out for the treasury of their county instead of doing the job of protecting society," said R. Christopher Goldsmith, a Houston attorney who represented one of the defendants.

The system engineered by Shelby County District Attorney Lynda Kaye Russell is now one focus of a federal criminal investigation that is also reviewing whether Russell and other law enforcement officials targeted black motorists for traffic stops.

Interviews, court records and other documents reviewed by The Associated Press show numerous examples of suspects who went unpunished or got unusually light sentences after turning over tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The money from those and other defendants increased the DA's forfeiture account by more than two hundredfold and helped ease a tight budget. The county's former auditor has testified that at least a portion of it was spent on campaign materials, parades, holiday decorations, food, flowers, gifts and charitable contributions.

In one instance, a man accused of transporting 15 kilos of cocaine and more than $80,000 in cash got probation after forfeiting the money to the district attorney. When the Justice Department learned about the deal, federal officials regarded it as so outlandish that they took the rare step of building their own case.

In another case, a woman caught with more than $620,000 stuffed into Christmas presents walked away after reaching a similar agreement.

Russell, who has been district attorney in the county on the Texas-Louisiana border since 1999, did not respond to repeated requests for comment. She announced in June that she was resigning, effective at the end of the year, to care for her sick mother.

Law enforcement agencies across the country often seize money or property believed linked to criminal activity. If they can prove the link in civil court, authorities can take possession of it permanently. But it's highly unusual to make deals that provide suspects with freedom or leniency if they agree to forfeit their cash.

The Shelby County cases arose from traffic stops on U.S. Highway 59, which runs from the U.S.-Mexico border to Canada and is one of the nation's most notorious drug corridors.

Russell and other county law enforcement officials have been under investigation by the Department of Justice's civil-rights division since 2008, when they were named defendants in a class-action lawsuit stemming from traffic stops in the small town of Tenaha.

The lawsuit contends that a drug-enforcement program established by the town in 2006 was actually a scheme to threaten innocent motorists, most of them black, with money laundering charges if they didn't forfeit their cash.

In the program's first year, the DA's office and the law enforcement agencies that made the stops divvied up nearly $1 million in forfeited cash. That was a spectacular spike in income: Forfeitures had produced less than $2,000 the year before, according to reports filed with the Texas attorney general's office.

The class-action lawsuit has received national media attention, but the fact that the forfeiture deals were also made with people who fit the profile of "mules" transporting drugs or drug money is neither addressed by the complaint nor widely known outside Shelby County, about 175 miles northeast of Houston.

FBI agents have interviewed many of the motorists who were stopped in Tenaha, including some who were given leniency. And several Shelby County officials have testified before a grand jury in Tyler.

Malcolm Bales, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, said limited resources have put the district attorney at a disadvantage in prosecuting major crimes. But he acknowledged that several matters were mishandled, particularly the one that resulted in probation for the man with 15 kilos of cocaine.

That case "was extraordinary enough for me to take it on and re-prosecute the guy," said Bales, who was an assistant U.S. attorney based in Lufkin at the time.

Gregory Fuller of Nashville, Tenn., is now serving more than 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.

Fuller was on parole for selling cocaine in Tennessee when he was stopped for speeding in 2006 in Tenaha. A search of his car turned up the drugs with a potential street value of more than $1 million. The offense carried a sentence of 15 to 99 years in prison.

But just four days after his arrest, Fuller cut a deal allowing him to pay a $10,000 fine and receive three years' probation with deferred adjudication. On the day the documents were signed, he also agreed to forfeit $81,300 to the district attorney's office.

Fuller "walked out of there thinking he was the luckiest man on the planet," said Goldsmith, his attorney.

Less than two months later, federal authorities initiated their case under the principle of dual sovereignty, which permits the federal government to prosecute an offense even if it's been dealt with in state court.

"That incident demanded a full investigation, or at least an attempt to find out where Fuller got the narcotics and where they were going," Bales said.

The case of Angela Neveins, a Houston woman stopped in 2006, followed a similar pattern. She was charged with money laundering after her gift-wrapped packages were found to contain $626,000. But the charge was dismissed two days later when she signed a waiver agreeing to forfeit the cash.

Neveins told her attorney that the money wasn't hers, and she quickly agreed to give it up in exchange for her freedom.

"Once she heard the monkey would be off her back," said Houston attorney Jim Dyer, "she readily thought that was the way to go."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111025/ap_on_re_us/us_prosecutor_drug_cash

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