Monday, 31 October 2011

O Music Awards Dance Marathon In Full Swing!

Dancers attempting to break Guinness record for nonstop dancing in the Longest Team Dance Marathon.
By Matt Elias


Dancers attempt to set the Guinness World Record for Longest Marathon Team Dance at the Roxy Theater on October 30
Photo: Kevin Winter/ Getty Images

WEST HOLLYWOOD, California — The O Music Awards festivities kicked off in footloose fashion Sunday night at the Roxy Theatre on the world-famous Sunset Strip.

While the last OMAs tapped Chiddy Bang rapper Chidera "Chiddy" Anamege to break the Guinness World Record for Longest Freestyle Rap (he was successful, at nine hours, 16 minutes and 22 seconds), this year's show took on an even more ambitious goal: Longest Team Dance Marathon. That's 24 hours of nonstop dancing without one dancer dropping out.

A group of 13 lucky dancers assembled at the Roxy on Halloween Eve to take on this epic attempt. It all got started at 9:25 p.m. with DJ Diamond Kuts kicking off the marathon. If all goes according to plan, the 24th hour will hit during the live webcast of the O Music Awards tonight (which you can catch at 11:30pm ET/ 8:30pm PT on Omusicawards.com).

Just as the marathon got into full swing, MTV News' Jim Cantiello spoke to Diamond Kuts about the event (she'll also return for the final hour to DJ the dance party).

"How do you keep them motivated to dance that long?" Cantiello asked.

"Staying connected online, social networking sites, [and] knowing what the people like to keep the people moving," Kuts explained about her selection process for choice cuts.

Of course, the dancers will get a few moments of rest during their 24-hour extravaganza. Per Guinness rules, the dancers are allowed to take a five-minute break every hour. And since they're attempting the longest team dance marathon, they must take their break as a team.

All of this footwork is in honor of a good cause: National Bullying Prevention Month. MTV is raising cash for various anti-bulling campaigns including those by GLAAD, GLSEN, GSA Network, HRC, the It Gets Better Project and the Trevor Project.

Will the dancers make it to hour 24? You'll have to log on to the OMAs tonight to find out!

Related Photos

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1673410/o-music-awards-dance-marathon-record.jhtml

project runway winner hunter s thompson hunter s thompson berkman berkman new beavis and butthead game 7

Consumers confidence highest in India - Nielsen (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) ? Global consumer confidence remained weak in the third quarter with more than 60 percent of consumers saying it was not a good time to spend, and one-in-three North Americans saying they have no spare cash, a survey showed on Sunday.

Confidence was highest in India for a seventh straight quarter but India's reading fell 5 points from the second quarter and Saudi Arabia was catching up.

The economic outlook, followed by job security, became consumers' biggest concern in the third quarter, overtaking worries about rising inflation, according to the quarterly survey by global analytics and information company Nielsen.

The Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence Index dipped just 1 point in the third quarter from the second quarter to 88 points, but it was shored up by a surge in confidence in emerging economies Brazil and Saudi Arabia, which masked weak confidence in major developed economies.

A reading below 100 indicates consumers are pessimistic about the economic outlook for the coming months.

Consumer morale in the euro zone remained especially weak, notably in France, as the region's debt crisis deepened during the summer. Confidence in Greece, at the centre of the crisis, actually rose sharply but it was still the fourth-weakest of markets surveyed. Confidence was lowest in Hungary.

One-in-five Europeans said they have no extra cash to spend, although that was better than one-in-three North Americans. Confidence in European powerhouse Germany was better than much of Europe and the United States, but like the U.S. its reading dipped 1 point from the second quarter.

"The third quarter was volatile and challenging for global economies and financial markets amid stagnant U.S. unemployment figures and a worsening euro zone debt crisis," said Venkatesh Bala, chief economist at The Cambridge Group, a part of Nielsen.

"A recessionary mindset is growing among consumers as more than half say they are currently in a recession -- up 4 percentage points from last quarter and 7 points from the start of the year. The result is continued spending restraint for discretionary expenses, which is expected to continue into next year."

The survey, taken between Aug. 30 and Sept. 16 and covering 28,000 consumers in 56 countries, showed 64 percent of consumers globally saying it was not a good time to spend.

Financial markets picked up last week following a euro zone agreement to tackle its debt crisis and after encouraging third-quarter U.S. economic growth data, but further positive data will be required to reassure consumers.

Confidence in China dipped a point while in Europe the Baltic states of Latvia and Lithuania saw a surge in confidence, though it was still relatively low.

The survey showed that global consumers facing tighter budgets would cut back on clothing purchases, dining out and buying electronics and appliances before anything else.

"If the global economic climate worsens, these three sectors appear to be particularly vulnerable," said Bala.

The survey is based on consumers' confidence in the job market, status of their personal finances and readiness to spend.

Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence Index in the third quarter, 2011 (Change from Q2, 2011 survey in brackets):

Top 10 index readings Bottom 10 index readings

India 121 (-5) Estonia 72 (+6)

Saudi Arabia 120 (+13) Lithuania 71 (+11)

Indonesia 114 (+2) Latvia 69 (+12)

Philippines 112 (-3) Ireland 64 (0)

Brazil 112 (+16) France/Japan/Spain 56^

Thailand 109 (+4) Italy 52 (-3)

UAE 105 (-5) Greece 51 (+10)

China/Hong Kong 104 (-1,-3) Romania/S.Korea/Croatia 49*

Norway/Malaysia 101 (+3,-9) Portugal 40 (-2)

Switzerland 99 (-9) Hungary 37 (-6)


Global consumer confidence average 88 (-1)

United States 77 (-1)

Germany 87 (-1)

UK 73 (+1)

^ (-13,+1,-4)

* (+2,-3,+4)

Source: The Nielsen Company

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/india/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111030/india_nm/india602004

groupon ipo wvu football meteor shower tonight district 9 district 9 pandaria

Sunday, 30 October 2011

Romney Rivals See Flip-Flop (WSJ)

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/154948317?client_source=feed&format=rss

shel silverstein dont ask dont tell dont ask dont tell troy davis execution date troy davis execution date skylar grey

Cupcake to Ice Cream Sandwich: An Android Timeline (ContributorNetwork)

The new version of Android, called Ice Cream Sandwich, was going to be shown at Samsung's "Google Unpacked" event on October 11. That event has been postponed, out of respect for the memory of Steve Jobs. But when it resumes, it may coincide with the release of what is being called the Nexus Prime, a new flagship smartphone for Google.

Here's a quick, tasty look at Android's previous versions which were named after desserts.

April, 2009: Cupcake (Android 1.5)

Cupcake was the first major update to Google's open-source operating system, which until then was just known as "Android." (The 1.1 update, which came in between the two, should perhaps have been known as "Banana Split," but was too minor to get its own name.) It added animated transitions for switching between different screens, as well as widgets, which are things like weather displays that you can put on your home screen.

September, 2009: Donut (Android 1.6)

Donut improved Android's search features, speeding up searches and letting you search your contacts, web bookmarks and web browsing history. It also added a text-to-speech feature that could read text aloud to you, as well as support for turn-by-turn navigation in Google Maps.

October, 2009: Eclair (Android 2.0)

Eclair added a ton of incremental, behind-the-scenes improvements to apps like the keyboard and web browser, as well as an updated user interface. The biggest new feature for Android smartphone owners was the support for animated, interactive "Live Wallpapers," like virtual pets or pools of water with ripples that formed where you touched them. Eclair also added support for multitouch screens, allowing gestures like pinch-to-zoom on smartphone handsets that supported it.

May, 2010: Froyo (Android 2.2)

Froyo, or "Frozen Yogurt," added support for Adobe Flash on the web, as well as building Chrome's V8 engine into the web browser for faster performance on interactive websites. The new and improved Android Market allowed you to update more than one app at a time, as well as set certain apps to automatically update. There were also numerous app performance enhancements, including the ability to install apps to a microSD card instead of the phone's internal memory.

December, 2010: Gingerbread (Android 2.3)

Gingerbread added support for NFC, or Near Field Communication chips, which allow phones like the Nexus S to use Google Wallet for payments and coupon storage. It also improved its support for "native code", allowing for faster games with high-performance graphics, and featured a new, simpler user interface.

February, 2011: Honeycomb (Android 3.0)

Honeycomb was the first version of Android designed just for tablets. It featured an entirely redone user interface made for large screens, which allowed "Fragments," or sidebars, to be displayed to the side of an app's main view. An "Action Bar" and a "System Bar," at the top and bottom of the screen, replaced Android's hardware buttons and let you access app menus and notifications.

October, 2011: Ice Cream Sandwich?

The Android Developer Channel on YouTube was counting down the days until the Google / Samsung presentation. When it resumes, we may have a better idea of when a new dessert sculpture will be coming to the Google campus.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20111027/us_ac/10157115_cupcake_to_ice_cream_sandwich_an_android_timeline

gloria estefan ahava ahava kelly cutrone kelly cutrone florida marlins dancing with the stars 2011

Japan: Fukushima Exposure Underrated, Outcome Obscure

The consequences of the Fukushima disaster will be emerging for at least several decades. According to the Japanese government, it will take up to 30 years for the complete clean up of the radiation released from the reactors.

Japan aims to reduce radiation by half over the next two years. To do so, it may have to remove and dispose of massive amounts of radioactive soil, possibly enough to fill 23 baseball stadiums, reports Reuters.

Experts say the areas inside the evacuation zone will have to remain uninhabited throughout the years of contamination. All collected soil and other waste will be stored in the Fukushima Prefecture, in an ?interim facility? with an estimated capacity of up to 28 million cubic meters.

Despite official information, some reports suggest the Japanese government is seriously downplaying the real amount of radioactive substances that leaked from Fukushima. Radioactive emissions from the crippled nuclear power plant may be five times higher than the numbers released by the authorities.

The Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics journal published a report that suggests the figures of radiation released into the atmosphere could be underestimated by almost 80 per cent. The report says only 19 per cent of radioactive cesium-137 fell on Japanese soil, while the remaining amount ended up in the Pacific Ocean. Only some two per cent of cesium is believed to have reached foreign lands.

The author of the report, Andreas Stohl, says that the Japanese government was only using the data that came from Japan for their estimations and missed the cesium that got into the ocean, while Stohl and his team used measurement data from several dozen stations in Japan, North America and other regions.

The report suggests that some 36,000 terabecquerels of cancer-causing cesium were released from the reactors, which amounts to 42 per cent of the total release from the Chernobyl disaster.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Stohl said that estimates are very imprecise, that even 50 percent divergence should not be considered a major difference. Moreover, Stohl?s report is not complete and it has to be reviewed by the field experts before it is accepted as a formal publication, so the numbers may vary.

The evaluation of the consequences is also hindered by poorly-developed methods of extensive radiation measurement. So far no one can tell the exact number of people who received dangerous doses of radiation or draw a prediction of how many of them will be affected by cancer in the long-run.

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was heavily damaged by the March 11th earthquake and tsunami, which resulted in a reactor meltdown and the release of radioactive material. Since then, the authorities have struggled to contain the crisis, with pledges being given in the summer, that it will be resolved by the end of this year.

About the author:

RT

RT, previously known as Russia Today, is a global multilingual television news network based in Russia. RT was the first all-digital Russian TV network.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/eurasiareview/VsnE/~3/ocYvlsvqOuE/

james arthur ray 20/20 lsu football lsu football maps directions josephine baker pumpkin patch

Saturday, 29 October 2011

"Wife-sharing" haunts Indian villages as girls decline (Reuters)

BAGHPAT, India (TrustLaw) ? When Munni arrived in this fertile, sugarcane-growing region of north India as a young bride years ago, little did she imagine she would be forced into having sex and bearing children with her husband's two brothers who had failed to find wives.

"My husband and his parents said I had to share myself with his brothers," said the woman in her mid-40s, dressed in a yellow sari, sitting in a village community centre in Baghpat district in Uttar Pradesh.

"They took me whenever they wanted -- day or night. When I resisted, they beat me with anything at hand," said Munni, who had managed to leave her home after three months only on the pretext of visiting a doctor.

"Sometimes they threw me out and made me sleep outside or they poured kerosene over me and burned me."

Such cases are rarely reported to police because women in these communities are seldom allowed outside the home unaccompanied, and the crimes carry deep stigma for the victims. So there may be many more women like Munni in the mud-hut villages of the area.

Munni, who has three sons from her husband and his brothers, has not filed a police complaint either.

Social workers say decades of aborting female babies in a deeply patriarchal culture has led to a decline in the population of women in some parts of India, like Baghpat, and in turn has resulted in rising incidents of rape, human trafficking and the emergence of "wife-sharing" amongst brothers.

Aid workers say the practice of female foeticide has flourished among several communities across the country because of a traditional preference for sons, who are seen as old-age security.

"We are already seeing the terrible impacts of falling numbers of females in some communities," says Bhagyashri Dengle, executive director of children's charity Plan India.

"We have to take this as a warning sign and we have to do something about it or we'll have a situation where women will constantly be at risk of kidnap, rape and much, much worse."

SECRET PRACTICES

Just two hours drive from New Delhi, with its gleaming office towers and swanky malls, where girls clad in jeans ride motor bikes and women occupy senior positions in multi-nationals, the mud-and-brick villages of Baghpat appear a world apart.

Here, women veil themselves in the presence of men, are confined to the compounds of their houses as child bearers and home makers, and are forbidden from venturing out unaccompanied.

Village men farm the lush sugarcane plantations or sit idle on charpoys, or traditional rope beds, under the shade of trees in white cotton tunics, drinking tea, some smoking hookah pipes while lamenting the lack of brides for their sons and brothers.

The figures are telling.

According to India's 2011 census, there are only 858 women to every 1,000 men in Baghpat district, compared to the national sex ratio of 940.

Child sex ratios in Baghpat are even more skewed and on the decline with 837 girls in 2011 compared to 850 in 2001 -- a trend mirrored across districts in states such as Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat.

"In every village, there are at least five or six bachelors who can't find a wife. In some, there are up to three or four unmarried men in one family. It's a serious problem," says Shri Chand, 75, a retired police constable.

"Everything is hush, hush. No one openly admits it, but we all know what is going on. Some families buy brides from other parts of the country, while others have one daughter-in-law living with many unwedded brothers."

Women from other regions such as Jharkhand and West Bengal speak of how their poor families were paid sums of as little as 15,000 rupees ($300) by middle-men and brought here to wed into a different culture, language and way of life.

"It was hard at first, there was so much to learn and I didn't understand anything. I thought I was here to play," said Sabita Singh, 25, who was brought from a village in West Bengal at the age of 14 to marry her husband, 19 years her elder.

"I've got used to it," she says holding her third child in her lap. "I miss my freedom."

Such exploitation of women is illegal in India, but many of these crimes are gradually becoming acceptable among such close-knit communities because the victims are afraid to speak out and neighbours unwilling to interfere.

Some villagers say the practice of brothers sharing a wife has benefits, such as the avoidance of division of family land and other assets amongst heirs.

Others add the shortage of women has, in fact, freed some poor families with daughters from demands for substantial dowries by grooms' families.

Social activists say nothing positive can be derived from the increased exploitation of women, recounting cases in the area of young school girls being raped or abducted and auctioned off in public.

UNABATED ABORTIONS

Despite laws making pre-natal gender tests illegal, India's 2011 census indicated that efforts to curb female foeticide have been futile.

While India's overall female-to-male ratio marginally improved since the last census in 2001, fewer girls were born than boys and the number of girls under six years old plummeted for the fifth decade running.

A May study in the British medical journal Lancet found that up to 12 million Indian girls were aborted over the last three decades -- resulting in a skewed child sex ratio of 914 girls to every 1,000 boys in 2011 compared with 962 in 1981.

Sons, in traditionally male-dominated regions, are viewed as assets -- breadwinners who will take care of the family, continue the family name, and perform the last rites of the parents, an important ritual in many faiths.

Daughters are seen as a liability, for whom families have to pay substantial wedding dowries. Protecting their chastity is a major concern as instances of pre-marital sex are seen to bring shame and dishonour on families.

Women's rights activists say breaking down these deep-rooted, age-old beliefs is a major challenge.

"The real solution is to empower girls and women in every way possible," says Neelam Singh, head of Vatsalya, an NGO working on children's and women's issues.

"We need to provide them with access to education, healthcare and opportunities which will help them make decisions for themselves and stand up to those who seek to abuse or exploit them."

(TrustLaw is a global news service on women's rights and good governance run by Thomson Reuters Foundation. For more information see www.trust.org/trustlaw)

(Editing by Sugita Katyal)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/india/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111027/india_nm/india601544

are you afraid of the dark roasted pumpkin seeds

Experts challenge China's 1-child population claim (AP)

BEIJING ? A Chinese claim that without its government's severe family planning limits world population would have hit the 7-billion mark years earlier is drawing fire from demographers who call it baseless and unscientific.

A report by the official Xinhua News Agency that was carried on news websites and in newspapers said China is responsible for preventing 400 million births with its one-child policy ? a set of restrictions that were launched three decades ago limiting most urban families to one child and most rural families to two.

"The population of China would now be around 1.7 billion had it not been for the family planning policy," Xinhua quoted Zhai Zhenwu, director of Renmin University's School of Sociology and Population in Beijing as saying. "And the world's population would have hit seven billion in 2006."

The estimates and the defense of the one-child policy are not new. But with the United Nations projecting that global population will hit 7 billion on Oct. 31, the milestone has refreshed debate about the global need for population control and whether China, still the world's most populous country, serves as model.

Many demographers deny that the one-child policy curbed 400 million births and say China's methods must not be copied.

"A draconian birth control policy is not the answer to the world population problem," said Cai Yong, an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and an expert on China's population. Cai said Zhai and the government are "rewriting China's fertility reduction history."

Cai and Wang Feng, director of Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy, last year published a paper in China Reform, a Chinese-language policy discussion magazine, debunking the 400 million figure.

They argue that between 1979 and 2009, China averted 200 million births, half the government estimate. They arrived at the number by calculating what the population would have been if China had maintained its 1979 fertility rate of 2.75 and comparing it to the 2009 fertility rate of 1.7 and population.

Zhai, the professor quoted by Xinhua, said he knows Wang and Cai's paper. Though he stands by the 400 million figure, he said it covers a period that begins a decade earlier than the one-child policy when China began encouraging later marriages and fewer children.

"It's an estimate anyway," he said. "And there are many different numbers out there but it doesn't change the basic fact that the policy prevented a really large number of births."

Behind the debate over the 400 million figure is larger campaign about whether and when the government should relax the family-planning limits. Cai and Wang argue that the policy has worsened the country's aging crisis and the imbalanced sex ratio by encouraging families with a preference for male heirs to abort baby girls.

"I think many people like to have these simple large numbers that are easy to recognize, and impressive, but unfortunately it's baseless, it's unscientific," said Wang. "The Chinese government likes to use this as a way to support, to justify the continued implementation of the one-child policy, which is long outdated."

The scholars say that China's biggest drop in fertility came from 1970-79 before the one-child policy was introduced and that the reductions since then have been largely due to economic and social reforms that make small families more attractive.

Cai said China's fertility rate, or the number of children the average woman is projected to have in her lifetime, dropped by more than half from 5.8 in 1970 to 2.7 in 1979. The one-child policy was introduced in 1978 and formally launched nationwide in 1980, and since then the fertility rate has fallen to about 1.5.

Wang notes that other countries with similar reductions in fertility rates over the last few decades, such as Thailand and Iran, saw those changes occur without imposing a one-child policy.

"Thailand and China have had almost identical fertility trajectories since the mid 1980s," he said. "Thailand does not have a one-child policy."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/china/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111027/ap_on_re_as/as_china_population

directions driving de la salle de la salle google doodle notre dame shane denarius moore

Friday, 28 October 2011

Prosecutors take on powerful NYC police union (AP)

NEW YORK ? Prosecutors took a shot at the nation's largest and arguably most powerful law enforcement union Friday, slapping criminal charges on 13 members after a lengthy probe into the longtime but under-the-table practice of making parking tickets disappear for friends and family.

The charges against the New York Police Department officers, two sergeants and a lieutenant were announced just three days after the embarrassing arrests of five police officers in a separate gun-running sting.

On Friday, hundreds of members of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association came to support the officers, some in suits, others in dressed in jeans and sweatshirts, clogging the street near the Bronx courthouse, filling the hallways near the arraignment room and applauding in court after the officers left.

Patrick Lynch, president of the union, which has nearly 23,000 members, said ticket fixing was sanctioned at the highest levels of the department, and he vowed that when the dust settled, they'd prove it.

"Taking care of your family, taking care of your friends is not a crime," he said. "To take a courtesy and turn it into a crime is wrong."

The officers pleaded not guilty to charges including misconduct, grand larceny and obstructing governmental administration. The case was touched off when authorities investigating a potentially crooked cop overheard talk of fixing tickets.

Earlier this week, federal prosecutors in Manhattan brought conspiracy and other charges against five current and three former officers alleging they were part of a gun-running ring. In two other recent unrelated federal cases, one officer was charged with arresting a black man without cause and using a racial slur to describe the suspect, and another with using a law enforcement database to try to trump up charges against an innocent man.

"It's not the best time for the department," said longtime police historian Thomas Reppetto. "Does it rise to the level of the great scandals that have occurred in the past? No. Ticket fixing is not on the same level as drug dealing."

Still, he said, it was wrong and union officials shouldn't be trying to pretend it's OK. Bronx residents had similar reactions as many stopped to watch the commotion outside courtroom, with some calling the officers crooks.

"It's a double standard. If a cop doesn't have to pay a ticket, then why do I?" said resident Terril Strod.

Among those charged were Jennara Cobb, an internal affairs bureau lieutenant who pleaded not guilty to charges she leaked information to union officials about the probe. As a result of her meeting, word spread through the union and members started to alter the way they fixed tickets, prosecutor Jonathan Ortiz said.

"The investigation was significantly compromised because of her actions," he said.

Her attorney, Philip Karasyk, said she denied the allegations and had been unfairly singled out. She was released on bail.

"That wiretap was leaking like a sieve," he said.

The majority of those arrested were delegates and union members. Among those charged were union officials Joseph Anthony, 46; Michael Hernandez, 35; and Brian McGuckin, 44. They are police officers but work full time for the union.

The others were members: Officer Virgilio Bencosme, 33, and Officer Luis R. Rodriguez, 43, both of the 40th Precinct; Officer Jaime Payan, 37, of the 46th Precinct; Officer Eugene P. O'Reilly, 39, of the 45th Precinct; Officer Christopher Manzi, 41, of the 41st Precinct; and Jason Cenizal, 39 of the 42nd Precinct.

"This has been laid on the shoulders of police officers, but when the dust settles and we have our day in court, it will be clear that this is part of the NYPD at all levels," Lynch said.

The charges evolved from a 2009 internal affairs probe of Jose Ramos, a 40th Precinct officer who also owned a barber shop and was suspected of allowing a friend to deal drugs out of it. Prosecutors said he transported drugs in uniform.

"He sold his shield, he violated his oath," Assistant District Attorney Omer Wiceyk said.

Wiceyk said Ramos was recorded as saying he "stopped caring about the law a long time ago." Ramos pleaded not guilty to drug and other charges. His attorney, John Sandleitner, said the charges were ridiculous. His client was held on $500,000 bail. Cobb posted bail and the others were released.

The conversation overheard on the Ramos wiretap led to more recordings that produced evidence of additional officers having similar conversations.

Ramos' supervisor, Jacob G. Solorzano, 41, was charged with misconduct. Sgt. Marc Manara, 39, Officer Ruben Peralta, 45, Officer Jeffrey Regan, 37 and Officer Christopher Scott, 41, all of the 48th Precinct, were charged with covering up an assault for an acquaintance. Some of the charges also overlap to include ticket fixing.

Five civilians were charged, including Ramos' wife. Aside from those officers charged criminally, dozens more could face internal charges. In one disciplinary case already decided earlier this year, a former union financial secretary in the Bronx admitted administrative misconduct charges and was docked 40 days of vacation and suspended for five days.

There are generally three ways the citations are fixed: They are voided by a ranking official, a copy is ripped up before it reaches court or the officer doesn't appear on the day of the summons.

Last fall, the department installed a new computer system that tracks tickets and makes it much more difficult to tamper with the paper trail. Commissioner Kelly also created a new unit to sit in on traffic court testimony and comb through paperwork to ensure none of the methods is being wrongly employed.

The last serious corruption scandal for the NYPD was the so-called "Dirty 30" case from the early 1990s. More than 33 officers from Harlem's 30th Precinct were implicated in the probe, with most pleading guilty to charges including stealing cash from drug dealers, taking bribes, beating suspects and lying under oath to cover their tracks.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111028/ap_on_re_us/us_nypd_ticket_fixing

much ado about nothing sean hayes ndamukong suh ndamukong suh caroline manzo caroline manzo the haunting in connecticut

PFT: Texans' Johnson returns to practice

Bucaneers' Freeman is pressured by Bears' Moore as Bucaneers' Joseph follows the play during their NFL football game at Wembley StadiumReuters

Last year, Buccaneers quarterback Josh Freeman threw 25 touchdown passes and only six interceptions.? This year, he has seven touchdowns and 10 picks through seven games.

The Bucs are on their bye, and they?re trying to improve Freeman?s performance.? To the likely delight of their upcoming opponents, they?re also telling the world what they?ll be doing.

According to the folks at PewterReport.com, Freeman and a couple of his coaches spoke to reporters on Wednesday about the perceived causes of the problems and the intended solutions.

First, Freeman has been throwing too often from his back foot, without stepping into his throws.? Second, Freeman has been unable to find running lanes when pressured.

?I?m not the fastest guy in the world,? Freeman said.? ?If I have an open running lane then I?m going to run the ball. I?ve not had a chance to get out. The one time I tried to scramble versus the Bears I got run down by an end and ended up having to throw it away. It?s a part that if it?s there to do and we can do something with it, then I am going to do it.? But the lanes just haven?t been there.?

The lanes haven?t been there because opponents have tried to take them away. ??They?re running some stunts and different things underneath that really take away the rush lanes for the quarterback,? Freeman said.? ?Also they?ve spied me a little bit and it?s by design and that?s how the league is.? You do something successfully and the defense is going to start to do stuff to take it away.?

Coach Raheem Morris also thinks Freeman has been forcing it at times.? ?Last year he simply did a better job of going through his progressions throughout the whole process,? Morris said.? ?Right now he?s probably playing his number in fantasy football because he?s trying to throw touchdowns.? Sometimes it?s okay to throw to check-downs; sometimes it?s okay to go through your progressions.? Right now he has a little too much confidence in what he?s doing with his arm and forcing some things in there.? We?re in a game and we threw four interceptions. If we don?t throw some of those interceptions we?ve got a chance to win it.?

Freeman?s struggles are typical to many young quarterbacks who enjoy early success.? Whether it?s Freeman or Matthew Stafford or Sam Bradford, defenses come up with ways to confound them by cracking the code to their strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies on film.

That?s what makes the largely overlooked 2011 performance of Aaron Rodgers even more impressive.? In his fourth season as a starter, defenses have ample ammunition to figure out how to shut him down.? And they can?t.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/10/26/andre-johnson-returns-to-practice/related/

ted haggard neutrino carly fiorina girl with the dragon tattoo trailer girl with the dragon tattoo trailer parks and rec

Thursday, 27 October 2011

U2 revisit ?Achtung Baby,? question their future

Ask Bono a tough question and you might get a tougher answer. U2 are about to release their most expansive reissue project yet, for 1991's "Achtung Baby" ? the album where they traded in earnest uplift for funk, noise, sex, irony and self-doubt. So how does this lavish look back square with the band's old lyric "You glorify the past when the future dries up"?

"I'm not so sure the future hasn't dried up," says Bono, who's been irritating his bandmates lately by publicly questioning U2's relevance ? despite the fact that they just finished the highest-grossing tour of all time. "The band are like, 'Will you shut up about being irrelevant?'" he says. But Bono can't help himself ? even though U2 have been in and out of the studio with various producers recently, he raises the possibility that the band may have released its final album. "We'd be very pleased to end on No Line on the Horizon," he says, before acknowledging the unlikelihood of that scenario: "I doubt that."

Bono concedes that revisiting the album where U2 punched themselves out of a tight corner ? after 1988's "Rattle and Hum" movie and album helped convince some music fans they were hopelessly solemn and pompous ? suggested a way forward. "Ironically, being forced to look back at this period reminds me of how we might re-emerge for the next phase," says Bono. "And that doesn't mean that you have to wear some mad welder's goggles or dress up in women's clothing. Reinvention is much deeper than that."

RS readers' poll: The best U2 songs

  1. More Entertainment stories
    1. Tyler says bathroom fall not drug-related

      Steven Tyler opened up to TODAY's Matt Lauer, saying his tumble was related to food poisoning, not substance abuse.

    2. 'Sister Wives' welcome baby No. 17
    3. Report: Bruce Willis to be a dad again
    4. Exclusive: Taylor Armstrong shares healing
    5. 'Beavis and Butt-head' and ... Snooki?

Moving forward has never been easy for U2, as chronicled in the outtakes, B sides and early versions of "Achtung" songs unearthed for a new box set ? and set forth in moving detail in "From the Sky Down," a documentary about "Achtung Baby's" genesis by "It Might Get Loud" director Davis Guggenheim. The movie, which opened the Toronto International Film Festival, makes it clear that trying to find a new sound led to what the Edge calls "a potentially career-ending series of difficulties." In tracing the creation of "One," the film also reveals that lyrics such as "We're one, but we're not the same" are as much about the band's fraught brotherhood as anything else. "I thought [Achtung Baby] was a really supercool moment in a not always supercool life," Bono says with a laugh, "and [Guggenheim] goes and makes an uncool film about us!"

"Rattle and Hum," and the horn-section-and-B.B.-King-accompanied Lovetown Tour that followed, were U2's rootsiest moment. But for a band whose actual roots were in late-Seventies post-punk, the cowboy hats and denim were starting to chafe. The Edge was listening to My Bloody Valentine, Nine Inch Nails and Einst?rzende Neubauten, while also noting the fusion of rock and dance coming out of Manchester, with groups like the Stone Roses. "I always remember the intense embarrassment when I happened to be in a club and a generous-spirited DJ would put on one of our tunes from the War album," the Edge says. "It was so evident we had never been thinking about how it would go down in clubs. So we just wanted to stretch ourselves in the area of rhythm and backbeat and groove."

Story: U2 honored as 'Greatest Act' in last 25 years

The band recorded the bulk of the album in Berlin's Hansa Studios, just as Germany was reunifying ? and as co-producer Brian Eno wrote, aesthetic guidelines soon emerged: "Buzzwords on this record were trashy, throwaway, dark, sexy and industrial." "We found it was more interesting to start from an extreme place," says the Edge.

Hence the buzz-saw guitars that kick off the opening track, "Zoo Station," followed by a blast of Larry Mullen Jr.'s drums distorted almost beyond recognition. "Some of the extreme sounds weren't achieved with sophisticated, outboard equipment, dialed in carefully," says the Edge. Instead, they simply overloaded their vintage recording console. "It was literally, 'What happens if you try to go to 11?'" says the guitarist.

U2 documentary shows band's struggles with 'Achtung Baby'

For the band, rediscovering the wildly different lyrics and arrangements on the early "kindergarten" versions of the songs was revelatory ? "Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World," for instance, sounds like an Irish folk tune. "The first time the paint goes on the canvas is a very, very exciting moment," says Bono. He was intrigued by a line in the early "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" that recasts its story as a "parasitic" love affair ("Your innocence I've experienced"), while the Edge is convinced the more restrained vocal melody on that version is superior to the released track.

One of the more intriguing outtakes, "Down All the Days," has the same backing track as "Numb," from U2's 1993 follow-up, Zooropa, with Bono singing an entirely different song. "It's this quite unhinged electronic backing track with a very traditional melody and lyrics," says the Edge. "It almost worked."

Meanwhile, U2's future plans are not set. "It's quite likely you might hear from us next year, but it's equally possible that you won't," says the Edge. Adds Bono, "We have so many [new] songs, some of our best. But I'm putting some time aside to just go and get lost in the music. I want to take my young boys and my wife and just disappear with my iPod Nano and some books and an acoustic guitar."

Copyright 2011 by Rolling Stone.com

Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45030627/ns/today-entertainment/

detroit weather imessage imessage sukkot sukkot chia seeds kim zolciak

Wednesday, 26 October 2011

Russian activists decry failure to denounce Stalin (AP)

MOSCOW ? Russian state-controlled media must stop whitewashing Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's image, and the government should take a stand on his crimes, human rights activists and historians said Wednesday.

Nearly 60 years after his death, Stalin remains a divisive figure in Russian society, with some crediting him with leading the nation to victory in World War II and turning it into a superpower, and others condemning him for purges that killed millions of people.

Russia's state-run TV stations have recently turned Stalin's name into a favorable brand, thanks to "very talentedly executed propaganda," Alexander Drozdov, director of the Boris Yeltsin Center, said at a news conference.

Nationwide, television stations have aired many movies and programs casting Stalin in a positive light.

He was voted as Russia's third-greatest historical figure in a prime-time show in 2008, garnering more than 519,000 votes. Recent polls have shown that from one-third to one-half of Russians have a decidedly or at least a mildly positive view of Stalin.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who served as president in 2000-2008 and is all but certain to reclaim the top job in March's election, has avoided open public praise or criticism of Stalin. But his opponents have accused the government of burnishing Stalin's image as part of its efforts to justify its own retreat from democracy.

Stalin critics have been outraged by a high school textbook that describes the dictator as "an efficient manager" and by a restored Moscow subway station that includes old Soviet national anthem lyrics praising the dictator in its interior decoration.

Stalin led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. During that time, millions of people died in political purges and in prison camps. Countless others were deported or exiled to remote areas.

Vladimir Lukin, Russia's human rights ombudsman, decried any attempt to give Stalin credit for the economic growth of the 1930s.

"Thanks to heroic efforts and a total disregard for humanity, our country managed to evolve from a backward agrarian country into a backward industrial one during the Stalin era," Lukin said.

Arseny Roginsky, head of the Memorial rights group, said the least the Russian government can do now is "give a legal appraisal to the crimes of the Soviet regime." Roginsky's group has offered a comprehensive package to help raise public awareness of Stalin's crimes, including suggestions for school curriculums.

Andrei Sorokin, director of the Russian State Archives of Social and Political History, warned that Russia will have no future if it fails to assess its difficult past.

"Russian society has been living in a crisis of public consciousness for the past 25 years," he said.

"Any forward movement or attempts to modernize Russia will fail if we don't work out a consensus on our attitudes toward the Soviet past."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/russia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111026/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_stalin

artie lange baby lisa irwin baby lisa irwin pearl jam 20 martha marcy may marlene lacuna lacuna

Karzai: Afghan backs Pakistan if US attacks it (AP)

KABUL, Afghanistan ? Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said if the United States and Pakistan ever went to war, his country would back Islamabad, drawing a sharp rebuke Sunday from Afghan lawmakers who claimed the country's top officials were adopting hypocritical positions.

The scenario is exceedingly unlikely and appears to be less a serious statement of policy than an Afghan overture to Pakistan, just days after Karzai and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Islamabad must do more to crack down on militants using its territory as a staging ground for attacks on Afghanistan.

"If fighting starts between Pakistan and the U.S., we are beside Pakistan," Karzai said is an interview with private Pakistani television station GEO that aired Saturday. "If Pakistan is attacked and the people of Pakistan need Afghanistan's help, Afghanistan will be there with you."

He said that Kabul would not allow any nation, including the U.S., to dictate its policies.

Both Washington and Kabul have repeatedly said Pakistan is providing sanctuary to militant groups launching attacks in Afghanistan.

The comments set off a firestorm of criticism in the country. Afghan lawmakers argued they were particularly hypocritical coming just weeks after the assassination of former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani by a suicide bomber.

While it is unclear who masterminded Rabbani's killing, the Afghan government has said it was planned in the Pakistani city of Quetta, the Taliban leadership's suspected base. In addition, the Afghan interior minister accused the Pakistani intelligence service of being involved ? a claim that has not been substantiated.

"Pakistan has never been honest with Afghanistan, and the nation of Afghanistan will never forget those things that happen here" because of Pakistan, Shah Gul Rezaye, a lawmaker from Ghazni province told The Associated Press, citing Rabbani's death and other incidents of violence.

"They make deal with terrorists, and then with the international community ... to get $1 billion from the U.S. under the name of the struggle against terrorism," she said.

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul said it was up to the Afghan government to explain Karzai's remarks.

"This is not about war with each other," Embassy spokesman Gavin Sundwall told the AP. "This is about a joint approach to a threat to all three of our countries: insurgents and terrorists who attack Afghans, Pakistanis, and Americans."

Following her stop in Kabul, Clinton flew to Pakistan to deliver the blunt message that if Islamabad is unwilling or unable to take the fight to the al-Qaida and Taliban-linked Haqqani network operating from its border with Afghanistan, the U.S. "would show" them how to eliminate its safe havens.

Even so, she said the U.S. has no intention of deploying U.S. forces on Pakistani soil, and that the favored approach was one of reconciliation and peace ? an effort that needed Islamabad's cooperation.

Pakistan has been reluctant to move more forcefully against the Haqqani, arguing such an act could spark a broader tribal war in the region.

While it weighs its options, NATO pressed ahead with its operations.

The U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces on Saturday concluded two operations aimed at disrupting insurgent operations in Kabul, provinces south of the Afghan capital and along the eastern border with Pakistan ? all places where the Haqqani network has launched attacks.

NATO did not release further details about the operations, but Army Lt. Col. Jimmie Cummings, a coalition spokesman, said Sunday that "a number of Haqqani affiliated insurgents plus additional fighters have been either detained or killed in the course of operations."

During her visit to Pakistan, Clinton said Haqqani fighters were among those killed and captured during the operations.

"Many dozens, if not into the hundreds, have been captured or killed on the Afghan side of the border," she said in Islamabad.

The push comes as NATO plans to pull out its combat forces by the end of 2014 and hand over full security responsibility to the Afghans.

But the attacks and assassination attempts continue.

In the latest such incident, bodyguards for Afghan Interior Minister Bismullah Khan Mohammadi shot and killed a would-be suicide bomber who was waiting for the minister's convoy Sunday in Sayyed Khel district of Parwan province, north of Kabul, the ministry said. The minister was not in the convoy at the time.

NATO also said two of its service members were killed separate clashes with insurgents in the south and east of the country. The coalition did not provide additional details, but the deaths, which occurred Saturday and Sunday, raised to 473 the number of NATO service members killed so far this year in Afghanistan.

Also, five villagers were killed while trying to remove a roadside mine planted by the Taliban in the western province of Herat, the provincial governor's spokesman, Mohyaddin Noori, said Sunday.

___

Associated Press writers Amir Shah and Deb Riechmann in Kabul contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111023/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan

chris carpenter chris carpenter larry ellison go ask alice go ask alice nflx courtney stodden

Tuesday, 25 October 2011

Our Money = Good, Their Money = Bad (Powerlineblog)

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

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/152379119?client_source=feed&format=rss

x factor auditions flds flds revenge revenge extremely loud and incredibly close boston redsox

Argentine president heads for landslide victory

Argentina's president Cristina Fernandez votes during general elections in Rio Gallegos, Argentina, Sunday Oct. 23, 2011. Fernandez appeared to be headed for a landslide victory over six rivals as Argentines voted on Sunday. If she does win, she'll be the first woman re-elected as president in Latin America. (AP Photo/Francisco Munoz)

Argentina's president Cristina Fernandez votes during general elections in Rio Gallegos, Argentina, Sunday Oct. 23, 2011. Fernandez appeared to be headed for a landslide victory over six rivals as Argentines voted on Sunday. If she does win, she'll be the first woman re-elected as president in Latin America. (AP Photo/Francisco Munoz)

Two women search the electoral rolls for the location of their polling table during general elections in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sunday Oct. 23, 2011. Incumbent President Cristina Fernandez appeared to be headed for a landslide victory over six rivals as Argentines voted on Sunday. If she does win, she'll be the first woman re-elected as president in Latin America. (AP Photo/Eduardo Di Baia)

Voters search the electoral rolls for the location of their polling table during general elections in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sunday Oct. 23, 2011. Incumbent President Cristina Fernandez appeared to be headed for a landslide victory over six rivals as Argentines voted on Sunday. If she does win, she'll be the first woman re-elected as president in Latin America. (AP Photo/Eduardo Di Baia)

A voter casts his ballot in the general election in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sunday Oct. 23, 2011. Incumbent President Cristina Fernandez appeared to be headed for a landslide victory over six rivals as Argentines voted on Sunday. If she does win, she'll be the first woman re-elected as president in Latin America. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)

Presidential candidate of the Socialist Party, Hermes Binner, talks to reporters after voting in the general election in Rosario, Argentina, Sunday Oct. 23, 2011. Incumbent President Cristina Fernandez appeared to be headed for a landslide victory over six rivals as Argentines voted on Sunday. If she does win, she'll be the first woman re-elected as president in Latin America. (AP Photo/Juan Jose Garcia)

(AP) ? President Cristina Fernandez, aided by a booming economy, appeared to be headed for a landslide re-election victory on Sunday over six rivals.

It would make her the first woman re-elected as president in Latin America. But it also would be a bittersweet victory for the populist leader, her first in a lifetime of politics without her husband and predecessor, Nestor Kirchner, who died of a heart attack last Oct. 27.

Her voice almost broke as she spoke about this legacy, describing a mixture of pride and sorrow after casting her ballot in his hometown, the remote Patagonian city of Rio Gallegos. "In this world where they have criticized us so forcefully, all this makes me feel very proud, that we're on the right track," she said. Kirchner "would be very content."

Fernandez can win with as little as 40 percent of the vote if none of her rivals comes within 10 percentage points of her, but the latest polls suggested she could capture between 52 percent and 57 percent of votes.

Her Front for Victory coalition also hopes to regain enough seats in Congress to form new alliances and regain the control it lost in 2009. At play are 130 lower house seats and 24 Senate seats.

Fernandez's poll numbers had dipped during the early years of her presidency, but she has reversed the negative numbers as a widow, softening her usually combative tone and proving her ability to govern on her own by ensuring loyalty or respect from an unruly political elite.

Many Argentines in pre-election polls said they would vote for her because their financial situations have improved during one of its longest spells of economic growth in history.

If trends hold, Fernandez could receive a larger share of votes than any president since Argentina's democracy was restored in 1983, when Raul Alfonsin was elected with 52 percent, and more than anyone since her strongman hero, Juan Domingo Peron, who won with 60 and 63 percent in his last two elections.

Fernandez, 58, chose her youthful, guitar-playing, long-haired economy minister, Amado Boudou, as her running mate. Together, the pair championed Argentina's approach to the global financial crisis: Increase government spending rather than impose austerity measures, and force investors in foreign debt to suffer before ordinary citizens.

Argentina has been closed off from most international lending since declaring its world-record debt default in 2001, but has been able to sustain booming growth ever since.

The country faces tough challenges in 2012, however. Its commodities exports are vulnerable to a global recession, and economic growth is forecast to slow sharply in the coming year. Declining revenues will make it harder to raise incomes to keep up with inflation. Argentina's central bank is under pressure to spend reserves to maintain the peso's value against the dollar, while also guarding against currency shocks that could threaten Argentina's all-important trade with Brazil.

If his ticket wins, Boudou could win attention as a potential successor to Fernandez, but navigating these storms will require much skill and good fortune.

Opposition candidates have blamed Fernandez for rising inflation, for politically manipulated economic data, rising crime and attempts to use government power to control media criticism. They have also accused the government of failing to prepare Argentina for another global crisis.

"It's not clear where the world is headed. It's better to be prepared. This isn't achieved with conflict, but through dialogue," socialist Hermes Binner said as he voted. He was in second place in the last polls, with between 12 percent and 17 percent of the vote.

In addition to Binner, 68, a doctor and governor of Santa Fe province, candidates include Ricardo Alfonsin, 59, a lawyer and congressional deputy with the traditional Radical Civic Union party and son of the former president; Alberto Rodriguez Saa, 52, an attorney and governor of San Luis province whose brother Adolfo was president for a week; Eduardo Duhalde, who preceded Kirchner as president; leftist former lawmaker Jorge Altamira, 69, and Elisa Carrio 54, a congresswoman who came in second behind Fernandez four years ago but trailed the field this time.

Voting is obligatory in Argentina, and nearly 29 million citizens among the 40 million population are registered. Fernandez said Interior Minister Florencio Randazzo, who is responsible for managing the election process, told her that turnout was strong and everything going smoothly.

"I've been a political activist my whole life, but I haven't always been able to vote," Fernandez said, referring to the 1966-1973 and 1976-1983 dictatorships, which tried and failed to eliminate Peronism as an electoral force. "To be able to vote freely in the Argentine republic is an achievement."

___

Michael Warren can be reached at www.twitter.com/mwarrenap

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-10-23-LT-Argentina-Election/id-00bd2d449ef242539739b044650e7ecf

amazing race michael oher showtime the prisoner the prisoner gene simmons my bloody valentine

Video: Read between the lines!

3 cups of coffee a day keeps skin cancer away?

??Drinking copious amounts of coffee may reduce the risk of the most common type of skin cancer, a new study finds. Women in the study who drank more than three cups of coffee a day were 20 percent less likely to develop basal cell carcinoma.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/45022843#45022843

star wars blu ray star wars blu ray trans siberian orchestra trans siberian orchestra drive patch adams preamble

Falling German satellite enters atmosphere

Undated artist rendering provided by EADS Astrium shows the scientific satellite Rosat. The German Aerospace Center said the retired satellite is hurtling toward the atmosphere and pieces could crash into the earth as early as Friday. Spokesman Andreas Schuetz told The Associated Press on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011 that most of the satellite named ROSAT, which is about the size of a minivan, will burn up during re-entry. (AP Photo/EADS Astrium)

Undated artist rendering provided by EADS Astrium shows the scientific satellite Rosat. The German Aerospace Center said the retired satellite is hurtling toward the atmosphere and pieces could crash into the earth as early as Friday. Spokesman Andreas Schuetz told The Associated Press on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011 that most of the satellite named ROSAT, which is about the size of a minivan, will burn up during re-entry. (AP Photo/EADS Astrium)

BERLIN (AP) ? A defunct satellite entered the atmosphere early Sunday and pieces of it were expected to crash into the earth, the German Aerospace Center said.

There was no immediate solid evidence to determine above which continent or country the ROSAT scientific research satellite entered the atmosphere, agency spokesman Andreas Schuetz said.

Most parts of the minivan-sized satellite were expected to burn up during re-entry, but up to 30 fragments weighing 1.87 tons (1.7 metric tons) could crash into Earth at speeds up to 280 mph (450 kph).

Scientists were no longer able to communicate with the dead satellite and it must have traveled about 12,500 miles (20,000 kilometers) in the last 30 minutes before entering the atmosphere, Schuetz said.

Experts were waiting for "observations from around the world," he added.

Scientists said hours before the re-entry into the atmosphere that the satellite was not expected to hit over Europe, Africa or Australia. According to a precalculated path it could have been above Asia, possibly China, at the time of its re-entry, but Schuetz said he could not confirm whether the satellite actually entered above that area.

The 2.69-ton (2.4 metric ton) scientific ROSAT satellite was launched in 1990 and retired in 1999 after being used for research on black holes and neutron stars and performing the first all-sky survey of X-ray sources with an imaging telescope.

The largest single fragment of ROSAT that could hit into the earth is the telescope's heat-resistant mirror.

During its mission, the satellite orbited about 370 miles (600 kilometers) above the Earth's surface, but since its decommissioning it has lost altitude, circling at a distance of only 205 miles (330 kilometers) above ground in June for example, the agency said.

Even in the last days, the satellite still circled the planet every 90 minutes, making it hard to predict where on Earth it would eventually come down.

A dead NASA satellite fell into the southern Pacific Ocean last month, causing no damage, despite fears it would hit a populated area and cause damage or kill people.

Experts believe about two dozen metal pieces from the bus-sized satellite fell over a 500-mile (800 kilometer) span of uninhabited portion of the world.

The NASA climate research satellite entered Earth's atmosphere generally above American Samoa. But falling debris as it broke apart did not start hitting the water for another 300 miles (480 kilometers) to the northeast, southwest of Christmas Island.

Earlier, scientists had said it was possible some pieces could have reached northwestern Canada.

The German space agency puts the odds of somebody somewhere on Earth being hurt by its satellite at 1-in-2,000 ? a slightly higher level of risk than was calculated for the NASA satellite. But any one individual's odds of being struck are 1-in-14 trillion, given there are 7 billion people on the planet.

___

Online:

The German space agency on ROSAT: http://bit.ly/papMAA

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2011-10-23-Falling-Satellite/id-9a9dcce1935d4132b0c12f14cee0d5a5

stop loss stop loss thurston moore the island the island mcdonalds beating

Monday, 24 October 2011

Iraq's Government, Not Obama, Called Time on the U.S. Troop Presence (Time.com)

President Barack Obama's announcement on Friday that all 40,000 U.S. troops still in Iraq will leave the country by New Year's Eve will, inevitably, draw howls of derision from GOP presidential hopefuls ? this is, after all, early election season. But the decision to leave Iraq by that date was not actually taken by President Obama ? it was taken by President George W. Bush, and by the Iraqi government.

In one of his final acts in office, President Bush in December of 2008 had signed a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with the Iraqi government that set the clock ticking on ending the war he'd launched in March of 2003. The SOFA provided a legal basis for the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq after the United Nations Security Council mandate for the occupation mission expired at the end of 2008. But it required that all U.S. forces be gone from Iraq by January 1, 2012, unless the Iraqi government was willing to negotiate a new agreement that would extend their mandate. And as Middle East historian Juan Cole has noted, "Bush had to sign what the [Iraqi] parliament gave him or face the prospect that U.S. troops would have to leave by 31 December, 2008, something that would have been interpreted as a defeat... Bush and his generals clearly expected, however, that over time Washington would be able to wriggle out of the treaty and would find a way to keep a division or so in Iraq past that deadline." (See TIME's photoessay, "Going Home from Iraq.")

But ending the U.S. troop presence in Iraq was an overwhelmingly popular demand among Iraqis, and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki appears to have been unwilling to take the political risk of extending it. While he was inclined to see a small number of American soldiers stay behind to continue mentoring Iraqi forces, the likes of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, on whose support Maliki's ruling coalition depends, were having none of it. Even the Obama Administration's plan to keep some 3,000 trainers behind failed because the Iraqis were unwilling to grant them the legal immunity from local prosecution that is common to SOF agreements in most countries where U.S. forces are based.

So, while U.S. commanders would have liked to have kept a division or more behind in Iraq to face any contingencies ? and, increasingly, Administration figures had begun citing the challenge of Iran, next door ? it was Iraqi democracy that put the kibosh on that goal. The Bush Administration had agreed in 2004 to restore Iraqi sovereignty, and in 2005 put the country's elected government in charge of shaping its destiny. But President Bush hadn't anticipated that Iraqi democracy would see pro-U.S. parties sidelined and would, instead, consistently return governments closer to Tehran than they are to Washington. Contra expectations, a democratic Iraq has turned out to be at odds with much of U.S. regional strategy ? first and foremost its campaign to isolate Iran.

The Iraq that U.S. forces will leave behind is far from stable, and the mounting tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia could well see a renewed flare-up of Iraq's disastrous sectarian civil war. A jihadist Sunni insurgency has reasserted itself in recent months with a steady uptick in terror attacks, and it could become a vehicle for Saudi proxy warfare against Iran, which backs the Maliki government and various Shi'ite political and military formations, including Sadr's. Kurdish-Arab tensions are growing in the north, where the fate of such contested cities as Kirkuk remains unresolved and a source of mounting security danger. Iraq's political future, also, remains contested, with sectarian and ethnic rivalries reflected in the continued failure to pass a low regulating the sharing of oil revenues, and mounting anxiety over the increasingly authoritarian approach of Prime Minister Maliki. (See photos of President Obama in Iraq.)

Iraq could yet fail as a state. But it's not as if the presence of 40,000 U.S. troops has been all that's holding it together: Those forces no longer patrol Iraq's cities, and are mostly involved in mentoring Iraqi units, although they have played a major role in mediating Arab-Kurdish conflicts in the north.

Given the unresolved political conflicts that continue to plague the country even after its transition to democratic government ? and in light of the rising levels of regional tension ? chances are high that the U.S. withdrawal will be preceded and followed by a sharp uptick in violence. Shi'ite insurgent groups are likely to escalate attacks on U.S. forces, hoping to claim credit for driving out the Americans ? and, no doubt, to please their Iranian backers. Sunni insurgent groups are likely to raise their own game, in order to challenge the Shi'ite dominated government and demonstrate its inability to ensure security ? an exercise that will suit the agenda of their own backers.

The key to ensuring security after a U.S. withdrawal has always been achieving a regional consensus on Iraq that could set the terms for political compromise inside Iraq ? or, at least, limit the likelihood of renewed violence. Unfortunately, instead, that withdrawal coincides with a sharp escalation in the Saudi-Iranian cold war, and that will spell trouble for Iraq. (See photographer Robert Nickelsberg's Iraq diary.)

Not that the U.S. will be out of the picture, by any stretch of the imagination. As things stand, the U.S. embassy in Iraq will have 17,000 employees ? including at least 5,000 "security contractors", i.e. non-uniformed military personnel. It's not hard to imagine that future training needs of the Iraqi military will be undertaken by privateers rather than under the auspices of the Pentagon. And that the CIA ? now under the command of Gen. David Petraeus, former U.S. commander in Iraq ? will play a more active role in pursuing U.S. objectives on the ground and in the neighborhood.

But as of December 31, no more American soldiers will be doing tours of duty in Iraq. The war that ousted Saddam Hussein, unleashing an insurgency that left 4,500 Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dead, and which will cost the U.S. upwards of $1 trillion, is finally over. Historians will note that the U.S. invasion of Iraq precipitated dramatic changes across the Middle East political landscape in the ensuing decade. But many of those changes were hardly the ones the war's authors had in mind.

See a brief history of photographing the fallen.

View this article on Time.com

Most Popular on Time.com:

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/time/20111023/wl_time/httpglobalspinblogstimecom20111021iraqnotobamacalledtimeontheustrooppresencexidrssfullworldyahoo

russell simmons joseph kony joseph kony 9 9 9 delmon young sprint chris tucker

Nevada Republicans scheduled to vote on caucus date change amid call to move to February (Star Tribune)

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

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/151773642?client_source=feed&format=rss

asu cerebral palsy hitch alice cooper segway namibia namibia

Sunday, 23 October 2011

This Week's Top Downloads [Download Roundup]

Oct 22, 2011 5:00 PM 8,843 1
  • OpenELEC Is a Fast-Booting, Self-Updating Version of XBMC for Home Theater PCs (Windows/Mac/Linux) OpenELEC aims to make home theater PCs as much like your DVD player as possible, using a lightweight, instant-on version of XBMC that updates itself for a maintenance-free media center.
  • Espier Launcher Makes Your Android Phone Look Just Like iOS (Android) Android has some great advanced features, but if you prefer the simple, beautiful home screen look of iOS, Espier Launcher gives you the best of both worlds by recreating the iOS experience on your Android device-without Apple and their walled garden.
  • BluePoison Disables Windows 8 Immersive Start Menu, Unlocks Hidden Features (Windows) BluePoison is a handy program for Windows 8 Developer Build that can unlock hidden features such as Moonrea (a multimedia storage and creation utility using a metro interface) and has the ability to disable Windows 8's Immersive Start Menu.
  • Focusbar Intelligently Reminds You to Avoid Procrastination (Mac) If you find that procrastination often gets the best of you and you need help focusing on your work, Focusbar is a free utility that can help you out. It pays attention to what application you're using to do your work and bugs you when you sneak off to do other, less productive things.
  • Lookout Enhances iPhone and iPad Security with Wi-Fi Check, Remote Management, and More (iOS) Popular mobile security app Lookout, previously available only for Android, Windows Phone 7, and Blackberry users, is finally available for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad folks. The free app adds protection against privacy and security threats.
  • ChatON, Samsung's iMessage-Like App, Offers Free Messaging for Android (Android) Samsung's alternative texting, multimedia messaging, and chat app is now available in the Android Market. Similar to Apple's iMessage and BlackBerry's BBM service, ChatON could possibly help you save on messaging fees-once Samsung starts sending verification codes, that is.
  • Text by Voice for Android Reads Incoming SMS Messages Aloud, Sends Them Using Your Voice (Android) There are a lot of apps out there that can send text messages using your voice, including Google's own in-built Voice Actions. However, not many read your incoming messages out loud when they arrive. That's where Sonalight's new app, Text By Voice, comes in.
  • 500px for iPad Is a Gorgoeus Photo Browser and Slideshow Creator (iPad) 500px is a new iPad app that lets you browse some of the web's most interesting and attractive photos, and then use your iPad as a digital photo frame to display your favorites, the best from the 500px community, or your own photos, set to a soundtrack from your iTunes library.
  • Volume Concierge Controls Your PC's Volume on a Schedule to Prevent Those Loud Surprises (Windows) If you've ever turned on your music in the morning only to be jolted awake by volume set to 11, Volume Concierge can save you by automatically setting your volume to different levels at a certain time of day.
  • Our Pad for iPad Allows for Multiple Accounts on Facebook, Gmail, and More (iPad) One of the problems with sharing an iPad around the house is the lack of multiple user accounts, Our Pad manages to solve the problem in an official capacity by letting you switch and browse accounts inside the app.
Related Stories

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/OZPG67SjAAA/this-weeks-top-downloads

kirstie alley r.e.m. kindle library lending kindle library lending hp ceo hp ceo r e m