Saturday, December 31, 2011

Russia Rising: The Blogger Who Is Putin's Greatest Challenger (Time.com)

Well past midnight on Wednesday, Dec. 21, a few dozen Russian activists gathered outside a jail in the south of Moscow to await the release of Alexei Navalny, the blogger at the forefront of Russia's opposition movement. A snowstorm had begun that night, so only his hardcore supporters showed up at the jailhouse gate, passing around thermoses of tea and flasks of whiskey to keep warm. It was an odd mix of people, about as eclectic as Navalny's own political views, and ranged from tree-hugging liberals to hate-spouting nationalists and everything in between. Seen from a distance, they would have looked like a crew of hipsters who were, for some reason, really excited to be caught in a blizzard. But insofar as the ongoing wave of protests against the government can be said to have a vanguard, this was it. And they were waiting for the only man who has so far been able to unite them.

Navalny, 35, a lawyer by training, had been arrested during the demonstrations in Moscow on Dec. 5, when a crowd of about 7,000 people came out to protest the parliamentary elections held the previous day. The ruling United Russia party, led by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, 59, had won a majority in parliament during the vote, but claims of fraud -- a regular trope during Russian elections -- finally seemed to hit a nerve among the urban middle-class. For the first time since Putin rose to power 12 years ago, they came out by the thousands to protest in the streets, chanting Navalny's viral nickname for United Russia, "the party of crooks and thieves." From the stage, Navalny told them them that, "After these elections, the Kremlin crooks have no right to say they are in power. They are nobody!" Riot police grabbed him afterward, when he tried to lead a column of protesters in the direction of the Kremlin. He was sentenced to 15 days for disobeying orders to desist. (See "Russia's Crisis: This Winter the Bears Will Not Hibernate.")

Two days later, an official from the youth wing of United Russia called me to ask about Navalny. He seemed surprised to hear about his popularity. "I thought he was just some blogger," the official said. This might have been a fair assessment a couple of years ago, when Navalny was known only to a fairly small online community. But his status as a kind of Internet folk hero had already been cemented by November 2010, when he blew the whistle on a $4 billion embezzlement scheme at a state corporation.

The leaked documents he presented as evidence, which he posted on his blog, caused a sensation in the Russian and international press, and Navalny soon became known as Russia's top crusader against corruption. He followed that by setting up a series of websites that the changed the face of online activism. The most famous one, RosPil, allowed readers to dissect government tenders -- such as orders for a fleet of cars for a local police force or a new website for a dance company -- for signs of corruption or embezzlement. Since its founding last December, the site's volunteers have been able to find irregularities in state contracts worth a total of around $1.3 billion, according to RosPil's own tally. Many of those tenders have since been annulled.

Like most of Navalny's campaigns, RosPil stood out for its pragmatism. Instead of the polemics and pamphleteering that occupy most of Russia's old-school opposition groups, Navalny focuses on specific issues, like corruption or potholes, and invites his fans to help redress them with the crowd-sourcing power of the Internet. This has allowed him to tap a huge and unrepresented demographic, the young, tech-savvy and educated middle-class, who are not only fed up with Putin but also mistrustful of Russia's regular soapbox dissidents. "It's hard to call him a leader in the traditional sense, because the Internet society runs on a culture of networks," says Evgeniya Albats, the editor ofThe New Times, a liberal Russian weekly. "But he has an ability to unite various networks of people around concrete ideas and actions." By the beginning of this year, his blog had a daily readership in the hundreds of thousands. (See "As Russia Braces for New Protests, Anger at Suspect Election Results Persists.")

But as his celebrity grew, government scrutiny followed, especially after his anti-corruption work targeted major state interests. Police in the Kirov region, where Navalny worked as a policy adviser to the governor in 2009, opened an investigation against him last December for giving the governor bad advice on a timber deal. Investigators claimed the deal had cost the regional budget $40,000, but later declined to pursue charges, citing a lack of evidence. Another attack came in July, when a news website with links to the security services published an expose about Navalny's family. The site's reporters went to a liquor store owned by his parents in a suburb of Moscow and purchased a bottle of "Putinka" vodka after 11:00 p.m., when stores are forbidden from selling hard alcohol.

Pro-Kremlin bloggers hailed the report as proof that Navalny was himself corrupt. "This tells you something about how deep they're digging," says Konstantin Voronkov, a friend of Navalny's and the author of his official biography, The Scourge of Crooks and Thieves, which was published this year. "With all their resources, they ended up having to record some poor salesgirl in his dad's shop with a hidden camera. This is the only thing they could find on him." Even Navalny's email correspondence with family and colleagues, which was stolen and posted online in October by a hacker known as Hell, revealed nothing at all incriminating.

See "International Man of Mystery: Kim Jong Il's Russian Roots and Travels."

See "The People vs. Putin."

His main vulnerability, at least in the eyes of his detractors, is his fervent nationalism, which has alienated many in the liberal opposition. In 2007, he co-founded the National Russian Liberation Movement, known as NAROD, and published its manifesto on his blog. It calls for all law-abiding citizens to have the right to bear arms (Navalny owns several) and sets immigration policy as a priority. "Those who come into our home but do not want to respect our law and traditions must be kicked out," the manifesto says. That year he also began attending the Russian March, an annual nationalist rally that attracts thousands of right-wingers and some skinhead and neo-Nazi groups. "The only way to make the Russian March look better is to go there yourself. So I go," he wrote after helping organize the march in November.

His involvement in the nationalist movement got him expelled in 2007 from the the left-wing Yabloko party. When the party was choosing its candidate this month for the March presidential elections, one of its board members nominated Navalny, who was in jail at the time. The idea was quickly rejected. "When he renounces his nationalist views, maybe we can consider it," Sergei Mitrokhin, the leader of the party, told me. (See "The Crisis in Russia: A Billionaire to the Rescue ... of Whom?")

But Navalny has done the opposite. He has used nationalism to tap another huge base of support in the right wing, which he has brought into a shaky alliance with the liberals.

Even when Navalny was incarcerated after the Dec. 5 protest, the two political flanks managed to work together. On Dec. 10, they organized the biggest rally ever against Putin's government, bringing about 50,000 demonstrators onto Moscow's Bolotnaya Ploshchad (Swamp Square). Oleg Kashin, a journalist, read out a message from "our leader Alexei Navalny" to the crowd. It lacked nothing in pomp. "The time has come to throw off our chains," the message read. "We are not animals or slaves." It urged the protestors to keep attending rallies in defense of their "personal dignity," with the next big demonstration scheduled for Dec. 24.

The goal of the opposition was simply to hold on to their momentum until then. But with Navalny still in jail, it quickly began to slip. Sessions of the so-called OrgKomitet (Organizing Committee) of the opposition were tiresome and frustrating affairs. "For once in your life, put your egos away!" one woman burst out -- to wild applause -- during a session on Dec. 13, when the committee spent more than an hour debating what to call itself. The problem was obvious. Career politicians were seated around the table with Soviet dissidents, tech geeks and graffiti artists. Hardcore nationalists would often show up in packs and overwhelm the meetings. Every 10 minutes or so a shouting match ensued. "Don't worry, it won't be long," Bozhena Rynska, a celebrity gossip columnist who took part in the Organizing Committee meetings, reassured me after a particularly hectic one. "Soon Navalny will be released and straighten everything out."

He did not disappoint. Outside the jail in the early hours of Dec. 21, he told the crowd of activists and reporters, who were frozen almost stiff by the time he was released, that he would consider running for president when he could be sure of an honest vote. Until then, his goal would be to attack and discredit Putin. "We have to push them until they give us what they stole, meaning politics, meaning the economy, meaning everything," Navalny said. He seemed to concede that with no viable competitors, Putin would likely win a third term as president during the March elections. "But this will not be a legal presidency," he said. (See "Putin: Four More Years.")

The next day, Navalny took over the chairmanship of the Organizing Committee and much of the bickering stopped. "Our priority is to leave here radiating the impression that we are united," he said. To Navalny's left sat the ultra-nationalist Vladimir Tor, who helped lead the Movement Against Illegal Immigration until the group was banned this year for extremism and hate speech. To his right sat the human rights activist Lev Ponomaryov and a gaggle of other liberals. Just about the only thing they had in common was a basic trust in Navalny and a desire to break Putin's hold on power. So far this seems to be enough.

On Dec. 24, the ragtag committee pulled off the biggest demonstration in Moscow since the fall of the Soviet Union. As many as 120,000 people gathered on Sakharov Avenue to call for democracy and political reform. Putin was their favorite laughing stock. Navalny was one of the heroes. "I see enough people here today to take the Kremlin," he told the crowd. "But we are a peaceful force. We won't do that just yet." Three days later, during a live interview on Echo Moskvy radio, he announced plans to create his own political party, saying he was "ready to fight for leadership positions," including the post of president.

The only question now is whether the Kremlin is ready to allow that. The chances look slim. From the start of his career as an activist, Navalny has pledged to put Putin and his circle on trial if they are ever removed from power. "He can't go back on that now," says Voronkov, his biographer. "He couldn't just give them a one-way ticket to Venezuela and call it a day. His credibility would be shattered." But Putin and his party have missed their chance to sideline Navalny while he was still just another blogger. He is now a political force, and even if he is again arrested, or worse, there is no guarantee that his influence will be diminished. "You can knock the head off of something a hundred times," says the novelist Boris Akunin, another member of the Organizing Committee. "But you can't destroy a wave that rises from the bottom. It can only rise and crest. You can't stop it." However, they can certainly try.

See TIME's 2011 Person of the Year.

See the Top 10 Everything of 2011.

View this article on Time.com

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/russia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/time/20111229/wl_time/08599210320300

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Verizon Wireless to charge $2 for one-time payment

(AP) ? Verizon Wireless, the country's largest cellphone company, said Thursday that it will start charging $2 for every payment subscribers make over the phone or online with their credit cards.

The company said this "convenience fee" will be introduced Jan. 15.

The fee won't apply to electronic check payments or to automatic credit card payments set up through Verizon's AutoPay system. Paying by credit card in a Verizon store will also be free, as will mailing a check.

Other carriers have tried to get subscribers to move to automatic payments through other means. AT&T Inc. offers a $10 gift card for those who set up AutoPay. Sprint Nextel Corp. charges subscribers who have caps on the fees they can rack up each month. Those people are charged $5 monthly unless they set up automatic payments.

It's not uncommon for utilities, universities and even state tax departments to charge convenience fees for online payments. Each credit-card payment comes with fees that the companies can avoid by getting electronic checks instead. Automatic payments mean less trouble for companies in going after late payments.

Verizon Communications Inc., the landline phone company that owns most of Verizon Wireless, tried last year to introduce a $3.50 fee for people who paid their bill for FiOS TV or Internet service month-to-month by credit card. It backed off after complaints.

Verizon Wireless serves 91 million phones and other devices on accounts that pay the company directly, and more who pay indirectly through other companies.

___

Online:

Verizon statement: http://news.verizonwireless.com/news/2011/12/pr2011-12-29b.html

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-12-29-Verizon%20Wireless-Monthly%20Fees/id-5016388d80b94b47b1ceafe53b1d4368

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"17th Precinct" pilot - "Battlestar" reunion - pops up online (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) ? What could have been -- that's what "Battlestar Galactica" fans might be thinking as they get the chance to view the pilot for "17th Precinct," the supernatural cop drama created by "BSG" producer Ronald Moore.

NBC passed on "Precinct" last May, but the pilot episode has leaked online at Vimeo.com. The cop series -- starring "Battlestar Galactica" alums Jamie Bamber, Tricia Helfer and James Callis -- is set in Excelsior, a supernatural world where magic is commonplace.

You can check out the pilot at the link below for the "BSG" reunion, which also includes performances by Stockard Channing, "Caprica" star Esai Morales and "Oz" and "Lights Out" star Eamonn Walker, and, if we're not mistaken, a voiceover from a certain Admiral William Adama: http://www.thewrap.com/tv/column-post/pilot-17th-precinct-battlestar-cast-reunion-drama-pops-online-video-33995

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tv/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111230/tv_nm/us17thprecinct

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Friday, December 30, 2011

GOP's Santorum fighting to contend in leadoff Iowa (AP)

MASON CITY, Iowa ? Rick Santorum isn't going down without a fight. In fact, that fight might be lifting him up.

The Republican presidential candidate who may have logged more miles than any other this year is more likely these days to be grinding it out on the campaign trail than trumpeting the buzz he's stirring among Iowa's conservative voters a week before the Jan. 3 presidential caucuses.

"We feel good," Santorum, a long-overlooked candidate in the GOP race, said with a thin smile as he left a midday campaign stop Tuesday in Mason City, seemingly hesitant ? at least publicly ? to buy into the notion that he's on the rise.

There are hurdles. His cash-strapped campaign has only just started running TV ads, and his organization is small in a state whose contests rely on the ability of campaigns to turn out a slew of supporters.

Still, there's evidence that Iowa Republicans, many of whom are still undecided and looking for a conservative candidate, may be starting to give the former Pennsylvania senator a look at just the right time.

"Rick Santorum could be a real surprise," said former Dallas County GOP Chairman Rob Taylor.

In recent days, Santorum's crowds have started growing as he rallies conservatives with a pit bull's pugnaciousness, and just a touch of anger.

He has earned the support of a number of key backers of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who won the 2008 Republican caucuses. They include former gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats, conservative Sioux City radio host Sam Clovis and some influential evangelical pastors.

He landed the endorsement Tuesday of evangelical conservative activists Alex and Brett Harris, founders of Huck's Army, a national group that supported Huckabee's 2008 campaign.

"He's the only candidate in this race I trust," said Chuck Laudner, a veteran Iowa GOP operative who introduced Santorum to more than 100 party activists on Santorum's fourth trip to Mason City. "And he's a fighter."

As if to prove the point, Santorum launched into a speech filled with pokes at the national media and his rivals. For 90 minutes, he tore into President Barack Obama, Hollywood and moderate Republicans ? and, by implication, rival Mitt Romney.

While Santorum's profile in Congress as a social-issues crusader bought him entree with influential evangelical conservatives in Iowa, it's his unhesitating attack on liberals that seems to be fueling his rise in internal polls by rival campaigns.

"Let's look at colleges and universities," Santorum said in the ballroom of the restored Frank Lloyd Wright Park Inn Hotel on Mason City's town square. "They've become indoctrination centers for the left. Should we be subsidizing that?"

Santorum tossed out Harvard University's motto, "Veritas," Latin for truth. "They haven't seen truth at Harvard in 100 years."

Santorum refers to Obama as a "radical." Just as easily, though, he calls his own party's leaders "the good old guys you can count on to sell out in the end."

Even in entertaining questions from voters, he is frank and at times pointed.

"No, you're missing my point," he told Mason City Republican Julia Jones, a retired factory worker, as he tried to explain Social Security.

Jones, who walked into the event weighing Santorum and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, liked what she heard ? and decided to support Santorum.

"He doesn't soften the edges, but he doesn't talk down to you either," Jones said. "He's just in-depth."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111228/ap_on_el_pr/us_santorum_the_fighter

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93% Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol

In the latest installment of the Mission: Impossible series, the IMF gets shut down after it's implication in the bombing of the Kremlin. Ethan Hunt and his top secret team embark on a globe trotting mission to clear up their name and capture the man behind the bombing who plans to begin a nuclear war. Let the thrill ride begin! As of now, I have not seen the other films in the series. The main reason I went to see this because there was a little treat shown before the movie that I was just dying to see. I'll get to that later. Also, the trailers sold me to the movie. They were very well put together and knew how to get action fans flocking to the theater. I thoroughly enjoyed the film. I've heard that none of the films have connected plots or story arcs so I was fine. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol delivers some of the most fun you'll have at the movies this year. The film is fun-filled from start to finish and features what many recent action films lack these days. That is intelligence. The film is very smart, witty, and well planned out but it won't have you thinking like a psychological thriller. It's summertime entertainment for the Holidays. The story in this film isn't groundbreaking and I didn't find it very original. I also felt that there weren't enough surprises or twists. As I Look back at the movie, I don't think there were any. I enjoy those in an action movie. The premise is exciting and it was a pleasure to follow it. The action scenes are also very well done. Without giving away a whole lot, there is a scene involving Ethan Hunt and his partner, Benji, trying to sneak past a guarded area and they use very sly and funny techniques to complete the task. What I loved about this scene was the comedic value and the fact that there was no dialogue. It felt like watching an episode of Mr. Bean only with secret agents. Of all the action scenes, the main highlight involves Tom Cruise climbing up the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the talletst building in the world. Those with weak constitution who see this film in IMAX should be warned. This scene is pretty intense and could make you queasy. My hands were sweating. This scene is well shot and thrilling. I saw the film in IMAX and was sitting in the fourth row. Those who have seen movies in that format should know how that feels. The expensive price of admission my cousin and I paid to see this in IMAX was worth it. Many of the film's action scenes are shot with the glorious IMAX cameras and perfectly displayed on the immense screen thanks to the director, Brad Bird. However, I felt that he took advantage of the camera sometimes just to film explosions that only last a few seconds. The series has gotten famous directors to helm the films such as Brian DePalma, John Woo, and JJ Abrams. Brad Bird, who directed Pixar's The Incredibles and Ratatouille and the cult animated film, The Iron Giant, makes a great live action debut. I would love to see more action films directed by him and he should give Michael Bay some lessons! The shooting stlye in the film is grand and the cinematography was amazing. Thanks to Brad Bird, I have faith in Andrew Stanton (He's the best Pixar director in my opinion.) and his live-action sci-fi film, John Carter, which is out in March. Some of the action sequences feel like the ones featured in The Incredibles all thanks to the director. The performances in this film were pretty good. I like Tom Cruise and he plays a very cool spy. I think I'd rather go on a mission with him than James Bond. I haven't seen The Hurt Locker yet but if you've been reading the site's Weekly Ketchup, you may notice that Jeremy Renner is being considered for quite a few action films. He is playing Hawkeye in The Avengers and is taking the spotlight away from Matt Damon in The Bourne Legacy. I think he can carry an action movie and he is pretty good in this movie. However in the trailers, I felt that he was going to be a suspicious character and he really wasn't one in the film. Paula Patton also plays a good sidekick but Simon Pegg was such a delight! He shines in every moment he's in and is practically the film's show stealer. And that guy from Batman Begins who becomes The Scarecrow's first victim was also good during his short prescense. One of my issue's with the film were the villains. They weren't intimidating to me and were a little bland. My favorite of the baddies was the French assassin, Sabine Moreau, played by Lea Seydoux. She was actually quite intimidating and also contributes to the film's eye candy. In other words, she is very hot. The film also has a solid, well written script that has nifty humor and intelligence. Now I'm going to reveal the main reason why I saw the film. I was over at my cousin's house and we were discussing comic books. We got on the subject of Batman and discussed the new trailer for The Dark Knight Rises. I also told him that I saw the bootlegged version of the prologue and he wanted to see it. So we called our local IMAX to see if they were playing it, rounded up some buddies, and headed to the theater. The prologue is the first six minutes of the upcoming film. I saw a leaked version a few days before but since it was recorded with a camcorder, I was dismayed. From what I made up of it, I thought it was cool. Until I saw it on the IMAX screen, I was blown away. I was on the edge of the seat and the audience applauded when it was finished. I will definetly see the movie in IMAX. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol is a great action film that is smart and amusing. It never fails to entertain but I think I would appreciate the ending more if I had seen the other films. When displayed in IMAX, it is a wonder to behold. The scenes shot with IMAX cameras take up the entire screen but the ones that are not just look like a Blu-Ray disc projected onto a six story screen. The film is great and it is the best espionage film since Casino Royale. I think that film is superior. So if you're looking for tons of fun and thrills at the movies, grab a ticket for this bad boy! "Science is sad."

December 28, 2011

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

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Kid Cudi 'Broke Down' Over Fan Ben Breedlove's Death

Teenager who posted YouTube videos about his heart condition died on Christmas Day.
By Andrea Duncan-Mao


Kid Cudi
Photo: MTV News

Kid Cudi wrote on his blog that he "broke down" over the death of Ben Breedlove, an 18-year-old fan from Austin, Texas, who suffered a fatal heart attack on Christmas Day.

Cudi heard about Breedlove after a pair of YouTube videos the fan made went viral before his death. In the videos, Breedlove silently holds up cards that tell the story of living with a heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which is a disease that causes the heart muscles to enlarge, making it difficult to pump blood properly. He says he "cheated death" three times: the most recent time in early December when EMTs used shock pads on his chest after his heart stopped. He described a vision of being in a white room and being with his "favorite rapper, Kid Cudi" wearing white suits and feeling "happy and peaceful" and he "couldn't stop smiling." He ended his videos with a card that read "Do you believe in God and angels? I do."

After watching the videos, Kid Cudi wrote: "I am so sad about Ben Breedlove. I watched the video he left for the world to see, and him seeing me in detail, in his vision really warmed my heart. I broke down, I am to tears because I hate how life is so unfair. This has really touched my heart in a way I cant describe, this is why I do what I do."

Cudi went on to say, "To Ben's family, you raised a real hero, he's definitely mine. You have my love."

Breedlove's parents released an obituary in the Austin American-Statesman on Thursday (December 29) referencing the videos and writing, "Now the world has come to know our Ben. He was a genius at using the Internet to reach and influence his peers. ... In the weeks prior to his death, he had faced some scary situations with his health, but had been given an amazing gift that he was determined to share; first with us, his family, and then, not surprisingly (and generously) with his YouTube audience."

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1676587/kid-cudi-ben-breedlove-hypertrophic-cardiomyopathy.jhtml

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Military Hazing and Race and Religion

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Check out Jeff Yang?s excellent Wall Street Journal piece on military hazing, especially in light of the recent incidents with Pvt. Danny Chen and Lance Corporal Henry Lew: Afghanistan Hazing Echoes ?A Few Good Men.?

Jeff interviews Lieutenant Dan Choi, who says:

?You now have a much less diverse army, one whose culture is very southern, very Christian and very white,? says military activist and former Army Lieutenant Dan Choi. ?And anyone who?s a minority in that culture has to accept that they?re an outsider if they want to survive, and try their best to fit in. If you?re different in any regard, you stick out. And the Asian saying applies: The nail that sticks out gets hammered down.?

I can definitely see this. The military requires conformity, and if you don?t conform because of race or religion, I can see how some soldiers may want to beat it out of you. It?s hard because military culture prioritizes conformity, while the population of the U.S. is diverse. I like the way Jeff also ends with the story about Civil War Lieutenant General John Schofield, who wrote Schofield?s Definition of Discipline, which all cadets who graduate from West Point and the Air Force Academy must memorize and recite by heart. Here it is in its entirety:

The discipline which makes the soldiers of a free country reliable in battle is not to be gained by harsh or tyrannical treatment. On the contrary, such treatment is far more likely to destroy than to make an army. It is possible to impart instruction and give commands in such a manner and such a tone of voice as to inspire in the soldier no feeling, but an intense desire to obey, while the opposite manner and tone of voice cannot fail to excite strong resentment and a desire to disobey. The one mode or other of dealing with subordinates springs from a corresponding spirit in the breast of the commander. He who feels the respect which is due to others cannot fail to inspire in them respect for himself. While he who feels, and hence manifests, disrespect towards others, especially his subordinates, cannot fail to inspire hatred against himself.

Related posts:

  1. Gays in the Military
  2. Army Psychiatrist Murders 13
  3. The Death of Private Danny Chen
  4. Literature and Religion: Podcast with Kobukson
  5. CNN Heroes
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Thursday, December 29, 2011

The Oxen Group Maintains F5 Networks, Nuance Communications ...

The Oxen Group maintained F5 Network's (NASDAQ: FFIV) Sell rating and decreased the company's price target from $86 to $80.50. Shares of F5 Network closed today at $105.73, down 0.76% from Tuesday's market close.

The Oxen Group maintained Nuance Communications' (NASDAQ: NUAN) Sell rating and increased the company's price target from $11 to $14. Shares of Nuance Communications closed today at $24.88, down 3.00% from Tuesday's market close.

The Oxen Group maintained Red Hat's (NYSE: RHT) Sell rating and increased the company's price target from $29.50 to $30. Shares of Red Hat closed today at $41.00, down 1.49% from Tuesday's market close.

(c) 2011 Benzinga.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published in its entirety or redistributed without the approval of Benzinga.

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Source: http://www.benzinga.com/analyst-ratings/price-target/11/12/2230918/the-oxen-group-maintains-f5-networks-nuance-communication

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Religion news in brief (AP)

ASHLAND, Ore. ? Low rates of vaccinations in Ashland prompts study request

ASHLAND, Ore. (AP) ? Southern Oregon University and Jackson County health officials are hoping to get money for a study of Ashland's low rate of child vaccinations, due largely to religious exemptions.

In 2010, 25 percent of Ashland students didn't get all their vaccines, more than double the percentage in 2001. Of the 3,117 students enrolled in public and private schools, 777 claimed the religious exemption ? the highest rate in the state.

Those numbers prompted a request to study why that's happening. Jackson County commissioners will decide Wednesday whether to provide the $10,000 funding.

The SOU Research Center will use the money to conduct interviews with parents, compile the data and file the finished study by June 2013. It will include an evaluation on the outreach team's effectiveness in helping to boost vaccination rates.

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Egypt's Islamist hard-liners oppose Christmas greetings

CAIRO (AP) ? An ultraconservative Egyptian Islamist group says sending Christmas greetings to Christians is "against our beliefs," a position immediately rebuked by other Muslims.

Nadar Bakar, spokesman of the hard-line Al-Nour party, said Wednesday that Muslims should give greetings to Christians only on "personal occasions," not religious ones.

Al-Nour represents the ultraconservative Salafi movement, which wants to strictly impose Islamic law in Egypt. Al-Nour has won a surprisingly strong 20 percent of the vote so far in Egypt's staggered parliamentary elections.

The remarks prompted Egypt's Al Azhar, the most eminent religious institution, to issue a religious edict approving Christmas greetings. The country's most influential Islamist group, the Muslim Brotherhood, responded by sending "its best Christmas wishes to our brotherly Christians and Muslims as well."

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ACLU says Indiana violating court order requiring kosher prison food for some inmates

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) ? The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana has asked a judge to hold the state Department of Correction in contempt for failing to provide four inmates with kosher food.

Ken Falk, an ACLU attorney, said corrections officials haven't complied with a 2010 federal court order requiring kosher meals be offered for inmates observing Jewish dietary laws.

The inmates are in state prisons in Michigan City, Pendleton and Putnamville.

An Orthodox Jewish inmate sued in 2009 after the agency began substituting vegan meals for kosher meals, citing higher costs. A spokesman for the corrections department said the agency has a process for reviewing kosher diet requests that it believes complies with the court order.

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NC Baptist leader wants civil debate on marriage

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) ? The newly elected president of North Carolina's largest religious denomination said he hopes for a civil debate over a proposal to ban same-sex marriage in the state constitution.

The Rev. Mark Harris, president of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, said he understands the question is an emotional one.

But Harris said he thinks both sides can respectfully argue their cases.

Harris was elected to a one-year term last month. The convention represents roughly 4,300 churches and some 1.3 million members in North Carolina.

Voters will decide in May whether the state constitution should be amended to ban same-sex marriage.

About 250 clergy from multiple denominations have signed a statement denouncing the proposal.

____

US attorney in Detroit reviewing Muslim group's religious freedom complaint over school zoning

PITTSFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) ? The U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit is reviewing a religious discrimination complaint against a community for rejecting a zoning change that would allow construction of a Muslim school.

The Michigan Islamic Academy wants to build at a 26-acre site in Washtenaw County's Pittsfield Township.

"We are reviewing the matter and whether to proceed with a formal investigation," Assistant U.S. Attorney Judith Levy said.

On Oct. 26, the township board rejected the request, following an earlier rejection by the township planning commission. School officials say the 200-student school is too big for its location in nearby Ann Arbor.

Township Supervisor Mandy Grewal said the decision isn't based on religion.

"We are an open, respectful and diverse community here in Pittsfield Township," Grewal said after the October decision. "We have a track record, most recently the planning commission approved a mosque."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations said the decision violated the First Amendment right of religious freedom, and it asked the Justice Department to investigate.

"We believe this is a blatant violation of the (school's) constitutional right to open the school on their property," said Lena Masri, a lawyer for the group.

____

Ohio-born comedian "The Funny Indian" to tour India and spread message of religious harmony

FAIRFIELD, Ohio (AP) ? An Ohio-born standup comedian who bills himself as "The Funny Indian" will find out whether people in his ancestral homeland agree.

Rajiv Satyal, who is Hindu, will tour India with an Indian-American Muslim and one other performer on a Jan. 4-17 trip organized by the U.S. State Department. Their comedy show "Make Chai Not War" will include messages of diversity and religious harmony, with a measure of diplomacy.

His routines often include jokes about being Indian-American, he says.

"I'm pretty much going to do my act. But the tone changes," Satyal said. "If I do a lot of Indian jokes with an Indian audience, it's a `you guys know what I'm talking about' thing. Whereas, if I'm in Alabama, it's more explanatory."

Satyal and Azhar Usman of Chicago founded the "Make Chai Not War" show. A third Indian-American, Hari Kondabolu of the New York borough of Queens, will join them on the tour. The three also will conduct comedy workshops while on the trip.

Satyal said comedy can help bridge differences.

"It's cool to be able to go to India because that's where a lot of religious strife has been happening," he said. "We're not even really religious on stage. We might do some religious jokes, but it's more just bringing people together."

The 35-year-old native of Hamilton, Ohio, honed his comedy while working for consumer products maker Procter & Gamble Co., in a regular column for a company-produced newsletter. He also appeared in comedy clubs.

In 2006, he left the company and moved to Los Angeles.

Before the tour, Satyal has been spending time with his family in the northern Cincinnati suburb of Fairfield. He graduated from Fairfield High School, whose sports teams' nickname is Indians, for Native Americans.

"I guess I really was a Fairfield Indian," Satyal said.

___

http://www.funnyindian.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111228/ap_on_re/us_rel_religion_briefs

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Your Monday Night Football Open Thread [Open Thread]

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/deadspin/full/~3/7-MDletZwto/your-monday-night-football-open-thread

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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Avastin disappoints against ovarian cancer

Avastin, the blockbuster drug that just lost approval for treating breast cancer, now looks disappointing against ovarian cancer, too. Two studies found it did not improve survival for most of these patients and kept their disease from worsening for only a few months, with more side effects.

The Genentech drug won approval in Europe last week for advanced ovarian cancer. But its maker has no immediate plans to seek the same approval in the United States. After talking with the Food and Drug Administration, "we do not believe the data will support approval" although no final decision has been made, said Charlotte Arnold, a spokeswoman for Genentech, part of the Swiss company Roche.

Results of the studies are in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

In November, the FDA revoked Avastin's approval for breast cancer because it did not meaningfully extend life and can have serious side effects. Without approval, doctors can prescribe the drug but insurers may not pay. Treatment with it can cost $100,000 a year.

Avastin can still be sold for some colon, lung, kidney and brain cancers. The new research was aimed at adding ovarian cancer to the list.

One study, led by Dr. Robert Burger of Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, involved nearly 1,900 women with advanced ovarian cancer given one of three treatment combinations. The time until the disease got worse was a median of 10 months in those given just chemotherapy; adding Avastin improved that by just one to four months for the other two groups.

Survival was similar among the groups, and side effects were higher among those on Avastin ? mostly high blood pressure but also some stomach and gut problems that needed treatment.

In the other study, led by researchers from England, more than 1,500 ovarian cancer patients were given chemo with or without Avastin. The drug kept cancer at bay just one to two months longer than chemo alone did, with more cases of high blood pressure. There was a trend toward improved survival for those on Avastin, but the difference was too small to say the drug was responsible.

Genentech helped pay for the studies and some of the researchers consult for the company.

Dr. Gary Lyman, a Duke University researcher who was on the FDA advisory panel that recommended revoking Avastin's approval for breast cancer, wrote in an email that he agreed with the company's decision not to seek approval for ovarian cancer.

"The situation is very similar" to the results in breast cancer, and approval is unlikely unless a biological marker or test can show which patients might benefit, he wrote.

About 220,000 new cases of ovarian cancer are diagnosed each year around the world, and it causes 140,000 deaths. In the United States, the National Cancer Institute estimates 22,000 new cases and 15,000 deaths each year.

___

Online:

Studies: http://www.nejm.org

___

Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2011-12-28-Avastin-Ovarian%20Cancer/id-0eec7db1abfa479699d596f73ca30624

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U.S. says China not currency manipulator; chides Japan (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? The U.S. Treasury again shied away from labeling China a currency manipulator on Tuesday, but it rapped the country for not moving quickly enough on exchange rate reforms.

The United States also chided Japan for stepping into the currency market to stem the yen's rise, and urged South Korea to use such interventions sparingly.

Some U.S. politicians have argued that China has gained an unfair competitive edge in global markets by keeping the yuan artificially low to boost exports, and pressure has mounted in Congress for President Barack Obama to punish China.

But the administration prefers to tread softly and use diplomacy. The U.S. Treasury, in a semi-annual report, as usual said that statutes covering a designation of currency manipulator "have not been met with respect to China."

It repeated its standard line that appreciation in the yuan has been too slow, calling it "insufficient."

"Treasury will closely monitor the pace of appreciation and press for policy changes that yield greater exchange rate flexibility, a level playing field, and a sustained shift to domestic demand-led growth," it said in the report to Congress on international economic and exchange rate policies.

The value of the yuan, which Beijing manages closely, has risen 4 percent against the dollar this year and 7.7 percent since China dropped a firm peg against the greenback in June 2010. The Peterson Institute for International Economics recently estimated the yuan was undervalued by 24 percent against the dollar, down from 28 percent earlier in the year. It attributed the change to both Beijing's policy of gradual currency appreciation and higher Chinese inflation.

At the heart of the friction between the two countries is a U.S. trade deficit with China that swelled in 2010 to a record $273.1 billion from about $226.9 billion in 2009. The cumulative Jan-Oct deficit with China is on track to top that this year, running at around $245.5 billion.

The U.S. Senate this year for the first time passed a bill that would require the administration to slap penalties on Chinese imports if it fails to adopt market-based exchange rates. While the measure has made no progress in the lower chamber and is unlikely to become law, it shows the mounting U.S. frustration with its vital trade partner.

President Obama at the November APEC meetings, in his toughest words yet, told President Hu Jintao that China must play by global trade rules and act like "a grown-up."

The Treasury's decision not to label China a currency manipulator sent a "clear and positive signal" that would soothe the market and benefit trade, according to a commentary in Xinhua, the Chinese state news agency, on Wednesday.

Beijing has warned the United States not to "politicize" the currency issue, and some economists have pointed out that nations such as Japan and Switzerland have intervened in currency markets without drawing Washington's ire.

TARGETING TOKYO

The report did point the finger at Japan this time, criticizing Tokyo for its solo yen-selling interventions in August and October that followed a joint Group of 7 action in the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake.

"The unilateral Japanese interventions were undertaken when exchange market conditions appeared to be operating in an orderly manner and volatility in the yen-dollar exchange rate was lower than, for example, the euro-dollar market," the report said.

"In contrast to the post-earthquake joint G7 intervention in March, the United States did not support these interventions," the Treasury said, adding that Tokyo should pursue reforms to revive its domestic economy rather than try to influence the exchange rate.

A senior Japanese government official said the report did not change Tokyo's position that its currency policy was in line with G7 agreements.

"This report does not make it more difficult for Japan to intervene," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the topic. "We are committed to doing whatever is necessary."

Japanese exporters have complained that the ultra-strong yen puts them at a competitive disadvantage. The yen was trading at just under 78 to the U.S. dollar on Wednesday morning, about 3 percent weaker than it was on October 31, when Tokyo aggressively intervened to cap the rise.

The report also noted that South Korean authorities "should limit their FX interventions to exceptional circumstances of disorderly market conditions and adopt a greater degree of exchange rate flexibility."

MORE OF THE SAME

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has said the law on the FX report, which requires the administration to determine whether U.S. trade partners are deliberately undervaluing their currencies, is a poor tool to push Beijing on the yuan.

Instead, the United States prefers to argue for change at regular closed-door meetings with Chinese officials. It also uses international economic forums, such as the Group of 20 leading nations and the International Monetary Fund, to ramp up public pressure on Beijing to move more quickly to a more-flexible currency.

China is the biggest foreign holder of U.S. Treasuries, with about $1.1 trillion, a position that gives it leverage in international economic negotiations. Foreign exchange traders had not expected a change of U.S. tactics.

"It's not very surprising. It's sort of sliding it in under the radar. They're (Treasury) really not in a position to make any major moves at this point," said Sean Incremona, an economist at 4Cast in New York.

The Treasury Department has not labeled a country a currency manipulator since July 1994, when it cited China. A designation would require the United States to step up negotiations with Beijing on the yuan's value.

The yuan slipped on Tuesday as strong dollar demand from corporations offset a record high mid-point fixed by the People's Bank of China. The central bank set an all-time high dollar/yuan mid-point in an apparent move to let the yuan rise a little more at the end of 2011 so as to make the yuan's full-year nominal appreciation look bigger, traders said.

Some U.S. manufacturers, which have been hit hardest by competition from China and other emerging economies, would still prefer the U.S. government to take a harder line.

"China's currency is still enormously undervalued," said Scott Paul, executive director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, an industry lobby for hard-hit textile, steel and labor groups.

"I'm disappointed that President Obama has now formally refused six times to cite China for its currency manipulation, a practice which has contributed to the loss of hundreds of thousands of American manufacturing jobs."

(Additional reporting by Luciana Lopez and Doug Palmer, and Stanley White in Tokyo; Editing by Leslie Adler and Dan Grebler)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111228/bs_nm/us_usa_china_currency

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Washington Capitals (17-14-2) at Buffalo Sabres (16-15-3), 7 p.m. (ET)

December has not been a good month for the Buffalo Sabres. Tonight, Lindy Ruff's club will try to avoid their first four-game losing streak of the season when it hosts the Washington Capitals at First Niagara Center.

Buffalo was dealt its third straight loss Thursday in Toronto, dropping the Sabres to 3-5-2 this month. The Sabres, who are 12 points behind Boston for first place in the Northeast Division, are just 6-10-3 over their last 19 trips to the ice.

The Sabres were outscored by a combined 15-6 margin during a recent 0-3 road trip. The most recent setback came in a 3-2 setback to the Maple Leafs, who received 40 saves from goaltender James Reimer.

Jason Pominville had a goal and an assist while Derek Roy scored the other goal for the Sabres, who have lost five of their last six. Ryan Miller turned aside 28 shots in the loss.

"We're trying to keep the belief that effort equals opportunity, and opportunity is what you need in this league," said Miller. "We have to keep giving ourselves a chance."

Sabres forwards Thomas Vanek is questionable for tonight's game after leaving Thursday's game with an undisclosed injury. Vanek is leading the Sabres with 17 goals and his 36 points leave the Austrian sniper one point behind Pominville for the team lead.

Buffalo is 8-9-3 as the host this season and will play its next two games on the road in New Jersey and Washington.

The Capitals also lost their last game before Christmas break, as they were dealt a shootout loss by Martin Brodeur and the New Jersey Devils. Brodeur stopped two skaters in the shootout, including a nifty glove save on Alex Ovechkin, to lift the Devils to a 4-3 win in Newark.

Washington erased a 3-0 deficit in the third period to get the game to overtime. Jason Chimera had the last two goals for Washington, including the equalizer with 1:42 remaining. Brooks Laich also scored while Michal Neuvirth had 25 saves for the Capitals, who have dropped three of five.

"We threw everything at 'em and the guys played hard to tie the game up," said Capitals head coach Dale Hunter. "We just went. We had nothing to lose."

Washington is just 6-9-1 as the guest this year and has dropped two straight on the road.

The Sabres slammed the Caps by a 5-1 score when the teams met in Buffalo on Nov. 26. That victory ended a three-game winning streak in the series for Washington, which has lost two of its last three in western New York.

Source: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r5664817500&f=378

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Denying Previous Reports, Acer?s Founder States The Company Will Still Make Tablets

acerAcer is not done with tablets. New models will be released in 2012. The company is apparently going to continue making Android tabs despite a slow start and reports stating the contrary. Acer's founder, Stan Shih, likened it to the troubles the company experienced with early PC notebooks. It's a nice thought, but the man is wrong. Producing more tablets could be disastrous for Acer, which is already quickly sliding into a pool of red ink.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/6q8AQi5tc8Y/

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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Gunman in Santa suit killed six, self in Texas

A man suspected of opening fire on a family Christmas celebration outside Dallas was dressed in a Santa Claus suit when he killed six people and then himself, police said on Monday.

Authorities continued their search for clues in Grapevine, a Dallas suburb dubbed the "Christmas Capital of Texas," to explain the Sunday murder-suicide rampage that left the seven shot dead among unwrapped holiday presents.

The dead -- four women and three men between the ages of 15 and 58 -- were found on Sunday morning in an apartment living-room by police answering a voiceless 911 emergency call, authorities said. "By all appearances, they're all part of the same family," said Sergeant Robert Eberling of the Grapevine police department, adding that some were related through marriage.

Two pistols were recovered from the home, said Eberling, who called it a "gruesome crime scene" and the worst outburst of gun violence in the town's history. Authorities were waiting on autopsy reports before releasing identities, a potential motive and details on what exactly happened inside the home, Eberling said.

"We have a petty good idea who these folks were, and we're trying to work through contacting other family members so we can better piece together what took place and why it took place," he said.

Eberling said the suspected shooter was dressed in a Santa Claus suit but gave no further details. The 911 caller never spoke to police, and officers did not see the telephone when they arrived, officials said. Eberling said he believed police had to kick in the door to enter. No neighbours reported hearing gunshots, he said.

Eberling said the victims appeared to have just opened Christmas presents when the shooting started, and there was no sign of forced entry or a struggle. Circumstances of the shooting remained sketchy, but Eberling said it appeared as though the bloodbath unfolded during a family holiday celebration. No one was found alive by police arriving at the home, he said. A community of about 46,000 people some 20 miles (32km) northwest of downtown Dallas, Grapevine is known for its wine-tasting salons and was proclaimed by the state Senate as the "Christmas Capital of Texas" for its abundance of annual holiday-season events.

"This is obviously a terrible tragedy," Mayor William Tate said on Sunday night in a statement. "The fact that it happened on Christmas makes it even more tragic."

Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report_gunman-in-santa-suit-killed-six-self-in-texas_1630391

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Israel says no to Hamas at peace talks

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he would refuse to hold peace talks with the Palestinian Authority if it included Hamas representatives, according to Israeli public radio.

Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal met Palestinian president and Fatah chief Mahmud Abbas in Cairo last week to discuss the reorganisation of Palestinian decision-making bodies to include Hamas.

"Netanyahu said that if Hamas joins the Palestinian government, he would refuse to conduct peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority," Israeli radio said.

Israel condemns Hamas as a terrorist organisation.

Netanyahu spokesman Mark Regev, asked to confirm the comments, said Netanyahu had been speaking to Israeli ambassadors behind closed doors.

Hamas and Fatah, which respectively control Gaza and the West Bank, have long been political rivals.

Tensions spilled over into deadly violence in 2007 when Hamas forced Fatah out of Gaza and took control of the strip.

In April, Hamas and Fatah signed a reconciliation agreement, but it has been largely unenforced.

Source: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r5663168981

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Francesca Koe: California's Newest State Parks Are in the Ocean (Huffington post)

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.

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From Dear Leader to Marilyn Monroe, defector mocks Kim (Reuters)

SEOUL (Reuters) ? Above the ballooning dress of Marilyn Monroe is the face of the late North Korean despot Kim Jong-il. A pigeon flies overhead and a feather lies nearby on the ground.

North Korean artist Song Byeok once proudly drew the "Dear Leader" in propaganda paintings. But he was sent to labor in one of the reclusive state's notorious prisons after hunger forced him to try to flee.

Now a defector living in the South Korean capital, Seoul, Song has turned to mocking a ruler who led his country into famine, isolation and economic ruin.

"The day I finished this, he passed away," Song said of his painting and the death of Kim on December 17.

"He's not an eternal creature but the same as the feather of a pigeon," said Song, using the feather to symbolize something inconsequential.

"I thought it would've been better if he made North Koreans better off and forget hunger before he died."

Kim, who was 69 when he died, was a patron of the arts in his hermit kingdom and at times went to extreme means to promote the arts.

He once kidnapped a film director and forced him to make movies for him. Kim amassed a big hoard of South Korean movies on DVD and commissioned works of art.

Song never had a sitting with Kim, the second member of a dynasty that has ruled North Korea since its birth in 1948.

Every morning, he was handed a sketch of whatever piece of propaganda the state wanted illustrated that day.

"How could I, just a commoner, meet Kim Jong-il? He is the sun," the 42-year-old painter and sculptor recalled.

STARVATION, ESCAPE

Song, like most other North Koreans, practically worshipped Kim and before that, his father, Kim Il-sung.

But starvation, a result of chronic mismanagement and natural disasters, changed that. After floods in the late 1990s, conditions deteriorated to the point of desperation.

In August 2000, Song and his father, driven by hunger, tried to swim across the Tumen river to China in the hope of getting food from relatives there.

But his father was swept away in the swollen river and Song was caught and sent to a labor camp, the North Korean equivalent of the Soviet-era gulags where the human rights group Amnesty International says 200,000 citizens are forced to work with little food and under threat of execution.

In the freezing Korean winter, Song recalls he was as lightly dressed as when he was arrested in summer.

A finger on his right hand became infected and eventually, he says he was so close to death that his captors could get no work out of him and released him.

But Song was determined to try to get out and in 2002, leaving his mother and sister behind, he made it and ended up in Seoul. After his mother died in 2005, he brought his sister and her family out in 2007 with the help of a broker in China.

"If we had had enough to eat, I would have not come," Song said.

Despite losing his finger, Song took up his brush again. Some of his paintings now show hollow-eyed North Korean girls and smiling, homeless children, known in the North as "fluttering swallows," surrounding Kim.

As for Kim Jong-un, the twenty something son of Kim Jong-il, who will become the third member of the Kim dynasty to rule North Korea, Song says for now, he has no plan to paint him.

"He's too young and I don't want to say yet," said Song.

(Editing by Robert Birsel)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tv/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111226/stage_nm/us_korea_north_painting

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Monday, December 26, 2011

A more effective MRI nanoparticle contrast agent for cancer detection

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A more effective MRI nanoparticle contrast agent for cancer detection
(Nanowerk News) Many imaging technologies and their contrast agents ? chemicals used during scans to help detect tumors and other problems ? involve exposure to radiation or heavy metals, which present potential health risks to patients and limit the ways they can be applied. In an effort to mitigate these drawbacks, new research from University of Pennsylvania engineers shows a way to coat an iron-based contrast agent so that it only interacts with the acidic environment of tumors, making it safer, cheaper and more effective than existing alternatives.
The research was conducted by associate professor Andrew Tsourkas and graduate student Samuel H. Crayton of the department of bioengineering in Penn's School of Engineering and Applied Science. It was published in the journal ACS Nano ("pH-Titratable Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide for Improved Nanoparticle Accumulation in Acidic Tumor Microenvironments").
Magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, is an increasingly common feature of medical care. Using a strong magnetic field to detect and influence the alignment of water molecules in the body, MRI can quickly produce pictures of wide range of bodily tissues, though the clarity of these pictures is sometimes insufficient for diagnoses. To improve the differentiation ? or contrast ? between tumors and healthy tissue, doctors can apply a contrast agent, such as nanoparticles containing iron oxide. The iron oxide can improve MRI images due to their ability to distort the magnetic field of the scanner; areas they are concentrated in stand out more clearly.
These nanoparticles, which have recently been approved in the United States for clinical use as contrast agents, are literally sugar-coated; an outer layer of dextran keeps the particles from binding or being absorbed by the body and potentially sickening the patient. This non-reactive coating allows the iron oxide to be flushed out after the imaging is complete, but it also means that the particles can't be targeted to a particular kind of tissue.
If the contrast agent could be engineered so it only sticks to tissue that is already diseased, such as tumors, it would solve both problems at once. Scientists have tried this approach by coating nanoparticles with proteins that bind only to receptors found on the exterior of tumors, but not all tumors are the same in this regard.
"One of the limitations of a receptor-based approach is that you just don't hit everything," Tsourkas said. "It's hard to recommend them as a screening tool when you know that the target receptors are only expressed in 30% of tumors."
"One of the reasons we like our approach is that it hits a lot of tumors; almost all tumors exhibit a change in the acidity of their microenvironment."
The Penn engineers took advantage of something known as the Warburg effect, a quirk of tumor metabolism, to get around the targeting problem. Most of the body's cells are aerobic; they primarily get their energy from oxygen. However, even when oxygen is plentiful, cancerous cells use an anaerobic process for their energy. Like overtaxed muscles, they turn glucose into lactic acid, but unlike normal muscles, tumors disrupt the blood flow around them and have a hard time clearing this acid away. This means that tumors almost always have a lower pH than surrounding healthy tissue.
Some imaging technologies, such as magnetic resonance spectroscopy, can also take advantage of tumors' low-pH microenvironments, but they require expensive specialized equipment that is not available in most clinical settings.
By using glycol chitosan ? a sugar-based polymer that reacts to acids ? the engineers allowed the nanocarriers to remain neutral when near healthy tissue, but to become ionized in low pH. The change in charge that occurs in the vicinity of acidic tumors causes the nanocarriers to be attracted to and retained at those sites.
This approach has another benefit: the more malignant a tumor is, the more it disrupts surrounding blood vessels and the more acidic its environment becomes. This means that the glycol chitosan-coated is a good detector of malignancy, opening up treatment options above and beyond diagnosis.
"You can take any nanoparticle and put this coating on it, so it's not limited to imaging by any means," said Tsourkas. "You could also use it to deliver drugs to tumor sites."
The researchers hope that, within seven to 10 years, glycol-chitosan-coated iron oxide nanoparticles could improve the specificity of diagnostic screening. The ability to accurately detect sites of malignancy by MRI would be an immediate improvement to existing contrast agents for certain breast cancer scans.
"Gadolinium is used as a contrast agent in MRI breast cancer screenings for high-risk patients. These patients are recommended to get an MRI in addition to the usual mammogram, because the sensitivity of mammograms can be poor," said Tsourkas. "The sensitivity of an MRI is much higher, but the specificity is low: the screening detects a lot of tumors, but many of them are benign. Having a tool like ours would allow clinicians to better differentiate the benign and malignant tumors, especially since there has been shown to be a correlation between malignancy and pH."

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Source: http://www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=23838.php

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Iraq Struggles To Create Jobs and Wealth

Washington (VOA) -- Iraq has some of the largest oil reserves in the world, but its economy suffers from high unemployment, war damage and the lingering effects of past international sanctions.

Crumbling infrastructure and political bickering also weigh down economic growth.

Oil dominates Iraq's 82 billion-dollar a year economy, yielding most of the government's revenues and export income. It dwarfs all other sectors of the economy, and some economists say it could spur double-digit growth. That impresses U.S. President Barack Obama.

"In the coming years, it's estimated that Iraq's economy will grow even faster than China's or India's."

Mr. Obama spoke after a recent meeting in Washington with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki. Iraq has the second-largest proven oil reserves in the world, but most of that potential wealth is still in the ground. Prime Minister Al-Maliki:

"Iraq ... needs experience and expertise and American and foreign expertise to help Iraq exploit its own wealth in an ideal way."

Foreign oil companies have made some deals in Iraq, but are hesitant to make more investments until the central government in Baghdad and the Kurdish regional government agree on clear laws governing this critical economic sector. They have haggled for years over who has the right to approve agreements with foreign oil companies and how to structure those deals.

Ben Lando heads the website Iraq Oil Report. He spoke to VOA via Skype.

"It's a have a fundamental dispute as to what the future of the state looks like, and the oil is where you can see it most starkly playing out."

Iraq's economy is recovering slowly from war and sanctions. At one point, gross domestic product per person fell to just $800, but is now about $3000. But that is lower than Iraqi incomes in the 1970s. Unemployment is at least 18 percent, but the oil industry's growing efficiency means it will provide fewer jobs than it did in the past.

Mohsin Khan is with the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.

"Refineries, people say that you can run refineries that would take 1,000 people in the 1970s, now with 10 [people]. Because of computerization and so on, you don't need people."

But Iraqis need jobs. Nearly a quarter of the nation's 32 million citizens live in poverty.

By Jim Randle

Source: http://www.aina.org/news/20111223135047.htm

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Sundip: VIDEO: Who are London's homeless people? - http://t.co/E4Sc8ihc #Homelessness

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VIDEO: Who are London's homeless people? - bbc.in/tc2mrM #Homelessness Sundip

Sundip Meghani

Pied de page

Source: http://twitter.com/Sundip/statuses/150655996006633472

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Deadly Christmas Day blast strikes church near Nigerian capital

',
container = $('#drop-panel-container'),
contents = $(container).html();

if (isIE8) {

$(container).replaceWith(f+contents+b)

}



}

function dropPanelSetUp(data) {
/* buttons should be a dataobject of strings representing IDs
the hide and show functions are expecting IDs so passing a class will result in a
failure.

click as the action is assumed for now

the data object should look like this:

{ masterlistener:(string[dom id]),
panel:(string[dom id]),
eventgroup1:{ button:(string[dom id]),
content:(string[dom id]),
offset:{x:(int),y:(int)},
on_state_class: ''(string)
},
eventgroup2:{ button:(string[dom id]),
content:(string[dom id]),
offset:{x:(int),y:(int)},
on_state_class: ''(string)
} ... etc
}

The drop panel nodes should be placed so they share the same offset parent as the buttons that activate it.

NOTE: IE8 Got-chya: the ID for the panel is hard coded into the IE8 rouned corners code.
If you have changed the ID for the drop panel and are having trouble with IE8
change the ID in the template string in this function: ie8DropPanel()

*/



var speed = 300,
panel = $('#'+data.panel),
buttons = [];



for (var i=1,eg; eg=data[('eventgroup'+i)]; i++) {

var bp = $('#'+eg.button).position(), //button position
ph = $('#'+eg.button).height(), //button height
panelPos = [bp.top+ph, bp.left, eg.offset];
on_state_class = eg.on_state_class;

buttons.push([$('#'+eg.button),$('#'+eg.content),panelPos,eg.button,on_state_class]);

}



$('#'+data.masterlistener).bind('click',{speed:speed,panel:panel,buttons:buttons},function(event){

var org = event.target,
speed = event.data.speed,
panel = event.data.panel,
buttons = event.data.buttons,
panel_open = isPanelOpen(panel);




for (var i=buttons.length-1, b; b=buttons[i]; i--) {
/*
* b[0] = button DOM object
* b[1] = content DOM object
* b[2] = the display co-ord object:
* [0] = top (int)
* [1] = left (int)
* [2] = offset object
* {x,y}(int,int)
* b[3] = button ID (string)
* b[4] = button 'on' class
*/

var button_id = b[3],
same_content = isSameContent(panel,b[1]);

if ( $(org).attr('id') === button_id || $(org).parents('#'+button_id).attr('id')){

if(!same_content) {

hideAllContent(buttons);
movePanel(panel,b[2]);

if (panel_open) {

showContent(b[1],b[0],b[4]);

} else {

showContent(b[1],b[0],b[4]);
showPanel(panel,speed);

}

} else {

hidePanel(panel,speed,b[4]);

}

}

}

function isPanelOpen(panel) {


return ($(panel).css('display').toLowerCase() === 'block');
}

function isSameContent (panel,content) {

return ($(content, panel).css('display').toLowerCase() === 'block');

}

function movePanel(panel,b) {
// b[0] top, b[1] left, b[2] {x,y}

$(panel).css({
'top': (b[0] + b[2].x)
});
$(panel).css({
'left': (b[1] + b[2].y)
});

}

function showPanel(panel,speed) {

$(panel).slideDown(speed);
}

function hidePanel(panel,speed) {

$(panel).slideUp(speed, function() {hideAllContent(buttons);});


}

function showContent(content, button, btn_class) {
$(content).show();
$(button).addClass(btn_class);
}

function hideContent(content) {

$(content).hide();

}

function hideAllContent(buttons) {

for (var i = buttons.length-1, b; b=buttons[i]; i--) {
$(b[1]).hide();
$(b[0]).removeClass(b[4]);
}

}


})


}


return {

ieRoundedCorners:ieRoundedCorners,
ie8DropPanel:ie8DropPanel,
dropPanelSetUp:dropPanelSetUp
}



})();



var headerNavication = (function($,cw) {

var nav_item_list = $('.cw-header .main-nav ul.main > li'),
channel_id_list = '',
channel,
sub_channel;

var findChannel = function () {

var winloc = isIE ? document.URL.split('/') : document.documentURI.split('/') ,
channel_id = winloc[3],
sub_chanel_id = winloc.length > 5 ? '/'+winloc[4]+'/' : '',
reg_sub_find_id = new RegExp(sub_chanel_id,'ig'),
reg_removed_id = /^nav-/i;


for (var i=nav_item_list.length-1,n; n=nav_item_list[i]; i--) {

if ( channel_id === $(n).children('a').attr('id').replace(reg_removed_id,'') ) {
var list = $(n).children('ul').children('li');

if (sub_chanel_id.length > 0) {

for (var j=list.length-1,l; l=list[j]; j--) {

if (reg_sub_find_id.test($(l).children('a').attr('href'))) {
break;
} else {
l = false;
}

}

}

break;

}

}

findChannel = function () {
return [n,l];
}

return [n,l];

}

var init = (function() {
channel = findChannel()[0] || nav_item_list[0];
sub_channel = findChannel()[1];

if (sub_channel) {
highlightSubChannel();
}

clearNav();

if(isIE) {

cw.ieRoundedCorners();

if(isIE8) {
cw.ie8DropPanel();
}
}

if ($('#handle-header').attr('id')) {
cw.dropPanelSetUp({
masterlistener: 'handle-header',
panel: ('drop-panel-container'),
eventgroup1: {
button: 'btn-newspapers',
content: 'panel-newspapers',
offset: {
x: 5,
y: 0
},
on_state_class: 'newspapers-dropdown-on'
},
eventgroup2: {
button: 'btn-networks',
content: 'panel-networks',
offset: {
x: 5,
y: 0
},
on_state_class: 'networks-dropdown-on'
}
});
}

//need to check state of search radio buttons since firefox doesn't reset to the default checked radio button
if($('.cw-header #radio-btn-yp:checked').attr('id') != null){
$('.cw-header #header-search-form').attr('action','http://canadacom.yellowpages.ca/search/');
$('.cw-header #header-search-string').attr('name','what');
$('.cw-header #radio-btn-yp').siblings('label').removeClass('selected');
$('.cw-header #radio-btn-yp').next().addClass('selected');
}

eventSetUp();

}())


function highlightSubChannel() {

if((document.location+"").indexOf("/sports/football/cfl/") > -1) $(".mainnav-item .cfl").addClass('sub-nav-highlight');
else if((document.location+"").indexOf("/sports/football/grey-cup-2011/") > -1) $(".mainnav-item .cfl").addClass('sub-nav-highlight');
else if((document.location+"").indexOf("/sports/football/nfl/") > -1) $(".mainnav-item .nfl").addClass('sub-nav-highlight');
else $(sub_channel).addClass('sub-nav-highlight');
}

function clearNav() {

clearTabs();
$(channel).children('ul').show();
$(channel).css('background-position', 'bottom right');

}

function eventSetUp() {


$('.cw-header .main-nav ').bind('mouseleave', function(event){

if (isIE) {

if ($(event.relatedTarget).parents('.main-nav').length 0)?"" + value.substring(0,pos) + "" + value.substring(pos, term.length) + "" + value.substring(pos + term.length) + "":value.substring(0, term.length) + "" + value.substring(pos + term.length) + ""; }, scroll: false, selectFirst: false }); });

Source: http://feeds.canada.com/~r/canwest/F56/~3/ttF0WfqiRh0/story.html

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