Madonna plans 10 schools in Malawi with new partner (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Madonna on Monday announced plans to build 10 new schools in Malawi with a new partner after mismanagement forced the pop star to scrap her first project there last year.

The singer, who has adopted two children from the impoverished southern African nation, said she hoped the 10 new schools would educate at least 1,000 children a year, half of them girls.

That is double the number of children she hoped to help with her previously planned academy for girls, which was scrapped in March 2011 because of mismanagement and cost overruns.

Madonna said her Raising Malawi charity was teaming up this time with the non-profit group buildOn, which has constructed 54 primary schools in Malawi in the last 19 years.

"I am excited that with the help of buildOn, we can maintain our ongoing commitment to move forward efficiently. We now will be able to serve twice as many children as we would have served with our old approach," Madonna said in a statement.

"I have learned a great deal over the last few years and feel confident that we can reach our goals to educate children in Malawi, especially young girls, in a much more practical way. Constructing smaller schools in partnership with buildOn has restored my faith that we can accomplish what we promised we would," she added.

Madonna's earlier plan to build a state of the art girls school for about 400 girls just outside the Malawi capital Lilongwe collapsed last year, and the board of her Raising Malawi charity was fired. The New York Times said at the time that $3.8 million had been spent on the school with little to show for it.

The singer has lent $11 million to the organization which she co-founded in 2006.

Malawi has more than half a million children orphaned by the AIDS epidemic and is ranked by the United Nations as one of the world's 20 least developed countries.

Madonna's plans for new schools came at the start of a busy week for the singer, actress and director. Her new movie "W.E", which she wrote and directed, opens in U.S. movie theaters on Friday, she is performing at Sunday's halftime show at the 2012 Super Bowl, and will release the first single from her upcoming new album on Feb 3.

(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120131/people_nm/us_madonna_malawi

the three stooges top model all stars americas next top model mark buehrle mark buehrle rick perry ad rick perry ad

Inherited risk factors for childhood leukemia are more common in Hispanic patients, study finds

ScienceDaily (Jan. 30, 2012) ? Hispanic children are more likely than those from other racial and ethnic backgrounds to be diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and are more likely to die of their disease. Work led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists has pinpointed genetic factors behind the grim statistics.

Researchers studying a gene called ARID5B linked eight common variants of the gene to an increased risk of not only developing pediatric ALL but of having the cancer return after treatment. Two more ARID5B variants were tied to higher odds of developing the disease. Investigators found that Hispanic children were up to twice as likely as their white counterparts to inherit a high risk-version of ARID5B.

"For years we have known about ethnic and racial disparities in ALL risk and outcome, but the biology behind it has been elusive. Therefore, it is truly exciting to be able to not only pin down the biological basis but to find that the same gene might be responsible for both differences. Children who inherit high-risk versions of ARID5B are more likely to develop ALL in the first place and then more likely to fail therapy," said Jun Yang, Ph.D., an assistant member of the St. Jude Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the paper's corresponding author.

The work was done in collaboration with the Children's Oncology Group (COG), a U.S. based research cooperative study group focused on childhood cancer research and clinical trials. The study appears in the January 30 online edition of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Multiple factors contribute to cancer development, and inheriting a high-risk version of ARID5B is not enough to cause the disease, Yang said. These findings set the stage for exciting research in understanding how genetic, environmental and other factors combine in ALL, especially in the context of racial and ethnic disparity, he said.

"These and other genomic studies suggest we are poised to finally make significant progress in eliminating racial disparities in this catastrophic disease," Yang said. Additional work is needed to translate these findings into new clinical tools, he added.

Each year ALL is found in about 3,000 U.S. children, making it the most common childhood cancer. The incidence varies by self-declared race and ethnicity with rates for Hispanic individuals 50 percent higher than for non-Hispanic white individuals. For this study, researchers used genetic variations rather than individual self-report to define ancestry. White children were defined as having greater than 95 percent European ancestry and Hispanics children as having greater than 10 percent Native American ancestry.

Although the work of St. Jude researchers and others is helping to close the survival gap, Hispanic children are still less likely than children from other racial or ethnic backgrounds to be alive five years after diagnosis.

This study builds on the earlier St. Jude research that linked different versions of the ARID5B gene to ALL risk.

St. Jude and COG investigators partnered to see if variations in the ARID5B gene help to explain differences in either the incidence or the outcome of ALL in white and Hispanic patients. ARID5B belongs to a family of genes called transcription factors. They play a role in the normal development of white blood cells, which are targeted in ALL. Evidence suggests the gene also influences how methotrexate, a key anti-leukemia drug, is metabolized.

To find ARID5B variants related to ALL, the study compared the gene in 330 Hispanic children with ALL and 541 Hispanic individuals without ALL. Researchers also checked ARID5B in 978 white ALL patients and 1,046 white individuals without the cancer.

Although the high-risk versions of ARID5B were found in both white and Hispanic patients, those variants were 1.5 to two times more common in Hispanic children than in white children.

Individuals inherit two copies of every gene, one from each parent. Children with one high-risk version of ARID5B were up to 80 percent more likely to develop ALL than others. Inheriting two copies of a high-risk version of the gene translated into a 3.6-fold increased ALL risk.

Researchers also found evidence linking ARID5B variants to relapse risk in 1,605 pediatric ALL patients enrolled in COG studies. Yang and his colleagues previously linked that level of Native American ancestry to a higher relapse risk in Hispanic ALL patients. Patients in this study who inherited a high-risk version of ARID5B were 50 percent more likely to relapse than other patients. They were also more likely to die of their cancer.

The study's first author is Heng Xu of St. Jude. Other authors are Cheng Cheng, Deqing Pei, Yiping Fan, Wenjian Yang, Geoff Neale, William E. Evans, Ching-Hon Pui, and Mary Relling, all of St. Jude; Meenakshi Devidas, University of Florida, Gainesville; Paul Scheet, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; Esteban Gonzalez Burchard, Dara Torgerson, Celeste Eng and Mignon Loh, all of University of California, San Francisco; Michael Dean, National Cancer Institute; Federico Antillon, Unidad Nacional de Oncologia Pediatrica, Guatemala; Naomi Winick, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center; Paul Martin, Duke University; Cheryl Willman, University of New Mexico; Bruce Camitta, Medical College of Wisconsin; Gregory Reaman, George Washington University, Children's National Medical Center; William Carroll, New York University; and Stephen Hunger, University of Colorado School of Medicine and Children's Hospital Colorado.

Yang was supported by the American Society of Hematology Scholar Award and the Alex Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer Young Investigator Award. The work was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health, the Jeffrey Pride Foundation, CureSearch and ALSAC.

Recommend this story on Facebook, Twitter,
and Google +1:

Other bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, via Newswise.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Heng Xu, Cheng Cheng, Meenakshi Devidas, Deqing Pei, Yiping Fan, Wenjian Yang, Geoff Neale, Paul Scheet, Esteban G. Burchard, Dara G. Torgerson, Celeste Eng, Michael Dean, Frederico Antillon, Naomi J. Winick, Paul L. Martin, Cheryl L. Willman, Bruce M. Camitta, Gregory H. Reaman, William L. Carroll, Mignon Loh, William E. Evans, Ching-Hon Pui, Stephen P. Hunger, Mary V. Relling, and Jun J. Yang. RID5B Genetic Polymorphisms Contribute to Racial Disparities in the Incidence and Treatment Outcome of Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2012; DOI: 10.1200/JCO.2011.38.0345

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/DhxuQVzWfV8/120130172619.htm

matthew shepard matthew shepard aaron curry aaron curry ios 5 features ios 5 features ellen degeneres show

Photo Quiz: Guess The Image

Image: Damir Sagolj/Reuters

Parts of Thailand were left unrecognizable at the end of last year, after the country experienced its worst floods in 50 years. The tops of vehicles at a Honda factory in Ayutthaya province (pictured here) peeked out from under receding water. The flooding, brought on by an unusually heavy monsoon season, immersed about one third of Thailand?s provinces, displacing thousands and killing more than 650 people. Stagnant waters brought fears of mosquitoes carrying malaria and dengue fever.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=1bf4ad3d71aa6139f88d09755ae9496a

oscar nominees the bachelor the tree of life movie academy award nominees 2012 2012 oscar nominations florida debate kyle williams

Streep's Thatcher, Williams' Monroe star at SAG (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? What a cast the Screen Actors Guild Awards have lined up: Marilyn Monroe, Laurence Olivier, Margaret Thatcher and J. Edgar Hoover.

Actors playing illustrious real-life figures factor into the 18th annual honors given by Hollywood's main acting union Sunday.

The best-actress category features Meryl Streep as Thatcher in "The Iron Lady" and Michelle Williams as Monroe in "My Week with Marilyn." Leonardo DiCaprio is up for best actor as FBI boss in "J. Edgar," while "My Week with Marilyn" co-stars supporting-actor nominee Kenneth Branagh as Olivier.

Streep won a Golden Globe for "The Iron Lady" and is considered a favorite for the SAG prize and for her third win at the Academy Awards, which are set for Feb. 26.

The front-runners for the other SAG awards are actors in fictional roles, though, among them George Clooney as a dad in crisis in "The Descendants" and Jean Dujardin as a silent-film star fallen on hard times in "The Artist." Both are up for best actor, and both won Globes ? Clooney as dramatic actor, Dujardin as musical or comedy actor.

Octavia Spencer as a brassy Mississippi maid in "The Help" and Christopher Plummer as an elderly dad who comes out as gay in "Beginners" won Globes for supporting performances and have strong prospects for the same honors at the SAG Awards.

The winners at the SAG ceremony typically go on to earn Oscars. All four acting recipients at SAG last year later took home Oscars ? Colin Firth for "The King's Speech," Natalie Portman for "Black Swan" and Christian Bale and Melissa Leo for "The Fighter."

The same generally holds true for the weekend's other big Hollywood honors, the Directors Guild of America Awards, where Michel Hazanavicius won the feature-film prize Saturday for "The Artist." The Directors Guild winner has gone on to earn the best-director Oscar 57 times in the 63-year history of the union's awards show.

SAG also presents an award for overall cast performance, a prize that's loosely considered the ceremony's equivalent of a best-picture honor. However, the cast award has a spotty record at predicting what will win best picture at the Oscars.

While "The King's Speech" won both honors a year ago, the SAG cast recipient has gone on to claim the top Oscar only eight times in the 16 years since the guild added the category.

The SAG ceremony also includes an award for stunt ensemble, whose nominees include such hits as "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2," "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" and "X-Men: First Class."

Airing live on TNT and TBS, the show features nine television categories, as well.

Receiving the guild's life-achievement award is Mary Tyler Moore. The prize will be presented by Dick Van Dyke, her co-star on the 1960s sit-com "The Dick Van Dyke Show."

___

Online:

http://www.sagawards.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tv/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120129/ap_en_tv/us_sag_awards

progeria leon panetta luck undercover boss sag awards 2012 nominees sag awards fafsa

Belkin ScreenCast

More and more laptops equipped with Intel's second-generation Core processors offer a nifty perk for presentation givers and multimedia buffs: Wireless Display or WiDi, which beams the laptop's display and audio to a living-room HDTV or conference-room monitor with no cords or cables required. What is required, however, is a WiDi adapter or receiver connected to the TV, and Belkin has a fine example in the ScreenCast TV Adapter for Intel Wireless Display ($129.99 list). It's one of the most effective and easiest-to-use accessories we've seen, and as such, it's our Editors' Choice for WiDi adapters.

An alternative to the arguably better-known (or at least more promoted by Best Buy and, mea culpa, more often mentioned by PCMag) Netgear Push2TV HD (4 stars, $99.99 list), the ScreenCast is a similar black plastic box about the size of a trade paperback. It plugs into a TV or monitor using an HDMI cable (supplied) or three-pronged RCA cable (not supplied), and also into an AC outlet using a provided adapter.

Setup takes under a minute if you dawdle; the Belkin device even shaves a few seconds off the Netgear Push2TV setup time by shipping with its HDMI and power cables already connected. Once you've plugged the ScreenCast in, tune your TV to the proper video input (such as HDMI 2 or HDMI 3); after a few seconds, a "Ready for connection" screen will tell you to launch the WiDi software on your laptop. The latter will scan for adapters and find the ScreenCast. Double-click on it, and you'll be prompted for one-time entry of a four-digit security code that appears on the TV screen. Then you can rename the adapter to something descriptive such as "Living Room" or "Conference Room C."

Pressing the Windows key and P, as with a projector or other external monitor, lets you choose whether to duplicate the notebook's display on the TV or extend the desktop across both so you can, say, drag a Windows Media Player or WinDVD movie to the big screen while checking e-mail on the laptop.

The only thing that might be a little daunting for nontechnical users is keeping up with Intel's updates. Our test unit automatically noticed and installed a firmware update, and Belkin suggests making sure you've got the latest WiFi and graphics drivers and WiDi software to enjoy the latest capabilities.

Those capabilities include HDCP support for copy-protected as well as unprotected video content, meaning you can stream a DVD or Blu-ray title across the room at full 1080p resolution with 5.1 surround sound. PC Labs' Blu-ray of Ghostbusters, popped into a Toshiba Satellite P745-S4320 notebook, looked and sounded great on a 75-inch Sharp HDTV, as did 1080p video clips from YouTube and the Labs' collection. There were no latency problems or stutters at distances ranging from 5 to 15 feet, apart from a couple of buffering moments with the YouTube clips that were almost certainly ordinary cases of WiFi rather than WiDi latency.

Indeed, whereas our reviewer noticed some slight mouse and keyboard lag with the Push2TV, I couldn't make that complaint about the ScreenCast: Rather than "typing on the laptop's keyboard and watching the letters appear a millisecond (or two) later," text on the TV kept up with my utmost typing speed. Credit probably goes to driver updates since that June 2011 review (or your being a slower typist?Ed.), but it's another way the Belkin proved trouble-free. Actually, the only improvement the ScreenCast could use is a small price cut: At $129.99, its list price is $30 higher than its Netgear rival's, though we easily found online resellers offering it for around $100.

Just as the number of laptops with WiDi 2.1 is growing, it seems likely that more and more HDTVs will soon have WiDi receivers built in; Intel and LG announced last month that the latter's Cinema 3D Smart TVs will be so equipped in 2012. Even then, the Belkin ScreenCast earns an Editors' Choice nod as a sensational way to stream content to or just enjoy working on a big screen from the comfort of your couch.

More Media Hub & Receiver reviews:
??? Belkin ScreenCast
??? Netgear NeoTV NTV550
??? Sony Internet TV Blu-ray Disc Player (NSZ-GT1)
??? Roku LT
??? Grace Digital Victoria Nostalgic Internet Radio
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/UNRJqBFJqWY/0,2817,2399461,00.asp

pawpaw pawpaw cantaloupe cantaloupe credit union greys anatomy greys anatomy

Can Too Much Information Harm Patients? [Excerpt]

Features | Health

In his new book, cardiologist Eric Topol explores the ways in which the digital age is transforming medicine

By Eric Topol ?| January 27, 2012?|

Editor's Note: The following is an excerpt from The Creative Destruction of Medicine: How the Digital Revolution Will Create Better Health Care (Basic Books, 2012), by Eric Topol, a professor of innovative medicine and the director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute.

Nearly 7 Billion people on the planet

Over 3 million doctors

Tens of thousands of hospitals

6000 prescription medicines, 4000 procedures and operations

Countless supplements, herbs, alternative treatments

Who gets what, when, where, why and how?

When a 58 year old, active, lean, intelligent financier from Florida came to see me for a second opinion, I should not have been surprised. For Valentine's Day the prior year, his wife's present was a computed tomography (CT) scan for his heart. She heard about it on the radio and also saw heart scan billboards on the highway. There was even a special deal of $100 off for Valentine's.

But her husband didn't have any symptoms of heart disease, didn't take any medications, and played at least two rounds of golf a week. On the other days, he worked out on an elliptical machine for 30 to 40 minutes. Until he got the heart scan.

My patient was told that he had a score of 710?a high calcium score?and his physician had told him that he would need to undergo a coronary angiogram, a roadmap movie of the coronary anatomy, as soon as possible. He did that and was found to have several blockages in two of the three arteries serving his heart. His cardiologists in Florida immediately put in five stents (even though no stress-test or other symptoms had suggested they were necessary), and put him on a regimen of Lipitor, a beta-blocker, aspirin and Plavix.

Now, in my office four months later, this patient is not doing well at all. He is worried that he might have a heart attack if one of the stents becomes clotted. He feels profoundly tired and has muscle aches that are so disturbing he can neither play golf nor do his usual exercise. He complains of marked depression and an inability to have or sustain an erection. A fit individual, who had taken good care of himself and was enjoying his life, was now debilitated and depressed. The cardiology trainee who saw this patient with me asked, "How could this have happened?"

Unfortunately, this individual's story is not so uncommon. Think predator and prey: the physicians and hospital advertise, leading to a high volume of heart scans, billed directly to the patients at some $500 each. Then, should an abnormal score come up, the patient may be quickly referred for first a diagnostic procedure, and then one to implant metal stents in the arteries on the surface of the heart. Naturally the cardiologist who put in multiple stents feels gratified to have saved the patient's life with unsuspected, advanced coronary disease. Overall, however these cases are like riding a train to the last stop, regardless of the most logical destination. All procedures are performed, as likely as not, the outcome is not a saved life but a "cardiac cripple."

I didn't enjoy telling the patient that he should probably not have ever had the stents. I could see the cholesterol buildup in the two arteries on an angiogram he brought with him, but the case was not severe. Of course, it was too late to do anything about the stents, which can't be removed, except to reassure him that he was not in any imminent or real danger, but I could get him off some of his medications, which would help his current symptoms and get him back to golf and exercise.

Mark Twain said, "To a man with a hammer, a lot of things looks like nails that need pounding." Surgeons are notorious for a similar bias: "When it doubt, cut it out." My patient was the victim of the same tendency. As badly as he got pounded, it could have been worse: in 2010 the "Olympic record" of stenting was published. One patient had sixty-seven stents placed throughout his coronary arteries and bypass grafts, in the course of twenty-eight coronary angiograms over a ten-year period.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=82900df7612edac6a69381c4a806a9a2

danielle staub last of the mohicans last of the mohicans ryan howard meteor shower 2011 meteor shower 2011 home depot center

The Mystery of the Puerto Rican Voter

ORLANDO, Fla.?Starting a caravana in Orlando is no easy business. A few cars bedecked with flags bearing the name of a local candidate may gather in a shopping-center parking lot, but when they turn out onto the public streets other cars are slow to join the procession, as they do across Puerto Rico in the days before an election. There, caravans are part of a broad political pageant in which party colors?blue for the pro-statehood party, red for pro-commonwealth?seem to wash over every inch of available surface area on the island, from murals to neckties. That flair travels to the polls: Puerto Ricans vote at some of the highest rates in the Western Hemisphere.

Over the last decade, candidates in Central Florida running for offices at all levels have tried to mobilize the rapidly growing Puerto Rican community by adopting the caravana tradition. But unlike in Puerto Rico, where caravans can go on for hours in a stream of joyful noise, a Floridian homage can be halting and unsettlingly quiet. Sometimes this is by design: Local campaign organizers warn their caravan drivers not to make too much of a racket while traveling through Anglo neighborhoods, for fear of triggering a backlash.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=ecaba219e151518b0a9a91b1b4903a85

twilight breaking dawn trailer shaker jackie evancho wild flag wild flag stevie wonder gurkha

Navy SEAL raid in Somalia shows campaign ahead (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The Navy SEAL operation that freed two Western hostages in Somalia is representative of the Obama administration's pledge to build a smaller, more agile military force that can carry out surgical counterterrorist strikes to cripple an enemy.

That's a strategy much preferred to the land invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan that have cost so much American blood and treasure over the past decade. The contrast to a full-bore invasion is stark: A small, daring team storms a pirate encampment on a near-moonless night, kills nine kidnappers and whisks the hostages to safety.

Special operations forces, trained for such clandestine missions, have become a more prominent tool in the military's kit since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that led to the ongoing war in Afghanistan. The administration is expected to announce Thursday that it will invest even more heavily in that capability in coming years.

The SEAL Team 6 raid in Somalia, which followed last May's operation that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, has political dimensions in an election year.

It gave an added punch to the five-state tour President Barack Obama began the day after he delivered his State of the Union speech. Obama did not mention the raid that was unfolding during his Tuesday night address, but he dropped a hint upon arriving in the House chamber by telling Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, "Good job tonight."

The SEAL mission also helps soften the blow of defense cuts the White House is seeking in spite of a chorus of criticism by hawkish lawmakers. Not to be discounted is the feel-good moment such missions give the American public, a counterbalance to the continued casualties in Afghanistan.

Obama sent a letter to congressional leaders Thursday outlining the reasons for the raid and declaring that his order to use force to rescue the hostages was in line with his constitutional powers as commander-in-chief of the armed forces. He wrote that the kidnappers were "linked to" Somali pirates and financiers.

After planning and rehearsal, the Somalia rescue was carried out by SEAL Team 6, officially known as the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, according to two U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a secret mission. It was not clear whether any team members participated in both the raid in Somalia and the bin Laden mission in Pakistan.

The SEALs parachuted from U.S. Air Force special operations aircraft before moving on foot, apparently undetected, to the outdoor encampment, two officials said. They found American Jessica Buchanan, 32, and Poul Hagen Thisted, a 60-year-old Dane, who had been kidnapped in Somalia last fall.

The SEALs encountered little resistance from the kidnappers during the operation, which lasted about an hour to an hour and a half, two U.S. officials said. Only one of the attackers fired back and was quickly subdued, one official said. The rest were believed killed, though officials did not rule out the possibility of an escape, as aerial surveillance of the scene was hampered on the cloudy, dark night.

Army special operations MH-60 Black Hawk helicopters then swooped into the subdued encampment near the town of Adado to carry away the SEALs and hostages.

The captors were heavily armed and had explosives nearby when the rescuers arrived on the scene, Pentagon press secretary George Little said, but he was not more specific. Little declined to say whether there was an exchange of gunfire and would not provide further details about the rescue beyond saying that all of the captors were killed by the Americans.

The American raiders caught the kidnappers as they were sleeping after having chewed the narcotic leaf qat for much of the evening, a pirate who gave his name as Bile Hussein told The Associated Press by phone. Hussein said he was not present at the site but had spoken with other pirates who were. They told him that nine pirates had been killed in the raid and three were taken away, he said. However, two U.S. officials said no Somalis were captured.

Little said the decision to go ahead with the rescue was prompted in part by rising concern about the medical condition of Buchanan. He said he could not be specific without violating her privacy but did say U.S. officials had reason to believe her condition could be life-threatening.

Mary Ann Olsen, an official with the Danish Refugee Council, which employed Buchanan and Thisted in de-mining efforts in Somalia, said Buchanan was "not that ill" but needed medicine.

In the last week or so, U.S. officials had collected enough information to "connect the dots" that led Obama to authorize the mission on Monday, Little said.

A Western official said the rescuers and the freed hostages flew by helicopter to Camp Lemonnier in the nearby Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the information had not been released publicly. A key U.S. ally in the region, Djibouti hosts the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, a U.S.-led group organized under U.S. Africa Command.

A U.S. defense official said Thursday that Buchanan and Thisted had been flown to Naval Air Station Sigonella, on the Italian island of Sicily, for medical screenings and other evaluations before heading home. Buchanan's family is meeting her at NAS Sigonella, which is the hub of U.S. Navy air operations in the Mediterranean and hosts an Italian air force base.

The mission was directed by Army Gen. Carter Ham, head of Africa Command, from his headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. Panetta and other members of Obama's national security team monitored the mission from the White House before traveling to the Capitol to attend Obama's speech.

Minutes after Obama completed his State of the Union address, he was on the phone with Buchanan's father to tell him that his daughter was safe.

Several hostages were still being held in Somalia, including a British tourist, two Spanish doctors seized from neighboring Kenya and an American journalist kidnapped on Saturday.

___

Associated Press writers Lolita Baldor and Julie Pace in Washington, Jason Straziuso and Katharine Houreld in Nairobi, and Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, contributed to this report.

___

Follow Kimberly Dozier at http://twitter.com/kimberlydozier, Katharine Houreld at http://twitter.com/khoureld and Robert Burns at http://twitter.com/robertburnsAP

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_somalia_raid

earthquake today earthquake today droid razr oklahoma news atomic clock earthquake map geoffrey mutai

Mars Rover Opportunity Turns 8

Can you remember the last piece of technology hardware you had which outlived its warranty?.

Pretty much everything I own, seeing as how most warranty terms are a year at best. No company in its right mind would design a product that would NOT make it past its warranty expiration.

You don't read the same reviews I do, on Amazon... "This thing was DOA out of the box..." "This lasted 30 days and then died..." etc.

Some stuff holds up well (which I theorize is inversely proportional to how much I use/depend upon) While I experience the same as these unhappy reviewers.

After the learning experiences of Hubble and the failed ("inches? I thought you mean't Centimetres!") Mars Climate Orbiter, you can expect things are held to a very high standard - because failure is so very, very expens

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/faYZ7wTveBs/mars-rover-opportunity-turns-8

real housewives of new jersey coraline coraline jacqueline laurita mcfadden mcfadden ponder

HTC Titan (AT&T)

The HTC Titan ($199.99) is the HTC Radar 4G's ($99.99, 3.5 stars) big brother. Both cell phones run Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango), but whereas the Radar 4G is a fine midrange device on T-Mobile, the Titan offers a faster processor and a much larger screen on AT&T. The Titan is a nice phone and worth owning. But now that the modestly upgraded Titan II looms, wait for AT&T's inevitable discount on the first model before pouncing.

Design, Call Quality, and OS
The HTC Titan measures 5.1 by 2.8 by 0.4 inches (HWD) and weighs 5.6 ounces. It feels like a quality piece, with a mix of aluminum and soft touch accents, and a massive glass touch screen. It's tough to use one-handed; my right thumb couldn't reach the Back button, for example, although I could dial numbers and (barely) touch all of the home screen tiles. The 4.7-inch, 480-by-800-pixel panel makes photos and videos look huge, but the lack of resolution compared to competing 960-by-540 and 1280-by-720 phones is noticeable. Microsoft employs a little slight-of-hand to smooth the fonts, but the low-density screen can make things look a bit soft all around. Typing with the on-screen keyboard on such a large screen is a cinch, even in portrait mode.

The HTC Titan is a quad-band EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) and tri-band HSPA+ 14.4 (850/1900/2100 MHz) device with 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi. This phone is 3G, not 4G despite AT&T's claims; expect download speeds averaging 2-3Mbps.

Voice quality was mixed overall. Reception was fine.?I heard a full, midrangey tone in the earpiece and plenty of gain, which is good. But transmissions through the microphone varied in quality, and often sounded muted when compared back to back with the HTC Vivid ($99, 4 stars). In addition, the phone is so large that even despite HTC's oversize earpiece speaker, you still have to position the handset carefully to hear the other person.

Calls sounded clear through an Aliph Jawbone Era Bluetooth headset ($129, 4 stars). The TellMe-powered voice dialing worked perfectly over Bluetooth. The speakerphone could use more volume; it's not loud enough for talking outdoors, but at least it doesn't distort much. Battery life was a little weak at 4 hours and 40 minutes of talk time.

All Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) (Free, 3.5 stars) devices look and feel more or less the same on the software side. The Titan's 1.5GHz single-core Qualcomm 8255 S2 processor performed well in our benchmark tests, and the Titan feels snappy in day-to-day use.

Software-wise, the platform is fine; you get preloaded Office document editing, good music and video players, tight Facebook integration, built-in Exchange and Outlook sync, and a powerful WebKit browser. Windows Marketplace recently topped 50,000 third-party apps?still far behind Android and iOS, but Microsoft's efforts to court third-party developers are paying off. That said, plenty of big name apps are still missing, including Pandora, Mint, Zinio, Instagram, Hulu, and Dropbox. If that bothers you, you should still go with Android or iOS.?

Multimedia, Camera, and Conclusions
There's a standard-size 3.5mm headphone jack on top and 10.52GB of free internal storage, but no memory card slot, and no earbuds in the box. Music tracks sounded full and clear through both wired and Samsung Modus HM6450 Bluetooth headphones ($99, 4 stars).

The Windows Phone music player is fun to use, with large album art thumbnails and a smooth interface. The Zune software transcoded and synced all of my media without issue?aside from XviD files?and Windows Connector also works great on the Mac side. Standalone video files looked vibrant and played smoothly right up to 1080p resolution.

The 8-megapixel auto-focus camera includes geotagging and a dual-LED flash. Test photos looked sharp outside, with well balanced color, plenty of detail, and good lighting. Indoor photos were fine in well lit rooms, but exhibited a fair amount of grain as the lighting dimmed. Recorded videos were average but not exceptional; both 1280-by-720-pixel (720p) and 640-by-480-pixel (VGA) videos topped out at 23 frames per second, although files recorded at both resolutions exhibited good detail. The camera app comes with plenty of adjustable settings for both photos and video recordings.

The Titan isn't going away when the Titan II hits the market, although the newer model adds a 16-megapixel camera and LTE. AT&T will continue to sell both models even when the Titan II arrives in "the coming weeks" (according to the carrier). That leads me to recommend the Titan as a decent choice, if slightly inferior to the Samsung Focus S ($199.99, 3.5 stars). Right this moment, for less money, you can nab our Editors' Choice Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket ($149.99, 4.5 stars) or HTC Vivid, both of which sport LTE data connections and access to Android's superior Android Market. At $199.99, the HTC Titan is also up against the much smaller Apple iPhone 4S ($199.99, 4.5 stars), which has a superior camera, the best apps and games in the industry, and a sharper screen.

Benchmarks
Continuous talk time: 4 hours 40 minutes

More Cell Phone Reviews:
??? HTC Titan (AT&T)
??? PCD Wrangler (U.S. Cellular)
??? Nokia Lumia 710 (T-Mobile)
??? Samsung Exhibit II 4G (T-Mobile)
??? Huawei Mercury (Cricket Wireless)
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/3fEp6IsR7Ao/0,2817,2398983,00.asp

the x factor execution execution facebook music facebook music daphne guinness daphne guinness

A leukemia drug kills cancerous T-cells while sparing normal immunity

Public release date: 25-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Marjorie Montemayor-Quellenberg
mmontemayor-quellenberg@partners.org
617-534-2208
Brigham and Women's Hospital

BOSTON, MALeukemic cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (L-CTCL) is a leukemia arising from T-cells, a type of white blood cell. This cancer can involve the skin and other organs, and patients often die within three years.

Rachael A. Clark, MD, PhD, BWH assistant professor of dermatology and associate dermatologist and Thomas Kupper, MD, BWH Department of Dermatology chairman and their colleagues now report a new study that low-dose Campath (alemtuzumab) not only treats patients with L-CTCL but does so without increasing their risk of infections.

The study was electronically published on January 18, 2012 in Science Translational Medicine.

Campath was previously believed to kill all lymphocytes (T-cells and B-cells) in the body and render patients susceptible to infections. However, Clark and Kupper found that Campath only kills T-cells that enter the bloodstream, but it spares a newly discovered population of T-cells that live long-term in the tissues.

"We noticed that our patients were not getting infections, and we looked in the skin. We saw healthy T-cells remaining there despite the fact that there were no T-cells in the blood," said Clark. "We used to believe that most T-cells responsible for protecting against infection were in the bloodstream. But we now realize that highly protective T-cells also inhabit tissues such as the skin, lungs and gastrointestinal tract. It is these tissue resident T-cells that are critical in protecting us from infection on a day-to-day basis."

By showing that Campath kills circulating T-cells, including the cancerous T-cells, but spares tissue resident T-cells, Clark and Kupper have shown that Campath effectively treats L-CTCL while sparing normal immunity. Their findings are also the first demonstration in human beings that tissue resident T-cells provide frontline immune protection of the skin.

"We're very grateful to our patients for entrusting us with their care and for teaching us important lessons about the immune system." said Clark.

In a companion piece, Mark Davis, PhD, Stanford University School of Medicine, called the work a "translational tour de force."

###

This research was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the Foundation Rene Touraine and a charitable contribution from Edward P. Lawrence, Esq.

Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is a 793-bed nonprofit teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School and a founding member of Partners HealthCare, an integrated health care delivery network. BWH is the home of the Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro Cardiovascular Center, the most advanced center of its kind. BWH is committed to excellence in patient care with expertise in virtually every specialty of medicine and surgery. The BWH medical preeminence dates back to 1832, and today that rich history in clinical care is coupled with its national leadership in quality improvement and patient safety initiatives and its dedication to educating and training the next generation of health care professionals. Through investigation and discovery conducted at its Biomedical Research Institute (BRI), www.brighamandwomens.org/research, BWH is an international leader in basic, clinical and translational research on human diseases, involving more than 900 physician-investigators and renowned biomedical scientists and faculty supported by more than $537 M in funding. BWH is also home to major landmark epidemiologic population studies, including the Nurses' and Physicians' Health Studies and the Women's Health Initiative. For more information about BWH, please visit www.brighamandwomens.org.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 25-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Marjorie Montemayor-Quellenberg
mmontemayor-quellenberg@partners.org
617-534-2208
Brigham and Women's Hospital

BOSTON, MALeukemic cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (L-CTCL) is a leukemia arising from T-cells, a type of white blood cell. This cancer can involve the skin and other organs, and patients often die within three years.

Rachael A. Clark, MD, PhD, BWH assistant professor of dermatology and associate dermatologist and Thomas Kupper, MD, BWH Department of Dermatology chairman and their colleagues now report a new study that low-dose Campath (alemtuzumab) not only treats patients with L-CTCL but does so without increasing their risk of infections.

The study was electronically published on January 18, 2012 in Science Translational Medicine.

Campath was previously believed to kill all lymphocytes (T-cells and B-cells) in the body and render patients susceptible to infections. However, Clark and Kupper found that Campath only kills T-cells that enter the bloodstream, but it spares a newly discovered population of T-cells that live long-term in the tissues.

"We noticed that our patients were not getting infections, and we looked in the skin. We saw healthy T-cells remaining there despite the fact that there were no T-cells in the blood," said Clark. "We used to believe that most T-cells responsible for protecting against infection were in the bloodstream. But we now realize that highly protective T-cells also inhabit tissues such as the skin, lungs and gastrointestinal tract. It is these tissue resident T-cells that are critical in protecting us from infection on a day-to-day basis."

By showing that Campath kills circulating T-cells, including the cancerous T-cells, but spares tissue resident T-cells, Clark and Kupper have shown that Campath effectively treats L-CTCL while sparing normal immunity. Their findings are also the first demonstration in human beings that tissue resident T-cells provide frontline immune protection of the skin.

"We're very grateful to our patients for entrusting us with their care and for teaching us important lessons about the immune system." said Clark.

In a companion piece, Mark Davis, PhD, Stanford University School of Medicine, called the work a "translational tour de force."

###

This research was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the Foundation Rene Touraine and a charitable contribution from Edward P. Lawrence, Esq.

Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is a 793-bed nonprofit teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School and a founding member of Partners HealthCare, an integrated health care delivery network. BWH is the home of the Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro Cardiovascular Center, the most advanced center of its kind. BWH is committed to excellence in patient care with expertise in virtually every specialty of medicine and surgery. The BWH medical preeminence dates back to 1832, and today that rich history in clinical care is coupled with its national leadership in quality improvement and patient safety initiatives and its dedication to educating and training the next generation of health care professionals. Through investigation and discovery conducted at its Biomedical Research Institute (BRI), www.brighamandwomens.org/research, BWH is an international leader in basic, clinical and translational research on human diseases, involving more than 900 physician-investigators and renowned biomedical scientists and faculty supported by more than $537 M in funding. BWH is also home to major landmark epidemiologic population studies, including the Nurses' and Physicians' Health Studies and the Women's Health Initiative. For more information about BWH, please visit www.brighamandwomens.org.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/bawh-ald012512.php

the hobbit the hobbit an unexpected journey dark knight rises trailer dark knight rises trailer latkes how to make it in america how to make it in america

Summary Box: J&J 4Q profit drops almost 90 percent (AP)

PROFIT PLUNGE: Johnson & Johnson's net income dropped nearly 90 percent to $218 million, due to $2.9 billion in charges for recalls, product liability, litigation and an acquisition. But after an unprecedented two years of declining sales, they rose last quarter by 4 percent.

RECALL UPDATE: Most of the McNeil Consumer Healthcare products that have been absent from stores due to repeated recalls should return by midyear, with the rest by year's end.

PROFIT FORECAST: J&J expects sales to rise from $65 billion last year to about $68 billion in 2012, and earnings per share to climb from $3.49 to about $5.10.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/earnings/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_bi_ge/us_earns_johnson___johnson_summary_box

karina smirnoff pumpkin cheesecake deviled eggs pie crust pie crust stuffing recipe happy thanksgiving

Legal Aid cutting back to cope with budget cuts | Arkansas Blog

Hard times mean more people are unable to afford legal services. But hard times also mean a reduction in support for Legal Aid of Arkansas, a Jonesboro-based agency that provides legal assistance in civil cases for those unable to pay in 31 counties.

Offices and staff are going to be cut back and work reorganized to cope, Legal Aid of Arkansas has announced. Its release follows.

NEWS RELEASE

JONESBORO, Ark. ? Facing steep funding cuts, Legal Aid of Arkansas has reorganized its service delivery system to continue to provide quality legal service to low income individuals and families in Arkansas.

A 14.9 percent federal funding cut to the Legal Services Corporation in 2012 and a four percent cut in 2011 equates to a loss of more than $300,000 for Legal Aid. The organization will likely face an additional 10 percent cut in 2013. Legal Services Corporation is Legal Aid?s largest funding source.

Adding to the problem, Arkansas? State Administration of Justice Fund, Legal Aid?s second largest funding source, has recently decreased by 18 percent.

?Because of the reductions in funding, we are going to have to be more strategic about how we allocate our limited resources,? said Lee Richardson, Executive Director of Legal Aid.

Legal Aid already laid off three staff attorneys and three support staff in 2011 in anticipation of funding cuts. Four attorney positions, three paralegal positions and three support positions will be cut in 2012.

Legal Aid?s delivery system is also getting an overhaul. The new system is based on four substantive law workgroups, which will focus on domestic violence, consumer matters, housing issues and economic justice. Management will also be consolidated into four regions: Northwest, Ozark, Northeast and Delta.

The Mountain View office will be closed and Legal Aid management will look to relocate other offices to smaller physical plants. Donated space will be used to ensure continued local access to Legal Aid services.

These cuts come in the face of an economic downturn that has seen more and more people in need of legal assistance. Legal Aid closed more than 7,000 cases in 2011, and for every client the organization provided assistance, another client was turned away because a lack of resources.

?The cornerstone of fairness in this country is based on the idea that the most humble among us should be the peer of the most affluent when seeking justice,? Richardson said. ?Unfortunately, this concept cannot be a reality unless both sides to an issue have legal counsel. Legal Aid is the only game in town for individuals with civil issues without resources to pay an attorney.?

Despite cuts, Legal Aid remains the place for low-income Arkansans to seek legal assistance.

In an effort to maximize scarce resources, Legal Aid has developed Medical Legal Partnerships with Arkansas Children?s Hospital and Walmart Corporate Legal Department and with Federally Qualified Health Clinics in Lee and Monroe County. Legal Aid also introduced the Justice for Arkansans AmeriCorps program, placing eight public interest attorneys throughout the state to tackle various civil legal issues.

?We will work tirelessly to develop new resources and partnerships to advance the cause of social justice,? Richardson said.

In addition to these new developments, Legal Aid continues its Equal Access to Justice and Arkansas Volunteer Lawyers for the Elderly Panels, which maintain more than 700 private attorneys who volunteer to represent clients referred by Legal Aid for free.

Legal Aid of Arkansas is a nonprofit organization that provides free legal services to low-income persons with civil legal problems in 31 counties from Benton County in Northwest Arkansas to Phillips County in the Mississippi River Delta. If you need legal advice or representation, call 100-9-LAW-AID (1800-952-9243) to apply for services. Visit www.arlegalaid.org to learn more about services and volunteer opportunities.

Source: http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2012/01/23/legal-aid-cutting-back-to-cope-with-budget-cuts

verdict in michael jackson trial brian urlacher matt forte dr conrad murray verdict take care childish gambino camp drake take care tracklist

Spain sees strong demand in $3.3 billion debt sale (AP)

MADRID ? Spain successfully raised euro2.5 billion ($3.3 billion) in a short-term debt sale with strong demand and lower interest rates indicating growing market confidence in the new government's ability to handle its finances.

The Treasury sold euro1.4 billion ($1.82 billion) in three-month bills Tuesday with the average yield at 1.3 percent, down from 1.7 percent in the last such auction on Dec. 20.

It sold euro1.1 billion ($1.43 billion) in six-month bills at 1.8 percent, down from 2.4 percent.

Demand was nearly six times the amount offered.

Spain's borrowing costs have dropped since the conservative Popular Party won elections in November. The European Central Bank's injection of cheap money into the market and regular purchases of Spanish debt have also eased pressure.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_spain_financial_crisis

skylab skylab all my children moneyball moneyball nasa satellite nasa satellite

Sponsored By:

We were unable to forward you to the advertisement you clicked on.

The likely cause for this is that your browser, feed reader, or email application is configured to not accept cookies, or your reader may launch an external browser to view links without sharing cookies.

• If you're using Internet Explorer, make sure your privacy setting is at medium or below.
  • Select 'Internet Options' from the 'Tools' menu in your browser window
  • Click the Privacy tab
  • Adjust your privacy setting if necessary
    ?
• If you're using a reader that embeds Internet Explorer (examples: Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Feed Demon), you'll also need to select Internet Explorer as your default web browser.
  • Open Internet Explorer
  • Select 'Internet Options' from the 'Tools' menu in your browser window
  • Click the 'Programs' tab and check the box for Internet Explorer to check if it is the default browser and save your change
  • Close your browser, re-open it, and when prompted, select Internet Explorer as your default
  • You can then click on an ad in your newsletter and visit the site you wish to view

Source: http://ads.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=3c32644e21ff39aac471fa71072876fe&p=4

sticks and stones top chef powerball winner powerball winner narwhals narwhals gmail app

South Carolina Winner And Losers

Voters in South Carolina weathered the elements on Saturday and headed to the polls to make their choice for GOP presidential candidate. They picked former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich by a wide margin.

That would have been a surprise a few weeks ago, especially consider Gingrich's rather lackluster performances in both the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. But following some strong debate performances -- and testy exchanges with moderators -- Gingrich experienced a last-minute surge to the top of the pack in South Carolina. Furthermore, he did it with the strong support of conservative Tea Party and evangelical voters, who appeared happy to overlook an interview given by Gingrich's second ex-wife in which she claimed that he had asked her for an "open marriage."

The loss in South Carolina is a tough pill for Mitt Romney to swallow, who, on the heels of a victory in New Hampshire was thought to have been well on his way toward becoming the presumptive Republican nominee. He began campaigning in the Palmetto State with the support of its governor, Nikki Haley. But a few days before the South Carolina contest, Romney's first-place finish in Iowa was reversed, following a certification of lost votes which gave the win to Rick Santorum. Soon thereafter, Romney saw a dip in his own popularity, coming amid increasing scrutiny of his personal finances, sparked primarily by evasive comments about whether he would release his tax returns.

Now with Gingrich, Romney, and Santorum each winning a primary -- and Ron Paul continuing to nip at their heels, apparently with no plans of leaving the race -- the GOP primary has hit a full reset. The candidates and the media that covers them now head to Florida to compete in its Jan. 31 primary, which is now more important than ever.

The primary season now stands to remain competitive for longer than previously expected, which will give the nation, and its president, more time to view the increasingly hostile spectacle.

Take a look below at the winners and losers of the South Carolina primary, and vote for who you think came out on top:

WINNER: Newt Gingrich

1? of ?8

Gingrich's resurgence and eventual victory was unexpected, to say the least. As of a week ago, he was polling around the middle of the pack and few expected his candidacy to take off in South Carolina. He experienced a small bump in the middle of the week, when Texas Gov. Rick Perry dropped out of the race and threw his support behind the former speaker of the House. But that spark was nearly doused when his ex-wife gave an interview to ABC News claiming that he'd asked her for an open marriage while engaging in an affair with Callista Bisek, a Hill staffer who has since married Gingrich and taken his last name. South Carolina voters seemed largely unfazed by this development, however, and Gingrich managed to use the interview to his advantage during the week when he was asked to answer a question about it at a GOP presidential debate. Gingrich's resurgence and eventual victory was unexpected, to say the least. As of a week ago, he was polling around the middle of the pack and few expected his candidacy to take off in South Carolina. He experienced a small bump in the middle of the week, when Texas Gov. Rick Perry dropped out of the race and threw his support behind the former speaker of the House. But that spark was nearly doused when his ex-wife gave an interview to ABC News claiming that he'd asked her for an open marriage while engaging in an affair with Callista Bisek, a Hill staffer who has since married Gingrich and taken his last name.

South Carolina voters seemed largely unfazed by this development, however, and Gingrich managed to use the interview to his advantage during the week when he was asked to answer a question about it at a GOP presidential debate.

MORE SLIDESHOWS NEXT?> ??|?? <?PREV

WINNER: Newt Gingrich

Gingrich's resurgence and eventual victory was unexpected, to say the least. As of a week ago, he was polling around the middle of the pack and few expected his candidacy to take off in South Carolina. He experienced a small bump in the middle of the week, when Texas Gov. Rick Perry dropped out of the race and threw his support behind the former speaker of the House. But that spark was nearly doused when his ex-wife gave an interview to ABC News claiming that he'd asked her for an open marriage while engaging in an affair with Callista Bisek, a Hill staffer who has since married Gingrich and taken his last name. South Carolina voters seemed largely unfazed by this development, however, and Gingrich managed to use the interview to his advantage during the week when he was asked to answer a question about it at a GOP presidential debate.

CURRENT TOP 5 SLIDES

USERS WHO VOTED ON THIS SLIDE

Related on HuffPost:

"; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/21/south-carolina-winner-and-losers_n_1221148.html

no child left behind byu skylab skylab all my children moneyball moneyball

The Best Worst Photos of Megaupload's Kim Dotcom [Video]

Kim Schmitz aka Kimble aka Kim Dotcom. He was born in Kiel, Germany. According to the feds, he has done many bad things. But who was Kim the man, really? Was he a monster? A gangster? A misunderstood genius perhaps? More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/bwGfZdOc_So/the-best-worst-photos-of-megaupload-kim-dotcom

kepler 22 b rosie o donnell st nicholas st nicholas mindy mccready mindy mccready cliff harris

Mitchell: 'We won't let Joe's legacy die'

FILE - In this Sept. 5, 1987 file photo, Penn State football coach Joe Paterno walks around his players as they warm up for an NCAA college football game against Bowling Green in State College, Pa. Paterno, the longtime Penn State coach who won more games than anyone else in major college football but was fired amid a child sex abuse scandal that scarred his reputation for winning with integrity, died Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. He was 85. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 5, 1987 file photo, Penn State football coach Joe Paterno walks around his players as they warm up for an NCAA college football game against Bowling Green in State College, Pa. Paterno, the longtime Penn State coach who won more games than anyone else in major college football but was fired amid a child sex abuse scandal that scarred his reputation for winning with integrity, died Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. He was 85. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 28, 1965 file photo, Joe Paterno, associate football coach at Penn state, directs players at State College, Pa. Paterno, the longtime Penn State coach who won more games than anyone else in major college football but was fired amid a child sex abuse scandal that scarred his reputation for winning with integrity, died Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. He was 85. (AP Photo, File)

Former Penn State star Lydell Mitchell visited Joe Paterno about a week and a half ago, hoping to get just a moment with his ailing coach.

After an emotional hour and a half, Mitchell said goodbye and told Paterno that he would always have the support of his players.

"I said, 'Hey, man, we love you.' We'll fight the fight for him," Mitchell said Sunday after Paterno died at age 85.

Mitchell says Paterno's legacy "will always be intact because we won't let Joe's legacy die."

Paterno died less than three months after he was ousted amid a child sex abuse scandal involving one of his former assistants.

Former Penn State tight end Mickey Shuler says, "It's just sad because I think he died from other things than lung cancer."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-22-Paterno-Sports%20Reax/id-926280d3d800425b810104a4cfc71455

detroit tigers major league major league alicia sacramone occupy chicago occupy chicago ron white

Leap second lives on, at least another week (AP)

GENEVA ? The leap second may live on for at least another three years.

Once or twice a year, the leap second can be tacked on to synchronize atomic clocks ? the world's scientific timekeepers ? with the Earth's rotational cycle, which does not run quite like clockwork.

Without the leap second, atomic clocks would diverge about a minute a century from the course of the sun across the sky.

Britain, China, Canada and others have argued to keep it, but the United States, France and other nations have pushed to untether machines from the natural cycle because of the technical difficulties and costs to government and business.

Sanjay Acharya, a spokesman for the International Telecommunication Union, said Thursday a decision to abolish the leap second has been put off until next week. He said "it's been deferred" because government delegates at an ITU meeting were unable to reach agreement at talks this week.

The decision about how much the world needs the leap second affects everything from mobile phone networks to financial markets to air traffic control systems, all of which rely on atomic clocks and wouldn't have to momentarily stop their systems.

A Paris-based agency that tracks the globe's irregular wobble sends notice when the world's timekeepers need to add a leap second. That's only done on June 30 and December 31, but sometimes years go by without an adjustment ? and there's never been the need to subtract a leap second.

Government delegates now plan to examine the issue at a separate meeting in Geneva next week, but Acharya said they will likely defer any formal decision until 2015.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120119/ap_on_re_eu/eu_un_leap_second

sprint iphone sprint iphone defamation solyndra tesla model s tesla model s prohibition

Greenpois0n Absinthe jailbreak for iPhone 4S, iPad 2 updated to version 1.2.2, Windows version coming soon

Greenpois0n Absinthe has been updated to version 1.2.2 with bug fixes for some users that were experiencing issues. If you were having issues accessing Cydia or your jailbreak was failing, this should fix your issues. Just run it over your current jailbreak.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/1wQEaxFGjOU/story01.htm

veterans barbados resorts the call helen mirren surrogates surrogates james garner

Obama rejects Canada-Texas oil pipeline ? for now (AP)

WASHINGTON ? In a politically explosive decision, President Barack Obama on Wednesday rejected plans for a massive oil pipeline through the heart of the United States, ruling there was not enough time for a fair review before a looming deadline forced on him by Republicans. His move did not kill the project but could again delay a tough choice for him until after the November elections.

Right away, the implications rippled across the political spectrum, stirred up the presidential campaign and even hardened feelings with Canada, a trusted U.S. ally and neighbor. For a U.S. electorate eager for work, the pipeline has become the very symbol of job creation for Republicans, but Obama says the environment and public safety must still be weighed too.

The plan by Calgary-based TransCanada Corp. would carry tar sands oil from western Canada across a 1,700-mile pipeline across six U.S. states to Texas refineries.

Obama was already on record as saying no, for now, until his government could review an alternative route that avoided environmentally sensitive areas of Nebraska ? a route that still has not been proposed, as the White House emphasizes. But Obama had to take a stand again by Feb. 21 at the latest as part of an unrelated tax deal he cut with Republicans.

This time, the project would go forward unless Obama himself declared it was not in the national interest. The president did just that, reviving intense reaction.

"This announcement is not a judgment on the merits of the pipeline, but the arbitrary nature of a deadline that prevented the State Department from gathering the information necessary to approve the project and protect the American people," Obama said in a written statement. "I'm disappointed that Republicans in Congress forced this decision."

Republicans responded unsparingly.

"President Obama is destroying tens of thousands of American jobs and shipping American energy security to the Chinese. There's really just no other way to put it. The president is selling out American jobs for politics," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said. Insisting that the pipeline would help the economy, he declared: "This is not the end of the fight," signaling that Republicans might try again to force a decision.

The State Department said the decision was made "without prejudice," meaning TransCanada can submit a new application once a new route is established. Russ Girling, TransCanada's president and chief executive officer, said the company plans to do exactly that. If approved, the pipeline could begin operation as soon as 2014, Girling said.

It did not take long for the Republicans seeking Obama's job to slam him.

Newt Gingrich, campaigning for the GOP presidential nomination in South Carolina, called Obama's decision "stunningly stupid," adding: "What Obama has done is kill jobs, weaken American security and drive Canada into the arms of China out of just sheer stupidity."

Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney said the decision was "as shocking as it is revealing. It shows a president who once again has put politics ahead of sound policy."

Project supporters say U.S. rejection of the pipeline would not stop it from being built. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said Canada is serious about building a pipeline to its West Coast, where oil could be shipped to China and other Asian markets.

Harper on Wednesday told Obama he was profoundly disappointed that Obama turned down the pipeline, Harper's office said.

Alex Pourbaix, TransCanada's president for energy and oil pipelines, said last week the company soon will have a new route through Nebraska "that everyone agrees on."

The proposed $7 billion pipeline would run through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma en route to Texas.

The pipeline is a dicey proposition for Obama, who enjoyed strong support from both organized labor and environmentalists in his winning 2008 campaign for the White House.

Environmental advocates have made it clear that approval of the pipeline would dampen their enthusiasm for Obama in the upcoming November election. Some liberal donors even threatened to cut off funds to Obama's re-election campaign to protest the project, which opponents say would transport "dirty oil" that requires huge amounts of energy to extract.

But by rejecting the pipeline, Obama risks losing support from organized labor, a key part of the Democratic base, for thwarting thousands of jobs.

"The score is Job-Killers, two; American workers, zero," said Terry O'Sullivan, general president of the Laborers' International Union of North America.

O'Sullivan called the decision "politics at its worst" and said, "Blue collar construction workers across the U.S. will not forget this."

Yet some unions that back Obama oppose the pipeline, included United Auto Workers, Service Employees International Union and Communications Workers of America.

TransCanada says the pipeline could create as many as 20,000 jobs, a figure opponents say is inflated. A State Department report last summer said the pipeline would create up to 6,000 jobs during construction.

Obama appeared to have skirted what some dubbed the "Keystone conundrum" in November when the State Department announced it was postponing a decision on the pipeline until after this year's election. Officials said they needed extra time to study routes that avoid an environmentally sensitive area of Nebraska that supplies water to eight states.

The affected area stretches just 65 miles through the Sandhills region of northern Nebraska, but the concerns were serious enough that the state's governor and senators opposed the project until the pipeline was moved. The new route, which has not been chosen, would have to be approved by Nebraska environmental officials and the State Department, which has authority because the pipeline would cross an international border.

Obama said his decision does not "change my administration's commitment to American-made energy that creates jobs and reduces our dependence on oil."

To underscore the point, Obama signaled that he would not oppose development of an oil pipeline from Oklahoma to refineries along the Gulf of Mexico. TransCanada already operates a pipeline from Canada to Cushing, Okla.

Refineries in Houston and along the Texas Gulf Coast can handle heavy crude such as that extracted from Canadian tar sands ? the type of oil that would flow through the Keystone XL pipeline.

Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said he doesn't believe the Keystone XL is a dead project. He said the Obama administration did not have enough time to review the project, given the Republican-imposed timeline.

"I don't believe this is the end of the story," Conrad told The Associated Press. "My personal view is that it should be constructed. It's clear Canada is going to develop this resource, and I believe it is better for our country to have it go here rather than Asian markets."

Bill McKibben, an environmental activist who led opposition to the pipeline, praised Obama's decision to stand up to what he called a "naked political threat from Big Oil." Jack Gerard, the oil industry's top lobbyist, had said last week that Obama faced "huge political consequences" if he rejected the pipeline.

"It's not only the right thing, it's a very brave thing to do," McKibben said. "That's the Barack Obama I think people thought they were electing back in 2008."

___

Associated Press writers Dina Cappiello, Laurie Kellman and Sam Hananel in Washington, Shannon McCaffrey in Warrenville, S.C., Ramit Plushnick-Masti in Houston and James MacPherson in Bismarck, N.D., contributed to this report.

___

Follow Matthew Daly on Twitter: (at)MatthewDalyWDC.

Follow Ben Feller on Twitter: (at)BenFellerDC

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120119/ap_on_bi_ge/us_oil_pipeline

crimson tide crimson tide dixville notch 2013 ford fusion lsu football lsu football bcs