Saturday, December 31, 2011

Wenger: Henry will sign for Arsenal for 2 months

By STEVE DOUGLAS

updated 7:43 a.m. ET Dec. 30, 2011

LONDON - Three weeks after being immortalized in a bronze statue outside Arsenal's stadium, Thierry Henry was close to sealing an emotional return to the Premier League club that made him a global superstar.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said Friday that the former France captain will sign for the team in a two-month loan deal once an insurance agreement is reached with the New York Red Bulls, Henry's club in Major League Soccer.

Wenger is turning to Henry, who scored a club-record 226 goals in eight years at Arsenal between 1999-2007, to fill the gap left by the impending departures of Gervinho and Marouane Chamakh to the African Cup of Nations next month.

"To cover for two months is ideal," Wenger said. "He has the experience and the quality. He knows the club and can help the players on and off the pitch."

Henry, who has been training with Arsenal during the MLS offseason, established himself as a star in his first stint at the London club before moving to Spanish giant Barcelona.

His legacy could be enhanced further if he can inspire Wenger's side in a crucial period of matches through to his return to the United States in March, before which he could play a big role in seven league games and the first leg of Arsenal's Champions League last-16 match against AC Milan.

"I know it can only be positive," said Wenger, who converted Henry from a skinny winger to a muscly striker after signing him from Italian team Juventus in 1999.

"He has exceptional talent ? he is a very intelligent man and has a desire to help the club. But it is difficult to measure how positive an influence he is."

Henry's debut is likely to come against second-tier side Leeds in the third round of the FA Cup on Jan. 9, although there is an outside chance he could play a part in the league match at Fulham on Monday.

What is for sure, Arsenal fans will not witness the Henry of old, when he terrorized English defenses with his pace, touch and power to help Arsenal to two Premier League titles and three FA Cups.

Nudged out to the periphery in the last of his three seasons at Barcelona, where he was often shunted out of position to the left wing, Henry has spent the past year in the more relaxed environs of the MLS.

Instead, Wenger is relying on Henry's intelligence to see him through.

"You and I are conscious that he is 34 years old but he has not lost his class or his brain," Wenger said. "That will be just enough for us."

Henry will likely be the understudy to Robin van Persie, who has belatedly taken over the Frenchman's mantle as Arsenal's talismanic attacker and scored 16 league goals this season. In 2011, Van Persie has scored 34 times in the league and needs two goals against Queens Park Rangers on Saturday to equal the Premier League record in a calendar year, set by Alan Shearer in 1995.

Arsenal's other option up front is South Korea captain Park Ju-young, who has struggled for first-team chances since his move from Monaco in the offseason. Russia captain Andrey Arshavin, barely used by Wenger this season, and England winger Theo Walcott also can act as makeshift strikers but are more accustomed to playing out wide.

Renowned for his expertise at bringing youth prospects through to the first team, it won't be the first time Wenger has turned to a former star to help Arsenal on a short-term basis.

In March, Jens Lehmann ? like Henry, one of Arsenal's "Invincibles" who helped the team go through the 2003-04 league season unbeaten ? was signed to help solve a goalkeeping shortage.

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


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Lebanon rallying around team

Ali al-Saadi gave Lebanon a 1-0 lead against South Korea and the sectarian chants echoing across Cite Sportive stadium suddenly gave way to a more hopeful cheer.

Off-field woes

Football in 2011 was dominated by events off the field rather than on it.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45823928/ns/sports-soccer/

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Friday, December 30, 2011

ipadcreative: RT @Macworld: Need a stylish new stylus for your iPad? @settern rounds up more than 30 options so you don't have to. http://t.co/JL3AtShd

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Beloved pop artist James Rizzi dies at 61

FILE - In this May 20, 2010 file picture US Pop Art artist James Rizzi stands in front of his work "In the Spirit of Peace", painted on a fragment of the Berlin Wall, during the opening of his exhibition "Rizzi's World - 60 Years of James Rizzi" in Bremen, northern Germany. James Rizzi, a New York-born and based pop artist best known for his playful and childlike three-dimensional sculptures, has died. He was 61. Rizzi's managers, Art 28 GmbH & Co. KG, based in Stuttgart, Germany, said in a statement on its website that the artist died peacefully at his studio in New York's SoHo district on Monday Dec. 26, 2011. They gave no cause of death. (AP Photo/dapd/Focke Strangmann,File)

FILE - In this May 20, 2010 file picture US Pop Art artist James Rizzi stands in front of his work "In the Spirit of Peace", painted on a fragment of the Berlin Wall, during the opening of his exhibition "Rizzi's World - 60 Years of James Rizzi" in Bremen, northern Germany. James Rizzi, a New York-born and based pop artist best known for his playful and childlike three-dimensional sculptures, has died. He was 61. Rizzi's managers, Art 28 GmbH & Co. KG, based in Stuttgart, Germany, said in a statement on its website that the artist died peacefully at his studio in New York's SoHo district on Monday Dec. 26, 2011. They gave no cause of death. (AP Photo/dapd/Focke Strangmann,File)

FILE - In this May 20, 2010 file picture US artist James Rizzi poses at an exhibition in Bremen, Germany. James Rizzi, a New York-born and based pop artist best known for his playful and childlike three-dimensional sculptures, has died. He was 61. Rizzi's managers, Art 28 GmbH & Co. KG, based in Stuttgart, Germany, said in a statement on its website that the artist died peacefully at his studio in New York's SoHo district on Monday Dec. 26, 2011. They gave no cause of death. (AP Photo/dapd/ David Hecker,File)

FILE - In this May 15, 2008 file picture US artist James Rizzi poses in Mainz, Germany, in front of a bus he has colourful painted. James Rizzi, a New York-born and based pop artist best known for his playful and childlike three-dimensional sculptures, has died. He was 61. Rizzi's managers, Art 28 GmbH & Co. KG, based in Stuttgart, Germany, said in a statement on its website that the artist died peacefully at his studio in New York's SoHo district on Monday Dec. 26, 2011. They gave no cause of death. (AP Photo/dapd/ Thomas Lohnes,File)

FILE - In this Oct. 30, 2001 file picture children pass the Rizzi-House, designed by U.S. pop artist James Rizzi, in Braunschweig, northern Germany.James Rizzi, a New York-born and based pop artist best known for his playful and childlike three-dimensional sculptures, has died. He was 61. Rizzi's managers, Art 28 GmbH & Co. KG, based in Stuttgart, Germany, said in a statement on its website that the artist died peacefully at his studio in New York's SoHo district on Monday Dec. 26, 2011. They gave no cause of death. (AP Photo/Fabian Bimmer,File)

(AP) ? James Rizzi applied his playful, cartoon-like art style to unusual projects worldwide, from Volkswagen Beetles and Japanese train ads to cow sculptures in New York and the front page of a German newspaper.

His creations included images for German postage stamps and a tourist guide to New York published this year. He was the official artist for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland and soccer World Cup games in France.

"With his art, what you see is what you get," said Alexander Lieventhal, an executive at Art 28 GmbH & Co. in Stuttgart, Germany, which manages and sells Rizzi's work. "Any child can look at it and understand what he's trying to convey: a celebration of life."

Rizzi, a native of Brooklyn, died Monday at his New York studio at age 61. He had a heart condition, Lieventhal said.

Rizzi studied art at the University of Florida in Gainesville, where his groundbreaking techniques began with three-dimensional constructions that evolved from a youthful failure.

For his classes in painting, printmaking and sculpturing, he had to hand in work for grades in all three subjects. But Rizzi had time to complete only one: a twice-printed etching, with parts of one cut out and mounted on top of the other using wire.

Lieventhal described it as a "combination of print and sculpture that produces the 3D effect."

Rizzi stuck with the novelty, nurturing it when he returned to New York, where he made a name as a street artist with a mural.

In 1976, he participated in the exhibition "Thirty Years of American Printmarking" at the Brooklyn Museum. Four years later, he designed the cover for the first album of a new wave band called the Tom Tom Club.

Rizzi ventured into surprising aesthetic areas.

In New York, he created a limited-edition of the MetroCard subway fare-paying system for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. His designs also appeared in "CowParade," an exhibit of fiberglass sculptures displayed in New York public spaces.

Rizzi enjoyed some of his biggest successes in Germany and Asia.

There, he designed the ring coat for boxer Henry Maske, china for the Rosenthal company, the front page of a newspaper in Hamburg and some vehicular art ? a toy-size fire engine and three versions of the 1999 Volkswagen "New Beetle."

In 1996, Lufthansa airlines commissioned him to decorate a jet with stars, birds and travelers.

A school in Duisburg is named for Rizzi; in 2001 came the opening of his office building in Braunschweig, dubbed the "Happy Rizzi House." Last year, an oval stained-glass ceiling the "Rizzi Dome" was unveiled at one of Europe's biggest shopping malls, in Oberhausen.

He created ads for the Japanese Railway, and when he boarded planes in Germany, "the flight attendants asked for his autograph."

Rizzi was divorced and had no children. Survivors include his mother, a brother and a sister.

___

Online: http://www.james-rizzi.com

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2011-12-28-Germany-Obit-Rizzi/id-cce06c9fd78b419f8fdfc5077eb3494c

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Thursday, December 29, 2011

Harrods reportedly nabs Porsche Design P'9981 BlackBerry as UK exclusive, costs a princely ?1,275

The department store Harrods is no stranger to exposing Londoners to some of the finer -- and more eccentric -- things in life, and so after learning that it'd be bringing RIM's Porsche Design P'9981 BlackBerry to its shelves as a UK exclusive, we couldn't help but smile with curiosity. While we've yet to see anything official come across the wires, it's reported that this sexy slab of unlocked goodness will retail for £1,275 and hit stores before the month's end. We've attempted to confirm these details with RIM's UK group but, as it turns out, Brits like going home early on Friday, too.

Harrods reportedly nabs Porsche Design P'9981 BlackBerry as UK exclusive, costs a princely ?1,275 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Dec 2011 23:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sea snails help scientists explore a possible way to enhance memory

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Efforts to help people with learning impairments are being aided by a species of sea snail known as Aplysia californica. The mollusk, which is used by researchers to study the brain, has much in common with other species including humans. Research involving the snail has contributed to the understanding of learning and memory.

At The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), neuroscientists used this animal model to test an innovative learning strategy designed to help improve the brain's memory and the results were encouraging. It could ultimately benefit people who have impairments resulting from aging, stroke, traumatic brain injury or congenital cognitive impairments.

The proof-of-principle study was published on the Nature Neuroscience website on Dec. 25. The next steps in the research may involve tests in other animal models and eventually humans.

The strategy was used to identify times when the brain was primed for learning, which in turn facilitated the scheduling of learning sessions during these peak periods. The result was a significant increase in memory.

"We found that memory could be enhanced appreciably," said John H. "Jack" Byrne, Ph.D., senior author and chair of the Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy at the UTHealth Medical School.

Building on earlier research that identified proteins linked to memory, the investigators created a mathematical model that tells researchers when the timing of the activity of these proteins is aligned for the best learning experience.

Right now, the scheduling of learning sessions is based on trial and error and is somewhat arbitrary. If the model proves effective in follow-up studies, it could be used to identify those periods when learning potential is highest.

"When you give a training session, you are starting several different chemical reactions. If you give another session, you get additional effects. The idea is to get the sessions in sync," Byrne said. "We have developed a way to adjust the training sessions so they are tuned to the dynamics of the biochemical processes."

Two groups of snails received five learning sessions. One group received learning sessions at irregular intervals as predicted by a mathematical model. Another group received training sessions in regular 20-minute intervals.

Five days after the learning sessions were completed, a significant increase in memory was detected in the group that was trained with a schedule predicted by a computer. But, no increase was detected in the group with the regular 20-minute intervals.

The computer sorted through 10,000 different permutations in order to determine a schedule that would enhance memory.

To confirm their findings, researchers analyzed nerve cells in the brain of snails and found greater activity in the ones receiving the enhanced training schedule, said Byrne, the June and Virgil Waggoner Chair of Neurobiology and Anatomy at UTHealth.

"This study shows the feasibility of using computational methods to assist in the design of training schedules that enhance memory," Byrne said.

###

University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston: http://www.uthouston.edu

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116326/Sea_snails_help_scientists_explore_a_possible_way_to_enhance_memory

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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

93% 50/50

All Critics (166) | Top Critics (40) | Fresh (155) | Rotten (11)

Still, it's Gordon-Levitt's choices that continue to impress. Sure, he owned one of the most jaw-dropping sequences in last summer's blockbuster Inception. But the actor remains drawn to profoundly human-scale hurts and quiet triumphs.

Gordon-Levitt is an agreeably undemonstrative actor who plays well opposite the burbly Rogen.

Chances are about 90/10 that you'll enjoy 50/50.

Scene by scene, 50/50 can be both amusing and moving, with the tightly wound Gordon-Levitt and the boundaryless Rogen forming an oddly complementary pair. But as a whole the movie never quite coheres.

In other hands, Adam might well be hard to take. But as the comedy in 50/50 turns darker, Gordon-Levitt, who's maybe the most natural, least affected actor of his generation, makes prickly plenty engaging.

An everyman tale with plenty of heart and honesty, the serious subject matter is regularly enlivened with jolts of genuine hilarity, some of it in delightfully questionable taste.

Dark humor, smart characters and a script with a heart make '50/50' one of the best films of the year. You'll take some emotions with you when you leave the theater.

[A]n honest, hilarious, laugh-till-you-cry look at how very much it sucks to get very sick as a young person... The characters are all uniquely vivid and unforgettable...

To those unfortunate enough to have a potentially terminal illness, it could be inspirational.

[A] beautifully played, precisely observed and surprisingly thoughtful buddy movie, which is based on a true story.

It's the performances that really make it work, with Seth Rogen bringing his usual wonderfully loose comic energy to proceedings.

The absence of self-pity and sentimentality is something of a change. The women involved, however, are given a rather hard time.

This frequently funny and moving film proves humour can be wrung from tricky subjects, providing it's done with sufficient thoughtfulness and wit.

This film leaves a strange taste in the mouth.

Gordon-Levitt's uptight everyman hero fully earns our sympathy and Kendrick is superb as the rookie therapist, but the film suffers from an overly strong dose of Rogen's crudity and mawkishness, which must surely be reaching its use-by date soon.

So well-meaning you want to hug it.

The picture scores highly for tackling tricky, thought-provoking subject matter and contains some humorous and touching moments.

A rom-com with brains that - at key moments - feels as sly and sweet as Annie Hall.

It's not a major landmark on anybody's r?sum?, but it's nothing to be ashamed of either.

The Gordon-Levitt-Rogen bromance is one of the most exciting and fun ones in recent comedy history, and the pair have a wonderful natural rift ...

Seth Rogen might be there to puts bums on seats, but it's Joseph Gordon-Levitt who will keep you watching.

It may be a marketing nightmare, but as examinations of mortality go, few come funnier, wiser or more astutely acted.

Whether you're after a comedy-drama about cancer or a Rogen laugh-fest with added heart, this does a remarkable job of balancing the odds.

This is the terminal illness weepie for people who don't watch terminal illness weepies, and it's much the better for it.

It's refreshing to see a movie that embraces the ugly side of what happens to complicated personal relationships. Its quite uncomfortable at times, and the frank exploration of the cancer patient journey makes the comedy even funnier.

More Critic Reviews

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/5050_2011/

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Chick-fil-A Bowl notes: Virginia players say Mike London has set team on right path

ATLANTA, Georgia -- Spend a few moments around members of the Virginia football team and one thing becomes apparent quickly: They really like coach Mike London.

The gushing doesn't seem contrived, either.?

"He's a father figure," said running back Kevin Parks.

"He's passionate. He tells you how he feels," said lineman Luke Bowanko. "He cares about us 100 percent."

London, a native Virginian and former head coach at Richmond, quickly won over players and has the Cavaliers in their first bowl appearance since 2007.?

We'll have more about his story in tomorrow's paper.

* What comes to mind when you think of the University of Virginia?

Great academics? Thomas Jefferson? Great football?

Well, perhaps two of three.

But players say this year's success has increased enthusiasm in Charlottesville. And they think the Chick-fil-A Bowl is just Step 1 in a revitalized football program.

"Some people see Virginia as a school that just plays football but is known for its academics," Bowanko said. "Our recent lack of success plays into that. But I think this year has really revamped our reputation and people are taking to us a lot differently than they have in past years. Hopefully we're on the upswing in terms of reputation. But that's something you earn, you just don't get it, and we understand that."

Cornerback Demetrious Nicholson said the sense was that the Cavaliers might be ahead of schedule with its 8-win season in 2011, making it more important to build on the accomplishments in 2012.

"This was a big step," he said. "We set the standards for ourselves, so next year we've got to get better."

* The SEC is on the verge of winning its sixth consecutive national championship, and although conference rivalries may be pass? in the wake of this year's radical?realignment, a win would still allow Virginia to flex its ACC pride.

"I think it'd be a big deal for the ACC as well as our team, knowing that we can beat great teams like Auburn," Nicholson said.

* While Auburn is at the Georgia Dome, Virginia is practicing today at Georgia Tech's indoor practice facility.?

After practice, players from both teams will make a joint visit to the Martin Luther King Center.

Dinner will follow at Sal Grosso's Brazilian Buffet.

Source: http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2011/12/chick-fil-a_notes_from_virgini.html

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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Hudson said 'no' to 'Precious' over weight gain

Gabourey Sidibe sure must be grateful for this!

Story: Jennifer Hudson slams split rumors

In Jennifer Hudson's book "I Got This: How I Changed My Ways and Lost What Weighed Me Down," the 30-year-old singer-actress opens up about why she turned down an opportunity to star in the Academy Award nominated 2009 film "Precious."

PHOTOS: Jennifer's incredible slimdown

"I had (gained weight) with Effie (in "Dreamgirls")," she explains, as excerpted by Uptown Magazine. "And as much as I was moved by this film, I wanted to try a role that had nothing whatsoever to do with my weight."

  1. More Entertainment stories
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      Jeff Yeager isn't afraid to try cuts of meat that most people might shy away from, especially if it'll cost him next to no...

    2. What was the most shocking TV death of year?
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PHOTOS: Stars who were bullied for their weight

Instead, Hudson, who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in "Dreamgirls," went on to co-star in the first "Sex and the City" movie, alongside Sarah Jessica Parker.

PHOTOS: 2011's most talked about celeb bodies

Since her days on "American Idol," Hudson has dropped 80 lbs. with the help of Weight Watchers. In September, she even opened up the Jennifer Hudson Weight Watchers Center in Chicago.

Copyright 2011 Us Weekly

Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45795158/ns/today-entertainment/

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Johannes Heesters Dead: Nazi-Era Performer Dies At 108

BERLIN -- Dutch-born entertainer Johannes Heesters, who made his name performing in Adolf Hitler's Germany and was dogged later in his long career by controversy over his Nazi-era past, died Saturday, his agent said. He was 108.

The tenor Heesters made his debut on the big stage at the Volksoper in Vienna, Austria in 1934. His career took off in Berlin where, starting in 1935 ? two years after the Nazis took power ? he became a crowd favorite at the Komische Oper and Admiralspalast.

He gained fame by appearing in films such as "Die Leuchter des Kaisers" ("The Emperor's Candlesticks") and "Das Hofkonzert" ("The Court Concert").

Despite his popularity in the Third Reich, Heesters was never accused of being a propagandist or anything other than an artist willing to perform for the Nazis, and the Allies allowed him to continue his career after the war, when he took Austrian citizenship.

Heesters died early Saturday at the hospital in the southern city of Starnberg, where he had been cared for while being in critical condition for several days, his agent Juergen Ross said.

In Heesters' native Netherlands ? which was occupied by Germany for most of the war ? some viewed him as irredeemable given his appearances under the Nazi regime.

In February 2008, he braved protests to perform in the Netherlands for the first time in 44 years at a theater in his native Amersfoort.

In his previous attempt, in 1964, he was booed off the stage in Amsterdam when he tried to appear as the Nazi-hating Captain Von Trapp in "The Sound of Music."

Heesters said it gave him a "heavy heart" to know he was "not wanted in my homeland."

"What did I do wrong? Sure, I acted in films in the Third Reich, entertainment films, which distracted countless people inside and outside Germany from daily life during war," he wrote later about the reception he received.

"Sure, I wanted to make my career and I remember well at the time how many people in the Netherlands were proud that I made a career in the huge neighboring country," he added. "But apart from my career ? and the fact that, through no fault of my own, Adolf Hitler was one of the fans of my art ? what have I done?"

Critics focused on a visit Heesters made to the Dachau concentration camp in 1941.

In December 2008, Heesters lost a court attempt to force a German author to retract allegations that he sang for SS troops there.

Heesters maintained he had been ordered to go to Dachau by the Nazis in an attempt to deceive the public about what was really going on there, but said the alleged performance "never happened."

But Berlin author Volker Kuehn cited an interview with former Dachau inmate Viktor Matejka where the prisoner recalled "I pulled the curtain for him, I was there, I saw him singing."

Around the time of the court case, Heesters was shown on a Dutch television show saying that Hitler was "a good guy." His wife, Simone Rethel, immediately intervened, saying that Hitler was the worst criminal in the world.

"I know, doll," Heesters responded. "But he was nice to me."

Rethel protested after the clip was aired, telling Dutch papers that he had been tricked into making the remarks, and that the program had cut out other parts of the interview where Heesters condemned the Nazi regime.

Heesters continued to be a popular performer in Germany well into his old age, making regular appearances on television and on stage. He made 1,600 appearances in his best-known role, as Count Danilo in Franz Lehar's operetta "The Merry Widow," and 750 as Honore in the musical "Gigi."

At age 98, he put health problems such as knee and appendix operations behind him to perform in Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard." As he turned 105 in 2008, Heesters was performing in a musical comedy in Hamburg.

"To have nothing to do, to sit there waiting for little aches and pains, is fundamentally wrong," he once wrote. "Life has to be lived."

Heesters was born Dec. 5, 1903 in the Dutch city of Amersfoort, the youngest of four sons of a businessman. His first wife, Dutch actress Louisa Ghijs, died in 1983. The couple had two daughters, Wiesje and Nicole.

Heesters married his second wife, German actress Rethel, in 1992.

___

Juergen Baetz contributed to this report.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/25/johannes-heesters-dead_n_1169166.html

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Monday, December 26, 2011

Sadrists call for new elections in Iraq (AP)

BAGHDAD ? The political party loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called Monday for the dissolution of Iraq's parliament and new elections in another move that could escalate the country's growing sectarian crisis.

The anti-American Sadrist bloc is a partner in the Shiite-dominated government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Bahaa al-Aaraji, the head of the Sadrists' bloc in parliament, said the elections are needed because of instability in the country and problems that threaten Iraq's sovereignty.

"The political partners cannot find solutions for the problems that threaten to divide Iraq," he said.

Iraq plunged into a new sectarian crisis last week, just days after the last American troops withdrew at the end of a nearly nine-year war.

Al-Maliki is in a political showdown with the country's top Sunni political figure, Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, after the government issued an arrest warrant for al-Hashemi on allegations his bodyguards ran hit squads targeting government officials.

The prime minister threatened to form a government without al-Hashemi's Sunni-backed political party, Iraqiya, which is boycotting parliament and mulling whether to pull out of the ruling coalition.

Iraq was dominated by the minority Sunnis under Saddam Hussein until the U.S.-led war that began in 2003 ousted him. Majority Shiites have dominated the government ever since, though Americans pushed hard for the inclusion of Sunnis with a meaningful role in the current governing coalition.

Bitter sectarian rivalries played out in 2006-2007 in violence that took Iraq to the brink of civil war and the latest tensions have raised fears of a resurgence of Shiite-Sunni violence.

The political crisis taps into resentments that are still raw despite years of efforts to overcome them. The Sunnis fear the Shiite majority is squeezing them out of their already limited political role. Shiites suspect Sunnis of links to militants and of plotting to topple the Shiite leadership.

The Sadrists have played an important role in maintaining Shiite domination over government ? their support last year catapulted al-Maliki back to the prime minister's office for a second term.

For the proposal to dissolve parliament to gain traction, it would take the consent of at least 1/3 of parliament, the president and the prime minister or a simple majority of lawmakers. Al-Maliki, who only secured his position after nearly nine months of political wrangling after the last elections, would likely be loathe to go through the process again and risk an unfavorable outcome.

Al-Aaraji said the proposal first needs approval of the larger coalition between the Sadrists and al-Maliki's alliance, the two most powerful Shiite parties.

A Shiite lawmaker loyal to al-Maliki, Kamal al-Saiedi, said the proposal should be studied.

"Forming the current government was not an easy issue, therefore going back in the direction of new elections would be more difficult," he said.

A Sunni lawmaker with Iraqiya, the Sunni-backed bloc of the wanted vice president, said new elections would not bring security and stability. He pointed to the prolonged negotiations that were needed to agree on the government in place now, and said a new election would only bring the same people to office.

"We need to sit around the same negotiating table and that is the only path to salvation from this current crisis," said Kamil al-Dulaimi.

The new political crisis has been accompanied by a new wave of attacks on the Iraqi capital by suspected Sunni insurgents linked to al-Qaida.

A suicide bomber set off a car bomb Monday at a checkpoint leading to the Interior Ministry, killing seven people and injuring 32, officials said. Police and hospital officials said the bomber struck during morning rush hour, hitting one of many security barriers set up around the ministry's building.

Also Monday, a roadside bomb hit a passing army patrol in the Abu Ghraib area west of Baghdad, killing two soldiers and injuring two, a police officer and a doctor said.

Al-Maliki's adviser for National Reconciliation Amer al-Khuzaie, said leaders of Asaib Ahl al-Haq, one of the top Shiite militant groups, had decided to lay down their weapons and join the political system.

Asaib Ahl al-Haq, or Band of the People of Righteousness, was a splinter group from the Mahdi Army, also headed by al-Sadr. They, along with the Mahdi Army, were two of three Shiite militant groups active in Iraq that were dedicated to fighting the U.S. military presence.

Al-Khuzaie said the group had signed an agreement in recent days renouncing violence. He said they would change their name and join the political process. He said he had been negotiating for months with the group, who said they would join the political process after the U.S. military left Iraq. All American troops departed on Dec. 18.

Officials from the group were not available to confirm the decision.

U.S. officials have warned that these Shiite militant groups could turn against the Iraqi government after the American military has gone. A key test to whether Asaib Ahl al-Haq, an Iranian-funded group, is committed to becoming a peaceful part of the political process is whether they actually turn in their weapons, especially the more powerful and sophisticated weapons they're believed to get from Iran.

__

Associated Press writers Mazin Yahya, Sinan Salaheddin and Qassim Abdul-Zahra contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111226/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq

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Sunday, December 25, 2011

Romney says Obama, Biden live in "fantasyland"

Republican presidential candidate former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney pays Allan Lowe for diesel after pumping fuel into his campaign bus during a stop in Randolph, N.H., Thursday Dec. 22, 2011. Lowe is also the Randolph police chief. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Republican presidential candidate former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney pays Allan Lowe for diesel after pumping fuel into his campaign bus during a stop in Randolph, N.H., Thursday Dec. 22, 2011. Lowe is also the Randolph police chief. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

(AP) ? Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney says the president and vice president are living in "fantasyland" if they think the economy is getting better.

Romney was responding to an opinion piece by Vice President Joe Biden in Friday's Des Moines Register. Biden argued that the economic policies Romney wants to pursue as president would help the wealthy and leave some in the middle class behind.

Speaking in New Hampshire less than two weeks before voting begins in Iowa, Romney said Biden and President Barack Obama don't "understand from fantasyland what it's like in real America."

Romney says Obama's policies have made it harder for entrepreneurs to start businesses and create jobs.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2011-12-23-US-Romney/id-a61b82d567b646809df211e38a291c6b

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In China, a daring few challenge one-child limit (AP)

ZHUJI, China ? Seven months pregnant, Wu Weiping sneaked out early in the morning carrying a shoulder bag with some clothes, her laptop and a knife.

"It's good for me I wasn't caught, but it's lucky for them too," said Wu, 35, who feared that family planning officials were going to drag her to the hospital for a forced abortion. "I was going to fight to the death if they found me."

With her escape, Wu joined an increasingly defiant community of parents in China who have risked their jobs, savings and physical safety to have a forbidden second child.

Though their numbers are small, they represent changing ideas about individual rights. While violators in the past tended to be rural families who skirted the birth limits in relative obscurity, many today are urbanites like Wu who frame their defiance in overtly political terms, arguing that the government has no right to dictate how many children they have.

Using Internet chat rooms and blogs, a few have begun airing their demands for a more liberal family planning policy and are hoping others will follow their lead. Several have gotten their stories into the tightly controlled media, an indication that their perspectives have resonance with the public.

After finding out his wife was expecting a second child, Liu Lianwen set up an online discussion group called "Free Birth" to swap information about the one-child policy and how to get around it. In less than six months, it has attracted nearly 200 members.

"We are idealists," said the 37-year-old engineer from central China, whose daughter was born Oct. 18. "We want to change the attitudes of people around us by changing ourselves."

Freed of the social controls imposed during the doctrinaire era of communist rule, Chinese today are free to choose where they live and work and whom they marry. But when it comes to having kids, the state says the majority must stop at one. Hefty fines for violators and rising economic pressures have helped compel most to abide by the limit. Many provinces claim near perfect compliance.

It's impossible to know how many children have been born in violation of the one-child policy, but Zhai Zhenwu, director of Renmin University's School of Sociology and Population in Beijing, estimates that less than 1 percent of the 16 million babies born each year are "out of plan."

Liu thinks his fellow citizens have been brainwashed. "They all feel it's glorious to have a small family," he said. "Thirty years of family planning propaganda have changed the way the majority of Chinese think about having children."

The reluctance to procreate is also an issue of growing concern for demographers, who worry that the policy combined with a rising cost of living has brought the fertility rate down too sharply and too fast. Though still the world's largest nation with 1.3 billion people, China's population growth has slowed considerably.

"The worry for China is not population growth ? it's rapid population aging and young people not wanting to have children," said Wang Feng, director of the Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy, a joint U.S.-China academic research center in Beijing.

Wang sees a looming disaster as the baby boom generation of the 1960s heads into retirement and old age. China's labor force, sharply reduced by the one-child policy, will struggle to support them.

He argues that the government should allow everyone at least two children. He thinks many Chinese would still stop at one because of concerns about being able to afford to raise more than that.

Penalties for violators are harsh. Those caught must pay a "social compensation fee," which can be four to nine times a family's annual income, depending on the province and the whim of the local family planning bureau. Parents with government jobs can also lose their posts or get demoted, and their "out of plan" children are denied education and health benefits.

Those without government posts have less to worry about. If they can afford the steep fee and don't mind losing benefits, there's little to stop them from having another child. There's popular anger over this favoring of the wealthy but not much that ordinary people can do about it, since the policy is set behind closed doors by the communist leadership in Beijing.

In 2007, officials in coastal Zhejiang province threatened to start naming and shaming well-off families who had extra kids, but the campaign never got off the ground, possibly because it threatened to tarnish the reputations of too many well-connected people.

Hardest hit by the rules are urban middle class parents with Communist Party posts, teaching positions or jobs at state-run industries.

Li Yongan was ordered to pay 240,000 yuan ($37,500) after his son was born in 2007 as he already had a 13-year-old daughter. After refusing to pay the fee, Li was denied a household registration permit for his son, forcing him to pay three times more for kindergarten.

He was also barred from his job teaching physics at a state-run university in Beijing. "I never regret my second child, but I have been living with depression and anger for years," said Li, who struggles to make ends meet as a freelance chess teacher.

Of course, there are surreptitious, though not foolproof, ways to evade punishment: paying a bribe or falsifying documents so that, for instance, a second child is registered as the twin of an older sibling. Or, sometimes second babies are registered to childless relatives or rural families that are allowed to have a second child but haven't done so.

Wu, the woman who made the early morning escape, said she never intended to flout the one-child rule. She had resorted to fertility treatments to conceive her first child ? a daughter nicknamed Le Le, or Happy ? so she was stunned when a doctor told her she was expecting again in August 2008.

The news triggered a monthlong "cold war" with her husband, Wu said. Silent dinners, cold shoulders. She wanted to keep the baby. He didn't. After a few weeks, he came around, she explained with a satisfied smile.

But family planning officials insisted on an abortion. The principal at her school also pressured her to end the pregnancy.

Desperate, she went online for answers ? and was led astray.

At her home on the outskirts of Zhuji, a textile hub a few hours south of Shanghai, the energetic former high school teacher recounted how she divorced her husband, then married her cousin the next day, all in an attempt to evade the rules.

The soap-opera-like subterfuge was meant to take advantage of a loophole that allows divorced parents to have a second child if their new spouse is a first-time parent.

Wu had helped raise her cousin, who is 25 and 10 years younger than her, and when she asked if he would marry her to help save the baby, he agreed.

The divorce, on Sept. 27, 2008, involved signing a document and posing for a photo. It was over in just a few minutes. The next day's marriage was similarly swift.

"I remember I was very happy that day," Wu said holding the marriage certificate with a glued-on snapshot of the cousins. "Because I thought I'd figured out a way to save my baby."

But her problem wasn't over. When the newlyweds applied for a birth permit, officials informed them conception had to take place after marriage. They were told to abort the baby, then try again. Wu was back to square one.

A popular option that was out of reach for Wu economically is to have the baby elsewhere, where the limits don't apply. Some better-off Chinese go to Hong Kong, where private agencies charge mainland mothers hundreds of thousands of yuan (tens of thousands of dollars) for transport, lodging and medical costs.

The number giving birth in Hong Kong reached 40,000 last year, prompting the territory to cap the number of beds in public hospitals they are allowed from 2012. However, parents of kids born abroad face the bureaucratic hurdles of foreigners, having to pay premiums for school and other services.

In the end, Wu also fled, but not as far as Hong Kong. Three months from her due date, she kissed her baby daughter goodbye, telling her she was going on vacation, and hopped an early morning train to nearby Hangzhou. There she switched to another train bound for Shanghai, hoping the roundabout route would throw off anyone trying to tail her.

In Shanghai, Wu used a friend's ID to rent a one-room apartment with shared bathroom and kitchen. It was tiny and not cheap for her, 700 yuan ($107) a month, but it was across from a hospital that allowed her to register without a government-issued birth permission slip and it had an Internet connection.

Wu had never used email, so her husband ? the real one ? set up a password-protected online journal that he titled "yixiaobb," or "one tiny baby." She posted to the journal up to nine times a day, describing where she was living without ever revealing her exact location. She prefaced every entry with a capital M for mother, and added a number to mark how many messages she wrote in a day. Using the same journal, her husband wrote to her, coding his messages with an F.

It felt like an invisible tether linking Wu to her husband. He didn't know where she was, but knew she was OK. Shortly before her due date, she asked him to come to Shanghai, and he was present for the birth of their son.

More than two years later, she and her former husband, the father to both her children, have yet to remarry ? hoping it will legally shield him from any future punishment.

The marriage with her cousin was easily dissolved after they discovered it was never valid, because marriages between first cousins is illegal in China.

Wu was fired from her job as a public school teacher because of the baby, and her ex-husband, who is also a teacher, was demoted to a freelance position at his school. Though told she has been assessed a 120,740 yuan ($18,575) social compensation fee, Wu has refused to pay.

Enforcers of the family planning limits showed up at their house in July, and again in November, threatening legal action. Wu is afraid their property might be confiscated or that she or husband might end up in detention, but she doesn't want to pay the fine because she doesn't believe she's done anything wrong.

"I don't think I've committed any crime," she said. "A crime is something that hurts other people or society or that infringes on other people's rights. I don't think having a baby is any kind of crime."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111224/ap_on_re_as/as_china_two_kids

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Saturday, December 24, 2011

Payroll tax deadlock ends as House caves (AP)

WASHINGTON ? House Republicans on Thursday caved to demands by President Barack Obama, congressional Democrats and fellow Republicans for a short-term renewal of payroll tax cuts for all workers. The breakthrough almost certainly spares workers an average $20 a week tax increase Jan. 1.

After days of wrangling that even Speaker John Boehner acknowledged "may not have been politically the smartest thing in the world," the Ohio Republican abruptly changed course and dropped demands for immediate holiday season talks with the Senate on a full-year measure that all sides said they want. Senate leaders had insisted on the two-month extension to buy time for talks next year.

The House and Senate plan to act on the two-month extension Friday.

House Republicans were under fire from their constituents and GOP establishment figures incensed that they would risk losing the tax cut issue to Democrats at the dawn of the 2012 presidential and congressional election year. House GOP arguments about the legislative process and the "uncertainty" a two-month extension would mean for business were unpersuasive.

"In the end House Republicans felt like they were reenacting the Alamo, with no reinforcements and our friends shooting at us," said Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas.

The compromise legislation would renew the tax break through Feb. 29, along with jobless benefits and a "fix" to prevent doctors from absorbing a big cut in Medicare payments. Its $33 billion cost would be covered by an increased fee on mortgages backed by Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac.

The developments were a clear win for Obama. The payroll tax cut was the centerpiece of his three-month campaign-style drive for jobs legislation that seems to have contributed to an uptick in his poll numbers ? and taken a toll on those of congressional Republicans.

"Because of this agreement, every working American will keep his or her tax cut - about $1,000 for the average family," Obama said in a statement. "That's about $40 in every paycheck. And when Congress returns, I urge them to keep working to reach an agreement that will extend this tax cut and unemployment insurance for all of 2012 without drama or delay."

If the cuts had expired as scheduled, 160 million workers would have seen a 2 percentage point increase in their Social Security taxes. And up to 2 million people without jobs for six months would start losing unemployment benefits averaging $300 a week.

The GOP retreat ends a tense standoff in which Boehner's House Republicans came under great pressure to agree to the short-term extension passed by the Senate on Saturday. The speaker was initially open to the idea, but rank-and-file Republicans revolted, and the House instead insisted on immediate talks on the year-long measure passed by the House, which contains curbs to unemployment insurance and other ideas backed by conservatives ? as well as deeper spending cuts to pay for the full-year cost.

After Senate leaders tried but failed to match the House's goal for a full-year pact, the chamber on Saturday instead gave sweeping approval for the two-month extension of the payroll tax cut, jobless benefits and doctors' Medicare fees that otherwise would have been cut 27 percent. The House had just days before passed a full-year extension that included a series of conservative policy prescriptions unpalatable to Obama and congressional Democrats.

Obama, Republicans and congressional Democrats all said they preferred a one-year extension but the politics of achieving that eluded them. All pledged to start working on that in January.

"Has this place become so dysfunctional that even when we agree to things we can't do it?" Obama asked. "Enough is enough.".

The top Senate Republican, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, was a driving force behind Thursday's agreement, imploring Boehner to accept the deal that McConnell and Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid had struck last week and passed with overwhelming support in both parties.

"There remain important differences between the parties on how to implement these policies, and it is critical that we protect middle-class families from a tax increase while we work them out," Reid said after Boehner's announcement.

The breakthrough emerged as a firewall erected by tea party-backed House Republicans crumbled Thursday.

"I don't think that my constituents should have a tax increase because of Washington's dysfunction," said freshman Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis.

The Republican establishment, too, put new pressure on House Republicans to compromise.

The 2008 GOP presidential nominee, John McCain, former Bush administration confidant Karl Rove and The Wall Street Journal editorial page were among conservative voices urging House Republicans to retreat.

Just hours before he announced the breakthrough, Boehner had made the case for a year-long extension. But on a brief late afternoon conference call, he informed his colleagues it was time to yield.

"He said that as your leader, you've in effect asked me to make decisions easy and difficult and I'm making my decision right now," said Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., paraphrasing Boehner's comments.

Kingston said the conference call lasted just minutes and Boehner did not give anyone time to respond.

There was still carping among tea party freshmen upset that GOP leaders had yielded.

"Even though there is plenty of evidence this is a bad deal for America ... the House has caved yet again to the president and Senate Democrats," said Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan. "We were sent here with a clear set of instructions from the American people to put an end to business as usual in Washington, yet here we are being asked to sign off on yet another gimmick."

Almost forgotten in the firestorm is that McConnell and Boehner had extracted a major victory last week, winning a provision that would require Obama to make a swift decision on whether to approve construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, which would bring Canadian oil to the U.S. and create thousands of construction jobs. To block the pipeline, Obama would have to declare that is not in the nation's interest.

Obama wanted to put the decision off until after the 2012 election.

House Republicans did win one concession in addition to a promise that Senate Democrats would name negotiators on the one-year House measure: a provision to ease concerns that the 60-day extension would be hard for payroll processing companies to implement.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111223/ap_on_bi_ge/us_payroll_tax

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Times-Union general manager retiring

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

Source: jacksonville.com --- Wednesday, December 21, 2011
The general manager of the Times-Union announced Wednesday he is retiring after 43 years with the organization. Bobby Martin, 67, said he?ll begin his retirement Dec. 31. Martin first joined the Times-Union in 1961 while a student at Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville. His first job was working in the advertising department delivering copy and proofs. read more ...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JacksonvillecomsNewsSportsAndEntertainment/~3/FxUZlio3VWs/times-union-general-manager-retiring

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Friday, December 23, 2011

Mexico disbands entire police force in top port (AP)

VERACRUZ, Mexico ? The entire police force in the major Gulf coast port city of Veracruz was dissolved on Wednesday and Mexican officials sent the Navy in to patrol.

The Veracruz state government said the decision is part of an effort to root out police corruption and start from zero in the state's largest city.

State spokeswoman Gina Dominguez said 800 police officers and 300 administrative employees were laid off. At a press conference, she said they can apply for jobs in a state police force, but must meet stricter standards for an agency with officers "who are better trained and more committed and who can deliver under our current security circumstances."

Armed marines barricaded police headquarters Wednesday and Navy helicopters were flying above the city where 35 bodies were dumped in September. It was one of the worst gang attacks of Mexico's drug war.

The change was agreed upon Monday by Veracruz Gov. Javier Duarte and federal Interior Secretary Alejandro Poire.

Mexico's army has taken over police operations several times before, notably in the border city of Ciudad Juarez and the border state of Tamaulipas. But Veracruz becomes the first state to completely disband a large police department and use marines as law enforcers. There are about 2,400 marines in the state of Veracruz.

Dominguez said the Navy operations will last only until the state can train more of its own police. Duarte already had disbanded a police force in the state's capital of Xalapa, but in that case state agents immediately replaced city police.

President Felipe Calderon has pushed an ambitious process for vetting all of Mexico's 460,000 police officers. His administration allocated $331 million for 200 cities to train and re-equip municipal police forces.

However governors have complained they lack the resources to ensure their police forces are clean.

Veracruz is a common route for drugs and migrants coming from the south. It was first dominated by the Gulf Cartel and then its former armed wing, the Zetas, took over after the two split. The state saw a rise in crime this spring after a government offensive in neighboring Tamaulipas scared drug criminals away to Veracruz.

But the dumping of the 35 bodies shocked Mexico as it turned port into a battleground between the Zetas and a gang aligned with the Sinaloa Cartel, led by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111221/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_mexico_police_disbanded

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CatholicNewsSvc: CNS Rome bureau: Cardinal Levada, classmates celebrate 50 years of priesthood: http://t.co/OQScpl4W #CNSstory

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Thursday, December 22, 2011

David Fincher Talks '20,000 Leagues,' 'Cleopatra'

David Fincher is a busy, busy man. In comparison to his Hollywood contemporaries, it seems like the "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" director is always working on a new project, whether it's live action or animated. "Dragon Tattoo" comes out today, and the prospect of directing two sequels should keep his scheduled tied up for [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2011/12/21/david-fincher-20000-leagues-under-the-sea-cleopatra/

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Monday, December 19, 2011

Madison finance committee moves meeting time | al.com

MADISON, Alabama

-- The Madison City Council finance committee has moved its meeting to Monday at 6 p.m. at the Madison Municipal Complex, 100 Hughes Road.

The finance committee normally meets at 5:30 p.m. before City Council meetings at 6 p.m. on the second and fourth Monday of the month. But because of the Madison Utility Board of Directors holding its monthly meeting at 5 p.m. at the Madison Municipal Complex Monday, the council moved its meeting to 7 p.m. That will allow council members Steve Haraway and Larry Vannoy, both on the Madison Utilities board, to attend both meetings.

Vannoy is also chair of the finance committee.

For more information, visit www.ci.madison.al.us/.

Source: http://blog.al.com/breaking/2011/12/post_760.html

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Sunday, December 18, 2011

Czechs, world leaders mourn Vaclav Havel (AP)

PRAGUE ? Thousands of Czechs paid tribute to Vaclav Havel on Sunday, braving cold and snow at the spot where the leader of the peaceful anti-communist revolution rallied protesters.

Mourners, some of them too young to remember 1989's "Velvet Revolution," met at downtown Wenceslas Square, where Havel once spoke before hundreds of thousands of people expressing their outrage at the repressive communist regime.

They jangled their keys to make noise as anti-communist demonstrators did, sang the national anthem and observed a minute of silence for the playwright-turned politician, who died Sunday.

"His legacy will be that 'truth and love must prevail over lies and hatred,'" Havel's former adviser Tomas Sedlacek told the crowd, quoting Havel's revolutionary motto.

Barbora Rubova, born two years after the end of the repressive communist regime, said it was important to show her respect to the man who helped kick off the fall of the Iron Curtain and served as president of Czechoslovakia, and later the Czech Republic.

"He laid foundations of democracy for us all," she said.

A black flag flew over Prague Castle, the presidential seat, while many Czechs stood in line to have a chance to light candles to remember Havel. "Mr. President, thank you for democracy," read a note placed at the monument to the revolution in downtown Prague.

Others visited his villa to lay flowers and light candles. Josef Klik, a 67-year-old, was among the mourners.

"He is an unforgettable person who contributed to the fall of communism," Klik said. "And after that, he remained a moral authority for ordinary people."

Bells tolled from cathedrals and churches across the country at 6 p.m. Prague archbishop Dominik Duka, who spent some time with Havel in a communist prison, said Havel "knew what it meant to lose freedom, be denied dignity, what is repression and imprisonment."

"I am convinced that we all, no matter what our political or religious views are, should pay respect to him and thank him," Duka said.

The Czech government meets Monday to declare a period of official mourning and Havel's body will go on display at the Prague Castle on Wednesday, officials said.

Czech public television announced it would broadcast Havel's film version of his last play, "Leaving," his directorial debut. Czech public radio said it would play some of the favorite music of the noted rock music fan.

Vaclav Klaus, Havel's political archrival who replaced him as president in 2003, said condolence books will be available for people to sign at the Prague castle the same day.

Klaus called Havel "the symbol of the new era of the Czech state," and Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg added that Havel "returned dignity to the Czech nation."

Tributes poured in from around the world. The founder of the Polish anti-communist Solidarity movement and former president Lech Walesa called Havel "a great fighter for the freedom of nations and for democracy."

President Barack Obama praised Havel for his "peaceful resistance (that) shook the foundations of an empire, exposed the emptiness of a repressive ideology, and proved that moral leadership is more powerful than any weapon."

Havel's funeral may take place on Friday, the local CTK news agency reported. Details are being worked out by the government in coordination with Havel's family.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111218/ap_on_re_eu/eu_czech_havel_remembered

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Wholesale prices up a modest 0.3 pct. last month (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Wholesale prices rose a modest 0.3 percent last month as companies paid more for such items as food and pharmaceuticals. But energy prices barely rose, keeping inflation in check.

In the 12 months ending in November, wholesale prices have increased 5.7 percent, down from a 5.9 percent year-over-year pace in October, the Labor Department said Thursday. It's the smallest yearly increase since March. The department's producer price index measures price changes before they reach consumers.

Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, the so-called "core" index rose 0.1 percent, after a flat reading the previous month. In the 12 months ending in November, the core index rose 2.9 percent, up a yearly pace of 2.8 percent in October.

Most economists say they think inflation has peaked and will slowly decline next year. That's because prices for oil and many agricultural commodities have fallen from their highs this spring. Slower growth in China and a possible recession in Europe have reduced global demand for energy and other goods.

Producer price inflation "appears to have peaked and begun a slow retreat," Steven Wood, an economist at Insight Economics, said in a note to clients.

Lower price growth means consumers will have more buying power, potentially boosting consumer spending. The jump in gas and food prices earlier this year limited the ability of consumers to buy other goods, thereby slowing the economy.

Consumer spending rebounded in the July-September quarter as prices eased. The stronger spending helped increase growth to an annual rate of 2 percent from a slight 0.9 percent in the first half of the year. Economists expect consumer spending to rise again in the last three months of this year and think growth could top 3 percent.

Wholesale food prices rose 1 percent last month, driven higher by a sharp increase in the cost of vegetables. Prices for lettuce, broccoli and cauliflower jumped sharply.

Chicken and other meat prices also rose. But with the price of grains and other farm goods declining, food prices will likely follow suit, economists noted.

The cost of pharmaceuticals and autos increased, pushing up the core index. But prices for pickup trucks and industrial machinery declined.

Federal Reserve policymakers, like many private economists, predict inflation will fall next year. That would give the central bank more latitude to hold down interest rates and potentially take other steps to stimulate the economy.

The Fed declined to make any new moves at its latest meeting Tuesday. It reiterated its commitment to keep the benchmark short-term rate it controls at nearly zero through mid-2013. If there were signs that inflation was increasing to worrisome levels, the Fed would likely raise rates.

The central bank said last month that it expects consumer inflation to fall from about 2.8 percent this year to roughly 1.7 percent next year. That's in the Fed's preferred range of core inflation of about 1.7 percent to 2 percent. Economists at Wells Fargo expect it to drop to 1.8 percent by the end of next year.

A small amount of inflation can be good for the economy. It encourages businesses and consumers to spend and invest money sooner rather than later, before inflation erodes its value.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/energy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111215/ap_on_bi_ge/us_wholesale_prices

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Saturday, December 17, 2011

Midwives use rituals to send message that women's bodies know best

Midwives use rituals to send message that women's bodies know best [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 16-Dec-2011
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Contact: Melissa Cheyney
melissa.cheyney@oregonstate.edu
541-737-3895
Oregon State University

CORVALLIS, Ore. In reaction to what midwives view as the overly medicalized way hospitals deliver babies, they have created birthing rituals to send the message that women's bodies know best.

The midwife experience uses these rituals to send the message that home birth is about female empowerment, strengthening relationships between family and friends, and facilitating participatory experiences that put mothers in control, with the ultimate goal of safe and healthy deliveries less focused on technological intervention.

These are some of the findings from an Oregon State University researcher and licensed midwife who witnessed more than 400 home births in order to document an extensive list of practices utilized by midwives to express the symbolic difference between home and hospital births.

In a study now online in the journal Medical Anthropology Quarterly, Melissa Cheyney, an assistant professor of medical anthropology at OSU, charted specific rituals used by midwives. In addition to witnessing and documenting home deliveries, she also conducted more than 50 in-depth interviews with midwives and their clients.

"This is about invoking the mind-body connection," Cheyney said. "We know, for instance, that midwives have better health outcomes in some areas, such as reduced rates of surgical delivery and labor induction, than hospitals. But I wanted to examine how ritual might play a part in producing these positive health outcomes."

Cheyney said evidence shows that hospital births result in about triple the rate of cesarean section for low-risk women compared to midwife-attended home births. Because of her unique role as both a researcher and midwife, Cheyney was able to gain access to hundreds of home births in various parts of the United States, and also witnessed more than 60 hospital births.

What she found was a network of common practices, messages and beliefs that resulted in midwives constructing woman-centered rituals around pregnancy and birth that were set up in opposition to what they believe are the overly medicalized practices of hospitals.

For instance, Cheyney found that midwives conducted many of the same diagnostic procedures as a physician would prenatally, from blood pressure and weight checks to blood testing and fetal heart tone evaluation. But midwives chose to get the entire family involved, often asking the partner to palpitate along with the midwife or allowing older children to hold the equipment used to listen to fetal heart tones.

"The participatory nature was a key component to creating a ritual that empowers the woman and her family to feel in control," Cheyney said. "Many midwives also downplayed the centrality of monitoring and resuscitation equipment setting them off to the side, or placing them under baby blankets during labor so women would not be reminded of the technology in the room. Mothers and babies were still monitored closely, but the monitoring was not made the central focus."

The differences aren't so much in practice, she argues, but in performance.

Cheyney also documented the use of common phrases to create birthing mantras. She lists phrases such as "don't fight it," "let your body do it," "open," and "let it be strong," as key components to the home birth ritual. Many mothers that Cheyney interviewed reported feeling strong and capable during their labors, and women who compared their hospital birth to their home birth reported feeling like they were "doing something, rather than just lying there passively waiting." Midwives also commonly expressed the statement that they were simply "guardians," and that women have all the tools inside of them to birth their own babies.

Cheyney said she was interested in documenting these home birth rituals in part because past anthropological studies have already looked at the rituals that characterize hospital deliveries. It is Cheyney's belief that both of these sets of rituals have caused a wide chasm between the 99 percent of the U.S. population that chooses hospital births and the 1 percent who choose home births.

"Just as women and their doctors who deliver in the hospital often feel convinced that their birth was the only safe and 'correct' way, women and midwives who deliver at home feel strongly that they have the solution," Cheyney said. "They believe it with every cell in their body because they have lived it."

The result, said Cheyney, are two deeply entrenched belief systems that have trouble meeting in the middle, prompting many of the tensions between midwives and obstetricians a major concern for Cheyney and other researchers as the number of home births in the U.S. is on the rise.

In contrast, countries such as Canada require midwives to be trained in home, birth center, and hospital deliveries. And Dutch physicians are required to complete midwifery training if they want to attend low-risk deliveries.

"How can you speak across divides unless you experience both sides?" Cheyney said. "To use a travel metaphor, it's easy to criticize a country you've never visited."

###



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Midwives use rituals to send message that women's bodies know best [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 16-Dec-2011
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Contact: Melissa Cheyney
melissa.cheyney@oregonstate.edu
541-737-3895
Oregon State University

CORVALLIS, Ore. In reaction to what midwives view as the overly medicalized way hospitals deliver babies, they have created birthing rituals to send the message that women's bodies know best.

The midwife experience uses these rituals to send the message that home birth is about female empowerment, strengthening relationships between family and friends, and facilitating participatory experiences that put mothers in control, with the ultimate goal of safe and healthy deliveries less focused on technological intervention.

These are some of the findings from an Oregon State University researcher and licensed midwife who witnessed more than 400 home births in order to document an extensive list of practices utilized by midwives to express the symbolic difference between home and hospital births.

In a study now online in the journal Medical Anthropology Quarterly, Melissa Cheyney, an assistant professor of medical anthropology at OSU, charted specific rituals used by midwives. In addition to witnessing and documenting home deliveries, she also conducted more than 50 in-depth interviews with midwives and their clients.

"This is about invoking the mind-body connection," Cheyney said. "We know, for instance, that midwives have better health outcomes in some areas, such as reduced rates of surgical delivery and labor induction, than hospitals. But I wanted to examine how ritual might play a part in producing these positive health outcomes."

Cheyney said evidence shows that hospital births result in about triple the rate of cesarean section for low-risk women compared to midwife-attended home births. Because of her unique role as both a researcher and midwife, Cheyney was able to gain access to hundreds of home births in various parts of the United States, and also witnessed more than 60 hospital births.

What she found was a network of common practices, messages and beliefs that resulted in midwives constructing woman-centered rituals around pregnancy and birth that were set up in opposition to what they believe are the overly medicalized practices of hospitals.

For instance, Cheyney found that midwives conducted many of the same diagnostic procedures as a physician would prenatally, from blood pressure and weight checks to blood testing and fetal heart tone evaluation. But midwives chose to get the entire family involved, often asking the partner to palpitate along with the midwife or allowing older children to hold the equipment used to listen to fetal heart tones.

"The participatory nature was a key component to creating a ritual that empowers the woman and her family to feel in control," Cheyney said. "Many midwives also downplayed the centrality of monitoring and resuscitation equipment setting them off to the side, or placing them under baby blankets during labor so women would not be reminded of the technology in the room. Mothers and babies were still monitored closely, but the monitoring was not made the central focus."

The differences aren't so much in practice, she argues, but in performance.

Cheyney also documented the use of common phrases to create birthing mantras. She lists phrases such as "don't fight it," "let your body do it," "open," and "let it be strong," as key components to the home birth ritual. Many mothers that Cheyney interviewed reported feeling strong and capable during their labors, and women who compared their hospital birth to their home birth reported feeling like they were "doing something, rather than just lying there passively waiting." Midwives also commonly expressed the statement that they were simply "guardians," and that women have all the tools inside of them to birth their own babies.

Cheyney said she was interested in documenting these home birth rituals in part because past anthropological studies have already looked at the rituals that characterize hospital deliveries. It is Cheyney's belief that both of these sets of rituals have caused a wide chasm between the 99 percent of the U.S. population that chooses hospital births and the 1 percent who choose home births.

"Just as women and their doctors who deliver in the hospital often feel convinced that their birth was the only safe and 'correct' way, women and midwives who deliver at home feel strongly that they have the solution," Cheyney said. "They believe it with every cell in their body because they have lived it."

The result, said Cheyney, are two deeply entrenched belief systems that have trouble meeting in the middle, prompting many of the tensions between midwives and obstetricians a major concern for Cheyney and other researchers as the number of home births in the U.S. is on the rise.

In contrast, countries such as Canada require midwives to be trained in home, birth center, and hospital deliveries. And Dutch physicians are required to complete midwifery training if they want to attend low-risk deliveries.

"How can you speak across divides unless you experience both sides?" Cheyney said. "To use a travel metaphor, it's easy to criticize a country you've never visited."

###



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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/2011-12/osu-mur121611.php

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