Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/192959634?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Kelly Clarkson Announces New Single, Pays Tribute to Etta James
While Christina Aguilera had the floor during Etta James' funeral on Saturday, and used it to belt out a version of "At Last," former American Idol champion Kelly Clarkson paid tribute to the late, great artist in her own way last week, as well.
"This isn’t ‘At Last’ because everyone really covers that and so I wanted to do my favorite, actually," Kelly told a crown in New York City. "My favorite song is ‘I’d Rather Go Blind.’ So, this is for Etta!”
On Saturday night, meanwhile, during a performance in Pennsylvania, Clarkson also announced her next single, "I Forgive You." It will hit the radio any day now.
We can't wait!
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Monday, January 30, 2012
Nigeria dictator's top aide sentenced to death (AP)
LAGOS, Nigeria ? A federal judge in Nigeria on Monday sentenced to death the feared right-hand man to Nigeria's former military dictator over the 1996 killing of an opposition candidate's wife.
Maj. Hamza Al-Mustapha sat without expression, slowly shaking his head "no," as the high court judge ordered him to be hanged over the killing of Kudirat Abiola. His coconspirator Lateef Shofolahan received the same sentence after the two men were found guilty of murder and conspiracy charges. Shofolahan was described by the court as a trusted employee of the Abiola family who ultimately betrayed them for money and power.
Al-Mustapha was found guilty of ordering a security agent to kill the wife of Moshood Abiola, a businessman widely believed to be the winner of an annulled 1993 presidential poll in Nigeria. Al-Mustapha denied taking part in the 1996 machine-gun killing in Lagos, saying he was tortured into a false confession.
Al-Mustapha served as the chief security officer to Gen. Sani Abacha, a paranoid military ruler who stole billions from the oil-rich nation while brutally suppressing dissent.
Abiola was imprisoned by the dictator at the time of his wife's death, and died in prison a month after Gen. Abacha's own death as the nation struggled toward democracy.
Judge Mojisola Dada, though speaking in a hushed tone over the several hours it took to read her judgment Monday in the stifling hot courtroom, barely controlled her rage over the killings. Dada described Al-Mustapha as a "venomous beast" and Shofolahan as a Judas who "sold his master for 30 pieces of silver."
"I think it is amazing that those who are most willing to shed the blood of others are the ones always scared of death," Dada said when handing down the sentence.
Lead defense lawyer Olalekan Ojo said both men would appeal their sentences and file for stays of execution. He also suggested the judge showed bias by ignoring the contradictions in the prosecution's case.
The daughter of the two slain democratic activists, Hafsat Abiola, said the verdict came as a surprise after previous trials ended without convictions. Nigerian authorities still view Al-Mustapha as a security threat, holding him in Lagos' maximum-security Kirikiri prison. In 2004, officials claimed he planned to have someone shoot down a helicopter carrying then-President Olusegun Obasanjo with a Stinger missile. He's also escaped convictions in other trials.
"I feel very relieved that over 15 years after my mother was assassinated that the people who killed her have been sentenced to death," Hafsat Abiola told The Associated Press. "It is not so much you want people to believe in the death penalty, but in a country with so much abuse of power and state impunity, we need to make sure people who commit crimes have to pay for it."
Al-Mustapha, a Hausa from the country's north, still receives support from the Muslim populace there, highlighting Nigeria's religious divisions. His recent claims in court also have been driving a further wedge, as he has offered a government memorandum that says hundreds of millions of dollars were spent on visitors to Abacha's palace.
Al-Mustapha and his family claim the government and powerful politicians want him dead. But they also highlight the long unease between Nigeria's north and south, where divisions largely fall along religious lines. Tens of thousands have died in religious and ethnic rioting since the nation embraced democracy in 1999.
As Al-Mustapha left the court Monday afternoon, some supporters in the crowd cheered for him and shouted "God is great" as he stood at the top of a courthouse staircase. He smiled and waved to those below, looking like a politician, not a man sentenced minutes earlier to death.
___
Jon Gambrell can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.
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RolePlayGateway?
Criticism is welcome. It's hard to be objective about one's own work.
Purgatory
-----------
I lean on glass, to fall right through.
Hours and days gone, and in my mind,
I plan to flee, leaving behind
My ectoplasmic residue.
Lightbulbs hidden in the ceiling,
Controlled by faders for my use,
Why I'd need to, I can't deduce.
Since sound's my sole useful feeling.
I can hear it, if someone screams,
Or when one smokes three times a day.
Three times, too, I eat pills and tray,
No one tells me what all this means.
Purgatory, a place on Earth.
Built of rooms for rumination,
And some tacky decoration.
Broke brain, boxed in. What am I worth?
Here they process ghosts and corpses,
Medicate many minds unclean.
When lacking reason, you're not seen,
Save when cloistered, by trained nurses.
Here I stand, pressed to frigid wall,
Believing I have joined the dead,
Contrary proof not in my head.
I'm locked out from Heavenly hall.
Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/RolePlayGateway
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Sunday, January 29, 2012
"Beasts," "The House I Live In" win top awards at Sundance (omg!)
PARK CITY, Utah (Reuters) - "Beasts of the Southern Wild" and "The House I Live In" won the top awards at the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday, making them likely favorites for independent movie audiences in 2012.
Directed by Benh Zeitlin and set in impoverished Louisiana, "Beasts of the Southern Wild" picked up the jury prize for best drama as well as best cinematography with its poetic tale of the bond between a father and a daughter.
The documentary winner, "The House I Live In," was one of many documentaries at Sundance 2012 that looked at a struggling America at Sundance 2012. It is an examination of America's long war on drugs and critiques of U.S. drug policies, its court system, prisons and their impact on minorities.
"The war on drugs is a terrible scar on America," said director Eugene Jarecki.
Special juries of industry professionals vote on winners, and those are considered the top prizes but audiences also vote for their favorites.
"The Surrogate," which stars Helen Hunt and John Hawkes and is about a man's quest to lose his virginity while mostly confined to an iron lung, won the Audience Award for best drama.
The film, based on the life of poet and journalist Mark O'Brien, fetched one of the highest selling prices at the festival -- a reported $6 million -- and with its mix of comedy and drama could turn out to be one of the bigger U.S. indie hits in cinemas to come out of the festival.
"Love is a journey, that's it," said director Ben Lewin when accepting his trophy, quoting a line from the film.
"SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN"
The Audience Award for documentary was given to "The Invisible War," about an epidemic of sexual assault in the U.S. military and shining a light on a little known problem.
Other documentary special jury prizes went to "Love Free or Die," about the Episcopal Church's first openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson; and "Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry," about the Chinese artist and activist who was detained for 81 days last year.
"Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry" director Alison Klayman took a picture of the crowd upon accepting the award and promised to send it to the Chinese artist, who was spent 81 days in government detention last year and felt it was too risky to attend the festival from China.
Sundance, which is backed by Robert Redford's Sundance Institute for filmmaking, is the largest U.S. gathering for independent movies. Festival winners go on to become some of the most talked about films in art houses.
Many of the more hyped fictional films for Sundance 2012 did not live up to their buzz, with many including "Red Lights" starring Robert De Niro and Spike Lee's "Red Hook Summer" disappointing critics, although films have still sold.
In addition to prizes for U.S. films, Sundance also gives awards in world cinema.
"Searching for Sugar Man," about the search for an obscure 1970s Detroit folk singer known as Rodriguez, won the audience award for best world documentary as well as a special jury prize. It was one of the most popular films of the festival, which served as the d3ebut for documentaries such as "An Inconvenient Truth."
Chile's "Violeta Went To Heaven," based on the life of Chilean folk singer Violeta Parra's journey from a poor upbringing to national hero, won the jury prize for best drama, and "The Law In These Parts" was the jury's pick for best documentary.
(Reporting By Christine Kearney; editing by Mohammad Zargham and Bill Trott)
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Arab League halts observer mission in Syria (AP)
BEIRUT ? The Arab League halted its observer mission in Syria on Saturday because of escalating violence that killed nearly 100 people the past three days, as pro-Assad forces battled dissident soldiers in a belt of suburbs on the eastern edge of Damascus in the most intense fighting yet so close to the capital.
The rising bloodshed has added urgency to new attempts by Arab and Western countries to find a resolution to the 10 months of violence that according to the United Nations has killed at least 5,400 people as Assad seeks to crush persistent protests demanding an end to his rule.
The United Nations is holding talks on a new resolution on Syria and next week will discuss an Arab peace plan aimed at ending the crisis. But the initiatives face two major obstacles: Damascus' rejection of an Arab peace plan which it says impinges on its sovereignty, and Russia's willingness to use its U.N. Security Council veto to protect Syria from sanctions.
Syria's Interior Minister Mohammed Shaar vowed the crackdown would go on, telling families of security members killed in the past months that security forces "will continue their struggle to clean Syria's soil of the outlaws."
Government forces launched a heavy assault on a string of suburbs and villages on the eastern outskirts of Damascus, aiming to uproot protesters and dissident soldiers who have joined the opposition, activists said.
Troops in tanks and armored personnel carriers attacked the suburbs of Kfar Batna, Saqba, Jisreen and Arbeen, the closest of which lie only a few miles from downtown Damascus, said the Local Coordination Committees activist network and the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Dissident troops were fighting back against the attackers, they said.
In a nearby suburb, Douma, gunmen ambushed a bus carrying army officers, the state-run news agency SANA, calling the attackers "terrorists." It said seven officers were killed.
The assault in the suburbs seemed to be a sign of the growing presence of dissident soldiers closer to the capital. Although the tightly controlled Damascus has been relatively quiet since the uprising began, its outskirts have witnessed intense anti-regime protests and army defectors have become more visible and active in the past few months.
"The fighting today is the most intense near the capital since the uprising began," said Rami Abdul-Rahman who heads the Observatory for Human Rights. "The Syrian regime is trying to finish the uprising militarily now that the case is being taken to the United Nations."
In Saqba, electricity and phone lines were cut off and mosque loudspeakers told residents to say in lower floors for fear high buildings might get hit in the fighting, said Omar Hamza, an activist in the district. "Random shelling and sound of explosions terrified the people," he told The Associated Press.
He said army defectors had managed to stop the advancing troops. The regime forces are putting all their force to finish the Free Syrian Army and protesters in the Damascus suburbs," Hamza said.
The Free Syrian Army force of anti-regime military defectors is based in Turkey, and its fighters frequently try to cross into Syria through the mountainous border area in the northwest. SANA reported that Syrian troops prevented gunmen from crossing in from Turkey on Saturday in fighting that it said left many of the infiltrators killed or wounded.
The LCC and the Observatory also reported intense fighting between troops and defectors in the town of Rastan near the restive central city of Homs.
The Observatory said at least 36 people, were killed across the country Saturday, including 17 civilians, three defectors and 16 troops, while the LCC said 20 died, half of them in Homs province, which has been one of the areas hardest hit by government crackdowns. The new deaths come after two days of bloody turmoil killed at least 74 people, including small children.
In the eastern oil-rich province of Deir el-Zour, an oil pipeline took a direct hit and caught fire as government troops shelled a nearby town, the two groups also said, reporting at least one person dead. State media blamed "terrorists" in the attack.
The month-old Arab League observer mission in Syria had come under widespread criticism for failing to bring a halt to the regime's crackdown. Gulf states led by Saudi Arabia pulled out of the mission Tuesday, asking the U.N. Security Council to intervene.
Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby said in a statement that the organization decided to halt the observers' work immediately because of the increasing violence, until the League's council can meet to decide the mission's fate.
He sharply criticized Damascus for the spike in bloodshed, saying the regime has "resorted to escalating the military option in complete violation of (its) commitments" to end the crackdown, Elaraby said. He said the victims of the violence have been "innocent citizens," in an implicit rejection of Syria's claims that it is fighting "terrorists."
Syria's state-run news agency quoted an unnamed official saying Damascus "regrets and is surprised" by the Arab League decision after Syria agreed to extend the observer's mission for another month. The official said the halt aims "to pressure the talks in order to call for external intervention in Syria's internal affairs," referring to the U.N. talks.
Elaraby's deputy, Ahmed Ben Heli, told reporters that the around 100 observers will remain in Damascus while their mission is "reevaluated." He suggested the observers could resume their work in the future...
Elaraby and the prime minister of Qatar were set to leave for New York on Sunday to seek U.N. support for the latest Arab plan to end Syria's crisis. The plans calls for a two-month transition to a unity government, with Assad giving his vice president full powers to work with the proposed government.
Syria has rejected the proposal, saying it violates its sovereignty. Elaraby had previously been due to travel Saturday, but his trip was pushed back to Sunday with no explanation.
The U.N. Security Council began closed-door negotiations Friday on a new Arab-European draft resolution aimed at resolving the crisis, but Russia's envoy said he could not back the current language as it stands.
Any resolution faces strong opposition from China and Russia, and both nations have veto power. Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters that the text introduced by new Arab Security Council member Morocco has "red lines" for Moscow, but he's willing to "engage" with the resolution's sponsors.
Churkin said those lines include any indication of sanctions, including an arms embargo. "We need to concentrate on establishing political dialogue," he said.
____
Batrawy reported from Cairo; Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, contributed to this report.
___
Bassem Mroue can be reached on twitter at http://twitter.com/bmroue
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Sundance doc examines costs of US war on drugs (AP)
PARK CITY, Utah ? Eugene Jarecki's documentary at the Sundance Film Festival looks at the cost of America's war on drugs ? its social and human as well as financial cost.
With "The House I Live In," the filmmaker takes a close-up look at the results of U.S. drug policy.
Jarecki said he was moved to explore the issue because, while his parents escaped persecution in Nazi Germany, he sees another kind of Holocaust taking place in poor communities hit by harsh drug laws and mandatory minimum sentences.
The film includes interviews with inmates, dealers, narcotics officers, judges, professors and historians.
Jarecki argued that American drug laws have targeted minorities since the 1800s, and the lack of opportunities that continue to exist in poor and minority neighborhoods create an environment in which drug use and sales seem like a viable choice.
"To go down to a drug corner in the inner city is the rational act of somebody going to work in the only company that exists in a company town," said journalist and creator of HBO's "The Wire" David Simon, who is featured in the film.
Jarecki said that in communities plagued by unemployment, violence, absentee parents and overcrowded schools, people often turn to drugs to self-medicate, then find themselves addicted.
"Now you've got that dangerous cocktail of a user who's also a seller, and so many of the people I talked to are that," he said. "What they are not is violent. What they are not is a threat to you and me. And we are putting them away for sentences that are worse than the sentences we give to people who are violent." He said the United States is "the world's largest jailer."
He attributes the problem in part to fear-mongering by politicians wanting to appear tough on crime, so they target drug users and sellers with hefty prison sentences. But that cycle of incarceration creates more poverty, more absentee parents, more unemployment and more pain from which to escape.
Jarecki's other documentaries include "Freakonomics" and "Why We Fight," which won the Grand Jury prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.
Awards for this year's festival will be presented Saturday. Sundance continues through Sunday.
___
AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen is on Twitter: www.twitter.com/APSandy.
___
Online:
www.thehouseilivein.org/
www.sundance.org/festival
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At Just $40, the Price Is Right For Tenqa's Bluetooth Headphones [Headphones]
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Saturday, January 28, 2012
Capitol Confidential ? Asian-American legal defense fund weighs in ...
The Asian-American Legal Defense and Education Fund has put out its comments on LATFOR?s proposed maps for the state Senate and Assembly. The group?s response is of special interest considering that Republican Sen. Mike Nozzolio has been deploying the argument that the phenomenon of three pairs of Senate Dems being placed in competitive districts was necessitated by the creation of a majority Asian-American 16th District in Queens.
In concert with several other minority advocacy groups, AALDEF released a ?Unity Map? giving what it felt was proper weight to minority communities
?We?re glad that LATFOR recognized the importance of creating a majority Asian American Senate district,? said AALDEF Executive Director Margaret Fung. ?But the contorted district lines of SD 16 split the neighborhood of Flushing. A compact district in Flushing-Bayside should be drawn to keep Asian American communities of interest together in these neighborhoods, as we demonstrated in the Unity Map.?
Here?s what AALDEF had to say about various Assembly districts:
Under LATFOR?s proposal, there are three proposed majority Asian American State Assembly districts:
AD 40 ? LATFOR?s proposed district retains the existing Asian American majority district (AD 22) in Flushing, Queens (63.44% NH Asian VAP).
AD 49 ? LATFOR?s proposed district creates for the first time an Asian American majority district in Sunset Park and Bensonhurst, Brooklyn (50.11% NH Asian VAP).
AD 25 ? LATFOR?s proposed district creates a second Asian American majority district in southern Flushing and Bayside, Queens (52.52% NH Asian VAP).
?As a general matter, we are pleased that LATFOR has increased the number of Asian American majority Assembly districts from one to three,? said Jerry Vattamala, staff attorney with AALDEF?s Democracy Project. He added that a majority Asian American Assembly district has also been created for the first time in Sunset Park and Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.
Under the Unity Map, AALDEF proposed four Asian American majority State Assembly districts, with the fourth in the neighborhood of Elmhurst.
?While AD 49 is similar to our Unity Map, the South Asian community of Richmond Hill-South Ozone Park continues to remain divided between multiple State Assembly districts,? said Vattamala. ?The Unity Map would have kept the Richmond Hill and South Ozone Park neighborhoods substantially together within a single Assembly district.?
AALDEF will be releasing a detailed analysis of the effects of LATFOR?s proposed maps on Asian American political representation.
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School bans Locks of Love teen for too-long hair
By msnbc.com staff
A few inches of hair stand between J.T. Gaskins and an education.
The 17-year-old, who had been treated for cancer and said he now wants to grow his hair to give to?Locks of Love --?a charity that provides wigs for kids who lose their hair due to chemotherapy and other treatments?--?was recently suspended from Madison Academy, a? charter school in Burton, Mich., for refusing to trim his tresses.
Gaskins told The Flint Journal that he was diagnosed with leukemia as an infant and has been cancer-free since age 7. ?This is something I want to do, and I feel very strongly about it.?
The school?s dress code policy, spelled out in the student-parent handbook, says hair must bair must? be kept ?clean, neat, free of unnatural or distracting colors, off the collar, off the ears and out of the eyes? for boys.
Gaskins? hair, which resembles the windswept bangs of Justin Bieber, dangles at his eyes and covers his ears.
His mother, Christa Plante, told?the Journal she supports her son and remembers his cancer fight as a small child. ?The fact that he?s ready to talk about everything he went through, his strength ... I can?t deny him that. He?s ready to speak out about what he?s been through,? Plante said, according to the newspaper.
Plante started an online petition asking the school board to amend the hair policy for boys. As of Friday, more than 160 people had signed on.??
"Female students can grow and donate their hair, yet boys cannot," the petition says. "... we are simply asking for compromise and to allow not only my son, but anyone wanting to donate to be allowed to do so, to allow the boys the same rights and freedoms as the girl students."
Board meeting
Superintendent Will Kneer says school officials have been trying to work out a solution. He says the five-member school board may soon take up a possible revision to the dress-code policy to take into account special situations like Locks of Love.
?The board is charged with the responsibility of assembling a group of policies and procedures that most uphold the vision and mission of the school and serve the school best as a whole and the community as a whole,??Kneer told msnbc.com on Friday.
Friday was the fourth straight day of classes Gaskins has missed. Kneer says school officials are trying to find ways to provide for?his continuing education while he remains out of class.
?My immediate concern is, what are we going to do for this kid to make sure he doesn?t lapse,? Kneer said.
"Personally, my heartfelt desire at this moment is to have that child back in school."
More content from msnbc.com and NBC News
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Poll: Perry's Texas ratings down after failed run (AP)
AUSTIN, Texas ? Gov. Rick Perry's approval rating in Texas has fallen to a 10-year low since his failed presidential bid, putting him on a par with President Barack Obama in his own home state.
More than half of the people who responded to a statewide poll don't want Perry to run for another term as governor and 45 percent said his failed campaign for the Republican nomination for president hurt Texas' image.
The poll conducted Jan. 21-24 was conducted for The Dallas Morning News, the Austin American Statesman, the San Antonio Express-News, the Houston Chronicle and the Fort Worth Star Telegram. The newspapers published the poll results Thursday.
Forty percent of Texans approve of the job he's doing as governor, a 10-point drop from a year ago and less than Obama's 43 percent statewide approval rating, according to the poll. The Fort Worth Star Telegram said the Democratic president's approval ratings have showed little change in the past two years.
Another 40 percent said they disapprove of the job Perry is doing.
The poll found 53 percent said they don't want Perry to run for a fourth full term in 2014. Since ended his campaign last week, Perry staff have said he could run for another term as governor.
According to the poll, Perry has lost ground among Republicans in a state dominated by the GOP. His approval rating among Republicans dipped from 73 percent to 60 percent, and among independents he fell from nearly half to 27 percent. Until earlier this month at the Iowa caucuses, Perry had never lost an election.
Perry ran for president as a socially conservative candidate and he boasted about his job-creation efforts and the economy in his home state. But he stumbled badly with several flubs on the campaign trail, including his notorious "oops" moment in a nationally televised debate when he couldn't remember all three federal agencies he said he wants to cut.
The poll found 45 percent of Texans think his run hurt Texas' image nationally while only 17 percent said it improved.
The random telephone survey of 806 Texans, including 669 registered voters, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
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Friend says on 911 call Demi Moore was convulsing (AP)
LOS ANGELES ? Demi Moore smoked something before she was rushed to the hospital on Monday night and was convulsing and "semi-conscious, barely," according to a caller on a frantic 911 recording released Friday by Los Angeles fire officials.
The woman tells emergency operators that Moore, 49, had been "having issues lately."
"Is she breathing normal?" the operator asks.
"No, not so normal. More kind of shaking, convulsing, burning up," the friend says as she hurries to Moore's side, on the edge of panic.
The recording captures the 10 minutes it took paramedics to arrive as friends gather around the collapsed star and try to comfort her as she trembles and shakes.
Another woman is next to Moore as the dispatcher asks if she's responsive.
"Demi, can you hear me?" she asks. "Yes, she's squeezing hands. ... She can't speak."
When the operator asks what Moore ingested or smoked, the friend replies, but the answer was redacted.
"Some form of ... and then she smoked something. I didn't really see. She's been having some issues lately with some other stuff. So I don't know what she's been taking or not," the friend says.
The city attorney's office advised the fire department to redact details about medical conditions and substances to comply with federal medical privacy rules.
Asked if Moore took the substance intentionally or not, the woman says Moore ingested it on purpose but the reaction was accidental.
"Whatever she took, make sure you have it out for the paramedics," the operator says.
The operator asks the friend if this has happened before.
"I don't know," she says. "There's been some stuff recently that we're all just finding out."
Moore's publicist, Carrie Gordon, said previously that the actress sought professional help to treat her exhaustion and improve her health. She would not comment further on the emergency call or provide details about the nature or location of Moore's treatment.
The past few months have been rocky for Moore.
She released a statement in November announcing she had decided to end her marriage to fellow actor Ashton Kutcher, 33, following news of alleged infidelity. The two were known to publicly share their affection for one another via Twitter.
Moore still has a Twitter account under the name mrskutcher but has not posted any messages since Jan. 7.
During the call, the woman caller says the group of friends had turned Moore's head to the side and were holding her down. The dispatcher tells her not to hold her down but to wipe her mouth and nose and watch her closely until paramedics arrive.
"Make sure that we keep an airway open," the dispatcher says. "Even if she passes out completely, that's OK. Stay right with her."
The phone is passed around by four people, including a woman who gives directions to the gate and another who recounts details about what Moore smoked or ingested. Finally, the phone is given to a man named James, so one of the women can hold Moore's head.
There was some confusion at the beginning of the call. The emergency response was delayed by nearly two minutes as Los Angeles and Beverly Hills dispatchers sorted out which city had jurisdiction over the street where Moore lives.
As the call is transferred to Beverly Hills, the frantic woman at Moore's house raises her voice and said, "Why is an ambulance not on its way right now?"
"Ma'am, instead of arguing with me why an ambulance is not on the way, can you spell (the street name) for me?" the Beverly Hills dispatcher says.
Although the estate is located in the 90210 ZIP code above Benedict Canyon, the response was eventually handled by the Los Angeles Fire Department.
By the end of the call, Moore has improved.
"She seems to have calmed down now. She's speaking," the male caller told the operator.
Moore and Kutcher were wed in September 2005.
Kutcher became a stepfather to Moore's three daughters ? Rumer, Scout and Tallulah Belle ? from her 13-year marriage to actor Bruce Willis. Moore and Willis divorced in 2000 but remained friendly.
Moore and Kutcher created the DNA Foundation, also known as the Demi and Ashton Foundation, in 2010 to combat the organized sexual exploitation of girls around the globe. They later lent their support to the United Nations' efforts to fight human trafficking, a scourge the international organization estimates affects about 2.5 million people worldwide.
Moore can be seen on screen in the recent films "Margin Call" and "Another Happy Day." Kutcher replaced Charlie Sheen on TV's "Two and a Half Men" and is part of the ensemble film "New Year's Eve."
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Friday, January 27, 2012
TV ratings: Fox wins night with "Idol" (Reuters)
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) ? Fox scored a decisive win Wednesday night on the strength of "American Idol" and a preview of the new Kiefer Sutherland drama "Touch," while NBC's new comedy "Are You There Chelsea" dropped significantly to hit a ratings low, according to preliminary numbers.
"Idol," airing at 8 p.m., was down slightly from last week but was easily the night's top-rated and most-watched show of the night, drawing a 6.4 rating/18 share in the adults 18-49 demographic and 19.5 million total viewers. A preview of "Touch" the following hour posted a 3.9/10 in the demographic -- the second-highest drama debut this season, behind ABC's "Once Upon a Time" -- and 11.8 million total viewers. ("Touch" officially premieres March 19.) Combined, "Idol" and "Touch" gave Fox an average 5.2/14 in the demographic and an average 15.6 million total viewers.
On NBC, "Whitney" at 8 p.m. dipped to 1.4/4 in the demographic and 4.4 million total viewers, while "Are You There Chelsea," which premiered to so-so numbers earlier this month, had a 1.4/4 in the demographic and 3.9 million total viewers. It was down 18 percent in the ratings from last week. "Law & Order: SVU" repeats filled out the evening.
Following a "Criminal Minds" repeat at 8 p.m., CBS ran a new "Criminal Minds" at 9 p.m., which was up 13 percent versus last week for a 3.6/9 in the demographic and 13.6 million total viewers. "CSI" the following hour jumped 18 percent over last week, taking a 3.3/9 in the demographic and 14 million total viewers.
ABC ran only repeats.
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Oil near $100 as Fed vows to keep key rate low (AP)
BANGKOK ? Oil rose to near $100 a barrel Thursday in Asia after the U.S. Federal Reserve said it would keep interest rates at record lows at least until 2014 to help jump-start the world's biggest economy.
Benchmark crude for March delivery was up 43 cents at $99.83 a barrel at late afternoon Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose by 45 cents to finish at $99.40 per barrel in New York on Wednesday. At one point it was as high as $100.40.
Brent crude for March delivery was up 71 cents at $110.52 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange in London.
The U.S. central bank, which has kept its benchmark interest rate near zero for three years, said Wednesday that it doesn't plan to raise the rate before late 2014.
That caused the dollar to turn lower against major currencies, which makes dollar-priced oil less expensive for holders of other currencies.
"That would mean the U.S. dollar would continue to be cheap versus other currencies, and there is typically an inverse correlation between the value of the dollar and commodity pricing," said Victor Shum, an energy analyst at consultancy Purvin & Gertz in Singapore.
"So oil prices are supported by the Federal Reserve statement," he said.
But other analysts saw room for oil prices to fall.
Leaving rates low would encourage businesses and consumers to borrow money cheaply, boosting the economy and leading to higher oil demand. But the Fed also "telegraphed its concern regarding U.S. economic growth ... which is intuitively bearish for oil," said energy trader and consultant The Schork Group.
In other Nymex trading, heating oil rose 2.3 cents to $3.03 per gallon and gasoline futures gained 1 cent to $2.85 per gallon. Natural gas advanced 3.9 cents to $2.77 per 1,000 cubic feet.
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Thursday, January 26, 2012
2012 SSR Annual Meeting: Call for abstracts
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Public release date: 25-Jan-2012[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Crystal L. Smith
crystal@ssr.org
Society for the Study of Reproduction
'Applied Reproductive Biology: Making It Relevant'
Hosted by the College of Agricultural Sciences
The Pennsylvania State University
State College, Pennsylvania
12-15 August 2012
-- Deadline for Abstract Submissions: 1 March 2012 --
The Society for the Study of Reproduction (SSR) invites you to submit an abstract for presentation at the 45th SSR Annual Meeting to be held in State College, Pennsylvania, 12-15 August 2012.
Links to the following are to be found on the SSR Meeting page:
- Meeting Schedule, Accomodations, Travel
- Scientific Session Highlights
- Call for Abstracts
- Abstract submission site
- Abstract submission procedures
Information will be added to the Meetings page as it becomes available.
Please join us for a truly excellent meeting in central Pennsylvania!
###
[ | 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: Crystal L. Smith
crystal@ssr.org
Society for the Study of Reproduction
'Applied Reproductive Biology: Making It Relevant'
Hosted by the College of Agricultural Sciences
The Pennsylvania State University
State College, Pennsylvania
12-15 August 2012
-- Deadline for Abstract Submissions: 1 March 2012 --
The Society for the Study of Reproduction (SSR) invites you to submit an abstract for presentation at the 45th SSR Annual Meeting to be held in State College, Pennsylvania, 12-15 August 2012.
Links to the following are to be found on the SSR Meeting page:
- Meeting Schedule, Accomodations, Travel
- Scientific Session Highlights
- Call for Abstracts
- Abstract submission site
- Abstract submission procedures
Information will be added to the Meetings page as it becomes available.
Please join us for a truly excellent meeting in central Pennsylvania!
###
[ | 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/sfts-2sa012512.php
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Remember when Tito Ortiz was a 22-year-old phenom? He celebrated his 37th birthday yesterday in Vegas
Another sign some of us are getting really old. How many of you folks remember watching a precocious 22-year-old Tito Ortiz debut at UFC 13 in 1997 and eventually slam his way to a UFC title in 2000?
One of the originals of this young sport just turned 37 yesterday.
Tito did it in style with his girlfiend Jenna Jameson at XS nightclub inside Encore Las Vegas.
[...] arrived at the hotspot after midnight and were seated at a private table overlooking the dance floor. Ortiz was dressed to the nines in a black pinstripe vest, black slacks, a black dress shirt and a white tie, while the blonde bombshell and former porn star wore skin-tight black pants, a shear top and fingerless leather gloves.
Before the late night party, Tito and friends celebrated just south on Las Vegas Boulevard at Caesars.
[...] Jameson and 18 of their friends dined at the new Old Homestead Steakhouse in Caesars Palace, feasting on Osetra caviar, shellfish platters, Dover sole, porterhouse steaks and side dishes.
The happy couple hung out the night before at Encore's Surrender. St Louis Rams QB Sam Bradford was also there.
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Romney defends investments, readies tax returns
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks to reporters after a discussion on housing and foreclosure, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks to reporters after a discussion on housing and foreclosure, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has criticized rival Newt Gingrich for earning more than $1.6 million in consulting fees from Freddie Mac even though he has as much as $500,000 invested in the U.S.-backed lender and its sister entity, Fannie Mae.
A day before Romney planned to release his income tax returns, his old investments in two controversial government-backed housing lenders stirred up new questions at the same time his campaign targeted Gingrich for his work for Freddie Mac.
The dimensions and the sources of Romney's wealth, which he has estimated to be as much as $250 million, have become pivotal issues in the roiling GOP primary campaign. For months, Romney dismissed calls to release his personal income tax records. But after mounting criticism from his rivals and others, coupled with his stinging weekend loss to Gingrich in the South Carolina primary, Romney agreed to release his 2010 return and 2011 estimate.
Romney's most recent financial disclosure report listed several investments in U.S.-backed lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Romney, Gingrich and other GOP critics repeatedly have all singled out the two quasi-government entities as prime villains in the housing crisis that played a central role in the nation's long and deep recession.
While continuing to hammer Gingrich for his consulting work for Freddie Mac, the Romney campaign sought to deflect questions about the former Massachusetts governor's investments. They include a mutual fund worth up to $500,000 that includes assets from both lenders among other government income, and separate investments in each of the lenders in Romney's individual retirement account, each worth between $100,000 and $250,000.
Romney campaign officials said Monday that a trustee handles the investments and that Romney had no role in choosing or managing them.
The tax returns Romney planned to release Tuesday could provide new details about his investments and his annual take as founder of the Bain Capital private equity firm. Gingrich released his own 2010 federal tax return last weekend, during a South Carolina GOP debate, and his campaign said he would disclose his full contracts with Freddie Mac on Monday night just before the debate in Tampa, Fla.
Romney's tax returns are likely to sketch out critical information about the tax strategies he employs. Tax experts said these likely include his use of a low 15 percent capital gains rate to reduce the taxes he pays on dozens of large investments that flow into his blind trust, charitable donation strategies that benefit philanthropies but also further reduce his tax burden and investments routed through offshore affiliates that could help him defer some tax payments.
Romney already has acknowledged that his current tax rate is about 15 percent, a level far lower than standard rates for high-income earners and similar to the capital gains rate. But some tax law and tax policy experts suggest that Romney likely has paid similarly low rates throughout his Bain years, continuing through the 13 years since he left the firm.
Joseph Bankman, a Stanford University business and law professor who has testified before Congress on the taxes paid by private equity firms like Bain, said Romney's background as a financier, coupled with his growing wealth and ability to use sophisticated tax tactics, makes it highly likely that he has paid taxes at the capital gains rate for most of his career.
"There is no reason to believe that Romney ever paid more that the going rate for capital gains," Bankman said.
The current lowest rate for long-term capital gains is 15 percent, but a higher rate of 20 percent had been in effect since 1981 until President George W. Bush signed into law a massive tax cut program in 2001.
Romney's 2010 return and 2011 estimate, Bankman said, could detail whether he continues to make any "carried interest," a lucrative investment arrangement typical among private equity managers that earns at least 20 percent of an investment fund's profits. The bulk of Romney's profits from his "carry," as the maneuver is often called in the private equity world, came during his tenure as Bain's founder and managing director in the 1980s and 1990s, but reportedly continued in the years after he left the firm.
At least six of Romney's investments, worth between $5 million and $25 million, were made in funds that have offshore affiliates based in the Cayman Islands, a well-known haven for companies seeking to attract foreign and non-profit investors. One of those funds, which is invested in Romney's retirement IRA, could be used to defer some of his tax payments, Columbia University law professor Michael Graetz said. It is uncertain if any offshore accounts would be identified in Romney's new tax disclosures.
Romney's vast investments contain other funds than the ones he profited from as a Bain Capital executive. But it was unclear Monday whether he had any direct role in handling the investments in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that appear on his 2012 presidential disclosure.
One investment, listed as a "Federated Government Obligation Fund" and worth between $250,000 and $500,000, was a mutual fund that included both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac assets among a larger pool that included other government securities.
The holding was not listed in Romney's blind trust, which led some Democratic Party activists to suggest that the investment was under his direct control.
"He is relentlessly attacking Newt Gingrich over his ties to Freddie Mac despite the fact that he personally invested up to a half a million dollars in both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac," said Ty Matsdorf, a senior adviser with American Bridge 21st Century, a PAC associated with Democratic Party and liberal causes.
Former GOP Rep. J.C. Watts, a Gingrich supporter, said Monday that Romney was on a slippery slope calling his opponent a lobbyist and raising doubts about Gingrich's work for Freddie Mac. But he did not directly address Romney's investments with the lender or with Fannie Mae.
"Some might see it as splitting hairs. But Newt Gingrich was not walking the halls of House and Senate," Watts said on a conference call arranged by the campaign. "He was never doing the hand-to-hand combat doing the lobbying, consulting, whatever you want to call it."
A Romney campaign official who insisted on anonymity to discuss that investment in greater detail said that Romney's trustee had bought the government investment fund in 2007, before the housing crisis broke.
The Romney official said that the government fund was purchased through a charity trust that does not appear in Romney's presidential disclosure but will show up on his income tax return for 2010. That trust, called a Charitable Remainder Unitrust, is a standard tax strategy among the wealthy that provides investors with a fixed payout each year. What remains in the account at a later date, or when the investor dies, is turned over to charity, the official said.
Romney does not directly control the investment account, Romney campaign senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom said earlier on Monday. "His investments are controlled by a trustee," Fehrnstrom said.
Separately, Romney's IRA retirement account lists both a Fannie Mae and a Freddie Mac security, each worth between $100,000 and $250,000. But because those are in Romney's IRA, they also appear to be under control of the trustee.
Tax experts said Romney's income tax returns may contain other charity structures and tax strategies designed to both boost his income and charity donations, while minimizing his involvement because of his presidential ambitions.
Roberton Williams, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center, a branch of the nonpartisan Urban Institute in Washington, said much can be gleaned by looking at Romney's sources of income and his itemized deductions. The latter would include Romney's 10 percent annual tithing to the Mormon Church, which would lower his tax liability and counteract higher taxes he would otherwise pay on non-investment income, like speaking fees.
An annual study of charity giving by the ultra-rich has shown that tax strategies are only one of several motivations, said Una Osili, a professor of economics and philanthropic studies at Indiana University. The most recent 2010 study of "high net-worth philanthropy" found that religious ties and volunteer and donor relationships are also important, said Osili, director of research for the studies.
Osili noted that more than 90 percent high net-worth donors tend to make donations in either cash or checks. But Romney's own family charitable foundation, the Tyler Charitable Fund, has showed signs that Romney has also donated stock investments to charity ? and his 2010 returns could provide more evidence of that trend.
___
Associated Press writers Kasie Hunt and Brian Bakst in Tampa contributed to this report.
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Device makers urge coverage of weight-loss surgery (Reuters)
CHICAGO (Reuters) ? Device manufacturers are pushing the government and health insurers to cover weight-loss surgery, an effort that could give millions more obese Americans access to the treatments.
Advocates say it will give obese patients a complete arsenal for fighting the condition that can spur a host of life-threatening illnesses and help save billions of dollars in healthcare costs for employers and the government.
Critics argue that bariatric surgery has high rates of complications and that, ultimately, surgery does not change the behavior underlying obesity.
One of the most vocal manufacturers is Allergan Inc, the maker of Botox and breast implants. The company wants to revive weak sales of its LapBand, a silicone cuff that is implanted around the top portion of the stomach to constrict food intake.
"It's all about reimbursements," Allergan Chief Executive David Pyott told Reuters. The benefits of weight loss surgery, he added, "are not well understood by policy makers."
Allergan recently beefed up its staff working on securing reimbursement for LapBand to more than 100 people from seven.
Pyott is spending more time in Washington D.C. speaking with officials at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as well as with lawmakers about having bariatric surgery included in the package of standard benefits that all insurance plans must offer under the 2010 Affordable Care Act health system overhaul.
LapBand competes with a device called Realize made by Johnson & Johnson, which says it is also working toward better reimbursement.
Gastric banding is only one type of bariatric surgery. Others are more complicated, involving stapling portions of the stomach to limit food intake or re-routing the path of digestion, limiting calorie absorption. As with any major surgery, all carry the risk of complications and infection.
Allergan is pushing for coverage for all bariatric surgery, including methods that compete with its LapBand device, because it is more likely that private and public insurers would approve the entire category.
The company says some private insurers have changed their policies as a result. For example, the Midwest Blue Cross/Blue Shield Plan and the Health Alliance Medical Plan in Southern Illinois and Iowa recently eliminated the requirement that a patient must have tried and failed to lose weight under the supervision of a physician before getting surgery.
COSTS IN THE BILLIONS
Nearly 73 million Americans are considered obese, defined as having a ratio of weight to height, or Body Mass Index (BMI), of more than 30. For example, a 5'9" adult weighing more than 203 pounds is consider obese. About 12 million people are classified as morbidly obese, defined as having a BMI over 40.
The condition is the second leading cause of preventable death in the country behind smoking, as it can cause type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, osteoarthritis, gall bladder and liver disease and many types of cancer. It leads to nearly $150 billion in annual U.S. healthcare costs.
A survey by Hewett Associates found that 45 percent of U.S. employers cite obesity as one of the most significant health concerns for their businesses, but many of their insurance plans - 44 percent of those with 5,000 or more employees - do not cover bariatric surgery.
Bariatric surgery coverage is often viewed as a separate benefit, said Gus Georgiadis, president of Triad USA, an employee benefits services and consulting firm. Larger employers tended to have better coverage.
Employers who do cover surgery often define patients as eligible at a higher BMI and require them to first try other methods for an extended period of time - even if they already have already made such attempts - and undergo a psychological evaluation. Most plans have high co-payments of around $5,000 to $7,500, making it too expensive for many.
"If you're making $25,000 a year and you have a $5,000 co-pay, that's 20 percent of your salary," said Joseph Nadglowski, President and CEO of the Obesity Action Coalition, a patient advocacy group. "High co-payments and the hoops and hurdles insurance companies put in front of surgery is limiting."
But Nadglowski still wants to see patients first try diet and exercise programs, followed by medications and then surgery as a last resort.
"There's a gap between Weight Watchers and surgery," Nadglowski said.
His organization is pushing for more access to all kinds of treatment, including nutrition counseling.
Georgiadis argues that certain treatments are more or less appropriate for a patient, given their condition.
"Diet and exercise at a BMI of 35 or greater will fail more often than it will succeed," he said.
Studies show that bariatric surgery is almost 10 times more effective for losing weight and keeping it off than other approaches. Some research has shown that gastric bypass is superior to banding, with bypass patients losing more weight and keeping it off better than patients who got the band.
Patients who choose gastric bands may do so because the surgery is less invasive and the device can be removed. But they require more maintenance and follow-up doctor visits for adjustments.
The band sometimes slips from where it was placed and in rare cases can erode into the stomach, complications that require removal.
The number of all types of bariatric surgeries was down about 8 percent in 2010, a year that saw a decline across the board in medical procedures as many Americans lost health insurance when they lost their jobs. High co-payments are also to blame.
Although just a small part of Allergan's revenue, LapBand sales fell 14 percent from a year ago to $156 million in the first 9 months of 2011, even after the Food and Drug Administration lowered the weight requirement to get the device.
STATE BY STATE COVERAGE
Some states already require some level of coverage.
Virginia and Georgia, for instance, mandate that state-regulated insurers offer bariatric surgery, but employers are not required to buy that coverage. Michigan has a unique provision that says all "medically necessary" procedures, not just bariatric surgery, are covered.
The government's Medicare and Medicaid health programs for the elderly and the poor, respectively, cover bariatric surgery and use the same guidelines as private insurance companies.
Convincing employers has been challenging, especially if they have a high turnover of employees, said Dr. Richard Feifer, Medical Director for National Accounts for Aetna Inc, the third largest U.S. health insurer.
"Employers who have significant turnover every year may not want to invest in bariatric surgery for employees who may not be working for them in 2 or 3 or 4 years when the benefits start to accrue," he added.
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