Saturday, December 31, 2011

Domestic policy chief starts, leaves amid crises (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Melody Barnes is leaving as White House chief domestic policy adviser at a time when President Barack Obama's administration is getting little notice for its work on the home front to fix the struggling economy.

Barnes, who will be gone by Tuesday, is quick to point out that there have been many domestic achievements, even though the public is dissatisfied.

"I completely understand what the American public is feeling," she said in an interview in her tidy West Wing office. "Real people are hurting in a significant way. ... At the same time, I'm proud of the things we've been able to accomplish over the last few years."

Her office is wrestling with multiple thorny issues now just as it was when Barnes started as Obama's domestic policy team director in 2009.

Back then, the economy plunged into free-fall and the country was in its worst economic crisis since the 1930s. Jobs were being lost at a rate of about 750,000 a month ? a number Barnes still finds so staggering she said she has to double-check it every time she says it.

Homes were being foreclosed, unemployment was skyrocketing and reaching double the national average in the black community. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan dragged on, an outbreak of H1N1flu virus became a pandemic, and a tsunami that hit Japan crippled a nuclear plant near Tokyo, to name some of the highlights.

Even her chance to play golf with the president, the first time a woman joined him, came at a time of a public image crisis for Obama. The president was getting flak for playing basketball with men, fostering complaints about a boys' club in the White House.

Just before Christmas, the president and Congress wrangled over a two-month extension of a Social Security payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits. Obama won a victory when the proposal won bipartisan support in the Senate and finally was accepted by House Republicans under extreme pressure.

Barnes, a Richmond, Va., native with a career in government and private sector work, is bowing out of the political arena as Obama struggles with low approval ratings on his handling of the economy.

A majority of Americans do not think the president deserves a second term, according to the most recent Associated Press-GfK poll. But at the same time, the unemployment rate has dropped to 8.6 percent, the lowest level since March 2009. The president's overall approval rating stands at 44 percent, the lowest of his term in AP-GfK surveys.

His strong stance against House Republicans in the payroll tax standoff has caused an uptick in approval ratings in subsequent polls.

Barnes expects the list of legislative victories that she and others pulled off amid the hemorrhaging economy will become more clear in the coming year as the dark clouds of the economy disperse.

She tops that list with the early work to stabilize the economy, 21 months of consistent job growth and the president's long-term investments in education overhaul, an area that became her specialty.

"Our work on education reform, it'll be part of this president's legacy," she said.

Barnes said that with a fraction of what the federal government spends annually on education, about $100 billion, from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the administration tapped into an education reform movement taking place at the grass roots among governors and local communities frustrated with the prescriptive, one-size-fits-all mandates of No Child Left Behind, the Bush administration's education cornerstone.

Congress has yet to approve revisions to No Child Left Behind, states are using up the stimulus money, and Obama's Race to the Top grant program faces spending cuts. But Barnes said Obama has given a boost to education law changes that now allow such things as connecting student performance and teacher evaluations.

Barnes, chief counsel to the late Sen. Edward Kennedy on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Obama also deserves credit for passage of a health care overhaul, legislation that she had worked on for eight years with Kennedy. The Massachusetts senator spent his career trying to restructure health care.

There's also the auto industry bailout, expansion of Pell grants to help fund college education, the end of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays and work to advance civil rights, she said.

"When you are worried about day to day, it's hard to step back and to take all those other things in," Barnes said. "Although at the same time, I'm literally in the grocery store and people come up to me and say, `Hey, you work for the president. You keep on doing what you are doing.' "

Married a few months into the president's first year, Barnes plans to spend more time with family. She is considering offers in the private sector but hasn't disclosed what those are.

___

Online:

White House Domestic Policy Council: http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/dpc

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111231/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_white_house_adviser

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China Punishes 54 Officials Over Fatal High-Speed Rail Crash

December 29, 2011, 12:11 AM EST

By Zheng Lifei

Dec. 29 (Bloomberg) -- China punished 54 officials and ordered the railway ministry to improve management of its high- speed rail system after a government investigation found a fatal train crash was caused by mismanagement and design flaws.

Former railway minister Liu Zhijun and Zhang Shuguang, former deputy chief engineer at the ministry, are among those most responsible for the July 23 accident, according to the report issued by the State Council yesterday. Liu and Zhang were removed before the crash earlier this year over ?serious violations of laws and discipline,? it said.

Those found responsible will either be disciplined by the Communist Party or removed from their posts, according to the report, which also criticized the government?s handling of the rescue effort and cleanup. The accident raised concerns over the showcase high-speed rail network?s safety amid its rapid expansion and triggered public outrage.

?The red-hot boom days we saw before may be gone now,? said Simon Zhang, a Beijing-based senior consultant with Lloyd?s Register. The punishments are a deterrent that ?will reduce the possibility that future railway construction will be rushed to meet deadlines at the expense of safety.?

Stocks Fall

China railway stocks slumped yesterday before the report came out, after the China Daily newspaper on Dec. 24 quoted Railway Minister Sheng Guangzu as saying the ministry will reduce spending on railway construction to 400 billion yuan ($63.2 billion) next year, a cut of about 15 percent. China Railway Group fell 8.5 percent to HK$2.37, while China Railway Construction Corp. fell 5.4 percent, the most since Nov. 25.

The accident happened near the city of Wenzhou when a train rammed into a stopped locomotive, pushing four carriages off a viaduct. A lightning strike had caused signaling equipment to malfunction, according to yesterday?s statement.

The report?s findings were similar to a preliminary investigation by the Shanghai Railway Bureau released after the crash that also blamed a signaling system design flaw.

The State Council also called for safety checks on other sites, including coal mines, roads and bridges in the days after the crash.

The railway ministry and the Shanghai railway bureau released information in an untimely way and didn?t respond properly to concerns about the rescue operation, according to the statement.

Baby Found

Authorities were criticized on China?s microblog services after a 2-year-old was discovered alive in the wreckage hours after the accident and cleanup crews buried one of the trains. Microbloggers asked whether the baby?s parents and others could have been saved had the rescue effort reportedly not been called off about six hours after the accident.

The government has already reduced the speed of bullet trains, delayed new projects and fired three Shanghai rail officials following the crash. The rail ministry also recalled at least 54 high-speed trains.

China?s rail network is set to reach 120,000 kilometers (74,500 miles) under a 2.8 trillion yuan, five-year investment plan running through 2015. That includes boosting the high-speed network, which opened in 2007, to 16,000 kilometers.

Rail construction spending was estimated at 469 billion yuan in 2011 and 709 billion yuan in 2010, the China Daily said.

The high-speed train system was pushed forward by former minister Liu until he was removed during a bribery investigation in February, according to state-run Xinhua News.

Even while it administered punishment, the State Council affirmed that China was correct to push ahead with expanding high-speed rail projects.

?The high-speed railways improved people?s transportation and boosted economic development,? it said. ?The direction of development and construction of high-speed railway is correct.?

--With assistance from Jasmine Wang in Hong Kong. Editors: Nicholas Wadhams, Vipin Nair

To contact the reporter on this story: Zheng Lifei in Beijing at lzheng32@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Vipin Nair at vnair12@bloomberg.net

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessweek/shareinvestor/~3/oauzfNQZ6AM/china-punishes-54-officials-over-fatal-high-speed-rail-crash.html

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Why Iowa? (Powerlineblog)

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Friday, December 30, 2011

Griffin, Baylor win record-breaking Alamo Bowl

Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III, left, celebrates with Baylor head coach Art Briles after the Alamo Bowl college football game, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011, at the Alamodome in San Antonio. Baylor pulled out a thrilling Alamo Bowl victory in the highest-scoring bowl game in history, beating Washington 67-56 in a record-smashing shootout Thursday night. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)

Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III, left, celebrates with Baylor head coach Art Briles after the Alamo Bowl college football game, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011, at the Alamodome in San Antonio. Baylor pulled out a thrilling Alamo Bowl victory in the highest-scoring bowl game in history, beating Washington 67-56 in a record-smashing shootout Thursday night. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)

A scoreboard shows what would become the final score, during the second half of the Alamo Bowl college football game between Baylor and Washington, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011, at the Alamodome in San Antonio. Baylor pulled out a thrilling Alamo Bowl victory in the highest-scoring bowl game in history, beating Washington 67-56 in a record-smashing shootout Thursday night. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)

Baylor's Robert Griffin III celebrates with fans after the Alamo Bowl college football game against Washington, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011, at the Alamodome in San Antonio. Baylor pulled out a thrilling Alamo Bowl victory in the highest-scoring bowl game in history, beating Washington 67-56 in a record-smashing shootout Thursday night. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)

Baylor's Ahmad Dixon celebrates with fans during the second half of the Alamo Bowl college football game against Washington, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011, at the Alamodome in San Antonio. Baylor pulled out a thrilling Alamo Bowl victory in the highest-scoring bowl game in history, beating Washington 67-56 in a record-smashing shootout Thursday night. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)

Baylor tailback Terrance Ganaway runs for a touchdown during the second half of the Alamo Bowl college football game against Washington, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011, at the Alamodome in San Antonio. Baylor pulled out a thrilling Alamo Bowl victory in the highest-scoring bowl game in history, beating Washington 67-56 in a record-smashing shootout Thursday night. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)

SAN ANTONIO (AP) ? If that really was Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III's final college game, what an incredible way to go out.

Just ask him.

"We went out in style!" Griffin shouted to his teammates.

It was amazing the Baylor quarterback had any breath left at all. Not after a record-shattering Alamo Bowl that might not only be remembered as the highest-scoring regulation bowl game in history, but also possibly as Griffin's last addition to his legacy in Waco.

The AP Player of the Year wasn't dazzling Thursday night, but he didn't need to be as No. 15 Baylor still pulled out an incredible 67-56 victory over Washington.

If it was RG3's final showcase before jumping to the NFL, it was a gripping goodbye to watch. One of the nation's most electrifying players was upstaged by an even more exciting nail-biter that shattered the previous record for points in regulation set in the 2001 GMAC Bowl.

Fans showered Griffin with chants of "One more year! One more year!" as he paraded the Alamo Bowl trophy around the field. He stopped at the front-row stands and showed off his prize to his mother, who has already been looking at her son's NFL draft prospects.

Griffin said he'll start looking, too, soon enough.

For now, there was still the craziness of this game to sort through.

"I want Baylor nation to enjoy this," Griffin said. "It's not about me. I've got about two weeks. I'll enjoy this the next day, and then the next day, and then I'll make it."

The previous bowl record for a regulation game was 102 points in the 2001 GMAC Bowl between Marshall and East Carolina. That game went to double overtime and ended with a combined 125 points, which still stands as the overall bowl record.

Baylor, which a bowl game for the first time since 1992, and Washington (7-6) also set a bowl record for total offense with 1,397 yards.

"We just knew we needed to score," Washington quarterback Keith Price said. "We needed to score fast, just to give our defense a boost."

Griffin had an unremarkable night, throwing just one touchdown pass and running for another score. But Terrance Ganaway starred ably in his place, rushing for 200 yards and five touchdowns. His last was a 43-yard run with 2:28 left to seal Baylor's first 10-win season since 1980.

Price outplayed his Heisman counterpart, going 23 for 27 with 438 yards and four touchdowns. He also ran for another three scores.

"I think we'll have a hard time this bowl season to see a quarterback play as well as he did," Washington coach Steve Sarkisian.

Griffin was 24 of 33 for 295 yards ? and his only touchdown throw came on the game's opening drive.

Blown out in four other games against ranked opponents this season, the Huskies finally made one interesting. Not that it started that way after Baylor ran up 245 yards of offense alone in the first quarter ? awful even by the standards of Washington's defense, which is among the nation's worst.

Price, a sophomore who threw a school-record 29 touchdown passes in his first year as the starter, began cutting into a 21-7 deficit with a 12-yard scoring strike to James Johnson. Seven minutes later, Washington tied it when Devin Aguilar somersaulted over the goal line after catching a 1-yard lob.

The overwhelming crowd of Baylor fans ? decked in green-and-gold Heisman shirts and armed with signs such as "Superman wears RG3 socks" ? stood in stunned silenced. That gave way to disbelieving gasps on the next series, when the typically sure-handed Griffin fumbled after getting popped by Andrew Hudson.

After that, it was practically a free-for-all of big plays.

A 56-yard touchdown dash by Chris Polk. An 80-yard touchdown catch by Washington's Jermaine Kearse two plays into the second half. An 89-yard scoring rumble Ganaway. Kearse again, catching and darting for 60 yards before getting dragged down, setting up Price's fourth touchdown toss the next play.

Back and forth, back and forth. One after another. In all, five plays covered 50 or more yards, three of them for scores.

"That was crazy," Baylor coach Art Briles said.

For an Alamo Bowl short on drama and light on matchups in recent years, it was a thrilling scoring spree that overshadowed the mere novelty of featuring the Heisman winner. And that in itself was a rarity for a bowl of this stature. Not since Ty Detmer took BYU to the Holiday Bowl in 1990, had a Heisman winner played in a bowl before New Year's Day.

Plenty came to see this one.

Anticipating a surge of Heisman gawkers, Alamo Bowl officials added 800 temporary seats and opened up others with obstructed views that required ticket-buyers to sign a form acknowledging the poor sightlines. Those seats sold, anyway, and the announced attendance of 65,256 was the fifth-largest in the bowl's history.

Others had better seats.

That includes Miami Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland, who kicked for Baylor in the late 1980s but was here on business scouting Griffin in case the fourth-year junior enters the draft. Griffin's parents, two sisters and fiancee watched from front-row seats.

Griffin acknowledged this week his parents are looking at his draft prospects but denies having any substantial talks with them.

Win or lose, it was an impressive finale for Washington after stumbling into the postseason losing four of its last six. Particularly against a ranked team after then-Top 25 opponents Nebraska, Stanford, Oregon and USC all crushed the Huskies by an average of 24 points.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-12-30-FBC-T25-Alamo-Bowl/id-3ac80cdf10ab43189e5da2b6e4de1a5f

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'Rare' brain disorder may be more common than thought

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

A global team of neuroscientists, led by researchers at Mayo Clinic in Florida, have found the gene responsible for a brain disorder that may be much more common than once believed. In the Dec. 25 online issue of Nature Genetics, the researchers say they identified 14 different mutations in the gene CSF1R that lead to development of hereditary diffuse leukoencephalopathy with spheroids (HDLS). This is a devastating disorder of the brain?s white matter that leads to death between ages 40 and 60. People who inherit the abnormal gene always develop HDLS. Until now, a definite diagnosis of HDLS required examination of brain tissue at biopsy or autopsy.

The finding is important because the researchers suspect that HDLS is more common than once thought and a genetic diagnosis will now be possible without need for a brain biopsy or autopsy. According to the study?s senior investigator, neurologist Zbigniew K. Wszolek, M.D., a significant number of people who tested positive for the abnormal gene in this study had been diagnosed with a wide range of other conditions. These individuals were related to a patient known to have HDLS, and so their genes were also examined.

?Because the symptoms of HDLS vary so widely ? everything from behavior and personality changes to seizures and movement problems ? these patients were misdiagnosed as having either schizophrenia, epilepsy, frontotemporal dementia, Parkinson?s disease, multiple sclerosis, stroke, or other disorders,? says Dr. Wszolek. ?Many of these patients were therefore treated with drugs that offered only toxic side effects.

?Given this finding, we may soon have a blood test that can help doctors diagnose HDLS, and I predict we will find it is much more common than anyone could have imagined,? he says.

Dr. Wszolek is internationally known for his long-term efforts to bring together researchers from around the world to help find cases of inherited brain disorders and discover their genetic roots.

Dr. Wszolek?s interest in HDLS began when a severely disabled young woman came to see him in 2003 and mentioned that other members of her family were affected. The diagnosis of HDLS was made by his Mayo Clinic colleague, Dennis W. Dickson, M.D., who reviewed the autopsy findings of the patient?s uncle, who had previously been misdiagnosed as multiple sclerosis, and subsequently, Dr. Wszolek?s patient and her father. All members of the family had HDLS.

Dr. Dickson had identified other cases of HDLS from Florida, New York, Oregon and Kansas in the Mayo Clinic Florida brain bank and knew of a large kindred in Virginia with similar pathology, based upon a presentation at the annual meeting of the American Association of Neuropathologists. With concerted efforts, Dr. Wszolek and collaborators at University of Virginia were able to obtain DNA samples from the Virginia kindred. Dr. Wszolek also sought other cases, particularly those that had been reported in the neuropathology literature, and he was able to obtain samples from Norway, the United Kingdom, Germany and Canada, and other sites in the U.S. He and his team of investigators and collaborators have since published studies describing the clinical, pathologic and imaging characteristics of the disorder, and they have held five international meetings on HDLS.

In this study, which included 38 researchers from 12 institutions in five countries, the study?s first author, Rosa Rademakers, Ph.D., led the effort to find the gene responsible for HDLS. Her laboratory studied DNA samples from 14 families in which at least one member was diagnosed with HDLS and compared these with samples from more than 2,000 disease-free participants. The gene was ultimately found using a combination of traditional genetic linkage studies and recently developed state-of-the art sequencing methods. Most family members studied ? who were found to have HDLS gene mutations ? were not diagnosed with the disease, but with something else, thus emphasizing the notion that HDLS is an underdiagnosed disorder.

The CSF1R protein is an important receptor in the brain that is primarily present in microglia, the immune cells of the brain. ?We identified a different CSF1R mutation in every HDLS family that we studied,? says Dr. Rademakers. ?All mutations are located in the kinase domain of CSF1R, which is critical for its activity, suggesting that these mutations may lead to deficient microglia activity. How this leads to white matter pathology in HDLS patients is not yet understood, but we now have an important lead to study.?

?With no other disease have we found so many affected families so quickly,? says Dr. Wszolek. ?That tells me this disease is not rare, but quite common.? He adds, ?It is fantastic that you can start an investigation with a single case and end up, with the help of many hands, in what we believe to be a world-class gene discovery.?

###

Mayo Clinic: http://www.mayoclinic.org/news

Thanks to Mayo Clinic for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116318/__Rare__brain_disorder_may_be_more_common_than_thought

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Thursday, December 29, 2011

Curry leads Warriors to 99-91 win over Bulls

Chicago Bulls' Joakim Noah (13) has the ball stripped by Golden State Warriors' Stephen Curry (30) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Dec. 26, 2011, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

Chicago Bulls' Joakim Noah (13) has the ball stripped by Golden State Warriors' Stephen Curry (30) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Dec. 26, 2011, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

Golden State Warriors' Monta Ellis (8) takes a shot over Chicago Bulls' Omer Asik (3), from Turkey, and Ronnie Brewer (11) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Dec. 26, 2011, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

Chicago Bulls' Carlos Boozer (5) takes a 3 point shot over Golden State Warriors' Ekpe Udoh (20) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Dec. 26, 2011, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

Chicago Bulls' Ronnie Brewer (11) vies for a loose ball with Golden State Warriors' Brandon Rush (4) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Dec. 26, 2011, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

Chicago Bulls' Carlos Boozer (5) drives to the basket past Golden State Warriors' Monta Ellis (8) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Dec. 26, 2011, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) ? Stephen Curry settled into a chair in front of his locker, then placed his sore right ankle into a Gatorade jug filled with ice and water.

Golden State's mercurial guard had better get used to it at this rate.

Curry rolled his surgically repaired ankle and limped off the court for the second time in seven days. This time the pain was a little easier to take.

Curry had 21 points and 10 assists, and played stifling defense on Derrick Rose most of the night to lead the Warriors to a 99-91 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Monday.

"He ran his basketball team," said Golden State coach Mark Jackson, who quietly celebrated his first victory at any level. "He was in attack mode against arguably the best point guard and the MVP of the league. He did a great job of being an extension of me on the floor."

Monta Ellis added 26 points and seven assists, David Lee had 22 points and seven rebounds, and Dominic McGuire made three free throws in the final 47 seconds to seal the win.

Rose had a poor shooting night and finished with 13 points for Chicago.

It was similar to a year ago when the Warriors, playing at home, held Rose to a quiet 14 points and 10 assists and beat the Bulls 101-90.

Ellis drew the assignment against Rose in that game. This time it was almost exclusively Curry, who followed Rose closely throughout the night and prevented the league's reigning MVP from getting settled in.

"We had an opportunity to show what we've been working on in training camp defensively as a team, getting on the same page," said Curry, who was taken for X-rays on his ankle after the game. "We didn't do that in the fourth quarter last night so we had an opportunity to come back out tonight on a short rest and turn that around. It just happened that D-Rose was here and we figured it out tonight."

A day after making a series of late-game breakdowns against Chris Paul and the Clippers in a 105-86 loss, the Warriors built a double-digit lead in the first quarter and held on.

Rose went 4 of 17 from the floor and missed badly on a pair of 3-pointers in the final moments, including an airball with 25 seconds left.

Luol Deng, whose block of Kobe Bryant as time expired sealed Chicago's season-opening 88-87 win over the Los Angeles Lakers, had 22 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulls. They trailed by as much as 19 before making a late surge to get within 96-91 with 36 seconds remaining.

Chicago, which is in the midst of a season-opening, four-game road trip, has lost nine of its last 10 games in Oakland.

"We let them get easy looks," Rose said. "In the first quarter, we've got to find a way to stop people. Guys that we know can score the ball, they're getting too many easy looks."

Ellis, held to 15 in the season-opening loss to the Clippers, got the Warriors going with 13 points in the first quarter but it was Curry who provided the biggest lift.

He scored 12 straight points and drove past three Chicago defenders in the key to cap a 16-5 run and give Golden State a 46-27 lead. Curry also shadowed Rose and helped hold him to seven points in the first half.

Rose, who hit the game-winner in the Bulls 88-87 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday, took only three shots in the first quarter when Chicago committed eight turnovers.

The Warriors increased their lead to 17 after three before the Bulls made their late push to get within 93-85 with 1:44 left.

Kyle Korver made a pair of 3-pointers in a 14-second span to pull Chicago within 96-91 but the Bulls couldn't get closer.

Notes: Chicago's 14 first-half turnovers equaled its total from the previous night. ... It was the first time in 10 years the Warriors have opened the season with games on consecutive nights. Golden State also plays its next two at Oracle Arena. ... The sellout crowd included New York Yankees pitcher C.C. Sabathia, who grew up 30 miles north of Oakland, Raiders owner Mark Davis and San Francisco 49ers running back Anthony Dixon.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2011-12-27-Bulls-Warriors/id-f75684107bc3443aa523abf9e7a50639

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Avastin disappoints against ovarian cancer

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

___

Online:

Studies: http://www.nejm.org

___

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

Source: http://feeds.cbsnews.com/~r/CBSNewsGamecore/~3/52XiM8-o4PU/

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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Buying unlocked Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 on T Mobile Website Without Contract

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Fire at ad exec's Conn. home kills 3 kids, parents (AP)

STAMFORD, Conn. ? A fire tore through the home of an advertising executive in a tony neighborhood along the Connecticut shoreline Sunday, killing her three children and both of her parents on Christmas morning.

Madonna Badger and a male acquaintance were able to escape from the house as it was engulfed by flames, said Stamford Police Sgt. Paul Guzda. But Badger's three daughters ? a 10-year-old and 7-year-old twins ? perished in the fire, Guzda said.

He said Badger's parents, who were visiting for the holiday, also died.

Neighbors awoke to the sound of screaming shortly before 5 a.m. and rushed outside to help, but they could only watch in horror as flames devoured the grand home in the pre-dawn darkness and the shocked, injured survivors were led away from the house.

"It is a terrible, terrible day," Mayor Michael Pavia told reporters at the scene of the fire. "There probably has not been a worse Christmas day in the city of Stamford."

Badger, an ad executive in the fashion industry, is the founder of New York City-based Badger & Winters Group. A supervisor at Stamford Hospital said she was treated and discharged by Sunday evening.

Property records show she bought the five-bedroom, waterfront Victorian home for $1.7 million last year. The house is situated in Shippan Point, a wealthy neighborhood that juts into Long Island Sound.

The male acquaintance who also escaped the blaze was a contractor who was doing work on the home, Guzda said. He was also hospitalized but his condition was not released.

Police officers drove Badger's husband, Matthew Badger, from New York City to Stamford on Sunday morning. Badger's parents lived in Southbury, Conn., Guzda said.

Firefighters knew there were other people in the home but could not get to them because the flames were too large and the heat too intense, said Acting Fire Chief Antonio Conte, his voice cracking with emotion.

"It's never easy. That's for sure," he said. "I've been on this job 38 years ... not an easy day."

Conte said fire officials don't yet know the cause of the blaze and likely won't get clues for a few days until fire marshals can enter the structure.

By Sunday evening, the roof of the blackened house had largely collapsed.

A neighbor, Sam Cingari Jr., said he was awakened by the sound of screaming and saw that the house was engulfed by flames.

"We heard this screaming at 5 in the morning," he said. "The whole house was ablaze and I mean ablaze."

Cingari said he did not know his neighbors, who he said bought the house last year and were renovating it.

Charles Mangano, who lives nearby, said his wife woke him up and alerted him to the fire. He ran outside to see if he could help and saw a number of fire trucks in front of the house.

"I heard someone yell `Help, help, help me!' and I started sprinting up my driveway," Mangano told The Advocate of Stamford.

He told the newspaper he saw a barefoot man wearing boxers and a woman being taken out of the house. The outdoor temperature at the time was below freezing, according to the National Weather Service.

The woman said, "My whole life is in there," Mangano said. "They were both obviously in a state of shock."

Stamford, a city of 117,000 residents, is about 25 miles northeast of New York City.

Badger was the creative mind behind major advertising campaigns for leading fashion brands, including the iconic Marky Mark underwear ads for Calvin Klein.

Raised in Kentucky, Badger began her career working as a graphic designer in the art department of Esquire magazine. Before starting her own company, she worked as an art director for several magazines and CRK, the in-house advertising agency for designer Calvin Klein.

Badger & Winters has worked with Proctor & Gamble, CoverGirl, A/X Armani Exchange, Emanuel Ungaro and Vera Wang, among other high-profile corporations. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111226/ap_on_re_us/us_fire_five_dead

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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

JXD releases S7100 Android-based gaming tablet, manages to steal from everyone

If you're going to steal, steal from the best. JXD has just released its S7100, a fairly conspicuous 7-inch Android-powered gaming tablet marketed towards playing old-school arcade games. The device features a D-pad, face buttons, an 800 x 480 capacitive touchsceen, ARM Cortex A9 CPU, Mail 400 GPU, 512MB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, 0.3 megapixel front camera, 2.0 megapixel rear camera and HDMI-out. A video trailer shows the unit playing a variety of touchscreen games and classic ROMs including Metal Slug, Mario Kart 64, Angry Birds, Plants Vs. Zombies and Fruit Ninja HD. Not to be undone, the device also features the actual PlayStation button icons on its own buttons (sound familiar?), while the marketing website for the device sports icons from Apple, Google, Microsoft and others. If you're thus far undeterred, there's a must-watch promotional vid hosted just after the break -- nothing justifies a $140 price tag like Bieber, right?

Continue reading JXD releases S7100 Android-based gaming tablet, manages to steal from everyone

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/27/jxd-releases-s7100-android-based-gaming-tablet-manages-to-steal/

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Sunday, December 25, 2011

'Anonymous' hackers target US security think tank


Essential News from The Associated Press

? ?Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2011-12-25-EU-Hacker-Christmas/id-bdcc2e1bf2f340299351c06ecc9f1b74

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Pakistan military hid Osama in Abbottabad: Ex-army chief

Washington: Pakistani military had harboured Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden with the knowledge of former president General Pervez Musharraf, former army chief General Ziauddin Butt has said.

An article on the Jamestown Foundation website, which cited Butt, said that despite denials, evidence is emerging that "elements within the Pakistani military harboured Osama with the knowledge of Musharraf and Kayani". Ashfaq Parvez Kayani is the current army cheif.

Ziauddin Butt, a former army chief, told a conference on Pakistani-US ties in October 2011 that according to his knowledge then director general of Intelligence Bureau, Brigadier (retd.) Ijaz Shah, had "kept Osama bin Laden in an Intelligence Bureau safe house in Abbottabad".

Osama bin Laden was gunned down May 2 by US commandos who mounted a daring operation using stealth helicopters.

The retired general said in the same address that the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) had helped the CIA to track Osama down and kill him.

The report said that stunning revelation was unreported for some time as some intelligence officers had asked journalists not to publish Butt's remarks.

The report said Butt told the daily Dawn Dec 11 that he fully believed that "(Brigadier) Ijaz Shah had kept this man (bin Laden in the Abbottabad compound) with the full knowledge of General Pervez Musharraf..." Butt added, "Ijaz Shah was an all-powerful official in the government of General Musharraf".

To a query on whether the present army chief knew about it, Butt said yes, but later added: "(General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani) may have known - I do not know - he might not have known."

The former army chief has, however, not been able to explain as to how Osama was not found even after Brigadier Shah and Musharraf went out of power.

Butt had been the ISI chief under then prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Sharif had promoted him as the army chief after forcibly retiring General Pervez Musharraf Oct 12, 1999, but the army's top brass then revolted.

Musharraf, who toppled Sharif and became the new chief executive of the country, stepped down in 2008.

Nawaz Sharif and the Pakistani top military officials had major differences, including on Pakistan's ties with Osama bin Laden.

According to Butt, Sharif had made up his mind to cooperate with the US and track down Osama in 1999.

Citing a senior advisor to the prime minister, the report said, "the general staff ousted Sharif to scuttle the `get-Osama' plan".

Butt said that Nawaz Sharif had set up a special task force of 90 US-trained commandos to track down Osama in Afghanistan.

"If the Sharif government had continued on this course, this force would likely have caught bin Laden by December 2001, but the plan was aborted by Ziauddin Butt's successor as ISI general director, Lieutenant General Mahmud Ahmed," the report added.

Source: http://www.sify.com/news/pakistan-military-hid-osama-in-abbottabad-ex-army-chief-news-international-lmyq8Xcigbj.html

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Paul Graham: SOPA Supporting Companies No Longer Allowed At YC Demo Day

Y_Combinator_Logo_400At this point quite a few internet companies have protested H.R. 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in?creative ways. Held by many to be the worst thing to ever happen to the Internet if it passes, SOPA would makes it really easy for copyright holders to force sites offline that they think are offending, among other things.\ While the judiciary vote has been delayed until next year, the list revealing the companies who support the act was released yesterday, and many startups, such as Reddit, have begun to drill down into boycotts of individual companies like domain provider GoDaddy.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Y87-soRwbHo/

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Friday, December 23, 2011

Literate Naruto Roleplay

Alright, let me start by saying how much I hate the word literate when used to describe skill level. It's too general and vague, anyone who's passed middle school could be literate. Nah. Let me make things more specific by saying 'advanced' Naruto roleplay. Or is that too pretentious?

Basically, I want this roleplay to stand out from other canon roleplays out there. Most canon roleplays lack the level of care or thought that original ones have; with this roleplay I want to change that. I'm a guy that loves roleplays, and loves Naruto. I'm tired of seeing Naruto roleplays go under because of lack of thought. This is no retelling of the Naruto canon, no 'next-generation' where the sons and daughters of the Rookie Nine become legendary ninja. I'm setting out to put a different twist on the Naruto Canon. Lemme stop the build up and get er done.

The Setting

The roleplay is set several hundred years from the Narutoverse as we know it, alternate reality. Technology is grand, almost cyberpunk in design [not as flashy and tron-ish though. there's no holograms here]. In this world, the way of the ninja has been outlawed, the Kages are dead, and the feudal lords are the only ones in power. It's a dark time, full of corruption and strife. How did it get to this point though?

Three hundred years ago, the Feudal Lords came together to devise a plot. The Lords feared the immense power of the Kage and their soldiers. They felt that in time, their positions would become irrelevant in the face of the ninja world. And so, they used their influence to brand the Kage as traitors. Ninja that refused to submit to the power of the Feudal Lords were executed. Each of the Kages were brought before the Lords, and executed in a live broadcast. After that, the ninja name became synonymous with treachery. The age of Ninja was over.

Today, Five Great Nations still retain chief power in the world. They maintain order with their Royal Guard; men and women who are the epitome of strength and skill who are in possession of the most advanced technology the world has to offer. However, only the wealthy receive protection from the Royal Guard. Those who cannot afford the protection tax are left to rot.

Although the Ninja Arts have been outlawed, they have by no means been totally eradicated. There a few out there who have attained knowledge and mastery of ninjutsu. It is even said that somewhere out there, there is an entire city that survives the Ninja Arts. Somewhere.

Like I said before, this is a distant future of the Naruto Universe. The give you an idea of what that means imagine the Land of Fire. Once graced with beautiful trees and forests, it is now inhabited entirely by skyscrapers and highways. It's like New York.

The Story

It's like a cross between Star Wars...with Kunai Knifes instead of Lightsabers, and a John Woo flick...with ninjas.

The story will revolve around the remnants of the ninja world; the retainers of the old ways, The Jinchuuriki; those who will bring about the Ninja World's revival, and those who are out to stop them. Joining up, you'll have three choices on character 'class'. 'User of Old Way', one who has somehow uncovered knowledge of ninja arts, and survives them as a practitioner, 'Jinchuuriki', one destined to become the host of one of the Tailed Beasts [and to be hunted by the Royal Guard and Feudal Lords at all costs], or a member of the Royal Guard.

At the start of the story, our nine Jinchuuriki will awaken to their powers. From that point on, they will be marked as public enemy no.1 by everyone around them. The story will take place all around the 5 Nations, as the Jinchuuriki seek to master their new found [or not so new found] powers. Or maybe the Jinchuuriki will forsake their destiny all together and run from it. It's up to them. Regardless...they will be hunted.

So yeah. That's the tale thus far.

Combat, Jutsu, and other mechanics...

Combat will be handled T1 style. Jutsu use will be dictated by a very strict system.

Seeing how ninjutsu is outlawed, even the strongest practitioner of ninja arts won't have a plethora of Jutsu. Depending on the type of character [Old Way, or Jinchuuriki] I'll place a base maximum on Jutsu number. This number obviously will expanded as time passes on in the roleplay as characters grow through battle. Jutsu can be of your own creation or canonical. Doesn't matter.

Given the nature of the roleplay, i'm looking at an every other day posting minimum. Probably. A decent number of players able to create some legible, detailed and well formed posts is all I ask.

And that's that. It's rough, but this is the basic gist of where I want to go with things. I just wanted to see if anyone would be interested in this? Suggestions? Anything?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/wmdU2llJZjU/viewtopic.php

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Kenya HIV families torn between health or food (AP)

NAIROBI, Kenya ? Rosalia Adhiambo won't take the free anti-HIV drugs that would prolong her life. The spiraling price of food in Kenya means she can't afford to feed both her grandniece and herself.

So she feeds 5-year-old Emily and doesn't take her own medicine, fearing that the nausea she would get from taking the drugs without adequate food will make her too weak to look for work.

Prices for staple foods this year are almost twice as high as in 2009, the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization says. The rising prices and a dwindling of funds for HIV programs mean countless poor families must decide whether to focus on the health of an HIV-positive adult or on a child's hunger.

Valerian Kamito, a nurse at the clinic that gives Adhiambo her food, says some patients are refusing to start treatment for HIV and around a quarter of his 1,555 patients on anti-HIV drugs are now skipping their medication.

"They say they cannot take them on an empty stomach," Kamito said. Before prices rose, he said, "it was very rare."

HIV-positive adults need 10 percent more calories than other people just to maintain their body weight. Children with HIV need between 30 percent to 50 percent more calories than other children. They will lose weight and be vulnerable to infections without those calories, said nutritionist Kate Greenaway from the aid agency Catholic Relief Services.

Annual inflation in Kenya is around 20 percent, but wages haven't kept pace. Around half of Kenyans live on less than $2 a day, including 52-year-old Adhiambo, who makes $1 each day she does housework.

"When there is nothing to eat, we go to bed hungry. I tell Emily it is because God did not send us food today," said Adhiambo, motioning to a cardboard picture of Jesus on the wall of their corrugated iron shack.

"Emily stands before that picture and prays, 'God, please remember to send us food tomorrow,'" said Adhiambo.

She had work for two weeks last month, but the younger women get most of the jobs. Adhiambo relies on her daily free meal of rice, beans and vegetables from a clinic run by Catholic Relief Services in the Mathare slum, though she sometimes misses that if she is searching for work. The staff there are trying to persuade her to take her anti-HIV drugs.

But Adhiambo carries the food home and gives most of it to Emily, who isn't signed up for the CRS program, though workers there are trying to get her into it. The bright-eyed little girl in the torn blue dress is almost all that's left of Adhiambo's family. Adhiambo's brother, two sisters and husband are all dead. Emily's mother is alive, but ill. She refuses to be tested. Emily has been tested and is HIV positive.

Adhiambo needs to take drugs called anti-retrovirals, or ARVs, and so will Emily. Taken regularly, the medicine can prolong life by years, possibly decades. But if taken sporadically, the medicine will lose its effectiveness.

Patients say the medicine can cause nausea, fatigue, and diarrhea at first, especially if there is no food to go with it, said Greenaway. The drugs also cause a ravenous hunger as the body starts to recover. Adhiambo, afraid that the side effects will prevent her from working, refuses to take the pills.

The clinic gives 400 of its patients, Adhiambo among them, "prescribed food" to eat with their medicines so they'll continue the treatment. But most take the meals home to share with their families, said Kamito. The program has a long waiting list. The financial crisis means there is no money to expand it.

Globally, there has been around a 10 percent decline in HIV/AIDS funding, said Michel Sidibe, the UNAIDS executive director. The world's top funder of public health programs ? the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria ? has disbursed $15 billion since 2002, but it cannot afford to pay for any new or expanded programs until 2014.

Poverty, meanwhile, continues to eat at the gains made by modern medicine in fighting HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Twenty to 30 percent of HIV-positive patients in the developing world drop out in the first two years of treatment, said Nils Grede, the deputy chief of the World Food Program's nutrition and HIV/AIDS unit.

"Barriers to continue the treatment ... are often related to poverty. You don't have the money to pay for the bus, you don't have enough food, so you spend your time on trying to make sure that your family eats," Grede told The Associated Press in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

"People adhere much better to drug regimens when there is food," said Greenaway. "But in poor families, that might mean mothers who want to stay strong have to decide whether to take something from their children's plates."

Adhiambo's neighbor Ishmael Abongo, a 35-year-old father of four, must do just that. He and his wife Mary are both HIV positive, as is one of their sons. The whole family shares the clinic's food. When he has found work, Abongo takes a bit of porridge from dinner and saves it for the morning so he isn't too dizzy for a two-hour bus journey.

"I know it is important to take the drugs," he said.

He recounted knowing four people who did not take the pills because they had no food. They are now all dead, Abongo said.

A clinic social worker visited Adhiambo in her tiny shack in December, trying to persuade her to take her medication or risk dying, and leaving Emily with no family to care for her. But Adhiambo was more worried about their present situation.

"What will happen to her if I take these drugs and I get sick?" Adhiambo asked, adding that if she can't work or even walk because of side effects from the medicine they won't have any food.

Eventually, Adhiambo stood up. She needed to find some clothes or a floor that needed washing. She was two months behind with the rent ? $15 a month ? and could be evicted.

The white-winged Jesus that Emily prays to was shown in the picture walking through a garden, nothing like the smelly alley outside the shack.

Words below picture said: "May my prayers come before you, that you heal me according to your will."

___

Associated Press writer Luc van Kemenade in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia contributed to this report.

___

Follow Katharine Houreld at http://twitter.com/khoureld

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111222/ap_on_he_me/af_kenya_hiv_no_food

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Thursday, December 22, 2011

MLK parade bomber sentenced to 32 years in prison

(AP)? SPOKANE, Wash. ? A federal judge was not swayed by the last-ditch attempt from an Army veteran with extensive ties to white supremacists to change his guilty plea in a plot to bomb a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade.

Kevin Harpham said in court he only agreed to plead guilty to planting a bomb filled with poison-laced shrapnel along the downtown Spokane parade route to avoid a possible life sentence, telling the judge: "I am not guilty of the acts that I am accused of and that I plead guilty to."

U.S. District Court Judge Justin Quackenbush responded by handing down the maximum punishment at his discretion.

"I am distressed that you appear not the least bit apologetic," said Quackenbush, as he sentenced Harpham to 32 years in prison Tuesday. The possible prison sentence was negotiated in the plea bargain as between 27 and 32 years.

Harpham blamed the judge for not giving his defense team enough time. The 37-year-old said he did not intend to injure people with the bomb he placed in downtown Spokane prior to the January parade.

Rather, he intended for the shrapnel to hit the side of a building as a show of protest against the multiculturalism celebrated by the parade, he said.

"I was making a statement that there are people out there who don't agree with these ideas," Harpham said. He likened himself to a Christian protesting gay marriage, "but a bit more dangerous or extreme."

The judge said he was perplexed because Harpham was honorably discharged from the Army and had no criminal record, saying the previously law-abiding Harpham seemed to be influenced by a "shrill and caustic and vitriolic" culture fueled by talk media.

"That is contrary to what this community and this country is about," Quackenbush said.

Just before he was scheduled to be sentenced, Harpham's lawyer tried unsuccessfully to withdraw his guilty plea by noting that a newly hired defense expert questioned whether the explosive device in question met the legal definition of a bomb.

Harpham said he intended to seek an appeal, which he has 14 days to file.

Federal prosecutors said it was important that a long sentence be imposed in the case.

"Acts of hate like this one have no place in our country in 2011," said Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for the civil rights division in Washington, D.C.

Federal officials have said Harpham acted alone.

The pipe bomb was loaded with lead fishing weights coated in rat poison, which can inhibit blood clotting in wounds, officials have said. The bomb was discovered and disabled before it could explode.

The parade on Jan. 17 drew a crowd of about 2,000 on a cold winter morning. It was forced onto an alternative route after the bomb was found. Harpham walked in the parade and took pictures of young black children and of a Jewish man who was wearing a yarmulke, prosecutors have said.

Harpham was arrested March 9 at his rural home near Addy, Wash.

The September plea deal charged Harpham with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, and the hate crime of placing the bomb in an effort to target minorities. Prosecutors dropped charges of using a firearm in relation to a crime of violence and unauthorized possession of an unregistered explosive device. If convicted, he could have faced up to life in prison.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, has said that Harpham made more than 1,000 postings on a white supremacist website. The center also has said that Harpham belonged to a neo-Nazi group.

Harpham served from 1996 to 1999 in the Army at what is now Joint Base Lewis-McChord, near Tacoma. His lawyers have said Harpham had not been recently employed.

He has remained in the Spokane County Jail without bail since his arrest. Under the deal, Harpham would remain on probation for the rest of his life once he leaves prison.

During his sentencing, a suspicious package was found near the federal courthouse, but a bomb squad determined it was not an explosive.

Source: http://feeds.cbsnews.com/~r/CBSNewsGamecore/~3/6WpBFDMMp2w/

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Sunday, December 18, 2011

Cowboys take 31-15 lead into 4th quarter (AP)

TAMPA, Fla. ? Tony Romo threw for three touchdowns and ran for a fourth score Saturday night, helping the Dallas Cowboys stop a two-game losing streak with a 31-15 victory over the struggling Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The win gave the Cowboys (8-6) a half-game lead over the New York Giants in the NFC East. The Bucs (4-10) lost for the eighth straight time.

Romo threw a pair of 8-yard TD passes to Miles Austin and Dez Bryant in the first quarter, then finished a seven-play, 89-yard drive with a 9-yarder to Laurent Robinson to make it 21-0 with just under 5 minutes remaining in the second quarter. Romo made it 28-0 on a quarterback sneak in the closing seconds of the opening half.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111218/ap_on_sp_fo_ga_su/fbn_cowboys_buccaneers

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Libyan students in US worry about returning home (AP)

EAST LANSING, Mich. ? More than two years ago, Faeirouz Elbergwa was among a select group of Libyans sent by her government to an American university to train for the nation's diplomatic corps. As she prepares for the final stage of her studies, she and her colleagues now find themselves in an odd state of limbo ? a vestige of a regime that no longer exists and unsure what might await them in their much-changed homeland.

Elbergwa, 27, and 18 colleagues in a Libyan diplomatic training program at Michigan State University watched in amazement during the last year as the North African nation was convulsed by a violent revolution that ended with the overthrow and death of leader Moammar Gadhafi.

When the regime fell, many of the students were elated. Elbergwa said she and her family "took the side of the revolution from day one." But she wonders if people in her war-torn country will think of her as a would-be Gadhafi government official when it's time for her to return.

"Maybe some of them will say I'm loyal to this family," she said. "I think I don't care. It's what's in my heart that counts."

Student Mohammed Gibril also wonders about his future in Libya. "I might return home and nothing happens; I might return home and something happens," he said.

As Libya's new leaders struggle to establish order in the country, the students on the campus 5,000 miles away are trying to puzzle out their future with the help of relatives at home and authorities in the United States.

The State Department has approved the necessary visas for them to stay in the United States, and they intend to continue with their program, which will resume next month on the campus of American University in Washington, D.C. If they appear to be in danger when it's time to return to Libya later next year, the U.S. could consider granting asylum.

"The perception is just because these folks received the scholarship from the Gadhafi family they are somehow aligned ... with the Gadhafi family," said Eugenia Zacks-Carney, an immigration attorney who has been working with the Libyans at Michigan State. "Nothing could be further from the truth."

Michigan State launched the program in 2010 under a contract with Libya's National Economic Development Board to provide training in English, political science and international relations for future foreign service officials. Elbergwa, who describes her family as middle-class, was working toward a master's degree in international relations in Benghazi when she entered the program. She said that for those interested in public service in Libya, there was no alternative to dealing with the Gadhafi regime.

"Everything in the country was controlled by their family. ... We liked to call Libya `Gadhafi's farm,'" said Elbergwa, speaking in fluent English. "We lived by it. Somehow we accepted it for a long time."

When the uprising began in February, she said, her two brothers joined the fight and her father began driving an ambulance. She was heartbroken at first, seeing the broadcast images of suffering and mayhem, but then she joined anti-Gadhafi protests on campus.

Gibril also was torn. "I don't like seeing people being killed, but I was happy to see what he represented die," said Gibril, who has worked in the human rights field. "I wanted him to face justice."

About 20 students in the program, including those loyal to the Gadhafi regime, decided to return home when NATO forces began attacking government targets, but the others stayed on.

Hamza El-Najah, 28, another student in the program, said it's not clear now when stability will come to the nation.

"As the world knows, they don't have freedom for more than 42 years," said El-Najah, whose family owns a jewelry store in a town about 60 miles south of Tripoli. "Right now, they get freedom. What do you think ? use this freedom in the right way or the wrong way?"

Gibril said he would like to return home after the program ends later this year.

One concern is the dozens of militias that rose up during the war and now are reluctant to disband or submit to central authority. Also, there are still Gadhafi loyalists.

"I know there are still people killing in his name," said Elbergwa, whose father resigned from the Libyan Army two years after Gadhafi came to power in 1969.

Sipping coffee in an off-campus cafe, Elbergwa, dressed in a casual sweater and multihued headscarf, said the overthrow of Gadhafi leaves a country with "nothing" ? no infrastructure, education, health care or political culture. With a huge rebuilding process ahead, she said, she hopes her nation will accept her help.

When he returns after his diplomatic training, El-Najah said he will carry a simple message.

"We have to forgive each other," he said. "I will tell them: You should forgive if you want to build Libya."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111218/ap_on_re_us/us_libyans_diplomatic_dilemma

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