Cargill, Mexico settle trade dispute over corn syrup

Cargill Inc. and the Mexican government have settled a long-running free-trade dispute over the corn syrup business.

In December, Minnetonka-based Cargill took Mexico to court, claiming the government had failed to pay a $95 million arbitration award stemming from the dispute. Cargill sued in U.S. District Court for southern New York to enforce the award.

Cargill confirmed Friday that the matter had been settled. The company has long claimed that Mexican trade barriers have hurt its high-fructose corn syrup business.

In 2009, an international arbitration panel concluded that Mexico had breached the North American Free Trade Act by erecting trade barriers, thus increasing the price of corn syrup. The panel awarded Cargill damages of $77.3 million, plus costs of $2 million.

Mexico appealed the decision to a federal court in Canada, which had legal jurisdiction over the arbitration case. Canadian courts, though, let the Cargill award stand, ending Mexico?s appellate route in Canada.

When Cargill filed suit in New York, it claimed that it expected Mexico to pay but said it had to preserve its legal rights before they expired. By then, the award amount had grown to $94.6 million with interest.

Source: http://www.startribune.com/business/192511541.html

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Lt. Governor Sheila Simon's editorial on preparing students for college, jobs an...

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Source: http://www.facebook.com/AdvanceIllinois/posts/550921431598775

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New flu drug stops drug-resistant strains of virus in its tracks

Feb. 21, 2013 ? A new class of influenza drug has been shown effective against drug-resistant strains of the flu virus, according to a study led by University of British Columbia researchers. Published online February 21 in the journal Science Express, the study details the development of a new drug candidate that prevents the flu virus from spreading from one cell to the next.

The drug is shown to successfully treat mice with lethal strains of the flu virus.

In order to spread in the body, the flu virus first uses a protein, called hemagglutinin, to bind to the healthy cell's receptors. Once it has inserted its RNA and replicated, the virus uses an enzyme, called neuraminidase, to sever the connection and move on to the next healthy cell.

"Our drug agent uses the same approach as current flu treatments -- by preventing neuraminidase from cutting its ties with the infected cell," says UBC Chemistry Prof. Steve Withers, the study's senior author. "But our agent latches onto this enzyme like a broken key, stuck in a lock, rendering it useless."

Watch a video of the flu virus at work at http://youtu.be/kSLRmj0APZw.

The World Health Organization estimates that influenza affects three to five million people globally each year, causing 250,000 to 500,000 deaths. In some pandemic years, the figure rose to millions.

"One of the major challenges of the current flu treatments is that new strains of the flu virus are becoming resistant, leaving us vulnerable to the next pandemic," says Withers, whose team includes researchers from Canada, the UK, and Australia.

"By taking advantage of the virus's own 'molecular machinery' to attach itself," Withers adds. "The new drug could remain effective longer, since resistant virus strains cannot arise without destroying their own mechanism for infection."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of British Columbia.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Jin-Hyo Kim, Ricardo Resende, Tom Wennekes, Hong-Ming Chen, Nicole Bance, Sabrina Buchini, Andrew G. Watts, Pat Pilling, Victor A. Streltsov, Martin Petric, Richard Liggins, Susan Barrett, Jennifer L. McKimm-Breschkin, Masahiro Niikura, and Stephen G. Withers. Mechanism-Based Covalent Neuraminidase Inhibitors with Broad Spectrum Influenza Antiviral Activity. Science, 21 February 2013 DOI: 10.1126/science.1232552

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/Zu0RrKpBR8o/130221143904.htm

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Japan, China diplomats seek cooperation in North Korea nuclear test response

They may be on opposite sides of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands issue, but Japan and China are in agreement that they need to take action over North Korea?s third nuclear test last week. The test was in direct violation of resolutions from the United Nations Security Council, which the two countries are members of.

Shinsuke Sugiyama, director general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry?s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, met with Wu Dawei, China?s special representative for Korean Peninsula affairs to discuss how to strengthen cooperation between the two countries on this particular issue. China, normally the strongest ally of North Korea, has expressed staunch opposition to the nuclear tests being conducted by the reclusive state. Appeals for recalling Beijing?s food and energy aid to Pyongyang are growing stronger amidst fears that the nuclear tests will lead to further actions from North Korea against countries that oppose them. But Beijing is still reluctant to impose rigorous sanctions. Sugiyama is seeking for China?s cooperation in imposing the Security Council?s additional economic and financial sanctions on North Korea.

Sugiyama has also reiterated the request for cooperation from China with regards to North Korea?s past abductions of Japanese nationals and in making them fully accountable for all their actions. Another agenda for the Japanese diplomat is exchanging views with Chinese Foreign Ministry officials over the strained relations between the two countries over their territorial islands issue. However, he refused to disclose who were his counterparts and what were the results of the talks.

[ via Kyodo ]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JapanDailyPress/~3/HLiB05_TM4w/japan-china-diplomats-seek-cooperation-in-north-korea-nuclear-test-response-2123793

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Stock Downgrades: Sirona Dental Braces Itself For Bad News ...

The market?s Millennial madness returned as the?Nasdaq?(^IXIC) hit its highest level since the year 2000, thanks to an?Internet stock with a silly name. Befitting another bout of Tulip Mania, Bubble Wrap maker?Sealed Air?(SEE) surged 9.02% to a fresh 52-week peak. Just remember though, it?s merely money, not life and death. (Actually,?on second thought?)
?
Such was the ebullience in equities that investors were even prepared to?back up the truck?in?Brink?s?(BCO) ? though not quite as profitably as thieves backed up on its truck in Belgium at 8:05 p.m. on Monday in a?$50 million diamond heist. Its shares rose 0.87% during the day and added on another 1.31% after-hours.?
?
Tesco?(PINK:TSCDY), fresh from its horse meat scandal, gained 0.70% to defeat the neigh-sayers after?upbeat analyst comments?but there was no need to ask?why the long face?with?Humana (HUM), based in America?s equine epicenter of Kentucky. It slid 6.39% in posting the?S&P 500?s?(^GSPC) poorest performance.
?
Today at 2:00 p.m. Eastern, the Federal Open Market Committee will release the minutes to its January 29-30 meeting. Corporate earnings activity sees announcements out of?Akzo Nobel?(PINK:AKZOY),?BHP Billiton (BHP),?Cheesecake Factory?(CAKE),?Cr?dit Agricole?(PINK:CRARY),?Devon Energy?(DVN),?Dish Network?(DISH),?Fluor?(FLR), Garmin?(GRMN),?KBR, Inc. (KBR),?MGM Resorts?(MGM), and Toll Brothers?(TOL).
?
AEGON N.V.?(AEG): ABN Amro slashes the stock to Sell from Hold, sending it sharply lower ahead of this morning?s opening bell.
?
Barclays?(BCS): A steep valuation sees the British bank downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs.
?
Baidu Inc.?(BIDU): Citing heightened competition from Alibaba?s new search engine, Cr?dit Agricole cuts the Chinese Internet outfit to Underperform from Outperform. Its price objective is $105.
?
Capital One?(COF): FBR Capital removes the company from its Top Picks list and reduces its price objective to $63 from $68 amid a $7 billion asset sale and increased investor confusion over its private-label plans.
?
Compass Group?(PINK:CMPGY): Shares are now Neutral from Buy at UBS.
?
Deckers Outdoor?(DECK): DECK gets downgraded to Neutral from Outperform with Wedbush.
?
Express Scripts?(ESRX): Macquarie moves the equity to Neutral from Outperform.
?
HollyFrontier?(HFC): The energy stock is taken to Market Perform from Outperform with Wells Fargo.
?
L-3 Communications?(LLL): Shares are lowered to Underperform from Perform at RBC Capital, whose concerns include a challenging Department of Defense budget.
?
Millennial Media?(MM): Morgan Stanley moves the shares to Equal-Weight from Overweight.
?
NetSpend Holdings?(NTSP): Shares, no longer trading on fundamentals after an acquisition offer, are now Market Perform from Outperform with Wells Fargo.
?
OfficeMax?(OMX): The stock, yesterday?s top NYSE percentage performer amid merger talk, is today downgraded to Hold from Buy at BB&T Capital.
?
Red Robin Gourmet Burgers?(RRGB): RRGB gets reduced to Neutral from Buy at Davenport due to valuation.
?
Sealed Air?(SEE): Wells slashes the Bubble Wrap maker, a stellar performer on Tuesday, to Underperform from Market Perform. It is exposed to inflation pressures, the broker believes.
?
Starwood Hotels?(HOT): Jefferies cuts the accommodation outfit to Hold from Buy.
?
SAIC, Inc.?(SAI): The technical services stock gets taken to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan.
?
Sirona Dental Systems?(NASDAQ:SIRO): Robert W. Baird reduces its recommendation to Neutral from Outperform, trimming its price target in the process by $3 to $76. The broker says its channel checks indicate that eagerly awaited new products due to be unveiled at next month?s 35th International Dental Show may be less accretive to top line earnings than previously projected.
?
Trinity Industries?(TRN): TRN is taken to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James.
?
Windstream?(WIN): Shares are slashed to Sell from Neutral at UBS.

(See also: New Stock Coverage: Adobe a Flash in the Pan? and Stock Upgrades: Staples Set for More Paper Profits.)

No positions in stocks mentioned.

The information on this website solely reflects the analysis of or opinion about the performance of securities and financial markets by the writers whose articles appear on the site. The views expressed by the writers are not necessarily the views of Minyanville Media, Inc. or members of its management. Nothing contained on the website is intended to constitute a recommendation or advice addressed to an individual investor or category of investors to purchase, sell or hold any security, or to take any action with respect to the prospective movement of the securities markets or to solicit the purchase or sale of any security. Any investment decisions must be made by the reader either individually or in consultation with his or her investment professional. Minyanville writers and staff may trade or hold positions in securities that are discussed in articles appearing on the website. Writers of articles are required to disclose whether they have a position in any stock or fund discussed in an article, but are not permitted to disclose the size or direction of the position. Nothing on this website is intended to solicit business of any kind for a writer's business or fund. Minyanville management and staff as well as contributing writers will not respond to emails or other communications requesting investment advice.

Copyright 2011 Minyanville Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Source: http://www.minyanville.com/trading-and-investing/stocks/articles/Stock-Downgrades253A-Sirona-Dental-Braces-Itself/2/20/2013/id/48236

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St. Aug Marching 100 selected to play in Tournament of Roses Parade

wwltv.com

Posted on February 20, 2013 at 1:22 PM

Updated today at 1:25 PM

NEW?ORLEANS?- The busiest high school marching band during Mardi Gras will now showcase its talents in one of the premier national parades in the country.

The St. Aug 'Marching 100' has been selected as one of 18 bands from across the country to participate in the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena on New Year's Day.

St. Aug's band headlines many New Orleans-area parades during Carnival, including at least one instance where they march in two parades in the same day on the busy Carnival weekend.

The Tournament of Roses Parade sent out a news release stating that it selects its bands based on:
"A variety of criteria including musicianship, marching ability and entertainment or special interest value. In order to be considered, band representatives submitted detailed applications, which included photos, video footage and letters of recommendation. Bands are required to raise all necessary funds for travel and accommodations. In addition to marching in the 5 1/2 mile long Rose Parade on New Year?s Day, bands also perform in one of three Bandfest events scheduled for Dec. 29 and 30, 2013, at Pasadena City College."

Source: http://www.wwltv.com/news/St-Aug-Marching-100-selected-to-play-in-Tournament-of-Roses-Parade-192090051.html

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Study disputes long-term medical savings from bariatric surgery

In the span of 15 years, the number of bariatric surgeries performed in the United States has grown more than 16-fold to roughly 220,000 per year, gaining cachet as a near-panacea for obesity.

Despite the daunting price tag, mounting research has boosted hopes that the stomach-stapling operations could reduce the nation's healthcare bill by weaning patients off the costly drugs and frequent doctor visits that come with chronic obesity-related diseases like diabetes and arthritis.

But a new study has found that the surgery does not reduce patients' medical costs over the six years after they are wheeled out of the operating room.

The study, published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Surgery, tracked the expenses of nearly 30,000 Americans who got one of two forms of bariatric surgery, and compared their long-term health costs with those of similar patients who were obese but did not go under the knife to lose weight. Even when the initial $20,000-$25,000 cost of the procedure was taken out of the equation, the ongoing expenses for the patients who had surgery were roughly the same as for those who did not.

In an editorial accompanying the study, Dr. Edward H. Livingston wrote that "bariatric surgery does not provide an overall societal benefit." Though acknowledging that such surgery has "dramatic short-term results," he added that its longer-term effects ? including on longevity ? have been disappointing.

"In this era of tight finances and inevitable rationing of healthcare resources, bariatric surgery should be viewed as an expensive resource" that should only be offered to patients "if there is an overwhelming probability of long-term success," he wrote.

Obesity, which affects 1 in 3 American adults, is proving a tough and expensive challenge for the nation's healthcare system. The annual cost of treating obesity-related diseases ? including stroke, heart disease and certain cancers ? is now $190 billion. With no decline in U.S. obesity rates, that surcharge is projected to reach $550 billion by 2030.

The finding that bariatric surgery does not save money is sure to be disappointing to public health officials seeking to "bend the cost curve" downward. Despite high upfront costs that range from $10,000 to $43,000, broadening access to bariatric procedures might help drive down healthcare costs in the longer run, the thinking went.

"We were so hopeful," said Dr. David Goodman of Dartmouth College medical school, who was not involved with the new study.

Bariatric procedures foster rapid weight loss by surgically reshaping the intestinal tract. To varying degrees, they aim to reduce the stomach's capacity, decrease the calories and nutrients absorbed from food, and change the chemical signals of fullness that are passed between the brain, the gut and the endocrine system.

The new study considered two such procedures: Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, in which the path of food is rerouted around a large portion of the stomach and the upper intestine; and gastric banding, which constricts the stomach to create a smaller pouch for food.

Several studies have suggested that bariatric surgery might indeed be cost-saving. At a minimum, it could be seen as paying for itself when improvements in patients' quality of life were given a monetary value.

But the new analysis, which compared nearly 60,000 patients covered by Blue Cross Blue Shield health plans, showed that those who had bariatric surgery incurred an average of $29,517 in costs in the first 30 days after their procedures. The average costs for the control patients were $1,004 during the equivalent period.

That huge surgical bill was not recouped during the course of the study, since costs for patients in both groups were roughly the same. In the sixth and last year examined, the average medical expenses for a surgery patient were $9,259; for a patient in the control group, they were $8,714.

"We need to know better not just what works, but what gets us the best bang for the buck," said John Cawley, a Cornell University health economist who praised the study's design and ambition.

Dr. Philip Schauer, a bariatric surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic, said the benefits of surgery might have looked better if the study tracked patients for longer than six years and included indirect cost savings to employers and insurers, such as reduced absenteeism and fewer disability claims. For many patients, the cardiovascular benefits of bariatric surgery ? and resulting savings in hospital care ? may not be realized for at least 10 years, he said.

Among a dozen or so studies on the topic in the last decade or so, "theirs is kind of an outlier," Schauer said.

Study leader Jonathan P. Weiner of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health said his team did not try to figure out whether some of the costs incurred by patients in the surgery group reflected underlying improvements in their health. For instance, patients who lost weight might have an easier time getting pregnant and could wind up in the hospital to give birth. Others might attempt knee or hip replacements that would have been too risky when they were obese.

If it turns out that bariatric surgery doesn't save money, public health officials will have to hope they can find cost savings with medications and lifestyle interventions, neither of which has shown consistent evidence of long-term success in helping patients maintain weight loss or head off obesity-related disease.

Kenneth Thorpe, chairman of health policy and management at Emory University's School of Public Health, said there's reason to believe that drug and behavioral therapies are a better investment than surgeries. For patients considered pre-diabetic, studies have shown that a 16-week course called the Diabetes Prevention Program staves off the disease in 58% of those under 60 and 71% of patients over 60. And the Food and Drug Administration last year approved two new weight-loss medications, Qsymia and Belviq, that could bring similar health benefits.

The cost of these treatments are "a pittance compared with what we're doing with bariatric surgery," Thorpe said.

melissa.healy@latimes.com

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/news/science/~3/IbRPJIaRQTo/la-sci-obesity-bariatric-surgery-20130221,0,3466667.story

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Official: Calif. gunman was loner, 'gamer'

This undated image provided by the Tustin Police Department shows Ali Syed, a suspect in a series of shootings Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013 in southern California. In less than an hour, Syed, an unemployed part-time student, shot and killed a woman in her home and two commuters during carjackings early Tuesday, shot up vehicles on a Southern California freeway and committed suicide as police closed in on him, authorities said. (AP Photo/Tustin Police Dept.)

This undated image provided by the Tustin Police Department shows Ali Syed, a suspect in a series of shootings Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013 in southern California. In less than an hour, Syed, an unemployed part-time student, shot and killed a woman in her home and two commuters during carjackings early Tuesday, shot up vehicles on a Southern California freeway and committed suicide as police closed in on him, authorities said. (AP Photo/Tustin Police Dept.)

This photo provided by the California Department of Motor Vehicles shows Melvin Edwards. Edwards, 69, was one of 3 fatalaties during Ali Syed's shooting spree on Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013. Edwards was forced from his BMW at a stop sign, marched to a curb and shot in the back of the head as other commuters watched in horror. (AP Photo/Dept of Motor Vehicles via The Orange County Register)

Police investigators examine a gun laying in the street at the intersection of Wanda Road and Katella Avenue in Orange, Calif., early Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013 near where a body laid moments before. A shooting spree early Tuesday left three people dead and two others injured in Orange County, and the search for the gunman ended when he shot himself to death in a stolen car as police closed in, authorities said.(AP Photo/The Orange County Register, Mark Rightmire) MAGS OUT; LOS ANGELES TIMES OUT

Investigators walk past a tarp covered body in Orange, Calif., Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013. Police say a chaotic 25-minute shooting spree through Orange County left a trail of dead and injured victims before the shooter killed himself. Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino say there are at least six crime scenes with three people, including the suspected gunman, dead and several others wounded. Tustin police Supervisor Dave Kanoti said the shootings started with an apparent carjacking just after 5 a.m. Tuesday in an unincorporated Ladera Ranch area of Orange County. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

An Orange police officer directs traffic as an investigation of a shooting continues, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013 in Orange County, Calif. Police say a chaotic 25-minute shooting spree through Orange County left a trail of dead and injured victims before the shooter killed himself. Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino say there are at least six crime scenes with three people, including the suspected gunman, dead and several others wounded. Tustin police Supervisor Dave Kanoti said the shootings started with an apparent carjacking just after 5 a.m. Tuesday in an unincorporated Ladera Ranch area of Orange County. (AP Photo/The Orange County Register, Mark Rightmire) MAGS OUT; LOS ANGELES TIMES OUT

TUSTIN, Calif. (AP) ? The first of three people killed in a gunman's rampage was identified Wednesday as a 20-year-old woman but police did not know why she was in the home of the shooter, who lived with his parents and was described by authorities as a video game-playing loner.

Courtney Aoki, 20, of Buena Park was shot multiple times early Tuesday in the home where gunman Ali Syed, 20, lived, said Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino.

Authorities don't know her occupation, how she might have known Syed, how she got in the house ? or what drove Syed to kill her with a shotgun and then leave a trail of dead and wounded as he stole a series of cars and eventually committed suicide at an intersection.

"There is no evidence, no notes that would explain his very bizarre and violent behavior," Amormino said, adding there was no evidence of a sexual assault and the woman was found fully clothed.

The shootings and carjackings lasted about an hour and created chaos and terror for early morning commuters who were shot at, had their car stolen or saw someone get shot.

In one 911 call, a panicked construction worker reported that the foreman at his business had been shot and one of the company's trucks stolen. The man then followed Syed in another truck as he fled on the freeway, telling a dispatcher his location.

"The guy has a shotgun and I need an ambulance too," the caller said. "There is someone who has been shot. Hurry up! I need an ambulance. Right away. Fast. There's someone with a shotgun. There's someone down! There's someone down!"

Syed was a loner and a "gamer" who spent hours holed up in his room, authorities said.

"He took one class at college and he did not work, so that gives him most of the day and evening and most of the time in his free time he was playing video games," Amormino said.

A 12-gauge shotgun used in the killings belonged to Syed and was purchased by his father about a year ago, he said.

The rampage began before dawn Tuesday at the home in Ladera Ranch, a wealthy Orange County suburb about 50 miles south of Los Angeles, and ended 25 miles to the north during the early morning rush hour.

Syed killed two more people during carjackings, injured at least three more, and shot up cars zooming down a busy freeway interchange before he ended it by putting the shotgun to his own head as police closed in.

The shooter forced one commuter out of his BMW, marched him to a curb and shot him three times from behind as shocked witnesses looked on, Tustin police Chief Scott Jordan said.

Syed had no criminal history and no history of mental illness or mental disability, said Lt. Paul Garaven, a Tustin police spokesman.

An autopsy will determine whether Syed had any drugs in his system, but Amormino said no illegal drugs were found in the house and there were no signs he was using illegal substances.

His parents did not recognize the woman who was shot to death in the Ladera Ranch home, he said.

Syed's parents called police at 4:45 a.m. Tuesday after hearing the gunshots, but Syed had already sped off in their black SUV.

Officials released the 911 call Syed's parents made as a dispatcher tried to elicit information from the shooter's panicked, sobbing mother as a house alarm blared in the background.

"I think somebody was shot," the mother said in her first comprehensible statement. "I heard a gunshot."

The dispatcher then asked questions to sort out what happened including whether there was an intruder or if the mother had been shot.

"Yes, there is somebody in our house," the mother said.

After several minutes, Syed's father took the phone and said he believed his son may have gotten in a fight with a friend. The father said Syed left the home and took their car but he and his wife had not entered his son's room to see what happened.

"We were asleep, we heard something, it sounded like a gunshot," he said.

From Ladera Ranch, the gunman headed north and pulled off Interstate 5 in Tustin, about 20 miles away, with a flat tire, police said.

There he fired at and wounded a man in a car, then carjacked a vehicle from a man at a gas station and got back on the freeway, where he fired at commuters, authorities said.

The shooter then exited the freeway in nearby Santa Ana and carjacked a BMW, killing driver Melvin Lee Edwards, 69, of Laguna Hills.

Edwards served as a U.S. Army combat infantry officer in Vietnam and graduated from the University of Southern California, according to a biography on his company's website. He and his wife, Cheryl, had celebrated their 42nd anniversary on Feb. 12 and have two adult children, his brother-in-law, Jeff Osborn, told the AP in a phone interview.

"He was an extremely remarkable person. I know it's an old cliche, but he really did love life," he said. "The world's a lot smaller today for not having him here."

One 911 caller told a dispatcher she watched through her rear-view mirror as a man later identified as Edwards got shot and another caller reports that he's can see him lying near the off-ramp.

Syed took Edwards' BMW and next popped up at a Tustin business, where he shot and killed construction worker Jeremy Lewis, 26, of Fullerton. Lewis' co-worker rushed to intervene and was shot in the arm, Jordan said.

Syed took the second construction worker's utility truck and fled to Orange.

He jumped from the moving truck at an intersection about five miles away as officers began to follow him and shot himself in the head.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-02-20-US-California-Shooting-Spree/id-0d981c77ce5a476f9fd0b595d927f316

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Mumford & Sons, Adele among winners at Brit Awards

LONDON (AP) ? British music put on a brash, confident show at the Brit Awards on Wednesday, celebrating a resurgent industry whose bands and artists are topping charts around the globe.

Winners ranged from established acts such as Coldplay and Adele to world-conquering boy band One Direction, who won in the new Global Success category.

One Direction's Louis Tomlinson called the prize "absolutely mind-blowing."

American artists Frank Ocean and Lana Del Rey were among the non-British winners at a ceremony that embraced the mainstream while rewarding artists with distinctive personalities.

Surfing English folk singer Ben Howard and chanteuse Emeli Sande each won two awards.

Sande was named best British female artist and won the album of the year prize for her debut "Our Version of Events," which has been in the British charts for more than a year. Scotland-raised Sande got a big boost in 2012 when she performed at both the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics.

"This is a dream, really," said Sande, who beat Alt-J, Mumford & Sons, Plan B and Paloma Faith to the album prize.

She thanked everyone "who made me feel like I'm part of something much bigger."

Howard was named British breakthrough act and British male artist of the year.

"I'm not very good at speeches," the 25-year-old singer said, accurately ? though he may have to get good at it if his career continues to take off.

Long derided as dull, the Brits have become a lively celebration of "Cool Britannia" music and style, featuring a dinner for hundreds of artists and industry figures followed by a televised concert and awards show for thousands of paying fans.

Hard rockers Muse opened the show at London's O2 Arena with a typically robust performance of their song "Supremacy"? all thundering music, dazzling light show and 60-piece orchestra. Other performers ranged from tween-pleasing One Direction to American artists Taylor Swift and Justin Timberlake.

Timberlake, dapper in a tuxedo as he performed "Mirrors," was described by host James Corden, in a nod to Europe's horse meat scandal, as "95 percent beefcake with just a little touch of horse."

One Direction performed a mashup of post-punk classics "One Way or Another" and "Teenage Kicks," their single for Britain's Comic Relief charity.

Mumford & Sons were named best British group. The banjo-twanging band topped U.K. and U.S. charts with their second album "Babel," which was named album of the year at the Grammys earlier this month.

Soul singer Amy Winehouse ? who died in July 2011 from accidental alcohol poisoning ? was among the other nominees for British female artist, eligible thanks to her posthumous "Lioness: Hidden Treasures" album. Her father, Mitch Winehouse, arrived for the awards ceremony at London's O2 Arena wearing a waistcoat emblazoned with a picture of his daughter.

Coldplay was named best British live act, beating nominees including The Rolling Stones, who celebrated their 50th anniversary with a series of sold-out shows last year.

Adele won the best British single prize for her James Bond theme "Skyfall." The soulful singer sent a message from Los Angeles, where she is rehearsing for Sunday's Academy Awards.

There was no repeat of last year, when she was cut-off mid-speech because the show was running late ? an incident Corden referred to in mock-embarrassment several times.

The Black Keys were named best international group, while Del Rey took the trophy for international female solo artist. The U.S. singer, who began as an Internet sensation, won a breakthrough Brit award last year and on Wednesday thanked Britain for supporting her.

The international male trophy went to R&B star Frank Ocean, who said it was "definitely a long way from working fast food in New Orleans" ? and was the only winner to thank artist Damien Hirst for creating the polka-dot Brit Awards statuette.

Style standouts included Swift, who performed "I Knew You Were Trouble" in a hoop-skirted white number ? more wedding cake than wedding dress ? that she shed to reveal black undergarments. Jessie J drew attention in a deeply low-cut black dress.

Most of the awards are chosen by more than 1,000 musicians, critics and record industry figures, with several decided by public vote.

___

Online: www.brits.co.uk

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mumford-sons-adele-among-winners-brit-awards-215829334.html

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Bailing Out The Boneheads | FiGuide

According to AIG and the Treasury Department, we should all be applauding the grand success of the massive bailouts. Few outside of Washington or AIG?s imposing Wall Street headquarters are celebrating, however. The AIG bailouts, and there were many, left our economy more vulnerable and American taxpayers poorer than before.

The recent AIG marketing campaign makes my skin crawl. In what they are calling ?America?s Profit,? AIG boasts that repayment of the bailouts created a positive return for taxpayers. Making such claims after the largest bailout in American history deserves a review.

Sheila Bair, former FDIC chair, shares in her recent book, Bull by the Horns, that AIG and several other large financial firms were insolvent and should have been put into a bankruptcy resolution process. This process is used regularly to rescue failing banks and would have allowed stronger and better managed companies to take over operations of AIG without the need for massive bailouts from the government.

My favorite chapter in Bair?s book is called Bailing Out the Boneheads, which I?ve borrowed for the title of this column. How else can you describe the leaders of a company who would endorse massive employee bonuses and plush ?reward? trips immediately after being bailed out by American taxpayers? Bair asks an important question. In bailing out AIG, what system did we save?

These bailouts so infuriated the American public that two populist political movements were energized. Like brothers who constantly bicker, neither side of the aisle was able to recognize their common bonds. Crony capitalism and political corruption are alive and well in a post-bailout world. But the passion of the American public is dissolving and along with it, the hope of a future that protects Main Street from the excesses of Wall Street.

Imagine if instead of bailing out the largest and most politically connected financial firms, how many smaller businesses and households could have survived intact if the federal government had instead offered them unlimited access to capital.

To further explore this thought experiment, imagine that if instead of bailing out AIG, this same money had been invested across all American businesses during the financial crisis. For comparison, we can invest this same capital in the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index (VTSAX). This fund is designed to represent the returns of the entire U.S. equity market including small-, mid- and large-cap stocks.

AIG boasts that after being lent $182.3 billion by the Fed and U.S. Treasury at very favorable terms, their repayment to Uncle Sam included $22.7 billion of realized gains. In reality, this gain is entirely wiped out after subtracting the cost of tax deductions awarded to AIG by the Treasury through some creative accounting. For now, I will stick to the story that AIG and the Treasury are marketing.

Although $22.7 billion may be beyond our comprehension, compare it to the $85.5 billion that would have been realized had this same money been invested across all the companies in the Total Stock Market Index. The return on investment would have been nearly four times what we received back from AIG. Which ?profit? would you rather have?

The dark blue area in the chart represents Uncle Sam?s investment in AIG that began on September 18, 2008. The small negative number at the end represents the $22.7 billion gain when the Treasury liquidated its final shares of AIG stock in December 2012. For over two years, the U.S. government held as much as 92% of AIG?s stock.

The lighter blue area represents that market value of this same investment in the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index (VTSAX). If this investment had been made into VTSAX, the U.S. taxpayer would have received $22.7 billion in realized gains and would be holding an additional $62.8 billion portfolio that had not yet been sold. You can view this $62.8 billion as the opportunity cost of bailing out AIG.

I acknowledge that comparing these two investment options overlooks an important perspective. The real comparison is not between bailing out Wall Street or investing in the rest of the economy. The real comparison is between current consumption and future opportunities. Because we have not repaid a penny on this additional borrowing, future generations will pay the price. Poor stewardship of our national resources will inevitably leave our children and grandchildren with a less secure financial future.

I am quite sure that inflamed passions are dissipating because most average Americans feel helpless. What can we do? I suggest you begin by reading Sheila Bair?s book. Pay specific attention to the commonsense reforms she recommends in the last chapter, ?How Main Street Can Tame Wall Street.? Included in these recommendations are abolishing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, substituting a web of complex bank regulations with more conservative capital requirements, and breaking up the too-big-to-fail mega-institutions. Radical steps must be taken in order to regain financial responsibility. Perhaps the best thing you will get out of reading a historical account of the bailouts is something that you knew all along but just needed a more authoritative source to confirm: it could have been different.

Source: http://www.figuide.com/bailing-out-the-boneheads.html

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Cuba's dissident blogger Yoani arrives in Brazil - World news

FEIRA DE SANTANA, Brazil (AP) ? Boisterous protesters backing the Cuban government blocked the Monday screening of a documentary featuring Cuba's best-known dissident, the blogger Yoani Sanchez, who was in attendance after being allowed to leave the communist island for the first time in nearly a decade.

Small groups of protesters met Sanchez when she arrived earlier Monday at two airports in Brazil's northeast. They called her a "mercenary" who was being financed by the CIA and tossed photocopied U.S. dollar bills her way. One protester got close enough to pull her hair.

Sanchez was also met by supporters and throughout the day in Tweets and a blog posting expressed her joy at being in Brazil, the first stop on her 80-day tour of about a dozen nations. Yet at the evening screening in a museum, about four dozen protesters surrounded her the moment she walked through the door, shouting "Cuba yes! Yankees no!" and forcing security guards to evacuate her to a nearby room.

"I was expecting it, even before leaving Cuba I knew this could happen," Sanchez told The Associated Press minutes later inside the room where she was taken for protection. "It's sad because I've been waiting one year for this, I really wanted to see (the) film."

About an hour after being taken out of the screening room, Sanchez, accompanied by Brazilian Sen. Eduardo Suplicy, went to speak to the crowd, both protesters and supporters. "After remaining silent for a long time, after living in a society where not speaking up was the option of the majority of my countrymen, after so much silence, one fine day I couldn't take it anymore and I started a blog," she told those gathered, some who cheered, some who booed.

Sanchez stayed with the crowd for about 45 minutes, then left the venue. Sanchez's ability to leave her homeland was seen as a test of a new Cuba law, announced in October, which eliminated the exit permit that had been required of islanders for five decades.

Cuban authorities can still deny travel in cases of defense and "national security," among other reasons, and some dissidents continue to face restrictions. Still, the exit permit's demise is seen as one of the most significant reforms of President Raul Castro's ongoing plan to refashion some elements of the economy, government and society.

"The immigration reform doesn't have the depth we would have expected but there has been a change," Sanchez told the AP. "Where we haven't seen changes is on the political side, we need to see freedom of association, freedom of speech. Without these the reforms are incomplete."

She added that the reforms with the biggest impact on Cubans' lives have been "on the economic side. Giving unused land to people for production is important, the freedom to buy and sell cars which seems like a small thing is a tremendous change."

Sanchez's Brazil trip was paid through online donations ? the Brazilian director of a documentary she appeared in launched the fundraising campaign. The city government of Feira de Santana, where the film was supposed to be screened Monday, paid for her accommodation.

Ted Henken, a professor of Latin American studies at New York's Baruch College who studies social media and civil society in Cuba, is closely involved in arranging Sanchez's U.S. meetings and appearances. He said in an emailed response that the U.S. government "has not contributed one penny to her trip." He said the bulk of the money for the U.S. leg of Sanchez's trip is being funded by universities she'll visit.

"She is not being paid for her appearance by any of these institutions partly because ? irony ? the embargo prevents it. A small per diem is all that's allowed apart from covering travel and lodging costs," Henken said.

The protests surrounding Sanchez were explored in a weekend article from Veja, Brazil's most influential magazine. It alleged that Cuban diplomats were working with Brazilian leftists and even a member of President Dilma Rousseff's government to organize protests against Sanchez during her stops in the country, where she is expected to stay for a week.

Cuba's Embassy in Brasilia had no comment on Sanchez's trip. The office of Brazil's president didn't respond to requests for comment. Sanchez's tour includes several stops in the United States, with appearances at universities in New York and other academic programs, visits to Google and Twitter offices and time with family in Florida.

She'll also travel to the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Peru, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, with potential trips to Argentina and Chile in the works. On Twitter, Sanchez wrote of her trip that "the minutes are as intense as hours. Everything is beautiful!"

On her blog, Sanchez wrote of fellow Cubans offering support in Havana as she boarded her flight and of Venezuelans on the plane who befriended her but asked that she not put their photos online, to avoid trouble with their own socialist government.

After a layover in Panama, Sanchez began the longest leg of her initial journey. Once in the air heading toward Brazil, she wrote, she felt a "sense of physical and mental decompression. As if I had been submerged for too long without being able to breathe, and now managed to take a gulp of air."

"So far everything is going well," she ended the blog entry. "Brazil has given me the gift of diversity and affection, the possibility to appreciate and tell of so many astonishments."

Associated Press writers Peter Orsi in Havana and Bradley Brooks in Sao Paulo contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.mail.com/int/news/world/1898874-cubas-dissident-blogger-yoani-arrives-brazil.html

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Marine makes surprise visit to Texas benefactor

Associated Press

Posted on February 18, 2013 at 6:40 AM

Updated today at 7:01 AM

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) ? A South Texas Marine has made a surprise thank-you visit to a produce company owner who sent care packages to him and his fellow troops overseas.

Sgt. Ricky Hernandez wore his dress blues Saturday to meet Margaret Jataine (juh-TAYN'), who owns Corpus Christi Produce Co. Inc.

The Corpus Christi Caller-Times (http://bit.ly/Uv4QEU ) reports Jataine sent the tank crew commander and his team about 20 boxes of food and other comfort items.

She first saw a photo of the Marine serving in Afghanistan on Facebook. Jataine connected with the Marine's mother-in-law ? a vegetable supply woman from nearby Floresville.

Henandez has served two tours in Iraq and returned last month from Afghanistan. He's stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C., and was visiting at home before heading to master gunner school.

___

Information from: Corpus Christi Caller-Times, http://www.caller.com

Source: http://www.kens5.com/news/local/191592121.html

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rfmcdpei: [LINK] Two articles on the Metropolitan Community Church ...

Rachel Zoll's Associate Press article "Are gay-centered churches relevant anymore?" took an interesting look at the Metropolitan Community Church, an American-centered religious denomination that gained a worldwide presence thanks to its explicit acceptance of non-heterosexuals. What, she asks, is the Church going to do now that GLBT rights are becoming normalized?

On that Sunday in 1968 when Troy Perry borrowed a minister's robe and started a church for gays in his living room, the world was a very different place.

Perry's Metropolitan Community Churches was then a lone spiritual refuge for openly gay Christians, an idea so far from the mainstream that the founders were often chased from places where they tried to worship. Four decades later, some of the most historically important American denominations, which had routinely expelled gays and lesbians, are welcoming them instead.

MCC now has a presence in dozens of U.S. states as well as overseas, reporting a total membership of more than 240 congregations and ministries. But as acceptance of same-sex relationships grows -- gay and lesbian clergy in many Protestant traditions no longer have to hide their partners or lose their careers, and Christians can often worship openly with their same-gender spouses in the mainline Protestant churches where they were raised -- the fellowship is at a crossroads.

Is a gay-centered Christian church needed anymore?

"There are many more options than there used to be," said the Rev. Nancy Wilson, moderator, or leader, of the Metropolitan Community Churches. "But there is not a mass exodus."

[. . .]

The church today is a bit more diverse. MCC pastors say they see a growing number of straight friends and relatives of gays and lesbians among their new congregants, along with heterosexual parents who want their children raised in a gay-affirming environment. While some MCC congregations haven't changed much over the decades, Wilson said, many are emphasizing a broad social justice agenda including serving the homeless and poor.

"We don't have a rainbow flag on our website, nor do we have it on our building," said the Rev. Dan Koeshall, senior pastor at the Metropolitan Community Church of San Diego, which draws about 220 people for Sunday services.

"It wasn't a decision that caused any controversy or split. It's just been moving in that direction. We know that our target audience is the LGBT community. But we're also attracting people who are saying, ?Yes, I stand in solidarity with you and I want to be part of this."'

Meanwhile, Carys Mills' Toronto Star article "Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne thanks historic gay-positive church" takes a look at how Kathleen Wynne, Ontario's premier, took solace from the church in Toronto when she was coming out.

Premier Kathleen Wynne thanked a historic Toronto church Sunday for being a place of refuge when she was coming out in the 1990s.

?I can remember the feeling of, this is a place that?s going to give me solace and strength,? Wynne, whose premiership has made history, told the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto, where the country?s first gay marriages were performed.

After a standing ovation, Wynne explained how when she was coming out, she would sometimes ?sneak? from North Toronto to the church near Gerrard St. E. and Logan Ave. Back when her kids were young, she and her partner, Jane Rounthwaite, would go to some evening services there, Wynne said, thanking the congregation for the ?strength? it gave them.

?There was lots of turmoil in that coming out; it was not easy to do that. Jane had known her whole life that she was a lesbian and I had not known until I was 37,? said an emotional Wynne, getting laughs when she called herself a ?slow learner.?

Source: http://rfmcdpei.livejournal.com/3364815.html

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Google Takeout now liberating Blogger and Google+ Pages

Google Takeout's export functions have slowly extended their reach from profiles and personal contacts to heftier material, such as all our videos. However much we've been using that data portability, Google is eliminating what few gaps are left in its coverage: the company's Data Liberation Front has expanded Takeout to preserve both Blogger content as well as Google+ Pages. Web denizens can cherry-pick just the blogs or Pages they want if a whole-enchilada backup is too much. Regardless of how large a safety net we need, the new options are ready and waiting at the source links.

Filed under: Internet, Google

Comments

Via: Android Central

Source: Data Liberation Front, Google Takeout

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/17/google-takeout-now-liberating-blogger-and-google-pages/

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Peter Ferrara in today's Opinion section at The Heartlander: President Obama and...

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Source: http://www.facebook.com/HeartlandInstitute/posts/312668798835760

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White House Immigration Plan Leaked (WSJ)

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A Florida Minor League Baseball Team Will Hold A ?Marco Rubio Water? Night

?

The gulp seen and heard around the world just continues to show no signs of slowing down. The infamous ?water sip? taken by Florida politician Marco Rubio has spun off a legion of internet memes and twitter accounts. Now a minor league baseball team is looking to cash out on the internet?s newest meme.

As reported by The Victory Formation??the Fort Meyers Miracles will host a ?Marco Rubio water Giveaway Night? sometime during the season to help drawn in fans.

?The idea really came about while I was watching The Today Show,?

?They had a two-minute recap of all the late night humor about the water bottle incident, and it seemed like a fun thing to get in on, since Rubio is based in Florida and it?s in the news.?

?We?re still working on it, but I?m sure the bottles will have creative labeling of some sort,?

?It?s hot in Florida during baseball season, and any time you can combine hydration with current events, it?s a good thing.?

But the single A team will not simply hold off at just giving away water, no, they will incorporate water into the entire night?s game. The game will also feature a ?rain dance? by the groundscrew and a game of Marco Polo as well.

I?m not quite sure if this is the most ingenious thing I?ve heard of or just the silliest. Hopefully it yields good results.

Source: http://blacksportsonline.com/home/2013/02/a-florida-minor-league-baseball-team-will-hold-a-marco-rubio-water-night/

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Gerald Green 2013 Dunk Contest Video: 2007 Champ With Off-The-Backboard, Double Clutch Slam

Gerald Green opened the 2013 NBA Slam Dunk Contest in electrifying fashion.

After his Indiana Pacers teammate Lance Stephenson bounced a pass off the side of the backboard, Green caught the ball in mid-air, double clutched and then threw down a two-handed jam.

On Twitter, the first dunk of the contest proved to be a crowd pleaser.

Alicia Jessop

Did Gerald Green just win the Dunk Contest on the first dunk of the night?!

InsideHoops.com Gerald Green can fly like the airplanes that brought all these players to #Houston

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Gerald Green go head and get this trophy

Green's second attempt would not prove as successul and the 2007 champ would fail to advance to the finals.

Here are the rest of the dunks from the 2013 NBA Slam Dunk Contest:

• Gerald Green's First Dunk

• Kenneth Faried 1st Dunk

• Eric Bledsoe 1st Dunk

• James White First Dunk

• Terrence Ross First Dunk

• Jeremy Evans 1st Dunk

• Gerald Green's Double Dunk

• Kenneth Faried's Second Dunk

• Eric Bledsoe's Second Dunk

• Jeremy Evans Dunks 2 Balls

• Terrence Ross 2nd Dunk

• Jeremy Evans Dunks Over Painting Of Himself

• Terrence Ross' Vince Carter Tribute

• Jeremy Evans' Final Round Dunk

• Terrence Ross Dunks Over Kid

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/17/gerald-green-dunk-contest-first-dunk-video_n_2703952.html

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One Direction 2013: No wonder Louis Tomlinson?s upset ? Look at all this Eleanor Calder Twitter hate!

Home > The X Factor > One Direction 2013: No wonder Louis Tomlinson?s upset ? Look at all this Eleanor Calder Twitter hate!

February 17th, 2013 by Lisa McGarry.

Louis Tomlinson left Twitter for a while last year, because of the amount of hate he and his girlfriend Eleanor Calder were receiving and we wouldn?t be surprised if he did the same again very soon.

The One Direction hunk has been dating the pretty student for over a year and last week they spent their second Valentine?s Day together, celebrating with a posh meal in Rio Ferdinand?s Manchester restaurant.

However, despite the fact that the 1D hunk constantly insists that he?s happy with the brunette beauty and this week even admitted that she might be ?the one? it seems that some fans just can?t warm to Calder.

Eleanor is bombarded with hateful messages constantly on the microblogging website and recent messages directed towards her have included comments such as:

@EleanorJCalder You?re A Bitch!! Do You Understand Me?!?!?!!?

@Louis_Tomlinson I HATE ELEANOR!! LARRY IS REAL!!!!

#eleanorcalder thinks she?s the hottest gurl in tawn but no she really is not.

@EleanorJCalder You don?t deserve Louis.u don?t.I know you u just using him for his money and fame.I know what your doing.Stop it

@EleanorJCalder LOL your suppose to be a model lol go get a face transplant?

Destroyer of lives, why do you do this to me? I hate you forever tina bitch @EleanorJCalder

Thankfully, there are some fans that have been offering their support to Lou Lou?s lady and some of the nicer tweets included:

one day eleanor will break up with louis bc of the hate and on that day louis will actually hate us

A round of applause to @EleanorJCalder please, She receives thousands of hate a day. I wouldn?t have survived a day in her shoes. #loveyou

Louis admitted recently that he finds it difficult to cope with his fans causing so many problems for the woman he loves and he told HollywoodLife:

?It?s really strange, and the majority of fans don?t hate towards her. It gets a little frustrating seeing that, especially when I?m in a happy relationship.

?But at the end of the day, I am happy and Eleanor is happy, so there?s not really that much more that matters.?

Things came to a head in late 2012, when Louis tweeted El to say:

?What a great year together @EleanorJCalder Love you!!!?

The message started the ball rolling and within minutes Tommo but mostly his girlfriend had received hundreds of horrible tweets from so called Directioners.

After receiving a message of support from one friend Louis replied:

?@Stanley_Lucas unfortunately mate people like that are a lost cause and can?t stand to see me and eleanor happy. Shame really!?

He then added: ?Sinabit going off twitter for a bit! Love to everyone who cares ?

We just hope he doesn?t leave on a more permanent basis over the continued abuse.

What do you think One Direction fans? Do fangirls need to lay of Calder now? Leave your comments below?.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Unreality/~3/-AHSz6Lqu9w/

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Archos unveils 116 Platinum Android tablet with 11.6-inch IPS display for $349

Archos keeps pumping out new Android tablet flavors, whether a gaming version, an 8-inch iPad-mini?competitor, or a budget-priced slate with Retina display-like resolution. Now as it officially introduced its Platinum line in the U.S., the French company has thrown another curve.

In addition to that 8-inch 80 Platinum for $199 and the ultra-high-res 97 Platinum for $299, Archos has also announced the 116 Platinum, which features a massive 11.6-inch IPS screen. At 1,920x1,080 (or full 1080p HD), its resolution isn't as high as the 2,048x1,536 97 Platinum, but the size is thus far unique among Android tablets. (Vizio announced an 11.6-inch Windows 8-based tablet at CES in January, though its pricing and release date aren't yet known.)

Like the other Platinum tablets, the 116 model will come with a quad-core CPU, eight-core GPU, 2GB of RAM, and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Don't expect blazing performance at the aggressive price point, which will be?$349 when the 116 is release in April, but the size is the thing with this tablet.

Unfortunately, unique form factors don't automatically yield big sales, so it will be interesting to watch if Archos can truly make a name for itself in the cluttered Android tablet world. It's a long shot, but if nothing else give the company credit for trying to push the envelope while others are satisfied with simply pumping out clones to grab some market share.

Source: http://www.zdnet.com/archos-unveils-116-platinum-android-tablet-with-11-6-inch-ips-display-for-349-7000011368/

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Azealia Banks Continues To Embarrass Herself, Alienate Fans With Messy Twitter Rant

New York rapstress/queen of Twitter beef/every publicist?s worst nightmare?Azealia Banks?hit a sour note several weeks ago when the beef between her and celebrity blogger?Perez Hilton?culminated into a public showdown replete with homophobic slurs, and now she?s at it again: This morning, another ugly interaction took shape, as Banks called Hilton an ?evil faggot,? explained that the word didn?t actually refer to gay people but instead means ?coward, liar, backstabber? [e]nergy stealer, blood sucker,? and?then went on to complain that her free speech was being infringed upon when the Internet collectively came for her.

At this point, the idea of doing a nuanced takedown of this grossly flawed logic is just exhausting (and our friends at?Spin already did so marvelously), but the real issue is this: Nobody wants to hear what Azealia Banks has to say about linguistic progression and her contempt for ?leftover old world social themes,? especially not when she doesn?t have the basic decency to eschew using language that?s explicitly violent and offensive.

She?s a musical artist and a talented one at that. She?s already alienated a big faction of her fan base. She needs to stop digging before it?s too late. She doesn?t have to be sophisticated enough to realize that just because?she?isn?t offended by something, nobody else gets to be offended by it; she just needs to be smart enough to realize that she has to play by the rules and know when to stop talking if she doesn?t want to be found completely abhorrent by the public.

Azealia. Please, dude, just stop. And make more songs like ?212.? And apologize. And also, stop.

[via Spin]

Source: http://idolator.com/7441705/azealia-banks-homophobic-twitter-rant

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Tom Ford, Rihanna, other stars headline London Fashion Week lineup

LONDON - Fashionistas don't do excitement ? they're too cool for that. But even the frostiest fashion editor might be allowed a little smile of anticipation at the lineup for this year's London Fashion Week.

A debut design showcase by singer Rihanna and designer Tom Ford's first proper catwalk show in London are headlining the five-day style extravaganza that begins Friday.

Their star power is piling an extra dose of buzz and glamour onto a growing biannual event that already features industry leaders including Burberry, Vivienne Westwood and others.

Securing a major designer like Ford is a big coup for London Fashion Week, but it's the slew of hot young talent based in the capital that keeps the international fashion pack coming back for more.

"Before people used to skip London. Now people make a point of coming," said Carmen Borgonovo, fashion director of luxury online retailer my-wardrobe.com. "What I love about London designers is that they're all very individual, they're all very unique with their own sensibility. You don't see that variation in other cities so much."

The youngest of the "big four" fashion weeks, London had generally been regarded as the irreverent, idiosyncratic sibling to the slick productions in Milan, Paris and New York. For some time, it was more a place for edgy fashion college graduates than a destination for elite fashion buyers

Yet these days London Fashion Week is a professional, pulled-together affair. Burberry packs in the crowds ?and the celebrities ?with extravagant catwalk display, while growing corporate sponsorship has seen editors and buyers whizzed from show to show in shiny black Mercedes. The week generates over 100 million pounds ($160 million) worth of orders, and attracts some 5,000 fashion fans from around the world.

Still, considerable resources are pumped into promoting emerging names in London.After all, they could be the next Mary Katrantzou or Christopher Kane ? young guns who have burst onto the international scene within just a few seasons.

This season Kane and Katrantzou will have to share the buzz with Rihanna, who is making her first foray into designing with a collection for British high street chain River Island. The British Fashion Council is calling it the "most anticipated collaboration of 2013."

"This has been something I wanted to do ever since I started loving fashion," the singer said in a video posted on British Vogue's website. "Every time I saw something on a rack there was something I wanted to do to change it, and so I thought that the only way I could do that is by designing the perfect thing for me."

Ford, who has dressed everyone from Michelle Obama to James Bond star Daniel Craig, will also be showing his first official catwalk collection in London on Sunday. The former design chief at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent had previously only staged exclusive presentations here.

Also on the lineup this season for the first time is celebrity favourite L'Wren Scott, the American designer who is a former model and the current partner of Mick Jagger. BritonJulien Macdonald, another designer with a starry following, is returning after a two-season break.

In all, almost 60 runway previews for autumn 2013 will run from Friday to Tuesday.

London Fashion Week will be followed by designer shows in Milan and Paris.

? Copyright 2013

Source: http://www.timescolonist.com/life/fashion-beauty/tom-ford-rihanna-other-stars-headline-london-fashion-week-lineup-1.74556

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Vatican's new bank chief has military ship links

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- The Vatican was drawn into a new controversy Friday after acknowledging that its bank's new president is also chairman of a shipbuilder making warships ? a significant conflict for an institution that has long shunned ties to military manufacturing.

The Vatican announced to great fanfare that Pope Benedict XVI had signed off on one of the last major appointments of his papacy, approving Ernst von Freyberg as president of the Vatican's bank, officially known as the Institute for Religious Works.

The Vatican spokesman was caught off-guard, though, when a journalist noted that the German shipbuilder von Freyberg chairs, Blohm + Voss, is known for its military ship construction.

The Rev. Federico Lombardi demurred and defended the selection. He later issued a statement saying von Freyberg chairs a civilian branch of Blohm + Voss, which repairs and transforms cruise ships and builds yachts ? but that the company is currently part of a consortium that is building four frigates for the German navy.

The Vatican and its bank have deep-rooted traditions of steering clear of investments in companies that manufacture weapons or contraceptives, in line with Catholic Church teaching.

Michael Brasse, spokesman for Blohm + Voss in Hamburg, said that von Freyberg is chairman of the executive board of Blohm + Voss Shipyards, a unit that concentrates on building civilian ships.

But before Blohm + Voss Shipyards and other non-military units of Blohm + Voss were sold in 2011 to Star Capital Partners, its military shipbuilding unit, Blohm + Voss Naval, had contracted with the German Defense Ministry for four new frigates. Blohm + Voss Naval subcontracted the actual construction of those vessels to Blohm + Voss Shipyards.

Though Blohm + Voss Naval is now known as ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems GmbH, and is entirely separate from the other Blohm + Voss units, the Shipyards unit is still constructing the frigates under the legacy contract.

After they are built, however, the company plans to concentrate entirely on non-military ships. Von Freyberg will remain its chairman while working for the Vatican.

"The focus of the business is for yachts, and on the repair side for cruise ships or the offshore oil and gas industry," Brasse said.

Lombardi pointed out that Blohm + Voss is not engineering or designing military equipment, just involved in steel welding and docking. Germany's navy has contributed frigates and other ships to the EU's anti-piracy patrols off the Horn of Africa.

The revelation dominated what was supposed to have been the Vatican's triumphant appointment of a new president for the bank after its last president, Italian banker Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, was fired nine months ago for incompetence.

Gotti Tedeschi's stunning ouster came just as the Vatican was submitting its finances to a review by the Council of Europe's Moneyval committee in a bid to join the list of financially transparent countries.

The Vatican last summer passed the test of the Moneyval committee, which seeks to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. But the IOR and the Vatican's financial watchdog agency received failing grades.

The new president will be tasked with bringing the IOR into compliance by Moneyval's next review.

The Vatican stressed von Freyberg's Catholic credentials, noting that he was a member of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, an ancient chivalrous military order drawn from European nobility. He himself is a member of one of Germany's aristocratic families.

The Vatican said he had been appointed by the bank's commission of cardinals and that the pope had "expressed his full consent."

The appointment may well be one of the last major decisions of Benedict's papacy given his planned retirement Feb. 28. On Friday, he held one of his last audiences, meeting with Romania's president.

While the appointment was seemingly curiously timed, Lombardi went to great lengths to stress that the selection process took its own path and was to some degree irrelevant to the change in governance of the church.

Lombardi said von Freyberg was selected after a "meticulous and articulate" seven-month search process from an initial list of about 40 candidates put forward by an international executive head-hunting firm. He had the full support of the bank's lay board, the five members of its cardinal's commission, and finally the pope, Lombardi said.

But he was completely thrown by the suggestion that the bank's new president may have links to Germany's military.

"I would say that if he is a competent person who works in the field of ship-building, this is not a reason not to take him," Lombardi said. "As we know, he also organizes pilgrimages to Lourdes, he is a member of the Order of Malta, he takes care of the sick, so certainly he is a person with a notable human and Christian sensibility."

It appeared that the IOR's board simply didn't know about the old frigate contract and that von Fryberg didn't think to mention it, given that the company's primary work is in civilian shipbuilding.

The Vatican bank's finances have long been shrouded in secrecy and scandal. Most famously, the bank was implicated in a scandal over the collapse of the Banco Ambrosiano in the 1980s in one of Italy's largest fraud cases. Roberto Calvi, the head of Banco Ambrosiano, was found hanging from Blackfriars Bridge in London in 1982 in circumstances that remain mysterious.

Banco Ambrosiano collapsed following the disappearance of $1.3 billion in loans the bank had made to several dummy companies in Latin America. The Vatican had provided letters of credit for the loans.

While denying any wrongdoing, the Vatican bank agreed to pay $250 million to Ambrosiano's creditors.

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David Rising and Juergen Baetz contributed from Berlin.

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Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/vaticans-bank-chief-military-ship-145709513.html

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