Police detain 60 at Moscow protest (AP)

MOSCOW ? Police detained 60 opposition activists on Saturday to prevent them from protesting on a central Moscow square against the Kremlin's stifling of democratic freedoms.

Some were detained as they approached the square and others were hustled onto police buses as soon as they began chanting against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. A banner they unfurled said "Death to Kremlin occupiers."

Organizers had not received permission to hold the protest, the latest in a series held at the end of every month with 31 days. The number corresponds with Article 31 of the Russian Constitution, which guarantees freedom of assembly.

Small protests also were held Saturday in other Russian cities. These protests, led by the more radical opposition leaders, were separate from the demonstrations that have drawn tens of thousands to demand free elections and an end to Putin's rule.

Associated Press reporters and photographers saw at least 20 detained. Police said a total of 60 were rounded up. It was unclear whether they would be held overnight.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/russia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111231/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_protests

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The Iowa Twitter caucus | @MentionMachine (Washington Post)

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King: Anyone But Paul (TIME)

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Case Closed? Columbus Introduced Syphilis to Europe

News | Health

Syphilis was one of the first global diseases, and understanding where it came from and how it spread may help us combat diseases today

By Charles Q. Choi and LiveScience ?| December 27, 2011?|

Image: Library of Congress

In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue, but when he returned from 'cross the seas, did he bring with him a new disease?

New skeletal evidence suggests Columbus and his crew not only introduced the Old World to the New World, but brought back syphilis as well, researchers say.

Syphilis is caused by Treponema pallidum bacteria, and is usually curable nowadays with antibiotics. Untreated, it can damage the heart, brain, eyes and bones; it can also be fatal.

The first known epidemic of syphilis occurred during the Renaissance in 1495. Initially its plague broke out among the army of Charles the VIII after the French king invaded Naples. It then proceeded to devastate Europe, said researcher George Armelagos, a skeletal biologist at Emory University in Atlanta.

"Syphilis has been around for 500 years," said researcher Molly Zuckerman at Mississippi State University. "People started debating where it came from shortly afterward, and they haven't stopped since. It was one of the first global diseases, and understanding where it came from and how it spread may help us combat diseases today."

Stigmatized disease

The fact that syphilis is a stigmatized sexually transmitted disease has added to the controversy over its origins. People often seem to want to blame some other country for it, said researcher Kristin Harper, an evolutionary biologist at Emory. [Top 10 Stigmatized Health Disorders]

Armelagos originally doubted the so-called Columbian theory for syphilis when he first heard about it decades ago. "I laughed at the idea that a small group of sailors brought back this disease that caused this major European epidemic," he recalled. Critics of the Columbian theory have proposed that syphilis had always bedeviled the Old World but simply had not been set apart from other rotting diseases such as leprosy until 1500 or so.

However, upon further investigation, Armelagos and his colleagues got a shock ? all of the available evidence they found supported the Columbian theory, findings they published in 1988. "It was a paradigm shift," Armelagos says. Then in 2008, genetic analysis by Armelagos and his collaborators of syphilis's family of bacteria lent further support to the theory.

Still, there have been reports of 50 skeletons from Europe dating back from before Columbus set sail that apparently showed the lesions of chronic syphilis. These seemed to be evidence that syphilis originated in the Old World and that Columbus was not to blame.

Armelagos and his colleagues took a closer look at all the data from these prior reports. They found most of the skeletal material didn't actually meet at least one of the standard diagnostic criteria for chronic syphilis, such as pitting on the skull, known as caries sicca, and pitting and swelling of the long bones.

"There's no really good evidence of a syphilis case before 1492 in Europe," Armelagos told LiveScience.

In the seafood?

The 16 reports that did meet the criteria for syphilis came from coastal regions where seafood was a large part of the diet. This seafood contains "old carbon" from deep, upwelling ocean waters. As such, they might fall prey to the so-called "marine reservoir effect" that can throw off radiocarbon dating of a skeleton by hundreds or even thousands of years. To adjust for this effect, the researchers figured out the amount of seafood these individuals ate when alive. Since our bodies constantly break down and rebuild our bones, measurements of bone-collagen protein can provide a record of diet.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=32430392d62bda7d10cb128ba42d03ba

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iPad Facebook App Timeline Update Delayed Till Mid January, Could Be Longer

Published on 12-28-2011 02:41 PM

Bring this to the iPad already

Facebook continues to snub the iPad when it comes to updates for the popular social networking site, and its accompanying apps.

The iPad finally got a native Facebook app earlier this year, but only because users discovered the App was fully contained within an updated version of iPhone app. Facebook released updates for its iPod touch and iPhone apps that include the companies new Timeline feature. Timeline, Facebook?s latest and greatest improvement to their social networking experience, re-imagines the user profile as a constantly updating timeline or self contained ?history of? page for that individual. It?s almost a surreal experience scrolling through every action and reaction you or a friend had in 2007.

This update was supposed to come to the iPad in December as well, but was pushed back at the last-minute due to some bugs discovered during advanced testing. Timeline on the iPhone and iPod touch appears to be working pitch-perfect, as well as other features like improved photo-management, subscriptions management, friends list, and other improvements. The iPad version of timeline is supposedly a touch optimized version of the full web experience.

However, according to 9to5Mac?s source the update has already been delayed once because of bugs ?So, it would not be surprising for the update to be delayed once again.? Despite the pessimistic comment the source stressed the current release window is mid-January. Hopefully the comedy of errors that is Facebook?s iPad development cycle will finally smooth out in the new year.

Source: 9to5Mac

Source: http://feeds.modmyi.com/~r/home_all/~3/W7AFRu6zq70/6412-ipad-facebook-app-timeline-update-delayed-till-mid-january-could-longer.html

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2ND LEAD: Christians flee north as Nigeria mourns church bomb victims Eds: Adds Muslim leader's condemnation

2ND LEAD: Christians flee north as Nigeria mourns church bomb victims Eds: Adds Muslim leader's condemnation

ABUJA, Dec 27, 2011 (dpa - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Christians living in Nigeria's violence-prone northern towns were fleeing for the south Tuesday, amid fears of further attacks from the radical Islamist group Boko Haram.

At least 40 people were killed on Christmas day bombings of several churches, in attacks claimed by Islamist group Boko Haram.

Witnesses told dpa that the places witnessing the most movement were Kaduna, Maiduguri and Postiskum.

"The central motor park here is full; a lot of people are fleeing Maiduguri and Yobe," said Maiduguri motor park tout Mohammed Bolori.

"These people are mostly southerners who are afraid of more attacks, even though Christmas is over. Those who travelled (during the holidays) are not coming back en masse to these towns," Bolori said.

Many northern businesses are run by migrants from the south. "They run the show in our markets and without their business our economy is nothing," he said.

In the capital Abuja, relatives and friends of those killed in Nigeria's Christmas Day church blasts have been holding memorial services for those killed in the attacks.

Services were held Monday and Tuesday at the St Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla, a town about 20 kilometres west of the capital Abuja, where at least 35 people were killed as Christmas services were ending.

Nigerian television reported that the explosion was caused by a car bomb that destroyed much of the church building and killed churchgoers as they poured out of the service.

Boko Haram claimed responsibility for Sunday's attacks, which also targeted the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Church in the central Jos region, injuring several people and killing a policemen.

Two more attacks hit the volatile north-east, killing four people. One of the attacks was on a church in Gadaka, in Yobe state.

Monday's special mass was presided over by bishops who read passages from Pope Benedict XVI's Christmas address.

Among those in attendance was a 13-year-old girl who lost both her parents and all her siblings in the attack, newspaper The Nation reported.

Nancy Maduka's parents had allowed her to stay home and do her hair on Christmas morning, the newspaper said. Maduka later found the charred bodies of her parents and sisters in their car outside the church.

A mass burial was being considered for the victims, according to a morgue assistant at Abuja's National Teaching Hospital.

"A lot of families who came here could not recognise the victims. Most of the bodies are burnt beyond recognition ... a mass burial is being considered," assistant John Duniya told dpa.

Survivor Matthew Enebeli lost his pregnant wife in the Madalla blast.

"We were married for 10 years without a child. God blessed me and the devil has cut short my joy," Enebeli said.

He said his wife, who suffered from hypertension, had died from shock.

With many injured survivors undergoing treatment, a blood donation drive was underway. National Blood Transfusion Agency spokesperson Jane Ogbuio said turnout had been low, however.

Africa's religious and political leaders have been speaking out in the wake of the attacks.

On Tuesday the current Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa'ad Abubakar, called the explosions "dastardly."

The sultan is widely regarded as the spiritual leader of Nigerian Muslims.

He met with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and other traditional leaders to discuss promoting inter-faith peace.

South African President Jacob Zuma, who promised to work closely with Nigeria to promote peace during a recent visit there, released a statement expressing condolences "to families of the deceased and the injured, during this difficult time of mourning and sadness."

In the run-up to Christmas, Boko Haram had issued statements in which they threatened to disrupt holiday celebrations.

The group had vowed to seek revenge for the deaths of 59 of its members in a gun battle last Thursday with security forces in the town of Damaturu.

Police had stepped up a security drive, raiding suspected bomb factories and making key arrests in the weeks before the festival.

Last Christmas, dozens were killed in attacks on Christians, while Muslims have also died in violence during Islamic celebrations.

___ (c)2011 Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (Hamburg, Germany) Visit Deutsche
Presse-Agentur GmbH (Hamburg, Germany) at www.dpa.de/English.82.0.html
Distributed by MCT Information Services

Copyright (C) 2011, dpa, Berlin

Source: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r5671209863

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Previously Unconnected Molecular Networks Conspire to Promote Cancer

Inflammatory signaling blocks NUMB?s ability to deaden NOTCH1-driven tumor development

HOUSTON ? An inflammation-promoting protein triggers deactivation of a tumor-suppressor that usually blocks cancer formation via the NOTCH signaling pathway, a team of researchers led by scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reports today in Molecular Cell.

Working in liver cancer cell lines, the team discovered a mechanism by which tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF?) stimulates tumor formation, said senior author Mien-Chie Hung, Ph.D., professor and chair of MD Anderson?s Department of Molecular and Cellular Oncology. Hung also is MD Anderson?s vice president for basic research.

?We?ve discovered cross-talk between the TNF? inflammation and NOTCH signaling pathways, which had been known to separately promote cancer development and growth,? Hung said. Liver cancer is one of several cancers, including pancreatic and breast, associated with inflammation.

Their findings have potential implications for a new class of anti-cancer drugs currently in clinical trials. ?Pharmaceutical companies are developing NOTCH inhibitors,? Hung said. ?TNF? now presents a potential resistance mechanism that activates NOTCH signaling in a non-traditional way.?

Pathways also unite in colon, lung, prostate cancers.

?In addition, co-activation of these two pathways was also observed in colon, lung and prostate cancers, suggesting that the cross-talk between these two pathways may be more generally relevant,? Hung said.

However, TNF? also presents an opportunity to personalize therapy, Hung said. The presence of TNF? or a separate protein that it activates called IKK alpha may serve as useful biomarkers to guide treatment.

?If a patient has only NOTCH activated, then the NOTCH inhibitor alone might work. But if TNF? or IKK? are also activated, then the NOTCH inhibitor alone might not work very well and combination therapy would be warranted,? Hung said.

?We?ll try this in an animal model and then go to clinical trial if it holds up,? Hung said.

A path from inflammation to liver cancer

In a series of experiments, Hung and colleagues connected the following molecular cascade:
? TNF?, a proinflammatory cytokine, signals through a cell?s membrane, activating IKK?, a protein kinase that regulates other proteins by attaching phosphate groups (one phosphate atom, four oxygen atoms) to them.
? IKK? moves into the cell nucleus, where it phosphorylatesFOXA2, a transcription factor that normally fires up the tumor suppressor NUMB.
? NUMB usually blocks a protein called NICD, the activated portion of NOTCH1 that slips into the cell nucleus to activate genes that convert the normal cell to a malignant one.
? But when FOXA2 is phosphorylated, it does not activate NUMB. With NUMB disabled, NOTCH1 is activated.

New understanding, new targets for cancer therapy

In liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma) tumors, IKK?, the phosphorylated version of FOXA2 and NOTCH1 are expressed more heavily than in normal liver tissue. Expression of all three is correlated in liver cancer tumors, the team found.

The authors conclude that identifying the link between TNF? and NOTCH1 pathways provides a new starting point for understanding the molecular basis for TNF?-related tumor growth and for identifying new targets for cancer therapy.

Finding ways to inhibit FOXA2 phosphorylation or to activate NUMB would provide new options for treating and perhaps preventing cancer, Hung said.

Co-authors with Hung are first author Mo Liu, Dung-Fang Lee, Chun-Te Chen, Hong-Jen Lee, Chun-Ju Chang, Jung-Mao Hsu, Hsu-Ping Kuo, Weiya Xia, Yongkun Wei, Chao-Kai Chou, and Yi Du, all of MD Anderson?s Department of Molecular and Cellular Oncology; Liu also is a graduate student in The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston, a joint program of MD Anderson and The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston; Chia-Jui Yen, National Cheng Kung University College of Medicine, Tainan, Taiwan; Long-Yuan Li, Wei-Chao Chang and Pei-Chun Chiu of the Graduate Institute of Cancer Biology, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; Debanjan Dhar and Michael Karin, Laboratory of Gene Regulation and Signal Transduction, University of California, San Diego; and Chung-Hsuan Chen, The Genomics Research Center, Academica Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan. Wei-Chao Chang also is associated with Academic Sinica.

Funding for this research was provided by the National Cancer Institute, including MD Anderson?s Cancer Center Support Grant from the NCI, National Science Council of Taiwan, Taiwan Department of Health; The MD Anderson-China Medical University and Hospital Sister Institution Fund, the Kadoorie Charitable Foundation and a research assistant scholarship to Mo Liu by the University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston.

Source: http://www.healthcanal.com/cancers/25008-Previously-Unconnected-Molecular-Networks-Conspire-Promote-Cancer.html

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Industrial metals and crops end week higher (AP)

Industrial metals ended the week higher Friday on growing optimism that economic growth will strengthen in the United States.

Copper for March delivery rose 5.4 cents to $3.4695 per pound. That leaves copper almost 4 percent higher for the week. March palladium rose $11.85 to $666.25 an ounce, putting it up about 6.5 percent since Monday.

Industrial metals tend to rise when traders think economic activity will increase. Factories buy copper and palladium to make everything from televisions to building materials for new housing construction.

Hopes of stronger growth were stoked Friday after Congress extended a payroll tax holiday for workers and emergency unemployment benefits. Analysts had worried that economic growth could have fallen by about 1 percent if the programs were allowed to expire at the end of the year.

The news came a day after the Department of Labor said the number of people applying for unemployment benefits dropped last week to the lowest level since April 2008. A weak job market has restrained consumer spending since 2008, so any rebound in hiring could increase demand.

In other trading, crop prices were also higher. Crops tend to rise when traders think stronger economic growth will spur demand for both food and crop-based fuels like ethanol and biodiesel. January soybeans rose 7.5 cents to $11.725 per bushel. That puts soybeans nearly 3 percent higher for the week.

March wheat rose 0.25 cents to finish at $6.22 per bushel, putting it 6 percent higher for the week. March corn rose 2 cents to $6.195 per bushel, also up 6 percent since Monday.

Precious metals were mixed.

Gold for February delivery fell $4.60 to end at $1,606 an ounce, leaving it nearly flat for the week. March silver gained 3.7 cents to end at $29.084 an ounce, down 2 percent for the week. January platinum gained $5.10 to $1,429.50 an ounce.

Benchmark oil rose 15 cents to finish at $99.68 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Heating oil lost 1.59 cents to end at $2.8995 per gallon, gasoline futures rose 4.13 cents to $2.6781 per gallon and natural gas lost 5.5 cents to $3.114 per 1,000 cubic feet.

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

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MLK Day Sports Equipment Drive

?? MLK Day Sports Equipment Drive

Sponsored by Long Island Volunteer Center
?
(Long Island, NY) In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. National Day of Service, the Long Island Volunteer Center, an affiliate of HandsOn Network and one of 10 New York State designated regional volunteer centers, is sponsoring a gently-used sports equipment drive for at-risk children in partnership with Modell?s Sporting Goods and Children?s Sport Connection (cscny.org).? Children?s Sport Connection provides financial assistance and sports equipment to children from homes in the midst of a family crisis and believes that children can benefit from being able to say active in organized sports during difficult times.

Contributing to the Corporation for National and Community Service?s strategic objective to increase economic opportunities, this drive will begin on MLK, Jr. Day, Monday, January 16 and continue through Saturday, January 21, 2012.? Donations will support SCO Family of Services and other youth programs throughout Long Island.? Miss Long Island 2012, Jessica Pinckney will be making an appearance at drop off locations to encourage youth volunteerism.

Donations will be accepted during regular store hours at the following Modell?s Sporting Goods locations:

Lake Success ? 1510 Union Turnpike
Garden City ? Roosevelt Field Shopping Center
Commack ? 5025 Jericho Turnpike
Farmingdale ? 206 Airport Plaza

[For more information about the gently-used sports equipment drive go to www.longislandvolunteercenter.org. or call (516) 564-5482]

Created in 1992 to improve the quality of life for all Long Islanders, the Long Island Volunteer Center is a nonprofit organization that encourages people to engage in service to their communities and mobilizes large numbers of volunteers and donations to support community service initiatives.

Source: http://www.longislandexchange.com/press/2011/12/22/mlk-day-sports-equipment-drive/

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LanceMcAlister: RT @BigEastMBB: Congratulations to West Virginia coach Bob Huggins, who earned his 700th career win tonight against Missouri State.

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Congratulations to West Virginia coach Bob Huggins, who earned his 700th career win tonight against Missouri State. Il y a environ 1 heure via TweetDeck Retweeted by 52 people

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ScottWasham: "What Child Is This?" From the 1963 NBC special, a hauntingly beautiful animated short featuring Ernie Ford http://t.co/ziFJKiaS (video)

"What Child Is This?" From the 1963 NBC special, a hauntingly beautiful animated short featuring Ernie Ford (video) Il y a environ 6 heures via web

Source: http://twitter.com/ScottWasham/statuses/150064537809326081

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Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center founder Jacob Goldman passes away at age 90

Jacob Goldman, the man who helped found the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) as Xerox's chief scientist in 1970, has passed away at age 90. PARC holds a special place in gadget lore, as it was responsible for creating Alto, the first modern computer with a GUI and a mouse, the first WYSIWYG text editor, and Ethernet, among many other innovations. Prior to his time at Xerox, Dr. Goldman was the head of R&D at Ford Motor Company, and after retiring, he served on the boards of several companies, including Xerox. The New York Times reported that Goldman created PARC to research "the architecture of information" -- and the fruits of PARC's labor listed above show that he's made an immeasurable and lasting contribution to the computing world, and consequently, life as we know it. Godspeed, Dr. Goldman, and thanks for everything.

[Image credit: PARC]

Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center founder Jacob Goldman passes away at age 90 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Dec 2011 15:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Migrant ship sinks off Indonesia; over 200 missing (AP)

JAKARTA, Indonesia ? Rescuers battled high waves Sunday as they searched for 200 asylum seekers still missing after their wooden ship sank off Indonesia's main island of Java. So far only 33 people have been plucked alive from the choppy waters.

Two were children, aged 8 and 10, found clinging to the broken debris of the boat five hours after the accident.

"It's really a miracle they made it," said Kelik Enggar Purwanto, a member of the search and rescue team.

Survivors told authorities they were fleeing economic and political hardship in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Turkey, said Lt. Alwi Mudzakir, who was heading the operations.

They were heading to Australia in search of a better life.

Mudzakir, a maritime police officer, blamed Saturday's accident on overloading, saying the vessel ? packed with 250 men, women and children ? appeared to have been carrying more than twice its capacity.

When the boat became unsteady 20 miles (32 kilometers) off Java's southern coast, people started panicking, causing it two sway violently back and forth, until finally, it capsized.

Indonesia, a sprawling archipelagic nation of 240 million people, has more than 18,000 islands and thousands of miles (kilometers) of unpatrolled coastline, making it a key transit point for smuggling migrants.

Those on the ship that sank Saturday had passed through the capital, Jakarta, three days earlier without any legal immigration documents, according to police.

An unidentified group loaded them onto four buses and brought them to a port, promising to get them to Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean.

Local television showed a half-dozen survivors at a shelter in Trenggalek, the town closest to the scene of the sinking, some with dazed, empty expressions as they sat on the floor drinking and eating. Several others were taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition.

One of the men, Esmat Adine, earlier told the official news agency Antara that when the ship started to rock, triggering the panic, people were so tightly packed they had nowhere to go.

"That made the boat even more unstable, and eventually it sank," said the 24-year-old Afghan migrant, adding that he and others survived by clinging to parts of the broken vessel until they were picked up by local fishermen.

He estimated that more than 40 children were on the ship.

At Prigi, the nearest port, several members of the national search and rescue team were getting ready to head out to sea, local television footage showed.

Empty body bags could be seen on board.

Mudzakir said so far 33 people have been rescued. Many of them, according to Purwanto, the search and rescue official, were suffering from severe dehydration and exhaustion.

But they and others were giving up hope of finding more survivors, saying weather was bad and four fishing boats, two helicopters and a navy war ship already involved in the operation were battling 4-meter- (13-foot-) high waves.

"They have scoured a 50-mile radius but haven't found anything," Mudzakir said.

Given the strong current, high waves and extreme weather, there was little chance anyone would be able to survive more than 24 hours at sea, he added.

It's not uncommon for asylum seekers, many of whom travel in overcrowded, rickety boats, to die before they make it to Australia.

Last month, a ship carrying about 70 asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan capsized off the southern coast of Central Java province, and at least eight people died.

___

Associated Press writer Niniek Karmini contributed to this report.

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

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Tournament of THG: Selena Gomez vs. Robert Pattinson!

Welcome back to the Tournament of THG, where fans determine the most popular celebrity of the year! We unveiled our official bracket yesterday, and one by one, we'll post polls of these respective showdowns, updating the bracket after each round.

The concept is simple. Vote for your favorite of the two stars in each poll. Done.

Kate Middleton is currently pounding Kim Kardashian and Kristen Stewart and Miley Cyrus are squaring off in our first two celebrity showdowns. Up next here in Round One?

A tough one to predict. Venerable #5 seed Robert Pattinson takes on #12 Selena Gomez in our first co-ed battle of the event. Who do you like best? Vote below!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/12/tournament-of-thg-selena-gomez-vs-robert-pattinson/

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Corrections

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Cyprus strike to shut down govt, airports (AP)

NICOSIA, Cyprus ? Cyprus' airports and government offices will shut down Thursday in a daylong strike to protest a public-sector wage freeze and other austerity measures.

The island's two airports will close after air traffic controllers said Wednesday they will stage a 12-hour work stoppage to protest what they regard as the government's broken promise not to freeze their salaries as well.

The airport shutdown will affect more than 70 flights and 5,000 passengers, airports spokesman Adamos Aspris said.

Separately, the government worker union PASYDY said state-run hospitals will operate on a skeleton staff.

Municipal elections in the eurozone country are slated for Sunday and could be thrown into disarray after PASYDY urged members not to work then and to avoid voting.

Cyprus' communist-rooted President Dimitris Christofias publicly appealed to union leaders to let the elections run problem-free. "With all due respect to the unions and especially PASYDY, that's too much," he said.

PASYDY called for the stepped-up strike action a day after government workers briefly walked off the job to demonstrate against not being consulted on the austerity measures.

The union's boss, Glafcos Hadjipetrou, said government workers have already seen their incomes shrink by a tenth because of earlier salary rollbacks and suggested that more cuts are being discussed behind their backs.

"Today the numbers don't add up, tomorrow the numbers won't add up, and they're asking workers to cover the shortfall. This won't pass," Hadjipetrou said.

Finance Minister Kikis Kazamias dismissed what he called a "suspicious and dishonorable whispering campaign" that the government would move to cut government workers' Christmas bonus and tax their retirement bonus.

"I consider this action as a deliberate crime against the public interest," he told reporters.

Salaries and other benefits to the 70,000-strong public sector represented by powerful unions in the country of 800,000 take up a third of all government spending.

Dozens of union members on Wednesday descended on Parliament where lawmakers approved the two-year wage freeze and other deficit-fighting measures, including a sales tax hike from 15 to 17 percent and a levy on private sector salaries above euro2,500 ($3,250), also valid for two years.

Other measures include a tax increase on company dividends from 17 to 20 percent and slashing social handouts by euro200 million ($260 million).

Bills setting up a bank stability fund and enabling the government to backstop troubled financial institutions also were approved.

The sales tax increase will take effect in March. Lawmakers postponed a vote on raising the retirement age by a year to 64. A vote on the budget will take place Thursday.

The government is struggling to restore investor confidence following a string of credit rating downgrades this year ? mainly due to its banks heavy exposure to debt-shackled Greece ? that have taken Cyprus to the brink of junk status.

Kazamias earlier this month struck a deal with opposition parties ? which hold a majority in Parliament ? on the measures aimed at shrinking the deficit from around 6.5 percent of gross domestic product this year to 2.4 percent in 2012.

Without these measures, he warned that the country would likely need a bailout.

Kazamias said trade unions weren't consulted because he needed a swift agreement to avoid sanctions the island faces under EU rules if it doesn't agree on deficit-cutting measures by mid-December.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111214/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_cyprus_financial_crisis

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East Europe balks at helping indebted richer West (AP)

WARSAW, Poland ? Of all the twists in Europe's debt crisis one of the oddest must be this: Poles, Czechs and other eastern Europeans, long the recipients of massive amounts of Western aid, are being asked to contribute to an emergency fund for indebted Western European states.

That plan, decided at a European Union summit Friday, is sparking resistance ? and some outrage ? from eastern Europeans who see a huge injustice in being asked to sacrifice for countries that still enjoy much greater wealth, even with mountains of state debt.

Czech and Slovak leaders have spoken out against the plan ? sentiment also being voiced in more emotional language by people across the region.

"This must be some kind of bad joke," said Jonas Vaicys, a math teacher in Lithuania, an ex-Soviet state still recovering from a huge hit taken in the financial crisis of 2008-09. "Lithuania itself is on the verge of asking for international help, not donating money to some fund."

The plan is one of several measures that EU leaders agreed to as they struggle to pull Europe out of its debt crisis. It involves EU members providing up to euro200 billion in loans to the International Monetary Fund to empower it to bail out indebted states. The bulk would come from eurozone members, but even those members who don't use the shared currency are being asked for help.

Hungary and Romania won't contribute because they are still paying the IMF back for past bailouts. And Bulgaria ? the EU's poorest member ? says its has nothing to offer.

But several other ex-communist countries now face an obligation to make reserves from their central banks available to the IMF as loans.

This marks quite a change for a part of Europe that has depended for years on Western aid to overcome the crippling economic legacy of communism. That their help is now sought signals just how far they have come after years of investment and high growth.

Some in this region argue that gratitude alone should prompt them to contribute to the fund without complaining.

But despite years of economic progress, the standard of living across central and eastern Europe still lags far behind the West, and many are loath to go along with the IMF plan.

Poland, for instance, has a debt load much lower than that of Greece and Italy ? but this is also because the state simply doesn't provide the generous welfare benefits to its people that many take for granted in the West. Wages, jobless benefits and baby bonuses are all just a fraction of what they are in much of the West.

Now, asking these countries to spare funds for indebted eurozone members could create a popular backlash against any governments that contribute ? especially as their own economies are already feeling the pain from the broader European crisis.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas said he is personally against contributing the roughly 90 billion koruna (euro3.5 billion; $4.6 billion) his country has been asked for. But he also said more analysis is needed before his government reaches a decision.

"It's a serious situation and a very complicated financial problem," Necas said Tuesday. "A considerable amount of money is involved."

In Slovakia, Jozef Kollar, a leader of Freedom and Solidarity ? a center-right party in the government ? said he has an "overall negative" view of the plan. He called it a "weird transaction" pushed through by German and French leaders to get more money for an EU rescue fund without going through their parliaments.

The mood is different in Poland, where the pro-EU government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk and the central bank favor contributing. Leaders in Warsaw hope to adopt the euro one day, and argue that the survival of the eurozone ? a source of large EU subsidies and a key trade partner ? is crucial to Poland's own continued growth and modernization.

"A collapse of the eurozone would be an economic disaster for us," central bank president Marek Belka said Tuesday.

Poland, the largest of the new EU members, is also trying to establish itself as a leading European power ? and therefore simply wants to be in the game.

The popular view is different, however.

Poland's leading tabloid, Fakt, has tried to stir up a sense of outrage over what it depicts as an absurd injustice. It carried front-page stories Tuesday and Wednesday that compare the low wages in Poland ? which it put at 1,400 zlotys ($410) a month for minimum wage work ? with salaries two or three times as high in Greece and Italy.

"And we are supposed to pay for their luxuries?" the paper asked in big letters across its front page Tuesday.

Emotion aside, other arguments against contributing to the fund are also coming up.

Tomas Vlk, an analyst with Patria Finance in Prague, worries that participation could "worsen the Czech position in the eyes of rating agencies."

That, in turn, could make it more expensive for Prague to finance its own state debt.

Czech President Vaclav Klaus, known for his skepticism of the EU, said he opposes contributing. He argued that doing so would add to the country's own debt problems ? even though central bank loans to the IMF do not come from government budgets, and do not have a direct effect on state debt.

"In this situation, it would be irresponsible to increase our debt by providing more loans to the countries with extreme debts, which would only allow them to further delay real solutions," Klaus said Monday on Czech public radio.

___

Janicek contributed from Prague, Czech Republic. Associated Press writer Liudas Dapkus also contributed from Vilnius, Lithuania.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111214/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_europe_east_helps_west

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Watch a life-size Mobile Suit Gundam robot statue get assembled in time-lapse footage (Yahoo! News)

First erected in 2009, a giant scale model of a robot from the classic Japanese anime?Mobile Suit Gundam has returned to Tokyo. More of an enormous model than a traditional statue, the 59-foot-tall goliath has to actually be put together from hundreds of intricately detailed parts. It's a time-consuming process, but thankfully one?YouTube user has captured it?in time-lapse video.

The robot stands on?Odaiba, an artificial island in Tokyo Bay. It originally stood for only one month, in July 2009, and attracted more than four million visitors before being disassembled and moved south to?Shizuoka City, home to many of Japan's scale model making companies. It resided there for nine months before returning ? in pieces ? to Tokyo as part of charity efforts towards relief for the?Great Eastern Japan Earthquake.

Construction of the mighty but sadly inanimate mechanoid takes several weeks, and begins with its steel skeleton. It's a fascinating process to watch ... and kind of makes you wish that the bot would actually spring to life at the end!

Anime News Network via?Geekosystem

This article was written by Randy Nelson and originally appeared on Tecca

More from Tecca:

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'The Artist' speaks up with 6 noms to lead Globes

In this film publicity image released by The Weinstein Company, Jean Dujardin portrays George Valentin in "The Artist." Dujardin was nominated Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011 for a Golden Globe award for best actor in a comedy or musical film. The Golden Globes will be presented Jan. 15 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, televised live by NBC and hosted by Ricky Gervais. (AP Photo/The Weinstein Company)

In this film publicity image released by The Weinstein Company, Jean Dujardin portrays George Valentin in "The Artist." Dujardin was nominated Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011 for a Golden Globe award for best actor in a comedy or musical film. The Golden Globes will be presented Jan. 15 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, televised live by NBC and hosted by Ricky Gervais. (AP Photo/The Weinstein Company)

In this film publicity image released by The Weinstein Company, Jean Dujardin portrays George Valentin, left, and Berenice Bejo portrays Peppy Miller in a scene from "The Artist." (AP Photo/The Weinstein Company)

Presenter Woody Harrelson gives his new movie "Rampart" a plug onstage during nominations for the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards, Thursday, Dec. 14, 2011, in Beverly Hills, Calif. The Golden Globe Awards will be held on Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Presenter Sofia Vergara waves to photographers alongside fellow presenter Woody Harrelson before they announced nominations for the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards, Thursday, Dec. 14, 2011, in Beverly Hills, Calif. The Golden Globe Awards will be held on Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

In this film publicity image released by Disney, Viola Davis is shown in a scene from "The Help." (AP Photo/Disney, Dale Robinette)

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) ? Silent film is taking over Hollywood's awards scene. The silent-era tale "The Artist" heads the Golden Globes with six nominations, among them best comedy or musical, and acting honors for its French stars, Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo.

Tied for second-place with five nominations Thursday are the 1960s racial tale "The Help" and George Clooney's Hawaiian family story "The Descendants." Both films are up for best drama, while Clooney was nominated for best dramatic actor and "The Help" earned acting slots for Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain.

Also competing for best drama: Martin Scorsese's Paris adventure "Hugo"; Clooney's political thriller "The Ides of March"; Brad Pitt's baseball chronicle "Moneyball"; and Steven Spielberg's World War I epic "War Horse."

Joining "The Artist" in the best musical or comedy category are: the cancer story "50/50"; Kristen Wiig's wedding romp "Bridesmaids"; Woody Allen's romantic fantasy "Midnight in Paris"; and Michelle Williams' Marilyn Monroe tale "My Week With Marilyn."

Dujardin, who won the best-actor prize for "The Artist" in its premiere at last May's Cannes Film Festival, was nominated for best actor in a musical or comedy. He plays a silent-film star whose career nosedives as talking pictures take over in the late 1920s in "The Artist," which has virtually no spoken dialogue and is shot in the boxy, black-and-white format of the silent era.

The actor called his nomination an "incredible gift."

"To be recognized alongside such brilliant actors is an honor," Dujardin said. "The Golden Globe nomination for 'The Artist' has left me speechless!"

"The Artist" also picked up a supporting actress honor for Bejo as a rising star of the sound era. Filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius earned directing and screenplay nominations, which also is up for best musical score.

Clooney has three nominations. Besides best dramatic actor as a neglectful dad tending his daughters in "The Descendants," he's up for directing and screenplay for "The Ides of March." For the acting prize, Clooney will compete against his "Ides" star Ryan Gosling, who plays a presidential candidate's aide. Gosling had a second nomination for best musical or comedy actor as a ladies man in the romance "Crazy, Stupid, Love."

Glenn Close is also a dual contender, as best dramatic actress as a woman masquerading as a male butler in the Irish drama "Albert Nobbs" and for best song for writing the lyrics to "Lay Your Head Down," the film's theme tune.

Also nominated for dramatic actress: Davis as a black maid going public with stories about her white employer in "The Help"; Rooney Mara as a traumatized victim-turned-avenger in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"; Meryl Streep as British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady"; and Tilda Swinton as a grieving woman coping with her son's terrible deeds in "We Need to Talk About Kevin."

Clooney has another pal in the dramatic actor race, his "Ocean's Eleven" franchise co-star Pitt, who's nominated for his "Moneyball" role as Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane. And Clooney also is competing for best director against his boss in "The Descendants," filmmaker Alexander Payne.

Gosling, Clooney and Pitt are up against Leonardo DiCaprio as FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover in "J. Edgar" and Michael Fassbender as a sex addict in "Shame."

Pitt's romantic partner, Angelina Jolie, picked up a nomination for foreign-language film for her directing debut, the Bosnian war drama "In the Land of Blood and Honey."

Scorsese for "Hugo" and Allen for "Midnight in Paris" join Clooney, Hazanavicius and Payne in the directing category. Though "War Horse" made it in for best drama, Spielberg missed out on a directing nomination.

Spielberg has a consolation prize with a nomination for his first animated film, "The Adventures of Tintin." Other animation nominees are: James McAvoy's "Arthur Christmas," Owen Wilson's "Cars 2," Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek's "Puss in Boots" and Johnny Depp's "Rango."

Along with Gosling and Dujardin, Wilson was nominated for musical or comedy actor as a writer nostalgic for the 1920s France of Hemingway and Fitzgerald in "Midnight in Paris." Also nominated are Brendan Gleeson as a bawdy, rule-breaking Irish cop on a drug investigation in "The Guard" and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a cancer patient aided by an assortment of oddballs in "50/50."

Roman Polanski's domestic showdown "Carnage" earned musical or comedy actress slots for both Jodie Foster and Kate Winslet as mothers squabbling over their sons' schoolyard fight. The other nominees are: Charlize Theron as a delusional woman plotting to win back her high school boyfriend from his wife in "Young Adult"; Wiig as a maid of honor whose life is unraveling in "Bridesmaids"; and Williams as Marilyn Monroe during a chaotic film shoot in "My Week with Marilyn."

Along with the Screen Actors Guild Award nominations a day earlier, the Globes field helps narrow down prospects for the Academy Awards, whose nominations come out Jan. 24.

With drinks and dinner, the Globes are a laid-back affair for Hollywood's elite compared to the Oscars. The show turned a bit touchy last year as host Ricky Gervais repeatedly made sharp wisecracks about stars and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a group of about 85 entertainment reporters for overseas outlets that presents the Globes.

But Gervais helped give the show a TV ratings boost, and he's been invited back as host for a third-straight year.

Before the nominations announcement, the press group's president, Aida Takla-O'Reilly, joked that Gervais is a "naughty, naughty schoolboy."

Five-time Academy Award and Globe nominee Morgan Freeman ? who won the supporting-actor Oscar for "Million Dollar Baby" and a best-actor Globe for "Driving Miss Daisy" ? will receive the group's Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement at the Jan. 15 ceremony.

___

Online:

http://www.goldenglobes.org

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2011-12-15-Golden%20Globe%20Nominations/id-0ed41ea2d88241348728d1d403e21e26

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Source: http://www.unmillenniumproject.com/2011/08/finding-an-inexpensive-auto-insurance-policy-in-california.html

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US awaits release of 3 students held in Egypt

FILE - In this Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011 file image from Egyptian state television, three American students are displayed to the camera by Egyptian authorities following their arrest during protests in Cairo, where an Egyptian official said they were throwing firebombs at security forces. A spokeswoman for the American University in Cairo identified the students as Luke Gates, a 21-year-old Indiana University student from Bloomington, Ind.; Derrik Sweeney, a 19-year-old Georgetown University student from Jefferson City, Mo.; and Gregory Porter, a 19 year-old Drexel University student from Glenside, Pa. An official says an Egyptian court has ordered release of 3 US students arrested during Cairo unrest.(AP Photo/ Egyptian TV, File)

FILE - In this Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011 file image from Egyptian state television, three American students are displayed to the camera by Egyptian authorities following their arrest during protests in Cairo, where an Egyptian official said they were throwing firebombs at security forces. A spokeswoman for the American University in Cairo identified the students as Luke Gates, a 21-year-old Indiana University student from Bloomington, Ind.; Derrik Sweeney, a 19-year-old Georgetown University student from Jefferson City, Mo.; and Gregory Porter, a 19 year-old Drexel University student from Glenside, Pa. An official says an Egyptian court has ordered release of 3 US students arrested during Cairo unrest.(AP Photo/ Egyptian TV, File)

PHILADELPHIA (AP) ? Three American students arrested during a protest in Cairo and ordered released by an Egyptian court are in the midst of being processed by authorities there, a U.S. Embassy spokeswoman said Friday.

Katharina Gollner-Sweet, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, told The Associated Press that Derrik Sweeney, Luke Gates and Gregory Porter are being processed for their eventual release one day after a court ordered them released from police custody, according to information from Egyptian officials.

"According to the latest information that the Egyptians gave out they were ordered released in the court but they are in an administrative out-processing stage," Gollner-Sweet said. "We are continuing to provide normal consular services."

The three U.S. college students, who attend the American University in Cairo, were arrested on the roof of a university building near Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square on Sunday. Officials accused them of throwing firebombs at security forces fighting with protesters.

A court in Egypt ordered the release of the students, a lawyer in Philadelphia confirmed Thursday.

Attorney Theodore Simon, who represents Porter, a 19-year-old student at Drexel University in Philadelphia, said he spoke by phone with Porter, describing the student's demeanor as "calm and measured, demonstrating a maturity well beyond his 19 years."

"He was extremely thankful and appreciative for our efforts and the unconditional support of his mother and father," Simon said.

Porter is from Glenside, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia.

Sweeney's mother, Joy Sweeney, said she is "absolutely elated" at the news of her 19-year-old son's release.

"I can't wait to give him a huge hug and tell him how much I love him," she said, adding that the news of the court order was the best Thanksgiving gift.

The 21-year-old Gates is a student at Indiana University.

His parents released a statement Thursday through the school, saying they were "extremely happy" to hear that their son would soon be released.

"This has been a difficult situation, and while we are disappointed that he will be held a few days longer to complete administrative procedures related to his release, we're confident he will be home soon," Bill and Sharon Gates wrote.

The State Department released a statement saying it was trying to independently confirm the reports of the students' release.

Earlier Thursday, Egypt officials said the Abdeen Court in Cairo had ordered their release. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media. They did not say when the students would be released.

Joy Sweeney said she wasn't sure when her son, a student at Georgetown University, would be returning to their home in Jefferson City, Mo.

"If he can find his passport (then he'll leave) tomorrow, if not, it won't be until Monday," she said.

She said the U.S. consul general in Egypt, Roberto Powers, recommended that her son leave Egypt as soon as possible.

"He also conveyed that that was what Derrik had conveyed to him that he wanted to do. He was enjoying his experience but (was) ready to be done with it," Sweeney said.

Derrik Sweeney interned for U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo., earlier this year. Luetkemeyer's spokesman Paul Sloca, said the congressman is "extremely pleased that he's safe and coming home, especially on Thanksgiving."

Sweeney said she had not prepared for a Thanksgiving celebration, although a friend had taken her some food. She said the idea of a Thanksgiving feast had seemed "absolutely irrelevant" before the news of her son's pending freedom.

Asked what she thought her son would take away from his arrest, Sweeney said she thought he would make something useful of it.

"I'm sure that he'll put a life-lesson learning experience into a positive story," Sweeney said. "He's a writer, he will write about this experience."

___

Associated Press reporter Ed Donahue in Washington contributed to this report. Hadeel Al-Shalchi reported from Cairo.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-11-25-Egypt-American%20Students/id-5468200d3f0741869747b15ee007452f

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