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Barack Obama 2007 race remarks on Katrina aftermath response

Diane A. Wade
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Barack Obama 2007 race remarks on Katrina aftermath response

A tape has emerged on the eve of the presidential debate of President Barack Obama making controversial “race” remarks about the government’s response in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Speaking to an audience of predominantly black ministers at Hampton University in 2007, Barack Obama said that the response to Katrina was lacklustre because “the people down in New Orleans, they don’t care about them as much”.

Critics say the tape is an example of the President trying to whip up “fear and hatred” but supporters of Barack Obama said the speech has already been widely reported and dismissed the release as an attempt to deflect attention away from Mitt Romney ahead of tonight’s crucial debate in Denver, Colorado.

The speech had previously been aired but only an edited video was released and a transcript that did not include the ad-lib remarks about New Orleans.

Barack Obama said: “Down in New Orleans, where they still have not rebuilt 20 months later. There’s a law, federal law – when you get reconstruction money from the federal government – called the Stafford Act.

“And basically it says, when you get federal money, you have to give a 10 per cent match. The local government has to come up with ten per cent. Every $10 the federal government comes up with, local government has to give a dollar.”

He continued: “Now here’s the thing. When 9/11 happened in New York City, they waived the Stafford Act – said: <<This is too serious a problem. We can’t expect New York City to rebuild on its own. Forget that dollar you have to put in. Well, here’s $10.>>

“And that was the right thing to do. When Hurricane Andrew struck in Florida, people said: <<Look at this devastation. We don’t expect you to come up with your own money here. Here’s the money to rebuild. We’re not going to wait for you to scratch it together, because you’re part of the American family>>.

“What’s happening down in New Orleans? – <<Where’s your dollar? Where’s your Stafford Act money?>>

“It tells me that somehow the people down in New Orleans, they don’t care about as much.”

The recording of Barack Obama also reveals him giving a “special shout out” to controversial pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright who was in the audience.

In the footage, Barack Obama introduces Reverend Jeremiah Wright as “my pastor, the guy who puts up with me, counsels me, listens to my wife complain about me”.

“He’s a friend and a great leader. Not just in Chicago, but all across the country.”

Barack Obama’s speech in June 2007 came a year before Jeremiah Wright’s infamous “God damn America” remarks surfaced in 2008.

Referring to treatment of African-Americans in the U.S, Rev. Jeremiah Wright said in a sermon in 2003: “No, no, no, not God Bless America.

“God damn America….God damn America, for treating our citizens as less than human.”

The retired pastor also came under fire after he said the September 11 terrorist attacks were “America’s chickens coming home to roost”. He was kept at a distance by Barack Obama during the 2008 campaign.

Right and left-wing media were divided over the impact of the tape. The Daily Caller, which broke the story, erupted over Barack Obama’s remarks, describing them as “racially-charged”.

The conservative blog added that the “at times angry speech undermines Obama’s carefully-crafted image as a leader eager to build bridges between ethnic groups”.

It also compared the President with radical civil rights activist Al Sharpton. The site’s editor Tucker Carlson told Fox that the clips were Barack Obama “whipping up race hatred and fear. Period”.

The liberal media played down the Obama tape as old news.

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow heaped sarcasm on the clip, saying: “This is how he snuck into the White House, right? People didn’t actually know he was this black, and if they had known, they never would have elected him.”

Sam Feist, Washington Bureau Chief at CNN, tweeted: “Re: Secret tape of the Obama event: CNN covered it in 2007. It was open press.”

Both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama have stepped back from the campaign trail in recent days as they prepare ahead of their first head-to-head meeting on stage on Wednesday night.

The Republican National Committee has stayed quiet over the release of the tape while Mitt Romney’s camp has denied involvement.

The Obama campaign said the release of the clips were a “transparent attempt” by Mitt Romney’s allies to divert from a secretly-recorded tape where the Republican nominee told a fundraiser that “there are 47% who are with him [President Obama], who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims”.

Campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt said: “The only thing shocking about this is that they apparently think it’s wrong to suggest that we should help returning veterans, children leaving foster care and other members of Mitt Romney’s 47% get training that will allow them to find the best available jobs.

“If the Romney campaign believes that Americans will accept these desperate attacks tomorrow night in place of specific plans for the middle-class, it’s they who are in for a surprise.”

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Sriprakash Jaiswal apologizes for sexist remark at a poetry meeting

Diane A. Wade
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Sriprakash Jaiswal apologizes for sexist remark at a poetry meeting

Sriprakash Jaiswal, a senior Indian minister, has apologized for his remarks that wives lose their appeal with age.

Federal Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said he had been quoted out of context, and that he was joking when he made the remarks at a poetry meeting.

Sriprakash Jaiswal said he did “not want to insult women”, and he had no intention of hurting their feelings.

Women’s groups have expressed outrage and said Sriprakash Jaiswal’s comments were “very unfortunate”.

Sriprakash Jaiswal made the remarks at a Hindi language poetry meeting in the northern city of Kanpur on Monday night.

He was referring to the Indian cricket team winning a game against Pakistan in the ongoing World T20 championship in Sri Lanka.

“New victory and new wedding, both of them have their own importance. As time will pass, the victory will become old,” Sriprakash Jaiswal was reported as telling the meeting.

“As time passes, wife also becomes old, that charm does not sustain”.

After footage of Sriprakash Jaiswal’s comments was aired on TV channels, women’s groups and opposition parties criticized the minister and demanded an apology.

The main opposition BJP said the minister had made a “sexist remark” and called him “insensitive”.

The chairman of the National Commission for Women, Mamta Sharma, said the minister’s comments were “very unfortunate”.

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Vitamin D supplements have no impact on colds

Kathryn R. Bown
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Vitamin D supplements have no impact on colds

Scientists say they can find no convincing evidence to show that taking vitamin D supplements will fend off a cold.

A New Zealand team did the “gold standard” of tests – a randomized placebo-controlled trial – to see what impact the supplements would have.

The 161 people who took daily vitamin D for 18 months caught as many colds as the 161 who took fake pills.

The study was reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

However, Professor Ronald Eccles, a leading UK cold expert, said vitamin D was useful.

Prof. Ronald Eccles, of the Common Cold Centre at Cardiff University, said it can give the immune system a much-needed boost during winter when vitamin D reserves may be low.

He said he takes it every year as a precaution.

“There is sufficient information to indicate that vitamin D is a vital vitamin for the immune system.

“Supplementation might help to support the immune system over the winter when we are short of vitamin D.”

He said Echinacea supplements may also help ward off coughs and colds, but added: “Supplements do not work for everybody because people’s immune systems are different. It’s not a case of one size fits all.”

They are pointless unless you are deficient, he said.

We get most of our vitamin D from sunlight on our skin, but it is also found in certain foods like oily fish, eggs and breakfast cereals.

Most people should be able to get all the vitamin D they need by eating a healthy balanced diet and by getting some summer sun.

The study, carried out in New Zealand, which gets more sunshine annually than the UK, found the vitamin D supplements increased blood levels of the vitamin.

But this had no significant impact on the rate or severity of colds.

The vitamin D group caught an average of 3.7 colds per person compared with 3.8 colds per person for the placebo group.

There was no significant difference between the two groups in the number of days missed off work as a result of cold symptoms or duration of symptoms.

Adults catch between two to four colds a year and children up to 10 a year.

 

Toyota Motor leads US car sales rise

Clyde K. Valle
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Toyota Motor leads US car sales rise

New car sales in the US posted the best month in more than four years, with Toyota Motor showing the biggest rise.

Toyota saw sales rise 42% in September. Honda reported a jump of 31%, while Chrysler sales increased 12%.

Analysts said buyers in the US were taking advantage of low interest rates and cheap financing.

The US car industry’s recovery has been a boon to the US economy in recent months.

Industry-wide sales were up 12.8% in September compared to a year earlier, to 1.19 million cars and light trucks.

Calculated on an annualized basis that is 14.94 million vehicles, the highest rate since March 2008 according to Autodata.

Analysts said the increased demand for passenger vehicles comes after consumers in the US delayed buying new cars during the recession which went on till 2009.

That pushed the age of vehicles on the road up, and now those consumers are looking for replacement cars.

“I think in general with the economy chugging along at about 1.5% to 2% that we are gradually seeing people come back,” said Ford chief economist Ellen Hughes-Cromwick.

Japanese carmakers continue to show the biggest gains as they rebound from a supply shortage caused by the earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

 

Ralls Corp sues Barack Obama over blocked US wind farm deal

Clyde K. Valle
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Ralls Corp sues Barack Obama over blocked US wind farm deal

Ralls Corp, a Chinese-owned firm in the US, is suing President Barack Obama after he blocked a wind farm deal on national security grounds.

Ralls Corp, a private firm, acquired four wind farm projects near a US naval facility in Oregon earlier this year.

Barack Obama signed the order blocking the deal last week. The lawsuit alleges the US government overstepped its authority.

It is the first foreign investment to be blocked in the US for 22 years.

The move forced Ralls Corp to divest its stake in the projects, which were located near restricted airspace used by the Naval Weapons Systems Training Facility.

Ralls Corp’s complaint, filed on Monday, alleged that the US president had “acted in an unlawful and unauthorized manner”.

The firm, owned by two Chinese nationals, said in its suit that Mr Obama failed to adhere to the law to treat Ralls Corp on equal terms. The court documents were made public on Tuesday.

Issuing the order last week, the White House said: “There is credible evidence that leads me to believe that Ralls Corporation… might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States.”

However, the company said in its suit that Barack Obama had not produced evidence to support that.

The military has said it uses the Oregon base to test unmanned drones and other equipment for electronic warfare. The aircraft fly as low as 200 ft (60 m) at speeds of as much as 300 mph (500 km/h).

Ralls Corp is owned by two executives from Sany Group, China’s largest engineering machine producer.

Responding to Barack Obama’s decision last week, a representative of Sany Group told Chinese state media that the deal posed no threat to US security.

Zhou Qing, a company legal officer, told Xinhua news agency on 29 September that Barack Obama’s move was more likely a campaigning ploy or to protect the US wind farm industry.

The block on the wind farms comes just weeks ahead of November’s presidential election.

China’s trade advantage over the US has become a focus of Barack Obama’s battle for re-election against Republican contender Mitt Romney.

In mid-September a new survey by the Pew Research Center showed that while most Americans saw US relations with China as “generally good”, they also saw China as posing the greatest danger to the US.

The majority of those surveyed viewed China as a competitor of the US, rather than as an enemy or partner.

But at the same time, about 52% viewed China’s rise as a world power to be a major threat to the US. At least 26% also saw China as posing the greatest danger to the US, over Iran and North Korea.

Last month, the Obama administration filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization against Chinese subsidies for its car industry.

 

2012 Presidential Debate Schedule

Diane A. Wade
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2012 Presidential Debate Schedule

The dates and venues have been announced for the 2012 Presidential debates between President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney. The date for the Vice Presidential debate has also been announced.

Tickets – Tickets for each debate are controlled by the Commission on Presidential Debates and are extremely limited since the debates are primarily produced for television. The majority of tickets are distributed to host university students and faculty through a lottery system.

TV Channels – Each debate will be broadcast live on C-SPAN, ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC, as well as all cable news channels including CNN, Fox News and MSNBC among others.

Live Stream – Each debate will be streamed live online.

October 3, 2012

Topic: Domestic policy

Air Time: 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time

Location: University of Denver in Denver, Colorado (Tickets)

Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates

Participants: President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney

Moderator: Jim Lehrer (Host of NewsHour on PBS)

The debate will focus on domestic policy and be divided into six time segments of approximately 15 minutes each on topics to be selected by the moderator and announced several weeks before the debate.

The moderator will open each segment with a question, after which each candidate will have two minutes to respond. The moderator will use the balance of the time in the segment for a discussion of the topic.

October 11, 2012

Topic: Foreign and domestic policy

Air Time: 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time

Location: Centre College in Danville, Kentucky (Tickets)

Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates

Participants: Vice President Joe Biden and Congressman Paul Ryan

Moderator: Martha Raddatz (ABC News Chief Foreign Correspondent)

The debate will cover both foreign and domestic topics and be divided into nine time segments of approximately 10 minutes each. The moderator will ask an opening question, after which each candidate will have two minutes to respond. The moderator will use the balance of the time in the segment for a discussion of the question.

October 16, 2012

Topic: Town meeting format including foreign and domestic policy

Air Time: 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time

Location: Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York (Tickets)

Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates

Participants: President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney

Moderator: Candy Crowley (CNN Chief Political Correspondent)

The second presidential debate will take the form of a town meeting, in which citizens will ask questions of the candidates on foreign and domestic issues. Candidates each will have two minutes to respond, and an additional minute for the moderator to facilitate a discussion. The town meeting participants will be undecided voters selected by the Gallup Organization.

October 22, 2012

Topic: Foreign policy

Air Time: 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time

Location: Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida (Tickets)

Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates

Participants: President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney

Moderator: Bob Schieffer (Host of Face the Nation on CBS)

The format for the debate will be identical to the first presidential debate and will focus on foreign policy.

 

Adele’s Skyfall James Bond 007 theme leaked online

Sonia Pantiss
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Adele’s Skyfall James Bond 007 theme leaked online

The theme song for the new James Bond movie, Skyfall, sung by Adele, has been leaked on the internet.

Adele confirmed on Monday that she had recorded the theme for Skyfall and posted a picture of the song credits on her official Twitter page.

However, the track wasn’t due to be unveiled until 0:07 BST on Friday 5 October.

The same date marks the 50th anniversary of the release of the first James Bond film, Dr. No.

Some critics are saying the style of the leaked song reminds them of Dame Shirley Bassey, famous for Bond songs like Goldfinger and Diamonds Are Forever.

Adele’s confirmation that she had done the song came after months of rumours.

Her photo on Twitter appears to show the cover page of the sheet music for the Skyfall theme.

It lists the composers as A. Adkins, the singer’s full name, and P. Epworth – the producer and co-writer of her hit single Rolling In The Deep.

The music has been arranged by Epworth and film composer JAC Redford, whose credits include The Help, The Iron Lady and Wall-E.

In a statement, Adele said: “I was a little hesitant at first to be involved with the theme song for Skyfall.

“There’s a lot of instant spotlight and pressure when it comes to a Bond song.

“But I fell in love with the script and Paul (Epworth) had some great ideas for the track and it ended up being a bit of a no brainer to do it in the end.

“It was also a lot of fun writing to a brief, something I’ve never done which made it exciting. When we recorded the strings, it was one of the proudest moments of my life.

“I’ll be back combing my hair when I’m 60 telling people I was a Bond girl back in the day I’m sure.”

Skyfall was recorded at Abbey Road studios in London with a 77-piece orchestra.

Adele first hinted she would be working on the theme song during an interview on Jonathan Ross’s chat show on ITV1 in September 2011.

“I’m going back in the studio in November, fingers crossed,” Adele told Jonathan Ross.

“Well this is actually a theme, what I’ve got to do for, um… Wow. That’s really giving something away isn’t it?”

Shortly after Adele’s appearance on The Jonathan Ross show last September, her friend Tinie Tempah, said he’d spoken to Adele about her Bond recording.

Speaking at the Mercury Prize on 6 September last year the rapper said: “I was with her [Adele] yesterday, she was telling me about it and that’s amazing.

“I’ve always wanted to do a Bond theme. I’m a bit jealous actually. No, let’s leave it to her, it’s always a really big diva that does it right?”

Recent Bond themes have met with a poor reception.

Chris Cornell’s gritty You Know My Name, from Casino Royale, was described as “unexpectedly dull” and “forgettable”; while Jack White and Alicia Keys’ duet Another Way To Die, from Quantum Of Solace, was branded “a missed opportunity”.

Adele’s theme is the first to carry the same name as the film since Madonna’s Die Another Day in 2002.

The 23rd Bond film, Skyfall, is due for release on 26 October in the UK.

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Latin America economies slow in 2012

Clyde K. Valle
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Latin America economies slow in 2012

Latin America will grow at a slower pace than 2011, primarily due to weaker growth in Argentina and Brazil, a United Nations report has suggested.

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) forecast the whole area would slow to 3.2% in 2012, down from 4.3% last year.

It is also less than the 3.7% that ECLAC predicted in June.

ECLAC blamed the global economy, which has been hit by the eurozone debt crisis and slowing Chinese growth.

The report, the Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean, identified private consumption as “the main driver of regional growth, thanks to the growth in labor markets, increased credit and – in some cases – remittances”.

Brazil and Argentina are forecast to grow less than their neighbors. Argentina’s economy will grow 2% and Brazil will grow 1.6%, ECLAC suggested.

That is less than predicted by Brazil’s finance ministry, which cut its growth forecast for 2012 to 2% this year, down from its previous forecast of 3%.

President Dilma Rousseff recently launched the first in a series of measures that could inject up to $50 billion into the economy over the next five years.

ECLAC said that regional growth this year would be led by Panama – at 9.5% – and Haiti, which is expected to expand by 6% this year.

Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Venezuela are expected to grow by about 5%. Mexico will expand by 4%.

Paraguay will be the only country to shrink, by 2%, it predicted.

ECLAC said the Caribbean sub-region would grow by 1.6%.

 

Salmonella found in smoked salmon made by Dutch fish producer Foppen

Kathryn R. Bown
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Salmonella found in smoked salmon made by Dutch fish producer Foppen

About 300 people in the Netherlands and the US have caught salmonella after eating Dutch smoked salmon, say Dutch health authorities.

About 200 people have fallen ill in the Netherlands along with about 100 people in the US, said the National Institute for Public Health (RIVM).

An RIVM official said this could be the “tip of the iceberg”.

Smoked salmon made by the Dutch fish producer Foppen is being taken off the shelves.

Foppen supplies major supermarket chains including large retailer Albert Heijn, said the Dutch food safety authority, the NVWA.

“Some 200 people have fallen ill through contaminated salmon” in the Netherlands, said the RIVM, while about 100 people in the US are infected “by the same type of salmonella”.

But this was “probably the tip of the iceberg”, the institute’s Hareld Wychgel said – “the real number of infected people is likely to be much higher”.

Smoked salmon produced by Foppen has been taken off the shelves in the Netherlands, and an international recall targeting salmon sold in the US was being prepared.

In a statement on its website, Foppen offered its “sincere apologies for any inconvenience”.

Infection normally causes diarrhoea, abdominal cramps and sometimes fever and vomiting.

The symptoms usually clear up in four to seven days, but in some cases treatment may be required for dehydration.

 

Recipe: Cherry and dark chocolate brownies

Kathryn R. Bown
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Recipe: Cherry and dark chocolate brownies

Try this simple dish baked in a single tray that will feed the whole family.

 

INGREDIENTS

175 g (6 oz) unsalted butter

175 g (6 oz) dark chocolate

425 g (15 oz) caster sugar

Pinch of sea salt

3 tsp vanilla essence

4 large eggs

175 g (6 oz) plain flour

3 tbsp cocoa powder

200 g (7 oz) full-fat cream cheese

150 g (5½ oz) fresh golden and red cherries, pitted

 

Cherry and dark chocolate brownies
Cherry and dark chocolate brownies

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/gas 4. Oil and line a 30 cm x 20 cm (12 in x 8 in) baking tin with parchment. Melt the butter and chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Remove from the heat, cool slightly, then whisk in 375 g (13 oz) of the sugar, salt, vanilla essence and 3 of the eggs. Fold in the flour and cocoa powder. Beat the cream cheese with the remaining egg and sugar until creamy and then randomly drop spoonfuls of each mixture into the prepared tin. Swirl the two mixtures together with a cocktail stick then scatter over the cherries and bake for 40-45 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool before cutting into squares.

 

Mikheil Saakashvili admits election loss in Georgia

Diane A. Wade
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Mikheil Saakashvili admits election loss in Georgia

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has admitted his party has lost the parliamentary election, in a live TV announcement.

Mikheil Saakashvili said the Georgian Dream bloc of his main rival, billionaire tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili, had won Monday’s election.

Victory for Bidzina Ivanishvili means the first democratic transfer of power in Georgia’s post-Soviet history.

Bidzina Ivanishvili said the “only right decision” would now be for Mikheil Saakashvili to resign.

While Bidzina Ivanishvili, 56, is set to become prime minister, his rival, who has led the country since 2003, is due to remain in power until presidential elections next year.

Under agreed reforms, the parliament and prime minister will acquire greater powers than the president after that election.

With results in from 72% of polling stations, Georgian Dream led the party list vote, which accounts for 77 of the 150 seats, with 54% of the vote. The president’s United National Movement was on 41%.

The rest of the seats are made up of 73 constituencies elected by a first-past-the-post vote.

President Mikheil Saakashvili said it was clear that Georgian Dream had won a majority.

Earlier Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgia’s richest man, had already declared victory.

In his TV address, Mikheil Saakashvili said he would respect the Georgian people’s decision, and his party would become “an opposition force”.

“It’s clear from the preliminary results that the opposition has the lead and it should form the government – and I as president should help them with this.”

The US congratulated Georgians on the “historic milestone” of their parliamentary election and praised the president’s response to the result.

In a later news briefing, Bidzina Ivanishvili called on Mikheil Saakashvili to admit he would not be able to retain power, to resign and call a snap presidential election.

Mikheil Saakashvili, a pro-Western leader who champions the free market, has warned that the Georgian Dream bloc will move Georgia away from the West and back into Moscow’s sphere of influence. Russia defeated Georgian forces in a brief war in 2008.

But in his briefing Bidzina Ivanishvili said both normalization of relations with Russia and membership of NATO would be pursued.

“If you ask me <<America or Russia?>>, I say we need to have good relations with everybody,” Bidzina Ivanishvili said according to AFP news agency.

Bidzina Ivanishvili made his fortune in Russia in the early 1990s, with stakes in the metals industry, banking and later property, including hotels. Forbes business website estimates his wealth at $6.4 billion.

His success was welcomed in Moscow where Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said it would mean more “constructive forces” entering parliament.

Vyacheslav Nikonov, deputy head of the parliament’s international affairs committee in Moscow, said that in the eyes of both Dmitry Medvedev and President Vladimir Putin the Georgian president was a war criminal.

“Anything that would keep Saakashvili further away from the instruments of power is a plus for Russian-Georgian relations.”

It is a momentous day for Georgia – a day which strengthens the country’s democratic credentials. Georgia has experienced much political turmoil since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

The ugly election campaign had polarized the country and there were fears that the results would be disputed.

Observers from the European security organization OSCE said that “despite a very polarizing campaign the Georgian people have freely expressed their will”.

Georgia’s Central Electoral Commission (CEC) said there had been no grave violations during the voting.

More than half of the country’s population has no proper job. Older and poorer Georgians, in particular, are struggling and some feel nostalgic about the Soviet Union.

The OSCE said the election process had “shown a healthy respect for fundamental freedoms… and we expect the final count will reflect the choice of the voters”.

However, the statement regretted “detentions and fines of mostly opposition-affiliated campaigners” during the campaign.

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Beatles Magical Mystery Tour unseen footage goes online

Sonia Pantiss
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Beatles Magical Mystery Tour unseen footage goes online

Previously unseen footage of The Beatles sharing fish and chips while filming their 1967 film Magical Mystery Tour has been posted online.

Arts website The Space is hosting the footage, discovered during the making of a new documentary about the film.

The documentary shows The Beatles taking a break from the Magical Mystery Tour coach at a fish bar in Taunton, Somerset.

The film was first broadcast by the BBC on Boxing Day 1967.

Previously unseen footage of The Beatles sharing fish and chips while filming their 1967 film Magical Mystery Tour
Previously unseen footage of The Beatles sharing fish and chips while filming their 1967 film Magical Mystery Tour

It was not a hit, confusing the festive audience, and was savaged by critics in reviews that branded it “rubbish”.

The film will be shown on 6 October on BBC Two for the first time in more than 33 years.

It will follow a new documentary, Arena: The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour, looking at the film’s “artistic merit and cultural significance”.

Arena has placed the previously unseen footage, which it said was reclaimed from the “cutting room floor”, into a new short film made in association with The Beatles’ record label Apple.

Featuring John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, it was shot en route to Newquay, Cornwall, the final destination of the Magical Mystery Tour.

The video is available to watch online on The Space, the arts website developed by the Arts Council and the BBC.

It is part of a spin-off project from award-winning documentary series Arena, called The Arena Hotel.

The project will see the show open up its archive of 600 films to audiences in a “virtual hotel” environment.

“Few people have seen Magical Mystery Tour in its entirety and the material in the chip shop has never been shown anywhere,” explained Arena editor Anthony Wall.

“It captures perfectly the fabulous world of The Beatles at this time.

“They’re happily rubbing shoulders and sharing a simple meal with the other passengers on the coach, and at the same time creating an extraordinarily avant garde film, which of course would soon be broadcast by the BBC to a dumbstruck nation.”

This week marks 50 years since The Beatles had their first hit record with their single Love Me Do.

Released on 5 October 1962, it went to number 17 in the charts.

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Extreme Cheapskates: woman saves money by not using toilet roll

Clyde K. Valle
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Extreme Cheapskates: woman saves money by not using toilet roll

A woman from New York, who saves money by not using toilet roll, takes thriftiness to a whole different level in an upcoming series of Extreme Cheapskates.

Setting herself a stringent budget, Kay reveals how she uses a combination of soap and water to rinse herself off after visiting the bathroom.

While demonstrating her frugal cleansing ritual in front of the cameras, she states that she doesn’t believe in buying “something that you’re just going to throw away”.

In the first episode, which airs on TLC on October 16, she displays how she might use a small block of soap and a plastic water bottle to clean up.

She explains: “If I took a dump then I also grab soap, wipe myself down with the soap, then I take the water and rinse off the soap.

“I don’t believe in spending money on something that you’re just going to throw away such as toilet paper or paper towels.”

She also informs viewers that she hasn’t done laundry for the past three years and instead washes her clothes by hand while she takes a shower.

She then hangs items up in the bathroom and lets them dry naturally. She claims that the hand-washing technique saves her a total of $6 a month.

“Whenever I have dirty clothes I try to wash them while I’m showering. Today I’m using a free sample of detergent I got.

“Once I’m done showering then I lather up the clothes. I think the last time I did laundry was maybe three years ago,” she says.

Kay explains that as well as saving money her clothes stay looking better for longer as drying machines shrink fabrics and “wears clothes out faster”.

She is just one of the subjects to appear in the latest series of Extreme Cheapskates.

Others to star in the show are Jeff and his wife from Accokeek, Maryland. They endure a “fiscal fast” that sees them not spend a single cent in a whole week, living instead from their cupboards and some ingenuity.

Jeff uses his bicycle as his primary means of transportation and claims he’s saved over $50,000. He also takes low-cost vacations by couch surfing.

Mother-of-five Vickie from Ashton, Idaho, refuses to shell out cash for a telephone, a television or even new clothes for the children. And for meal time she scours the local area for road kill.

While Greg from Ohio, only flushes his toilet once per week and reuses free plastic cutlery despite making a good living from teaching Zumba and participating in medical tests.

However self-made millionaire Victoria from Columbus, Ohio demonstrates how years of saving can eventually payoff, although her boyfriend Steve finds her extreme budgeting methods hard to handle as he moves in on a trial basis.

Kim Kardashian flees Prime 112 restaurant to avoid awkward encounter with Ray J

Lisa.Felice
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Kim Kardashian flees Prime 112 restaurant to avoid awkward encounter with Ray J

Kim Kardashian fled from a Miami restaurant to avoid an embarrassing encounter with her former sex tape partner Ray J.

Kim Kardashian, 31, left the Prime 112 restaurant in Miami by a side entrance just as Ray J was entering to join boxer Floyd Mayweather and friends.

Sources said Ray J was not aware that Kim Kardashian was at the Prime 112 restaurant on Sunday where she was having a meal with her family.

A sex tape shot with Ray J nine years ago helped launch Kim Kardashian’s career.

The curvy beauty has since said she was ashamed of the tape but rumors persist her mother Kris Jenner was behind the leaking of the tape in 2007 to boost her fledgling career.

Kim Kardashian, her parents and sisters Khloe and Kourtney have been in Miami, Florida, all week filming for their reality show.

They were at the steak restaurant to mark the nine year anniversary of Robert Kardashian’s death.

Kim Kardashian tweeted where she was having dinner leading to a swarm of paparazzi photographers to turn up outside the eatery.

After learning Ray J was also headed to the restaurant a source told the New York Post Kim Kardashian fled out of a side entrance.

A source said: “Kim and Kris Jenner posed for pictures in front of the restaurant to allow Kourtney and son Mason to sneak out of a side entrance unnoticed.

“And just by a few moments, Kim missed Ray J, who was seen entering the restaurant to meet a large group of friends including boxer Floyd Mayweather.”

 

Cosmetic creams cannot penetrate the skin’s surface

Lisa.Felice
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Cosmetic creams cannot penetrate the skin’s surface

A new study found that cosmetic skin creams cannot “penetrate” the skin as claimed by many manufacturers.

Many pharmaceutical brands claim that nanoparticles in their products give their creams a “deep penetrating action”.

But scientists at the University of Bath found that such claims are “patently” untrue and that even the tiniest of nanoparticles do not penetrate the skin’s surface.

Their work suggests that creams are simply deposited into creases in the skin and do not carry nutrients deep under the surface.

Professor Richard Guy, a professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences who led the research, said: “Previous studies have reached conflicting conclusions over whether nanoparticles can penetrate the skin or not.

“Using confocal microscopy has allowed us to unambiguously visualize and objectively assess what happens to nanoparticles on an uneven skin surface.

“Whereas earlier work has suggested that nanoparticles appear to penetrate the skin, our results indicate that they may in fact have simply been deposited into a deep crease within the skin sample.

“The skin’s role is to act as a barrier to potentially dangerous chemicals and to reduce water loss from the body. Our study shows that it is doing a good job of this.

“So, while an unsuspecting consumer may draw the conclusion that nanoparticles in their skin creams, are <<carrying>> an active ingredient deep into the skin, our research shows this is patently not the case.”

The research, published in the Journal of Controlled Release, studied particles less than one hundredth of the thickness of a human hair which are used in sunscreens and some cosmetic and pharmaceutical creams.

The scientists used a technique called laser scanning confocal microscopy to examine whether fluorescently-tagged polystyrene beads, ranging in size from 20 to 200 nanometers, were absorbed into the skin.

They found that even when the skin sample had been partially compromised by stripping away layers, the nanoparticles still did not penetrate the skin’s outer layer, known as the stratum corneum.

Prof. Richard Guy added: “We did the study very carefully but not once we were able to determine that that were able to cross the outside layer of the skin which is out protective layer.

“There is no magic associated with particles being able to wriggle across the skin, they are just too big to do that.

“We actually have lots of nanoparticles inside us that don’t get out.”

He said that the research did however help to prove that potentially harmful ingredients, such as those used in sunscreens, can not be absorbed into the body, alleviating fears.

He also suggested that it may be possible to design a new type of nanoparticle-based drug that can be applied to the skin to give a controlled release of a drug over a long period of time.

 

Terry Vance Garner eaten by his pigs at Oregon farm

Diane A. Wade
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Terry Vance Garner eaten by his pigs at Oregon farm

Oregon authorities are investigating how farmer Terry Vance Garner was devoured by his pigs in Coos County.

Terry Vance Garner, 69, went to feed his animals last Wednesday on his farm by the coast, but never returned.

His dentures and pieces of his body were found by a family member in the pig enclosure, but the rest of his remains had been consumed.

The Coos County district attorney’s office said that one of the animals had previously bitten Terry Vance Garner.

The animals are estimated by the authorities to each weigh about 700 lb (320kg).

Investigators say it is possible that the hogs knocked Terry Vance Garner over before killing and eating him.

But they have not ruled out the possibility that the farmer could have collapsed from a medical emergency, such as a heart attack.

A pathologist was unable to determine the cause of Terry Vance Garner’s death and his remains have been sent to the University of Oregon to be analyzed by a forensic anthropologist.

Terry Vance Garner’s older brother, Michael, described him as a “good-hearted guy”.

He said his brother had raised several large adult sows and a boar called Teddy, and they would sell their piglets to local children.

“Those animals were his life,” Michael Garner, 75, told the Register-Guard newspaper.

“He had all kinds of birds, and turkeys that ran all over the place. Everybody knew him.”

Terry Vance Garner was a Vietnam war veteran who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, according to his brother, and the farm had been a “life-saver” for him.

Michael Garner said one of the hogs had bitten his brother last year, after he had accidentally stepped on a piglet.

“He said he was going to kill it, but when I asked him about it later, he said he had changed his mind,” he told the Register-Guard.

Coos County District Attorney Paul Frasier told the local newspaper: “For all we know, it was a horrific accident, but it’s so doggone weird that we have to look at all possibilities.”

Paul Frasier added that he had not intended to release details about the case, but changed his mind after word spread about the incident.

 

Paolo Gabriele says he abused Pope Benedict’s trust

Diane A. Wade
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Paolo Gabriele says he abused Pope Benedict’s trust

Paolo Gabriele, Pope Benedict’s former butler, who is on trial inside the Vatican, has denied charges of stealing confidential documents from the pontiff’s private apartment.

Paolo Gabriele, 46, pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated theft but said he had abused the Pope’s trust.

He said he believed the pontiff was being manipulated, and that he acted alone in copying the sensitive papers.

The files, which revealed allegations of corruption and infighting at the Vatican, were leaked to the media.

Paolo Gabriele was being questioned in court by the president of the Vatican City tribunal. He faces up to four years in prison if convicted, but he could be pardoned by Pope Benedict XVI.

The butler admitted to the court that he was photocopying documents in the Pope’s apartment, but said he did not regard this as a crime.

There has been speculation that the butler had accomplices as he set about leaking the Vatican’s secrets.

But he insisted in court that he had acted alone, adding that he had “many contacts” in the Vatican where he said there was “widespread unease”.

Paolo Gabriele also complained of the conditions he endured for weeks in a tiny Vatican cell after his arrest. He said it was so small that he could not extend his arms, and the light was kept on 24 hours a day.

The judges have ordered an inquiry into Paolo Gabriele’s allegations. However, the Vatican said conditions inside the Vatican police’s security room respected minimum international standards.

This is the second day of the trial. It was adjourned last week after Vatican judges refused to admit evidence gathered by cardinals.

Instead, the judges in the high-profile trial said they would rely only on evidence from the Vatican police and prosecutor. They seized 82 boxes of papers from Paolo Gabriele’s home.

The Pope’s private secretary, Georg Gaenswein, and one of the four German and Italian nuns who work in the 85-year-old pontiff’s household are also expected to testify.

Correspondents say their testimony could shed light on the very private world of the household.

The chief judge said the court hoped to reach a verdict by the end of the week.

No TV cameras or recorders are being allowed inside the courtroom for the most high-profile case to be held in the Vatican since it was established as a sovereign state in 1929. Coverage of the trial is restricted to just eight journalists.

Paolo Gabriele was identified as the source of leaked documents that were published in a book by an Italian journalist, Gianluigi Nuzzi, in May.

The documents included private correspondence between senior Vatican figures, and appeared to reveal bitter power struggles and corruption.

Correspondents say the revelations seem aimed primarily at discrediting the Vatican’s powerful Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who has been in his post since 2006.

The Pope ordered cardinals to carry out an inquiry separate to the probe by Vatican police after the scandal broke. The results of their investigation have not been made public.

The court decided that his fellow defendant, Vatican computer technician Claudio Sciarpelletti, will be tried separately for aiding and abetting a crime. He had exerted his right to stay away from the hearing.

Paolo Gabriele was the Pope’s trusted servant for years and held the keys to the papal apartments.

The “Vatileaks” scandal has been one of the most difficult crises of Pope Benedict’s seven-year papacy, correspondents say.

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Iranian rial hits new record low

Clyde K. Valle
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Iranian rial hits new record low

The rial, Iran’s beleaguered currency, has fallen to fresh record lows against the US dollar.

It fell a further 9% on Tuesday after Monday’s 18% decline, reports say.

Iran’s central bank has placed a $5,000 limit on the amount of foreign currency travellers can take in or out.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has blamed “the enemies of his country” for the sharp falls. The rial has reportedly lost more than 80% of its value since 2011 because of US-led trade sanctions.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Western sanctions amounted to an economic war, but would not stop Iran’s nuclear programme.

“We are not people to retreat on the nuclear issue,” he told a news conference in Tehran.

“If somebody thinks they can pressure Iran, they are certainly wrong and they must correct their behavior,” he said.

Recent moves by Tehran to ensure key importers can buy dollars at a cheaper rate is said to have worsened matters.

The US-led sanctions are being imposed on Iran because of the country’s disputed nuclear programme. The US accuses Iran of aiming to build nuclear weapons, while Iran counters that it simply wishes to develop nuclear power stations.

The sanctions, which are backed by the European Union, include a ban on the purchase of Iranian oil.

The US has also threatened to take action against foreign firms and institutions dealing with the Iranian central bank.

While Iranians are said to be scrambling to convert their rials into hard currency, thereby adding to the downward pressure on the rial, the government has blamed speculation by money changers.

According to the Iranian Fars news agency, Iran’s Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade, Mehdi Ghazanfari, said: “We have greater expectations that the security services will control the branches and sources of disruption in the exchange market.

“Brokers in the market are also pursuing the increase in price, because for them it will be profitable, and there is nobody to control them.”

On Tuesday, the rial was said to be trading in Iran at about 37,500 to the dollar, down from around 34,200 late on Monday.

The rial is not traded on the global currency markets, so it is not possible to produce accurate figures for its value.

The weakness of the rial has harmed the wider Iranian economy, as it means the country cannot afford to import as many foreign goods and raw materials which are priced in hard currencies.

As a result of the tightened trade sanctions, Iran’s income from oil exports had fallen by 45% this year, causing the shortage in dollars and other hard currencies.

He added that Iranian authorities had for many years used the country’s abundant oil earnings to keep the rial artificially high.

With oil revenues now sharply reduced, our reporter said that both the government and the central bank now seemed unsure how to react.

He added: “Iran’s years of state intervention in the artificial appreciation of the rial, thanks to abundant petro-dollars, has turned the currency into a barrel of gunpowder now detonated by sanctions.

“At a time of crisis, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government is plagued by inefficiency, mismanagement and a domestic power struggle.”

 

Insurers advise UK homeowners to buy flood insurance

Clyde K. Valle
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Insurers advise UK homeowners to buy flood insurance

Insurance policies covering flood damages become essential as flood warnings have been issued across the U.K.

 

The British insurance companies caution homeowners that separate flood insurances are required in order to protect their houses against rising waters from the rains that have been lashing parts of the United Kingdom. The residents must revise their policies and make sure that there won’t be any unwanted surprises.

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) recommends that documents, flood insurance, home insurance, motor insurance, the emergency contact information for local authorities and utility companies and other documents to be kept in a safe, easy to find, dry place.

Anyone whose property is damaged should contact their insurer’s 24-hour emergency number as soon as possible, before throwing out any damaged belongings.

“Insurers expect bad weather to strike any time and have arrangements in place to minimise distress and inconvenience and help customers recover as quickly as possible. Anyone who has suffered damage should contact their insurer straight away to get their claim moving,” said Nick Starling, the ABI’s director of general insurance.

Lots of regions suffered from flooding in the early summer, leading to significant payouts by insurers.

A rainfall dumped down a month’s worth of precipitation within periods of only twenty four hours, the south of Scotland and the north of England have been pummeled with winds reaching 60 miles per hour, and some regions have recently received rainfall of up to 80 mm within a single day’s time.

Homeowners insurance does not cover flood damages.
Homeowners insurance does not cover flood damages, flood insurance policy is needed.

There are some differences between home insurance and flood insurance, and this is the reason why coverage for flooding is needed beside homeowners insurance.

Only flood insurance covers for flood damages, and because it has a 30-day waiting period, the flood insurance policy must be obtained long time before an imminent flooding.

Flood damage is the damage caused by water that has been on the ground at some point before damaging a house, for example, surface water caused by a heavy rain seeps into basement because the soil can’t absorb the water quickly enough, or a nearby river overflows its banks and washes into home. You can contact your county planning office to determine if your home is located in a flood plain.

A homeowners insurance policy does not provide coverage for flood damage, but it provides coverage for a lot of types of water damage to your home. Water damage is considered to occur when water damages your home before the water comes in contact with the ground, for example, a broken water pipe spews water in your home.

Homeowners insurance policy doesn’t cover the flood damage, but losses from theft, fire or explosion resulting from that damage are covered. Flood insurance and homeowners insurance do not duplicate coverage for water damage, they complement each other.

To make a decision regarding which type of insurance you should buy, talk to an insurance professional about flood insurance policy and homeowners insurance policy.

Samsung adds iPhone 5 to US patent lawsuit against Apple

Nancy Clayson
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Samsung adds iPhone 5 to US patent lawsuit against Apple

Samsung has added iPhone 5 to a US patent lawsuit claiming the latest Apple’s handset infringes eight of its technologies.

The disputed innovations include a way to synchronize photos, music and video files across several devices, and a method to capture and send video over the internet.

Samsung had already filed claims against earlier iPhones and iPads.

It coincides with calls from a judge for “major reforms” to US patent law.

Judge Richard Posner, who previously oversaw a legal dispute involving Apple and Google’s Motorola unit, said that protection available to software patents was “excessive”.

Samsung’s legal move is the latest in a long running battle with Apple.

Apple has claimed that the Galaxy device maker copied the look and iOS system software found on its tablets and handsets.

Although several of Apple’s claims have been rejected, it recently scored a major victory when a California-based jury ruled Samsung should pay it over $1 billion in damages.

Samsung has had its own courtroom successes, including a ruling in August that Apple had infringed two of its wireless communication patents in South Korea. It resulted in an order for the iPhone maker to pay 40 million won ($35,000) in damages.

The US lawsuit involving the iPhone 5 dates back to April when a complaint about other devices was filed in the Northern District of California. The case is due to go to trial in March 2014.

It involves two so-called Frand patents – technologies Samsung has an obligation to licence on “fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory” terms because they are recognized as being essential to data transmission standards. In other words, if Apple agrees to pay what is deemed to be a fair rate then Samsung will be obliged to let it use the technologies.

The other six disputed innovations are feature patents, and in theory Samsung could force Apple’s products off the shelves if it does not remove the functions from the devices.

Patent consultant Florian Mueller listed details of the disputed patents on his blog earlier this year, noting that Samsung owned about 30,000 US patents in total. Several of these include 4G LTE technologies which the Seoul-based company has hinted could be the basis of further lawsuits.

HTC, Motorola, Microsoft, RIM and other tech firms are also involved in ongoing US lawsuits.

Legal experts have expressed concern at some of the tactics being used, including Judge Richard Posner who threw out a case involving Motorola and Apple in June, rebuking both firms.

He has now followed this up with a blog post in which he calls for an overhaul of the law regarding software patents.

“Nowadays most software innovation is incremental, created by teams of software engineers at modest cost, and also ephemeral – most software innovations are quickly superseded,” he wrote.

“Software innovation tends to be piecemeal – not entire devices, but components, so that a software device (a cellphone, a tablet, a laptop, etc) may have tens of thousands of separate components (bits of software code or bits of hardware), each one arguably patentable.

“The result is huge patent thickets, creating rich opportunities for trying to hamstring competitors by suing for infringement – and also for infringing, and then challenging the validity of the patent when the patentee sues you.”

The judge said that 20-year-long patent protection made sense for pharmaceutical drugs which require development costs running to hundreds of millions of dollars, need extensive testing and subsequently remain on the market for decades.

He said such factors did not apply to software, adding that a firm that invented a new technology would benefit from being the first to use it and would also gain a reputation for innovation.

“My general sense… bolstered by an extensive academic literature, is that patent protection is on the whole excessive and that major reforms are necessary,” he wrote.

The tech news site Ars Technica, which was first to report the blog, noted that Judge Posner did not have the power to shape US patent policy, but added that his views were likely to be discussed by policymakers.

 

Liam Neeson strips down to pink underpants for Breast Cancer Awareness

Lisa.Felice
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Liam Neeson strips down to pink underpants for Breast Cancer Awareness

Liam Neeson was more than happy show off his body to raise cash for cancer research.

The Northern Irish actor stripped down to just his briefs and get soaked for the good cause on the Ellen DeGeneres show yesterday.

Liam Neeson was given the option of boxers or briefs by the chat show host when he appeared on the hit daytime TV show.

And he had no hesitation in going for the more daring number, no doubt because he was attracted to the garment’s more vivid shade of pink.

Ellen DeGeneres told him: “You are setting the bar high. Whoever follows you.”

An audience member was duly pulled on stage to throw balls at a target while he would sit in his dressing gown in the gunk tank, with $10,000 going to cancer research if she was successful.

But Liam Neeson had no hesitation in raising the stakes, saying: “If I take this off does the 10 thousand become 20 thousand?”

Ellen DeGeneres replied: “I’ll make that happen if you take that off and go sit in that chair.”

But when the 60-year-old jokingly tried to squeeze out more cash by asking how much it would earn if he took off the briefs too, Ellen DeGeneres insisted he keep them on.

She said: “We get fined if you take those off. I mean, some people might enjoy it, but…”

When his time finally came, a mixture of cheers and guffaws came as he showed off his physique.

And the amusing visual illusion created when he sat down on the chair was not missed by Ellen DeGeneres.

She said: “Oh my god, if someone’s just tuning in you look naked in there.”

Within a few seconds the target had been hit, with the greedy show host making the vital winning throw, and Liam Neeson was duly drenchy.

Great Barrier Reef has lost more than half its coral cover in the past 27 years

James J. Williams
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Great Barrier Reef has lost more than half its coral cover in the past 27 years

A new study shows that Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has lost more than half its coral cover in the past 27 years.

Researchers analyzed data on the condition of 217 individual reefs that make up the World Heritage Site.

The results show that coral cover declined from 28.0% to 13.8% between 1985 and 2012.

They attribute the decline to storms, a coral-feeding starfish and bleaching linked to climate change.

The research is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.

Glen De’ath from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and colleagues determined that tropical cyclones – 34 in total since 1985 – were responsible for 48% of the damage, while outbreaks of the coral-feeding crown-of-thorns starfish accounted for 42%.

Two severe coral bleaching events in 1998 and 2002 due to ocean warming also had “major detrimental impacts” on the central and northern parts of the reef, the study found, putting the impact at 10%.

“This loss of over half of initial cover is of great concern, signifying habitat loss for the tens of thousands of species associated with tropical coral reefs,” the authors wrote in their study.

Co-author Hugh Sweatman said the findings, which were drawn from the world’s largest ever reef monitoring project involving 2,258 separate surveys over 27 years, showed that coral could recover from such trauma.

“But recovery takes 10-20 years. At present, the intervals between the disturbances are generally too short for full recovery and that’s causing the long-term losses,” Hugh Sweatman said.

John Gunn, head of AIMS, said it was difficult to stop the storms and bleaching but researchers could focus their short-term efforts on the crown-of-thorns starfish, which feasts on coral polyps and can devastate reef cover.

The study said improving water quality was key to controlling starfish outbreaks, with increased agricultural run-off such as fertilizer along the reef coast causing algal blooms that starfish larvae feed on.

 

JP Morgan Chase faces $20 billion fraud suit over Bear Stearns mortgage securities

Clyde K. Valle
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JP Morgan Chase faces $20 billion fraud suit over Bear Stearns mortgage securities

The New York Attorney General has sued JP Morgan Chase for allegedly defrauding investors who lost more than $20 billion on mortgage-backed securities sold by Bear Stearns.

JP Morgan bought the investment bank Bear Stearns in March 2008.

It said that it would contest the allegations.

This is the first action to come out of a working group created by US President Barack Obama looking into the causes of the 2008 financial crash.

JP Morgan said: “The NYAG civil action relates to Bear Stearns, which we acquired over the course of a weekend at the behest of the US government. This complaint is entirely about historic conduct by that entity.”

US mortgage-backed securities were the investment products that sparked the global financial crisis in 2008.

In essence, each security or bond was linked to pools of US mortgage loans, many of which were classified as sub-prime – mortgages awarded to high-risk and low-wage homeowers.

When many of those homebuyers defaulted on their mortgages as the US property bubble burst, it turned the linked securities into bad debt.

This caused billion-dollar losses at banks, who were forced to write down the value of their investments.

Banks around the world were affected, not just those in the US, because the securities were resold globally.

The securities had been widely purchased because rating agencies had mistakenly given them the highest possible credit rating.

As banks realized they were sitting on huge liabilities, they halted lending to each other, freezing up the global financial system in the process and making it harder for businesses and individuals to borrow funds.

The civil suit, filed by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, accuses Bear Stearns of failing to ensure the quality of loans underlying residential mortgage-backed securities.

It relates to securities sold by Bear Stearns in 2006 and 2007 – before it was taken over by JP Morgan.

The legal action claims the bank “systematically failed to fully evaluate the loans, largely ignored the defects that their limited review did uncover, and kept investors in the dark about both the inadequacy of their review procedures and the defects in the underlying loans”.

It says that this led to the inclusion of mortgages on which borrowers were likely to default, and that investor losses in 2006 and 2007 totalled more than a quarter of the original £87bn value of the securities.

The NYAG wants the company to pay an undisclosed amount of damages for investor losses “caused, directly or indirectly, by the fraudulent and deceptive acts”.

 

Cissy Houston goes to court to keep Whitney’s money from Bobbi Kristina Brown

Lisa.Felice
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Cissy Houston goes to court to keep Whitney’s money from Bobbi Kristina Brown

Bobbi Kristina Brown’s behavior has come back to haunt her, as the family of her mother Whitney Houston are trying to stop her getting her hands on her inheritance.

The trustees of the estate, which includes her grandmother Cissy Houston, have filed legal docs requesting that the payment schedule to Bobbi Kristina Brown be changed.

According to Radar, they fear Bobbi Kristina Brown, 19, is under the “undue influence” of objectionable people.

In court documents filed in Fulton County Superior Court in Atlanta, Cissy Houston is claiming her granddaughter “is a highly visible target for those who would exert undue influence over her inheritance and/or seek to benefit from respondent’s resources and celebrity”.

The trustees claim in the schedule of distribution conflicts with her “intent to provide long-term financial security and protection for her child”.

“Compliance with the provisions of the trust would defeat or substantially impair the accomplishment of the purposes of the trust, which were to provide for the proper maintenance and comfort of the respondent, and to prevent the wasting of trust assets, as evidenced by the trust’s spend thrift provision,”the document wrote.

Bobbi Kristina Brown is the sole beneficiary of Whitney Houston’s estate, which holds all of the superstar’s remaining earnings and assets.

Whitney Houston was found dead in the bathtub of her hotel room at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in February, with the coroner ruling she died of an accidental drowning.

The development follows her recent public appearance with her “brother boyfriend” Nick Gordon at the Los Angeles premiere of Sparkle.

Both sported sporting new tattoos on their wrists that bore the letters WH surrounded by doves.

They had the work done on what would have been Whitney Houston’s 49th birthday.

Bobbi Kristina Brown is currently filming her reality show The Houston Family Chronicles, which debuts later this year.

 

Lady Gaga fat: the singer defies critics after 25 lbs weight gain by slipping into a red Versace dress in Milan

Lisa.Felice
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0
Lady Gaga fat: the singer defies critics after 25 lbs weight gain by slipping into a red Versace dress in Milan

Lady Gaga has come under fire for her recent 25 lbs weight gain, but it seems that she has had the last laugh.

Lady Gaga, 26, looked sensational as she displayed her curves in a red Versace dress in Milan yesterday.

The very revealing designer dress clung to Lady Gaga’s figure in the all the right places.

With her auburn hair tumbling around her shoulders and her lips and talons painted red, Lady Gaga appeared to be channeling Jessica Rabbit in her scarlet attire.

The songstress accessorized the form-fitting ensemble with some signature Versace accessories, including a large medallion belt featuring the company’s logo and a black leather bag.

Lady Gaga also wore a pair of cat-eye sunglasses and a necklace featuring a red chilli pendant.

The pop star was visiting the company’s Vice President Donatella Versace at the Versace headquarters in the fashion capital of Italy.

Donatella Versace, 57, looked thrilled to be spending time with the singer as they posed for photographs out the front of the building.

The moment was also captured by photographer-to-the-stars Terry Richardson.

The platinum blonde and perma-tanned fashionista also wore one of her own designers, slipping her tiny figure into a tight corseted leather dress.

She paired the attire with some gaudy knee-high boots featuring giant crucifixes on the front.

The designer had a heavy-handed application of make-up, including a kohl-rimmed eyes and a nude lipstick on her pout.

 

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