The Grey Leads Weekend Movie Box Office

Liam Neeson is not stuck in the wilderness with the wolves. The poor wolves in the wilderness are stuck with Liam Neeson.

The actor's latest vehicle, The Grey, finished in first place at the box office this weekend, banking a strong $20 million in its first week of release nationwide.

Last week’s #1, Underworld Awakening, slipped to second, although the return of Kate Beckinsale as Selene added $12.5 million to a nice total of $45.1 million.

The second of three new arrivals at the movies this past weekend, One for the Money, settled for third place. The Katherine Heigl-led film made $11.8 million.

The Grey Trailer

Rounding out the top five were Red Tails ($10.4M) and Man on a Ledge, which disappointed somewhat in its first week of release, earning only $8.3 million.

Meanwhile, a couple of potential Oscar favorites rallied a bit in the second half of our weekend top 10, which you can see in its entirety below:

1. The Grey, $20 million
2. Underworld: Awakening, $12.5 million
3. One for the Money, $11.8 million
4. Red Tails, $10.4 million
5. Man on a Ledge, $8.3 million
6. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, $7.1 million
7. The Descendants, $6.6 million
8. Contraband, $6.5 million
9. Beauty and the Beast, $5.3 million
10. Haywire, $4 million

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/the-grey-leads-weekend-movie-box-office/

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Indy battens down hatches for Super Bowl security (AP)

INDIANAPOLIS ? From pickpockets and prostitutes to dirty bombs and exploding manhole covers, authorities are bracing for whatever threat the first Super Bowl in downtown Indianapolis might bring.

Some ? nuclear terrorism, for instance ? are likely to remain just hypothetical. But others, like thieves and wayward manhole covers, are all too real.

Though Indianapolis has ample experience hosting large sporting events ? the Indianapolis 500 attracts more than 200,000 fans each year, and the NCAA's men's Final Four basketball tournament has been held here six times since 1980_ the city's first Super Bowl poses some unique challenges.

Unlike the Final Four, which is compressed into a weekend, the Super Bowl offers crowd, travel and other logistical challenges over 10 days leading up to the Feb. 5 game. And unlike the 500, where events are largely concentrated at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway about seven miles from Lucas Oil Stadium, the NFL's showcase event will consume 44 blocks ? about a mile square ? in the heart of the city, closing off streets and forcing an anticipated 150,000 or more NFL fans to jockey with downtown workers for space much of the week.

"This is clearly bigger in terms of the amount of people who will be downtown over an extended period of time," city Public Safety Director Frank Straub said.

Under a security risk rating system used by the federal government, the Super Bowl ranks just below national security events involving the president and the Secret Service, said Indianapolis Chief of Homeland Security Gary Coons. The ratings are based on factors including international attention, media coverage, the number of people the event attracts and visits by celebrities and foreign dignitaries, he said. The Indianapolis 500 ranks two levels below the Super Bowl.

The city has invested millions of dollars and worked with local, state and federal agencies to try to keep all those people safe. Up to 1,000 city police officers will be in the stadium and on the street, carrying smartphones and other electronic hand-held devices that will enable them to feed photos and video to a new state-of-the-art operations center on the city's east side or to cruisers driven by officers providing backup, Straub said. Hundreds of officers from other agencies, including the state police and the FBI, will be scanning the crowd for signs of pickpocketing, prostitution or other trouble.

One concern has been a series of explosions in Indianapolis Power & Light's underground network of utility cables. A dozen underground explosions have occurred since 2005, sending manhole covers flying.

Eight explosions have occurred since 2010. The latest, on Nov. 19, turned a manhole cover into a projectile that heavily damaged a parked car and raised concerns about the safety of Super Bowl visitors walking on streets and soaring above the Super Bowl village on four zip lines installed for the festivities.

Since December, IPL has spent about $180,000 to install 150 new locking manhole covers, primarily in the Super Bowl village and other areas expected to see high pre-game traffic.

IPL officials say the new Swiveloc manhole covers can be locked for security reasons during the Super Bowl. In case of an explosion, the covers lift a couple of inches off the ground ? enough to vent gas out without feeding in oxygen to make an explosion bigger ? before falling back into place.

An Atlanta consultant hired by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission last summer to audit IPL's underground network of cables for a cause of the explosions says the new covers are merely a Band-Aid.

"We've argued it's better to prevent," said Dan O'Neill of O'Neill Management Consulting, which filed its report in December.

O'Neill's team couldn't pinpoint an exact cause for the explosions but said a flawed inspection process contributed, noting that IPL workers missed warning signs such as road salt corroding an old cable or leaks in nearby steam pipes. In a report filed Jan. 19 with Indiana utility regulators, the power company said it had overhauled its inspection process.

IPL will dispatch extra crews to the area around the stadium in case of power-related problems, such as a recent breaker fire that left 10,000 customers in homes south of downtown without power. Spokeswoman Crystal Livers-Powers said the company doesn't anticipate any power issues.

Straub, the public safety director, said he's confident the city is prepared and notes that Indianapolis hosts major events "pretty regularly."

Special teams from the Department of Energy will sweep Lucas Oil Stadium and the surrounding area for nuclear terror threats, and a new $18 million high-tech communications center that opened in time for the lead-up to the game will tie it all together.

"We're using more technology, and state of the art technology, than has been used in any Super Bowl before this one," Straub said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_super_bowl_security

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Stocks and bond yields drop on Europe worries (AP)

NEW YORK ? The wait for an expected deal between Greece and its creditors rattled financial markets around the world Monday. Yields for ultra-safe U.S. government debt hit their lowest this year, the euro dropped against the dollar, and European stocks took a fall.

But U.S. stocks dropped only slightly. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 6.74 points to close at 12,653.72, for a drop of 0.1 percent. The Dow lost as much as 131 points in morning trading then slowly recovered in the afternoon.

Borrowing costs for European countries with the heaviest debt burdens shot higher. The two-year interest rate for Portugal's government debt jumped to 21 percent after trading around 14 percent last week.

Greece and the investors who bought its government bonds were said to be close to an agreement over the weekend. A tentative deal would replace bonds held by investment funds and banks with new ones at half the face value.

The plan is aimed at cutting Greece's debt by roughly euro100 billion ($132 billion). Greece needs it to secure a crucial installment of bailout loans and make an upcoming bond payment. But a deal has been in the works for weeks and could still fall apart.

The focus on Greece has shifted attention away from what's going well in the U.S., said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank. Companies have reported stronger quarterly earnings, and hiring has picked up.

"Our collective breath has been held for so many months," he said.

At this point, a good or even a bad resolution of Greece's debt crisis could lead to a stronger U.S. stock market, Ablin said.

"If it finally happens and the world doesn't fall apart, maybe we'll have a reason to take risk again," he said. "Once you pull off the Band-Aid, it feels better."

U.S. Treasury yields sank to their lowest level this year as traders parked cash in the safest assets. The yield on the 10-year Treasury sank to 1.85 percent. It was trading above 2 percent last Wednesday.

The yield on the five-year Treasury note hit a record low of 0.71 percent early Monday. It finished Monday at 0.74 percent, from 0.75 percent late Friday.

An agreement between Greece and its creditors could serve as a blueprint for other European countries with heavy debt burdens. Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at BTIG, pointed to Portugal's soaring bond yields in a note to clients.

"At this rate, Portugal is going to move from the back to front burner in very, very short order," he said.

European leaders also gathered in Brussels, focusing on how to stimulate economic growth when huge government spending cuts threaten to push many countries back into recession. The latest data showed Spain's economy shrank in the last three months of 2011.

In other trading, the Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 3.32 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,313.01. The Nasdaq composite lost 4.6 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,811.94.

The euro dropped 0.5 percent against the dollar, to $1.3124 in late trading Monday from $1.3208 late Friday. It was worth almost $1.50 in May.

European stocks sank. French and Spanish stock markets closed down 1.6 percent. Italian stocks closed down 1.2 percent and German stocks 1 percent.

Among stocks making big moves Friday:

? The fast food chain Wendy's fell 3.8 percent. The Wendy's Co. said a key measure of earnings dropped 30 percent in the fourth quarter. Charges from selling Arby's offset the effects of a jump in sales.

? PharMerica Corp. plunged 11 percent. The Federal Trade Commission said it was suing to block rival pharmacy company Omnicare Inc. from completing its $457 million takeover of PharMerica. The agency said a merger of the country's two largest long-term care pharmacies would raise the cost of Medicare prescription plans covering drugs for nursing home residents. Stock in Omnicare Inc. fell less than 1 percent.

? Thomas & Betts Corp. soared 23 percent on news that Swiss engineering group ABB Ltd. agreed to buy the maker of power lines and other electrical products for $3.9 billion in cash.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_bi_st_ma_re/us_wall_street

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Vivian Norris: Here Comes the Sun : Tunisia to Energize Europe

In the desert of Southern Tunisia, a group of renewable energy entrepreneurs, NUR Energie Ltd, (www.nurenergie.com) and their Tunisian joint venture partner (www.topoilfieldservices.com), Top Oilfield Services, are creating what may just be the most ambitious solar power renewable energy project to date. Along with the endorsement of the Desertec Foundation (www.desertec.com), NUR Energie has launched the TuNur project to export solar energy from North Africa to Europe, linking Tunisia to Italy via a High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) Cable and into the Italian electricity grid in order to supply a constant 2,000 MW of electricity. When completed, TuNur is set to be the world's largest solar energy project. And with the menacing reality of climate change, limited traditional energy reserves and memories of recent nuclear and oil disasters, renewable energy is no longer the choice of idealists, but a simple necessity. We as a human race cannot afford to not go full speed ahead with projects such as this.

What is so unique about this project is that it is a true South-North collaboration which is taking a profound look at not only the socio-economic benefits the collaboration can bring (The Tunur projects that the project will create an estimated 20,000 much needed jobs in Tunisia) but also taking into consideration environmental impacts which have affected the technology chosen (CSP solar) and the overall design of the project. In order to not add to the desertification process, TuNUR will make use of very little water and will recycle in a closed system the steam produced by the process of the array of mirrors reflecting sunlight to a tower storage unit (http://bit.ly/ysNbzQ) thereby turning the Sahara into a resource which can drive both the local economies as well as satisfy growing demand for low carbon electricity.

Unlike other ambitious projects, where idealism, high costs and bad timing, came before the practical realities of setting up massive solar pipelines, NUR Energie's TuNUR project arrives right on time. The combination of the horrific incident at Fukushima which forced Germany and other European nations to either decide to phase out nuclear energy and the increasing need to meet EU guidelines on renewables in the years to come, means that TuNUR's ability to make up for what will be an increased demand is being recognized by the likes of the World Bank, the European Commission. Other entities which stand to gain from this initiative include Brightsource Energy Inc (who was represented in Tunis by former Ambassador to Morocco, Tom Riley) and the Tunisian people themselves. The TuNUR project will not simply be supplying electricity to Europe, but will also be providing industrial and economic development to the local community.
Perhaps one of the most interesting and positive outcomes of most of NUR Energie's projects is how they are working hand in hand with those from the oil industry to make use of one another's knowledge and skills, as well as combining assets, even converting polluting industries and their waste, into renewable energy locales. This rising from the ashes approach is not only realistic, but also the best way to bring the more traditional energy sector (with its 8 trillion USD annual turnover and many hundreds of millions of subsidies) to the renewable energy table.

Kevin Sara, the CEO of NUR Energie Ltd, said something to me at the conference in Tunis (hosted by the British Ambassador, Chris O'Connor) which resonated with my own Texas background and understanding of the oil industry when he asserted that, "Renewable energy folks are energy people, unlike the electrical utility types because we capture the source energy so we are more like the oil industry than the electric industry. People in the oil industry know how to take risks and build large infrastructure projects in hostile natural environments".
Thus it makes sense to work with the likes of "wildcatters" and the private oil sector in Tunisia. Converting both the oil industry and phasing out nuclear is not easy, precisely because the economics created by recent disasters, such as Fukushima and the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, entail massive cleanup projects which will last, in some cases decades, and bring in revenues to what are usually subsidiaries of the very kinds of companies which helped create the disasters in the first place.
The likes of Tunisia and Morocco (another locale where NUR Energie is setting up solar projects along with Greece, France and Italy) are not only growing economically and demographically, these countries are finding themselves rated higher than much-troubled Spain and Greece. The deep need for employment and an increasingly well-educated workforce is a major focus of discussion in Tunisia which is already in discussions about how best to train those who will educate the future generations of the renewable energy workforce. TuNur Ltd's CEO in Tunisia will be Dr Till Stenzel, who is looking forward to "...working closely with the Tunisian authorities, as well as European utilities and governments" to make sure this project happens, and meets all of its ambitious, yet very much needed goals. Dr. Stenzel adds that TuNur is, "...natural production on an industrial scale". Along the same lines, the Desertec Foundation's Director, Dr Thiemo Gropp, adds that, "TuNur will benefit Tunisia by creating jobs and spurring investments in local education to aid the long term management of the plants after 2016...With this important first step, we are showing the world's governments, industries and consumers that what many thought to be science fiction is actually science fact. We hope that this is the first of many more such plants to be built in the desert regions of the world."

This week in Tunis, the birthplace of the Arab Spring, saw visits from the likes of Google's Eric Schmidt and the IMF's Christine Lagarde, as local members of civil society from Tunisia, members of both the traditional and renewable energy private sector, young business leaders, diplomats, NGOs focused on Green issues, and journalists, primarily from Africa and the Arab world, gathered to discuss the TuNUR project and exchange ideas about how North Africa can look towards a stronger more stable economic future through true win-win collaborations.

If the disturbing story of how one Tunisian citizen lost hope, his economic livelihood destroyed and his family's future placed in peril, can serve as a lesson to what would best help the region, i.e. economic opportunity and growth, then may the memories of the martyrs of the Tunisian revolution live on through a better future for Tunisia and its people. Through utilizing local partners and management to develop the project, setting up new manufacturing industries (for example for the flat plate mirrors needed by TuNUR), economic growth is assured. Up to five years of construction translating as up to 20,000, as well as hundreds of long term jobs and revenues for local governments, this North-South collaboration is not only needed but should be encouraged and replicated around the world.

The Tunisian partners, include Top Oil's CEO, Fehti Somrani, who will serve as Director of TuNur Ltd., who is enthusiastic about how this project will help his country,
"Proper investment and job creation, not simple charity can help alleviate the poverty and corruption that helped trigger the Arab Spring".

With optimistic, collaborative and ambitious projects such as those being launched through collaborations between Europe and North Africa, and the public and private sector initiatives, the bright future of millions of people is assured.

?

Follow Vivian Norris on Twitter: www.twitter.com/vivigive

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/vivian-norris-de-montaigu/here-comes-the-sun-tunisi_b_1239117.html

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UN nuclear team arrives in Iran (AP)

TEHRAN, Iran ? A U.N. nuclear team arrived in Tehran early Sunday for a mission expected to focus on Iran's alleged attempt to develop nuclear weapons.

The U.N. nuclear agency delegation includes two senior weapons experts ? Jacques Baute of France and Neville Whiting of South Africa ? suggesting that Iran may be prepared to address some issues related to the allegations.

The delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency is led by Deputy Director General Herman Nackaerts, who is in charge of the Iran nuclear file. Also on the team is Rafael Grossi, IAEA chief Yukiya Amano's right-hand man.

In unusually blunt comments ahead of his arrival in Tehran, Nackaerts urged Iran to work with his mission on probing the allegations about Iran's alleged attempts to develop nuclear weapons, reflecting the importance the IAEA is attaching to the issue.

Tehran has refused to discuss the alleged weapons experiments for three years, saying they are based on "fabricated documents" provided by a "few arrogant countries" ? a phrase authorities in Iran often use to refer to the United States and its allies.

Ahead of his departure, Nackaerts told reporters at Vienna airport he hopes Iran "will engage with us on all concerns."

"So we're looking forward to the start of a dialogue," he said: "A dialogue that is overdue since very long."

In a sign of the difficulties the team faces and the tensions that surround Iran's disputed nuclear program, a dozen Iranian hard-liners carrying photos of slain nuclear expert Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan were waiting at Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport early Sunday to challenge the team upon arrival.

That prompted security officials to whisk the IAEA team away from the tarmac to avoid any confrontation with the hard-liners.

Iran's official IRNA news agency confirmed the team's arrival and said the IAEA experts are likely to visit the underground Fordo uranium enrichment site near the holy city of Qom, 80 miles (130 kilometers) south of the capital, Tehran.

During their three-day visit, the IAEA team will be looking for permission to talk to key Iranian scientists suspected of working on a weapons program, inspect documents related to such suspected work and secure commitments from Iranian authorities to allow future visits to sites linked to such allegations. But even a decision to enter a discussion over the allegations would be a major departure from Iran's frequent simple refusal to talk about them.

The United States and its allies want Iran to halt its enrichment of uranium, which they worry could eventually lead to weapons-grade material and the production of nuclear weapons. Iran says its program is for peaceful purposes, such as generating electricity and producing medical radioisotopes to treat cancer patients.

Iran has accused the IAEA in the past of security leaks that expose its scientists and their families to the threat of assassination by the U.S. and Israel.

Iranian state media say Roshan, a chemistry expert and director of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran, was interviewed by IAEA inspectors before being killed in a brazen bomb attack in Tehran earlier this month.

Iranian media have urged the government to be vigil, saying some IAEA inspectors are "spies," reflecting the deep suspicion many in Iran have for the U.N. experts sent to inspect Iran's nuclear sites.

___

AP writer George Jahn contributed to this report from Vienna.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120129/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_nuclear

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A Spring Break to Remember (Mature-Always Accepting-OOC)

Name: Matthew (Matt) Snow
Age: 22
Gender: Male
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Grey
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 220 lbs
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual
College Level: Junior
Major: Music & Math.
Personality: Matt is the "always there" guy. He's quiet and dependant and easy going. He's nice to be around and he'll make you laugh usually. Matt can get stressed just like everyone else, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't really show as it probably should. If he's hurting or in a bad mood, he retreats. If you look closely, or someone is good at analyzing and reading other people, they can see that he's not okay. If you need a shoulder, a hug, a video game match, a jam session etc etc. he's your guy. If one of his girl friends are having a bad time after a breakup, he'll come around with a bucket of ice cream and a movie. He'll always be there.
Other than that he's smart and calm but he can also be angered. The 220 pounds aren't fat, but muscle and if you finally manage to anger him, he'll come off as quite fearsome and threatening. It almost never comes to that though. In romance, he's difficult. A lot of girls have fallen for him and he's fallen for them, but he's not easy to get close to. It can take ages for him to open up and tell you what's wrong, and he hates himself for that. He knows what he's destryoing and he sees it, but no one has yet been able to wait for him and let him speak in his own pace, or have the means to help him. In school, he has the potential to get A's, but he's fine with second best. He may be a bit too uncaring when it comes to that.
Likes: Books, video games, movies, girls, parties, drinking, having fun, music. (You'll find out as we go along)
Dislikes: Pricks, school, arguements, people who cheat. (He's of the oppinion that if they're not harming him or any of his friends, he doesn't care.) Cooking since he can't cook to save his life.
Quirks/Habits: Whenever he's bored or waiting or have a spare moment, he rolls a coin over his fingers, or twirls a pencil, and clicks it all the time.
Skills: He's a brilliant guitarplayer. Matthew is very modest about it though and will never tell anyone if they don't ask. Good swimmer.
Brief Bio: Matt was born to the average family. Maybe a lit less than average... Okay maybe it wasn't always fun to be at home..at all. See, he has four brothers and 3 sisters, making his childhood home rather chaotic and stressful. This is partially the reason why he's good at keeping calm. His family didn't have that much money and the children were taught from an early stage, to take care of themselves and each other. He did fine in school, and still does. Matt lost one of his brothers barely 2 years ago, and it still affects him. No one knows though and the family tries to keep their heads up, and watch out for each other. He's lived in California all his life, and has grown up with shorts on and sleeveles t-shirts, toes dug into the sandy beach.
Hobbies: He's an avid reader and a gamer, although not addicted to either. His most cherished possesions are his instruments, and he'll never give them up as long as he lives. Other than that, he loves to swim.
Room Layout:
Other: Favourite TV show is Invader Zim. Corny yes, but Matt loves it.

*Edit: No, I am not really familiar with how the image thing works... Is it okay?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/xhkO6d6B0WE/viewtopic.php

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'Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter' Is 'Mind-Blowing,' Says Mary Elizabeth Winstead

In MTV News' recent visit to the set of "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter," we learned that the movie will be anything but a traditional look back at the life of our 16th president. Most biopics about Lincoln don't involve Honest Abe utilizing his own custom form of axe-centered martial arts.
"It's a very unique take," Mary [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2012/01/27/abraham-lincoln-vampire-hunter-mary-elizabeth-winstead/

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Romney Hits Gingrich on 'Anti-Immigrant' Line (ABC News)

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Egyptians Mark the Tahrir Square Revolution's Anniversary (Time.com)

Courtroom No. 24 at the South Cairo Court is a tumultuous microcosm of postrevolution Egypt. Its wooden benches are packed with men, women and children talking, yelling, never still, as tea and soda vendors weave through the crowd, while a judge inaudibly reads out the names of the defendants on more than a dozen unrelated cases to indicate that their trials have been postponed. Just another day in the life of a country beset by sclerotic bureaucracy and endemic corruption: Egyptians are long accustomed to the fact that everything there takes a long time.

The message of the popular uprising that began one year ago and in just 18 days ended the three-decade reign of President Hosni Mubarak was quite different: Egyptians don't have to wait passively and patiently in hope of getting a fair shake; things can happen remarkably quickly when they take their destiny into their own hands. That's why many have taken to the streets repeatedly over the past year, occupying Tahrir Square, railroads and the doorways of ministries, making demands previously believed to be beyond reach. As the country marks the first anniversary of the uprising on Jan. 25, thousands will take to the streets once again, not only celebrating last year's achievement but also to take up unfinished business. The lesson of Mubarak's ouster for many Egyptians has been that toppling a dictator is not the same as toppling his regime. (Read "Is There Still Hope for a Democratic Egypt?" by Wael Ghonim.)

The crowded halls of Egypt's courts represent both the country's unrelenting woes -- inefficiency, corruption, opacity and even the irrelevance of laws without accountable governance -- and also the revolution's hopes. Justice was the most widely shared goal of the diverse array of Egyptians who joined the uprising, and yet most would concur that it remains elusive. The security men and regime officials accused of killing hundreds of protesters during the rebellion, and in demonstrations since, have mostly gone unpunished. Activists claim that in the year since the uprising, more than 12,000 civilians have appeared before closed military courts, but the trial of the ousted President has dragged on since August. On Monday, according to CNN, Mubarak's attorney argued that his client should be tried in a special court because, technically, he never signed a document certifying his resignation from the presidency. Not that such legal minutiae will determine the court's decision, concedes one jurist. "Till now, the way you get your rights in court is what's your wasta [connections] and who's your cousin," says Hossam Mikawi, a judge at the South Cairo Court.

Mubarak has more wasta than most. Those currently running the country, and deciding such crucial matters as how much authority the newly elected parliament will have, are generals appointed by the ousted President. A few hundred protesters rallied outside the parliament's opening session this week, calling it a relatively nominal step on the road to democracy. "We are here to tell them that the revolution has not ended," said Mohamed Fat'hi, an accountant, who stood among the protesters. "We are here to tell them that we are still going to be in Tahrir, that our cousins were killed in Tahrir and that we have not seen justice." Those protesting outside of parliament are largely drawn from the secular liberal revolutionary groups that led the uprising but were eclipsed by Islamists -- moderate and radical -- once the country's electorate was asked to choose its leaders. Many of them now fear a pact that will enable the Islamists to rule in exchange for accepting immunity for the generals. (See photos of police and protesters clashing in Cairo.)

In Egyptian courtrooms, where there is no jury and -- Mikawi concedes -- judges frequently base their rulings on personal opinion or political allegiance, the power dynamic has changed little over the past year. "It's not about it being difficult to change, it's the uneasiness of touching the judicial system in Egypt," says Ezzat Khamis, the chief judge at the South Cairo Court. Regime-appointed judges like the 66-year-old Khamis have little incentive to change the system that brought them to power. "Till now, the justice system is fulfilling its duty in delivering justice to the people," says the old-guard judge. Mubarak's regime never interfered in the system either, he adds. "Nobody in any institution of this country has any say in the judges' ruling. The only thing that rules is the conscience and the law, and anyone who tries to affect a ruling -- from the President to the lowest employee -- will be tried."

But rights groups and many liberal judges and lawyers dispute Khamis' view. For years, the courts served as little more than a rubber stamp for the regime, they say, and when they ruled against the regime -- on issues like the release of political prisoners -- they were simply ignored. Ahead of the old order's rigged elections, the judges received pay rises to buy their silence, says Mikawi. The key to making real changes, he says, is creating an independent judiciary. (Watch TIME's video "An Islamic Crowd Fills Cairo's Tahrir Square.")

But with Mubarak's authoritarian shoes having been filled by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), little has changed, which is why so few officials have been held accountable for the deaths of democracy activists. "The Ministry of Justice chooses the investigators and what to investigate, and the SCAF rules the Ministry of Justice," Mikawi says. "And so what is the result of these investigations? The Maspero incident, Mohamed Mahmoud," he says, listing some of the clashes that left a total of nearly 80 protesters dead in the past three months of 2011. "Of course, we have nothing."

Perhaps anticipating trouble on the rebellion's anniversary, the SCAF on Tuesday repealed Egypt's Emergency Law. Wednesday will see a host of events and marches planned by political parties, officials, activists and even the military to celebrate last year's events. But others will go to protest. Says Mikawi: "The 25th of January is either going to be a birth certificate or a death certificate for the revolution." The staying power of the protest camp will signal that the revolution continues. But a poor showing will underscore the shift from the streets to the elected parliament as the locus of the push for democratization.

Mikawi is confident: a year ago, protesters achieved something momentous in just 18 days, and he believes they have the ability to do it again. "Of course we won't have the same numbers that we had on the first January 25th, but we will have numbers," he says. "We need just to send the message."

-- With reporting by Sharaf al-Houran / Cairo

See how democracy can work in the Middle East.

Watch TIME's video "Mubarak's Gone, but So Are the Tourists and Their Money."

View this article on Time.com

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/time/20120124/wl_time/08599210526800

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Erectile function restored with stem cells

Damage to parts of the penis vital for proper erections has been repaired for the first time with the help of stem cells. In rats, the treatment restored full erections, improved blood flow and accelerated healing.

Ultimately, the researchers hope to treat the 3 to 9 per cent of men who have Peyronie's disease, which damages the membrane surrounding the chambers within the penis that swell with blood during arousal. This makes it difficult to achieve a straight erection.

Wayne Hellstrom of Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, and colleagues, extracted stem cells from fat and placed them onto layers of tissue taken from the lining of pig intestine. This material, called small intestinal submucosa (SIS), is already used to replace damaged membrane in men with Peyronie's disease, but Hellstrom wanted to see whether adding stem cells would improve healing.

Two months after therapy, tissue analysis showed less scarring and higher levels of regenerative agents such as fibroblast growth factor ? which accelerate healing ? in rats treated with SIS plus stem cells compared with those treated with SIS alone. "The stem cells induced factors that enhanced blood supply, tissue restoration and erectile function," says Hellstrom.

Production of enzymes that make a blood vessel relaxant vital for erections was also higher in rats given the stem cells. Hellstrom hopes to be able to offer a similar treatment to men.

"The apparent mechanisms of action are consistent with other clinical studies showing that fat-derived stem cells are particularly good at improving blood supply and reducing scarring," says Marc Hedrick of regenerative medicine firm Cytori in San Diego, California.

Read more: "Stem cells turn into breast implants"

Journal reference: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1113810109

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At PSU, tension over ouster, then grief for JoePa (AP)

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. ? Anguished by an unthinkable scandal that shook a university and tarnished the proud football program, many in the Penn State community rallied around a common cause.

They mourned coach Joe Paterno's dismissal and questioned the motives and tactics of school leaders who pushed out the Hall of Famer in November in the wake of child sex abuse charges against a retired assistant coach.

Alumni, fans and students already racked by emotions were jolted by a much greater loss when Paterno died Sunday of lung cancer at age 85 ? and the grieving process again could be complicated following two tense months that often had the Paterno family and the school at odds.

"I feel like from the inside looking out that most people forget that he donated his whole life to the program. ... And everything that he donated to that school, people tend to look over that," defensive end Jack Crawford, who just completed his senior season with the Nittany Lions, said Sunday from Senior Bowl practice in Mobile, Ala.

"It was tough to swallow. It was harder to swallow when he first got fired. It was a sad moment for the whole Penn State family."

A family seemingly torn Nov. 5 after retired defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky was charged with the first of dozens of counts of abuse allegations. Sandusky has maintained his innocence and is awaiting trial. Paterno testified before a state grand jury investigating Sandusky, and authorities said he wasn't a target of the probe.

It ended up being his undoing anyway.

Paterno fulfilled his legal obligation by reporting a 2002 allegation relayed by a graduate assistant to his university superior. But the state's top cop chastised Paterno, among other school leaders, for failing to fulfill a moral duty to do more and take the allegation to police.

Paterno himself said he "wished he could have done more" when he announced his retirement plans the morning of Nov. 9 before getting ousted by the university Board of Trustees that evening.

"I am saddened to hear the news of Joe Paterno's passing. Joe was a genuinely good person," longtime Nebraska coach and current athletic director Tom Osborne said. "Anybody who knew Joe feels badly about the circumstances. I suspect the emotional turmoil of the last few weeks might have played into it."

That turmoil stretched to Paterno's final days.

Diagnosed with lung cancer days after getting fired, Paterno entered the hospital Jan. 13 for what his family then said was a minor complication from treatments that included radiation and chemotherapy. Mount Nittany Medical Center was barely a half-mile from Beaver Stadium, the Nittany Lions' home field that Paterno helped make into one of college football's shrines during his 46 seasons as Penn State head coach.

While in the hospital, trustees just a couple miles away at a campus hotel on Thursday told of why they fired Paterno and cited in part a failure to fulfill his moral responsibility in connection with the 2002 allegation. His lawyer, Wick Sollers, called the allegations self-serving and reiterated that Paterno fully reported what he knew to the people responsible for campus investigations.

"I think his legacy should be everything wonderful he did here for Penn State and for the community. That's what I hope," Karen Long, 70, of State College, said at the women's basketball game Sunday afternoon between Iowa and Penn State. "I don't think he was treated fairly, though. Just the way they handled firing him was awful."

Against that backdrop, school leaders, the Paterno family and the university community fractured by the scandal appear to be slowly mending relationships.

On Monday, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett ordered the state's flags lowered to half-staff through Paterno's burial.

In recent weeks, university leaders have indicated they intend to honor Paterno's contributions on and off the field ? a sharp contrast to tones sounded in the frantic first week of the scandal. Back then, for instance, school President Rodney Erickson said Paterno was welcome to football games just like any other member of the public.

Paterno won two national championships and a Division I record 409 victories to turn Penn State into a name-brand program. Off the field, Paterno and his wife, Sue, donated millions back to the university, including the library.

"His and Sue's contributions are as much about ensuring student success as the many endowments and the library bearing the Paterno name," said Barbara Dewey, Penn State's dean of University Libraries.

Memorial service and funeral plans weren't ready yet Sunday night, though it appeared the family and the school were coordinating efforts.

Perhaps one last chance to say goodbye for a Penn State community that often took its cues on fall weekends from JoePa.

"No matter what people say, you can't take away what he did for Penn State and college football," former cornerback D'Anton Lynn said. "I don't think there will ever be a college coach that will ever have that impact again."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_on_sp_co_ne/fbc_paterno_the_final_goodbye

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Egypt's ruler partially lifts emergency laws (AP)

CAIRO ? Egypt's military ruler on Tuesday decreed a partial lifting of the nation's hated emergency laws, an apparent attempt to ease criticism of his policies ahead of the first anniversary of the popular uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak.

Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi said in a televised address that the draconian laws, in force for more than three decades, would be lifted effective Wednesday but would remain applicable to crimes committed by "thugs." The military has often labeled organizers of anti-government demonstrations "thugs."

Tantawi's decision to partially lift the emergency laws, which give police far-reaching powers, would likely not satisfy rights groups that have been campaigning for their total removal.

Rights groups say at least 12,000 civilians have been tried before military tribunals since the military council took power. Many of them, they say, were charged with acts of "thuggery" when, in fact, they were protesters.

The term also has been used to ridicule the military in the independent press, and some of the young protesters in recent demonstrations have been chanting, "we are thugs!" At least 80 protesters have been killed by troops since October.

To mark the anniversary, the rulers pledged to release more than 1,900 people who were tried in military courts. The release was set for Wednesday morning.

In another apparent good will gesture, blogger Maikel Nabil Sanad was freed Tuesday. He was arrested in March and sentenced by a military court to three years in prison over his criticism of the military's use of violence against protesters.

Tantawi and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces he chairs took power when an 18-day uprising forced Mubarak to step down on Feb. 11, 2011.

To mark the anniversary Wednesday, protesters are expected to take to the streets to call on the military to immediately step down and to demand retribution for hundreds of protesters killed by Mubarak's security forces or at the hands of troops in subsequent clashes.

"I'm here for the rights of martyrs. A year has passed and nothing has changed," protester Mohammed Khalil said he sat in a tent he erected Tuesday night at Tahrir Square, birthplace of the anti-Mubarak uprising and the main venue of Wednesday's protests.

Khalil was one of several thousand protesters who gathered at Tahrir Square Tuesday night, erecting tents and building podiums in preparation for Wednesday's demonstrations.

Tantawi was Mubarak's defense minister for some 20 years, during which he was known to be unquestioningly loyal to the ousted leader. He and the other generals, according to activists, remain beholden to Mubarak, whose approval was essential for their promotion through the ranks.

Mubarak ruled for 29 years, and the emergency laws were in force throughout.

The activists behind Mubarak's ouster accuse the ruling generals of bungling the transition, large scale human rights violations and the use of excessive and sometime deadly force against peaceful protesters.

Last month, video clips showing troops brutally beating protesters and stomping on them while they lay on the ground created an uproar. The images tainted the military's reputation as the nation's chief protector and its most powerful institution.

One video in particular of a woman stripped half naked and beaten and stomped on by troops touched a raw nerve in Egypt's conservative society and prompted a rare protest by women to condemn the military.

For their part, the generals have accused some of the pro-democracy groups of following a "foreign agenda."

On Tuesday, a sullen faced Tantawi, who is in his 70s, renewed past pledges that the military would return to the barracks when power is handed to a civilian administration.

In a bid to deflect criticism of the generals' handling of the nation's affairs, Tantawi said the military council consulted with all political forces and "the revolution's youth" and shared responsibility with three Cabinets through the 11 months it has been in power.

Tantawi also called on critics of the military to think again.

"Surely, everyone who criticized the role of the armed forces and its supreme council at one given time must revise his stand," said Tantawi, who along with other generals consistently denied responsibility for killing protesters or blamed unknown "third parties" for the killings. They have often cited unnamed foreign powers as the source of the nation's troubles over the past year.

Tantawi's address came a day after Egypt's first freely elected parliament in decades held its inaugural session, a significant step in the handover process. The election for the 508-seat chamber was held over a six-week period starting Nov. 28. The Islamist-dominated legislature's first priority is to name a 100-member panel to draft a new constitution. The next step would be to put the draft to a vote in a nationwide referendum.

Presidential elections are to be held before the end of June, and the military has said it would return to its barracks when a new president is sworn in.

"The armed forces will be devoted to the its role to protect the nation once the transition period ends. It is a role that it has historically endured," Tantawi said.

___

Additional reporting by Aya Batrawy.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_egypt

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New Trademarkia Feature Exposes Biggest Trademark Bullies; Apple, Zynga Among Top Five

For a long time, it was easy to search for patents on the Web, but trademarks? Not so much. Thanks to startups like TechCrunch 50 grad Trademarkia, anyone can now do a simple keyword search and pick through each and every U.S. trademark filed since 1870 -- if your heart so desires, of course.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Bw7WWHgpWuM/

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Steady Diet of Mental Stimulation Might Reduce Alzheimer's Risk (HealthDay)

MONDAY, Jan. 23 (HealthDay News) -- People who engage in activities such as reading and playing games throughout their lives may be lowering levels of a protein in their brains that is linked to Alzheimer's disease, a new study suggests.

Although whether the buildup of the protein, beta amyloid, causes Alzheimer's disease is debatable, it is a hallmark of the condition, the researchers noted.

"Staying cognitively active over the lifetime may reduce the risk of Alzheimer's by preventing the accumulation of Alzheimer's-related pathology," said study author Susan Landau, a research scientist at the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at the University of California, Berkeley.

"Some of the literature has hypothesized this finding, but this is the first study to report that lifetime cognitive activity is directly linked to amyloid deposition in the brain," she said. "We think that cognitive activity is probably one of a variety of lifestyle practices -- occupational, recreational and social activities -- that may be important."

The report was published in the Jan. 23 online edition of the Archives of Neurology.

In the United States, more than 5 million people have Alzheimer's disease, and it is now the sixth-leading killer in the country, according to the researchers. No cure exists for the neurodegenerative condition, but a draft of the first-ever National Alzheimer's Plan released last week laid out plans by the federal government to have effective treatment by 2025.

For the study, Landau's team used a special imaging technique called positron emission tomography, which is able to see beta amyloid plaque in the brain, plus neuropsychological tests to see what effect cognitive stimulation might have on Alzheimer's risk.

The tests were done on 65 healthy people, average age of about 76. In addition, they tested 10 patients with Alzheimer's disease whose average was nearly 75 and 11 young people who were an average of about 25 years old.

"We interviewed them about their lifetime participation in cognitively stimulating activities," said lead researcher Dr. William Jagust, a professor of neuroscience also at the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute.

The researchers found that people who engaged in brain-stimulating activities, particularly when they were young and middle-aged, had the least amount of beta amyloid.

Those older adults who reported the most activity had amyloid levels similar to those young individuals, while those who engaged in the least such activities had amyloid levels similar to the Alzheimer's patients.

"This study suggests that not only does it reduce your risk of Alzheimer's disease, but it may affect the pathological process itself," Jagust said.

Why this kind of mind stimulation reduces the amount of beta amyloid isn't known, he added.

"The environment may affect the amount of amyloid that's deposited," he said. "This kind of lifetime cognitive activity may make people's brains more efficient. And if your brain is functioning better, it's possible that would result in producing less of this amyloid," he explained.

"Cognitive activity seems to have powerful effects on the brain," Jagust said. "Lifestyle can have a profound effect on the basic biology of Alzheimer's disease."

The size of the effect isn't known nor is the size of the reduction in risk for Alzheimer's disease, he noted.

Greg M. Cole, associate director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, said that "a number of studies have suggested that increased education or cognitive activity associates with reduced risk for Alzheimer's."

"So if you have more wits to begin with, you can afford to lose more before you become impaired," he said.

However, this new study reports something different, namely that higher cognitive activity in young and middle-aged adults is associated with lower levels of Alzheimer's pathology, Cole said.

"There may be a plausible theory for this because increased brain use increases fitness and reduces the amount of brain activity required to execute a task, and production of the beta amyloid toxin is associated with brain activity. This is an interesting new finding that may have serious implications," he said.

Another expert, Dr. Sam Gandy, the Mount Sinai Professor of Alzheimer's Disease Research at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, added that "this new study jibes well with other existing epidemiological studies in which social engagement has been linked to successful cognitive aging on purely clinical grounds."

"There is also a link between physical activity and reduced risk for Alzheimer's, and one would guess that physical exercise might well delay onset of Alzheimer's if exercise were begun years before cognitive decline developed, but this is yet to be established," Gandy said.

More information

For more information on Alzheimer's disease, visit the Alzheimer's Association.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/seniors/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20120124/hl_hsn/steadydietofmentalstimulationmightreducealzheimersrisk

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Senator Mark Kirk hospitalized after suffering stroke (Reuters)

CHICAGO (Reuters) ? Senator Mark Kirk underwent surgery on Monday after suffering a stroke, according to a statement from the Illinois Republican lawmaker's office.

Kirk, 52, remains hospitalized after suffering a stroke over the weekend. He underwent surgery early on Monday to relieve swelling around his brain stemming from the stroke, the statement said.

Kirk checked himself into a hospital in the Chicago suburb Lake Forest on Saturday where doctors discovered an "carotid artery dissection."

Kirk was transferred to Northwestern Memorial Hospital on Sunday where further tests revealed that he had suffered an ischemic stroke.

"Due to his young age, good health and the nature of the stroke, doctors are very confident in the Senator's recovery over the weeks ahead," the statement said.

Kirk, a native of Champaign, Illinois, was elected to the House of Representatives in 2000 and to the Senate in 2010.

(Reporting By Eric Johnson; editing by Paul Thomasch)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/uscongress/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120123/us_nm/us_senator_kirk_stroke

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Pot-based prescription drug looks for FDA OK (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO ? A quarter-century after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first prescription drugs based on the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, additional medicines derived from or inspired by the cannabis plant itself could soon be making their way to pharmacy shelves, according to drug companies, small biotech firms and university scientists.

A British company, GW Pharma, is in advanced clinical trials for the world's first pharmaceutical developed from raw marijuana instead of synthetic equivalents_ a mouth spray it hopes to market in the U.S. as a treatment for cancer pain. And it hopes to see FDA approval by the end of 2013.

Sativex contains marijuana's two best known components ? delta 9-THC and cannabidiol ? and already has been approved in Canada, New Zealand and eight European countries for a different usage, relieving muscle spasms associated with multiple sclerosis.

FDA approval would represent an important milestone in the nation's often uneasy relationship with marijuana, which 16 states and the District of Columbia already allow residents to use legally with doctors' recommendations. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration categorizes pot as a dangerous drug with no medical value, but the availability of a chemically similar prescription drug could increase pressure on the federal government to revisit its position and encourage other drug companies to follow in GW Pharma's footsteps.

"There is a real disconnect between what the public seems to be demanding and what the states have pushed for and what the market is providing," said Aron Lichtman, a Virginia Commonwealth University pharmacology professor and president of the International Cannabinoid Research Society. "It seems to me a company with a great deal of vision would say, `If there is this demand and need, we could develop a drug that will help people and we will make a lot of money.'"

Possessing marijuana still is illegal in the United Kingdom, but about a decade ago GW Pharma's founder, Dr. Geoffrey Guy, received permission to grow it to develop a prescription drug. Guy proposed the idea at a scientific conference that heard anecdotal evidence that pot provides relief to multiple sclerosis patients, and the British government welcomed it as a potential way "to draw a clear line between recreational and medicinal use," company spokesman Mark Rogerson said.

In addition to exploring new applications for Sativex, the company is developing drugs with different cannabis formulations.

"We were the first ones to charge forward and a lot of people were watching to see what happened to us," Rogerson said. "I think we are clearly past that stage."

In 1985, the FDA approved two drug capsules containing synthetic THC, Marinol and Cesamet, to ease side-effects of chemotherapy in cancer patients. The agency eventually allowed Marinol to be prescribed to stimulate the appetites of AIDS patients. The drug's patent expired last year, and other U.S. companies have been developing formulations that could be administered through dissolving pills, creams and skin patches and perhaps be used for other ailments.

Doctors and multiple sclerosis patients are cautiously optimistic about Sativex. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society has not endorsed marijuana use by patients, but the organization is sponsoring a study by a University of California, Davis neurologist to determine how smoking marijuana compares to Marinol in addressing painful muscle spasms.

"The cannabinoids and marijuana will, eventually, likely be part of the clinician's armamentarium, if they are shown to be clinically beneficial," said Timothy Coetzee, the society's chief research officer. "The big unknown in my mind is whether they are clearly beneficial."

Opponents and supporters of crude marijuana's effectiveness generally agree that more research is needed. And marijuana advocates fear that the government will use any new prescription products to justify a continued prohibition on marijuana use. .

"To the extent that companies can produce effective medication that utilizes the components of the plant, that's great. But that should not be the exclusive access for people who want to be able to use medical marijuana," Americans for Safe Access spokesman Kris Hermes said. "That's the race against time, in terms of how quickly can we put pressure on the federal government to recognize the plant has medical use versus the government coming out with the magic bullet pharmaceutical pill."

Interest in new and better marijuana-based medicines has been building since the discovery in the late 1980s and 1990s that mammals have receptors in their central nervous systems, several organs and immune systems for the chemicals in botanical cannabis and that their bodies also produce natural cannabinoids that work on the same receptors.

One of the first drugs to build on those breakthroughs was an anti-obesity medication that blocked the same chemical receptors that trigger the munchies in pot smokers. Under the name Acomplia, it was approved throughout Europe and heralded as a possible new treatment for smoking cessation and metabolic disorders that can lead to heart attacks.

The FDA was reviewing its safety as a diet drug when follow-up studies showed that people taking the drug were at heightened risk of suicide and other psychiatric disorders. French manufacturer Sanofi-Aventis, pulled it from the market in late 2008.

Given that drug companies already were reluctant "to touch anything that is THC-like with a 10-foot- pole," the setback had a chilling effect on cannabinoid drug development, according to Lichtman.

"Big companies like Merck and Pfizer were developing their own versions (of Acomplia), so all of those programs they spent millions and millions on just went away..." he said.

But scientists and drug companies that are exploring pot's promise predict the path will ultimately be successful, if long and littered with setbacks.

One is Alexandros Makriyannis, director of the Center for Drug Discovery at Northeastern University and founder of a small Boston company that hopes to market synthetic pain products that are chemically unrelated to marijuana, but work similarly on the body or inhibit the cannabinoid receptors. He also has been working on a compound that functions like the failed Acomplia but without the depressive effects.

"I think within five to 10 years, we should get something," Makriyannis said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_bi_ge/us_marijuana_drug_development

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PCE in drinking water linked to an increased risk of mental illness

Friday, January 20, 2012

The solvent tetrachloroethylene (PCE) widely used in industry and to dry clean clothes is a neurotoxin known to cause mood changes, anxiety, and depression in people who work with it. To date the long-term effect of this chemical on children exposed to PCE has been less clear, although there is some evidence that children of people who work in the dry cleaning industry have an increased risk of schizophrenia. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Environmental Health found that exposure to PCE as a child was associated with an increased risk of bipolar disorder and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

From 1968, until the early 1980s, water companies in Massachusetts installed vinyl-lined (VL/AC) water pipes that were subsequently found to be leaching PCE into the drinking water supply. Researchers from Boston University followed the incidence of mental illness amongst adults from Cape Cod, born between 1969 and 1983, who were consequently exposed to PCE both before birth and during early childhood.

While there was no increase seen in the incidence of depression, regardless of PCE exposure, people with prenatal and early childhood exposure to PCE had almost twice the risk of bipolar disorder, compared to an unexposed group, and their risk of PTSD was raised by 50%.

Dr Ann Aschengrau from Boston University School of Public Health warned, "It is impossible to calculate the exact amount of PCE these people were exposed to - levels of PCE were recorded as high as 1,550 times the currently recommended safe limit. While the water companies flushed the pipes to address this problem, people are still being exposed to PCE in the dry cleaning and textile industries, and from consumer products, and so the potential for an increased risk of illness remains real."

###

BioMed Central: http://www.biomedcentral.com

Thanks to BioMed Central for this article.

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DirecTV dispute with Sunbeam has viewers in dark (AP)

MIAMI ? DirecTV Inc. and the owner of TV stations in Miami and Boston are in a standoff over fees the satellite provider pays to run broadcast programming, leaving tens of thousands of viewers unable to see shows ranging from "American Idol" to the NFL playoffs.

It's the latest in a string of disputes across the country between cable and satellite companies and local stations over what are known as retransmission fees, which have risen sharply in recent years. One industry group said there were about 40 similar blackouts nationally in 2011 and more continuing this year.

"The networks are saying, `affiliates, you should be getting value from the cable and satellite providers, and if you're not, that's your fault," Bill Carroll, vice president at Katz Media in New York, said Thursday.

In Miami, DirecTV viewers were unable to watch Fox's premiere of "American Idol" on Wednesday and last weekend's NFC playoff games because of the dispute between DirecTV and Sunbeam Television Corp. Sunbeam owns the Miami Fox affiliate and two stations in Boston, one of them the NBC affiliate that this year would carry the Super Bowl ? possibly featuring the hometown New England Patriots.

"Usually the best time to have this drama is when there is a big event associated with it that could cost viewership," said Shari Anne Brill, a New York media consultant. "What better time to mess with it, when there's programming at stake and viewers get caught in the middle?"

Sunbeam decided Thursday to give DirecTV's customers in Miami a break, announcing it will allow the satellite system to air Sunday's NFC championship game between the New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers, as well as top-rated "American Idol" later that night and local news. Sunbeam's station in Miami is WSVN.

"WSVN-TV is still negotiating with DirecTV, but we care about our viewers, and we want them to be able to watch this game, which will determine who goes to the Super Bowl," said Robert Leider, WSVN's executive vice president and general manager.

DirecTV spokesman Robert Mercer said it was the right move.

"We're pleased that they're doing the right thing for our customers and NFL fans and are looking forward to getting a deal done quickly," he said.

The blackout has forced DirecTV subscribers to scramble to see their favorite shows and sports. Shari Rondon, co-owner of J.P. Mulligans Restaurant and Pub in Pembroke Pines, resorted to old-fashioned rabbit ear antennas to allow patrons to see football games last weekend. She could only use about four televisions, far fewer than normal, for the games.

"Everybody had to be huddled up. It's inconvenient for customers, and it's inconvenient for our staff," she said.

DirecTV is accusing Sunbeam of greed, contending that it is seeking a 300 percent increase in the retransmission fee compared with the last contract. Sunbeam executives counter that they only want to update the fee to established market prices. The two sides have been negotiating off and on, but no breakthrough appeared imminent Thursday.

Leider called the 300 percent figure misleading, noting that DirecTV for years paid no fee.

The fees paid by cable and satellite providers to broadcast stations have risen from about $215 million in 2006 to an estimated $1.4 billion in 2011, according to a study by the SNL Kagan media research company. One reason, experts say, is that newer contracts between the broadcast networks and local affiliates give the networks a larger share of the fees.

"The networks have become more aggressive with their affiliates, and the stations have had to become more diligent in pursuing the fees," Carroll said.

Cable and satellite providers are pushing back. They contend that outdated Federal Communications Commission rules enable local affiliates to hold them hostage, and some members of Congress have introduced bills that would end a rule requiring the providers to carry only local broadcast signals.

"They have found there's a gold mine," said Mike Heimowitz at the American Television Alliance, which represents many satellite and cable companies. "They are using the rules to extract more and more money."

Brill, the media consultant, said she expects the DirecTV-Sunbeam dispute to be settled, possibly just in time for a playoff game or the Super Bowl. That's what happened in a 2010 fee fight between New York's Cablevision Systems Corp. and ABC, which ended just as the annual Academy Awards telecast got under way.

"They usually cave in at the last minute," Brill said. "Consumers will wind up paying extra. That's the moral of the story."

___

Follow Curt Anderson on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Miamicurt

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120119/ap_en_ot/us_directv_dispute

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FACT CHECK: History flubs in Republican debate

Republican presidential candidate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich stands with his wife Callista as they greet audience members at the end of the Republican presidential candidate debate at the North Charleston Coliseum in Charleston, S.C., Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Republican presidential candidate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich stands with his wife Callista as they greet audience members at the end of the Republican presidential candidate debate at the North Charleston Coliseum in Charleston, S.C., Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Republican presidential candidates, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney gestures to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at the Republican presidential candidate debate at the North Charleston Coliseum in Charleston, S.C., Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Republican presidential candidates, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, participate in the Republican presidential candidate debate at the North Charleston Coliseum in Charleston, S.C., Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Republican presidential candidate former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum is seen during a commercial break at the Republican presidential candidate debate at the North Charleston Coliseum in Charleston, S.C., Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Mitt Romney perpetuated one unsubstantiated claim, about his record at Bain Capital, and more or less corrected himself on another, about President Barack Obama's health care law, in the latest Republican presidential debate.

His rivals flubbed history, Newt Gingrich blaming a Democratic president for a jobless rate he never had, and Ron Paul painting an idyllic picture of life before Medicare that did not reflect deprivations of that time.

A look at some of the claims in the debate Thursday night and how they compare with the facts:

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ROMNEY: "We started a number of businesses; four in particular created 120,000 jobs, as of today. We started them years ago. They've grown ? grown well beyond the time I was there to 120,000 people that have been employed by those enterprises. ... Those that have been documented to have lost jobs, lost about 10,000 jobs. So (120,000 less 10,000) means that we created something over 100,000 jobs."

THE FACTS: Romney now has acknowledged the negative side of the ledger from his years with Bain Capital, but hardly laid out the full story. His claim to have created more than 100,000 jobs in the private sector as a venture capitalist remains unsupported.

Romney mentioned four successful investments in companies that now employ some 120,000 people, having grown since he was involved in them a decade or ago or longer. From that, he subtracted the number of jobs that he said are known to have been lost at certain other companies.

What's missing is anything close to a complete list of winners and losers ? and the bottom line on jobs. Bain under Romney invested in scores of private companies that don't have the obligation of big publicly traded corporations to disclose finances. Romney acknowledged that he was using current employment figures for the four companies, not the number of jobs they had when he left Bain Capital, yet took credit for them in his analysis.

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GINGRICH: "Under Jimmy Carter, we had the wrong laws, the wrong regulations, the wrong leadership, and we killed jobs. We had inflation. We went to 10.8 percent unemployment. Under Ronald Reagan, we had the right job ? the right laws, the right regulators, the right leadership. We created 16 million new jobs."

FACT CHECK: Sure, inflation was bad and gas lines long, but under Carter's presidency unemployment never topped 7.8 percent. The unemployment rate did reach 10.8 percent, but not until November 1982, nearly two years into Reagan's first term.

Most economists attribute the jobless increase to a sharp rise in interest rates engineered by then-Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker in an ultimately successful effort to choke off inflation. Unemployment began to fall in 1983 and dropped to 7.2 percent in November 1984, when Reagan easily won re-election.

The economy did add 16 million jobs during Reagan's 1981-1989 presidency. Gingrich's assertion that "we created" them may have left the impression that he was a key figure in that growth. Although Gingrich was first elected to the House in 1978, his first Republican leadership position, as minority whip, began when Reagan left office, in 1989.

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PAUL: "I had the privilege of practicing medicine in the early '60s, before we had any government (health care). It worked rather well, and there was nobody on the street suffering with no medical care. But Medicare and Medicaid came in and it just expanded."

THE FACTS: Before Medicare was created in the mid-1960s, only about half of the elderly had private insurance for hospital care, and they were facing rising costs for those policies on their fixed incomes. Medicare was hugely contentious at the time, seen by many doctors as a socialist takeover, but few argued that the status quo could be maintained.

A Health, Education and Welfare Department report to Congress in 1959, during the Republican administration of Dwight Eisenhower, took no position on what the federal government should do but stated "a larger proportion of the aged than of other persons must turn to public assistance for payment of their medical bills or rely on 'free' care from hospitals and physicians."

Paul advocates a return to an era when doctors would treat the needy for free. But even in the old days, charity came with a cost. Research from the pre-Medicare era shows that the cost of free care was transferred to paying customers and the insurance industry.

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ROMNEY: "I could have stayed in Detroit, like him, and gotten pulled up in the car company. I went off on my own. I didn't inherit money from my parents. What I have, I earned. I worked hard, the American way."

THE FACTS: It's true there's no evidence Romney's wealthy family gave him a trust fund, or helped him secure a job at Bain Capital, where he would ultimately make his fortune. But it's not entirely the case that his success is wholly the result of his own hard work.

Romney's father, George, was an automobile industry CEO and a Michigan governor. He paid for Mitt to attend the Cranbrook School, a private boarding school in the Detroit area. The education didn't hurt Romney's ability to get into Harvard, where he earned law and business degrees in 1975.

While Romney appears to have gotten a job at Bain out of college on his own, the Boston Globe book "The Real Romney" reports that Romney's parents helped him and his wife buy their first home when he was in his early 20s.

On Thursday night, the Romney campaign did not dispute the finding that Romney's parents helped pay for that house, in the Boston suburb of Belmont.

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ROMNEY: "The executive order is a beginning process. It's one thing, but it doesn't completely eliminate Obamacare. ... We have to go after a complete repeal. And that's going to have to have to happen with a House and a Senate, hopefully, that are Republican."

THE FACTS: With that statement, Romney essentially corrected his repeated suggestions in early debates and speeches that he would eliminate President Barack Obama's health care law with a stroke of the pen on his first day in office ? a power no president has.

In one variation of the claim, he had vowed in a Sept. 7 debate that on Day One, he would sign an executive order "granting a waiver from Obamacare to all 50 states." This, despite the fact that the law lays out an onerous process for letting individual states off the hook from its requirements, and that process cannot begin until 2017.

Now he acknowledges the political reality that a Republican president would need Republican control of Congress to have a strong shot at repealing the law.

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Associated Press writers Steve Peoples, Jim Drinkard, and Christopher S. Rugaber contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-19-US-GOP-Debate-Fact-Check/id-eeb0d7c2492647f1bffb1c9cccd8c087

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