Israel’s Lieberman says Palestinian peace accord impossible

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel has no chance of signing a permanent peace accord with the Palestinians and should instead seek a long-term interim deal, the most powerful political partner of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday.

The remarks by Avigdor Lieberman, an ultranationalist whose joint party list with Netanyahu narrowly won a January 22 election while centrist challengers made surprise gains, seemed designed to dampen expectations at home and abroad of fresh peacemaking.

A spring visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories by U.S. President Barack Obama, announced this week, has stirred speculation that foreign pressure for a diplomatic breakthrough could build – though Washington played down that possibility.

In a television interview, ex-foreign minister Lieberman linked the more than two-year-old impasse to pan-Arab political upheaval that has boosted Islamists hostile to the Jewish state.

These include Hamas, rivals of U.S.-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who control the Gaza Strip and spurn coexistence with Israel though they have mooted extended truces.

“Anyone who thinks that in the center of this socio-diplomatic ocean, this tsunami which is jarring the Arab world, it is possible to arrive at the magic solution of a comprehensive peace with the Palestinians does not understand,” Lieberman told Israel’s Channel Two.

“This is impossible. It is not possible to solve the conflict here. The conflict can be managed and it is important to manage the conflict … to negotiate on a long-term interim agreement.”

Abbas broke off talks in late 2010 in protest at Israel’s settlement of the occupied West Bank. He angered Israel and the United States in November by securing a U.N. status upgrade that implicitly recognized Palestinian independence in all the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.

Israel insists it will keep East Jerusalem and swathes of West Bank settlements under any eventual peace deal. Most world powers consider the settlements illegal because they take up land seized in the 1967 Middle East war.

Lieberman, himself a West Bank settler, said the ball was “in Abu Mazen’s (Abbas’) court” to revive diplomacy.

Abbas has demanded Israel first freeze all settlement construction. With two decades gone since Palestinians signed their first interim deal with Israel, he has ruled out any new negotiations that do not solemnize Palestinian statehood.

Netanyahu’s spokesman Mark Regev noted that Lieberman, in the Channel Two interview, had said he was expressing his own opinion.

Asked how Netanyahu saw peace prospects for an accord with the Palestinians, Regev referred to a speech on Tuesday in which the conservative prime minister said that Israel, while addressing threats by its enemies, “must also pursue secure, stable and realistic peace with our neighbors”.

Netanyahu has previously spoken in favor of a Palestinian state, though he has been cagey on its borders and whether he would be prepared to dismantle Israeli settlements.

Lieberman’s role in the next coalition government is unclear as he faces trial for corruption. If convicted, he could be barred from the cabinet. Lieberman denies wrongdoing and has said he would like to regain the foreign portfolio, which he surrendered after his indictment was announced last year.

(Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Stephen Powell)

World News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Israel’s Lieberman says Palestinian peace accord impossible
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/israels-lieberman-says-palestinian-peace-accord-impossible/
Link To Post : Israel’s Lieberman says Palestinian peace accord impossible
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Beyonce, Jay-Z, Rihanna hang at Roc Nation brunch

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jay-Z and Beyonce sat tightly with Solange. Kelly Rowland embraced Beyonce with a huge hug. And Rihanna spilled some of her drink laughing with Rowland.

Music’s top stars attended the annual pre-Grammy Roc Nation brunch Saturday at the Soho House.

Grammy nominee Miguel, Timbaland, Jill Scott and Kylie Mingoue also attended the exclusive event.

Jay-Z is one of six acts nominated for six awards at Sunday’s Grammys. Rihanna is up for three trophies, and Beyonce is nominated for one award.

The crowd Saturday was full of members of music industry, who mingled with performers like The-Dream, Jordin Sparks, Melanie Fiona, Diane Warren, Christina Milian, MC Lyte and Santigold.

Entertainment News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Beyonce, Jay-Z, Rihanna hang at Roc Nation brunch
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/beyonce-jay-z-rihanna-hang-at-roc-nation-brunch/
Link To Post : Beyonce, Jay-Z, Rihanna hang at Roc Nation brunch
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Egypt PM in hot water over “unclean breasts” remarks

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt‘s prime minister faces accusations of being out of touch with the country’s crisis after televised comments blaming rural infant sickness on mothers not washing their breasts.

Hisham Kandil, a former irrigation minister widely seen as a stolid technocrat, was speaking at a meeting with journalists broadcast on state television this week when he veered into a ramble on the “miseries” of life in rural Egypt.

“In my work, I’ve gone around the countryside,” he said. “There are villages in Egypt, in the 21st century, where children get diarrhoea … because the mothers who nurse them, out of ignorance, do not maintain personal cleanliness of their breasts.”

Recalling a visit to the Beni Suef area south of Cairo in 2004, he spoke of the dire conditions of village life. “There’s no water, there’s no sewerage,” he said. “The men go to the mosque … the women go down to the fields and get raped.”

He appeared to be responding to complaints about a series of attacks and rapes of political activists in Cairo in recent weeks, citing the case of a man who was caught on video being beaten and dragged naked by police.

“I don’t know Hamada (Saber), well, I know him like you do, but I am 99 percent sure he doesn’t pay his electricity bill,” the prime minister said of the victim of that videoed beating.

His remarks unleashed a storm of criticism, much of it reflecting a sense of economic and political malaise that has settled over the country since an uprising two years ago that toppled veteran autocratic President Hosni Mubarak.

Dina Abdel Fattah, a talk show host on the independent Tahrir channel questioned why the head of government had dwelt on the subject when Egypt was in a state of “darkness”.

At least 59 people died in 10 days of protests that started late last month over what demonstrators see as Islamist President Mohamed Mursi‘s attempts to monopolise power as well as broader economic and political grievances.

“Imagine. Our prime minister is talking about this today, when we have martyrs in the street, we have people getting killed every day, when we have entire provinces in a state of unrest,” Abdel Fattah said on her show.

Another television channel, Al Nahar, interviewed residents of Beni Suef voicing dismay at Kandil’s comments.

“It’s no good the prime minister talking this nonsense about women, good people, clean people, and ignoring all the other problems of the world,” one man said on the programme.

Since his election in June, Mursi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, has struggled to restore security and revive the ailing economy.

Small demonstrations continued on Friday, drawing thousands of protesters in Cairo and other cities including Tanta in the Nile Delta and Port Said on the Suez Canal.

Critics questioned Mursi’s appointment of Kandil in July, saying it was unclear whether he had the political or economic experience for the job.

“Instead of making offensive comments about poor village women and laying blame on them when God knows they are already suffering, he should be blaming himself for the failure of his government to find a proper solution to alleviate poverty, illiteracy and awful health schemes in villages,” said Iman Mahmoud, a 61-year-old housewife in Cairo.

Health News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Egypt PM in hot water over “unclean breasts” remarks
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/egypt-pm-in-hot-water-over-unclean-breasts-remarks/
Link To Post : Egypt PM in hot water over “unclean breasts” remarks
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Spain’s “bad bank” rebuffs three investment funds

MADRID (Reuters) – Spain‘s so-called ‘bad bank’, Sareb, has rejected overtures from investment funds Cerebrus, Fortress and Centerbridge to enter into its capital because they were asking for advantages over other shareholders, a source with knowledge of the matter said on Saturday.

“They asked for privileges when it came to buying the assets, and Sareb rejected that offer,” the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity said. “Sareb has a commitment to treat all shareholders the same.”

Sareb declined to comment. None of the three funds could be reached for comment and neither the Bank of Spain nor the Economy Minister could confirm the matter.

Spain set up the bad bank to hive off rotten real estate assets dating from a property crash from lenders’ balance sheets as a condition of receiving around 40 billion euros ($ 54 billion) of European money to bail out ailing banks.

The head of Sareb, Belen Romana, sent a letter to the three funds on Friday declining their entry into the bad bank’s capital, but leaving the door open for further talks, Expansion newspaper reported on Saturday.

The funds wanted first choice on buying portfolios of finished buildings and on supplying services to the bad bank, the paper said.

Sareb took on 37 billion euros worth of troubled real estate assets at the end of December from four nationalized banks, including Bankia

(Reporting By Sonya Dowsett; Editing by Toby Chopra)

Business News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Spain’s “bad bank” rebuffs three investment funds
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/spains-bad-bank-rebuffs-three-investment-funds/
Link To Post : Spain’s “bad bank” rebuffs three investment funds
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Protests turn to street clashes across Egypt

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian security forces backed by water cannons fired tear gas at rock-throwing protesters outside the presidential palace in Cairo on Friday while demonstrators clashed with riot police in cities across the country in marches against Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

The protests are part of a wave of opposition-led demonstrations over the past two weeks that have frequently devolved into street clashes. The violence has left more than 70 people dead and hundreds wounded, and plunged the country into a fresh cycle of bloodshed and political turmoil.

Egypt‘s opposition is demanding Morsi form a new coalition government, open an investigation into the killings of protesters over the past months and give guarantees that upcoming parliamentary elections will be fair and free. They also want him to form a commission to amend the country’s newly adopted constitution, which was drafted by an Islamist-led panel and approved last December in a contentious referendum.

Some of the protesters go even further, demanding Morsi be removed from office. They also accuse the Muslim Brotherhood, the fundamentalist group from which Morsi hails, of monopolizing power and failing to deal with the country’s mounting woes.

Thousands took their demands to the streets in cities across the country on Friday, carrying Egyptian flags and pictures of slain protesters and chanting “down with the rule of the Guide,” referring to Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohammed Badie, who critics allege is calling the shots for Morsi from behind the scenes.

At the presidential palace in Cairo, the scene of repeated violent clashes since late last year, protesters tried to remove the barbed wire at the front gate of the palace and fired flares at its perimeters. Riot police swiftly responded with water cannons and tear gas while protesters hurled stones.

Violence also broke out in Kafr el-Sheik, some 180 kilometers (110 miles) north of Cairo, where riot police clashed with protesters in front of the office of governor Saad el-Husseini, who is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.

In the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, protesters tore down a Brotherhood sign and burned it in front of the group’s office while security forces used tear gas to disperse demonstrators in front of the governor’s office.

Morsi and his allies accuse the opposition of trying to incite street violence to seize power after failing at the ballot box.

In a statement on Friday, Murad Ali, a spokesman for the Freedom and Justice party — the Muslim Brotherhood’s political arm — warned the opposition that it would be responsible for any acts of violence that occur during protests. He also called them “losers.”

The clashes over the past two weeks have fueled a sense that Egypt is coming unglued, while also raising concerns that the country could be hit by more — and greater — political violence.

Those worries sharpened after the assassination of a prominent anti-Islamist opposition leader in Tunisia on Wednesday, a killing that touched off a new wave of unrest there.

Tunisia was the birthplace of the region’s so-called Arab Spring uprisings in 2011 that brought an end to the rule of several autocrats including Egypt’s own Hosni Mubarak, clearing the way for Morsi’s election last summer. Egyptians have warily watched the events unfolding in Tunis, which many here look to as a bellwether for their own country.

Much of the public anxiety in Egypt following the killing in Tunis stems from religious edicts, known as fatwas, recently issued by extremist clerics calling for the killing of Morsi’s political opponents.

Egypt’s leading democracy advocate and opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei sounded the alarm this week about the edicts.

The opposition says it will continue protests despite the fatwas, which the presidency and the government condemned as “terrorism.” Morsi called the rhetoric “hate speech cloaked by religion.”

Hamdeen Sabahi, a leader of the opposition National Salvation Front, said in a message posted on his Twitter account: “We will continue our peaceful struggle with the Egyptian people and revolutionary youth to continue our revolution.”

Middle East News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Protests turn to street clashes across Egypt
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/protests-turn-to-street-clashes-across-egypt/
Link To Post : Protests turn to street clashes across Egypt
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Britney Spears considers long-term Las Vegas deal

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Pop star and former “X Factor” judge Britney Spears is in talks to sign a long-term contract to headline a show at a Las Vegas resort, Caesars Entertainment Corp. said on Friday.

“We can now confirm the company is actively engaged in discussions with Britney Spears‘ representatives regarding a potential headlining residency at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino,” the company said in a statement.

Representatives for Spears were not immediately available for comment on Friday.

Caesars Entertainment, which owns casinos and resorts including Planet Hollywood, has hired some of the world’s top-selling artists for residencies at various Las Vegas sites.

Canadian singer Celine Dion has a three-year deal with Caesars Palace that is said to be worth $ 100 million. British singer Elton John also has a long-term commitment to perform at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace.

Singers Cher and Bette Midler had similar long-term deals at The Colosseum in recent years.

Spears, 31, shot to fame in the late 1990s with hits such as “… Baby One More Time” and has gone on to become one of the biggest pop figures of the 2000s.

She is waging a comeback after a turbulent few years in her life in which she lost custody of her children, entered rehab and shaved off her hair.

She landed a seat on “The X Factor” judging panel in May 2012, but left the show last month after one season. In the same week, she also split up with her fiancé Jason Trawick.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy and Eric Kelsey; Editing by Xavier Briand)

Music News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Britney Spears considers long-term Las Vegas deal
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/britney-spears-considers-long-term-las-vegas-deal/
Link To Post : Britney Spears considers long-term Las Vegas deal
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Even Healthy Older Adults Hit Hard by Flu

Cold weather and seasonal flu go hand in hand, and while we have the groundhog to provide insight into the length of winter, no one can say for certain when the 2012-13 influenza season will taper off. In its most recent Flu View report, representing data obtained from Jan. 27 through Feb. 2, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explains that although flu activity remained high throughout the nation, most areas reported a decrease in new cases of the illness.

Older Adults Age 65 and Over Hit Hardest by 2012-13 Influenza Season

In reviewing the laboratory-confirmed influenza hospitalizations graph provided by the CDC, the number of hospitalizations for those age 65 and older are three times that of the next highest age group. Dr. Lyn Finelli, a flu expert at the CDC, explained to NBCNews.com that this flu season’s rate of hospitalization for older adults is the highest it’s been since the agency began gathering such data in 2005.

Speaking to the number of deaths among people age 65 and over as a result of influenza and/or pneumonia, Finelli stated , “The deaths are way over the epidemic threshold,” and voiced the agency’s concern about these older members of the population in regard to influenza and its potential complications.

Finelli explained that even older adults who consider themselves generally fit and healthy have the potential to develop life-threatening complications from influenza due to underlying conditions.

CDC Recommendations to Prevent, Treat Influenza in those Age 65 and Older

The CDC continues to recommend that anyone age 6 months and older receive the flu vaccination. This is particularly important for baby boomers and seniors age 65 and older due to the increased risk of complications from influenza in this age group.

There are two vaccines available to those 65 years-of-age and older; the regular dose vaccination and a high-dose vaccination. The CDC does not prefer one of these types over the other. In theory, the high-dose vaccine is intended to provide a stronger immune response, but whether that occurs in reality is dependent on many factors. Talk with your health care provider to learn which vaccine he recommends.

If you suspect you have the flu — sudden onset of symptoms, cough, sore throat, fever or feverish with chills, tiredness, runny or stuffy nose, muscle/body aches — contact your health care provider immediately. You need not have all of the symptoms, and may not have a fever and still be ill with the flu.

There are two anti-viral medications your health care provider can prescribe, but they work best when taken within 48 hours of the symptoms first appearing. These anti-viral medications are intended to reduce the severity of the illness and potentially to prevent complications of influenza.

Research Finds that Older Adults Have Different and Fewer Antibodies Than Younger People

The peer-reviewed medical journal Science Translational Medicine published the results of research into the understanding of the antibody responses in older adults. The antibody response is the body’s method of fighting infection and also the portion of the system that develops a protective response following vaccination. Not only do older adults have fewer antibodies than their younger cohorts, but they have different types of antibodies. The number and types of antibodies decreases with age.

Diseases/Conditions News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Even Healthy Older Adults Hit Hard by Flu
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/even-healthy-older-adults-hit-hard-by-flu/
Link To Post : Even Healthy Older Adults Hit Hard by Flu
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Firms face horsemeat ‘disaster’

8 February 2013 Last updated at 11:12 ET

By Matthew Wall Business reporter, BBC News

The latest scandal surrounding horsemeat in processed food could be “disastrous” for the meat processing industry, retail analysts are warning.

Lost contracts with supermarkets “will undoubtedly cost them millions of pounds”, Neil Saunders of retail analyst Conlumino told the BBC.

“The loss of supply contracts could be disastrous for food suppliers.”

The Food Standards Agency now wants the industry to test all its processed beef products.

The British Meat Processors Association, whose members produce 80% of meat sold in the UK, said: “It’s too early to say what the impact will be on our industry. The BMPA is co-operating with the FSA [Food Standards Agency] to establish the facts, and to deal effectively with the issues.”

One supplier, meat processor Silvercrest, based in County Monaghan, Ireland, lost supply contracts with Tesco, Aldi and Co-operative supermarkets after the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) found horse and pig DNA in burgers it supplied.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if there were redundancies,” said Mr Saunders.

A spokesperson for ABP Food Group, which owns Silvercrest, said: “We feel it would be inappropriate to comment at this stage.”

Testing regime

In a statement issued on Friday, the FSA said: “In addition to the widespread testing we are doing, we’ve instructed the industry to urgently carry out its own tests on processed beef products to see whether horsemeat is present.”

But this new testing regime could cost the industry millions of pounds.

Giving evidence to the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs select committee on 30 January, Tim Smith, Tesco’s group technical director revealed that the supermarket’s new DNA testing regime, introduced following the discovery of horsemeat in its value burgers, would cost it “£1m to £2m a year”.

Meanwhile, Tesco’s sales loss would be “a lot bigger than a million pounds” as a result of the scandal, he said.

But Richard Dodd of the British Retail Consortium, which represents 80% of the UK retail industry, told the BBC: “What we’re hearing from our members is that this [horsemeat] issue is not having an impact. People are clear that it isn’t a health issue, so it’s not producing a change in customer shopping habits.”

And Conlumino’s Neil Saunders agrees that the supermarkets are unlikely to be affected much by the scandal, since they can claim compensation from their suppliers.

“While it is highly likely that sales will have deteriorated in some food lines, such as value burgers, other categories may have benefitted, meaning that there is little net loss overall,” he said.

Traditional High Street butchers might even be benefiting from the horsemeat scandal, says Richard Stevenson, technical manager of the National Federation of Meat and Food Traders.

“Our members are telling us that they’re all getting more business since the Tesco burger issue, because most butchers know exactly where their meat has come from. You could argue that this issue has arisen as a direct result of the cheap food policy adopted by supermarkets.”

Findus, which had to withdraw its beef lasagne ready meals after some samples were found to contain 100% horsemeat, said on Friday that it had tested all its other beef products and found no evidence of contamination.

BBC News – Business

Title Post: Firms face horsemeat ‘disaster’
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/firms-face-horsemeat-disaster/
Link To Post : Firms face horsemeat ‘disaster’
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

South Africa outraged at gang rape of teenager

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — In a country where one in four women is raped and where months-old babies and 94-year-old grandmothers are sexually assaulted, citizens are demanding action after a teenager was gang-raped, sliced open from her stomach to her genitals, and left for dead on a construction site last week.

The 17-year-old lived long enough to identify one of her attackers, a 22-year-old. Police arrested him and said Thursday they have arrested a second suspect, aged 21. They promised more arrests soon.

“Kill them!” and “Cut off their penises,” were some of the demands voiced on talk show radio stations Thursday.

Every few months this African nation with the highest rate of rapes of babies and young girls in the world yells its outrage at a particularly brutal attack.

Last year, South Africans were shocked when village boys gang-raped a mentally ill 17-year-old with a mental age of 4. She was attacked by six boys, the youngest who was 10, in a crime that only came to light because the boys made a cellphone video of the rape and posted it on the Internet. It went viral.

Prof. Rachel Jewkes, a doctor heading the Women’s Research Unit of South Africa‘s Medical Research Council, said 37 percent of surveyed men in South Africa’s most populated province of Gauteng said they had raped a woman or child, according to a study. Seventy-five percent of them first raped a teenager, she said.

“It’s a social disaster,” she said. The number of “men who try to feel better about their past by trying to make out that what they did wasn’t serious or wasn’t rape is obviously huge and must be a huge obstacle to getting anything done — from police making arrests to decisions in the courtroom by magistrates and so forth.”

The outcry over Saturday’s rape in Bredasdorp, a Western Cape town known for its giant protea flowers, led President Jacob Zuma to vow Thursday “that government would never rest until the perpetrators and all those who rape and abuse women and children, are meted with the maximum justice that the law allows.”

The maximum sentence for rape in South Africa is life in prison. The death sentence has been abolished.

Zuma himself was accused of rape by the HIV-positive lesbian daughter of a close friend in 2005. Zuma said the sex was consensual and he was acquitted, but is unlikely to live down his comment in court that he had a shower afterward to cut the risk of acquiring AIDS.

In a study conducted by Jewkes in 2009, 62 percent of surveyed boys over age 11 said they believed that forcing someone to have sex was not an act of violence. One-third said girls enjoy being raped.

That study found one-quarter of South African women are raped but only one in 25 report it to the police. Of those who were not raped by a partner, one in 13 had never reported the rape, and many had been raped more than once, Jewkes said. That casts doubt on police statistics showing sexual crimes decreased from 70,514 in 2009 to 64,419 last year. Females make up half of South Africa’s population of 50 million.

Official statistics show less than 10 percent of reported sexual crimes result in a successful prosecution, another reason many are reluctant to report rape.

A British documentary, “Lost Girls of South Africa,” concludes girls here have a bigger chance of being raped than of completing high school.

Studies show nearly 90 percent of victims are raped by family members, friends or other people they know. Girls are not safe at home or at school, with many reports of teachers having sex with students anxious to get good examination results.

Many reasons have been given for South Africa suffering the highest incidence of rape in the world. This is a patriarchal society where many men believe they are entitled to sex. The mother of an 11-year-old girl raped by her father told a court that her husband said no man had a right to have sex with his child until he had her.

The brutality of the white apartheid regime often is blamed, with psychologists saying that humiliated men work out their anger on those nearest and most helpless, their families.

Pervasive poverty, which also disempowers men and forces children to sleep in one-room shacks with adults, also is blamed.

That excuse was angrily dismissed in a Twitter debate last weekend.

“No one can tell me that raping a 3-month baby or 87-year-old granny or burning a library or vandalizing a school is caused by poverty,” tweeted Zwelinzima Vavi, head of the Congress of South African Trade Unions. “Yes, apartheid humiliated, dehumanized and made people feel valueless – its existence in the past is no excuse for current moral degeneration.”

Eastern KwaZulu-Natal province last year set up day-care centers for elderly women after several were raped.

Perhaps the saddest comment came from one protesting grandmother outside a court where a man was accused of raping a 94-year-old.

“It’s becoming clear that our grandchildren and great-grandsons are targeting us and it is only stiff sentences like castration and death that will stop this from happening,” 68-year-old Thokozile Gcumisa was quoted as saying in The Sowetan newspaper. “We fear our own flesh and blood.”

Africa News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: South Africa outraged at gang rape of teenager
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/south-africa-outraged-at-gang-rape-of-teenager/
Link To Post : South Africa outraged at gang rape of teenager
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Martial arts drama kicks off Berlin film festival

BERLIN (Reuters) – The 2013 Berlin film festival kicks off on Thursday with the red carpet premiere of “The Grandmaster”, Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai‘s martial arts period drama set in China at the time of the Japanese invasion in the 1930s.

Starring regular collaborator Tony Leung Chiu Wai as kung fu master Ip Man and Zhang Ziyi as his rival and friend Gong Er, the heavily stylized picture is a story of honor, principle, betrayal and forbidden love all set in a time of turmoil.

Wong, also president of the jury at the cinema showcase this year, said he was determined to get beneath the surface of martial arts in a way most films in the genre had not.

“‘Grandmaster’ is a film about kung fu. It tells you more than the skill,” he told reporters after a press screening and ahead of the opening night gala.

“It tells you more about these people, martial artists, the world of martial arts. What is their code of honor? What is their value? What is their philosophy?

“I hope this film can bring the audience a new perspective about martial arts, kung fu and also Chinese,” he added, wearing his trademark dark glasses and speaking in English.

The idea for “The Grandmaster” was first announced more than a decade ago and it took the notoriously slow filmmaker four years to make, involving rigorous training for both Leung and Zhang which both actors said changed them profoundly.

Leung’s character, which dominates the first part of the film, is based on a real-life master of the same name who developed the Wing Chun school of martial arts and counted Bruce Lee among his students.

Gong Er’s character gradually takes a central role, and her repressed longing for Ip Man brings to the fore Wong’s mastery of melancholy, which he showed so memorably in his best known film to date “In the Mood for Love” also starring Leung.

IRANIAN FILM DEFIES BAN

Leung, 50, said he started training for the part four years ago, and reportedly broke his arm early in the process.

“There is a spiritual side of kung fu and that side cannot be learned from books or by fact-finding,” he said. “It grows spontaneously. So that’s why I had to practice four years. You can only achieve that thing through practice.”

“The Grandmaster” marks the official start of 11 days of screenings, photocalls, interviews and parties across Berlin where hundreds of movies will be screened, reviewed and traded at a film market that accompanies the Berlinale.

Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway and Nicolas Cage are expected on the red carpet, as are European heavyweights Catherine Deneuve and Jude Law and Asian stars including Leung and Zhang.

In the main competition of 19 movies eligible for awards is “Promised Land”, about the controversial drilling technique for extracting gas known as “fracking” and starring Matt Damon directed by his “Good Will Hunting” collaborator Gus Van Sant.

Steven Soderbergh‘s “Side Effects” is in part a critique of the pharmaceutical industry and boasts Law, Channing Tatum and Catherine Zeta-Jones in the cast.

Soderbergh, an Oscar winner for his 2000 narcotics drama “Traffic”, has announced it will be his final big screen feature film, at least for the foreseeable future.

One of the most eagerly awaited pictures at the festival is “Closed Curtain”, co-directed by acclaimed Iranian director Jafar Panahi who made it in defiance of a 20-year ban on film making imposed by authorities at home.

Out of competition is 3D prehistoric animation comedy “The Croods”, featuring the voices of Cage and Ryan Reynolds, and “Dark Blood”, which River Phoenix was filming when he died aged 23 in 1993.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

Movies News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Martial arts drama kicks off Berlin film festival
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/martial-arts-drama-kicks-off-berlin-film-festival/
Link To Post : Martial arts drama kicks off Berlin film festival
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Stomach CT scans can be avoided in some kids – study

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Not all kids need a CT scan after a blunt trauma to the abdomen, according to a new study that identifies seven key signs to help doctors decide when a scan is unnecessary.

CT scans are becoming commonplace in emergency rooms, but they aren’t harmless. Each scan delivers a dose of radiation that slightly increases a person’s long-term risk of cancer – a risk that’s especially heightened for children.

The key, researchers said, is determining when a CT will help doctors make an important diagnosis – and is therefore worth the risk – and when it is unlikely to benefit a young patient’s care.

“An abdominal CT is the highest CT exposure for kids, and the younger the kid, the higher the exposure,” said Dr. James Holmes, who led the new study at the University of California, Davis School of Medicine.

“This is the big radiation risk, and (parents) need to be aware that if their child really needs the image, they should get it. But if there’s no good reason, they shouldn’t,” Holmes told Reuters Health.

His team’s study included just over 12,000 kids seen at one of 20 ERs after a car or bike crash, fall or other abdominal injury between 2007 and 2010.

Each doctor and hospital decided independently when to do an abdominal scan, and 45 percent of children ended up getting one while in the ER. Just over six percent of all kids had abdominal injuries spotted on a CT scan, and about one-quarter of those needed surgery, a blood transfusion or another intervention.

Based on kids’ symptoms and who ended up needing treatment, Holmes and his colleagues designed a seven-point checklist to determine when a CT scan is not warranted:

When children had no seat belt marks or other clear trauma, no stomach tenderness or pain and no thinking problems, breathing issues or vomiting, just one in 1,000 ended up with an acute injury requiring treatment.

Still, one-quarter of kids in the study who fit those criteria received a CT in the ER, the researchers reported in the Annals of Emergency Medicine.

A CT scan to the abdomen and pelvis delivers a radiation dose of eight millisieverts – equal to about three years’ worth of natural background radiation, or the combined radiation from 400 chest X-rays.

Holmes said that for an infant, the risk of developing cancer after a single abdominal and pelvic CT scan might be as high as 1 in 200. By adolescence, that risks drops to 1 in 1,000 or 1 in 1,500.

There are times when a CT scan is clearly warranted to help doctors find or rule out serious injuries such as a lacerated spleen or liver, Holmes said.

“You’re looking at those things that need to be identified because they need therapy, either an operation to repair their gastrointestinal injury, or perhaps an embolization to repair a bleeding artery,” he said.

In those cases, “You don’t want to send that patient home, because if they need that therapy, they’re not going to get it” – and waiting can make things worse.

But, Holmes said, parents should feel comfortable questioning a doctor’s decision to perform a stomach CT scan on their child, given the potential risks.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/WD6wKF Annals of Emergency Medicine, online February 4, 2013.

Parenting/Kids News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Stomach CT scans can be avoided in some kids – study
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/stomach-ct-scans-can-be-avoided-in-some-kids-study/
Link To Post : Stomach CT scans can be avoided in some kids – study
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Wall Street ends lower on renewed euro zone fears

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks declined on Thursday, taking a step back from their recent advance, prompted by comments by the ECB president on the euro and Europe’s outlook.

The euro currency dropped against the safe-haven dollar and yen, spurring a retreat from risky assets such as stocks, after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said the exchange rate was important to growth and price stability. Investors took that as a sign the bank is concerned about the euro’s advance and its effect on the region’s economy.

Growth sectors were among the weakest performers on the S&P 500: the S&P 500 materials index <.splrcma> was down 0.6 percent while the S&P energy index <.spny> was down 0.5 percent. Housing stocks also declined, with a housing sector index <.hgx> off 1.4 percent.</.hgx></.spny></.splrcma>

Despite the day’s decline and weakness earlier this week, the stock market has been in an almost uninterrupted up trend for most of the year, with the S&P 500 up 5.8 percent so far for 2013.

Many analysts say some weakness at this point is no surprise.

“Given the amount the market moved in January, having a little bit of a pullback and some consolidation where the market goes sideways for a little while, we think would be a healthy sign,” said Eric Marshall, director of research at Hodges Capital Management in Dallas.

Top U.S. retailers reported strong January sales after offering compelling merchandise that drew in shoppers facing a hit to their take-home pay from higher payroll taxes.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was down 42.47 points, or 0.30 percent, at 13,944.05. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index <.spx> was down 2.73 points, or 0.18 percent, at 1,509.39. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was down 3.34 points, or 0.11 percent, at 3,165.13.</.ixic></.spx></.dji>

Shares of Apple helped to limit losses on the Nasdaq, the stock ending up 3 percent at $ 468.22. Fund manager David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital said it has sued Apple Inc and said the company needs to do more to unlock value for shareholders.

Though the earnings season is winding down, results continue to boost growth estimates for the fourth quarter. According to Thomson Reuters data through Thursday morning, of 317 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings, 69 percent have exceeded analysts’ expectations, above a 62 percent average since 1994 and 65 percent over the past four quarters.

Fourth-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies rose 5 percent, according to the data, above a 1.9 percent forecast at the start of the earnings season.

Akamai Technologies Inc lost 15.2 percent to $ 35.26 as the worst percentage performer on the S&P 500 after the Internet content delivery company forecast current-quarter revenue below analysts’ expectations.

Among retailers, Macy’s Inc rose 2 percent to $ 40.27 after reporting January same store sales rose 11.7 percent.

But Ann Inc dropped 8 percent to $ 30.20 after forecasting fourth-quarter sales below analysts’ expectations.

Economic data was mixed. Initial jobless claims dipped last week, with the four-week moving average falling to its lowest level since March 2008, signaling the economy continues to recover slowly.

A separate report said fourth-quarter productivity registered its biggest drop in nearly two years, while unit labor costs jumped 4.5 percent, more than economists expected.

Roughly 6.6 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the NYSE MKT, compared with the 2012 average daily closing volume of about 6.45 billion.

Decliners outpaced advancers on the NYSE by nearly 4 to 3 and on the Nasdaq by about 5 to 3.

(Additional reporting by Angela Moon; Editing by Kenneth Barry and Nick Zieminski)

Business News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Wall Street ends lower on renewed euro zone fears
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/wall-street-ends-lower-on-renewed-euro-zone-fears/
Link To Post : Wall Street ends lower on renewed euro zone fears
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Holidays, politics may give NKorea nuke test clues

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — So when will it be?

North Korea vowed last month to carry out its third nuclear test but has said nothing about timing. As a result, the building suspense in Seoul has prompted many to look at the dates Pyongyang has chosen for past atomic tests, as well as rocket and missile launches.

Dates and numbers have great symbolic importance to North Korea’s government. So Pyongyang often schedules what Washington calls “provocative acts” around U.S. holidays and important South Korean political events, an effort to send none-too-subtle messages to its main enemies — Washington and Seoul. Pyongyang also uses the tests to give a nationalistic boost to its citizens, often favoring significant milestones of the state, party and ruling Kim family.

Here’s a look at the “meaningful dates” North Korea has selected for past tests and launches, as well as future key dates on which Pyongyang might choose to stage its third nuclear test:

U.S. HOLIDAYS AND POLITICAL EVENTS:

Both previous nuclear tests were conducted as Americans celebrated U.S. holidays: Oct. 9, 2006, was Columbus Day; May 25, 2009, was Memorial Day.

North Korea also conducted missile tests on America’s Independence Day in 2006. It launched a long-range rocket just a few months after Obama’s first inauguration in 2009.

Some speculate that Pyongyang might make good on its atomic threat on the upcoming Feb. 18 federal holiday. That day is Washington’s Birthday, also known as Presidents Day. South Korea’s foreign minister has also suggested President Barack Obama‘s State of the Union address on Feb. 12.

SOUTH KOREAN POLITICAL EVENTS:

North Korea also has used inaugurations and elections in archrival South Korea to test its missiles and to launch rockets. South Korean President-elect Park Geun-hye will be inaugurated Feb. 25.

Last year’s successful Dec. 12 long-range rocket launch, which was condemned by the U.N. as a cover for a banned missile test, came just a week before South Koreans went to the polls to choose a new president.

North Korea fired a short-range missile on the eve of former liberal President Roh Moo-hyun’s 2003 inauguration. Days before that, a North Korean jet also intruded into South Korean airspace over the Yellow Sea, turning back as warplanes in South Korea scrambled.

And in 1998, six months after liberal South Korean President Kim Dae-jung took office, North Korea launched what it said was a rocket carrying a satellite.

NORTH KOREAN MILESTONES:

A failed North Korean rocket test last year fell on April 12, days before the April 15 celebration of the centennial of the birth of national founder Kim Il Sung.

The 2006 nuclear test also came a day before the 61st anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers’ Party.

North Korea has repeatedly sought to link the legacy of late leader Kim Jong Il — Kim Il Sung’s son and the father of current leader Kim Jong Un — to the development of its nuclear program. His birthday falls on Feb. 16. Two days before that, Feb. 14, is the anniversary of Kim Jong Il being posthumously named Generalissimo.

__

Associated Press writers Hyung-jin Kim and Sam Kim in Seoul contributed to this report.

Asia News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Holidays, politics may give NKorea nuke test clues
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/holidays-politics-may-give-nkorea-nuke-test-clues/
Link To Post : Holidays, politics may give NKorea nuke test clues
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Segregationist U.S. Senator Thurmond’s biracial daughter dies

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) – Essie Mae Washington-Williams, who in 2003 revealed she was the biracial daughter of segregationist U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond, died on Monday at age 87, her attorney said.

Washington-Williams, who had been in declining health in recent years, died of natural causes at a care home in Columbia, South Carolina, said lawyer Frank Wheaton.

Washington-Williams was born in 1925 to a black teenage girl who worked as a maid in Thurmond’s parents’ home when Thurmond was 22. She announced she was Thurmond’s daughter in 2003 after his death at age 100 that year, and the late senator’s family confirmed her claim.

Washington-Williams was a teacher in Los Angeles for three decades and was the mother of four. She moved to South Carolina about five years ago to be closer to a daughter who lived there, Wheaton said.

Her 2006 memoir, “Dear Senator,” detailed her decades-long relationship with her father, the letters they wrote each other and the kindness he showed her personally, which she struggled to reconcile with his opposition to civil rights and his defense of racial segregation.

“She was very low-key and never wanted to rock the boat, I think that’s why she kept her secret until he died,” said William Stadiem, who co-wrote “Dear Senator.”

Stadiem said Thurmond had great affection for Washington-Williams‘ mother, Carrie Butler.

“The fact he stayed close to Essie for all those years, it would be so easy for him to say ‘get out of my life, you don’t exist,’ and he didn’t do that,” Stadiem said. “I think she reminded him of her mother.”

Washington-Williams as a young child went to live with her mother’s sister and her husband in Pennsylvania, and it was from him that she took the surname Washington. She adopted the name Williams from her marriage to attorney Julius Williams.

Thurmond began his career as a Democrat but switched to the Republican Party in 1964. In his lifetime, Thurmond said he was not racist but opposed what he saw as excessive federal intervention.

He staged the longest filibuster in U.S. history when he spoke for more than 24 hours against a 1957 civil rights bill that sought to fight the disenfranchisement of blacks in the South by giving new powers to federal prosecutors.

In 2004 a statue of Thurmond outside the South Carolina State House was altered to engrave the name Essie Mae with those of his other four children on the foundation stone.

(Reporting by Harriet McLeod; Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Xavier Briand)

Celebrity News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Segregationist U.S. Senator Thurmond’s biracial daughter dies
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/segregationist-u-s-senator-thurmonds-biracial-daughter-dies/
Link To Post : Segregationist U.S. Senator Thurmond’s biracial daughter dies
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Mariel Hemingway hopes new film will end her family’s curse

LONDON (Reuters) – Actress Mariel Hemingway hopes going public in a documentary about the curse that has plagued her family will finally dispel any mystery around their battles with addiction and raise awareness about mental illness.

For years, Hemingway ignored the drinking, addiction and mental illness that coursed through her family, leading several relatives to take their own lives.

Her grandfather Ernest Hemingway, the Nobel Prize-winning writer, killed himself in 1961 just months before she born. Mirroring his own father’s suicide, he shot himself.

One of her sisters, Margaux, died of an overdose in 1996 at the age of 42, and her youngest sister, Joan, has been in and out of institutions for a decade.

Mariel Hemingway, 51, who soared to fame in her Oscar-nominated role in the Woody Allen film “Manhattan”, has faced her own demons, battling depression.

But she hopes that talking opening about the so-called Hemingway curse in a new documentary, “Running from Crazy”, will help others confront mental illness in their own families.

“I never felt it was a curse but I definitely wanted a normal life,” Hemingway told Reuters in London on Wednesday where she attended the opening night of “Fiesta”, a play based on Ernest Hemingway’s first novel, “The Sun Also Rises”.

“There are lifestyle choices you can make which can change the course of your life. I have been able to do that through the food I eat, what I drink, what I do on a day-to-day basis. I have managed to find a balance.”

The documentary, which made its premiere at last month’s Sundance Film Festival and is due to be released in Britain this spring, explores her parents’ tumultuous marriage and her troubled relationships with her siblings.

It includes footage of her sister Margaux, a model and actress, whose death she refused to say was suicide until 2003.

“Making this documentary ended up being very therapeutic,” she said. “It was not until recently that I realized I had been depressed for so long and I am finally happy.”

Hemingway said her family and her own battles had made her passionate about advocating awareness about suicide and mental illness with her own two daughters as well as other people.

“Mental illness especially in the United States is still taboo. Hopefully seeing what my family has gone through will help people talk about these issues,” she said.

Hemingway said she was currently working on turning her grandfather’s posthumous memoir “A Moveable Feast” into a film and was acutely aware how difficult it was to adapt his prose, which was so often dependent on what was not said.

“You have to have a very delicate hand to adapt his work,” she said, praising “Fiesta”, which was adapted from “The Sun Also Rises” and directed by Alex Helfrecht.

Helfrecht received approval from the Hemingway estate to adapt the novel, which follows a group of hard-drinking expatriates from Paris to Pamplona’s bull-running festival in the 1920s, for the stage. “Fiesta” runs at the Trafalgar Studios 2 until March 2.

(Reporting by Belinda Goldsmith; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Seniors/Aging News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Mariel Hemingway hopes new film will end her family’s curse
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/mariel-hemingway-hopes-new-film-will-end-her-familys-curse/
Link To Post : Mariel Hemingway hopes new film will end her family’s curse
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Senate panel to vet Lew for Treasury secretary next week

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing on February 13 to consider the nomination of Jacob “Jack” Lew for Treasury secretary, the committee said on Wednesday.

Committee chairman Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, will question Lew “about his experience, his views on fiscal policy and ideas for spurring economic growth” at the 10 a.m. hearing, the committee said.

“We have a tremendous amount of work to do over the next couple months to get our fiscal house in order. It is my hope that — after a thorough vetting process – Jack Lew will be quickly confirmed so he can help tackle our country’s pressing economic issues,” Baucus said in the committee statement.

Lew was recently Obama’s chief of staff and a former White House budget director.

(Reporting by Rachelle Younglai; Editing by Jackie Frank)

Economy News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Senate panel to vet Lew for Treasury secretary next week
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/senate-panel-to-vet-lew-for-treasury-secretary-next-week/
Link To Post : Senate panel to vet Lew for Treasury secretary next week
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Iran’s Ahmadinejad kissed and scolded in Egypt

CAIRO (Reuters) – Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was both kissed and scolded on Tuesday when he began the first visit to Egypt by an Iranian president since Tehran’s 1979 Islamic revolution.

The trip was meant to underline a thaw in relations since Egyptians elected an Islamist head of state, President Mohamed Mursi, last June. But it also highlighted deep theological and geopolitical differences.

Mursi, a member of the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood, kissed Ahmadinejad after he landed at Cairo airport and gave him a red carpet reception with military honors. Ahmadinejad beamed as he shook hands with waiting dignitaries.

But the Shi’ite Iranian leader received a stiff rebuke when he met Egypt’s leading Sunni Muslim scholar later at Cairo’s historic al-Azhar mosque and university.

Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, head of the 1,000-year-old seat of religious learning, urged Iran to refrain from interfering in Gulf Arab states, to recognize Bahrain as a “sisterly Arab nation” and rejected the extension of Shi’ite Muslim influence in Sunni countries, a statement from al-Azhar said.

Visiting Cairo to attend an Islamic summit that begins on Wednesday, Ahmadinejad told a news conference he hoped his trip would be “a new starting point in relations between us”.

However, a senior cleric from the Egyptian seminary, Hassan al-Shafai, who appeared alongside him, said the meeting had degenerated into an exchange of theological differences.

“There ensued some misunderstandings on certain issues that could have an effect on the cultural, political and social climate of both countries,” Shafai said.

“The issues were such that the grand sheikh saw that the meeting … did not serve the desired purpose.”

The visit would have been unthinkable during the rule of Hosni Mubarak, the military-backed autocrat who preserved Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel during his 30 years in power and deepened ties between Cairo and the West.

“The political geography of the region will change if Iran and Egypt take a unified position on the Palestinian question,” Ahmadinejad said in an interview with Al Mayadeen, a Beirut-based TV station, on the eve of his trip.

He said he wanted to visit the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian territory which neighbors Egypt to the east and is run by the Islamist movement Hamas. “If they allow it, I would go to Gaza to visit the people,” Ahmadinejad said.

Analysts doubt that the historic changes that brought Mursi to power will result in a full restoration of diplomatic ties between states whose relations were broken off after the conclusion of Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel in 1979.

OBSTACLES TO FULL TIES

At the airport the two leaders discussed ways of improving relations and resolving the Syrian crisis “without resorting to military intervention”, Egyptian state media reported.

Egypt is concerned by Iran’s support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is trying to crush an uprising inspired by the revolt that swept Mubarak from power two years ago. Egypt’s overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim population is broadly supportive of the uprising against Assad’s Alawite-led administration.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr sought to reassure Gulf Arab allies – that are supporting Cairo’s battered state finances and are deeply suspicious of Iran – that Egypt would not jeopardize their security.

“The security of the Gulf states is the security of Egypt,” he said in remarks reported by the official MENA news agency.

Mursi wants to preserve ties with the United States, the source of $ 1.3 billion in aid each year to the influential Egyptian military.

“The restoration of full relations with Iran in this period is difficult, despite the warmth in ties … because of many problems including the Syrian crisis and Cairo’s links with the Gulf states, Israel and the United States,” said one former Egyptian diplomat.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said he was optimistic that ties could grow closer.

“We are gradually improving. We have to be a little bit patient. I’m very hopeful about the expansion of the bilateral relationship,” he told Reuters. Asked where he saw room for closer ties, he said: “Trade and economics.”

Egypt and Iran have taken opposite courses since the late 1970s. Egypt, under Mubarak’s predecessor Anwar Sadat, concluded a peace treaty with Israel in 1979 and became a close ally of the United States and Europe. Iran from 1979 turned into a center of opposition to Western influence in the Middle East.

Symbolically, Iran named a street in Tehran after the Islamist who led the 1981 assassination of Sadat.

Egypt gave asylum and a state funeral to Iran’s exiled Shah Reza Pahlavi, who was overthrown in the 1979 Iranian revolution. He is buried in a mosque beside Cairo’s mediaeval Citadel alongside his ex-brother-in-law, Egypt’s last king, Farouk.

(Additional reporting by Ayman Samir, Marwa Awad and Alexander Diadosz; Writing by Paul Taylor and Tom Perry; Editing by Andrew Roche and Robin Pomeroy)

World News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Iran’s Ahmadinejad kissed and scolded in Egypt
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/irans-ahmadinejad-kissed-and-scolded-in-egypt/
Link To Post : Iran’s Ahmadinejad kissed and scolded in Egypt
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Smooth-singing Josh Groban offers edgier sound on new album

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – After selling more than 22 million albums in the United States and becoming a staple in the classical music field, singer Josh Groban is embracing an edgier sound for his latest record, “All That Echoes,” out on Tuesday.

Groban, 31, put together a collection of covers and original songs for the album, including a rendition of one of his personal favorites, “Falling Slowly” from the movie and stage musical “Once.”

Under the guidance of veteran producer Rob Cavallo, the Warner Bros. Records chairman who has worked with rockers like Green Day, Goo Goo Dolls and Paramore, Groban showcases his usual smooth vocals against a more energetic, live-concert sound.

“It’s not about walking out of your lane and scaring people. It’s about slightly expanding what your lane is and allowing all of that to be part of your world,” Groban said in an interview with Reuters.

Along with covers including a rendition of Stevie Wonder’s “I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever),” Groban also wrote original songs, which he said emerged from frustration.

“It was the frustration of hearing songs that were maybe written for me after a little bit of success, going ‘Ahh, is that really what you think I do?’ Yes, I know the other thing was kind of cheesy, but that’s really cheesy,’” the singer said.

“All That Echoes” features original songs such as “Below the Line,” which draws in Latin jazz beats and sweeping ballads such as “Brave” and “False Alarms,” where Groban showcases his powerful voice.

ACTING CHOPS

Groban first found the spotlight in 1999, when he was asked to fill in for ailing Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli at a rehearsal with Canadian singer Celine Dion.

Groban went on to land a short role on TV show “Ally McBeal” in 2001 and released his debut self-titled solo album later that year.

Five studio albums later, Groban has cemented himself at the top of the list of pop-vocal performers. His 2007 holiday record “Noel” became the best-selling U.S. album of the year.

Los Angeles native Groban has also taken small acting roles in TV comedy “The Office, movie “Crazy Stupid Love” and will make a cameo appearance on an upcoming episode of “CSI: NY.”

If he had his dream gig, Groban said he would be fronting rock band Queen for a day. But in the more foreseeable future, he hoped to become a regular face in theater.

“There are only so many albums I’m going to want to make before I decide to go and follow that dream for a minute or longer than a minute,” the singer said.

“I think that there will come a time very soon, hopefully in the next two or three years, where I’ll take out a big chunk of time and dedicate it to theater and do some of that.”

For now, the singer will hit the road in support of his new album, heading to Australia in April before returning to Los Angeles to perform three dates at the Hollywood Bowl in July.

(Reporting By Lindsay Claiborn, writing by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Music News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Smooth-singing Josh Groban offers edgier sound on new album
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/smooth-singing-josh-groban-offers-edgier-sound-on-new-album/
Link To Post : Smooth-singing Josh Groban offers edgier sound on new album
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Steroid shots for tennis elbow may hurt, not help

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Getting a cortisone injection won’t cure tennis elbow any better than a drug-free saline shot, according to a new study – and it might actually slow recovery.

Researchers found that a few weeks after receiving the steroid shots, people reported less pain and disability than those who’d been given placebo injections. But a year later, the same patients lagged behind the placebo group in their likelihood of complete recovery.

“This absolutely confirms that steroid injections are not a good idea,” said Dr. Allan Mishra, an orthopedic surgeon at Stanford University in Menlo Park, California.

“This is important, because people think that it’s okay to get a cortisone injection (for tennis elbow), and it’s not okay. It puts you at a disadvantage long term in terms of getting better,” Mishra, who has studied tennis elbow treatment but wasn’t involved in the new study, told Reuters Health.

The condition is caused by overuse of tendons in the elbow and typically treated with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, physical therapy and steroid shots.

Last month, a study from Denmark found neither steroid nor platelet injections improved pain and functioning among people with tennis elbow any better than saline shots, over a period of three months (see Reuters Health story of January 22, 2013 here: http://reut.rs/Wl9Ckw).

Researchers at the time cautioned that the study’s follow-up period was short and the results might look different at six months or a year post-injections.

By following patients longer, the new report shines a light on the possible long-term tendon damage that can be caused by cortisone shots, Mishra said.

‘DOES NOT SUPPORT’ STEROID SHOTS

Bill Vicenzino from the University of Queensland in Australia and his colleagues randomly assigned 165 adults with tennis elbow to one of four treatment groups: cortisone shots with physical therapy, placebo shots with physical therapy, cortisone shots without physical therapy and placebo shots without physical therapy.

After one year, there was no difference in people’s improvement in pain or functioning based on whether they’d had the eight sessions of prescribed therapy.

Among those who’d received a cortisone shot, 83 percent reported they had completely recovered from tennis elbow by one year. That compared to 96 percent of those who’d received a placebo injection, according to findings published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Symptoms were also more likely to come back after a cortisone injection. The research team calculated that one more person would have a recurrence for every two or three treated with steroids instead of a saline shot.

“This evidence does not support the clinical practice of using corticosteroid injection to facilitate active rehabilitation,” the study team wrote.

Cortisone injections typically start at about $ 100.

Mishra said researchers are looking for better treatments to address what is causing tendon pain in the first place, such as weakening of collagen in the tendon. One possible option being studied by himself and others is so-called platelet-rich plasma injections, but “we’re not quite there yet,” he said.

Many cases of tennis elbow also go away on their own with time and basic stretching, Mishra added.

“I think home-based exercises are probably sufficient for treating this,” he said. “You’d be better off with that than with a cortisone injection. That’s what you should start with, because you might not even need physical therapy.”

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/JjFzqx Journal of the American Medical Association, online February 5, 2013.

Medications/Drugs News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Steroid shots for tennis elbow may hurt, not help
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/steroid-shots-for-tennis-elbow-may-hurt-not-help/
Link To Post : Steroid shots for tennis elbow may hurt, not help
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Harvard Flunks Investing, Taps Accel’s Jim Breyer

(Updates 9th paragraph with comments from a Harvard spokesman on Breyer’s role.)

When the Ivy League’s fiscal year ended in June, Harvard University finished in an unfamiliar spot: last. The school’s endowment was the only one in the hallowed group to lose money on its investments, with a return of negative 0.05 percent—below the average gain of 2.3 percent and well behind Dartmouth’s leading return of 5.8 percent. Harvard’s fund is still the Ivy League’s biggest by far, at $ 30.7 billion, but in Cambridge, ranking eighth in anything simply will not do.

And so on Feb. 4, the university announced that prominent venture capitalist Jim Breyer of Accel Partners had joined Harvard’s board.

In Breyer, Harvard is getting one of Silicon Valley’s most successful venture capitalists, best known for an early bet on Facebook (FB) that helped make him a billionaire. In Harvard, Breyer gets to add perhaps the most prestigious name in board memberships to his ever-growing list of affiliations.

Breyer, a graduate of Harvard Business School, collects directorships like baseball cards. At this point, it might be faster to list the places where he’s not a director, but here’s a start: Breyer is on the boards of Facebook, Wal-Mart Stores (WMT), Dell (DELL), News Corp. (NWS), Etsy, Prosper Marketplace, Booyah, Ubermedia, and Bbnt Solutions, according to a Bloomberg database. Accel’s website adds that Breyer “serves on the board of Stanford Technology Ventures Program, Epicenter, the National Center for Engineering Pathways to Innovation, Technet and is a trustee of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), and of The Menlo School.”

Plus, Accel says, Breyer is chairman of the Stanford Engineering Venture Fund and an honorary professor at Hunan University’s Yuelu Academy in China. Previous memberships, chairmanships, and other roles came at the National Venture Capital Association and the Western Association of Venture Capitalists; Harvard’s Global Advisory Council and Harvard Business School; Brightcove (BCOV); Marvel Entertainment; RealNetworks (RNWK); Lightspan; Mpath Interactive; Actuate (BIRT); Thestreet.co.uk (TST); Legendary Entertainment; Model N; and more.

At some point Breyer even finds the time to work at Accel.

In May 2012, New York Times columnist Gretchen Morgenson faulted Breyer for board promiscuity, noting that four of his five directorships at public companies were tainted by scandal or mismanagement. That included News Corp., which had already become engulfed in a phone hacking scandal before Breyer joined the board; Wal-Mart, accused of bribery in Mexico; and Dell, the struggling computer maker that agreed to take the humbling step of going private. Morgenson also criticized Breyer for favoring companies with dual-class stock structures, which tend to have weak board oversight because voting power is concentrated in the hands of a few shareholders. Breyer did not respond to an e-mailed request for comment.

Joining the Harvard Corporation, as the board is known, must be extra sweet for Breyer. In 2004, Forbes reported, the university dropped its investment in Accel Partners. This came just as the firm’s performance was about take off, thanks largely to its stake in Facebook—which was started in a Harvard dorm room.

Harvard’s endowment is run by the Harvard Management Company, led by Jane L. Mendillo. Kevin Galvin, a university spokesman, emphasized in an emailed statement that Breyer had joined the school’s top board, and not that of the investment company. “The University Board is not involved in setting the investment policy for the University,” he wrote. “Mr. Breyer’s close involvement with leading technology and media companies will no doubt make him an invaluable counselor for the University on a range of issues.”

While Harvard trailed the rest of the Ivy League last year, its investment performance was in line with colleges nationwide. Endowments declined 0.3 percent on average, according to the National Association of College & University Officers. The whole point of Harvard, though, is that it is not average. The university’s operations and ability to compete for academic talent depend on strong financial performance.

As Harvard students know, when your grades start to fall behind the curve, it’s smart to bring on a tutor. Breyer’s expertise can’t hurt—if he can truly find the time to lend it.

Businessweek.com — Top News

Title Post: Harvard Flunks Investing, Taps Accel’s Jim Breyer
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/harvard-flunks-investing-taps-accels-jim-breyer/
Link To Post : Harvard Flunks Investing, Taps Accel’s Jim Breyer
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Air Canada to boost capacity in Western Canada as rival gears up

(Reuters) – Air Canada will boost capacity in Western Canada this spring and summer, the airline said on Friday, introducing new, larger aircraft and more flights as its biggest domestic rival launches a short-haul airline.

Air Canada, the country’s biggest airline, will replace its 50-seat Bombardier Inc CRJ100/200ER aircraft on Western Canadian routes with new Bombardier 74-seater Q400 Next Generation aircraft. That is the same plane that competitor WestJet Airlines Ltd will use for its new regional carrier Encore.

Encore will be launched in the second half of this year, connecting smaller communities that have often only been served by Air Canada. WestJet has not yet revealed its initial routes and schedules for Encore but has had a strong presence in Western Canada, where it is headquartered.

Air Canada is boosting capacity to meet “strong demand” in Western Canada, Marcel Forget, vice president of network planning, said in a statement.

More Q400 aircraft will be rolled out on additional routes in British Columbia, Alberta and the Northwest Territories in the coming months, he said.

Seat capacity on some routes will double this spring.

Competition in Canadian skies will further heat up this year as Air Canada also plans to launch a low-cost carrier, Rouge, to fly to Europe and the Caribbean.

Air Canada said on Thursday it was recruiting the first 150 flight attendants for Rouge.

Rouge will begin with older planes from Air Canada’s mainline operations, as new, replacement aircraft, including 37 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, are received.

The delivery schedule has been put in question, given the worldwide grounding of the new, high-tech jetliner over battery problems.

(Reporting by Nicole Mordant in Vancouver; Editing by Janet Guttsman and Jeffrey Benkoe)

Canada News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Air Canada to boost capacity in Western Canada as rival gears up
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/air-canada-to-boost-capacity-in-western-canada-as-rival-gears-up/
Link To Post : Air Canada to boost capacity in Western Canada as rival gears up
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Facebook After Death: Who Owns Your Pages When You Die?

Most people can’t live without Facebook — but what happens to your Facebook page when you are no longer living? New Hampshire and other states are trying to figure that out.

State Rep. Peter Sullivan has introduced legislation to allow the executor of an estate control over the social networking pages of the dead. Last week, the New Hampshire House of Representatives voted 222-128 to give Sullivan more time to write an amendment that begins a study of the issue.

The bill proposed by Sullivan, a Democrat from Manchester, would allow control of someone’s Facebook, Twitter, and other accounts such as Gmail to be passed to the executor of their estate after death.

According to Sullivan, passage of his bill would bridge a gap in policies of social media sites regarding posthumous users. He said his bill would protect residents who have suffered loss.

“This would give the families a sense of closure, a sense of peace. It would help prevent this form of bullying that continues even after someone dies and nobody is really harmed by it.”

In an interview with WMUR, Sullivan tells the story of a young Canadian girl who committed suicide because of bullying. After she died the taunting continued on her Facebook page.

Read More About Teens Bullied On Facebook

“The family wasn’t able to do anything; they didn’t have access to her account.” Sullivan said. “They couldn’t go in and delete those comments, and they couldn’t take the page down completely.”

Five other states, including Oklahoma, Idaho, Rhode Island, Indiana and Connecticut, have established legislation regulating one’s digital presence after death. Rhode Island and Connecticut were first, but their bills were limited in scope to email accounts, excluding social networking sites.

According to opponents of Sullivan’s bill, contracts and provisions between the social media user and the site already lay out what happens to the page once the user passes. Opponents say Sullivan’s bill is unenforceable and incomplete. Some also say the issue would be better suited for federal law.

Ryan Kiesel, then a state legislator from Oklahoma, sponsored a similar bill in 2010 called the Digital Property Management After Death law. Though he supports states’ efforts to bring light to this issue, saying that it is a good way to get the conversation started, he also believes that this is a case that should eventually taken up by the federal government.

“Facebook and other online providers have changed their privacy policies to keep up with the times, but we still see a lot of flux within different sites like Facebook , Flickr, or Google, for example.” Keisel told ABC News. “The federal government should pass uniform laws to govern all digital assets because it is quite difficult for an estate to have to navigate endless numbers of digital policies postmortem.”

Kiesel, who now works as a civil rights activist, compared one’s digital legacy to the distribution of someone’s tangible assets after death.

Get more pure politics at ABCNews.com/Politics

“In Oklahoma, if you are administrator of the estate of a deceased person’s house and you find a box under their bed, you are well within your right to see what’s inside that box and if property is worth distributing, you should distribute it accordingly.” Kiesel told ABC News that the same idea goes for digital legacy.

Today marks the ninth Anniversary of the launch of Facebook, which currently has over 1 billion active users. That number, which has grown from just a million users in 2004, suggests there must be an enormous number of Facebook pages that must currently be occupied by deceased people.

Facebook has not completely ignored the growing number of deceased users. The site has created a function allowing Facebook pages to become memorials after they have died.

“Please use this form to request the memorialization of a deceased person’s account,” the site reads. “We extend our condolences and appreciate your patience and understanding throughout this process.”

Memorialization of a Facebook page, however, can only be done via online request. And the terms of service for Facebook’s say that it will not issue login and password information to family members of the deceased. The requestor must contact Facebook and request that the profile is taken down or memorialized.

Also Read
Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Facebook After Death: Who Owns Your Pages When You Die?
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/facebook-after-death-who-owns-your-pages-when-you-die/
Link To Post : Facebook After Death: Who Owns Your Pages When You Die?
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..