H&R Block At Home Deluxe Online (2011)

Using the 2011 version of H&R Block's At Home Deluxe Online is something like visiting one of the company's offices, I'd imagine. You exchange a few pleasantries with the preparer, but then it's all business. You're asking and answering questions, presenting a lot of numbers, and then reviewing your work together. Unfortunately, H&R Block At Home Deluxe Online's stumbles a bit during the post-prep review process. TurboTax ($49.95, Federal; $36.95, State; 4.5 stars) has won our Editor's Choice for several years running now, and it does so again this year, ?in part because of this flaw.

The Broadest Range
H&R Block's online tax preparation site provides a simple, straightforward work environment that over the years has shed the colorful graphics and sometimes slow operation that it sported in its previous life as Kiplinger TaxCut. In 2012, H&R Block's At Home Deluxe Online is clean, fast, and comprehensive, and features all-important help resources that offer a better chance of getting to the answer you're looking for faster than the competition.

Every tax preparation software and website publisher offers multiple applications with varying levels of processing ability and help. Each lets you move up to a more sophisticated product if you've paid for one and it's not meeting your needs (neither do any of them charge you until you print or e-file). But H&R Block's product line is more extensive than its competitors'. I reviewed H&R Block At Home Deluxe ($29.95 for federal; state, $34.95).

Here's the entire lineup; all include a free federal e-file:

• H&R Block At Home Free Edition. Supports a surprisingly robust number of forms and schedules, including Forms 1040, 1040A and 1040EZ; multiple 1098s and 1099s; and Schedules A, B, H and R. Offers free audit assistance (not representation).
• H&R Block At Home Basic Edition. Everything in Free, plus step-by-step guidance, previous year import and an error check, for $19.95. No Schedules C-F.
• H&R Block At Home Deluxe Edition. Everything in Basic, plus import from financial institutions (W-2s, 1099s, etc.); personalized tax guidance for homeowners and investors; investment sales support; mortgage interest and charitable deduction maximizers. Supports C-F. $29.95.
• H&R Block At Home Premium Edition. Contains everything in previous versions plus Schedule C guidance; one free phone session with a tax professional; rental income assistance; advanced tax calculators and tax law/planning resources, for $49.95.
• Best of Both. Do your own tax prep online with one of these solutions and pay an extra $79.95 to have an H&R Block professional review, correct, sign and file your return. Year-round advice is included.

H&R Block still publishes CD/download versions, but they're more expensive for Deluxe and Premium users. TurboTax and TaxACT, too, still come in desktop versions. CompleteTax has always been available online only.

Mobility has become important to every type of application, and TurboTax has everyone beat in this area. H&R Block ?has both an optimized iPad version and a smartphone app.

One Navigational Downside
All of H&R Block's online tax sites share a characteristic that none of the others does. Everyone offers a bookmark-type function that lets you enter a reminder to come back and fill in missing information. On the H&R Block At Home sites, though, you cannot advance onto the next screen until you've completed the previous one. This is the safest way to proceed and makes it less likely that you'll forget something, but it can be frustrating.

Other than that navigational difference, getting around H&R Block At Home is as easy as on the competing sites ? perhaps easier, because the site's interface is sparer than the others. No fancy graphics or an excess of icons or toolbars. H&R Block's quieter approach can make it easier to find exactly what you're looking for, when you need it.

There are few navigational tools. You have your "Back" and "Next" buttons that move you to the previous and next screens. You have your "Take me to" button that opens a chronological directory of topics and screens. And you have a tabbed bar at the top dividing your path into "Welcome," "Federal," "State," and "File;" clicking on one opens a row of subtopics for that parent topic ("Income," "Credits," etc. ). That's it. Brevity and simplicity rule.

And as always, H&R Block At Home, like its competitors, asks simple questions and provides check boxes, fields and radio buttons for your answers, then drops your entries into the correct line on the 1040 and its related documents.?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/ScosVlCLJXg/0,2817,2376875,00.asp

emmy rossum moonshine the big chill jay z and beyonce tony blankley steelers blue ivy carter

UN putting Syria on 'path to civil war', Russia warns

By NBC News and msnbc.com news services

Ayman Mohyeldin / NBC News

President Bashar Assad's regime is intensifying its violent crackdown on Syrian protesters, despite international pressure. NBC News' Ayman Mohyeldin is one of the few Western journalists to have been granted permission inside Syria in recent weeks, click to see some of his photos.

A senior Russian diplomat warned Tuesday that a draft U.N. resolution demanding Syrian President Bashar Assad step aside is a "path to civil war," as Syrian troops crushed pockets of resistance by rebel soldiers on the outskirts of Damascus.

The U.N. Security Council was to meet Tuesday to discuss the draft, backed by Western and some Arab powers. But Russia would likely veto any punitive action.

---

"The Western draft Security Council resolution on Syria does not lead to a search for compromise," Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov wrote on Twitter. "Pushing this resolution is a path to civil war."

?

?

Russia has been one of Assad's strongest backers as he tries to crush an uprising that began nearly 11 months ago. In October, Moscow vetoed the first council attempt to condemn Syria's crackdown and has shown little sign of budging in its opposition.

The draft text of the resolution, seen by The Associated Press, insists there will be no use of foreign forces in the country. It calls on Assad's regime to immediately put "an end to all human rights violations and attacks against those exercising their rights to freedom of expression."

It calls on Assad to delegate his "full authority to his deputy" to allow a national unity government to lead transition to a democratic system. The text, the drafting of which has been led by Morocco, insists it does not compel "states to resort to the use of force, or the threat of force."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday he hoped the Security Council would reflect international will when it deliberates the resolution.

President Bashar Assad's regime has slaughtered thousands of people since March, according to the United Nations. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.

"I sincerely hope the Security Council will be united and speak in a coherent manner reflecting the wishes of the international community," Ban told reporters in the Jordanian capital Amman. "This is crucially important."

China, which like Russia has a veto in the council, also has reservations about the draft. Russia and China vetoed a European-drafted resolution in October that condemned Syria and threatened it with sanctions.

"I don't think we can go on like this," Ban said.

Syria's crackdown on protesters and anti-government fighters had gone on despite a now-suspended Arab League monitoring mission and action was needed to stop the bloodshed, he said.

"Even with the monitoring missions having been there, more than a few hundred have been killed ... every day tens of people are killed ... this should stop immediately," Ban said. "It is crucially important for the Security Council to act on this."

Escalating violence
Meanwhile Tuesday, government troops were deploying in "massive numbers" to the suburbs of Damascus, the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told NBC News. The group said at least 11 people had been killed as of Tuesday morning.

The Observatory, which supports the Free Syrian Army, said government forces were targeting civilians who were aiding defectors, NBC reported.

Fighting has escalated in the past several days with at least 100 people killed on Monday alone.

The office of U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay voiced alarm on Tuesday at the escalating violence and called on Syrian authorities to "stop the killing of civilians" while also urging opposition forces to show restraint.

"It does look like there's a very dangerous and alarming escalation taking place including right in the suburbs of Damascus," U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville told a news briefing in Geneva.

"So once again we urge the Syrian authorities to stop the killing of civilians in Syria. And we also urge the opposition fighters to take extreme caution too and ensure that there is no more unnecessary killing," he said.

More than 5,000 people have been killed in the uprising as of mid-December, according to Pillay's office.

Despite "high rates of casualties" since then, it has been impossible to verify incidents and lists of victims compiled by five or six human rights groups on the ground, Colville said.

More from msnbc.com and NBC News:

NBC News, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/31/10278452-un-putting-syria-on-path-to-civil-war-russia-warns-as-security-council-meets

while you were sleeping while you were sleeping happy halloween happy halloween history of halloween eagles cowboys eagles cowboys

Need muscle for a tough spot? Turn to fat stem cells

ScienceDaily (Jan. 30, 2012) ? Stem cells derived from fat have a surprising trick up their sleeves: Encouraged to develop on a stiff surface, they undergo a remarkable transformation toward becoming mature muscle cells. The new research appears in the journal Biomaterials. The new cells remain intact and fused together even when transferred to an extremely stiff, bone-like surface, which has University of California, San Diego bioengineering professor Adam Engler and colleagues intrigued. These cells, they suggest, could hint at new therapeutic possibilities for muscular dystrophy.

In diseases like muscular dystrophy or a heart attack, ?muscle begins to die and undergoes its normal wounding processes,? said Engler, a bioengineering professor at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego. ?This damaged tissue is fundamentally different from a mechanical perspective? than healthy tissue.

Transplanted stem cells might be able to replace and repair diseased muscle, but up to this point the transplants haven?t been very successful in muscular dystrophy patients, he noted. The cells tend to clump into hard nodules as they struggle to adapt to their new environment of thickened and damaged tissue.

Engler, postdoctoral scholar Yu Suk Choi and the rest of the team think their fat-derived stem cells might have a better chance for this kind of therapy, since the cells seem to thrive on a stiff and unyielding surface that mimics the damaged tissue found in people with MD.

In their study in the journal Biomaterials, the researchers compared the development of bone marrow stem cells and fat-derived stem cells grown on surfaces of varying stiffness, ranging from the softness of brain tissue to the hardness of bone.

Cells from the fat lineage were 40 to 50 times better than their bone marrow counterparts at displaying the proper proteins involved in becoming muscle. These proteins are also more likely to ?turn on? in the correct sequence in the fat-derived cells, Engler said.

Subtle differences in how these two types of cells interact with their environment are critical to their development, the scientists suggest. The fat-derived cells seem to sense their ?niche? on the surfaces more completely and quickly than marrow-derived cells. ?They are actively feeling their environment soon, which allows them to interpret the signals from the interaction of cell and environment that guide development,? Choi explained.

Perhaps most surprisingly, muscle cells grown from the fat stem cells fused together, forming myotubes to a degree never previously observed. Myotubes are a critical step in muscle development, and it?s a step forward that Engler and colleagues hadn?t seen before in the lab.

The fused cells stayed fused when they were transferred to a very stiff surface. ?These programmed cells are mature enough so that they don?t respond the environmental cues? in the new environment that might cause them to split apart, Engler says.

Engler and colleagues will now test how these new fused cells perform in mice with a version of muscular dystrophy. The cells survive in an environment of stiff tissue, but Engler cautions that there are other aspects of diseased tissue such as its shape and chemical composition to consider. ?From the perspective of translating this into a clinically viable therapy, we want to know what components of the environment provide the most important cues for these cells,? he said.

Recommend this story on Facebook, Twitter,
and Google +1:

Other bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - San Diego.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Jennifer L. Young, Adam J. Engler. Hydrogels with time-dependent material properties enhance cardiomyocyte differentiation in vitro. Biomaterials, 2011; 32 (4): 1002 DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2010.10.020

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/ucrEfYLM2kQ/120130094358.htm

tyche

Declassified US Spy Satellites from Cold War Land in Ohio (SPACE.com)

A trio of once-secret U.S. spy satellites built to look down on the Soviet Union were unveiled in Ohio on Thursday (Jan. 26) in a rare public display by the United States Air Force.

The vintage reconnaissance satellites joined the Cold War Gallery at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, and will eventually be installed in a new wing for space relics and other aircraft. The satellites ? called KH-7 Gambit 1, the KH-8 Gambit 3 and the KH-9 Hexagon ? were officially declassified in September by the National Reconnaissance Office and released for public viewing.

"Last year the NRO celebrated its 50th anniversary, and we announced the declassification of two NRO systems, Gambit and Hexagon, which were America's eyes in space and the most sophisticated satellites of their time," NRO director Air Force Gen. (Ret.) Bruce Carlson said in a statement. "These systems were critical for monitoring key targets in the USSR and around the globe and provided much-needed cartographic information to the DOD to produce accurate, large-scale maps."

The Gambit and Hexagon satellites followed the NRO's iconic Corona spy satellite program, which was declassified in 1995. [Photos of the declassified spy satellites]

The spy satellite Gambit

The Gambit and Hexagon spy satellite systems were among the most prolific U.S. space reconnaissance systems used between the 1960s and 1980s. With a resolution of between 2 to 3 feet (0.6 to nearly 1 meter), the spacecraft used high-resolution cameras to photograph areas of interest, then return the film to Earth in special re-entry capsules.

The capsules plunged through Earth's atmosphere, then deployed a parachute so they could be caught in mid-air by Air Force aircraft, museum officials explained.

The Gambit 1 satellites flew between 1963 and 1967 and served as the first American high-resolution space reconnaissance system. They carried about 3,000 feet (914 meters) of film and were designed for short-term missions of about six and a half days.

Each Gambit 1 satellite was about15 feet (4.5 m) long, 5 feet (1.5 m) wide, and weighed about 1,154 pounds (523 kilograms), according to NRO records. In all, 38 Gambit missions were launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, though 10 flights failed.

Gambit 3 satellites were the same width as the Gambit 1 models,? but also slightly longer ? reaching about 29 feet (9 m) in length. They flew on 54 missions between 1966 and 1984, with four recorded failures. The Gambit 3 series satellites carried 12,241 feet (3,731 meters) of film and were designed for longer missions of up to 31 days, according to NRO records.

Hexagon in space

Like the Gambit satellites, the Hexagon system also launched from Vandenberg and were the last U.S. reconnaissance satellites to use photographic film. They were also the largest ? each Hexagon satellite was the size of a school bus and carried 60 miles of film, earning it the nickname "Big Bird."

The U.S. military launched 20 Hexagon spy satellites between 1971 and 1986, with one mission suffering a launch failure. Each Hexagon satellite mission lasted about 124 days, with each satellite carrying four film re-entry canisters, according to NRO documents. Their onboard camera systems could photograph wide swaths of terrain and capture about 370 nautical miles ? the distance from Cincinnati to Washington ? in each 6-inch frame.

According to Air Force museum officials, the Hexagon satellites photographed about 877 million square miles of the Earth's surface during their tenure.

"Gambit 1, Gambit 3 and Hexagon satellites are significant and rare artifacts, which will enable us to better present the story of Air Force operations in space," said Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Jack Hudson, the Air Force's National Museum director, during the Jan. 26 exhibit dedication. "The Air Force has provided launch, tracking, control and range safety services for reconnaissance satellites throughout the entire Cold War, and it continues these activities today."

The Gambit and Hexagon satellites are currently on display in the museum's Cold War Gallery, but will eventually be moved to a new building that will house a Space Gallery, Presidential Aircraft Gallery and Global Reach Gallery, museum officials said.

You can follow Tariq Malik on Twitter @tariqjmalik. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/space/20120130/sc_space/declassifiedusspysatellitesfromcoldwarlandinohio

mlk day martin henderson golden globes 2012 winners golden globes 2012 red carpet golden globes red carpet martin luther king jr quotes nfc championship game

Cars circle central Moscow in anti-Putin protest (AP)

MOSCOW ? Thousands of cars flying white ribbons or white balloons circled central Moscow on Sunday in a show of protest against Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

The cars jammed the inner lanes all along the 16-kilometer (nearly 10-mile) Garden Ring, which has as many as 16 lanes of traffic at its widest points. More protesters stood along the side of the road waving white ribbons and flags as the cars passed, their horns blaring.

White ribbons became an opposition symbol during demonstrations to protest alleged fraud in a Dec. 4 parliamentary election said to have boosted the results for Putin's party.

Tens of thousands turned out for two mass protests last month to demand free and fair elections, and protest organizers are now preparing for a third big demonstration on Saturday.

Putin is running in a March 4 presidential election to reclaim the post he held from 2000 to 2008. He is expected to win, but is under pressure to show he can win fairly.

Sunday's action was seen as helping to build momentum for the protest movement and it provided another outlet for the creativity that has been a defining feature of the demonstrations.

While most drivers were content to tie white ribbons and balloons to their car antennas, sideview mirrors and door handles, some decorated their vehicles with original signs and banners.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/russia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120129/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_opposition

ron paul 2012 zynga stock zynga stock sam houston state university sam houston state university bradley manning whoopi goldberg

Peru: 27 killed in fire at rehabilitation center (AP)

LIMA, Peru ? A fire swept through a two-story private rehabilitation center for addicts in a poor part of Peru's capital Saturday, killing 27 people and critically injuring five as firefighters punched holes through walls to rescue residents locked inside.

The "Christ is Love" center for drug and alcohol addicts was unlicensed and overcrowded and its residents were apparently kept inside "like prisoners," Health Minister Alberto Tejada told The Associated Press.

Authorities said 26 people died at the scene, and prosecutors spokesman Raul Sanchez said Saturday night that one of six men hospitalized in critical condition died later.

Peru's fire chief, Antonio Zavala, said most of the victims died of asphyxiation. All the victims appeared to be male.

The local police chief, Clever Zegarra, said the cause of the 9 a.m. fire was under investigation.

"There has been talk of the burning of an object, of a mattress, but also of a fight that resulted in a fire. All of this is speculation," he told the AP. "I've been here at the scene from morning to evening but for the moment the exact cause of the fire is not known."

One resident of the center on a narrow dead-end street in Lima's teeming San Juan de Lurigancho district said he was eating breakfast on the second floor of the center when he saw flames coming from the first floor, where the blaze apparently began.

Gianfranco Huerta told local RPP news radio station that he leaped from a window to safety.

"The doors were locked; there was no way to get out," he told the station.

AP journalists at scene said all the windows of the building they were able to see were barred. Journalists were not allowed inside as police cordoned off the block. By early afternoon, all the dead had been removed from the center.

Most of the bodies seen by reporters were shirtless, their faces blackened. Many were also shoeless.

"This rehabilitation center wasn't authorized. It was a house that they had taken over ... for patients with addictions and they had the habit of leaving people locked up with no medical supervision," Tejada, the health minister, said.

Authorities said they did not know how many people were inside the center at the time of the fire. They said they were looking for the center's owners and staff, some of whom apparently fled the scene.

The local police chief, Zegarra, identified the owner as Raul Garcia.

Zoila Chea, an aunt of one victim, said families paid Garcia $37 to treat an addicted relative and $15 a week thereafter.

She said that neighbors had constantly complained about the center and that it had been closed twice by authorities.

Chea, 45, said relatives were prohibited from seeing interned patients during the first three months of treatment, which she added consisted mainly of reading the Bible.

Her nephew, Luis Chea, was at the center for a month, she said.

Zavala, the national fire chief, said the blaze was of "Dantesque proportions." Firefighters had to punch a hole through a wall with an adjoining building to help people trapped inside the rehabilitation center.

"We've had to use electric saws to cut through the metal bars of the doors to be able to work," Zavala said.

Relatives of residents of the center gathered near the building weeping and seeking word of their loved ones. As the day wore on, nearby sidewalks filled with relatives mourning and trying to console one another.

One of them was Maria Benitez, aunt of 18-year-old Carlos Benitez, who she said was being treated at the center.

"I want to know if he is OK or not," she told ATV television.

___

Associated Press journalists Mauricio Munoz, Cesar Barreto and Frank Bajak contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120129/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_peru_fire

tomb of the unknown soldier tomb of the unknown soldier reo reo chilis snow white and the huntsman snow white and the huntsman

Column: Colts and Peyton Manning heading for split (AP)

The idea didn't seem so outlandish at the time. Not for a city about to open a spanking new $720 million stadium, and surely not for a team with Peyton Manning under center.

Hosting a Super Bowl would put Indianapolis on the map, sure. Give residents something to do, too, like talk to those people with the funny accents from New York or ride the new zip lines downtown.

But couldn't Colts fans dream of the day when their team became the first home team to play in the big game?

They could, and they did. It wasn't the biggest stretch, either, because the Colts had already won a Super Bowl behind Manning and were coming off a 13-3 regular season when the game was awarded to Indianapolis in the spring of 2008.

Then Manning got hurt. And the Colts went south in less time than it takes to complete a warmup lap at the Speedway.

Now, on the eve of what was supposed to be a glorious week in Indianapolis, the home team is a dysfunctional mess.

A joint statement issued Friday by Manning and Colts owner Jim Irsay claimed otherwise, though that was to be expected. The dirty laundry aired publicly the previous few days was so distasteful that something had to be said to get the attention off the home team and back on a game that means so much to the city's pride.

The self-styled great protector of the horseshoe himself ? that would be Irsay ? says it was all a misunderstanding. Surely not anything that a good talk between friends ? or, say, a payment of $28 million ? couldn't resolve.

Manning got the talk. Whether he gets the check will ultimately determine just how friendly the owner and his quarterback really are.

The Colts seem ready to move on without the face of their franchise, a player so valuable that they may not have been able to build their new stadium without him. Manning transformed a woeful franchise into a perennial playoff contender, taking the Colts to two Super Bowls and winning one. The prospect of even better times ahead helped Indianapolis residents swallow the increased taxes they were forced to pony up for the new stadium, which opened in 2008.

The NFL gave the city a Super Bowl as a reward, something that seems to have boosted civic pride even if few area residents will actually get inside the Lucas Oil Stadium for the event. As an added bonus, it gave Colts fans a chance to forget about a 2-14 season that was doomed the moment the first rumors about Manning's health began circulating during the summer.

But Irsay couldn't stop firing people. Manning couldn't keep his mouth shut.

And instead of happy chatter about the Super Bowl coming to town, the buzz in Indy in recent days has been a definite downer.

There's a Manning playing in the Super Bowl, but it's the wrong one. And the chances of Peyton Manning ? still recovering from three neck surgeries ? playing another down for the Colts seem to be about as good as the chances Indianapolis ever lands another Super Bowl.

He's owed $28 million by March 8 if the Colts are to keep him, but that's just part of the problem. The Colts are almost sure to use their No. 1 draft pick on Stanford's Andrew Luck, and it doesn't make much sense to be paying millions of dollars to two different quarterbacks ? especially if there's no guarantee Manning will even be healthy enough to play again.

In Irsay's defense, there's no real template on how to handle this. Money aside, he still has to think about the future of the team, and that future likely doesn't include an aging and suddenly fragile Manning.

Irsay already sacked much of the front office and the coaching staff, something that clearly upset Manning. He's in the midst of rebuilding the Colts, and has to be looking at Luck as the new face of the franchise, much like Manning was when the Colts picked him No. 1 in the 1998 draft.

That it came down to the owner and the star player sniping at each other this week was perhaps inevitable. Decision time is coming, and it's becoming increasingly clear what that decision has to be.

Odds are Manning is done playing for the Colts, perhaps even done playing football entirely. Those reading tea leaves surely noted that the joint statement Manning and Irsay issued on Friday contained no reference to Manning playing for the team again, no reassurance that he was healing and would be able to play quarterback again.

For the next week the big question in Indianapolis will be who wins the Super Bowl.

For Colts fans, though, there's an even bigger question to be answered once the game is over.

____

Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg(at)ap.org or at http://twitter.com/timdahlberg

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_tim_dahlberg012812

hedy lamarr bill conlin kendall jenner plane crash plane crash kardashian christmas card lori berenson

St. Louis hosting 1st big parade on Iraq War's end

Stephanie King holds a picture of her uncle, Col. Stephen Scott who was killed in Iraq in 2008, as she prepares to participate in a parade to honor Iraq War veterans Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012, in St. Louis. Thousands turned out to watch the first big welcome home parade in the U.S. since the last troops left Iraq in December. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Stephanie King holds a picture of her uncle, Col. Stephen Scott who was killed in Iraq in 2008, as she prepares to participate in a parade to honor Iraq War veterans Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012, in St. Louis. Thousands turned out to watch the first big welcome home parade in the U.S. since the last troops left Iraq in December. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Participants in a parade to honor Iraq War veterans make their way along a downtown street Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012, in St. Louis. Thousands turned out to watch the first big welcome home parade in the U.S. since the last troops left Iraq in December. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Spectators cheer and wave as they watch a parade to honor Iraq War veterans pass Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012, in St. Louis. Thousands turned out to watch the first big welcome home parade in the U.S. since the last troops left Iraq in December. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Maj. Rich Radford, who became a symbol of the parade to honor Iraq War veterans thanks to a photo of his young daughter taking his hand while welcoming him home from his second tour in Iraq in 2010, smiles before the start of the parade Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012, in St. Louis. Thousands turned out to watch the first big welcome home parade in the U.S. since the last troops left Iraq in December. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Army Sgt. 1st Class Randy Jemerson, a veteran of two tours in Iraq, takes a picture of a staging at the start of a parade to honor Iraq War veterans Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012, in St. Louis. Thousands turned out to watch the first big welcome home parade in the U.S. since the last troops left Iraq in December. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

ST. LOUIS (AP) ? Looking around at the tens of thousands of people waving American flags and cheering, Army Maj. Rich Radford was moved that so many braved a cold January wind Saturday in St. Louis to honor people like him: Iraq War veterans.

The parade, borne out of a simple conversation between two St. Louis friends a month ago, was the nation's first big welcome-home for veterans of the war since the last troops were withdrawn from Iraq in December.

"It's not necessarily overdue, it's just the right thing," said Radford, a 23-year Army veteran who walked in the parade alongside his 8-year-old daughter, Aimee, and 12-year-old son, Warren.

Radford was among about 600 hundred veterans, many dressed in camouflage, who walked along downtown streets lined with rows of people clapping and holding signs with messages including "Welcome Home" and "Thanks to our Service Men and Women." Some of the war-tested troops wiped away tears as they acknowledged the support from a crowd that organizers estimated reached 100,000 people.

Fire trucks with aerial ladders hoisted huge American flags in three different places along the route, with politicians, marching bands ? even the Budweiser Clydesdales ? joining in. But the large crowd was clearly there to salute men and women in the military, and people cheered wildly as groups of veterans walked by.

That was the hope of organizers Craig Schneider and Tom Appelbaum. Neither man has served in the military but came up with the idea after noticing there had been little fanfare for returning Iraq War veterans aside from gatherings at airports and military bases. No ticker-tape parades or large public celebrations.

Appelbaum, an attorney, and Schneider, a school district technical coordinator, decided something needed to be done. So they sought donations, launched a Facebook page, met with the mayor and mapped a route. The grassroots effort resulted in a huge turnout despite raising only about $35,000 and limited marketing.

That marketing included using a photo of Radford being welcomed home from his second tour in Iraq by his then-6-year-old daughter. The girl had reached up, grabbed his hand and said, "I missed you, daddy." Radford's sister caught the moment with her cellphone camera, and the image graced T-shirts and posters for the parade.

Veterans came from around the country, and more than 100 entries ? including marching bands, motorcycle groups and military units ? signed up ahead of the event, Appelbaum said.

Schneider said he was amazed how everyone, from city officials to military organizations to the media, embraced the parade.

"It was an idea that nobody said no to," he said. "America was ready for this."

All that effort by her hometown was especially touching for Gayla Gibson, a 38-year-old Air Force master sergeant who said she spent four months in Iraq ? seeing "amputations, broken bones, severe burns from IEDs" ? as a medical technician in 2003.

"I think it's great when people come out to support those who gave their lives and put their lives on the line for this country," Gibson said.

With 91,000 troops still fighting in Afghanistan, many Iraq veterans could be redeployed ? suggesting to some that it's premature to celebrate their homecoming. In New York, for example, Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently said there would be no city parade for Iraq War veterans in the foreseeable future because of objections voiced by military officials.

But in St. Louis, there was clearly a mood to thank the troops with something big, even among those opposed to the war.

"Most of us were not in favor of the war in Iraq, but the soldiers who fought did the right thing and we support them," said 72-year-old Susan Cunningham, who attended the parade with the Missouri Progressive Action Group. "I'm glad the war is over and I'm glad they're home."

Don Lange, 60, of nearby Sullivan, held his granddaughter along the parade route. His daughter was a military interrogator in Iraq.

"This is something everyplace should do," Lange said as he watched the parade.

Several veterans of the Vietnam War turned out to show support for the younger troops. Among them was Don Jackson, 63, of Edwardsville, Ill., who said he was thrilled to see the parade honoring Iraq War veterans like his son, Kevin, who joined him at the parade. The 33-year-old Air Force staff sergeant said he'd lost track of how many times he had been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan as a flying mechanic.

"I hope this snowballs," he said of the parade. "I hope it goes all across the country. I only wish my friends who I served with were here to see this."

Looking at all the people around him in camouflage, 29-year-old veteran Matt Wood said he felt honored. He served a year in Iraq with the Illinois National Guard.

"It's extremely humbling, it's amazing, to be part of something like this with all of these people who served their country with such honor," he said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-28-Iraq%20War-Parade/id-2423f57659b34184a4f60f2722cc7d8f

braves braves harrys law orioles atlanta braves national coffee day national coffee day

What a Drag

Albert Nobbs (Glenn Close), the diminutive protagonist of Rodrigo Garcia?s film of the same name, works as a waiter in a posh hotel in late 19th-century Dublin. He speaks little and, when he does, reveals still less. Outside of a cordial master/servant relationship with Dr. Holloran (Brendan Gleeson), a hard-drinking physician in residence at the hotel, the passive, blank-faced Nobbs seems to have no friendships at all. As he prepares for bed one night in his tiny, drab bedchamber, we learn the truth about this cipher of a man: Albert is in fact a woman who?s been passing as male since her hardscrabble teenage years in order to find work and avoid harassment at the hands of men.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=f22faeb4e7d9b5ea76b4af5bb1064cdc

sign language alphabet texas tech texas tech wisconsin badgers football wisconsin badgers football easter island dallas weather

Frenchman killed in armed robbery in Red Sea resort (Reuters)

CAIRO (Reuters) ? A Frenchman was killed when armed men raided a currency exchange office Saturday in the Egyptian tourist resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on the Red Sea, security officials and the French embassy said.

South Sinai Governor General Khaled Fouda told Reuters that a German national had also been wounded but was in a stable condition in hospital.

The French embassy confirmed a Frenchman had been killed without giving further details.

Sharm el-Sheikh is on the Sinai Peninsula, home to many popular tourist resorts. However, many people own weapons in inland areas of the peninsula, and analysts say the region has become more lawless since an uprising ousted President Hosni Mubarak last year.

(Reporting by Yusry Mohamed in Ismailia; Writing and additional reporting by Edmund Blair in Cairo; editing by David Stamp)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120128/wl_nm/us_egypt_france

david nelson frank miller 60 minutes oobleck justin timberlake marine corps ball frank gore injury frank gore injury

Parent of Obama-backed battery maker goes bankrupt (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The parent company of an electric car battery maker that received a $118 million grant from the Obama administration has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Ener1 said it has been affected by competition from China and other countries.

Ener1 subsidiary EnerDel received a $118 million stimulus grant from the Energy Department in 2009, and Vice President Biden visited the company's new battery plant in Indiana last year.

An Energy Department spokeswoman said EnerDel had received $55 million so far. Ener1 said the restructuring would not affect EnerDel's operations.

Ener1 is the third company to seek bankruptcy protection after receiving assistance from the Energy Department under the economic stimulus law. California solar panel maker Solyndra Inc. and Beacon Power, a Massachusetts energy-storage firm, declared bankruptcy last year.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_battery_maker

up all night dr. oz lingual braces joe mcginniss joan crawford joan crawford kat dennings

DirecTV settles dispute with Sunbeam over blackout (omg!)

LOS ANGELES, Jan 26 (TheWrap.com) - DirecTV and Sunbeam Entertainment have broken bread and ended the carriage dispute that caused customers in Boston and Miami to miss both the Packers-Giants NFL playoff game and the Golden Globes earlier this month.

"We are pleased to have reached an agreement to end the Sunbeam blackout, and regret that any of our customers were forced into the middle of a business dispute where they should never have been in the first place," DirecTV said in a statement Thursday. "We believe, like many, the public interest is best served by allowing customers to keep their local broadcast stations as we negotiate future agreements, rather than being denied access by broadcast stations and used as leverage in what should be a private business matter."

The statement added, "The Sunbeam-owned stations - WHDH and WLVI in Boston and WSVN in Miami - are now available for DIRECTV customers in those cities."

The disagreement between the two companies came to a head on January 13 when, unable to reach a deal with DirecTV, Sunbeam pulled its programming from the service. That left customers of Fox affiliate WSVN in Miami and viewers of CW affiliate WLVI and NBC affiliate WHDH, both in Boston, in the dark. In all, approximately 450,000 customers were affected.

Things got ugly on January 15, as both the Golden Globes and the playoff game prepared to air. Customers engaged in a mass Twitter protest throughout the Globes telecast. Meanwhile, Sunbeam rejected a request from DirecTV to air the football game despite the lack of a contract just prior to kickoff.

During the blackout, DirecTV issued a statement to its subscribers saying it was "working hard to bring back your local channel as quickly as possible" -- while adding that Sunbeam was trying to "extort a more than 300 percent fee increase to carry WSVN in Miami, and WHDH and WLVI in Boston."

DirecTV did not disclose the terms of the new agreement.

(Editing By Zorianna Kit)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_directv_settles_dispute_sunbeam_over_blackout022523375/44321978/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/directv-settles-dispute-sunbeam-over-blackout-022523375.html

gardasil gardasil usnews new york special election windows 8 2pac kabul

Cat Knee Joint Surgery: Cyrano The Tubby Tabby Gets Revolutionary Treatment (VIDEO)

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Because Cyrano weighs more than 20 pounds, amputating his cancer-weakened leg was out of the question. So the tubby tabby's owners turned to doctors and engineers at North Carolina State University to get him back into mice-catching trim.

On Thursday, the 10-year-old cat from Upperville, Va., received what doctors believe is the first feline total knee replacement in the U.S.

"This is the most complex implant that NC State has made and really, in all honesty, that anyone has built for any situation that I know of," said surgeon Denis Marcellin-Little, a French-born veterinarian.

Cyrano ? his full name is Mr. Cyrano L. Catte II ? underwent treatment last year at Colorado State University for cancer in his left hind leg. The disease is in remission, but the treatment left the leg nearly useless and extremely painful.

Marcellin-Little and NCSU engineer Ola Harrysson are pioneers in osseointegration, a process that fuses a prosthetic limb with living bone. In 2005, Marcellin-Little performed the world's first surgery to fuse leg implants with a cat's bone tissue, so Cyrano's owners turned to him for help.

Britain's Dr. Noel Fitzpatrick was credited with the world's first total knee replacement in 2009 on a cat named Missy, whose leg was crushed by a car. But Marcellin-Little said Cyrano's plastic and cobalt chromium alloy implant is more like those used in humans.

"It has a form of articulation that is unique ? that allows the implant to bend and rotate," he said, demonstrating with a model during a news conference the day before the surgery. "The devil is in the details."

Such implants have become commonplace in dogs. But a cat's smaller anatomy has proved more difficult to work with, and Cyrano's damaged bones posed an additional challenge, Marcellin-Little said.

Unlike other joints, which are machined, Cyrano's knee ? in cats, it's actually called a "stifle" ? was fabricated using a laser process that hardens metal powder to exactly replicate his bones. More than a dozen people worked on developing and testing the implant, each half of which is about 2 inches long.

Marcellin-Little practiced the procedure four times on plastic models before Thursday's surgery.

The operation began around 10:30 a.m. Attendants did not wheel Cyrano to the intensive care unit until almost 5 p.m.

Marcellin-Little said the tabby's girth and big bones were a plus. He said Cyrano should be up and around in about a week, though he won't be climbing trees for a while yet.

"We would like him to take it easy for about three months after surgery," the doctor said. "And then we will let him be himself."

Because so much of the time and material were donated, university representatives could not give a total cost estimate.

"Part of this is a pure research project, in a way," said Harrysson, an NCSU professor of industrial and systems engineering.

The bill to owners Sandra Lerner and Len Bosack will be around $20,000. Sitting in a waiting room after the surgery, a visibly exhausted Lerner ? who helped found electronics giant Cisco Systems ? said "Rat Boy" is worth every penny.

"He's my child. And if it were your child, would you begrudge the money?" she said. "I have a personal philosophy that people are, at best, equal with the other inhabitants of the planet. And I'm very, very grateful that I have the money and (am) able to do it."

___

EDITOR'S NOTE ? Allen G. Breed is a national writer, based in Raleigh, N.C. He can be reached at features(at)ap.org.

"; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/27/cat-knee-joint-surgery-cyrano_n_1237481.html

usc football cybermonday coach outlet apostasy canon powershot elph 300 hs christmas lights canon eos rebel t3

PFT: Vikings open to offers for No. 3 pick

AP

Though the Cleveland Plain Dealer still has not acknowledged the move on its website (other than to finally remove his name and face from the roster), Tony Grossi no longer covers the Browns as a beat writer, following the accidental publication of a private Twitter message that called Browns owner Randy Lerner? (pictured) ?pathetic? and an ?irrelevant billionaire.?

Browns spokesman Neal Gulkis tells PFT that the Browns have no comment on the situation.

There?s still no evidence that the Browns pressured the Plain Dealer to make the move.? Per a source with knowledge of the situation, however, both Lerner and president Mike Holmgren refused to accept calls from Grossi after the message was posted and deleted.? We?re also told that a meeting occurred Wednesday between Plain Dealer publisher Terry Eggar and Holmgren.

The Plain Dealer has been nearly as silent as the Browns.? Managing editor Thom Fladung called the Kiley & Booms radio show on 92.3 The Fan this morning to explain the decision, and Fladung?s explanation was less than persuasive, in our opinion.

The decision to remove Grossi from the beat was driven by this ?determining factor? articulated by Fladung:? ?Don?t do something that affects your value as a journalist or the value of your newspaper or affects the perception of your value and the perception of that newspaper?s value.?

That?s a pretty broad ? and vague ? rule.? And that?s the kind of standard that gives a news organization the ability to do pretty much whatever it wants whenever it wants, because there?s pretty much always something to which someone can point as proof of ?something that affects your value as a journalist or the value of your newspaper or affects the perception of your value and the perception of that newspaper?s value.?

Making Fladung?s ?determining factor? even more confusing is the fact that he admitted that Grossi could have deliberately expressed a strong opinion about Lerner in a column published and printed in the Plain Dealer without conseqeuence.? ?Let?s say Tony had written that Randy Lerner?s lack of involvement with the Browns and their resulting disappointing records over the years has made him irrelevant as an owner, that?s defensible,? Fladung said.? ?That?s absolutely defensible.?

What?s indefensible is the failure of the Plain Dealer to acknowledge the fact that Grossi never intended to make the statements available for public view.? He fell victim to the subtle but significant differences between a ?direct message? (which is private) and a ?reply? (which is public) on Twitter.? It was an accident.? A mistake.

Let?s go back to the days of typewriters and shorthand, and let?s say that Grossi?s editor has two boxes on his desk.? One is for article submissions and one is for proposed topics.? And let?s say that Grossi scribbled out a scathing column about Lerner as a proposed topic, but Grossi accidentally put it in the box of actual submissions for print.

That?s the low-tech version of what happened here.? Grossi accidentally put his message in the wrong box.

So when Fladung says he ?felt very strongly? that the Twitter message ?was inappropriate and unprofessional and . . . it?s not the kind of opinion a journalist covering a beat can express,? Fladung presumes that Grossi actually intended to articulate that opinion to the world.? He didn?t.? It was inadvertently blurted out, like a temporary case of Twitter Tourette?s.

Some have suggested that the Twitter blunder provided the Plain Dealer with a vehicle for addressing pre-existing concerns regarding Grossi?s overall job performance.? Undercutting that theory was Fladung?s assertion during the radio interview that Grossi is a ?very good? and ?very successful? beat writer.

I?m continuing to write about this because it?s the kind of mistake that could happen to anyone, and everyone should be entitled to the benefit of the doubt in a case like this, especially when newspapers and other media companies want their writers to engage with the audience through various new technologies and platforms.? It also just ?feels? like an unjust result, whether because the Plain Dealer is being obtuse or because the Plain Dealer is cowering to the Browns or because the Browns are remaining deliberately silent in order to secure the preferred outcome of having Grossi removed from the beat.

Regardless, we?re disappointed in the Plain Dealer, in Fladung, in the Browns, in Lerner, and in Holmgren.? And we hope that one or more of them will snap out of it and do the right thing, or at least let the rest of us know in far more convincing fashion why they believe the right thing was done.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/01/26/spielman-says-vikings-more-than-willing-to-listen-to-trade-offers-for-no-3-pick/related/

diana nyad diana nyad vikings bears packers michael vick kenny britt matt hughes

Why is investment income taxed less than wages?

House Speaker John Boehner listens as President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address in front of a joint session of Congress Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Saul Loeb, Pool)

House Speaker John Boehner listens as President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address in front of a joint session of Congress Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Saul Loeb, Pool)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Why do Mitt Romney and other wealthy investors pay lower taxes on the income they make from investments than they would if they earned their millions from wages? Because Congress, through the tax code, has long treated investment more favorably than labor, seeing it as an engine for economic growth that benefits everyone.

President Barack Obama and the Occupy Wall Street movement are challenging that value system, raising volatile election-year issues of equity, fairness ? and Romney's tax returns.

Romney, who released his 2010 and 2011 tax returns this week, has been forced to defend the fact that he paid a tax rate of about 15 percent on an annual income of $21 million. His tax rate is comparable to the one paid by most middle-income families. His income, however, is 420 times higher than the typical U.S. household.

The Republican presidential candidate's taxes were so low because the vast majority of his income came from investments. The U.S. has long had a progressive income tax, in which people who make more money pay taxes at a higher rate than those who make less. But for almost as long, the U.S. has taxed capital gains ? the profit from selling an investment ? at a lower rate than wages.

"There are two ways to look at: There is a moral argument and an economic growth argument, and they both point to lower taxes on capital gains," said William McBride, an economist at the conservative Tax Foundation.

McBride says it is unfair to tax income more than once, and capital gains are taxed multiple times. If you got the original investment from wages, that money was taxed. If the stock you own gains value because the company you invested in makes a profit, those profits are taxed through the corporate tax. And if that company issues dividends, those are taxed as well.

Lots of people are double taxed, says Chuck Marr, director of federal tax policy for the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. "Check out your last pay stub: There's income tax and payroll tax, so you're double taxed, too," Marr said.

And, he noted, when you buy something, you probably pay a sales tax.

Under current law, the top tax rate is 15 percent on qualified dividend and long-term capital gains ? the profits from selling assets that have been held for at least a year. The top income tax rate on wages is 35 percent, though that applies only to taxable income above $388,350.

Congress started taxing capital gains at a lower rate than wages following World War I. The concern then was that high taxes on capital gains actually reduced revenue because people would simply hold onto their investments and restrict the flow of capital, according to the Encyclopedia of Taxation and Tax Policy.

At the time, however, the top tax rate on wages was a whopping 73 percent. In 1922, Congress lowered the top capital gains rate to 12.5 percent, a rate that lasted until 1934.

For much of the next 70 years, the top tax rate on long-term capital gains hovered between 20 percent and 30 percent, going as high as 39.9 percent in the 1970s but never falling below 20 percent until 2003, when Congress passed a gradual reduction to the current rate.

The 2003 law also started taxing qualified dividends at the same rate as capital gains.

Liberals and some moderates argue that lower taxes on investments are a giveaway to the rich because they are the ones who get the most benefit. Last year, two-thirds of all capital gains went to people making more than $1 million, according to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, the official scorekeeper for Congress.

Only 5 percent of capital gains went to people making less than $100,000, and only 13 percent went to people making less than $200,000.

"I'm a liberal person and I believe strongly that the wealthy should pay more than the working poor," Marr said, regardless of whether the income is from investments or labor.

Obama has taken up this argument, though his budget proposals have called for only small tax increases on capital gains and dividends, to a top rate of 20 percent.

Instead, Obama has developed the "Buffet Rule," named after billionaire investor Warren Buffet, which says rich people shouldn't pay taxes at a lower rate than their secretaries. To impose this rule, Obama said at his State of The Union address Tuesday that people making more than $1 million should pay at least 30 percent of their income in taxes.

"Now, you can call this class warfare all you want," Obama said. "But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes? Most Americans would call that common sense."

The proposal has little chance of passing a divided Congress this year, and the Obama administration has released few details on how the tax would work.

Conservatives argue that increasing investment taxes would make it harder to for businesses to raise capital, restricting job growth and hurting financial markets, reducing income for people who rely on pension funds and 401(k) accounts as well as billionaires and millionaires.

"In my view the rationale for taxing capital gains and dividends at a lower rate has nothing to do with what an individual pays versus another individual," said Jim McCrery, who was a senior Republican member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee when the 2003 tax cuts were enacted. "It has everything to do with the creation of jobs in this country."

McCrery now works for the Alliance for Savings and Investment, a coalition of companies and business groups that want to keep the current tax rates on capital gains and dividends.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-26-US-Taxing-Investments/id-a9404a68b1a34e44a3f35a583e54feee

waterboarding boxing news boxing andy dalton corporal kelsey de santis corporal kelsey de santis ufc on fox

Rebel leader demands new Papua New Guinea gov't (AP)

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea ? Rebel soldiers seized the military's headquarters Thursday and replaced Papua New Guinea's top defense official with their own leader, who gave Prime Minister Peter O'Neill a week to step aside for his ousted predecessor.

The self-proclaimed new leader of the country's defense forces, retired Col. Yaura Sasa, insisted he was not mounting a coup. But he warned that the military will take unspecified action unless O'Neill stands down and former prime minister Michael Somare, is reinstated, as the national Supreme Court ordered last month.

"Both Sir Michael Somare and O'Neill have seven days to implement the Supreme Court's orders to resolve the current political impasse or I will be forced to take actions to uphold the integrity of the Constitution," Sasa told reporters in Port Moresby.

The government called on Sasa and his supporters to surrender and said the mutiny did not have support from the broader military.

Deputy Prime Minister Belden Namah told reporters that about 30 soldiers were involved in the mutiny and 15 of them have been arrested. Namah said Sasa could be charged with treason, which carries the death sentence.

The new crisis comes during a turbulent period for the South Pacific's most populous island nation, where both O'Neill and Somare claim to be the rightful prime minister.

Rebel soldiers overpowered guards at the Taurama Barracks in Port Moresby before dawn. They then moved to the military headquarters at Murray Barracks and placed the head of the Papua New Guinea Defense Force, Brigadier General Francis Agwi, under house arrest. There were no reports of bloodshed.

Sasa, who last served as Papua New Guinea's defense attache to Indonesia before retiring from the military, told reporters he had been legitimately appointed defense chief by Somare.

Somare's spokeswoman Betha Somare told Australian Broadcasting Corp. that his ousted cabinet had confirmed Sasa's appointment several days ago. Betha Somare, who is also Michael Somare's daughter, did not immediately reply to The Associated Press' request for comment on Thursday.

Namah said Somare had "no sanity" and was using "rogue soldiers to pursue his own greed and selfishness."

O'Neill had told Australia ? Papua New Guinea's former colonial master and main provider of foreign aid ? that "authorities were taking steps to manage the situation," Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said.

Somare was Papua New Guinea's first prime minister when it became independent in 1975, and was knighted by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II. Papua New Guinea's Parliament replaced him with O'Neill in August, while Somare was getting medical treatment outside the country.

Last month, the country's Supreme Court and Governor-General Michael Ogio backed Somare, who the court ruled was illegally removed. But Ogio changed his mind days later, saying bad legal advice had led him to incorrectly reinstate Somare.

Australia, which has the largest diplomatic mission of any country in Port Moresby, called for Agwi to be reinstated.

"We urge that the situation be resolved as soon as possible, and that the PNGDF chain of command is restored," the foreign affairs department said in a statement.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_re_as/as_papua_new_guinea_mutiny

phoenix jones danielle chiesi walter payton oneiric oneiric eartha kitt psych

Vitals - More men than women have oral cancer virus

By Rachael Rettner
MyHealthNewsDaily

About 7 percent of adults and teens in the United States are orally infected with the human papillomavirus, or HPV, a new study says. This represents about 14.9 million people.

More men are affected than women: About 10 percent of men ages 14 to 69 have an oral HPV infection, compared with 3.6 percent of women, the study showed.

Oral HPV infections cause some oropharyngeal cancers, or cancers of the tongue, the tonsils or back of the mouth. People who are infected with the strain HPV 16 are 14 times more likely to develop these cancers compared with those not infected with the virus.

The new findings were "reassuring," according to study researcher Dr. Maura Gillison, chair of cancer research at The Ohio State University , because they show that while oral infection with the virus is common, cancer cases as a result of these infections are rare. In other words, most infected people don't get cancer. The American Cancer Society estimates there will be about 40,000 new cases of cancer of the oral cavity and pharynx in 2012.

The findings also show oral HPV infections are, for the most part, sexually transmitted. People who reported engaging in oral sex were twice as likely to have an oral HPV infection as those who did not engage in oral sex. People who had had sex of any kind, including vaginal sex or oral sex, were eight times more likely to have an oral HPV infection than those who had not had sex. Among those who'd had 20 or more sexual partners, one in five had an oral HPV infection.

"Taken together, these data indicate that transmission by casual, nonsexual contact is likely to be unusual," the researchers wrote in their study.

However, there are clues HPV may also spread by kissing. Oral HPV infections were more common among sexually experienced people who had not engaged in oral sex than among sexually inexperienced individuals, a finding that is "consistent with transmission by other sexually associated contact (eg, deep kissing)," the researchers wrote in their study.

"This study of oral HPV infection is the critical first step toward developing potential oropharyngeal cancer prevention strategies," Gillison said. "This is clearly important, because HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer is poised to overtake cervical cancer as the leading type of HPV-caused cancers in the U.S."

More studies are needed to know whether the HPV vaccine effectively prevents oral HPV infections, the researchers said. Currently, the vaccine is recommended to prevent cervical cancer, anal cancer and genital warts.

How common is oral HPV?

Between 1998 and 2004, incidence of new cases of oropharyngeal cancer in the United States more than tripled (from 0.8 cancers per 100,000 people to 2.6 cancers per 100,000 people).

Despite the rise, little was known about the prevalence of oral HPV infection, and the characteristics of those who have it.

In the new study, Gillison and colleagues analyzed data from more than 5,500 men and women in the United States. Participants answered questions about their sexual behavior and substance use. They were also asked to gargle mouthwash for 30 seconds, and cells that were exfoliated into the rinse were analyzed for evidence of HPV infection.

The researchers found HPV in the cells of 6.9 percent of the participants, and HPV 16 in 1 percent.

The infection was most common among those ages 60 to 64 years, (at 11.4 percent), and those ages 30 to 34 (at 7.3 percent).

Physicians should encourage their patients who engage in oral sex to use barrier protection, Dr. Hans P. Schlecht, of the Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, wrote in an editorial accompanying the study.

Smokers and alcohol users also had a high prevalence of HPV. About 20 percent of those who said they smoke 20 or more cigarettes per day had oral HPV infection.

More research

It's not clear why oral HPV infection was more common among men than women. It could be that HPV is more likely to be transmitted through oral sex on women versus men, the researchers said. Differences in hormone levels between the sexes could also affect the duration of an infection.

Smoking may suppress the immune system, leading to longer infections with the virus, the researchers said.

The researchers noted their findings are based on study participant's reports of their sexual behavior and smoking, which may not be completely accurate.

Researchers need to follow people over time to better understand the effects of age, gender, sexual behavior and smoking on the incidence and duration of oral HPV infections, the researchers said.

The study will be presented this week at the Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium in Phoenix. The study and editorial are published online today (Jan. 26) in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Pass it on: Oral HPV infections affect about 7 percent of adults in teen in the United States, and are more common in men than women.

More from MyHealthNewsDaily:

5 Reasons Being a Woman Is Good for Your Health

5 Dangerous Vaccination Myths

Busted! Gender Myths in the Bedroom & Beyond

Source: http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/26/10243115-more-men-than-women-have-oral-cancer-virus

mary j blige cole hamels cole hamels curtis painter apple news conference apple news conference apple news

Gingrich's biggest benefactor is a casino mogul, a hardliner on Israel and very, very rich (Star Tribune)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/191689212?client_source=feed&format=rss

stratfor bears vs packers after christmas sales 2011 tyson chandler tyson chandler best ipad apps chris paul

CIA to pull officer from NYPD after internal probe

FILE--A Jan. 18, 2012 file photo shows New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly during a news conference at the New York Police Department in New York. Kelly apologized Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, for appearing in a documentary movie about terrorism that Muslim groups have criticized as inflammatory, and said his department acted wrongly when it later showed the film to counterterrorism trainees. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens/file)

FILE--A Jan. 18, 2012 file photo shows New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly during a news conference at the New York Police Department in New York. Kelly apologized Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, for appearing in a documentary movie about terrorism that Muslim groups have criticized as inflammatory, and said his department acted wrongly when it later showed the film to counterterrorism trainees. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens/file)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? A CIA operative's unusual assignment inside the New York Police Department is being cut short after an internal investigation that criticized how the agency established its unprecedented collaboration with city police, The Associated Press has learned.

In its investigation, the CIA's inspector general faulted the agency for sending an officer to New York with little oversight after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and then leaving him there too long, according to officials who have read or been briefed on the inquiry. They spoke only on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the investigation. The CIA said last month that the inspector general cleared the agency of any wrongdoing.

The inspector general opened its investigation after a series of AP articles that revealed how the NYPD, working in close collaboration with the CIA, set up spying operations that put Muslim communities under scrutiny. Plainclothes officers known as "rakers" eavesdropped in businesses, and Muslims not suspected of any wrongdoing were put in intelligence databases.

The CIA officer cited by the inspector general for operating without sufficient supervision, Lawrence Sanchez, was the architect of spying programs that helped make the NYPD one of the nation's most aggressive domestic intelligence agencies. The programs have drawn criticism from Muslims as well as New York and Washington lawmakers.

On Thursday, Muslim activists urged Police Commissioner Ray Kelly to resign and invoked the legacy of the 1960s FBI program COINTELPRO, which spied on political and activist groups.

"We the people find ourselves facing the specter of a 21st century COINTELPRO, once again in the name of safety and security," said Imam Talib Abdur-Rashid of the Islamic Leadership Council of New York.

Sanchez, a CIA veteran who according to his biography spent 15 years overseas in the former Soviet Union, South Asia and the Middle East, was sent to New York to help with information sharing following the 9/11 attacks. While on the CIA payroll from 2002 to 2004, he also helped create and direct police intelligence programs. He then formally joined the NYPD while on a leave of absence from the CIA.

The loosely defined assignment strained relations with the FBI and two consecutive CIA station chiefs in New York who complained that Sanchez's presence undermined their authority. U.S. officials have acknowledged that the rules were murky but they attributed that to the desperate push for better intelligence after the attacks.

Sanchez left the NYPD in 2010. Then, last July, the CIA sent one of its most senior clandestine operatives to work out of the NYPD. That's the officer who now is leaving. While the internal investigation found problems with the oversight of Sanchez's assignment, officials said the rules of the current arrangement were more clearly defined.

Even now, however, confusion remains.

Police Commissioner Kelly said the new officer was working at the NYPD to help share foreign intelligence. Federal officials, however, said he was there on a management sabbatical and was not sharing intelligence.

Kelly and the federal government also are at odds explaining the legal basis for a relationship between a local police department and the CIA, which is not allowed to spy domestically.

This fall, Kelly told the city council that the collaboration was authorized under a presidential order. But under those rules, the assignment would have had to have been approved by the CIA's top lawyer. The AP reported last week there was no such approval.

A CIA spokeswoman, Jennifer Youngblood, said Sanchez was sent to New York at the direction of then-CIA Director George Tenet, who had the authority to move his officers around the world to make sure intelligence was being shared. That arrangement did not require the lawyer's approval, she said.

"Context matters here," Youngblood said. "The CIA stepped up cooperation with law enforcement on counterterrorism after 9/11. It's hard to imagine that anyone is suggesting this was inappropriate or unexpected."

The current officer, whose name remains classified, operates under a more formal arrangement, specified in writing that he works directly for the NYPD. Nevertheless, some U.S. lawmakers have expressed concerns about the assignment, and the federal government's most senior intelligence official, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, has acknowledged the arrangement looks bad and has said it would be addressed.

The CIA officer is working as a special assistant to David Cohen, the NYPD's top intelligence officer. Cohen did not respond to an email Thursday requesting comment.

It's unclear exactly when the CIA officer will leave the police department and what his next job will be. A former station chief in Pakistan and Jordan, he is one of the CIA's most experienced spies. His assignment in New York was expected to last a year.

Kelly, the police commissioner, has defended his department and its Demographics Unit, which monitored conversations in cafes and wrote reports on Muslim businesses. Kelly has said his officers only follow leads. But internal police documents obtained by the AP show that even the most generic lead was used to justify surveillance of entire neighborhoods. Officials involved in the effort also told the AP that the Demographics Unit actually avoided locations where criminal investigations were under way for fear of disrupting them.

Relations between the NYPD and the Muslim community were further strained this week when police acknowledged that it showed nearly 1,500 officers a training video featuring Kelly. The video portrayed Muslims wanting to "infiltrate and dominate" the United States. Kelly apologized but only after police spokesman Paul Browne falsely claimed that the segment showing Kelly had been lifted from a previous interview. Browne later acknowledged that Kelly sat for an exclusive interview with the filmmakers and that Browne himself suggested it.

___

Follow Goldman and Apuzzo at http://twitter.com/goldmandc and http://twitter.com/mattapuzzo . Contact the Washington investigative team at DCinvestigations (at) ap.org.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-26-NYPD%20Intelligence/id-a3f8c5ec847b4671808eba3d71185b2a

esophageal cancer marfan syndrome marfan syndrome britney spears engaged craig smith craig smith eat to live