Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Farmers Insurance Open 2012, Leaderboard Update: Kyle Stanley ...

The 2012 Farmers Insurance Open is about halfway through its final day and, barring a monumental collapse, it looks as though Kyle Stanley is going to end up atop the leaderboard when all is said and done. The third-year pro is six strokes ahead of his closest competition through eight holes on Day 4 of the tournament.

Stanley birdied three of the holes on the front-nine of the Torrey Pines course in La Jolla, Calif., with his lone misstep being a bogey on the eighth hole. It shouldn't be a problem, however, as the former Clemson Tigers golfer built up an impressive lead earlier in the tournament.

Brandt Snedeker is second in the tournament, but his 14-under is six strokes worse than Stanley. John Rollins, Justin Leonard and Cameron Tringale round out the Top 5 hoping to catch up to Stanley as the tournament comes to an end.

For more golf news, check out Waggle Room. For updates on this tournament, check out our Farmers Insurance Open 2012 StoryStream. The full leaderboard can be found here.

Source: http://www.sbnation.com/golf/2012/1/29/2756707/2012-farmers-insurance-open-leaderboard

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Study Looks at Possible HIV Drugs-Birth Defect Link (HealthDay)

MONDAY, Jan. 30 (HealthDay News) -- Pregnant women with HIV can prevent passing the AIDS-causing virus to their babies by taking antiretroviral drugs, but there remains a possibility that some of these medications might cause birth defects, such as cleft lip and palate, according to a new study.

Antiretroviral drugs have been found to reduce the risk of mothers passing HIV on to their children from between 15 and 25 percent to less than 1 percent. These drugs, however, are still under investigation and not considered safe during pregnancy, the study authors noted.

To analyze the possible association between antiretroviral drugs and birth defects, Vassiliki Cartsos, an associate professor and director of graduate orthodontics at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine in Boston, and colleagues examined five years of adverse events compiled by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Their findings are published in the January issue of Cleft Palate--Craniofacial Journal.

The investigators found seven antiretroviral drugs were associated with 26 incidents of cleft lip and palate. However, the authors noted, uncovering an association does not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.

In other words, although the study findings should serve as a red flag, the researchers pointed out that the findings do not confirm that the antiretroviral drugs caused the birth defects.

Those drugs included lamivudine (Epivir); efavirenz (known as EFV); nelfinavir (Viracept); and the combination of abacavir (Ziagen), sulfate, lamivudine and zidovudine (Retrovir).

The study authors concluded in a journal news release that more research is needed to determine if there is a link between antiretroviral drugs and cleft lip and palate, a congenital malformation believed to have several causes, including genetic and environmental factors.

More information

The World Health Organization has more about antiretroviral therapy.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/diseases/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20120131/hl_hsn/studylooksatpossiblehivdrugsbirthdefectlink

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Monday, January 30, 2012

Syria says 'terrorists' blow up gas pipeline (AP)

BEIRUT ? An "armed terrorist group" in Syria blew up a gas pipeline at dawn Monday, the state-run media said, as activists reported gunfire and explosions in the suburbs of Damascus as the country's conflict moves ever closer to the capital.

The pipleline carries gas from the central province of Homs to an area near the border with Lebanon. SANA news agency reported that the blast happened in Tal Hosh, which is about five miles (eight kilometers) from Talkalakh, along the border with Lebanon.

Further details were not immediately released.

There have been several pipeline attacks since the Syrian uprising began in mid-March, but it is not clear who is behind them.

President Bashar Assad's regime has blamed "terrorists" for driving the country's 10-month-old uprising, not protesters seeking democratic change.

On Sunday, Syrian troops in dozens of tanks and armored vehicles stormed rebellious areas near the capital, shelling neighborhoods that have fallen under the control of army dissidents and clashing with fighters.

Activists and residents said at least 62 people were killed in violence nationwide.

The large-scale Sunday offensive suggested the regime is worried that military defectors could close in on Damascus, the seat of Assad's power. Early Monday, activists reported hearing gunfire and blasts in the Damascus suburbs, but there were no details.

The rising bloodshed added urgency to Arab and Western diplomatic efforts to end the 10-month conflict.

In the past two weeks, army dissidents have become more visible near the capital, seizing several suburbs on the eastern edge of Damascus and setting up checkpoints where masked men wearing military attire and wielding assault rifles stop motorists and protect anti-regime protests.

Their presence so close to the capital is astonishing in tightly controlled Syria and suggests the Assad regime may either be losing control or setting up a trap for the fighters before going on the offensive.

The uprising against Assad, which began with largely peaceful demonstrations, has grown increasingly militarized recently as more frustrated protesters and army defectors have taken up arms.

In a bid to stamp out resistance in the capital's outskirts, the military has responded with a withering assault on a string of suburbs, leading to a spike in violence that has killed at least 150 people since Thursday.

The United Nations says at least 5,400 people have been killed in the 10 months of violence.

The U.N. is holding talks on a new resolution on Syria and next week will discuss an Arab League peace plan aimed at ending the crisis. But the initiatives face two major obstacles: Damascus' rejection of the Arab plan that it says impinges on its sovereignty, and Russia's willingness to use its U.N. Security Council veto to protect Syria from sanctions.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_syria

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Sunday, January 29, 2012

Congress tries to police itself on insider trading (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Aware that most Americans would like to dump them all, members of Congress hope to regain some sense of trust by subjecting themselves to tougher penalties for insider trading and requiring they disclose stock transactions within 30 days.

A procedural vote Monday would allow the Senate later this week to pass a bill prohibiting members of Congress from using nonpublic information for their own personal benefit or "tipping" others to inside information that they could trade on.

Insider trading laws apply to all Americans, but CBS' "60 Minutes" in November said members of Congress get a pass, citing investment transactions by party leaders and a committee chairman in businesses about to be affected by pending legislation.

The broadcast report raised questions about trades of House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio; the husband of Democratic leader and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California; and Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

All three denied using any insider information to make stock trades, but the broadcast set off a flurry of efforts in Washington to deal with the public perception.

A recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll of registered voters found 56 percent of them favor replacing the entire 535-member Congress. Other polls this year have given Congress an approval rating between 11 percent and 13 percent, while disapproval percentages have ranged from 79 percent to 86 percent.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said he's working on an expanded bill that would go beyond stock transactions and ban lawmakers from making land deals and other investments based on what they learned as members of Congress.

The Senate version of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act would subject any member of Congress who violates the ban on insider trading to investigation and prosecution by regulatory agencies and the Justice Department. It also directs the House and Senate ethics committees to write rules that would make violators subject to additional congressional penalties.

"We can start restoring some of the faith that's been lost in our government by taking this common sense step of making members of Congress play by the exact same rules as everyone else," said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., who with Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., wrote the bill "We must make it unambiguous that this kind of behavior is illegal."

President Barack Obama endorsed the bill in in State of the Union speech last week, saying he would "sign it tomorrow." Brown used that opening to briefly speak with the president as he was exiting the House chamber after Tuesday's address.

"The insider trading bill's on Harry's desk right now," Brown told Obama, referring to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. "Tell him to get it out, it's already there."

"I'm gonna tell him," answered Obama. "I'm gonna tell him, I'm gonna tell him to get it done."

Obama raised the issue again in his radio and Internet address on Saturday.

"The House and Senate should send me a bill that bans insider trading by members of Congress, and I will sign it immediately. They should limit any elected official from owning stocks in industries they impact," he said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120129/ap_on_go_co/us_congress_insider_trading

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Students find man stuck for days in Rio Grande mud

(AP) ? A man who tells authorities he was stuck in the mud at the Rio Grande river in New Mexico for three days has been rescued after a group of high school students on a field trip heard him yelling for help.

An Albuquerque Fire Department spokesman tells KRQE-TV (http://bit.ly/A6bCXQ) that the students and their biology teacher heard the man yelling from a marshy wetlands area Saturday morning.

It took swift-water and technical rescue teams about two hours to pull the unidentified man to safety. His name and condition were not released.

The man told the students he'd spent three days stuck in the mud of the old river bend about two miles north of Interstate 40 in Albuquerque.

It wasn't immediately clear how he became stuck, and calls seeking additional information from the fire department weren't immediately returned.

___

Information from: KRQE-TV, http://www.krqe.com

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/aa9398e6757a46fa93ed5dea7bd3729e/Article_2012-01-28-Mud%20Rescue/id-845b3476967644499802816965b8b220

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Saturday, January 28, 2012

Probe of NYPD boss' son puts DA in spotlight, too

FILE - New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and son Greg attend the New York City Police Foundations 31st Annual Gala in New York, in this March 3, 2009 file photo. Kelly, son of the city police commissioner, is under investigation by prosecutors and denies any wrongdoing, his lawyer said Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, without elaborating on the allegations. (AP Photo/Charles Sykes, File)

FILE - New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and son Greg attend the New York City Police Foundations 31st Annual Gala in New York, in this March 3, 2009 file photo. Kelly, son of the city police commissioner, is under investigation by prosecutors and denies any wrongdoing, his lawyer said Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, without elaborating on the allegations. (AP Photo/Charles Sykes, File)

(AP) ? While the city's powerful police commissioner faced questions Friday about a rape allegation against his TV-anchor son, the probe has also put the district attorney in a delicate position.

The Manhattan district attorney who brought and dropped sex charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn is now in the thick of another sensitive, highly scrutinized sex-attack investigation, this one involving the son of a key law enforcement ally. But the new inquiry presents major differences; for one, there have been no arrests.

The commissioner refused to discuss the investigation as he faced the media Friday for the first time since reports surfaced that a woman had accused his son Greg of rape.

"I'm not going to ... with all due respect, answer any questions on this matter," Kelly said at a news conference at police headquarters, saying questions should be addressed to the prosecutor's office. Police have turned the matter over to prosecutors because of the potential conflict of interest in investigating one of the commissioner's sons.

Greg Kelly, the 43-year-old co-host of the local TV morning show "Good Day New York," has vehemently denied doing anything wrong in the episode.

The allegation presents a new high-profile sex-crime probe less than six months after the attempted rape charge against the former International Monetary Fund leader collapsed amid doubt about his accuser's trustworthiness in the biggest case of Cyrus R. Vance Jr.'s two years as district attorney.

Indeed, the Strauss-Kahn case still looms large enough that Greg Kelly himself queried Vance on-air about it just this Monday. But the two matters are far from parallel, legal experts say.

The district attorney's office stayed silent about the matter Friday as Mayor Michael Bloomberg praised how Kelly and the police department addressed it and called Vance "a tough, smart guy" who could handle the hot seat.

For a district attorney in one of the most prominent prosecutor's jobs in the country, "there's always going to be high-profile, complicated cases. There's always going to be second-guessing. He's tough enough to focus on the job," Bloomberg said on "The John Gambling Show with Mayor Mike" on WOR-AM radio.

The woman told police Tuesday she met Greg Kelly for drinks on Oct. 8, they went to her lower Manhattan law office and he assaulted her while she wasn't capable of consenting to sex, a person familiar with the investigation has said.

The woman and Kelly stayed in contact afterward, the person said.

She said she became pregnant from the encounter and had an abortion, according to a law enforcement official. Neither the person nor the official was authorized to speak publicly, and they talked to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

At some point, the woman's boyfriend confronted the commissioner in person at a public event, saying Greg Kelly had ruined his girlfriend's life but declining to elaborate on the spot when asked what he meant, according to police spokesman Paul Browne. Browne said the commissioner suggested the boyfriend send him a letter, but the man apparently never did.

Greg Kelly's lawyer, Andrew Lankler, has said the investigation "will prove Mr. Kelly's innocence."

Kelly took time off starting Thursday from his show on local Fox affiliate WNYW-TV, the station said.

Three days before, Vance appeared on the program to talk about the problem of elder abuse. Kelly also questioned him about the case against Strauss-Kahn, who was charged in May with making a hotel maid perform oral sex. The onetime French presidential hopeful has said the encounter was "inappropriate" but not violent.

Prosecutors said they dropped the case in August because the woman had undercut her credibility by lying about her background and changing her account of her actions right after the alleged attack. She says she was truthful about the encounter and is pursuing her claims in a lawsuit.

Some have questioned whether "if she were a more prominent citizen, member of the community, she would not have been subjected to that kind of interrogation," Kelly noted to Vance on the show.

Vance called that a "misimpression and incorrect assessment of the case" and said his office looks at each case carefully.

Even from the few details known so far, the investigation into Kelly has some sharp distinctions from the Strauss-Kahn case, but it may pose just as significant challenges, experts said.

Strauss-Kahn's accuser swiftly reported the alleged attack, prompting an arrest within hours and allowing investigators to gather a sample of the then-International Monetary Fund leader's semen on the woman's work clothes. It's unclear whether they will have any forensic evidence to work with in the investigation into Kelly, or whether his accuser sought medical attention.

Concerned that Strauss-Kahn might flee overseas, prosecutors persuaded a judge initially to hold him without bail. Although Strauss-Kahn was released to house arrest days later, his jailing had forced prosecutors to obtain an indictment because of legal time limits on holding someone without one. The district attorney's office later faced some criticism that it had rushed to indict before completely investigating, though some legal observers said Strauss-Kahn's foreign ties left prosecutors no choice.

Kelly, on the other hand, hasn't been charged with any crime, so there's no legal deadline looming over prosecutors' investigation.

While the Kelly investigation may put the DA under pressure again, "it's only comparable to the (Strauss-Kahn and two officers') cases in that it's high-profile," said Linda Fairstein, a former longtime chief sex-crimes prosecutor in Manhattan. "...It'll get done like any other case."

___

Associated Press writers Samantha Gross and Tom Hays contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-27-Police%20Commissioner-Son/id-519e1901c63a43aba82353459485a5df

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Friend says on 911 call Demi Moore was convulsing (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? Demi Moore smoked something before she was rushed to the hospital on Monday night and was convulsing and "semi-conscious, barely," according to a caller on a frantic 911 recording released Friday by Los Angeles fire officials.

The woman tells emergency operators that Moore, 49, had been "having issues lately."

"Is she breathing normal?" the operator asks.

"No, not so normal. More kind of shaking, convulsing, burning up," the friend says as she hurries to Moore's side, on the edge of panic.

The recording captures the 10 minutes it took paramedics to arrive as friends gather around the collapsed star and try to comfort her as she trembles and shakes.

Another woman is next to Moore as the dispatcher asks if she's responsive.

"Demi, can you hear me?" she asks. "Yes, she's squeezing hands. ... She can't speak."

When the operator asks what Moore ingested or smoked, the friend replies, but the answer was redacted.

"Some form of ... and then she smoked something. I didn't really see. She's been having some issues lately with some other stuff. So I don't know what she's been taking or not," the friend says.

The city attorney's office advised the fire department to redact details about medical conditions and substances to comply with federal medical privacy rules.

"She smoked something. It's not marijuana. It's similar to incense," the friend says to the 911 operator.

While Moore's friends don't say exactly what she smoked, an increasingly popular drug known as Spice is sometimes labeled as "herbal incense."

Spice is a synthetic cannabis drug and also called K2. It's sold in small packets over the Internet, in smoke shops and at convenience stores. The packaging sometimes reads "not for human consumption" to conceal its purpose.

In 2011, there were twice as many spice-related calls to Poison Control Centers nationwide as in the previous year, according to the National Office of Drug Control Policy.

The adverse health effects associated with synthetic marijuana include anxiety, vomiting, racing heartbeat, seizures, hallucinations, and paranoid behavior.

Asked if Moore took the substance intentionally or not, the woman says Moore ingested it on purpose but the reaction was accidental.

"Whatever she took, make sure you have it out for the paramedics," the operator says.

The operator asks the friend if this has happened before.

"I don't know," she says. "There's been some stuff recently that we're all just finding out."

Moore's publicist, Carrie Gordon, said previously that the actress sought professional help to treat her exhaustion and improve her health. She would not comment further on the emergency call or provide details about the nature or location of Moore's treatment.

The past few months have been rocky for Moore.

She released a statement in November announcing she had decided to end her marriage to fellow actor Ashton Kutcher, 33, following news of alleged infidelity. The two were known to publicly share their affection for one another via Twitter.

Moore still has a Twitter account under the name mrskutcher but has not posted any messages since Jan. 7.

During the call, the woman caller says the group of friends had turned Moore's head to the side and was holding her down. The dispatcher tells her not to hold her down but to wipe her mouth and nose and watch her closely until paramedics arrive.

"Make sure that we keep an airway open," the dispatcher says. "Even if she passes out completely, that's OK. Stay right with her."

The phone is passed around by four people, including a woman who gives directions to the gate and another who recounts details about what Moore smoked or ingested. Finally, the phone is given to a man named James, so one of the women can hold Moore's head.

There was some confusion at the beginning of the call. The emergency response was delayed by nearly two minutes as Los Angeles and Beverly Hills dispatchers sorted out which city had jurisdiction over the street where Moore lives.

As the call is transferred to Beverly Hills, the frantic woman at Moore's house raises her voice and said, "Why is an ambulance not on its way right now?"

"Ma'am, instead of arguing with me why an ambulance is not on the way, can you spell (the street name) for me?" the Beverly Hills dispatcher says.

Although the estate is located in the 90210 ZIP code above Benedict Canyon, the response was eventually handled by the Los Angeles Fire Department.

By the end of the call, Moore has improved.

"She seems to have calmed down now. She's speaking," the male caller told the operator.

Moore and Kutcher were wed in September 2005.

Kutcher became a stepfather to Moore's three daughters ? Rumer, Scout and Tallulah Belle ? from her 13-year marriage to actor Bruce Willis. Moore and Willis divorced in 2000 but remained friendly.

Moore and Kutcher created the DNA Foundation, also known as the Demi and Ashton Foundation, in 2010 to combat the organized sexual exploitation of girls around the globe. They later lent their support to the United Nations' efforts to fight human trafficking, a scourge the international organization estimates affects about 2.5 million people worldwide.

Meanwhile, Millennium Films announced Friday that Sarah Jessica Parker will replace Moore in the role of feminist Gloria Steinem in its production of "Lovelace," a biopic about the late porn star Linda Lovelace. A statement gave no reason for the change. The production, starring Amanda Seyfried, has been shooting in Los Angeles since Dec. 20.

Moore can be seen on screen in the recent films "Margin Call" and "Another Happy Day." Kutcher replaced Charlie Sheen on TV's "Two and a Half Men" and is part of the ensemble film "New Year's Eve."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_en_ot/us_people_demi_moore

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Friday, January 27, 2012

Rate on 30-year fixed mortgage rises to 3.98 pct. (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage rose this week for the first time this month, though it remained below 4 percent for the eighth straight week.

The low rates may be contributing to a slow turnaround in the depressed housing market. Still, many who can afford to buy or refinance a home have already done so.

Freddie Mac said Thursday the average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage rose to 3.98 percent this week. That's up from 3.88 percent the previous week, which was the lowest level on record.

The average on the 15-year fixed mortgage also rose to 3.24 percent, from 3.17 percent the previous week. The 15-year mortgage hit a record low of 3.16 percent two weeks ago.

Mortgage rates are low because they tend to track the yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which fell below 2 percent this week.

For the past three months, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate has hovered near 4 percent. Historically low mortgage rates are among the signs that point to a pickup in the housing market this year.

Sales of previously occupied homes rose in December for a third straight month. Homebuilders are slightly more hopeful because more people are saying they might consider buying this year. And home construction picked up in the final quarter of last year.

Still, new homes fell in December, the Commerce Department said Thursday. About 302,000 new homes were sold last year, making 2011 the worst year for new home sales on records dating back to 1963.

High unemployment and scant wage gains have made it harder for many people to qualify for loans. Many don't want to sink money into a home that they fear could lose value over the next few years.

Builders are hopeful that the low rates could boost sales next year. Low mortgage rates were cited as a key reason the National Association of Home Builders survey of builder sentiment rose strongly in December and January.

To calculate the average rates, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the country Monday through Wednesday of each week.

The average rates don't include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates. One point equals 1 percent of the loan amount.

The average fee for the 30-year loan dipped to 0.7 from 0.8; the average on the 15-year fixed mortgage was unchanged at 0.8.

For the five-year adjustable loan, the average rate rose to 2.85 percent from 2.82 percent. The average on the one-year adjustable loan was unchanged at 2.74 percent.

The average fee on the five-year adjustable loan rose was unchanged at 0.7; the average on the one-year adjustable-rate loan was unchanged at 0.6.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personalfinance/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_bi_ge/us_mortgage_rates

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Sharapova, Azarenka into Australian Open final (AP)

MELBOURNE, Australia ? Maria Sharapova overcame Petra Kvitova to set up a women's final against Victoria Azarenka at the Australian Open before the attention quickly shifted to a much anticipated semifinal showdown between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Sharapova broke Kvitova's serve in the last game to finish off a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 Thursday, and third-seeded Azarenka beat defending champion Kim Clijsters 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 to set up a Saturday night final at Rod Laver Arena that also will decide the No. 1 ranking.

Sharapova lost to second-ranked Kvitova in the Wimbledon final last year, her first major final since returning from an injury layoff following a shoulder operation in 2008. She has won three majors, but none since the Australian four years ago.

"In the third set, I felt she always had the advantage because I was always down on my serve," said Sharapova, who served five double-faults in the third set and 10 in the match. "I just told myself 'You just gotta go for it, don't let her finish off the points like she likes to.'"

Azarenka won the first semifinal after twice recovering from periods when a resurgent Clijsters seemed to have the upper hand, to secure victory in only her second appearance in a major semifinal.

"I felt like my hand is about 200 kilograms and my body is about 1,000 and everything is shaking, but that feeling when you finally win is such a relief. My God I cannot believe it's over. I just want to cry," Azarenka said as she choked back tears, then buried her face in a towel.

"It was just trying to stay in the moment. Kim really took over the second set and I felt there was nothing I could do. I just tried to regroup."

Clijsters is popular in Australia, where she's widely known as "Aussie Kim." She had most of the backing from the crowd on the national holiday in what is likely to be her last Australian Open.

Azarenka held her nerve despite the crowd and the fact she was up against a proven big-match player. Clijsters has won four majors and has defended a Grand Slam title ? winning the U.S. Open in 2009 and '10. To reach the semifinals, the Belgian saved four match points despite a sprained ankle to beat French Open champion Li Na in the fourth round and then beat top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals.

"I guess before you all thought I was a mental case," Azarenka said in a courtside interview. "I was just young and emotional. I'm really glad the way I fight, that's the most thing I'm really proud of. I fight for every ball."

Clijsters credited Azarenka with increasing maturity.

"The match was very close. There were a few deciding moments where I think I maybe had a little bit of an advantage, in the third set, especially that first game where I had break point," Clijsters said. "But she definitely played really well. So she deserved to win at the end."

Wozniacki will vacate top spot in next week's rankings after her quarterfinal loss, leaving either No. 3 Azarenka and No. 4 Sharapova to move to the top.

The top men's ranking won't be at issue Thursday night. Novak Djokovic ? who plays Andy Murray in another semifinal on Friday ? has that locked up regardless of the Australian Open results.

But the Nadal-Federer semifinal will mark the first time since the French Open in 2005 that the pair have met at the next-to-last stage of any Grand Slam. Federer and Nadal were Nos. 1 and 2 for most of five years from 2005 to 2010, meaning they were on opposite sides of the draw and could not meet until the final.

That changed at this tournament when No. 2 Nadal and No. 3 Federer both ended up in the bottom half of the draw. Five matches later, the players with 26 Grand Slam singles titles between them ? Federer 16, Nadal 10 ? will meet.

Nadal has won 17 of their 26 head-to-head matches overall, including a 7-2 lead in Grand Slam matches. Federer won the last meeting, a 60-minute 6-3, 6-0 victory at the season-ending championship in November.

"We have been on opposite sides of the draw many times," Federer said. "I guess it's a nice change-up. OK, it doesn't allow a rematch for the Australian Open final here, you know, but I think it's good for tennis that it changes up a bit."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_sp_te_ga_su/ten_australian_open

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Thursday, January 26, 2012

Kenny Chesney leads ACM Awards nominations with 9

In this June 17, 2011 photo, Kenny Chesney appears on the NBC "Today" television program in New York. Chesney's duet with Grace Potter, "You and Tequila," helped Chesney to nine Academy of Country Music Awards nominations Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012, including top honor entertainer of the year. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

In this June 17, 2011 photo, Kenny Chesney appears on the NBC "Today" television program in New York. Chesney's duet with Grace Potter, "You and Tequila," helped Chesney to nine Academy of Country Music Awards nominations Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012, including top honor entertainer of the year. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

FILE - In this Oct. 25, 2010 file photo, musician Taylor Swift poses for a portrait in West Hollywood, Calif. Swift had three Academy of Country Music Awards nominations Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)

FILE - In this March 3, 2009 file photo, country music performer Jason Aldean is shown in Nashville, Tenn. Aldean had six Academy of Country Music Awards nominations Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, file)

(AP) ? Kenny Chesney's steamy duet, "You and Tequila" with Grace Potter, continues to radiate heat.

The song helped Chesney to nine Academy of Country Music Awards nominations Thursday morning, including the top honor of entertainer of the year. Jason Aldean, next with six nominations, Brad Paisley, Blake Shelton and 2011 winner Taylor Swift round out the fan-voted category.

Lady Antebellum had five nominations, Paisley had four and several were deadlocked at three, including Swift.

Nominees were announced via social media with the help of stars like Reba McEntire and Lionel Richie. Fans were chosen to announce the entertainer of the year candidates. They'll have a chance to pick the winner in that category and new artist of the year for the 47th annual ACM Awards, which will air live April 1 from Las Vegas on CBS with McEntire and Shelton hosting.

Chesney is a four-time entertainer of the year winner and was the first victor under the academy's current fan-voted format. He's nominated for a 10th time in the male vocalist category and received double nominations as artist and producer for album of the year for "Hemingway's Whiskey" and single record of the year and vocal event of the year for "You and Tequila." He also receives a song of the year nomination as performer on "You and Tequila," written by Matraca Berg and Deana Carter.

Potter, best known as an indie rock performer with her band The Nocturnals, received three nominations for the collaboration.

Aldean also is up for male vocalist, album of the year for "My Kinda Party," single record and vocal event of the year for the duet "Don't You Wanna Stay" with Kelly Clarkson, and video of the year for "Tattoos on This Town."

Lady Antebellum will compete for its third straight vocal group of the year win. The trio of Hillary Scott, Dave Haywood and Charles Kelley also is up for album of the year for "Own the Night" as artist and producer, and both song and video of the year for "Just a Kiss."

Along with his fifth straight entertainer nomination, Paisley will be going for another win in the male vocalist category. He's won it five times in a row. He also scored a double nomination in the vocal event category for "Old Alabama" with Alabama and "Remind Me" with Carrie Underwood.

Eric Church's "CHIEF" and Miranda Lambert's "Four the Record" round out the album of the year category. Lady A won last year for its breakthrough "Need You Now."

Nominees for the new artist of the year will be announced after the close of online voting Jan. 30. Fans are currently picking the nominees in that category from a list of eight semifinalists.

Fans can begin voting at the ACM website for entertainer and new artist nominees on March 19. The other award winners are picked by the academy's membership.

It's Shelton's first nomination for the academy's top award. The news comes the week after Shelton's father, Dick, passed away.

"The support I have felt this week is overwhelming," Shelton said in a statement. "Thank you everyone for this honor."

___

Online:

http://www.acmcountry.com

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-01-26-Music-ACM%20Awards-Nominations/id-075fcfa2fde646d3b0fc44b25f810b34

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Adele's 21 Ties Another #1 Billboard Record

Unstoppable LP will notch 17th non-consecutive week on top of the albums chart [to avoid repeating Billboard], tying Billy Ray Cyrus' 1992 release.
By Gil Kaufman


Adele
Photo: Getty Images

Adele's 21 gives a whole new meaning to "Achy Breaky Heart." And since the singer's unstoppable album will notch its 17th non-consecutive week at #1 next week on the Billboard albums chart, she now shares that honor with Billy Ray Cyrus' breakthrough, Some Gave All, which did the same in 1992.

After blowing past the 1997 "Titanic" soundtrack last week, Adele sold another 95,000 copies of 21 to keep the top spot, according to figures provided by Nielsen SoundScan. That was more than enough to lock out the 21st edition of the Kidz Bop series, which will debut at #2 on sales of 59,000.

The only other new face in the top 10 is gospel act James Fortune & FIYA's Identity, which moved 18,000 units.

The rest of the top 10: Black Keys' El Camino (#3, 29,000), Drake's Take Care (#4, 29,000), Rihanna's Talk That Talk (#5, 20,000), Young Jeezy's TM 103: Hustlerz Ambition (#6, 19,000), Toby Keith's Clancy's Tavern (#8, 17,000), Coldplay's Mylo Xyloto (#9, 17,000) and Nickelback's Here and Now (#10, 17,000).

Otherwise, it was pretty quiet, with punk band Attack Attack! sliding into the #11 spot with their new one, This Means War (17,000), and the soundtrack to the Dolly Parton/Queen Latifah feel-good movie "Joyful Noise" jumping up nine spots in its second week to #12 (just under 17,000). Down at #26 was protest folkie Ani DiFranco with Which Side Are You On? (11,000) and, at #33, soft rockers Snow Patrol, whose Fallen Empires tumbled 28 spots in its second week on the charts.

Adele might be safe for another week if the latest from country star Tim McGraw doesn't push her out of the top spot. Other new releases include albums from Lamb of God, Kellie Pickler and Amnesty International's four-disc Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan compilation.

Related Artists

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677875/adele-21-billboard.jhtml

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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

PFT: Big Ben case settled for small amount?

Nike-nfl-uniforms-2012-2_crop_650x440

Earlier today, we suggested that folks thinking about buying an NFL jersey should consider waiting until April of this year, when the switch flips from Reebok to Nike.? But with a Nike exec saying in October 2010 that the company plans on ?changing the NFL jersey dramatically,? the league is now saying otherwise.

?Logos are controlled by teams and the NFL,? league spokesman Brian McCarthy told PFT by email this morning.? ?That will not change.? Teams have to apply to league to make changes to logos and colors.

?We anticipate new uniform technology (i.e., performance-driven, lighter materials).? That?s what Nike?s [Charlie] Denson was referring to in his interview in 2010 regarding changes.?

So, apparently, the jerseys will look the same, barring any changes that would be made in the ordinary course of changing jerseys.? Of course, the shift to Nike could cause some teams to decide to make the change.

Last year, for example, Seahawks president Peter McLoughlin said that the team will use the occasion to re-do their duds.? ?There will be no changes for ?11, for the upcoming season,? McLoughlin told Dave ?Softy? Mahler of KJR.? ?2011 is the final year for the Reebok deal with the NFL, and starting in 2012 we?re going to be going with a Nike jersey and a Nike design.? So we?ve actually met with Nike, and I think we were the first NFL team to meet with them, and we had a fascinating session with them.? Pete Carroll was in the room, John Schneider, all kinds of people, and we?re looking at all kinds of new designs, and new kinds of jerseys, and we?re talking about a throwback for sure.? So there?s a lot of creative stuff in the works right now.?

Thus, we won?t know for sure the team jerseys that will look different until the new jerseys are unveiled.? The league says that?ll happen in late April, in connection with the 2012 draft.

As to players changing jersey numbers, McCarthy said that the policy won?t change.? Players wanting to change their numbers will have to submit requests to the team, and the team will then pass the requests along to the league.? Still, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello separately tells PFT that the requirement that a player who changes his number refund Reebok for the unsold inventory of jerseys bearing the prior number will go away in conjunction with the changeover.

So if, for example, Adrian Peterson wants to change his number (as he said he wants to do on his Twitter page), he won?t have to write a check to Reebok.

The bigger takeaway is that Nike won?t be unleashing haphazardly a new array of alternative looks and designs.

We think.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/01/24/roethlisberger-case-settled-for-less-than-a-game-check/related/

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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/46090339#46090339

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Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Newt Gingrich's Space Speech -- Will it Be Workable as Well as Visionary? (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | According to the Space Politics blog, Newt Gingrich plans to make a space policy speech on Florida's space coast probably Wednesday. He said it would be "in the John F. Kennedy tradition rather than the current bureaucracy."

Gingrich has been a fierce critic of what he calls the NASA bureaucracy, according to Fox News, and an advocate for outside-the-box thinking like using prize competitions, according to Space Politics. It has been rare for candidates running for president to make speeches wholly devoted to space issues. Considering that Gingrich is now the front runner for the Republic nomination, this could be a history changer.

It will be interesting to see if Gingrich can lay out a compelling vision for America in space that not only incorporates some of the more interesting ideas such as space prizes and leveraging the commercial sector (in the right way) but which can be bought in by the various political players that control space policy. As a former speaker of the House, Gingrich has to be keenly aware of what it will take to propose and execute a change of direction and get Congress to go along.

Gingrich's invocation of JFK is interesting as it suggests the space program's heroic past, which involved doing a big project, the Apollo program to land a man on the moon. One does not know if the invocation is just thematic or whether he has come around to the idea that NASA, with its bureaucracy obviously shaken up and reformed, has a major role in his new vision that goes beyond being a pay master for prize competitions and commercial companies feeding on government subsidies. Gingrich the historian must remember the examples of Prince Henry the Navigator and Lewis and Clark as well as Apollo. There should be a place for great expeditions to the moon and beyond as part of a larger process to make America a space faring country.

One thing is for certain. A President Gingrich will not regard space as just a box to check off, like both Presidents Bush, or as something to pander and lie about, like President Obama. Space will be a passionate issue for him near the top of the national agenda, as part of making America great again. If his speech presents a plan that is visionary and workable, Gingrich may just change history.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120123/sc_ac/10871591_newt_gingrichs_space_speech__will_it_be_workable_as_well_as_visionary

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Monday, January 23, 2012

AT&T and T-Mobile file request for FCC approval of spectrum transfer

It looks like AT&T is ready to uphold its end of the bargain. As promised, the GSM giant is poised to hand over spectrum to T-Mobile valued at $1 billion as a result of the proposed merger failing, and once again the FCC is the gatekeeper that holds the keys to the success of the transfer. According to the Wall Street Journal, the companies need permission from the Commission in order to make the handover work out according to plan, though we haven't seen a specific deadline set for the transition. We don't imagine the government will have quite the same concern with this particular transfer as it did with the entire merger itself, but we wonder if AT&T is secretly hoping -- for once -- that the FCC will say no.

AT&T and T-Mobile file request for FCC approval of spectrum transfer originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/23/att-t-mobile-spectrum-fcc/

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Nadal advances to Australian Open quarterfinals (AP)

MELBOURNE, Australia ? Rafael Nadal's right knee was taped. Ditto for his left ankle. His strokes looked just fine.

Nadal cruised past countryman Feliciano Lopez on Sunday, winning 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open.

Nadal, who hurt his knee while sitting in a chair the day before the tournament began, is one win away from a possible semifinal against old rival Roger Federer after beating his fellow Spaniard for the ninth time in 11 matches.

On a sunny day with the temperature rising to 89 degrees, both players sat with ice towels around their necks during the changeovers.

Nadal needed treatment from the trainer for a left ankle problem after three games of the first set. By that time, he had already broken serve.

It was more of the same the next two sets as Nadal maintained control against his "very good friend" Lopez.

"I am fine," Nadal said. "It was a very, very hot day. I think it's positive to keep winning in straight sets."

Federer was up against 19-year-old Australian Bernard Tomic in the first match of the night session later Sunday. The 16-time Grand Slam champion hasn't lost to a teenager since 2006 against Andy Murray at the Cincinnati Masters.

Also Sunday, defending champion Kim Clijsters was to face Li Na in a repeat of the 2011 final. Clijsters beat Li 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 to win her fourth major title a year ago.

Victoria Azarenka was the first player to reach the quarterfinals when she beat Iveta Benesova 6-2, 6-2.

The third-seeded Belarusian is yet to drop a set at the tournament and will next meet eighth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, who beat Julia Goerges of Germany 6-1, 6-1.

With the win, 22-year-old Azarenka stayed in the hunt for the No. 1 ranking. Petra Kvitova and Maria Sharapova can also claim the top spot from Caroline Wozniacki.

"I would be a liar if I said I didn't care about it," Azarenka said. "It's in the back of my head and we'll take it day by day, I guess."

Azarenka, like Wozniacki, is aiming for her first Grand Slam title. She has never gone past the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, but is 6-3 against Radwanska. The last of those victories came at the Sydney International, which Azarenka won before coming to Melbourne.

Sunday's win was her ninth straight, but the likes of Serena Williams and Clijsters are still attracting more attention.

"For me, doesn't really matter. I try to focus on myself," Azarenka said. "I think I'm in the best shape physically right now, so it kind of helps other aspects of the game. I feel pretty good out there."

Williams routed Greta Arn 6-1, 6-1 on Saturday for her 17th straight win at the Australian Open.

Coming off an injury-ravaged 18 months, Williams is seeded 12th in Melbourne. She hasn't held the top ranking since 2010, the year she won the last of her 13 Grand Slam titles.

On Saturday, she spoke expansively about her off-court activities: She's taking courses in kinesiology and management and preparing for an appearance in a "pretty big" TV show.

Yet Arn says "everybody knows" if Williams hits top form she will win the Australian Open, where she hasn't lost since 2008. She won back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010 and was unable to defend her title last year while she recovered from two foot surgeries.

Next up for Williams is unseeded Russian Ekaterina Makarova. After that, things are likely to get a lot tougher. Sharapova is a potential quarterfinal opponent, and Wimbledon champion Kvitova may await in the semifinals.

"I'm nowhere near where I want to be," said Williams, who came into the tournament nursing a sprained left ankle. "I'm just trying to play through it. A little rusty, just trying to play through my rust."

Sharapova and Kvitova joined Williams in advancing to the fourth round on Saturday. Between the three of them, they lost six games.

Kvitova was leading 6-0, 1-0 when Russian opponent Maria Kirilenko retired. Sharapova, who won her first two matches 6-0, 6-1, was tested for the first time and still came out with a 6-1, 6-2 win over U.S. Open semifinalist Angelique Kerber.

It was a day of lopsided scorelines on Rod Laver Arena.

No. 1-ranked Novak Djokovic routed Nicolas Mahut 6-0, 6-1, 6-1 in 1 hour, 14 minutes to give the Frenchman a lousy 30th birthday present.

Mahut, who lost the longest Grand Slam match in history at 11 hours, 5 minutes at Wimbledon in 2010, was hampered by a left leg injury, but said he played on because the previous matches on Rod Laver Arena were over so quickly.

"I wish him happy birthday and hopefully tonight he can enjoy it," Djokovic said.

The defending champion has won 24 straight sets at the Australian Open, and has lost 10 games in his first three matches this time.

Djokovic likely gets an evening slot for his fourth-round match against Lleyton Hewitt. The 30-year-old Australian downed promising Canadian Milos Raonic 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-3 in Saturday's final match of the day before a raucous home crowd.

No. 4-ranked Murray, beaten in the last two Australian finals, brushed aside Michael Llodra 6-4, 6-2, 6-0 Saturday to leave France with two players in the draw, having started the day with six.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was the other Frenchman to advance and next plays Kei Nishikori, the first Japanese man to reach the fourth round in Melbourne in the Open era.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_sp_te_ga_su/ten_australian_open

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BlackBerry maker co-CEOs step down as co-CEOs (AP)

TORONTO ? BlackBerry maker Research in Motion's co-CEOs, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, announced they have stepped down as co-CEOs and co-chairmen of the once-iconic company that has struggled to compete in recent years.

The RIM founders have been replaced by Thorsten Heins, a chief operating officer who joined RIM four years ago from Siemens AG, RIM said Sunday.

The Canadian company turned the email smartphone into a ubiquitous device that many could not live without, but U.S. users have moved on to flashier touch-screen phones such as Apple's iPhone and various competing models that run Google's Android software. RIM has suffered a series of setbacks and has lost tens of billions in market value.

RIM said last month that new phones deemed critical to the company's future would be delayed until late this year. And its PlayBook tablet, RIM's answer to the Apple iPad, failed to gain consumer support, forcing the company to deeply discount it to move the devices off store shelves.

Many shareholders and analysts have said a change or sale of the company has been needed, but the sudden departure of the two founders from their top jobs wasn't expected despite their promises that they would examine the co-CEO and co-chairmen structure.

Balsillie and Lazaridis have long been celebrated as Canadian heroes, even appearing in the country's citizenship guide for new immigrants as models of success. They headed Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM together for the past two decades.

"There comes a time in the growth of every successful company when the founders recognize the need to pass the baton to new leadership. Jim and I went to the board and told them that we thought that time was now," Lazaridis said in a statement.

Lazaridis will take on a new role as vice chairman of RIM's board and chairman of the board's new innovation committee. Balsillie remains a member of the board.

The two remain two of RIM's biggest shareholders.

"I agree this is the right time to pass the baton to new leadership, and I have complete confidence in Thorsten, the management team and the company," Balsillie said in the statement. "I remain a significant shareholder and a director and, of course, they will have my full support."

Analysts have said RIM's future depends on its much-delayed new software platform as RIM has tried and failed to reinvigorate the BlackBerry. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs said in late 2010 that RIM would have a hard time catching up to Apple because RIM has been forced to move beyond its area of strength and into unfamiliar territory of trying to become a software platform company.

Heins, 54, said Lazaridis and Balsillie took RIM in the right direction and said he's committed to the new software.

"We are more confident than ever that was the right path. It is Mike and Jim's continued unwillingness to sacrifice long-term value for short-term gain which has made RIM the great company that it is today. I share that philosophy and am very excited about the company's future," Heins said.

Barbara Stymiest, a former chief operating officer of the Royal Bank of Canada who has been a member of RIM's board since 2007, has named chair of the board of directors. RIM also announced that Prem Watsa, the chief executive of Fairfax Financial Holdings, is a new board member. Watsa has become a significant shareholder.

Lazaridis said he was so confident in the future direction of the company that he intends to purchase an additional $50 million of the company's shares on the open market.

RIM was worth more than $70 billion a few years ago but now has a market value of $8.9 billion.

The company still has 75 million active subscribers, but many analysts believe RIM will lose market share internationally as it has in the U.S. Market researcher NPD Group said RIM's market share of smartphones in the U.S. declined from 44 percent in 2009 to 10 percent in 2011.

Balsillie acknowledged in December that the last few quarters have been among the most challenging times in the company's history.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_on_bi_ge/cn_rim_ceos_resign

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Sunday, January 22, 2012

Adult in Ohio Craigslist case charged with murder (AP)

AKRON, Ohio ? A self-styled chaplain suspected in a deadly scheme to rob people who replied to a Craigslist job ad has been charged with multiple counts of aggravated murder, kidnapping and robbery and could face the death penalty if convicted, according to an indictment announced Friday.

The charges against Richard Beasley accuse him of killing three men and wounding a fourth in August, October and November.

Beasley, 52, of Akron, who has been jailed in Akron on unrelated prostitution and drug charges, has denied involvement in the Craigslist slayings. He was arrested in November after authorities linked him to the alleged plot.

Prosecutors would not speculate on a motive but Attorney General Mike DeWine, who joined in announcing the charges, said investigators are looking at "serial killings."

"Are there more bodies? We frankly do not know," DeWine said, appealing to people with any information about missing persons to come forward.

Also Friday, a judge determined that the case of a juvenile suspect mentored by Beasley will be moved out of the county where two slaying victims were found and another was shot but survived.

The decision to transfer the case of Brogan Rafferty to Summit County came after a hearing Friday afternoon, said Tonda Brown, Noble County Court Assignment Commissioner. She said the gag order in the case has also been lifted.

Messages were left with the Noble County prosecutor and Rafferty's attorney in Noble County. The Summit County Prosecutor's Office could not immediately comment, said spokeswoman April Wiesner.

Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh said the case of Beasley, with the nature of the crimes and the multitude of charges, was made for the death penalty.

"This case we view as to be one of the worst of the worst when it comes to horrible murder cases," Walsh said.

The 28-count indictment against Beasley also included theft, weapons and identity theft charges. Beasley received the indictment Friday, and a decision will be made next week about his representation, said Rhonda Kotnik, an attorney who has been representing Beasley on the non-Craigslist charges.

An acquaintance of Beasley, 16-year-old Brogan Rafferty, of nearby of Stow, could face similar charges after being transferred to adult court late last year. His case is pending in Noble County where two of the slayings happened.

Authorities say the scheme targeted older and single out-of-work men with backgrounds that made it unlikely their disappearances would be noted right away.

The first victim, Ralph Geiger, 55, of Akron, was killed Aug. 9, the day after he left a homeless shelter saying he was taking a farm job. His body wasn't found until Nov. 25.

Geiger's brother, Mark Geiger, said Friday he's happy with the way prosecutors are handling the case. He said he's long wondered about other victims. He said he's not a death penalty advocate but wouldn't oppose it, although life in prison for Beasley would also satisfy him.

"As long as Beasley never has the opportunity to interact with the outside world again, that's what I feel would be appropriate," said Geiger, a telecommunications executive in Atlanta.

The plot's second victim, David Pauley, 51, of Norfolk, Va., came to Ohio in mid-October after answering the Craigslist ad. A friend has said Pauley was desperate for work and eager to return to Ohio.

Police say he was killed Oct. 23, and his body was found Nov. 15. Family members had contacted police concerned they hadn't heard from him.

The third victim, Timothy Kern, 47, of Massillon, whose body was buried near an Akron shopping mall, answered the ad and was last seen Nov. 13, authorities said. His body was also found Nov. 25. Kern told his family he was taking the job to help support his three sons.

A surviving victim, Scott Davis, 48, of South Carolina, also answered the ad and was shot Nov. 6 before escaping, police say.

Beasley was a Texas parolee when he returned to Ohio in 2004 after serving several years in prison on a burglary conviction. He was released from an Akron jail July 12 after a judge mistakenly allowed him to post bond on a drug-trafficking charge.

He was arrested two days later following a traffic stop but again mistakenly released. An investigation by Ohio's prisons system found that Beasley should not have been released on bond but said confusion over interstate prisoner-transfer rules and "ambiguity" in messages from Texas to Akron jail officials contributed to the error.

In a four-page handwritten letter to the Akron Beacon Journal, Beasley has said he has been miscast as a con man when he really helped feed, house and counsel scores of needy families, alcoholics, drug addicts, the mentally ill and crime suspects for years.

"To call me a con man when I sacrificed for others is wrong," wrote Beasley, who didn't mention the Craigslist investigation or Rafferty. "To turn their back on me is not following Christ's example. I gave three full years of my life to that ministry and what I got out of it was the satisfaction of doing the right thing. There was no `con' to it."

__

Andrew Welsh-Huggins, who contributed to this report from Columbus, can be reached at http://twitter.com/awhcolumbus.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120121/ap_on_re_us/us_craigslist_jobseekers_killed_charges

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Ill. man in joking mood despite nail in brain

This photo provided by Christ Medical Center & Hope Children's Hospital in Oak Lawn,, Ill. on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 shows an X-ray of a nail embedded in Dante Autullo's brain. Autullo unknowingly shot a nail into his skull, and posted a picture of the X-ray on Facebook during his ambulance ride between hospitals for surgery. (AP Photo/Christ Medical Center & Hope Children's Hospital)

This photo provided by Christ Medical Center & Hope Children's Hospital in Oak Lawn,, Ill. on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 shows an X-ray of a nail embedded in Dante Autullo's brain. Autullo unknowingly shot a nail into his skull, and posted a picture of the X-ray on Facebook during his ambulance ride between hospitals for surgery. (AP Photo/Christ Medical Center & Hope Children's Hospital)

Gail Glaenzer, speaks about her fiance, Dante Autullo's injury in the lobby of Advocate Christ Medical Center Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 in Oak Lawn, Ill., a day after he underwent surgery to remove a 3 1/4 inch nail lodged in his brain after accidentally shooting himself with a nail gun. Autullo is listed in fair condition, and Glaenzer is still trying to process just how lucky the father of her four children was. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

(AP) ? Gail Glaenzer still can't believe that her fianc? unknowingly shot a nail into his skull, let alone that he posted a picture of the X-ray on Facebook during his ambulance ride between hospitals for surgery.

But she was joking about the circumstances Friday, a day after doctors successfully removed the 3 ?-inch nail from Dante Autullo's brain.

"Dante says, 'I want it to make a necklace out of it,'" Glaenzer said.

Glaenzer sat Friday in the lobby of Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. where Autullo, 32, of Orland Park, was listed in fair condition in the hospital's intensive care unit. She was still trying to process just how lucky the father of her four children was.

"He feels good. He moved all his limbs, he's talking normal, he remembers everything," said Glaenzer, 33. "It's amazing, a miracle."

Autullo was in his workshop using the nail gun Tuesday when it recoiled near his head, Glaenzer said.

He felt what he thought was the point of the gun hit his head. But what really happened was that when the gun came in contact with his head, the sensor recognized a flat surface and fired, she said.

"I looked at it when he got home, and it just looked like (his head) was cut open," she said.

With nothing to indicate that a nail had not simply "whizzed by his ear," as Autullo explained to her, she cleaned it with peroxide.

While there are pain-sensitive nerves on a person's skull, there aren't any within the brain itself. That's why he would have felt the nail strike the skull, but he wouldn't have felt it penetrate the brain.

Neither thought much about it, and Autullo went on with his day, even plowing a bit of snow. But the next day when he awoke from a nap, feeling nauseated, Glaenzer sensed something was wrong and suggested they go to the hospital.

At first Autullo refused, but he relented after the two picked up their son at school Wednesday evening.

A couple hours later an X-ray was taken, and there in the middle of his brain was a nail. Doctors told Autullo and Glaenzer that the nail came within millimeters from the part of the brain that controls motor function. He was rushed by ambulance to the other hospital for more specialized care.

Hospital spokesman Mike Maggio said the surgery took two hours, and the part of the skull that was removed for surgery was replaced with a titanium mesh. The surgeon didn't want to put that part of the skull back in place, fearing it might have been contaminated by the nail, he said.

Glaenzer said that while Autullo hasn't really talked about how scared he was about what might have happened, he did express a recognition about coming close to death.

"He was joking with me, (after surgery), 'We need to get the Discovery Channel up here to tape this,'" she recalled him saying. "'I'm one of those medical miracles.'"

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-20-ODD-Nail%20in%20the%20Brain/id-42b01b86cda441ae9dc294be38812206

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Saturday, January 21, 2012

Rare Google misstep hints at tech landscape shift (Reuters)

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) ? Google Inc's accelerated efforts to carve out a position in the fast-growing mobile and social networking markets leapt into the spotlight Friday, a day after the giant Internet company reported a rare earnings miss.

The company's investments in its Android mobile software and fledgling Facebook-like Google+ social network represent some of the company's key growth opportunities going forward. But Wall Street is still trying to understand the near-term impact on Google's business.

On Friday, Google's shares fell more than 8 percent. Google missed both its revenue and earnings targets after cost-per-click (CPC) -- or money that marketers pay Google when Websurfers click on its search ads -- decreased for the first time in two years despite record U.S. online commerce during the holiday season. Several brokerages cut their price targets on the stock.

Google+ -- the company's recently-launched social network -- has 90 million users now, up from 40 million three months ago. Android is now the world's most-used mobile software platform, ahead of Apple Inc's iOS, providing an important avenue for consumers to reach Google's various Web services and increasing the total number of people who view its ads.

In the short run, however, the rates for mobile advertising appear to be cheaper than on the company's mainstay desktop search engine.

"We could be seeing a little bit of an effect of more of a proportion of their searches becoming mobile," said Ryan Jacob chairman and chief investment officer of Jacob Funds, which owns Google shares. "They are just not getting the same kind of pricing on the mobile side as they do on the desktop," he said.

Google's heavy investments in mobile and social network initiatives -- to stave off competition from rivals Apple and Facebook -- and its planned $12.5 billion acquisition of smartphone maker Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc have raised investors' concerns.

Larry Page, who took over as chief executive officer in April, said in July that the company was moving to put "more wood behind fewer arrows."

Google's stubborn refusal to offer forecasts on its financials -- a perennial point of contention with its vast investor community -- makes it difficult to delve deeper into margin impact.

But Jacob echoed arguments by other analysts that aggressive investment is needed to pursue top-line growth and that the final-quarter CPC slide was a blip.

Several analysts pointed to longer-term growth trends in social networking and mobile usage that should boost advertising volumes for Google and offset any margin erosion.

"The areas where we're seeing the most growth, Google has a really. really good strategic position. So even though there may be some changes in terms of pricing fluctuations, they'll probably make it up in volume," Jacob said.

"Strategically, they're at a very interesting spot, whether you look at the desktop space, or the mobile space."

SWEET SPOT?

Google shares were down 9 percent at $582.00 in heavy afternoon trade on Friday on the Nasdaq. They had touched a low of $581.83. It was the stock's biggest percentage fall in 9 months.

Google executives blamed the decline in search ad rates on forex fluctuations and ad format changes, but analysts wondered whether mobile advertising -- which has lower rates -- played a more important role than the company admitted.

The fall in cost-per-click had led to a barrage of questions from analysts during the post-earnings conference call on Thursday.

The market needs to shift expectations to paid-click growth -- primarily in plain-vanilla display or banner advertising -- and lower its estimates for CPC, Goldman Sachs analysts said in a note.

STREET REACTION

Several Wall Street analysts called the Google sell-off an overreaction; Barclays said it presents a buying opportunity.

"Don't judge a book by its cover," Goldman Sachs titled its research note on Google.

The company's core results were solid, as paid click growth accelerated by more than a third, margins improved, and display and mobile businesses performed well, analysts said.

The acceleration in paid clicks suggests that underlying demand for Google ads is quite healthy across devices, JPMorgan said, adding that Google is best-positioned for the shift to new media.

Goldman Sachs analysts said: "We expect the growth in mobile to be 146 percent in 2012 and represent 15 percent of gross sales as we exit fourth quarter of 2012."

The company still has strong earnings power that will reappear during 2012, Canaccord Genuity said, reiterating its "buy" rating.

Barclays, Baird, Jefferies and JPMorgan also maintained their top ratings on the stock.

(Reporting By Aditi Sharma in Bangalore, editing by Edwin Chan and Gerald E. McCormick)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/search/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120120/tc_nm/us_google

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Mark Wahlberg Apologizes For Inane 9-11 Remark


Give Mark Wahlberg credit for a swift, simple and seemingly sincere apology after a boast that he would have fended off 9/11 hijackers and prevented a plane from crashing.

For reasons unknown, he said this to Men's Journal. The quote:

"If I was on the [hijacked] plane with my kids, it wouldn't have went down like it did. There would have been a lot of blood in that first-class cabin and then me saying, 'Okay, we're going to land somewhere safely, don't worry.'"

Mark Wahlberg, Men's Journal

This came up because Mark was initially booked on one of the fights that was hijacked, only to change it serendipitously. He mused about what might've been.

It did not go over well.

Wahlberg's reps promptly issued a statement from the 40-year-old Contraband star admitting the foolishness of his statements and expressing remorse.

"To speculate about such a situation is ridiculous to begin with, and to suggest I would've done anything differently than the passengers on that plane was irresponsible," Wahlberg wrote. "I deeply apologize to the families of the victims."

"My answer came off as insensitive, and that was certainly not my intention."

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/mark-wahlberg-apologizes-for-inane-9-11-remark/

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