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Q&A: Finding a Phone's Android Version February 6, 2012, 7:20 pm How can I tell what version of the Android system is installed on my phone? Android, Google's operating system for mobile devices, has seen several updates since it arrived on smartphones in 2008. To see what version of the system your particular handset is running, press the Home button to get to the home screen. Next, press the Menu button and choose Settings. On the Settings screen, flick down the list and tap About Phone. On the next screen, tap Software Information. On the Software Information screen, you should see the Android version (like 2.2 or 2.3) listed, along with other system details. Although not formally listed on the screen, Android versions also go by their nicknames in many discussions about apps and software. These nicknames, inspired by desserts, march through the alphabet as follows: Cupcake (version 1.5), Donut (version 1.6), Éclair (version 2.0/2.1) Froyo (version 2.2), Gingerbread (version 2.3), Honeycomb (version 3.0) and the latest edition, Ice Cream Sandwich (version 4.0).

Jack White: No White Stripes reunion LOS ANGELES, March 24 (UPI) -- U.S. musician Jack White said he has no interest in reforming the White Stripes and would only do so if he and former band mate Meg White went bankrupt. Jack White told music Web site NME.com there was "absolutely no chance" of a reunion with Meg White. "I couldn't see any reason to ever do that," said White. I'm not the kind of person that would retire from baseball and come out of retirement the next year. "If we were forced to change our mind about that, I can only imagine the reason being if we went bankrupt or really needed the cash, which would be a really sad thing," he said. I would probably be issuing an apology along with the announcement of the show dates. Jack White's debut solo album "Blunderbuss" is scheduled to be released April 24, and he will kick off his U.S. tour May 15 in Nashville, The Hollywood Reporter said Friday.

Chavez, following surgery to remove lesion, in good condition Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is in "good physical condition" after surgeons in Cuba removed a lesion from his pelvis, Reuters reported. The socialist leader, 57, has been quietly treating cancer, although what type has not been disclosed. "There were no complications relating to his local organs," Vice President Elias Jaua told Venezuela's parliament in Caracas. He said tests would be carried out on the extracted tissue in the coming hours to determine whether the lesion had been malignant. As the vice president spoke, supporters cheered and cried out, "Onward, comandante!" the Associated Press reported. Venezuelans are talking about little else than Chavez's health. Some still suspect he may have even invented the cancer to draw sympathy and create the image of a conquering return to fitness, while others speculate he could die within months. Chavez has stayed mostly mum about his illness although he announced last week that doctors in Cuba had found a new growth about one inch in diameter in the same area where a baseball-size cancerous tumor was removed last summer. He traveled to Cuba for treatment because the communist-led Caribbean island's former president, Fidel Castro, is a close friend and his main political mentor. According to Chavez, it was Castro who broke the news to him by his hospital bed that he had cancer last June. Chavez has since returned for chemotherapy sessions and medical tests in Cuba, where he is guaranteed privacy and tight security. The latest health setback has fueled fresh doubts about Chavez's health, his ability to campaign for re-election in October and his fitness to govern for another six-year term if he wins. Chavez faces opposition candidate Henrique Capriles, a 39-year-old state governor who hopes to woo former Chavez voters with his promise of a Brazilian-style "modern left" government. Before the announcement that he would need more surgery, opinion polls showed Venezuelans broadly split - a third pro-Chavez, a third pro-opposition and a third undecided. But the polls indicate Chavez might have a slight edge in voter enthusiasm - attributed to his popularity among the poor and an increase in welfare spending for the most needy.

Beddgelert 'tourism businesses affected by power cuts'

Google and Facebook block content in India after court warns of crackdown Google's offices in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad. Photograph: Krishnendu Halder/Reuters Google and Facebook have removed content from some Indian websites after a court warned that India would crack down "like China" if they did not take steps to protect religious sensibilities. The two are among 21 companies ordered to develop a mechanism to block material considered religiously offensive after private petitioners took them to court over images deemed offensive to Hindus, Muslims and Christians. Individuals have brought two cases against internet companies in India, fuelling fears about censorship in the world's largest democracy. "[Our] review team has looked at the content and disabled this content from the local domains of [Google] search, YouTube and Blogger," said a Google spokeswoman, Paroma Roy Chowdhury. At the heart of the dispute is a law India passed last year making companies responsible for user content posted on their websites, and giving them 36 hours to take down content if there is a complaint. Last month, the companies said it was impossible for them to block content. Roy Chowdhury declined to comment on what had since been removed, and a Facebook representative said only that the company would release a statement later. A New Delhi lower court hearing one of the cases, a civil suit brought by an Islamic scholar, told the companies on Monday to put in writing the steps they had taken to block offensive content, and submit reports within 15 days. "Microsoft has filed an application for rejection of the suit on the grounds that it disclosed no cause of action against Microsoft," a spokesperson for the company said. The matter is sub judice and no further comments can be given. That suit was brought by a scholar, Mufti Aijaz Arshad Qasm, who runs a website called fatwaonline.org, which gives answers to moral questions. Google, Facebook, Yahoo and Microsoft have appealed in the Delhi high court against a separate criminal case successfully brought by Vinay Rai, a journalist. The high court has yet to rule on their appeal, but the sitting judge warned in January they were responsible for content on their websites and said he could, "like China," block sites if the company failed to put its house in order. In the Rai case, the court ordered the companies to stand trial for offences relating to the distribution of obscene material to minors, after being shown images it said were offensive to the prophet Muhammad, Jesus and various Hindu gods and goddesses as well as several political leaders. "If the companies have actually removed some content, they should put in place a mechanism to do it regularly, instead of waiting for a court case every time," Rai said. Fewer than one in 10 of India's 1.2 billion population have access to the internet, but that still makes the country the third-biggest internet market after China and the US. The number of internet users in India is expected to almost triple to 300 million over the next three years. Despite the new rules to block offensive content, India's internet access is still largely uncensored, in contrast to the tight controls in place in neighbouring China. But, like many other governments around the world, India has become increasingly nervous about the power of social media. While civil rights groups have opposed the new laws, politicians say posting offensive images in a socially conservative country with a history of violence between religious groups presents a danger to the public.

Bigger Indian role in Afghanistan sought NEW DELHI, June 5 (UPI) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is expected to urge India to play a more active role in Afghanistan, senior defense officials said. As Panetta arrived in India Tuesday, defense officials said the country's role in Afghanistan has been mainly economic, with investment thus far of about $2 billion, Stars and Stripes reported. The Pentagon said the United States "doesn't necessarily envision a role of the Indian military in Afghanistan" but a senior defense official told reporters Tuesday the Indian military police are among the best and could provide training for Afghan forces. Panetta is to meet Tuesday with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the country's national security adviser. Stars and Stripes noted the relationship between the United States and India has improved markedly and expanded since 2001, when the United States lifted economic sanctions it had imposed on India in 1998 for performing underground nuclear tests. Defense officials say the United States has sold about $8.5 billion worth of military arms to India in the past 11 years and the U.S. military now performs joint military exercises with India. "We have developed a very honest relationship" with India, a senior defense official said. Another senior defense official said the United States hopes the relationship between the two countries becomes "more sophisticated, more robust over the coming years." The Defense Department also hopes India and Pakistan will work more closely to ensure a peaceful and stable Afghanistan -- a goal India and Pakistan share.

New Cookware From Nambé - NYTimes.com Nambé, the company that makes metal housewares with surfaces so highly polished you could use them to apply lipstick, is introducing the CookServ collection of nine stainless steel pots and pans that can go straight from the oven to the table. "I like to cook but hate to do the dishes," said Neil Cohen, the designer, pointing out that an advantage of this attractive collection is dish economy: there's no need to empty the contents of the round-bellied vessels with their calligraphic handles into serving bowls. As for the small protuberances under the lids that Nambé describes as "continuous basting nubs," those little bumps, Mr. Cohen said, disperse the condensation that collects on the underside of the lid and evenly distribute it back into, say, a simmering veal roast. The collection, which will be available in the spring, includes cookware for making stir-fries and paella, as well as classic sauté pans and stockpots. The 12-inch sauté pan, above, is $200. Information: (800) 443-0339 or nambe.com.

Hunt continues for man accused of abducting 3 Tennessee sisters, mother Jo Ann Bain and her three daughters were reported missing April 27 An Amber Alert was issued after two bodies were found by investigators The search is focused in Mississippi, where the suspect has roots, the FBI says (CNN) -- Local, state and federal authorities hunted across multiple states Monday for signs of a 35-year-old man who they consider "armed and dangerous" after he allegedly abducted a Tennessee mother and her three daughters. The husband of Jo Ann Bain, 31, reported his wife and the three girls -- 14-year-old Adrienne Bain, 12-year-old Alexandra Bain and 8-year-old Kyliyah Bain -- missing on April 27, according to the FBI. They were last seen in Whiteville, a town of about 4,600 people in western Tennessee. The suspect in their disappearance, Adam Mayes, was last seen last Tuesday in Guntown, Mississippi, the FBI says. On Friday, authorities executing a federal search warrant at a residence associated with Mayes in that northern Mississippi town found two bodies. Their identities have not been released. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation soon thereafter issued an Amber Alert asking for the public's help in finding the Bain sisters and their mother and for information leading to Mayes' arrest. Aaron T. Ford, special agent in charge at the FBI's bureau in Memphis, Tennessee, told CNN on Sunday that investigators believe the victims "were transported across state lines into Mississippi." Authorities' focus is now in Union County, Mississippi, where Guntown is located, the FBI agent said. Authorities have also pointed out, however, that Mayes also has connections to Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida and could be en route to Arizona. "The immediate concern is that we capture Adam Mayes and that we return the kids and their mother back to their family," Ford said. Beyond continuing to solicit information from the public on the case, authorities did not release any new substantive information Monday -- including more on the two found dead in Mississippi, and even why they believe Mayes is responsible for the four family members' disappearance. "We have no new information at this time," Joel Siskovic, spokesman for the Memphis FBI bureau, said Monday to CNN affiliate WPTY. We do consider Adam Mayes a danger. Rick Foster, whose wife is a lifelong friend of Jo Ann Bain and whose daughter is a classmate of Adrienne Bain, recently told CNN that Mayes had been a friend of the Bain family for years. Mayes lived about 90 miles away in Mississippi, but would stay with the Bains when he was in the Whiteville area, Foster said. He described Mayes, who was known on Facebook and around Whiteville as Paco Rodrigass, as "a big kid in a grown man's body." Mary Patterson, Mayes' landlord in Alpine, Mississippi, told WPTY that she thought he was a "kind" and "fun guy." "If somebody told me this, I would have never believed it," she said. Authorities characterize Mayes as a white man who has blue eyes and brown hair, weighs about 175 pounds and stands 6 feet, 3 inches tall. He recently cut his own hair and may have done the same to the three children, according to the Amber Alert. As for the Bains, Foster characterized the marriage between Jo Ann and her husband, Gary, as "perfect" and said the family planned to move to Arizona once the school year ends. The FBI and U.S. Marshals Service are offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to Mayes' arrest and to the missing woman and her daughters. CNN's Stephanie Gallman contributed to this report.

Can Cars Land revive California Adventures? Cars Land California Adventures Updates to Disney's California Adventures open June 15 The centerpiece, Cars Land, makes the most of the popular movie Revamping the park cost an estimated $1.1 billion Anaheim, California (CNN) -- Disney's Cars Land opens June 15 at Disney California Adventures, and it's big, bold and amazing. As Mater says, "If I'm lying, I'm crying." Kids of all ages will rev their engines and step on the gas. Cars Land is the capstone of a five year, estimated $1.1 billion dollar reimagining of Disney California Adventures. While Cars Land shifts California Adventures into the fast lane, only time will tell if it will save the town (as Lightning McQueen did for Radiator Springs) and turn Disneyland into the world-class destination it aspires to be. No doubt the top dogs at Disney hope the renewed focus on movie magic will mean magic for the resort that executives have admitted is not up to brand standards. Cars Land is the centerpiece to the relaunch of California Adventures. During the past five years, Disney has added more than 20 attractions, including Little Mermaid and Toy Story rides, upgraded hotels and new shops. The upgrades are important considering a big complaint about California Adventures was that the attractions didn't measure up to other Disney parks. It didn't have enough of the Disney magic: strong themes, characters and stories. Perhaps the main problem was that California Adventures was too nostalgic for the California of yesteryear, especially Paradise Pier. Nostalgia doesn't appeal to the younger audience. The makeover embraces the movie icons the younger generation has grown up with. Considering that Disney is rumored to have spent more for the relaunch than it cost to build the original park (which opened in 2001 and cost approximately $1 billion), everyone's expectations are going to be high. Along with Cars Land, other changes being unveiled on June 15 include the addition of Buena Vista Street, the new entrance to the park and a nostalgic look at Los Angeles in the 1920s and 1930s, when Walt Disney arrived. Again, it's not just nostalgic, but connected to the movies. The park's icon has changed from Grizzly Peak (a man-made mountain in the shape of a Grizzly Bear, California's state animal) to the Carthay Circle Theater, the theater where "Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs" debuted in 1937. "Cars" itself is a movie about nostalgia. Good old Route 66 with its zany cast of characters changes the brash Lightning McQueen into a racer with heart. Cars Land invites guests to cruise low and slow down the main street of Radiator Springs. Thankfully this is the version Lightning repaved. The major attraction is Radiator Springs Racers, but fans will also love Luigi's Flying Tires and Mater's Junkyard Jamboree. The estimated $200 million Radiator Springs Racers ride is a giant slot car system that also features elements that take place in the dark. The cars are electric, and work much like a gigantic version of the slot cars kids play with. This is the same technology that powers Test Track, an Epcot ride. After boarding the six-person car, you take a leisurely, scenic tour of Ornament Valley. Soon you enter a nighttime section, where you'll find old friends from Radiator Springs and have adventures including tractor tipping with Mater. Next, after an upgrade of tires or paint, and a quick visit to Doc Hudson, your crew chief, the ride turns into a thrilling race for Piston Cup glory. Disney has brewed a potent mixture here, a cross between the animated character fun of Peter Pan's Flight with the thrilling excitement of a 40 mph race through the desert. The scariest (and most fun!) part was when the car plunged through a wall of fog. This ride is destined to have long lines for years to come. My kids went crazy, then immediately demanded to ride again. Though not as thrilling as Radiator Springs Racers, Luigi's Flying Tires is still unlike anything you've ever ridden, unless you happened to ride Flying Saucers at Disneyland between 1961 and 1966. Or you have shrunken down and ridden on an air hockey puck. In this update of the Flying Saucers concept, giant tires float on a cushion of air supplied by a bunch of small air jets. Riders lean to make their tires move. Adding to the fun is a bunch of beach balls that riders can run into, poke and bat at each other. Thumbs up from the kids. Riders of Mater's Junkyard Jamboree sit in a cart mounted to a baby tractor and the tractors square dance to seven songs sung by Mater himself. A simple ride, but it got big smiles from the kids. Cars Land spends a lot of time on the little details, including funny set decoration. There is excitement enough for the kids and humor for the parents. Also, Cars Land embraces an important "Cars" cast member that people forget, Radiator Springs itself. The movie wouldn't be the same without Route 66, Radiator Falls or the Cadillac Mountains. Cars Land really embraces the scenery, right down to the blinking stoplight. As Sally says in maybe the most poignant line in "Cars," "Well, the road didn't cut through the land like that interstate. It moved with the land, it rose, it fell, it curved. Cars didn't drive on it to make great time. They drove on it to have a great time. Disney seems to be taking this to heart.

Day in pictures: 19 September 2012

UniCredit hit by writedowns on Greek bonds UniCredit, Italy's largest bank by assets, reported a 65 per cent fall in net profit in the fourth quarter on writedowns on Greek bonds and said it would press ahead with sweeping cost cuts as Italy's economic outlook worsens. The bank, which operates in 22 countries in Europe, also said it would advise its board to withhold a dividend on 2011 results, as expected. Net income at UniCredit fell to €114m in the last three months of the year, from €321m in the same period a year earlier. It beat analysts" forecasts after keeping a grip on costs as part of a restructuring plan unveiled in November aimed at boosting profitability. For the full year, the bank reported a loss of €9.2bn, having made a writedown of that size in the third quarter on acquisitions made in eastern Europe five years ago which turned it into one of Europe's largest banks. Its rival Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo made a writedown of a similar size on past deals last week. UniCredit's revenues for 2011 fell 3.4 per cent to €25.2bn. Operating costs rose just 0.9 per cent to €15.5bn, less than expected. Federico Ghizzoni, chief executive, said the bank's turnround plan, which foresees a 4 per cent reduction of staff and a review of its operations in eastern Europe, was on track despite a worsening economic outlook in Italy. "The resilience of the group in a very challenging environment ... proves the pertinence of our actions," Mr Ghizzoni said. However, while revenues improved in Italy in the fourth quarter, Mr Ghizzoni said the expected recession in its core market this year meant cost of risk could rise in 2012. He also warned a backlash against banks could give rise to additional costs, a reference to threats by some Italian parliamentarians to force lenders to cut commissions. UniCredit, like other European banks, found its balance sheet weakened as a result of the financial and sovereign debt crises and has moved to cut costs and shore up capital under pressure from regulators. It raised €7.5bn in January to boost its core tier 1 ratio, a key indicator of financial strength, to 9.97 per cent. UniCredit also took a total of €26bn from the European Central Bank's longer-term refinancing operation, and Italian banks were the main recipients of LTRO funding. Mr Ghizzoni, in a conference call, said he did not plan to use the LTRO funding to increase UniCredit's exposure to Italian sovereign debt but to increase lending to Italian businesses. Its exposure to Italian sovereign bonds would remain at about €37bn, he said.

Microsoft faces massive EU fines over browser competition rules 'breach' However, while we believed when we filed our most recent compliance report in December 2011 that we were distributing the BCS software to all relevant PCs as required, we learned recently that we've missed serving the BCS software to the roughly 28 million PCs running Windows 7 SP1. Microsoft was forced to offer a choice of browser after a 10-year battle with European competition regulators who accused it of abusing its dominance of the operating system market to damage rivals. The case was originally triggered by a complaint by Sun Microsystems in 1998 that Microsoft would not share technical information to make Windows machines compatible with Sun computers. Officials later investigated the way Microsoft bundled its Media Player and Internet Explorer software with Windows, leading to a legally-binding settlement that included the browser ballot obligations. At the time of the settlement, Internet Explorer was the dominant desktop web browser, with more than 55 per cent of global market share, according to StatCounter, a firm which tracks the popularity of web browsers. This year, however, it was overtaken by Google Chrome, which was introduced in 2008 and has been heavily promoted on the Google home page. Google is now in talks with European regulators over alleged abuse of its dominance of the web search engine market. Microsoft said it would distribute an update to offer a browser choice to Windows PCs that missed out by the end of this week. It also offered to extend the settlement with antitrust officials by 15 months. The European Commission has powers, however, to issue fines of up to 10 per cent of Microsoft's annual revenues, which were almost $70bn in 2011. In 2008 it levied a penalty of 899 euros on the firm for failing to meet its obligation to share Windows compatibility information with rivals. "I consider that commitments by companies themselves are a good way to solve competition problems... as an alternative to lengthy proceedings," said Mr Almunia. But this can only work if companies implement these decisions fully.

Clinton warns North Korea over rocket launch (CBS/AP) WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says the U.S. would pursue "appropriate action" at the U.N. Security Council if North Korea goes ahead with a long-range rocket launch. "Let me make absolutely clear that any launch by North Korea would be a serious clear violation of their obligations under already existing U.N. Security Council resolutions," she said. She said if North Korea wants a peaceful, better future for its people, it should not go ahead with the launch. She said it would be a direct threat to regional security and violate the North's obligations under existing Security Council resolutions. Clinton made the comments Tuesday after meeting Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba. Gemba said Japan, a key U.S. ally, would cooperate with Washington and the international community in framing its response. Neither official elaborated on what exactly that response would be. North Korea says rocket ready for launch as Russia warns against controversial move Video: North Korea preparing secret nuclear weapon test U.S. moves anti-missile ships into place ahead of North Korea's rocket launch

Cuba's First Daughter Has Gone Beyond Castro Name She has her uncle's penchant for speaking her mind. From her father, she inherited a disciplined tenacity. But Mariela Castro, a married mother of three and member of Cuba's most powerful family, has paved her own way in making gay rights her life's cause. And now the 49-year-old daughter of President Raul Castro is about to make a controversial visit to the United States for a conference on Latin America. "She has put herself at the forefront of the struggle for rights for the LGBT community," said Gloria A. Careaga Perez, a professor of psychology from the National Autonomous University of Mexico who will be on Mariela Castro's panel at the San Francisco gathering of the Latin American Studies Association on Thursday. What she does is praiseworthy because she is a pioneer, an academic and political authority who stands up for human rights. Requests to interview Castro were not granted ahead of her trip, and four friends and admirers declined to speak on the record, a symptom of Cubans' deep misgivings about openly discussing members of the Castro family. But while others are shy of giving their name, Castro has not been, particularly when it comes to her signature issue. She has lobbied for years for her father's government to legalize same-sex marriage, something he has not done. Earlier this month, Castro said the president privately shares her views on gay rights, and declined to push him to go public. FILE - In this Aug. 12, 2011 file photo, daughter of Cuba's President Raul Castro, Mariela Castro, and Nicaragua's late political writer Tomas Borge, attend a celebration marking the 10th anniversary of the National Center for Sex Education, CENESEX, in Havana, Cuba. On the eve of her controversial arrival in the United States to attend a conference on Latin America Thursday, May 24, 2012, prominent academics say the 49-year-old Cuban first daughter has carved out an important name for herself that goes beyond her family lineage or famous last name, making gay rights her life's cause. (AP Photo/Franklin Reyes, File) Close While she has no doubt benefited from her surname, Castro says it has always been important to her to have a separate identity. "I never wanted any part of that, 'the daughter of ...'" she said several years ago at a book launch in Havana. I despise people who get on that kind of carriage, and I love myself very much for not doing so. I never did, and I never will. But no matter how much Castro desires to set her own course, controversy will follow her on her trip to San Francisco precisely because of her father and uncle, both reviled by many Cuban-Americans and enemies of Washington for more than half a century. When word came last week that the State Department had issued an entry visa to Castro - as well as at least 60 other Cuban scholars - Cuban-American politicians were quick to pounce. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio accused her of bringing a campaign of anti-Americanism to U.S. shores, while New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez said he was "indignant" over her presence. They and others noted that U.S. rules prohibited Communist Party members and other high-ranking Cuban government officials from entry without special dispensation. While Mariela Castro is not officially part of the government, her personal ties to Cuban leaders are clearly evident. The State Department has refused to comment on individual visa cases. Castro is due to chair a panel on the politics of sexual diversity in San Francisco and to meet with the local LGBT community. On May 29, she is to participate in a talk at the New York Public Library. As head of Cuba's National Center for Sex Education, or Cenesex, since 2000, Castro has acquired a much higher profile than her siblings and cousins, becoming a leading advocate for gay rights in Cuba, Latin America and beyond.

Budget 2012-13: Infrastructure, Industry and Agriculture March 16, 2012, 3:09 am Infrastructure: 60,000 crore, or 600 billion rupees in tax free bonds for infrastructure building. 8800 kilometers (5,468 miles) of national highways to be built in 2012-13 Airlines: External capital borrowing up to $1 billion will be permitted for working capital. A proposal to allow up to 49 percent equity investments by foreign entities still under consideration. Microcredit: 5,000 crore, or 50 billion rupees will be allocated to "micro-small-medium enterprises" or MSMEs Agriculture: Credit up to 575,000 crore or 5.75 trillion rupees, an increase of 20 percent from the year before.

Woman gets ex-official's dinner invite STOCKHOLM, Sweden, April 25 (UPI) -- A Swedish woman with the same name as a former government minister attended a formal government dinner when she was invited by mistake, officials said. Margareta Winberg, 67, of Sundbyberg, received an invitation to the dinner hosted by Environment Minister Lena Ek instead of Margareta Winberg, 64, who formerly served as agricultural minister, deputy prime minister and ambassador to Brazil, The Local reported Wednesday. I received an invitation; it had my name and my address on it. I didn't really think too much about it," said Winberg, a retired occupational therapy assistant. A spokesman for Ek said the minister was amused when Winberg arrived and the mistake was noticed. "When Lena realized the mistake she did everything she could so that the lady wouldn't feel uncomfortable," spokesman Erik Bratthall said. Winberg said she was treated like any other guest at the function. I was allowed to take part anyway. The food was nice and there were a lot of people talking and talking," Winberg said. The Margareta Winberg who used to work for the government said she was not upset about the incident. I hope my namesake had a lovely dinner. She has never attended a government dinner, and I have," she told the paper.

Magnitsky death: Charges against Russia jail doctor dropped

Murder suspect Brian Hedglin's security breach at Utah airport to steal plane raises safety concerns (CBS/AP) SALT LAKE CITY - Pilot and murder suspect Brian Hedglin knew how to fly planes. He just needed access to one. Turns out, it was as easy as using a rug to scale a razor wire-topped security fence at a small Utah airport in the middle of night, slipping past security, boarding an idle, empty 50-passenger SkyWest Airlines jet and revving up the engines. He crashed the plane in a parking lot and shot himself in the head, never getting off the ground. But the incident has raised concerns that nation's airports may not be as safe as they should be. The incident could force government officials to take a new look at airport security, CBS News correspondent Bob Orr reported on "CBS This Morning" Wednesday. While the Transportation Security Administration has to approve all airport security plans, the airports themselves are responsible for policing the perimeters. But the kind of incident involving a trained pilot may be especially hard to prevent. "Commercial aircraft are not locked up," said Mark Rosenker, a former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. A pilot that's rated in the aircraft can get on board, get into the cockpit, power up the aircraft and be able to fly it single-handedly should he need to. Murder suspect tries to steal plane, kills self At least one aviation security expert says it might be time to revisit TSA's protocols. Maybe we need to implement some more levels of perimeter security because any type of security incident like this is a lesson to both the good guys and the bad guys. They read the papers just as much as we do," said Jeff Price, an aviation security expert and aviation professor at the Metropolitan State University of Denver. The former assistant security director at Denver International Airport said that even after Hedglin gained access to the airfield early Tuesday, he shouldn't have been able to get aboard the plane. "It should have been locked and secured if it wasn't in use," Price said. TSA spokeswoman Jonella Culmer said the agency is "currently reviewing perimeter compliance" at the St. George Municipal Airport, which is about 120 miles northeast of Las Vegas. City spokesman Marc Mortenson noted the airport is surrounded by six miles of perimeter fencing. Local authorities were investigating the breach, but Mortenson said the facility meets all Federal Aviation Administration and TSA security requirements. He said, however, the entire perimeter isn't observed at all times, "and I would dare say it isn't at any airport in the country." SkyWest spokeswoman Marissa Snow said Hedglin was a pilot for the airline since 2005 but had been on administrative leave since July 13, the day police found the body of his girlfriend, Christina Cornejo, in Colorado Springs, Colo. Authorities say she had been stabbed multiple times. Hedglin was the key suspect but he hadn't been charged. Colorado Springs police said they asked SkyWest to deactivate his access cards in case he showed up at the airline anywhere in the country. How the 40-year-old was able to gain access to the plane remained unclear. The Gazette of Colorado Springs, citing court records, reported that Hedglin dated Cornejo for four years and was arrested in March after he was accused of harassing her. The records show that a restraining order was issued against Hedglin, and he was set for trial in August. He was released on $10,000 bond. Attorney Steven Rodemer, who represented Hedglin in that case, said he was facing misdemeanor charges of criminal mischief, theft and harassment, but felony charges were dismissed Thursday. Rodemer said he hadn't seen Hedglin since their last court date that day. A police officer making rounds at the airport early Tuesday found a motorcycle with the engine running outside the perimeter fence, Mortenson said. As he searched for the owner, the officer came upon the idling plane and called SkyWest. The airline sent an employee to turn off the engine. Inside, Hedglin was found with a gunshot wound to his head. Snow noted that an inexperienced person could not have operated the plane, but she did not explain how Hedglin got aboard. "It involves sophisticated procedures and requires an extensive amount of training to even know how to start the plane," she said. "If you defeat one layer of security, there are supposed to be other layers in place to prevent criminal or terrorist attacks," Price said. Today, perimeter security at airports, it's just a fence. They're not required to have intrusion protection systems, and they're not required to have closed circuit TV to monitor the fence because the current level of risk doesn't warrant it. "But maybe that needs to be looked at," he added. Hedglin was a member of the Colorado National Guard, where he was a part-time soldier who worked as a cook. He had no specialized military training and was never deployed, Capt. Darin Overstreet said. SkyWest officials said the CRJ200 plane Hedglin stole was not in service at the time. The aircraft is made by Bombardier and is capable of flying up to 534 mph with a range of 1,700 miles.

Chinese hand back body of villager whose death sparked protest Xue Jinbo - a father-of-three - was one of several residents in Wukan in the wealthy southern province of Guangdong who led protests against land grabs and graft last autumn that saw local officials flee the village. The 42-year-old was arrested in December with four other villagers, and died two days later in police custody. Authorities said he had a heart attack, while relatives who saw the body said they believed he had been beaten to death. Anger boiled over after his death and villagers faced off with authorities for more than a week before eventually winning rare concessions from the provincial government, including holding free village polls and returning Xue's body. Yang Semao, head of the village's new election committee, told AFP the body had finally been returned to his family on Thursday. "A memorial service was held at the funeral parlour and his family received compensation," he said by phone, but refused to say how much, adding he did not know why it had taken so long for authorities to return the body. Phone calls to Xue's son-in-law, meanwhile, went unanswered. As part of the government concessions, residents in Wukan are also set to vote in their first-ever open, democratic elections for a village committee in March. China - a one-party state where top leaders are not elected by the people - nevertheless allows villagers across the country to vote for a committee to represent them. But Wukan residents said their leaders had never before allowed these polls to go ahead in an open fashion, and instead selected members of the committee behind closed doors. The concessions won by Wukan villagers are seen as a rare victory for protesters in authoritarian China, particularly at a sensitive time in the country, which is preparing for a major leadership transition later this year.

Brazil Takes on Websites That Promote Sex Tourism Brazil has taken on more than 2,000 websites that promote Latin America's biggest country as a sex tourism destination, the Tourism Ministry said Tuesday. In 2011, the ministry identified 2,169 websites with photos of women in sensual poses and invitations for sexual encounters with minors, the ministry said in a Tuesday statement. Many of the sites were hosted in the United States. The ministry said that 1,100 of the websites have eliminated their sex-oriented content and that it was trying to convince the remaining sites to do the same. Tackling the websites is part of an ongoing campaign to combat the sexual exploitation of minors during the 2014 World Cup. Early last year, Brazil started distributing posters and ads warning that sexual exploitation of minors is a crime. They were distributed in countries from where most tourists to Brazil come from - the United States, Germany, Italy, France, the Netherlands and Spain. "The exploitation of sex is a crime and those responsible for it must be punished," Tourism Minister Gastao Vieira said in the Tuesday statement. He said the ministry's campaign that focused on Brazil's "natural beauties, cultural diversity and friendly people" helped attract more than 5 million foreign tourists in 2011.

Ellen Degeneres and Portia de Rossi, in matching black and white outfits, celebrate their fourth anniversary with dinner at Craig's in West Hollywood, Calif., Aug. 27, 2012. Degeneres is also celebrating a decade as host of her own popular daytime talk show. See more on Hollywood romances on "20/20: Lovestyles of the Rich & Famous" Friday, Sept. 7 at 9 p.m. ET, part of two full hours of "20/20." VLUV/Splash

Nicollette Sheridan feared 'retribution' from 'Housewives' producer One of Marc Cherry's big points has been that Nicollette Sheridan didn't call police or report the "Desperate Housewives" creator to ABC's human resources department when he allegedly hit her during a confrontation in September 2008. Tuesday in court, Sheridan's longtime personal attorney testified that the actress didn't initially complain to ABC because "Nicollette was concerned about retribution from Mr. Cherry." "She told me Mr. Cherry was a very vindictive man," attorney Neil Meyer, who headed up negotiations for Sheridan's last "Desperate Housewives" contract, said on the stand, prompting a quick objection from Cherry's attorney, Adam Levin. READ: Is Sheridan Already Losing Desperate Housewives Case? Meyer said that Sheridan loved playing Edie Britt on the hit series, noting that Edie was featured prominently in commercials, on the "Desperate Housewives" DVD covers and the like. "Her character exploded," Meyer said. According to Meyer, shortly after her alleged run-in with Cherry's hand on Sept. 28, 2008, a "very upset" Sheridan called him. Meyer said that he promised her to look into it, and he called Howard Davine, executive VP of Studio Business Affairs for ABC Entertainment Group, to report Sheridan's concerns. Davine promised to look into it, Meyer said. "It must have been pretty bad, because [Sheridan] wouldn't just call me," he added. But, Meyer said, his client was willing to press on despite her discomfort on the set. The creator of "Desperate Housewives" told the court on Monday that his decision to kill off Nicollette Sheridan's character came months before she accused him of battery. NBC's Mike Taibbi reports. "She was prepared to put her head down and go back to work because she was concerned that if she brought this up her job would be in jeopardy," Meyer told the court. But, he said, he impressed upon Davine that Sheridan was "very concerned that the exact same thing that happened to her could happen to other people." Months later, Meyer testified, Davine sent him a letter noting that Cherry had been cleared by ABC of any wrongdoing. "It was a self-serving letter, and I don't respond to self-serving letters," Meyer said. His direct testimony concluded with him saying that he hasn't been able to set Sheridan up with a new agent or any work since her firing from "Desperate Housewives." Cherry's side has argued that the producer merely tapped Sheridan on the head during their discussion and that he planned to kill off Sheridan's character months beforehand, so her ultimate demise later in the season was in no way retribution for her complaints.

Liverpool Care Pathway: far-reaching independent review announced Department of Health officials have insisted that the payments are to ensure that patients are "treated with dignity" as they die - and many doctors argue the widespread adoption of the LCP has led to improved care for the dying. But Mr Lamb said on Monday night that he wanted to ensure the payments were working as they should, and not providing a perverse incentive to put patients on the pathway. He said of the review: "It is clear that everyone wants their loved ones' final hours of life to be as pain free and dignified as possible, and the Liverpool Care Pathway is an important part of achieving this aim. However as we have seen, there have been too many cases where patients were put on the pathway without a proper explanation or their families being involved. This is simply unacceptable. Whoever is chosen to chair the process will also oversee three separate reviews of end-of-life care - by the Association of Palliative Medicine, the Dying Matters group and the National End of Life Programme. Mr Lamb said: "Today I have committed to appoint an independent chair to review how end of life care is working and oversee the reviews into the Liverpool Care Pathway. They will report back to me in the New Year. This review will also consider the value of locally set incentives, and whether they are leading to bad decisions or practice. Mr Lamb's announcement came after a "round-table" event which included members from the palliative care groups, as well as relatives unhappy at the treatment their loved-ones received on the pathway. Denise Charlesworth-Smith, who said she was never informed that her father Philip Charlesworth, 82, was put on the pathway before he died at King's Mill Hospital in Sutton-in-Ashfield, Notts, attended the round-table. She welcomed the review, saying relatives were finally being listened to by doctors and politicians. But she said: "It's taken us making a noise about this to bring it to the fore." Claire Henry, director of the National End of Life Care Programme, said: "We strongly welcome the Minister's announcement of an independent chair to help deliver these reviews. This is crucial if the findings are to be viewed credible by all. A main priority is to ensure that this work is undertaken transparently. We look forward to working with the appointed chair to publish findings in the New Year.

Serious repeat offenders at record high The figures did not reveal, however, what the offence was that resulted in a caution. Backbench MPs last night blamed a legacy of soft penalties that has failed to rehabilitate criminals and deter further offending. Priti Patel, the Tory MP, said: "This is a pitiful legacy of a decade of criminal justice policy that has failed to punish criminals. These alarming figures show that too many criminals are being let off the hook and allowed to reoffend over and over again. A total of 327,919 offenders were sentenced last year for offences so serious they were mainly dealt with in the crown courts. Of those, 31 per cent - or 102,000 - had 15 or more previous convictions or cautions to their name. That was the highest proportion on record and a sharp rise on the 18 per cent in 2001. Of the 87,620 offenders who were jailed by the courts, some 44 per cent had 15 or more previous, compared with just 28 per cent a decade ago. The proportion of violent offenders with similar long criminal histories has more than doubled since 2001, while career burglars increased from 24 per cent to 40 per cent. At the same time, the proportion of people entering the criminal justice system for the first time fell 12 per cent to 10 per cent. It means nine in ten criminals guilty of serious offences have offending at least once before. Iain Bell, chief statistician for the Ministry of Justice, said: "The proportion of offenders who have either been cautioned or convicted who have 15 or more previous offences is rising." Nick de Bois, a Conservative MP on the Commons Justice Select Committee, said more effective rehabilitation programmes, such as payment by results, are needed. "I think we need appropriate deterrents in sentencing and there is no doubt that the level of reoffending is something we are failing to deal with," he said. The figures also revealed one in five sex offenders received just a caution last year after the proportion being handed the formal warning increased for the first time in six years. It meant 1,500 offenders were not even taken to court for their sex crimes. However, in general, criminals who are jailed are facing longer terms. The average amount of time people were sent to jail increased from 13.7 months in 2010 to 14.7 months last year. Separate statistics showed some 76,100 magistrates court cases - or 4.7 per cent - were delayed or postponed last year because defendants on bail or summonsed failed to appear. A MoJ spokeswoman said: "These statistics show criminal histories of individuals over a lifetime, not just recent offences, and range from simple cautions to convictions for driving offences including speeding or using a mobile phone when driving to more serious crimes. However, we believe reoffending rates are still too high which is why we are reforming the criminal justice system so offenders are properly punished and the root causes of their behaviour addressed. We are making prisons places of meaningful work, toughening community sentences, tackling criminals drug and alcohol problems, and making them pay back to victims and communities.

Chelsea Symphony Offers Holiday Music For better or for worse, the Miser was raised on rock "n" roll and, despite one opera-smitten grandfather's valiant efforts, grew up almost completely deprived of serious exposure to classical music. But getting older means that your tastes mature, your curiosity grows, your ignorance of a crucial swath of Western culture becomes unbearably embarrassing. Resolving to plunge into the vast world of classical music, however, presents an immediate problem: I am, after all, the Miser, and seats at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall don't come cheap. Fortunately, New York is full of highly skilled musicians and conductors who are committed to bringing classical repertory to a broader public. This weekend two such groups are giving concerts at intimate Manhattan spots. On Friday night at St. Paul's Church, the Chelsea Symphony will present a program of holiday-inspired music, including works by Bach and Brahms; Leroy Anderson's "Sleigh Ride"; and Aaron Dai's "Night Before Christmas." Mo Rocca, writer, comedian and alumnus of "The Daily Show," will narrate. The concert is free, but with a suggested donation of $20 at the door. At 8 p.m., 315 West 22nd Street, Chelsea; 888-741-2915, chelseasymphony.org. On Saturday at the Tompkins Square Branch of the New York Public Library, the New York Opera Forum, a hybrid performing ensemble and workshop for trained singers, will present a free concert of the Mozart work "Die Zauberflöte." Ten singers will perform this fantastical fable involving deceit, desire and the titular magic flute, to piano accompaniment. At 1 p.m., 331 East 10th Street, East Village; 212-865-6786, nyoperaforum.org. The Miser can scarcely blame those tempted to brave the crowds for a glimpse of Edvard Munch's "Scream" during its limited run at the Museum of Modern Art, especially since, on Fridays, admission is free from 4 to 8 p.m. But why not skip the hordes and head downtown to the recently reopened and less busy Drawing Center in SoHo instead? On Saturday morning Guillermo Kuitca, whose exhibition "Diarios" is featured in the center's main gallery, will lead a free family drawing workshop. Reservations are suggested and should be made by calling the center on Friday. Admission to the galleries, which open at noon, is $5 for adults; $3 for students and 65+; and free for children under 12. From 10:30 a.m. to noon, 35 Wooster Street; 212-219-2166, drawingcenter.org.

Nine taken to hospital after Bristol house fire Nine people were taken to hospital today following a house fire in which the family dog died. Fire crews were called to the house on Lodge Hill in Cossham, Bristol, shortly before 7am today. A woman and two girls were rescued by firefighters from the roof of the property, while six others escaped from the house unaided. Four ambulances also attended the scene and took a baby, four children, two teenagers and two adults to Frenchay Hospital in Bristol. A boy under five-years-old is being treated for burns at the hospital, which has a specialist burns department. Firefighters used breathing apparatus, two hose reel jets and one large jet to deal with the fire. A spokesman for the Avon Fire and Rescue Service said: "At 6.42am crews from Speedwell and Kingswood attended a house fire at Lodge Hill in Cossham. The service was advised that persons were reported missing in the property and on arrival crews found a developed fire on the ground and first floor of a private house with a number of people requiring rescue. In total there were nine people believed to be in the property, most of whom had already escaped. The service did rescue an adult and two children from the flat roof of the property where we believed they had escaped to. Unfortunately in addition, there was a family dog lost in the fire. Paramedics from Great Western Ambulance Service took all nine people to Frenchay Hospital in Bristol. A spokeswoman for the ambulance service said a boy, aged under five-years-old, was the most seriously injured and is being treated for burns. The others, which includes a baby under 12-months-old, a boy under five, two girls under 10, two teenagers, a woman aged in her 20's and a man in his 40's, were taken to the hospital as a precaution, the spokeswoman said. Crews remain at the scene which has been cordoned off while an investigation into the cause of the fire is under way.

Notable Wins With Long Putters Fuel Debate on Possible Ban A golfer in his 40s and another in his teens qualified for the Masters 105 days apart, their generation gap bridged by a broomstick shaft. The belly putters used by 43-year-old Ernie Els in his victory at the British Open in July and by 14-year-old Guan Tianlang in his win at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship this month are the pokers stirring the game's hottest controversy, one that has smoldered for decades. Only three players before 2001 had won PGA Tour events using a long putter; that is a generic description covering belly putters and the longer broomstick models. At the British Open, Els became the third golfer in 12 months to win a major using a long putter. More than a quarter of that field used long putters, snapping the game's guardians to attention. The day after Els's victory, Peter Dawson, the chief executive of the R&A, the organization based in Scotland that establishes the rules of golf in concert with the United States Golf Association, warned that anchored clubs were, in effect, being put on the clock. The use of the long putter by Guan, a teenager from China, which is just emerging on the golf scene, can be seen as further proof of the club's reach. An announcement from the R&A and the U.S.G.A. on the fate of long putters is thought to be imminent. The battle lines are drawn, with purists on one side and pragmatists on the other. Several high-profile players are caught in the cross-fire as the debate intensifies over whether long putters anchored against the body illegally enhance performance or represent a technological advancement that is part of golf's evolution. Those supporting a ban include Arnold Palmer, Tiger Woods and Tom Watson, who have won a combined 29 majors. Their argument is that anchoring the putter quiets the hands during the stroke, taking out of play nerves, which are a fundamental aspect of the game. Brandt Snedeker, who finished first on the PGA Tour this year in strokes gained putting, is not a fan of the long putter. On Thursday's "Morning Drive" show on Golf Channel, he said: "When it comes down to having a five-footer to win a golf tournament, I know how I feel. I know my hands are shaking. I know I am very, very nervous. I don't think it is the same feeling if you have that thing stuck in your belly. Els was among seven players who used long putters to win on the PGA Tour in 2012. This year, his first full season using the club, Els improved to No. 112 in strokes gained putting, from No. But no player ranked among the top 10 uses a long putter, buttressing the argument that it is not a magic wand. The de facto general of the broomstick brigade is Keegan Bradley, who as a 25-year-old PGA Tour rookie at the 2011 P.G.A. Championship became the first man to win a major using an anchored putter. Referring to a possible ban of anchored clubs, Bradley said, "Now that it's becoming a reality, people with long putters are going to do whatever we have to do to protect ourselves." In an interview last week, Bradley did not rule out taking legal action if the rule book is amended to prohibit players from anchoring a club to any part of their bodies, including their forearms. "I'm not trying to bully anybody into doing anything," he said. I just want to do whatever's best for myself and the other players that use the putter. I realize that there's some people who feel the other way, and they're entitled to their opinion. That Stovepipe In 1965, Richard T. Parmley received a United States patent for a long-shafted club described as a "body-pivot golf putter." This month, in the parking lot of an apartment complex in Tampa, Fla., Charlie Owens opened the trunk of his car and pulled out a long putter that he wished he had patented. "This is my invention," he said, showing off the 52-inch club he made in the early 1980s by welding together two shafts. Owens named his putter Slim Jim, and it helped make his wallet fat; he won two events and more than $700,000 with it on the senior tour. His victories came in 1986, nearly a decade after poor putting from inside five feet had driven him off the PGA Tour and into a job in Tampa as head professional at Rogers Park Golf Course.

Wolves trust in Solbakken for instant return Wolverhampton Wanderers are to appoint the Norwegian Stale Solbakken, who briefly played for Wimbledon during the 1990s, as their new manager. The 44-year-old was in England for a meeting with the club this week and is expected to be announced today as the successor to Terry Connor, under whose caretaker reign Wolves were relegated this month to the Championship. Solbakken was sacked by Cologne last month after a terrible season that saw the club in chaos and eventually relegated from the Bundesliga. Connor is expected to stay on at Wolves and will be in charge for the final game of the season at Wigan Athletic on Sunday. The Wolves chairman, Steve Morgan, is understood to have told the club's annual dinner that he was prepared to give his new manager the funds this summer to return immediately to the Premier League. Solbakken made his name as the manager of FC Copenhagen where he won five league titles before moving to Cologne in May last year. He was manager of the Danish club when they played Chelsea in the Champions League last season. Solbakken also suffered a cardiac arrest during a training session as a player at Copenhagen 11 years ago when Roy Hodgson was manager of the club, but made a full recovery. A Norway international, he played a handful of game for Joe Kinnear in the 1997-1998 season at Wimbledon. He represents a major gamble by the Wolves board with the Championship such a difficult league to get out of even with the benefit of Premier League parachute payments. He is the club's first foreign manager. Under Solbakken, Copenhagen built on the blueprint for success that had been created during Hodgson's one season at the club. They became the pre-eminent team in Denmark during Solbakken's time in charge and made progress in the Champions League beyond the group stages. He has been hard to replace at Copenhagen and his successor, the former Sheffield Wednesday and Coventry defender Roland Nilsson, has already been sacked and replaced with the club's technical director Carsten Jensen.

Australian State Toughens Law for Muslim Veils Muslim women in Australia's most populous state will have to remove veils to have their signatures officially witnessed under the latest laws giving New South Wales officials authority to look under religious face coverings. New South Wales state Attorney General Greg Smith said in a statement on Monday that beginning April 30, officials such as justices of the peace and lawyers who witness statutory declarations or affidavits without making identity checks will be fined 220 Australian dollars ($236). The laws are a response to a notorious court case last year in which a Sydney woman was convicted of falsely claiming that a traffic policeman had attempted to remove her niqab - a veil that reveals only the eyes. A judge overturned the conviction because the official who witnessed the false claim did not look under the veil of the person who made it, so the judge was not certain that the defendant was responsible. The latest laws were passed Dec. 23 by the state parliament. They follow New South Wales laws passed last year that introduced a AU$5,500 ($5,900) fine for anyone who refuses to remove face coverings when requested to do so by police.

Would-be shoe bomber agrees to testify for cut in sentence A would-be shoe bomber has become the first UK terrorist to have his sentence cut after co-operating with prosecutors and agreeing to give evidence against a terror suspect in a US trial. Saajid Muhammad Badat, from Gloucester, was jailed for 13 years in 2005 after he admitted to plotting to explode a shoe bomb on a transatlantic flight in December 2001 at the same time as fellow bomber Richard Reid. Badat, 33, changed his mind days before the planned attack, after which he cut links to Pakistan and Afghanistan. The dismantled bomb was discovered by police two years later at his parent's home. The CPS today revealed that Badat had his sentence cut to 11 years by a judge in 2009 after considering the "valuable assistance" he had provided to counter terrorism police in the UK and the FBI. The sentencing deal was kept secret until today, when the trial of Adis Medunjanin, who is charged with an alleged al-Qa'ida plot to bomb the New York subway, opened in Brooklyn. This is the first time a UK convicted terrorist has agreed to give evidence in the US using an agreement under the Serious and Organised Crime and Police Act 2005, according to the Crime Prosecution Service (CPS). Ms Hemming said Badat "fully co-operated with investigators" at Scotland Yard and in the FBI while in prison and "provided information of overwhelming importance in relation to investigations they were conducting." She added: "Badat has helped with investigations in this country, he continues to co-operate and has agreed to testify in other trials if called upon." Badat's arrest in 2003 came as a huge shock to his family and wider community among who he was respected as an academically gifted, devout, kind young man. The trial revealed how he attended military training camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan despite winning places at Imperial College and City University to study optometry. He met British shoe bomber Richard Reid in Afghanistan. In December 2001, Reid tried to ignite a shoe bomb on an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami. He was jailed for life without parole in the US. Badat returned from Afghanistan with a similar suicide mission, but he changed his mind and returned to the UK - still wearing the bomb on his feet.

Newt Gingrich's claim that George Soros "approved" Mitt Romney We can't afford two George Soros approved candidates this fall. Voiceover from Newt Gingrich campaign ad, referring to Mitt Romney and President Obama, Feb. 2, 2012 I think for most Republican voters, the idea of trying to nominate a Soros-approved candidate is not a very appealing idea. Gingrich, during a Fox News interview, Feb. 3, 2012 Newt Gingrich has progressively turned up the heat with his rhetoric against Mitt Romney since falling flat in the first two nominating contests this year. It seemed to work when he pulled off an upset in South Carolina, but the former House speaker finished a distant second in the recent Florida and Nevada primaries. His latest Web ad suggests that "ultra-liberal" billionaire George Soros supports both Romney and President Obama. The new ad also suggested that the GOP front-runner supports Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner - an unpopular figure among Republicans - and that his financial backing from Wall Street executives shows some form of concordance with Obama. We looked at the entire Soros interview to find out where the billionaire philanthropist really stands on the 2012 candidates. We also examined the issue of Romney" Wall Street backing and his stance on Geithner to find out whether Gingrich's ad hit the mark. These types of accusations are typical for Gingrich. Part of his strategy after the New Hampshire primary was to draw ideological distinctions between himself and Romney, as well as to highlight parallels between his opponent and Obama. Late last month, Gingrich sharpened his rhetoric, slapping Romney with the "liberal" tag instead of just calling him a "Massachusetts moderate" as he had done in the past. This was an attempt to pin his opponent with the most damaging reputation a Republican can have - if it sticks. We covered Gingrich's change of terminology in a previous column. We've already covered much of the GOP front-runner's political record, as well as Gingrich's assertion that Romney doesn't represent a true alternative to Obama. But this claim that Soros gave a thumbs-up to the former governor represents something new. The Gingrich campaign based its claim on a Jan. 24 Reuters interview in which Soros discussed his feelings about Obama. The billionaire business magnate said he was "slightly disappointed" with the president, whom he had endorsed early on in the 2008 election cycle. But he expressed reluctant support for Obama "in view of the alternatives." Soros also talked about the GOP candidates, saying: Look, either you'll have an extremist conservative, be it Gingrich or Santorum, in which case I think it would make a big difference which of the two comes in. If it's between Obama and Romney, then there isn't all that much difference, except for the crowd that they bring with them. Romney would have to take Gingrich or Santorum as a vice president and probably have some pretty extreme candidates for the Supreme Court. So that's the downside. On the other side, the Obama administration is a bit exhausted, so it's not all that strong. So it won't be that great a difference, and I think there won't be a great deal of enthusiasm on either side of the battle ground. It will be more civilized than the previous elections have been. Or you'll have an extremist candidate, then you'll have a lot of emotion on both sides. Soros never said anything about endorsing Romney. Furthermore, Michael Vachon, a Soros advisor and spokesman for the investor's Open Society Institute, told us this: "It is disingenuous to use George's comments that way. He certainly doesn't support Mitt Romney. For what it's worth, the Romney campaign fired back at Gingrich on Friday with a statement revealing that the Open Society Institute donated $5 million to the Alliance for Climate Protection, the group that produced the 2008 commercial featuring Gingrich and then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi seated on a couch together and calling for action on climate change. The Gingrich ad attacks Romney's Wall Street backing by showing that dozens of executives who had supported Obama's 2008 campaign have now shifted their money to Romney for the 2012 election. But The Hill, a political newspaper cited in the video, suggested the trend indicates displeasure with the president's policies, not that Wall Street executives think Romney and Obama are alike. Even Soros acknowledged this during his Reuters interview, saying that recent debates over whether to increase taxes on investments and the top one-percent "has led my hedge-fund community to abandon Obama in favor of any Republican, because they don't like to be taxed." As for the Geithner issue, the ad doesn't tell the whole story. First it quotes Obama saying, "Geithner is as sharp and as skilled a public servant as we have." Then it shows Romney in a 2009 interview saying, "He is person of accomplishment and skill. I think he is very bright. The message is clear: Romney and the president are on the same page when it comes to the controversial Treasury secretary. But Romney's hearty endorsement of the secretary didn't last long. Our colleagues at PolitiFact pointed out that he criticized Geithner in his 2010 book "No Apology" for using TARP as a "slush fund." He also called on the government to end the program, which he described as poorly structured and badly executed. It's worth noting that he supported the measure early on as a stop-gap to stave off a potential collapse of the financial markets. Soros never said that he supported or "approved" Romney, so the Gingrich ad is utterly wrong on that account. The investor's own foundation has clarified that point for us. Gingrich's ad suggested that Romney supports Geithner, but his approval seems limited to 2009, before the TARP program had run its course. By 2010, the former governor was criticizing Geithner for mishandling the bank bailout and letting it continue too long. In terms of the Romney's Wall Street backing, it doesn't indicate any connection with liberalism or the economic policies of the president. On the contrary, it suggests stark differences between the plans Romney and Obama propose for the future. If Wall Street executives thought the candidate's policies were remotely similar, they would probably donate money to both candidates, as they often do to hedge their bets. Overall, Gingrich's ad earns four Pinocchios, at least for the claims we haven't covered in previous columns.

Real or fake: airlines that sound too bizarre to be true With so many bucket airlines out there today, how do you know if the deal you just got on a ticket is actually from a legitimate airline? Across the Internet it's easy to find people who have been scammed by fake airlines. In August a U.K.-based group calling itself Fair Airways that claimed it had flights to more than 36 countries yanked its website after first trying to collect $100 from potential cabin crew and staff. Sunrise Air, founded in 2010, is a legitimate airline that provides charter flights in and out of Haiti, while Sunrise Airlines, established in 1992, is a business-jet charter operator out Taiwan. But a few years ago, Sunrise Airlines a new "startup airline" based in Hungary raised suspicions after it presented itself as a new budget airline on a now defunct website. Odd airline names or weird-looking aircraft designs don't mean carriers aren't smart choices to fly on. A large part of being a smart consumer is knowing where to find out about smaller airlines before you purchase your ticket. The good news for consumers is that Department of Transportation tells FoxNews.com they rarely receive complaints that sellers of air transportation are not legitimate operators. Still it never hurts to do your homework. FoxNew.com turned to travel writer and expert Lee Abbamonte, the youngest American to visit every country in the world, to give us his insights into a few lesser-known airlines. Kulula Airlines If you're like me and not familiar with foreign airliners you might think Kulula flies to Hawaii, but you would be wrong. This low-cost airliner has been flying for more than ten years across South Africa. Its main destinations are Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, but it may be best known for its sense of humor. Kulula is a fun airline. Its planes are a funky neon green, and it's really cheap for getting around South Africa," said Abbamonte. Kulula often catches people's attention with its unique planes. Its hard to miss their "flying 101" Boeing fleet, which details the parts of the plane in a tongue and cheek way. For the front door you'll read "our door is always open unless we're at 41,000 feet" and for the logo you may blush reading: "the mile-high club initiation chamber." Kulula also has a humorous line of planes with the message "this way is up" accompanied by several arrows just in case the pilot forgets which way to direct the plane. The humor follows travelers inside the aircraft. Kulula's flight attendants and pilots are known for their funny one-liners during safety instructions like, "There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, but there are only 4 ways out of this airplane" or "Please note we do not accept unwanted mother-in-laws or children." Abbamonte says he would recommend Kulula because it's a top budget airliner in South Africa and in his experience offered better deals than its competitors. However, Kulula does not have very good customer reviews on its Facebook page. There are complaints of poor service, constant delays, missing baggage, and flight cancelations. These problems arise on every airline, but its something to keep in mind when booking a flight. Abbamonte notes that cancellations on budget or smaller airlines are often due to a lack of ticket sales to more remote locations. As for safety on Kulula, it shouldn't be a concern with their brand new fleet of Boeing 737-800s and a partnership with British Airways. The airline has a good track record with no crashes since its been operating according to airline research company Air Valid. Kulula is also the only South African airline accredited with by the IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international program that enforces rigorous airline safety standards. EVA Air Hello Kitty Jet Many who see this aircraft might not think it's a real plane, but it's actually a very popular flight in Asia. Think pink everywhere with the cute Hello Kitty cartoon character plastered on everything from the plane's exterior down to the ticket kiosks. EVA Air, which is a major airline across Asia but lesser known here in the States, decked out five Airbus planes with the loveable Japanese cat that connect travelers in Taiwan to destinations in China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Guam. At the Taoyuan International Airport in Taipei you won't have a problem finding your flight, and the pink Hello Kitty kiosks where you receive your boarding pass are hard to miss. The five Hello Kitty aircrafts: With Magic Stars, Loves Apples, Around the World, Happy Music, and Speed Puffs are different in exterior, but all offer a one of a kind experience. On board adults and children --and adults alike--will love being fully immersed in the Hello Kitty theme with a number of products like headrests, pillows, playing carding, cups, utensils, tray mats, sugar packets, dental floss, toothpicks, and even bathroom toilet paper featuring the cute feline. Flight attendants wearing pink Hello Kitty aprons serve themed meal options and children can enjoy fruit, pasta, and ice cream all shaped just like the white bobtail. All this fun will cost you. Abbamonte says if your trying to fly in Asia on a budget rather than for the experience then chose the Malaysian-based Air Asia. I certainly wouldn't fly them (EVA Air) just because of Hello Kitty. I would probably say that's kind of funny or cute. If it was a hundreds bucks cheaper I would fly it, but if it's the same price I wouldn't really care. Although EVA Airline flights aren't the cheapest among its competitors, it is a well-reviewed and top ranking airliner. Skytrax a world leading airline review service for flyers gave EVA Air 4 out of 5 stars based on services like check-in, comfort on board the plane, in-flight entertainment, and washroom cleanliness. EVA Airl also ranked 3rd for their cabin staff and 8th among all Asian airliners at the 2012 World Airline Awards. Germanwings If you see a yellow tailed plane that looks like a raccoon then your looking at Germanwings" Airbus A320. It's actually supposed to be a bear representing the official animal of Berlin. This low-cost carrier is a real airline based in Cologne, Germany, which flies to over 90 destinations in Europe, Israel and North Africa. Germanwings received a 3 out of 5 star rating from Skytrax meaning it's rated "satisfactory" in categories like cabin comfort, onboard catering, and cabin staff service. "It was a good experience, and like most German things it was very efficient," said Abbamonte. Since Germanwings is a no-frills airline it makes sense that it ranked lower on amenities like blankets, pillows, and complimentary food because these are rarely available free of charge on flights. You know you have to pay for every little thing. So if you wanted a bigger seat or to board first or to have an extra bag then it can be annoying because of extra charges. Germanwings isn't at the top or even close among budget airlines in Europe," said Abbamonte. However, most customers on Skytrax like the airline's nice sized leather seats and the affordable ticket prices. One unique feature to Germanwings is its "Blind Booking." This is an exciting and affordable way to travel just about anywhere from its four German hubs. Here's how it works: you chose what your looking for on your trip like party cities or cities with the best shopping, the dates you want to travel. The airline provides a list of potential destinations that you could be booked to and you don't find out where you are going until after you book your ticket. Germanwings is a safe carrier with a young fleet of modern air crafts. According to Airvalid there are no incidents or crashes on record, but the airliner has recently gotten some backlash for downplaying a few scary incidents in the air. Bearskin Airlines The bear-clawed logo on the airplane and catchy slogan, "Let the Bear take you there" will get your attention. This Canadian airlines offers more than 100 departures daily to 18 destinations in Ontario and Manitoba. Its main hubs are Thunder Bay and Sudbury's Canada. Despite its unusual name, Bearskin Airlines becomes an obvious choice over other major airliners when flying into Dryden or trying to get direct flights between Canadian cities like Thunder Bay to Sioux Lockout or Sudbury to Timmins. "I would purchase a Bearskin Airline ticket for a direct flight, but I think most would fly Air Canada if the price was comparable,"Abbamonte said. If you fly Bearskin then pack light and be prepared for a small airplane. Bearskin planes have no overhead storage bins and limited space underneath your seat. You're only permitted one carry-on weighing 13 lbs or less; however, you can check a bag less than 40 lbs for no extra cost. Most passengers who reviewed Bearskin Airlines didn't like that there was no beverage service or bathroom on board and would have preferred more space in the cabin. Otherwise most reviews online were positive stating that Bearskin Airline's prices were very affordable and flight crews were friendly. Bearskin Airlines is a safe airline, but like most carriers it's had emergency landings or malfunctioning aircrafts. Since 1995 there are three incidents of concern on record, and one ended with several fatalities, according to Airvalid. Ever since this incident there haven't been any fatal crashes on Bearskin Airlines. Hooters Air Yes, believe it or not in 2003 the restaurant chain Hooters joined the airline business. While the airlines is now defunct, this airline deserves honorable mention. The international chain that bills itself as "delightfully tacky yet unrefined" and known for its scantily clad waitresses, had a brief three-year run shuttling passengers to airports in the U.S. and the Bahamas. Each flight on Hooters Air came fully equipped with two Hooters girls and flight attendants that entertained passengers with trivia games, sold Hooters merchandise, and assisted with beverage service. This marketing attempt aimed at sports enthusiasts attracted causal and tournament golfers traveling to Myrtle Beach's 100+ championship golf courses. The inside and outside of the aircrafts also had a Hooters flair. Keeping with the chains traditional colors passengers had large blue leather seats to sit on, and it wasn't hard to miss the blue and orange aircrafts with the Hooter's owl on the tail. Some were concerned with this fun airline's safety record, but not to worry. Hooters Air was a FAA certified airliner. Hooters Air certainly built up the Hooters brand with this endeavor, but never became a serious player in aviation. Abbamonte says the airliner's destination list and a marketing campaign towards a bachelor clientele didn't help the perception many have of Hooters. I think Hooters is viewed as low class. The airline eventually folded in 2006. Industry analysts said the airliner ran into competition with other low-fair carriers, and rising fuel prices made it difficult for the venture to stay profitable. Tips for flying on unknown airlines While it's fun to see how low cost airlines use some imaginative marketing ploys to attract customers, safety should always be a main concern. Here's how to see if who you're flying on is the real deal: --U.S. airliners have very strict requirements to meet before they can sell or even transport passengers so simply checking the Department of Transportation's website to see which airliners are certified carriers is the best place to start:. U.S. airlines "must meet stringent FAA requirements," and "remain in compliance with Federal air safety regulations" so check out an unknown airliner on the FAA's aircraft registry website to find out if its planes meet FAA requirements. For airlines that operate outside the U.S. check out the list of carriers that are banned from flying in Europe. Foreign airlines that fly into the U.S. also need to meet FAA requirements so see if they are certified by the FAA.

Argentina, Brazil back Cuba's inclusion in future summits Cuba will be barred from next month's Americas summit at U.S. insistence, only to goad its friends Argentina and Brazil vowing with new resolve to have Havana leaders present at subsequent conferences. Cuba will be barred from next month's Summit of the Americas at U.S. insistence but Havana's friends Argentina and Brazil are vowing with new resolve to have Havana leaders present at subsequent conferences. (UPI/Claudio Cortés) BRASILIA, Brazil, March 15 (UPI) -- Cuba will be barred from next month's Summit of the Americas at U.S. insistence but Havana's friends Argentina and Brazil are vowing with new resolve to have Havana leaders present at subsequent conferences. Cuba's exclusion from the April 14-15 Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia, has split member states, with host Colombia attempting brinkmanship so as not to spoil its own carefully cultivated connections with Cuba's liberalizing economy. Most Latin American countries see Cuba emerging as the next big commercial opportunity while Cuban President Raul Castro frees up the state's fetters on business and private economic activities. Tens of thousands of Cubans turfed out of government jobs have been told they are free to operate as self-employed entrepreneurs, within certain limits. Brazil clinched multibillion-dollar deals with Castro when President Dilma Rousseff visited Havana and met with Castro and elder brother Fidel Castro. The Cartagena summit host, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos soon followed, to make sure his compliance with the U.S. request to keep Cuba out won't offend Cuba. He flew into Havana and met with the Castro brothers as an insurance against a diplomatic reversal at the summit, analysts said. In comments this week, Argentine and Brazilian ministers vowed to make sure Cuba's exclusion from the Cartagena summit would be the last such measure against Cuba. "This has to be the last summit in which Cuba does not participate," said Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman as he appeared with his Brazilian counterpart Antonio Patriota. The two met in Sao Paolo and declared the presence of Cuba would be necessary at the next gathering so that "finally we have a Summit of the Americas." The summit is organized by the Organization of American States, which has headquarters in Washington. The U.S. position specifies Cuba cannot participate because it hasn't complied with the OAS charter on democratic principles. OAS suspended Cuba in 1962 but lifted the suspension in 2009. Cuba has ignored suggestions it can re-enter the organization if it complies with charter requirements to implement democratic reforms. The U.S. position contrasts with increasing diplomatic and economic activity between Cuba and its Latin American neighbors. Cuba is under U.S. sanctions, the longest such period of sanctions in history. But trade deals between Cuba and Latin American neighbors have prompted the Communist Party government to move toward economic liberalization. Although Castro's reforms run counter to the Communist Party line, more are to be introduced in the coming months. Meanwhile, U.S. attitudes toward Cuba appear to be toughening. Florida lawmakers this week passed a measure forbidding local governments from hiring companies that do business with Cuba. The Miami Herald said the law, which governs contracts worth at least $1 million, appears to be aimed at Odebrecht USA, one of the largest contractors in Miami-Dade County. Experts say the law likely will be challenged in court.

Carpet tacks on road slow down riders FOIX, France (Reuters) - Carpet tacks spread on the road brought the first Pyrenees stage of the Tour de France to a near standstill on Sunday and prompted the bunch to call a truce in the fight for places. Defending champion Cadel Evans was one of some 30 riders in the 50-strong peloton to suffer punctures because of the tacks which race officials said had been scattered deliberately. The 14th-stage win went to Spain's Luis Leon Sanchez, who broke from a group of escapees 11 kms from the line to cross it on his own and collect the fourth Tour stage laurels of his career. Green jersey holder Peter Sagan finished second ahead of Frenchman Sandy Casar at the end of the 191-km ride from Limoux but the real action was taking place at the back where riders encountered the tacks as they began the descent of the first-category Mur de Peguere, 38.5 kms from the finish. It was obviously done on purpose. We have the tacks but we don't know who spread them," said race director Jean-Francois Pescheux. Evans suffered a puncture at the top of the pass. His BMC team car was already speeding down the descent and team mate Tejay Van Garderen passed without noticing him so the Australian was left unattended for several minutes and had to wait for another team mate to give him his back wheel. On the descent, Evans finally managed to change bikes but it was a tricky process during which team manager Jim Ochowicz twice fell into a roadside ditch. To make matters worse, Evans punctured again with 12 kms to go. Yellow jersey holder Bradley Wiggins realised something was wrong and went to the front of the group to tell them to slow down. "When 15 or 16 guys puncture, it becomes really apparent that something happened," said Wiggins. "Evans and the rest managed to come back in the descent and everything went back to normal," Pescheux said. Team Sky manager Dave Brailsford said it was only normal to wait for rivals when they were stopped by obvious acts of vandalism. There were definitely tacks on the road. It was the right decision. You never know what's going to happen to you. What goes around comes around," he said. As a result of the lull, all the Tour contenders finished together and the overall standings did not change. Wiggins retained his overall lead of two minutes five seconds on team mate Chris Froome while Italy's Vincenzo Nibali stayed in third, 2:23 adrift. Evans is still fourth, 3:19 off the pace. Tacks being spread on the course of the Tour is nothing new. It was common practice in the early days of the race and it happened again in 1996, when several race cars were halted by nails. Before Friday's problems, no real attacks had taken place against Wiggins or Team Sky and the Mur de Peguere was tackled with world champion Mark Cavendish, by no means a climber, leading the way. The peloton had seemed content to let the breakers led by Leon Sanchez, Sagan, Casar and Belgium's Philippe Gilbert take a 17-minute lead and go all the way. For Sanchez, the stage win came as a huge relief as he injured his wrist early in the Tour. I crashed in the beginning of the Tour and I was unlucky in the couple of breaks I joined. I'd started to doubt but today I picked the right tactics," said Sanchez, who went ahead on his own to avoid being outsprinted on the line by the faster Sagan. Monday's 15th stage takes the pack from Samatan to Pau over 158.5 kms.

Obama has edge over Romney in three battleground states President Barack Obama has the edge over Republican Mitt Romney in three potentially decisive states in the presidential election. Obama tops Romney by seven percentage points among likely voters in both Ohio (49-42 percent) and Virginia (50-43 percent). In Florida, the president holds a five-point edge (49-44 percent). Obama's lead is just outside the poll's margin of sampling error in Ohio and Virginia, and within the margin of sampling error in Florida. The good news for Romney is that among voters who are "extremely" interested in this year's election, the races are much tighter. Obama is up by just two points with this group in Virginia (49-47 percent), Florida is tied (48-48 percent), and Romney is up by one point in Ohio (48-47 percent). Independents are nearly evenly divided in each of the states, as well. Majorities of voters are unhappy with how things are going in the country, yet in all three states more say they trust Obama than Romney to improve the economy. Likewise, in each state more voters believe the Obama administration's policies have helped rather than hurt the economy -- albeit by slim margins: By two points in Florida, three points in Ohio and five points in Virginia. Amid the turbulent situation in the Middle East, each of the polls shows the president is more trusted than Romney on foreign policy. Obama's job approval rating and his personal favorability are 50 percent or higher in these three states. In Ohio and Virginia, the president's favorable rating is 10 percentage points higher than Romney's, and it's 6 points higher in Florida. In addition, Obama supporters are much more likely than Romney supporters to say they "strongly favor" their candidate: In Ohio by 23 percentage points, in Florida by 21 points and by 17 points in Virginia. Click to view the Fox News Florida Poll Click to view the Fox News Ohio Poll Click to view the Fox News Virginia Poll "Obama is nearly matching his 2008 support in these key states while Romney is under-performing compared to Republican John McCain," says Democratic pollster Chris Anderson, who conducts the Fox News poll with Republican pollster Daron Shaw. And a significant enthusiasm deficit among Romney backers suggests he will have headwinds as he seeks to close the gap with the president and turn out his voters. Obama won these states in 2008: Florida by 51-47 percent, Ohio by 52-46 percent and Virginia by 52-47 percent. That was the first time a Democrat had won Virginia since 1964. "The campaigns clearly believe the election may turn on what happens in Florida, Ohio, and Virginia," says Shaw. These are the top three states in terms of TV advertising by the campaigns and visits by the candidates. The president campaigned in Ohio on Monday and is scheduled to be in Florida on Thursday and Virginia on Friday. Romney plans to be in Florida on Wednesday and Thursday. More voters than not say it is "pretty neat" to live in a hotly-contested state. Some 45 percent of voters in Virginia and 44 percent in Ohio feel that way, as do 40 percent in Florida. On the other hand, nearly a third in each state says it's a "big pain." Senate Races The poll also finds Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate topping the Republicans in each of the three states. In Florida, Sen. Bill Nelson is ahead of Republican Connie Mack by a margin of 49-35 percent. In Ohio, incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown has the advantage over Republican challenger Josh Mandel by 47-40 percent. Democrat Tim Kaine is preferred over Republican George Allen by 47-43 percent in Virginia. Governor Job Ratings Over half of Virginia likely voters approve of the job Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) is doing (54-28 disapprove). For Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R), 46 percent of Ohio likely voters approve and 38 percent disapprove. In Florida, Gov. Rick Scott (R) receives negative ratings: 39 percent approve, while 49 percent disapprove. The Fox News poll is conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from September 16 to September 18, 2012. The statewide polls are based on landline and cell phone interviews with randomly-chosen likely voters. The total sample of likely voters in each of the three states has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Terence Blacker: A cut-out-and-keep guide to becoming British Not before time, the Home Office is to redraft the handbook given to potential immigrants to this country, placing emphasis more firmly on our great traditions, culture and values. Although the final draft of Britain: A User's Guide is not yet published, an early draft shows that, with these helpful guidelines, anyone hoping to become British will know exactly what to expect: Culture: Britain's culture is the envy of the world. The country's internationally famous playwright William Shakespeare is traditionally staged in every theatre once every few months, and is much loved by the British. Leading historical novelist Jane Austen has inspired many memorable TV series and films. The world's most famous group, The Beatles, hailed from Liverpool and changed pop music for ever. Useful Phrases: "The Bard," "The immortal Jane," "We all live in a yellow submarine." Sense of humour: The British are famous for their sense of humour and like to say, at moments of difficulty, "You've got to laugh," sometimes adding, in more serious mode, "Otherwise you would bloomin' well cry!" Irony, the most famous form of British humour, is unknown to other nationalities, particularly the Americans, and involves saying one thing while meaning the opposite. It is widely used in British politics. Useful phrases: "Don't panic!," "Don't mention the war!," "Suits you, sir!." Tax: Every British citizen is required to pay tax, but successful people can pay accountants to reduce the amount they owe the state as a reward for doing so well. Be aware of the difference in meaning between tax planning, a good thing; tax avoidance, a good thing but not discussed in polite company; and tax evasion, a bad thing. Useful phrases: "Is this deductible?," "I'm registered in the Isle of Man," "I'm an alternative comedian and don't really understand money." Fair play: The British invented fair play on the playing fields of Eton. To this day, traditional Etonian values of fairness and equality are frequently debated in Britain's famous House of Lords. Useful phrases: "Play up and play the game," "All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others." Religion: The Church of England is connected to the state but joining is not compulsory. It is often described as "a broad church," which means it accepts anyone who likes the general idea of having a religion. Recently, a rival religion of atheism has become established under the chaplaincy of Professor Richard Dawkins. Religious fundamentalism is now regarded as the height of bad manners in the UK. Useful phrases: "I definitely believe in something greater than ourselves," "Amen to that." Class: Class divisions and prejudice have been eliminated in British society. It is traditional for the prime minister to remind citizens every few years that class no longer exists and, just to make sure, broadcasters commission former members of the working class - Lord Bragg, Lord Prescott - to investigate the subject once every so often. Useful phrases: "Not quite our class, darling," "Pas devant les domestiques." Sport: All the world's leading sports were invented in Britain, but these days, in a spirit of generosity (see Fair play), the British allow lesser nations to beat them at everything except snooker and darts. Watching sport, if possible in front of a screen, and then discussing it in the pub afterwards has now taken the place of participation. Useful phrases: "What about 1966?," "They think it's all over," "Come on, Henman." The BBC: The greatest broadcaster in the world, the BBC is responsible for some of the most profitable franchises in the international market, including Top Gear, and Strictly Come Dancing. Useful phrases: "Paxman's looking a bit bored these days," "Not another repeat of Dad's Army," "Lord Reith must be spinning in his grave." Honours: In Britain, even if you are not born with a title or honour, you have the opportunity to gain one by doing good works or giving money to a political party. Because British society is so equal (see Class), even those who have criticised the ruling classes can be rewarded. Today, you will find such "outsiders" as Lord Prescott, Baroness Joan Bakewell and Lord Mandelson bravely arguing against privilege in the House of Lords. Useful phrases: "I only accepted it for my family," "The Lords gives me a political platform," "Arise, Sir David Hare." The National Health Service: Britain's health service embodies the basic principle of national life: every person should be treated equally. In this spirit of fairness, doctors recently went on strike in support of their having pensions equal to those of senior civil servants. Useful phrases: "Can you let me out before I catch MRSA?," "Is this where I enter the postcode lottery?," "Can I pay for the drugs myself then?."

Honda Center owners, Anaheim launch project to lure Sacramento Kings Honda Center owners Henry and Susan Samueli were joined by Anaheim city leaders Wednesday in a groundbreaking ceremony for a $20-million project described as the most extensive upgrade in the venue's history. The city maintains a strong interest in luring the NBA's Sacramento Kings. Anaheim is awaiting a March 1 deadline Kings owners have for Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson to reveal a financing plan to build an arena in Sacramento. "We can envision a day fans will attend NHL hockey, concerts and NBA basketball games here," Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait said at the ceremony, dropping in the NBA's old advertising slogan for effect. It will be fan-tastic. Clearly, the potential of an NBA team's arrival in Orange County prompted the Grand Terrace project, a 15,000-square-foot addition that will include indoor and outdoor seating, a new sports-themed restaurant and an expanded team store when completed in early 2013. Eighty percent of 1,000 memberships to a private Grand Terrace area have been sold. The NBA last year asked the Kings' owners, brothers Gavin and Joe Maloof, to wait one more year before moving the team to Anaheim to give Sacramento a chance to produce an arena plan. A Sacramento task force called "Think Big" is prepared to unveil its plan for a $387-million downtown railyard arena project to the city council Tuesday, hoping the council will ultimately approve the plan at its Feb. 28 meeting. Jeremiah Jackson, project manager of the task force, said the venue can be paid for with the help of a parking deal, the sale of existing land where Arco Arena stands and profits from digital signage around the arena. "The ball's in Sacramento's court," Jackson said. This is the fourth quarter, and Sacramento's at the free-throw line. I believe the deal will get done. The Maloofs declined to comment about Sacramento's plan. Samueli said he's "just waiting and standing on the sidelines" of the Sacramento situation. If [the Maloofs] need to come to us in the future, they have our phone number. Samueli said the vision of adding an NBA team to Anaheim "hasn't changed," regardless of the year's wait or Seattle's newly professed interest in soliciting the Kings. The SuperSonics left Seattle and became the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2008-09 season. "We welcome everyone to participate in the process," Samueli said. We're absolutely convinced this market and region can support [the NBA].

James Bond fan reportedly legally changes name to feature 14 Bond girl monikers By John Boone , E! For one James Bond-loving barmaid, 007 new names were not enough ... she wanted 14! A 28-year-old British woman, born Emma-Louise Hodges, has reportedly legally changed her name to pay tribute to more than a dozen Bond Girls: Pussy Galore Honey Rider Solitaire Plenty O'Toole May Day Xenia Onatopp Holly Goodhead Tiffany Case Kissy Suzuki Mary Goodnight Jinx Johnson Octopussy Domino Moneypenny. Eat your heart out, Rosalind Arusha Arkadina Altalune Florence Thurman-Busson! And you too, Uma! Neckjazzling?! That's what Bond Girl Judi Dench rocked at the premiere! "I've always thought how great it would be to be a Bond girl -- and now I am," Miss Moneypenny, as she'll be called in short, told The Sun. Is this for real? Given that the report comes from the wacky British tabloid, who's to say (we sure hope so!). But whether this "The Secret"-esque tactic (want to become a Bond girl?! Name yourself after all of them) is true or just a quickly picked-up Internet hoax, really, who cares when it's as ridiculously fun as this. Check out tons of behind-the-scenes pictures from the Bond franchise! "I'm hoping it can mean I can find my own suave James Bond," she continued (good luck recalling that whole moniker between the sheets, Bondy!) Ultimately though, I'm a good down-to-earth girl, so I opted for Miss Moneypenny as the main name -- even though she's not technically a Bond girl. Moneypenny (played by Naomie Harris) is, however, a sexy new addition to Daniel Craig's "Skyfall" series. We think this other Miss Moneypenny (don't make us recall all 13 of her other names, please) will have Bond raising his brow for completely different reasons, though.

India finance minister to step down Pranab Mukherjee, India's finance minister, will step down this month to run for president, the ruling Congress party said on Friday. Mr Mukherjee's decision to resign to contest the election for what is a largely ceremonial role is likely to offer the ailing Congress-led coalition government an opportunity to reshuffle the cabinet in an effort to revive India's waning economy. Chakravarthy Rangarajan, chairman of the prime minister's economic advisory council, is believed to be the frontrunner to take over as finance minister, according to political and economic analysts in New Delhi and Mumbai. "[Mr Mukherjee] has a long and distinguished record of public service spanning over five decades," said Sonia Gandhi, president of the Congress party, as she announced the candidature today of the veteran leader. Global investors are likely to welcome the exit of the septuagenarian finance minister, who has often been blamed for failing to push through reforms seen as essential to attract investment. Mr Mukherjee disappointed investors in his last budget after he introduced a proposed tax avoidance law and a retrospective tax on certain international transactions. Pratap Bhanu Mehta, head of the Centre for Policy Research think-tank, said it was unclear whether Mr Mukherjee's departure from the finance ministry, where he has been accused of adopting a bureaucratic process of economic management, signalled a change in direction for the government. My own sense is that the Congress is seriously confused. They need to signal a break from the past and a sense of new energy," Mr Mehta said. If the government wants to set a new direction in economic policy, there is nothing that prevents them from doing that. India became the latest developing economy to see its once breakneck growth slow sharply after it reported that its economy expanded at an annual rate of 5.3 per cent in the three months to March, the slowest expansion in almost a decade, thanks largely to political paralysis. Ms Gandhi said: "There is broad support for his [Mr Mukherjee's] candidature." But Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal and leader of the Trinamool party, a key ally of the government, rejected Mr Mukherjee's candidacy. That will force Congress to seek support from opposition parties to ensure their man is voted in. Mr Mehta said the Congress decision to select Mr Mukherjee as its candidate would allow the opposition Bharatiya Janata party to support his candidacy without "losing face."

"Better Living Through Chemistry" film shot outside Md. State House Visitors to the Maryland State House on Thursday were more likely to catch a glimpse of a movie star than a lawmaker. Actress Olivia Wilde (Eva Agostini - Associated Press) Scenes from "Better Living Through Chemistry" - a film that features actors Olivia Wilde, Ray Liotta and Sam Rockwell - were being shot on the street that encircles the State House in Annapolis. Here's the plot, according to the Internet Movie Database: "A straight-laced pharmacist's uneventful life spirals out of control when he starts an affair with a trophy wife customer who takes him on a joyride involving sex, drugs and possibly murder." For the filming, the historic but vacant Johnson's Building, at the corner of State Circle and Maryland Avenue, was transformed into a pharmacy. Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) recently touted the production, which is scheduled to film for five weeks at sites across Maryland. The state estimates the production could generate more than $7 million in spending and create 340 jobs for local crew, cast and extras. "We look forward to welcoming the cast of "Better Living Thru Chemistry" to Maryland," O'Malley said in a statement. This film, and the many film projects that have chosen Maryland recently, help create hundreds of jobs and generate new business for the local companies that support this industry. Maryland lawmakers are scheduled to return to Annapolis on Monday for the start of a three-day special session on taxes and the budget.

St Johnstone 2 - 1 Hearts: Saints secure top-six slot - News - Scotsman.com By PAUL FORSYTH Published on Saturday 24 March 2012 17:48 WHAT goes around comes around, as they say. Five weeks after a soft penalty had earned his team progress in the William Hill Scottish Cup at St Johnstone's expense, Paulo Sergio claimed that his Hearts team were victims of two refereeing mistakes at McDiarmid Park yesterday. He said an offside decision was missed in the build-up to St Johnstone's equaliser by Murray Davidson, and that Cillian Sheridan's high foot had struck Danny Grainger ahead of Francisco Sandaza's match-winning penalty, but both grievances missed the point. There was no mention of Marius Zaliukas, whose intervention had cost his team a penalty for the second week in succession, and this time it was significant. Sandaza's conversion from the spot means that Hearts have still not secured their place in the top six. St Johnstone, by contrast, are home and dry. Against an understrength Hearts side, it wasn't their best performance but if they can beat Inverness on Wednesday night, they will be within five points of third-placed Motherwell. "Fourth place is the aim," said their manager, Steve Lomas. It is going to be difficult, but I wouldn't bet against us. With extensive injury problems to deal with, Sergio chose to rest many of his players. Jamie Hamill, Rudi Skacel and Ian Black were on the bench, while Craig Beattie failed a late fitness test. Gary Glen was the lone striker, Jason Holt was given his first start in midfield, and Darren Barr was stationed in front of the back four. When Zaliukas dithered in his own box, causing the Hearts goalkeeper to slice past his own post, you wondered if Barr would not have been better deployed in central defence. Holt proved to be a lively addition, hooking an early shot over, then emerging from an otherwise listless opening period to grab the opening goal. When Robinson fed Ryan McGowan wide on the right, the Australian full-back swept a low ball across the box, which the 19-year-old midfielder caught perfectly. His first-time, right-foot shot sprung in off the base of the right-hand post. It was hard on St Johnstone, who had given as good as they got, but the equaliser wasn't long in coming. Ten minutes before half-time, Davidson timed his run into the box so well that he didn't have to connect particularly well with Dave Mackay's low cross to send the ball skittering into the bottom corner. The impression that this was a shadow Hearts side was compounded by the substitution of Jamie MacDonald, their goalkeeper. After sustaining an injury, he was pulled off at half-time to let Mark Ridgers, on loan at East Fife earlier this season, make his debut for the club. His was a gentle introduction to the fray, punctuated only by the odd scare. Sandaza embarked on a mazy run that split two defenders before his shot was deflected over. Then Sheridan missed the target from the edge of the penalty area. In the second half, Hearts did most of the pressing, but Scott Robinson's shot, saved by Alan Mannus, was the best of their efforts, and when Sandaza went over Zaliukas's leg at the other end, St Johnstone had their chance to equalise. After a long delay, in which Grainger was booked for protesting, Sandaza found the middle of the net with a spot-kick rammed high above the diving goalkeeper. The St Johnstone striker, whose team complained last month about the late penalty that took their Scottish Cup fifth-round replay against Hearts into extra time, said that his opponents had been guilty of gamesmanship as he waited to take this one. "It was not fair play," he said. I didn't like it. They tried to dig up the spot, and they were saying "you're going to miss it."" In the 13 minutes that remained, substitute Chris Millar headed a Sandaza cross over the bar, and Liam Craig slapped wide a cutback by Lee Croft, but it was Hearts, and Glen in particular, who came closest. First, he popped up at the back post to rattle a shot off the upright, then he latched on to a long ball and clipped it just wide. "With all the difficulties we are having, it was very disappointing to lose," said Sergio. We didn't deserve it at all.

Marcel Granollers advances at Gerry Weber Open Sixth-seeded Marcel Granollers won but No. 7-seeded Andreas Seppi was an upset victim Tuesday in first-round play of the Gerry Weber Open in Germany. HALLE, Germany, June 12 (UPI) -- Sixth-seeded Marcel Granollers won but No. Granollers defeated Mischa Zverev 6-4, 6-2 without facing a break point. Granollers lost just 12 points in nine games serving. He posted three breaks, two in controlling the second set. Radek Stepanek edged past Seppi 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 7-6 (9-7) in a match that took nearly 3 hours. Seppi dropped serve just twice but fell in the extended tiebreakers. Stepanek improved to 4-0 lifetime against Seppi but only one of the matches finished in straight sets. Also Tuesday, Lukas Lacko stopped Konstantin Kravchuk 2-6, 6-2, 6-3; Viktor Troicki beat Benjamin Becker 6-2, 7-6 (8-6); Florian Mayer didn't allow a break-point opportunity in a 6-4, 6-4 win over Tim Smyczek; and Tommy Haas advanced when, after Haas went up 5-2 in the first set, Bernard Tomic retired. Lacko advanced to a second-round match against top-seeded Rafael Nadal, who is coming off Monday's French Open championship.

Is this why you're tired all the time? But sometimes the parathyroid gland produces too much hormone, resulting in excess calcium in the blood. Called hyperparathyroidism, this disorder can cause overwhelming tiredness. Other symptoms include abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting and, more seriously, depression, kidney stones, sudden heart attacks and osteoporosis. Scarlett had a scan that revealed the cause of her hyperparathyroidism: one of the tiny glands had become enlarged due to a small, benign tumour. This is the most common cause of overproduction of the parathyroid hormone and excess blood calcium, according to Mr Tom Kurzawinski, consultant pancreatic and endocrine surgeon at the University College London Hospitals. The condition is estimated to affect about one in 1,000 people in Britain. "The condition is four times more common in women than men, but is massively underdiagnosed in this country because GPs are not looking for it," he says. Tired All The Time syndrome is one of the most common conditions with which women present at their GP surgery. Yet very few doctors make the connection between what they may see as non-specific symptoms, such as tiredness or feeling generally unwell, and hyperparathyroidism. There is a very cheap calcium blood test which can test for hyperparathyroidism. Without it, these women will never know what is wrong. The good news is that in around 98 per cent of cases, a simple operation solves the problem. Scarlett's operation involved a small incision just above the collarbone, removal of the gland and an overnight hospital stay. A blood test for her calcium levels the following morning revealed the operation had done the trick. Once we removed the enlarged parathyroid gland, the blood levels returned to normal within five minutes. This rapid normalisation indicates a complete cure," explains Mr Kurzawinski. Scarlett calls the operation a miracle cure. "Having been on my knees with tiredness for so many years, I now have my bounce back and can function properly," she says. I would urge any woman who feels tired all the time and lacking in energy to insist on having this very simple and cheap blood test for calcium levels. Having the operation has completely changed my life.

Eastwood's Super Bowl ad sparks the discord it decries Perhaps the most attention-getting Super Bowl ad - other than that dog blackmailing his owner with tortilla chips to keep quiet over a felinicide, of course - was Clint Eastwood's paean to a resurgent auto industry in Detroit. The ad featured Eastwood leveraging his cinematic persona to the hilt, emerging from the shadows while praising and challenging America at the same time. "It's halftime in America too," Eastwood rasped during halftime at the Super Bowl in a manner reminiscent of the Detroiter he played in "Gran Torino." Seems that we've lost our heart at times. The fog, the division, the discord and blame made it hard to see what lies ahead. But after those trials, we all rallied around what was right and acted as one. Because that's what we do. We find a way through tough times, and if we can't find a way, then we'll make one," the actor and director said. All that matters now is what's ahead. How do we come from behind? How do we come together? And how do we win? Detroit's showing us it can be done. And what's true about them is true about all of us. This country can't be knocked out with one punch. We get right back up again, and when we do the world's going to hear the roar of our engines. The ad for Chrysler was intended to be a call for people of all ideological stripes to come together for the common good. But coming as it did at the dawn of a presidential election year and touching upon the highly controversial government bailout of automakers, it didn't take long for that "fog, division, discord and blame" to assert itself. "Did I just see Clint Eastwood fronting an auto bailout ad?" groaned conservative pundit Michelle Malkin on Twitter. Meanwhile, David Axelrod, President Obama's chief reelection strategist, cheered in a tweet. "Powerful spot," he said. On Monday, Karl Rove, the former aide to President George W. Bush, said that he was "offended" by the Eastwood ad, suggesting that the Obama administration had a role in its production. I'm a huge fan of Clint Eastwood. I thought it was an extremely well-done ad, but it is a sign of what happens when you have Chicago-style politics, and the president of the United States and his political minions are, in essence, using our tax dollars to buy corporate advertising and the best wishes of the management which is benefited by getting a bunch of our money that they'll never pay back," Rove charged on Fox News. At the White House media briefing Monday, Jay Carney, the press secretary, said neither the administration nor the Obama campaign had anything to do with the spot. Still, that doesn't mean Carney passed on the chance to talk up the auto bailout. The ad, he said, "does point out a simple fact, which is that the automobile industry in this country was on its back and potentially poised to liquidate three years ago. And this president made decisions that were not very popular at the time that were guided by two important principles: one, that he should do what he could to ensure that 1 million jobs would not be lost; and two, that the American automobile industry should be able to thrive globally if the right conditions were created. The man likely to Obama's Republican opponent in the general election, Mitt Romney, has been slammed by Democrats for opposing the bailout of the industry. Some people believe in bailouts. I believe in the process of the law," Romney said last year in Michigan, the state where his father served as governor. The idea of just writing a check, which is what the auto executives were asking for, was not the right course.... It would have been best had the auto companies gone through the bankruptcy process without having taken $17 billion from government. The Treasury Department sunk $12.5 billion into Chrysler in 2009 to help prop up the auto giant. Italian automaker Fiat purchased the government's 6% stake in the company last year, closing the books on the government's involvement. All in all, the U.S. lost $1.3 billion on its investment. The ironic thing about the small-scale brouhaha is that Eastwood is a Republican who opposed the bailout of the industry. The Chrysler ad never mentions Washington's capital injection at all, which annoyed some Democrats. Asked about his presidential leanings last week at an event, Eastwood only allowed some fondness for Ron Paul, saying the libertarian was "as good as anybody else" in the race. Eastwood said he will decide on a candidate in another month or two after "listening to all that crap on television," according to the Daily Caller. Chrysler's chief executive, Sergio Marchionne, on Monday said the ad wasn't intended to be political. "It was not intended to be any type of a political overture on our part," Marchionne said in an interview with WJR radio in Detroit. Nobody inside Chrysler was attempting to influence decisions. The message is sufficiently universal and neutral that it should be appealing to everybody in this country, and I sincerely hope that it doesn't get utilized as political fodder in a debate. Not even Dirty Harry, however, can prevent that from happening. Christi Parsons of the Washington Bureau contributed to this report.

HMS Ocean's near miss with Thames Barrier

Key step in fight for right to die Lawyers for a stroke victim who wants help to end his "intolerable" life can continue to act on his behalf without fear of prosecution or disciplinary action after a High Court ruling today. They successfully urged two judges in London to grant them a declaration which will protect them and third parties, including doctors, during preparations for a "landmark" judicial review action brought by the unnamed stroke victim.

International Many of Mystery Runs for Governor Neil Livingstone has spent decades in Washington D.C. as a counterterrorism expert, describing big paydays and deals with dictators that could be just any old day at the office. Now he says he wants to leave all that behind to become Montana's governor, where chairing the state land board and congratulating state football champions could count as exciting. Libyan documents leaked last year stated that Livingstone was among a group seeking a multi-million dollar payday to help Moammar Gadhafi find a safe haven. Livingstone says it was part of an effort to save lives by ending the civil strife. Former associates say Livingstone's latest consulting firm called Executive Action, launched in 2007, was forced to close as business dried up. Livingstone argues unwinding the company was a "conscious decision."

Hackers target British Pregnancy Advisory Service site Copycat hackers around the world have targeted Britain's biggest abortion provider since a computer expert was arrested for breaking into the charity's website. James Jeffery, 27, was jailed for two years and eight months last week for stealing about 10,000 personal records of women held by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS). Since his arrest on March 9, there have been 2,500 attempts to hack into BPAS's systems, with around a third traced to computers in North America and a third to Russia. BPAS said they were "low-level" attacks which caused no significant disruption, and stressed that the medical records of women who have had terminations were never at risk. A spokeswoman for the abortion provider, which treats around 55,000 people a year, played down the significance of the number of attempts because some hackers are likely to have launched hundreds of attacks within the space of a few minutes. This is significantly lower than anything we might have anticipated. There was no impact on our services and women's records are completely secure," she said. Jeffery, of Wednesbury in the West Midlands, targeted BPAS because he disagreed with the decisions of two women he knew to terminate their pregnancies, London's Southwark Crown Court was told. As well as stealing the records, which he later intended to publish, he also defaced the website's homepage with an anti-abortion message.

Feds say bust drug ring with ties to Mexican drug cartel By Keith Coffman DENVER (Reuters) - U.S. federal agents have broken up a drug-trafficking ring that had ties to a Mexican drug cartel and used commercial trucks to move methamphetamine and money between California and Colorado, authorities said on Thursday. A federal grand jury in Denver last week indicted 22 people in four states for drug trafficking and money laundering following an 18-month investigation by an organized crime strike force, law enforcement officials said. The smugglers used "corrupt drivers" from a California trucking company to transport the drugs and illegal proceeds, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Denver said in a written statement. "In one instance, the money was hidden in a truck load of milk ... (the gang) also used other means to send money back to California, including one instance were a minor had cash strapped to his body as he was being driven to California," the statement said. All but two of those indicted are in custody, prosecutors said. The indictment accuses the alleged ringleader, Armando Mendoza-Haro, of sending the ill-gotten cash to an unspecified Mexican drug cartel. The gang allegedly tried to conceal the scheme by making small deposits in multiple banks to avoid reporting requirements, and then moving the money to overseas banks and back to California, the indictment said. Agents seized 6 lbs of methamphetamine, more than $700,000 in cash, two tractor-trailers and a firearm in the probe. Depending on each case, if convicted the defendants could get up to life in prison on the drug-trafficking charges, and up to 20 years on the money-laundering charges. Prosecutors said they will also seek the forfeiture of any property proven to have been derived from the illegal operation. Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Lisa Shumaker

Joining the Caravan - The Gypsy Aesthetic Gains in Popularity on Runways and Streets - NYTimes.com Elizabeth Lippman for The New York Times Pamela Love; Audrey Louise Reynolds; and Estrella Martinez in gypsy-inspired fashion. NO more than a couple of months ago, editors at the Midtown offices of Vogue practiced a form of visual streamlining. "You would see them in Céline chokers and gold Hermès cuffs," said Meredith Melling Burke, the magazine's senior market editor. The look, she said, was clean-edged. Then the other day, in a brash about-face, the same coven of tastemakers jettisoned that pared-down style for a kind of controlled anarchy. "Candy Pratts Price had on a dozen necklaces layered in varying ways," Ms. Burke recalled, referring to the editor at large of Vogue.com. Another staff member "wore rings on every finger, and I had a stack of bracelets crawling up my arm." The changeup was expressive, she said, "of a palpable shift to a more personal, chaotic look," a festive nod to full-on Gypsy chic. Fashion's on-again-off-again love affair with Romany inspirations has indeed been rekindled of late, more reflective in its current incarnation of a mood or attitude, Ms. Burke suggested, than an actual trend. But trend or no, the style, increasingly prevalent in stores and on the runways, is thriving these days as the spirited outgrowth of a popular fascination with generic Gypsy culture. Surprisingly, its flames are being fanned by Gypsies themselves, a youthful cohort intent on exploring the heritage and, often as not, complicit in spinning that heritage into a commodity. Parting a curtain on what has traditionally been an elusive society, some are posting blogs and writing memoirs, others creating musical fusions of Gypsy strings and punk or portraying willfully tarted-up versions of themselves in documentaries and reality shows. The reception to such apparent openness has been especially keen among a handful of influential fashion designers. Frequently obsessed with outsider cultures, they are paying homage by festooning dresses in coins and chains, combining madly clashing patterns or adding flounces and fringe - the high kitsch expression of a look more commonly found on matchbooks and souvenir fans. Among those turning their catwalks into caravans is Peter Dundas of Pucci, who showed midriff-baring flamenco tops and flounced skirts in his spring collection. You imagined a chorus of guitars and castanets in the wings. Massimiliano Giornetti of Ferragamo also caught the fever, showing corsetlike lacing on his cocktail frocks for fall; and Joseph Altuzarra elaborated on the Gypsyish brocade breeches and toggle coats of his fall show in a resort collection highlighted by Balkan-style embroideries. Those collections, Mr. Altuzarra acknowledged, are no more than "a very naïve interpretation of the culture," their inspiration purely aesthetic. "You sense about the Gypsy style something very sensual, very ornate and very precious," he said, "but also very free." A similar blitheness moved Riccardo Tisci to lavish his fall couture collection for Givenchy with opulent beading and fringe that owed a debt to the contemporary Gypsies of his native Southern Italy. Giambattista Valli visited a Romany theme in the Gypsy-inspired wedding dress he designed for Margherita Missoni, of the Italian luxury knitwear clan. Family and friends celebrated the nuptials last month in a centuries-old park, against a backdrop of haystacks and caravans, the festivities animated by the presence of a fortune teller. To the casual eye, Gypsy chic may seem a little déjà vu. Certainly it will to those who recall the Romany and flamenco influences in Yves Saint Laurent's couture collections of the "70s, in themselves opulent riffs on a cherished hippie theme. In fashion circles, that very familiarity breeds skepticism. "Some trends come back like clockwork," said Catherine Moellering, a trend forecaster with the Tobé Report. "It's like when a young designer rediscovers "Love Story" and Ali MacGraw, and you kind of roll your eyes." It leads one to suspect, she said, that "Gypsy" is a catchall term for everything bohemian. But champions of this latest resurrection point out that irreverent styling lends the look a contemporary spin. Stores like J. Crew, Zara, Maje and Bloomingdale's offer flamboyant peasant tops, folkloric embroideries and print mashups tempered by tailored shorts and jeans.

NBC says they weren't afraid Chelsea's vodka title (AP) - NBC's entertainment chief says it wasn't squeamishness over booze that got "vodka" dropped from the television version of Chelsea Handler's memoir. It's Me, Chelsea?," was just too long. He said: "There was no mandate from anyone saying don't put vodka in the title of a show." The NBC comedy, titled "Are You There, Chelsea?," debuts next Wednesday. Laura Prepon of "That `70s Show" portrays the title character, described as a "sexually dynamic advanced drinker." Handler has a part-time role as the title character's born-again Christian sister.

Humans blamed for Australian extinctions SYDNEY, March 23 (UPI) -- Human hunting caused the extinction of ancient giant animals, or "megafauna," in Australia about 40,000 years ago, scientists say. A study has put the blame for the extinction of 600-pound kangaroos and birds twice the size of modern emus on humans rather than on climate change as was once thought, Britain's The Daily Telegraph reported Friday. "The debate really should be over now," John Alroy, from Macquarie University in Sydney, said. Hunting did it, end of story. The researchers studied fungi found in the dung of large herbivores in cores of sediment from a fossilized swamp in Queensland dating back 130,000 years. "When there was lots of fungus, there was lots of dung and lots of big animals making it," Chris Johnson from the University of Tasmania said. When they disappeared, their dung fungus went too. The study shows numbers of megafauna species were stable until 40,000 years ago despite two periods of climate change, the researchers said, suggesting newly arrived humans hunted the animals to extinction. Still, some scientists say they're not convinced and that the presence of the ancient spores does not reflect an abundance of the giant animals. "The only evidence we have from Queensland for megafauna indicates that they were gone before humans arrived," Judith Field, from the University of New South Wales, said. The interpretations drawn from [the new study] are unsubstantiated and can be explained by other mechanisms.

Norodom Sihanouk dies; former king of Cambodia was 89 Former King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia, an unpredictable and crafty political survivor whose fortunes were entwined with U.S. military involvement in Indochina, died Monday of natural causes in Beijing, where he had undergone medical treatment, Chinese state media reported. He was 89. Sihanouk had various forms of cancer, diabetes and hypertension and had sought medical care in China since 2004, when he abdicated in favor of his son due to old age and health problems. He died two weeks short of his 90th birthday. This is a great loss for Cambodia. We feel very sad. The former king was a great king who we all respect and love," Cambodia's Deputy Prime Minister Nhik Bun Chhay was quoted as telling the New China News Agency. The news agency said reigning King Norodom Sihamoni, Sihanouk's son, will fly to Beijing to retrieve the body and return it to Cambodia for a traditional funeral. Long a symbol of Cambodian nationalism and independence, Sihanouk reigned more than he ruled. But for nearly 60 years, his name was synonymous with the tortured history of his sad land. He was, by any yardstick, one of Southeast Asia's most colorful and legendary statesmen. The portly Sihanouk, who had four wives and countless mistresses over his long career, was as much a hedonist as a political operative. He was vain, manipulative and whiny, his soprano voice a singsong of French and English as he uttered declarations and cut deals to play foreign powers against each other. During the Vietnam War, Sihanouk leaned toward the Communists, anticipating their victory. He cut ties to Washington in 1965 to protest the U.S. military buildup in Vietnam but let U.S. and South Vietnamese forces conduct secret incursions into Cambodia to disrupt the supply lines that Sihanouk had allowed the Communists to set up. Sihanouk was born Oct. 31, 1922, of King Norodom Suramarit and Queen Kossamak Nearireath. He was educated in Saigon, now called Ho Chi Minh City, and Paris, and ascended to the throne in 1941 at the age of 18, after the death of his uncle, the king. He was the handpicked choice of colonial France, which believed he would be the most malleable of the royal pretenders. But 12 years later he went into "voluntary exile" to protest French imperialist control, creating so much international pressure that in 1953 the French government granted Cambodia the independence he sought. In 1955, Sihanouk abdicated in favor of his father to pursue political power free from royal constraints. He set up the Popular Socialist Community party, which within months had captured all the seats in the National Assembly. Sihanouk loved center stage. He called the Cambodians "my children" and would receive virtually any commoner who wanted to complain about the price of seed or comment on an irrigation project. At night he might entertain dignitaries and diplomats at his palace with a champagne banquet and a moonlight performance of the Royal Ballet. His guests never knew what to expect. At one banquet he grabbed the microphone, went to his knees and sang the Frank Sinatra standard "My Way." Another time he insisted that Richard H. Solomon, a U.S. assistant secretary of State, sing "Happy Birthday" to him - which an embarrassed Solomon did. Sihanouk also made amateur films of love stories and mysteries, in which he was star, director, writer and narrator. Guests sometimes had to sit for hours watching them. "It is like Shakespeare, n'est-ce pas?" he asked after one screening. Sihanouk spent much of the 1960s trying to maintain Cambodia's neutrality, and his desire to keep his country out of the Indochina conflict set him on a collision course with U.S. officials, who often were publicly disdainful of him. One ambassador, Robert McClintock, while opening a U.S.-sponsored maternity clinic, turned to the prince at the ceremony and said, "This should particularly interest you as a great one-man manufacturer of babies." Sihanouk would regret his 1965 decision to sever diplomatic ties with the United States. Without U.S. aid, the Cambodian economy rapidly deteriorated, sowing seeds of political instability. To compensate and gain leverage with Washington, he turned to Beijing. Chinese Premier Chou En-lai visited Cambodia in 1968 while the Vietnam War raged across the border. By then, Cambodia had become a major staging area for North Vietnamese troops. In 1969, President Nixon ordered secret B-52 airstrikes against the Communist camps and supply lines. The next year, on April 30, U.S.-led allied forces began overt incursions into Cambodia, drawing the kingdom into the war and fueling antiwar protests in the United States. Sihanouk, who ruled as an autocrat, crushing dissent and closing newspapers, was on a trip to Moscow in 1970 when he was overthrown by his U.S.-backed minister of defense, Lon Nol. Sihanouk, who firmly believed that Washington had masterminded the coup, went to Beijing in exile after he was sentenced to death in absentia by Lon Nol's regime. The Chinese treated Sihanouk royally, providing a mansion, nine servants and a $300,000-a-year allowance. In Beijing, Sihanouk aligned himself with Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge, who were fighting to overthrow Lon Nol. Sihanouk was not comfortable with the relationship but wanted to keep his name at the forefront of Cambodian affairs. In a visit to the United Nations with Khmer Rouge officials, Sihanouk tried to pass a message appealing for help to an FBI agent in a New York elevator. The agent, mistakenly thinking he was being tipped, wouldn't take the note. Sihanouk returned to Phnom Penh in 1975, after the Khmer Rouge's peasant army had taken control of Cambodia. But the prince and his wife, Monique, were placed under house arrest in his palace by Pol Pot. Only personal intervention by Chou, the Chinese premier, saved them from execution, diplomats said. Between 1975 and 1979, when Pol Pot was overthrown by invading Vietnamese troops, the Khmer Rouge killed more than 1 million people, including 14 members of Sihanouk's family. In 1979, the Chinese evacuated Sihanouk to Vietnam, where he held a six-hour news conference to denounce both the Vietnamese and the Khmer Rouge. His country now occupied by the Vietnamese, Cambodia's long-standing enemy, Sihanouk became a worldly wanderer once more. He divided his time between China and North Korea, where he developed a close friendship with late leader Kim Il Sung. Sihanouk returned to Cambodia occasionally in the ensuing years, issuing contradictory and confusing declarations, but a generation of warfare had devastated the Cambodian economy, destroyed its political infrastructure and spiritually crippled its people. The United Nations spent $2.6 billion and sent 26,000 troops to Cambodia in the early 1990s to prepare for the return of democracy. When the mission, an apparent success, ended in September 1993, Sihanouk startled the world by returning to Phnom Penh and reclaiming the crown he had given up 38 years earlier. It was, Asian scholars said, one of the great political comebacks of the 20th century. "What I want is not to become king again," Sihanouk said. In my opinion, the greatest honor, the greatest reward that the nation, that history can offer me is to be the father of the nation, the father of independence, the father of peace, the father of democracy and genuine freedom. I am not at all seeking a reward in being crowned. The crown is very heavy, you know. It hurts your head. Sihanouk's son, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, whom the king always considered weak and indecisive, became prime minister after the 1993 general elections. But Ranariddh was overthrown in July 1997 by a former Khmer Rouge, Hun Sen, who had muscled his way into a position as co-prime minister. More instability, bloodshed and economic ruin followed. Sihanouk, ailing with prostate cancer, spent most of his last years in Beijing. His people continued to revere him as a god-king in the 1,000-year tradition of the Angkor Empire - the monarchy was, after all, the only institution they still had to believe in - but Sihanouk seemed increasingly distant and depressed by the belief that every national aspiration he had worked for failed. "If I was not a Buddhist, I would commit suicide because the end of my life is full of shame, humiliation and desperation of the national order," he said in late 1997. In a blossoming Asia . . . we are the only oasis of war, insecurity, self-destruction, poverty, social injustice, arch-corruption, lawlessness, national division, totalitarianism, drug trafficking and AIDS. Lamb is a former Times staff writer.

Navy SEALs Need Special Training to Operate in the Cold Navy Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Christopher Menzie Navy SEAL trainees participate in a long-range navigation exercise high in the Alaskan mountains Turns out the coolest Navy SEALs, those belonging to SEAL Team 6 (or the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, as they are officially known) need special training to operate in the cold. This sounds like part of the SEALs" routine regimen (although Battleland always thought SEAL stood for Sea-Air-Land and not Snow-Air-Land). It's part of the investment the nation makes to ensure there's a top-notch special-ops force ready to tackle the toughest missions anywhere in the world, from tropics to tundra. VIDEO: Soldiers" Voices: Their Thoughts on the Pullout The SEALs are seeking someone to teach them high-altitude skills and techniques next month near Park City, Utah. "The purpose of this training event is to increase our command member's current level of knowledge and performance in the area of Winter Environment Survival," a recent contract solicitation says. SEAL Team 6"s requirements include: Site must be at or above an altitude of 6000 ft to emulate operational conditions overseas. Site must receive several inches of snow per week in the winter months that must be above 6000 ft. and must have several established ski courses. Training must be in the Park City, UT or vicinity area to facilitate troop's location for follow-on training on following week. Follow on training will be in UT. Vendor must have an established program designed for the military and have past experience working with special operations personnel regarding mountaineering and cold weather/high altitude training for no less than two years. Vendor shall provide education and training that must cover theory, application, and proper techniques for the following subjects; AT Ski/Back country ski, Avalanche Survival and recognition, mountain movement. Vendor shall also facilitate in the logistics of and security de-confliction at airport for loading and unloading gear. Vendor shall provide a five day course of instruction (40 hour minimum) from 13 to 17 March for 18 students at an instructor student ratio of 4-1 that will incorporate the previously stated requirements by using both academic sessions in the classroom setting as well as practical applications throughout the training facility. Vendor shall provide guides/instructors and guided services for All Terrain Ski/Avalanche Survival and Recognition/ mountain. Instructors must be able to impart the newest survival measures that have proven successful in actual situation. Beyond all that, the instructors must be skilled in: High altitude sickness signs and symptoms and how to treat them. Different types of high altitude terrain and how to traverse them. Survival skills at high altitude/cold weather to include building effective shelters and heating. Potential avalanche areas/conditions. Use and care of cold weather equipment. Packing gear in rucksacks as well as Polks. Moving via snow shoes, skis and crampons Proper ascending and descending of terrain with rucksacks and Polks ski equipment. Necessary gear needed to climb ice safely and proficiently. The Navy wants a classroom big enough for 18 students, complete with "Wi-Fi internet access, printer, and big screen monitor for presentations and debriefs" as well as "a DOD approved secure storage containers to store weapons and sensitive gear. " MORE: Navy Seeking More Minority SEALs The winning contractor, the solicitation notes, needs to stay silent about the assignment: The vendor will not take any photos or videos of the students without prior approval from either the senior military member present or the trip leader. Media contact will not be authorized for this training event and specific details about who the students are, where they are staying during the training, and where they are from should not be disclosed to anyone not a part of the vendor's staff. Sounds like fun anyway. PHOTOS: A History of America's Secret Warriors VIDEO: 10 Questions with American Sniper, Chris Kyle

Leading Off: And Then There Were Two In the end, the Super Bowl combatants were not decided by magnificent touchdowns or beautiful interceptions. They were chosen by fate seemingly for their grit and stubbornness, two teams that don't question themselves when doubt starts raining down on them. They just dig in and refuse to go away. The Giants and Patriots won the two championship games by the flukiest of margins, the Giants twice snatching a slippery football from a flummoxed 49ers punt returner; the Patriots poking away a sure touchdown catch, then watching the Ravens" kicker shank a sure field goal; and yet neither team could barely be called a fluke. They've been there before - against each other in fact - and simply willed their way into the rematch of their lives. The Giants victory in San Francisco was a heart-pounder for the ages, as Mike Vaccaro writes in The Post, with the Giants" adding a little luck to a lot of magic, Mike Lupica writes in The Daily News. Their hero was, of course, a battered Eli Manning, although he was as much a tackling dummy as a quarterback, and the little-known special teams player Jaquian Williams, who George Willis writes in The Post was ever-so close to giving up on football entirely in college. Manning, he wouldn't dream of giving up, and when you match his stubbornness with that of Coach Tom Coughlin, writes Don Banks on SI.com, you get a team like the Giants, who were written off more times this season than a bad debt. As Dave D'Alessandro writes in The Newark Star-Ledger, Coughlin might have been one of the few who believed this turnaround was possible, but he counts the most. The Giants know the heartache on the other side of the field too, but the 49ers did not seem to know how to process it. They had orchestrated their own turnaround, from floundering franchise with a revolving door on the coaches" offices to a magical season under new Coach Jim Harbaugh and an N.F.C. championship game in a crotchety, windy stadium only they could love. In the end, they were stunned by the Giants" game-winning field goal, writes Gwen Knapp in The San Francisco Chronicle, and totally unable to appreciate everything it took to get there, writes Scott Ostler in The Chronicle. They now have a legendary playoff goat in punt returner Kyle Williams, whose spirits the 49ers were desperately trying to lift after the game, Tim Kawakami writes in the San Jose Mercury News, but a muff and a game-deciding fumble left him the loneliest man in football, Les Carpenter writes on Yahoo.com. In a few days, Williams might realize he has company on the Ravens, with kicker Billy Cundiff and receiver Lee Evans walking away from the A.F.C. championship knowing they had the game in their hands and feet and watched it slip away. Evans had a potential game-winning touchdown swatted from his hands in the final seconds, a final 11 seconds filled with so many mistakes, writes Greg Couch on Foxsports.com. Quarterback Joe Flacco had one of them, undoing his heroic effort to rehabilitate his reputation in the space of one game. Yes, the Ravens overachieved to get here and like the 49ers, had it all washed away in a river of agony, writes Peter Schmuck in The Baltimore Sun. So, the Patriots walked away the lucky ones, despite a decidedly mortal effort by quarterback Tom Brady, writes Bob Ryan in The Boston Globe, and they were quick to suspect Myra Kraft - owner Bob Kraft's wife who died last year - had played a hand in it, writes Dan Wetzel on Yahoo.com. Even if none of its was pretty, it did bring back memories of the teams early in the Patriots dynasty years, writes Andrew Perloff on SI.com, that won with tough role players. The rest of America might be less than thrilled about this matchup, guaranteeing two weeks of hyperventilating New York vs. Boston hype, writes Steve Buckley in The Boston Herald, but Michael Rosenberg argues on SI.com that it also guarantees a great game. Yes, we will get endless replays of the Manning-to-Tyree magical catch from 2008. And with the little brother quarterback going to play a Super Bowl in big brother's city - Indianapolis - expect a wall-to-wall Manningfest that you will escape only by leaving the country. But getting there was awfully hard for both teams, who have two weeks to count their bruises and their luck.

Animal magic: Welcome to a world of wild wonders This is the great pleasure of wildlife watching: every encounter is different. But it made picking the best of the best - my personal selection of the hotspots that have made the greatest impact on me over 30 years of travelling the world in search of wildlife - particularly difficult. My original list included no fewer than 161 favourite places but, eventually, I whittled it down, picking a diverse range of animals, places and experiences that anyone can enjoy without having to organise special permits, charter planes, sleep rough or stand waist-deep in mosquito-infested swamps. Here is a selection. Rubbing shoulderswith mountain gorillas, Uganda It's only a one-hour encounter - and there is an awful lot of travelling and trekking to be done beforehand. But rubbing shoulders with wild mountain gorillas is likely to be one of the most emotional, humbling and exhilarating 60 minutes of your life. There are currently about 800 mountain gorillas left in Africa: 480 in the Virunga volcanoes, which straddle Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and some 310-340 in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda. In Bwindi, an island of 128 square miles of equatorial rainforest, surrounded by plantations, the Uganda Wildlife Authority has habituated seven gorilla families to receive human visitors. These consist of as few as seven animals to as many as 36, led by a mature male or "silverback" along with his harem of several females, various immature "blackback" males, and youngsters. The trek in can take anything from less than an hour, if you're lucky, to as long as 11 hours, if you're not. It all depends on where your allotted gorilla family happens to be at the time. Within minutes of entering the forest you are sweating and panting, crawling and clambering your way along slippery paths and precipitous mountain tracks. But the moment you come face-to-face with your first gorilla, the mud, the sweat and the tears are a distant memory. Standing in the heart of a seemingly limitless jungle, with a family of the largest primates in the world, is one of life's greatest pleasures. Your allotted hour goes so quickly. But life will never be quite the same again. Rubbing shoulders with wild mountain gorillas is a true privilege and, if everyone could do it just once, the world would be a better place. How to do it Gorilla treks operate year-round. Fly to Entebbe, then drive to Bwindi. There are several lodges, tented camps, community rooms and campgrounds in Buhoma, near the park headquarters. Gorilla-watching permits cost $500/£333 ($350/£233 in low season) for each trek and need to be booked in advance. Explore (0845 291 4542; explore.co.uk) has an eight-day "Gorilla & Chimp Safari" tour from £2,459 per person, which includes most meals, accommodation in hotels and tented camps, the gorilla permit fee and Kenya Airways flights from Heathrow to Entebbe via Nairobi. Leaping with lemurs, Madagascar When it decided to slip away from the ancient mega-continent of Gondwana some 160 million years ago, Madagascar unwittingly made a good tactical move. The new island, roughly the size of France, travelled a couple of hundred miles east before settling off the coast of southern Africa. There, while the rest of the world grappled with the emergence of Homo sapiens, it was able to develop completely unscathed. Visiting this chip off the old Gondwana block is rather like landing on another planet. The plants and animals are vaguely familiar - they resemble monkeys, hedgehogs and civets, for example - yet they are actually lemurs, tenrecs and jabadys. What's happened is that in Madagascar, evolution has come up with different solutions to the same problems as elsewhere in the world. More than 80 per cent of the wildlife inhabiting the 1,000-mile-long island - including every single native terrestrial mammal - is unique to Madagascar. The undisputed stars are lemurs. No fewer than 100 different species are currently recognised. They are found nowhere else, apart from small populations of introduced mongoose and black lemurs in the nearby Comoros Islands. They range in size from diminutive mouse lemurs (the smallest primates in the world) to indris (the size of large monkeys). There are two species on the top of everyone's wish-list: ring-tailed lemurs and aye-ayes. With their black-and-white coats, soft-toy cuddliness and air of swaggering arrogance, ring-tailed lemurs are great fun to watch. Whereas aye-ayes are just plain weird - undoubtedly among the strangest, most enigmatic and most endearing animals on the planet. But whether it is lemurs you are after, or any of the other unique mammals, from fosas to tenrecs, or the myriad endemic birds, amphibians, reptiles and insects, Madagascar never disappoints. The best months to visit are generally April to early November. Fly to Antananarivo (indirect only from the UK), then explore on a naturalist-led organised tour, or independently using the famous taxi-brousses (mini-buses or converted vans). On The Go (020-7371 1113; onthegotours.com) has an 11-day "1,000 Views of Madagascar" private tour from £1,499 per person, which includes B&B accommodation and excursions to a several national parks. Flights extra. Cruising with polar bears, Svalbard It is possible to see polar bears in many parts of the Arctic and sub-Arctic, but apart from tourist-crazy Churchill, in northern Canada, the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard is one of the easiest - and wildest - places for a close encounter. There are believed to be 3,000 bears in the islands and surrounding frozen seas; if you join an expedition cruise in July, you would be very unlucky not to see quite a few of them. Svalbard is a dramatic and awe-inspiring wilderness of huge blue and white glaciers, snow-covered mountains, and steep-sided fjords. It consists of three main islands - the biggest and better-known Spitsbergen, Nordaustlandet and Edgeoya - as well as many smaller ones. The archipelago is one of the most northerly landmasses in the world - separated from the North Pole by a few hundred miles of frozen ocean. It is imprisoned by ice for eight months of the year and is gripped by perpetual darkness for four. But, during the brief Arctic summer, it undergoes an extraordinary transformation. This forbidding place turns into a land of 24-hour daylight, with flower-filled tundra, towering sea cliffs crowded with millions of seabirds, and a crazy-paving of ice that provides a home for polar bears, walruses, and ringed and bearded seals. Polar bears can be seen almost anywhere, but since they favour areas with plenty of ice, they are less often seen in the west of Spitsbergen. Some individuals spend the summer on land, waiting for the sea to freeze again, but many follow the retreating ice and move into the fjords of the extreme north, north-east and east. They often hunt at glacier fronts, especially in spring when they are looking for ringed seals and their pups. Expedition cruises (typically lasting 7-14 days) operate mainly from early June to August. Discover the World (01737 214 291; discover-the-world.co.uk) offers an "Around Spitsbergen" trip on the M/S Expedition. The next departure is on 29 June and costs from £3,089 per person for an eight-day cruise, including all meals and activities. Bumbling around Borneo The island of Borneo is divided between three different countries: Indonesia (which owns Kalimantan), Brunei (one of the world's smaller countries, but incredibly rich on oil money) and Malaysia (which owns Sarawak and Sabah). I particularly like Sabah, because it includes many of the most accessible wildlife-rich regions of the island. With some 10,000 species of flowering plants, 900 species of butterfly, 520 species of bird and nearly 200 species of mammal - it's hard to know where to begin with this land of milk and honey. There are many splendid wildlife places to visit, but one of my favourites is the Danum Valley Conservation Area. It is a good place to see wild orang-utans (there are believed to be about 500 of the apes in the conservation area) and is home to nine other primate species. Night walks and drives offer the chance to see two - the western tarsier and slow loris - as well as flying squirrels and even leopard cats. Other mammals you might see include Bornean pygmy elephants, bearded pigs, Bornean red muntjac and mouse deer. And Danum Valley is home to such mouth-watering rarities as Sumatran rhinos, Malaysian sun bears, clouded leopards and flat-headed cats. While you may well find signs of their presence, don't expect to see them unless you are incredibly lucky. There are some lovely trails through the forest and a 1,000ft-long, 90ft-high canopy walkway. Early morning is best for seeing some of the more elusive mammals, while nocturnal walks, drives and boat safaris can be productive. The dry season is from May to October, although it is not always dry. Fly via Kuala Lumpur or Singapore to Kota Kinabalu, then hire a car or use river boats to reach more remote areas. Borneo Rainforest Lodge and Danum Valley Field Centre are recommended places to stay. Western & Oriental (020-7666 1234; wandotravel.com) offers a 13-day tailor-made trip to Sarawak and Sabah from £2,265 per person, including Air Malaysia flights from Heathrow to Kuching via Kuala Lumpur, accommodation, most meals, transfers and wildlife experiences. Following Darwin's footsteps, Galápagos Islands The place that provided the inspiration for Charles Darwin's earth-shattering theory of natural selection, the Galápagos Islands need little introduction. A land of stark lava formations, cactus forests, lush green highlands, turquoise bays and quintessential tropical beaches, this extraordinary archipelago flaunts wildlife at every turn. There are 13 islands larger than four square miles, plus six smaller islands and over 100 islets. Every island has its own unique atmosphere, distinctive landscape and inimitable wildlife - so the more islands you visit, the more variety you are going to see. Most visitors have a top-10 wish-list: Galápagos penguin, flightless cormorant, blue-footed booby, waved albatross, magnificent frigate bird, Darwin's finch (any one of 13 species), Galápagos giant tortoise, marine iguana, Galápagos sea lion and Galápagos fur seal. Everything else is a bonus. It's not just a question of where you go - but when. Wildlife activities vary greatly from month to month. For instance, green turtles begin egg-laying in January; penguins interact with swimmers on Bartolomé from May to late September; humpback whales begin to arrive in June. There is always something going on. Fly from Quito or Guayaquil on the Ecuadorian mainland, to Baltra or San Cristóbal. The only practical way to explore the Galápagos is by live-aboard boat. A two-week trip will allow you to explore most key visitor sites. Mark Carwardine is accompanying a small group trip to the Galápagos, departing on 24 May. The 12-day tour is offered by Abercrombie and Kent (0845 618 2211; abercrombiekent.co.uk) and costs from £4,395 per person, including all meals and activities. It starts and ends in Quito; flights extra. Mark Carwardine's Ultimate Wildlife Experiences is published on 12 April, priced £16.99. See ultimate-wildlife-experiences.com

France Shooting Suspect Killed Islamic extremist died after jumping from his window in a shootout with police.

Republicans plot next step on Keystone oil pipeline BALTIMORE (Reuters) - Republicans in Congress are considering using upcoming payroll tax cut or highway construction bills in order to force quick approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline but have not yet settled on a strategy, lawmakers said on Friday. Having failed so far to get President Barack Obama to approve TransCanada Corp's application for the $7 billion Canada-to-Texas pipeline, Republicans who control the House of Representatives are discussing Keystone during a three-day retreat in Baltimore that focuses on the 2012 legislative agenda and their prospects in the November elections. Renewed efforts to force a decision on Keystone, which is strongly opposed by environmentalists, could result in another showdown with the White House if the pipeline is inserted in the payroll tax bill once again. Republican leaders have been signaling they want to get the tax issue off the agenda quickly this time, following a public relations disaster last month when they were viewed as standing in the way a temporary tax cut extension that ultimately was enacted. Earlier this week, Obama rebuffed Republicans when the White House announced that a 60-day fast-track approval imposed by Congress was inadequate for weighing the environmental impact of the proposed pipeline route. As a result, the administration turned down the application but said new requests to build the project would be considered. Republicans see Keystone as a pivotal campaign issue to use against Democrats in November's presidential and congressional elections, arguing that the pipeline will create thousands of much-needed jobs while helping secure the country's energy future. "We are committed to keeping it on the front-burner," said Representative Fred Upton, who chairs a House committee that oversees U.S. energy policy. Upton also holds another important position as a negotiator on payroll tax cut legislation that is expected to move through Congress in coming weeks. In December, Republicans successfully attached the 60-day Keystone approval clock to a two-month extension of Obama's payroll tax cut. Congress has until February 29 to either continue a two percentage point cut in payroll taxes for 160 million workers or be blamed for raising taxes during an election year. At a press conference, Upton expressed his desire to again try to force the construction of Keystone by attaching legislation to the next payroll tax cut bill. With fellow Republican Greg Walden, another payroll tax bill negotiator, standing with him, Upton said, "I've got to believe that at least two of us will be pushing for that." But Upton would not say whether House Speaker John Boehner, who will have a say in the final deal on the payroll tax cut legislation, also wants Keystone included in the tax bill again. Earlier this week, Boehner said many options were possible. Representative Lee Terry, whose home state of Nebraska would host part of the pipeline, told reporters that a highway construction funding bill Congress is likely to consider this year is one of the other measures that Republicans are thinking of using to target for Keystone. Terry has drafted legislation to shift the Keystone decision-making process from the Obama administration to the independent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which regulates pipelines in the United States. The House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on Wednesday about Terry's bill and other Keystone measures. Members had asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to testify, but Kerri-Ann Jones, the State Department official in charge of the Keystone permit, will appear instead. The Obama administration says more time is needed to explore alternate pipeline routes through Nebraska and its environmental impact. The study would take months, which would push any approval beyond the November presidential and congressional elections. Republicans counter that there has been plenty of time to study the project and Obama simply wants to put it past the election, at the expense of job creation now, to avoid having to pick between two key Democratic constituencies. They are labor unions that back Keystone and environmentalists who do not. Reporting By Richard Cowan; Editing by Bill Trott

Newspaper review: 'Sir Wiggo' dominates front pages 29 December 2012 Last updated at 07:29 Bradley Wiggins appears on all the front pages - his knighthood is the lead for the Times, the Daily Mail, the Daily Mirror, the Sun and the Daily Star. The Star's headline is "Arise Sir Wiggo." The Times says the sporting achievements of 2012 have set the bar so high that athletes whose exploits would normally have earned a knighthood in any other year have to settle for a lower honour. The Daily Mail points out that there's "no Sir Mo Farah or Dame Jess Ennis." The Daily Telegraph says concerns have been raised that nearly twice as many civil servants and quango bosses have been given awards as medal-winning athletes. And the Daily Mirror says the knighthood for the former head of the Financial Services Authority, Hector Sants, sits uneasily with the honours for the Olympics and Paralympics heroes. University admissions According to the Daily Telegraph's main story, ministers are to review controversial admissions rules intended to force leading universities to take more students from state schools. It says critics believe it is not possible to make a "crude" judgment that the poorest pupils always attend state schools while the richest are privately educated. With the economic downturn forcing an increasing number of middle-class parents to turn to top state schools, filling university places from such schools would render the targets pointless, it says. A senior government source is quoted as saying: "It's a fair criticism and we probably need to look at it." Europe warning The Guardian says a group of pro-Europeans - including Lords Heseltine, Mandelson and Brittan - has warned David Cameron he risks leading Britain out of the European Union "by accident." According to the paper, they say Mr Cameron has misread the willingness of fellow leaders to concede to his demands for a looser association. Another member of the group, Lord Kerr of Kinlochard - who was involved in the Maastricht treaty negotiations - tells the paper he fears Britain is facing "bust-up time" with the rest of the EU. The Prime Minister is expected to set out the terms of a referendum on Europe in a speech next month. Wombs for hire The Independent reports that wealthy British couples who cannot have children are increasingly seeking what it calls "wombs for hire" from women overseas. For its lead story, the paper has obtained figures showing that the number of couples formally registering children born to foreign surrogates has nearly trebled in five years. It says this raises concerns that poor women in developing countries are being exploited by rich Westerners. Aid row The Sun reports that David Cameron plans to keep "blowing billions on aid" to poor countries. The Prime Minister is quoted as saying Britain has a "moral obligation to the poorest in the world," but the paper accuses him of an "obsession" with aid.

Fender, Iconic Guitar-Maker, Aims to Rock Wall Street With IPO Jan Persson / Redferns / Getty Images Jimi Hendrix performing live onstage playing a Fender Stratocaster guitar. Fender Musical Instruments, the most famous guitar manufacturer in American history, is planning to crank up the volume on its business by selling shares in an initial public offering. Fender, whose signature Stratocaster model was used by John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, aims to take advantage of the strong stock market to raise as much as $200 million. "We believe that the Fender brand in particular is closely associated with the birth of rock "n roll and has a strong legacy in music and in popular culture," the company said in its IPO filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday. We believe our guitars and guitar amplifiers revolutionized the way music is written, played and heard. Fender, which saw sales increase 13% last year to $700.6 million, says it ranks number one in the U.S. by revenue for electric, acoustic and bass guitars, as well as electric and bass guitar amplifiers. The company says it plans to use $100 million from the IPO proceeds to pay down debt. Here's the NYT with details on Fender's history: Founded by Leo Fender, the company's roots trace to 1946. In 1965, Mr. Fender sold to CBS, which then spun off the business 20 years later in a deal with a pair of businessmen, William Schultz and William Mendello. Weston Presidio, a private equity firm, also owns a stake in the company, which is based in Scottsdale, Ariz. Over the last several decades, the company's guitars, banjos, ukuleles and mandolins have struck a chord with a broad range of musicians in rock, pop and blues. Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Guy, recognized as some of the world's best guitarists, have all strummed Fender guitars. The company also claims to have the No. 1 market share by revenue in electric and acoustic guitars. But their status hasn't always translated into strong profits. The company said on Thursday that its net sales climbed to about $700 million in the 2011 fiscal year, up from $617 million in 2010. Fender swung back to a profit last year, reporting net income attributable to common stockholders of $3.2 million, compared with a $17.3 million loss in 2010. And here's the WSJ on some highlights from the company's IPO filing: Shareholders: Private equity firm Weston Presidio Capital holds 42.9%. Japanese musical instrument company Yamano Music Co. holds 14% while Japanese importer Kanda Shokai Corp. owns 13%. The family trust of William Schultz, who had led the private equity buyout of Fender from CBS Corp. in 1985 and turned around the company, owns 5.8%. China, of course, is learning to jam: [There's] increasing popularity and gradual incorporation of guitar-based music in some large, emerging markets like China, India and Indonesia; and increasing availability of guitar-based music and alternative music education programs. Guitar mergers likely: We anticipate future industry consolidation and believe we are well-positioned to make strategic acquisitions or enter into strategic partnerships when opportunities arise. Tweeting and plucking: We intend to continue to increase our social media presence through tools such as Facebook and Twitter, and to engage directly with consumers through online lifestyle communities focused on artist-driven music content.

Ex-PM: Japan Was Unprepared for Nuclear Crisis Japan's former prime minister says the country was woefully unprepared for last year's nuclear disaster in Fukushima. Naoto Kan told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview Friday that said the crisis exposed a host of man-made vulnerabilities in Japan's nuclear industry, from inadequate safety guidelines to crisis management, all of which he said need to be overhauled. Kan, who stepped down in September, also suggested that the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi plant should not have been built so close to the ocean on a tsunami-prone coast. The cores of three reactors at the plant melted down after it was hit by a tsunami on March 11 that knocked out the vital cooling system, causing it to spew radiation in the worst disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.

'Mad Men' recap: 'Every man for himself' "Dark Shadows" is an episode of "Mad Men" that is deceptive in its simplicity: Because nothing terribly dramatic happens, it's easy to overlook just what a complex and meticulously plotted hour of television it really is. While it's fairly obvious that this episode is all about rivalries - Betty versus Megan, Peggy and Don versus Ginsberg, Roger versus Pete - what's really impressive about "Dark Shadows" is how these seemingly isolated feuds feed off one another, creating a toxic web of resentment and jealousy. Series creator Matthew Weiner has a habit of crafting lines of dialogue that point to broader thematic concerns. Last season, there was Henry's warning to Betty: "There is no fresh start"; this time around, as Weiner himself suggested in an interview just before the season premiere, it's Roger who acts as a sage when he tells Peggy, "It's every man for himself." At the risk of being pelted with rotten tomatoes, I must say I'm thrilled to have Betty back. While she's far from the most sympathetic character on "Mad Men," Betty is, I think, a vital part of the series. I strenuously object to the idea, espoused by many fans, that Betty is somehow superfluous because she's no longer married to Don. As the quintessential Unhappy Housewife, she represents millions of women of her era. But more specifically, she also still has has a very potent effect on her children and, by extension, her ex-husband and his new wife. To quote Megan, Betty is still capable of poisoning them from 50 miles away, which means she's still very much a part of the "Mad Men" story. Since we last saw her, Betty has adopted a strict diet routine and managed to shed a few pounds. She's even gained a modicum of self-awareness, which, for Betty, represents an enormous step forward. Her weekly Weight Watchers meetings have done more to boost Betty's emotional intelligence than her various stints in therapy, and she's conscious, in a way that we've never seen before, of the link between her unhappiness and her various bad habits. But just as Betty appears to be evolving, she reverts to her favorite form of emotional release - the spiteful act of sabotage. Her second-favorite: surreptitious mouthfuls of canned whipped cream. It's something we've seen time and time again from Betty, first when she orchestrated an affair between Arthur and Sara Beth, and more recently when she fired Carla out of misdirected anger toward Glen. This time around, though, it's Sally who becomes a pawn in her mother's juvenile act of vengeance. It all begins with an awkward encounter between Megan and Betty, one that, it's worth nothing, only occurs because Don is determined to come up with a better Sno-Ball pitch than Ginsberg. See what I mean about the ripple effect of jealousy in this episode? If I'm not mistaken, this is the first time Betty and Megan have met these circumstances - that is, as the former and the current Mrs. Don Draper. Understandably, it does not go very well. Betty, in a move that's at once extremely aggressive and deeply insecure, wanders uninvited into Don and Megan's apartment. She gazes in awe at the chic furnishings then - dagger through the heart! - happens upon the lithe, lovely Megan as she is getting dressed. Betty is jealous, but there's also a sense of loss animating her feelings. Note that Megan and Betty are both framed by windows, as if Betty is looking backward at her past self, or maybe even forward, to what might have been had she stayed with Don. At her Weight Watchers meeting later that week, Betty explains the situation in veiled-yet-specific terms. "I had a bad week out there after having a good week in here," she says. I was in an unfamiliar place and I saw and felt a lot of things I wish I hadn't. It's a triumphant moment for Betty: She's lost a half a pound and, even more critically, she's gained some much needed insight into her emotional life. And it's also a great scene for January Jones. But one of the reasons I find Betty so fascinating is that she has an uncanny knack for squandering whatever sympathy the audience might feel for her. While sorting through Bobby's schoolwork, she stumbles on a lovey-dovey note from Don to Megan, written on the back of a drawing of dying whale (symbolism, much?). She instantly lashes out, telling Sally to ask Megan about Anna. Even for Betty, it's an incredibly low blow, and yet it's not that hard to understand her hurt feelings. Megan gets a fabulous lifestyle and an open, honest and loving marriage; all Betty got was three kids, a house in Ossining and a decade of lies. Not to mention, Sally probably should learn about Anna at some point. The curious thing about Betty's bitterness is that she's actually somewhat happy with Henry. Why, then, all the fuss over her philandering ex-husband? Betty sums it up perfectly when, over her meager little Thanksgiving plate, she says, "I'm thankful I have everything I want. And that nobody has anything better. Credit goes to Megan for not taking the bait, even though Sally turns on her with the terrible, swift cruelty characteristic of adolescent girls. She knows that Betty is only trying to meddle with their marriage, to prove that she still has the power to inflict damage on Don's life, and so she wisely tells Don not to fight back. Instead, Don tells Sally an abridged version of the truth: Anna was a friend who helped him out when he needed it. It's not the whole story, but it's a step toward transparency. Overhearing Megan and Don's conversation, Sally also learns an important truth about her mother's capacity for manipulation. What worries me is that Sally appears to have inherited this trait. Rather than simply telling Betty that Megan and Don told her about Anna, Sally twists the knife by acting like it was all no big deal. "They spoke very fondly of her," she says with calculated nonchalance. She even claims that Don showed her pictures of Anna - which, as far as we know, did not happen. Like mother, like daughter? This episode is rife with similar acts of petty sabotage. Post-acid trip, Roger is less angry than he used to be, but not necessarily any more enlightened. In his attempt to woo Manischewitz wine, Roger, the ultimate WASP, turns to Jane and Ginsberg, the two Jews in his life, for help. He's willing to pay them both off - Ginsberg with cash and Jane with a new apartment - all for the satisfaction of sticking it to Pete. But like Betty, Roger can't quite handle the idea of anyone else having the spouse he rejected. Over dinner, he notices Jane's attraction to the Rosenbergs" handsome son, and he retaliates by seducing his estranged wife at the brand-new apartment she bought for the sole purpose of escaping her bad memories. He even marks his territory by using her toothbrush. Just like Betty's apartment-snooping, it's an act of subconscious aggression. He might as well have scrawled "Roger was here" on the bathroom wall. Roger's feud with Pete foments another rivalry at the office. Even with Megan and Ginsberg nipping at her heels professionally, Peggy has maintained a brave façade of confidence all season long, but now it's finally beginning to crumble. For the first time, maybe, she feels that her position is under threat, and she confronts Roger about Ginsberg. He fires back with the line of the episode, "It's every man for himself." Indeed it is. Even Don, the guy once capable of reducing a room full of hardened executives to tears with a few family slides and some sentimental copy, feels insecure about his creative skills. He, too, "pulls a Betty" - i.e. he resorts to a transparent act of sabotage by accidentally on purpose leaving Ginsberg's board in the cab. Luckily for Don, Sno-Ball likes his corny Devil ad, but clearly we are meant to wonder whether this genius has, finally, lost his touch. With only four episodes remaining this season - I know, I know, it's painful - the question now is how far can this "every man for himself" theme go? This episode comes the same weekend that Tim Burton's "Dark Shadows" premiered in theaters, which seems like really, really clever product placement, but I have to think is actually just an enormous coincidence. Another interesting rivalry in this episode is the one between Megan and her friend Julia. Julia's resentful of her friend passing judgment "from her throne on 73rd and Park," while Megan wishes she'd get cast in anything, even something as hokey as "Dark Shadows." And let's not forget the barb Jane directs at "Joanie," "She's a professional something." Meow! Speaking of which, one unfortunate side effect of Megan's prevalence this season is that we haven't gotten nearly enough Joan. I'm dying for a good Joan-Roger episode. Next week, maybe? If you're interested, here's a piece about the smog alluded to in this episode, and here's a link to the actual New York Times story about advertising - written by the legendary Victor Navasky. Betty's Thanksgiving plate - a single Brussels sprout and a thimble-full of gravy - looks like a holiday meal at the Cratchit household. Weight Watchers must have been really stringent back in the "60s. The Pete-Beth storyline is sort of boring me. Pete has always been an interesting character to me, an entitled white guy who could occasionally surprise you with his decency. Now he's become insufferable - and borderline psycho. From the Department of Overthinking It: Betty turns to Reddi-Wip in a moment of weakness, not Cool Whip. What does it all mean? Probably nothing. The entire scene between Roger and Ginsberg is a thing of genius, from Ginsberg's horrible murder joke to Roger's casual anti-Semitism (e.g. "It has to be cheap - surprise" and "Bring me a couple of your best by sundown on Friday"). Ginsberg, with his cringe-inducing jokes, is quickly becoming the David Brent of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. I mean that in the best possible way. The toxic smog reminds me of "The Virgin Suicides," the second time this season "Mad Men" has made me think of Sofia Coppola's movie. The first time was that lovely, dreamy sequence of Sally waking up in the season premiere. Critic's Notebook: Of "Mad Men" and a long-lost Beatles cartoon "Mad Men" recap: A little something on the side Photo: Megan and Betty share an awkward encounter (top); Sally tells Betty what she's learned about Anna (bottom) Credit: Jordin Althaus / AMC

Ex-soldiers offered cash to join TA The Coalition has said it wants the TA to grow to 30,000 members and for all those members to be trained to the standard that would allow them to join regular troops on frontline operations. Reservists will also be required to form complete units, instead of filling gaps in regular units on operations. The TA will be renamed the Army Reserve. The TA currently has around 25,000 official members, but regular commanders say that less than a third have the training and fitness needed for full operations. Some defence chiefs are concerned that the target of 30,000 deployable reservists will not be achieved, leaving the Army unable to function as planned. Mr Hammond will publish a Green Paper setting out proposals to boost the number and quality of those joining the TA and other reserve forces. "The changes I am proposing today amount to a radical shift in the role of Reservists in delivering the nation's security," he will say. A shift which will see Reservists routinely sharing responsibility for activities once the exclusive domain of Regular forces. The decision to target former regulars for recruitment to the reserves could focus attention on the cuts that have seen thousands of serving personnel made redundant. Government sources insisted that the incentive scheme was aimed more widely, and will also target the many members of the Armed Forces who leave voluntarily every year. The MoD estimates that 18,000 personnel leave the Forces every year on a voluntary basis. Planners believe that such veterans are ideal material for the expanded reserve forces. As well as promising to explore "incentives" for veterans to sign up again, the Green Paper will also raise the prospect of new rules that could allow regular personnel to transfer immediately to the reserves on departure. In other proposals expected today employers who recruit and support reservists could be allowed to use a new "kitemark" brand and join a "league of patriotic employers Reservists will get more training, up from 35 days a year to 40. They will also be given clearer guidance on when they will be called up for deployment. The average reservist should expect to serve a six-month tour of duty at least once every five months under the new plans. For too long, the Reserves have been the forgotten part of our Armed Forces. Today marks the beginning of a fresh start," Mr Hammond will say.

Man Aiding G.O.P. Voter Registration Drive Is Charged A Republican Party effort to register voters in advance of next month's presidential election became the focal point of new controversy Friday when the authorities in Virginia charged a voter registration supervisor who had allegedly thrown eight completed voter registration forms into a recycling bin. The sheriff's office in Harrisonburg, Va., said the supervisor, Colin Small, had been charged with 13 counts of destruction of voter registration applications, disclosure of voter registration information, and obstruction of justice. Mr. Small was employed by PinPoint, a company working for the Virginia Republican Party to run local registration drives, and reported to a party headquarters in Harrisonburg. Mr. Small, of Phoenixville, Pa., had until recently worked for Strategic Allied Consulting, the Arizona company that was fired by the national Republican Party last month after allegations of voter registration improprieties in Colorado, Florida and Nevada. PinPoint, which also has offices in Arizona, had previously been a subcontractor for Strategic Allied Consulting, which is run by a Republican operative, Nathan Sproul. Mr. Sproul had been under contract with the Republican Party to run registration drives in five states, including Virginia. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement began investigating his operation after state elections officials noticed problems with registration forms including false addresses, registrations filed in the names of dead people and registrations on which party affiliations had been changed. A spokesman for Strategic Allied Consulting, David Leibowitz, said the company had not been involved in voter registration efforts in Virginia since Sept. 27 and had had no contact with Mr. Small since then. Mr. Small did not respond to a telephone message seeking comment. A résumé posted on LinkedIn, which identified Mr. Small as "grass-roots field director" for the Republican National Committee, said he recently graduated from Catholic University in Washington. He was listed as having internships at the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute and the office of Representative Mike Kelly, a Pennsylvania Republican. The Republican Party of Virginia, which paid Strategic Allied Consulting $700,000 in August and September, issued a statement after Mr. Small was charged, saying "the actions taken by this individual are a direct contradiction of both his training and explicit instructions given to him." The authorities in Harrisonburg, in the Shenandoah Valley, were first alerted to the discarded voter registration forms on Monday by a local retailer named Rob Johnson, who had noticed a man drive behind his store in a black Toyota Camry with Pennsylvania license plates, then throw a white trash bag into the store's cardboard recycling bin. Mr. Johnson said he went to move the trash out of the recycling so he would not incur extra charges for it. He became curious because the bag was very lightweight and discovered a manila folder containing the completed voter registration forms. The voter registration applications were discarded just hours before a deadline - 5 p.m Monday - for submitting them. Elections officials said they made sure the registrations were processed. Virginia does not register voters by party, and it was not clear why the particular registration forms may have been selected for discarding. Michael Moss contributed reporting.

Zimbabwe 'seizes control' of foreign mines "It does not necessarily mean they will just go grab assets; the legal system still seems to work," said John Meyer, mining analyst at Fairfax. Implats, the South African company that owns 87pc of Zimbabwe's biggest platinum producer, Zimplats, recently said it had reached an "acceptable" agreement with the state to yield 51pc - a stake worth at least $500m (£316m). However, it said the transfer would not happen unless Zimbabwe paid up, and threatened international legal action could be taken if its assets are seized. Miners are vulnerable to such shows of resource nationalism - moves by states to enjoy a bigger slice of the huge profits from their countries' natural wealth - since the nature of their business means they are committed to their sites. In contrast, Zimbabwe will not ask banks operating in the country to meet the same 51pc target, its finance minister said on Thursday, as capital is "fluid, it will move."

Argentina may use Olympics for Falklands protest, warns Foreign Office About 140 Argentine athletes are due to compete in Games this year, taking part in 28 events. A senior Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) source told The Sunday Times: "We are concerned that Argentina will use the Olympics as an opportunity for protests about the Falklands and have been looking into what we can do. They seem determined to push their case at every opportunity. But the IOC has reassured the FCO that Argentine athletes could not wear political symbols. Argentina's national Olympic committee told the IOC its team would not cause trouble, adding it does not see the Games as a "platform for politics." Diplomatic tensions between the two countries were strained further last week following an incident in which David Cameron was involved in a confrontation with Argentina's president, Christina Fernandez de Kirchner, at the G20 in Mexico. She tried to hand him documents relating to Argentina's claim to the Falklands, but he refused to accept them. An Argentine hockey player sparked outrage in Britain earlier this year after he was featured in a television advert in which he was filmed training on the Falklands" war memorial. In further rumours of planned protests, it has been claimed that another militant group, Hinchadas Unidas Argentinas (HUA), will travel to London to demonstrate at one of the Games venues. The FCO said: "The Olympics and Paralympics are about sporting achievement and celebrating diversity; they are not about politics. Argentina should respect this. Mr Cameron said Argentina should "listen to what the islanders want" during a press conference at the G20 summit.

Demi Moore's downward spiral since her split from Ashton Kutcher Since announcing her split from Kutcher in November 2011 - after numerous reports of his infidelity surfaced in the tabloids - the 49-year-old actress has been spiraling downward. On January 24, Moore was rushed to the hospital after suffering "what seemed like seizures," reported People, after doing whip-its - inhaling nitrous oxide - according to TMZ. Moore subsequently checked in to Cirque Lodge rehab treatment center in Utah for anorexia and an addiction to prescription pills, according to RadarOnline.com. Now, RadarOnline.com is reporting that Moore's three daughters with Bruce Willis - Rumer, Scout, and Tallulah - are considering getting a restraining order against their mother. "Demi has been calling them incessantly and emailing them, leaving them tearful messages and begging them to call her and the girls are sick of it," a source allegedly told RadarOnline.com. It is a really drastic measure and not something they are considering lightly but they just feel like they want some peace and quiet. Demi Moore, Rumer Willis, and Ashton Kutcher did not respond to requests for comment via their representatives. So how did Hollywood's former highest-paid actress - who, after the hit films Ghost, A Few Good Men, and Indecent Proposal, earned an unprecedented $12.5 million for 1996"s Striptease - fall so far? Moore married Bruce Willis in 1987, and the couple had the three daughters before splitting amicably in 2000. By that point, after a series of high-profile flops, including The Scarlet Letter, Striptease, and The Juror, Moore's movie career had stalled. After a three-year absence from the silver screen, a fantastic-looking Moore starred as a sexy villain in 2003"s Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, which went on to gross nearly $260 million worldwide. Around that time, Moore began dating Ashton Kutcher, and after two years of dating, she married Kutcher - who is 15 years her junior - on September 24, 2005. Despite the age difference, the couple seemed to work well together and was a regular fixture on year-end lists of the "most charitable celebrities." According to People, Moore went to rehab for drug and alcohol abuse in the mid-1980s at the behest of director Joel Schumacher prior to shooting St. Elmo's Fire. Despite her early struggles, however, Moore had remained sober since the birth of her children. Then, in August 2010, reports began to surface in the tabloids of Moore's partying, including a viral video featuring the actress grinding on rapper Snoop Dogg during his performance in Las Vegas. In the video, Kutcher can be seen cheering her on, according to TMZ. The following month, Star magazine reported that Kutcher was spotted "groping and kissing" a "hot young blonde" in a Los Angeles restaurant. Kutcher denied the allegations via his Twitter feed. Just two weeks later, on September 15, Star reported that a young, attractive brunette named Brittney Jones, 21, alleged she had sex with Kutcher on his couch. Kutcher again denied the claim. Things seemed to settle down between Kutcher and Moore, with the couple launching their charitable foundation in April 2011. Then came the bombshell: on October 11, 2011, Us Weekly ran an exclusive interview cover story with Sara Leal, a 22-year-old who claimed she had sex with Kutcher at San Diego's Hard Rock Hotel during the wee hours of Sept. 24 - which was, ironically, Kutcher and Moore's sixth wedding anniversary. The previous week, Star had published a set of incriminating photos of Leal and Kutcher taken on the night in question. Moore emerged looking "gaunt and pale" at the October 17 premiere of Margin Call, according to Contact Music. In November, TMZ reported that Moore was separating from Kutcher and planned to file for divorce. As previously mentioned, on January 24, Moore was rushed to the hospital after suffering a "seizure-like" episode from inhaling nitrous oxide, according to TMZ. The Los Angeles Times also reported that Moore's eldest daughter, Rumer Willis, was present during the scary episode. To add insult to injury, just two days after Moore's hospitalization, Entertainment Tonight ran a bizarre video of the actress partying with her then General Hospital co-stars back in 1982. In the video, which has since gone viral, a 19-year-old Moore appears to be drunk and repeatedly kisses her 15-year-old co-star, Philip Tanzini, on the mouth. Furthermore, in the days following Moore's hospitalization, Kutcher was spotted fist-pumping at a Bruno Mars concert in Brazil, reported TMZ, which further alleged that Moore was suffering from a "years-long" addiction to Red Bull and that she was "using Red Bull in place of food." Because of the health scare - and her subsequent rehab stint - Moore was forced to vacate the role of feminist icon Gloria Steinem in Lovelace, a highly anticipated biopic about former porn star Linda Lovelace featuring Amanda Seyfried in the title role. Sarah Jessica Parker replaced Moore. Then, in early February, Moore appeared on the cover of Us Weekly with the headline, "Demi's Desperate Spiral." In the accompanying story, the magazine reported that, in the weeks prior to her hospitalization, Moore had "literally inserted herself into Rumer's group of friends," with Rumer obliging her mother to help her get over Kutcher. The magazine went on to report that Moore had developed a crush on Rumer's friend Zac Efron, 24, and not only "tracked him down and just showed up" one evening at a party to see him, but also texted him constantly. People magazine also reported that Moore was seen "grinding on" 28-year-old 90210 star Ryan Rottman at a party. After a stint in rehab, Moore emerged in April looking refreshed. The following month, the film LOL, a coming-of-age dramedy starring Miley Cyrus and Moore, opened to a paltry $46,500 in 105 theaters with little-to-no promotion by distributor Lionsgate. Now, RadarOnline.com is reporting that Moore's daughters are mulling a restraining order against their mother. Moore, meanwhile, has been busy shooting the film Very Good Girls, alongside Dakota Fanning, Elizabeth Olsen, and Peter Sarsgaard, in New York City. Despite the tabloid drama, Moore's ex-husband Bruce Willis appears to stand firmly in her corner. I'm very proud of my daughters. I would do anything for them. And for my wife, Emma. And probably for Demi as well," Willis said. Here's hoping Moore lands on her feet. Aside from the obvious health concerns, judging by her terrific performance in Margin Call, she still has plenty of good acting left in her. This article was originally published on TheDailyBeast.com

White House State Dinner Hosts Political Royalty and Hollywood Stars President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama pose for photographers with British Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife, Samantha Cameron, as they arrive in the North Portico of the White House for a State Dinner March 14, 2012, in Washington. Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo

Chicago teacher strike ends after union vote

Boehner Sets 2013 for Deficit Deal House Speaker John Boehner said today that 2013 must be the year the federal government "comes to grips" with its budget deficit, but staked out the same no tax increase for the wealthy the Republican Party has insisted on since before the presidential election. Talks to end a looming fiscal crisis resumed today and both sides appeared to be returning to the negotiating table with no change in their positions and little change in their rhetoric. "The members of our majority understand how important it is to avert the fiscal cliff," Boehner said in a press conference. Boehner implied that a short term solution to avert the fiscal cliff would include extending all tax cuts through this year, giving Congress more time to address the country's long term debt and entitlement issues next year. Boehner's statement comes hours before President Obama is expected to address the nation for the first time since his re-election. Speaking from the East Room this afternoon, Obama will reiterate his position that Congress should move forward on what Democrats and Republicans agree on, that the so-called Bush tax cuts for those making under $200,000 a year should be renewed. The president, however, does not want to extend Bush era tax cuts for the wealthy. However, Republicans view allowing the tax cuts to expire for high income earners as a tax increase and a non-starter among their ranks. "Raising tax rates is unacceptable," said Boehner told ABC News' Diane Sawyer in an Exclusive interview on Thursday. Obama will seek to set a tone of bipartisanship in upcoming negotiations with Republicans. Following his clear re-election victory on Tuesday, Obama said in his victory speech that voters want action and not "politics as usual." "In the coming weeks and months, I am looking forward to reaching out and working with leaders of both parties to meet the challenges we can only solve together," Obama said from Chicago, "reducing our deficit, reforming our tax code, fixing our immigration system, freeing ourselves from foreign oil." Boehner has indicated that he also views the election as a mandate to solve the nation's long-standing tax and deficit problems. He knows that he and I can work together," Boehner told Sawyer Thursday. Both sides say that a deal will be struck in time to avert tax increases for a majority of Americans.

Underwood, P!nk, Pitbull to play American Music Awards show LOS ANGELES, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Carrie Underwood, P!nk and Pitbull are to perform on the 40th anniversary American Music Awards show in Los Angeles, dick clark productions announced. The artists will join previously announced performers Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj, Linkin Park and Christina Aguilera. This year's show -- for which winners will be determined by fans voting online -- will be broadcast live from the NOKIA Theatre L.A. LIVE Nov. 18 on ABC. Additional acts and presenters will be announced in the coming weeks, the producers said.

Iran says to let U.N. nuclear sleuths visit military site By Parisa Hafezi TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran said on Tuesday it would let U.N. nuclear investigators visit a military complex where they had been refused access to check intelligence suggesting Tehran has pursued explosives research relevant to nuclear weapons. Western diplomats dismissed Iran's statement as a time-buying gambit - rather than a genuine shift towards nuclear transparency - with Israel talking increasingly stridently of last-resort military action against its arch-enemy. Diplomats cited a proviso in the statement saying that access to Parchin still hinged on a broader agreement on how to settle outstanding issues which the two sides have long been unable to reach - an impasse that has put the West and Tehran on a slippery slope towards confrontation. The West has sharpened sanctions against Iran to block its oil exports, a defiant Tehran has threatened to shut Gulf oil shipping lanes in reprisal while Israel has signaled it is losing patience with efforts to isolate the Islamic Republic. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assured U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday that Israel has made no decision on attacking Iranian nuclear sites, sources close to talks in Washington said. He, however, gave no sign of backing away from possible military strikes. Russia urged global powers on Tuesday to revive talks with Iran as soon as possible, saying an Iranian approach last month showed it was ready for serious negotiations. That perception is not shared by the United States, France and Britain. The last talks a year ago failed even to agree on an agenda. An International Atomic Energy Agency report in November said that Iran had built a large containment chamber at Parchin, southeast of Tehran, to conduct high-explosives experiments that are "strong indicators" of an effort to design atomic bombs. The IAEA requested access to Parchin during talks in Tehran in January and again in February, but the Iranian side refused. "Considering the fact that Parchin is a military site, granting access is a time-consuming process and cannot be permitted repeatedly," Iran's delegation to the Vienna-based IAEA said in the statement. It added that the "process could be ... started when the agreement on modalities is reached" - suggesting Tehran had not relaxed its insistence that there must first be an omnibus agreement on how to settle questions about the nature of Iran's nuclear work before an inspection trip to Parchin could happen. IAEA inspectors did visit Parchin in 2005 but did not see the place where the U.N. watchdog now believes the explosives chamber was built. Asked about Iran's statement, Western diplomats familiar with the matter told Reuters they saw an Iranian ploy to play for time, possibly to "sanitize" the Parchin site to eliminate any evidence of suspect activities before inspectors came. One Western diplomat attending a meeting this week of the IAEA's 35-nation board of governors said the Iranian announcement was "nothing new, definitely not" a policy shift. IAEA chief Yukiya Amano said on Monday the agency had "some indication that activities are ongoing at the Parchin site. It makes us believe that going there sooner is better than later. He also said the IAEA continued to have "serious concern" about possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear program. Iran says it is enriching uranium only for peaceful energy. There have been many prolonged, tortuous negotiations and procedural obstacles imposed by Iran since the IAEA first began seeking unfettered access in the country almost a decade ago to check indications of illicit military nuclear activity. Diplomats say a broad deal on settling outstanding issues has been thwarted by Iran's refusal to let inspectors examine sites, peruse documents and question nuclear scientists cited in classified Western intelligence reports provided to the agency. The IAEA named Parchin in a detailed report in November that lent independent weight to Western fears that Iran is working to develop an atomic bomb, an allegation Iranian officials deny, saying they are seeking only peaceful nuclear energy. The report presented a trove of intelligence pointing to research activities in Iran of logical use in developing the means and technologies needed to assemble nuclear weapons, should it decide to do so. At the IAEA governors meeting, the United States and its Western allies were seeking Russian and Chinese backing for a resolution against Iran to help isolate it over its failure to address the agency's growing concerns. Israel has spoken of pre-emptive bombings against Iran, a hawkish approach that Obama - wary of the risk of igniting a new Middle East war and a global surge in oil prices as he seeks re-election in November - has tried to restrain Israel to give time for harsher sanctions and diplomatic pressure to bear fruit. Obama and Netanyahu agreed on Monday to keep up coordination on Iran but continued to disagree on when the clock for non-military options to prevent Iran acquiring nuclear weapons capability should run out. The Jewish state insists that military action against Iran would be warranted to prevent it from reaching nuclear weapons capability, as opposed to when it actually builds a device. "The pressure (on Iran) is growing but time is growing short," Netanyahu was quoted by aides as telling Obama. Later, addressing the influential pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, Netanyahu said: "None of us can afford to wait much longer. As prime minister of Israel, I will never let my people live in the shadow of annihilation. At the podium, he held up a copy of a 1944 letter from the U.S. War Department to world Jewish leaders turning down their request to bomb the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz. Obama sought to reassure Netanyahu that Washington was keeping its own military option open as a last resort and "has Israel's back." He added: "We do believe there is still a window that allows for a diplomatic resolution to this issue." U.S. officials say that while Iran may be maneuvering to keep its options open, there is no clear intelligence that it has made a final decision to "break out" with a nuclear weapon. Reporting by Parisa Hafezi in Tehran and Fredrik Dahl in Vienna; Writing by Mark Heinrich in London; Editing by Diana Abdallah

Simpsons creator Matt Groening gets Hollywood star Creator of "The Simpsons" Matt Groening got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles Tuesday (February 14). Interestingly, he received his star 12 years after his animated yellow creations did; theirs is just a few steps away on Hollywood Boulevard. More about: Animation film, Awards, Television

Interview: Mark Rice-Oxley, author of Underneath the Lemon Tree: A Memoir of Depression and Recovery Published on Monday 19 March 2012 15:47 DEPRESSION affects vast numbers of us, and writers more than most. Mark Rice-Oxley tells DAVID ROBINSON how he beat the black dog Publisher, pages pp, £price Review by Ihave of late - but wherefore I know not - lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercise; and indeed it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory. Suppose that was what Hamlet had told to his GP instead of himself. Would he be prescribed Lorazepan? Would he be sent to a cognitive behaviour therapy group? Would the GP even diagnose clinical depression in the first place? Forgive the facetiousness, but it's a natural reaction to crushing statistical gloom. Depression affects more than 100 million people throughout the world, one middle-aged person in ten is on anti-depressants, and we are getting to the point where only heart disease places a bigger burden on society. Most of us know these stats are right because we know some of the people behind them. They might be friends, often good friends. But they don't call, because they feel incapable, or vulnerable, or because they don't want to worry us. Embarrassed at not knowing what to do or say, we often don't get in touch with them either. "No-one ever sends a Get Well Soon card to anyone suffering from clinical depression," says Mark Rice-Oxley, who has just published a memoir of depression about living with, and recovering from, the illness. He wrote it, he says, because when depression first struck, he tried and failed to find anything that would tell him what to expect, and what the path to recovery would entail. There are, in fact, quite a few depression memoirs - William Styron's Darkness Visible, Andrew Solomon's The Noonday Demon, and Elizabeth Wurtzel's Prozac Nation among them - but those are all written by Americans. Among the British, Stephanie Merritt had written about postnatal depression in The Devil Within, but that didn't exactly apply either. Wasn't there anything out there written by someone like him? At the time he had his breakdown, he was holding down a stressful, deadline-driven job at the Guardian, doing his best to look after three young children in the few spare hours that allowed him. Yet he was and is happily married, had just turned 40, was in good health, hadn't suffered any traumatic loss, had good parents, three lovely children, an idyllic country childhood, and was doing a job he adored. He is affable, isn't short of friends, and when the breakdown happened, people said he was the last person they'd expect it to happen to. So why weren't there authors out there writing about what is, after all, such a common, if debilitating, illness? On one level, of course, there are. Clark Lawlor's just-published From Melancholia to Prozac reminds us of just how many writers suffered from what we might now classify as clinical depression, and it's a roll call of some of the greatest ever: Boswell, Beckett, Hume, Johnson, Proust, Tennyson and Woolf among them. Descriptions of what melancholia - what a pre-scientific age called depression - feels like, go all the way back to the Iliad, where Lawlor argues that Homer's depiction of Bellerephon as "a lonely wanderer on the Aleian plain, eating out his heart and shunning the paths of men" marks him out as one of literature's first melancholy heroes. That connection between writers and mental illness was underscored only last week in a survey for the women's writing magazine magazine mslexia which revealed that 69 per cent of women writers had been treated for it as opposed to 29 per cent of women and 17 per cent of men in the general population. Language is a poor servant here, because depression suggests an illness that is little more than feeling a bit sad. In reality, of course, depression can be ferociously debilitating. In Boswell's Life of Johnson we get a hint of what it feels like to the sufferer, of how mental turmoil can be even worse than physical pain: He was so ill, as, notwithstanding his remarkable love of company, to be entirely averse to society, the most fatal symptom of that malady. Dr Adams told me, that as an old friend he was admitted to visit him, and that he found him in a deplorable state, groaning, talking to himself, and restlessly walking from room to room. He then used this emphatic expression of the misery which he felt: "I would consent to have a limb amputated to recover my spirits." No two patients are the same, and it is unwise to compare illnesses across centuries and cultures. Johnson, for example, seems to have had none of the oppressive lethargy that struck Rice-Oxley as the most defining marker of depression, even if their black moods seem similar. When his depression was at its worst, Rice-Oxley explains, he would have been completely unable to concentrate on reading in the first place. But he did have at least a couple of treatments that Dr Johnson could never have known. A psychotherapist made him realise he'd overloaded himself with commitments to others. Anti-depressants seemed to help for at least one of the 18 months he suffered from depression. Then again, so too did rest, the support of friends, and meditation, and going for a gentle walk rather than pounding away obsessively in the gym. It might seem counterintuitive, he adds, but the company of other people undergoing treatment for depression also assists recovery (it's not: just think of Johnson's friendship with his fellow-sufferer, Boswell). At least they will know what it feels like when the brain's neurological circuitry wobbles under pressure, how you might feel like you are wrapped in Cellophane and not hearing things straight, and what you can see through your eyes looks like a film shot by a camera held by a six-year-old. At least they will know the depth of your fears that you'll never get better, and what it feels like when you're at your worst. "Once you open up, help pours in," he says. I told my friends and colleagues at work and two or three asked me whether or not I had tried meditation. Actually, I'd always rather scorned it, but they said it was a good way of getting busy minds to quieten down and I thought I'd give it a go. My psychotherapist said that because I had this busy, energetic mind, trying to step back from it might help. He was right too. Because depression is like quicksand - the more you struggle, the deeper you sink. Mindfulness is the antithesis of thinking. It's about stopping thinking, about seeing thoughts as just another projection of reality. It's the hardest thing to do, trying to stop yourself being drawn away into a long narrative of thought, but I still try to do it every day. As Lawlor reminds us, Johnson would have agreed. "Talking of constitutional melancholy, he observed: "A man so inflicted, Sir, must divert distressing thoughts, and not combat with them.: Boswell: "May he not think them down, Sir?" Johnson: "No, Sir. To attempt to think them down is madness. "The other thing," adds Rice-Oxley, "is to do things mindfully. So for example, when I go swimming, instead of trying to pound out 50 lengths as I used to, I would just try to concentrate on every moment, to feel the water on the skin of my hand, things like that. It's all about being, not doing. Gradually, as he got better, he started reading again. Maybe, he says, it's just like when you discover a new word and start seeing it all the time. Maybe he was subconsciously seeking out fiction with mental illness in it, like Sylvia Plath's heroine Esther Greenwood in The Bell Jar: "The only reason I remembered this play was because it had a mad person in it, and everything I had ever read about mad people stuck in my mind, while everything else flew out." Whatever the reason, he is amazed by just how much depression fills the pages of contemporary fiction: There is Hannah from The Reader and Hans van den Brock in Netherland and Hector in The Slap and Ma in Room and Eva Khatchadourian from We Need to Talk About Kevin - all clearly suffering from depression. I pick up a wonderful book by Sarah Waters called Affinity, a compelling yarn that centres on a 19th century character bearing most of my symptoms. Poor love. In those days they gave you laudanum and generally forgot about you. I'm struck by how little has changed. And it's not just fiction. Depression features heavily in a whole raft of contemporary non-fiction titles. Last month, for example, Marian Keyes wrote about how baking cakes helped her recover from depression and Sugar Ray Leonard talked about his own bouts with the illness, while only today in St Andrews, Matthew Hollis will be talking about his Costa-winning biography about Edward Thomas and Robert Frost, two poets whose own lives were blighted by depression. But Rice-Oxley is already ahead of me with his own list. Alan Bennett on his mother's fragile mental health in Untold Stories. Marcus Trescothick's breakdown in Coming Back. Even re-reading In Cold Blood and coming across Capote's description of murder victim Bonnie Clutter. "I made Victoria Cohen's delightful book about poker last as long as possible," says Rice-Oxley. Then, bang, within a couple of hundred pages she too is on antidepressants. Yes, books are a great help: they make you realise you are not alone. Underneath the Lemon Tree: A Memoir of Depression and Recovery by Mark Rice-Oxley is published this week by Little, Brown, priced £13.99. Clark Lawlor's From Melancholia to Prozac: A History of Depression, is published by OUP, priced £14.99

Conservatives divided on how Romney should speak to '47%' Mitt Romney says his comments in an online video regarding President Obama's base of voters was "not elegantly stated." "Stupid and arrogant," said one about Mitt Romney's comments about the "47%." "The worst presidential-candidate gaffe since Gerald Ford," said another. A third allowed that it revealed a politician who "really doesn't know much about the country he inhabits." Those were the comments, not of Democrats, but of right-of-center pundits reacting to the Republican presidential nominee's claim that nearly half of Americans prefer to be "victims" who are dependent on the government. But the thoughts of William Kristol, David Frum and David Brooks represent a moderate strand of the conservative spectrum. Others - including radio titan Rush Limbaugh - argued that the struggling Romney should fully embrace his earlier comments and the notion that the U.S. needs to do more to support the creator class, rather than the taker class. In his news conference Monday evening following the release of the video by the website for Mother Jones magazine, Romney seemed to be hewing closer to the second course - with no apology for saying that those who support President Obama are the 47% "who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to healthcare, to food, to housing, to you-name-it." New York Times columnist Brooks and Frum, a former speechwriter for George W. Bush, suggested that Romney's comments to a group of wealthy donors in Florida last May showed him to be particularly out of touch, because many of the 47% who do not pay federal income taxes are retirees and others who paid federal payroll levees and other taxes. Many are Republicans. "This comment suggests a few things," Brooks wrote. First, it suggests that he really doesn't know much about the country he inhabits. Who are these freeloaders? Is it the Iraq war veteran who goes to the V.A.? Is it the student getting a loan to go to college? Is it the retiree on Social Security or Medicare? Brooks also repudiated the Republican nominee for not knowing much about "American culture," with his suggestion that citizens are childlike and craving of the support of the state. "America remains one of the hardest working nations on Earth," Brooks asserted. Frum called the remarks "the worst presidential candidate gaffe since Gerald Ford announced in 1976 that 'there is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe.' " Frum added: "More than one-fifth of Romney's moocher 47% are elderly: people who pay no income taxes because their income takes the form of Social Security - - many of those people are Republican voters (even if they don't understand "dependency" to apply to them)." Wrote Frum: "Irreparable? To Romney's image, yes; to his election chances ... we'll see. Writing in the Weekly Standard online, Kristol said: "It remains important for the country that Romney wins in November (unless he chooses to step down and we get the Ryan-Rubio ticket we deserve!). But that shouldn't blind us to the fact that Romney's comments, like those of Obama four years ago, are stupid and arrogant. Kristol referred to Obama's comment - while being recorded at a San Francisco fundraiser in 2008 - that poor, small-town voters sometimes get "bitter, and they cling to guns or religion, or antipathy toward people who aren't like them .... " Those urging Romney to embrace his remarks seemed to echo the author/philosopher Ayn Rand's notions of society made up of makers and takers - and that the idea that the government should protect the admirable former from the onerous latter. "The more fully Romney owns these comments the less the press can report them as a 'gaffe,' " wrote Daniel Foster, editor of the National Review. Romney is now in a position that he has to bring the fight to Obama on the entitlement state. Limbaugh, speaking to his large radio audience, said the Romney comments presented a "golden opportunity." While the commentator said he did not think "all 47% are made up of people who are dependent" he felt too many had been allowed to settle for less than their best. "This could be the opportunity for Romney and for that campaign to finally take the gloves off and take the fear off and just start explaining conservatism," Limbaugh said. Start explaining liberty to people and what it means, and explain that they don't have to be in that 47%. There's no reason for them, for everybody to have essentially given up on their future in this country. There's no reason for it. This is, to me, such an opportunity to espouse conservatism and to explain to people. In Limbaugh's construction, Romney and other conservatives only want to keep those who receive government services from relying too heavily on them, while Obama enjoys having subservient masses who rely on the public sphere. "That's why Romney has to get out there, take this by the horns, turn it into a positive, and go right for those people since they're now listening," Limbaugh said. Especially if they think they've been insulted, even better! Many conservatives have long waited for such a full-throated discussion of their notion of America threatened by the dependent class. Just last Friday, Christian conservative leader Gary Bauer framed the election in those terms in a speech at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C. He said the division would not hurt Romney, but present a path to victory. We're going to vote in a little over 50 days. It's going to be a close election. There will be a lot of people to vote for the president. There's a lot of people out now around America who depend on checks from their fellow taxpayers being in the mailbox every day. They will turn out in massive numbers," said Bauer. But so will the entrepreneurs, the small businessmen and women. The military families, the soldiers in harm's way, millions of Americans that want hope again. Millions of Americans who want their children to be able to get out of the house and get their jobs and start their lives. "They're going to vote too," Bauer said. And my prediction is that after all the votes are counted, even the dead votes of Democrats in Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland, I predict that we will win. That this national nightmare will be over. And that America will finally be on the road to recovery.

Steinitz reports over 44 million cyber attacks in Israel JERUSALEM, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- Israel has been confronted with unprecedented cyber attacks since the start of the military operation in Gaza, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said Sunday. There have been over 44 million cyber attacks on government websites since the start of Operation Pillar of Defense last week, Steinitz told Israel Radio. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu recently ordered the creation of a national cyber center aimed at enhancing the protection of the country's governmental websites and minimizing their vulnerability against cyber attacks. He compared the new center to that of the Iron Dome missile defense system, saying it will defend the country against attacks on the country's computer systems, The Jerusalem Post said.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Speaks of Military Option for Iran JERUSALEM - The American ambassador to Israel said this week that not only was America willing to use military force to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons, but that preparations had already been made for a possible attack. "It would be preferable to resolve this diplomatically and through the use of pressure than to use military force," the ambassador, Dan Shapiro, said at a meeting Tuesday of the Israeli bar association. But that doesn't mean that option is not fully available. And not just available, but it's ready. While American leaders, including President Obama and his defense secretary and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have frequently said all options are on the table regarding Iran, the notion of specific plans being made is not something they typically talk about. In fact, at a March speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel lobby, Mr. Obama warned that "loose talk of war" could actually speed Tehran's move toward weaponization, saying "now is not the time for bluster." Some analysts here said on Thursday that Mr. Shapiro's remarks might have been aimed at reassuring an Israeli administration - and an Israeli public - worried that the United States was softening its stance ahead of the talks with Iran and other world powers scheduled for next week in Baghdad. Israeli officials, who describe a nuclear Iran as an existential threat, constantly talk about the possibility of a military strike if diplomacy fails, and some have tired of Jerusalem always playing the bad cop to Washington's good cop. "Any expression that all options are on the table can only strengthen the negotiations," said Dore Gold, a former adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and now president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. There's an irony in the situation, because a hawkish position on Iran probably makes a peaceful diplomatic outcome more likely, and that could be what he was trying to do. Amos Yadlin, a former head of Israeli military intelligence who now runs the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, said that "what's important is to make the military option credible," and that Mr. Shapiro's remarks did so. "If you're saying that the military option is on the table and at the same time you transmit that a military option will be a doomsday and will be a World War III and the Middle East will be in flames, then nobody will take you seriously," Mr. Yadlin noted. A serious military, even if it's not on the plan for next week or next month, but strategically thinking that this is an option, they have to prepare a contingency plan, that makes sense. In Iran, officials reacted coolly to the ambassador's remarks. "These are words to calm down the extremists and radicals in Israel," said Hamid Reza Taraghi, a political analyst who is close to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He said if Iranians reacted to the remarks they would "without a doubt" have a negative affect on the upcoming talks. Mr. Taraghi, who has inside knowledge of the negotiations, stressed that threats have never changed Iran's position, and added "nor will such remarks be of any influence now." When Americans understand there will be no Iranian nuclear weapon and our technology is not against their interest, there will be no need for threats. While Iran insists its nuclear program is for civilian purposes, Israel and the United States suspect it aims for weaponization, something both governments see as unacceptable. The Obama administration has increasingly focused its attention on diplomacy and sanctions as the key tools, while the Netanyahu government has emphasized the possibility of a strike on the nuclear facilities and a ticking clock for its effectiveness. "We do believe there is time - some time, not an unlimited amount of time," Mr. Shapiro said, according to The Associated Press, which said it obtained a tape of the remarks. But at a certain point, we may have to make a judgment that the diplomacy will not work. Ambassador Shapiro, who spoke about Iran during a question-and-answer session with about 150 lawyers that was first reported by the Israeli newspaper Makor Rishon, declined to discuss the issue on Thursday. Spokesmen for the prime minister and the defense minister - both of whom were traveling abroad - also had no response. Thomas Erdbrink contributed reporting from Tehran.

Stocks Pause to Digest Gains Stocks on Wall Street were mainly flat on Tuesday as investors found little reason to keep pushing shares higher after a 1 percent rally in the previous session. The surge on Monday came after the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, signaled that supportive monetary policy would remain even though the job picture has begun to improve. Still, the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index has gained 12.6 percent so far this year, suggesting further upside could be limited. The nearly six-month rally has come partly after accommodative measures by central banks around the world. "Investors are taking a step back right now because of yesterday's move, and because they want to see how things play out with the data," said Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Banyan Partners in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. I think the market is still undervalued, but people will still be focusing on how big of a run-up we've had. The S.&P. 500 and the Dow Jones industrial average were both flat in early trading. The Nasdaq composite index was 0.2 percent higher. Lennar, the home builder, reported a sharp rise in first-quarter orders and said it saw strong signs of improvement in sales activity. The stock rose 3.2 percent. Ista Pharmaceuticals climbed 8.1 percent after Bausch & Lomb agreed to buy the company for about $500 million in cash. In the bond market, the price of the 10-year Treasury note rose, and its yield fell to 2.230 percent. The yield on the 10-year Italian bond rose to 5.078 percent and the Spanish 10-year gained to 5.306 percent.

Rushdie film to get India release despite protests MUMBAI (Reuters) - A film based on Salman Rushdie's novel "Midnight's Children" is set to be screened in India, its distributor said, a month after the movie's director said she feared "insecure politicians" could prevent it from being shown. The film, which chronicles the story of an Indian family living through the tumultuous events from India's recent past including the partition in 1947 and 1970s state of emergency, features a voiceover by Rushdie. The British author, who won the coveted Booker Prize for Midnight's Children in 1981, was forced to cancel a visit to a literature festival in his native India earlier this year after assassination threats were made against him. Rushdie's 1988 novel "The Satanic Verses," which many Muslims deemed blasphemous, is banned in India, and his depiction of sensitive issues like former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's role during the Emergency in Midnight's Children had thrown the film's screening into doubt. Director Deepa Mehta chose to film the movie in Sri Lanka instead of India, after her previous production in the country was hit by protests from right-wing Hindu groups. But PVR Pictures, the distribution company that has acquired the film in India, does not expect any problems. We are not (expecting any trouble). We don't think the film is controversial," Kamal Gianchandani, PVR's president, told Reuters, adding that the film was expected to be released in India in December. He declined to say whether Rushdie, who has promoted the movie at festivals such as Toronto and Telluride, would be in India to launch it there. "If the censor board has a perspective, it will be respected," Gianchandani added. Whatever is the law of the land will be followed in (its) entirety. Last month, Mehta said she feared "insecure politicians" might derail the film's release plans in India. Reporting by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Henry Foy and Paul Casciato

Ohio judge won't release records of school shooting suspect Mon Mar 19, 2012 9:16pm EDT (Reuters) - An Ohio judge on Monday rejected a request to release any existing social service agency or juvenile court documents related to T.J. Lane, the 17-year-old accused of going on a deadly shooting rampage at Chardon High School late last month. Several news organizations had petitioned Judge Timothy Grendell of Geauga County Juvenile Court to release the records, if they exist. In his ruling, Judge Grendell would not even confirm that any prior records on Lane are in the court's possession. But he said that if they did exist and were released, it could make it more difficult to seat an impartial jury should the teen ultimately be tried as an adult. So far, Lane has been charged as a juvenile with three counts of aggravated murder, two counts of aggravated attempted murder and one count of felonious assault. His next scheduled court hearing is next month, when Judge Grendell will determine whether Lane should be tried as an adult. Under Ohio law, if prosecutors can show probable cause that Lane committed the crimes he is charged with, his case will automatically move to adult court. The February 27 attack inside the high school's cafeteria left three students dead and two wounded. It was the deadliest U.S. high school shooting in six years. If convicted, Lane could face up to life in prison without parole. Reporting by Kim Palmer; Editing by James B. Kelleher

Stuart Lancaster says England squad back Chris Robshaw

Fearless Felix: I would never consider myself fearless

Is Ron Paul a Republican, or Something Else Entirely? MANCHESTER, N.H. - The numbers say Ron Paul came in second in the New Hampshire Republican primary on Tuesday, but the Republican party is just a convenience for Mr. Paul, through which he spreads his other-worldly message. He is not really a member of the party in its current form, and more importantly, neither are many of his supporters. His raucous victory party here was jammed with young people radiating an energy absent for any other candidate in the race. Their deafening chants of "end these wars!" and "end the Fed!" can be heard nowhere else, and convey a fury that is not transferable to any other politician. No one interviewed here would even consider voting for Mitt Romney or Barack Obama in November. "No way," said Brandon Fielding, 26, an unemployed accountant who drove up from Nashua, N.H. "They're both exactly the same. They won't change a thing. The crowd shared Mr. Paul's contempt for most Republicans and Democrats as tinkerers, lacking in vision, unappreciative of individual liberty, unwilling to destroy government in order to save the country. Instead of voting for someone like that in the general, they swore they would stay home and simmer, waiting for a new champion. Perhaps one of his relatives. For now they have the 76-year-old man they called "President Paul," and he did not disappoint them. After ascending the stage of a Best Western meeting room to the thump of "I Won't Back Down," by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, he gave a "victory" speech unlike that of any other politician. "In studying monetary history from the beginning of our country and even throughout all of history, monetary policy on periodic occasions will become the dominant issue," he said, to roars. Yes, he really said that at a political rally, not in a lecture hall. And we have emphasized that and it's become an important issue. Just think, this is the first presidential campaign that the subject has even come up, since the Federal Reserve was started! The crowd erupted in more chants of "End the Fed!" and Mr. Paul egged them on. In the actual Republican primary, the candidates were discussing whether Mitt Romney had made too much money depriving workers of jobs. But that's not the kind of issue that engages Mr. Paul, who lives in a more theoretical world. He has read so much obscure economics, and absorbed so many forgotten thinkers, that he is overflowing with ideas that must be squeezed into his brief moment in the spotlight. As he speaks, he shuffles quickly through the pamphlets of his mind, moving so quickly from monetary to fiscal to foreign policy that he sometimes drops words and seems to lose his place. "People who really hold the wealth, it's mal-distribution because it shifts over due to the regulations that control the government," he said. Whatever that means, the crowd didn't seem to care, hanging on his every word. Some may actually imagine a shining path to the White House for Mr. Paul, but he seems to have something far more subversive in mind - an "intellectual revolution" to tear down decrepit political institutions. "I sort of have to chuckle when they describe you and me as being dangerous," he said, in what may have been his most thrilling moment for the crowd. That's one thing where they are telling the truth. Because we are dangerous - to the status quo! But for now, at least, he and his flock pose no danger to the leading candidate in his putative party. They do not dwell in his world.

Did School Promote Communism over Capitalism? By Todd Starnes Jeff Travis owns a small business in Des Moines and he is absolutely furious at a classroom flier that his son received from his high school social studies teacher. The flier, given to students at Roosevelt High School, features a cartoon and slogans that seem to promote communism over capitalism. "Communism stands for equal sharing of the work according to the benefits and the ability, but in capitalism an individual is responsible for his works and if he wants to raise the ladder," the flier stated. While the profit of any enterprise is equally shared by all in Communism, the profit in the capitalist structure belongs to the owner only. The cartoon represented capitalism by featuring an overweight businessman smoking a cigar while his workers were shackled. On the communism side, the cartoon showed happy workers earning loads of cash. "I'm a businessman," Travis told Fox News. I took great offense. I don't smoke big stogies. I don't have a big gut. My employees are not shackled. If this was a fair representation, where is the fence around the workers on the communist side? Where is the guy holding a gun to their heads saying either comply or die? Where are the bodies that Stalin and Mao put in the graves. Travis said he spoke to the principal of the school and asked for an explanation. It's been nearly a week and so far - he hasn't received one. "I couldn't believe how slanted it was," he said. It wasn't given as an example of propaganda. It was given as an example of capitalism and communism. I can't believe they would hand out something like that. Travis showed the flier to a customer who happens to work at WHO Radio - a Fox News Radio affiliate. That customer gave the flier to Simon Conway, who hosts a local talk show. "The flier seems to promote communism over capitalism," Conway said. We're all horrified. We don't want this stuff taught in our schools. A spokesperson for the school system confirmed the flier had been distributed in a classroom. However, additional questions were referred to another staff member - and so far - calls to that individual have not been returned. However, school officials did post a statement on their website Friday afternoon, accusing WHO of misrepresenting the flier. "It is unfortunate that a talk show host decided to mislead his listeners in order to generate false criticism of our schools and our teachers," the statement read. School officials also provided a link to what they said were additional documents given to students. However, the link was not activated - and a school official told Fox News that the web materials were not yet available. As for the flier that students in the social studies class received, the school said: "Furthermore, the class, 20th Century History, was studying the Cold War and propaganda, looking at some of the arguments both sides made about why their system was best on a range of topics, including their economies," the statement read. The handout simply highlights the differences between capitalism and communism, and some of the arguments made during the period of the Cold War. Conway said local residents are outraged. "We ended up doing a full hour on this topic," he said. Travis said he never wanted to cause the school or the principal grief or frustration. He said he just wanted his questions answered. "I'm concerned about the slant I keep seeing in the school and I'm tired of it," he said. Last year, Travis said an Occupy Wall Street protester was invited to speak to 12 and 13-year old children at his son's middle school. When Travis found out, he asked to sit in the classroom. "I was amazed they would allow someone like that to come in and talk to the students," he said. He came in and said how evil the military is and how he used to respect the police and how he doesn't respect the police anymore. Travis said it no one was there to refute the Occupier's allegations. "I told the principal I thought it was pretty egregious that they would bring someone like that in but the principal didn't think there was anything wrong with it," he said.

Elite Afghan soldier kills U.S. special forces mentor By Ismail Sameem KANDAHAR (Reuters) - An elite Afghan soldier shot dead an American mentor and his translator at a U.S. base, Afghan officials said on Friday, in the first rogue shooting blamed on the country's new and closely vetted special forces. The soldier opened fire at an American military base on Wednesday in Shah Wali Kot district, in volatile Kandahar province, said General Abdul Hamid, the commander of Afghan army forces in the Taliban's southern heartland. "The shooting took place after a verbal conflict where the Afghan special forces soldier opened fire and killed an American special forces member and his translator," Hamid told Reuters. At least 18 foreign soldiers have died this year in 11 incidents of so-called green on blue shootings, which are an increasing worry for both NATO and Afghan commanders, eroding trust as Western combat troops look to leave the country in 2014. The latest shooting will be of grave concern to both sides, at it is the first involving a member of Afghanistan's new special forces, which undergo rigorous vetting as part of their selection into the country's top anti-insurgent force. NATO's top general in the country, U.S. Marine General John Allen, and Afghan Defence Minister General Abdul Rahim Wardak only this month signed an agreement for Afghan special troops to spearhead controversial night raids on Afghan homes, which are seen as one of the most potent anti-insurgent tactics. Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a spokesman for the Afghan Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack in a phone text message sent to journalists, saying the Afghan soldier was "an insurgent infiltrator called Zakerullah." The claim could not immediately be corroborated, and the Taliban frequently claim responsibility for attacks by disgruntled Afghan soldiers. Hamid said U.S. soldiers had immediately fired back and killed the gunman, as well as another Afghan special forces soldiers who was caught up in the ensuing crossfire. Green on blue shootings have severely strained U.S.-Afghan ties as both allies look to lock-in a security agreement to be signed at a NATO meeting in late May, covering a U.S. presence in Afghanistan for a decade beyond the 2014 pullout. But NATO commanders argue the growing number of shootings is in proportion to the growing size of Afghan security forces towards an eventual 352,000 target. "When we analyze the problem, it occurs for a number of reasons, and not as many as you would expect show any evidence of insurgent initiation, or insurgent backing," a senior NATO official who could not be identified said last week. Quite often people resolve their personal problems by resorting to the use of a weapon. It's more of a cultural thing here. Writing by Rob Taylor; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani

FDA approves pneumococcal 13 vaccine WASHINGTON, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Prevnar 13, a pneumococcal 13 vaccine, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for people age 50 and older to prevent pneumonia, officials said. Dr. Karen Midthun, director of U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said pneumococcal pneumonia, caused when the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae infects the lungs, is the most common disease caused by this bacterium in adults. When the bacterium invades parts of the body that are normally free from germs, such as the blood or spinal fluid, the disease is considered "invasive," Midthun said. "According to recent information for the United States, it is estimated that approximately 300,000 adults age 50 and older are hospitalized yearly because of pneumococcal pneumonia," Midthun said in a statement. Pneumococcal disease is a substantial cause of illness and death. Today's approval provides an additional vaccine for preventing pneumococcal pneumonia and invasive disease in this age group. The new use for Prevnar 13 was approved under the agency's accelerated approval pathway, which allows for earlier approval of treatments for serious and life-threatening illnesses, Midthun said. The pathway allows for the demonstration of effectiveness of a vaccine using an immune marker that is reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit.

Higher-than-normal uranium found near Finland's Talvivaara mine HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finland's nuclear safety authority said it detected higher-than-normal uranium levels in waters near Talvivaara's Sotkamo mine, which has been leaking waste water. The level of uranium was 50-80 times higher than previously-measured levels, although it did not pose a threat to public health, the authority said in a statement on Friday. The mine has been offline since Sunday, when the leak was first detected. Reporting by Terhi Kinnunen; Editing by Ritsuko Ando

Passage of Prop. 30 hailed by educators With the passage of Proposition 30, college students will be spared another round of tuition increases and younger students will avoid a shorter school year, results that were met with much jubilation Wednesday. For public school districts, the measure's success was mostly about escaping another wave of severe budget cuts, including teacher layoffs, curtailed instructional time and larger classes. But for higher education, the measure is expected to reap immediate positive benefits. California's community college system will restore thousands of classes, somewhat easing a huge backlog of students unable to complete their degrees. Cal State students can look forward to modest tuition refunds. And annual tuition spikes at the University of California are on hold for now. Community colleges will receive about $210 million in additional funding and serve about 20,000 more students, new Chancellor Brice W. Harris said at a Wednesday media briefing. Financial prospects going forward also look better, he said, after several years of reductions to programs and class offerings - paired with fee increases. The system has turned away half a million students that it would have served in more prosperous times. "I'm guardedly optimistic that we're beginning to find the bottom in California," Harris said. The nine-campus L.A. Community College District avoided a cut of $30 million and instead will add about 200 classes this spring, said Chancellor Daniel LaVista. And Pasadena City College will receive a boost of about $6.7 million to restore classes and other student services, officials said. Student interest in the election - and the increasing ease with which they could register to vote, including online - were powerful elements statewide for Proposition 30, said Raphael Sonenshein, who heads the Pat Brown Institute of Public Affairs at Cal State L.A. Students registered about 3,000 of their Los Angeles Community College District peers in the four weeks leading up to the election, said Herlim Li, 35, a political-science major and organizer who attends both East L.A. College and Cal State L.A. The ballot measure won with 54% of California voters - nearly 60% in L.A. County. The California State University system will reverse a $249 per semester tuition increase that took effect this fall. Tuition for undergraduates will return to last year's rate of $5,472. The state needs to start making up for the devastating budget cuts of the past several years. The system had wait-listed most applicants for fall 2013 pending the outcome of Proposition 30, but will now restart the admissions review process. Students in the University of California system dodged a threatened 20% tuition increase - about $2,400 - that would probably have gone into effect next month. UC Regents Chairwoman Sherry Lansing said the measure's success "will certainly help us in our battle to restore fiscal stability to the University of California." UC regents, however, are scheduled to vote next week on raising 2013-14 supplemental fees for graduate and professional programs such as nursing, business, social work, dentistry, medicine and architecture. Those increases could range between 1.2% and 35%, with most fees rising 7% or less. And undergraduate tuition increases for next year remain a possibility. In Los Angeles Unified, the good news of Proposition 30 instantly became a new source of contention. Teachers union President Warren Fletcher on Wednesday said he "expected" the nation's second-largest K-12 system to restore 10 days of pay that teachers had surrendered - as well as a full 180-day school year for students. Schools Supt. John Deasy said he hoped the district could salvage three of five instructional days lost to previous budget cuts; it remained unclear when those days might be scheduled. And, teachers and other employees would receive lost pay only when a canceled school day is restored. He said he was grateful to have avoided such fallback cuts as eliminating all Advanced Placement classes, all home-to-school transportation and three additional weeks of school. San Diego Unified Supt. Bill Kowba said his district had been prepared to pare the school year by at least 14 days. In recent years, the district eliminated about 2,000 jobs and made hundreds of millions of dollars in budget cuts. Kowba said he felt "an incredible sigh of relief and complete debt of gratitude to the voters." The measure's failure would have further devastated Inglewood Unified. In September, the district received a $55-million emergency loan to avoid bankruptcy. If Proposition 30 had lost "it would have taken us out," said Kent Taylor, the district's state-appointed administrator. There's no way we would have been able to recover. Times staff writers Stephen Ceasar and Larry Gordon contributed to this report.

N. Korea to defy UN with satellite launch next month North Korea has announced it will put a satellite into orbit next month to mark the 100th anniversary of founder Kim Il-Sung's birthday. The satellite will be launched using a long-range rocket and goes against a United Nations ban in place since North Korea's last rocket launch in 2009. Pyongyang claims it has already launched two experimental satellites for peaceful purposes, though many suspect they are disguised missile tests. This latest rocket will blast off between April 12-16, and will be part of massive celebrations planned to mark the former leader's centenary on April 15. Kim Il-Sung was the father of Kim Jong-il, who died in December, and the grandfather of current leader Kim Jong-Un. Just over two weeks ago, Pyongyang agreed to suspend long-range missile tests as part of a deal to receive 240,000 tonnes of food aid from the United States. More about: Communism, Kim Jong-un, Missile, North Korea

British Hacking Scandal Suits to Be Filed in U.S. LONDON - A high-profile British lawyer who has been closely involved in pursuing the hacking scandal at Rupert Murdoch's British tabloids was quoted on Thursday as saying that he planned for the first time to sue on behalf of alleged victims in the United States, the center of Mr. Murdoch's global media empire. The lawyer, Mark Lewis, said he would take legal action on behalf of three people - a "well-known sports person," a sports person not in the public eye and an American citizen - the BBC reported. The News of the World had thousands of people they hacked. Some of them were in America at the time, either traveling or resident there," he said, referring to the Sunday tabloid that Mr. Murdoch closed down last year as the hacking scandal engulfed it. It was not immediately clear how or whether the action would affect News Corporation, the parent company of News International, the Murdoch family's British newspaper subsidiary. News International declined immediate comment on the cases, and Mr. Lewis did not immediately respond to a message seeking further detail of them. The British company has so far paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation to dozens of hacking victims. But, the BBC said, more than 4,000 people have been identified by the police as possible victims of phone hacking. Allegations of illicit interception of voice mails are at the center of overlapping police, parliamentary and judicial inquiries, which are also investigating the payment of bribes to public officials at two Murdoch-owned tabloids, The Sun and the now-defunct News of the World. The scandal spread further earlier this month when a British satellite news broadcaster whose parent company is partly owned by News Corporation admitted that one of its reporters had hacked into e-mails on two occasions while pursuing news coverage, the first time that such allegation had spilled into television news. The acknowledgment came just two days after Mr. Murdoch's son James resigned as chairman of Sky's parent company, British Sky Broadcasting, or BSkyB, in which News Corporation owns around 39 percent. Company officials said there was no link between the resignation and the hacking revelations, which were made public only as a result of an inquiry by the newspaper The Guardian. "We stand by these actions as editorially justified and in the public interest," the head of Sky News, John Ryley, said in a statement at the time. "We do not take such decisions lightly or frequently."

U.S. gas prices see sharpest dip since 2008 By Matt Smith, CNN November 5, 2012 -- Updated 1743 GMT (0143 HKT) An ongoing skid in crude oil markets and the impact of Superstorm Sandy helped drive U.S. gasoline prices down. The national average price of regular gasoline fell to $3.55 a gallon, survey finds Superstorm Sandy cut into demand, while crude oil prices declined Cheapest gas was found in Memphis, Tennessee; San Francisco had the highest (CNN) -- An ongoing skid in crude oil markets and the impact of Superstorm Sandy helped drive U.S. gasoline prices down nearly 21 cents a gallon in late October, the latest Lundberg Survey found. The national average price of regular gas fell to $3.55 a gallon between October 19 and November 2, survey publisher Trilby Lundberg said. "It's the biggest price decline in our surveys since early December 2008, when the recession hit in full force," Lundberg said. The price at the pump remains about 12 cents higher than a year ago after a volatile year that's seen steep peaks and deep declines. Crude oil prices, which make up the largest element of the price of motor fuel, are on the downswing, and demand has fallen since the end of the summer vacation season, Lundberg said. Behind the gas panic: One expert explains "But we also have two other things going on -- the destruction from Sandy inhibiting consumption of petroleum products, and demand weakness from lackluster economic performance," she said. Lundberg predicted gas prices could fall another 10 to 20 cents a gallon in the coming weeks, "assuming there's no jolt in the price of crude from some awful, international reason." The Lundberg Survey canvasses more than 2,500 filling stations across the continental United States twice a month. In the latest, conducted November 2, the cheapest gas could be found in Memphis, Tennessee, at $3.11 per gallon; the highest was in San Francisco, at $4.05. Average per-gallon prices in other cities: Atlanta: $3.36 Billings, Montana: $3.60 Boston: $3.75 Denver: $3.46 Houston: $3.30 Jackson, Mississippi: $3.21 Minneapolis: $3.26 Newark, New Jersey: $3.54 Philadelphia: $3.67 Portland, Oregon: $3.76

Oceans acidifying at 'unparalleled' rate A new study published in the Science journal suggests the increasing amount of carbon dioxide being absorbed by the seas is causing them to turn acidic with "unparalleled" speed. If the trend continues it could have a variety of serious effects on marine life by slowing rates of growth, causing animals to produce fewer offspring and causing shells to dissolve, experts said. Oceans currently absorb about a quarter of all CO2 emissions, and as levels of the gas in the atmosphere increase so does the rate at which it dissolves in seawater, making the water more acidic. Researchers studying 300 million years' worth of data on global warming and acidifying oceans found the current rate of acidification is even greater than four other major periods of climate change in the Earth's history. These included the impact of the asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs, and the Permian mass-extinction 252 million years ago, when 95 per cent of life on Earth was destroyed. Professor Andy Ridgwell, of Bristol University, said: "The geological record suggests that the current acidification is potentially unparalleled in at least the last 300 million years of Earth history, and raises the possibility that we are entering an unknown territory of marine ecosystem change. Although similarities exist, nothing in the last 300 million years parallels rates of future projections in terms of the disrupting of ocean carbonate chemistry - a consequence of the unprecedented rapidity of CO2 release currently taking place.

Freak fatal gunshot leads to jail 12 (UPI) -- The Ohio man who fired a "one in a million" gunshot that struck and killed an Amish girl more than a mile away will serve a 30-day jail sentence, lawyers said. Marion R. Yoder, 28, of Fredericksburg, Ohio, cooperated with authorities after it was determined the bullet from the muzzleloader he fired into the air while cleaning it last December came down and struck Rachel Yoder, 15, on the top of the head as she drove a buggy home. Marion Yoder's home is 1.1 miles from the site where Rachel Yoder's father found her in the road with a head injury. Marion Yoder and Rachel Yoder are of no relation. She was taken to Akron City Hospital and died. Hospital workers found the bullet lodged in Rachel Yoder's head and notified authorities. As police investigated the freak incident, Marion Yoder came forward and admitted he had fired a gun in the air while cleaning it, never thinking it would kill someone. Marion Yoder pleaded guilty to negligent homicide and will serve 30 days in jail and three years probation. A judge also mandated he attend a firearm safety course and Yoder forfeited the muzzleloader, The (Woosten) Daily Record reported. Prosecutor Steve Knowling said the incident should serve as a lesson about gun safety. "It's a cautionary tale in the first degree," he said. It doesn't happen often. It is one in a million, but Rachel Yoder died because that one in a million shot came home.

Apple factory worker suicides tied to 'boredom,' auditor says The Free Labor Association just began a detailed audit of Foxconn's Apple production facilities this week, but the organization's head has already angered critics by issuing a positive statement about work conditions before his group's investigation is complete. In an interview with Reuters published Wednesday, FLA President Aurent van Heerden said that the factory floor seemed "tranquil," called physical conditions "way, way above the average of the norm" -- and blamed "boredom" for many of workers" problems, including a rash of suicides. "The problems are not the intensity and burnout and pressure-cooker environment you have in a garment factory," he told Reuters, speaking about the level of worker stress that led to at least 17 suicides in the past two years. It's more a function of monotony, of boredom, of alienation perhaps. Attributing the suicides of sweatshop workers who make iPhones to mere boredom is insulting. Teresa Cheng, United Students Against Sweatshops Teresa Cheng, international campaigns coordinator for United Students Against Sweatshops, was offended both by van Heerden's explanation for the suicides and his decision to compliment the facilities so early in the review process. Her group created a website called FLA Watch, which is critical of the association's ties to the companies it polices. "Mr. van Heerden's comments are outrageous and shocking, even to those of us who have been monitoring the FLA's irresponsible reporting for years," she said. Attributing the suicides of sweatshop workers who make iPhones to mere boredom is insulting and the FLA's most creative argument to date for defending its corporate funders. Earlier this week, when Apple announced it had invited the FLA to inspect its suppliers" production lines, it failed to impress Apple critics like Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman of labor group SumOfUs.org and Li Qiang of China Labor Watch who both questioned the association's objectivity in separate interviews Monday. "Most of the time, FLA speaks on behalf of the companies, not the workers," Li told Laptopmag.com. Despite its detractors, the Fair Labor Association maintains that it's both objective and empowered to force real changes in factory conditions. Speaking to Wired Magazine, van Heerden stated that his organization finds and corrects an average of 13 code violations per audit. By publishing the violations, he claims the association is showing its independence. "Our results speak for themselves," he said. The FLA also shared key details of its audit process with Reuters. Over the course of three weeks, 30 FLA representatives will visit two Foxconn factories in Shenzhen, China and one in Chengdu. The inspectors plan to interview 35,000 workers in groups of 30 at a time, asking them to fill out surveys on Apple iPads. Stinebrickner-Kauffman, who told us previously that the FLA's in-factory interviews discourage workers from revealing the worst abuses, remains unimpressed. "It's now clear that as far as Apple and the FLA are concerned, this so-called investigation has a foregone conclusion," she said. We already suspected that, but it's impressively stupid of Mr. van Heerden not to be able to restrain himself from announcing that conclusion at least until the end of the charade. Copyright 2012 LAPTOP, a TechMediaNetwork company.

Flooding fears remain for Christmas Many people were waking up in fear of flooding this Christmas morning, as downpours of heavy rain continued to bring misery to parts of Britain. Hundreds of houses and businesses have already been swamped with floodwaters, while many more are at risk of rising waters. Although the rain will be less persistent and punctuated with sunshine throughout the day, it will add pressure to already saturated ground and swollen rivers. The worst affected areas will be south-west England and areas along the south coast from Cornwall to Kent, along with Wales and northern Scotland, areas which have already seen flooding in the last few days. Thunderstorms will also greet parts of Dorset and Hampshire on Christmas morning. David Jordan, the EA's director of operations, said: "Although the rain is set to ease a little in the coming days, the ground is still very wet and river levels remain high, so we would ask people to keep up to date with the latest warnings and stay prepared for flooding." The Environment Agency has issued 166 flood warnings across England and Wales, urging people to take immediate action against expected flooding. It also has put 266 flood alerts in place, warning residents to be prepared. In Scotland 12 flood warnings were issued along with seven flood alerts. The EA said around 470 properties have flooded since Wednesday, while Floodline revealed it has received 18,000 calls during the recent wet weather. In Devon and Cornwall 245 properties flooded over the weekend and although a number of people were evacuated, most have now returned home. Officials said the rivers Severn, Trent, Avon and Thames are at most risk of flooding. Matt Dobson, a meteorologist for MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said: "There will be showers sweeping from west to east across the UK today, and while they will not be as persistent as recent days, they will still be heavy. The ground is saturated after a good dose of rain yesterday, so the areas that have been hit by flooding won't welcome more with more local flooding certainly possible. Up to 10mm will fall in the worst affected areas such as Devon and Cornwall as well as Wales and southern coastal areas of Hampshire, Dorset, Kent and Sussex. But there will be bursts of sunshine between the showers. There will also be thunderstorms and lightening sweeping up over Dorset and brisk winds across the south-west. Yesterday the EA removed a severe flood warning - meaning there is "danger to life" - for the River Cober at Helston in west Cornwall, a town that has already seen residents evacuated from their homes. The rain caused travel disruption on road and rail networks on the days leading up to Christmas, with a number of key routes struck by weather related delays. A with a series of accidents on major highways added to the travel chaos. Three men were killed and three other people taken to hospital after a two-car crash on the A68 in Midlothian, Scotland, yesterday morning. Police also released video footage of the dramatic rescue of a woman who had been washed away by floodwater after becoming trapped with her family in a 4x4. The woman had alerted the emergency services to say she was stuck in floodwater at Umberleigh, near Barnstaple, before she was washed away by the water and was found clinging to a tree branch. Devon and Cornwall Police urged the public to remain vigilant. The soggy Christmas comes towards the end of what is expected to be one of the wettest years in Britain since records began. The UK's average rainfall in 2012, excluding December, is 1,202mm - placing it 13th in the list of wettest years since records began in 1910. The year 2000 remains the UK's wettest year, with an average rainfall of 1,337.3mm.

Mugly: Meet the World's Ugliest Dog of 2012 AP Photo/Beth Schlanker, The Press Democrat The votes have been counted and a winner has been declared one of the highly anticipated elections of 2012. That's right, the World's Ugliest Dog of 2012 has finally been crowned. Mugly, an 8-year-old Chinese Crested pooch, won the crown, beating out a tough field that included past winners such as 2002 champion Rascal and Princess Abby, a 4-year-old Japanese chin mix that won in 2010 - not to mention perennial contenders such as Icky, who has competed in three past competitions. According to the contest's website, Mugly is a rescue dog from the United Kingdom and was "viciously attacked in a park by a group of thugs." Mugly is now a "therapy dog working with children," according to the website. I couldn't speak when they announced Mugly's name. I didn't know which way to look. I was shaking as much as the dog," Mugly's owner Bev Nicholson said in a news release. In addition to bragging rights, a trophy and a $1,000 prize was awarded. Mugly also received 1,236 of more than 3,400 online votes, although the votes do not count towards the winner, which was decided by a panel of judges. The World's Ugliest Dog Contest is held annually at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, Calif. To see pictures of Mugly and past winners check our slideshow.

Running the Numbers: Making Sense of Our Costs I'm continuing my series of posts detailing how much it cost to run my business in 2011 and looking for conclusions that can be drawn from those figures. Thursday, I discussed some numbers associated with our shop-floor productivity, and what we had done to improve it. In this post, I'm going to outline the costs that go into our products. Cost of Good Sold We take a somewhat unconventional approach to tabulating our cost of goods sold. I've never been one to take an inventory at the end of each year - most of what you might consider inventory actually consists of the thousands of scraps of wood that litter our shop. It would be nearly impossible to measure all of it and assign a value to it. It would also be a huge waste of scarce labor. We also skip placing a value on our work in progress. To do that we'd need to know exactly how far along each project had progressed, but in reality that's hard to say until we're done. So we just consider our inventory value to be zero. Another convention I've thrown out the window is separating our sales and production costs. In our work flow, the act of designing the product is an integral part of both selling and producing it. And our sales people are doing the designing. So their costs get put into cost of goods sold along with those for the shop floor guys. With that in mind, our total cost of goods sold for 2011 was $1,265,307, or 59.9 percent of sales. By far the largest component of these costs was labor, which totaled $737,221. I'll be talking about labor in more detail in the next post. If you walk onto our shop floor, you will see wood everywhere. About a third of our floor space is taken up with stacks of lumber and veneer, and we have a plywood rack that runs along 40 feet of one wall. On closer inspection, you'll also notice four large rolling rubbish bins full of scrap. That's waste, and we generate a lot of it (which I have written about before). What's surprising is that it is a relatively small portion of our costs. The total bill for the materials that went into our tables was $350,035. That included things like glue, hardware and power/data units that did not generate any scrap. The stuff that was not used as efficiently, like plywoods, veneers and lumber, cost $221,484. Unfortunately, the wood we buy and the tables we make do not come in predictable sizes. I count on my shop-floor workers to make reasonable decisions to keep waste to a minimum. The labor costs involved with keeping track of every scrap would be very large. We used lots of stuff to make tables that was not incorporated into the finished product, like sandpaper and material for jigs and fixtures. These things cost us $65,201. Shipping cost us $84,891, including $19,767 in supplies to make crates and $64,481 for trucking. If our clients were close to the shop, we delivered and assembled the tables ourselves. When they were too far away, we hired installers to do it. This cost us $27,958. Overhead The factory consists of a small office and a large shop, 35,000 square feet in total. Rent cost me $113,590 for the year. My electric bill was $43,595 because we have lots of lights and lots of machines, and we air-condition the shop in the summer. Heat was cheaper, even though we run huge fans in our finishing shop that constantly throw hot air out the window. That bill was $6,580. So providing a place to work cost me $163,765. Our marketing expense was $125,545. Of that, AdWords cost $109,613. The rest went for Web site upgrades and Web hosting. Insurance cost $17,449, including $12,114 for workman's compensation. We spent $14,429 on office stuff, including new computers and software. That includes our Internet service. I spent only $360 on office furniture. We spent $11,641 on building and equipment repairs (upgrading wiring and fixing busted machines). Telephone services cost me $9,769, but that included $3,547 for 10 new phones and a multiplexing switch. Traveling to clients was $6,497. We spent $10,436 to keep our truck gassed and running. And I paid Paychex $4,704 to do our payroll (well worth it, in my opinion.) I've omitted the costs of the machinery and fixtures because most of them were bought and depreciated long ago. I don't have a total for all of that at hand, but a reasonable guess is that it would cost $600,000 to replace everything in the shop. The only major machinery expense we had last year was a new sander, which I purchased for $21,600 and then spent another couple of thousand dollars tuning up. I also replaced some computers at a cost of $7,387.55 Total expenses, omitting my pay, were $505,934. There were 254 working days in 2011, which means overhead cost me $1,991 per day. The total cost of running the shop - including cost of goods sold and overhead but omitting my pay - was $6,973 per day, or $871 per hour. When we divide the overhead by the number of hours worked, 20,333, we find that it cost $24.88 per labor hour. Conclusion: I could spend a lot of time micromanaging all of these expenses, but until recently that wasn't an option. Now that I am easing myself out of selling, I will take a careful look to see if any of them can be minimized. Where do you think I should start? Paul Downs founded Paul Downs Cabinetmakers in 1986. It is based outside of Philadelphia.

CBS profits rise, sales dip LOS ANGELES -- Broadcaster CBS (CBS) says earnings rose 31 percent in the final quarter of 2011, thanks to licensing shows to online video companies such as Netflix. Those benefits helped CBS overcome a drop in advertising sales due to a lack of political advertising in an off-election year. The company also did not benefit again from the sale of its "CSI" show into reruns as it did a year earlier. Net income rose to $370 million, or 55 cents per share, from $283 million, or 41 cents per share. Excluding one-time items, adjusted earnings came to 57 cents per share, beating the 53 cents expected by analysts polled by FactSet. Revenue fell 3 percent to $3.78 billion from $3.9 billion. That was below the $3.9 billion expected by analysts. CBSNews.com is part of CBS Interactive, an operating unit of CBS Corp.

In 1933, Washington couldn't overcome Giants, Carl Hubbell Well, now, that was a World Series for you. Go back to the days of the Hitless Wonder White Sox of 1906, the prewar triumphs of the Phillies, Braves and Red Sox, finger through the postbellum records of the Yankees, Cardinals and Athletics and you will find no Series more pleasing to the eye than the World Series of 1933. The Washington Senators lost the 1933 World Series to the New York Giants, four games to one, in what would be the team's last appearance in the Fall Classic. For the next 40 years, Povich covered a losing team. But as Red Smith once said of Povich's years with the second division: "You learn baseball by covering the last-place team, not the first. You learn through their mistakes and young players talk to you about them. Povich put it simply: "You learn to detach yourself - after all it's only a game. Thus, you can have some fun. by Shirley Povich Thrills, indeed, were a dime a dozen at the Polo Grounds and Griffith Stadium. And at $3.90, $5.50 and $6.00, the fans were saturated with sensations. Recall to mind those scores of the 1933 World Series - 4 to 2, 6 to 1, 4 to 3, in 10 innings. Thus did victory and defeat hang by a slender thread. One pitched ball, one batted ball separated the winner from the loser in four of those five games. Giants had what it takes Those Giants had what it takes, no doubt of that. And there is a measure of consolation for the Nats in the fact that they were beaten by a great ballclub, making its own breaks and capitalizing on them to the fullest extent. To Manager Bill Terry, of the Giants, no credit can be denied. To Manager Joe Cronin, only sympathy. It was a case of Terry's ballteam making Terry's strategy and masterminding letter perfect by its execution. Cronin's ballteam, in the language of the press box, made Cronin look bad by its futility. The Nats, pride of the American League, the team that won the pennant by one-run victories, were met, in the World Series, by a foe using the same steel. The Giants, too, were a one-run ballclub, getting the breaks by making them, and they made more breaks than the Nats. Hubbell in hero role And when, in years to come, they search the records for the hero of the 1933 World Series, there will be no dispute as to his identity. Carl Hubbell will leap out at them from the pages of baseball history - the hero by popular acclaim and by the might of his deeds. No doubt, there. No single ballplayer ever entered upon a World Series assignment with quite the responsibility that confronted Hubbell. And no ballplayer ever fulfilled Terry's. There you have it - the difference between the Nats and the Giants of 1933. Washington had no Hubbell. Washington came to learn that the aura of invincibility erected about Hubbell was no myth. Behind him, he had a supposedly weak team, virtually dependent on superpitching that Hubbell could give it. And Hubbell did give the Giants the fullest of his screwball and fast curve to inspire his mates with a sensational pitching feat in that first game, to win in 11 innings that fourth game that was the turning point of the series. Took it on chin Personally, I took it on the chin. After those first two defeats of the Nats I came back for more, in my own stubborn way - and got it. Oh well, my opinions never sold for more than three cents at any corner news stand, or by carrier boy. So don't be too harsh with me. Before the Series, I was wondering what the Giants were going to use for base hits. Now I know. They used Washington's pitching for base hits. What became of Washington's great pitching? New York base hits, that's what it became. And what became of Washington's great hitting? Strikeouts, pop-ups and double plays, that's what. So, I'm tucking my chin behind my shoulder the next time. I can take it - but it hurts. October 9, 1933

The Archbishop's father, his secret wife, an affair with a Kennedy and defaming a Labour Cabinet Minister In this country, he won over senior members of the Conservative Party and the family of the deputy Prime Minister Rab Butler. He married Butler's favourite niece, Jane Portal, who had been Winston Churchill's personal secretary and who would become Justin's mother. His powerful connections helped him towards a career in politics and two failed attempts to win a seat in the House of Commons. Gavin Welby earned enough money to send his son to Eton - although he is said not to have passed on enough for Justin to pay his way on a daily basis, leaving him the poorest child in a school house that included two Rothschilds. The present Bishop of Durham admitted last night that his father had told him "virtually nothing" about his true background, although the life that they did share together towards the end gave him a first hand insight into addiction and suffering. He drank quite heavily, and you know, he would say things sometimes when he had been drinking and you did not know what was true or not. The Sunday Telegraph was able to share remarkable new details with Bishop Welby about the life of a man who was actually born Bernard Gavin Weiler on November 28 1910 in Ruislip, on the outskirts of west London. His father was "Hebrew" German emigre also called Bernard Weiler, who had moved to Britain from modern-day Germany some 20 years earlier. Mr Weiler Sr had an elder brother called Herrman who had refused call-up papers for the army and been stripped of German citizenship. (Much later the synagogue in the village where they came from would be burnt to the ground by the SS, and Jews sent to Nazi death camps. Several people called Weiler from the area appear on the list of victims of the Holocaust.) The senior Bernard Weiler became a successful ostrich feather merchant with premises in the Barbican and in Cape Town, South Africa. He lived in a large house with his English-born wife Edith, who was two decades younger, as well as a cook, a maid and a nurse for the children. But the family fortunes were hit by the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, and the so-called "feather crash" which saw austerity and changing fashions kill off the demand for expensive feather-adorned garments and hats. Anti-German sentiment was strong, so the family name was changed by deed poll to Welby and Gavin's father took an agency job selling worthless "snake oil" drugs on sales trips to America. He sold an art collection, but in spite of failing health he was forced to continue making arduous week-long voyages across the Atlantic, cramped in steerage class. Gavin took over this dubious business shortly before his father died. He was 19 years old. As he began to spent increasing amount of time in New York, the young man set about re-inventing himself. This part of the story did enter family history and Bishop Welby said recently that he believed his father had been a bootlegger during the Prohibition era. I remember my father telling me [his mother] gave him £5 and put him on a boat. He said he went to New York in 1929 and traded whisky. When I was studying history, the penny dropped that Prohibition ended in 1933... so he was bootlegging. He was illegally trading whisky. After being told on Friday of the remarkable details of his father's life, Bishop Welby said: "He would tell me how he ran alcohol with his 'Italian friends" as he liked to call them. The Sunday Telegraph has discovered that when Prohibition ended, the inventive young man - now calling himself Gavin Bramhall James Welby - was the New York import manager for the National Distillers Production Corporation. His job was to supply Manhattan's newly booming hotels and cocktail bars with the ingredients for their latest frozen, shaken and stirred alcoholic creations. Aged 23, with a clipped English accent, and dark, debonair good looks, he modelled himself on the Hollywood star Cary Grant. Gavin Welby quickly became the man to know if you wanted to hold a party in one of Manhattan's upmarket hotels. He arranged balls for the sons and debutante daughters of New York's wealthy elite, befriending businessmen and their wives. By 1940 he was earning $7,000 a year, the equivalent of $116,000 today, and had rooms at the fashionable five-star Hotel Pierre overlooking Central Park. He could also afford to rent an apartment on the upmarket Upper East Side, where he held parties for high society. Rather than admitting to be a mere employee, Welby began hinting that his family owned one of the distilleries supplying the liquor. The society columns of the New York Times from this period are filled with his exploits. They also reveal details of Welby's first marriage: to Doris Sturzenegger, the daughter of a wealthy factory owner, in January 1934. Hailing from Chester, New Jersey, she was of German descent just like her new husband. "Doe" as she was known had been a student at Boston University, whose yearbook for 1930 says: "Effervescent, always with a smile, Doe's a cheerful girl, sans guile." The marriage appears to have been very short lived. Before the year was out, she had left him. After returning first to Boston, she used her maiden name and a newly-minted American passport to sail to Britain, identifying herself as a dance teacher. There is no trace of the couple getting divorced. After the outbreak of war in 1939, Welby remained in New York, organising parties. But when America entered the conflict, he was ordered to return home and enlist. In December 1942, he held a farewell party to mark his departure. The New York Times reported: "Several hundred persons, including many prominent English men and women living here, attended a farewell reception given in the small ballroom of the Pierre by Gavin Welby, son of Mrs E James Welby of London and Surrey, who is about to join the British Army as a commissioned officer." He became a First Lieutenant. However, when demobbed three years after the end of the war, he placed an announcement in The Times as "Captain" Gavin Welby, announcing that he would now be taking up residence at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in New York. He also applied to Conservative Central Office, asking to be considered as a candidate for Parliament. His application forms to the party are sealed, but it is understood that he gave false details about his background, shaved several years off his age and overstated his position with the American firms that had employed him before the war. Nevertheless, his easy manner and direct-speaking style apparently impressed the Conservative hierarchy. In 1950, he was selected to fight for Coventry East against an up-and-coming politician, Richard Crossman, who was later to become a Labour Cabinet minister. The local Conservative party activists seem to have taken against their candidate, who continued to be based in London. A report to the constituency in January 1951 complained: "Adopted last October (Welby) has made a few visits to the Constituency, but has by no means got round the Division. I should say that he is not particularly well suited to this type of Division. The Coventry Telegraph reported that he was heckled at the hustings. During one debate, Welby referred to the Stone Age, saying: "It was not uncommon for a man to beat his wife with a cudgel." Someone shouted: "That's private enterprise!" His brief visits to Coventry were dubbed "jet-propelled canvassing" as he took to driving around the constituency in a car with a loud-speaker, accompanied by his mother. It was reported that she had delayed an operation in order to join him. Days before the poll, disaster struck. The Welby campaign team published a pamphlet entitled "Good Advice" which misquoted his opponent as saying: "Labour is not fit to govern the country...." Crossman sued and Welby was forced to publish a grovelling apology on the eve of the election. He had apparently approved the pamphlet, but now accused his election agent of inserting the quote "entirely on your own initiative." Crossman won a massive majority, and Welby headed back across the Atlantic. Then in 1952 Walter Winchell, the king of American gossip columnists, revealed that the Englishman was dating the daughter of Joseph Kennedy, former US ambassador to Britain. Patricia was also the sister of John F Kennedy. Alongside snippets on the love affair between Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner, the columnist wrote: "J. P. Kennedy's daughter Pat and Gavin Welby (of the Scotch whiskey clan) are intoxicated about each other." However, Patricia later married the British actor Peter Lawford. Welby returned to Britain. During the election campaign he had met and befriended Adam Butler, the son of Rab, who would go on to be an MP, a minister and aide to Margaret Thatcher and a knight. They became so close that Welby later added a clause to his will, making Adam Butler the legal guardian of his son. He added: "I express the wish that (he) take my son to live with him...during his infancy." It was Adam Butler who introduced Gavin Welby to his cousin Jane Portal, the private secretary to Winston Churchill. She later said that she had been hired by Churchill as a "donkey" and "dogsbody" to do late night work, as well as taking dictation of his war memoirs. Being a niece of Rab Butler had helped her get the job. After meeting her in 1940, Churchill had said: "You'll do." She went on to work for Churchill as he led a government after the war, helping to keep his stroke and failing health hidden from the wider world. Gavin Welby and Jane Portal married on Monday April 4 1955 in Baltimore, Maryland, without their family and friends in attendance. They had apparently eloped because of disapproval from her parents. Later that month, however, the marriage was announced in The Times. A reception was held at 11 Downing Street, arranged by Rab Butler. When details of the wedding reached America John F Kennedy wrote to his 21-year-old Swedish mistress Gunilla von Post: "Did you see in the paper that our friend - the cold, frozen Mr Gavin Welby - got married to Mr Churchill's secretary? Something must have happened. By 1956, the Welbys were living in Onslow Square, Chelsea. Gavin had invested much of the money he had made in America and was now a Name on the Lloyds insurance market. His son was born on January 6 that year. Justin Portal Welby was christened at Holy Trinity, Brompton, with Adam Butler and the Hon Flora Fraser, now Lady Saltoun, acting as godparents. This was the same church to which he would return for comfort after the death of his first child in a car accident in Paris, and where he first felt called to the ministry. Contrary to reports, the future Archbishop did not graduate from HTB's popular Alpha Course, which was not running in the same form when he was there. The marriage between his parents did not last. Within three years, Jane Welby petitioned for divorce on the grounds that her husband was "guilty of adultery." Mr Welby did not contest the claim. The divorce was finalised in February 1959. Jane Portal went on to marry Charles Williams, the former Essex county cricketer and oil executive, in 1975. When he was elevated to the House of Lords as a life peer in 1985, she became Lady Williams of Elvel. After the marriage ended, Gavin Welby went back to dividing his time between Britain and America. He stood for Parliament again in 1955, as a last-minute replacement candidate in Goole, Yorkshire. The local party chairman wrote: "His qualifications seem so astonishingly good...[we] are extraordinary lucky [to have] a man of such calibre." But Mr Welby lost again, badly. His next notable romantic involvement was in the early Sixties, with the 23-year-old actress Vanessa Redgrave, a rising star of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Welby was now 50, but claimed to be younger. "I have something very special to tell you," Miss Redgrave wrote to her father. I am going to marry a sweet, darling man called Gavin Welby. Her father, Sir Michael Redgrave, did not approve. Her mother, Rachel Kempson, wrote to him: "Vanessa is completely infatuated... I only pray we can prevent marriage. They feared Welby was a "rotten piece of work." The actress did eventually end the relationship. She told her father: "I have decided not to marry Gavin because, although I do love him, for various reasons I know it wouldn't work... I had a talk with Mum this evening and realised that it is the only thing to do. So much of this astonishing life was hidden from his son, who was moved by the story the Sunday Telegraph was able to share with him. Bishop Welby did not know, for example, that his father had Jewish ancestry, or an older sister called Peggy. He continues to wonder whether he has secret brothers or sisters. "In many ways, I think the story you have told me brings more credit on him than the story he himself told," Bishop Welby said. "It is the 'making good" story isn't it? It's a great thing of overcoming setbacks. I would have thought 'wow, that's a fantastic story" if he had told me about it when I was a child." He went on: "There is no hiding the fact that he was a complicated man. He was really, really, brilliant. I think what you have said shows he was really brilliant in many ways.