Missing toddler's blood found at dad's home

Police have told Trista Reynolds the 'significant amount' of blood found in the home where her missing daughter Ayla was last seen is indeed Ayla's.

By msnbc.com staff and news services

WATERVILLE, Maine -- Some of the blood found in a Maine home where a missing toddler was last seen six weeks ago belonged to the little girl, an official said Sunday.

State Police spokesman Steve McCausland would not say how much of Ayla Reynolds' blood was found in her father's home in Waterville, where exactly it was found or how long it might have been there.

"Our first priority is finding Ayla,? McCausland told the Bangor Daily News.

---

But investigators told Ayla's mother's family that the amount of blood was "more blood than a small cut would produce," according to a family-run website.

"Even in light of this evidence we are more determined than ever to find out what has happened to Ayla and we still cling to the hope that she is alive and will be returned to us," the website said. "We urge anyone that has information about Ayla to come forward now and unburden yourself of the truth."

According to Alya Reynolds' father, she was wearing green pajamas with polka dots and the words "Daddy's Princess" on them when she was last seen on Dec. 16.

Broken arm
Ayla's father, Justin DiPietro, reported her missing Dec. 17. He had put her to bed the night before and said she wasn't there the next morning. DiPietro told police she was wearing green pajamas with polka dots and the words "Daddy's Princess" on them and had a soft cast on her broken left arm.

DiPietro could not immediately be reached for comment Sunday; his cellphone voicemail was full and unable to accept messages.

After hours of intense questioning, the mother of missing toddler Ayla Reynolds says she had to stop participating in a lie-detector test due to a medical condition. NBC's Aditi Roy reports.

Ayla was 20 months old when she disappeared. She had been staying with her father at the time in the house where DiPietro lives with his mother. Her mother, Trista Reynolds, lives in Portland.

The blood was among hundreds of pieces of potential evidence that were removed from the Waterville home as part of a criminal investigation into the girl's disappearance.

Trista Reynolds and DiPietro were photographed together at a vigil for Ayla on Saturday.

WCVB quoted Trista Reynolds as saying she was "ready to go knocking at people's doors myself because I want to know what happened to my daughter. "

'It was a surprise'
Trista Reynolds' father said the family was told late Saturday by McCausland that blood found in the home was determined to be Ayla's.

"It was a surprise," Ronald Reynolds said.

He said police did not give any indication what the discovery means.

Ronald Reynolds said he is convinced the family in DiPietro's house has more information than they have shared.

Trista Reynolds, the mom of missing Maine toddler Ayla, tells TODAY's Matt Lauer she's still suspicious of the baby's father for his sudden interest in the case.

"Every day, it gets hotter and hotter," he said. "I hope they pull them back in, set them down and give them the opportunity to say something."

DiPietro, his mother and a third adult were home the night of Dec. 16, and police have questioned all three, McCausland said Saturday.

"We believe they have not given us the full story," he said.

DiPietro has said he took a polygraph test, but has declined to say what the results were.

The Associated Press and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

Source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/30/10267899-missing-toddler-ayla-reynolds-blood-found-at-dads-home-in-waterville-maine

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EU leaders seek growth as Greece case looms (AP)

BRUSSELS ? European leaders were trying Monday to come up with ways to boost economic growth and jobs, which are being squeezed by their own governments' steep budget cuts across the continent.

The 27 EU leaders meeting in Brussels were also looking for common ground on a new treaty to toughen spending rules to dig the continent out of a crippling debt crisis. The elephant in the room, though, will be Greece.

Greece and its bondholders have come closer to a deal to significantly reduce the country's debt and pave the way for it to receive a much-needed euro130 billion ($170 billion) bailout.

Negotiators for the bondholders said Saturday that a debt-reduction deal could become final within the next week. If the agreement works as planned, it could help Greece avoid a catastrophic default, which would be a blow to Europe's already weak financial system.

But European officials are afraid that even that deal may not be enough to fix Greece's finances, with some blaming Athens for dithering in its austerity promises.

German officials over the weekend proposed that Athens temporarily cede control over tax and spending decisions to a powerful eurozone budget commissioner before it can secure further bailouts.

The idea proved immediately controversial ? both the European Commission and the Greek government refuted it ? to the point that German Chancellor Angela Merkel pulled back on the idea when she arrived in Brussels.

She said Europe had to support Greece in implementing promised austerity and reform measures, "but all that will only work if Greece and all other states discuss this together."

Though vital to turning around Europe's crisis, the negotiations in Greece don't resolve the weakening economic conditions across Europe as countries rein in spending to get their debts under control.

Front and center in Monday's discussions will be the continent's increasingly tough labor market.

Many now fear that Europe is on the verge of another recession, and leaders gathering Brussels said that spurring growth would be the focus of their talks Monday.

The big question is where to find money to boost growth when governments are trying to reduce debt.

"We have to have balanced budgets and at the same time focus on growth and jobs," said Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt of Denmark, which holds the rotating presidency of European Council. "It is possible to both at the same time and it is important to understand that these are two sides of the same coin."

Unemployment is rising steadily. In Spain, it has soared to nearly 23 percent and closed in on 50 percent for those under age 25, leaving more than 5 million people ? or almost one out of every four ? out of work as the country slides toward recession.

To help jump-start the EU toward more growth and employment, the European Commission is proposing to the summit leaders to redirect euro82 billion in existing development funds toward countries in dire need of help to fix their labor market.

The 27 heads of state and government got a taste of the popular frustration with austerity and high unemployment on their way to Monday's summit in a city paralyzed by strikes. Leaders had to fly into the military airport of Beauvechain 20 miles (30 kilometers) outside of Brussels after the city's main airport was shutdown by a 24-hour strike.

Belgium's three main unions joined hands in the walkout to protest national budgetary measures that have in part been imposed on the country by the EU. If the country hadn't met cost-cutting targets, financial sanctions would have been imposed.

Monday's strike has been mirrored in many other member states. Overall, 23 million people are jobless across the EU, 10 percent of the active population.

"Europe has to offer jobs, social protection and perspective for the future. Otherwise it risks losing the support of its citizens," said the strike manifesto of the ACV union.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_europe_financial_crisis

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Romney lead over Gingrich up in Florida: poll (reuters)

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NBC asks Romney to remove news material from ad (AP)

WASHINGTON ? NBC asked GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Saturday to pull a campaign advertisement made up almost entirely of a 1997 "Nightly News" report on Newt Gingrich's ethics committee reprimand.

The "History Lesson" ad started running in Florida on the weekend, when it is harder for stations to switch ad traffic even if they want to. Broadcast days before Tuesday's primary, the ad shows NBC anchor Tom Brokaw saying that some of Gingrich's House colleagues had raised questions about the then-speaker's "future effectiveness."

Under Brokaw's image is a line that reads ? "Paid for by Romney for President, Approved by Mitt Romney."

NBC spokeswoman Lauren Kapp says the network's legal department sent the Romney campaign a letter asking for the removal of all NBC News material from its ads. A similar request went to other campaigns that "have inappropriately" used material from "Nightly News," "Meet the Press," "Today" and MSNBC. Kapp said she was not aware of such uses by other campaigns.

NBC did not immediately respond to a request for a copy of the letter.

Romney spokesman Rick Gorka says the campaign hasn't received formal notification from NBC and had no immediate comment.

Brokaw said in a statement released by NBC that he was "extremely uncomfortable with the extended use of my personal image in this political ad. I do not want my role as a journalist compromised for political gain by any campaign."

Brokaw stepped down in 2004 after 21 years as anchor and managing editor of "Nightly News," but continues to report for the network.

The House ethics panel investigated Gingrich's use of tax-exempt organizations. The case ended in January 1997 with a reprimand by the House and a $300,000 penalty against Gingrich for misleading the committee and prolonging its investigation.

Romney has sought the release of all records from the probe. The committee did make public its final report as well as exhibits ? which amounted to a comprehensive account of its findings. The head of the ethics committee during the Gingrich investigation, former Republican Rep. Nancy Johnson, said the committee traditionally does not publicly release investigative documents.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_el_pr/us_romney_ad

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NY art dealer charged in $4M fraud (AP)

NEW YORK ? A New York art dealer has been charged in a $4 million fraud for selling works by Picasso, Matisse and others without informing the owner or giving him the proceeds.

The charges in a criminal complaint in Manhattan accuse Robert Scott Cook of selling 16 works of art without the owner/collector's knowledge. The artwork included watercolors, drawings, photographs, and other works by artists including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, among others.

Lawyers in court papers filed in a civil case against him say Cook is likely living abroad because he travels frequently around the world. A lawyer for the 62-year-old Cook did not immediately return a phone message for comment.

From 2005 to 2011, Cook owned Cook Fine Art, LLC.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/arts/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_en_ot/us_art_dealer_charged

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Legal exemplars cited in Michael Mann's UVA email case | Watts Up ...

Mann alludes to his ?dirty laundry? which cannot come out, requesting his correspondent to not pass the email or the data attached to it to anyone else (PE-22).

The Environmental Law Center of the American Tradition Institute

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

Washington, D.C.

January 25, 2012

On Tuesday the American Tradition Institute?s Environmental Law Center sent the University of Virginia and Michael Mann copies of 40 emails selected as examples of the 27 categories identified as benefitting from the Court?s review of UVA and Mann?s claims that emails in the taxpayer-funded school?s possession are properly subject to the specific exemptions under Virginia?s Freedom of Information Act (VFOIA). These categories range from discussions of professional retaliation against other scientists who challenged Mann?s work, to those sent to or from Mann from or copying an email account covered by other FOI laws, such as the federal Freedom of Information Act.

This was part of a process agreed to by ATI, the University and Mann?s attorneys as ATI continues to seek Thomas Jefferson?s university to release a cache of 12,000 emails covered under VFOIA that tell an important part of the history of climate alarmism and the often unsettling ways taxpayer money was spent in promoting it.

?The UVA emails are a key part of a history that taxpayers are trying to piece together to place the early climate alarmism, and taxpayer financing of it, in context,? said Dr. David Schnare, Director of the ATI Environmental Law Center. ?The alarmist professors who in some of these emails speak about ?the cause? have complained that their emails have been taken out of context. Release of the full UVA email collection, all sent or received by Mann after expressly agreeing he had no ownership of or expectation of privacy about them, will provide that context. Considering the behavior of this former UVA professor as documented in many emails already available to the public, these emails are the only means he has to claim exoneration without being accused of a whitewash.?

The selected emails include graphic descriptions of the contempt a small circle of largely taxpayer-funded alarmists held for anyone who followed scientific principles and ended up disagreeing with them. For example, in the fifteenth Petitioners? Exemplar (PE-15), Mann encourages a boycott of one climate journal and a direct appeal to his friends on the editorial board to have one of the journal?s editors fired for accepting papers that were carefully peer-reviewed and recommended for publication on the basis that the papers dispute Mann?s own work. In PE-38, he states that another well respected journal is ?being run by the baddies,? calling them ?shills for industry.? In PE-39 Mann calls U.S. Congressmen concerned about how he spent taxpayer money ?thugs?.

PE-18, 20 & 27 illustrate the typical fashion with which Mann used a UVa email account to accuse co-authors and other respected scientists of incompetence, berating them in emails copied to colleagues living throughout the world. UVA claims this is somehow exempt from VFOIA as scientific research.

In PE-22, Mann alludes to his ?dirty laundry? which cannot come out, requesting his correspondent to not pass the email or the data attached to it to anyone else (UVa has claimed no attachments to any emails were preserved on their system). In this email, Mann admits he has failed to follow the most basic tenet of science, to keep a record of exactly what he did in his research, and thus himself could not reproduce his own results.

PE-24 & 25 characterize the efforts of this small group of academics to hide what they are doing and to avoid their work being held up to inspection under the Freedom of Information Act. In PE-26, Mann goes so far as to ask a federal employee ? impossibly, as he send it to an email account subject to the federal FOIA ? to ?treat this email as confidential? though all the email does is complain about a Wall Street Journal author?s efforts to report the science impeaching Mann?s early work. PE-26, like many other emails UVA wishes to keep secret, is subject to release under the federal FOIA.

These emails, if honestly representative of the entire collection, do not make Virginians proud of having paid Mann?s salary.

?ATI, like Greenpeace and its peers, as well as the media, is committed to using transparency laws to make science and government policy open to the citizens who underwrite it, to the exclusion of properly exempt information such as proprietary material,? said Chris Horner, ATI?s Director of Litigation. ?Universities are routinely asked to produce emails under FOIA, and most do so quickly. This has recently been proved true at another Virginia university when the media sought emails of a Mann critic. Why UVA wishes to boast of such outlier status within the academic community makes one ask, ?what is it they are trying to hide???

The Petitioners? Exemplars are available at ATI?s site.

If you wish an interview with Dr. Schnare or Mr. Horner, please contact ATI at info@atinstitute.org.

- 30 ?

h/t to reader Peter Bromberg

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Source: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/01/26/first-look-at-michael-manns-uva-emails/

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Listen to the Engadget Mobile Podcast with guest CrackBerry Kevin, live at 5PM ET!

Just wake up from a very restful week-long slumber? First of all, we're envious of your good fortune. Second, Research in Motion made a few changes to its leadership chart. Third, you must be really hungry right about now. So grab a sandwich, come back in an hour and join Myriam, Brad, Sean Cooper and our very special guest Kevin Michaluk (yes, Mr. CrackBerry Kevin himself) as we discuss the northern news, as well as anything else that happened this week.

Be sure to send questions or comments you have for us or Kevin via Twitter (we're @engadgetmobile), or make your voice heard in our Ustream chat room during the show!

January 27, 2012 5:00 PM EST

Continue reading Listen to the Engadget Mobile Podcast with guest CrackBerry Kevin, live at 5PM ET!

Listen to the Engadget Mobile Podcast with guest CrackBerry Kevin, live at 5PM ET! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: GOP insults go local

Surprising 30 percent rise in home births

??A small, but growing trend of women in the US are choosing home births, a new government report finds. These mostly over 35, non-Hispanic white women are "consciously rejecting the system" of hospital deliveries, says the researcher.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/46138400#46138400

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Zusi's goal lift US men to 1-0 win over Panama

/

By The Associated Press

updated 10:42 p.m. ET Jan. 25, 2012

Graham Zusi scored his first international goal in the eighth minute, and the United States beat Panama 1-0 in an exhibition game Wednesday night at Panama City for its third straight win.

Using mostly backups while the regulars remained with their European clubs and playing nearly the entire second half a man short, the Americans evened their record at 4-4-1 under Jurgen Klinsmann, who replaced Bob Bradley as coach last summer.

Panama, which upset the U.S. in the first round of last year's CONCACAF Gold Cup, had a man advantage after Geoff Cameron received a red card in the 52nd minute for shoving Blas Perez from behind on a breakaway just outside the penalty area.

Perez nearly tied it in the 78th but sent a short downward header wide.

Other than the goal, the Americans rarely threatened ? the U.S. didn't have its first corner kick until the fifth minute of stoppage time in the second half, just before the final whistle.

And goalkeeper Nick Rimando made several difficult saves to prevent the hosts from scoring.

During a three-week training camp, Klinsmann got to test the depth of his player pool as the Americans prepare for the start of World Cup qualifying on June 8 against Antigua and Barbuda.

Klinsmann figures to have most his top players for the Americans' next game, against Italy at Genoa on Feb. 29.

Zusi, a 25-year-old midfielder with Major League Soccer's Sporting Kansas City, made his national debut in Saturday's 1-0 win over Venezuela at Glendale, Ariz.

His goal came after left back Zach Loyd's cross fell at Teal Bunbury at the top of the 6-yard box and appeared to bounce off him to Zusi, who slammed it in with a right-footed shot from 7 yards.

Rimando, making his first national team appearance in a year, dove midway through the first half to block Luis Renteria's point-blank shot, which bounded in front of the net. Rimando then got up and managed to poke the ball away before the rebound could be knocked in.

Jermaine Jones nearly made it 2-0 in the 30th, but goalkeeper Luis Mejia parried his 30-yard shot, then dived back to save Chris Wondolowski's header at the goal line.

Five minutes later, Rimando athletically got his left leg out to block Perez's close-range shot.

Ricardo Clark earned his first national team start in 19 months after scoring in the seventh minute of stoppage against Venezuela.

Clark, who replaced Jeff Larentowicz in the midfield, had not started for the Americans since June 26, 2010, when he was stripped of the ball leading to Ghana's opening goal in the 2-1 overtime loss that eliminated the U.S. from the World Cup.

Klinsmann switched to a 4-4-2 formation from the 3-5-1 he began with last weekend and made four changes to his starting lineup, also inserting Rimando, Loyd and Wondolowski in place of Bill Hamid, Heath Pearce and Benny Feilhaber. Rimando, Loyd and Wondolowski started for the first time since the 1-1 tie against Chile on Jan. 22, 2011.

Pearce replaced Loyd in the 41st minute and Sean Johnson took over for Rimando at the start of the second half in his first appearance since the Chile match. Defender Jeff Parke made his debut in the 55th minute, coming in for Wondolowski after Cameron's red card.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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More newsJosep Lago / AFP - Getty Images

Barca holds off Madrid rally

Pedro Rodriguez and Daniel Alves scored first-half goals, and Barcelona held off a spirited Real Madrid comeback attempt to eliminate the defending Copa del Rey champion with a 2-2 tie Wednesday night.

Do-or-die

The U.S. women's soccer team was still on the field, having dispatched rival Mexico, when Abby Wambach gathered her teammates for a little speech.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/46141711/ns/sports-soccer/

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The Pirate Bay filesharing site offers 3D objects

Jacob Aron, technology reporter

The MakerBot Replicator is the kind of personal 3D printer that could help with the Pirate Bay's plans (Image: MakerBot Industries)

The Pirate Bay, one of the internet's most well-known sites for downloading copyrighted material such as music, films and ebooks, has launched a new category of digital downloads: physical objects.

Writing on the site's blog, a Pirate Bayer calling himself WinstonQ2038 explained the thinking behind the new category: "We believe that the next step in copying will be made from digital form into physical form. It will be physical objects. Or as we decided to call them: Physibles. Data objects that are able (and feasible) to become physical."

You'll need a 3D printer to take advantage of the files on offer, meaning it is not quite as simple as downloading an MP3, but the move opens up the possibility of intellectual property infringement for physical objects.

Other sites for sharing 3D printer files already exist. For example, Shapeways, where last year one user received a cease-and-desist order from movie studio Paramount after creating a 3D replica of a prop from the film Super 8, causing him to take the file down. The Pirate Bay works differently, offering Bittorrent links for users to download files rather than hosting them directly, making it more resilient to legal attempts to shut it down.

Objects currently listed in the Physibles category include a 3D version of the Pirate Bay logo, a toy race car and a model robot. The latter two are potentially infringing versions of existing designs, but WinstonQ2038 claims the site has more egalitarian aims: "The benefit to society is huge. No more shipping huge amount of products around the world. No more shipping the broken products back. No more child labour. We'll be able to print food for hungry people."

We'll have to wait and see - 3D printed food is currently limited to the likes of chocolate - but if this takes off, we could expect the physical equivalent of the digital rights management (DRM) techniques used by media companies to protect MP3s and other media files. Bank notes are already printed with a special design that scanners won't copy - perhaps all objects will have to be similarly marked in the future.

Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/1c198063/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Cblogs0Conepercent0C20A120C0A10Cfilesharing0Esite0Eserves0Eup0Ephy0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fonline0Enews/story01.htm

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New malaria maps to guide battle against the disease

Monday, January 23, 2012

A new suite of malaria maps has revealed in unprecedented detail the current global pattern of the disease, allowing researchers to see how malaria has changed over a number of years.

In a study published in the Malaria Journal, a multinational team of researchers from the Malaria Atlas Project (MAP), funded mainly by the Wellcome Trust, present the results of a two-year effort to assemble all available data worldwide on the risk of Plasmodium falciparum malaria, the most deadly form of the disease. Using computer modelling and data on climate and human populations, they have revealed the complex landscape of malaria across the globe. The maps build on the first ever Atlas of Malaria-Eliminating Countries published earlier this year.

Malaria continues to exert an huge burden of illness and death worldwide but, after decades of neglect, the war against the disease has entered an unprecedented era: it is high on the policy agenda, international funding is beginning to translate into real increases in populations protected by bed nets and other key interventions, and a growing body of evidence points towards important reductions in illness and death.

The maps have been made freely available, along with a wide range of other malaria resources via the launch of a new online portal at www.map.ox.ac.uk. The research was led by Dr Pete Gething from the Department of Zoology at the University of Oxford. He says: "These new maps and our online portal are really aimed at everyone involved in the battle against the disease: from the major international organisations and funders, to other scientists, to those actually doing the disease control work on the ground."

However, in order to allocate funding where it is most needed, accurate maps detailing where the disease is most intense and where the largest concentrations of people at risk are found. The new maps reveal for the first time the startling variations in malaria risk, even over short distances.

Dr Simon Hay, who leads the MAP group in Oxford, explains: "It's increasingly clear that malaria transmission is extremely heterogeneous. This means a one-size-fits all approach to controlling is not appropriate. What works in one place might not work elsewhere. These maps are designed to help unravel that complexity and provide a practical guide to help target resources."

Sir Richard Feachem, Director of the Global Health Group at the University of California, San Francisco, and Chair of the Malaria Elimination Group has welcomed the role the new maps can play in pursuing malaria elimination. He says: "From the perspective of elimination, the key message is that malaria transmission is actually very low across large swathes of the endemic world - including the 36 countries currently engaged in elimination programmes. Mapping transmission levels in detail helps to guide these initiatives and highlights how, with concerted effort and sustained financing, we can continue to shrink the malaria map."

###

Wellcome Trust: http://www.wellcome.ac.uk

Thanks to Wellcome Trust for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116941/New_malaria_maps_to_guide_battle_against_the_disease

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Gingrich's former company releases contract

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) ? Under pressure, Newt Gingrich arranged the release of a contract Monday night showing the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. paid his consulting firm a $25,000 monthly retainer fee in 2006, for a total of $300,000.

The agreement calls for "consulting and related services" but makes no mention of lobbying.

Gingrich has likened his work for the federally backed mortgage giant known as Freddie Mac to that of a historian, and later a strategic adviser. His top rival for the Republican presidential nomination, Mitt Romney, says he was lobbying.

Monday's disclosure touched off fireworks between the two contenders during a prime-time debate.

"This contract proves you were not a historian. You were a consultant," Romney said. "And you were hired by the chief lobbyist of Freddie Mac."

Gingrich chafed at the suggestion he was "influence peddling" and turned the issue back on his opponent.

"Gov. Romney has done consulting work for years," the former House speaker said. "I've never suggested his consulting work was lobbying."

Gingrich's work for Freddie Mac was disclosed long ago, but controversy has flared in the 48 hours since he trounced Romney in the South Carolina Republican presidential primary. The contract with Gingrich's former firm listed Freddie Mac's director of public policy ? jargon for lobbyist ? as the project executive.

Throughout the early voting states, Gingrich has faced questions from voters concerned about his work for Freddie Mac at town halls. A pro-Romney attacked him on the issue in Iowa. Reporters began asking if he would release the contracts in New Hampshire.

The next primary is set for Jan. 31 in Florida, a state particularly hard hit by the housing crisis of 2008, and one where Gingrich's connections with Freddie Mac may carry a political stigma.

The material was released by the Center for Health Transformation, which Gingrich helped create, and has since sold. The Center for Health Transformation and the Gingrich campaign share a lawyer, Stefan Passantino. He did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Its disclosure came about two hours before a campaign debate in Tampa, and the timing suggested Gingrich was hoping to blunt any attack Romney might make at the event.

Romney has been ramping up criticism for not making the details public sooner. Gingrich said it wasn't only up to him because he no longer controls the firm named in the contract and confidentiality clauses were at play.

The disclosure came amid a volley between the Romney and Gingrich campaigns about who is hiding information voters may want. After facing pressure himself, Romney intends to release some tax records on Tuesday, about a week after Gingrich made his tax returns public.

Gingrich has said previously that firms he ran received about $1.6 million from Freddie Mac for consulting services over several years, and he personally pocketed $35,000 a year. Only the contract covering 2006 was released.

A person who worked closely with Freddie Mac during the years Gingrich was receiving money said Monday night that the former House speaker was employed by the company from 1999 to 2002 by the company's then-chief political executive to review policy proposals created in the hope they would make Freddie Mac more appealing to Republicans.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of fear of retaliation, said that Gingrich was hired again in 2006 by the company's new chief political executive Hollis McLoughlin ? he still works there ? to speak and write on the benefits of Freddie Mac. He was paid $300,000 for 2006, and received some additional money in 2007.

In all, he was employed by the political arm of the company for approximately $1.7 million for the sole purpose of convincing fellow Republicans that Freddie Mac was a force for good in America. The person who provided the information on Gingrich's employment pointed to the open-ended nature of the 2006 contract that was released Monday.

Romney's campaign said it wasn't satisfied with only the contract. "He's got to come clean on Freddie Mac. He put out a contract today for a single year even though he's been providing services to Freddie Mac for multiple years," said senior Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom. "That contract raises more questions than it answers."

Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond said there are no plans for additional disclosures.

___

Associated Press writers Pete Yost in Washington and Shannon McCaffrey in Atlanta contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-23-Gingrich-Freddie%20Mac/id-2708f4074fcb4aa88f6dcf3b4d5eafd5

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Poland defends stance on treaty after web attacks

WARSAW, Poland (AP) ? Polish officials vowed Monday to stick to plans to sign an international copyright treaty that has outraged Internet activists and prompted an attack on government websites.

A government minister, Michal Boni, defended the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA. He said that signing the international treaty would not hamper Internet usage and that Poland will sign it on Thursday, as planned.

"The ACTA agreement in no way changes Polish laws or the rights of Internet users and Internet usage," Boni, the minister of administration and digitization, said after a meeting with Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Culture Minister Bogdan Zdrojewski.

Internet opponents of ACTA fear it could lead to censorship online.

Monday's developments came after a Twitter account using the name "AnonymousWiki" announced plans on the weekend to attack government websites to protest the government's support for ACTA. Within hours on Sunday, the websites of the prime minister, parliament and other government offices were unreachable or sluggish, the hallmarks of a denial-of-service attack.

The technique works by directing streams of bogus traffic at a website, jamming it in the same way that a telephone line can be overwhelmed by hundreds of prank calls.

In an initial response Sunday, government spokesman Pawel Gras suggested there hadn't been an attack at all on the sites. "This isn't an attack by hackers, but just the result of huge interest in the sites" of the government offices, he said, a comment that quickly became a source of ridicule on Facebook and other Internet sites.

By Monday, with the sites still paralyzed, the prime minister held a meeting to reconsider their stance on the treaty.

"It was a velvet attack by hackers, but still it was an attack. Pawel Gras was wrong," said Slawomir Neumann, a lawmaker with the government Civic Platform party. Neumann said the situation showed that the Polish government is poorly prepared to handle such attacks.

Boni acknowledged in a radio interview Monday morning that the government had failed to hold enough consultations with the public on the matter.

An opposition party, the Democratic Left Alliance, also called on the government to not sign the treaty in a gesture of solidarity with those who warn it could hurt Internet freedom.

Anonymous, the group suspected of involvement in the attacks, made a number of threats before and during the Internet disruptions.

"Dear Polish government, we will continue to disrupt and interfere with your government official websites until the 26th. Do not pass ACTA," one tweet by AnonymousWiki said.

It also threatened more trouble should Poland sign ACTA.

"We have dox files and leaked documentations on many Poland officials, if ACTA is passed, we will release these documents," AnonymousWiki said in a separate tweet.

Although its scope is broader, ACTA shares some similarities with the hotly debated Stop Online Piracy Act, which was shelved by U.S. lawmakers last week after Wikipedia and Google blacked out or partially obscured their websites for a day as part of a protest against Web censorship.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2012-01-23-EU-Poland-Websites-Attacked/id-ca9dc3ab52eb47e4855e8f0f42684b37

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How Kourtney Kardashian Celebrated Mason Disick's 2nd Birthday (omg!)

Giddy up!

Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick's son Mason Disick turned 2 on December 14, and for his big day, his city-slickin' family took things to the Wild Wild West.

PHOTOS: See Mason Disick's baby album

Proud grandparents Kris and Bruce Jenner pulled out all the stops for their grandson's fete and hosted a cowboy-themed birthday party at their Hidden Hills, Calif. home complete with a petting zoo, pony rides and an arts and crafts table.

PHOTOS: Mason and more of 2011's cutest tots

Mom Kourtney, 32, who's pregnant with her and boyfriend Scott's second child, helped her first-born son blow out the two candles on his 10 gallon hat birthday cake.

PHOTOS: Star kids' lavish birthday parties

Also in attendance: Mason's aunts Kendall, 16, and Kylie Jenner, 14, and uncle Rob Kardashian, 24.

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[OOC] The Twilight Hall

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Rights group calls on West to end 'Arab exception'

Protesters chant slogans at a rally honoring those killed in clashes with security forces in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, nearly a year after the 18-day uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak. Activists are now trying to energize the public to demand that the ruling military step down. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Protesters chant slogans at a rally honoring those killed in clashes with security forces in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, nearly a year after the 18-day uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak. Activists are now trying to energize the public to demand that the ruling military step down. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Protesters seen through the Syrian national flag chant slogans during an anti-regime protest in front of the Syrian embassy in Amman, Jordan, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon)

CAIRO (AP) ? Popular uprisings sweeping the Arab world exposed biases by Western governments that supported Arab autocratic rulers for the sake of "stability" while turning a blind eye to their repressive policies, Human Rights Watch said Sunday.

The New-York based group urged democratic governments to adopt persistent and consistent support for peaceful protesters and to press both autocratic rulers and newly emerging democracies to avoid intolerance and seeking revenge.

"The events of the past year show that the forced silence of people living under autocrats should never have been mistaken for popular complacency," HRW's executive director Kenneth Roth said. "It is time to end the 'Arab exception.'"

The Arab Spring revolts began in Tunisia in late 2010 and quickly spread to Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Syria and Bahrain, deposing or challenging authoritarian rulers as citizens who long seemed incapable or unwilling to rise against decades of repression took to the streets in a stunning awakening.

In some ways, the unexpected uprisings amounted to a slap to the United States and other Western governments, which had supported autocratic regimes that served as bulwarks against Islamists hostile to the West and appeared to offer stability in a volatile region.

Western governments also have been accused of being selective in supporting the protesters, with NATO airstrikes proving key to the ouster of slain Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi. Meanwhile, the West has stood largely on the sidelines amid continued crackdowns in Bahrain, Yemen and Syria.

"The people driving the Arab Spring deserve strong international support to realize their rights and to build genuine democracies," Roth said in the group's annual report, which covers some 90 countries. He added that the Arab world is in a "transformative moment," and it will not be an easy one.

Human Rights Watch pointed to five main issues that dominated the relationship between Western governments and their Arab autocratic friends: the threat of political Islam, the fight against terrorism, support for Israel, protection of the oil flow and cooperation in stemming immigration.

Even after the leaders of Egypt, Libya and Tunisia were toppled, Western governments remained hesitant to lean too hard on other shaky authoritarian leaders, the group said.

As an example, the watchdog group singled out the United States, saying it has been reluctant to "press Egypt's ruling military council to subject itself to elected civilian rule," nearly a year after the country's longtime leader was ousted following an 18-day uprising.

Roth acknowledged Western governments were re-evaluating their policies as new governments emerge in the region, but said changes have been selective.

"The West has not put Bahrain under pressure, and other monarchs, to carry out reforms," he told The Associated Press in an interview ahead of the report's release in Cairo.

The organization also blamed the Western hesitation in part on the ascendence of political Islam in most of the countries that witnessed the fall of their autocratic rulers like Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia.

HRW urged the West to recognize that Islamists are the "majority preference," while keeping pressure on the emerging new governments to respect human rights, especially regarding women and religious minorities.

Roth was cautious when asked about concerns about potential human rights violations under Islamist rule, particularly in Egypt where the Muslim Brotherhood and ultraconservative Salafis won a majority of seats in the first post-Hosni Mubarak parliament.

He said the Muslim Brotherhood has been "saying the right things" but "we have to see how they govern and how they deal with women, religious minorities. These are the big questions."

The popular uprisings also have alarmed other repressive regimes such as China, Zimbabwe, North Korea, Ethiopia, Vietnam, and Uzbekistan, where rulers were worried about facing similar fates. The group said China and Russia in particular acted "obstructionist," using their veto power at the U.N. security council to halt pressure on Syria to stop killings of protesters.

Saudi Arabia also continues to discriminate against its citizens and workers, according to HRW, which said 9 million women, 8 million foreign workers and 2 million Shiite citizens are either suppressed or lacking rights in the country.

"As we mark the first anniversary of the Arab Spring, we should stand firmly for the rights and aspirations of the individual over the spoils of the tyrant," Roth said.

Outside the Arab world, the last year has not witnessed significant progress in countries with poor human rights records, including China and North Korea, according to the report.

Corruption, poverty and repression still prevail in Equatorial Guinea, the tiny, oil-rich nation off the western coast of Africa, which has been ruled by Africa's longest-serving ruler Teodoro Obiang Nguema since he seized power in a 1979 coup, the group said.

Eritrea continues to be governed by "one of the world's most repressive governments," and its citizens are subjected to torture, detentions, restrictions on freedom of speech, HRW said.

It also cited Colombia, saying armed conflict in the South American country has displaced millions while paramilitary groups with ties to the security apparatus are on the rise.

Cuba, HRW said, remains "the only country in Latin America that represses virtually all forms of political dissent."

The group also claimed that even member states of the European Union have violated human rights through restrictive asylum and migration policies.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-22-Human-Rights-Report/id-e655c5528b8b408fac4018eed5f647e2

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2011 Was the 9th Hottest Year On Record

One of the things that has always bothered me about the global the warming/climate change thesis that its advocates predict nothing but negative consequences.

You are confusing two different groups of people.

Climate scientists are pointing out that adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere increases the temperature, and that this is well known, although the amount still has large error bars-- about plus or minus fifty percent, actually. These aren't "advocates;" this is science: ordinary, messy, plodding, data-intensive, science.

For saying this, however, climate scientists are being attacked relentlessly. It's a politically driven argument, not a scientific argument, which means that it can't be refuted by any amount of data.

There is another question, which is, what will the effects of this warming be? Since the deniers won't even credit that carbon dioxide has a warming effect at all, the odd result is that the ONLY people discussing the effects of temperature increase are the ones looking at negative effects. It's a one-sided debate because the other side has abdicated. They find it easier to attack the scientists than actually look at what the effects will be.

I do predict, however, that eventually the terms of the debate will change, and the deniers will start changing their argument to "well, we may be increasing the temperature, but that's a good thing. We want to increase the temperature."

Actually, I'm looking forward to that shift. First, I really would like to see both sides looking at effects. But, mainly, iI\t's a lot better than the "scientists are frauds and scientific results are a hoax and global warming is a scam" that is currently the argument.

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/Irz_TxCZb_Q/2011-was-the-9th-hottest-year-on-record

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Italian Nanni Moretti to head Cannes jury (Reuters)

PARIS (Reuters) ? Acclaimed Italian actor and director Nanni Moretti will head the jury at the 2012 Cannes film festival in May, organizers said on Friday.

The 58-year-old has had a long association with the world's most important cinema showcase, appearing in competition in 1978 with "Ecce Bombo."

He was back in 1994 with "Caro Diario" (Dear Diary), for which he won the best director award, and in 2001 with "La Stanza del figlio" (The Son's Room), which won the coveted Palme d'Or for best picture.

Five years later came "Il Caimano" (The Caiman), a film that criticized aspects of Italian political life in the era of Silvio Berlusconi.

"This is a real joy, an honor and a tremendous responsibility to preside over the jury of the most prestigious festival of cinematography in the world," said Moretti, who served on the Cannes jury in 1997.

"As a spectator, fortunately I still have the same curiosity that I had in my youth and so it is a great privilege for me to embark on this voyage into the world of contemporary international film," he added in a statement.

The 2012 festival runs from May 16-27.

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

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120120/en_nm/us_cannes_moretti

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Afghan official: 6 civilians die in suicide attack (AP)

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan ? A suicide attacker blew himself up Thursday at an entrance to a sprawling base for U.S. and NATO operations in southern Afghanistan, killing at least six civilians, police said.

It was the second suicide bombing in as many days in southern Afghanistan, which is the birthplace of the Taliban insurgency.

"He arrived on foot and tried to get near the gate of Kandahar Air Field and then he blew himself up," said Abdul Razaq, police chief in Kandahar province.

The incident was confirmed by Gen. Mohammad Hameed, head of the Afghan National Army in the province, who said other civilians were wounded in the blast.

On Wednesday, dozens of civilians, coalition troops and Afghan security forces were killed and wounded when a suicide attacker blew himself up in a bazaar in neighboring Helmand province. Daud Ahmadi, a provincial spokesman, said a bomber on a motorcycle killed at least 12 Afghans, including two policeman, and wounded at least 23 other people in Kajaki district.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120119/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan

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Data Storage Company Nexenta Scores $21 Million In Series C Funding

Data storage solutions provider Nexenta this morning announced that it has secured $21 million in Series C funding in a round led by new investor Menlo Ventures and joined by Sierra Ventures and Razor?s Edge Ventures, Javelin Venture Partners and TransLink Capital. Nexenta claims its open source storage software solutions help enterprises avoid vendor lock-in and enjoy unified storage management at a fraction of the cost of legacy systems.

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Video: Lionel Richie's 'Hello' Remixed (Little green footballs)

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Wall Street gains 1 percent as IMF gives Europe hope (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Stocks jumped to their highest since July on Wednesday as the International Monetary Fund sought to help countries hit by the European debt crisis, while forecast-beating earnings from Goldman Sachs dispelled some worries over bank profits.

The stronger-than-expected earnings from Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) followed disappointing results from Citigroup (C.N) on Tuesday and JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) last week.

Goldman shares shot up 6.8 percent to $104.31, while the S&P financial sector (.GSPF) rose 1.7 percent, leading the S&P 500 higher.

The banking sector has outperformed the broader market so far this year, but the financials sector was the S&P 500's weakest-performing one last year.

While the Goldman results supported financial shares, the IMF's willingness to bolster its crisis-fighting resources gave the sector a big push. Financials had suffered throughout 2011 on worries that Europe's debt crisis would hit banks globally.

"Any time liquidity is added to the financial system, it gives financials a little bit of breathing room, and it will result in higher prices for the banks," said Kevin Caron, market strategist at Stifel, Nicolaus & Co, in Florham Park, New Jersey.

The IMF is seeking to boost its war chest by $600 billion to help countries reeling from the crisis, even though some nations insist Europe must first do more to support ailing members, according to sources.

Home builders' shares surged after data showed U.S. homebuilder sentiment unexpectedly jumped in January to its highest level in 4-1/2 years. The PHLX housing index (.HGX) climbed 3.1 percent, while the Dow Jones home construction index (.DJUSHB) rose 4.4 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) rose 96.88 points, or 0.78 percent, to close at 12,578.95. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) added 14.37 points, or 1.11 percent, to 1,308.04. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) climbed 41.63 points, or 1.53 percent, to close at 2,769.71.

XILINX AND ALTERA UP LATE

After the bell, shares of chipmakers Xilinx (XLNX.O) and Altera (ALTR.O) rose following their earnings reports. Xilinx was up 7 percent from its close of $35.30 and Altera was up 5.1 percent from its close of $40.72.

An index of semiconductor shares (.SOX) climbed 5 percent during the regular session. Intel (INTC.O) is expected to report results on Thursday.

Despite the optimism over the IMF, investors watched cautiously as Greece and its creditors resumed negotiations on terms of a planned debt swap, hoping to overcome an impasse in talks and stave off a painful default.

The benchmark S&P 500 closed above 1,300, a key resistance point that analysts said signal more room to rally if the index stays there.

Within the tech sector, Yahoo Inc (YHOO.O) jumped 3.2 percent to $15.92 a day after co-founder Jerry Yang said he was severing all formal ties with the company he started in 1995. Shareholders had blasted Yang for impeding investment deals that could have transformed the Internet media group.

In other bank results, Bank of New York Mellon Corp (BK.N) slid 4.6 percent to $20.30 after the world's No. 1 custody bank said fourth-quarter earnings fell.

Another big custody bank, State Street Corp (STT.N) slid 6.6 percent to $39.95 after saying it accelerated an expense- control program, a sign it still sees continued weakness in global capital markets.

Financial results will remain in the spotlight, with reports from Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) and Morgan Stanley (MS.N) later this week. Bank of America's stock gained 4.9 percent to $6.80 and Morgan Stanley's shares were up 6.8 percent at $17.35.

"As we've seen, investment banking revenues have been very weak, and we think that's going to be a trend that continues and (there's) also a lot more exposure to Europe in those banks," said Dan Neuger, portfolio manager, head of U.S. and Europe active equities for PineBridge Investments in New York, which has about $70 billion in assets.

In terms of investing, "we don't like the large money-center banks. That's one area we've been away from," he said. "Where we think there is more value is in the regional, more domestically focused smaller banks."

Volume totaled about 7.3 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Amex and Nasdaq, above the daily average of 6.68 billion.

Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a ratio of 4 to 1 while on the Nasdaq, More than three stocks rose for every one that fell.

(Reporting By Caroline Valetkevitch, Additional reporting by Ryan Vlastelica; Editing by Jan Paschal)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120118/bs_nm/us_markets_stocks

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