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POMPANO BEACH, Fla. ? Newt Gingrich slammed GOP rival Mitt Romney on Sunday for the steady stream of attacks he likened to "carpet-bombing," trying to cut into the resurgent front-runner's lead in Florida in the dwindling hours before Tuesday's pivotal presidential primary.

And despite surging ahead in polls, Romney wasn't letting up, relentlessly casting Gingrich as an influence peddler with a "record of failed leadership."

In what has become a wildly unpredictable race, the momentum has swung back to Romney, staggered last weekend by Gingrich's victory in South Carolina. Romney has begun advertising in Nevada ahead of that state's caucuses next Saturday, illustrating the challenges ahead for Gingrich, who has pledged to push ahead no matter what happens in Florida.

An NBC News/Marist poll published Sunday showed Romney with support from 42 percent of likely Florida primary voters, compared with 27 percent for Gingrich.

Romney's campaign has dogged Gingrich at his own campaign stops, sending surrogates to remind reporters of Gingrich's House ethics probe in the 1990s and other episodes in his career aimed at sowing doubt about his judgment.

Gingrich reacted defensively, accusing the former Massachusetts governor and a political committee that supports him of lying, and the GOP's establishment of allowing it.

"I don't know how you debate a person with civility if they're prepared to say things that are just plain factually false," Gingrich said during appearances on Sunday talk shows. "I think the Republican establishment believes it's OK to say and do virtually anything to stop a genuine insurgency from winning because they are very afraid of losing control of the old order."

Gingrich objected specifically to a Romney campaign ad that includes a 1997 NBC News report on the House's decision to discipline Gingrich, then speaker, for ethics charges.

Romney continued to paint Gingrich as part of the very Washington establishment he condemns and someone who had a role in the nation's economic problems.

"Your problem in Florida is that you worked for Freddie Mac at a time when Freddie Mac was not doing the right thing for the American people, and that you're selling influence in Washington at a time when we need people who will stand up for the truth in Washington," Romney told an audience in Naples.

Gingrich's consulting firm was paid more than $1.5 million by the federally-backed mortgage company over a period after he left Congress in 1999.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, trailing in Florida by a wide margin, stayed with his 3-year-old daughter, Bella, who was hospitalized with pneumonia. Sunday night he told supporters, "She without a doubt has turned the corner," but he cautioned she "isn't out of the woods yet."

Aides said Santorum would resume campaigning Monday in Missouri and Minnesota.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who has invested little in Florida, looked ahead to Nevada. The libertarian-leaning Paul is focusing more on gathering delegates in caucus states, where it's less expensive to campaign. But securing the nomination only through caucus states is a hard task.

The intense effort by Romney to slow Gingrich is comparable to his strategy against Gingrich in the closing month before Iowa's leadoff caucuses Jan. 3. Gingrich led in Iowa polls, lifted by what were hailed as strong performances in televised debates, only to drop in the face of withering attacks by Romney, aided immensely by ads sponsored by a "super" political action committee run by former Romney aides.

But Romney aides say they made the mistake of assuming Gingrich could not rise again as he did in South Carolina. Romney appears determined not to let that happen again.

"His record is one of failed leadership," Romney told more than 700 people at a rally in Pompano Beach Sunday evening. "We don't need someone who can speak well perhaps, or can say things we agree with, but does not have the experience of being an effective leader."

Gingrich has responded by criticizing Romney's conservative credentials. Outside an evangelical Christian church in Lutz, Gingrich said he was the more loyal conservative on key social issues.

"This party is not going to nominate somebody who is a pro-abortion, pro-gun-control, pro-tax-increase liberal," Gingrich said. "It isn't going to happen."

But Gingrich, in appearances on Sunday news programs, returned to complaining about Romney's tactics. "It's only when he can mass money to focus on carpet-bombing with negative ads that he gains any traction at all," he said.

Romney and the political committee that supports him had combined to spend some $6.8 million in ads criticizing Gingrich in the Florida campaign's final week. Gingrich and a super PAC that supports him were spending about one-third that amount.

Gingrich worked to portray himself as the insurgent outsider, collecting the endorsement of tea party favorite Herman Cain, whose own campaign for president foundered amid sexual harassment allegations.

It was unclear how aggressively Gingrich would be able to compete in states beyond Florida. The next televised debate, a format Gingrich has used to his advantage, is not until Feb. 22, more than three weeks away.

Romney already has campaigned in Nevada more than Gingrich, is advertising there, and stresses his business background in a state hard-hit by the economy. His campaign welcomed the Sunday endorsement of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Nevada's largest newspaper.

Michigan and Maine, where Romney won during his 2008 campaign, also hold their contests in February. Arizona, a strong tea-party state where Gingrich could do well, has its primary Feb. 28.

___

Associated Press writers Steve Peoples in Naples and Shannon McCaffrey in Lutz contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_campaign

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ROME ? Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, a past president of Italy who helped write its post-war constitution and was a founding member of the former Christian Democrats, died Sunday in Rome. He was 93.

Italian President Giorgio Napolitano paid tribute to his predecessor as "a protagonist in the democratic political life" and called him an example of "moral integrity."

No cause of death was immediately reported.

Scalfaro held numerous prestigious posts before becoming Italy's ninth postwar president, a position that is largely ceremonial but carries the significant role of moral compass for the country.

As president from 1992-1999, Scalfaro was often called upon to resolve Italy's recurrent political crises, either choosing a new premier or calling early elections. He once called Italy's volatile political situation "pathological."

The National Magistrates Association remembered Scalfaro as a "strenuous defender of constitutional values and the autonomy and independence of the magistrates."

A devout Roman Catholic with a law degree from the Catholic University of Milan, Scalfaro spent the war years working to help imprisoned anti-Fascists and their families.

Then, in 1946, he won a seat in the assembly that wrote the constitution for the Italian Republic, declared in late 1947 after a popular referendum abolished the monarchy.

Scalfaro, a native of the northern city of Novara, was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in the republic's first general election in 1948 and remained a deputy until he was elected president in 1992.

He also was one of the founding figures of the former Christian Democrats, for decades Italy's most powerful party until its demise in corruption scandals in the early 1990s.

Scalfaro held junior posts at various ministries through the 1950s and early 1960s. In 1966, he gained his first Cabinet position when Premier Aldo Moro appointed him transportation minister.

In subsequent governments, Scalfaro served two more stints as transport minister and was education minister and interior minister. He was vice president of the Chamber of Deputies from 1976 to 1983.

He became a senator for life after completing his term as president.

He is survived by a daughter, Marianna.

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

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LOS ANGELES, Jan 29 (TheWrap.com) ? "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" will not be hitting theaters in India.

The film was to be released on February 10, but India's Central Board of Film Certification insisted that several scenes be edited.

Director David Fincher refused to cut two love-making scenes and a rape and torture scene from his R-rated adaptation of Stieg Larsson's best-selling book.

Sony acknowledged that it would not be opening the film in India and released a statement, which read in part, "While we are committed to maintaining and protecting the vision of the director, we will, as always, respect the guidelines set by the Board."

The film has already made nearly $100 million in the U.S. and more than $165 million at the overseas box office, and appears on its way to more than $200 globally, with much of Asia still ahead.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120130/film_nm/us_dragontattoo_india

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TOKYO ? The foreign ministers of Japan and Russia have agreed to strengthen economic and security cooperation but made no progress on resolving a long-standing territorial dispute over islands off northeastern Japan.

Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba and visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Saturday the two countries need to address the territorial row in a calm manner.

The dispute over the islands ? called the southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan ? has kept the two nations from forging a peace treaty after World War II.

The islands were seized by Soviet troops in the closing days of the war. They are surrounded by rich fishing grounds.

Gemba said concluding a peace treaty with Russia is "more urgent than ever."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_re_as/as_japan_russia

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Yahoo has been in the mobile space for quite some time and as such, they've managed amass a good amount of apps, but now -- Yahoo is looking to cut some of their weight and move on.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/RBrHt1LVhcw/story01.htm

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Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/46173902#46173902

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BELGRADE, Serbia ? Serbia's government has agreed with U.S. Steel to buy back its loss-making plant in the Balkan country for a symbolic $1, with a goal to avoid its closure and the layoff of 5,400 of its workers, the prime minister said Friday.

Mirko Cvetkovic said the formal agreement with the Pittsburgh-based giant will be signed next Tuesday. There was no immediate confirmation from U.S. Steel, which bought the plant in Smederevo, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) southeast of Belgrade, for $33 million (euro25 million) in 2003.

U.S. Steel Serbia ? the Balkan country's largest single exporter accounting for about 10 percent of its exports with $35 million (euro27 million) in 2010 ? was mulling turning off the second of its two blast furnaces because of mounting losses amid the economic crisis.

"We have no intention to remain the owners in a long run," Cvetkovic said. "We plan to start looking for a strategic partner" to buy the plant.

Cvetkovic said the Americans decided to pull out because of the global economic downturn. He said that they are leaving behind about $250 million (euro190 million) in the factory's assets.

"U.S. Steel decided to leave Serbia and we realized it would be easier to find a new partner if the plant continues to work," he said.

Cvetkovic said the workers will not be fired, but did not specify what would happen with their salaries.

The Smederevo plant, which was operating far bellow its annual capacity of 2.2 million tons, recorded losses of $73 million (euro56 million) for the first nine months of last year.

U.S. Steel's management cited the global economic downturn, anemic economy in southeastern Europe, high raw material costs and pressure from imports as the causes of the problem.

To reduce costs, the Serbian plant's working week has already been cut to four days amid dropping global demand for its low grade steel.

U.S. Steel's other factory in Slovakia has been more profitable because it makes higher-grade steel for the car industry.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_serbia_us_steel

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An Egyptian protester reads a local newspaper as he sits in Tahrir Square, in Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. Egyptian protesters camp in Tahrir Square as they mark the first anniversary of the popular uprising that unseated President Hosni Mubarak. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

An Egyptian protester sleeps in Tahrir Square, in Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. Egyptian protesters camp in Tahrir Square as they mark the first anniversary of the popular uprising that unseated President Hosni Mubarak. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

An Egyptian protester prays next to a tent with a poster of a man killed by the security forces during the revolution with Arabic writing that reads " Shihab Al-Din Ahmed, the martyr of freedom", in Tahrir Square, in Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. Egyptian protesters camp in Tahrir Square as they mark the first anniversary of the popular uprising that unseated President Hosni Mubarak. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

An Egyptian protester sits in Tahrir Square, in Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. Egyptian protesters camp in Tahrir Square as they mark the first anniversary of the popular uprising that unseated President Hosni Mubarak. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

CAIRO (AP) ? Egypt has banned the son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and at least five other Americans from leaving the country, officials said Thursday, heightening tensions over an Egyptian investigation into groups that promote democracy and human rights.

The State Department's highest human rights official, Michael Posner, said the move raised concerns about Egypt's transition to democracy after Hosni Mubarak's ouster and could jeopardize badly needed American aid.

The debate over the role of non-governmental organizations in Egypt comes amid a wider struggle over the direction of the country nearly one year after the 18-day uprising that toppled Mubarak on Feb. 11.

The military rulers who assumed power have blamed "foreign elements" for the recent unrest and cracked down on rights groups, further straining ties with their U.S. ally. The U.S. Congress has passed legislation linking the continuation of American aid to pro-democratic reforms, including allowing non-governmental organizations to operate.

The travel ban became public after Sam LaHood, Egypt director for the Washington-based International Republican Institute, went to Cairo's airport on Saturday to catch a flight and was told by an immigration official that he couldn't leave.

"I asked her why I was denied, she said she didn't know. I asked how to fix it, and she said she didn't know," said LaHood, 36. An hour later, a man gave him back his passport and escorted him to the curb, LaHood said. "It's a dark signal for groups who are interested in doing this kind of work."

Meghan Keck, a spokeswoman for LaHood's father ? a former congressman from Illinois and the only Republican in President Barack Obama's Cabinet ? declined to comment.

The IRI, which is connected to the Republican party, monitored Egypt's recent parliamentary elections. It also was one of 17 organizations targeted in raids last month by Egyptian security forces, who sealed doors with wax and hauled off cash, computers and boxes of files.

The U.S. and the U.N. denounced the raids, but the Egyptian government defended them as part of a legitimate investigation into whether the groups were operating in the country legally.

Sen. John McCain blasted Egypt's handling of the issue in a statement Thursday, saying the American groups had made every effort to comply with Egyptian law.

He warned that continued restrictions on civil society groups "could set back the long-standing partnership between the United States and Egypt."

A lawyer later told LaHood he has been accused of two crimes: managing an unregistered NGO and receiving funds from an unregistered NGO, namely, his salary. If convicted, LaHood said, he could face a fine and between six months and five years in prison.

LaHood said his organization applied for official status when it began operating in Egypt in 2005. The government never gave it a definitive answer, though LaHood says the organization was in frequent communication with the Foreign Ministry about its activities.

Other organizations also have operated in Egypt for years in the same legal limbo.

Posner told reporters in Cairo Thursday that non-governmental organizations in Egypt operate in a "difficult environment" and called on Egyptian authorities to "redress the situation."

"All need to have the ability to operate openly, freely, without constraint, not based on the content of their work," he said.

Posner pointed to recent U.S. legislation requiring Egypt to verify certain benchmarks during its transition to democracy in order to continue to receive American aid. He said that antidemocratic moves could affect U.S. aid to Egypt, one the world's largest recipients.

"Obviously, any action that creates tension between our governments makes the whole package more difficult," he said.

The pressure on non-governmental organizations follows frequent accusations by Egyptian authorities blaming "foreign hands" for continued demonstrations and violence between protesters and security forces.

It remains unclear how many people are affected by the travel ban.

Other American organizations raided include Freedom House and the National Democratic Institute, which also monitored Egypt's recent elections.

LaHood said his lawyer has been told that four of the group's employees, three Americans and one European, are on the list.

A spokeswoman for Freedom House, Mary McGuire, said she was unaware of any change in the employees' status.

Lisa Hughes, director of the Egypt office of the National Democratic Institute, said Egyptian authorities have said that six staffers are on the list, three Americans and three Serbs. All have been interrogated about the group's activities.

Hughes, who is on the list, was planning fly home to the U.S. next month, she said. Her organization was also raided in December.

"I think we would be silly not to be concerned," she said. "We were concerned the moment armed men showed up at our office door, and this has done nothing to calm those concerns."

Hundreds of Egyptian protesters, meanwhile, remained camped out in Cairo's central Tahrir Square, a day after the area was flooded by several hundred thousands of people to mark the first anniversary of the uprising that has changed the political landscape of the country, giving rise to Islamists who were long suppressed under Mubarak's rule.

In an effort to assuage concerns it is seeking control of the country, the top leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, which has emerged as the biggest player in the first post-Mubarak parliament, said his group did not intend to back any Islamist in presidential elections now scheduled to be held before the end of June.

"We are joining the rest of the nationalist forces in choosing a person who enjoys consensus without prejudices to anyone," Mohammed Badei said, according to Egypt's state news agency.

___

Associated Press writer Maggie Michael contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-26-ML-Egypt/id-eb03c3fb3afb476da70616e7f0f99ee1

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The plan is bold, but it could run afoul of international treaties

The?race for the Republican presidential nomination is about to blast off into outer space: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich announced that, if elected, he'd?establish a colony on the moon by 2020.

In a speech to supporters on the Florida space coast, Gingrich called for a "grandiose" effort to colonize?space. "It's the second great launch of the adventure John F. Kennedy started," said Gingrich.

Gingrich opened up the possibility of the moon becoming the 51st state, something he believes could happen once a permanent settlement reaches a population of 13,000 Americans.?While a 1967 United Nations document says that no one country can claim sovereignty over the moon, the U.S., Russia, and China failed to sign a more recent U.N. treaty to settle the question of?who owns the moon.

The bold move hopes to boost the former speaker's presidential campaign in the Sunshine State, where space exploration remains a big industry. Florida will hold its GOP presidential primary vote on Tuesday, January 31.?Polls show the race is close.

[Image credit:?Steve Jurvetson]

(Source)

This article was written by Fox Van Allen and originally appeared on Tecca

More from Tecca:

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/techblog/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_technews/20120126/tc_yblog_technews/newt-gingrich-promises-to-build-a-moon-colony-by-2020-make-it-a-u-s-state

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Note: The following contains spoilers if you have not seen Season 16, Episode 4 of ABC's "The Bachelor."

It's week four of "The Bachelor" and Ben continues to prove that he's about as normal as they come on this train wreck of a show. Although this offers little in "the most dramatic episode ever" category, the ladies continue to provide solid helpings of crazy via catty comments and emotional meltdowns. In fact, their behavior inspired me to create a playlist since mixed tapes have always been a spiritual gift of mine. Enjoy!

Track 1: "Sound of Silence" By Simon & Garfunkel
The first one-on-one date pairs our "Bachelor" with Rachel, or Bangs as I like to call her. She admits that one of her biggest weaknesses is her lack of communication skills. I think that's putting it lightly. When your date resorts to pointing out beaver dams because dinner is so painfully quiet, I think it's safe to say that you have zero communication skills. Stick to the basics. Talk about the weather. Or the food. Or make a joke and ask Ben where he gets his hair cut. This is Conversation 101 at its best. When we can hear the crickets chirping, it's a bad sign, Bangs.

Track 2: "Should Have Been a Cowboy" By Toby Keith
When Ben admitted to the camera that he was ready for the ladies to see his "country side," I performed a quick Google search to confirm that his Sonoma winery indeed does not double as a Dude Ranch. Bless Ben's heart. A plaid pearl snap does not a cowboy make. If we weren't convinced, the sheer terror on his sweet face as his horse galloped through the river on his group date was evidence enough that the closest Ben will ever come to cowboyhood is the 50-yard-line at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas.

Track 3: "Don't Go Away Mad, Just Go Away" By M?tley Cr?e
Miss Pacific Palisades plucks up the courage to ask Ben why she's been on three group dates and no one-on-one dates. He calmly explains that he is looking for specific characteristics in the group dates, while reminding her that not everyone is granted an invitation to bask in his presence. That's code for: Count your blessings, chick! Unfazed by his gentle warning, Samantha presses the issue again. He's left with no choice but to say that she's a great girl, but he assumes she's not really into him since she spends most of her time in the handicapped bathroom stall. She licks her lips, maintains a clueless stare and then is escorted to a black SUV waiting after he helps her pack. Amateur.

Track 4: "I Need You Now" By Lady Antebellum
Poor Kasie B. I truly thought she was going to dive head first into the ankle deep fly fishing river, but she pulled it back together when Ben reassured her that she was a frontrunner. She's professed her love roughly 19 times to the camera, 136 in her journal and I'm confident she worked in an "I love you" once or twice as she whispered sweet nothings into his ear. On most days, she can be found searching for odd numbered petals on daffodils.

Track 5: "Free Fallin'" By Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
I like Jennifer. Had the cameras not been there to document her creepy spelunking date, I might have been fearful for her life. It started off with a seemingly endless hike, leading to a barrier that read "NO TRESPASSING," followed by a law-breaking hop over said barrier to break into a fenced-in area protecting a huge hole, which ended up being the mouth of a cave that had a questionable depth of water below it; i.e. it was the exact intro I saw one time on "Criminal Minds." Assuming that Ben is up-to-date in his harness certification, why did she have to strip down to a string bikini? Had she known she would be suspended over water, waiting for the big plunge, with all of the weight of this dude falling on her, I'm sure she would have chosen something a little more athletic in the swimwear department.

Track 6: "Love is a Battlefield" By Pat Benatar
Emily is strong. Heartache to heartache, she stands. No promises. No demands. She's going to go for the jugular when it comes to Courtney by giving Ben the infamous "she's different around us that she is around you" speech. Sadly, Ben reminds Emily that Courtney is not only hot, but a model and she needs to concentrate more on herself than others. Courtney learns of Emily's tattling and plays mind games the rest of the night. Emily's defenses slowly begin to crumble and she even cries. Yes, love is a battlefield, Emily. And with late night/early morning booze, sleep deprivation and those Spanx cutting off the oxygen to your brain, the odds are not in your favor.

Track 7: "You (Hi)Light Up My Life" By Debby Boone
Jugs McGee slowly endeared herself to me this episode! The combination of her stomping skills on the picnic table during the group date with the revelation of her secret life skill in the art of hair highlighting, she is quickly becoming this season's Miss Congeniality.

Next week, Emily proves that she learned nothing from this week's debacle and tattles on Courtney again. Meanwhile, Courtney chooses to get back at Emily the only way she knows how ... by skinny dipping with our Bachelor. Fun times!

To read the entire recap of last night's episode, visit www.iHateGreenBeans.com.

"The Bachelor" airs Mondays at 8 p.m. EST on ABC.

?

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lincee-ray/the-bachelor-recap-week-four_b_1225970.html

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Dmitry Solovyov / NBC News

The fight master at a dog fight outside of Kabul, Afghanistan during January 2012.

By Dmitry Solovyov , NBC News? Cameraman

Reporters? Notebook

KABUL ? Michael Vick would feel right at home here.

Just north of Kabul, on the edge of the mountains, around 1,000 people recently? gathered in the cold for a dog fight. The crowd was basically all men, of all ages, even babies, sharing in a tradition that has been going on for hundreds of years.
?
Dog fights are popular all over the country, and in some cases gambling is involved. In this particular case, we were told there was no gambling taking place, although I?m not sure that was true.
?
The dog fight is led by an old man, the fight master,? who stands with a stick. He rules the show and is very powerful and very confident. The crowds gather in a series of circles, and no one steps out of line. Only the dog owners and their dogs are allowed to enter the circle.
?
At the start of the fight, there is a green cloth between the dogs so they cannot see each other. The dogs are held by their owners without leashes. Then the cloth is dropped, and the dogs run towards each other and start the fight.

Dmitry Solovyov / NBC News

Some of the dogs were decorated at a recent dog fight outside of Kabul, Afghanistan.

Contrary to common belief, the goal is not for the dogs to kill one another. The winner is the dog that best controls the other ? usually by holding on to the skin that surrounds the dogs? necks ? which is decided by the old man. And once he has made his pronouncement, the fighting stops immediately.
?
I know that the notion of dog-fighting is very controversial. I understand this view ? I have had dogs, and love these animals. But at the same time, the dogs do not die and the owners do not want their animals to get hurt.

In fact, the dog owners are very protective of their animals. After all, owning a fighting dog is an expensive proposition for an Afghan. One dog owner told us that the prices for a fighting dog start at $500 and go as high as $10,000 ? a lot of money anywhere, but particularly in Afghanistan.? The owners seemed to care for their dogs and treated them with respect.

Dmitry Solovyov / NBC News

Dogs fight outside of Kabul, Afghanistan on a Friday in January 2012.

That said, Afghans tend not to be concerned about cruelty to animals. Taking care of their fighting dogs is more about protecting a valuable asset.

After the fights were over, the elderly fight master told us that he has been going to fights since he was a 10-year-old, attending at first with his father. This is a part of Afghan tradition, a way of life and a bit of excitement on Fridays, the day of rest here.

NBC News? Kiko Itasaka contributed to this report.

Source: http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/23/10218753-in-afghanistan-its-dog-fight-dog-world

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NEW YORK ? Sears continues its ascent as the improbable top performer for the year on the Standard & Poor's 500 index, defying a string of bad news, macabre earnings reports and rumors that lenders would cut off financing for suppliers.

Shares of Sears Holdings Corp. have jumped an astounding 61 percent this year, another 6 percent Monday, lighting up financial blogs with investors unable to figure out what has gotten into the stock, driving it ever closer to a 52-week high.

Credit Suisse on Monday said it had the answer: Short sellers who can't get out of the way fast enough.

The report comes on the heels of a rumor that Chairman Eddie Lampert would buy the company and take it private.

And the stock keeps rising, up $3.20 to $45.20 Monday, perhaps even turning on its head news that had previously jolted the value of the iconic retailer. There were reports Thursday that CIT Group Inc. may begin approve financing for Sears' suppliers ? just days after several published reports claimed that CIT had begun cutting them off.

That was two days after shares surged on filing reports showing that Lampert had snapped up $159 million in stock, which suggested to some that he was taking the company private. He owns about 59 percent of the company's shares.

Credit Suisse analyst Gary Balter is calling it a short squeeze. In other words, investors who may have shorted the stock, hoping to make a killing when shares fell even further, are now being forced to buy more stock in order to protect themselves from what, at the moment, seems to be a mistaken bet against Sears.

As for the future of the company, Credit Suisse did not mesh words.

"There are four days you do not want to own this stock and those are the four quarterly earnings days," Balter wrote. "Other than those, this stock seems to live off of stories, with the latest being that a leveraged buyout is ahead."

That, Balter said, is unlikely, "given the poor positioning of both Sears and Kmart."

In November, Sears posted a worse-than expected third-quarter report, citing poor electronics sales and lackluster clothing sales at Kmart. Last month, after a disastrous holiday shopping season, Sears said it would close at least 100 stores to raise cash ? raising the specter that the end may be approaching for the 125-year-old retailer.

Balter is sticking by his "Underperform" rating. He has a $20 price target for the stock.

That's below the 52-week low of $28.89.

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

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Bacteria have been genetically engineered to break down a previously inaccessible sugar in seaweed, called alginate.

A promising new system can convert brown seaweed into biofuel, opening up a new possible source of energy that could help replace fossil fuels, like gasoline, scientists reported today (Jan. 19). ??

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The secret: bacteria genetically engineered to break down a previously inaccessible sugar in seaweed, called alginate.

The researchers who developed this new system used it to generate ethanol, a biofuel that is added to gasoline; however, it has the potential to produce not just ethanol but other biofuels, they and others say.

The new system is like a Lego platform, said Yasuo Yoshikuni, a study researcher and chief science officer and co-founder at Bio Architecture Lab in California. With changes to the components in the process, the same microbe-based system could be used to produce a variety of products, Yoshikuni said.

For instance, the system could be used to turn seaweed into a source (also called a feedstock) for other biofuels, which could?include butanol?? an alcohol, like ethanol, that is blended into gas ? or chemicals used in biodiesel, which has properties similar to conventional, petroleum-based diesel. [10 Ways to Power the Future]??

"It opens up a vast new potential for biofuel feedstocks," said Tom Richard, director of the Institutes of Energy and the Environment at Pennsylvania State University.

Two questions remain, according to Richard, who was not involved in the study, which is published in tomorrow's (Jan. 20) issue of the journal Science: Is it economically feasible to use seaweed to produce biofuel? And is it environmentally attractive?

"We don't know the answer to either question, what this article demonstrates is that it is technically possible, which is a great first step," Richard said. "And I think in both cases there is reason to think there is a good shot." ?

Why seaweed?

Seaweed now joins the cadre of plants ? from corn to?single-celled algae?? that offer tantalizingly renewable and domestically produced alternatives to fossil fuels. In the United States, ethanol made from corn is added to gasoline; in Brazil, cars are powered largely, sometimes completely, by ethanol made from sugar cane.

But converting corn and sugar cane into fuel can be problematic, since both are also food crops. Even other potential biofuel sources, like switchgrass, can compete for land in a world whose population is growing and seeking a more resource-intensive diet. [7 (Billion) Population Milestones]

"This is one of the great debates about biofuel: Is there sufficient agricultural land to produce the food we require in society and also produce significant amounts of biofuels," Richard said.

Seaweed is different; it doesn't compete with farming.

"There is a lot of biomass in the ocean, and so far people haven't really found ways to substantially exploit it," said Chris Somerville, director of the Energy Biosciences Institute, who wasn't involved in the study.

Seaweed ??a relatively unexploited source of nutrition, particularly in North America ? is high in sugars, which are precursors for most biofuels. Seaweed also lacks lignin, a compound that makes cell walls rigid in land plants and that must be removed before such plants can be turned into fuel.

Even so, until now, seaweed appeared to have limited potential as a feedstock for biofuel, since one of its primary sugars, alginate, couldn't be broken down efficiently enough to produce biofuel on an industrial scale. ?

The bug

Marine microbes already have the ability to break down alginate, transport the products and metabolize them, so Yoshikuni's team first figured out the details of how this happens. Then, they?engineered another, more industry-friendly microbe,?E. coli,?to do something similar, spitting out ethanol at the end of a multi-step process. The last of the steps could be replaced to produce other biofuels, or even chemicals such as plastics and polymer building blocks.?

This system also takes advantage of other sugars in the seaweed, mannitol and glucan, since the?E. coli?already possessed the ability to break down mannitol, and commericially available enzymes can easily break glucan down into a more accessible form, glucose.?

This system could be used in any brown seaweed (seaweeds also come in green and red). Yoshikuni's team used kombu, kelp used in East Asian cuisine.??

Cultivating seaweed along three percent of the world's coastlines, where kelp already grows, could produce 60 billion gallons of ethanol, according to Dan Trunfio, BAL's chief executive officer.?

Both Richard and Somerville said the production of ethanol from seaweed using their microbial system would likely require more work to become cost-effective on an industrial scale.

BAL, which is testing cultivation methods at four pilot seaweed farms off the coast of Chile, is working on commercializing the process to produce ethanol and renewable chemicals, according to Trunfio. Seaweed's advantages, its high sugar content and lack of lignin, make it a viable source for biofuel from a cost perspective, he said.

Looking ahead

There is also the environmental question.

One challenge will likely be seaweed's demand for nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, which are not naturally abundant in the oceans, Somerville said. "And generally it is undesirable to fertilize the ocean," he said.

Runoff filled with nutrients creates?dead zones, with low oxygen content, as happens in the Gulf of Mexico where the Mississippi River delivers its payload of agricultural fertilizer.?

Trunfio argues, however, that seaweed's need for nutrients creates an opportunity, noting BAL's seaweed farms are located near salmon farms, so the seaweed can use salmon waste as fertilizer.

Overall, Somerville was cautious about the implications of the new microbial system.

"Does this change everything? No," Somerville said. "It's the beginning of opening up a new area; it needs quite a lot of additional investigation broadly speaking to see what the real opportunity is."

You can follow?LiveScience?senior?writer Wynne Parry on Twitter?@Wynne_Parry.?Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter?@livescience?and on?Facebook.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/S-FZKrs_suo/Custom-mutated-bacteria-converts-seaweed-to-fuel

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Book of Mormon actor Andrew Rannells has landed the lead role in Ryan Murphy's NBC comedy project, Deadline reports.

The single-camera comedy, which is still in development at the network, comes from executive producers Murphy and Dante DiLoreto, both behind Glee and American Horror Story, and new Glee scribe Ali Adler. Rannells would star as one half of a gay couple trying to start a family with the help of a surrogate. The actor has signed a talent holding deal with NBC and series producer 20^th Century Fox TV.

Murphy will direct the pilot should NBC greenlight production.

Get the latest news on all the pilot pickups here

Rannells, who stars opposite Josh Gad in the Tony-winning Broadway musical, will make his on-screen debut in HBO's upcoming comedy Girls.

Related Articles on TVGuide.com

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WASHINGTON ? The U.S. military is now "fully prepared" to deal with any Iranian effort to close the Strait of Hormuz, a vital Persian Gulf avenue for international oil shipments, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Wednesday.

At a Pentagon news conference, Panetta was asked whether, in light of Iran's threat to close the strait in retaliation for stronger international economic sanctions, Washington is adjusting U.S. forces in the region.

"We are not making any special steps at this point in order to deal with the situation," Panetta replied. "Why? Because, frankly, we are fully prepared to deal with that situation now." He noted that routine planning continues as the U.S. and its allies consider a range of potential Iran-related problems.

The Navy this month added a second aircraft carrier strike group in the Middle East, portraying it as part of a normal rotation and not a deliberate buildup of force. The carriers are the USS Carl Vinson and the USS Abraham Lincoln, under the control of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command in Bahrain.

The U.S. has kept a continuous naval presence in the Gulf region for decades, but international concerns about a potential confrontation have grown amid tensions over the advancement of Iran's nuclear program.

The U.S. also has military forces in nearby United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and other Gulf nations.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard, the country's most powerful military force, says Tehran's leadership has decided to order the closure of the Strait of Hormuz if Iran's oil exports are blocked as a result of sanctions. A senior Guard officer said earlier this month that the decision has been made by Iran's top authorities.

Iranian politicians have made the threat in the past, but this was the strongest statement yet that a closure of the strait is official policy.

In his remarks at the Pentagon, Panetta said he still holds out hope for a diplomatic solution with Iran.

"It takes two to be able to engage, and we've always expressed a willingness to try to do that," he said. "But we've always made clear that in terms of any threats to the region, in terms of some of the behavior that they've conducted in the region, that we'll also be prepared to respond militarily if we have to."

In what some view as a sign of concern about aggravating tensions with Iran, the U.S. and Israel have postponed what Panetta has called the largest-ever U.S.-Israeli air defense exercise. It was supposed to be conducted in April.

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said on Monday the postponement was a "joint" decision with Washington. "The thinking was it was not the right timing now to conduct such an exercise," he said. He refused to elaborate.

Asked about this Wednesday, Panetta said Israel's defense minister, Ehud Barak, had approached him to suggest the delay "in order to be able to plan better." Panetta said the decision had nothing to do with Iran.

Israel's ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren, issued a statement Tuesday saying the delay "stemmed solely from technical issues." He said the exercise, dubbed "Austere Challenge 2012", would be held in the second half of this year.

___

Robert Burns can be reached on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/robertburnsAP

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

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NEW YORK (Reuters) ? A Jewish man was under arrest on hate-crime charges on Monday, accused of making anti-Semitic telephone calls to his mother and other elderly women and putting swastikas on apartment doors, police said.

A family business dispute drove David Haddad, 56, of Manhattan, who is Jewish, to make threatening phone calls to his mother, 80, and two other women, ages 87 and 78, a police source said.

"He threatened to kill the other individual on the phone as well as her relatives," said a police spokesman. "He said basically that all Jews should die and go to hell."

Haddad, who was charged with aggravated harassment as a hate crime, also was accused of taping notes with anti-Semitic symbols including swastikas on five apartment doors and in the hallway of a building in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan.

Haddad lives in Chelsea but police declined to say whether he targeted his own building.

(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120116/us_nm/us_crime_newyork_hate

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A group of 125 evangelical leaders met in Texas this weekend and after eight hours of conversation and a final ballot taken on 3 x 5 cards named Rick Santorum as their preferred GOP candidate. "I will have to admit that what I did not think was possible appears to be possible," event sponsor and Family Research President Tony Perkins announced Saturday morning.

The confab, which took place at former Texas Appeals Court Judge Paul Pressler's ranch 90 minutes outside of Houston, gathered the leading lights of the Christian right in a last-ditch effort to unite behind a Republican they'd like to see challenge Barack Obama for the White House. Others attending included former Family Research Council president Gary Bauer, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, and former American Family Association chairman Don Wildmon. Failure to unite behind Mike Huckabee in 2008 meant that this once-powerful bloc of Christian conservatives lost much of its clout, and ultimately an election. Now that the GOP primary dash is already underway -- and many think nearing its final chapter -- there was a sense of urgency to avoid this fate a second time. (See the top 10 political fashion statements.)

After the announcement, Santorum told reporters that the vote was "a validation that people who have been out there in the fields laboring for the conservative cause, see us as someone who can not only stand and fight for the causes but effectively fight and win."

The Texas decision was hardly unanimous, participants said, and came after five hours of debate Friday night and three more Saturday morning. With the exception of the camp backing Jon Huntsman, a representative from each candidate's operation or faction spoke. The discussion turned largely on social issues, but taxes and health care also came up, according to several participants. Voting took three rounds; unanimity was seen by those attending as unlikely from the start. "We didn't keep everyone voting until everyone agreed -- we'd probably be there until November," says Bauer, who endorsed Santorum at a South Carolina campaign event last Sunday. Santorum won 85 of the 114 final votes cast, Politico reported. (Read "Santorum's Sweater Vests: The Unsung Heroes of His Campaign.")

In the end, the bulk of the conversation turned on just two options: Santorum, a Pennsylvania Catholic with seven children, and Gingrich, a Catholic convert and an outspoken Republican who has two daughters and who has been married three times. Gingrich and Santorum remain close in recent South Carolina polls, but are running behind front-runner Mitt Romney.

Two participants reported that some of the debate -- how much is unclear -- about whether to endorse Santorum or Gingrich turned on the matter of their wives. According to two participants, James Dobson praised Karen Santorum for her decision to give up her career to raise a family while briefly expressing some reservations about Callista Gingrich. Dobson asked the group to consider, according to both sources, whether Ms. Gingrich would make a suitable first lady. Both Dobson, through a spokesman, and Bauer, declined to comment on this report. (Read "Why Rick Santorum Is No Social-Conservative Savior.")

Rick Perry, who has touted his evangelical faith in his campaign appearances, lost favor with the group since his decline in the polls over the past few months. When the group met last August at another Texas ranch, several in attendance said that they thought Perry would be the consensus pick of the evangelical leaders.But in the first round of voting this time, Perry fell far behind Santorum and Gingrich in the working count and failed to move on to the next round.

While Mitt Romney has won in both Iowa and New Hampshire, he did not appear to generate much excitement among those in attendance, participants said. Bauer reported that the meeting was not an anti-Romney gathering. Romney is a member of the Mormon church, which some believe may have limited his appeal among some Christian conservatives.

It remains far from clear whether those attending the Texas meetings will have any influence with Republican primary voters. "The outcome of the vote was somewhat dictated by who was invited," says Doug Wead, who was invited to speak on behalf of Ron Paul and who has been advising Republican candidates on matters of faith for more than 25 years. "I long for one of these meetings that is truly representative of evangelicals. The reason we are not effective is that we are not representative -- evangelicals resent being manipulated by this kind of thing." (Read "Late-Breaking and Game Changing: Rick Santorum Is Red Hot in Iowa.")

But Bauer believes that the vote in Texas may yet have an impact on the coming primaries. "After we reached the conclusion, the sense was that people could do whatever they want. We didn't try to outline all of that," he says. "I hope it provides guidance to voters in SC and FL who listen to and respect the people in the room this weekend."

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Source: www.nytimes.com --- Sunday, January 08, 2012
Newt Gingrich?s wooing of The New Hampshire Union Leader secured one of the most coveted endorsements of the presidential election. ...

Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=9b850705ee7bfa61bd72cda94adf34d2

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The New Yorker:

For the past sixty years, TV executives have been making the decisions about what we watch in our living rooms. Kyncl would like to change that. Therefore YouTube, the home of grainy cell-phone videos and skateboarding dogs, is going pro.

Read the whole story: The New Yorker

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/09/youtube-channels-robert-kyncl_n_1193654.html

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The New York Times has a new and interesting article this weekend on Microsoft's development of its Windows Phone operating system. Among other things, the story claims, via unnamed sources, that Microsoft and Nokia will indeed launch the Lumia 900 smartphone at CES 2012 next week as we have previously reported.

The article touches on the fact that while Windows Phone-based products have gotten good reviews it has yet to gain a huge audience. It also goes over the origins of Windows Phone. It states that after Apple launched their iPhone with the iOS operating system in 2007, Microsoft decided that its previous mobile phone OS, Windows Mobile, would not be able to compete with Apple's new product.

During a meeting in December 2008, Microsoft's Terry Myerson asked the mobile group if anything could be used from Windows Mobile for a revamp of the OS. After the meeting was over, the consensus was that Microsoft should start from scratch and create an all new mobile phone OS. That decision, while a good one from a programming and engineering sense, also delayed Microsoft from launching Windows Phone.?

That also gave Google an opening when it launched its own smartphone OS, Android, in 2008 and which went on to become a huge success with multiple phone makers. Microsoft launched Windows Phone two years later in the fall of 2010 with the major "Mango" update in the fall of 2011.

Myerson now heads up the entire Windows Phone group and it will be his job to convince the general public that Windows Phone devices are worth getting compared to the iPhone and the numerous Android and Blackberry products. Myserson admits in the article, "Entering the market so late with this experience has created some special challenges for us. I think if we were there earlier it would be different."

Source: http://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-restarted-windows-phone-from-scratch

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Wall Street juggled European fears with today's benign labor data from ADP and the latest jobless claims data, with Stephen Hammers, Compass EMP Alternative Strategies Fund, and Liz Ann Sonders, Charles Schwab.

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