PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Survivors of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge regime held a remembrance ceremony in an infamous "killing field" Sunday, a day before a U.N.-backed tribunal begins a trial for three of the accused architects ofwatch movies
some of the 20th century's worst atrocities.
Relatives of the victims wept as they chanted and burned incense near a glass case filled with skulls at the Choeung Ek Genocide Center on Sunday. The memorial stands in a field where the Khmer Rouge executed people during their 1975-79 rule that left nearly 2 million people dead.
The emotional ceremony was held to allow Cambodians an opportunity to share their concerns and remember loved ones ahead of the trials of three of the Khmer Rouge's surviving inner circle — all now in their 80s — on charges including crimes against download movies
humanity, genocide and torture.
"As the trial starts tomorrow, I want to remind the victims and ask them to push this trial to find justice for those who were killed by the Khmer Rouges regime," said 80-year-old Chum Mey, who is one of the only two survivors from the notorious S-21 prison.
An estimated 1.7 million people died of execution, starvation, movies online
exhaustion or lack of medical care as a result of the Khmer Rouge's radical communist policies, which essentially turned all of Cambodia into a forced labor camp.
Tribunal spokesman Huy Vannak called the proceedings beginning Monday "the most important trial in the world" because of the seniority of those involved.
On trial will be the Khmer Rouge's chief ideologist, Nuon Chea, christian louboutin shoes
85, former head of state Khieu Samphan, 80, and former foreign minister Ieng Sary, 86.
A fourth defendant, 79-year-old Ieng Thirith, was ruled unfit to stand trial last week because she has Alzheimer's disease. She is Ieng Sary's wife and served as the regime's minister for social affairs.
The Khmer Rouge's supreme leader Pol Pot died in 1998 in a Khmer Rouge jungle camp, where he was held prisoner after his former comrades turned on him. He had led the group from its clandestine revolutionary origins to open resistance after a 1970 coup installed a pro-American government and dragged Cambodia directly into the maelstrom of the Vietnam War.
After a bloody civil war, the Khmer Rouge guerrillas took power in 1975 and all but sealed off the country to the outside world. They immediately emptied the capital Phnom Penh of almost all its inhabitants, sending them to vast rural communes as part of an effort to turn the country into a socialist utopia. With intellectuals and anyone too closely associated with the previous regime executed, an economic and social disaster ensued.
The failures only fed the group's paranoia, and imagined traitors — said to be working with the U.S., or Vietnam, the country's traditional enemy — moncler jackets
were hunted down, only plunging the country further into chaos. Vietnam, whose border provinces had suffered bloody attacks, sponsored a resistance movement and invaded, ousting the Khmer Rouge from power in 1979 and installing a client government.
More than three decades later, hundreds of thousands of Cambodians still struggle with the trauma inflicted by the regime and the long-delayed hunt for justice.
The U.N.-backed tribunal of Cambodian and international judges, which was established in 2006, has so far tried just one case, convicting Kaing Guek Eav, the former head of the regime's notorious S-21 prison, last July and sentencing him to 35 years in prison for war crimes, crimes against humanity and other offenses.
That case was seen as much simpler than the current case, which covers a much broader range of activities and because Kaing Guek Eav confessed to his crimes. Those going on trial Monday have steadfastly maintained their innocence. The prison chief was also far lower in the regime's leadership ranks than the current defendants.
There has been concern that the top Khmer Rouge leaders, all aging and in poor health, could die before a verdict is delivered.
The first part of the trial will consider charges involving the forced movement of people and crimes against humanity, while later proceedings will focus on other charges including genocide.
"I'm so happy and I could not sleep last night when I heard these leaders were to appears before the tribunal," said 80-year-old Chum Mey, one of only two survivors from the S-21 prison. "We have been waiting for more than 30 years to hear these leaders' voice saying the true story of their reign that brought death to over a million people."
2011年11月20日星期日
Spain election dominated by its economic woes
MADRID (AP) — Spaniards braving 21.5 percent unemployment and bleak prospects for economic growth voted Sunday in a general election expected to yield watch movies
a landslide win for opposition conservatives.
Spain would thus become the third eurozone country in as many weeks, after Greece and Italy, to throw out its governing party in an attempt to dig itself out of an economic crisis. The governments of Ireland and Portugal, both of which received huge bailouts when their borrowing costs got out of control, also have changed hands in elections as part Europe's worst financial crisis in decades.
Spanish opposition leader Mariano Rajoy and his conservative Popular Party were expected to win control of Parliament and oust the ruling Socialists, although Rajoy has said little about what his party would do to fight Spain's sky-high unemployment download movies
and piled of debt or where he might exact more painful austerity measures.
A win for Rajoy, 56, would bring the conservatives back to power after nearly eight years of rule by Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.
On social policy, Zapatero put a patently liberal stamp on traditionally Catholic Spain by legalizing gay marriage and ushering in other northern European-style reforms. But on economic matters he has been widely criticized as first denying, then reacting late and erratically, to Spain's slice of the global financial crisis and the implosion of a real estate bubble that had fueled Spanish GDP growth robustly for nearly a decade.
Zapatero slumped so badly in popularity that he decided not tomovies online
run for a new term, and former Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba — a veteran figure and powerful force within the party — emerged as the candidate to succeed him.
Unlike Italy and Greece, which recently replaced their elected governments with bureaucrats in an attempt to better cope with the euro crisis, Spain will stick with the winner of a general election.
"I am ready for whatever Spaniards may want," said Rajoy christian louboutin shoes
after casting his vote Sunday.
Rubalcaba, 60, urged his supporters not to let a low turnout reduce his Socialist party's chances. "The next four years are going to be very important for our future," he said. "The big decisions that have to be taken must be made by citizens, so it's important to vote," he said.
But poor weather caused some polling stations to open late, and a station in the country's south had to be relocated because of flooding, said election office spokesman Felix Monteira. He also said voter turnout was running lower than during Spain's 2008 election.
Voters are casting ballots to elect 350 members of the lower house moncler jackets
of Parliament and 208 senators.
In Barcelona, Spaniard Juan Sanchez said he had voted for Rajoy's party because when it was last in power from 1996 to 2004 unemployment had fallen, whereas under the Socialists that figure had risen to five million.
"Hundreds of small and big businesses have closed down," Sanchez said.
In Madrid, civil servant Diana Bachiller said: "I voted for the Socialists because I am sure that if the Popular Party comes to power it is going to begin to cut everything."
Almost two years of recession have left Spain with a euro-zone high 21.5 percent unemployment rate and a bloated budget deficit. The country's key borrowing rate rose above 6 percent for five consecutive days last week, just one percent below a rate considered unsustainable.
The winner of Sunday's election will have little room for maneuver and will almost certainly need to continue implementing austerity measures begun by the outgoing government.
Maria Angeles Redondo, a doctor in Madrid, said she had voted for the Popular Party but doubted an incoming government would be able to improve matters in the short term. "I am not sure if a change of government is really going to usher in the improvements we want and need," she said.
The increasing severity of the recession forced Zapatero to cut civil servants' wages, freeze pensions and, with a hard-bargained agreement of the trade unions, pass legislation making it easier for companies to hire and fire workers.
Rajoy faces the dilemma of trying to lower Spain's budget deficit — and thus boost investor confidence to reduce Spain's borrowing costs — without cutting spending or raising taxes so much that it puts a brake on the already listless economy and drag it into another recession.
During the campaign, Rajoy was vague about his plans, but his platform included plans for business tax cuts to encourage hiring and lower the country's staggering unemployment rate. Rajoy also said he would meet Spain's commitments to the European Union on deficit reduction, although with economic growth at a standstill hardly anybody thinks the current government's goal of cutting it to 6.0 percent of GDP this year from 9.2 in 2010 is achievable.
"What we need is work and to maintain our health care," said Raquel Melgar of Madrid, who said she voted for Rubalcaba.
a landslide win for opposition conservatives.
Spain would thus become the third eurozone country in as many weeks, after Greece and Italy, to throw out its governing party in an attempt to dig itself out of an economic crisis. The governments of Ireland and Portugal, both of which received huge bailouts when their borrowing costs got out of control, also have changed hands in elections as part Europe's worst financial crisis in decades.
Spanish opposition leader Mariano Rajoy and his conservative Popular Party were expected to win control of Parliament and oust the ruling Socialists, although Rajoy has said little about what his party would do to fight Spain's sky-high unemployment download movies
and piled of debt or where he might exact more painful austerity measures.
A win for Rajoy, 56, would bring the conservatives back to power after nearly eight years of rule by Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.
On social policy, Zapatero put a patently liberal stamp on traditionally Catholic Spain by legalizing gay marriage and ushering in other northern European-style reforms. But on economic matters he has been widely criticized as first denying, then reacting late and erratically, to Spain's slice of the global financial crisis and the implosion of a real estate bubble that had fueled Spanish GDP growth robustly for nearly a decade.
Zapatero slumped so badly in popularity that he decided not tomovies online
run for a new term, and former Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba — a veteran figure and powerful force within the party — emerged as the candidate to succeed him.
Unlike Italy and Greece, which recently replaced their elected governments with bureaucrats in an attempt to better cope with the euro crisis, Spain will stick with the winner of a general election.
"I am ready for whatever Spaniards may want," said Rajoy christian louboutin shoes
after casting his vote Sunday.
Rubalcaba, 60, urged his supporters not to let a low turnout reduce his Socialist party's chances. "The next four years are going to be very important for our future," he said. "The big decisions that have to be taken must be made by citizens, so it's important to vote," he said.
But poor weather caused some polling stations to open late, and a station in the country's south had to be relocated because of flooding, said election office spokesman Felix Monteira. He also said voter turnout was running lower than during Spain's 2008 election.
Voters are casting ballots to elect 350 members of the lower house moncler jackets
of Parliament and 208 senators.
In Barcelona, Spaniard Juan Sanchez said he had voted for Rajoy's party because when it was last in power from 1996 to 2004 unemployment had fallen, whereas under the Socialists that figure had risen to five million.
"Hundreds of small and big businesses have closed down," Sanchez said.
In Madrid, civil servant Diana Bachiller said: "I voted for the Socialists because I am sure that if the Popular Party comes to power it is going to begin to cut everything."
Almost two years of recession have left Spain with a euro-zone high 21.5 percent unemployment rate and a bloated budget deficit. The country's key borrowing rate rose above 6 percent for five consecutive days last week, just one percent below a rate considered unsustainable.
The winner of Sunday's election will have little room for maneuver and will almost certainly need to continue implementing austerity measures begun by the outgoing government.
Maria Angeles Redondo, a doctor in Madrid, said she had voted for the Popular Party but doubted an incoming government would be able to improve matters in the short term. "I am not sure if a change of government is really going to usher in the improvements we want and need," she said.
The increasing severity of the recession forced Zapatero to cut civil servants' wages, freeze pensions and, with a hard-bargained agreement of the trade unions, pass legislation making it easier for companies to hire and fire workers.
Rajoy faces the dilemma of trying to lower Spain's budget deficit — and thus boost investor confidence to reduce Spain's borrowing costs — without cutting spending or raising taxes so much that it puts a brake on the already listless economy and drag it into another recession.
During the campaign, Rajoy was vague about his plans, but his platform included plans for business tax cuts to encourage hiring and lower the country's staggering unemployment rate. Rajoy also said he would meet Spain's commitments to the European Union on deficit reduction, although with economic growth at a standstill hardly anybody thinks the current government's goal of cutting it to 6.0 percent of GDP this year from 9.2 in 2010 is achievable.
"What we need is work and to maintain our health care," said Raquel Melgar of Madrid, who said she voted for Rubalcaba.
Future cancers from Fukushima plant may be hidden
Future cancers from Fukushima plant may be hidden
FUKUSHIMA, Japan (AP) — Even if the worst nuclear accident in 25 years leads to many people developing cancer, we may never find out.
Looking back on those early days of radiation horror, that may sound implausible.
But the ordinary rate of cancer is so high, and our understanding of the effects of radiation exposure so limited, that any increase in cases from the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster may be undetectable.
Several experts inside and outside Japan told The Associated Press that cancers caused by the radiation may be too few to show up in large population studies, like the long-term survey just getting under way in Fukushima.
That could mean thousands of cancers under the radar in a study of millions of people, or it could be virtually none. Some of the dozen experts the AP interviewed said they believe radiation doses most Japanese watch movies
people have gotten fall in a "low-dose" range, where the effect on cancer remains unclear.
The cancer risk may be absent, or just too small to detect, said Dr. Fred Mettler, a radiologist who led an international study of health effects from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
That's partly because cancer is one of the top killers of people in industrialized nations. Odds are high that if you live long enough, download movies
you will die of cancer. The average lifetime cancer risk is about 40 percent.
In any case, the 2 million residents of Fukushima Prefecture, targeted in the new, 30-year survey, probably got too little radiation to have a noticeable effect on cancer rates, said Seiji Yasumura of the state-run Fukushima Medical University. movies online
Yasumura is helping run the project.
"I think he's right," as long as authorities limit children's future exposure to the radiation, said Richard Wakeford, a visiting epidemiology christian louboutin shoes
professor at the Dalton Nuclear Institute at the University of Manchester in England. Wakeford, who's also editor of the Journal of Radiological Protection, said he's assuming that the encouraging data he's seen on the risk for thyroid cancer is correct.
The idea that Fukushima-related cancers may go undetected gives no comfort to Edwin Lyman, a physicist and senior scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists, a group that advocates for nuclear safety. He said that even if cancers don't turn up in population studies, that "doesn't mean the cancers aren't there, and it doesn't mean moncler jackets
it doesn't matter."
"I think that a prediction of thousands of cancer deaths as a result of the radiation from Fukushima is not out of line," Lyman said. But he stressed that authorities can do a lot to limit the toll by reducing future exposure to the radiation. That could mean expensive decontamination projects, large areas of condemned land and people never returning home, he said. "There's some difficult choices ahead."
Japan's Cabinet this month endorsed a plan to cut contamination levels in half within the next two years. The government recently announced it plans to study the risk from long-term exposure to the low-dose radiation level used as a trigger for evacuations.
The plant was damaged March 11 by a tsunami triggered by a magnitude-9 earthquake. Japanese authorities estimate it leaked about one-sixth as much radiation as the Chernobyl accident. It spewed radioactive materials like iodine-131, cesium-137 and 29 others contaminating the water, soil, forests and crops for miles around. A recent study suggested that emissions of cesium-137, were in fact twice what the government has estimated.
So far, no radiation-linked death or sickness has been reported in either citizens or workers who are shutting down the plant.
And a preliminary survey of 3,373 evacuees from the 10 towns closest to the plant this summer showed their estimated internal exposure doses over the next several decades would be far below levels officials deem harmful.
But while the Fukushima disaster has faded from world headlines, many Japanese remain concerned about their long-term health. And many don't trust reassurances from government scientists like Yasumura, of the Fukushima survey.
Many consumers worry about the safety of food from Fukushima and surrounding prefectures, although produce and fish found to be above government-set limits for contamination have been barred from the market. For example, mushrooms harvested in and around Fukushima are frequently found to be contaminated and barred from market. Controversy has also erupted around the government's choice of a maximum allowed level for internal radiation exposure from food.
Fukushima has distributed radiation monitors to 280,000 children at its elementary and junior high schools. Many children are allowed to play outside only two or three hours a day. Schools have removed topsoil on the playgrounds to reduce the dose, and the Education Ministry provided radiation handbooks for teachers. Thousands of children have been moved out of Fukushima since the March disasters, mainly due to radiation fears.
Many parents and concerned citizens in and around Fukushima, some even as far as Tokyo, carry Geiger counters for daily measurement of radiation levels in their neighborhoods, especially near schools and kindergartens. The devices are probably one of the most popular electronics gadgets across Japan these days. People can rent them at DVD shops or drug stores in Fukushima, while many Internet rental businesses specializing in Geiger counters also have emerged.
Citizens groups are also setting up radiation measuring centers where people can submit vegetables, milk or other foods for tests. Some people are turning to traditional Japanese diet — pickled plum, miso soup and brown rice — based on a belief that it boosts the immune system.
"I try what I believe is the best, because I don't trust the government any more," says Chieko Shiina, who has turned to that diet. The 65-year-old Fukushima farmer had to close a small Japanese-style inn due to the nuclear crisis.
She thinks leaving Fukushima would be safer but says there is nowhere else to go.
"I know we continue to be irradiated, even right at this moment. I know it would be best just to leave Fukushima," she said.
Yuka Saito, a mother of four who lives in a Fukushima neighborhood where the evacuation order was recently lifted, said she and her three youngest children spent the summer in Hokkaido to get away from the radiation. She tells her children, ages 6 to 15, to wear medical masks, long-sleeved shirts and a hat whenever they go out, and not to play outside.
She still avoids drinking tap water and keeps a daily log of her own radiation monitoring around the house, kindergarten and schools her children attend.
"We Fukushima people are exposed to radiation more than anyone else outside the prefecture, but we just have to do our best to cope," she said. "We cannot stay inside the house forever."
Japanese officials say mental health problems caused by excessive fear of radiation are prevalent and posing a bigger problem than actual risk of cancer caused by radiation.
But what kind of cancer risks do the Japanese really face?
Information on actual radiation exposures for individuals is scarce, and some experts say they can't draw any conclusions yet about risk to the population.
But Michiaki Kai, professor of environmental health at Oita University of Nursing and Health Sciences, said that based on tests he's seen on people and their exposure levels, nobody in Fukushima except for some plant workers has been exposed to harmful levels of radiation.
Radiation generally raises cancer risk in proportion to its amount. At low-dose exposures, many experts and 'regulators embrace the idea that this still holds true. But other experts say direct evidence for that is lacking, and that it's not clear whether such small doses raise cancer risk at all.
"Nobody knows the answer to that question," says Mettler, an emeritus professor of radiology at the University of New Mexico and the U.S. representative to the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, or UNSCEAR. If such low doses do produce cancers, they'd be too few to be detected against the backdrop of normal cancer rates, he said.
To an individual the question may have little meaning, since it deals with the difference between no risk and small risk. For example, the general population was told to evacuate areas that would expose them to more than 20 millisieverts a year. A millisievert measures radiation dose and 20 mSv is about seven times the average dose of background radiation Americans get in a year. A child exposed to 20 mSv for a year would face a calculated risk of about 1 in 400 of getting cancer someday as a result, says David Brenner of Columbia University. So that would add 0.25 percent onto the typical lifetime cancer risk of about 40 percent, he said.
And the average dose among the 14,385 workers who worked on the plant through July was 8 mSv, according to the Japanese government. The average lifetime risk of cancer to an individual from that dose alone would be calculated at about 0.05 percent, or 1 in 2,000, Brenner said.
Brenner stresses that such calculations are uncertain because scientists know so little about the effects of such small doses of radiation.
But in assessing the Fukushima disaster's effect on populations, the low-dose question leads to another: If a lot of people are each exposed to a low dose, can you basically multiply their individual calculated risks to forecast a number of cancers in the population?
Brenner thinks so, which is why he believes some cancers might even appear in Tokyo although each resident's risk is "pretty minuscule."
But Wolfgang Weiss, who chairs the UNSCEAR radiation committee, said the committee considers it inappropriate to predict a certain number of cancer cases from a low-dose exposure, because low-dose risk isn't proven.
Nuclear accidents can cause cancer of the thyroid gland, which can absorb radioactive iodine and become cancerous. That disease is highly treatable and rarely fatal.
After the Chernobyl disaster, some 6,000 children exposed to radioactive fallout later developed thyroid cancer. Experts blame contaminated milk. But the thyroid threat was apparently reduced in Japan, where authorities closely monitored dairy radiation levels, and children are not big milk drinkers anyway.
Still, the new Fukushima survey will check the thyroids of some 360,000 young people under age 18, with follow-ups planned every five years throughout their lifetimes. It will also track women who were pregnant early in the crisis, do checkups focused on mental health and lifestyle-related illnesses for evacuees and others from around the evacuation zone, and ask residents to fill out a 12-page questionnaire to assess their radiation exposure during the first weeks of the crisis.
But the survey organizers are having trouble getting responses, partly because of address changes. As of mid-October, less than half the residents had responded to the health questionnaire.
Some residents are skeptical about the survey's objectivity because of mistrust toward the government, which repeatedly delayed disclosing key data and which revised evacuation zones and safety standards after the accident. Also, the government's nuclear safety commission recommended use of iodine tablets but none of the residents received them just before or during evacuation, when the preventive medicine would have been most effective.
Some wonder if the study is using them as human guinea pigs to examine the impact of radiation on humans.
Eisuke Matsui, a lung cancer specialist and a former associate professor at Gifu University School of Medicine, criticized the project. He said it appears to largely ignore potential radiation-induced health risks like diabetes, cataracts and heart problems that have been hinted at by some studies of Chernobyl.
"If thyroid cancer is virtually the only abnormality on which they are focusing, I must say there is a big question mark over the reliability of this survey," he said.
He also suggested sampling hair, clipped nails and fallen baby teeth to test for radioactive isotopes such as strontium that are undetectable by the survey's current approach.
"We should check as many potential problems as possible," Matsui said.
Yasumura acknowledges the main purpose of his study is "to relieve radiation fears." But Matsui says he has a problem with that.
"A health survey should be a start," Matsui says, "not a goal."
Tatsuhiko Kodama, head of the Radioisotope Center at the University of Tokyo, urged quick action to determine the cancer risks.
He said big population surveys and analysis will take so long that it would make more sense to run a careful simulation of radiation exposures and do anything possible to reduce the risks.
"Our responsibility is to tell the people now what possible risks may be to their health," he said.
___
Science Writer Malcolm Ritter reported from New York.
FUKUSHIMA, Japan (AP) — Even if the worst nuclear accident in 25 years leads to many people developing cancer, we may never find out.
Looking back on those early days of radiation horror, that may sound implausible.
But the ordinary rate of cancer is so high, and our understanding of the effects of radiation exposure so limited, that any increase in cases from the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster may be undetectable.
Several experts inside and outside Japan told The Associated Press that cancers caused by the radiation may be too few to show up in large population studies, like the long-term survey just getting under way in Fukushima.
That could mean thousands of cancers under the radar in a study of millions of people, or it could be virtually none. Some of the dozen experts the AP interviewed said they believe radiation doses most Japanese watch movies
people have gotten fall in a "low-dose" range, where the effect on cancer remains unclear.
The cancer risk may be absent, or just too small to detect, said Dr. Fred Mettler, a radiologist who led an international study of health effects from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
That's partly because cancer is one of the top killers of people in industrialized nations. Odds are high that if you live long enough, download movies
you will die of cancer. The average lifetime cancer risk is about 40 percent.
In any case, the 2 million residents of Fukushima Prefecture, targeted in the new, 30-year survey, probably got too little radiation to have a noticeable effect on cancer rates, said Seiji Yasumura of the state-run Fukushima Medical University. movies online
Yasumura is helping run the project.
"I think he's right," as long as authorities limit children's future exposure to the radiation, said Richard Wakeford, a visiting epidemiology christian louboutin shoes
professor at the Dalton Nuclear Institute at the University of Manchester in England. Wakeford, who's also editor of the Journal of Radiological Protection, said he's assuming that the encouraging data he's seen on the risk for thyroid cancer is correct.
The idea that Fukushima-related cancers may go undetected gives no comfort to Edwin Lyman, a physicist and senior scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists, a group that advocates for nuclear safety. He said that even if cancers don't turn up in population studies, that "doesn't mean the cancers aren't there, and it doesn't mean moncler jackets
it doesn't matter."
"I think that a prediction of thousands of cancer deaths as a result of the radiation from Fukushima is not out of line," Lyman said. But he stressed that authorities can do a lot to limit the toll by reducing future exposure to the radiation. That could mean expensive decontamination projects, large areas of condemned land and people never returning home, he said. "There's some difficult choices ahead."
Japan's Cabinet this month endorsed a plan to cut contamination levels in half within the next two years. The government recently announced it plans to study the risk from long-term exposure to the low-dose radiation level used as a trigger for evacuations.
The plant was damaged March 11 by a tsunami triggered by a magnitude-9 earthquake. Japanese authorities estimate it leaked about one-sixth as much radiation as the Chernobyl accident. It spewed radioactive materials like iodine-131, cesium-137 and 29 others contaminating the water, soil, forests and crops for miles around. A recent study suggested that emissions of cesium-137, were in fact twice what the government has estimated.
So far, no radiation-linked death or sickness has been reported in either citizens or workers who are shutting down the plant.
And a preliminary survey of 3,373 evacuees from the 10 towns closest to the plant this summer showed their estimated internal exposure doses over the next several decades would be far below levels officials deem harmful.
But while the Fukushima disaster has faded from world headlines, many Japanese remain concerned about their long-term health. And many don't trust reassurances from government scientists like Yasumura, of the Fukushima survey.
Many consumers worry about the safety of food from Fukushima and surrounding prefectures, although produce and fish found to be above government-set limits for contamination have been barred from the market. For example, mushrooms harvested in and around Fukushima are frequently found to be contaminated and barred from market. Controversy has also erupted around the government's choice of a maximum allowed level for internal radiation exposure from food.
Fukushima has distributed radiation monitors to 280,000 children at its elementary and junior high schools. Many children are allowed to play outside only two or three hours a day. Schools have removed topsoil on the playgrounds to reduce the dose, and the Education Ministry provided radiation handbooks for teachers. Thousands of children have been moved out of Fukushima since the March disasters, mainly due to radiation fears.
Many parents and concerned citizens in and around Fukushima, some even as far as Tokyo, carry Geiger counters for daily measurement of radiation levels in their neighborhoods, especially near schools and kindergartens. The devices are probably one of the most popular electronics gadgets across Japan these days. People can rent them at DVD shops or drug stores in Fukushima, while many Internet rental businesses specializing in Geiger counters also have emerged.
Citizens groups are also setting up radiation measuring centers where people can submit vegetables, milk or other foods for tests. Some people are turning to traditional Japanese diet — pickled plum, miso soup and brown rice — based on a belief that it boosts the immune system.
"I try what I believe is the best, because I don't trust the government any more," says Chieko Shiina, who has turned to that diet. The 65-year-old Fukushima farmer had to close a small Japanese-style inn due to the nuclear crisis.
She thinks leaving Fukushima would be safer but says there is nowhere else to go.
"I know we continue to be irradiated, even right at this moment. I know it would be best just to leave Fukushima," she said.
Yuka Saito, a mother of four who lives in a Fukushima neighborhood where the evacuation order was recently lifted, said she and her three youngest children spent the summer in Hokkaido to get away from the radiation. She tells her children, ages 6 to 15, to wear medical masks, long-sleeved shirts and a hat whenever they go out, and not to play outside.
She still avoids drinking tap water and keeps a daily log of her own radiation monitoring around the house, kindergarten and schools her children attend.
"We Fukushima people are exposed to radiation more than anyone else outside the prefecture, but we just have to do our best to cope," she said. "We cannot stay inside the house forever."
Japanese officials say mental health problems caused by excessive fear of radiation are prevalent and posing a bigger problem than actual risk of cancer caused by radiation.
But what kind of cancer risks do the Japanese really face?
Information on actual radiation exposures for individuals is scarce, and some experts say they can't draw any conclusions yet about risk to the population.
But Michiaki Kai, professor of environmental health at Oita University of Nursing and Health Sciences, said that based on tests he's seen on people and their exposure levels, nobody in Fukushima except for some plant workers has been exposed to harmful levels of radiation.
Radiation generally raises cancer risk in proportion to its amount. At low-dose exposures, many experts and 'regulators embrace the idea that this still holds true. But other experts say direct evidence for that is lacking, and that it's not clear whether such small doses raise cancer risk at all.
"Nobody knows the answer to that question," says Mettler, an emeritus professor of radiology at the University of New Mexico and the U.S. representative to the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, or UNSCEAR. If such low doses do produce cancers, they'd be too few to be detected against the backdrop of normal cancer rates, he said.
To an individual the question may have little meaning, since it deals with the difference between no risk and small risk. For example, the general population was told to evacuate areas that would expose them to more than 20 millisieverts a year. A millisievert measures radiation dose and 20 mSv is about seven times the average dose of background radiation Americans get in a year. A child exposed to 20 mSv for a year would face a calculated risk of about 1 in 400 of getting cancer someday as a result, says David Brenner of Columbia University. So that would add 0.25 percent onto the typical lifetime cancer risk of about 40 percent, he said.
And the average dose among the 14,385 workers who worked on the plant through July was 8 mSv, according to the Japanese government. The average lifetime risk of cancer to an individual from that dose alone would be calculated at about 0.05 percent, or 1 in 2,000, Brenner said.
Brenner stresses that such calculations are uncertain because scientists know so little about the effects of such small doses of radiation.
But in assessing the Fukushima disaster's effect on populations, the low-dose question leads to another: If a lot of people are each exposed to a low dose, can you basically multiply their individual calculated risks to forecast a number of cancers in the population?
Brenner thinks so, which is why he believes some cancers might even appear in Tokyo although each resident's risk is "pretty minuscule."
But Wolfgang Weiss, who chairs the UNSCEAR radiation committee, said the committee considers it inappropriate to predict a certain number of cancer cases from a low-dose exposure, because low-dose risk isn't proven.
Nuclear accidents can cause cancer of the thyroid gland, which can absorb radioactive iodine and become cancerous. That disease is highly treatable and rarely fatal.
After the Chernobyl disaster, some 6,000 children exposed to radioactive fallout later developed thyroid cancer. Experts blame contaminated milk. But the thyroid threat was apparently reduced in Japan, where authorities closely monitored dairy radiation levels, and children are not big milk drinkers anyway.
Still, the new Fukushima survey will check the thyroids of some 360,000 young people under age 18, with follow-ups planned every five years throughout their lifetimes. It will also track women who were pregnant early in the crisis, do checkups focused on mental health and lifestyle-related illnesses for evacuees and others from around the evacuation zone, and ask residents to fill out a 12-page questionnaire to assess their radiation exposure during the first weeks of the crisis.
But the survey organizers are having trouble getting responses, partly because of address changes. As of mid-October, less than half the residents had responded to the health questionnaire.
Some residents are skeptical about the survey's objectivity because of mistrust toward the government, which repeatedly delayed disclosing key data and which revised evacuation zones and safety standards after the accident. Also, the government's nuclear safety commission recommended use of iodine tablets but none of the residents received them just before or during evacuation, when the preventive medicine would have been most effective.
Some wonder if the study is using them as human guinea pigs to examine the impact of radiation on humans.
Eisuke Matsui, a lung cancer specialist and a former associate professor at Gifu University School of Medicine, criticized the project. He said it appears to largely ignore potential radiation-induced health risks like diabetes, cataracts and heart problems that have been hinted at by some studies of Chernobyl.
"If thyroid cancer is virtually the only abnormality on which they are focusing, I must say there is a big question mark over the reliability of this survey," he said.
He also suggested sampling hair, clipped nails and fallen baby teeth to test for radioactive isotopes such as strontium that are undetectable by the survey's current approach.
"We should check as many potential problems as possible," Matsui said.
Yasumura acknowledges the main purpose of his study is "to relieve radiation fears." But Matsui says he has a problem with that.
"A health survey should be a start," Matsui says, "not a goal."
Tatsuhiko Kodama, head of the Radioisotope Center at the University of Tokyo, urged quick action to determine the cancer risks.
He said big population surveys and analysis will take so long that it would make more sense to run a careful simulation of radiation exposures and do anything possible to reduce the risks.
"Our responsibility is to tell the people now what possible risks may be to their health," he said.
___
Science Writer Malcolm Ritter reported from New York.
Anything can-happen feel in Iowa's 2012 vote
Anything can-happen feel in Iowa's 2012 vote
ANAMOSA, Iowa (AP) — The race for the Republican presidential nomination is deeply unsettled with an anything-can-happen feel six weeks before Iowans start the state-by-state process of choosing a GOP challenger for President Barack Obama.
Hoping to sway the many voters who are still undecided, most of the contenders visited the state in the past week and the pace of campaigning is certain to accelerate after Thanksgiving, when the monthlong sprint to the Jan. 3 caucuses begins. A crush of new TV ads is certain. Expect mailboxes filled with brochures and repeated visits by candidates to diners, town squares and other must-stop venues.
"People are getting close to decision time," former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, one of several candidates whose bids depend on a strong Iowa showing, told The Associated Press. "You're going to see some coalescing in the next couple of weeks."
A recent poll found that 60 percent of Republicans who plan to participate in the caucuses are willing to change their minds and 10 percent are fully undecided. That Bloomberg News survey showed a four-way race: Clustered at the top were Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain and Ron Paul, candidates whose positions, backgrounds and personalities run the gamut. Languishing far behind were Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann, who at one point enjoyed huge bursts of support.
Iowa's outcome matters because it will shape the contest in New Hampshire, which holds its primary Jan. 10, and in states beyond.
Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, has started stepping up his efforts in Iowa after playing it cautiously all year. He plans to return to the state Wednesday after skipping a multi-candidate forum in Des Moines on Saturday night.
Nearly all his rivals, promoting themselves as a viable alternative to Romney, gathered on one stage to discuss how their religiouswatch movies
faith influences their public life before a large and influential audience of social conservatives.
Considered the one to beat because of his strength on several fronts, Romney spent the weekend in New Hampshire.
In Iowa, he's hoping that social conservatives who make up the GOP's base will splinter their support among the crowded field of candidates who are considered more conservative than Romney. No one has emerged as the download movies
consensus choice of those conservatives, though many are trying.
They include Cain, a Georgia businessman, and Gingrich, the former U.S. House speaker, who seem just as poised to break out of the pack as they are to fade. Both are seen as attractive for a Republican electorate craving a candidate who will take it to Obama in a no-holds-barred style. But both also are trying hard to weather increased scrutiny.
Cain continues to fight decade-old sexual harassment allegations, along with questions about his grasp of an array of policies. Iowans movies online
don't seem to be punishing him for any of it, so far. He cheerfully greeted a crowd of more than 200 at a Dubuque restaurant Tuesday on just his second trip to Iowa in the past three months.
"Herman Cain's support at this point has intensified," Johnson County GOP Chairman Bob Anderson said. "There's been no decrease in christian louboutin shoes
his level of support based on the controversy that's erupted."
But Cain has little campaign structure in the state and a tiny staff. Despite the upbeat tone of his visit, he did little outreach to influential Republican activists. He took no audience questions in Dubuque, spent most of his time in Iowa recording a campaign advertisement and headlined a five-minute news conference spent primarily defending an awkward response to an interview question about Libya a day earlier.
Like Cain, Gingrich returned to Iowa last week moncler jackets
to find himself on the defensive over a number of issues, including the roughly $1.6 million he received as a consultant to Freddie Mac, the federally backed mortgage giant detested by conservatives. He found himself spending the bulk of his three-day trip trying to portray his history with the company as a sign of valuable experience.
"It reminds people that I know a great deal about Washington," Gingrich said. "We just tried four years of amateur ignorance, and it didn't work very well. So having someone who actually knows Washington might be a really good thing."
As the week ended, Gingrich introduced a website that collects, and provides answers for, what he long has claimed are myths about his background and explanations for policy position changes throughout the years. Among the issues Gingrich addresses are his admissions of adultery and divorce, topics likely to rile cultural conservatives in Iowa.
Paul, a Texas congressman, returned to the state at week's end to find that he was steadily drawing sizable crowds to restaurants and community centers in small towns such as Vinton and Anamosa, where audiences applauded his proposal to cut $1 trillion from the federal deficit his first year in office, primarily by vastly reducing U.S. foreign aid.
Long dismissed by the GOP establishment, the libertarian-leaning candidate is now turning heads beyond his hard-core followers four years since his failed 2008 bid. This year, he's running a more mature Iowa campaign and it's showing. He finished a close second to Minnesota Rep. Bachmann in August test vote, an indication of his stronger organization.
Texas Gov. Perry, trying to get back on track after a damaging few weeks that has affected his once-robust fundraising, is accelerating his already aggressive TV advertising schedule in Iowa and is making government reform, as well as assailing Obama, the cornerstone of his campaign in hopes of rebounding.
"Washington's broken, and needs a complete overhaul," Perry says in a new ad. "Replacing one Washington insider with another won't change a thing. If you want an outsider who'll overhaul Washington, then I'm your guy."
It's a message that has some sticking with Perry, despite his troubles.
"I haven't given up on Rick Perry, personally," said Hamilton County Republican Chairman Mark Greenfield, who supports Perry. "He's a lower-tier candidate now. But he's the one person who can turn the economy around if he can only clarify his message."
Bachmann, too, is fighting to come back with a second act after a blazing hot summer and a victory in the Iowa GOP straw poll. Some of her evangelical base has drifted elsewhere, but she's still focused on trying to get them to rally behind her like they did former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, the Iowa caucus winner in 2008.
"It is amazing to me how God uses those challenges to shape your life," Bachmann said of her parents' divorce, noting during the Saturday forum how it influenced her decision to be a foster parent to more than 20 children in addition to her five biological children.
The candidate who may stand to gain from Bachmann's inability to wrap up the evangelical vote is Santorum. The former Pennsylvania senator is the only Republican with staunch socially conservative credentials competing hard in Iowa who hasn't enjoyed a burst of support this year.
That's not for lack of trying.
He's essentially camped out in the state for months and has campaigned in all 99 Iowa counties on a shoestring budget.
ANAMOSA, Iowa (AP) — The race for the Republican presidential nomination is deeply unsettled with an anything-can-happen feel six weeks before Iowans start the state-by-state process of choosing a GOP challenger for President Barack Obama.
Hoping to sway the many voters who are still undecided, most of the contenders visited the state in the past week and the pace of campaigning is certain to accelerate after Thanksgiving, when the monthlong sprint to the Jan. 3 caucuses begins. A crush of new TV ads is certain. Expect mailboxes filled with brochures and repeated visits by candidates to diners, town squares and other must-stop venues.
"People are getting close to decision time," former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, one of several candidates whose bids depend on a strong Iowa showing, told The Associated Press. "You're going to see some coalescing in the next couple of weeks."
A recent poll found that 60 percent of Republicans who plan to participate in the caucuses are willing to change their minds and 10 percent are fully undecided. That Bloomberg News survey showed a four-way race: Clustered at the top were Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain and Ron Paul, candidates whose positions, backgrounds and personalities run the gamut. Languishing far behind were Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann, who at one point enjoyed huge bursts of support.
Iowa's outcome matters because it will shape the contest in New Hampshire, which holds its primary Jan. 10, and in states beyond.
Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, has started stepping up his efforts in Iowa after playing it cautiously all year. He plans to return to the state Wednesday after skipping a multi-candidate forum in Des Moines on Saturday night.
Nearly all his rivals, promoting themselves as a viable alternative to Romney, gathered on one stage to discuss how their religiouswatch movies
faith influences their public life before a large and influential audience of social conservatives.
Considered the one to beat because of his strength on several fronts, Romney spent the weekend in New Hampshire.
In Iowa, he's hoping that social conservatives who make up the GOP's base will splinter their support among the crowded field of candidates who are considered more conservative than Romney. No one has emerged as the download movies
consensus choice of those conservatives, though many are trying.
They include Cain, a Georgia businessman, and Gingrich, the former U.S. House speaker, who seem just as poised to break out of the pack as they are to fade. Both are seen as attractive for a Republican electorate craving a candidate who will take it to Obama in a no-holds-barred style. But both also are trying hard to weather increased scrutiny.
Cain continues to fight decade-old sexual harassment allegations, along with questions about his grasp of an array of policies. Iowans movies online
don't seem to be punishing him for any of it, so far. He cheerfully greeted a crowd of more than 200 at a Dubuque restaurant Tuesday on just his second trip to Iowa in the past three months.
"Herman Cain's support at this point has intensified," Johnson County GOP Chairman Bob Anderson said. "There's been no decrease in christian louboutin shoes
his level of support based on the controversy that's erupted."
But Cain has little campaign structure in the state and a tiny staff. Despite the upbeat tone of his visit, he did little outreach to influential Republican activists. He took no audience questions in Dubuque, spent most of his time in Iowa recording a campaign advertisement and headlined a five-minute news conference spent primarily defending an awkward response to an interview question about Libya a day earlier.
Like Cain, Gingrich returned to Iowa last week moncler jackets
to find himself on the defensive over a number of issues, including the roughly $1.6 million he received as a consultant to Freddie Mac, the federally backed mortgage giant detested by conservatives. He found himself spending the bulk of his three-day trip trying to portray his history with the company as a sign of valuable experience.
"It reminds people that I know a great deal about Washington," Gingrich said. "We just tried four years of amateur ignorance, and it didn't work very well. So having someone who actually knows Washington might be a really good thing."
As the week ended, Gingrich introduced a website that collects, and provides answers for, what he long has claimed are myths about his background and explanations for policy position changes throughout the years. Among the issues Gingrich addresses are his admissions of adultery and divorce, topics likely to rile cultural conservatives in Iowa.
Paul, a Texas congressman, returned to the state at week's end to find that he was steadily drawing sizable crowds to restaurants and community centers in small towns such as Vinton and Anamosa, where audiences applauded his proposal to cut $1 trillion from the federal deficit his first year in office, primarily by vastly reducing U.S. foreign aid.
Long dismissed by the GOP establishment, the libertarian-leaning candidate is now turning heads beyond his hard-core followers four years since his failed 2008 bid. This year, he's running a more mature Iowa campaign and it's showing. He finished a close second to Minnesota Rep. Bachmann in August test vote, an indication of his stronger organization.
Texas Gov. Perry, trying to get back on track after a damaging few weeks that has affected his once-robust fundraising, is accelerating his already aggressive TV advertising schedule in Iowa and is making government reform, as well as assailing Obama, the cornerstone of his campaign in hopes of rebounding.
"Washington's broken, and needs a complete overhaul," Perry says in a new ad. "Replacing one Washington insider with another won't change a thing. If you want an outsider who'll overhaul Washington, then I'm your guy."
It's a message that has some sticking with Perry, despite his troubles.
"I haven't given up on Rick Perry, personally," said Hamilton County Republican Chairman Mark Greenfield, who supports Perry. "He's a lower-tier candidate now. But he's the one person who can turn the economy around if he can only clarify his message."
Bachmann, too, is fighting to come back with a second act after a blazing hot summer and a victory in the Iowa GOP straw poll. Some of her evangelical base has drifted elsewhere, but she's still focused on trying to get them to rally behind her like they did former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, the Iowa caucus winner in 2008.
"It is amazing to me how God uses those challenges to shape your life," Bachmann said of her parents' divorce, noting during the Saturday forum how it influenced her decision to be a foster parent to more than 20 children in addition to her five biological children.
The candidate who may stand to gain from Bachmann's inability to wrap up the evangelical vote is Santorum. The former Pennsylvania senator is the only Republican with staunch socially conservative credentials competing hard in Iowa who hasn't enjoyed a burst of support this year.
That's not for lack of trying.
He's essentially camped out in the state for months and has campaigned in all 99 Iowa counties on a shoestring budget.
Prospects grim for debt deal
Prospects grim for debt deal
WASHINGTON (AP) — On the brink of failure, members of a special deficit-cutting committee blamed each other Sunday for the intransigence that has gridlocked the panel in its quest to cut the deficit by at least $1.2 trillion over the coming decade.
"If you look at the Democrats' position it was 'We have to raise taxes. We have to pass this jobs bill, which is another almost half-trillion dollars. And we're not excited about entitlement reform,' " Republican Jon Kyl of Arizona said in a combative interview on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Fanning out to the sets of the Sunday morning talk shows, Democrats and Republicans blamed each other for a deepening impasse that has all but doomed chances for an accord. In a series of interviews, not a single panelist seemed optimistic about any last-minute breakthrough. Under the committee's rules, any plan would have to be unveiled Monday.
Democrats said that Republicans on the supercommittee were simply unwilling to move on tax increases that Democrats insist should be part of any package that emerges from the negotiations. And Republicans said Democrats' demands on taxes were too great, even in response to a scaled-back GOP offer made late last week.
watch movies
"There is one sticking divide. And that's the issue of what I call shared sacrifice," said panel co-chair Sen. Patty Murray. "The wealthiest Americans who earn over a million a year have to share too. And that line in the sand, we haven't seen Republicans willing to cross yet," the Washington Democrat said on CNN's "State of the Union."
The Republican co-chair of Congress' debt supercommittee offered a glum assessment of prospects for an agreement.
download movies
Texas Rep. Jeb Hensarling said "nobody wants to give up," but he also told "Fox News Sunday" that "the reality is to some extent starting to overtake hope." He said the panel's deadlock "was a failure in not seizing an opportunity."
The committee faces a Wednesday deadline. But members would have to agree on the outlines of a package by Monday to allow time for drafting and assessing by the Congressional Budget Office.
movies online
Panel members say they will be available for further talks Sunday in hopes of a final breakthrough and some last-minute offers on smaller deficit-cutting packages were possible. Also on the agenda is stage managing the group's disbandment.
Republicans are demanding changes in programs such as Medicare and Medicaid while Democrats are insisting on tax increases on the wealthy.
moncler jackets
Over the past couple of weeks, the two sides have made a variety of offers and counter-offers, starting with a more than $3 trillion plan from Democrats that would have increased tax revenues by $1.3 trillion in exchange for further cuts in agency budgets, a change in the measure used to calculate cost-of-living increases for Social Security beneficiaries, and curbs on the growth of Medicare and Medicaid.
Republicans countered with a $1.5 trillion plan that included a potential breakthrough — $250 billion in higher taxes gleaned as Congress passes a future tax reform measure. The plan was trashed by Democrats, however, who said it would have lowered tax rates for the wealthy too far while eliminating tax breaks that chiefly benefit the middle class.
christian louboutin shoes
Most recently, Republicans forwarded a smaller, face-saving $644 billion offer comprised of $543 billion in spending cuts, fees and other non-tax revenue, as well as $3 billion in revenue from closing a special tax break for corporate purchases of private jets. It also assumed $98 billion in reduced interest costs.
Officials familiar with the offer said it would save the government $121 billion by requiring federal civilian workers to contribute more to their pension plans, shave $23 billion from farm and nutrition programs and generate $15 billion from new auctions of broadcast spectrum to wireless companies.
Democrats said the plan was unbalanced because it included barely any tax revenue.
"Our Democratic friends are unable to cut even a dollar in spending without saying it has to be accompanied by tax increases," Kyl said.
WASHINGTON (AP) — On the brink of failure, members of a special deficit-cutting committee blamed each other Sunday for the intransigence that has gridlocked the panel in its quest to cut the deficit by at least $1.2 trillion over the coming decade.
"If you look at the Democrats' position it was 'We have to raise taxes. We have to pass this jobs bill, which is another almost half-trillion dollars. And we're not excited about entitlement reform,' " Republican Jon Kyl of Arizona said in a combative interview on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Fanning out to the sets of the Sunday morning talk shows, Democrats and Republicans blamed each other for a deepening impasse that has all but doomed chances for an accord. In a series of interviews, not a single panelist seemed optimistic about any last-minute breakthrough. Under the committee's rules, any plan would have to be unveiled Monday.
Democrats said that Republicans on the supercommittee were simply unwilling to move on tax increases that Democrats insist should be part of any package that emerges from the negotiations. And Republicans said Democrats' demands on taxes were too great, even in response to a scaled-back GOP offer made late last week.
watch movies
"There is one sticking divide. And that's the issue of what I call shared sacrifice," said panel co-chair Sen. Patty Murray. "The wealthiest Americans who earn over a million a year have to share too. And that line in the sand, we haven't seen Republicans willing to cross yet," the Washington Democrat said on CNN's "State of the Union."
The Republican co-chair of Congress' debt supercommittee offered a glum assessment of prospects for an agreement.
download movies
Texas Rep. Jeb Hensarling said "nobody wants to give up," but he also told "Fox News Sunday" that "the reality is to some extent starting to overtake hope." He said the panel's deadlock "was a failure in not seizing an opportunity."
The committee faces a Wednesday deadline. But members would have to agree on the outlines of a package by Monday to allow time for drafting and assessing by the Congressional Budget Office.
movies online
Panel members say they will be available for further talks Sunday in hopes of a final breakthrough and some last-minute offers on smaller deficit-cutting packages were possible. Also on the agenda is stage managing the group's disbandment.
Republicans are demanding changes in programs such as Medicare and Medicaid while Democrats are insisting on tax increases on the wealthy.
moncler jackets
Over the past couple of weeks, the two sides have made a variety of offers and counter-offers, starting with a more than $3 trillion plan from Democrats that would have increased tax revenues by $1.3 trillion in exchange for further cuts in agency budgets, a change in the measure used to calculate cost-of-living increases for Social Security beneficiaries, and curbs on the growth of Medicare and Medicaid.
Republicans countered with a $1.5 trillion plan that included a potential breakthrough — $250 billion in higher taxes gleaned as Congress passes a future tax reform measure. The plan was trashed by Democrats, however, who said it would have lowered tax rates for the wealthy too far while eliminating tax breaks that chiefly benefit the middle class.
christian louboutin shoes
Most recently, Republicans forwarded a smaller, face-saving $644 billion offer comprised of $543 billion in spending cuts, fees and other non-tax revenue, as well as $3 billion in revenue from closing a special tax break for corporate purchases of private jets. It also assumed $98 billion in reduced interest costs.
Officials familiar with the offer said it would save the government $121 billion by requiring federal civilian workers to contribute more to their pension plans, shave $23 billion from farm and nutrition programs and generate $15 billion from new auctions of broadcast spectrum to wireless companies.
Democrats said the plan was unbalanced because it included barely any tax revenue.
"Our Democratic friends are unable to cut even a dollar in spending without saying it has to be accompanied by tax increases," Kyl said.
2011年11月13日星期日
8 New Iron Man: Armored Adventures Screenshots
The Tomorrow Academy becomes a prison for Tony, Rhodey and Pepper in an all-new episode of "Iron Man: Armored Adventures" premiering Monday, November 14, at 8:00 p.m. ET on Nicktoons!
We've got eight screenshots from the new episode featuring Iron Man and the mysterious Erwin twins, but you'll have to tune in on Monday to learn the secrets the twins harbor and just why they've transformed the Tomorrow Academy into a death trap!
Check out all eight screenshots in our full gallery below, and keep an eye on Marvel.com for all the latest on "Iron Man: Armored Adventures."
It's time to Hero Up with your uDraw Gametablet, Squaddies!
Next Tuesday, November 15, "Super Hero Squad: Comic Combat" launches for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii with the uDraw Gametablet, and today we've got the Marvel.com EXCLUSIVE final trailer for the game!
Learn how you can bring the Squaddies to life with the uDraw Gametablet in this dynamic new gaming adventure, when you play as Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, Squirrel Girl and many more! You can help take down the baddies and save the day when you become the newest Squad member in "Super Hero Squad: Comic Combat" next Tuesday, but until then scope out the final game trailer just below.
Keep it tuned to Marvel.com for all things Super Hero Squad, and pick up their all-new video game November 15!
We've got eight screenshots from the new episode featuring Iron Man and the mysterious Erwin twins, but you'll have to tune in on Monday to learn the secrets the twins harbor and just why they've transformed the Tomorrow Academy into a death trap!
Check out all eight screenshots in our full gallery below, and keep an eye on Marvel.com for all the latest on "Iron Man: Armored Adventures."
It's time to Hero Up with your uDraw Gametablet, Squaddies!
Next Tuesday, November 15, "Super Hero Squad: Comic Combat" launches for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii with the uDraw Gametablet, and today we've got the Marvel.com EXCLUSIVE final trailer for the game!
Learn how you can bring the Squaddies to life with the uDraw Gametablet in this dynamic new gaming adventure, when you play as Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, Squirrel Girl and many more! You can help take down the baddies and save the day when you become the newest Squad member in "Super Hero Squad: Comic Combat" next Tuesday, but until then scope out the final game trailer just below.
Keep it tuned to Marvel.com for all things Super Hero Squad, and pick up their all-new video game November 15!
Douglas Gresham on Future Narnia Films
C.S. Lewis’ stepson (and co-producer of the films) Douglas Gresham appeared on Middle-earth Radio today and said a few words about the possibility of future Narnia films. He confirmed that “Walden’s contract with the company has expired,” but he hopes to be able to start production on another film in “three or four years time.” When asked which of the remaining books he is most excited about seeing on screen, he simply answered “all of them.” Listen to a couple short clips below:
Download Podcast
Paul Martin from NarniaFans.com also appeared on the program!
UPDATE: The full discussion is on iTunes. (Select the first option)
274 Comments For This Story
*
narniafan says: October 29th, 2011 on 10:45 AM
as i have said beofre, its all because of the USA this has happened. If Dawn treader had done better in the USA box office, the next film would have been in production already. The international theatre responses was very good and they came to the party to watch dawn treader, but the USA audance from the previous films just did not match up. And now Fox is sitting back and thinking do we do another one or not. Walden had the great hype that dawn treader would be an amazing film to make, this amazing adventure with a dragon, amazing ship, great cast and strong story telling. Now after it did not perform that well in the USA. question marks are everywhere:( thanks usa
Reply
o
Dylan says: October 29th, 2011 on 12:22 PM
Yah, a movie is judged by its domestic box office.
Reply
o
Non-negotiable Comment says: October 29th, 2011 on 12:50 PM
It’s actually the United States AND Canada, so, on behalf of our cousins to the south, you’re welcome. Blaming an audience for not going to see a poor film is not really getting to the heart of the problem. It is a fact, though, that the film was supported very well in many markets other than North America. Why, I am at a loss to say. If anyone has any theories about this, I’d love to hear them. Correction. If anyone has any REASONABLE theories about this that don’t include derogatory remarks about North American audiences, I’d love to hear them.
Download Podcast
Paul Martin from NarniaFans.com also appeared on the program!
UPDATE: The full discussion is on iTunes. (Select the first option)
274 Comments For This Story
*
narniafan says: October 29th, 2011 on 10:45 AM
as i have said beofre, its all because of the USA this has happened. If Dawn treader had done better in the USA box office, the next film would have been in production already. The international theatre responses was very good and they came to the party to watch dawn treader, but the USA audance from the previous films just did not match up. And now Fox is sitting back and thinking do we do another one or not. Walden had the great hype that dawn treader would be an amazing film to make, this amazing adventure with a dragon, amazing ship, great cast and strong story telling. Now after it did not perform that well in the USA. question marks are everywhere:( thanks usa
Reply
o
Dylan says: October 29th, 2011 on 12:22 PM
Yah, a movie is judged by its domestic box office.
Reply
o
Non-negotiable Comment says: October 29th, 2011 on 12:50 PM
It’s actually the United States AND Canada, so, on behalf of our cousins to the south, you’re welcome. Blaming an audience for not going to see a poor film is not really getting to the heart of the problem. It is a fact, though, that the film was supported very well in many markets other than North America. Why, I am at a loss to say. If anyone has any theories about this, I’d love to hear them. Correction. If anyone has any REASONABLE theories about this that don’t include derogatory remarks about North American audiences, I’d love to hear them.
Guv: Penn State sexual abuse witness failed ‘moral obligation’
Harrisburg, Pa. • The Penn State football coach who told a grand jury that he saw another coach molest a child failed to meet “a moral obligation” to intervene, Pennsylvania’s governor said Sunday, adding that he expects more victims to come forward.
The coach who testified, Mike McQueary, had said he saw retired Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky sexually assaulting a boy in a shower at a campus football facility almost a decade ago. Sandusky is accused of assaulting eight boys over 15 years and has maintained his innocence. The university has put McQueary on leave from his job.
McQueary told the grand jury he was distraught by what he witnessed and walked away after both Sandusky and the boy saw him. He said he told his father what happened and then told head coach Joe Paterno, who reported it to his superiors. But those school officials, athletic director Tim Curley and school vice president Gary Schultz, face perjury charges, accused of covering up McQueary’s 2002 report.
The charges were filed last weekend and the grand jury’s report made public, and the resulting outrage made it clear that Paterno, who had coached for decades at Penn State, would share the blame. He was fired Wednesday. In his last game, a win over Illinois, he’d become the coach with the most wins in Division I history.
As for McQueary, the current attorney general had clearly decided that he was to be treated as a witness in the case, Gov. Tom Corbett said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
McQueary met “the minimum obligation” of reporting what he saw to his superiors, who are required under Pennsylvania law to report such assaults to authorities. But McQueary “did not in my opinion meet a moral obligation that all of us would have,” said the governor, who as attorney general initiated the investigation that led to the charges.
State lawmakers from both parties have proposed changes to toughen the law that governs the reporting of sex assaults, Corbett added. He said he would not be surprised to see it strengthened this year.
Corbett said he expects more allegations of abuse to materialize, a common occurrence in abuse cases.
“When the word gets out, when people understand that authorities are actually doing something about this, that they may be believed, then more people come forward,” Corbett said.
Authorities have asked for victims to contact them.
Sandusky encountered all the boys through a charity he founded to help at-risk children, Second Mile, prosecutors have said. Leaders of the organization plan to meet soon to determine its future, Corbett said. “If you talk to people who have worked with Second Mile, it has done great work,” he said. “And if it should cease to exist, I am hopeful that other organizations will pick up the work that they did. We need to reach out to these children. We need to give them guidance.”
Iran to review cooperation with IAEA
BEIJING, Nov. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- Iran's Parliament Speaker has warned the IAEA that the country will review its cooperation with the nuclear watchdog agency.
The country's National Security Commission will be examining the issue. Speaker Ali Larijani says the review is necessary because the UN agency has proven it is intent on coming up with unbalanced decisions.
His comments come amid escalating rhetoric surrounding the IAEA's newly-released report, which for the first time said Iran is suspected of conducting secret experiments for the development of nuclear arms.
The country's National Security Commission will be examining the issue. Speaker Ali Larijani says the review is necessary because the UN agency has proven it is intent on coming up with unbalanced decisions.
His comments come amid escalating rhetoric surrounding the IAEA's newly-released report, which for the first time said Iran is suspected of conducting secret experiments for the development of nuclear arms.
Obama Says ‘Enough’s Enough’ on China Undervaluing its Currency
(See EXT2 for more news on APEC.)
Nov. 13 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama said “enough’s enough” on the lack of movement by China on currency valuation, even if there has been “slight improvement” in recent months.
“Changes are difficult for them politically, I get it,” Obama said at a news conference today that concluded a summit with Asia-Pacific leaders in Hawaii. Still, he said, “enough’s enough.”
Obama, who met yesterday with China’s President Hu Jintao in Honolulu, said that as China’s influence rises leaders of the world’s second largest economy must take more responsibility for making sure trade is fair and that intellectual property rights are respected.
As Obama seeks to reassert U.S. interests in Asia, he is using increasingly strong language to press China on trade, currency and intellectual property. The U.S. contends China’s currency is kept artificially low, putting American businesses at a disadvantage and driving up its trade surpluses.
China has pushed back against the pressure. After Obama told Hu yesterday that the U.S. public and businesses were losing patience with China’s policies, the Chinese Foreign Ministry released a statement saying the U.S. trade deficit and unemployment are not caused by the yuan exchange rate and a large appreciation in the currency won’t solve U.S. problems.
Continuing Reform
“China’s foreign exchange policy is a responsible one,” Hu told Obama, according to the statement. The country will “continue reforming its exchange rate mechanism.”
The yuan has gained about 8 percent against the dollar in nominal terms since the country ended a two-year peg to the U.S. currency in June, 2010. In real terms the gain has been more than 10 percent, because inflation is higher in China than in the U.S.
The yuan rose 0.04 percent to 6.3400 per dollar as of 10:30 a.m. in Shanghai, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.
During the news conference, Obama said the U.S. is examining stronger sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. He said the U.S., Russia and China “agree on the objective” that Iran must not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon. He declined to say whether Hu and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev gave any indication they would support a new round of penalties.
Sanctions Push
Russia and China have resisted efforts to impose tighter sanctions on Iran at the United Nations. The International Atomic Energy Agency has concluded that Iran, the second-largest oil producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries after Saudi Arabia, has continued working on nuclear weapons capability until at least last year.
Obama said the sanctions that have already been imposed have “enormous bite.”
He refused to directly comment on criticism of his approach to Iran leveled by the Republican candidates running for their party’s nomination to oppose him in next year’s election.
On domestic issues, Obama said the bipartisan congressional supercommittee working to narrow the U.S. budget deficit must “bite the bullet” and come up with a plan that includes both cutting spending and increasing revenue.
--With assistance from Michael Forsythe in Honolulu. Editors: Joe Sobczyk, Peter Hirschberg
Nov. 13 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama said “enough’s enough” on the lack of movement by China on currency valuation, even if there has been “slight improvement” in recent months.
“Changes are difficult for them politically, I get it,” Obama said at a news conference today that concluded a summit with Asia-Pacific leaders in Hawaii. Still, he said, “enough’s enough.”
Obama, who met yesterday with China’s President Hu Jintao in Honolulu, said that as China’s influence rises leaders of the world’s second largest economy must take more responsibility for making sure trade is fair and that intellectual property rights are respected.
As Obama seeks to reassert U.S. interests in Asia, he is using increasingly strong language to press China on trade, currency and intellectual property. The U.S. contends China’s currency is kept artificially low, putting American businesses at a disadvantage and driving up its trade surpluses.
China has pushed back against the pressure. After Obama told Hu yesterday that the U.S. public and businesses were losing patience with China’s policies, the Chinese Foreign Ministry released a statement saying the U.S. trade deficit and unemployment are not caused by the yuan exchange rate and a large appreciation in the currency won’t solve U.S. problems.
Continuing Reform
“China’s foreign exchange policy is a responsible one,” Hu told Obama, according to the statement. The country will “continue reforming its exchange rate mechanism.”
The yuan has gained about 8 percent against the dollar in nominal terms since the country ended a two-year peg to the U.S. currency in June, 2010. In real terms the gain has been more than 10 percent, because inflation is higher in China than in the U.S.
The yuan rose 0.04 percent to 6.3400 per dollar as of 10:30 a.m. in Shanghai, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.
During the news conference, Obama said the U.S. is examining stronger sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. He said the U.S., Russia and China “agree on the objective” that Iran must not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon. He declined to say whether Hu and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev gave any indication they would support a new round of penalties.
Sanctions Push
Russia and China have resisted efforts to impose tighter sanctions on Iran at the United Nations. The International Atomic Energy Agency has concluded that Iran, the second-largest oil producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries after Saudi Arabia, has continued working on nuclear weapons capability until at least last year.
Obama said the sanctions that have already been imposed have “enormous bite.”
He refused to directly comment on criticism of his approach to Iran leveled by the Republican candidates running for their party’s nomination to oppose him in next year’s election.
On domestic issues, Obama said the bipartisan congressional supercommittee working to narrow the U.S. budget deficit must “bite the bullet” and come up with a plan that includes both cutting spending and increasing revenue.
--With assistance from Michael Forsythe in Honolulu. Editors: Joe Sobczyk, Peter Hirschberg
2011年11月10日星期四
Dems present offer to cut deficit by $2 trillion
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats on Congress' supercommittee secretly presented Republicans with a revised deficit-cutting proposal earlier this week that calls for a blend of $1 trillion in spending cuts and $1 trillion in higher tax revenue over the next decade, officials in both parties said Wednesday night, adding that compromise talks remain alive though troubled.
The previously undisclosed offer scaled back an earlier Democratic demand for $1.3 trillion in higher taxes, a concession to Republicans. At the same time it jettisoned a plan to slow the growth in future cost-of-living increases in Social Security benefits, a provision liberal Democrats oppose.
The one-page proposal was handed to Republicans at a meeting Monday night attended by some but not all members of the supercommittee. At the same session, GOP lawmakers in attendance advanced a revised proposal of their own that signaled for the first time they would be willing to accept higher revenues as part of a plan to cut deficits over the next decade.
Given the unusual secrecy of the meeting and the committee's Nov. 23 deadline to produce at least $1.2 trillion in savings, it appeared that the pace of activity on the panel was accelerating. Less clear was whether there was still time to bridge enormous differences on priorities, or whether each side was laying the groundwork for trying to blame the other in case gridlock triumphs.
The committee, comprising six Republicans and six Democrats, has been working for weeks. Evidence of progress has been scarce, with Republicans demanding large cuts in benefit programs such as Social Security and Medicare, while Democrats pressed for additional tax revenue as a condition for agreeing to make deep spending cuts.
Few details are known of the session Monday night, except that Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., outlined a plan on behalf of the four Republicans in attendance, and Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., countered with the revisions in an earlier Democratic proposal.
One official said the meeting lasted several hours.
Any progress that may have been made by the panel has largely been overshadowed in the past two days by a Democratic campaign to dismiss the GOP proposal as a prescription for deep tax cuts for the wealthy at the expense of the middle class.
In a sign of the political struggle unfolding, Democrats circulated a four-page analysis that relied not on a review of what Toomey outlined, but on what they described as a different, similarly drawn proposal.
Republicans countered that for all the rhetoric, both sides had shown flexibility on the issues that long have been at the root of Congress' inability to compromise on sweeping plans to cut deficits.
"Republicans have put revenues on the table. Democrats have put entitlements on the table," said Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. "They both need to put more of each on the table."
Alexander said the so-called supercommittee could expect help from a bloc of 45 senators that have signed on to a letter pledging support for a deficit bargain that mixes new revenues with curbs on the growth of government benefits programs.
Democrats sounded far less upbeat.
"I have yet to see a real, credible plan that raises revenue in a significant way to bring us to a fair, balanced proposal," said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the co-chair of the 12-member supercommittee.
In something of a dissent, the No. 2 Senate Democratic leader, Richard Durbin of Illinois, said he considered this week's GOP offer "an honest effort" and "a breakthrough that can lead to an agreement. That's what we need."
Asked why he considered it to be a breakthrough, he told reporters, "The word 'revenue.' It is a breakthrough."
Durbin said the bipartisan group of 45 senators planned to release a statement later Wednesday urging the supercommittee to keep working toward a target in the $4 trillion range, well above its mandated savings target of $1.2 trillion to $1.5 trillion.
In response, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner dismissed what Democrats had presented earlier in the week. "Right now, we are waiting for a response to what the second-ranking Democratic Leader in the Senate called 'a breakthrough' - and we've seen nothing," said Michael Steel.
The revised Democratic plan totaled $2.3 trillion in savings over the next decade, including projected savings in interest costs the government would realize from lower deficits, higher than the GOP $1.6 trillion blueprint.
Democrats proposed spending on Medicare would be restrained by $350 billion over a decade, and on Medicaid, by $50 billion.
Another $200 billion would come from defense, and an identical amount from a broad swath of government programs ranging from the parks to transportation.
Democrats also called for an overhaul of the tax code that would result in an individual rate of no higher than 35 percent and a scaling back of itemized deductions.
Republicans, too, favor tax reform. In his presentation, Toomey called for a top rate of 28 percent, which appears to require deeper cutbacks in the existing deductions than Democrats favor in order to yield $250 billion in higher revenue.
Aides in both parties requested anonymity to describe the GOP proposal, and they differed on some of the details.
Broadly speaking, however, the GOP plan would raise new revenues of at least $500 billion, both skimmed off the top as Congress completes an overhaul of the tax code and from proposals such as auctioning broadcast spectrum, raising Medicare premiums and increasing aviation security fees.
The plan also would cut spending by about $700 billion, mixing a less generous cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security beneficiaries with further cuts to agency operating budgets and curbs on the booming growth of Medicare and the Medicaid health care program for the poor and disabled.
Lower interest payments on the national debt would provide the remaining savings.
The previously undisclosed offer scaled back an earlier Democratic demand for $1.3 trillion in higher taxes, a concession to Republicans. At the same time it jettisoned a plan to slow the growth in future cost-of-living increases in Social Security benefits, a provision liberal Democrats oppose.
The one-page proposal was handed to Republicans at a meeting Monday night attended by some but not all members of the supercommittee. At the same session, GOP lawmakers in attendance advanced a revised proposal of their own that signaled for the first time they would be willing to accept higher revenues as part of a plan to cut deficits over the next decade.
Given the unusual secrecy of the meeting and the committee's Nov. 23 deadline to produce at least $1.2 trillion in savings, it appeared that the pace of activity on the panel was accelerating. Less clear was whether there was still time to bridge enormous differences on priorities, or whether each side was laying the groundwork for trying to blame the other in case gridlock triumphs.
The committee, comprising six Republicans and six Democrats, has been working for weeks. Evidence of progress has been scarce, with Republicans demanding large cuts in benefit programs such as Social Security and Medicare, while Democrats pressed for additional tax revenue as a condition for agreeing to make deep spending cuts.
Few details are known of the session Monday night, except that Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., outlined a plan on behalf of the four Republicans in attendance, and Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., countered with the revisions in an earlier Democratic proposal.
One official said the meeting lasted several hours.
Any progress that may have been made by the panel has largely been overshadowed in the past two days by a Democratic campaign to dismiss the GOP proposal as a prescription for deep tax cuts for the wealthy at the expense of the middle class.
In a sign of the political struggle unfolding, Democrats circulated a four-page analysis that relied not on a review of what Toomey outlined, but on what they described as a different, similarly drawn proposal.
Republicans countered that for all the rhetoric, both sides had shown flexibility on the issues that long have been at the root of Congress' inability to compromise on sweeping plans to cut deficits.
"Republicans have put revenues on the table. Democrats have put entitlements on the table," said Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. "They both need to put more of each on the table."
Alexander said the so-called supercommittee could expect help from a bloc of 45 senators that have signed on to a letter pledging support for a deficit bargain that mixes new revenues with curbs on the growth of government benefits programs.
Democrats sounded far less upbeat.
"I have yet to see a real, credible plan that raises revenue in a significant way to bring us to a fair, balanced proposal," said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the co-chair of the 12-member supercommittee.
In something of a dissent, the No. 2 Senate Democratic leader, Richard Durbin of Illinois, said he considered this week's GOP offer "an honest effort" and "a breakthrough that can lead to an agreement. That's what we need."
Asked why he considered it to be a breakthrough, he told reporters, "The word 'revenue.' It is a breakthrough."
Durbin said the bipartisan group of 45 senators planned to release a statement later Wednesday urging the supercommittee to keep working toward a target in the $4 trillion range, well above its mandated savings target of $1.2 trillion to $1.5 trillion.
In response, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner dismissed what Democrats had presented earlier in the week. "Right now, we are waiting for a response to what the second-ranking Democratic Leader in the Senate called 'a breakthrough' - and we've seen nothing," said Michael Steel.
The revised Democratic plan totaled $2.3 trillion in savings over the next decade, including projected savings in interest costs the government would realize from lower deficits, higher than the GOP $1.6 trillion blueprint.
Democrats proposed spending on Medicare would be restrained by $350 billion over a decade, and on Medicaid, by $50 billion.
Another $200 billion would come from defense, and an identical amount from a broad swath of government programs ranging from the parks to transportation.
Democrats also called for an overhaul of the tax code that would result in an individual rate of no higher than 35 percent and a scaling back of itemized deductions.
Republicans, too, favor tax reform. In his presentation, Toomey called for a top rate of 28 percent, which appears to require deeper cutbacks in the existing deductions than Democrats favor in order to yield $250 billion in higher revenue.
Aides in both parties requested anonymity to describe the GOP proposal, and they differed on some of the details.
Broadly speaking, however, the GOP plan would raise new revenues of at least $500 billion, both skimmed off the top as Congress completes an overhaul of the tax code and from proposals such as auctioning broadcast spectrum, raising Medicare premiums and increasing aviation security fees.
The plan also would cut spending by about $700 billion, mixing a less generous cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security beneficiaries with further cuts to agency operating budgets and curbs on the booming growth of Medicare and the Medicaid health care program for the poor and disabled.
Lower interest payments on the national debt would provide the remaining savings.
Penn State works to stem damage from scandal
STATE COLLEGE, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - Penn State University struggled to stem the damage on Thursday from a sex abuse scandal that ended the 46-year career of football coach Joe Paterno, one of the most revered U.S. sports figures.
Paterno, 84, was fired late on Wednesday after it was revealed he was told in 2002 that his former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky engaged in allegedly sexually inappropriate behavior with a young boy in a campus locker room. While Paterno told his boss, he did not call the police.
Chanting "Hell no, Joe won't go" and "We want Joe back," thousands of students took to the streets overnight in this central Pennsylvania university town to protest the decision, overturning a television van in a demonstration in which some police dispersed pepper spray.
Police said more than a dozen people were arrested and that there were plans to boost security at Penn State's final home football game on Saturday, although interim head coach Tom Bradley said he was not concerned about the safety of players.
"We are obviously in a very unprecedented situation," Bradley told a news conference on Thursday of the challenge facing him. "I am going to find a way to restore confidence and start a healing process with everybody."
Sandusky was charged on Saturday with sexually abusing eight young boys over more than a decade and former Penn State athletic director Tim Curley and former finance official Gary Schultz, were charged with failing to report an incident.
Sandusky, Curley and Schultz have all denied the charges.
Along with Paterno, Penn State University President Graham Spanier was also fired on Wednesday after 16 years in the job.
Paterno, in a statement on Wednesday announcing that he would resign hours before he was sacked, said: "With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more."
He met his legal obligation by reporting the abuse allegation to Curley, legal experts said. But he stands accused of moral failings for not calling police.
A ninth possible victim, now in his 20s, has since come forward and Pennsylvania police have set up a telephone hotline to receive information about the sexual abuse allegations.
"I'm still a big Penn State fan, but I wholeheartedly agree with the firing," said Paul Brosky, 40, of Horsham, Pennsylvania, wearing a Penn State shirt. He said Paterno should have reported the incident once he saw nothing was being done.
The interim university president, Rodney Erickson, said on Thursday there would be a full investigation "to determine what failures occurred, who is responsible, and what measures are necessary to insure that this never happens at our University again and that those responsible are held fully accountable."
The scandal has rocked the sprawling campus of about 45,000 students in State College, the flagship of about two dozen Penn State campuses across the state.
MORE PROTESTS?
Severin Laskowski, 19, who works in a local restaurant, worried about Saturday's final home game against the University of Nebraska.
"It will probably be pretty violent. I think there will be another riot," Laskowski said. "I think a lot of people feel really bad and others are pissed off."
State College Police Department Captain John Gardner said he plans to have every available officer working the game and warned students not to take to the streets, describing the crowds who protested on Wednesday evening as a "riotous mob."
"If you truly support Coach Joe or Penn State, this is not the way," Gardner told a press conference. "Stay off the street. The behavior of last night will not be tolerated."
College football is hugely popular in the United States, drawing massive television audiences every Saturday in the late summer and fall and filling huge stadiums. Penn State's Beaver Stadium, which seats about 106,000, is one of the largest.
Sports experts said Penn State's football program will struggle since potential players now have to decide if they want to play for a school clouded by scandal and without their famed coach, who was known for pushing students to be the best they could be both on the playing field and in the classroom.
"I think the fallout on recruiting and the team will be extremely long-lived. Joe Paterno is Penn State football," said Josh Helmholdt, Midwest football recruiting analyst at rivals.com.
Penn State has secured 16 verbal pledges from players to be incoming freshmen in 2012, of the 20 to 25 they would hope to attract by signing day in early February.
"Other schools are already trying to phone Penn State's recruits," said Helmholdt.
Teams generate million of dollars in revenue and successful ones raise the profile of their universities. Questions have been raised whether the controversy could harm the university's current $2 billion capital campaign.
The university urged donors not to reconsider pledges and assured supporters no funds or philanthropic resources will be used for legal expenses for the university employees charged.
Bill Prizer, who graduated from Penn State in 1967, said he doesn't plan on curbing his giving. "Paterno has done nothing legally wrong, but he did transgress a moral boundary," said Prizer, who now owns a wealth management firm.
Paterno has won two national championships, more games than any other college football coach and the adoration of Penn State's students, alumni and staff. He had said earlier on Wednesday that he would step down at the end of the season.
The student newspaper The Daily Collegian published a commemorative 12-page tribute to Paterno under the headline "The End." A full-page editorial described the firing of Paterno as an embarrassment for the university and said protests by students "set our university two steps back." (Additional reporting by Edith Honan in State College, Mark Shade in Harrisburg, Ros Krasny in Boston and Dave Warner in Philadelphia; Writing by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Mark Egan and Vicki Allen)
Paterno, 84, was fired late on Wednesday after it was revealed he was told in 2002 that his former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky engaged in allegedly sexually inappropriate behavior with a young boy in a campus locker room. While Paterno told his boss, he did not call the police.
Chanting "Hell no, Joe won't go" and "We want Joe back," thousands of students took to the streets overnight in this central Pennsylvania university town to protest the decision, overturning a television van in a demonstration in which some police dispersed pepper spray.
Police said more than a dozen people were arrested and that there were plans to boost security at Penn State's final home football game on Saturday, although interim head coach Tom Bradley said he was not concerned about the safety of players.
"We are obviously in a very unprecedented situation," Bradley told a news conference on Thursday of the challenge facing him. "I am going to find a way to restore confidence and start a healing process with everybody."
Sandusky was charged on Saturday with sexually abusing eight young boys over more than a decade and former Penn State athletic director Tim Curley and former finance official Gary Schultz, were charged with failing to report an incident.
Sandusky, Curley and Schultz have all denied the charges.
Along with Paterno, Penn State University President Graham Spanier was also fired on Wednesday after 16 years in the job.
Paterno, in a statement on Wednesday announcing that he would resign hours before he was sacked, said: "With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more."
He met his legal obligation by reporting the abuse allegation to Curley, legal experts said. But he stands accused of moral failings for not calling police.
A ninth possible victim, now in his 20s, has since come forward and Pennsylvania police have set up a telephone hotline to receive information about the sexual abuse allegations.
"I'm still a big Penn State fan, but I wholeheartedly agree with the firing," said Paul Brosky, 40, of Horsham, Pennsylvania, wearing a Penn State shirt. He said Paterno should have reported the incident once he saw nothing was being done.
The interim university president, Rodney Erickson, said on Thursday there would be a full investigation "to determine what failures occurred, who is responsible, and what measures are necessary to insure that this never happens at our University again and that those responsible are held fully accountable."
The scandal has rocked the sprawling campus of about 45,000 students in State College, the flagship of about two dozen Penn State campuses across the state.
MORE PROTESTS?
Severin Laskowski, 19, who works in a local restaurant, worried about Saturday's final home game against the University of Nebraska.
"It will probably be pretty violent. I think there will be another riot," Laskowski said. "I think a lot of people feel really bad and others are pissed off."
State College Police Department Captain John Gardner said he plans to have every available officer working the game and warned students not to take to the streets, describing the crowds who protested on Wednesday evening as a "riotous mob."
"If you truly support Coach Joe or Penn State, this is not the way," Gardner told a press conference. "Stay off the street. The behavior of last night will not be tolerated."
College football is hugely popular in the United States, drawing massive television audiences every Saturday in the late summer and fall and filling huge stadiums. Penn State's Beaver Stadium, which seats about 106,000, is one of the largest.
Sports experts said Penn State's football program will struggle since potential players now have to decide if they want to play for a school clouded by scandal and without their famed coach, who was known for pushing students to be the best they could be both on the playing field and in the classroom.
"I think the fallout on recruiting and the team will be extremely long-lived. Joe Paterno is Penn State football," said Josh Helmholdt, Midwest football recruiting analyst at rivals.com.
Penn State has secured 16 verbal pledges from players to be incoming freshmen in 2012, of the 20 to 25 they would hope to attract by signing day in early February.
"Other schools are already trying to phone Penn State's recruits," said Helmholdt.
Teams generate million of dollars in revenue and successful ones raise the profile of their universities. Questions have been raised whether the controversy could harm the university's current $2 billion capital campaign.
The university urged donors not to reconsider pledges and assured supporters no funds or philanthropic resources will be used for legal expenses for the university employees charged.
Bill Prizer, who graduated from Penn State in 1967, said he doesn't plan on curbing his giving. "Paterno has done nothing legally wrong, but he did transgress a moral boundary," said Prizer, who now owns a wealth management firm.
Paterno has won two national championships, more games than any other college football coach and the adoration of Penn State's students, alumni and staff. He had said earlier on Wednesday that he would step down at the end of the season.
The student newspaper The Daily Collegian published a commemorative 12-page tribute to Paterno under the headline "The End." A full-page editorial described the firing of Paterno as an embarrassment for the university and said protests by students "set our university two steps back." (Additional reporting by Edith Honan in State College, Mark Shade in Harrisburg, Ros Krasny in Boston and Dave Warner in Philadelphia; Writing by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Mark Egan and Vicki Allen)
Herman Cain loses endorsement from American Mustache Institute
In a devastating blow to businessman Herman Cain's presidential ambitions, the American Mustache Institute--a group which had previously lavished rapturous praise on the former Godfather's Pizza CEO--announced it was rescinding its official endorsement of the GOP field's only mustachioed candidate.
In withdrawing its endorsement, the group cited recent allegations made against Cain, including their own tongue-in-cheek accusations: That the advertising at Godfather's Pizza was misleading and that his mustache could be a fake. (Unlike Ron Paul's eyebrows, Cain's mustache is, in fact, real.)
"Amid a storm of allegations levied against Herman Cain, the American Mustache Institute today announced it had rescinded its endorsement for his presidential candidacy," the organization, a nonprofit charity and "the world's leading facial hair advocacy organization," announced in a statement Wednesday. "[M]embers of the AMI administration said they could not in good conscience support his candidacy on behalf of the powerful Mustached American electorate."
The mustached community first turned to Cain in October after after former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton--a grand mustache wearer in his own right--announced he would not seek the nomination. The institute vowed at the time that Cain could "feel comfort in knowing he has the support of the American Mustache Institute and Mustached American community overall."
The group even nominated Cain for the coveted "Robert Goulet Memorial Mustached American of the Year Award," touting his candidacy as "a shining beacon of freedom and hope for people Mustached American heritage everywhere." No word as yet about how the charges levied against Cain may hinder his shot at the Goulet prize.
More popular Yahoo! News stories:
* 'Oops': Rick Perry stumbles at CNBC debate
* Pontiac, Mich. looks to candidates for hope following auto industry collapse
* Rep. Joe Walsh goes off on constituents at meeting
Want more of our best political stories? Visit The Ticket or connect with us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
In withdrawing its endorsement, the group cited recent allegations made against Cain, including their own tongue-in-cheek accusations: That the advertising at Godfather's Pizza was misleading and that his mustache could be a fake. (Unlike Ron Paul's eyebrows, Cain's mustache is, in fact, real.)
"Amid a storm of allegations levied against Herman Cain, the American Mustache Institute today announced it had rescinded its endorsement for his presidential candidacy," the organization, a nonprofit charity and "the world's leading facial hair advocacy organization," announced in a statement Wednesday. "[M]embers of the AMI administration said they could not in good conscience support his candidacy on behalf of the powerful Mustached American electorate."
The mustached community first turned to Cain in October after after former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton--a grand mustache wearer in his own right--announced he would not seek the nomination. The institute vowed at the time that Cain could "feel comfort in knowing he has the support of the American Mustache Institute and Mustached American community overall."
The group even nominated Cain for the coveted "Robert Goulet Memorial Mustached American of the Year Award," touting his candidacy as "a shining beacon of freedom and hope for people Mustached American heritage everywhere." No word as yet about how the charges levied against Cain may hinder his shot at the Goulet prize.
More popular Yahoo! News stories:
* 'Oops': Rick Perry stumbles at CNBC debate
* Pontiac, Mich. looks to candidates for hope following auto industry collapse
* Rep. Joe Walsh goes off on constituents at meeting
Want more of our best political stories? Visit The Ticket or connect with us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
Gingrich jokes about Perry debate flubWhen Rick Perry froze in the middle of answering a question at Wednesday's Republican presidential debate in Michigan, his GOP rivals appeared as stunned and embarrassed as he did. Afterwards, Michele Bachmann expressed her sympathy to Perry over his "oops" flub. 'It was a tough moment," she told CNBC in a post-debate interview. "I think all of us recognize that is something (none of us) would want to go through… We all felt very bad for him." Well, maybe not everyone. As Slate's Dave Weigel reports, Newt Gingrich poked fun at Perry's flub during a Detroit town hall Thursday morning: One attendee at Gingrich's town hall asked a three-part question, then lost her way. "I've forgotten the third part," she said. She wasn't joking, but the room recognized the resonance immediately, and broke into laughter. Later, Gingrich got a question that prompted him to talk about government reform at the cabinet level. "I have several departments in mind," he said. "I've forgotten some of them." Big laughs. "I think the place to start is the Department of Energy." More laughs. More popular Yahoo! News stories: * 'Oops': Rick Perry stumbles at CNBC debate * Pontiac, Mich. looks to candidates for hope following auto industry collapse * Rep. Joe Walsh goes off on constituents at meeting Want more of our best political stories? Visit The Ticket or connect with us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
When Rick Perry froze in the middle of answering a question at Wednesday's Republican presidential debate in Michigan, his GOP rivals appeared as stunned and embarrassed as he did.
Afterwards, Michele Bachmann expressed her sympathy to Perry over his "oops" flub.
'It was a tough moment," she told CNBC in a post-debate interview. "I think all of us recognize that is something (none of us) would want to go through… We all felt very bad for him."
Well, maybe not everyone. As Slate's Dave Weigel reports, Newt Gingrich poked fun at Perry's flub during a Detroit town hall Thursday morning:
One attendee at Gingrich's town hall asked a three-part question, then lost her way. "I've forgotten the third part," she said. She wasn't joking, but the room recognized the resonance immediately, and broke into laughter.
Later, Gingrich got a question that prompted him to talk about government reform at the cabinet level.
"I have several departments in mind," he said. "I've forgotten some of them." Big laughs. "I think the place to start is the Department of Energy." More laughs.
More popular Yahoo! News stories:
* 'Oops': Rick Perry stumbles at CNBC debate
* Pontiac, Mich. looks to candidates for hope following auto industry collapse
* Rep. Joe Walsh goes off on constituents at meeting
Want more of our best political stories? Visit The Ticket or connect with us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
Afterwards, Michele Bachmann expressed her sympathy to Perry over his "oops" flub.
'It was a tough moment," she told CNBC in a post-debate interview. "I think all of us recognize that is something (none of us) would want to go through… We all felt very bad for him."
Well, maybe not everyone. As Slate's Dave Weigel reports, Newt Gingrich poked fun at Perry's flub during a Detroit town hall Thursday morning:
One attendee at Gingrich's town hall asked a three-part question, then lost her way. "I've forgotten the third part," she said. She wasn't joking, but the room recognized the resonance immediately, and broke into laughter.
Later, Gingrich got a question that prompted him to talk about government reform at the cabinet level.
"I have several departments in mind," he said. "I've forgotten some of them." Big laughs. "I think the place to start is the Department of Energy." More laughs.
More popular Yahoo! News stories:
* 'Oops': Rick Perry stumbles at CNBC debate
* Pontiac, Mich. looks to candidates for hope following auto industry collapse
* Rep. Joe Walsh goes off on constituents at meeting
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Ex-Israeli president to serve 7 years for rape
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the rape conviction of former President Moshe Katsav and ordered him to begin serving a seven-year prison term next month, a landmark decision that culminated a sordid five-year saga.
The rape conviction for the former head of state was hailed as a victory for women's rights and equality under the law, particularly at a sensitive time when Israel's liberal democracy has come under assault from extreme nationalists and the burgeoning ultra-religious minority.
"From this day on, let nobody dare claim that these are women who tried to conspire against the president. Rather they are brave women who must empower all harassed women who are afraid to complain," said Tzipi Livni, Israel's opposition leader and the nation's most prominent female politician.
It also completed the tragic ending for a man whose rag-to-riches story had served as a symbol of success for Mizrahi Jews, those of Middle Eastern descent who for decades were an underclass in Israel. Ordered to report to prison on Dec. 7, Katsav becomes the highest-ranking Israeli official to serve time.
The Iranian-born Katsav, 65, was convicted last December of raping a former employee when he was a Cabinet minister and of sexually harassing two other women during his term as president from 2000 to 2007. He received a seven-year prison sentence in March, but remained free pending his appeal.
Katsav has vociferously professed his innocence since the accusations against him first emerged five years ago, claiming he was the victim of a political witchhunt. And the case against him depended entirely on testimony, fueling a debate in Israel on the difficulties of prosecuting sex crimes.
But in a decisive ruling Thursday, the judges said his testimony had not been credible and accused him of exploiting his status as a high public official.
The former president "fell from the loftiest heights to the deepest depths," Judge Salim Joubran told the hushed court. "Such a senior official should be a role model to his subordinates. Every woman has a right to her own body. A right to dignity. A right to freedom. No one has the liberty to take any of those from her."
Katsav sat stone-faced throughout the session, briefly smiling wryly as it became clear his appeal was being rejected.
Katsav's attorney, Avigdor Feldman, faulted the judges for believing the rape victim despite serious holes in her testimony. "They would have believed her if she said the rape occurred on Venus," Feldman said.
Noya Rimalt, an expert on criminal law and feminist legal theory at Haifa University, said the prosecution prevailed in because of strong witness testimony. "Different women who didn't know each other told similar stories about the way he treated female subordinates. That is what the conviction was based on," she said.
Israel's presidency is a largely ceremonial office, typically filled by a respected elder statesman expected to rise above politics and serve as a moral compass.
The case against Katsav, which broke in 2006 after he told police one of his accusers was trying to extort money from him, shocked Israelis by portraying a man widely seen as a bland functionary as a predatory boss who repeatedly used authority to force sexual favors.
Katsav reluctantly resigned two weeks before his seven-year term was to expire in 2007 under a plea bargain that would have allowed him to escape jail time.
He was replaced by Nobel peace laureate and former prime minister Shimon Peres, whom he had bested in the 2000 presidential race, decided by parliament. But he then rejected the plea bargain, vowing to prove his innocence in court.
The lurid details of the case riveted Israelis. In one memorable moment, Katsav held a news conference in which he accused prosecutors and the media of plotting his demise because he didn't belong to the European-descended elite.
The Iranian-born Katsav moved to Israel as a child, spent time in an immigrant tent camp and grew up in the impoverished southern development town of Kiryat Malachi. Katsav became mayor of the town at the age of 24, and continues to live there.
Prosecutors and women's rights groups proclaimed the verdict a victory in a decades-long struggle to chip away at the nation's macho culture, which once permitted political and military leaders great liberties.
Yet observers noted the country — torn between a generally liberal judiciary, conservative religious currents and lingering gaps between men and women in the workplace — still has a long way to go.
Particularly in Jerusalem, Jewish ultra-Orthodox have tried to impose their social mores on the city. Posters depicting women are a rarity, and advertisers freely admit that they expect billboards with women's faces to be defaced or destroyed by religious vandals. Some buses and health clinics have been gender-separated, and recently, women were shunted onto separate sidewalks in one neighborhood.
In the military, traditionally an important melting pot, officials have considered reassigning some female combat soldiers because religious men don't want to serve with them.
Naomi Chazan, a leading women's rights advocate, called the Katsav ruling a "great victory," but said the issue of gender equality is an "ongoing struggle."
Chazan, president of the New Israel Fund, which supports progressive causes in Israel, pointed to "the ultrareligious extremists who are bent on imposing a very gender-segregated approach" on the public.
"That's the duality of Israeli society: a very liberal strain and a very retrogressive strain," she said.
The rape conviction for the former head of state was hailed as a victory for women's rights and equality under the law, particularly at a sensitive time when Israel's liberal democracy has come under assault from extreme nationalists and the burgeoning ultra-religious minority.
"From this day on, let nobody dare claim that these are women who tried to conspire against the president. Rather they are brave women who must empower all harassed women who are afraid to complain," said Tzipi Livni, Israel's opposition leader and the nation's most prominent female politician.
It also completed the tragic ending for a man whose rag-to-riches story had served as a symbol of success for Mizrahi Jews, those of Middle Eastern descent who for decades were an underclass in Israel. Ordered to report to prison on Dec. 7, Katsav becomes the highest-ranking Israeli official to serve time.
The Iranian-born Katsav, 65, was convicted last December of raping a former employee when he was a Cabinet minister and of sexually harassing two other women during his term as president from 2000 to 2007. He received a seven-year prison sentence in March, but remained free pending his appeal.
Katsav has vociferously professed his innocence since the accusations against him first emerged five years ago, claiming he was the victim of a political witchhunt. And the case against him depended entirely on testimony, fueling a debate in Israel on the difficulties of prosecuting sex crimes.
But in a decisive ruling Thursday, the judges said his testimony had not been credible and accused him of exploiting his status as a high public official.
The former president "fell from the loftiest heights to the deepest depths," Judge Salim Joubran told the hushed court. "Such a senior official should be a role model to his subordinates. Every woman has a right to her own body. A right to dignity. A right to freedom. No one has the liberty to take any of those from her."
Katsav sat stone-faced throughout the session, briefly smiling wryly as it became clear his appeal was being rejected.
Katsav's attorney, Avigdor Feldman, faulted the judges for believing the rape victim despite serious holes in her testimony. "They would have believed her if she said the rape occurred on Venus," Feldman said.
Noya Rimalt, an expert on criminal law and feminist legal theory at Haifa University, said the prosecution prevailed in because of strong witness testimony. "Different women who didn't know each other told similar stories about the way he treated female subordinates. That is what the conviction was based on," she said.
Israel's presidency is a largely ceremonial office, typically filled by a respected elder statesman expected to rise above politics and serve as a moral compass.
The case against Katsav, which broke in 2006 after he told police one of his accusers was trying to extort money from him, shocked Israelis by portraying a man widely seen as a bland functionary as a predatory boss who repeatedly used authority to force sexual favors.
Katsav reluctantly resigned two weeks before his seven-year term was to expire in 2007 under a plea bargain that would have allowed him to escape jail time.
He was replaced by Nobel peace laureate and former prime minister Shimon Peres, whom he had bested in the 2000 presidential race, decided by parliament. But he then rejected the plea bargain, vowing to prove his innocence in court.
The lurid details of the case riveted Israelis. In one memorable moment, Katsav held a news conference in which he accused prosecutors and the media of plotting his demise because he didn't belong to the European-descended elite.
The Iranian-born Katsav moved to Israel as a child, spent time in an immigrant tent camp and grew up in the impoverished southern development town of Kiryat Malachi. Katsav became mayor of the town at the age of 24, and continues to live there.
Prosecutors and women's rights groups proclaimed the verdict a victory in a decades-long struggle to chip away at the nation's macho culture, which once permitted political and military leaders great liberties.
Yet observers noted the country — torn between a generally liberal judiciary, conservative religious currents and lingering gaps between men and women in the workplace — still has a long way to go.
Particularly in Jerusalem, Jewish ultra-Orthodox have tried to impose their social mores on the city. Posters depicting women are a rarity, and advertisers freely admit that they expect billboards with women's faces to be defaced or destroyed by religious vandals. Some buses and health clinics have been gender-separated, and recently, women were shunted onto separate sidewalks in one neighborhood.
In the military, traditionally an important melting pot, officials have considered reassigning some female combat soldiers because religious men don't want to serve with them.
Naomi Chazan, a leading women's rights advocate, called the Katsav ruling a "great victory," but said the issue of gender equality is an "ongoing struggle."
Chazan, president of the New Israel Fund, which supports progressive causes in Israel, pointed to "the ultrareligious extremists who are bent on imposing a very gender-segregated approach" on the public.
"That's the duality of Israeli society: a very liberal strain and a very retrogressive strain," she said.
2011年11月9日星期三
Storm of 'Epic Magnitude' Hits Alaska
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – High winds and surging waves pummeled Alaska's western coast Wednesday, churning the Bering Sea and forcing residents of Nome and isolated native villages to seek higher ground inland.
"We do have some reports of buildings losing roofs in the Nome area," said meteorologist Scott Berg at the National Weather Service in Fairbanks. "Also water at the base of buildings in Nome."
Nome Communications officer Zane Brown says the height of snow and hurricane-force winds hit at about 2 a.m. He says the city continues to prepare for a possible Bering Sea surge at high tide later in the morning, but so far damage is minimal.
Brown says a voluntary evacuation moved residents from beachfront businesses and homes to shelters at a community center and a church.
Planning section chief Mark Roberts of the state emergency operations center tells KTUU-TV that west coast communities were reporting isolated power and communications interruptions.
But he says it's too early for a complete picture of damage.
The last time forecasters saw something similar was in November 1974, when Nome also took the brunt of the storm. That sea surge measured more than 13 feet, pushing beach driftwood above the level of the previous storm of its type in 1913.
Officials are concerned for Alaska Natives in the 18 villages in the region.
The village of Point Hope, which sits on the tip of a peninsula with the Arctic Ocean on one side and the Bering Sea on the other, is seven to eight feet above sea level, said Mayor Steve Oomittuk.
The Inupiat Eskimo village of about 700 people has no sea wall and no evacuation road. If evacuation becomes necessary, everyone will go to the school because it sits on higher ground and is big enough to accommodate everyone, he said.
Smaller communities that are vulnerable to storm erosion were of particular concern, especially the village of Kivalina, already one of the state's most threatened communities because of erosion.
"We do have some reports of buildings losing roofs in the Nome area," said meteorologist Scott Berg at the National Weather Service in Fairbanks. "Also water at the base of buildings in Nome."
Nome Communications officer Zane Brown says the height of snow and hurricane-force winds hit at about 2 a.m. He says the city continues to prepare for a possible Bering Sea surge at high tide later in the morning, but so far damage is minimal.
Brown says a voluntary evacuation moved residents from beachfront businesses and homes to shelters at a community center and a church.
Planning section chief Mark Roberts of the state emergency operations center tells KTUU-TV that west coast communities were reporting isolated power and communications interruptions.
But he says it's too early for a complete picture of damage.
The last time forecasters saw something similar was in November 1974, when Nome also took the brunt of the storm. That sea surge measured more than 13 feet, pushing beach driftwood above the level of the previous storm of its type in 1913.
Officials are concerned for Alaska Natives in the 18 villages in the region.
The village of Point Hope, which sits on the tip of a peninsula with the Arctic Ocean on one side and the Bering Sea on the other, is seven to eight feet above sea level, said Mayor Steve Oomittuk.
The Inupiat Eskimo village of about 700 people has no sea wall and no evacuation road. If evacuation becomes necessary, everyone will go to the school because it sits on higher ground and is big enough to accommodate everyone, he said.
Smaller communities that are vulnerable to storm erosion were of particular concern, especially the village of Kivalina, already one of the state's most threatened communities because of erosion.
Occupy Protests Plagued by Reports of Sex Attacks, Violent Crime
A rash of reports of sexual assaults at Occupy Wall Street protests across the country has both police and activists raising red flags.
Nearly a half-dozen assaults have been reported at Occupy camps, including three at the New York City protests, which have prompted protesters to set up a “women only” tent in Manhattan's Zuccotti Park to provide a safe haven.
“The concern would be the rapes and attacks that aren’t reported,” said Sgt. Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, a police union in New York City. “We have no way of really knowing. If you have three or five crimes reported, you really don’t know if it’s eight or 10 that happened.”
Related Video
Sexual Assault Victim Speaks Out at 'Occupy Wall Street'
Protester describes alleged attack at Zuccotti Park
Related Video
Homeless Man on Violent Rampage at 'Occupy Wall Street'
Protester fights back after tent kicked
He also noted how young many of the protesters are.
"They are in the lion’s den, so it’s not surprising that they are more susceptible to crimes,” he said.
The first reported incident occurred on Oct. 8, when a man was accused of sexually abusing a woman who was in a sleeping bag at Zuccotti Park. The victim did not report the incident until a few days later, when she saw the suspect, David Park, 27, at the protest site again.
Park, a Connecticut resident, had been arrested for disorderly conduct at a previous march, and he had numerous warrants out for him in both New York and his home state before the protests began.
Another incident was reported last week when a Brooklyn man, Tonye Iketubosin, 26, was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman in her tent at Zuccotti Park on Oct. 25.
Iketubosin, a volunteer at the Occupy Wall Street “kitchen,” was questioned about the alleged rape of a second woman on Oct. 29.
Reports of sexual abuse also surfaced in Dallas, where a 23-year-old man was accused of having sex with a 14-year-old runaway girl, and in Cleveland, where cops opened an investigation of a sexual assault that allegedly occurred on Oct. 15.
Organizers for Occupy Wall Street did not return messages seeking comment, but they released a lengthy statement addressed to the participants.
“As individuals and as a community, we have the responsibility and the opportunity to create an alternative to this culture of violence,” the statement reads. “We are working for an OWS and a world in which survivors are respected and supported unconditionally… We are redoubling our efforts to raise awareness about sexual violence. This includes taking preventative measures such as encouraging healthy relationship dynamics and consent practices that can help to limit harm.”
The incidents of sex crimes, reports of petty theft, assaults and general outbursts of violence have sprung up not only around Wall Street, but in Occupy camps across the country.
And many of the protesters have become more aggressive overall in recent days.
The most serious incident was reported in downtown Portland last night -- cops responded to calls of a Molotov cocktail being set off near the city's World Trade Center. Authorities had received unconfirmed information a week earlier that people within the Occupy Portland encampment were constructing the crudely made bomb, which is normally fashioned from a glass bottle filled with gas and a soaked rag or cloth sticking out of the opening as a wick.
At the site of the Occupy San Diego camp, street cart vendors were forced to close up shop Monday when protesters, angry that they stopped receiving free food, ransacked and vandalized the carts.
The angry mob not only scrawled graffiti on the carts, they reportedly splattered them with blood and urine as well.
In addition, the vendors received death threats, according to local radio station KNX 1070.
Last weekend, a man was walking through Zuccotti Park taking pictures of the Occupiers' camp when an unidentified man approached him and struck him in the face, leaving his victim with a laceration to the face, according to law enforcement reports.
Also in lower Manhattan, a business owner made claims that she has been terrorized and her well-being threatened by Occupiers after she prohibited them from using her store's restroom to bathe.
Stacey Tzortzatos, owner of Panini and Co., located across from Zuccotti Park, got fed up two weeks ago when demonstrators broke a bathroom sink causing flooding in the shop and leaving her with a bill of $3,000 in damages, according to the New York Post.
In Boston, homeless protesters were removed from Dewey Square after they were discovered to have knives and stashes of illegal drugs.
“Paralysis is occurring across law enforcement. It’s becoming a Catch 22,” Mullins said. Referring to the protests in New York, he said, “To go in there to clear the park is going to cause confrontation. To not do so is detrimental.”
Nearly a half-dozen assaults have been reported at Occupy camps, including three at the New York City protests, which have prompted protesters to set up a “women only” tent in Manhattan's Zuccotti Park to provide a safe haven.
“The concern would be the rapes and attacks that aren’t reported,” said Sgt. Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, a police union in New York City. “We have no way of really knowing. If you have three or five crimes reported, you really don’t know if it’s eight or 10 that happened.”
Related Video
Sexual Assault Victim Speaks Out at 'Occupy Wall Street'
Protester describes alleged attack at Zuccotti Park
Related Video
Homeless Man on Violent Rampage at 'Occupy Wall Street'
Protester fights back after tent kicked
He also noted how young many of the protesters are.
"They are in the lion’s den, so it’s not surprising that they are more susceptible to crimes,” he said.
The first reported incident occurred on Oct. 8, when a man was accused of sexually abusing a woman who was in a sleeping bag at Zuccotti Park. The victim did not report the incident until a few days later, when she saw the suspect, David Park, 27, at the protest site again.
Park, a Connecticut resident, had been arrested for disorderly conduct at a previous march, and he had numerous warrants out for him in both New York and his home state before the protests began.
Another incident was reported last week when a Brooklyn man, Tonye Iketubosin, 26, was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman in her tent at Zuccotti Park on Oct. 25.
Iketubosin, a volunteer at the Occupy Wall Street “kitchen,” was questioned about the alleged rape of a second woman on Oct. 29.
Reports of sexual abuse also surfaced in Dallas, where a 23-year-old man was accused of having sex with a 14-year-old runaway girl, and in Cleveland, where cops opened an investigation of a sexual assault that allegedly occurred on Oct. 15.
Organizers for Occupy Wall Street did not return messages seeking comment, but they released a lengthy statement addressed to the participants.
“As individuals and as a community, we have the responsibility and the opportunity to create an alternative to this culture of violence,” the statement reads. “We are working for an OWS and a world in which survivors are respected and supported unconditionally… We are redoubling our efforts to raise awareness about sexual violence. This includes taking preventative measures such as encouraging healthy relationship dynamics and consent practices that can help to limit harm.”
The incidents of sex crimes, reports of petty theft, assaults and general outbursts of violence have sprung up not only around Wall Street, but in Occupy camps across the country.
And many of the protesters have become more aggressive overall in recent days.
The most serious incident was reported in downtown Portland last night -- cops responded to calls of a Molotov cocktail being set off near the city's World Trade Center. Authorities had received unconfirmed information a week earlier that people within the Occupy Portland encampment were constructing the crudely made bomb, which is normally fashioned from a glass bottle filled with gas and a soaked rag or cloth sticking out of the opening as a wick.
At the site of the Occupy San Diego camp, street cart vendors were forced to close up shop Monday when protesters, angry that they stopped receiving free food, ransacked and vandalized the carts.
The angry mob not only scrawled graffiti on the carts, they reportedly splattered them with blood and urine as well.
In addition, the vendors received death threats, according to local radio station KNX 1070.
Last weekend, a man was walking through Zuccotti Park taking pictures of the Occupiers' camp when an unidentified man approached him and struck him in the face, leaving his victim with a laceration to the face, according to law enforcement reports.
Also in lower Manhattan, a business owner made claims that she has been terrorized and her well-being threatened by Occupiers after she prohibited them from using her store's restroom to bathe.
Stacey Tzortzatos, owner of Panini and Co., located across from Zuccotti Park, got fed up two weeks ago when demonstrators broke a bathroom sink causing flooding in the shop and leaving her with a bill of $3,000 in damages, according to the New York Post.
In Boston, homeless protesters were removed from Dewey Square after they were discovered to have knives and stashes of illegal drugs.
“Paralysis is occurring across law enforcement. It’s becoming a Catch 22,” Mullins said. Referring to the protests in New York, he said, “To go in there to clear the park is going to cause confrontation. To not do so is detrimental.”
Porn Industry Gets Green Light for Red-Light .XXX District
The world wide web is about to get a red-light district.
After more than a decade of debate, rejections and legal challenges, the Internet's governing body began accepting applications for .xxx websites from the adult entertainment industry on Tuesday, Nov. 8.
The so-called "landrush" phase signifies the true launch of .xxx websites, which are designed to provide more transparency around Internet pornography.
Related Stories
Will .XXX Clean Up the Internet?
Internet Porn Has Transformed Sexual Desire, Study Finds
Watching Internet Porn at NYC Libraries Protected by First Amendment, Officials Say
Internet's Naming Board OK's New Domains for Porn
But while its sponsor describes the new adult addresses as responsible "signposts" for pornographic material that let web surfers make informed decisions, experts have slammed the scheme as a money-grab that has been "grossly oversold" as a way to block porn and protect children.
Company ICM Registry first proposed the .xxx domain in 2000, as well as .kids website addresses, though the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) rejected both ideas.
ICM had its .xxx application reviewed, however, and in 2004 changed the proposal to a sponsored top-level domain overseen by a dedicated organization. After a string of rejections and unprecedented public comment, the scheme was approved on March 31 this year.
ICM Registry began accepting .xxx applications from trademarked companies -- those looking to use a .xxx address and those seeking to prevent their company from appearing on a .xxx website -- on September 7.
More than 80,000 applications swamped the company during the 53-day window, a result that chief executive Stuart Lawley says is unprecedented.
"There is always a risk with a new top-level domain that you may build it and nobody will come," he says.
"The .xxx sunrise period results far exceed those of any other new (sponsored top-level) domains, including .mobi, .asia and even that of .co that relaunched last year."
Adult entertainment producers without trademarks can apply for .xxx website names for the next 17 days, with their general availability following on December 6.
But University of Canberra information law lecturer Bruce Arnold says while the idea behind the new domain name has merit, the scheme will not see all adult material moved into a makeshift web ghetto as censorship advocates want.
Moving adult material to a .xxx website is voluntary, he says, and international bodies could never agree on what material should be classified as "adult" or "offensive".
"It's not going to work because we don't all agree on what is porn, and that's a huge issue," Mr Arnold says.
"People disagree passionately about what is sensitive material and what's not.
"In Australia if you watch television at 8pm you'll see people who aren't wearing much clothing or perhaps any clothing.
"Some people in the U.S. would say that any same-sex activity is profoundly obscene. These issues are impossible to resolve."
Arnold says the .xxx scheme will also fail to work as a technical solution to a human behavioral problem. Parents, guardians and search engines will not simply be able to filter out .xxx websites, and some porn producers will continue to host material on .com sites or in other countries.
"The idea that we can come up with a quick fix to this problem is fundamentally flawed," he says. "If we're concerned about protecting children from offensive content online, sometimes it is simply a matter of parking the family PC in the lounge when they're young and teaching them."
But other stakeholders disagree. Spokesman for civil liberties group Electronic Frontiers Australia, Stephen Collins, says the organization supports the introduction of .xxx websites because "having it available is going to make website content clear".
Family First leader Dennis Hood goes further, proposing that all pornographic material should be moved to a .xxx website.
"Any porn site then operating outside of the .xxx domain would be outside of the law and liable to be dealt with by the government of the day," he says.
Read more science and technology news at News.com.au.
After more than a decade of debate, rejections and legal challenges, the Internet's governing body began accepting applications for .xxx websites from the adult entertainment industry on Tuesday, Nov. 8.
The so-called "landrush" phase signifies the true launch of .xxx websites, which are designed to provide more transparency around Internet pornography.
Related Stories
Will .XXX Clean Up the Internet?
Internet Porn Has Transformed Sexual Desire, Study Finds
Watching Internet Porn at NYC Libraries Protected by First Amendment, Officials Say
Internet's Naming Board OK's New Domains for Porn
But while its sponsor describes the new adult addresses as responsible "signposts" for pornographic material that let web surfers make informed decisions, experts have slammed the scheme as a money-grab that has been "grossly oversold" as a way to block porn and protect children.
Company ICM Registry first proposed the .xxx domain in 2000, as well as .kids website addresses, though the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) rejected both ideas.
ICM had its .xxx application reviewed, however, and in 2004 changed the proposal to a sponsored top-level domain overseen by a dedicated organization. After a string of rejections and unprecedented public comment, the scheme was approved on March 31 this year.
ICM Registry began accepting .xxx applications from trademarked companies -- those looking to use a .xxx address and those seeking to prevent their company from appearing on a .xxx website -- on September 7.
More than 80,000 applications swamped the company during the 53-day window, a result that chief executive Stuart Lawley says is unprecedented.
"There is always a risk with a new top-level domain that you may build it and nobody will come," he says.
"The .xxx sunrise period results far exceed those of any other new (sponsored top-level) domains, including .mobi, .asia and even that of .co that relaunched last year."
Adult entertainment producers without trademarks can apply for .xxx website names for the next 17 days, with their general availability following on December 6.
But University of Canberra information law lecturer Bruce Arnold says while the idea behind the new domain name has merit, the scheme will not see all adult material moved into a makeshift web ghetto as censorship advocates want.
Moving adult material to a .xxx website is voluntary, he says, and international bodies could never agree on what material should be classified as "adult" or "offensive".
"It's not going to work because we don't all agree on what is porn, and that's a huge issue," Mr Arnold says.
"People disagree passionately about what is sensitive material and what's not.
"In Australia if you watch television at 8pm you'll see people who aren't wearing much clothing or perhaps any clothing.
"Some people in the U.S. would say that any same-sex activity is profoundly obscene. These issues are impossible to resolve."
Arnold says the .xxx scheme will also fail to work as a technical solution to a human behavioral problem. Parents, guardians and search engines will not simply be able to filter out .xxx websites, and some porn producers will continue to host material on .com sites or in other countries.
"The idea that we can come up with a quick fix to this problem is fundamentally flawed," he says. "If we're concerned about protecting children from offensive content online, sometimes it is simply a matter of parking the family PC in the lounge when they're young and teaching them."
But other stakeholders disagree. Spokesman for civil liberties group Electronic Frontiers Australia, Stephen Collins, says the organization supports the introduction of .xxx websites because "having it available is going to make website content clear".
Family First leader Dennis Hood goes further, proposing that all pornographic material should be moved to a .xxx website.
"Any porn site then operating outside of the .xxx domain would be outside of the law and liable to be dealt with by the government of the day," he says.
Read more science and technology news at News.com.au.
Steve Jobs Was Right: Adobe Halts Flash for Mobile Devices
SAN JOSE, Calif. – In a stunning move, software developer Adobe is reported to be throwing in the towel when it comes to getting multimedia platform Flash to run on mobile devices.
According to a report Tuesday on ZDNet, the company is halting development on future mobile versions of Flash for Android and Research In Motion's PlayBook, among other mobile operating systems.
The move would be a major blow to Android device makers, who have long touted Flash compatibility as a key competitive advantage over Apple's iPhone and iPad.
It also would mark a posthumous vindication for former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who took a controversial stand by not supporting Flash on Apple's mobile products.
"We will no longer adapt Flash Player for mobile devices to new browser, OS version or device configurations," ZDNet quoted Adobe as telling developers. "Some of our source code licensees may opt to continue working on and releasing their own implementations. We will continue to support the current Android and PlayBook configurations with critical bug fixes and security updates."
Instead, Adobe will focus on tools that allow Flash developers to create mobile apps by packaging their code to run on Adobe's AIR platform, according to the report.
Although Adobe managed to get Flash running on Android devices, as well as the PlayBook, the performance was typically slow and inconsistent even on devices that supported it.
The move comes amid a broader restructuring at Adobe, which announced earlier Tuesday that it was cutting 750 jobs and resorting its priorities.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/inwood-neighbors-popular-jazz-cafe-turn-volume-article-1.975304#ixzz1dGbyV1ew
According to a report Tuesday on ZDNet, the company is halting development on future mobile versions of Flash for Android and Research In Motion's PlayBook, among other mobile operating systems.
The move would be a major blow to Android device makers, who have long touted Flash compatibility as a key competitive advantage over Apple's iPhone and iPad.
It also would mark a posthumous vindication for former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who took a controversial stand by not supporting Flash on Apple's mobile products.
"We will no longer adapt Flash Player for mobile devices to new browser, OS version or device configurations," ZDNet quoted Adobe as telling developers. "Some of our source code licensees may opt to continue working on and releasing their own implementations. We will continue to support the current Android and PlayBook configurations with critical bug fixes and security updates."
Instead, Adobe will focus on tools that allow Flash developers to create mobile apps by packaging their code to run on Adobe's AIR platform, according to the report.
Although Adobe managed to get Flash running on Android devices, as well as the PlayBook, the performance was typically slow and inconsistent even on devices that supported it.
The move comes amid a broader restructuring at Adobe, which announced earlier Tuesday that it was cutting 750 jobs and resorting its priorities.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/inwood-neighbors-popular-jazz-cafe-turn-volume-article-1.975304#ixzz1dGbyV1ew
Eddie Murphy replacements at Oscars suggested by TV tweeters
In the last 24 hours, Brett Ratner resigned as producer of the 2012 Oscars, Eddie Murphy, his chosen host, followed suit and Brian Grazer came on board as the new producer of this shaky ship. While Hollywood awaits word on who will step into Murphy's shoes to host the award show, TV folks happily tweeted their suggestions — and their willingness to take on the job.
Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais), whose name was being suggested all over the Internet, suddenly got rather shy. "Can't believe all shouts for me to host Oscars. Really appreciate it but I don't think it's my kinda gig. Although that's the fun sometimes."
Comedian Kristen Schaal (@kristenschaaled) was one of many to latch on to the idea of non-human hosts. "THE MUPPETS SHOULD HOST THE OSCARS!" she enthused.
A few hours after his previous Oscar tweet, Gervais changed his tune. "I'll host The Oscars with Elmo and get him to say all the offensive stuff. Ha ha Perfect."
Others weren't waiting to be asked. "Why thank you of course i will step in and host the Oscars polishing up my song and dance routines now," Sandra Bernhard (SandraBernhard) tweeted. "writing my one liners! see you there."
Zach Braff (@zachbraff) of "Scrubs" offered, "If I hosted the Oscars, Hooch would do a dance interpretation of all the nominated songs.
"Covert Affairs" star Chris Gorham (@Chris_Gorham) nominated animated eggheads "Phineas and Ferb," seconded by "Private Practice's" Audra McDonald (@AudraEqualityMc).
"Lost" executive producer Damon Lindelof (@damonlindelof) had one of the more pragmatic predictions. "We're six hours away from the announcement that Billy Crystal is coming back."
Garry Shandling (@GarryShandling), on the other hand, went with more unconventional proposals. First: "You don't need an Oscar host. The first winner presents 2nd award. That winner presents 3rd award. And so on, till the end. No commercials." Second: "Yes, let's put a scale on stage, and see who loses the most weight in 4 hours. They win the Biggest Loser Oscar."
Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais), whose name was being suggested all over the Internet, suddenly got rather shy. "Can't believe all shouts for me to host Oscars. Really appreciate it but I don't think it's my kinda gig. Although that's the fun sometimes."
Comedian Kristen Schaal (@kristenschaaled) was one of many to latch on to the idea of non-human hosts. "THE MUPPETS SHOULD HOST THE OSCARS!" she enthused.
A few hours after his previous Oscar tweet, Gervais changed his tune. "I'll host The Oscars with Elmo and get him to say all the offensive stuff. Ha ha Perfect."
Others weren't waiting to be asked. "Why thank you of course i will step in and host the Oscars polishing up my song and dance routines now," Sandra Bernhard (SandraBernhard) tweeted. "writing my one liners! see you there."
Zach Braff (@zachbraff) of "Scrubs" offered, "If I hosted the Oscars, Hooch would do a dance interpretation of all the nominated songs.
"Covert Affairs" star Chris Gorham (@Chris_Gorham) nominated animated eggheads "Phineas and Ferb," seconded by "Private Practice's" Audra McDonald (@AudraEqualityMc).
"Lost" executive producer Damon Lindelof (@damonlindelof) had one of the more pragmatic predictions. "We're six hours away from the announcement that Billy Crystal is coming back."
Garry Shandling (@GarryShandling), on the other hand, went with more unconventional proposals. First: "You don't need an Oscar host. The first winner presents 2nd award. That winner presents 3rd award. And so on, till the end. No commercials." Second: "Yes, let's put a scale on stage, and see who loses the most weight in 4 hours. They win the Biggest Loser Oscar."
2011年11月7日星期一
Lindsay Lohan strips down for Playboy
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - One day in jail, the next in Playboy.
Actress Lindsay Lohan, who served hours behind bars Sunday for violating probation on drunken driving and theft charges, will appear in the pages of Playboy next month, the men's magazine and Lohan's spokesman confirmed on Monday.
"Lindsay Lohan will be featured in Playboy's January/February issue, which hits newsstands in late December," Playboy said in a statement.
Separately, Lohan's spokesman said she had completed a photo shoot, and will be on the cover of the magazine.
"The pictorial is absolutely fantastic and very tasteful, and will be accompanied by an interview that will let readers see another side of Lindsay," spokesman Steve Honig said.
Speculation about a Playboy photo shoot has captured the media's attention in recent weeks as Lohan has struggled with her ongoing legal problems.
In October, celebrity news outlet TMZ.com said Playboy offered Lohan $750,000 to pose, but the actress wanted $1 million. Playboy countered with a deal near that, TMZ said.
Playboy had no comment beyond its one-sentence statement.
Lohan, 25, rose to fame in Disney movies such as "The Parent Trap," but as an adult her career has foundered.
She has been in and out of legal trouble since a conviction in 2007 for drunk driving and drug use.
Just last week, a judge determined she had violated probation on those charges as well as a separate 2011 charge for stealing a necklace from a jewelry store. The judge sentenced Lohan to 30 days in a Los Angeles jail.
She checked in late Sunday night and, due to overcrowding, was released after spending a little less than five hours at the facility.
The Playboy spread will not be Lohan's first nude magazine photos. She appeared partially naked in New York magazine in 2008 for a piece referencing Marilyn Monroe's famous 1962 shoot with photographer Bert Stern. Monroe also famously appeared as a Playboy centerfold.
(Reporting by Bob Tourtellotte; editing by Sheri Linden)
Actress Lindsay Lohan, who served hours behind bars Sunday for violating probation on drunken driving and theft charges, will appear in the pages of Playboy next month, the men's magazine and Lohan's spokesman confirmed on Monday.
"Lindsay Lohan will be featured in Playboy's January/February issue, which hits newsstands in late December," Playboy said in a statement.
Separately, Lohan's spokesman said she had completed a photo shoot, and will be on the cover of the magazine.
"The pictorial is absolutely fantastic and very tasteful, and will be accompanied by an interview that will let readers see another side of Lindsay," spokesman Steve Honig said.
Speculation about a Playboy photo shoot has captured the media's attention in recent weeks as Lohan has struggled with her ongoing legal problems.
In October, celebrity news outlet TMZ.com said Playboy offered Lohan $750,000 to pose, but the actress wanted $1 million. Playboy countered with a deal near that, TMZ said.
Playboy had no comment beyond its one-sentence statement.
Lohan, 25, rose to fame in Disney movies such as "The Parent Trap," but as an adult her career has foundered.
She has been in and out of legal trouble since a conviction in 2007 for drunk driving and drug use.
Just last week, a judge determined she had violated probation on those charges as well as a separate 2011 charge for stealing a necklace from a jewelry store. The judge sentenced Lohan to 30 days in a Los Angeles jail.
She checked in late Sunday night and, due to overcrowding, was released after spending a little less than five hours at the facility.
The Playboy spread will not be Lohan's first nude magazine photos. She appeared partially naked in New York magazine in 2008 for a piece referencing Marilyn Monroe's famous 1962 shoot with photographer Bert Stern. Monroe also famously appeared as a Playboy centerfold.
(Reporting by Bob Tourtellotte; editing by Sheri Linden)
Ebert says show in danger of being canceled
CHICAGO (AP) — Film critic Roger Ebert is telling his readers that he may have to cancel his television show "Ebert Presents: At the Movies" unless someone steps up and helps him and his wife pay for it.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic wrote on his blog Sunday night that after an initial contribution of $25,000 from Kanbar Charitable Trust, he and Chaz Ebert have been paying virtually all the bills for the show, which began airing on public television in January.
Ebert said he has been pleased with the program, which is hosted by Associated Press movie reviewer Christy Lemire and Mubi.com film critic Ignatiy Vishnevetsky.
But after months of paying for everything from screen tests to interns to lunch on taping days, "We can't afford to support the show any longer," wrote Ebert, who can no longer speak after cancer surgery. "That's what it comes down to."
Ebert wrote that he had hoped foundations and others would step forward to underwrite the show, but that nobody has. And now, he wrote, American Public Television is asking him whether the show will be back next season, and he has to have an answer by the end of this month. He wrote that Chaz Ebert, the executive producer, will continue to seek funding for the show.
"Unless we find underwriting, I'm afraid our answer will have to be 'no,'" he wrote.
Lou Ferrara, the AP managing editor who oversees entertainment coverage, said Lemire has reviewed movies for the AP throughout her tenure with the Ebert show.
"Even if the show ends, Christy will continue providing film reviews and other movie coverage for The Associated Press," Ferrara said.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic wrote on his blog Sunday night that after an initial contribution of $25,000 from Kanbar Charitable Trust, he and Chaz Ebert have been paying virtually all the bills for the show, which began airing on public television in January.
Ebert said he has been pleased with the program, which is hosted by Associated Press movie reviewer Christy Lemire and Mubi.com film critic Ignatiy Vishnevetsky.
But after months of paying for everything from screen tests to interns to lunch on taping days, "We can't afford to support the show any longer," wrote Ebert, who can no longer speak after cancer surgery. "That's what it comes down to."
Ebert wrote that he had hoped foundations and others would step forward to underwrite the show, but that nobody has. And now, he wrote, American Public Television is asking him whether the show will be back next season, and he has to have an answer by the end of this month. He wrote that Chaz Ebert, the executive producer, will continue to seek funding for the show.
"Unless we find underwriting, I'm afraid our answer will have to be 'no,'" he wrote.
Lou Ferrara, the AP managing editor who oversees entertainment coverage, said Lemire has reviewed movies for the AP throughout her tenure with the Ebert show.
"Even if the show ends, Christy will continue providing film reviews and other movie coverage for The Associated Press," Ferrara said.
Brody Jenner, Avril Lavigne report assault in LA
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Reality TV star Brody Jenner says he was hit with a bottle outside the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, and girlfriend singer Avril Lavigne tweeted that she was also attacked.
Los Angeles police Sgt. Keith Green said Monday that Jenner filed a police report of assault with a deadly weapon after being hit early Sunday outside the popular nightspot.
Green says Jenner was not given medical help and no one was arrested.
Green could not confirm Lavigne's involvement, but on her Twitter account, she said she "got attacked by 5 people last night out of nowhere. Not cool."
Jenner is the son of Olympian Bruce Jenner and a regular on MTV's "The Hills." He's also a stepbrother of the Kardashian sisters and has appeared on their reality show.
Los Angeles police Sgt. Keith Green said Monday that Jenner filed a police report of assault with a deadly weapon after being hit early Sunday outside the popular nightspot.
Green says Jenner was not given medical help and no one was arrested.
Green could not confirm Lavigne's involvement, but on her Twitter account, she said she "got attacked by 5 people last night out of nowhere. Not cool."
Jenner is the son of Olympian Bruce Jenner and a regular on MTV's "The Hills." He's also a stepbrother of the Kardashian sisters and has appeared on their reality show.
Jackson doctor faces probation to 4 years
LOS ANGELES (AP) — If convicted, Dr. Conrad Murray faces a sentence ranging from probation to four years in prison in the death of Michael Jackson. Some of the factors related to sentencing:
— Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor would have complete discretion to decide the sentence. He would receive a probation department report on Murray recommending a sentence. Both prosecution and defense attorneys also would file recommendations. But the decision would be his and his alone.
— The judge could consider that Murray is a defendant with no prior criminal record, a circumstance that might mitigate in favor of probation.
— Because of AB109, a recent California prison realignment bill, Murray probably would not go to state prison. If given a prison sentence, he would most likely serve it in the county jail because of prison overcrowding. There has been speculation that he would be allowed to serve a term of house arrest.
— The penal code calls for a convicted defendant to be sentenced in 20 days, but he could waive that time while his attorneys prepare a motion for new trial and an appeal. He could remain free on bail during that period.
— Murray would lose his medical license.
— Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor would have complete discretion to decide the sentence. He would receive a probation department report on Murray recommending a sentence. Both prosecution and defense attorneys also would file recommendations. But the decision would be his and his alone.
— The judge could consider that Murray is a defendant with no prior criminal record, a circumstance that might mitigate in favor of probation.
— Because of AB109, a recent California prison realignment bill, Murray probably would not go to state prison. If given a prison sentence, he would most likely serve it in the county jail because of prison overcrowding. There has been speculation that he would be allowed to serve a term of house arrest.
— The penal code calls for a convicted defendant to be sentenced in 20 days, but he could waive that time while his attorneys prepare a motion for new trial and an appeal. He could remain free on bail during that period.
— Murray would lose his medical license.
Robert Pattinson: 'I Am Living a Life I Didn't Know Existed'
One little spoiler about The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1: Anna Kendrick’s character (Jessica) makes a witty toast where she calls Edward Cullen, "The Hair."
Until the world fell in love with the 25-year-old actor, people used to talk a lot about Robert Pattinson’s hair. Now, they talk about his star quality and his jump-through-the-screen charisma.
Pattinson talked to Parade.com about the long-awaited next chapter in the Twilight Saga, his steamy scenes with Kristen Stewart, and embracing old-fashioned romance.
It's not as romantic as it looks.
"We show romance in the bedroom and also in a nice ocean setting. It was impossible in the waves. We were trying to kiss each other and we misjudged the strength of the tide and so it was absolutely one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do in my life. There were big waves and Kristen and I were standing on boxes tied down to the shore. God, it was absolutely impossible. One thing I have to say, we shot those scenes in the Caribbean, so the water was warm."
See the Top 20 Sexiest Photos of Robert Pattinson
On Edward's sex appeal.
"I don’t think I’ve ever seen a vampire movie where I think the vampires are attractive. OK, girls are sometimes kind of sexy, but guys end up looking worse than they do in their real life with the pale make-up and the fangs. I’ve watched True Blood and all those guys are great looking, but you put vampire make-up on them and they look less handsome on the show than they do in reality."
On his steamy scenes with Kristen Stewart.
"I think the more comfortable you are with each other, the harder it gets to do any kind of really intense relationship scene. You’re kind of thinking, 'I don’t want to embarrass myself in front of this person,' 'I know what she’s thinking now,' so it becomes ridiculous after awhile. Watching other people have sex is never going to be that spectacular anyway. It’s a strange thing when there’s so much hype about it. You are like, 'God, I hope this lives up to it.' The toughest part was avoiding an R-rating. It’s funny when people talk about the sex scenes in the book because there are no sex scenes in the book. Go back and read. They always fade to black."
On his impressive six-pack.
"There are so many descriptions in the book of Edward’s statuesque body — it’s all made of marble, blah blah blah. I managed to get through the entire series without taking my shirt off the whole time. I was like, ‘Nah, I’m not taking it off ever, and I’m not working out!’ Then, when we did Breaking Dawn, I thought, ‘It’s the last one, I might as well.’ So I kind of worked out to bulk up a little for those scenes with my shirt off. I stopped literally the day afterwards. I find it very boring to work out."
See pics of Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson's Twilight Romance
The spotlight wasn't on him during the big wedding scene.
"The majority of guys who are getting married would have the same experience that I did, which is that you’re just standing there waiting at the altar. It’s not about you at all. Kristen has to do all the heavy lifting. She’s having to go through everything walking down the aisle, and I’m just standing there, ‘You look really good! Let’s get married! Cool!’ It was quite simple for me."
When it comes to love and marriage, just call him old-fashioned.
"I guess I must be because everyone is always telling me that Edward is kind of old-fashioned, but I always see him as fairly normal. I mean, he just knows what he wants. He’s in love with someone and he just likes the idea of getting married to them. I guess I kind of agree with that."
On becoming a daddy.
"Nobody really knows how to be a father, there’s no way to prepare for it. But it’s quite easy to play in a film when you are holding a baby. The little person is crying in your arms and you end up being very careful. When you portraying a father, you can kind of avoid all the annoying parts of having a kid because there’s someone else to take care of it."
On Twilight coming to an end.
"The one time we filmed in nice weather was literally the last day of production. Kristen and I were on the beach and just making out all night. That’s not too bad. It was just the two of us and it was really nice. Everybody stayed to watch the sunrise, which was really beautiful. It was a nice ending."
8 Eye-Opening Twilight Scandals
As for the future.
"I feel like I’ve kind of been in a whirlwind for so long, even though I’ve done other movies in between. Whenever you promote something, they always want you to talk about Twilight, so it’s kind of constant. I am living a life which I didn’t really know existed. You can kind of delay being an adult for quite a while."
Related links:
See the Top 20 Sexiest Photos of Robert Pattinson
See pics of Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson's Twilight Romance
8 Eye-Opening Twilight Scandals
Until the world fell in love with the 25-year-old actor, people used to talk a lot about Robert Pattinson’s hair. Now, they talk about his star quality and his jump-through-the-screen charisma.
Pattinson talked to Parade.com about the long-awaited next chapter in the Twilight Saga, his steamy scenes with Kristen Stewart, and embracing old-fashioned romance.
It's not as romantic as it looks.
"We show romance in the bedroom and also in a nice ocean setting. It was impossible in the waves. We were trying to kiss each other and we misjudged the strength of the tide and so it was absolutely one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do in my life. There were big waves and Kristen and I were standing on boxes tied down to the shore. God, it was absolutely impossible. One thing I have to say, we shot those scenes in the Caribbean, so the water was warm."
See the Top 20 Sexiest Photos of Robert Pattinson
On Edward's sex appeal.
"I don’t think I’ve ever seen a vampire movie where I think the vampires are attractive. OK, girls are sometimes kind of sexy, but guys end up looking worse than they do in their real life with the pale make-up and the fangs. I’ve watched True Blood and all those guys are great looking, but you put vampire make-up on them and they look less handsome on the show than they do in reality."
On his steamy scenes with Kristen Stewart.
"I think the more comfortable you are with each other, the harder it gets to do any kind of really intense relationship scene. You’re kind of thinking, 'I don’t want to embarrass myself in front of this person,' 'I know what she’s thinking now,' so it becomes ridiculous after awhile. Watching other people have sex is never going to be that spectacular anyway. It’s a strange thing when there’s so much hype about it. You are like, 'God, I hope this lives up to it.' The toughest part was avoiding an R-rating. It’s funny when people talk about the sex scenes in the book because there are no sex scenes in the book. Go back and read. They always fade to black."
On his impressive six-pack.
"There are so many descriptions in the book of Edward’s statuesque body — it’s all made of marble, blah blah blah. I managed to get through the entire series without taking my shirt off the whole time. I was like, ‘Nah, I’m not taking it off ever, and I’m not working out!’ Then, when we did Breaking Dawn, I thought, ‘It’s the last one, I might as well.’ So I kind of worked out to bulk up a little for those scenes with my shirt off. I stopped literally the day afterwards. I find it very boring to work out."
See pics of Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson's Twilight Romance
The spotlight wasn't on him during the big wedding scene.
"The majority of guys who are getting married would have the same experience that I did, which is that you’re just standing there waiting at the altar. It’s not about you at all. Kristen has to do all the heavy lifting. She’s having to go through everything walking down the aisle, and I’m just standing there, ‘You look really good! Let’s get married! Cool!’ It was quite simple for me."
When it comes to love and marriage, just call him old-fashioned.
"I guess I must be because everyone is always telling me that Edward is kind of old-fashioned, but I always see him as fairly normal. I mean, he just knows what he wants. He’s in love with someone and he just likes the idea of getting married to them. I guess I kind of agree with that."
On becoming a daddy.
"Nobody really knows how to be a father, there’s no way to prepare for it. But it’s quite easy to play in a film when you are holding a baby. The little person is crying in your arms and you end up being very careful. When you portraying a father, you can kind of avoid all the annoying parts of having a kid because there’s someone else to take care of it."
On Twilight coming to an end.
"The one time we filmed in nice weather was literally the last day of production. Kristen and I were on the beach and just making out all night. That’s not too bad. It was just the two of us and it was really nice. Everybody stayed to watch the sunrise, which was really beautiful. It was a nice ending."
8 Eye-Opening Twilight Scandals
As for the future.
"I feel like I’ve kind of been in a whirlwind for so long, even though I’ve done other movies in between. Whenever you promote something, they always want you to talk about Twilight, so it’s kind of constant. I am living a life which I didn’t really know existed. You can kind of delay being an adult for quite a while."
Related links:
See the Top 20 Sexiest Photos of Robert Pattinson
See pics of Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson's Twilight Romance
8 Eye-Opening Twilight Scandals
Verdict reached in case of Michael Jackson doctor
ANGELES (AP) — A jury reached a verdict Monday in the involuntary manslaughter case against Michael Jackson's doctor, deliberating for less than nine hours after the six-week trial that included the pop star's own recorded voice but no testimony from the physician accused of causing his death.
Court officials said the verdict would be read at 1 p.m. PST.
"I'm shaking uncontrollably!" Michael Jackson's sister LaToya commented via Twitter on the pending verdict.
Jackson family members arrived at the courthouse after court officials said a verdict had been reached.
Outside the courthouse, supporters and fans of Michael Jackson seemed to get word that the jury had reached a verdict. They started cheering and started chanting, "Guilty! Guilty!"
Prosecutors depicted Dr. Conrad Murray as a reckless physician who abandoned Jackson while he was under the effects of the powerful anesthetic propofol on June 25, 2009.
Attorneys for the Houston-based cardiologist countered that Jackson was addicted to the drug and self-administered the fatal dose when Murray left his bedroom.
Murray agreed to become Jackson's personal physician as the singer prepared for a series of comeback concerts in 2009.
Murray did not testify during the trial but previously acknowledged to police that he gave Jackson propofol and other sedatives on the morning the singer died.
The seven men and five women who hold the fate of Murray in their hands are a diverse cross-section of Los Angeles, people of varying ethnicities from different towns who might never have met if they had not been thrown together in the jury pool.
They are white, black and Hispanic, mostly middle-aged and live in an assortment of suburbs in the Los Angeles urban sprawl. Most have children and some have grandchildren.
They include a professor, postman, bus driver, actor and movie animation supervisor.
The panel was in its second day of deliberations when it reached the verdict.
Murray has pleaded not guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter after prosecutors accused him of administering a fatal dose of propofol to the King of Pop.
The jurors, who were engaged by all the details of the case, were likely methodical in their deliberations.
Nine of them have prior jury experience and one woman, a native of Spain, has served on five juries, all of which reached verdicts. She was once a jury forewoman.
A woman who has worked as a paralegal for 30 years is serving on her first jury and appeared enthralled.
They knew about the involuntary manslaughter charge against Murray before they came to court and most of them know Jackson's music. A few said they were fans and one, the video animation specialist, said he had some interaction with Jackson when the singer was making the video, "Captain EO."
Details about their lives were culled from lengthy written questionnaires obtained by The Associated Press. Their identities have been kept secret and even lawyers in the case know them only by their jury numbers.
In six weeks together the jurors have displayed uncommon attentiveness to the task at hand. Several, including alternates, have taken notes and kept lists of evidence. Once, when the judge was at a loss to find the number of an exhibit, a member of the jury spoke up and told him.
There were no drooping eyelids or distracted glances. When a scientific expert was conducting experiments on the floor of the courtroom, panelists stood up in the jury box to get a better view.
Their attention to evidence and witnesses has impressed Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor, who commended them for their commitment, punctuality in getting to court and willingness to give up their personal lives to serve.
When the trial went longer than Pastor had predicted, he apologized, but the jurors seemed unperturbed.
Every night, when he gave them an admonition to avoid the news, the Internet and other sources of information about the trial, they listened as if it was the first time they had heard it and they nodded in agreement.
Many of the panelists have a familiarity with prescription drugs; most of them said they trust their doctors and several believe that celebrities receive a different kind of justice than average people.
Some have learned about the justice system from TV, watching such shows as "Law and Order" and "CSI." Others watched broadcasts of real-life, high-profile trials including the Casey Anthony case and the O.J. Simpson trial.
One woman, an accounting manager, remembered that during the Simpson trial, "a TV was brought to the office for everyone to follow it." A man in his 30s said he followed that trial in school as an educational experience.
While not sequestered, the jurors have had a rare opportunity to bond because they were kept together for lunch and transported together between a secret parking lot and the courthouse. In order to avoid exposure to events outside the courtroom, the judge had lunch catered for them every day.
___
Associated Press Entertainment Writer Anthony McCartney and Videographer John Mone contributed to this report.
Court officials said the verdict would be read at 1 p.m. PST.
"I'm shaking uncontrollably!" Michael Jackson's sister LaToya commented via Twitter on the pending verdict.
Jackson family members arrived at the courthouse after court officials said a verdict had been reached.
Outside the courthouse, supporters and fans of Michael Jackson seemed to get word that the jury had reached a verdict. They started cheering and started chanting, "Guilty! Guilty!"
Prosecutors depicted Dr. Conrad Murray as a reckless physician who abandoned Jackson while he was under the effects of the powerful anesthetic propofol on June 25, 2009.
Attorneys for the Houston-based cardiologist countered that Jackson was addicted to the drug and self-administered the fatal dose when Murray left his bedroom.
Murray agreed to become Jackson's personal physician as the singer prepared for a series of comeback concerts in 2009.
Murray did not testify during the trial but previously acknowledged to police that he gave Jackson propofol and other sedatives on the morning the singer died.
The seven men and five women who hold the fate of Murray in their hands are a diverse cross-section of Los Angeles, people of varying ethnicities from different towns who might never have met if they had not been thrown together in the jury pool.
They are white, black and Hispanic, mostly middle-aged and live in an assortment of suburbs in the Los Angeles urban sprawl. Most have children and some have grandchildren.
They include a professor, postman, bus driver, actor and movie animation supervisor.
The panel was in its second day of deliberations when it reached the verdict.
Murray has pleaded not guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter after prosecutors accused him of administering a fatal dose of propofol to the King of Pop.
The jurors, who were engaged by all the details of the case, were likely methodical in their deliberations.
Nine of them have prior jury experience and one woman, a native of Spain, has served on five juries, all of which reached verdicts. She was once a jury forewoman.
A woman who has worked as a paralegal for 30 years is serving on her first jury and appeared enthralled.
They knew about the involuntary manslaughter charge against Murray before they came to court and most of them know Jackson's music. A few said they were fans and one, the video animation specialist, said he had some interaction with Jackson when the singer was making the video, "Captain EO."
Details about their lives were culled from lengthy written questionnaires obtained by The Associated Press. Their identities have been kept secret and even lawyers in the case know them only by their jury numbers.
In six weeks together the jurors have displayed uncommon attentiveness to the task at hand. Several, including alternates, have taken notes and kept lists of evidence. Once, when the judge was at a loss to find the number of an exhibit, a member of the jury spoke up and told him.
There were no drooping eyelids or distracted glances. When a scientific expert was conducting experiments on the floor of the courtroom, panelists stood up in the jury box to get a better view.
Their attention to evidence and witnesses has impressed Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor, who commended them for their commitment, punctuality in getting to court and willingness to give up their personal lives to serve.
When the trial went longer than Pastor had predicted, he apologized, but the jurors seemed unperturbed.
Every night, when he gave them an admonition to avoid the news, the Internet and other sources of information about the trial, they listened as if it was the first time they had heard it and they nodded in agreement.
Many of the panelists have a familiarity with prescription drugs; most of them said they trust their doctors and several believe that celebrities receive a different kind of justice than average people.
Some have learned about the justice system from TV, watching such shows as "Law and Order" and "CSI." Others watched broadcasts of real-life, high-profile trials including the Casey Anthony case and the O.J. Simpson trial.
One woman, an accounting manager, remembered that during the Simpson trial, "a TV was brought to the office for everyone to follow it." A man in his 30s said he followed that trial in school as an educational experience.
While not sequestered, the jurors have had a rare opportunity to bond because they were kept together for lunch and transported together between a secret parking lot and the courthouse. In order to avoid exposure to events outside the courtroom, the judge had lunch catered for them every day.
___
Associated Press Entertainment Writer Anthony McCartney and Videographer John Mone contributed to this report.
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