Dozens killed as Pakistani army, militants clash (Reuters)

KURRAM, Pakistan (Reuters) ? Dozens of people were killed in clashes between Pakistani soldiers and militants in the northwest region on Tuesday, security officials said, casting further doubts on exploratory peace talks with the rebels.

Fighting erupted when militants attacked a security post in the Jogi area of Kurram tribal region, near the Afghanistan border, said the officials.

At least 10 soldiers were killed and 32 others wounded, while 40 militants died and 30 were injured after Pakistani forces retaliated and gunship helicopters were called in for support, the officials said.

The death toll could not be independently verified and militants often dispute official accounts.

The Pakistani Taliban, allied with al Qaeda, and the Afghan Taliban movement fighting Western forces in Afghanistan, are entrenched in Pakistan's northwestern tribal areas.

A series of military offensives have failed to break the group.

Exploratory peace talks between Pakistan and al Qaeda-linked Taliban have made little progress so far, and previous peace deals have failed to improve security.

Pakistan's army and air force have been conducting operations against militants in Kurram since the beginning of the year. Fighting has been particularly intense in Jogi.

At least four soldiers and 30 militants were killed during clashes last week.

(Reporting by Ali Afzaal in KURRAM, Saud Mehsud in DERA ISMAIL KHAN and Jibran Ahmad in PESHAWAR; Writing by Serena Chaudhry; Editing by Qasim Nauman and Sanjeev Miglani)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120131/wl_nm/us_pakistan_militancy

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John Rich, director of TV comedies, dies at 86 (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? Television director John Rich, who won an Emmy Award for the memorable "All in the Family" scene showing Sammy Davis Jr. planting a kiss on Archie Bunker, has died in Los Angeles at 86.

Rich also won an Emmy for "The Dick Van Dyke Show."

Directors Guild of America spokeswoman Sahar Moridani tells the Los Angeles Times ( http://lat.ms/yg21r5) that Rich died Sunday morning at his Los Angeles home after a brief illness. There are no other details.

His 50-year Hollywood career included "I Married Joan," "Our Miss Brooks," "Gunsmoke" and "Bonanza." He also directed episodes or pilots of "The Twilight Zone," "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.," "Gilligan's Island," "The Brady Bunch," "Maude," "Good Times," "The Jeffersons," "Barney Miller" and "Newhart."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_en_ot/us_obit_john_rich

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Ex UBS trader Adoboli denies fraud, faces trial

LONDON?? Former UBS trader Kweku Adoboli will stand trial in September after pleading not guilty on Monday to charges related to the loss of more than $2 billion on trades the Swiss bank says were unauthorized.

The trial, which is likely to shine a searching light on the adequacy of the bank's management and risk controls, could land Adoboli with a maximum 10-year jail sentence if convicted of the two counts of fraud and two of false accounting.

His lawyer Paul Garlick said Adoboli, who worked for the bank as a director of exchange traded funds in London, where the trial is being held, would try to win bail before it starts on September 3, nearly a year after his arrest.

The losses led to the resignation of UBS's former chief executive Oswald Gruebel and a shake-up of its investment arm to cut its exposure to risk.

Judge Alistair McCreath said the case was "of such magnitude" that there would have to be a long gap between the plea hearing and the start of the trial.

"An earlier trial would simply not be possible," he said.

Dressed in a grey suit and blue tie, Adoboli sat in the glass and wood-paneled dock at Southwark Crown Court, taking notes on a piece of paper. He thanked the judge before being led from the dock and back into custody at the end of the hearing.

Adoboli, the British-educated son of a retired United Nations official from Ghana, was arrested on September 15 and charged a day later.

"This puts the focus back on UBS, which is negative," said one banking analyst, who asked not to be named. "They did not provide a lot of detail about what happened, but a trial does mean more details on their risk systems and on their internal investigation will have to come out."

The case rocked an industry struggling with the euro zone debt crisis and a global economic slowdown.

UBS itself came close to collapse during the 2008 financial crisis because of its exposure to bad loans in the mortgage market. It cut thousands of jobs and received a state bailout.

Its recovery was then threatened by a U.S. government clampdown on banks helping Americans to dodge taxes.

In a statement after Monday's hearing, UBS said in a statement: "With active criminal proceedings, English criminal law limits what we can say about this incident, therefore UBS will not be commenting."

Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46187939/ns/business-world_business/

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Spice Girls reuniting for queen's jubilee

The biggest girl group of the '90s is making a comeback!

Spice Girls singer Melanie Brown revealed the band will be reuniting this summer during a recent interview on Australian TV ? but contrary to reports, it won't be for the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony.

PHOTOS: Sexy British stars!

"I think the Queen's Jubilee concert is the event I'd be looking at more closely for that to happen," the 36-year-old said. Realizing she revealed too much, the singer quickly changed the subject.

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According to The Sun, Brown told TV crew members backstage: "I am going to be in such strife for saying that. It's all so totally bloody top-secret still."

PHOTOS: Victoria Beckham's wildest outfits

The "Scary" musician and her bandmates ? Victoria "Posh" Beckham, 37, Geri "Ginger" Halliwell, 39, Emma "Baby" Bunton, 36, and Melanie "Sporty" Chisholm, 38 ? last performed together during a reunion tour that kicked off in 2007.

"I'm always down for a Spice Girls reunion," Brown said. "I love the Scary hair and platforms. Any time of day or night I'll be there."

PHOTOS: Victoria Beckham's posh pregnancy

To mark 60 years of Queen Elizabeth II's reign, the Diamond Jubilee will take place on June 4, 2012. The group will perform in front of the royal family, including Prince William, 29, and Kate Middleton, 30.

Copyright 2012 Us Weekly

Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/46176269/ns/today-entertainment/

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What We're Reading for the Week of January 23rd (Democracyforamerica)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

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Foldable electric car debuts in Europe

Hiriko

Hiriko is a foldable electric car unveiled Jan. 24 in Europe. It is designed to fit in tight parking spaces and be part of car-sharing programs.

By John Roach

The commercial version of two-seater foldable electric car that driver and passenger enter through a pop-out windshield was officially unveiled this week in Europe.

The car, called Hiriko, is powered by four in-wheel motors that each turn a full 90 degrees. Its compact ? and compactable ? design coupled with four-wheel steering should allow parking in the tightest of spaces on crowded city streets.

The concept is based on the electric CityCar created by researchers at the MIT Media Lab, and commercialized by a consortium of automotive companies in the Basque region of Spain.

Hiriko, which is Basque for "urban," made its debut at a ceremony Jan. 24 by Jos? Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission in Brussels.

With electric motors in the wheels, there's no need for a gas tank or traditional gasoline engine, transmission and gearbox, allowing the rear of the car to slip under the chassis.?

When folded, three of the cars can fit in one traditional parking space.

MIT Media Lab

MIT Media Lab's CityCar, which is the car Hiriko is based on, is compared to standard-size automobiles and a Smart car.

The MIT Media Lab envisions the cars finding a home in car-share programs where members drive any available ride around the city and parking at widely distributed charging stations.

The cars have a reported range of 100 km (62 miles) per charge, making them well suited for?in-city driving in compact European cities already accustomed to small, fuel-efficient vehicles.

While the vehicles should appeal to cities and consumers keen to save money and the environment, the Economist notes?that "supercompact cars have not done nearly as well as their proponents had hoped."

One of the hurdles, IHS Global Insight analyst Tim Urquhart?told the magazine, is that cars like Hiriko are low value, low price, "and, therefore, they are low margin" ? not much of a money maker.

Time will tell if these little electric rides find market acceptance. The first car-sharing trial is slated for Malmo, Sweden's third largest city, the Guardian reports. Other cities around the world have reportedly expressed interest, including Berlin, San Francisco, and Hong Kong.

Commercial production is slated to begin in Spain next year. The cars will cost 12,500 Euros each to build. A video of the unveiling ceremony is below.

More on electric car technology:

---

John Roach is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. To learn more about him, check out his website. For more of our Future of Technology series, watch the featured video below.

Jane Pauley and Gene Shalit show how far voice-activated commands had to go, when a toy van named came to visit the Today Show set, in 1979.

?

Source: http://futureoftech.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/27/10252075-foldable-electric-car-debuts-in-europe

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Sources: No rescue planned for kidnapped American

By NBC News' Jim Miklaszewski and Courtney Kube

WASHINGTON - American officials told NBC News on Friday that they were "aware" of Somali pirates' threats to kill an American hostage they had grabbed over the weekend, but for now the Pentagon and U.S. military has no plans?to try and rescue him.

The American, Michael Scott Moore, who wrote a book on surfing, was in Somalia gathering material for another book on modern-day pirates when he was kidnapped by 15 armed men on Saturday.

A pirate commander was reportedly in charge of negotiating Moore's release, although it was unclear whether a precise ransom demand had been made.

The Navy SEALs caught the kidnappers by surprise, parachuting to the ground two miles away from their target. They killed all nine of the kidnappers, and rescued Jessica Buchanan and Poul Thisted who had been held since October 2011. NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reports.

Following the rescue of American aid worker Jessica Buchanan and her Danish colleague Poul Thisted this week, Moore's kidnappers threatened to kill him if the United States tried something similar.

There's was no indication, however, that a similar American mission is in the works.

As a rule, the U.S. military is "not in the business of hostage rescues," a senior official told NBC News.? The officials spoke to NBC on condition of anonymity.

The American official said the decision to launch a rescue is made on a "case-by-case basis" and depended on the circumstances at hand.

Several factors led to the decision to try and rescue of Buchanan, U.S. officials told NBC.? Firstly, the kidnappers themselves claimed that Buchanan was suffering from a potentially fatal health condition. Also, Somalia was largely lawless and there was little or no hope that local security forces would be able to track down the kidnappers and free their captives.

Finally, the group holding Buchanan was a fairly disorganized band of "criminals and thugs" making it a somewhat easy targets for the Navy Seals that saved her, the officials said.? Given the public relations blitz already launched by Moore's kidnappers and their open threats to kill him, recovering him would be a much riskier mission, they added.

More from msnbc.com and NBC News:

Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/27/10251033-sources-no-rescue-planned-for-american-kidnapped-in-somalia

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Gingrich: Use Reagan approach for post-Castro Cuba (AP)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. ? Republican presidential hopefuls are casting President Barack Obama as a failure on Cuba and say they would do a better job ushering freedom into the nation after Castro.

Newt Gingrich said during Thursday night's debate that the United States should use the same tactics President Ronald Reagan employed to bring down the Soviet Union. Gingrich says the U.S. policy should be to connect with young Cubans to persuade them that they want freedom for their generation.

Mitt Romney says he would use economic pressure to bring about freedom for the island nation 90 miles off Florida. Rick Santorum says Obama's policies to ease restrictions on Cuba are "the exact wrong message at the exact wrong time."

Ron Paul alone says the United States should engage Cuba now to ease tensions.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_debate_cuba

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Ashton Kutcher Cares About Demi Moore, Source Confirms

Ashton Kutcher has only released one public statement since Demi Moore was hospitalized - and it was a Tweet that referenced "citizen journalists" - but a source close to the actor wants to make it clear:

He does care about his ex-wife.

"Ashton is deeply concerned for Demi," the insider tells People, adding he was simply in Brazil this week for work on an ad campaign. "He still cares about her and wants the best for her. But their marriage is ending and they are both moving on with their lives."

Kutcher touched back down in Los Angeles yesterday and will return to the set of Two and a Half Men Monday.

Meanwhile, a new story in Great Britain's The Sun says Moore has been hooked on Red Bull for over a decade. She supposedly gets crates of the energy drink delivered to her house and has often replaced meals with multiple intakes of this beverage.

This actually jibes with another report earlier in the week, which cited a partying, flirtatious Moore from a couple weeks ago, clutching a Red Bull can during a night out.

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/ashton-kutcher-cares-about-demi-moore-source-confirms/

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Video: Oscar-Nominee on 2012 Oscars

Meet the man behind "The Help,"Jim Berk, Participant Media CEO. His film has been nominated for an Oscar in four separate categories.

Related Links:

Business & financial news headlines from msnbc.com

Top of page

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/46151387/

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Analysis: Zynga needs mobile to move away from Facebook (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? David Ko, Zynga's chief mobile officer, has one of the most important and pressure-filled at the online gaming company -- he's charged with figuring out ways to get people to play Zynga's games on tablets and smartphones.

Zynga and Ko want to build a viable business outside of Facebook, the world's largest social network, where Zynga generated more than 94 percent its revenue in the third quarter.

With Facebook imposing a 30 percent tax on money made on its website, it is an economic imperative that Ko drive his company's users to other platforms so that Zynga can keep more money for itself.

He is, in essence, on the front lines of Zynga's battle for independence, which could be one of the reasons why he dubbed his office enclave the "war room," where he works on new game ideas, schedules and strategic plans.

And so far, Ko's team has fired off a few successful rounds. Zynga's games are climbing their way up Apple's app store charts.

On the App Store on Wednesday, Zynga had the No. 2 app overall on iTunes, while it was in second and fifth place in the top paid app category. It held No. 1 spots on both lists a week ago and has made the list for five top grossing apps, according to Appshopper.com.

With about 1 billion apps being downloaded each month on both Apple or Google's Android devices, Zynga is attempting to ride that growth by making more games for those platforms.

"Those numbers are growing really fast and our users or player numbers reflect that," Ko said in an interview.

Zynga said on its IPO roadshow that it had 13 million active daily users on mobile devices in November, a 17 percent increase from the 11.1 million mobile players it reported in October. Trouble is, that's still 40 million fewer users than the roughly 53 million daily active Zynga users on Facebook this week.

The good news is that its growth rate on mobile devices is greater than it is on Facebook. In fact, the number of Zynga users on Facebook declined 5 percent year-over-year in December, according to data tracking website AppData.com.

While Ko said popular mobile games "Scramble with Friends" and "Words with Friends" are poised for growth, it may be more wishful thinking than an actual business reality that these games could steal the spotlight from Zynga's main revenue source, Facebook games such as "CastleVille" and "FarmVille."

"There is a monetization difference between PC and mobile," Ko said, without elaborating.

Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said mobile games make a fraction of the money what Zynga's games make on computers because handheld screens are smaller, the experience is less immersive and there are fewer opportunities for players to spend money.

FACEBOOK CRUTCH

The perceived Facebook crutch is one of the factors dragging down Zynga's shares since it went public on Dec 16. But extricating itself from the social network won't exactly be a financial walk in the park.

Investing in mobile games isn't cheap, and the price to stay ahead of the curve could be high, said Steve Soranno, equity analyst at Calvert Investment Management, which has $12 billion of assets under management.

"The high demand for constant innovation -- even if it's a word game -- could lead to high costs for the company," said Soranno, who is considering an investment in Zynga.

Zynga bought eight mobile companies last year and has poached a roster of top executives from its rivals, the most recent being Barry Cottle, an Electronic Arts veteran who oversaw the publisher's social and mobile games unit.

And at least one analyst expects Zynga to release more mobile games than Facebook games this year. JP Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth wrote in a research note on Wednesday that he expects Zynga to publish 14 or 15 new games, 10 of which will be mobile.

It is also experimenting with different business models for handheld devices. Zynga makes money from selling virtual items in games, similar to its Facebook strategy, but it also offers games for free with ads and now sells ad-free games for about $3.

Zynga may also branch out from its popular word games. It released a pet-care game late last year and is looking at making a so-called physics game like "Angry Birds" that people could play against their friends. Travis Boatman, vice president of mobile, said nothing is certain, but "there is a lot of interest in that genre."

The priority for Zynga is replicating its Facebook popularity by creating a network of mobile games under one brand that users can play with the same friends across all titles.

Ko, the mobile chief, pointed to some recent pop culture events as signs that Zynga's mobile games are reaching a critical mass.

One was Alec Baldwin's highly publicized spat with American Airlines when he wouldn't put "Words with Friends" down. Then, a Missouri woman was credited with saving a man's life through the game.

The woman's word partner in Australia mentioned that her husband was sick and described his symptoms while chatting in the game. The Missouri woman's husband, a physician, was then able to figure out the man in Australia was having a heart attack and said he should rush to the hospital.

Stories like these could help the company chase "Angry Birds," another pop culture gaming phenomenon everyone likes to talk about.

"I want more games of ours to have that 'Angry Birds' type of moment where they really go mainstream," Ko said, referring to the game by Zynga's rival, Rovio.

(Reporting By Liana B. Baker; Editing by Peter Lauria and Steve Orlofsky)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120125/wr_nm/us_zynga

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Newt Gingrich Backer Says More Endorsements Will Come Soon

WASHINGTON -- One of Newt Gingrich's biggest problems so far has been his lack of establishment support. But that should change soon, his main congressional backer, Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) told The Huffington Post on Tuesday.

Franks said he will meet on Wednesday morning with members of Congress who want to endorse Gingrich, based on increased interest after the former House speaker won the South Carolina primary on Jan. 21.

"I think he will" receive more congressional endorsements, Franks hinted. "I think you'll see probably some of that manifest fairly soon."

He declined to say who they were or in which chamber they serve. "I probably better just let you talk to me tomorrow after about noon," he added.

Adding endorsements could help reinforce Gingrich's new front-runner status after a strong win in South Carolina. In 2011, he was largely counted out of the race for the GOP nomination after his campaign imploded, but he has since bounded back and become a threat to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's front-runner's status.

Up until now, though, Gingrich had gained little traction among members of Congress. He did pick up some other endorsements over the past week: Texas Gov. Rick Perry threw support to him after dropping out of the race and former Sen. Fred Thompson, a Republican who represented Tennessee and starred in "Law & Order," endorsed him on Monday.

Franks was an early adopter, of sorts. He endorsed Gingrich just eight days before the South Carolina primary, after having previously supported Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) for president.

"America cannot afford another four years of Barack Obama, which is why conservatives must unite now around the one candidate who can offer the clearest contrasts with Barack Obama," he said in a statement at the time. "That person is Newt Gingrich."

Franks repeated on Tuesday that he expects Gingrich to win the Florida primary, a statement he also made after Gingrich won Saturday's South Carolina primary.

"I was astonished to see him leading in the [Florida] polls this quickly," he told The Huffington Post on Tuesday.

The Huffington Post asked Franks if he had pressed former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum to step aside in favor of Gingrich. He declined to go into details, but said, "I have spoken to Rick directly."

"I'm not going to characterize the conversation, but I spoke to him in South Carolina, face-to-face," he added. "We're friends, and I think he's a hero, and I have nothing but good to say about him."

Franks declined to say whether he will campaign on the road with Gingrich again. But he said he thinks Gingrich's ideas will help him to solidify support among Republicans, citing "his ability to discern the fallacy in the left-wing dialogue and rhetoric and be able to turn it around in a way that people can see it for what it is."

Added Franks. "And [he can] respond in a way that makes sense to people is an asymmetric capability that very few candidates can even dream of having."

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/25/newt-gingrich-trent-franks-_n_1229973.html

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John Travolta's stolen vintage Mercedes recovered in pieces (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? Film star John Travolta's vintage Mercedes-Benz, stolen from a Los Angeles suburb, has been recovered in pieces and two men have been arrested, police said on Wednesday.

Travolta's convertible 1970 Mercedes-Benz 280-SL vanished from the street in Santa Monica while the "Pulp Fiction" star was visiting a nearby Jaguar dealership in September.

Michael Green, 58, and D.L. Rayford, 52, were taken into custody in December by members of a law enforcement task force investigating a sophisticated car-theft ring, Santa Monica police Sergeant Richard Lewis said.

"Through the collaborative efforts of investigators ... two individuals were identified as suspects relating to the theft of Mr. Travolta's Mercedes, and were arrested by investigators from the task force," Lewis said.

Lewis said leads developed following the theft led investigators to a "chop shop," where stolen vehicles were found, including parts of the actor's car.

"It was not recovered in whole, it was chopped," Lewis said. "We have numerous pieces recovered but not the entire car."

He said the arrests were not announced earlier to avoid compromising a larger investigation into the car theft ring.

Both Green and Rayford were charged with grand theft auto, a Los Angeles County District Attorney's spokeswoman said.

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120125/people_nm/us_travolta_mercedes

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Obama and GOP candidates offer a campaign preview

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks at Miami-Dade College in Miami, Fla., Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks at Miami-Dade College in Miami, Fla., Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich meets with supporters at Wings Plus Restaurant, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, in Coral Springs, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum gives a autograph at the First Baptist Church in Naples, Fla., Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) ? On a day that combined two campaigns into one, President Barack Obama on Wednesday challenged Republicans to raise taxes on the rich as Republicans Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich swiped at him on the economy and criticized each other over immigration.

With a week to go before the Jan. 31 Florida Republican presidential primary, the polls suggested a tight race, although Romney and his allies seized a staggering advantage in the television ad wars. They have reported spending $14 million combined on commercials, many of them critical of Gingrich, and a total at least seven times bigger that the investment made by the former House speaker and an organization supporting him.

Obama's political timeline was a different one, Election Day on Nov. 6. In a campaign-style appearance in Iowa, he demanded Congress approve a tax increase for anyone like Romney whose income exceeds $1 million a year.

"If you make more than a million dollars a year, you should pay a tax rate of at least 30 percent. If, on the other hand, you make less than $250,000, which includes 98 percent of you, your taxes shouldn't go up," he said after touring a manufacturing plant in Cedar Rapids and in a state that he won in 2008 that was expected to be a battleground in the fall.

"This is not class warfare," he said. "That's common sense."

As Obama surely knew, it was an offer Gingrich, Romney and the anti-tax Republicans in Congress are likely to find easy to refuse.

In general remarks that his aides billed as a rebuttal to the State of the Union speech, Romney said Obama "seemed so extraordinarily detached from reality, so detached from what's going on in Florida," where unemployment is 9.9 percent and the mortgage foreclosure crisis has hit particularly hard.

"He said last night how well things are going," Romney said. "If you really think that things are going well, that we're on the right track, and that his policies are working, then you ought to vote for him."

Gingrich was far harsher at an appearance in Miami.

"If he actually meant what he said it would be a disaster of the first order," Gingrich said of the president's call for higher taxes on millionaires.

The former House speaker said the president's proposal would double the capital gains tax and "lead to a dramatic decline in the stock market, which would affect every pension fund in the United States."

"It would affect every person who has a 401(k). It would attack the creation of jobs and drive capital outside of the United States. It would force people to invest overseas. It would be the most anti-jobs single step he could take," he said.

Under current law, investment income is taxed as the rate of 15 percent, a fact that has come to the fore of the campaign in recent days with the release of Romney's income tax return.

Wages, by contrast, are taxed at rates that can exceed 30 percent.

Electablity is the top concern for GOP primary voters, according to polls taken in the primary and caucus states, so both Republicans were eager to paint a contrast with the president.

But Romney and Gingrich also focused on the Florida primary now seven days distant.

Romney has long led in the state's polls, but Gingrich's upset victory last Saturday in the first-in-the-South primary in South Carolina revitalized his candidacy and raised questions about the former Massachusetts governor's staying power.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum is also on the ballot, as is Texas Rep. Ron Paul.

But Santorum has been sinking in the polls as Gingrich rises, and Paul has indicated he intends to bypass the state to concentrate on caucuses to be held elsewhere.

That gives Florida the feel of a two-man race, and Romney and Gingrich are treating it that way. The two men sparred heatedly Monday night in a debate that virtually relegated Santorum and Paul to supporting roles.

A second debate is set for Thursday in Jacksonville. And if their separate appearances during the day on the Spanish-language television network Univision is a guide, it will be as feisty as the first.

Gingrich referred acidly to Romney describing a policy of "self-deportation" as a way of having illegal immigrants leave the country without a massive roundup.

"You have to live in a world of Swiss bank accounts and Cayman Island accounts and automatically $20 million income for no work to have some fantasy this far from reality," he said, referring to some of the details disclosed this week when the former Massachusetts governor released his tax returns.

"For Romney to believe that somebody's grandmother is going to be so cut off that she is going to self-deport, I mean, this is an Obama-level fantasy."

Romney's campaign swiftly produced evidence that aides to Gingrich had used the term "self-deport" approvingly, and the former governor attacked.

"I recognize that it's very tempting to come out to an audience like this and pander to the audience," Romney said. "I think that was a mistake on his (Gingrich's) part."

Gingrich also ran into trouble over a radio ad his campaign was airing that called Romney "anti-immigrant." Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who is neutral in the presidential race, criticized the commercial, and Romney said the term "anti-immigrant" was an epithet.

For Obama, Iowa was the first of five stops in three days following a State of the Union speech in which he stressed the theme of income equality that is expected to be one of the cornerstones of his re-election campaign. He also wove in proposals to help restore the U.S. manufacturing base that has withered in the course of the recession that began in 2008.

"Our economy is getting stronger, and we've come too far to turn back now," he told workers and guests at a conveyor manufacturing plant in Cedar Rapids. Speaking of Republicans, he said, "Their philosophy is simple: We're better off when everyone is left to fend for themselves and play by their own rules."

It's a message that may be received differently depending on the local economy.

Iowa's unemployment was most recently measured at 5.6 percent, well below the national average. In Arizona, which has its primary in four weeks, joblessness is 8.7 percent, while Nevada's at 12.6, the highest in the country. Its caucuses are Feb. 4.

___

Associated Press writers Brian Bakst and Kasie Hunt in Florida contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-25-US-Campaign-Rdp/id-314e3a14c1a349cb9dd439689f976e84

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Drug May Slow Early Prostate Cancer: Study (HealthDay)

TUESDAY, Jan. 24 (HealthDay News) -- New research suggests that Avodart, a drug used to treat an enlarged prostate gland, may help slow the progression of early stage prostate cancer, reducing the need for aggressive treatment in some men.

Prostate cancer can grow and spread slowly, which is why some men are urged to engage in so-called watchful waiting when the cancer is first diagnosed. Avodart (dutasteride) may help such men feel comfortable with surveillance as opposed to radical treatment, the researchers noted.

"The concept of active surveillance is gaining traction in most parts of the world," said study author Dr. Neil E. Fleshner, head of the division of urology at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto. Still, some men are uncomfortable with doing nothing in the face of a cancer diagnosis, he said. "By using this drug, we can improve the proportion of men who remain committed to the surveillance."

The findings are published online Jan. 25 in The Lancet.

According to the U.S. National Cancer Institute, one out of every six men in the United States will develop prostate cancer in his lifetime. But because many of those cancers are low-grade, most will die of something else.

Avodart belongs to a class of drugs called 5-alpha reductase inhibitors. These drugs work by interfering with the effects of certain male hormones on the prostate. In the three-year study, prostate cancer progressed in 38 percent of 144 men with early prostate cancer who were treated with Avodart and 48 percent of the 145 men who received a placebo.

Men seem less anxious about the cancer diagnosis when they are doing something more proactive, Fleshner said. "The drug augments active surveillance and avoids most of the side effects associated with surgery and radiation," he said. Prostate removal surgery and/or radiation can lead to impotence and incontinence, he said.

The medication does have side effects, however, including reversible breast enlargement and tenderness and some sexual dysfunction.

"We know that we are over-treating prostate cancer," said Dr. Louis Potters, chairman of radiation medicine at North Shore University Hospital and Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Manhasset, N.Y.

"In the U.S., patients have a tendency to hear the word 'cancer,' and want to treat it right away," he said. "In these men with early prostate cancer, we can now say, 'Let's put you on this medication, and see what happens over the next couple of months.'"

However, some experts have concerns about 5-alpha reductase inhibitors. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently issued a warning that men who take these drugs to treat enlarged prostate glands may be at increased risk for high-grade prostate cancer.

Dr. Ryan Terlecki, an assistant professor of urology at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C., said this may dampen enthusiasm for use of the drug to treat cancer.

"The overall role that these medications will play for urologists will decrease," Terlecki said. Doctors will likely begin looking toward noninvasive and/or non-medical treatments such as the use of thermal heat to cope with some of the symptoms of prostate conditions, he added.

More information

Learn more about prostate cancer at the American Cancer Society.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20120125/hl_hsn/drugmayslowearlyprostatecancerstudy

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Melissa Rivers to mom Joan: Time for 'skintervention' (omg!)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In the second season premiere of WE TV's reality program "Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best?," Melissa Rivers tries to persuade her 78-year-old comedian mother Joan not to undergo another cosmetic surgery procedure by staging a "skintervention."

Melissa, 44, calls in the pair's circle of friends and employees -- one and the same in the Rivers' world -- but before long Joan has won over the room and is handing out cosmetic procedures like party favors.

"It's like I'm the teacher from Charlie Brown, 'womp, womp, womp,'" Melissa complains in the episode. But her protests may not have gone completely ignored. Joan tweeted on Saturday, "The next time I go under the knife is for my autopsy."

"Joan & Melissa," which returns Tuesday, January 24, follows the day-to-day life of the famously close Rivers duo as they live and work together in California.

Joan moved in with Melissa after the September 2010 launch of "Fashion Police," a comedy program critiquing celebrity fashion, which Joan hosts and Melissa produces. The E! television network announced this month that "Fashion Police" would be extended from 30 minutes to a full hour in March.

New Yorker Joan took over the basement of the Los Angeles home Melissa shared with her 10-year-old son, Cooper, and then-boyfriend Jason Zimmerman, although Joan likes to tell Melissa that she isn't actually living with her but rather "just staying with you four to five nights a week."

After an early screening of their show in New York, the Rivers said they agreed early on that very little of their private lives would be off-limits to the TV cameras, which catch a tear-filled, heart-to-heart conversation between mother and daughter in Tuesday's premiere episode.

"If it's going to be reality, it's got to be the truth," Joan said after the screening. "You can't just show one side."

Joan even expressed delight that the cameras were there at a tough time for her daughter.

"Wait 'til you see Melissa's breakup," said Joan. "So lucky the cameras were in the house when it was happening. We could've been on hiatus."

JOAN GETS INKED

This season will see Joan getting a tattoo to celebrate her 78th birthday and relieving stress by smoking marijuana. The notoriously raunchy comic's words were bleeped out several times during the premiere episode.

Danny Salles, executive producer of "Joan & Melissa," said Joan's colorful language causes "a fair amount" of footage to end up on the cutting-room floor but insists that "if we put the bridle on and say, 'Don't talk like yourself,' then you don't get the reality. So, we figure say it all and we'll figure it out in the edit room. "

Most of the program's drama takes place at home. According to Melissa, it's home life with her mother, not work, that's a challenge.

"Being her daughter is much harder than being her executive producer because she's a really good talent to work with. She's very prepared, she comes in on time, she delivers the goods every week," Melissa said.

Those who saw the 2010 documentary "Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work" are used to the elder Rivers' language and mystifying work ethic. That film, about her continuous efforts to stay relevant as an entertainer, as well as her 2009 win on TV reality contest "Celebrity Apprentice," marked the beginning of an upswing for Rivers, whose career has seen many highs and lows.

"I've never stopped performing," Joan said. "Every week when I'm here in New York I perform at a place called the West Bank. I do concerts all over the world, every weekend."

(Editing By Bob Tourtellotte)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_melissa_rivers_mom_joan_time_skintervention184528061/44265035/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/melissa-rivers-mom-joan-time-skintervention-184528061.html

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Freezing rain, snow cover parts of Upper Midwest (AP)

MINNEAPOLIS ? Freezing drizzle and rain made roads slick Sunday as a winter weather system moved across portions of the Upper Midwest, and the precipitation was expected to begin changing over into snow that could continue into Monday.

The National Weather Service issued warnings about freezing drizzle and rain for parts of Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota and Wisconsin on Sunday, and a fog advisory was out in south-central Wisconsin.

The advisories could be expanded later Sunday, the weather service said. The precipitation was coming from a low pressure system expected to track east across Nebraska and Iowa and deepen as it moved northeast across Wisconsin, it said.

Snow was expected Sunday in Nebraska and the Dakotas with a few inches falling in parts before midnight, the weather service said.

In other states, the changeover from rain to snow was expected to start Sunday evening and move from west to east, continuing into Monday morning. One to two inches of snow were possible by Monday in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota and parts of central Wisconsin, the weather service said.

In southeastern Minnesota, Rochester police responded to more than 70 crashes on slick roadways Sunday morning, Lt. Mike Sadauskis said.

"People probably need to take their time a little bit better, give themselves a little bit more space," he said.

Ice also was expected to develop roads and sidewalks in the Twin Cities and elsewhere in the region, with up to a tenth of an inch of ice was possible, the weather service said. It urged drivers to be cautious and anticipate road conditions to deteriorate throughout the evening.

Glazing was reported Sunday across portions of northeastern Iowa and southwestern and central Wisconsin, the weather service said. In the Milwaukee area, freezing fog could reduce visibility to less than a quarter of a mile, it said.

North Dakota got freezing rain and snow Saturday into Sunday that left roads in the southern half of the state coated with ice.

Strong winds were expected in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Nebraska, where light snow began in the western part of the state Sunday afternoon.

The worst of Nebraska's storm was expected Sunday evening, with 2 or 3 inches of snow falling expected in some parts. The weather service said the main threat from the storm was likely to be blowing snow that could limit visibility Sunday evening.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weather/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_re_us/us_midwest_winter_weather

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Rex Ryan says he might tone down his act

By DENNIS WASZAK Jr.

updated 6:48 p.m. ET Jan. 20, 2012

NEW YORK - The days of big, brash talk by Rex Ryan could be over.

The New York Jets coach told WFAN Radio on Friday that he'll remain confident but might tone down his comments after his Super Bowl guarantees and bravado might have hurt his team this season. Ryan, who has promised big things for the Jets since taking over as coach in 2009, predicted a Super Bowl victory this season during the NFL combine last February.

"My thing about, 'I'll guarantee that we get it done this year,' I thought the bull's-eye was going on my back, and that's fine," Ryan said. "I was trying to put pressure on myself. So that's something that obviously I have to learn from."

The Jets lost their last three games to finish 8-8 and out of the playoffs. Ryan said he drove by MetLife Stadium during the Giants' playoff-opening win against Atlanta two weeks ago to see it "in all blue" to motivate himself to get the Jets back on track.

"Clearly, when you have a team that went to back-to-back championship games, what else is there to go for?" Ryan said. "It's Super Bowl or bust. Well, we busted."

Recent comments by LaDainian Tomlinson about Ryan's bravado and a conversation with former 49ers quarterback Steve Young, now an ESPN analyst, about his style got the coach thinking about tweaking his approach.

"I've got to look at the entire dynamic of what I say," Ryan said, "and how it doesn't just affect me."

Despite being done playing for nearly three weeks, the Jets have still made news ? with players taking swipes at quarterback Mark Sanchez and revealing a troublesome locker room environment. On Showtime's "Inside The NFL" on Wednesday night, Tomlinson said the Jets' locker room was "as bad as I've ever been around."

As owner Woody Johnson did on Thursday, Ryan disputed that by saying he thought the running back might have overstated the amount of tension. Most notably, Sanchez and wide receiver Santonio Holmes had a rocky relationship throughout the season.

"I think it was an isolated incident," Ryan said. "I don't think it was pervasive throughout the locker room. It's not everybody in the locker room. We certainly had a couple of guys, and it had a huge negative impact on our football team, so there's no question about that."

Ryan acknowledged a few times after the season that he never had his finger fully on the pulse of the team, something he insists will change.

"I want to be a great head coach," he said. "I want to be. Am I there yet? No, I'm absolutely not there yet, but I am willing to work to get there."

In a conference call with season ticket holders earlier Friday, Ryan said the confusing terminology of former offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer's system caused him to not be as involved in working with the offense.

"Quite honestly, the verbiage we had last season was probably a little much," Ryan said.

Ryan and general manager Mike Tannenbaum both insisted Sanchez will be the Jets' starting quarterback next season and will benefit from new offensive coordinator Tony Sparano's run-first system.

Ryan isn't totally done making guarantees, though. During his interview with WFAN, the coach predicted the Giants and Baltimore Ravens would make it to the Super Bowl.

"I think the Giants are going to take this game," he said. "Eli (Manning) is hot. I like the fact that both of their running backs are healthy. I think you could be looking at a Ravens-Giants rematch."

He also raved about the Ravens' defense ? a unit he once coached ? and how it could neutralize Tom Brady.

"But the Ravens' offense has to show up," he said. "They've got to protect the football. I think they can move on the ball, no question. Let's face it, I'm cheering for the Ravens."

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

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More newsJed Jacobsohn / Getty Images

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/46076230/ns/sports-nfl/

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1 on 1 game - let's tell a story. :D

Created an account to post here. Here's a wall of text:

Looking to join or create a chat based game with similarly minded folks. I'm not completely enamored with games based on romance or relationships, though wouldn't be opposed if it were to eventually come up within the story. The game has to be based in chat, I absolutely despise forums and am a greedy dolt that requires real time gaming as a form of sustenance.

Anyway, I'd prefer 1 on 1 games with someone who's at least decently experienced with DMing (no specific system required). My ideal situation would be someone who could trade off running games (I run one, you run one, we're all happy).

-Supernatural, Fantasy, and post apocalyptic are generally my categories of choice.

-Have to admit that I'm not really a fan of playing games in settings based of movies, games, or anime. That is subject to change depending on how absolutely awesome the setting is and how much of your own material has been injected.

-I like dark, twisted, and somewhat convoluted plots where a lot of effort has been placed on story. Episodic plots are 'alright', but I've always preferred epic campaign style stories with an overarching plot.

-I play 'human personalities'; alignment serves as a black and white description as opposed to a tether. With that said, I do tend to play less than heroic characters, just in case that ruins anyone's perceived enjoyment in campaigns.

Summarized: I want to play an epic campaign with someone in a chat environment that focuses on plot and story. Trade off being the storyteller and write an epic book while the other is just one character within it (as a warning: I'm a mean DM that will torture your character(s) when given the chance - you're going to play at least one mental break down while I'm running the show).

So.. uh.. How about it? :D

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/jGn8hCu6ZLw/viewtopic.php

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France threatens Afghan pullout after troops killed (Reuters)

PARIS/CHARIKAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) ? France threatened on Friday to pull out early from the NATO-led war in Afghanistan after a rogue Afghan soldier opened fire on French soldiers, killing four and wounding about 15 others.

The killings in the Taghab valley of Afghanistan's eastern Kapisa province were the latest in a series of incidents in which Afghan troops have turned on Western allies.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said all French operations on the ground were being suspended and his defense minister was dispatched to Afghanistan to clarify the situation.

"If the security conditions are not clearly established then the question of an early return of French forces from Afghanistan will arise," said Sarkozy.

France has almost 4,000 troops in Afghanistan as part of the 130,000-strong NATO-led force there. French troops mainly patrol Kapisa, a mountainous province near Kabul. They are due to leave by around the end of 2013.

NATO said four soldiers were killed. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told a news conference about 15 others were wounded, eight of them seriously.

The Taliban did not claim responsibility for the attack, but told Reuters that an Afghan soldier had killed eight French troops. The Islamist group often exaggerates accounts of engagements with foreign forces and casualties.

NATO has been rapidly expanding the Afghan security forces so that they will be able to take over all responsibility for security when Western combat forces leave in 2014.

Previous incidents in which Western troops were killed by Afghan colleagues have been blamed either on Taliban infiltration of the Afghan military, or on stress, indiscipline and divided loyalties within the hastily trained Afghan ranks.

"It is incomprehensible and unacceptable that Afghan army soldiers assassinate French troops," Juppe told reporters.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who is due in Paris on January 27 to sign a cooperation treaty, expressed his "deep sadness and condolences to the families of the victims."

The Taliban "has skillfully placed the Taliban inside enemy ranks who have carried out attacks, however it is not clear whether the shooter belonged to the Islamic Emirate," spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in an emailed statement, using another name that the Taliban use for themselves.

Insurgent Maulvi Jamilur Rahman, who identified himself to Reuters as Taliban commander of Kapisa, said the Afghan soldier had been in contact with his fighters. "Now we are in control of a major portion of the area," Rahman said.

Karim Pakzad, associate researcher at the French Institute for Strategic Relations in Paris, said the move by Sarkozy was playing into the Taliban's hands.

"The Taliban are stronger than ever and want to impose their conditions on negotiations, and these attacks are a way to accelerate the departure of NATO troops," he said.

Jimmie Cummings, spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Kabul, said: "There is no indication that these incidents are linked or part of any larger coordinated effort."

"INSIDER THREAT"

More than 2,500 foreign troops have died in Afghanistan since the NATO-led war began in 2001. The latest killings take the French toll to 82.

"The way they were killed isn't new," Pakzad said. "Since NATO decided to increase the Afghan army to 300,000 soldiers recruitment has been done haphazardly and that has made it much easier for the Taliban to infiltrate the Afghan army."

Dozens of foreign soldiers have been killed in recent years by what NATO dubs the "insider threat." [ID:nL4E7JP1Y5]

Two French Foreign Legion soldiers and one American were killed in separate "green-on-blue" shootings last month, so called after the colors of the Afghan army and the symbol of NATO. The coalition no longer releases the number of its troops killed by Afghan soldiers.

In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she did not expect Paris to diverge from NATO's withdrawal plans agreed at a Lisbon summit in 2010.

"We are in close contact with our French colleagues and we have no reason to believe that France will do anything other than continue to be part of the very carefully considered transition process as we look at our exit as previously agreed upon in Lisbon," Clinton told reporters following a meeting with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle.

Westerwelle said it was important for western nations to keep focused on the reason for their presence in Afghanistan.

"We want to express our deepest condolences, but we think we have to continue because we protect our own security and our own freedom and way of life," he said.

In Paris, Defense Minister Gerard Longuet said he would report back to Sarkozy by Tuesday after his trip to Afghanistan.

Sarkozy may be tempted to announce an early withdrawal for domestic reasons, three months ahead of a presidential election. An opinion poll in May showed more than half of French voters back withdrawal. Sarkozy's Socialist rival Francois Hollande has pledged to pull out by the end of this year if he wins power.

"The new position announced by the president goes against all previous statements which had stayed loyal to the coalition line of a progressive withdrawal," Pakzad said. "Without a doubt this statement has been taken with internal politics in mind."

(Additional reporting by Amie Ferris-Rotman in Kabul and Jibran Ahmad in Peshawar, Pakistan, and Andrew Quinn in Washington; Writing by Brian Love and John Irish; Editing by Andrew Roche)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120120/wl_nm/us_afghanistan_french

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Hollywood body parts identified as retiree

By msnbc.com staff

?

Updated 12:10 a.m. ET Saturday:? The man whose head, hands and feet were found in the Hollywood Hills was identified by police as 67-year-old retiree Hervey Medellin. Medellin was a resident of a Hollywood apartment building investigators searched earlier in the day. Sources told the Los Angeles Times that Medellin was a former Mexicana Airlines employee.

Original story

LOS ANGELES -- Authorities have identified the man whose head, hands and feet were found in the Hollywood Hills, but have not yet released his name, officials said Friday.

Coroner's Assistant Chief Ed Winter told NBCLosAngeles.com that the name was being withheld at the request of the Los Angeles police detectives who are continuing to investigate the crime.?Officials?also want to notify?the man's family before releasing the information to the public, the television website reported.??

On Thursday evening, police?served a search warrant?in an apartment complex in Hollywood, close to Sunset Boulevard and Vine Streets, according to the Los Angeles Times. They towed a silver Honda from the building, the Times reported.

Although no arrests have been made in the case, the Times is reporting that at least one person was questioned by detectives Thursday. Sources close to the investigation said police were also looking to?talk to at least one other man.

Meanwhile, investigators in California were downplaying any possible connection between the body parts case in Los Angeles and a dismembered body found earlier this month in a rural area of Tuscon, Ariz.

Read more about the Hollywood case on NBCLosAngeles.com

"It's fairly implausible that somebody would drive parts of a dead body five hours from Arizona to our Griffith Park," Los Angeles Police Cmdr. Andrew Smith told Reuters.

Smith added?there was also no evidence that the?man in California was the victim of organized crime or a serial killer.

Arizona sheriff?officials say they are are awaiting DNA results, expected Tuesday, to try to definitively rule out any connection between the two cases. ?

Pima County Sheriff's Deputy Dawn Barkman said two men were cutting grass along the side of?a rural road on Jan. 6 found?a body?without a head, hands or feet. Investigators determined the body had been in that location for only 24 hours, and a search turned up none of the missing body parts, she said.

Los Angeles police?believe their victim was killed elsewhere and the body parts were buried?or hidden to deter identification, according to NBCLosAngeles.com.

?They may have been disturbed by animals, but initially they were left off trail and not intended to be found,?? Smith told the NBC website.

By early afternoon?Thursday, police ended their search in the Hollywood Hills area for the parts, after determining that major portions of the remains ? the torso, the arms and the legs ? were not in the park, NBC reported.

More content from msnbc.com and NBC News

Source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/20/10199808-hollywood-body-parts-identified-name-withheld

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Ex-wife says Gingrich wanted 'open marriage'

Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich shakes hands with supporters while standing with his wife Callista Gingrich before speaking at Mutt's Barbeque in Easley, S.C. Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/The Independent-Mail, Nathan Gray) THE GREENVILLE NEWS OUT, SENECA NEWS OUT

Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich shakes hands with supporters while standing with his wife Callista Gingrich before speaking at Mutt's Barbeque in Easley, S.C. Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/The Independent-Mail, Nathan Gray) THE GREENVILLE NEWS OUT, SENECA NEWS OUT

FILE - In this Jan. 7, 1997 photo, House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia and his wife Marianne leave their home for Capitol Hill. Dredging up a past that Newt Gingrich has worked hard to bury, the GOP presidential candidate's ex-wife says Gingrich asked for an "open marriage" in which he could have both a wife and a mistress. In an interview with ABC News' "Nightline" scheduled to air Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, Marianne Gingrich said she refused to go along with the proposal that she share her husband with Callista Bisek, who would later become his third wife. (AP Photo/Mark Wilson)

FILE - In this Jan. 20, 1997 photo, President Clinton is sworn in for his second term by Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist during the 53rd Presidential Inauguration Monday, Jan. 20, 1997, in Washington. His daughter Chelsea is at his side. House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia and his wife Marianne are in the background. Dredging up a past that Newt Gingrich has worked hard to bury, the GOP presidential candidate's ex-wife says Gingrich asked for an "open marriage" in which he could have both a wife and a mistress. In an interview with ABC News' "Nightline" scheduled to air Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, Marianne Gingrich said she refused to go along with the proposal that she share her husband with Callista Bisek, who would later become his third wife. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

FILE - In this Jan. 4, 1995 photo, incoming House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia sits with his wife Marianne and mother Kathleen, left, during a church service in Washington, Dredging up a past that Newt Gingrich has worked hard to bury, the GOP presidential candidate's ex-wife says Gingrich asked for an "open marriage" in which he could have both a wife and a mistress. In an interview with ABC News' "Nightline" scheduled to air Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, Marianne Gingrich said she refused to go along with the proposal that she share her husband with Callista Bisek, who would later become his third wife. (AP Photo/Denis Paquin)

FILE - In this Feb. 9, 1995 photo, Marianne Gingrich, wife of House Speaker Newt Gingrich, is photographed in Jerusalem, Israel. Dredging up a past that Newt Gingrich has worked hard to bury, the GOP presidential candidate's ex-wife says Gingrich asked for an "open marriage" in which he could have both a wife and a mistress. In an interview with ABC News' "Nightline" scheduled to air Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, Marianne Gingrich said she refused to go along with the proposal that she share her husband with Callista Bisek, who would later become his third wife. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Dredging up a past that Newt Gingrich has worked hard to bury, the GOP presidential candidate's second ex-wife says Gingrich asked for an "open marriage" in which he could have both a wife and a mistress.

In an interview with ABC News' "Nightline" scheduled to air Thursday night, Marianne Gingrich said she refused to go along with the idea that she share her husband with Callista Bisek, who would later become his third wife.

The explosive interview was airing just two days before the presidential primary in South Carolina, a state with a strong Christian conservative bent, and as Gingrich tries to present himself as the strongest alternative to front-runner Mitt Romney.

In excerpts of the interview released ahead the ABC broadcast, Marianne Gingrich said her husband conducted his affair with Callista "in my bedroom in our apartment in Washington" while she was elsewhere.

"He always called me at night and always ended with 'I love you,'" she said. "Well, she was listening."

Marianne Gingrich, who was Gingrich's second wife, said Gingrich told her "Callista doesn't care what I do."

"He was asking to have an open marriage and I refused," she said. "That is not a marriage."

She also said Gingrich moved to divorce her just months after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

"He also was advised by the doctor when I was sitting there that I was not to be under stress," she said. "He knew."

Gingrich, asked by a voter Thursday about his past mistakes, said questions about his past life were inevitable but that he'd long since sought forgiveness. He said he expected attacks when he got into the race.

"We knew we would get beaten up," he said while campaigning in Beaufort, S.C. "We knew we'd get lied about. We knew we'd get smeared. We knew there would be nasty ads and we decided the country was worth the pain."

He told reporters that he wouldn't say anything against his ex-wife, but added that his two daughters from his first marriage had written to ABC to complain that the interview was "tawdry and inappropriate." He didn't answer questions about the specifics of the interview, directing questions to his daughters.

In an interview Thursday with The Washington Post, Marianne Gingrich said that within days of asking for a divorce, her husband gave a speech in which he stressed the importance of ethics and family values in American culture.

"How could he ask me for a divorce on Monday and within 48 hours give a speech about family values and talk about how people treat people?" she said.

Marianne Gingrich said she and Gingrich went to marriage counseling after he asked for the divorce, but that he wavered over what to do and asked for an open marriage to allow him to see whoever he wanted.

She said she decided to go public about the details from their marriage now in order "to get out there about who I was, so Newt couldn't create me as an evil, awful person, which was starting to happen."

Marianne Gingrich has said that Gingrich proposed to her before the divorce from his first wife was final in 1981; they were married six months later. Her marriage to Gingrich ended in divorce in 2000, and Gingrich has acknowledged he'd already taken up with Bisek, a former congressional aide.

The House speaker who pilloried President Bill Clinton for his affair with Monica Lewinsky was himself having an affair at the time.

As plans to air the interview were disclosed, Gingrich's campaign released a statement from his daughters, Kathy Lubbers and Jackie Cushman, suggesting that Marianne Gingrich's comments may be suspect given the emotional toll that divorce takes on everyone involved.

"Anyone who has had that experience understands it is a personal tragedy filled with regrets, and sometimes differing memories of events. We will not say anything negative about our father's ex-wife," they said. "He has said before, privately and publicly, that he regrets any pain he may have caused in the past to people he loves."

Gingrich has worked in recent years to present himself as changed man, offering himself in this campaign as a 68-year-old grandfather who has settled down with wife No. 3 and embraced God through Catholicism.

Last year, he said it would be up to voters to decide whether to hold his past against him.

"I think people have to look at me, ask tough questions, then render judgment," he said then.

But he may not have been banking on his ex-wife, who has been silent so far in the 2012 campaign, to re-start that conversation.

A message seeking comment from Marianne Gingrich was not immediately returned.

___

Associated Press writer Shannon McCaffrey in Beaufort, S.C., contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-19-Gingrich-Ex-Wife/id-8db14a8ad4cc43abadd5e98f0715b935

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Six dead in bomb blasts in Nigeria's second city (Reuters)

KANO, Nigeria (Reuters) ? At least six people were killed in a series of bomb blasts in Nigeria's second biggest city Kano on Friday, officials and witnesses said.

One blast gutted the police headquarters for the north of the city, killing at least three people, while another at the passport office also killed three, witnesses said.

At least four other explosions echoed across the city in quick succession, as some residents ran around shouting and screaming. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks.

(Reporting by Mike Oboh; writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Jon Boyle)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120120/wl_nm/us_nigeria_blast_toll

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