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"X Factor" host Steve Jones, second from left, and judge Nicole Scherzinger won't be back for season two, but word is Simon Cowell's pal Paula Abdul is also out.

By Anna Chan

Updated at 11:48 a.m. PT: Paula Abdul has confirmed her exit from "X Factor." She said in a statement Tuesday:

?Yes, it?s true; I won?t be returning to 'The X Factor' next season.? I?ve learned through my longevity in this industry that business decisions often times override personal considerations.? Simon and I, along with Fox and Fremantle, have been communicating about this for a while now, and I have absolute understanding of the situation.? Simon is, and will remain a dear friend of mine and I?ve treasured my experience working this past season with my extended family at Fox and Fremantle. I want nothing more than for 'The X Factor' to exceed ALL of their wildest dreams.? This truly has been a blessing and I am most grateful.?

And it seems executive producer Simon Cowell feels the same about his relationship with the now ex-judge. "You do develop friendships with the people you work with and Paula, in particular, is a very close friend and I expect to be working with her on another project in the near future," he said in a statement.

Original story: Talk about after-hours drama!

"X Factor" host Steve Jones announced on Twitter Monday afternoon that he was leaving the singing competition after the show's inaugural season, and shortly after, Fox confirmed that judge Nicole Scherzinger is also gone.

But Jones and Scherzinger reportedly aren't the only two who went to the chopping block. Show insiders told our pals at E! Online that judge Paula Abdul is also not being asked back for season two despite her long history with former "Idol" co-judge and "X Factor" executive producer Simon Cowell.

"She found out today," a show source told E! Online. "At this point, the only ones staying are Simon and (judge)?L.A. Reid."

Fox has not yet confirmed reports of Abdul's rumored departure.

A show insider told TheWrap.com that producers had expected Abdul to be the "goofy" one on the show, but "was so bad that it made none of it work."

According to TheWrap's source, part of the issue stems from where Fox decided to spend money on the show: The majority of it reportedly went to fancy production work and a great set, while Abdul received a $1 million salary. She earned about $3.5 million during her final season as a judge on "Idol," according to reports.

Abdul has not yet released a statement.

On Monday afternoon, Jones tweeted, "I wont be hosting next seasons XFactor which is a shame but I cant [sic] complain as I've had a great time. Good luck to everyone on the show."

That Scherzinger is out is no huge surprise. Shortly after the season ended, she said at an "X Factor" press conference that the job was much tougher than she had anticipated. "The elimination process has been really hard ... it?s something I could have never prepared for," she said at the time. Reports differ on whether she quit or was let go. A source told E! Online that the former Pussycat Doll wants to focus on her music career, while show insiders told TheWrap that she was fired. Regardless, a Fox spokesperson has confirmed her exit.

Another "X Factor" insider also told E! online that "Simon wants to take the show in a different direction."

With at least two, possibly three, of the show's original cast gone, now he has his chance to right his ship. Prior to the launch of the U.S. version of "X Factor," Cowell said that if the show didn't debut with 20 million viewers, it would be a "disappointment." The show drew about 12.5 million viewers on premiere night.

According to TheWrap, the folks behind "X Factor" are already looking for replacements for the judges and host.

Who would be your picks to replace the three? Tell us on our Facebook page!

Are you surprised by the exits?

?

Related content:

Source: http://theclicker.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/31/10275867-nicole-scherzinger-out-as-x-factor-judge-paula-abdul-may-be-gone-too

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Glooko, the developer of a unique hardware device and movile app solution for people with diabetes, has raised $3.5 million in Series A funding led by The Social+Capital Partnership, with participation from existing investors, including Bill Campbell, Vint Cerf, Judy Estrin and Andy Hertzfeld, Venky Harinarayan, Russell Hirsch and Xtreme Labs. Chamath Palihapitiya, Founder and Managing Partner of The Social+Capital Partnership will be joining Glooko's board. Launched last year, Glooko is a digital logbook for people with diabetes who have to check their blood sugar every day. There are dozens of glucose logbooks in iTunes, but almost all of them require manual entry. What makes Glooko different is that the company designed a $40 cable (sold separately) that works with seven of the top glucose meters. You just plug it into both devices and it downloads your daily readings.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/xGdAoglxsjA/

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AIKEN, S.C. (AP) ? A 26-year-old man was arrested Saturday after police say he killed his girlfriend in Georgia, and then fatally shot a South Carolina police officer responding to a report of suspicious activity, authorities said.

Police in South Carolina said Joshua Tremaine Jones faces charges of murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime in the death of Aiken police Master Cpl. Sandra Rogers.

The South Carolina law Enforcement Division said officers were responding Saturday morning to a report of suspicious activity involving two cars, and that Rogers was shot after stopping one of the vehicles.

Jones was arrested hours later at a residence in Batesburg.

Saturday evening, a visibly moved Aiken Public Safety director Charles Barranco told reporters that Rogers had died at an area hospital. The Aiken native had spent a nearly 28-year career with the department; she was 49.

In neighboring Georgia, The Augusta Chronicle reported that Jones also faces murder charges in the death of his girlfriend, 21-year-old Cayce Vice. Police found her body in her apartment Saturday morning after she didn't show up for work at a Five Guys restaurant and coworkers became concerned; she had been shot in the head.

Richmond County sheriff's Capt. Scott Peebles told the newspaper (http://bit.ly/yO5JS7 ) that the agency had obtained warrants for Jones for murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Peebles confirmed that Vice had sworn out a complaint against Jones for assault earlier this month.

A phone message left late Saturday for the Richmond County Sheriff's Office was not immediately returned.

James Jones, the suspect's father, told reporters that his son had past run-ins with the law and "was going through some mental problems." Jones said his son had run away from home and moved in with Vice. He said his son is from North Augusta and briefly lived in Atlanta.

Jones said that when he returned from work Friday, his son had taken his blue BMW without permission and left. Jones said he and his other son drove around searching but couldn't locate him.

Jones said his heart goes out to the victim' families, and that he's devastated as a father.

"I just went straight to God and said, 'I cannot believe this.' After all that I have taught him, I just never thought that my family would have to deal with something like this," Jones said.

The Aiken public safety department issued a statement Saturday evening praising Rogers as "an invaluable street cop who exemplified the model of a Public Safety Officer," according to WLTX-TV in Columbia, S.C.

"Master Corporal Rogers was a highly skilled investigator and senior patrol officer on her shift," the statement said. "Please keep the Rogers family and Aiken Public Safety in your prayers as once again we deal with this tragic loss."

Last month, hundreds of people gathered to mourn another Aiken police officer killed in the line of duty. Officer Scotty Richardson, 33, died in the early hours of Dec. 21 after being shot in the head during a traffic stop at an apartment complex the night before. Aiken is a city of 30,000 that's located about 20 miles northwest of Augusta.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-29-Multi-State%20Slayings/id-8871d000333e45958802f5688b602bdd

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Delta Air Lines' Fly Delta Android app has long been one of the first things I install on a phone. It's well-designed, and has added a couple killer features since its release nearly a year ago -- mainly the ability to view upgrade/standby lists and check and change seats from your phone, and more recently they added the ability to track your checked baggage. Good stuff.

And now Delta's added even more functionality in Version 1.7. Here's the full changelog.

Check in for flights arriving or departing international locations
Discover Delta’s valued partners within the "Traveling with Us" section
Support for Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwhich) [sic]
Fixes for many of the bugs reported by our customers, along with several speed enhancements

It's nice that Delta's added check-ins for international flights. (Though you'll presumably still have to get your boarding pass when you arrive.) The "Traveling with Us" section is a little bit of advertising (we've got a screen cap after the break), where so far we have promotion of Delta's American Express credit card and something from TED. It's pretty unobtrusive, though, so no big deal. Then there's the ICS support and other bug fixes, which is always good (though the app had been working just fine for us), though there's still a menu button down at the bottom, and not as an Action Bar "overflow" as Google's pushing everyone toward. (On the other hand, the app's design is otherwise very nice, so we'll overlook that.)

But what really gets us excited is the prospect of "several speed enhancements." With previous versions of the app, you needed to fire it up a few minutes before you could get to your itinerary and find your confirmation number or seat assignment or mobile boarding pass. Things definitely feel a little quicker; hopefully that's not just a placebo -- it really was a big gripe with the Delta app.

Mystery disease Morgellons: No clear cause

A strange disease in which sufferers say they find fibers, fuzz and other debris sprouting from sores on their skin is not contagious and has no clear cause, the largest-ever study of the condition called Morgellons has found.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/46138690#46138690

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday the central bank was ready to offer the economy additional stimulus after it announced interest rates would likely remain near zero until at least late 2014.

The Fed also took the historic step of adopting an explicit inflation target, though Bernanke took pains to stress that officials would be flexible about reining in price growth when unemployment was too high.

The late 2014 timeframe for the first rate hike was considerably later than investors had expected and some 18 months later than the Fed had suggested last year, and the announcement prompted a rally in U.S. government bonds.

Speaking at a news conference after a two-day policy meeting, Bernanke was cautious about recent improvements in the U.S. economy and he left the door open to further Fed bond purchases.

"I don't think we're ready to declare that we've entered a new, stronger phase at this point," Bernanke said. "If the situation continues with inflation below target and unemployment declining at a rate which is very, very slow, then ... the logic of our framework says we should be looking for ways to do more."

In response to the deepest recession in generations, the Fed slashed the overnight federal funds rate to near zero in December 2008. It has also more than tripled the size of its balance sheet to around $2.9 trillion through two separate bond purchase programs.

The policy is credited with preventing an even more devastating downturn, but it has been insufficient to bring unemployment down to levels considered normal during good economic times. Many Fed watchers expected a further round of bond buying, likely focusing on mortgage debt.

RANGE OF VIEWS

Fed officials agreed that a goal of 2 percent inflation would be in keeping with their congressional mandate of price stability. By their favorite measure, core inflation is running at about 1.7 percent.

They declined to announce a target for unemployment, saying the job market was often influenced by forces beyond their control.

In another key shift touted as part of an effort toward greater transparency, the Fed for the first time published policymakers' projections for the appropriate path of the benchmark overnight federal funds rate.

These showed a wide range of views, from the three of 17 policymakers who said they thought rates should rise this year to two who want to hold off on any increase until 2016.

Still, the biggest concentration of estimates - five of 17 - was around 2014. The new, later expiration date for the Fed's zero rate policy pushed stock and gold prices higher, and dragged the dollar lower.

In its announcement, the Fed repeated its view that the economy faced "significant downside risks" - an expression that has become code for the threat Europe's debt crisis poses to the United States.

In economic forecasts accompanying the rate projections, the Fed pointed to somewhat weaker economic growth this year and next, compared with estimates published in November. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate, which hit 8.5 percent in December, was seen only coming down slowly.

Economic conditions "are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels for the federal funds rate at least through late 2014," the central bank said. After every previous policy meeting dating to August, the Fed had said rates were not likely to rise until mid-2013.

Richmond Federal Reserve Bank President Jeffrey Lacker, an inflation hawk who rotated into a voting seat this year, dissented against the policy decision, preferring to omit the late-2014 date from the Fed's post-meeting statement.

INFLATION NOT A WORRY

The central bank appeared more sanguine on inflation, saying prices were likely to run close to or just below their target. The statement dropped a reference that said the Fed was monitoring inflation and inflation expectations.

Aside from the 2014 rate pledge, the Fed's statement hewed closely to its last policy pronouncement in mid-December.

It described the unemployment rate as still elevated and, in a slight shift, acknowledged a slowing in business investment.

"I think what they are seeing is that the rate of growth is not sufficient to bring down the unemployment rate," said Brian Dolan, chief strategist at FOREX.com in Bedminster, New Jersey.

In December, the U.S. jobless rate stood at 8.5 percent, and some 13 million Americans were still actively looking for work but could not find it.

While forecasters expect the U.S. economy grew at a 3 percent annual rate in the last three months of 2011, they look for growth of just around 2 percent this year.

(Editing by Tim Ahmann and Andrea Ricci)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120125/bs_nm/us_usa_fed

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The Republican National Committee (RNC) released a new TV ad in several swing states on Tuesday morning that uses Barack Obama?s own words against him and aims to knock some of the presidential glitter off of tonight?s campaign-themed State of the Union speech.

?The president will use his address to campaign and continue to make the same failed promises we?ve seen for the past three years,? said a statement from Kirsten Kukowski, an RNC spokeswoman. But his speech also ?presents us with an opportunity to speak directly to voters in those key battleground states about what the state of our union really is,? she said.

The ad is being broadcast in the D.C. media marketplace, in two swing states ? Virginia and North Carolina ? and in Michigan, where Obama is slated to give an education policy speech Jan. 26.

?We?re going into Michigan to show voters how vulnerable this president is in what many would consider his own backyard,? said Kukowski.

The dark-toned and dramatically scored 30-second ad begins by highlighting Obama?s Feb. 2009 statement ? ?If I don?t have this done in four years, then there?s going to be a one-term proposition? ? and immediately contrasts it with his economic record.

Former President Bill Clinton is shown saying that ?things are not going in the right direction: They?re going in the wrong direction.? Obama gets the final cut, declaring on video that ?I don?t think they?re better off than they were four years ago.?

Watch the new RNC ad:

YouTube Preview Image The ad?s reliance on Democrats? comments about Obama is likely to be a feature of the RNC?s 2012 media campaign, partly because the public finds inter-party accusations untrustworthy.

?Barack Obama has a lot of a explaining to do in tonight?s State of the Union Address,? said a statement from RNC Chairman Reince Priebus.

?The day after he delivers his State of the Union Address, Barack Obama will be jetting off to five states he wants to win to be reelected ? [but] the American people need a president who will focus on the single most important issue in the country: fixing our economy,? said his statement.

Join the conversation

Read more stories from The Daily Caller

RNC spoils Obama's big day with swing-state attack ad

La. Sec'y of State: DOJ abusing Motor Voter law for 'political agenda'

The life and times of opposition researchers

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/dailycaller/20120124/pl_dailycaller/rncspoilsobamasbigdaywithswingstateattackad

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I am employed in the health care field. Working as a chaplain for a corporate entity has taught me a great deal, and has helped me reflect upon the nature of the ?corporate church? in America and the nature of its leadership.

If you have read Internet Monk over the past two years, you know that I have a heart for pastors and their true work and a desire that good pastoral theology be honored. Here are a few posts from the past that you can review, which run along those themes:

The main burden of these articles (and on my heart) is that pastors take care of people. That is the very definition of the title, and the title defines the calling. Being a pastor means working personally with people to help them live in the Gospel of Christ.

So, naturally, we proclaim Christ! We warn everyone we meet, and we teach everyone we can, all that we know about him, so that, if possible, we may bring every man up to his full maturity in Christ. This is what I am working at all the time, with all the strength that God gives me. (Col 1:28-29, Phillips)

Our attitude among you was one of tenderness, rather like that of a devoted nurse among her babies. Because we loved you, it was a joy to us to give you not only the Gospel of God but our very hearts?so dear did you become to us. Our struggles and hard work, my brothers, must still be fresh in your minds. Day and night we worked so that our preaching of the Gospel to you might not cost you a penny. You are witnesses, as is God himself, that our life among you believers was honest, straightforward and above criticism. You will remember how we dealt with each one of you personally, like a father with his own children, stimulating your faith and courage and giving you instruction. Our only object was to help you to live lives worthy of the God who has called you to share the splendour of his kingdom. (1Thess 2:7-12, Phillips)

This ?shepherding? role was always understood as the main focus of pastoral work until fairly recently in church history. One particularly major shift in definition came with the church growth movement of the 1970?s. Church growth theorists began to teach that, if churches are to grow and multiply, they need ?ranchers? rather than ?shepherds? leading them.

?As I frequently say, the first two axioms to church growth are: (1) the pastor must want the church to grow and be willing to pay the price, and (2) the people must want the church to grow and be willing to pay the price.

??Start the church as a rancher, not as a shepherd? It is hard for some to picture how they can start a brand new church and not shepherd all the people, but they can, as long as there is mutual agreement that this is the way it is done in our church. This mutual agreement requires three basic ingredients:? (1) the pastor does not visit the hospital, (2) the pastor does not call on church members in their homes, and (3) the pastor does no personal counseling.?

? C. Peter Wagner, The Everychurch Guide to Growth

In essence, Wagner baptized capitalist corporate models of organization and leadership. He saw what growing companies were doing and translated that to the church. What is most important in a ?pastor? is not his or her people skills and his devotion to providing pastoral care and spiritual guidance to members of the congregation, but his or her leadership skills:

a capacity for vision and the ability to attract loyal lieutenants who will support the vision,
a quick, discerning mind that recognizes one?s ?market? and is able to creatively develop strategies for increasing market share,
effective communication and presentation ability that will attract and inspire crowds,
a strong personality that can control and hold others accountable to the ?vision? he or she has set forth,
corporate intelligence ? the ability to grasp the big picture of large organizations and how they best function
an attractive and charismatic image that will allow him or her to become the ?face? and the ?voice? of the organization, its spokesperson, its inspirational center.

Can anyone deny that the purveyors of the church growth mentality have had a huge impact on American church culture and the definition of what it means to be a pastor? The net result is that the pastor is no longer involved in ?the work? of ministry but is in charge of ?the business? of ministry.

This brings me back to the business of corporate health care.

It seems like every week our team of hospice workers gets communiques from the leaders of our organization and the wider network to which we belong. These messages enthusiastically announce how our network is focusing on excellent patient care as our top priority. As examples, they go on to talk about new construction projects, changes in leadership and leadership structures, new technologies, the implementation of new programs, and so on. I have yet to read one of these that actually talked about one specific effort to improve face-to-face patient care. It?s all about the business, the organization, the way we are ?positioning ourselves? to be leaders in excellent health care. The people who are focused on these corporate matters are not doing ?the work? of health care, they are running ?the business? of health care.

I am not saying what they do is unimportant. The responsibility of those who ?run the business? is to keep the business viable. That is not a small concern. In order for workers on the front lines to do their work, the business must be sustained. I don?t want to work for an unhealthy organization. I respect and support those who are trying to keep costs down and increase revenues in order that I and others might have gainful employment and do the work to which we are called.

Nevertheless, it is easy to fool ourselves into thinking that running the business equals doing the work.

No, the people who are doing the work in our area of the network are the folks on my team ? the nurses, social workers, chaplains, health aides, and volunteers who serve people face-to-face. We visit them, go to their homes, listen and talk with them, touch them, provide practical assistance to them. We laugh and cry with them, hear their stories, answer their questions, sit with them in silence, share their burdens, educate and encourage them. We become like friends or even extended family during significant seasons in their lives.

The responsibility of those who ?do the work? is to care for patients. Directly. Personally. Compassionately. Skillfully.

It galls me that so much focus in health care is on the business but the language from corporate headquarters is all about the work. In actuality, many times it?s those who are doing the real work who get shortchanged, because at certain points there can be significant conflicts between keeping a business viable by guarding the ?bottom line? and providing excellent patient care. Yet the business-types keep smiling and saying their number one priority is our patients. Aargh!

And this, I fear, is what is happening in many churches. When we redefine ?pastor? and make it part of the ?business? side of things, the work gets shortchanged. Real people suffer. A church might become big but it will not grow deep.

I have no problem accepting the fact that churches need to make sure they are conducting the ?business? aspects of their life with integrity and skill. Any gathered community of people will have organizational and institutional aspects of their life together. We need devoted, faithful people who are gifted in leadership, administration, finance, etc. We need them to ?run the church,? to keep the institution viable, healthy, strong, as well-organized and smoothly run as possible. Their contributions should be honored and not be diminished.

But they are not pastors. They are not called to do the ?patient care? work in the same way that those with pastoral gifts are.

Let?s stop confusing ?the business? with ?the work.?

Source: http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/the-business-and-the-work

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DAKAR, Senegal?? For the third time in the past decade, drought has returned to the arid, western shoulder of Africa, bringing hunger to millions. Aid agencies are warning that if action is not taken now, the region known as the Sahel could slip into crisis.

More than 1 million children in the eight affected countries are expected to face life-threatening malnutrition this year, according to the United Nations Children's Fund. The region has not yet recovered from the last drought two years ago, and many families lost their herds which means that they will not have assets to purchase food.

Aid workers also worry that donors are suffering from "famine fatigue," as the looming West African crisis comes just six months after Somalia's capital was declared a famine zone.

"I think there is a real risk that people may think this is the kind of thing that just happens every few years," Stephen Cockburn, the West Africa regional campaign manager for Oxfam, said of the droughts in the Sahel.

Earlier this week, aid agencies revealed that thousands of people died needlessly in the Horn of Africa because donors waited until people started dying to respond. The warning signs were there as early as August 2010 but aid wasn't ramped up until July 2011.

Signs of the looming famine in the Sahel were first detected late last year, according to the report released Wednesday by Oxfam and Save the Children. The lessons of Somalia and the Horn of Africa, where as many as 100,000 people died, are front and center in how aid agencies are responding to the potential famine in West Africa.

"Everyone recognizes in looking back that there was a delay in responding (in the Horn of Africa). Tens of thousands of people died because of that delay ... We know from this recent and painful experience what the risks are," said Cockburn.

He said that there could be more hope for the Sahel, since the indications of a crisis have been detected early on.

"The alarms (for the Sahel) were already sounding in November and December. Every country in the region, and every president in the region, has recognized this and asked for outside help," he said.

The U.N. children's agency was among the agencies reacting early. The organization issued an appeal in December and began ordering therapeutic foods for infants and toddlers. By then, Niger had already issued its own alert saying that more than half the country's villages were vulnerable to food insecurity.

Droughts in the Sahel ? a region spanning eight countries, including northern Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, northern Nigeria, Cameroon and southern Chad ? have become increasingly frequent with emergencies declared in 2005, 2008 and 2010. The consequences are especially dire for children, said UNICEF spokesman Martin Dawes.

"In this crisis adults will suffer, but children will die. Why? Because nutrition deterioration is a vicious cycle ? in growing, the body requires more to replace and make up what it lacks and when the right kinds of food are not available the situation gets worse," said Dawes. "They go from moderately malnourished to acute, and lifesaving intervention is needed."

As the child gets weaker, he or she becomes more vulnerable to routine problems, like diarrhea. The child is less able to fend off diseases, and the effects are more pronounced, Dawes said.

Even during a non-drought year, as many as 300,000 children die of malnutrition in the Sahel, says Cockburn. It's a region that is perpetually on the edge, and any extra shock sends it over the precipice.

"The increasing frequency of droughts in the Sahel means that communities have had little time to recover from the last food crisis," according to Malek Triki, the Dakar-based spokesman for the U.N. World Food Program. "Their savings are exhausted and livestock herds have not been rebuilt."

The United Nations is already purchasing food and deploying specialized teams to the region. Grain prices across the region are rising and WFP has observed a rush on maize by wholesalers, who are buying up local stocks. Markets are emptying and staples including millet and sorghum are now in short supply.

Traders from the Sahel are traveling increasingly greater distances to buy maize, with some spotted as far as northern Ivory Coast, according to the WFP.

Cockburn said that the hard-learned lessons of Somalia are already bearing fruit. He is cautiously optimistic by the response from the European Union, which announced this week that it is doubling its humanitarian aid for the Sahel.

Kristalina Georgieva, the European commissioner for humanitarian aid visited Niger on Wednesday in order to see the problem up close.

"Within months people will begin to starve unless we act," she said, according to a statement posted on the European Union's website. "The alarm bells are ringing."

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46090345/ns/weather/

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CHARLESTON, S.C. ? For Newt Gingrich it all comes down to South Carolina voters.

After disappointing finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire, the former House speaker hit his stride in the days before the nation's first Southern primary, rising in the polls as he has rallied conservatives behind him as the most viable alternative to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Fueled by fiery debate performances and assisted in part by his Southern roots, the former Georgia congressman is counting on a strong performance Saturday in South Carolina's GOP primary to catapult him back into the top tier of White House hopefuls.

Gingrich has campaigned around South Carolina promoting himself as the Reagan conservative in contrast to Romney's Massachusetts moderate.

Gingrich is set to dash through five campaign stops Saturday as voters go to the polls, including one morning event at a Greenville ham house where Romney is set to appear at the same time ? highlighting their rivalry.

"We're happy to have Governor Romney join us at or event," Gingrich spokesman Nathan Naidu said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120121/ap_on_el_pr/us_gingrich

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How much would you pay for a towel? A towel made especially for traveling. A towel which absorbs more water, dries faster and takes up less space in your suitcase than a regular fluffy cotton towel? If your answer is ?95 ($123!) then the TravelTeq Travel Towel might be just your thing. Is this amazing [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/_etUQg3dXLs/

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

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/46081675#46081675

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Authorities are on the lookout for a woman who forced an 84-year-old to empty her life savings from a bank account in Takoma Park, Md. WRC's Darcy Spencer has the story.

By NBCWashington

A robber used young children to help take advantage of an elderly woman in Montgomery County, Md., last week, according to police.

The 84-year-old victim said she was robbed of her life savings by a woman claiming she needed help cashing a check at a bank. The culprit approached the victim at Murry?s Steaks in Takoma Park about noon Thursday with two toddlers and an infant in tow. She said the children hadn?t eaten in days.

?That?s the only thing that stopped me, to help the children,? the victim said.

She agreed to drive the culprit to a Bank of America on New Hampshire Avenue in Langley Park. The children stayed behind with another woman.

For more, visit NBCWashington.com

Once in the car, the robber changed her story.

?She told the victim she had a gun and threatened to shoot the victim if the victim did not withdraw several thousand dollars,? police said.

Inside the bank, the culprit stood next to the victim as she made the transaction. Surveillance video showed the robber shoving the victim out the door after the transaction.

The victim was forced to drive back to Murry?s, where the robber left with the cash.

?I?m still scared,? the victim said Wednesday. ?I keep looking around thinking they?re watching me, and that they will follow me home.?

Source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/19/10190870-woman-used-young-children-to-rob-84-year-old-of-life-savings

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haweslue63

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) ? Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson will deliver its final quarterly report as a joint venture on Thursday, before pinning its hopes on the consumer clout of its new sole owner Sony Corp to claw its way back into the top tier.

Sony Corp, with $85 billion in annual sales, announced it was to take full control of the Sony Ericsson joint venture in October with Ericsson receiving 1.05 billion euros for its 50 percent share.

Sony Ericsson, once renowned for its market-leading Walkman and Cybershot phones, missed out on the boom in smartphones that has revolutionized the mobile phone market and powered the growth of rivals Apple and Samsung.

The joint venture, which has struggled to make a profit in recent years, kicks off the cellphone industry's earnings with the industry keenly awaiting the company's comments on the effects of economic downturn on demand.

Fourth-quarter results, the last before Sony takes full control and Ericsson focuses more on its core mobile network gear business, should show the company's situation has stabilized after cost cuts and a decision to focus entirely on smartphones powered by Google's Android operating system.

"The chance of things getting better are a little higher when it is part of Sony," said Greger Johansson, analyst at Stockholm-based analyst house Redeye.

"Sony is good at everything from games to consumer electronics and graphics and will perhaps be a little more willing to share that with the mobile firm now."

Results are due on Thursday at 2:30 a.m. EST.

Analysts polled by Reuters saw Sony Ericsson making a pre-tax profit of 41.7 million euros ($53 million) in the fourth quarter, bringing its full-year earnings up to 45.8 million.

Analysts saw earnings rising to 140 million euros this year and increasing again to 190 million in 2013.

Sony and Ericsson brought their mobile phone operations together in 2001 as a way of fighting competition from market leader Nokia and then world number two Motorola Inc.

Ericsson was the world's third largest maker of mobile phones at the time, but the market has shifted significantly since. Sony Ericsson is now ninth-biggest player, Nokia is struggling and Apple has led innovation in smart phones, though it has also been overtaken in smartphone sales by Samsung.

Sony, the maker of PlayStation game console, Bravia TVs and Vaio computers, aims to integrate phones with its other consumer electronic products, which should give Sony Ericsson the ammunition to fight against the iPhone, Samsung's Galaxy range and others.

Full integration with Sony should also mean Sony Ericsson can get its costs down closer to the level of competitors.

(Reporting by Simon Johnson and Olof Swahnberg; Editing by Mike Nesbit)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120119/tc_nm/us_sonyericsson

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haweslue63

The free agent DH market is rough, kids. If you?re old, used to hit well and can?t field anymore the pickings are slim for you. So slim that you?re ?calling teams rather than them calling you. To wit: Ken Davidoff of Newsday reports that Vlad Guerrero and Raul Ibanez have called the Yankees inquiring about the DH job.

I imagine this happens more than we know, but it is kind of depressing to hear that kind of thing. And to think that their reps each called Dave Dombrowski within ten minutes of hearing about Victor Martinez?s injury yesterday. ?It?s like some game of musical chairs or some desperate kind of land grab or something.

Anyway, I don?t see any value whatsoever either Guerrero or Ibanez can bring the Yankees that internal option Jorge Vazquez or some rotation of regular starters taking a turn or two a week at DH can?t bring. Indeed, Vazquez or A-Rod/Jeter/Teixeira/Swisher/Whoever DH is bound to be way better.

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/01/18/vlad-guerrero-raul-ibanez-have-called-the-yankees-peddling-dh-services/related/

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haweslue63

Mapping the destructive path from cigarette to emphysema

Public release date: 18-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail |

Share ]

Contact: Dipali Pathak
pathak@bcm.edu
713-798-4710
Baylor College of Medicine

HOUSTON (Jan. 18, 2012) -- From the cherry red tip of a lighted cigarette through the respiratory tract to vital lung cells, the havoc created by tobacco smoke seems almost criminal, activating genes and portions of the immune system to create inflammation that results in life-shortening emphysema, said researchers led by those at Baylor College of Medicine and the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

In a report online in the journal Science Translational Medicine, the scientists, including two from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, described the track the toxic smoke takes through the tissues and how they accomplish their destructive work.

"It's like walking into a crime scene," said Dr. Farrah Kheradmand, professor of medicine and immunology at BCM and a senior author of the report. In their current work, the scientists took cells present in the "crime scene" apart, piece by piece to elucidate what occurred when, and how.

It is a complicated story that took more than four years for her, her co-senior author Dr. David Corry and members of their laboratories and colleagues in the Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center at BCM to unravel, she said. Corry is professor and chief of the section of immunology, allergy and rheumatology in the department of medicine at BCM and a member of the faculty at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center.

"Previously, emphysema was thought to be a non-specific injurious response to long-term smoke exposure," she said. "These studies show for the first time that emphysema is caused by a specific immune response induced by smoke."

"It is a combination of little genes affected by an epigenetic factor," she said. Epigenetics are factors that affect the way genes are expressed after DNA forms. Cigarette smoke is an environmental epigenetic factor.

"DNA is written in pen," said Kheradmand, using a metaphor. "Epigenetics is written in pencil. If you have enough genes affected by epigenetic factors strung together, it can tip you over into lung damage and emphysema. The inflammation that drives emphysema could also drive cancer development, a testable hypothesis that we have begun to pursue."

This study showed that the cigarette recruited antigen-presenting cells (cells that orchestrate the immune system's response to antigens) as co-conspirators in the lung-destroying crime, using specific genes that regulate proteins in their deadly role.

To uncover the cause of tobacco- induced emphysema, they studied mice exposed to conditions that closely simulated how humans smoke. These animals developed the lung disease in three to four months. Certain inflammatory cells and genes proving crucial to the process, she said.

For example, the cytokine interleukin-17 was critical. "When we removed IL-17 from the mice, they did not develop emphysema in the same time span," she said. "The number of a type of immune cell the gamma delta T-cell would increase dramatically in the crime scene of the lung, she said."

"But when we took them out, the inflammation worsened. The gamma delta T-cells went there to dampen the inflammation," she said. "When they become overwhelmed, the disease ensues."

They confirmed that a subset of antigen-presenting cells (cells that present antigen to activate the immune system) are the key to orchestrating the disease. They had first found these cells in studies of human lung tissue. Then, they duplicated that finding in mice.

Dr. Ming Shan, now a postdoctoral associate in Kheradmand's laboratory, then took the cells out of the lungs of the mice with disease and transferred into mice who had never been exposed to cigarette smoke. After three months, these mice showed inflammatory signs indicating that they were on the way to developing lung damage and emphysema.

When they analyzed "gene chips" to screen the disease-causing antigen-presenting cells recovered from lungs with emphysema, they uncovered the gene for osteopontin, which promotes initiation of the inflammatory cascade that damages lungs. Mice that lacked this gene were resistant to emphysema, said Kheradmand.

###
Others who took part in this work include Xiaoyi Yuan,Li-zhen Song, Luz Roberts, Nazanin Zarinkamar, Alexander Seryshev, Yiqun Zhang and Susan Hilsenbeck, all of BCM and Seon-Hee Chang and Chen Dong of MD Anderson.

Funding for this work came from a Veterans Affairs merit award and the National Institutes of Health.

For more information on basic science research at Baylor College of Medicine, please go to From the Lab.

[ | E-mail | Share ]
?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Mapping the destructive path from cigarette to emphysema Public release date: 18-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Dipali Pathak
pathak@bcm.edu
713-798-4710
Baylor College of Medicine

HOUSTON (Jan. 18, 2012) -- From the cherry red tip of a lighted cigarette through the respiratory tract to vital lung cells, the havoc created by tobacco smoke seems almost criminal, activating genes and portions of the immune system to create inflammation that results in life-shortening emphysema, said researchers led by those at Baylor College of Medicine and the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

In a report online in the journal Science Translational Medicine, the scientists, including two from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, described the track the toxic smoke takes through the tissues and how they accomplish their destructive work.

"It's like walking into a crime scene," said Dr. Farrah Kheradmand, professor of medicine and immunology at BCM and a senior author of the report. In their current work, the scientists took cells present in the "crime scene" apart, piece by piece to elucidate what occurred when, and how.

It is a complicated story that took more than four years for her, her co-senior author Dr. David Corry and members of their laboratories and colleagues in the Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center at BCM to unravel, she said. Corry is professor and chief of the section of immunology, allergy and rheumatology in the department of medicine at BCM and a member of the faculty at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center.

"Previously, emphysema was thought to be a non-specific injurious response to long-term smoke exposure," she said. "These studies show for the first time that emphysema is caused by a specific immune response induced by smoke."

"It is a combination of little genes affected by an epigenetic factor," she said. Epigenetics are factors that affect the way genes are expressed after DNA forms. Cigarette smoke is an environmental epigenetic factor.

"DNA is written in pen," said Kheradmand, using a metaphor. "Epigenetics is written in pencil. If you have enough genes affected by epigenetic factors strung together, it can tip you over into lung damage and emphysema. The inflammation that drives emphysema could also drive cancer development, a testable hypothesis that we have begun to pursue."

This study showed that the cigarette recruited antigen-presenting cells (cells that orchestrate the immune system's response to antigens) as co-conspirators in the lung-destroying crime, using specific genes that regulate proteins in their deadly role.

To uncover the cause of tobacco- induced emphysema, they studied mice exposed to conditions that closely simulated how humans smoke. These animals developed the lung disease in three to four months. Certain inflammatory cells and genes proving crucial to the process, she said.

For example, the cytokine interleukin-17 was critical. "When we removed IL-17 from the mice, they did not develop emphysema in the same time span," she said. "The number of a type of immune cell the gamma delta T-cell would increase dramatically in the crime scene of the lung, she said."

"But when we took them out, the inflammation worsened. The gamma delta T-cells went there to dampen the inflammation," she said. "When they become overwhelmed, the disease ensues."

They confirmed that a subset of antigen-presenting cells (cells that present antigen to activate the immune system) are the key to orchestrating the disease. They had first found these cells in studies of human lung tissue. Then, they duplicated that finding in mice.

Dr. Ming Shan, now a postdoctoral associate in Kheradmand's laboratory, then took the cells out of the lungs of the mice with disease and transferred into mice who had never been exposed to cigarette smoke. After three months, these mice showed inflammatory signs indicating that they were on the way to developing lung damage and emphysema.

When they analyzed "gene chips" to screen the disease-causing antigen-presenting cells recovered from lungs with emphysema, they uncovered the gene for osteopontin, which promotes initiation of the inflammatory cascade that damages lungs. Mice that lacked this gene were resistant to emphysema, said Kheradmand.

###
Others who took part in this work include Xiaoyi Yuan,Li-zhen Song, Luz Roberts, Nazanin Zarinkamar, Alexander Seryshev, Yiqun Zhang and Susan Hilsenbeck, all of BCM and Seon-Hee Chang and Chen Dong of MD Anderson.

Funding for this work came from a Veterans Affairs merit award and the National Institutes of Health.

For more information on basic science research at Baylor College of Medicine, please go to From the Lab.

[ | E-mail | Share ]
?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/bcom-mtd011212.php
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haweslue63

Inside every frustrated journalist is an even more frustrated author, and self-publishing is an evil that many of us have succumbed to over the years. Still, much as we may want to resist it, we couldn't help ourselves when it came time to test Apple's iBooks Author app, designed for educators to push out textbooks to students for a fraction of the cost, time and energy it would traditionally take.

So, how does it feel when you're working inside the software? Could you use it to prepare seminar materials for the class of 2015 or, more importantly, launch your own career as Stephanie Meyer's successor? Head past the break to find out!

Gallery: Apple iBooks Author hands-on

Continue reading Apple's iBooks Author hands-on

Apple's iBooks Author hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | | Email this | Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/UMvanOS2vVE/

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haweslue63

Any drinking during pregnancy increases the odds of fetal alcohol syndrome, but the risk to the fetus is highest if a pregnant woman drinks during the second half of her first trimester of pregnancy, a new study finds.

For every one drink per day increase in alcohol intake during that crucial period, a woman?s baby was 25 percent more likely to have an abnormally shaped lip, 12 percent more likely to have a smaller-than-normal head and 16 percent more likely to have low birth weight ? all early signs of fetal alcohol syndrome, the study showed.

"The take-home message is that there's not a low threshold level below which drinking alcohol doesn't raise the risk," of fetal alcohol syndrome, said study author Dr. Christina Chambers of the University of California, San Diego. "This supports the surgeon general's recommendation that drinking be avoided entirely."

The new findings were published today (Jan. 16) in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

Pregnancy and substances

Chambers and her colleagues recruited the 992 participants for their study from pregnant women who called a California telephone help line that answers questions on substances that could be harmful during pregnancy ? including not only alcohol and illegal drug intake, but also chemical exposures and prescription drug safety.

Women who called the line between 1978 and 2005 were asked if they'd like to participate in a follow-up study. All were contacted by phone for follow-up on levels of alcohol consumption throughout pregnancy, and their infants were screened after birth with a full physical exam.

"You're dealing with an issue here in which it's really hard to get good information on both exposure and outcomes," Chambers said. "Most kids don't get diagnosed until they're in school and having learning difficulties," Chambers said.

In the study, the doctors who examined the infants did not know whether the child had been exposed to alcohol or some other substance in utero.

Higher alcohol consumption of a mother during pregnancy, the researchers found, was linked with a higher chance of a baby having physical characteristics associated with fetal alcohol syndrome, including abnormal head size and altered shape of the eyes and lips. Such symptoms suggest the presence of related neurological problems.

Binge drinking, which involves drinking more than four drinks on a single occasion, didn't affect the risk ? the total number of drinks a woman had while pregnant was more predictive of a baby's risk of fetal alcohol syndrome, the researchers found.

During the second half of the first trimester, every one drink per day increase in alcohol intake raised the odds of a certain physical abnormality ? in the upper lip ? by 25 percent. In contrast, the average number of drinks during the third trimester seemed to affect only the baby's length at birth.

Different mothers, different risk

There are still questions about what factors may influence the risk of fetal alcohol syndrome, Chambers said. "Even if you find 10 women who drink a quart of vodka a day, maybe only five of those babies will have full-blown fetal alcohol syndrome, because there are other factors that influence the risk."

Those factors could include diet, body fat levels, genetic differences, or other environmental exposures, said Ed Riley of San Diego State University, who also studies prenatal exposure to alcohol.

Other studies have found little or no affect on babies born to mothers who drank only occasionally ? having one or two drinks a week ? throughout pregnancy. But most previous studies relied on mothers' recall of their drinking after birth, whereas in the new study, researchers interviewed women periodically throughout pregnancy.

Riley said the new study adds weight to the argument against drinking any alcohol during pregnancy, and emphasized that the new study showed that any alcohol consumption led to an increased risk. "They showed no threshold effect," he said, "so the more you drank, the greater probability of having an adverse outcome."

Future studies, he said, could follow the same method to look at not only physical abnormalities of the infants, but neurological problems as well. "We know that the brain is very sensitive to prenatal alcohol exposure," he said.

Pass it on: ?Any amount of alcohol consumption during pregnancy raises the chances that the fetus will develop birth defects, new research concludes. The risk is highest when pregnant women drink during the second half of the first trimester.

This story was provided by MyHealthNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. Follow MyHealthNewsDaily on Twitter @MyHealth_MHND.?

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20120117/sc_livescience/alcoholrisktofetusishighestatendof1sttrimester

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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

'X Factor' shakeup: Paula, Steve, Nicole all out

Glooko Raises $3.5M To Connect Glucose Meters To iPhones For Tracking Diabetes

Monday, January 30, 2012

Man arrested in slayings of SC officer, Ga. woman

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Fly Delta Android app updated to ease international travel

Video: Costa Concordia passengers offered $14k

Friday, January 27, 2012

Biden: GOP candidates promoting Bush-era policies (AP)

Online Investing Platform Kapitall Now Lets You Trade Stocks ...

Thursday, January 26, 2012

High animal fat diet increases gestational diabetes risk, study finds

Video: SEALs rescue American held captive

Mystery disease Morgellons: No clear cause

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Bernanke says Fed pondering further stimulus (Reuters)

RNC spoils Obama???s big day with swing-state attack ad (Daily Caller)

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

The Business and the Work | internetmonk.com

Drought returns to Sahel, bringing hunger

Monday, January 23, 2012

Gingrich set to face critical test in SC primary (AP)

Linen Travel Towel Costs More Than Your Flights

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Video: Safety first: Check out your cruise ship

Woman used young children to rob 84-year-old of life savings

Sony Ericsson seen improving in Sony hands (Reuters)

Friday, January 20, 2012

HBT: Guerrero, Ibanez peddle services to Yanks

Mapping the destructive path from cigarette to emphysema

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Apple's iBooks Author hands-on

Alcohol Risk to Fetus Is Highest at End of 1st Trimester (LiveScience.com)