The Estate Condo by Lougheed House & Ranchmans Club Condo ...

?The Estate? Condo was built in 1980 and is located at 720 13th Ave SW, Calgary, right next door to the world famous Ranchmen?s Club and across the street from Lougheed House, in the Community of Connaught.? It is ?The Estate? is? registered on Condominium Plan 8211330.? It comprises a 27-Story high-rise tower adjoining the Ranchmen?s Club and also a 7-story Low-Rise structure to the west which houses a number of town-homes and low-rise condominium units.

The homes in ?The Estate? range in size from the smallest being 882 sq. ft to the two 3175 square foot Penthouse units on the 27th floor.? The average size of the units is about 1600 sq. ft.? ?The Estate? mirrors the traditions, style and finishing?s of the adjoining Ranchman?s Club and the visitor is greeted by a 24/7 full service concierge who watches over the pristine surroundings and takes care of the ?little things? for you.

Mel Buyer ? Day Concierge Extraordinaire at ?The Estate?

The atmosphere is non-pretentious and those that have made ?The Estate? their home are generally not scuttling about, type A over-achievers.? They have already made their mark in life and are now enjoying the fruits of their labour in the manner to which they have become accustomed.? The units in the high-rise tower of ?The Estate? have no balconies, rendering them relatively dust free.? The floor plans are open and spacious with interesting angles which are perfect for incredible furniture layouts to suite your lifestyle, while still feeling comfortable and cozy.

?The Estate? Low-Rise condominium complex houses four two-story town homes and the rest are apartment style condominiums. Many of these homes have large balconies and large terraces.

Condo fees in ?The Estate? usually range between $1000 and $3000 and as of the date of this review.? If this concerns you in the least, then ?The Estate? is definitely not for you. ?The Estate? is professionally managed by Twylla Walker.

?Amenities in ?The Estate?

• On-Site Manager (5th Floor)
• Swimming Pool with kitchenette/wet bar ? May be reserved for private functions. (5th Floor)
• Roof top Patio between the two buildings (5th Floor)
• Whirl Pool
• Exercise Room (5th Floor)
• Garbage Chutes (Undetectable)
• 9? Ceilings
• Large Terrace Patios on many of the low-rise units
• Central Air Conditioning.

?

Wet Bar in ?The Estate? Swimming Pool Recreation Room

Parking in ?The Estate?

• 4 Levels of secured, assigned underground parking. Two levels up, and two levels down from the main floor.? Many suites have two parking stalls
• 10 underground secured visitor stalls

Inclusions at ?The Estate?

• Heat
• Water/Sewer
• Electricity
• Cable & Internet

Restrictions

To arrange for a private showing, or offer for sale any units for sale in ?The Estate? call me to take care of the details.

Mike Leibel - 403-204-1111

Small business chat update ? Alison Perry ? LibroEditing ...

Time for another Small business chat update, and today it?s with Alison Perry from Purple Dog Network. Alison?s original interview was published on 03 December 2011 and when asked where she planned to be in a year?s time, she answered, ?I would like to continue to keep the network fresh with new ideas so that its popularity doesn?t fade. I would also like to be the go to adviser for UK small businesses who are trying to make their mark on twitter. Now that Mark Shaw [former Twitter guru] has pulled out of this market, I would like to think that I can go some way to filling his shoes?. Let?s see how it?s all gone since: there have been some hard decisions, but The Purple Dog Twitter initiative has kept going where other similar Twitter ideas have fallen by the wayside ?

Are you where you thought you?d be when you looked forward a year ago?

2012 was a bit of a rollercoaster year for me but the one constant throughout was the support and continuing growth of the network on Twitter. The Purple Dog Network now has close to 30,000 followers and the popularity of the #purplebiz competition has continued to grow. We now regularly have over 2,000 retweets per week and 1,000 mentions. Events such as #PDChallenge are hugely popular and help to keep the network fresh.

As for the business side of the network, the #PDNSponsor slots regularly sell out a couple of weeks ahead and I have a steadily growing list of clients who I am supporting with their Twitter promotional activity.

What has changed and what has stayed the same?

Much of what the network does has stayed the same, a number of other networks have come and gone but with the exception of #Bizitalk, none has enjoyed the same level of success. I have focused more on my blog and have provided lots of free advice for those looking to grow their Twitter accounts.

In March, my attention was diverted somewhat by the development of the Purple Dog Network community website which received great feedback and was huge fun to develop. Unfortunately, I soon realised that I didn?t have the resources needed to make the site successful so decided to focus my efforts back on the Twitter network and my Twitter consultancy business.

This was the toughest but most important decision of the year and with hindsight, I am very glad I took this step as it enabled me to focus on what I do best and continue to grow my business.

What have you learned? What do you wish you?d known a year ago?

The most important lesson I have learned is that as a sole trader, I need to be very focused. Working from home around my family commitments, I only have a small number of working hours, which I need to concentrate effectively to grow my business.

I wish I had known a year ago, how tough it is to set up a community website and how much is involved in developing and maintaining the content.

Any more hints and tips for people?

Make sure you know what it is you are really good at and focus your efforts in that direction. If you can afford to, delegate everything else to people who are expert in that field.

Great advice I picked up this year from a lovely lady called Kirsten Gibbs is ?Only do what only you can do!? This has helped me to find some great partners to work with so that I can free up my time to do what I do best.

And ? where do you see yourself and your business in a(nother) year?s time?

Since the closure of my community website, I have been opting for a steady growth strategy. I would like to continue to grow my consultancy business and to work with partners who add value to my business. Getting the balance right between work and home life is hugely important to me and having a steadily growing business which I can effectively manage within school hours will be my measure of success at the end of the year.

www.thepurpledog.net is the website, and you can email Alison or contact her and the Purple Dog on Twitter at @purpledognet.

If you?ve enjoyed this interview, please see more freelancer chat, the index to all the interviewees, and information on how you can have your business featured.

?

Source: http://libroediting.com/2013/01/26/update-alison-perry/

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Aretha 'laughed' about Beyonce lip-sync controversy

Aretha Franklin wowed the crowds at President Obama's first inauguration four years ago, belting out "My Country 'Tis of Thee" on a bitterly cold Washington, D.C., day.

Four years later it was Beyonce whose performance drew initial raves at Obama's second inauguration, but with the news that she may have lip-synced her rendition of the "Star Spangled Banner" the Queen of Soul weighed in on the controversy, noting that she still thinks Beyonce "did a beautiful job."

"But, when I heard the news this evening that she was pre-recorded I really laughed. I thought it was funny because the weather down there was about 46 or 44 degrees and for most singers that is just not good singing weather," Franklin told ABC News in an interview. In fact, the weather was even colder than that Monday, around 40 degrees.

"When I heard that I just really cracked up. I thought it was really funny, but she did a beautiful job with the pre-record ... next time I'll probably do the same."

6 People Who Should Have Lip-Synced the National Anthem

Of course, in her inauguration performance in 2009, she sang it live because, she says, "I wanted to give people the real thing and pre-recording never crossed my mind."

She did lament that she wished she hadn't had to wait so long in the cold four years ago, saying that if she hadn't, her performance -- which had the crowd going wild -- would have been even better.

"Had I not had to sit that long, I had to sit for 45 or 30 minutes and it was much colder, it was in the 20s," Franklin said, of the performance where both her voice and her hat got noticed.

"I just wished I could have sung the moment I got there," she said. "If I could have walked on immediately and sung it wouldn't have affected my voice the way it did."

The 70 year-old music legend did admit to lip-syncing once when she performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" before the Detroit Pistons took on the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 5 of the NBA Finals in June of 2004.

So, does she think it's wrong what The Queen Bey did?

"I think it's optional really, it's up to the artist," Franklin said. "In 2009, I wanted everything to be live and on the real side for the moment as it actually happened. Those were my feelings for my performance, but having come face to face with 28, 22 degrees I am not surprised she pre-recorded. She wanted her performance to be what she wanted to be and she realized it wasn't going to be the way she wanted it to be or she was going to be running a risk. That's probably why she pre-recorded exactly how she wanted it to be heard."

Franklin added that Kelly Clarkson, who did sing live, and also sang "My Country 'Tis of Thee" was "magnificent" as well.

"I enjoyed every minute," Franklin said, adding that she "loved" Clarkson's arrangement of the song.

Franklin said she enjoyed James Taylor's performance and was quite emotional throughout the entire ceremony.

"From the beginning to the end, I was crying throughout the ceremony at different times," Franklin said. "Looking at the history of the president coming to the point he came to, looking to where it came from the Civil Rights movement to yesterday and I think most of the country was crying."

She said she wasn't more moved than four years ago when Obama became the first African-American president, but noted that the experience is very different watching it from home.

"It's one thing to be there to perform and another to be able to sit at home and watch it on TV, it's a completely different perspective," she said.

Despite Franklin's graciousness to Beyonce, what is not clear in the whole controversy is what exactly happened. Beyonce's spokesperson did not return numerous phone calls and e mails throughout the day Tuesday and she didn't weigh in herself.

So, did she or didn't she?

A U.S. Marine Band spokeswoman said Tuesday they are not "in a position to assess."

Captain Kendra N. Motz, Media Officer of the U.S. Marine Band, said the Presidential Inaugural Committee requested they accompany Beyonce in her performance, but "there was no opportunity for Ms. Knowles-Carter to rehearse with the Marine Band before the Inauguration so it was determined that a live performance by the band was ill-advised for such a high-profile event."

"Each piece of music scheduled for performance in the Inauguration is pre-recorded for use in case of freezing temperatures, equipment failure, or extenuating circumstances," Motz said in a statement. "Regarding Ms. Knowles-Carter's vocal performance, no one in the Marine Band is in a position to assess whether it was live or pre-recorded."

Eearlier in the day Tuesday, however, another spokesperson for the U.S. Marine Corps band told ABC News she did in fact lip-sync.

"We all know Beyonce can sing," Master Sgt. of the U.S. Marine Band Kristin duBois told ABC News today. "We all know the Marine Corps Band can play. We do not know why she decided to go with the pre-recorded music at the last minute."

DuBois later added that, to her knowledge, Beyonce was not singing. It was Beyonce's voice, but a pre-recorded version heard by about a million people in Washington and millions more on television.

Also Read

Source: http://gma.yahoo.com/aretha-laughed-beyonce-lip-sync-controversy-034034595.html

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Why Filibuster Reform Died (talking-points-memo)

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Linda Pugach, blinded in infamous NYC crime, dies (Providence Journal)

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Setting the Dark on Fire: Beautiful view of clouds of cosmic dust in region of Orion

Jan. 23, 2013 ? In space, dense clouds of cosmic gas and dust are the birthplaces of new stars. In visible light, this dust is dark and obscuring, hiding the stars behind it. So much so that, when astronomer William Herschel observed one such cloud in the constellation of Scorpius in 1774, he thought it was a region empty of stars and is said to have exclaimed, "Truly there is a hole in the sky here!" [1]

In order to better understand star formation, astronomers need telescopes that can observe at longer wavelengths, such as the submillimetre range, in which the dark dust grains shine rather than absorb light. APEX, on the Chajnantor Plateau in the Chilean Andes, is the largest single-dish submillimetre-wavelength telescope operating in the southern hemisphere, and is ideal for astronomers studying the birth of stars in this way.

Located in the constellation of Orion (The Hunter), 1500 light-years away from Earth, the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth, and contains a treasury of bright nebulae, dark clouds and young stars. The new image shows just part of this vast complex in visible light, with the APEX observations overlaid in brilliant orange tones that seem to set the dark clouds on fire. Often, the glowing knots from APEX correspond to darker patches in visible light -- the tell-tale sign of a dense cloud of dust that absorbs visible light, but glows at submillimetre wavelengths, and possibly a site of star formation.

The bright patch below of the centre of the image is the nebula NGC 1999. This region -- when seen in visible light -- is what astronomers call a reflection nebula, where the pale blue glow of background starlight is reflected from clouds of dust. The nebula is mainly illuminated by the energetic radiation from the young star V380 Orionis [2] lurking at its heart. In the centre of the nebula is a dark patch, which can be seen even more clearly in a well-known image (http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo0010a/) from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

Normally, a dark patch such as this would indicate a dense cloud of cosmic dust, obscuring the stars and nebula behind it. However, in this image we can see that the patch remains strikingly dark, even when the APEX observations are included. Thanks to these APEX observations, combined with infrared observations from other telescopes, astronomers believe that the patch is in fact a hole or cavity in the nebula, excavated by material flowing out of the star V380 Orionis. For once, it truly is a hole in the sky!

The region in this image is located about two degrees south of the large and well-known Orion Nebula (Messier 42), which can be seen at the top edge of the wider view in visible light from the Digitized Sky Survey.

The APEX observations used in this image were led by Thomas Stanke (ESO), Tom Megeath (University of Toledo, USA), and Amy Stutz (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, Germany). APEX is a collaboration between the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR), the Onsala Space Observatory (OSO) and ESO. Operation of APEX at Chajnantor is entrusted to ESO.

Notes

[1] In German, "Hier ist wahrhaftig ein Loch im Himmel!"

[2] V380 Orionis has a high surface temperature of about 10,000 Kelvin (about the same in degrees Celsius), nearly twice that of our own Sun. Its mass is estimated to be 3.5 times that of the Sun.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by European Southern Observatory - ESO.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/space_time/nasa/~3/4cF5E2l0310/130123094558.htm

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Video: Second inauguration sets tone for next four years

'Getting worse': Egypt's gays fear crackdown

??CAIRO, Egypt -- The 2011 revolution which ousted Hosni Mubarak left many of Egypt's gays and lesbians hoping sexual freedom was on the horizon. But today, many fear a government crackdown is only a matter of time.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/hardball/50541786/

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Mozilla reveals first two Firefox phones

16 hrs.

Anna Attkisson , LAPTOP

For developers looking to create apps for the upcoming Firefox OS, two preview smartphones will be available in February. On Tuesday, Mozilla took the wraps off the Keon and Peak, created with the help of?Geeksphone and Telefonica. Both phones?will run Firefox?s HTML 5-based operating system.?

The more upscale Peak, despite its unfortunate name, comes equipped with a 1.2-GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 CPU, 4GB of ROM and an 1800 mAh battery. It too only runs on HSPA or Edge, but does sport a nicer 4.3-inch qHD IPS display and features a 8-MP rear-facing camera plus a 2-MP front-facing camera. And we do prefer the more refined white color chassis.?The 3.5-inch HVGA display on the Keon is powered by a 1-GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S1 processor, 4GB of ROM and a 1580 mAh battery. The device will run on HSPA or Edge networks. It also includes a 3-MP camera, microSD, 802.11n Wi-Fi connectivity, GPS and a microUSB charging port. Plus, it comes in a?strikingly?orange Firefox exterior.

The Firefox OS, formerly called Boot to Gecko, is built on HTML5 Web access. In a post on the?hacks.mozzilla.org?site the company claims HTML5 lets the devices do??phone things ? they can make the phone vibrate, make a phone call or send a text message.? During our hands-on time with the previous beta version of the OS we liked what we saw. The interface proved slick, and we appreciated the ability to swipe the lock screen up or down.?

Can?t wait for February? Mozilla also offers up directions for making your website into a Firefox OS app. It starts with downloading Google Play for an Android phone.?Use the browser-based?Firefox OS Simulator?to view and test your mobile app on the desktop. And you can install the?Firefox OS?on your smartphone?today.

More from Laptop Mag:

Copyright 2013 LAPTOP, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/mozilla-reveals-first-two-firefox-phones-1B8038216

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GTX 680, Potalion 2710QW 2560x1440, AeroCool Strike-X ST Black, Corsair Hydro H100.

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Source: http://forums.ferra.ru/index.php?showtopic=54101

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New evidence indicates auroras occur outside our solar system

Jan. 21, 2013 ? University of Leicester planetary scientists have found new evidence suggesting auroras ? similar to Earth?s Aurora Borealis - occur on bodies outside our solar system.

Auroras occur on several planets within our solar system, and the brightest - on Jupiter ? are 100 times brighter than those on Earth. However, no auroras have yet been observed beyond Neptune.

A new study led by University of Leicester lecturer Dr Jonathan Nichols has shown that processes strikingly similar to those which power Jupiter?s auroras could be responsible for radio emissions detected from a number of objects outside our solar system.

In addition, the radio emissions are powerful enough to be detectable across interstellar distances ? meaning that auroras could provide an effective way of observing new objects outside our solar system.

Auroras occur when charged particles in an object?s magnetosphere collide with atoms in its upper atmosphere, causing them to glow.? However, before hitting the atmosphere, these particles also emit radio waves into space.

The study which recently appeared in the Astrophysical Journal, shows that this phenomenon is not limited to our solar system.

It shows that the radio emissions from a number of ultracool dwarfs may be caused in a very similar, but significantly more powerful, way to Jupiter?s auroras.

Dr Nichols, a Lecturer and Research Fellow in the University of Leicester?s Department of Physics and Astronomy, said: ?We have recently shown that beefed-up versions of the auroral processes on Jupiter are able to account for the radio emissions observed from certain "ultracool dwarfs" - bodies which comprise the very lowest mass stars - and "brown dwarfs" - 'failed stars' which lie in between planets and stars in terms of mass.?

?These results strongly suggest that auroras do occur on bodies outside our solar system, and the auroral radio emissions are powerful enough? - one hundred thousand times brighter than Jupiter's - to be detectable across interstellar distances.?

The paper, which also involved researchers at the Center for Space Physics, Boston University, USA, could have major implications for the detection of planets and objects outside our solar system which could not be discovered with other methods.

What?s more, the radio emission could provide us with key information about the length of the planet?s day, the strength of its magnetic field, how the planet interacts with its parent star and even whether it has any moons.

Dr Nichols added: ?I am part of a group who have recently been awarded time on the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) - centred in the Netherlands but with stations across a number of countries in northern Europe including the UK -? to try to observe auroras on exoplanets, so hopefully there will be some interesting results soon.?

Dr Nichols? work was funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council. The LOFAR exoplanets work is led by Philippe Zarka, based at CNRS Observatory, Paris.

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Journal Reference:

1. J. D. Nichols, M. R. Burleigh, S. L. Casewell, S. W. H. Cowley, G. A. Wynn, J. T. Clarke, A. A. West. Origin of Electron Cyclotron Maser Induced Radio Emissions at Ultracool Dwarfs: Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Coupling Currents. The Astrophysical Journal, 2012; 760 (1): 59 DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/760/1/59

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/USUaR4AOWIk/130121083253.htm

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Do Animals in Chernobyl?s Fallout Zone Glow?

In the Chernobyl exclusion zone, Valentina Sachepok (right) points out herbs to author Mary Mycio.

Courtesy Mary Mycio.

Valentina Sachepok darted ahead while I chased her through a forest in the exclusion zone surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

A camera crew followed us; they were shooting a documentary about the babushkas of Chernobyl. The 1986 disaster forced the permanent evacuation of 300,000 people, but a smattering of women still live semi-legally in their old homes.

Sachepok, a retired nurse in her 60s with tufts of gray hair peering from under a maroon kerchief, didn?t walk but trotted, sprinting abruptly while the rest of us scrambled to keep up. After collecting fat yellow mushrooms from a clump of moss, she led me to a pine tree. ?This one is for the hedgehog,? she said of the spiny creature beloved in Slavic folktales. She pierced a mushroom on a pine branch close to the ground.

That?s where radioactivity is highest these days. The explosion and fire here spewed the equivalent of at least 20 Hiroshima bombs? worth of radiation, mostly within about 25 miles of the reactor building. The most radioactive isotopes have long since decayed, and rain has washed the rest into the soil and the food chain. Two of the most persistent isotopes are cesium-137, which chemically mimics potassium, and strontium-90, which imitates calcium in living things. As these isotopes have been taken up by plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria, radioactivity is no longer on the zone, but of it.

This is a unique ecosystem, twice the size of Rhode Island and about evenly divided between Belarus and Ukraine. A generation after most humans abandoned the area, forests and wetlands have consumed once-tended fields, villages, and towns. Only the occasional carcasses of crumbling buildings mutely testify to the former occupants.

Sachepok stuck another mushroom a foot higher on the tree. ?That?s for the roe deer. It?s hard for them to find food under the snow.? The late October day was still warm, but Ukraine?s winters are frigid.

Few wild animals lived in the region in 1986; their habitats had been destroyed for Soviet dairy farms and pine plantations. But large mammals started appearing almost immediately after the evacuations, and the animal populations soon exploded.

Roe deer and wild boar caught here in the early 1990s packed more than 2,000 times the safety norms for cesium-137 in meat. Though internal radiation levels have since dropped dramatically, some animals recently tested in Belarus still exceeded safe levels by dozens of times.

But in a surprise to just about everyone, the animals all looked physically normal. The same was true of other species tested?radioactive but normal-looking. The few known exceptions include albino spots and some deformities in barn swallows.

Standing up straight, Sachepok pierced the highest mushroom. ?And this is for the moose.?

Of the dozen moose sightings I?ve had in my lifetime, all were in the exclusion zone, where in the course of many journeys I?ve spent more than a month?s time researching my book Wormwood Forest: A Natural History of Chernobyl. It?s a strange and beautiful place where I?ve spotted wolves in broad daylight; lynx tracks in the snow; and huge herds of boar, roe deer, and elk. I?m still drawn back.

Sachepok smiled with more mischief than seemed possible for a lone woman in a radioactive no-man?s land. ?The animals all know me,? she said, a gold tooth glinting, before lecturing me on healthy living, including avoiding what she called the ?zombie box??television.

I think she meant it politically. Ukrainian TV is pure propaganda. But when it comes to Chernobyl, it is only a matter of time before zombies or mutants come up. Whenever I tell anyone about my encounters with Chernobyl wildlife, the questions are always the same: Do they have two heads? Do they glow? Do you glow?

Actually, in the early years, when contaminated dust coated everything, researchers found countless examples of the monstrous mutations imagined in 1950s horror movies: malformations, dwarfism, gigantism, strange growths, and, yes, even some glowing.

But those effects were seen only in plants. While Attack of the Giant Leaves doesn?t seem as horrible as the Creature With the Atom Brain, no one has ever found seriously deformed wild animals (or zombies) after the Chernobyl accident. Mutant animals born in the wild die or get eaten before they can be discovered. Whatever the biological costs of radiation to individuals, the fittest survived.

Chernobyl?s abundant and surprisingly normal-looking wildlife has shaken up how biologists think about the environmental effects of radioactivity. The idea that the world?s biggest radioactive wasteland could become Europe?s largest wildlife sanctuary is completely counterintuitive for anyone raised on nuclear dystopias.

The news isn?t good for all animals. Many species that like human company?swallows, white storks, pigeons?mostly left the region along with the people. Also, small creatures seem to be more vulnerable to the effects of radiation than large ones. That may be why Chernobyl rodents studied in the 1990s had shorter life spans and smaller litters than their counterparts outside the zone. Stag beetles had uneven horns. But it didn?t affect their population numbers.

And because the health of wild animal species is usually judged by their numbers rather than the conditions of individuals, Chernobyl wildlife is considered healthy. According to all the population counts performed by Ukraine and Belarus over the past 27 years, there is enormous animal diversity and abundance. The prevailing scientific view of the exclusion zone has become that it is an unintentional wildlife sanctuary. This conclusion rests on the premise that radiation is less harmful to wildlife populations than we are.

In an effort to challenge that view, biologists Timothy Mousseau of the University of South Carolina and Anders Moller of the University of Paris have published a series of papers claiming that populations of insects, birds, and mammals are declining in Chernobyl?s most contaminated regions. They also contend that birds avoid nesting in highly radioactive areas. They dismiss contrary reports of animal abundance as anecdotes.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=f05c77f8227e6d4c1f0bc48e66f0ca0c

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Te'o to be interviewed by Katie Couric

FILE - In this Nov. 17, 2012, file photo, Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o takes the field during senior day before an NCAA college football game against Wake Forest in South Bend, Ind. The wrenching story of Te'o's girlfriend dying of leukemia _ a loss he said inspired him to play his best all the way to the BCS championship _ was dismissed by the school Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013, as a hoax perpetrated against the linebacker. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 17, 2012, file photo, Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o takes the field during senior day before an NCAA college football game against Wake Forest in South Bend, Ind. The wrenching story of Te'o's girlfriend dying of leukemia _ a loss he said inspired him to play his best all the way to the BCS championship _ was dismissed by the school Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013, as a hoax perpetrated against the linebacker. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)

In a photo provided by ESPN, Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o pauses during an interview with ESPN's Jeremy Schaap, right, on Friday, Jan. 18, 2013, in Bradenton, Fla. ESPN says Te'o maintains he was never involved in creating the dead girlfriend hoax. He said in the off-camera interview: "When they hear the facts they'll know. They'll know there is no way I could be a part of this." (AP Photo/ESPN Images, Ryan Jones) MANDATORY

In a photo provided by ESPN, Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o pauses during an interview with ESPN on Friday, Jan. 18, 2013, in Bradenton, Fla. ESPN says Te'o maintains he was never involved in creating the dead girlfriend hoax. He said in the off-camera interview: "When they hear the facts they'll know. They'll know there is no way I could be a part of this." (AP Photo/ESPN Images, Ryan Jones) MANDATORY CREDIT

In this Sept. 15, 2012 photo, Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o points to the sky as he leaves the field after a 20-3 win against Michigan State in East Lansing, Mich. In a shocking announcement, Notre Dame said Te'o was duped into an online relationship with a woman whose "death" from leukemia was faked by perpetrators of an elaborate hoax. (AP Photo/South Bend Tribune, James Brosher) MANDATORY CREDIT

FILE - In this Aug. 16, 2012, file photo, Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o answers a question during NCAA college football media day in South Bend, Ind. The wrenching story of Te'o's girlfriend dying of leukemia _ a loss he said inspired him to play his best all the way to the BCS championship _ was dismissed by the school Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013, as a hoax perpetrated against the linebacker. (AP Photo/Joe Raymond, File)

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) ? Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o will be interviewed by Katie Couric, the first on-camera interview given by the All-American since news broke about the dead girlfriend hoax.

Te'o and his parents will appear on Couric's syndicated daytime talk show Thursday. ABC News announced the interview Sunday, but gave no details as to when it will take place and where.

Te'o gave an off-camera interview with ESPN on Friday night. He insists he was the victim of the hoax, not a participant. The Heisman Trophy runner-up said he had an online romance with a woman he never met and in September was informed that the woman died from leukemia.

Te'o told ESPN that the person suspected of being the mastermind of the hoax has contacted him and apologized.

Couric, now a special correspondent for ABC News, formerly worked as the anchor for the CBS Evening News and was a co-host of NBC's Today Show.

The strange tale of Te'o apparently being duped by an elaborate hoax, pulled off by a California man, has put the Heisman Trophy finalist in national headlines ? from the Wall Street Journal to TMZ. In the

The man he said apologized to him for pulling the scam, 22-year-old Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, has not spoken publicly. He and his family have decline the AP's numerous requests for interviews.

Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said Te'o reached out to his coaches and university officials on Dec. 26, and the school commissioned an investigation that he said confirmed Te'o was not involved in the hoax. The school received the findings of the investigation on Jan. 4, three days before Notre Dame played Alabama in the BCS title game.

A Notre Dame spokesman said some school administrators thought they should release what they knew about what the hoax as soon as they became aware of it, but the university ultimately decided to let Te'o and his family be first to go public with the story.

Notre Dame spokesman Dennis Brown told the South Bend (Ind.) Tribune in a story published Sunday that university officials decided disclosing the information about the hoax before the BCS championship in Miami would not be in the best interest of the teams or the individuals involved.

The hoax about Te'os dead girlfriend became public Wednesday when it was reported by Deadspin.com. Swarbrick held a news conference later that day to discuss what Notre Dame knew, and gave full support to Te'o. Later, Swarbrick said the family had intended to speak publicly about the hoax Jan. 21.

Brown said the university was "utterly stunned" when Te'o informed them about details of the hoax on Dec. 26 and had a "difficult time getting our arms around it."

Te'o met with Swarbrick for nearly two hours on Dec. 27 after returning to campus to give a full account of his relationship with the online woman he knew as Lennay Kekua, and then again the next day, Brown said.

How the university should proceed was the topic of discussions between top administrators for a week, Brown said.

The university hired outside investigators on Dec. 29.

"We asked them to focus on any threats to the university or its reputation, by providing more information about the so-called Kekua family that might help us understand motives, or whether they might have had any contact with others at Notre Dame," said Brown, who declined to name the firm.

The investigators were in touch the next day, telling the university they could find no evidence of a Lennay Kekua or any of the relatives she had told Te'o about in several "sophisticated databases" the firm used. Brown said the investigators concluded "the entire family was fictitious, because of their inability to find them, and that the investigation should turn to trying to identify the woman who had been talking to Manti."

Investigators determined the address the woman had given Te'o was real, with a house there that belonged to members of a family named Tuiasosopo, including Ronaiah Tuiasosopo.

Brown said the investigators hired by Notre Dame didn't try to reach Tuiasosopo or his relatives.

The university officials told the newspaper the investigators did not examine cellphone records, emails or other electronic communication to determine the length or extent of Te'o's communication over the past few years with the person claiming to be Kekua, nor did the university ask Te'o to take a lie detector test.

The school informed Teo's parents, Brian and Ottilia, about the investigation results on Jan. 5.

___

Information from: South Bend Tribune, http://www.southbendtribune.com

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-01-20-Notre%20Dame-Te'o/id-bd880b433a1f4cb9b7c2fd663fed2289

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Video: Trouble in Paradise, Part 6

Dateline NBC

'Dateline NBC,' the signature broadcast for NBC News in primetime, premiered in 1992. Since then, it has been pioneering a new approach to primetime news programming. The multi-night franchise, supplemented by frequent specials, allows NBC to consistently and comprehensively present the highest-quality reporting, investigative features, breaking news coverage and newsmaker profiles.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032600/vp/50515235#50515235

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Syrian FM calls on rebels to disarm and negotiate

BEIRUT (AP) ? Syria's foreign minister invited the country's rebels on Saturday to lay down their weapons and take part in a national dialogue, saying everyone who participates will be included in a new Cabinet with wide executive powers.

Walid al-Moallem said in a live interview on state TV late Saturday that any opposition parties could join the Cabinet as long as they reject foreign intervention in Syria. The Syrian government has started contacting "representatives of the Syrian people," he added.

Earlier this month, President Bashar Assad dismissed calls that he step down, vowing to keep fighting the rebels. Assad also proposed a national reconciliation conference, elections and a new constitution ? concessions offered previously over the course of the uprising that began in March 2011. The opposition says that Assad can play no role in a resolution to the conflict.

"I tell the young men who carried arms to change and reform, take part in the dialogue for a new Syria and you will be a partner in building it. Why carry arms," al-Moallem said in the hour-long interview. "Those who want foreign intervention will not be among us."

He accused Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey of arming and financing the rebels in Syria. He said that Jabhat al-Nusra, an al-Qaida-linked group which the U.S. has declared a terrorist organization but which fights alongside Syrian rebels, had brought fighters from 27 countries to fight in Syria.

Last month, the international envoy tasked with Syria's crisis, Lakhdar Brahimi, proposed a plan to end Syria's war with a cease-fire followed by the formation of a transitional government to run the country until new elections can be held.

Brahimi did not mention Assad by name, but said the transitional government would have "full executive powers" and would replace the Syrian leader. The plan was unveiled by world powers at an international conference in Geneva in June. Al-Moallem said that the Geneva conference does not require Assad to leave power.

The interview came as activists reported violence in different areas of Syria.

In the northern province of Idlib, Syrian troops fought intense battles Saturday against rebels who are trying to capture two military bases in the northwest and step up their attacks on army compounds elsewhere in the country, activists said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees said the rebels destroyed at least one tank near the town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province. The rebels, who have been battling for weeks to take control of bases in Wadi Deif and Hamdiyeh, are working to cut off supply routes to the compounds, the Observatory said.

Attacks on government bases are a recent focus of fighting in Syria's civil war, which according to the United Nations has left more than 60,000 people dead since the conflict began in March 2011.

Last week, rebels captured the nearby air base of Taftanaz in a significant blow to President Bashar Assad's forces, who increasingly rely on airpower.

The rebels also have been trying to capture other air bases in the northern province of Aleppo, and, according to activists, were attacking the air base of Mannagh near the Turkish border.

In Turkey, state-run Anadolu news agency said Syria's air force targeted a mosque and a school building that was apparently sheltering displaced Syrians in the town of Salqin, some four miles (six kilometers) from the border with Turkey in Idlib province. Dozens of people were killed and wounded.

At least 30 people wounded in the attack were taken across the border to Turkey for treatment, and two died in Turkish hospitals, the news agency said.

The displaced Syrians were eating when the school was attacked, according to Anadolu, who interviewed witnesses who has crossed into the Turkish border province of Hatay. The wounded included women and children, the agency said.

Syria's official news agency SANA said troops had targeted rebel hideouts in Salqin, killing and wounding some of them.

Also in Turkey on Saturday, members of the newly-restructured Syrian opposition held a conference in Istanbul aiming to nominate representatives for a transitional government.

"We have some ideas, some proposals," said one opposition member, Abdul Ahad Astephoa, without mentioning any specifics.

The group, known as the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, was formed in Qatar in November amid international pressure to unite factions within the opposition.

Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the Observatory, said the government was sending reinforcements to the central city of Homs where rebels have controlled some neighborhoods for more than a year. Residents of Homs, Syria's third largest city, were one of the first to rise up against Assad and many refer to it as "the capital of the revolution."

"It seems they are preparing for a big attack on Homs," Abdul-Rahman said by telephone.

The Observatory and the LCC said troops attacked several suburbs of the capital, Damascus, as well as Homs and the southern rebel-held town of Busra al-Harir. The shelling and air raids targeted the Damascus suburbs of Douma, Daraya and Moadamiyeh where regime forces have been on the offensive for weeks, they said.

___

Associated Press writer Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-fm-calls-rebels-disarm-negotiate-203324096.html

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Porn industry thinks things are looking up

5 hrs.

Chris Morris, Special to CNBC , CNBC.com

Last year wasn't the best year for the porn industry.

Piracy continued to ravage the already suffering video business. And scandal rocked the industry more than once. The industry suffered a setback in November when voters in Los Angeles County passed a resolution that made condom use in adult films shot in the area mandatory ? and, depending on how the issue is enforced, could mean a lot more than that.

Despite that, industry insiders are upbeat about 2013. The industry, estimated to make roughly $14 billion per year in revenues, is in the midst of transition. Thanks in part to the incredible success of "Fifty Shades of Grey," mainstream America is more curious and open to the industry. New stars are rising to the forefront. And new revenue streams are starting to fill in the gaps created by the downturn in traditional video.

(Read more:?The Dirty Dozen: Porn's Most Popular Stars)

The mainstreaming of the industry seems to be one of the themes of this year's?Adult Entertainment Expo, which starts this week. The?AVN Awards?(the so-called "Oscars of porn"), for example, will feature entertainment by normally family-friendly Cirque du Soleil.

For an industry that's striving for some mainstream acceptance, though, porn's problems are growing ? and the AEE is a good indicator of that. Attendance at the industry's annual trade show was down 8 percent last year ? and floor space for exhibitors was reduced by almost 40 percent.

Part of the reason for that is the ongoing consolidation among porn companies ? which limits the number of companies who might have a presence at the show. Manwin, owner of several so-called 'tube' sites that stream porn clips for free (think YouTube ? only with hardcore pornography rather than "Gangnam Style"), continues to buy up studios. And while it seemed as if that spree would go unchallenged, Larry Flynt recently started flexing his company's muscle to offer some competition.

"I think the stronger companies will continue to survive and grow," said Michael Klein, President of LFP, Inc. "The business is still growing - knock wood. It's improving and revenue is still there. ? We think a healthy business is one that has lots of competitors."

LFP stepped to the spotlight in October, when it purchased New Frontier Media, a broadcaster that oversees nine adult-themed pay-per-view networks, including XTSY, TEN and Penthouse TV.?Manwin?and an investment holding company were considered the front runners for the company, so many in the industry were surprised when LFP emerged from the background to take the company.

Klein says that while LFP/Hustler hasn't been as active on the acquisition front, that has been a deliberate decision.

"We've been offered a number of the companies sold in the past year, but we just didn't feel the value was there," he said. "If someone wants to pay too much for a company, we'll let them do that."

Manwin, meanwhile, has problems of its own. Managing partner Fabian Thylmann was arrested in Brussels in December and extradited to Germany on suspicion of tax evasion. He was released on bond right before Christmas, but the arrest of the company's frontman has put Manwin on the defensive.

"Manwin's managing partner is currently the subject of an investigation by the German tax authorities and accordingly, no conclusion was reached in this matter ? as of the date of this release," the company said in its only statement about the matter. "Manwin's global operations remain unaffected and, as is customary with our company, we will not comment on pending legal matters."

The passage of a law requiring?condom use in all porn films?is another shadow hanging over the industry. The industry maintains that its testing requirements are sufficient ? but was?forced to shut down last year?for weeks following a syphilis outbreak that occurred when a prominent male performer hid his diagnosis from producers. It was the third shutdown in three years due to infectious disease.

While the?Free Speech Coalition, an industry trade group, is appealing the Constitutional merits of the law and determination on how it will be enforced is being determined by county officials, porn companies are trying to plan for the industry's worst case scenario.

While several have threatened to move out of California, that's unlikely ? but filming of the movies may move elsewhere. Among the whispered locations are Florida, Nevada, Mexico and Europe.

This all comes as more and more women become curious about the industry's products, a side benefit of the "50 Shades of Grey" phenomenon. Just as eBook sales of erotic fiction have spiked in the past year, porn companies have seen an explosion in the success of their films tailored for a female audience.

"It's been picking up -- mostly on the DVD side," said Allison Vivas, president of Pink Visual. "It's been picking up since Wicked picked up on this and started making productions that were more female friendly. ? On the digital side, what we're looking at is the tablet market. We don't imagine a woman enjoying this sort of thing sitting in front of her computer screen in her home office."

Meanwhile, the adult novelty business is exploding. A push by major corporations, including?Church & Dwight?, in the field has led to increased sales and their appearance in stores that wouldn't have considered stocking them a short while ago.

"Toys are where the growth is in this industry ? and where it seems to continue to be," said Scott Taylor, president and founder of New Sensations. "In this time of recession, to still see growth in that field says something."

Because AEE is one of the industry's tent pole events, though, most of the conversations about the challenges the industry faces this year ? and the problems of 2012 ? will remain in the back rooms, well out of the earshot of fans that come to rub elbows with their favorite stars.

The show, as always, must go on.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/porn-industry-thinks-things-are-looking-1B7986178

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Germany tries couple accused of spying for Russia

BERLIN (Reuters) - A married couple went on trial in Germany on Tuesday accused of handing hundreds of sensitive NATO and European Union documents to Russia during a two-decade spying career that continued well beyond the end of the Cold War.

Federal prosecutors accuse Andreas Anschlag and his wife Heidrun - suspected Russian citizens whose names are aliases - of entering West Germany in 1988 with forged Austrian passports and fabricating a suburban middle-class existence to cover their espionage.

So perfect was the subterfuge that even their own daughter did not know of their spying, German media reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin worked for the Soviet intelligence agency the KGB in East Germany in the 1980s when the couple are accused of having started their career.

"This is a case of treason that has been going on for more than 20 years, involving the entire range of intelligence activity, from trying to recruit new sources to instructing others, all the way to writing their own reports on political and military matters," federal prosecutor Rolf Hannich said.

"These are documents and evaluations on NATO's policies which are of course of high interest to the other side because they can then adapt their own behavior."

The couple said nothing at Tuesday's court hearing. In Germany, the accused are not required to submit a plea.

The indictment said one of the sources for the secret documents procured by the Anschlags was a person working for the Dutch foreign ministry.

German special forces arrested them in separate raids on their family home in Marburg, central Germany, and on an apartment near the southwestern city of Stuttgart in the early hours of October 18, 2011.

According to reports, Heidrun Anschlag was at home in the process of receiving radio messages from Moscow when the Marburg raid took place at what they described as a typical, middle-class surburban family house.

Hannich said the prosecution's task had been rendered more difficult because the couple had already been preparing their return to Russia and had destroyed many documents from before 2008.

Documents obtained by the couple related to such matters as NATO's political and military affairs, the EU's military, police and civil missions, political negotiations on EU bodies and the situation in eastern European and Central Asian countries.

Economic ties between Russia and Germany are booming but Chancellor Angela Merkel, who grew up in former communist East Germany, has also criticized Moscow's human rights record and clampdown on political dissent.

In Germany, spying can be punished by up to 10 years in jail.

(Reporting by Gareth Jones; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/germany-tries-couple-accused-spying-russia-185815586.html

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Russia grants Bangladesh $1 billion loan for weapons: Putin

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia, the world's second-largest weapons exporter, has granted a $1 billion loan to Bangladesh for arms purchases, President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday after talks with the country's prime minister, Sheikh Hasina.

"Our countries intend to broaden military-technical cooperation," Putin said, referring to weapons sales and servicing. He did not specify what weapons or military equipment Bangladesh would buy from Russia.

Russia will provide a separate $500 million loan to Bangladesh to help build its first nuclear power plant, Ruppur, under an agreement signed after the meeting, Putin said.

"We will not only provide the most up-to-date technology ... but we will also provide financial support for the construction of the nuclear power plant at the initial stage," he said.

The head of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, Sergei Kiriyenko, said technical and environmental assessments would be carried out this year for the plant, which is to have two 1,000-megawatt reactors and be completed in the early 2020s.

He told reporters more loans would be required at later stages.

(Reporting by Alexei Anishchuk, writing by Gabriela Baczynska,; editing by Steve Gutterman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russia-grants-bangladesh-1-billion-loan-weapons-putin-122318425.html

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Vandal causes thousands in damage to Medical Lake church

by KREM.com

KREM.com

Posted on January 13, 2013 at 3:32 PM

Updated yesterday at 6:21 PM

MEDICAL LAKE, Wash. -- The? Spokane County Sheriff?s Office is investigating an overnight vandalism at the Lake Assembly of God in Medical Lake.

Pastor Dennis Noble said the crook or crooks caused? more than $50,000 of damage.

The crime occurred sometime between the hours of 9:00 p.m. Saturday and 6:00 a.m. Sunday.

The suspect destroyed several computers, kicked in doors, broke windows, and wrote messages like ?die? inside the church.

Noble said deputies are investigating the vandalism as a hate crime, because the goal of the suspect or suspects was to ?destroy as many things as possible?. Very few items were actually stolen from the church.

?Members of the church started arriving to help clean up Sunday afternoon.

Noble said deputies were able to recover shoe and finger prints from the church. He said the suspect? also took a break from the vandalism to eat a meal from the church?s kitchen.
?

Source: http://www.krem.com/home/Vandal-causes-housands-in-damage-to-Medical-Lake-church-186708541.html

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Bad blood between Obama, Netanyahu clouds Israel relationship

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama heads into his second term weighed down by an American government snarled in partisan gridlock, but also by an unproductive relationship with the leader of Israel, the bedrock U.S. ally in the tumultuous Middle East.

And the puzzle that is the U.S.-Israeli relationship under Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is only growing more complex.

"It's troubled. It's the greatest dysfunction between leaders that I've seen in my 40 years in watching and participating," said Aaron David Miller, a scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center who served under six secretaries of state in both Republican and Democratic administrations. He was deeply involved in negotiations involving Israel, Jordan, Syria and the Palestinians.

"I don't think we are headed for a showdown," he said, "but the relationship will continue to be dysfunctional."

Even so, the United States routinely backs Israel when much of the world is deeply critical of the Jewish state. For example the U.S. was among the few nations opposing the Palestinians' successful bid for upgraded status at the United Nations and did not criticize Israel's bombardment of Gaza late last year in retaliation for rocket attacks from the tiny Palestinian enclave.

Still, an array of issues muddies the alliance.

Netanyahu likely will win re-election on Jan. 22, two days after Obama is sworn in for a second term. Netanyahu is a hardliner on making peace with the Palestinians, a goal that Obama said was foremost on his foreign policy agenda at the beginning of his first term. Beyond that, Netanyahu has been pressing Washington to adopt policy specifics that would trigger a military strike if Iran does not pull back on its nuclear program ? widely believed to be aimed at building an atomic bomb. Iran claims its program is for generating electricity.

A further complication is Obama's nomination of former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel as defense secretary.

Known as a maverick when he represented Nebraska in the Senate, Hagel is viewed by many in Washington and Israel as insufficiently supportive of the Jewish state. He has castigated what he called the "Jewish lobby" in the U.S., prompting some to label him anti-Semitic. While he voted for billions in aid for Israel, he has also called for engagement with its Hamas and Hezbollah enemies.

What's more, he opposed unilateral American sanctions on Iran's nuclear program, which the Netanyahu government believes is an existential threat to Israel.

Netanyahu's office refused comment on Hagel when contacted by The Associated Press in Jerusalem. But Reuven Rivlin, parliament speaker and member of Netanyahu's Likud party, told AP that Israelis are worried because of Hagel's "statements in the past, and his stance toward Israel."

But Ori Nir, a spokesman for Americans for Peace Now, a Jewish group that pushes for an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement, said fears of Hagel are wrongheaded.

"Talk of anti-Semitism is unjust and over-the-top," Nir said.

Republican lawmakers' opposition to Hagel is the latest in the partisan battles that have snarled the U.S. government.

Disputes over the budget almost led to major tax increases for middle class taxpayers, which neither party wanted. Other fights are pending over spending cuts and the government's borrowing authority ? both with potentially dire consequences for the economy. The newly elected Congress, with a Republican-led House of Representatives and a Democratic-led Senate, is similar to the previous one, which passed fewer laws than any Congress since the end of World War II.

While most of the partisan disputes have been on domestic issues, Republicans have continually accused Obama of not doing enough to support Netanyahu's government.

The bad blood between Obama and Netanyahu began early.

In their first public appearance together at the White House in 2009, Netanyahu pointedly rebuffed Obama's call for Israel to stop building Jewish housing on land the Palestinians want in a future state. Obama dropped the issue after it became obvious that it was a waste of political capital at home and that Netanyahu would not budge. Netanyahu's government has continued to announce plans for new settlements in the Palestinian West Bank.

During the presidential campaign, Netanyahu hosted Obama opponent Mitt Romney in Israel as if he were already a world leader. Netanyahu denied backing either candidate, but his words and actions clearly showed favoritism for Romney.

On Iran, Netanyahu called at the United Nations in September for the United States to draw a "red line" on Iran's nuclear program, beyond which Iran would face military action. Obama continues to insist there is time for diplomacy, but has said he would not countenance a nuclear-armed Iran.

"The more Netanyahu believes Obama is serious about preventing Iran from getting a bomb, the better they will manage their relations," said David Makovsky of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "If not, the issue of an Israeli first strike on Iran becomes more likely."

Miller, of the Woodrow Wilson Center, said Obama will be too consumed with battling Congress on the budget, gun control legislation and other issues to spend much time on disagreements with Netanyahu.

"Is he going to go after Israel-Palestinian peace talks or war with Iran given all his domestic challenges?" Miller asked. "He will go to extreme lengths to avoid war with Iran."

He said the two leaders are moving further apart on the Palestinian issue, but have found some consensus on Iran. "For the next six to eight months, I don't think the president is going to push on those issues."

But Nir, of Peace Now, says time is running out for a peace deal with the Palestinians and Israel could face another armed uprising like the one that bloodied the region in 2000.

"There's more and more an atmosphere among Palestinians that there is no political horizon," he said, "a feeling that diplomacy doesn't work."

___

Associated Press writer Amy Teibel in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-netanyahu-bad-blood-between-key-allies-082153717.html

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Obama, Democrats Step Up To Blast GOP Debt Limit Games

By dave-dr-gonzo with comments January 15, 2013 09:29

President Obama sets the tone?:

?They will not collect a ransom in exchange for not crashing the American economy,? Mr. Obama vowed in the East Room, a week before his second inauguration. ?The financial well-being of the American people is not leverage to be used. The full faith and credit of the United States of America is not a bargaining chip.?

? with others targeting ?prioritization?:

?This proposal to prioritize payments to foreign creditors over those to seniors, families, and veterans is the wrong way to go and it?s an absolute nonstarter in the Senate,? said Senate Budget Committee Chairman Patty Murray (D-WA) in a statement to TPM. ?Anyone concerned about the devastating impact hitting the debt ceiling would have on our economy and our credit rating should work with Democrats to do the responsible thing and raise the debt limit so the government can pay the bills we?ve already accrued.?

Source: http://www.alan.com/2013/01/15/obama-democrats-step-up-to-blast-gop-debt-limit-games/

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Colo. official backs search for noncitizen voters

DENVER (AP) ? Colorado Republican Secretary of State Scott Gessler is defending his search for noncitizens registered to vote and says the voting system remains vulnerable to fraud.

The state's election chief says his office spent about $8,000 to mail letters to 3,903 suspected noncitizens on voter rolls last year. It's the first time he's publically offered a price tag for how much it cost to print and mail the letters.

Democrats remain doubtful the search was effective and note the cost doesn't include staff time.

Gessler's office says federal records show about 441 people who received letters are not citizens and registered to vote. But Gessler critics question the accuracy of the records.

Gessler spoke to lawmakers Monday during an annual briefing about his department.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/colo-official-backs-search-noncitizen-voters-001412265.html

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Banks Left Wanting in China

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Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324442304578236224087592996.html?mod=rss_world_markets

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