China says 29 abducted in Sudan still being held (AP)

BEIJING ? Chinese state media say that none of the 29 Chinese workers abducted after an attack in a volatile region of Sudan have been freed despite reports saying some of the workers have been released.

The official Xinhua News Agency said Tuesday that the 29 road workers are still being held. It says 18 others fled, and 17 of those were rescued. One is still missing.

The workers were abducted Saturday by militants in a remote region in Sudan's south. Sudanese state media said Monday that 14 of them had been freed.

The Chinese ambassador to Sudan, Luo Xiaoguang, said on Chinese state television that anti-government rebels attacked the road project the Chinese were working on.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120131/ap_on_re_as/as_china_sudan

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'Smash': a TV drama mashed up with original songs (AP)

NEW YORK ? As TV series go, "Smash" does a smashing job of abstaining from the usual: no courtrooms, no operating rooms, no interrogation rooms.

Meanwhile, this new NBC musical drama puts a bright, sexy sheen on one of filmdom's most timeless tropes: Hey, kids, let's put on a show! Which "Smash" does, embedding original songs and dance into the TV drama's narrative.

Premiering Monday, "Smash" tracks the genesis of a Broadway musical from multiple perspectives, including those of composer and lyricist, producer and director-choreographer, and the two rival actresses competing for its title role: Marilyn Monroe.

Ah, Marilyn!

"There was something about her ? how much she wanted to love and be loved," says Debra Messing, who plays the lyricist, getting all dreamy-eyed as she imagines the project's possibilities.

Her early vision of Marilyn is soon turned into a number called "Let Me Be Your Star" ("To do what she can/ For the love of one man/ And for millions who love from afar"), with both would-be Marilyns performing it in an explosive finale to the first episode.

But "Smash" is no more single-minded about charting a Broadway show's long journey from raw concept to opening night than "The West Wing" was about obsessing over how a bill wends its way from Congress to the president's desk.

"Their day job happens to be putting together a show, but their lives aren't really about that," says Craig Zadan, who, with partner Neil Meron, is among the many "Smash" executive producers. "We also have adoption, divorce, infidelity and disapproving parents from the Midwest in our story lines. We've put in as many human, universal qualities as we can: It's a story about wish fulfillment."

Rest assured, no one solves a crime or diagnoses a disease. Even so, Meron suggests that "Smash" could still be called a procedural.

"The goal would be to have a Broadway show created every season, and have our characters involved with creating each of them," he says.

What "Smash" won't be, he quickly adds, is a sort of "Glee"-for-adults, as some viewers may have assumed.

"We don't think that it's anything like `Glee,'" Meron declares. "But we thank God for `Glee,' because it got viewers used to watching people sing on TV dramas."

One big difference: While "Glee" does covers of popular songs, "Smash" will introduce and compile original songs (splendidly conceived by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman of "Hairspray") for the "Marilyn the Musical" show-within-a-show. Then, possibly, that pretend musical might be mounted for real.

"By season's end, we're going to have at least 15 songs," Meron says, "and if we really like how the `Marilyn' musical is turning out, we might actually put it on Broadway. Why not?"

Presumably, this attempt would go better than the first shot, "Marilyn: An American Fable," which opened in 1983 and ran for 17 performances. "A huge flop!" composer Tom Levitt (Christian Borle) and his collaborator Julia Houston (Messing) say in unison.

And yet they can't resist giving Marilyn another chance.

In the large "Smash" ensemble, Messing plays perhaps the series' central character in Julia, who is torn between her happy domestic life with a loving husband and son, and the addictive, all-consuming demands of the musical.

"I hate the theater, I really do," says Julia's schoolteacher husband (Brian d'Arcy James) when he learns she has broken her promise to take some time off for the family, and instead has plunged into the Marilyn project.

As a youngster, Messing, best known for the long-running comedy "Will & Grace," had her own dreams of being a Broadway musical star. She remembers seeing "Annie" when she was 8 "and wanting to jump on stage and be in `It's the Hard-Knock Life' with all the other girls." Then she sang in high school musicals.

On "Smash," she finally has a taste of that professional world: "I got to sing a song my character wrote, and it was thrilling and terrifying, especially considering the company I'm keeping with this cast.

"The rest of the time, I get to watch the really talented singers, and enjoy."

Initially proposed a couple of years ago by Steven Spielberg (another "Smash" executive producer along with his DreamWorks colleagues Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank), the show quickly became a passion project of Robert Greenblatt, then head of pay-cable network Showtime, for which it was being developed. But when he jumped to NBC as its chairman last January, he wasn't about to leave "Smash" behind.

Greenblatt unveiled the finished product at a gala premiere party last week at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. There, in a refreshingly unguarded moment, he told the gathered what "Smash" means to him and the rest of the team: "You work hard on every single show, but your heart isn't always in it. Well, with `Smash,' everyone's heart is in it."

Of course, it's Greenblatt's best shot at redeeming his first year at NBC, which remains in the ratings cellar after a slate of lackluster fall premieres. There's no mystery why NBC is hyping "Smash" like mad.

Greenblatt's arrival with "Smash" at NBC pleased Zadan.

"Sometimes you have a series that you wish to be on cable, because you want the edge," he says. "But this is a universal-appeal show, and really works better on a network than on cable."

Zadan (whose many credits with Meron include the musical films "Hairspray" and "Chicago" and the Lifetime series "Drop Dead Diva") is talking with a reporter at "Smash" production headquarters in a converted factory in Brooklyn's Greenpoint neighborhood. He is in the rehearsal studio, which is both a set for the show and the actual rehearsal space where "Smash" dance numbers are created by the series' choreographer, Josh Bergasse. (As often happens with "Smash," reality and make-believe are intertwined.)

"This," says Zadan, "is a Cinderella story." But just who will be crowned, launched from unknown status to Broadway royalty, remains in flux the first season, as the characters Ivy (played by Megan Hilty) and Karen (played by Katharine McPhee) go head-to-head for the Marilyn role, their prospects alternately rising and falling. Week after week, viewers will surely be rooting for their favorite, as if this were a scripted version of "American Idol" (on which McPhee, of course, was runner-up in 2006).

"The show gives viewers a chance to see the behind-the-scenes deal when producers and writers have to choose between two people they think are both great," says McPhee.

She has been on the receiving end of such torturous choices.

"Karen is more naive than I am," McPhee says, "but her struggle ? trying to get attention, better representation, a casting person to see you, callbacks ? I know what that's like. I've lived it."

While Karen is talented but green, Ivy is experienced ? maybe a little too experienced ? but has never been able to escape the chorus line.

"I think a lot of people can relate to her, simply because everybody knows what it's like to be stuck in their career and desperate to make that next step," Hilty says. "Ivy is at the point where she's willing to do just about anything" ? a knowing laugh ? "to get there. The stakes are that high for her."

Like Ivy, Hilty grew up in the theater, and she starred on Broadway in "9 to 5: The Musical" in the Dolly Parton role. "I think we're both ambitious that way. I think Ivy's willing to do a little bit more than I am" ? another laugh ? "but I admire her for her aspirations."

"Smash" has radiant moments as a feel-good fantasy. But it boasts savvy footing. It's populated by Broadway pros on both sides of the camera (for example, creator-executive producer Theresa Rebeck, who wrote a number of the episodes, is currently represented on Broadway as writer of the new comedy "Seminar").

Observes Christian Borle (whose Broadway credits include "Legally Blonde: The Musical" and "Spamalot"), "There's a real theater pedigree among everyone on the `Smash' creative team. You have a sense they're trying to get all the details right for all the people who live in New York and work on Broadway, who will be watching to see if we get it right."

"Smash" gets it just right, according to show-biz veteran Anjelica Huston, who plays the Broadway producer spearheading "Marilyn The Musical."

"I think it's kind of right on the money," Huston says. "It's not without a certain gloss, but at the same time, I think it's very reflective of what goes on in show business, and in life. It captures how people move up ? and how people are moved out."

That's the drama of "Smash" ? honest, but dazzling and magic, with brand-new songs and dance. For the viewer, it borders on the miraculous. Who wouldn't want to get into this act?

___

EDITOR'S NOTE ? Frazier Moore is a national television columnist for The Associated Press. He can be reached at fmoore(at)ap.org and at http://www.twitter.com/tvfrazier

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tv/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_en_tv/us_ap_on_tv_smash

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Late Night Math: Pets, Beacon and Heroic Yor'sahj : Kurn's Corner

Apotheosis (A-25m-2/8HM, seeking casters and a resto shaman! </shamelessplug>) got Heroic Hagara down as a server-first and our next target is Heroic Yor?sahj the Unsleeping.

Assuming holy paladins are in the mix, a popular healing strategy is to beacon the tanks and heal the pets in the raid, because heals from Beacon of Light do not stack Deep Corruption and pets don?t receive stacks of Deep Corruption.

The question came up, the other day, about whether or not a hunter should use a Tenacity pet, who has the Blood of the Rhino talent. Would the lower DPS be worth 40% extra healing to a pet and then, ostensibly, 20% extra healing to the tank through Beacon of Light?

This was a popular strategy back on Valithria Dreamwalker. You would park a turtle or some other Tenacity pet with the same +healing talent basically on top of Dreamwalker or right next to her and you?d heal the pet for extra healing done. Unfortunately, this stopped being viable eventually when they fixed Blood of the Rhino to only affect the pet and no copied heals from that (ie: Beacon of Light).

But that was back in 3.3. Did 4.3 mean this was somehow working again?

I bothered Daey to get on his holy paladin, Saerani, while I was on Kurn and we experimented with him beaconing me and healing my pet. The first pet he healed was my cat, Whisper, who has no +healing talents at all, being a Ferocity pet.

So you can see here that Daey hits Whisper for 55355 (crit). This bounces to me for 27677, which is just half of that heal. (Yeah, I miss 100% Beacon transfers, too!) The same with the 27672 hit, that gets me for half ? 13836. That is totally expected. This is the control for the experiment. Now let?s look at Daey healing my bear, Fozzie.

First, note that the non-crit heal hits for 40,102. Based on the heals Whisper got, it?s clear that Fozzie has the Blood of the Rhino talent if it hit him for a 40k non-crit.

But then you see that the heal to me was only 14322.

MATH TIME.

14322 x2 = 28644 x 1.4 = 40,101.6 = 40,102.

So the original heal size, without the Blood of the Rhino bonus was 28644. With the 40% extra healing, we get 40,101.6 (rounded up to 40,102). If this +healing did transfer through Beacon of Light, we wouldn?t see me being healed for half of the original heal?s size. We would see it be half of the final heal?s size. The final heal was 40,102, so we would be looking for 20,051 as the heal that I got. But alas, I was only healed for 14,322.

Let?s see how this holds up with the next heal.

Fozzie is healed for 71865. I get healed for 25666.

25666 x2 = 51,332 x 1.4 = 71,864.8 = 71,865

Yup, same deal.

So it?s quite clear ? Blood of the Rhino does not transfer any extra +healing from the pet to the Beacon of Light target. As such, on the Heroic Yor?sahj the Unsleeping encounter, I do encourage you to beacon the tanks and heal the pets, but don?t gimp your hunters? DPS by forcing them to bring a Tenacity pet to the raid. Their regular pet will do exactly the same thing a Tenacity pet will.

Source: http://kurn.apotheosis-now.com/?p=2175

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There's More to That Red Plastic Cup Than You Thought

Raise your cup. | Creative Commons. Photo by John W. Iwanski. Click on image for license and link.

Who here has not enjoyed a cold, refreshing drink from a red plastic cup? Alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages alike find themselves comfortably enclosed within the confines of the bright red vessel that has become a ubiquitous American staple at barbecues, picnics, parties, in dugouts and at minor league games, in food cars and at lunch trucks, and even as a last resort at dive bars?and, of course, college students? dorms and apartments, where it also functions as a key component in Flip Cup and Beer Pong.

Your drinking vessel may indeed functionality of the red cup?so flip away, or ahem, drink out of it without fear it will slip out of your hands.

Social drinking is a ritualized act. There are certain social codes of consumption that help define the experience by setting expectations and establishing appropriate or acceptable behaviors. Anthropologist William Donner documented social rules surrounding toddy drinking in Sikaiana, a small Polynesian atoll in the Solomon Islands. (Toddy seems a generic name for drinks made from fermented palm. In this case, toddy is made by fermenting the sap of coconut shoots.) Donner found that drinking reorganized the community, allowing boundaries to be renegotiated. Part of this stems from the ways in which drink is shared. In Sikaiana, toddy distribution follows a rather specific format which helps establish the community as a place of equality:

?Participants form a circle. They distributor pours a portion and passes it to one person in the group. This person drinks the cup until its is empty, usually in one drink. Then he returns the cup to the distributor and another serving of the exact same size is poured for the next person. This continues until everyone in the group has had a turn and then the distributor starts another round. If a person arrives late, the distributor may offer him a larger portion so that the latecomer can catch up with the people who are already drinking. In larger groups, several cups are passed out simultaneously, but always in a circular fashion so that everyone is given an equal amount to drink? (1994: 250).

Among the Xhosa, beer is also consumed in accordance with a social code. At a beer-drink (a public drinking event), the beer is kept in either cast-iron pots or plastic or wooden containers, and served in tin beakers (billy cans) of various sizes:

?When beer is allocated, the host section?s mast of ceremonies points out the size of the beaker because the receivers have certain expectations in this regard based on the current state of their beer-exchange relationship with the givers. So a can of beer given to a neighboring group may be announced with carefully chosen words, such as ?This is your beaker, it is a full iqhwina [seven liters], as it should be when there is a full cask for men? ? (McAllister 2003: 197).

The drinking vessel is central to this experience. It?s an equalizing factor and a measure of consistency for attendees. It also serves as the entry-point for the temporary social community that has gathered. Drinking from the cup confirms attendance at the event and authorizes participation in subsequent event activities?conversation, singing, dancing, joking and laughing, even confrontations are mediated by drink and cup possession.

Our red plastic cups work similarly. Cup in hand, we mingle. Liberated by the social permission granted by the red plastic cup, we catch up with old friends and make new ones. It becomes a factor that connects attendees at the event?we all have a red plastic cup, so we all belong. And we assert that these cups are ours by writing our name on them, which further making them a handy tool for socialization. This sort of possession also minimizes the burden on our hosts to have a bounty of cups available for guests. (In college and in grad school, we wrote our names on cups because we paid for them at parties and it was in our interest to keep track of our cups.) The practice also functions to manage our alcohol consumption. We get a cup at an event and we?re free to fill it with any of the available options. It holds roughly the same amount for everyone?or least it gives the illusion of equality with regard to the ratios in mixed drinks. Among the Sikaiana, the distributor/host determines how much is poured into the cup for each round and how long to wait between rounds:

?Serving large portions and not waiting between rounds will cause the participants to become drunk rapidly. On the other hand, after such a happy state of inebriation has been reached, the distributor may decide to slow the pace of drinking in order to control the level of intoxication and preserve the supply of toddy (Donner 1994: 250).

While we may not necessarily be served in the same way with our red plastic cups (that might be a downer of a party to attend), our named cups provide a way to monitor access to drinks. If you lose your cup, you might be out of luck. It can also be a signal that the cup-less should perhaps be cut-off, especially when it?s clear that the de-cupped has passed beyond happy, joyful drinking to disruptive behavior.

The red plastic cup may have a bit of a party-animal reputation. It?s hardly likely you?ll be drinking fine wine or quality spirits from a red plastic cup. Or that you?ll find a red plastic cup at a banquet or gala. The red plastic cup is a champion of the everyday and and the unpretentious. It suggests a relaxed, convival atmosphere and invites everyone to join the party. It won?t reveal the contents contained so whether it?s alcohol, tea, fruit juice, or water, everyone belongs and everyone can participate.

So whatever your preference, raise your red plastic cup.

?
References:
Bunimovitz, S., & Greenberg, R. (2004). Revealed in Their Cups: Syrian Drinking Customs in Intermediate Bronze Age Canaan Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (334) DOI: 10.2307/4150104

Donner, W. (1994). Alcohol, Community, and Modernity: The Social Organization of Toddy Drinking in a Polynesian Society Ethnology, 33 (3) DOI: 10.2307/3774009

Magennis, H. (1985). The Cup as Symbol and Metaphor in Old English Literature Speculum, 60 (3) DOI: 10.2307/2848173

McAllister, P. (2003). Culture, Practice, and the Semantics of Xhosa Beer-Drinking Ethnology, 42 (3) DOI: 10.2307/3773800

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=a83541c22971fa2d637070435866d4f8

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Google Music Manager: A frustrating way to download your music library (Digital Trends)

Google Music users, you can breathe a slight sigh of relief, but don?t get too excited. Google has finally enabled a way for you to retrieve the music you upload to its new music storage locker service. The announcement was made on the official Android Market Web site.?

Using the Windows or Mac desktop PC client, you can now click one of two options. You can ?Download my library? or ?Download purchased music.? One of these options presumably downloads only the music you purchased from Google, while the other lets you download all of the music tracks that you have personally uploaded to the service.

A confused cloud

After hearing this news, I tried out the updated app on my Windows 7 machine this morning to mixed results. While it definitely seems to work (it downloads tracks), Google?s new download feature is extremely limited in functionality and its ability to detect which songs are purchased is completely broken. I tried to download only my ?purchased music,? thinking that there would be nothing in there except for the few free songs I?ve downloaded on Google Music, but to my surprise, Google Music believes that it now owns a hefty portion of my music library. Hundreds (maybe thousands) of tracks that were ripped from CDs, purchased on Amazon MP3, and given to me by friends are now all labeled as Google Music purchases for no good reason. If this wasn?t frustrating enough, to download music, you can only download all of it. For me, that means I have to download all 7,900 songs I?ve uploaded to Google Music.

There are options to download tracks from http://music.google.com, but you can only download each song or album two times. Yep, two (2) times?forever. If your computer is acting up and you don?t finish a download, well, too bad; you?ll have to use your last download to get your songs. Google announced this limitation for music purchased through Google, but it seems to apply to all music, even the music that you own and have uploaded to Google Music.

This album (above) was purchased and downloaded from AmazonMP3, and uploaded to Google Music. Google has no ownership of it, yet I am only allowed to download it once. If you download an album, but have already downloaded one of the songs on that album twice, that song will be skipped and you will be prompted to use the Music Manager to get the song. That means you?ll have to download thousands of items to get a single song. The Manager does have one good feature: You can choose to download only the songs that were added since your last mass download. This is useful, but we hope Google adds an auto-download feature that automatically downloads tracks to a PC when it?s added to Google Music. Moreover, it should be possible to upload tracks from an Android phone or tablet.?

On top of these troubles, Google?s Music Manager uploading has not operated well since launch. The software is a bandwidth hog, even when its upload speeds are dialed down. It seems to upload incredibly slowly, no matter what you do. I?ve been uploading my collection off and on since the service launched in June 2011, and have still only uploaded about 7,900 songs out of 12,000+. I don?t have a particularly slow connection either. I imagine if I let Google Music run straight and kept my computer on at night, it might take about a month to upload my tracks, maybe longer.?

Certain track features, like song ratings (1-5 stars) are not pulled in and converted into Google?s Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down system either, meaning hardcore users will have to re-rank their music.?

Android pinning problems

I realize that this is a free service, and that Google has to deal with a lot of backward thinking music labels, but these limitations are confusing. Music labels may have good reason to force users onto a PC before they can download tracks, but it?s harmful to the entire experience. You cannot download unrestricted Google Music songs to an Android device either. You can choose to ?Pin for offline? any album, artist, or track, but those songs are not available outside of Google Music and there is no download dialog for them, so you don?t know if they are actually ?pinned? to your phone or not.

To touch on one last issue, the interface of the Google Music app for Android is improved with Android 4.0, but it?s still quite unpolished when compared to the included music players in Windows Phone and iPhone.

Why not charge?

As someone hunting for a cloud music solution, I?d almost prefer that Google offer a paid option for Google Music, which would give me full access to all of my tracks and the freedom to download them where I please, with the option to specify how the files are formatted and such. But for now, I sit and wait.?

This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

More from Digital Trends

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Google Music is open for business

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/digitalmusic/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/digitaltrends/20120127/tc_digitaltrends/googlemusicmanagerafrustratingwaytodownloadyourmusiclibrary

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George Clooney Plans to End Brad Pitt's Career With a Prank

George Clooney and Brad Pitt are known throughout Hollywood not just for their acting talent, blockbuster appeal, or good looks, but for their penchant for executing some really elaborate pranks on their costars and friends. But as Clooney tells it, Pitt should be afraid -- very, very afraid.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/george-clooney-plans-end-brad-pitts-career-prank/1-a-422647?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Ageorge-clooney-plans-end-brad-pitts-career-prank-422647

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British police arrest 5 in tabloid bribery probe (AP)

LONDON ? British police searched the offices of Rupert Murdoch's British newspapers Saturday after arresting a police officer and four current and former staff of his tabloid The Sun as part of an investigation into police bribery by journalists.

The arrests spread the scandal over tabloid wrongdoing ? which has already caused the closure of one tabloid, the News of the World ? to a second Murdoch newspaper.

London's Metropolitan Police said two men aged 48 and one aged 56 were arrested on suspicion of corruption early in the morning at homes in and around London. A 42-year-old man was detained later at a London police station.

Murdoch's News Corp. confirmed that all four were current or former Sun employees.

A fifth man, a 29-year-old police officer, was arrested at the London station where he works.

The investigation into whether reporters illegally paid police for information is running parallel to a police inquiry into phone hacking by Murdoch's now-defunct News of the World.

Officers were searching the men's homes and the east London headquarters of the media mogul's British newspapers for evidence.

Police said Saturday's arrests were made as a result of information provided by the Management and Standards Committee of Murdoch's News Corp.

News Corp. said it was cooperating with police.

"News Corporation made a commitment last summer that unacceptable news gathering practices by individuals in the past would not be repeated," it said in a statement.

A dozen people have now been arrested in the bribery probe, though none has yet been charged.

They include former Rebekah Brooks, former chief executive of Murdoch's News International, ex-News of the World editor Andy Coulson ? who is also Prime Minister David Cameron's former communications chief ? and journalists from the News of the World and The Sun.

Two of the London police force's top officers resigned in the wake of the revelation last July that the News of the World had eavesdropped on the cell phone voicemail messages of celebrities, athletes, politicians and even an abducted teenager in its quest for stories.

Murdoch shut down the 168-year-old tabloid, and the scandal has triggered a continuing public inquiry into media ethics and the relationship between the press, police and politicians.

An earlier police investigation failed to find evidence hacking went beyond one reporter and a private investigator, but News Corp. has now acknowledged it was much more widespread.

Last week the company agreed to pay damages to 37 hacking victims, including actor Jude Law, soccer star Ashley Cole and British politician John Prescott.

___

Jill Lawless can be reached at: http://twitter.com/JillLawless

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/britain/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_phone_hacking

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Robert Scheer: Obama's Faux Populism Sounds Like Bill Clinton (Huffington post)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/191713706?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Mayor blasted for 'taco' comment amid bias probe (AP)

HARTFORD, Conn. ? In a world of polished politicians, East Haven Mayor Joseph Maturo Jr.'s tendency to speak his mind without hesitation or much self-censorship has earned him loyal friends and vehement foes over the decades in his suburban Connecticut hometown.

But now, it's also earned him a place in the national spotlight as the mayor who, after four of his police officers were arrested Tuesday for alleged anti-Latino bias, said he "might have tacos" as a way of doing something for those minorities.

Maturo has since apologized for the remark, which he made during a taped interview at his office with a New York television station and which spread through cyberspace at blistering speed.

It came in response to a reporter's question about the FBI's arrest of the four officers in this shoreline town, which has been under federal scrutiny since the U.S. Department of Justice launched a civil rights probe in 2009 that found a pattern of discrimination and biased policing.

The town's Democratic Party is now demanding the resignation of Maturo, a Republican, and he's fielded criticism from Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, U.S. Rep. Christopher Murphy and other state and local officials.

The video of Maturo's comments quickly spread on Facebook pages, Twitter accounts and on media outlet sites late Tuesday and throughout Wednesday. They also prompted Connecticut's largest paper, The Hartford Courant, to call for his resignation in an editorial that declared: "The Mayor is an Idiot."

Those who've known Maturo say he's not an idiot or a bigot, but that if the taco comment was meant to be a joke, it was clearly a misstep they think he genuinely regrets.

"He's a very regular sort of person, very generous, very loyal, and I know he cares very deeply about all of the people that the represents," said Christopher Healy, a former Connecticut state Republican party chairman.

"This is not at all to underestimate how serious these words were and how hurtful they were to many people, but I do know he takes his job seriously and cares deeply about the community," Healy said.

But Marcia Chacon, a store owner in East Haven, said she and other Latinos took offense at the mayor's "taco" comment.

"This is an insult against us," Chacon said. "I thought `Wow, here we are in East Haven, and this is the person who is supposed to help us.'"

Maturo asked East Haven residents in a written apology Wednesday to "have faith in me" and the town as it faces the discrimination allegations, in which the four officers are accused of engaging in patterns of harassment and intimidation against Latinos, who make up 10 percent of the approximately 28,000 people in the blue-collar town.

Maturo, 60, is an East Haven native through and through. He attended local schools and colleges, became an electrician and electrical inspector, and served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War before returning to his hometown to become a firefighter.

A back injury forced him to leave that job, but he'd developed a bug for politics and served as a legislative clerk for Republicans in the Connecticut General Assembly and won a spot on East Haven's town council in 1993.

He became mayor in 1997 and was re-elected every two years until Democrat April Capone defeated him by 25 votes in 2007.

When he defeated Capone by 34 votes to reclaim the seat last fall, he reinstated the police chief she had suspended amid the federal discrimination probe, and he rebuffed the bias allegations with strong words of support for East Haven's officers.

This week's "taco" quip wasn't the first time that Maturo's tendency to speak and act without much self-censoring has landed him in trouble, though previous scrapes usually only made local headlines.

In 2004, for instance, the mayor ? known by friends to be particularly handy ? became concerned that one of the town grates was an immediate hazard, so he hopped down into a sewer hole and removed it himself.

He also installed corner edges in his office and helped a worker install light switches in the library, earning a grievance against him from union members who said he was usurping their work with his impromptu repairs.

"Pretty cheesy," he said at the time of the grievance, though they've since made peace.

Whether Maturo can make peace soon with Latino residents upset by his "taco" comment remains to be seen.

Messages left for several of his political allies at the state and local levels were not immediately returned Wednesday, and East Haven's Republican Party chairman was mulling whether he intended to comment publicly.

In addition to issuing his written apology, Maturo talked Wednesday with hosts of a local radio show on which he frequently appears. Otherwise, he has said he would no longer publicly discuss the quip, which he called a "dumb, off the cuff, stupid comment" as he grew increasingly tired Tuesday after 14 interviews.

"In all that time, I made one mistake ? and it's gone viral," he told the hosts of WPLR's "Chaz & AJ in the Morning" show.

It came after WPIX-TV reporter Mario Diaz asked Maturo during an interview Tuesday, "What are you doing for the Latino community today?"

Maturo's response: "I might have tacos when I go home; I'm not quite sure yet."

Diaz then said, "You realize that's not really the comment to say right now, you `might have tacos tonight'?"

Maturo, who is of Italian heritage, then said he might have spaghetti or any other kind of ethnic food, growing increasingly angry as he told Diaz to "go for it, take your best shot" to make the "taco" comment seem to imply something he did not intend.

Others said it was hard to interpret the comment as anything but a stereotypical jab.

"It goes to the root of the racial profiling allegations here in East Haven," said city Democratic Town Committee Chairman Gene Ruocco. "Everyone knows the seriousness of this matter and for him, as the leader of our community, to say something so utterly insensitive is a complete disgrace. He should be ashamed of himself."

___

Associated Press reporter Michael Melia also contributed to this story.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_re_us/us_police_discrimination_mayor

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Egypt bans travel for US official's son, 9 others

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

___

Associated Press writer Maggie Michael contributed to this report.

Associated Press

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

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Convicted Marine apologizes to Iraqi civilians

Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich leaves after a court session at Camp Pendleton in Camp Pendleton, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich leaves after a court session at Camp Pendleton in Camp Pendleton, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Attorney's for Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, Neal Puckett, center, and Meridith Marshall, left, listen to Haytham Faraj speak to the media after a court session at Camp Pendleton in Camp Pendleton, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich arrives for a court session at Camp Pendleton in Camp Pendleton, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich leaves after a court session at Camp Pendleton in Camp Pendleton, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Attorney's for Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, Neal Puckett, center, and Meridith Marshall, left, listen to Haytham Faraj speaks to the media after a court session at Camp Pendleton in Camp Pendleton, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (AP) ? When Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich finally spoke in court, he did not address the judge but instead directed his words at the Iraqi family members who survived his squad's attacks in 2005 that left 24 unarmed civilians dead.

The 31-year-old Camp Pendleton Marine apologized for the loss of their loved ones and said he never intended to harm them or their families. He went on to tell the court that his guilty plea in no way suggests that his squad behaved badly or dishonorably.

"But even with the best intentions, sometimes combat actions can cause tragic results," Wuterich said in an unsworn statement.

The lone Marine was convicted of a single count of negligent dereliction of duty. He faces having his rank reduced but he will not go to jail as a part of a plea agreement that abruptly ended his long-awaited manslaughter trial.

Wuterich, who acknowledged to instructing his men to "shoot first, ask questions later," defended his order to raid homes in Haditha after a roadside bomb killed a fellow Marine. He said his aim was "to keep the rest of my Marines alive."

His sentence Tuesday ended a six-year prosecution that failed to win any manslaughter convictions. Eight Marines were initially charged; one was acquitted and six others had their cases dropped.

The plea deal that dropped nine counts of manslaughter sparked outrage in the besieged Iraqi town and claims that the U.S. didn't hold the military accountable.

"I was expecting that the American judiciary would sentence this person to life in prison and that he would appear and confess in front of the whole world that he committed this crime, so that America could show itself as democratic and fair," said survivor Awis Fahmi Hussein, showing his scars from a bullet wound to the back.

Military judge Lt. Col. David Jones initially recommended the maximum sentence of three months for Wuterich, saying: "It's difficult for the court to fathom negligent dereliction of duty worse than the facts in this case."

Then he opened an envelope containing the plea agreement to learn its terms ? as is procedure in military court ? and announced that the deal prevented any jail time for the Marine.

"That's very good for you obviously," Jones told Wuterich.

Jones did recommend that the sergeant's rank be reduced to private, which would dock his pay as a result, but he decided not to exercise his option to cut it by as much as two-thirds because the divorced father has sole custody of his three daughters. The rank reduction has to be approved by a Marine general, who already signed off on the plea deal.

Defense attorney Neal Puckett said Wuterich has been falsely labeled a killer who carried out a massacre in Iraq. He insisted Wuterich's only intention was to protect his Marines.

"The appropriate punishment in this case, your honor, is no punishment," Puckett said.

Wuterich, who hugged his parents after he spoke, declined comment on Jones' decision. Puckett and his co-counsel Haytham Faraj, said in a statement: "We believe justice prevailed for Staff Sgt. Wuterich and in turn, he wishes it was within his power to impart the same measure of justice to the families of the victims of Haditha."

Wuterich directly addressed family members of the Iraqi victims, saying there were no words to ease their pain.

"I know that you are the real victims of Nov. 19, 2005," he said.

He went on to tell the court: "When my Marines and I cleared those houses that day, I responded to what I perceived as a threat and my intention was to eliminate that threat in order to keep the rest of my Marines alive," he said. "So when I told my team to shoot first and ask questions later, the intent wasn't that they would shoot civilians, it was that they would not hesitate in the face of the enemy."

"The truth is I never fired my weapon at any women or children that day," Wuterich later told Jones.

The contention by Wuterich, of Meriden, Conn., contradicts prosecutors and counters testimony from a former squad mate who said he joined Wuterich in firing in a dark back bedroom where a woman and children were killed.

Prosecutors argued that Wuterich's knee-jerk reaction of sending the squad to assault nearby homes without positively identifying a threat went against his training and caused needless deaths of 10 women and children.

"That is a horrific result from that derelict order of shoot first, ask questions later," said Lt. Col. Sean Sullivan.

Military prosecutors worked for more than six years to bring Wuterich to trial on manslaughter charges that could have sent him away to prison for life. But only weeks after the long-awaited trial started, they offered Wuterich the deal.

It was a stunning outcome for the last defendant in the case once compared with the My Lai massacre in Vietnam.

The Haditha attack is considered among the war's defining moments, further tainting America's reputation when it was already at a low point after the release of photos of prisoner abuse by U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison.

During the trial before a jury of combat Marines who served in Iraq, prosecutors argued Wuterich lost control after seeing his friend blown apart by the bomb and led his men on a rampage, blasting their way in with gunfire and grenades. Among the dead was a man in a wheelchair.

Faraj said the government was working on false notions and the deal was reached last week when prosecutors recognized their case was falling apart with contradictory testimony from witnesses who had lied to investigators. Many of the squad members had their cases dropped in exchange for testifying. Prosecutors have declined to comment.

Marine Corps spokesman Lt. Col. Joseph Kloppel said the deal was the result of mutual negotiations and does not reflect how the case was going for the prosecution. He said the government investigated and prosecuted the case as it should have.

Wuterich plans to leave the Marine Corps and start a new career in information technology. His lawyers said they plan to petition for clemency.

___

Associated Press writers Barbara Surk and Mazin Yahya in Baghdad, Elliot Spagat in San Diego and Raquel Dillon in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-25-Marines-Haditha/id-1af4db9666764dff8cc682fd2c5fc7f2

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Steven Tyler National Anthem Rendition: An Epic Fail?

Steven Tyler spends the bulk of his time these days critiquing aspiring artists.

But the Aerosmith frontman/American Idol panelist is the one facing harsh judgment today, as is performance of the national anthem prior to the 2012 AFC Championship game is being met with severe rebuke.

"Steven Tyler far more obscene than Janet Jackson's t*tty," Fox Sports columnist Jason Whitlock Tweeted of the rendition, comparing it to another famous, scandalous moment in NFL playoff lore.

Was the song really that abysmal? Decide for yourself:

Steven Tyler National Anthem Performance: Yay or Nay?

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/steven-tyler-national-anthem-rendition-an-epic-fail/

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Rep. Giffords to resign from Congress this week (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona announced Sunday she intends to resign from Congress this week to concentrate on recovering from wounds suffered in an assassination attempt a little more than a year ago that shook the country.

"I don't remember much from that horrible day, but I will never forget the trust you placed in me to be your voice," the Democratic lawmaker said on a video posted without prior notice on her Facebook page.

"I'm getting better. Every day my spirit is high," she said. "I have more work to do on my recovery. So to do what's best for Arizona, I will step down this week."

Giffords was shot in the head and grievously wounded last January as she was meeting with constituents outside a supermarket in Tucson, Ariz. Her progress had seemed remarkable, to the point that she was able to walk dramatically into the House chamber last August to cast a vote.

Her shooting prompted an agonizing national debate about super-charged rhetoric in political campaigns, although the man charged in the shooting later turned out to be mentally ill.

In Washington, members of Congress were told to pay more attention to their physical security. Legislation was introduced to ban high-capacity ammunition clips, although it never advanced.

Under state law, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer must call a special election to fill out the remainder of Giffords' term, which ends at the end of 2012.

President Barack Obama on Sunday called Giffords "the very best of what public service should be."

"Gabby's cheerful presence will be missed in Washington," Obama said. "But she will remain an inspiration to all whose lives she touched ? myself included. And I'm confident that we haven't seen the last of this extraordinary American."

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said he saluted Giffords "for her service and for the courage and perseverance she has shown in the face of tragedy. She will be missed."

In a statement, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California said that "since the tragic events one year ago, Gabby has been an inspiring symbol of determination and courage to millions of Americans."

Democratic officials had held out hope for months that the congresswoman might recover sufficiently to run for re-election or even become a candidate to replace retiring Republican Sen. Jon Kyl.

The shooting on Jan. 8, 2011, left six people dead, a federal judge and a Giffords aide among them. Twelve others were wounded.

A 23-year-old man, Jared Lee Loughner, has pleaded not guilty to 49 charges in the shooting. He has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and is being forcibly medicated at a Missouri prison facility in an effort by authorities to make him mentally ready for trial.

In the months since she was shot, Giffords, 41, has been treated in Houston as well as Arizona as she re-learned how to walk and speak.

She made a dramatic appearance on the House floor Aug. 2, when she unexpectedly walked in to vote for an increase in the debt limit. Lawmakers from both parties cheered her presence, and she was enveloped in hugs.

More recently, she participated in an observance of the anniversary of the shooting in Arizona.

In "Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope," a book released last year that she wrote with her husband, the astronaut Mark Kelly, she spoke of how much she wanted to get better, regain what she lost and return to Congress.

She delivers the last chapter in her own voice, saying in a single page of short sentences and phrases that everything she does reminds her of that horrible day and that she was grateful to survive.

"I will get stronger. I will return," she wrote.

Giffords was shot in the left side of the brain, the part that controls speech and communication.

Kelly commanded the space shuttle Endeavour on its last mission in May. She watched the launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Kelly, who became a NASA astronaut in 1996 and made four trips into space aboard the space shuttle, retired in October.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/uscongress/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_go_co/us_giffords_resign

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How to fix California's college tuition problem

California residents are frustrated over the UC university system's uniform pricing. Would it be better if each campus set its own tuition rates?

Students want an excellent education and low tuition but a "free lunch" is hard to find during these tough times. ?The LA Times has some choice quotes over the pain and frustration playing out in California. ?As I understand it, all nine UC Campuses charge the same tuition prices. ?This is the problem. ?

Skip to next paragraph Matthew Kahn

Mathew is an economics professor at UCLA and has written three books: Green Cities (Brookings Institution Press); Heroes and Cowards (Princeton University Press, jointly with Dora L. Costa); and in fall 2010, Climatopolis: How Our Cities Will Thrive in the Hotter World (Basic Books).

Recent posts

I suggest that each UC campus be allowed to set its own tuition and that the rules are such that 10% of the collected revenue is redistributed from the top 4 schools in terms of tuition is sent to the 5 campuses that charge less. ??If the UC feels innovative, it could charge different tuition prices by campus and by major. ?Such customization of tuition would generate more revenue, offer students more financing options. ? ?One definition of discrimination is to treat different UC campuses the same.

While people moan about rising UC tuition, they forget that the UC is much cheaper than Ivy League schools (our peers!) and that?many students transfer into the UC from a community college. ?This means that their effective tuition is roughly 30% lower because the formula (assuming an interest rate of 0%) becomes ?.5*community college tuition + .5*UC in-state tuition. ?

Switching subjects: ? I would like to show my appreciation to my uncountable number of blog readers by revealing my blog royalties for the last 3 months.

Publication:
Environmental and Urban Economics
Earnings This Reporting Period:
$28.30
So, over the course of 3 months I post around 100 entries. If it takes me 10 minutes to write each of these then that's 1000 minutes or roughly 16 hours so $28/16 = $1.6 an hour ?---- not bad for a big bad full prof at UCLA?

The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of the best economy-related bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here. To add or view a comment on a guest blog, please go to the blogger's own site by clicking on greeneconomics.blogspot.com.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/ZtXWx50DkuU/How-to-fix-California-s-college-tuition-problem

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Exclusive: Jobs family absent from Disney board despite stake (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? When Disney shareholders vote to re-elect directors at its annual meeting in March, neither Steve Jobs' wife nor a representative from his trust will be present on the ballot, even though it is the media company's largest shareholder.

According to Walt Disney Co's proxy, filed on Friday, directors standing for re-election include Robert Iger, Disney's president and chief executive; Aylwin Lewis, the president and CEO of Potbelly Sandwich Works and a former executive at Sears and Kmart; and Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook Inc.

Jobs' wife, Laurene, is absent from the list and none of the members standing for re-election is represents his estate.

Jobs, who passed away in October, had been on Disney's board since May 2006, when Disney bought his company Pixar. Jobs, best known for founding Apple Inc, passed away at the age of 56 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

He was enlisted for the Disney board to help provide guidance and help steer the media company through the digital disruption that was wreaking havoc on its business.

Disney, which generates some $40 billion in annual revenue, is grappling with global economic uncertainty and its impact on its three largest divisions: media, its movie studio and theme park resorts. Its brands include Disney, ABC and ESPN.

In its proxy filing on Friday, Disney said that 10 of its 11 current board members would stand for re-election.

Representatives for Disney did not immediately respond to inquiries about whether Jobs' wife or a member of his trust was offered a seat on its board. Apple did not immediately respond to inquiries about whether they were offered or turned down a position in Steve Jobs' absence.

The Steven P. Jobs Trust is Disney's largest shareholder, owning nearly 137.3 million shares, or 7.7 percent of the company's common stock, according to the proxy. None of the 10 people standing for re-election are representatives of the trust.

Shares of Disney closed at $39.31 on Friday, valuing the Jobs Trust's stake at roughly $5.37 billion.

The proxy, as it has in past years, showed that Jobs did not receive any compensation for his role on the Disney board, per his request.

The only Disney board member not up for re-election, Chairman John Pepper Jr., announced back in October that he plans to step down from the board at the upcoming annual meeting, set to be held on March 13 in Kansas City, Missouri.

Iger, who has run Disney since October 2005, will take on the additional title of chairman at the meeting. He is expected to step down as CEO in March 2015.

Iger's compensation rose 13 percent in fiscal 2011, boosted by an increase in his annual cash bonus and incentive plan, according to Disney's proxy. Iger, 60, saw his total compensation including pension benefits top $33.4 million in the 12 months to September 2011, when Disney's financial year ended.

Apple has been expanding the scope of its computers, iPhones and iPad tablets in the months since Jobs' death. The iPad appeared to be a hot seller during the recent holiday season, and Apple's quarterly results are due to be released on Tuesday.

Last Thursday, the company took a big jump into the digital textbooks market with the launch of its iBooks 2 software, aiming to revitalize the U.S. education market and quicken the adoption of its market-leading iPad in that sector. The move pits Apple against Amazon.com Inc and other content and device makers that have made inroads into the estimated $8 billion market with their electronic textbook offerings.

Terry McGraw, CEO of McGraw-Hill Cos Inc, one of the textbook publishers working with Apple, said he had been talking to Jobs and his team since last June about recreating textbooks as applications.

(Reporting by Jessica Wohl in Chicago; Editing by Peter Lauria and Eric Walsh)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/enindustry/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120121/media_nm/us_disney_jobs

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Obama talks civic freedoms, IMF with Egypt's Tantawi (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? President Barack Obama stressed U.S. support for Egypt's move to democracy and discussed its International Monetary Fund talks in a telephone conversation on Friday with Egyptian military council chief Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the White House said.

"The president reinforced the necessity of upholding universal principles and emphasized the important role that civil society, including non-governmental organizations, have in a democratic society," the White House said in a statement.

"He underscored that non-governmental organizations should be able to operate freely."

Washington was sharply critical earlier this month of raids by Egyptian authorities on pro-democracy groups, but laid the blame on remnants of former President Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled from power last year by massive street protests.

Egyptian authorities swooped in on 17 non-governmental groups, including the U.S.-funded National Democratic Institute and International Republican Institute, which are both loosely affiliated with the leading U.S. political parties.

Obama also discussed Egypt's economic outlook with Tantawi.

Egypt has asked the IMF for $3.2 billion in support and an MF delegation is due to visit in late January.

The country turned down an offer of $3 billion in financial assistance from the IMF last June, but since then Egypt's funding problems have worsened and its currency has come under heavy pressure.

(Reporting By Alister Bull)

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

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This Is What MegaUpload's Kim Schlitz's Cars Being Seized Looks Like [Megaupload]

Yesterday the feds shut down MegaUpload. They've also seized an awful lot of the founders' possessions, including Kim "Dotcom" Schlitz's rather expensive car collection. Here's what towing away his millions of dollars of cars looks like. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/szcj5qUmKq4/this-is-what-megauploads-kim-schlitzs-cars-being-seized-looks-like

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Obama seeks share of spotlight in Florida (AP)

WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama is pitching a plan for boosting U.S. tourism near Orlando, just as Republican presidential candidates prepare to blanket Florida with an anti-Obama message ahead of the state's Jan. 31 primary.

Thursday's trip is the latest attempt by the White House and Obama campaign to steal a share of the spotlight from Republicans in the midst of their nomination fight. Obama held a live video conference with Iowa voters during the Republican caucus, Vice President Joe Biden held a similar event with voters in New Hampshire as primary votes there were being counted, and next week Obama will travel to Nevada, which follows Florida on the primary calendar.

Obama's high-profile trip to Florida ? the president will speak at Walt Disney World ? could help him counter attacks on his record lobbed by Republican presidential candidates during stops across the state, and in television ads already running in Florida. And it allows Obama to lay the groundwork for the general election campaign in Florida, a key political battleground he carried in 2008.

The White House said Obama would unveil a new strategy to boost tourism and travel during his speech at Disney. The announcement is part of the president's "We Can't Wait" initiative aimed at promoting executive actions Obama can take without congressional approval.

Tourism is a key component of the economy in Florida, which is burdened by 10 percent unemployment and rampant home foreclosures.

Republican front-runner Mitt Romney already has been testing economic attacks on Obama in Florida. A campaign mailer sent recently to Florida Republicans said: "Our economy has fallen flat. Who's to blame?" Another proclaims that Romney is the strongest to lead the country out of economic turmoil, arguing, "With conservative leadership, America can be first in the world in job creation again."

A recent Quinnipiac University poll showed the president in a near-statistical tie with Romney in a head-to-head matchup.

The White House insists the president's trip to Florida is not purely political. Obama spokesman Jay Carney said that if the White House couldn't travel to any state with a primary, "that would make it impossible for us."

From Florida, Obama will fly to New York City for four glitzy campaign fundraisers, including an event at the famed Apollo Theater featuring performances by Al Green and India Arie. Tickets to that fundraiser start at $100.

The president also will attend a $35,800 per ticket fundraiser at the home of director Spike Lee, and two small fundraisers at Daniel, an exclusive Manhattan restaurant. Tickets start at $5,000 for the first restaurant fundraiser and $15,000 for the second.

___

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120119/ap_on_el_pr/us_obama

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