BASF applies for EU approval for Fortuna GM potato (Reuters)

FRANKFURT (Reuters) ? BASF has applied for European Union approval for Fortuna, a potato genetically modified to resist a common plant disease, as the German chemicals company tries again to overcome resistance in the region to GM food.

The world's largest chemical maker by sales said on Monday it had asked for clearance for Fortuna, covering commercial cultivation and consumption by humans and animals.

In March 2010, BASF won European Commission approval for Amflora, another genetically modified potato, for commercial cultivation, marking the bloc's first GM cultivation approval in 12 years.

While Amflora was designed for industrial-starch production, Fortuna marks the first GM food plant BASF has sought to market in Europe, where consumers' opposition to such products remains widespread.

BASF said it expected market introduction in 2014 or 2015, even though it took BASF about 14 years to win clearance for Amflora. EU rules on the GM plant approval process have been streamlined since then, a company spokesman said.

The chemical maker is not publishing an annual peak sales assessment for the product for now, he added.

The company said its researchers made Fortuna resistant to late blight, the world's most damaging potato disease, which is caused by Phytophthora infestans, a fungi-like pathogen.

The plant disease, which was behind the mass starvation that ravaged Ireland in the 1840s, is cited by BASF as still causing the loss of up to 20 percent of the global potato harvest per year.

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Erica Billingham)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111031/sc_nm/us_basf

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ARMv8 detailed: 64-bit architecture, AppliedMicro first in line

Thought Windows on ARM was snazzy? Have a gander at this. The outfit's forthcoming ARMv8 architecture, the first ARM architecture to include a 64-bit instruction set, has just been detailed, with a goal to expand the reach of ARM processor-based solutions "into consumer and enterprise applications where extended virtual addressing and 64-bit data processing are required." The ARMv8 architecture consists of two main execution states -- AArch64 and AArch32 -- and we're apt to see the real benefits hit high-end servers first. The ARMv8 architecture specifications are available now to partners under license, with the company planning to disclose processors based on ARMv8 during 2012, with consumer and enterprise prototype systems expected in 2014. Head on past the break for ARM's take, or meander to the source links for AppliedMicro's gloating.

Continue reading ARMv8 detailed: 64-bit architecture, AppliedMicro first in line

ARMv8 detailed: 64-bit architecture, AppliedMicro first in line originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Oct 2011 17:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/28/armv8-detailed-64-bit-architecture-appliedmicro-first-in-line/

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Confident Cain plans to cut back campaign events (AP)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ? Presidential candidate Herman Cain isn't lacking in confidence about his 2012 prospects.

It's been weeks since he's set foot in first-voting Iowa or New Hampshire, yet he says he expects to finish first or second in each state.

He's also predicting victory in South Carolina, which will hold the South's first presidential contest in 2012. And that win, he says, will set the stage for him to capture the GOP nomination.

But Cain also says he plans to "dial back" his campaign and media appearances in order to avoid missteps. Since climbing in the polls, he's had a series of fumbles and has had to clarify comments on abortion, immigration and terrorism suspects.

Cain appeared Saturday at a Samford University football tailgate in Alabama.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111029/ap_on_el_ge/us_cain

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Udinese closes on Juve

/

updated 3:29 p.m. ET Oct. 30, 2011

ROME - Antonio Di Natale scored his league-leading seventh goal and Udinese edged Palermo 1-0 Sunday to move back within a point of Serie A leader Juventus.

Serie A's top scorer from the past two seasons found the target with a volley from the center of the area in the 38th minute at Udine's Stadio Friuli.

Di Natale also hit the crossbar in the 10th and squandered a great chance to double the lead two minutes after his goal.

Palermo pushed for an equalizer in the second half and Udinese was fortunate to come away with a win.

Juventus leads with 19 points, Udinese has 18 and defending champion AC Milan is next with 17.

Juventus won 2-1 at Inter Milan on Saturday, when Milan posted a 3-2 victory at Roma. Lazio, which has 15 points, was playing at Cagliari later Sunday with a chance to draw level with Udinese.

Siena posted a convincing 4-1 win over Chievo Verona to move into seventh place, Mattia Destro scoring twice for the hosts. Gaetano D'Agostino made it 3-0 in the 61st before Davide Moscardelli pulled one back for Chievo in the 75th.

Emanuele Calaio scored his fifth of the season for Siena in added time.

Also Sunday, Fiorentina narrowly beat Genoa 1-0 with a 41st-minute strike from Andrea Lazzari to save coach Sinisa Mihajlovic's job. Fiorentina defender Alessandro Gamberini hit the crossbar in the 78th and the ball appeared to deflect into the goal, but the referee thought otherwise.

Despite ending a five-match winless streak, Fiorentina fans still called for Mihajlovic's ouster.

"We're playing for Mihajlovic, we've always supported him. We did well to win this match," Lazzari said. "At halftime Sinisa told us to only think about the match, and we were able to maintain the lead."

Bologna distanced itself from the relegation zone with a 3-1 win over Atalanta.

Elsewhere, Cesena fired coach Marco Giampaolo after a 2-0 loss to Parma, which also had a penalty from Sebastian Giovinco saved. Lecce and Novara drew 1-1 to leave both clubs in the relegation zone. Rodney Strasser put Lecce ahead in the 31st and Marco Rigoni equalized for Novara with a penalty in the 44th.

___

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) ? Levante's unexpected stay at the top of the Spanish league standings came to an abrupt end Sunday as the unheralded club was brought back to earth with a 2-0 loss at 10-man Osasuna.

The surprise pacesetter's first defeat of the season left it two points behind leader Real Madrid and one point behind defending champion Barcelona after 10 games.

Levante, which has the smallest budget in Spain's first division, had spent the past two rounds atop the table for the first time in the club's 102-year history.

But Alvaro Cejudo and Juan "Nino" Martinez scored in the first half, and Osasuna held firm after Cejudo was sent off with his second yellow card in the 59th.

"When you win, it's difficult to believe that you are ever going to lose," Levante's first-year coach Juan Ignacio Martinez said. "It is true that we were on a good run, but we knew that we were facing a tough game."

Athletic Bilbao drew 1-1 at Sporting Gijon, while Racing Santander edged Real Betis 1-0 for its first win of the season.

Osasuna's pressure began to keep Levante in its half and soon paid off with a pair of goals before halftime.

Cejudo broke through in the 40th when he skirted across the edge of the area before unleashing a low shot that caught Munua out of position after taking a deflection off a defender.

Nino then doubled the hosts' advantage four minutes later when he directed in a loose ball that the Levante defense failed to clear from its area.

Levante added striker Carlos Aranda to try to press its numerical advantage after Cejudo ? who had already received a yellow card for removing his shirt in his goal celebration ? was sent off for a tackle on Jose Barkero.

But Osasuna packed its area to remain undefeated at Reyno de Navarra stadium this season.

At El Molinon stadium, Bilbao went in front in the 62nd when Gaizka Toquero flicked on a corner for forward Markel Susaeta to redirect at the far post.

Substitute Mate Bilic kept Sporting undefeated in three games when he equalized in the 71st. The Croatia forward's shot from outside the area took a deflection off teammate David Barral before looping over Bilbao 'keeper Gorka Iraizoz and into the net.

Atletico Madrid looks to break a five-game winless streak against Zaragoza later Sunday, when Malaga hosts Espanyol.

Real Madrid edged Real Sociedad 1-0 to provisionally move top of the table on Saturday, while Barcelona remained one point behind after thrashing Mallorca 5-0 thanks to Lionel Messi's hat trick.

Also, Valencia beat Getafe 3-1 and Villarreal downed Rayo Vallecano 2-0.

Sevilla tries to remain undefeated as it hosts Granada on Monday.

___

LONDON (AP) ? Gareth Bale scored twice Sunday to lead Tottenham to a 3-1 win over Queens Park Rangers that kept his team in fifth place in the English Premier League.

Bale put Spurs ahead in the 20th minute with a low shot to the far post and Rafael van der Vaart made it 2-0 13 minutes later, shooting unmarked past goalkeeper Paddy Kenny.

QPR pressed hard for an equalizer after substitute Jay Bothroyd got a goal back in the 62nd but 10 minutes later Bale twice swapped passes with Aaron Lennon on the edge of the area to work space for a curling shot into the top corner.

"It was a fantastic performance," Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp said. "In the first half, we played some great football and moved the ball quickly. The movement and passing was incredible.

"They changed how they played, got it forward and played with more intensity in the second half but Gareth finished them off with a great goal."

Victory took Tottenham to 19 points, behind unbeaten Newcastle and the last of the Champions League places only on goal difference.

"They've got so much quality," QPR manager Neil Warnock said. "I found myself clapping that third goal myself."

Spurs remained unbeaten in 11 matches since Aug. 28 and have a game in hand on three of the four teams above them. QPR, which beat west London rival Chelsea 1-0 last weekend, is seven points further back in mid-table.

With Tottenham missing a string of chances, Rangers could easily have forced at least a draw. American goalkeeper Brad Friedel saved well from QPR midfielder Alejandro Faurlin in the 65th, but Spurs' midfield class showed.

Tottenham dominated the first half at White Hart Lane and forced a string of chances even before Bale's second Premier League goal of the season. Aaron Lennon had a chance to shoot but instead slipped the ball to Bale on the left of the box, from where the Wales international shot across Kenny and into the net.

Spurs made it 2-0 after captain Ledley King's mis-hit shot was deflected to Van der Vaart about 12 meters (yards) out. The unmarked Netherlands forward had time to pick his spot and lash the ball into the bottom right corner for his sixth Premier League goal of the season.

Bothroyd rose highest to nod the ball into the unguarded net. With Kenny making a stellar double save from Assou-Ekotto and Friedel saving from Faurlin, the home fans were hushed into a nervous silence until Bale settled the match.

Manchester City stayed five points clear at the top of the standings with a 3-1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday, when defending champion Manchester United won 1-0 against Everton and Arsenal completed a remarkable 5-3 win at Chelsea.

Newcastle meets Stoke in Monday's match.

___

PARIS (AP) ? Ten-man Toulouse beat Rennes 1-0 Sunday to climb to fifth place in the French league while mid-table Sochaux was held 1-1 at Nice.

Etienne Didot scored the winner for Toulouse with a free kick that took a deflection off the wall in the 26th minute.

Toulouse was down to 10 men in the 55th when Antoine Devaux was red-carded for a violent tackle on Kevin Theophile-Catherine.

In Nice, Gabon forward Eric Mouloungui beat Sochaux goalkeeper Teddy Richert to put the hosts ahead in the 30th. But Algeria midfielder Ryad Boudebouz converted a penalty to level in the 35th after Renato Civelli had fouled Marvin Martin.

Nice went a man down in the 62nd when David Hellebuyck was sent off for a foul on Damien Perquis.

Defending champion Lille played Valenciennes late on Sunday.

Paris Saint-Germain beat Caen 4-2 Saturday to keep a three-point lead over Montpellier.

Also Saturday, it was: Montpellier 2, Nancy 0; Lyon 2, Saint-Etienne 0; Brest 3, Lorient 1; Evian 3, Auxerre 1; Dijon 2, Marseille 3; Ajaccio 0, Bordeaux 2.

___

BERLIN (AP) ? Lukas Podolski scored twice in a 3-0 win for Cologne over promoted Augsburg in the Bundesliga on Sunday.

Podolski drifted in from the left before dispatching a shot past Simon Jentzsch in the 19th, and sent the goalkeeper the wrong way with a penalty five minutes later.

Slawomir Peszko sealed the win in the 56th, when he sent Jan-Ingwer Callsen-Bracker the wrong way before slotting a shot through defender Sebastian Langkamp's legs.

Akaki Gogia hit the post from 20 meters (yards) in the 75th, and the visitors' miserable afternoon was capped seconds later, when Thorsten Oehrl was sent off for tackling Sascha Riether from behind.

Augsburg was second from bottom before Hamburg's relegation battle with Kaiserslautern later on Sunday. Cologne is 11th.

Podolski has scored in each of Cologne's last four wins and claimed his eighth goal of the season from the spot after Hajime Hosogai was judged to have brought down Christian Clemens in the area. TV replays showed the Japan midfielder pulled back from the tackle after a sprint for the ball.

Gogia landed a shot on the roof of the net shortly after Peszko scored, and drew a good save from Michael Rensing in the 65th.

In all, Augsburg had 15 shots on target, compared to five from the more effective Cologne.

___

AMSTERDAM (AP) ? AZ Alkmaar opened up a six-point lead at the top of the Dutch league Sunday after Adam Maher scored an 89th-minute goal to give his side a 1-0 win over Heracles Almelo.

Also Sunday, FC Groningen demolished Feyenoord 6-0 with Dusan Tadic scoring in the opening minute.

Maikel Kieftenbeld, Petter Andersson, Leandro Bacuna, Virgil van Dijk and Suk Hyun Jun added the other goals to complete an atrocious week for Feyenoord, which exited the Dutch Cup at amateur club Go Ahead Eagles.

Wilfried Bony's 70th-minute goal gave Vitesse Arnhem a 1-0 win over De Graafschap while Roberto Fernandez, Leroy George and Lasse Schone scored in NEC Nijmegen's 3-1 victory over FC Utrecht.

Zambia winger Jacob Mulenga replied for Utrecht in the 76th.

Also, it was: NAC Breda 3, VVV-Venlo 1; Roda JC 0, Ajax 4; Excelsior Rotterdam 1, RKC Waalwijk 0; and SC Heerenveen 4, ADO The Hague 0.

Title-chasing FC Twente was held to a 2-2 draw by fellow challenger PSV Eindhoven on Saturday, while Ajax stayed fifth despite routing Roda JC 4-0.

PSV and Twente are tied for second place with 22 points, six behind AZ Alkmaar. Ajax has 20.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Udinese closes on Juve

??Antonio Di Natale scored his league-leading seventh goal and Udinese edged Palermo 1-0 Sunday to move back within a point of Serie A leader Juventus.

'Monster'?

Ex-U.S. coach Bob Bradley has the daunting challenge of reviving the hopes of the "monster'' of African football ? Egypt.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45096178/ns/sports-soccer/

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Is Herman Cain for Real? (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | Almost out of nowhere, Herman Cain has taken the lead in some polls or tied previous Republican darling Mitt Romney. In the latest Rasmussen poll Cain leads Obama 43 percent to 41 percent. In the Zogby poll he leads all Republicans with 25 percent. Second is Romney with 21 percent. And the recent Wall Street Journal/NBC poll shows Cain ahead of Romney by 27 percent to 23 percent.

So what if anything does this all mean? One thing is people really like what Cain has to say. In the last two debates, he did very well. His message seemed to resonate well with the voters as this began his rise in the polls. Cain comes across as an honest, down-to-earth man, unlike Romney, who genuinely seems to be sincere in what he wants for this country. Cain has a plan for the economy, his "9-9-9" plan, which is pretty simple to understand, although it has been encountering some criticism of late. Cain has said the plan will cost some taxpayers more.

Cain does have a rebuttal to cries that 9-9-9 is unfair to the middle class: "Some people will pay more, but most people will pay less," he said, according to the Christian Science Monitor

But at least it is something.

Cain seems to be a plain-spoken man who says what he feels and isn't afraid to admit he may know everything. But being a successful businessman, I feel confident he knows enough to surround himself with good people in the areas he may not be as educated on.

The other reason Cain may have risen in the polls might be because there are many Republicans and independent voters who just don't like Romney. Where Cain sticks to his message, Romney has a tendency to flip-flop on issues, depending on which way the wind is blowing through his well-styled hair. It almost seems Romney looks at the polls and sees how his opponents are doing, then modifies his position according to whatever agrees with the current leader's position.

One positive for the Cain campaign that has come from these polls is his campaign should be getting an influx of cash. While Romney has the lead in funds -- after all he has been running since 2005 or so -- some people may start thinking Cain has a chance and send money his way. This will allow him to get his name out there through the more conventional means instead of just relying on interviews and debates.

I can't say if Cain will continue to lead or even if he can win the nomination, but if he does it will certainly be interesting to see how he stacks up against Barack Obama. One thing for sure, it will be pretty hard for the Democrats to play the race card, although surely they'll try.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20111028/pl_ac/10228401_is_herman_cain_for_real

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Ala. immigration battle recalls civil rights past (AP)

MONTGOMERY, Ala. ? The epicenter of the fight over the nation's patchwork of immigration laws is not Arizona, which shares a border with Mexico and became a common site for boycotts. Nor was it any of the four states that were next to pass their own crackdowns.

No, the case that's likely to be the first sorted out by the U.S. Supreme Court comes from this Deep South state, where the nation's strictest immigration law has resurrected ugly images from Alabama's days as the nation's battleground for civil rights a half-century ago.

And Alabama's jump to the forefront says as much about the country's evolving demographics as it does the nation's collective memory of the state's sometimes violent path to desegregation.

With the failure of Congress in recent years to pass comprehensive federal immigration legislation, Arizona, Georgia, Utah, South Carolina and Indiana have passed their own. But supporters and opponents alike agree none contained provisions as strict as those passed in Alabama, among them one that required schools to check students' immigration status. That provision, which has been temporarily blocked, would allow the Supreme Court to reconsider a decision that said a K-12 education must be provided to illegal immigrants.

Its stature as the strictest in the nation, along with the inevitable comparisons of today's Hispanics with African-Americans of the 1950s and `60s, makes it a near certainty the law will be a test case for the high court.

"It really offers the Supreme Court a broad canvas to reshape what being an immigrant in the United States means," said Foster Maer, an attorney with LatinoJustice in New York, which is challenging the law.

Alabama was well-suited to be the nation's civil rights battleground because of its harsh segregation laws, large black population, and the presence of a charismatic young minister named Martin Luther King Jr., who led a boycott of segregated buses in 1955.

Opponents say the new law's schools provision conjures images of Gov. George Wallace's stand in the schoolhouse door to block integration.

"Today we have a different stand in the schoolhouse door. We have efforts to intimidate children who have a constitutional right to go to school," said Richard Cohen, president of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Although no solid numbers exist, schools have reported fewer Hispanic students attending school, with some saying as much as 10 percent of their Hispanic students have withdrawn since the law took effect a month ago.

Illegal immigrants interviewed by The Associated Press have said their children were bullied and told to go back to Mexico, while others have described their intense fears of arrest and deportation.

The lawyer leading the state's defense, Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange, faults President Barack Obama's Justice Department for stirring the civil rights comparisons by falsely predicting the law would lead to the kind of widespread discrimination and profiling that marked Alabama's past.

"The idea they seem to have is there's a Bull Connor on every corner here in Alabama, which is so widely out of touch with our state," he said, referring to the public safety commissioner who unleashed police dogs and fire hoses on civil rights marchers in Birmingham in the 1960s.

At first glance, Alabama seems ill-suited to be the nation's immigration battleground. It's not a border state and is home to fewer illegal immigrants than several other Southern states.

"Why are we getting all the publicity? I think it has to do with Alabama's past and the perception that people have of Alabama over the years that don't live in our state and really don't recognize the amount of progress we've made in Alabama over the last 50 to 60 years," said Republican Gov. Robert Bentley, who advocated the law and signed it into effect.

Alabama's law, pushed through by a new Republican super-majority in the Legislature, is being challenged in federal court by the Justice Department, about 30 civil rights organizations and some prominent church leaders. Judges have blocked some provisions, but sections still stand that allow police to check a person's immigration status during traffic stops and make it a felony for illegal immigrants to conduct basic state business, like getting a driver's license.

State Rep. Alvin Holmes, the senior black member of the Legislature, said Republicans can't undo the voting rights gains of Democrat-leaning blacks, so they are going after brown-skinned people in hopes they won't gain a voting foothold. "They feel if these Hispanics come in and get registered to vote, they will team up with black voters to take over Alabama politics," he said.

Proponents say the law had nothing to with race. They say it was the result of frustration with the federal government's inaction and an effort to open up jobs for the nearly 10 percent of legal state residents out of work.

"There are people who try to make racism a cottage industry and profit off it, but I would put the harmony in Alabama up against any place in the country," said Republican Sen. Scott Beason, one of the law's sponsors.

Beason, the powerful chairman of the state Senate's Rules Committee, has prompted some of the comparisons with the civil rights era by telling one group that the Legislature needed to "empty the clip" on the immigration issue. And in tapes played during the federal trial of several lawmakers and lobbyists accused of buying and selling votes on gambling legislation, he referred to customers of a dog track in a predominantly black county as "aborigines."

Opponents of the law have fueled the comparisons by holding rallies at historic civil rights sites and drawing support from civil rights organizations.

No one in the Alabama Legislature was talking about immigration laws a decade ago because the Hispanic population was so small. The Pew Hispanic Center estimates the number of illegal immigrants in Alabama has grown from 25,000 in 2000 to 120,000 in 2010 ? a nearly fivefold increase ? though it's only a fraction of the 11 million or so estimated in the country.

That rapid rise drew complaints from residents who blamed Hispanics for knocking them out of jobs by working for cheaper wages and no benefits.

"They were coming in here like thieves in the night and taking our jobs and tax revenue," said Republican Rep. Micky Hammon, who also sponsored the new law.

To be sure, construction businesses and farms say Hispanic workers they have relied upon have fled the state. So far, they haven't been able to find legal residents willing to take on what is usually backbreaking work.

The governor said lawmakers in other states are eyeing Alabama's law as a blueprint for their own, but some fear that notoriety could come at a steep price: The state's image as an international automotive hub.

In 1993, a few months after state officials quit flying the Confederate battle flag on the Capitol dome, Mercedes selected Alabama for an assembly plant. Then came Honda, Toyota and Hyundai, and many auto suppliers.

The CEO of the state pension system, David Bronner, helped recruit those plants and now fears Alabama has hurt its ability to recruit.

"You are giving the image, whether it's valid or not, that you don't like foreigners, period," he said, adding that state leaders frequently seize on bad publicity to knock other states out of competition for new jobs.

That bad publicity has made its way to Hillsboro, Wis., where information technology businessman Charles Manser and 11 of his buddies have canceled a 10-day golfing vacation to Alabama.

Manser said one friend was born in Puerto Rico and another is a British citizen. They were concerned about being hassled over their legal status.

"Whether it's legitimate or not, that's the message seen by people who might come to Alabama," he said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mexico/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111029/ap_on_re_us/us_alabama_s_immigration_image

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Ex-friend: Iowa murder suspect showed no emotion

Tracey Richter, left, listens to testimony Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011, during her first-degree murder trial in Webster County District Court in Fort Dodge, Iowa. Richter is on trial for the shooting death of Dustin Wehde at her Early, Iowa home on Dec. 13, 2001. Defense attorney Robert Powers is at right. (AP Photo/Hans Madsen, Pool)

Tracey Richter, left, listens to testimony Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011, during her first-degree murder trial in Webster County District Court in Fort Dodge, Iowa. Richter is on trial for the shooting death of Dustin Wehde at her Early, Iowa home on Dec. 13, 2001. Defense attorney Robert Powers is at right. (AP Photo/Hans Madsen, Pool)

Assistant Iowa Attorney General Doug Hammerand presents opening arguments Wednesday morning Oct. 26, 2011 in Webster County District Court in the first-degree murder trial of Tracey Richter in Fort Dodge, Iowa. Richter, 45, is accused of shooting Dustin Wehde, of Early, Iowa on Dec. 13, 2001. (AP Photo/The Messenger, Hans Madsen)

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) ? Prosecutors called their star witness Friday in the murder trial of a woman who claims she killed an Iowa neighbor in self-defense: a former close friend who initially believed her account but came forward a decade later to provide key evidence against her.

Farmer Mary Higgins provided critical testimony to back up the prosecution's claim that Tracey Richter killed 20-year-old Dustin Wehde in a plot to frame her ex-husband and then falsely claimed she was the victim of a home invasion.

Richter has insisted the shooting at her home in Early, a small town in northwest Iowa, was in self-defense after Wehde and another man broke into her home.

Higgins described herself as a reluctant witness who once enjoyed Richter's company but later saw her as a dishonest woman who treated her children poorly and could explode in anger.

She said she and Richter became friends after Richter and her second husband moved to Early in 1998. They often spoke on the phone, had coffee together and she drove Richter's son home from school.

Richter flew to Australia for a planned family vacation days after Wehde was shot in December 2001. Higgins said they got together in January or February after she returned.

"I wanted to let her know that I stand by her," Higgins recalled.

But she said Richter showed no emotion and acted "like she was telling me her grocery list" when she recounted her version of events: that two men broke into her home and one choked her with pantyhose before she broke free, unlocked her gunsafe ? without her glasses in the dark ? grabbed two guns and shot Wehde while the other man fled.

Police never found a second intruder. Defense attorneys have suggested the second man was an ice cream delivery driver who was having an affair with Wehde's mother. The man, Iraq war veteran Jeremy Collins, testified Friday afternoon he had nothing to do with any home invasion and did not know Wehde well. Richter cried during his testimony and left the courtroom in tears.

Higgins said that while Richter was retelling her story, her 11-year-old son walked in and banged his head on the table.

"He said, 'Why did you go back up there?'" Higgins recalled. "'You didn't have to shoot him. You didn't have to kill him.'" Richter screamed her son's name, and he left.

Higgins said Richter told her police found a pink spiral notebook in Wehde's car and "it would prove that John Pitman did this." But two years later, in 2004, Higgins said Richter pointed her finger and "told me that I needed to forget about the pink notebook, and it frightened me. Tracey could explode and then be calm."

Law enforcement officials have testified they kept the notebook a secret until this year because anyone who knew about it would have knowledge of the crime. Prosecutors say Richter, now 45, forced Wehde to write the notebook claiming Pitman, her ex-husband, hired Wehde to kill her and their son. They say she killed Wehde to keep him quiet and then planted the notebook in his car.

Pitman, a Virginia plastic surgeon, testified earlier Friday that he had nothing to do with the notebook. Richter and Pitman were fighting at the time over custody of their son, Bert Pitman.

Higgins said she didn't tell a detective who interviewed her in April 2002 about the notebook because she assumed investigators knew about it and they did not ask her. She said she was contacted in March 2011 after investigators re-examined the case and her husband had become church friends with the new Sac County prosecutor, Ben Smith.

Smith met with her at their home, and she told him, "I didn't want any part of this." But when he asked if she knew about details, she responded, "Do you mean that stupid notebook?"

"The blood drained from his face," she testified. "I'd never seen anything like that before. He just went on the ground and sat on the floor and leaned against the kitchen cupboards."

Division of Criminal Investigation agents then interviewed her, and Higgins said she told them about the notebook but not share the full details because she was afraid for herself and Richter.

"She was my friend and I didn't know where it was going," she said. "I didn't know what the notebook meant. I knew it wasn't good."

She said she went into more detail in a second interview with investigators. She said she asked Richter why a 20-year-old man would have a pink notebook and Richter responded that Wehde must have gotten it from one of his sisters. Higgins also recalled how, months before the shooting, Richter told her about buying Bert a pink notebook for school, and Higgins said her sons would never use one like that.

Her statements and other evidence were used to draft a complaint charging Richter with murder and leading to her July arrest in Omaha, where she was living. Higgins occasionally glanced across the courtroom at Richter, who looked away during her testimony.

Prosecutor Douglas Hammerand gave jurors photocopies of the journal's five pages written in Wehde's sloppy handwriting, and they followed along as he read aloud. The journal said Wehde wanted to make a record of a "mysterious fellow who asked me to work for him (John Pitman)."

Pitman "wants me to get/force" Richter to kill Bert and then commit suicide, or "make it appear as though T.R. had committed the murder of her son & then committed suicide," it said.

Pitman testified the journal described him accurately: a doctor from Virginia who wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father, also a surgeon, and take over his practice one day. The diary describes him as a white male in his 40s who was in the Army.

It named Pitman's divorce attorney, Stephen Komie. Only Richter and his family knew that much detail about his personal life, Pitman said, although he acknowledged on cross-examination that he had conflict with Richter's second husband, who could have gotten personal information about him from her.

The doctor said that he never met Wehde, did not hire him and did not want his son dead.

"Did your ex-wife Tracey Richter despise you?" Hammerand asked.

"I think so," Pitman responded with a laugh.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-10-28-Hero%20Mom%20or%20Killer?/id-c3b1e03fbcde4e9ea096fa484f209167

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Blackbeard's cannon salvaged from shipwreck

BEAUFORT, N.C.?? A 2,000-pound cannon pulled from the waters near Beaufort Wednesday will give archaeologists and historians more ammunition for separating fact from legend surrounding the infamous pirate Blackbeard.

The Queen Anne's Revenge Project brought the massive gun ashore and displayed it to the public before taking to a laboratory at East Carolina University. Onlookers cheered as the 8-foot-long (2.4-meter-long, 900-kilogram) gun was raised above the water's surface.

"The last people who saw this were pirates," QAR project director Mark Wilde-Ramsing told more than 100 spectators who later gathered in front of Beaufort's Maritime Museum for a closer look at the 18th-century weapon.

Dozens of local residents turned out, while some Blackbeard enthusiasts drove in from other parts of the state.

"We read about it last night, and I asked the kids: Are we going to skip school tomorrow and go see this?" said Joy Herndon, who made the roughly 230-mile (370-kilometer) trek from Greensboro with her children, Lucy and Kevin.

Legend vs. fact
Separating the Blackbeard legend from historical facts is one of the goals of the QAR recovery effort, which has so far netted some 280,000 artifacts, said Joseph Schwarzer, director of the North Carolina Maritime Museum.

"This is about as close to that particular point in American history, and to piracy, as anybody is ever going to get," Schwarzer said.

The recovery effort involves collaboration between the state departments of Cultural Resources and Environmental and Natural Resources, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency, East Carolina University and other agencies.

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The gun recovered Wednesday was the 13th cannon raised from the shipwreck. Other items have included medical supplies, dishes, gold dust, prisoner shackles, African jewelry and small weaponry.

Schwarzer said researchers believe the ship was built as La Concorde, a French slave-trading vessel, but was commandeered by Blackbeard and his crew six months prior to its grounding near Beaufort Inlet.

Historians theorize that the ship was intentionally scuttled by Blackbeard, who then took off in a smaller boat, because he could no longer afford the expense of four ships and a pirate following estimated at 400.

Neal Stetson, 58, said he and his wife drove a half-hour from Newport to see the recovered cannon.

"After we moved here, I became fascinated with Blackbeard, particularly all the tales and legends that surround him," said Stetson, who came to the area from Maryland six years ago. "It's amazing and fortunate that they found the wreck."

Exhibit attracts thousands
An exhibit of the items recovered from the ship opened at the Beaufort Maritime Museum in June and has already attracted more than 100,000 visitors, said N.C. Cultural Resources Secretary Linda Carlisle.

Only about half the shipwreck has been examined so far, but Carlisle said the state has a goal of finishing the recovery effort by 2013.

"We're really concerned about the site itself," she said. "We live through each hurricane season with trepidation."

The project could move more swiftly if additional funding was available. Carlisle said it costs about $150,000 annually for the recovery and lab work, but state funding has not kept up with the need.

Though some flakes of gold dust are the closest to pirate's treasure yet discovered, the project and museum exhibit has netted the state a valuable influx of tourism dollars, as well as drawn international attention to the state, Carlisle added.

The cannon will be preserved at the lab at ECU while the research staff studies both the weapon and the cementlike shell of sand, salt and barnacles covering it, a process that could easily take five years, said Sarah Watkins-Keeney, chief conservator for the QAR project.

Blackbeard was an Englishman whose real name may have been Edward Teach or Thatch. After capturing La Concorde in the Caribbean, Blackbeard and his men blockaded the port of Charleston for a time. He was sailing north from Charleston when his ship went aground in what was then known as Old Topsail Inlet, now Beaufort Inlet.

After being granted a pardon from North Carolina Gov. Charles Eden in June 1718, Blackbeard was killed five months later by members of the Royal Navy of Virginia at Ocracoke Inlet.

More tales of the pirates:

? 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45056443/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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RoundFlash Soft Box Improves Your Portraits with a Donut Diffuser [Photography]

To avoid shadows on their face and to produce a lovely halo effect in their eyes, portrait photographers often use a ring flash, which completely encircles the lens with light for even illumination. But it also results in a telltale darkened halo around the subject that the cheaper RoundFlash could alleviate. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Z2N8yCg9v84/roundflash-soft-box-improves-your-portraits-with-a-donut-diffuser

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Spokesman: Rep. Connie Mack to enter Florida Senate race (tbo)

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Sprint eyes new financing as iPhone swells costs (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Sprint Nextel said it would need $7 billion in new financing agreements over the next few years to cover a cash shortfall created by Apple Inc's iPhone and a network upgrade.

"If we want to maintain a cash balance as high as $2 billion minimum at any point in time, we would want to extend the maturities of $4 billion that come due in 2012 and 2013 and raise between $1 billion to $3 billion, primarily from vendor financing," Chief Executive Dan Hesse told Reuters on Wednesday.

The company, whose shares were down 10 percent in Wednesday's trading, also said it is negotiating a new commercial contract with Clearwire Corp. Sprint is Clearwire's majority owner and its biggest customer.

Sprint said that while the iPhone would cost the company $15 billion in the next four years, it would generate $7 billion to $8 billion in projected future value for Sprint over that period.

Sprint said it will pay Apple an iPhone subsidy that is 40 percent higher, or $200 more per device, than the subsidies it pays for other phones.

But the company's executives said it should be worth the extra cost as the device is bringing in new customers.

"IPhone has an expensive contract but is worth every penny," Hesse said.

The No. 3 U.S. mobile operator forecast 2011 free cash flow in a range of a loss of $200 million to a gain of $100 million. It had previously promised positive 2011 free cash flow. Free cash flow generally refers to earnings including capital spending but excluding interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.

Sprint said it still expects to report net subscriber growth for 2011 but it did not give specific numbers because it was too early to say how many iPhone customers it would add after just two weeks of sales.

The phone company, which has been struggling for years to stem subscriber defections, lost 44,000 customers in the quarter compared with the average expectation for a loss of about 11,000 from nine analysts contacted by Reuters.

Sprint's quarterly loss decreased to $301 million, or 10 cents per share, compared with Wall Street expectations for a loss of 22 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

A year earlier, it posted a loss of $911 million, or 30 cents per share.

Net operating revenue rose to $8.33 billion from $8.15 billion in the year ago quarter but was slightly below Wall Street expectations for $8.379 billion.

Sprint shares were down 24 cents at $2.46.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew and Yinka Adegoke; editing by Derek Caney)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/applecomputer/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111026/tc_nm/us_sprint

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Android Central Podcast Ep. 76

Podcast MP3 URL: 

http://traffic.libsyn.com/androidcentral/acpc76.mp3

Thing 1: Latest Galaxy Nexus news

• Galaxy Nexus hits Europe Nov. 17, elsewhere thereafter
• Verizon's exclusive Galaxy Nexus exclusive no more?
• No, the Galaxy Nexus doesn't have Gorilla Glass, and, no, that doesn't mean the phone sucks
• Regarding the pre-emptive PenTile Galaxy Nexus bashing
• Poll: Do you still incorrectly believe that megapixels are everything?

Thing 2: An awesome app, and in-app purchasing

• Android Quick App: Wind-up Knight

Thing 3: Odds and ends

• Motorola Droid 4 surfaces ... wait, already?
• T-Mobile Amaze 4G review
• Yes, the ThunderBolt Gingerbread update is pushing out now
• Amazon building 'millions more' Kindle Fires than planned, thanks to pre-orders
• Motorola, on Twitter, says RAZR, Bionic and Xoom will get Ice Cream Sandwich within 6 weeks of code drop (Update: Or not)
• Official Ice Cream Sandwich for the Nexus One won't happen, Google says
• Sprint OTA update for all current HTC Android phones now available, fixes data storage privacy issue

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/vt7Rt_SKjB0/android-central-podcast-ep-76

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iPod Creator Turns to Building a Better Thermostat (The Atlantic Wire)

Like the boxy mp3-players everybody hated a decade ago, the digital thermostat has long been low-hanging fruit in terms of redesign potential. Tony Fadell, the former Apple senior vice president in charge of the iPod and iPhone division, decided to snatch that fruit with the launch of his new learning thermostat, Nest. It looks and works, unsurprisingly, kind of like an iPod with a click wheel-like ring that serves as the main controller. Inside, smartphone-like guts power a set of algorithms that learn about your preferences, optimizing your home's heating and cooling performance to save energy (and the environment, Fadell hopes). You can even communicate with Nest using your smartphone, tablet or laptop as the thermostat is WiFi-equipped.?For now are pretty pricey: they?cost $249 each (plus another $119 to install) and the Nest's website says they'll start shipping on Nov. 14.

Related: Microsoft's Zune Is Dead; Let's Relive Its Finest Moment

Upon his departure from Apple, The New York Times called Fadell "the Godfather of the iPod," and he's clearly trying to repeat his success taking a clunky, almost unusable device and making the public lust after the new version. "We wanted to make it a cherished object in the home," Fadell told TechCrunch's Sarah Lacy in an interview, "Something you'd be proud to put on your wall."

Related: What Techno Goodies to Expect from Steve Jobs Today

The redesign has a similarly nostalgic element to it. The design of the original iPod--largely, the product of Apple's industrial design guru, Jonathan Ive--actually borrows many basic conventions from the Braun T3 pocket radio from the 1960s. (Ive fairly famously borrowed many of his design ideas from Braun's legendary industrial designer, Dieter Rams.) The failed mp3 design in between show how welcome the return to basics was.?

Related: The iPod Is About to Die

??

Related: Microsoft Zune, Second-Rate MP3 Player, Dies at Age 4

Fadell's thermostat redesign goes through a similar pattern. The once iconic Honeywell round and simple??thermostat design has been replaced by a clunky, button-heavy design that Fadell throws out the window with the Nest. Like Ives did with the iPod under his management, Fadell goes back to basics.

Related: Steve Jobs Cuffs Swiss Apple Fanboy

??

Check out Nest in action:

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/atlantic/20111025/tc_atlantic/ipodcreatorturnsbuildingbetterthermostat44087

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HBT: Cards blow several chances

Though they likely owe an assist to Tony La Russa, the Rangers are now just one win away from winning their first ever World Series title.

The Rangers defeated the Cardinals 4-2 on Monday night in Arlington and now hold a 3-2 lead in the series going into Game 6 on Wednesday night in St. Louis. Mike Napoli was the offensive star for the second straight day, delivering an opposite field two-run double off left-hander Marc Rzepczynski in the bottom of the eighth to put the Rangers in front.

C.J. Wilson danced in and out of trouble over his 5 1/3 innings of work, allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits, five walks and a wild pitch. The Cardinals had plenty of opportunities on offense, but went just 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left a total of 12 men on base. They also gave away three outs via sacrifice bunts, which resulted in zero runs crossing the plate. Scott Feldman, Alexi Ogando, Darren Oliver and Neftali Feliz combined for 3 2/3 shutout innings in relief of Wilson.

While the Rangers walked away with the victory, this game will likely be remembered for some real head-scratchers on the part of La Russa, some of which he chalked up to miscommunication in his post-game press conference.

Allen Craig was gunned down twice at second base with Albert Pujols at the plate while?Rzepczynski was strangely left in the ballgame to face Napoli, who has a .955 career OPS against southpaws. La Russa said in the postgame that he actually wanted right-hander Jason Motte to face the right-handed hitting Napoli, but that he wasn?t able to communicate that information to his bullpen. Whether that?s true or not really doesn?t matter at this point, because leaving Rzepczynski in resulted in the decisive play of the ballgame.

With their backs against the wall, the Cardinals will send Jaime Garcia to the mound against Colby Lewis on Wednesday night as they attempt to force a Game 7.

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/10/25/rangers-top-cardinals-4-2-in-game-5-move-within-one-win-of-first-ever-world-series-title/related/

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Cult of LEGO Book Review

Even though I’m a big fan of eBooks, I still love browsing through honest to goodness physical books. I find that there are some types of books that I prefer to be of the dead tree variety. One of these types is the large format, picture rich, coffee table book. I have a great example [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2011/10/24/cult-of-lego-book-review/

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Tunisia Islamists: No dress code for foreign tourists

TUNIS?? The Islamist Ennahda party, which has won Tunisia's first free election, said on Wednesday it would not impose restrictions on how foreign tourists dress on beaches and would not impose Islamic banking rules, according to state media.

"The tourism sector is among the achievements which we cannot touch. Is it logical to handicap a strategic sector like tourism by forbidding wine or wearing bathing costumes? These are personal liberties for Tunisians and foreigners as well," the official TAP news agency quoted Ennahda secretary general Hamadi Jbeli as saying.

"We will not make Islamic banks universal. We are not going to abolish the banking system that exists," he said.

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45045689/ns/travel-news/

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Flaming Lips to give musical tribute to Steve Jobs

NEW YORK (AP) ? Steve Jobs helped transform the way music is consumed, and now he's getting a musical tribute.

Rockers the Flaming Lips will honor the late Apple co-founder by performing a cover of the Beatles' "Revolution" at the O Music Awards 2 on Oct. 31. The performance will be recorded with an iPad and broadcast on OMusicAwards.com, MTV announced Tuesday.

Electronic-dance singer Robyn will headline the award show, which will take place in Los Angeles. The special "celebrates the artists, innovators and fans impacting digital music culture."

Other performers and presenters include Kelly Clarkson, Demi Lovato, Travie McCoy and Tyler, the Creator.

Jobs died at age 56 on Oct. 5 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

____

Online:

http://www.omusicawards.com

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2011-10-25-Music-Steve%20Jobs%20Tribute/id-cf3ef61a2c884e71bac794a8f2d5d945

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NASA to launch new Earth-observing satellite (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? After a five-year delay, an Earth-observing satellite will be launched to test new technologies aimed at improving weather forecasts and monitoring climate change.

The $1.5 billion NASA mission comes in a year of weather extremes from the Midwest tornado outbreak to the Southwest wildfires to hurricane-caused flooding in New England.

"We've already had 10 separate weather events, each inflicting at least $1 billion in damages," said Louis Uccellini of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The satellite will lift off before dawn Friday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., aboard a Delta 2 rocket that will boost it into an orbit some 500 miles high.

The space agency already has a fleet of satellites circling the Earth, taking measurements of the atmosphere, clouds and oceans. But many are aging and need replacement.

The latest ? about the size of a small school bus ? is more sophisticated. It carries five instruments to collect environmental data, including four that never before have been flown into space.

One of the satellite's main jobs is to test key technologies that will be used by next-generation satellites set to launch in a few years.

NOAA meteorologists plan to feed the observations into their weather models to better anticipate and track hurricanes, tornadoes and other extreme weather.

The information will "help us understand what tomorrow will bring," whether it's the next-day forecast or long-term climate change, said Andrew Carson, the mission's program executive at NASA headquarters.

The satellite is part of a bigger program with a troubled history. Originally envisioned as a joint civil-military weather satellite project, ballooning costs and schedule delays caused the White House last year to dissolve the partnership.

Under the restructuring, the Defense Department is building its own military satellites while NASA is developing a new generation of research satellites for NOAA. Friday's launch is considered the first step toward that goal.

For the launch, NASA invited 20 of its Twitter followers to Vandenberg, where they will receive front-row seats to view the liftoff.

Once in orbit, the satellite, built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colo., will spend the next five years circling the Earth from pole to pole about a dozen times a day. Data will be transmitted to a ground station in Norway and routed to the United States via fiber optic cable.

___

Online:

Mission details: http://www.nasa.gov/npp

___

Follow Alicia Chang's coverage at http://twitter.com/SciWriAlicia

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weather/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111024/ap_on_sc/us_sci_earth_satellite

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Climate known: Greenhouse gases are warming the planet

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[OOC] Broken academy: Season 1

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Bieber rents out theater for date with Gomez

"Real Steel," real love!

Justin Bieber made yet another grand, cinematic gesture for love Selena Gomez in his native Canada's Winnipeg, Manitoba on Thursday evening ? renting out an entire movie theater at SilverCity Polo Park Cinemas, a source confirms to Us Weekly.

PHOTOS: Justin and Selena's PDA-packed vacation

Bieber, 17, and Gomez, 19, enjoyed a private screening of Hugh Jackman's hit "Real Steel," and had pizzas delivered for snacking during the flick. "They made sure to keep peverything really under wraps and private," the source says. "He was really polite and they both thanked everyone before they left."

1. More Entertainment stories
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      Sometimes, it's hard to agree with the judges when they score the celebrities on their footwork. Now you can rate the stars' performances too.

   2. Brawl-room battle! It's Maks vs. Len on 'DWTS'
   3. 5 stunts 'X Factor' should try for better ratings
   4. 'SNL' star Hammond used booze, crack to cope
   5. 'Jurassic Park' has one of scariest scenes ever

PHOTOS: Selena's grown-up style evolution

Two nights later, the teen lovebirds were spotted again in Winnipeg ? making out in a private suite during a hockey match at the MTS Centre Saturday night.

PHOTOS: How Justin stays fit

Just a month ago, Bieber pulled out the stops for Gomez at the Staples Center in Los Angeles ? renting out the entire stadium for a private screening of "Titanic" and a private, candle-lit dinner on the arena floor.

"Romance isn't dead," Bieber Tweeted that night. "Treat your lady right fellas."

Are Bieber's dating gestures romantic, or overdone? Tell us on Facebook.

Copyright 2011 Us Weekly

Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45019012/ns/today-entertainment/

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Grenade attack at Nairobi bar wounds 13 (Reuters)

NAIROBI (Reuters) ? A grenade exploded in a Nairobi bar on Monday wounding 13 people, two days after Kenya's U.S. embassy warned of an imminent attack there as the east African nation fights Islamist militants in neighboring Somalia.

Kenyan Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere said there was no firm evidence yet to link the attack to Somalia's al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab rebels and senior officials from the group declined to comment.

Al Shabaab had threatened major reprisals if Kenyan troops did not leave the anarchic Horn of Africa nation and have launched large-scale attacks in the past in Somalia and Uganda, for which they have quickly claimed responsibility.

Nairobi blames al Shabaab for a wave of kidnappings of foreigners on Kenyan soil that have threatened the country's multi-million dollar tourism industry. The group has denied responsibility for the kidnappings, saying Nairobi is using them as a pretext for its military campaign.

Kenyan troops have advanced on several fronts in southern Somalia over the past week and are nearing the strategic transit town of Afmadow, where rebels have regrouped and reinforced their defenses.

Somali government officials and residents said Kenyan and Somali troops seized the town of Busaar about 40 km (25 miles) from border town El Wak on Monday. They said the rebels fled after a brief exchange of fire.

"We have peacefully seized Busaar town from al Shabaab and we are going to advance deeper into Gedo region. Kenyan troops are helping us," Colonel Mohamud Ali, a senior Somali government official, told Reuters by phone from Busaar.

France also denied on Monday reports that its navy had been involved in any bombardment on Saturday of the Somali town of Kuday, near the port city and al Shabaab stronghold of Kismayu. It said there were no French warships in the vicinity.

BLOOD AND BEER BOTTLES

The attack on the bar in Kenya's capital Nairobi came two days after the U.S. embassy warned of an imminent threat of reprisal attacks on places where foreigners are known to congregate, such as shopping malls and night clubs.

The bar, however, was small, run down and in an area where foreigners and well-off Kenyans rarely go drinking.

Witnesses said a man knocked on the door of Mwaura's bar early on Monday morning, hurled in the grenade and ran away.

"I heard an explosion, there was darkness and I thought the electricity had gone out but when I touched my face, there was blood," Lawrence Kioko told Reuters.

"The person who lobbed the grenade was not seen by anyone," Iteere told a media conference, adding that the device was Russian made and similar to one that killed two people in a bus station attack in Nairobi in December.

Reuters footage showed blood and beer bottles splattered on the ground of Mwaura's bar, which is frequented by laborers attracted by its cheap beer and spirits.

Blood stained a sink and overturned seats and debris littered the floor. Police cordoned off the area as an officer examined damage on the walls from the force of the explosion.

"There was a lot of blood, injuries, people were screaming, others confused, generally it was chaotic. It was a chaotic situation," bar owner Charles Mwaura told Reuters.

Simon Githai, communications manager at Kenyatta National Hospital, said 13 patients were brought in, nine had been discharged and two more were likely to be sent home soon.

"We are seeing ourselves admitting only two patients," he told Reuters.

Iteere said the police force had taken steps to boost security around potential targets within Kenya.

"We have heightened physical security on most of our vital installations, buildings, other social places like shopping malls, bridges, our fuel and petrol storage tanks," he said. "The police are not that many but our presence must be seen."

He also said police had found a number of AK-47 rifles in a weekend sweep of the Dadaab refugee camp in northern Kenya, home to more than 400,000 Somalis who have fled violence and famine at home.

SOMALI GOVT NOT PLEASED

Kenya is the latest of Somalia's neighbors to intervene militarily in a country that has not had an effective government for the last 20 years and where al Shabaab's presence has had serious security repercussions on the region.

Kenya has in the past initiated brief cross-border incursions but the latest operation is on a much larger scale, raising fears the country may be dragged into its neighbor's two-decade civil war.

While Somali government officials had said the two countries were cooperating in the fight against al Shabaab, President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed was more circumspect about the Kenya incursion on Monday.

"The Somali government and its people will not be pleased with Kenya's intervention," Sharif told reporters while visiting the front-line in Mogadishu. "We had not agreed with Kenya beyond helping us with logistics."

The Islamist militants have proven capable of launching large-scale suicide attacks within Somalia and outside and have warned they would bring the "flames of war" into Kenya.

This month, a suicide truck bombing claimed by the rebels killed more than 70 people when it exploded outside a compound housing government ministries in Somalia's capital Mogadishu.

The militants also claimed responsibility for a bomb attack in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, which killed 79 people watching the soccer World Cup final last year.

That strike, the militants' first on foreign soil, was in revenge for Uganda's contribution to the 9,000-strong AU peacekeeping force which is supporting Somalia's Western-backed government troops in removing the rebels from Mogadishu.

Nairobi is home to a large Somali community and last week security forces arrested and charged two doctors with being al Shabaab members. The militants said three of their clerics had been arrested in Kenya, one of whom is on a U.N. sanctions list, for recruiting new members and soliciting.

Al Qaeda struck east Africa in 1998, killing hundreds of people, mostly Africans, in suicide bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

(Additional reporting by Noor Khamis and Fouad Khoeis in Nairobi, Abdirahman Hussein, Abdi Sheikh and Sahra Abdi in Mogadishu; Editing by David Clarke and Louise Ireland)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111024/wl_nm/us_kenya_somalia_grenade

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