torsdag 17. mars 2011

Wrigley Field press box damaged by storm


CHICAGO Wrigley Field has been damaged by a severe storm that caused tiles to fall from the top of the press box at the 97-year-old ballpark.

Emergency Management spokesman Roderick Drew says high winds from the snowstorm battering Chicago on Tuesday night sent the tiles flying. Two streets near the Chicago Cubs' famous stadium were closed to cars and pedestrians.

Drew says Clark Street between Grace and Roscoe streets and Addison Street between Sheffield and Racine avenues were closed until further notice.

Drew says high winds were keeping maintenance crews from repairing the tiles. He says crews from the city's building department were also on the site monitoring the situation.

Barnes' 3 gives No. 13 UNC win at Florida State


TALLAHASSEE, Fla. Freshman Harrison Barnes' 3-pointer from the top of the key with 3 seconds to play gave No. 13 North Carolina a 72-70 victory at Florida State on Wednesday night.


John Henson had 19 points and 12 rebounds and Barnes added 18 points for the Tar Heels (23-6, 13-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), who won their sixth straight game overall and their fifth in a row on Florida State's court.


North Carolina took the lead midway through the second half and was up 67-60 on Kendall Marshall's 3-pointer with 3:59 left. Florida State rallied to take a 70-69 lead with 18 seconds left on two free throws by Derwin Kitchen, who led the Seminoles (20-9, 10-5) with 13 points.


Florida State turned the ball over before getting off a final shot after Barnes' game-winner.


The Tar Heels can clinch the top seed in next week's ACC tournament win a win over No. 4 Duke on Saturday.


Leslie McDonald added 10 points for North Carolina, including two 3-pointers 43 seconds apart that gave the Tar Heels a 49-44 lead with 14:18 left.


Michael Snaer added 11 points and Bernard James had 10 for the Seminoles, who were without top scorer Chris Singleton (broken right foot) for the fourth straight game.


Florida State led 38-37 after a first half that saw both teams shoot 16 of 31 from the field and had nine lead changes and nine ties.


Henson, a 6-foot-10 sophomore from Tampa, had a big first half with 12 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots while Florida State answered with strong play from its bench players, who outscored the Tar Heel reserves 20-5.


North Carolina shot 47.3 percent for the game and had a 39-28 rebound advantage.


One of those Seminole backups, freshman Ian Miller, nailed a 3-pointer from the corner midway through the first half that gave Florida State its largest lead of the game at 26-19.


Florida State was attempting to finish a perfect ACC season at home for the first time since coming into the conference for the 1991-92 season.


Barnes had 17 points and 10 rebounds in the Tar Heels' 89-69 home victory over Florida State 24 days ago.

Maryland pulls away to beat Florida State 78-62


COLLEGE PARK, Md. Freshman Terrell Stoglin scored 17 points, and Maryland used a strong second half to beat Florida State 78-62 Wednesday night and severely damage the Seminoles' pursuit of their first Atlantic Coast Conference title.

The Terrapins (18-10, 7-6) had five players score in double figures. Jordan Williams had 11 points and 11 rebounds, Dino Gregory scored 14, Adrian Bowie added 12 and Sean Mosley chipped in 10 in Maryland's eighth straight home win over Florida State.

It was the 21st double-double of the season for Williams, who became the seventh sophomore in ACC history to collect at least 600 rebounds in his career.

Derwin Kitchen scored 16 and Deividas Dulkys had 14 points for the Seminoles (19-8, 9-4). The loss dropped Florida State three games behind first-place Duke with three games to play.

onsdag 16. mars 2011

Smell of death in Ivory Coast, as bodies decompose


ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast A morgue in Ivory Coast no longer has place for the dead. So the more than 50 bodies that were delivered in the past five days are being stacked on the floor.


An Associated Press reporter saw the badly decomposed corpses from the conflict in the suburb of Abobo, laying head-to-toe on tiles slippery with blood.


Citizens began collecting the dead on Tuesday and a hearse brought in another five corpses as a reporter stood nearby on Wednesday.


The standoff between the two men claiming to be president of Ivory Coast already has claimed the lives of hundreds.


The conflict reached a new level last week when the army began using war-like weapons, including mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.

Is it Safe to Kiss Your Pet?







We’vealldoneit,oratleastknowsomeonewhohas.Animalloverswhokisstheirpets—mouthtomouth.“Kisses”frommans’bestfriendorafelinecompanionmayseemlovingandirresistible,butisitsafe?



Therearemanymythssurroundingpetsmooches.Somebelieveadog’smouthiscleanerthanahumanmouth,othersthinktheirdogorcat’smouthisadisinfectantandhasnogermsatall—which,consideringhowpetscleanthemselves,canprobablybeconsidereduntruerightofftheback.



WeaskedDr.PaulMaza,co-directorofthehealthcenterattheCollegeofVeterinaryMedicineatCornellUniversity,howcloseistooclosewhenitcomestoyourpet?



“Manyofthedifferenttypesofbacteriaindogsandcatsarethesametypeofbacteriaasinhumans.Atanygivenpointintimetheyareprobablynotanydirtierthanours,”Mazasaid.

Infact,Mazasaidifownerspracticeoralhygieneontheirpets,likewithbrushingtheirteeth,apet’smouthcanactuallybeevencleanerthanahumanmouth.



“Becausemostofthebacteriaandvirusesinadog’smoutharethesameasinaperson’smouth,itissafetokissadog,justlikeaperson.Youcanprobablycatchmorefromkissingahumanthanadogorcat,”hesaid.



AccordingtotheHumaneSociety,thereareapproximately77.5millionowneddogsintheUnitedStatesand93.6millionownedcats.



Althoughveryunlikely,therearerareinstancesinwhichzoonoticdiseases,ordiseasesthataretransmittedbetweenanimalsandhumans,canoccur.



Mazasaiddiseasetransmissionisveryrareincatsandevenmorerareindogs.



“Catsmayhavebartonella,orcatscratchfever,thatcancausediseaseinpeople.Taxolpasmosis,orcertainparasitesthathaveeggsinfecalmatter—thetransmissionofparasitescancausediseaseinpeople.Butagain,itdoesn’thappenveryoften,itisunlikely,”hesaid.



Butwehadtoask—whataboutfecalmatterinapet’smouth?Thatistheirwayoftakingashower,afterall.



Mazasaidthatalthoughthegroomingtechniqueofpetscancausefecalbacteriainthemouth,itisoftenswallowedandoutofthemouthquickly.



“Fecalmattercouldbeconsideredcomparabletoanyothernormalbacteria,”hesaid.



Formanypeople,kissingadogorcatmaybelessofasafetyissueandmoreofamysophobiaissue,orfearofgerms.



“Adoglickingababyontheheadorhandisprobablysafe,butsomeliketoavoidgermsatallcosts.Otherssaytherearegermseverywhereanditistoohardtoavoidthemallthetime,”hesaid.



ThosewhoshouldthinkaboutavoidingakissfromFidoincludeanyonewithacompromisedimmunesystemlikethosewithHIVorotherdiseases,aswellastheelderly.



Therearedebatesthatakissfromadogorcatmaybebeneficialfortheimmunesystemofyoungchildren.



“Babiesthatareillshouldn’tbearoundtoomanygerms,butotherssayitisgoodforchildren—itstimulatestheimmunesystemandestablishesearlyimmunity,”Mazasaid.



Asfaraspreventinganypossibleillnessfromkissingapet,Mazarecommends“commonsensehygiene.”



“Manypeoplewilluseglovestocleanlitterboxesandpickupdogpoop,andyoucanevenwashhandsafterpetting.Ifyouwanttopreventbacteriaofthemouth,youcanbrushpetsmouthsanduserinsesjustlikepeopledo,”hesaid.“Don’tallowpetsonkitchencountersandifitcan’tbeavoidedthenwipethemofbeforepreparingfood.”



Overall,Mazasaidthementalhealthbenefitsofkissingyourpetfaroutweightherisksofgettingsick.



“Ikissmydogallthetime,“hesaid.

tirsdag 15. mars 2011

WA police arrest woman in newborn's decapitation


CENTRALIA, Wash. A 25-year-old woman has been arrested for investigation of first-degree murder in the death of a baby boy born prematurely and found decapitated, Centralia police say.

Laura Lynn Hickey was arrested Wednesday after a weeklong investigation, which included a post-mortem examination of the baby by a forensic pathologist.

The pathologist concluded the 21-week baby was alive at birth but "suffered fatal injuries by decapitation," Officer John Panco said Wednesday night.

Police said the body was found March 2 under the kitchen sink in Hickey's trailer home.

Hickey was scheduled to appear Thursday afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court. Panco said he expected she would be formally charged with first-degree murder.

The Lewis County prosecutor's office joined Centralia police in a statement announcing the arrest.

Panco said he did not know whether Hickey was represented by a lawyer.

Paramedics responded to the woman's home just before 1 a.m. on March 2 after neighbors heard her call for help, the statement said. Taken to Centralia Providence Hospital, the woman reportedly told doctors she was having a miscarriage but police said an exam showed she had given birth. Police said the woman then told emergency room staff that the baby was under her kitchen sink.

Officers found the decapitated body.

Panco said he can't say whether the baby would have survived but he was alive at the time of birth.

The woman has three other children but they do not live with her, Panco said, adding Child Protective Services removed them from her care about a year ago.

Police have located the baby's father but Hickey was alone when she gave birth, the officer said.

"Our investigations have determined she is the only one involved," Panco said. In police interviews, "there hasn't been any solid reason from her why this happened."

Hickey said she had picked out baby names and had chosen "Caleb Jacob Hickey" for a boy, Panco said.

Asked about the weeklong delay until the arrest, the officer said, "We had to have the pathologist determine whether the baby was alive at birth or not. That's a big part of what we can charge."

Centralia is about 70 miles south of Seattle.

lørdag 26. februar 2011

Three recommended 'must-read' social business books


I’m going to admit something taboo — I don’t love to read. I know we’re all supposed to say that we do because it makes us appear more worldly and intelligent, but the truth is if I am not working the last thing I usually want to do is spend more time processing content. And when I do read it’s generally vapid “chick lit” or even the “Twilight” series I consumed in four days the week of Thanksgiving. Escapism stuff.

With the introduction of three social business books into my life, my mind has started to change. I find myself having read or reading two of these as voraciously as I read vampire romance. I also find myself anticipating the arrival of a third as excitedly as I would anticipate a Jennifer Crusie novel. But let’s face it, it’s hard to swing a stick without hitting someone who has written a social media book these days. However, I would recommend the three below-mentioned books for your own personal education or for marketing or public relations agencies who want to provide valuable holiday gifts to their clients.

Consumed

“Twitter Means Business” by Julio Ojeda-Zapata. This is a special one for me since Julio kindly asked me to write the foreword (in which I explain, geekily enough, how Twitter changed my life). Before you say, “Of course you’ll recommend that one, you wrote the foreword!” Stop. I wrote the foreward after being given a chance to review the copy and I found myself fully engrossed and receiving great education. Ojeda-Zapata does a nice job of explaining the value of using Twitter, the perils of ignoring Twitter, and helps companies determine whether or not they are ready for microblogging. The most valuable offering in the book? Case studies with measured results.

Mid-Consumption

“SocialCorp - Social Media Goes Corporate” by Joel Postman. Funny enough to admit, I actually got a copy of this book as a prize when I co-won a karaoke contest last week at a Silicon Valley tweet-up event. My horrible singing aside, the book is well worth the humiliation– and I likely would’ve purchased it anyway. I’m about three-quarters of the way through the book and I am having trouble putting it down. Postman sees social media for what it is — a complementing strategy for companies to help them achieve their already established business objectives. He writes about specific considerations that both private and public companies should make before introducing social media programs. And he understands the risks. He also included one of the most comprehensive social media glossaries I’ve ever seen. I can’t wait to finish it.

Hungry for Consumption

“Personality Not Included” by Rohit Bhargava. I haven’t read this one yet, at least not in its entirety. I actually ordered it from Amazon.com this morning but only after what seemed like the 100th person I know recommended it. I did some poking around and read a few excerpts, all of which were impressive. I can’t say too much yet not having read it myself, however I love Bhargava’s approach. He’s cutting through the social media “tools” noise and focusing on the most important aspect for companies — authenticity. There’s a bang-up foreword from Guy Kawasaki, to boot.

Who is on your social business reading list?

Some prepare for Copenhagen climate meeting


Here in the U.S. most folks don’t even know where Denmark is. Hint, it’s just a little east of Kennebunkport.

But elsewhere the positioning before the December climate talks in Copenhagen has begun. In Britian, for example, all three major political parties actually admit there’s global warming. They differ on approach and rapidly blame one another for inaction. But Britain has already built tidal gates to prevent worse flooding of their capital city. And they’re an island, nervous about rising sea levels.

Today the Labor Prime Minister of Britain, Gordon Brown, said there are only fifty days left to save the planet from disaster. That’s how long before the world’s political leaders gather in Copenhagen to deal with global warming, or not. The right-wing press immediately attacked Brown as a bigger scare-monger than Al Gore.Now there’s been some indication that President Obama might appear at the Copenhagen talks, if the situation looks promising for a global deal. Losing both the Chicago Olympics and the Copenhagen Protocol in one year would be too humiliating.

The U.S. and China, world leaders in CO2 emissions, famously refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol which expires after next year. I see no reason to expect anything different after the Copenhagen meeting. Even if Obama does show up. Can you really imagine a U.S. Senate agreeing to any global treaty that might cost Exxon and Chevron some profits? Reduce coal burning in the U.S.? Curtail use of air conditioning? Raise the federal gasoline tax? Hardly. All those things and more would be needed to seriously reduce greenhouse gas emissions in America. We couldn’t even be bothered to build good levees around New Orleans. We are certainly not politically brave enough to deal with a mega crisis at this point in our history. Somebody would be sure to lose some money on the deal.

fredag 25. februar 2011

Eta ceasefire: Spain talks tough with weakening separatists

Eta announcement on Spanish television

Eta's announcement was broadcast on Spanish national television
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A day after Eta declared a "permanent" and "verifiable" ceasefire, the Spanish government has demonstrated that its own policy towards the militant Basque separatists has not changed.

The interior ministry announced the detention of two suspected Eta members in a joint operation between Spanish and French security forces, claiming an "important blow to Eta and its technical capacity".

Iraitz Gesalaga - who is suspected of developing computer encryption programmes for Eta - was detained in the early hours of Tuesday in the Basque region of southern France. His girlfriend, Itxaso Urtiaga, was arrested simultaneously by Spanish police across the border.

The ministry says there could be more arrests to come.

It is operations like this that have allowed the government to dismiss Eta's statement as insufficient.

Continue reading the main story

Start Quote

There are people in prison who spent 30 years fighting, and they don't want today's Eta leaders to hand over their weapons for nothing”

End Quote
Luis de la Calle
Eta analyst

The last targeted killing by Eta was in July 2009, and in the absence of violence an opinion poll by the CIS research centre shows only 6% of Spaniards now see the group as one of Spain's main problems - 78% cite unemployment as the chief concern.

For once, the government feels it has the upper hand.

Once a safe-haven for Eta members on the run, France is now the scene of regular joint police operations.

Figures show that 113 Eta suspects were detained in 2010, 22 of them in France.

Several men described by Spain as senior military commanders of Eta have been arrested. Experts say most members left on the ground are now young and inexperienced, and easier to capture.

So when Eta made its statement on Monday, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero warned that his government would not "lower its guard or "permit any tricks".

Spain's main opposition party, the PP, found Eta's move so meaningless it repeated a statement from 2006 in response - the last time the militants declared a "permanent" ceasefire. Nine months later a bomb at Madrid airport killed two people.

The socialist government's decision to hold peace talks with Eta in 2006 was controversial.

Its failure was a humiliation and it has taken a hard-line in its approach to the issue ever since. That is not about to change. There are local and regional elections this year and the governing party - PSOE - is tumbling down the opinion polls. It cannot afford any risky moves.

Video statement

The "trick truce" of 2006 is at the forefront of most Spaniards' minds today when they consider Eta's latest announcement.

"(ETA) is only stopping to see how the state behaves. If the state does not behave well, they will return to arms - which they are not handing over now, and have not even announced they will hand over," writes wJuan Cruz in the Spanish daily El Pais.

Like many, he points to the way Eta delivered this statement as further proof nothing has changed: a video statement by militants in all-covering white hoods, defiant fists raised for Basque independence.

French police seize items from house of Eta suspect in n Ciboure, south-west France. 11 Jan 2011

French police have raided the homes of suspected Eta activists in south-west France

Most commentators agree that the reason for Eta's decision is politics.

Banned by the courts, the militants' political wing has seen nationalist parties opposed to violence fill its space on the political scene. With local elections now looming, Batasuna urgently wants back in the game. For that the government insists it must renounce violence and cut its ties with Eta, or Eta itself has to cease to exist.

Following on from a statement in September this looks like progress towards peace, in tiny steps. A "farewell in instalments," El Pais calls it, but with multiple possible obstacles on the way.

"Since the start of the process, Eta has made small concessions to test reaction," Madrid based Eta-expert Luis de la Calle explains. He sees Batasuna, not Eta, as the driving force for the separatists now.

"The problem is the divisions in Eta. There are people in prison who spent 30 years fighting, and they don't want today's Eta leaders to hand over their weapons for nothing. That would be defeat, it would almost be treason."

Eta's latest statement is far from the unconditional surrender demanded by the government. It also maintains the objective of "territoriality" - an independent Basque state that incorporates part of southern France and the Spanish province of Navarra.

But unlike the "end to armed offensive attacks" announced in September, this time Eta has declared a "general" ceasefire. That should include theft and extortion as well as "kale borroka" - street fighting. It has also called for international "verification" of the process.

"I can't deny that Batasuna is making an effort," Spain's interior minister, Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, said in a TV interview, accepting that the political wing is putting pressure on Eta.

"But it must do the maximum to break with Eta or to convince Eta to drop everything. If not it will not be represented in any institutions, believe me," he warned.

So Batasuna may now be pushing for a third, more forceful statement from Eta. It may try to rally mass crowds, urging a politically weak Basque government to seize a "historic opportunity" for peace. But it may well fail.

The real test of the "permanence" of this ceasefire could then come in May, if Batasuna remains barred from the elections.



Queen writer Peter Morgan contemplates the afterlife

Peter Morgan (r) with Clint Eastwood (l) and Matt Damon

Hereafter sees Morgan (right) working with Clint Eastwood (left) and Matt Damon
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The writer of Frost/Nixon, The Queen and The Last King of Scotland reveals how he came to work with Clint Eastwood and Matt Damon on supernatural drama Hereafter.

On the day I am due to interview the British screenwriter Peter Morgan, the eyes of the world are turned to Zurich to find out which countries will be selected by Fifa to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

As we all now know, England's bid to host the former tournament was doomed to failure - a situation one might imagine would appeal to this award-winning author.

Morgan, after all, is a man who - in such films as The Deal, The Queen, Frost/Nixon and The Last King of Scotland - has shown an affinity for turning the likes of Tony Blair, David Frost, Richard Nixon and Idi Amin into compelling protagonists.

He is no stranger to the beautiful game either, having brought football manager Brian Clough back to life in 2009 film The Damned United.

Perhaps surprisingly, though, the challenge of dramatising this national humiliation is not one the 47-year-old Oscar nominee is prepared to tackle.

"There are too many real-life figures there in one room," he laughs. "David Beckham talking to Prince William is enough to turn me pale.

"That's not dialogue I could write, though I would love to eavesdrop."

In any case, Morgan is keen to show he has more to offer than reality-inspired dramas about the great and good.

'Preposterous'

"I understand why someone would think that," he tells the BBC News website. "But to always be writing historical or fact-based drama would drive me nuts."

In this respect new release Hereafter represents something of a departure, focusing as it does on three people who find themselves contemplating mortality and the possibility of something beyond it.

Matt Damon in Hereafter

Damon plays George, a psychic tormented by his clairvoyant abilities

Directed by Clint Eastwood, the film stars Matt Damon as a reluctant psychic whose life intersects with those of a French tsunami survivor and a London schoolboy mourning his late twin brother.

Morgan says "nothing could have been further" from his mind than the notion that the veteran director of Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby might champion his speculative script.

"The idea this would end up with Clint Eastwood and Matt Damon was just preposterous," he admits, saluting the former for his "modesty, honesty and integrity".

Nor did he expect the 80-year-old film-maker would choose to make the script as written, without requesting revisions or embellishments as per the Hollywood norm.

"I kept saying, 'Please can we change a few words? Can't we work on it a bit?' And he said, 'No - I want to shoot it just as it is.'"

'Random and sudden'

The characters played by Damon, Belgian actress Cecile de France and British twins George and Frankie McLaren may be fictional constructs.

Yet the world they live in is very real, rocked as it is by natural disasters, fatal accidents and multiple terrorist bomb blasts on the London Underground.

The latter plot point might strike some as insensitive, particularly given Hereafter's UK release coincides with the ongoing inquest into the deaths of the 52 people killed in the 7/7 bombings of 2005.

Peter Morgan with Michael Sheen (r)

Morgan has worked with actor Michael Sheen (left) on five films to date

Yet Morgan says his intention was not to "exploit" those events, but to reflect a world in which "the threat of death is ever present".

"We are living at a time where attacks are random and sudden and have no boundaries and explanation," he says.

"I wanted to write something that meant I could come to grips with the fact death was something I had to live with on a daily basis."

Morgan's current project is a biopic of the late Queen singer Freddie Mercury, a script he was asked to write by the film's putative star Sacha Baron Cohen.

The father of four admits "it took a couple of years to find a way into the story," which will focus on the period leading up to Mercury's seminal contribution to the 1985 Live Aid concert.

"I'm just mixing it up I suppose," he says of a successful career that has taken him from Queen Elizabeth II to a different kind of Queen altogether.

And with that he is gone - just as Fifa president Sepp Blatter begins to open a rather significant envelope.

Hereafter is out in the UK on 28 January.



Newspaper review: Papers embrace Mubarak resignation

Papers

"Egypt's new dawn" is how the Guardian describes Hosni Mubarak's decision to resign after 18 days of protests.

The Daily Telegraph says Cairo resounded to chants of "the dictator has fallen".

The Independent shows fireworks over the city's Tahrir Square.

Correspondent Robert Fisk says "it was as if every man and woman had just got married, as if joy could smother the decades of dictatorship and pain and repression and humiliation and blood".

'History unfolds'

A female protester weeping with joy in Egypt is the front page picture in the Daily Mail.

"History unfolds" is the headline in the Times. It suggests the toppling of Egypt's 30-year regime is "this generation's Berlin Wall moment".

The Financial Times recounts how Hosni Mubarak was swept from power by an "overwhelming wave of popular protest".

One leading member of the youth revolution tells the paper: "Egypt will be heaven in 10 years".

Shaken not stirred

The Sun has a story about a new opportunity to serve those who serve their country at MI6.

It suggests "Britain's James Bonds have posted an online ad for a butler to serve up their vodka martinis".

The paper says applicants for the position of hospitality steward are urged to maintain the utmost secrecy when submitting their CVs.

The Foreign Office insists the role is essential in an organisation that has numerous VIP visitors.

Taking the biscuit

The Archers' very own VIP visitor has caused controversy in what the Daily Telegraph is calling Biscuitgate.

It reports that dozens of listeners accused the show of product placement.

One of the characters seemed to be promoting Duchy Originals shortbread while talking about a visit to Ambridge by the Duchess of Cornwall.

A BBC spokesman tells the paper the reference was editorially justified and set the tone for the Duchess's cameo appearance on Wednesday.