Julianne Hough Misses 'Dancing With the Stars'

Julianne Hough is in New York this week to perform classic songs from "The Wizard of Oz" with Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson at Rumsey Playfield in Central Park on Tuesday night. (You can catch the JHud/Julianne version of "The Wizard of Oz" for free After the two women met for rehearsal yesterday, FOX411 sat down to talk about Julianne’s return to "Dancing With the Stars" this season, her predicted winner, and updates on her "Footloose" remake with Chace Crawford. "I want to come back and dance on the show!" Julianne tells FOX411. "My brother, Derek, and Mark Ballas are going to sing with their Ballas Hough Band and I want to come back and dance while they rock out. I’m working on hooking that up. When I performed my single on 'DWTS,' they danced for me. Now it’s my turn!" Hough says its hard being on the sidelines this season, to a point. "I am competitive and I do miss 'DWTS.' It’s nice to relax a little and watch everyone else. I don’t have to stress out every five seconds to see if my partner’s doing okay! That’s very nice for the time being!" She does of course have a favorite. "I hope my brother with partner Joanna Krupa are the front runners this season! I haven’t had a chance to watch a full episode, but I get online and watch the dance numbers. My early prediction is that Mya, Donny Osmond, Melissa Joan Hart, Joanna and Aaron Carter all have a great chance to make it to the semi-finals and finals." Julianne makes sure keeps her winning partners, Helio Castroneves and Apolo Ohno, on her speed dial. "I still stay in touch with Apolo Ohno a lot," she says. "We text message and I always offer him tickets to my shows. When I was in Seattle, where his dad is from, I texted to see if he could come to the show, but he was in Beijing. He’s super focused on training for the Olympics in 2010." "I also try to keep up with Helio Castroneves," she adds. "I talk to Apolo the most, but I also follow Helio on Twitter and he Tweets in Portuguese too much. I never understand what he’s saying but he texts me all the time and always cracks me up." Once the blonde country star finishes touring the country, she will begin wardrobe fittings and rehearsals for "Footloose" with co-star Chace Crawford from "Gossip Girl." "Chace and I are really in pre-pre-production for 'Footloose.' We don’t start until next year in March, but I have met up with him a few times and we’ve done a couple of things together – I’m excited! It is going to be true to this era and time with interesting flares of the original.

source: foxnews.com

2 U.S. Soldiers Killed by Land Mine in Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — Two U.S. Navy construction troops and a Philippines marine were killed Tuesday in a roadside blast in the southern Philippines that officials said was likely an attack by suspected Al Qaeda-linked militants. It was believed to be just the second time U.S. soldiers have been killed in the southern Philippines in violence blamed on the Abu Sayyaf group since American counterterrorism troops were deployed to the region in 2002, and the first fatalities in seven years. One Philippine marine also was killed and two others were wounded in the blast on Jolo island, a poor, predominantly Muslim region where the Americans have been providing combat training and weapons to Filipino troops battling the Abu Sayyaf. Philippine officials described the blast as being caused by a land mine, a description normally used for military-grade weapons. The U.S. Embassy said it was an improvised explosive device. Military spokesman Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner said a Philippine military convoy joined by U.S. troops was on its way to Kagay village in Jolo's Indanan township where troops were building two school buildings and digging artesian wells when the land mine exploded. One U.S. soldier died at the scene, while another who was critically wounded in the blast died a short time later, Brawner told The Associated Press. They were from the Naval Construction Battalions, or Seabees, which gather skilled craftsmen like electricians and carpenters into special military units. "They were not in combat," Brawner said. "These U.S. soldiers were there in the area to supervise the developmental projects in Indanan." In a statement, the U.S. Embassy said the deaths happened when the soldiers' vehicle struck an improvised explosive device at about 8:45 a.m. during a resupply mission for the school construction project. The troops were not identified pending notification of next of kin. The Philippine government offered its condolences to the families of the slain soldiers and praised them for helping undertake civic projects and secure peace on Jolo, about 590 miles south of Manila, the capital. Brawner said no suspects were immediately identified, but suspicion immediately fell on the well-armed Abu Sayyaf, which is blamed for numerous bombings, beheadings and kidnappings of Filipinos and foreigners in the south in recent years. Maj. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino, a military commander overseeing counterterrorism campaigns in the south, told The Associated Press that Abu Sayyaf had likely planted the explosive in Indanan, where the militants have jungle strongholds. The U.S. Seabees were immediately pulled back from the school project in Indanan after the attack, Dolorfino said. He said U.S troops have long been targets for militants in the south, and Tuesday's blast would not likely cause any change in Washington's resolve to keep troops there. Two weeks ago, a suspected Abu Sayyaf militant or sympathizer hurled a grenade near U.S. troops unloading supplies at Jolo's pier. The Americans were not hurt, he said. Abu Sayyaf attempts to sabotage U.S. projects indicated the militants were wary of losing community support, he said. "They know that once education sets in, the villagers will be well-informed and hard to fool and to recruit," Dolorfino said. Abu Sayyaf is believed to have about 400 fighters, to have received funds from Al Qaeda and is suspected of sheltering militants from the larger Southeast Asian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah. An estimated 600 U.S. troops are currently stationed in the Philippines, mostly in the southern front lines of the Philippine military's operations against the Abu Sayyaf group and Jemaah Islamiyah. In October 2002, a U.S. Green Beret was killed along with two Filipinos when a bomb loaded with nails exploded outside a cafe in Zamboanga city.
Source: foxnew.com

Terror Suspect Zazi Pleads Not Guilty to Conspiracy Charges

NEW YORK — The Afghan immigrant suspected of planning to turn common beauty chemicals into weapons of mass destruction and use them to blow up trains in New York City pleaded not guilty to the alleged terrorism plot on Tuesday. Najibullah Zazi, 24, had help from at least three accomplices whose whereabouts and level of involvement haven't been revealed, prosecutors say. "The conspiracy here is international in scope," Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Knox told a federal judge in the city's Brooklyn borough.The bearded Zazi wore a blue jail smock without handcuffs, never spoke and showed no emotion as his lawyer entered the plea in a packed federal courtroom in Brooklyn. He had no family present at the proceedings. He was ordered held without bail; his next appearance is Dec. 3. "You get the impression he's a nice guy, don't you?" defense attorney Michael Dowling told reporters afterward. Zazi is accused of conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction in a suspected terror plot involving beauty supply chemicals he bought over the counter.Authorities believe it had the potential to be the worst terrorist attack in the U.S. since 9/11. Zazi, a native of Afghanistan who worked as a Denver airport shuttle driver, was transferred to New York from Colorado on Friday to face the terrorism conspiracy charges. He has been the only alleged terrorist identified so far. But authorities have said three people traveled from New York City to suburban Denver this summer and used stolen credit cards to help Zazi stockpile products containing hydrogen peroxide and acetone — common ingredients for homemade bombs. Dowling admitted that his client visited Pakistan last year, and made purchases earlier this year at a beauty supply shop in the Denver suburb of Aurora, Colorado. But he added, "Those acts are not illegal" and cautioned against a "rush to judgment." Asked about possible accomplices, the lawyer said, "I don't know the names of anybody else that allegedly conspired with Mr. Zazi. ... Those names have not been produced." Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly refused Tuesday to discuss the potential of other plotters at large, but insisted there was no threat to the city. The plot "has been broken up," Kelly said. "I see no danger emanating ... from the people involved in this investigation." Prosecutors allege that Zazi has admitted that while living in Queens, he went to Pakistan and received explosives training from Al Qaeda. Security videos and store receipts show that when he returned and moved to Colorado, he and three others bought several bottles of beauty products over the course of several weeks, court papers said. On Sept. 6, Zazi took some of his products into a Colorado hotel room outfitted with a stove on which he later left acetone residue, authorities said. He repeatedly sought another person's help cooking up the bomb, "each communication more urgent in tone than the last," the papers said. The FBI was listening to Zazi and becoming increasingly concerned as the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and a New York visit by President Barack Obama approached, officials said. After he rented a car on Sept. 9 and drove to New York, investigators say they secretly searched the vehicle and found a laptop computer with bomb-making instructions. On Sept. 10, Zazi told the Queens imam in an intercepted phone call that he feared he was being watched, court papers said. The imam later tipped Zazi off, saying police had come around and asked questions, the papers said. Zazi cut short a five-day trip and flew back to Denver on Sept. 12. He was arrested a week later and initially charged along with his father and the imam with lying to investigators.

source: foxnews.com

Carrie Prejean Miss October in 2010 Conservative Women's Calendar

LOS ANGELES — Carrie Prejean isn’t going away anytime soon. In fact, the controversially dethroned Miss California can be yours for an entire month of October in 2010. The Clare Both Luce Policy Institute, a conservative women’s group based outside of Washington, DC has just released its fifth annual Great American Conservative Women Calendar which features top women leaders in the Conservative Movement, and this time around Prejean’s face will be in the top spot."I was so honored to be in the calendar as one of the great American conservative women. As a former beauty queen, it's refreshing to be taken seriously," she said in a statement.The 22-year-old also spoke about her desire for young conservative women to become leaders on campus. "It's so important for young women on college campuses to feel comfortable standing up for their conservative ideas. Conservative women need to be vocal in the public, and get involved in the media," Prejean said. "I hope to have encouraged, and inspired other conservative women out there to not hold back, engage in intelligent discussions, stand up for what you believe in, and get involved. We cannot see a change if we don't start with ourselves." The calendar also features other notable conservative women including Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, and Rep. But back to Prejean. Pop Tarts recently caught up with her replacement Tami Farrell at the EW/Women in Film party in West Hollywood, and while the fellow blonde felt it was "very unfair the way she (Carrie) was attacked by the media," she also said she chose her words and with that comes consequences. "If you actually listen to the question, she answered it from a personal standpoint. It wasn’t about her personal beliefs, it was about a state by state decision," Farrell explained. "I would have said it’s a civil rights issue and we let the state voters decide. I don’t think that I or anyone else has the right to tell somebody who they can or can’t love." Paul Reubens, better known as Pee Wee Herman, made a very rare public appearance on Tuesday evening and shocked guests at the ad.ly after party at the Twit140 conference in Los Angeles when he showed up (dressed as alter ego Pee Wee) to announce that he was posting his first ever message on Twitter.
The message invited people to re-tweet what he posted (I'm back! Follow Pee-wee! Someone who RT's this gets a phone call from me tonight! #peewee ) and immediately following his Jay Leno appearance later in the evening, Pee Wee Herman became the number two trending topic on Twitter. In other words, this meant that Pee Wee Herman was the second most talked about item on all on Twitter. Perhaps it was the 57-year-old’s new abstinence ring that had people talking. Reubens showed off the bling and announced that he had been celibate for the past… two days. Apparently this was an accomplishment for the reformed children’s show star, and the joke made an obvious reference to Reubens' arrest for indecent exposure at an adult theater in 1991. Steve-O Says 80% of Americans Happy With Health Care System, Other Things This may come as a surprise to many, but according to DWTS alum and "Jackass" Steve-O, majority of Americans actually don’t feel the need to change the current health care system. "My dad says that 80% of Americans are happy with what they've got with either private stuff or medicare, and other people who aren't happy with what they've got, those aren't the people who are most inclined to vote," Steve-O told Tarts at last week’s L.A. Dogworks And Good Dog Animal Rescue event. "So it's messed up and I wish everybody had health insurance. I lived in Canada for a while where everybody has it no matter what. I went to high school in England and it's a better system. I'm just grateful that I've got insurance and I wish everybody would not rack up credit card debt and have insurance and live wisely." Right. And in order to live wisely and pull the USA out of the recession, Steve-O recommends cashing on the green movement. "We should be making money off preserving the environment. I figure that if we use less stuff and make better use of what we do use, it would really cost less. But then again I'm pretty ignorant, I'm just a jackass," Steve-O added. " But it sounds like we're really up the creek. So I think the consensus is, despite the fact Obama is doing a really good job, there is so much we need in the way of improvement that it's a drop in the bucket no matter how well he does."

Source: foxnews.com

Among the new features in CNN iPhone app: a price

There's been a lot of talk this year about finally charging readers for news, especially on mobile devices, where media executives see a chance to condition consumers to handing over a few dollars for a constant stream of updates to their pocket. CNN is among the first big news outlets to give it a shot. Its app costs $1.99 to download. The new app follows an announcement this month by News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch that the company will start charging a subscription -- possibly as much as $1 or $2 per week -- for access to The Wall Street Journal's mobile applications. Even so, CNN is in relatively new territory as a provider of general interest news. Many in the industry are skeptical that readers will pay for much online beyond business and financial reporting -- the kind of stuff that helps people make money. How CNN fares in selling its app on Apple Inc.'s iTunes store for the iPhone and the iPod Touch will be closely watched by other media companies as they struggle with the loss of advertising dollars to the Web. So why does CNN think readers will pay for its iPhone app instead of choosing one of its myriad free competitors? Simply put, CNN thinks its app is better. "It really depends on the quality and nature of what you're putting into the market," said KC Estenson, general manager for CNN.com. Among the high points of the CNN app: It offers the chance to essentially join the CNN reporting team. Readers are invited to submit their own photos and video clips to iReport, a feature CNN already uses on its Web site for gathering material from the public. The app also has live video feeds for big breaking events. So if a plane crashes in the Hudson River, app users won't have to rush to the nearest TV screen for a live report but could just take out their phone.
It's customizable as well, providing alerts when news on a particular subject breaks. Users can select a local news option that augments CNN's reporting with newspaper stories collected by Topix, an Internet company majority owned by newspaper companies. Overall, the app has a similar look to the CNN of television, with white lettering on a black background and prominent use of photos for a sleek feel. Still, there is evidence many readers just won't budge from $0. The Associated Press, for instance, tried charging $2.99 for a BlackBerry application this year. The download rate was less than a tenth of what the app usually attracts, said Jane Seagrave, the AP's senior vice president for global product development. Since dropping the fee, the AP has seen its downloads soar, she said."There were too many others that were available on the market for free," Seagrave said. For now the AP is trying to generate revenue from the app by selling advertising on it. She would not disclose how much revenue the AP is getting from mobile phone apps. CNN's Estenson sees potential in advertising as well, as long as the ads are as standout as the news content and "really looks good," he said.
But some news executives are fed up with waiting for the market for mobile ads to develop, suggesting more might be ready to follow CNN's lead.
USA Today's publisher, David Hunke, has expressed concern that news companies are making the same mistake as in the 1990s, when newspapers started setting up Web sites and giving out news for free. Advertising on the Web hasn't replaced what newspapers get from the printed product, as many thought it would. And now readers are used to finding free news online. News executives don't want to see the same thing happen on cell phones. "There's a joke in the industry: Every year is the year of mobile advertising," Martin Nisenholtz, The New York Times' senior vice president for digital operations, said at an industry conference this summer. "For publishers to offer their content for free on the mobile platform forever, without getting paid very much money -- I don't think it's going to be tenable."
source: yahoo.finance

Video shows teens beating Chicago student to death

CHICAGO – Cell phone footage showing a group of teens viciously kicking and striking a 16-year-old honors student with splintered railroad ties has ramped up pressure on Chicago officials to address chronic violence that has led to dozens of deaths of city teens each year. The graphic video of the afternoon melee emerged on local news stations over the weekend, showing the fatal beating of Derrion Albert, a sophomore honor roll student at Christian Fenger Academy High School. His death was the latest addition to a rising toll: More than 30 students were killed last school year, and the city could exceed that number this year. Prosecutors charged four teenagers Monday with fatally beating Albert, who was walking to a bus stop when he got caught up in the mob street fighting, authorities said. The violence stemmed from a shooting early Thursday morning involving two groups of students from different neighborhoods, said Tandra Simonton, a spokeswoman for the Cook County prosecutor's office. When school ended, members of the groups began fighting near the Agape Community Center. During the attack, captured in part on a bystander's cell phone video, Albert is struck on the head by one of several young men wielding wooden planks. After he falls to the ground and appears to try to get up, he is struck again and then kicked. Simonton said Albert was a bystander and not part of either group. Prosecutors charged Silvonus Shannon, 19, Eugene Riley, 18, Eric Carson, 16, and Eugene Bailey, 18, with first-degree murder, Simonton said. Shannon, Riley and Carson were ordered held without bond Monday. The Cook County Public Defender's Office, which represented the three teenagers in court, had no immediate comment. Bailey was due in bond court Tuesday, Simonton said. Chicago police said they were looking for at least three more suspects, but would not discuss a possible motive for the attack. Simonton said Albert was knocked unconscious when Carson struck him in the head with a board and a second person punched him in the face. Albert regained consciousness and was trying to get up when he was attacked a second time by five people, struck in the head with a board by Riley and stomped in the head by Shannon, Simonton said. Desiyan Bacon, Bailey's aunt, said her nephew didn't have anything to do with the beating and was a friend of the victim. "They need to stop the crime, but when they do it, they need to get the right person," Bacon said. Fenger students said Albert's death intensified tensions at the school, with arguments about him breaking out in hallways all day Monday. Several blocks away, a memorial erected on the spot where he was beaten was burned down. Police also increased patrols before and after school and in the neighborhood. "They're still trying to retaliate," said sophomore Toni Gardner, 15. She did not elaborate. For Chicago, a sharp rise in violent student deaths during the past three school years — most from shootings off school property — have been a tragedy and an embarrassment.
Before 2006, an average of 10-15 students were fatally shot each year. That climbed to 24 fatal shootings in the 2006-07 school year, 23 deaths and 211 shootings in the 2007-08 school year and 34 deaths and 290 shootings last school year. At a Monday vigil at the school, some community members said the solution lies with parents. "It is our problem. We have to take control of our children," said Dawn Allen, who attended the vigil where a group of residents tried to force their way into the school before being turned back by police. This month, the city announced a $30 million project that targets 1,200 high school pupils identified as most at risk to become victims of gun violence, giving them full-time mentors and part-time jobs to keep them off the streets. Some money also will pay for more security guards and to provide safe passage for students forced to travel through areas with active street gangs. Albert's family attended a news conference Monday with school district leaders and police, but did not speak. They wore T-shirts with a picture of him in a cap and gown, with the words, "Gone too soon, too young."
But Annette Holt, mother of Blair Holt, a Chicago Public Schools student who was shot on a city bus two years ago, said Albert represented "another promising future, just snuffed out because of violence." "Someone said he (Derrion) was in the wrong place at the wrong time," she said. "No, he wasn't. He was in the right place. He was coming from school."

Source: yahoo.news

Philippines braces for new storm as toll hits 240

MANILA (Reuters) – Philippine authorities braced on Tuesday for another storm as the death toll from rain and floods from a weekend typhoon, now bearing down on Vietnam, rose to 240. Weather forecasters said a new storm forming in the Pacific Ocean was likely to enter Philippine waters on Thursday and make landfall later in the week on the northern island of Luzon, just like Saturday's Typhoon Ketsana. Ketsana dumped more than a month's worth of average rainfall on Manila and surrounding areas in one 24-hour period. About 80 percent of the city of 15 million was flooded. Authorities estimated damage from the storm so far at around 2.34 billion pesos ($50 million). More than 1.8 million people were affected and 375,000 had abandoned their homes and taken refuge in evacuation centers. The death toll could rise further once reports come in from remote areas. The storm hit metropolitan Manila and 12 provinces. "For casualties, the increase will be not as great, but the damage figures may increase," Defence Secretary Gilbert Teodoro told a news conference on Tuesday. "Even opportunity loss of revenues for establishments, that alone would amount to hundreds of millions at least per day." VIETNAM NEXT Ketsana is now likely to make landfall in central Vietnam later on Tuesday, where authorities have ordered the evacuation of at least 170,000 people. Hundreds of soldiers were helping evacuate people and with storm preparations. Ships have been told to take shelter in Danang. Vietnam Airlines has canceled all fights to the port city since Monday and schools in several coastal provinces were closed.
In the Philippines, authorities released water from Angkat dam north of Manila, but stressed it was being done carefully to prevent any recurrence of floods. "Angat opened their gates slowly just to keep it at spilling level and the effect would be minimal," Teodoro said. Communist rebels announced a unilateral ceasefire with government forces and ordered cadres to help in flood relief operations. Private citizens and volunteer groups were collecting relief goods -- mostly clothes, drinking water and medicines -- and distributing them to victims. Many people have thrown open their homes to those who were forced to abandon theirs. U.S. soldiers deployed in the south of the country have been brought to Manila to help in relief, while the United Nations has announced it will give food aid and cash for medical supplies. The government has come in for scathing criticism for its response to the disaster, with many calling it inadequate and delayed. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has called the typhoon "an extreme event that has strained or response capabilities to the limit." "But it is not breaking us," she said in a statement on Monday, after opening the presidential palace for relief efforts. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime typhoon." But analysts say the floods have worsened the reputation of Arroyo, who has been accused of corruption and poll fraud, and that it could affect the prospects of Teodoro, the administration candidate, in the May 2010 presidential election.

Source: yahoo.news

Obama's ex-doctor: Insurers 'screwing it up'

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- President Obama's former personal physician of 22 years, Dr. David Scheiner, has been very vocal on the issue of health insurance, particularly with his criticism of commercial insurers and how he feels they are meddling with the doctor-patient relationship. Scheiner has publicly stated his support for a government-run "single payer" system. CNNMoney.com spoke with Scheiner, with Advocate Medical Group in Chicago's Hyde Park, earlier this week about his experiences and frustrations: You've said in interviews that insurers are making it increasingly difficult for doctors to do their jobs. Can you give some examples? I'll give you two. I have a patient with bipolar disorder whose psychiatrist is no longer in her insurance company's panel. She is heartbroken that the insurance company won't pay to let her see the doctor. I have another patient with obvious sleep apnea. I ordered a sleep study on him. The insurance company knows he needs it but has made life miserable for him. They are making him wait to get their approval, hoping he won't bother with it. Insurance companies are making it more difficult for doctors to get preauthorization for treatments because they are hoping it will discourage people from getting expensive treatments. Insurers also tell us what hospitals we can admit patients to and what subspecialists we can refer our patients to. They are telling me how to do my job. As a doctor, how do you get around these challenges and ensure that your patient still gets the treatment they need? Well, if you know that an insurance company is going to deny coverage, you word your request in such a way that will be more medically acceptable to them. I try to use certain buzz words that I think will help the patient get approval for a treatment. Insurers have no reason to question what I need for my patient, but they do. Some doctors complain that insurers won't reimburse them for more than one treatment given on the same day. So they ask patients to come back just so they can bill the insurer for each separate treatment. What are your thoughts? A doctor who does this is beneath contempt. This is not a problem with insurance. This is goddamn greed on the part of doctors, and also part of the problem. But reimbursement remains a hot button for doctors who often say they're not adequately paid by insurers. What are your concerns? Cost of malpractice insurance is one. [President] Obama doesn't believe it's an issue. He's backtracked a little bit on this. He is a lawyer. Health care costs are going up, wages are stable and peoples' take-home pay is going down. We are on a disastrous graph. The administration is partly to blame. They didn't get the story right. Why are people so afraid of government in medical care when private insurance companies are already meddling with doctors and consumers all the time? Private insurance companies are screwing it up. You can quote me on that

Source: cnn .com

Follow Jerry Jones's time-tested 6-point plan

At this very moment I am on my way to being happier, wealthier and more successful than I was at this time last week, and I have Jerry Jones to thank for it. Allow me to explain. Last weekend I flew to Dallas to report on the first regular-season NFL game at the opulent new Cowboys Stadium. In the interest of experiential journalism, I hung with tailgaters, wedged myself into the mosh pit that passed for balcony viewing and spent far too much time in the presence of large, sweaty men in Jason Witten jerseys who possessed very strong feelings about both Tony Romo (HE SUCKS!) and beer (WE SHOULD GET SOME MORE!). More constructively, however, I spent a chunk of last Saturday morning with Jones, whom I'd never met before. Now, no matter what you think of Jones -- and it's fair to say he inspires a wide array of feelings -- there's no denying that he is an exceptionally skilled businessman. He made his fortune finding oil where others thought there was none, has watched his investment in the Cowboys rise 856 percent in value and has now built an enormous, revenue-generating stadium in the middle of a recession. And despite all that, god bless him, he has yet to appear on Dancing with the Stars. In addition, at 66, he's led a pretty good life. A starter for Arkansas on a Cotton Bowl team, he's been married to the same woman for more than 40 years, has tons of kids and grandkids and is sitting on a pile of money that could probably fill his cavernous new stadium. All of which got me to thinking: Considering all the success he's had, couldn't we all benefit from living our lives a little more like Jerry Jones?

Seriously, what if, when faced with a dilemma, rather than muddling through it we were to ask WWJD: What Would Jerry Do? Surely it would be but a matter of time before we were richer, more successful and suspiciously younger-looking. So I set about putting together a list of guiding principles, based on what I knew about Jones and on my time in Dallas, and here's what I came up with. Read it, learn it, live it.

Source: cnn.com

Randy Quaid, wife arrested over hotel bill

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Actor Randy Quaid and his wife, Evi, were arrested in Texas on Thursday. They're accused of skipping out on a $10,000 hotel bill, authorities said. Santa Barbara, California, authorities had been looking for the couple after the sheriff's department received a complaint from a local hotel.
Each faces felony charges of burglary, defrauding an innkeeper and conspiracy.
The couple was held in Presidio County, Texas, late Thursday, authorities said.
Quaid, 56, is known for his roles in several films, including the "National Lampoon's Vacation" movies, "Kingpin" and "Brokeback Mountain."

Source: cnn.com

Digging out from $80,000 in debt

New York (CNN) -- Two years ago, Dawn Warfield was drowning in debt. The average American household has $8,329 in credit card debt, according to the Nilson Report, a credit industry newsletter. Warfield had nearly 10 times that amount. At its worst point, her debt totalled nearly $80,000. She had 17 credit cards and admits that living beyond her means was part of the problem. "I'll own up to that," she said. "There is always unforeseen expenses, and when you are making the minimum payments on these credit cards, when you think you can't afford to make more than that, they don't go down." But Warfield's spending was not the only factor working against her. She was in the middle of an expensive divorce and had been charging business expenses to her personal credit cards when she opened a second location of her video store. "Every month I was writing out 17 checks," she said. "And the interest rates ranged from like 6 percent to 33 percent. So it was impossible. "I was transferring balances from one card to another, and every time I got a card to a decent interest rate, I felt like one of the cards would come off the promotional interest rate, and I was just never catching up." So Warfield took matters into her own hands. She sold the second location of her video store, stopped using her credit cards and decided it was time to get help. "I sat down one day and I called each credit card one by one, and I asked each one to work with me ... to lower my interest rate."
The credit card companies did not respond to her plea. Instead, she was directed to the debt management program of the nonprofit Consumer Credit Counseling Service, part of Money Management International. Counselor Eric Jackson helped Warfield analyze her bills and expenses and created a plan to help her get lower interest rates. Now she makes a single monthly payment. "I don't even have to think about it, which makes it a lot easier for me, because when you have a lot of debt, it's not just financial, but it's emotional, you know, even physical," Warfield said. "You think about it all the time."

Source: cnn.com

5 Illinois family members were beaten to death

(CNN) -- All five members of a family found slain inside a Beason, Illinois, home early this week were victims of blunt-force trauma, police said Thursday. A pathologist determined that the five -- Raymond Gee, 46; Ruth Gee, 39; and three children -- had been beaten to death, Logan County Sheriff Steve Nichols told reporters. "All the injuries at the scene were from blunt-force trauma."The three children were identified as Justina Constant, 16, Dillen Constant, 14; and Austin Gee, 11.
A 3-year-old girl remained in critical but stable condition Thursday at a hospital, Nichols said.He said he would not divulge or speculate what the family was beaten with, and remained tight-lipped about many aspects of the deaths, including when authorities believe they occurred. Beason is in central Illinois, about 45 miles northeast of Springfield, the state capital. A task force has been formed with officers from several different agencies to investigate the homicides, the sheriff said. Processing of the crime scene concluded Wednesday afternoon, and "hundreds of seized items" are being processed, he said. "Forensic evidence in this case is significant." The sheriff has said authorities received a 911 call about a possible shooting at the home shortly before 4:30 p.m. Monday. Nichols said authorities are looking for a gray-primer-painted pickup truck that was seen in the area Sunday night. "We'll take any tip that anybody has," he said.

Source: cnn.com

Asian countries want greater decision-making role

WASHINGTON – Asian leaders gathering at next week's economic summit in Pittsburgh will be demanding a greater voice in the way global financial institutions make crucial decisions. likewise, the world's established powers will have some demands of their own for the rising Asian nations. The Western countries who traditionally have wielded power at the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations will want Asia to cut greenhouse gases blamed for dangerous climate change and to slash barriers that prevent free trade. China, with its powerful economy and diplomatic and military strength, will be a leading player at the summit. The other Asian-Pacific G-20 nations — Japan, India, South Korea, Australia and Indonesia — believe their growing importance deserves a bigger say in the world's financial decision-making. The G-20, which represents 80 percent of the world's economic output, is where they will make their case. "Broadly, they're looking for more input on how the world runs," said Brad Glosserman, executive director of the Pacific Forum CSIS think tank. It remains to be seen how successful Asian countries will be at getting their points across at a gathering that features 20 leading rich and developing nations, all with competing national interests and often with little in common. Asia has done well, comparatively, during the world economic crisis. But the region has been criticized for protecting its trade and agricultural industries from competition. At the Pittsburgh conference next Thursday and Friday, the West will want Asia to help jump-start stalled world trade liberalization talks, to increase imports and to reduce large trade surpluses. Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said major questions will be: "`What are you doing to stimulate your economy?' — and some of them are doing quite a bit — and `What more can you do?'" Asia will also face questions over climate change. Many argue that if Asia does not make cuts to emissions, progress will stall. Pittsburgh marks one of the last chances world leaders will have to generate momentum before a U.N. conference in December in Copenhagen, Denmark. Countries hope to forge a new agreement to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.
Already some leaders worry that disputes among industrialized and developing nations over cuts to emissions threaten to ruin a deal in Copenhagen. Asia is seen as the key to any progress.
Japan also could make a splash on climate change. The Democratic Party of Japan, which won last month's national elections, has made bold promises to reduce the country's greenhouse emissions. The new government will be closely watched to see if it is more assertive than previous administrations, which tended to echo U.S. views. Fast-developing India is seen as key not only in the climate discussions but in world trade talks as well. India, along with Brazil, Russia and China, is hoping Pittsburgh will lead to an agreement on proposed new targets to shift voting power in both the IMF and the World Bank to developing countries. In Australia, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will seek international support for his plan to spend his country deep into debt to keep its economy buoyant. He has pointed to worsening unemployment data and declining retail spending in recent months as evidence that government spending remains critical to future growth. In Indonesia, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, will be eager to show that newfound stability in the predominantly Muslim nation of 235 million will continue. South Korea plans to urge advanced nations to extend greater help to poorer countries in their efforts to overcome the economic crisis. Han Duk-soo, South Korea's ambassador to the United States, said Thursday that his country wants to host a G-20 summit next year. South Korea, he said in Washington, can bridge the divide between rich and poor countries, having gone, in a matter of decades, from a country devastated by war to one with a vibrant, thriving economy.

source : yahoo.news

Australia to begin vaccinating against swine flu

CANBERRA, Australia – Australia approved a vaccine against swine flu Friday and said it would start administering the medicine this month its most at-risk citizens, including medical staff, pregnant women and the chronically ill. Australia's drug regulators on Friday approved CSL Ltd's vaccine for people above age 10, but the Therapeutic Drug Administration is awaiting the results of more clinical trials before approving it for younger children. Health authorities recommend that immunizations start Sept. 30, Health Minister Nicola Roxon said. "This announcement today means Australia will be one of the first countries to be providing vaccine to its population," Roxon told reporters. The United States, which has also ordered the CSL vaccine, plans to start vaccinating in mid-October. China has approved swine flu vaccines but has yet to announce a vaccination campaign. The CSL vaccine will first go to priority groups who make up more than 4 million of Australia's 21 million population — pregnant women, the chronically ill, the obese, Aborigines in remote Outback communities, handicapped children who attend special schools and front-line health workers. Trials have found that a single dose is sufficient to immunize an adult. CSL has already delivered 4 million of the 21 million doses the government has ordered. The rest will be delivered this year. Australia will follow President Barack Obama's lead by committing up to 10 percent of its vaccine to the World Health Organization for distribution in the Asia-Pacific region, Roxon said. But the vaccine eventually would be available to all Australians, she said. WHO has said the swine flu strain has killed more than 3,500 people worldwide. Last week, it said the flu was declining in countries in the temperate region of the southern hemisphere including Australia, Chile, Argentina, New Zealand and South Africa. But Roxon said more than 300 Australians remained in the hospital with swine flu, including 56 patients in intensive care.
source: yahoo.news

Pakistan to arrest cleric accused in Mumbai attack

LAHORE, Pakistan – Pakistani police plan to arrest a hardline cleric accused by India in the Mumbai terror attacks on charges of raising funds for the banned Islamist group he heads, a senior officer said Friday. Hafiz Muhammad Saeed says his Jamaat-ud-Dawa is a charity that helps victims of natural disasters and the poor. Pakistan banned the group after a U.N. resolution declared it was a front for the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which India and the United States believes carried out the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Police officer Mohammed Tahir said Friday that two criminal cases had been filed against Saeed because he illegally held a public gathering and raised funds for Jamaat-ud-Dawa in the city of Faisalabad in Punjab province last month. "We will definitely arrest him," Tahir told The Associated Press, without saying when. A spokesman for Saeed said he had yet to be arrested and that he planned to consult with lawyers. Lashkar, which Saeed helped establish in the late 1980s, is accused of sending the teams of gunmen that rampaged through Mumbai last November in an attack on luxury hotels, a busy train station and other sites. The three-day siege left 166 people dead. Pakistan arrested Saeed in December after India provided a dossier of evidence in a rare sharing of intelligence. But in June, a Pakistani court freed Saeed from house arrest, saying there was not enough evidence to hold him. India maintains he played a role in the attacks and has called on Pakistan to arrest him.
Lashkar is widely believed to have enjoyed the support of elements of Pakistan's security agencies in the 1980s and 1990s because it was sending militants to fight Indian-rule in Kashmir, which Pakistan also claims.
India and Pakistan have fought three wars since they were formed in 1947
source:yahoo.news

US military training Iraqi prison guards

CAMP CROPPER, Iraq – As the U.S. military prepares to hand over the remnants of its detention system to the Iraqi government next year, it is training Iraqi wardens and guards to ensure that changes it made after the Abu Ghraib scandal remain in place. The military plans to teach Iraqi officers how to use non-lethal weapons like tasers, as well as how to handle riots at mock detention facilities and run vocational programs for inmates at a training academy just west of Baghdad that has been under construction since May. The commander in charge of America's detention facilities in Iraq has spent the five years since the abuses at Abu Ghraib trying to change the doctrine guiding U.S. detainee operations. He gave detainees better access to medical care, set up visitation centers and work programs and brought in approved clerics to lead religious discussions. The military also hired teachers, offering illiterate detainees the chance to learn to read so they would not "have to take a radical imam's word for what the Quran says," said Brig. Gen. David Quantock, commander of detainee operations. Now, the military is training wardens, midlevel supervisors and corrections officers in hopes they will keep those programs running at the two detention facilities near Baghdad that the U.S. will hand over to Iraqi control next year: Camp Cropper and Camp Taji. A third facility near the Kuwaiti border, Camp Bucca, closed shortly after midnight Wednesday. Handing over prisons and detainees to Iraqi control has raised concerns for rights groups like Amnesty International, which says Iraqi authorities have held prisoners in appalling conditions. Quantock said the transfer of the facilities could be delayed if Iraqi authorities are not ready. "My red line is I do not want to be held responsible for turning over a facility that falls below humane conditions two months after we leave it," he said. "When we leave this behind, it will be the Iraqis running the system and we want to set them up for success." Abu Ghraib, where abuses of prisoners by U.S. troops helped fuel anti-American sentiment in Iraq, has been handed back to Iraqi control. It reopened in February with a new name, Baghdad Central Prison. A week ago, inmates there rioted for two days to demand better conditions and the replacement of prison staff they accuse of mistreatment. At Camp Cropper, which replaced Abu Ghraib as the main detention facility near the capital, detainees in yellow uniforms sat in the shade of their simple concrete living quarters on Thursday. Many of them read from Qurans. American guards paced back and forth on a catwalk above, armed with air-powered rifles that fire paint pellets intended to mark the instigators of any disturbances. "Treat detainees with dignity and respect," reads a sign on a barbed-wire-topped fence. Detainees at Cropper, like the other U.S. prisons in Iraq, are segregated based on threat risk, nationality and religious affiliation. Doing so, Quantock said, keeps more moderate detainees from being radicalized by extremists.
At Cropper, prisoners vetted to be a lesser threat are allowed to take classes in computers, art and sewing. Among the pictures in the tented art classroom is a portrait of President Barack Obama, which the Iraqi art teacher said was drawn by a detainee hopeful that he would pull troops out of Iraq. Quantock wants Iraqi authorities to keep those programs in place when they gain control of the detention facilities. There are about 3,780 detainees at Cropper. Among them are 39 former members of Saddam Hussein's government who are housed in separate quarters with a communal TV and a vegetable garden that some of them use to grow tomatoes, cucumbers and herbs.

Source: yahoo.news

Security experts warn of dangers of rogue Wi-Fi hotspots

LONDON, England (CNN) -- You're sitting in an airport lounge and seize the chance to check your e-mails before your flight departs. You log on and are tempted by a wireless Internet provider offering free Internet access. So, do you take it?. Security experts warn that hackers may be masquerading as free public Wi-Fi providers to gain access to the laptops of unsuspecting travelers. All it takes, they say, is a computer program downloaded from the Internet, an open access point and a user who has ignored basic security advice. "The difficulty for travelers is differentiating between a good Internet access hotspot and a rogue, or somebody trying to actually glean credentials from you. The issue is that you don't necessarily know the difference between a good and a bad one," computer security expert Sean Remnant told CNN.
In 2008, AirTight Networks dispatched a number of so-called "white hat" hackers to 27 airports around the world to test the vulnerability of their Wi-Fi systems. They found that 80 percent of the private Wi-Fi networks tested were open or poorly protected. The wireless security company also found that basic services at several airports, including baggage handling systems, were vulnerable to hackers. Operators were using Wired Equivalent Privacy, known as WEP, which was found to provide inadequate protection to hackers as early as 2001. One year after the survey was conducted, CNN Business Traveler met Remnant at London's Heathrow airport, which was not included in the original survey, to test the potential dangers to unprotected Wi-Fi users. Armed with a laptop, our "white hat" hacker took a seat in the crowded departure lounge at Terminal 3 and proceeded to scan the airwaves with his laptop, using a program he downloaded form the Internet called Airodump. "It dumps everything in the air," Remnant explained. "So if I execute the command to start Airodump, instantly I'm seeing probably 20 wireless networks with four or five of those having relatively weak server security." "There are several risks just on this screen," he continued. "One is that we actually don't know whether the public networks are legitimate or not." The original survey conducted by AirTight Networks found the most common name for rogue Wi-Fi points was "Free Public Wi-Fi." "You'd have no idea if somebody sitting down to a laptop was a casual traveler trying to collect their email from an open port, or actually they were setting up a rogue access point," Remnant said. "Your security guys in the airport aren't going to spot someone doing this because it's a technical thing," he added. Once connected, the hacker would have access to everything on your screen, from passwords, to bank account details, to the contents of e-mails.

Source: Cnn.com

Outed model blogger plans to sue Google

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Her identity revealed, a blogger who posted rants about model Liskula Cohen said she was the real victim in the case and plans to sue Google for violating her privacy. Rosemary Port and her lawyer said Monday that they will file a $15 million lawsuit against the search engine giant for not doing enough to protect her identity."I not only feel my client was wronged, but I feel now it sets precedent that anyone with money and power can get the identity of anyone that decides to be an anonymous blogger," said Salvator Strazzullo, Port's lawyer. A New York Supreme Court judge ordered Google to reveal Port's identity after Cohen sued the company to acquire information about the anonymous blogger. "I wanted it gone," Cohen said. "I didn't want it to be there for the rest of my life. And I knew the only way for it to be gone was to call my lawyer." In August 2008, Port, a user of Google-owned Blogger.com, created "Skanks in NYC." The site assailed Cohen, 37, a cover girl who has appeared in Vogue and other fashion magazines. The blog featured photos of Cohen accompanied by derogatory terms.The judge rejected Port's argument that blogs on the Internet "serve as a modern-day forum for conveying personal opinions" and should not be regarded as fact.Cohen's attorney, Steve Wagner, said he couldn't believe Port's nerve in suing Google."Her being a victim here? I have trouble understanding that in its entirety," he said.Legal experts said Port is not likely to win her case.Jeffrey Toobin, CNN's senior legal analyst, said Google was complying with a court order and that disclosing Port's name cannot be viewed as violating her rights."Google never promises anyone absolute anonymity," Toobin said. "There are all sorts of circumstances when Google cooperates with law enforcement."Blogger.com requires only a valid e-mail address to register for a blog. After the court demanded Port's identity, Google handed over her e-mail address to Cohen's lawyers so they could track her down.In response to CNN's request for an interview, Google issued a statement:"Google does comply with valid legal processes, such as court orders and subpoenas, and these same processes apply to all law-abiding companies. At the same time, we have a legal team whose job is to scrutinize these requests and make sure they meet not only the letter but the spirit of the law."Online activists have closely followed the model blogger's case.

source: cnn.com

Space shuttle Discovery lands in California

(CNN) -- The space shuttle Discovery landed in California on Friday evening after bad weather near Kennedy Space Center forced it to wave off a landing in Florida. "Welcome home Discovery," mission control said after the shuttle landed. "Congratulations on an extremely successful mission, stepping up science to a new level on the international space station." The shuttle touched down at 8:53 p.m. ET at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert, where NASA described the weather as "pristine."This may be the last California shuttle landing, because there are only six missions remaining on the NASA schedule, unless Congress gives the space agency more money. Flight controllers prefer landings at Kennedy Space Center because of cost and schedule. A California landing adds a week to the turnaround time before the shuttle can be ready for another mission. NASA has estimated it costs about $1.7 million to bring a shuttle home to Kennedy Space Center from California. It rides cross-country piggy-back on a Boeing 747. Discovery was initially scheduled to return to Earth on Thursday, but poor weather in central Florida forced a delay.Both Florida landing opportunities Friday were canceled by "a very deep moisture system that descended over the Florida spaceport," a NASA spokesman said. The seven astronauts are wrapping up a 13-day mission to the international space station, where the crew made repairs and delivered supplies. The crew executed three spacewalks and dropped off the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill, or COLBERT treadmill, named after comedian Stephen Colbert. Colbert won an online poll conducted by NASA to name the newest space station compartment. Instead, Colbert and the space agency worked together to give the moniker to the treadmill. The new compartment was given the name Tranquility. While in space, mission specialists Danny Olivas and Christer Fuglesang installed an ammonia tank on the international space station. The depleted tank assembly is being returned to Earth in the shuttle's cargo bay. The tank is part of a cooling system that cycles 600 pounds of ammonia through the space station to "get rid of excess heat generated by the station's systems," NASA said. Astronaut Nicole Stott remained at the space station as a flight engineer, replacing astronaut Timothy Kopra, who returned home aboard Discovery as a mission specialist, according to NASA's Web site. Another space icon is also coming home aboard the shuttle -- Buzz Lightyear. The 12-inch Disney/Pixar action figure has been aboard the space station for more than a year, according to NASA.
Source: cnn.com

Obama to discuss financial reform

NEW YORK (CNN) -- President Barack Obama will call for quicker action on financial reform during a speech Monday that coincides with the one-year anniversary of the Lehman Brothers collapse, the White House said. Obama will discuss plans to reduce government involvement in the financial sector, and urge reform and global coordination to prevent another financial crisis, administration officials said. "We've had to do some extraordinary things ... to rescue the financial system, to ensure that our domestic auto industry didn't go out of business and to stimulate the economy," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union." "The president doesn't want to be somebody who runs auto companies or bails out banks." Obama also will discuss "the aggressive steps the administration has taken to bring the economy back from the brink," the White House said. The collapse of Lehman Brothers plunged an already hard-hit economy into crisis mode Various members of the financial community, congressional lawmakers and consumer advocates will attend the speech. A month after taking office, Obama urged Congress to move fast to reform the "outdated" system of financial oversight and install "tough, new common-sense rules of the road" for Wall Street. Lawmakers have moved sluggishly on changes that have been scaled back from those originally envisioned. One of the most far-reaching proposals -- creating an agency to regulate consumer financial products like mortgages and credit cards -- has taken a beating by industry lobbyists. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has pledged an additional $2 million, and probably more, to a campaign to kill it. As the economy improves and the health-care fight absorbs more congressional energy, momentum to overhaul the financial system is waning.

source: cnn.com

Casio, Hitachi and NEC unveil handset deal

consolidation of Japan’s lossmaking and fragmented handset industry takes a long-awaited step forward.The merger will create a handset maker with a domestic market share of about 15 per cent, according to market research company BCN, ranking third behind Sharp and Panasonic, and put pressure on other small rivals to follow suit. Sales of mobile phones in July 2009 were down 51 per cent on the level of two years ago when Japan’s mobile phone networks cut subsidies on new phones, according to industry association JEITA, plunging the handset business into losses. The new company – to be called NEC Casio Mobile Communications – will be dominated by NEC, which will hold a 70.7 per cent stake following a capital increase. Casio will emerge with a 20 per cent stake. Hitachi will allow its share to be diluted in the capital increase, ending up with a 9.3 per cent stake, but will continue to sell handsets from the new venture under its own brand.Casio and Hitachi had already merged their handset design and production units in 2004, but last year that unit fell to a net loss of Y12.5bn ($138m) on sales of Y156.8bn.
The new company will combine NEC’s strong relationship with NTT Docomo, Japan’s largest mobile network, and Casio Hitachi’s position with second-ranked KDDI, allowing the companies to spread research, development and production costs across a wider base.The deal will also give NEC access to Casio Hitachi’s toehold in overseas markets, where it sells to Verizon in the US, and LG Telecom in South Korea. Japan’s handset makers are renewing their efforts overseas, where they have previously had little success, because Japan did not adopt international standards such as GSM.
Japan’s home market has also remained fragmented because of the unusual system in which the mobile networks commission handset models from the electronics companies. The top four companies have a combined market share of only 62 per cent, of which the largest is Sharp, with 25.3 per cent.Further consolidation has long been expected, but following the 2004 deal between Casio and Hitachi, and Sanyo’s 2007 sale of its handset business to Kyocera, there has been no further progress.Last year, Mitsubishi Electric said it would close its handset division, and Nokia withdrew from the Japanese market.

source: ftp.com

Woods: I'm back to my very best

(CNN) -- Tiger Woods believes he is back to the best form of his career after he clinched his 71st PGA Tour title with an emphatic eight-shot victory at the BMW Championship in Illinois. Woods led by seven shots heading into the final day after he carded a course-record third-round score of 62 at Cog Hill and refused to relinquish his grip in the final round. The world number one shot a three-under round of 68 to finish with a 19-under 265 with fellow American and 2005 winner Jim Furyk eight strokes behind along with Australian Marc Leishman. Woods, who has now won the title five times, overcame a bogey at the fifth hole to claim birdies at the seventh and ninth holes before an eagle at the 15th kept him well ahead of the field. The win also allowed Woods to reclaim the number one spot in the US PGA Tour's FedEx Cup rankings going into the season-ending Tour Championship and the 33-year-old revealed that 2009 has been a vintage year. "It's one of my best years, there's no doubt about that - I haven't won as many times as I did in 2000 and didn't win any majors this year, but certainly I've never had a year where I've been this consistent either, this many high finishes and the number of events I've played," Woods told the U.S. PGA Tour Web site. "To have an opportunity just about every time I tee it up to win the championship on the back nine, you know, that's something I can't tell you how proud I am of. "Winning, that's the ultimate goal. And to play as well as I have of late and not get the W's [wins] has been a little bit frustrating, no doubt, because I've been so close.
"It's just been a matter of making a couple putts here and there and I would have won the tournaments. That's all the difference was. "And lo and behold, boom, I hit the ball just as well, just as consistent this week, and I made a few putts, and that's how it happens. That's how close I've been to putting it together and scoring well. I've been playing well; I just haven't gotten a lot out of my rounds yet. Woods admitted that his improved putting helped him land the title at Cog Hill and was the crucial difference in the margin of the victory. "It was a good week and I hit the ball well but I felt like I basically hit the ball the same as I have been. The only difference is I made a few more putts this week and got some momentum," he told the U.S. PGA Tour Web site. "As we all know, you have to make putts to win championships. This week I certainly made my share. You're not going to make every putt, you're not going to - you're going to have stretches where that happens. I kept telling myself through those stretches, I was hitting good putts, they just didn't go in.

Source: cnn.com

Zeta-Jones latest star to test 40 in Hollywood

(CNN) -- Happy birthday, Catherine Zeta-Jones. You are turning 40 this month, joining an exclusive club of women in show business who are marking the same milestone this year. Think big names like Renee Zellweger, Jennifer Aniston, Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez and Cate Blanchett. It's a birthday many actors -- but especially female stars -- in Hollywood would once dread, hide and agonize over. At an age where men could comfortably play heroes and lovers in the prime of their life -- and could do so for many years to come -- women often found themselves starting to be cast in different roles. (One example: "The Graduate," where 36-year-old Anne Bancroft played a frustrated "older woman" trying to seduce Dustin Hoffman, who was just six years younger than she at the time.) No wonder some stayed mum about their age, but this generation of 40-something female entertainers is different. They're holding birthday bashes, embracing the big four-oh and staying as busy and famous as ever. Their faces grace magazine covers, their bodies are the envy of women decades younger and their careers seem to be going strong. Zellweger herself has said she hasn't noticed good parts getting scarce. "I don't see it. I don't know. I'm so spoiled with respect to the experiences I've had and the opportunities I've had that I don't see it," she said, according to published news reports. But others argue that the opportunity to land lead roles in major studio films for actresses like Aniston, Zeta-Jones and Zellweger is running out. It's all about the global box office for Hollywood, which right now is most interested in making comic book movies or big-action, special-effect films in which women are mostly decorative, said Leah Rozen, film critic for People magazine. That often leaves few lead roles in big-budget Hollywood films for established female stars as they get older.
"They're going to work, but the entire movie will not be built around them. It will not be a Renee Zellweger vehicle or a Catherine Zeta-Jones vehicle, unless it's an indie film," Rozen said. "I'm not saying anything about the quality of the movies they're making or their validity as ctresses," Rozen said. "I am saying that viewed as box office -- or can they open a movie? -- the answer would be no right now."

Source: cnn.com

West disrupts Swift's speech; tribute to MJ

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Even by the standards of the anything-goes MTV Video Music Awards, Kanye West's hijacking of country-pop sweetheart Taylor Swift's speech at the Sunday night ceremony was particularly brutal. The pre-show buzz had focused on the highly anticipated tribute to the late Michael Jackson, but West's disruption stole the spotlight. A giddy Swift was in the midst of her acceptance speech for Best Female Video when the often-mercurial West rushed onstage, grabbed her microphone and let loose an outburst on behalf of singer Beyonce Knowles, who had lost out in that category. But audiences who stayed tuned until the end of the broadcast were treated to a touching bookend: Knowles, the night's top winner, invited Swift onstage and gave the teen singer her moment in the spotlight. "I remember being 17 years old, up for my first MTV award with Destiny's Child, and it was one of the most exciting moments of my life," Knowles said, referring to the girl group with which she had her start. "So I would like for Taylor to come out and have her moment." Speaking to reporters later, Swift was understated about her take on the disruption. "I was excited to be onstage because I just won the award. And then I was excited that Kanye West was onstage. Then, I wasn't excited anymore," she said.

source: cnn.com

Clijsters happy to be working mum role model

(CNN) -- Kim Clijsters exclusively told CNN she is happy to provide an inspiration to working mothers everywhere after she sensationally won the U.S. Open women's singles title despite only coming out of retirement last month. The 26-year-old married and gave birth to daughter Jada during her two-year retirement from the game, before making a sensational comeback to competitive tennis. Unseeded Clijsters, who had knocked out defending champion in Serena Williams in the semifinal, defeated ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki 7-5, 6-3 at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York to complete a remarkable return. And the Belgian admitted she is pleased to fly the flag for mothers who want to combine their careers with managing a family
"It wasn't something I was planning on doing but obviously I have done well and obviously it is a great feeling to have," Clijsters told CNN. "I hope that I can inspire a lot of other women who are willing, or hoping, to do the same thing but maybe don't know the way to start or are insecure about starting. "I really believe anything is possible but it is a family affair. I also need help from family and people around me but it's a great feeling to know that I can combine the sport that I love but also be a mum as well -- it's great."

Source: cnn.com

Body found could be missing Yale student

(CNN) -- Investigators found the remains of a woman they assume is missing Yale graduate student Annie Le, a senior police official said SunThe remains were found inside a wall at 10 Amistad Street, said Peter Reichard, New Haven, Connecticut, assistant police chief. "She hasn't been positively identified, however, we are assuming that it is her at this time so we are treating it as a homicide investigation," Reichard said. Le was last seen on a Yale security camera entering the Amistad medical research building at about 10 a.m. on Tuesday. Authorities have not found images of her leaving the building. Investigators said they had spoken with students and others in the building who confirmed she was there. Police discovered the body in the basement Sunday afternoon, said Yale University President Richard Levin in a statement to the campus community. Police plan to work through the night to remove the unidentified body, which is still in the wall, police spokesman Joe Avery told CNN.day. Le, 24, was to be married Sunday in Long Island, New York. Her fiance, Jonathan Widawsky, is a graduate student at Columbia University in New York. "Our hearts go out to Annie Le's family, fiancé and friends, who must suffer the additional ordeal of waiting for the body to be identified," Levin said. "I have met again with her family and conveyed to them the deeply felt support of the Yale community."
Investigators probing the disappearance of the pharmacology student earlier were testing bloody clothes found hidden in ceiling tiles in the Yale building, a law enforcement source told CNN. The bloody clothes are among the potential evidence being tested. William Reiner of the FBI's New Haven office said Sunday that investigators are searching a waste facility that normally handles garbage from the Yale lab. He described it as a routine step.

Source; cnn.com

Golden girl LeAnn Rimes tarnished by relationship drama

(CNN) -- There was a time when singer-actress LeAnn Rimes was considered as clean cut as they come. Once hailed as a country music ingénue, she first captivated fans as a 13-year-old with a mature-beyond-her-years voice and a poised stage presence. After selling millions of records and amassing Billboard Music Awards and Grammys, Rimes was often held up as an example of a child star who managed to avoid the pitfalls of fame and emerge with a successful career and a happy marriage. Then rumors surfaced that she was allegedly having an affair with actor Eddie Cibrian. Now the two have both separated from their respective spouses and the ensuing scandal has cast a shadow over Rimes' wholesome, good-girl image. "I kind of feel like the public's perception is changing towards her," said Lindsay Powers, staff editor for Us Weekly. "She hadn't even announced [her] divorce yet and here she was on a beach in Cabo [San Lucas], wearing a little bikini with Eddie Cibrian rubbing suntan lotion all over her. She's like flaunting their relationship while her husband is piecing together his life in New York City on his own." Such relationship woes among celebrities are as old as Hollywood itself. Stories of celebrity hookups on movie sets, be it Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in the 1960s or Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in the 21st century, are the stuff of which tabloid dreams are made. But Rimes, who married former dancer Dean Sheremet in 2002 when she was 19 and he 21, seemed an unlikely candidate to star in such a drama. Unlike other young celebrity couples, Rimes and Sheremet were unlikely tabloid targets, choosing to live quietly and often being captured smiling and embracing on the red carpet. The pair appeared devoted to each other and seemed to take a swipe at critics of their young love when they reportedly held a "seven year itch" party to toast their union.
In her book, "What I Cannot Change," Rimes wrote glowingly of her spouse. "My husband, Dean, has changed my heart -- and life -- in more ways than I can ever imagine," she wrote. "We met in Los Angeles when I was hosting the Academy of Country Music Awards. It was almost an instant attraction." Rumors began swirling about the singer and "CSI: Miami" actor Eddie Cibrian after they co-starred in the Lifetime movie "Northern Lights." During an interview with Matt Lauer in April on the "Today" show, Rimes sidestepped questioning about her relationship with Cibrian. I refuse to discuss tabloid rumors," Rimes said. "I've grown up in the press my entire life. I think people are fascinated by my personal life, and I totally get it." Soon after, Cibrian's wife and mother of his two young sons, Brandi Glanville, was quoted as demanding Rimes leave her husband alone.

Source: cnn.com

Mike Judge's Extract: Full of Flavor

The lead character of Mike Judge's quietly hilarious Extract, clean-cut Joel Reynolds (Jason Bateman), is decency incarnate. He loves his wife Suzie (Kristen Wiig). He's good to the employees of the company he built from the ground up, a factory that produces flavoring extracts of all sorts, from cookies and cream to root beer. Unlike his gruff business partner Brian (J.K. Simmons), he knows all of them by name, from shrill Mary (Beth Grant) to Step (Clifton Collins Jr.), an earnest goofball who aspires to be floor manager. Because of Joel, Reynolds Extract is the coziest factory around. But Joel's life is not without frustrations. There's the one-man gauntlet he has to run in order to enter his spacious suburban home in the evenings, a persistent, needy neighbor, Nathan (David Koechner), whose desire for dull chitchat is matched only by his obtuseness. And if Joel has any hope of enjoying marital relations with Suzie — his most fervent desire — he must escape Nathan's clutches and get into the house before she puts her sweatpants on, a nightly ritual that happens at 8 p.m. Judge, who created Beavis and Butt-head and whose 1999 film Office Space is a cult favorite in the workplace-comedy genre, frames Suzie tying the drawstring of her sweatpants in dramatic close-up, with the kind of musical fanfare that might accompany a gun coming out of a holster in a western. It's a door slamming shut on Joel's manhood, and he's as helpless at opening it as he is at closing one on the tedious Nathan. He is hog-tied by his own amiability.
Source: time.com

Strapped California Afford More Wildfires

For more than a week, much of the Angeles National Forest has been an inferno as a ferocious fire, spurred by abnormally high temperatures and single-digit humidity, ripped through steep canyons, dense brush and forest untouched by flames for 60 years. The advancing fire has cut a moonscape swath through the middle of the mountain range that forms a barrier between the greater Los Angeles area and the Mojave Desert. In addition to the lost lives of two firefighters, 76 destroyed homes and thousands of evacuees, the fire's financial toll has climbed to nearly $45 million. That has been the cost so far of a ground and air assault on the nearly 160,000-acre Station Fire, as it has been called, with more than 4,000 firefighters working the fire lines and an air fleet of 12 helitankers, seven helicopters and 11 airplanes — including a Boeing 747 and a DC-10 — pouring thousands of gallons of fire retardant on blazing hillsides. Only heroic work by firefighters saved the historic Mt. Wilson Observatory located 5,700 feet above Pasadena.
Source: time.com

North Korea: No More Mr. Nice Guy, Once Again

Just when Kim Jong Il, the North Korean dictator, had evidently embarked on one of his occasional charm offensives — releasing hostages (two Americans and five South Koreans), sending envoys to the South for former President Kim Dae Jung's funeral, and reopening some traffic across the Demilitarized Zone that divides the continent — he has also reminded the world that getting North Korea to get rid of its nuclear program will be as difficult as ever. On Sept. 4, Pyongyang, via its state-run news agency, noted matter-of-factly that it was in the "last phase" of its uranium-enrichment program. It also added that it was open to "either sanctions or dialogue." And so, in all likelihood, the next round of nuclear diplomacy with North Korea has begun: the U.S. and its negotiating partners had patiently waited for the North to come out of its self-imposed isolation — it had said it would never return to the six-party talks and then earlier this year tested, sequentially, a second nuclear bomb and a long-range missile, both in express defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions. The revelation that the North has a uranium-enrichment program (in addition to a plutonium program, which has been the focus of most of the diplomatic effort in recent years) and its assertion that the program is in its last stage now makes the next phase of diplomatic engagement that much more difficult. If the goal is to get North Korea to give up all its nuclear weapons and the ability to make them, the outside world has to convince Pyongyang to get rid of both an old plutonium project as well as the uranium program
Source: time.com

America and Its Deficits

It was one of Dick Cheney's more memorable lines. "Deficits don't matter," he told Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill in 2002. Later, after O'Neill made the conversation public, Cheney elaborated that he meant this "in a political context," not an economic one. But for most of Cheney's time as Vice President, the claim held up pretty well in both contexts. Over O'Neill's objections — he'd be gone soon anyway — the Bush Administration and Congress abandoned a bipartisan commitment to fiscal prudence that had held sway since the early 1990s and went back to running chronic deficits. The result was a growing economy and a second term for George W. Bush. Even when crisis came, in 2008, it wasn't a crisis of government finances, as some pessimists had feared, but one of mortgages and Wall Street. As Washington battled the troubles, the deficit grew to an estimated $1.6 trillion in the fiscal year that ends this month. That's by far the biggest shortfall ever, in dollar terms. The government will have spent $3.7 trillion and taken in $2.1 trillion. Even by the more forgiving yardstick of percentage of gross domestic product, the shortfall is, at 11.2%, the biggest since World War II. It will be smaller next year but still huge by historical standards. At some point this starts to matter, right? Well, yes, at some point it does have to start mattering. But one of the great mysteries of modern politics and economics is where exactly that point might be. When the Federal Government runs a deficit, it has to borrow money. It does so by selling Treasury securities, ranging from short-term bills to 30-year bonds, on which it pays interest. This is like you or me borrowing to cover a shortfall or buy a house, with a crucial difference: countries are, in theory at least, immortal. They can keep rolling over their debts indefinitely. The U.S., with its centuries-long record of solid credit and steady growth plus its special status as the issuer of the world's favorite currency, has seldom had trouble rolling over its debts.

Source: time.com