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Massachusetts Election could Jolt Senate Obama

2010-01-19T20:05:00.000+05:00

BOSTON — On the eve of the Senate election that could determine the fate of President Obama's agenda, Democrats scrambled to build a firebreak around the candidacy of Martha Coakley against the phenomenon of Scott Brown, the Republican Massachusetts state senator whose underdog campaign has surged as the vessel for national opposition to the Democrats' super majority in the chamber.

Both teams, reinforced by senior political operatives from Washington and bevies of volunteers from beyond Massachusetts, made ardent appeals to supporters to brave freezing temperatures and vote in today's special election to fill the seat vacated by the death of Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy. Democrats focused on trying to persuade independent women to back Coakley, who would be the first female senator from the Bay State. Republicans championed Brown as the best brake on runaway spending in Washington.

Enthusiastic crowds greeted Brown, whose prospects sharply ascended when his candidacy was identified as an opportunity to deprive Democrats of the 60th vote required to stop debate on a health-care overhaul, an issue that was Kennedy's lifelong quest. Chants of "Forty-one!" broke out at his campaign stops. Several late polls suggested Brown's remarkable surge may be pushing him beyond what appeared to be a dead heat a week ago. Over the weekend, Suffolk University surveyed three Massachusetts communities where past returns have mirrored statewide results, and found Brown leading by 14 to 17 percentage points.

A Brown campaign official predicted independent voters rallying to the insurgent Republican would push turnout above 50 percent, twice that of the last special election. "The half of my family who voted for Obama are for Brown," said Dennis Sheehan, an electrical technician from Lowell, who cheered the Senate candidate outside a Boston Bruins game. "They felt sold out. He said he'd bring the whole country together. I've never seen the country so divided in my life, and I grew up in the '60s, with Vietnam."

A conservative political-action committee calling itself "Our Country Deserves Better," which has aligned itself with the Tea Party movement, has spent more than $285,000 in support of Brown the past couple of weeks, federal election records show. The political-action committee of the Cooperative of American Physicians — a California-based consortium of doctors concerned with the costs of malpractice lawsuits — has spent at least $35,000 on "prerecorded messages" in support of Brown.

The Political Action Committee of the National Republican Trust, also supporting Brown, reported spending nearly $100,000 on advertising. On a much smaller scale, a conservative group focused on national-security issues called Move America Forward reported spending more than $13,000 on an e-mail blast and other activity supportive of Brown.

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Say Cheese Extra Photos at the Golden Globes

2010-01-19T19:32:00.000+05:00

"Extra" caught up with all of Hollywood's hottest stars at the Golden Globes.

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informations and reviews all you need and how you implement in it as well. Share and enjoy God bless you all.

Google Postpones Mobile Phone Launch in China

2010-01-19T19:22:00.000+05:00

BEIJING (AP) — Google on Tuesday postponed the planned launch of its mobile phone in China amid a dispute with the government over Internet censorship and e-mail hacking that the search giant says may force it to leave the country. "It is postponed," Google Inc. spokeswoman Marsha Wang said. She said a launch ceremony planned for Wednesday was canceled but declined to give a reason for the decision or to say when the launch might be rescheduled.

Also Tuesday, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said the search giant must obey China's laws and traditions, suggesting the government was giving no ground in talks over Internet censorship and Google's threat to pull out of
the country. It was the government's first direct comment on Google since the U.S. company said Jan. 12 it would no longer censor search results in China and might shut down its China-based site Google.cn. The announcement prompted an outpouring of support from Chinese Web surfers, who left flowers at Google offices and pleaded with the company to stay.

Google's phone is an effort by the company to join in competition for a share of China's mobile phone market, which is the world's most populous. Google's announcement shocked the international business community and cheered many free-speech advocates. The Chinese government blocks access to websites abroad run by human rights groups and dissidents and material deemed subversive or pornographic.

FBI illegally Collected Phone Records

2010-01-19T19:13:00.000+05:00

WASHINGTON – The FBI violated the law in collecting thousands of U.S. telephone records during the Bush administration, The Washington Post reported Monday. Citing internal memos and interviews, the Post said the FBI invoked nonexistent terrorism emergencies or persuaded phone companies to provide information as it illegally gathered more than 2,000 records between 2002 and 2006. The bureau said in 2007 that it had improperly obtained some phone records, and the Justice Department inspector general is expected to release a report this month detailing the extent of the problem.

FBI general counsel Valerie Caproni told the Post that agents technically violated the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which was enacted in 1986, by citing nonexistent emergencies to collect records. "We should have stopped those requests from being made that way," she said. Documents obtained by the Post show that FBI managers as high as the assistant director level approved the emergency requests. Caproni said FBI Director Robert Mueller did not know about the requests until late 2006 or early 2007, after the inspector general's investigation had begun.

Caproni told the Post that the bureau will await the inspector general's report before deciding whether disciplinary action is warranted.All you can think is a click away is that type of a blog which brings you a lot of stuff which means that this blog is easy for you to entertain yourselves. This blog has a lot of stuff that is usefull for people around the world. This blog is about hottest informations and reviews all you need and how you implement in it as well. Share and enjoy God bless you all.

Golden Globe Fashion Awards Sandra Bullock

2010-01-19T19:02:00.000+05:00

The best-actress winner for The Blind Side wore a sheer, purple Bottega Veneta gown. "The shape of her dress suited her body so well, and the color was perfect for her skin tone," Yalof Schwartz says. The actress also considered her look a victory: "The minute I put this on, it felt like me."

With husband Jesse James holding her umbrella high, Sandra Bullock looks lovely on the rainy red carpet at the 2010 Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on Sunday (January 17) in Beverly Hills, Calif.

The 45-year-old actress wore a violet Bottega Venetta gown and Casadei’s signature 3504 triple platform pump. Her hair was created by Frederic Fekkai stylist Adir Abergel.

Sandra is nominated for both of her leading roles in The Blind Side and The Proposal at tonight’s ceremony. She most recently tied with Meryl Streep at the 2010 Critics’ Choice Movie Awards for Best Actress and sealed it with a kiss!

Chavez says U.S. Occupying Haiti in Name of Aid

2010-01-18T20:41:00.000+05:00

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez on Sunday accused the United States of using the earthquake in Haiti as a pretext to occupy the devastated Caribbean country and offered to send fuel from his OPEC nation.

"I read that 3,000 soldiers are arriving, Marines armed as if they were going to war. There is not a shortage of guns there, my God. Doctors, medicine, fuel, field hospitals, that's what the United States should send," Chavez said on his weekly television show. "They are occupying Haiti undercover."

"On top of that, you don't see them in the streets. Are they picking up bodies? ... Are they looking for the injured? You don't see them. I haven't seen them. Where are they?" Chavez promised to send as much gasoline as Haiti needs for electricity generation and transport. A perennial foe of U.S. "imperialism," Chavez said he did not wish to diminish the humanitarian effort made by the United States and was only questioning the need for so many troops. The United States is sending more than 5,000 Marines and soldiers to Haiti, and a hospital ship is due to arrive later this week. The country's president said U.S. troops would help keep order on Haiti's increasingly lawless streets. Venezuela has sent several planes to Haiti with doctors, aid and some soldiers. A Russia-Venezuela mission was set to leave Venezuela on Monday carrying aid on Russian planes. Chavez said Venezuela's planes were the first to land in Haiti after Tuesday's 7.0 magnitude earthquake, which wrecked the capital Port-Au-Prince and killed as many as 200,000 people.

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Security Concerns Cause Doctors To Leave Hospital Quake Victims

2010-01-18T20:38:00.000+05:00

Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- Earthquake victims, writhing in pain and grasping at life, watched doctors and nurses walk away from a field hospital Friday night after a Belgian medical team evacuated the area, saying it was concerned about security.

The decision left CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta as the only doctor at the hospital to get the patients through the night.

CNN initially reported, based on conversations with some of the doctors, that the United Nations ordered the Belgian First Aid and Support Team to evacuate. However, Belgian Chief Coordinator Geert Gijs, a doctor who was at the hospital with 60 Belgian medical personnel, said it was his decision to pull the
team out for the night. Gijs said he requested U.N. security personnel to staff the hospital overnight, but was told that peacekeepers would only be able to evacuate the team.

He said it was a "tough decision" but that he accepted the U.N. offer to evacuate after a Canadian medical team, also at the hospital with Canadian security officers, left the site Friday afternoon. The Belgian team returned Saturday morning.Gijs said the United Nations has agreed to provide security for Saturday night. The team has requested the Belgian government to send its own troops for the field hospital, which Gijs expects to arrive late Sunday.

Responding to the CNN report that Gupta was the only doctor left at the Port-au-Prince field hospital, U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said Saturday that the world body's mission in Haiti did not order any medical team to leave. If the team left, it was at the request of their own organization, he said.Edmond Mulet, the U.N. assistant secretary general for peacekeeping operations, told reporters later that local security officers deemed the makeshift hospital unsafe."It seems that we've heard some reports in the international media that the United Nations asked or forced some medical teams to not work any more in some clinic -- that is not true, that is completely untrue," Mulet said Saturday.CNN video from the scene Friday night shows the Belgian team packing up its supplies and leaving with an escort of blue-helmeted U.N. peacekeepers in marked trucks.View or add to CNN's database of missing persons in Haiti

Gupta -- assisted by other CNN staffers, security personnel and at least one Haitian nurse who refused to leave -- assessed the needs of the 25 patients, but there was little they could do without supplies.More people, some in critical condition, were trickling in late Friday"I've never been in a situation like this. This is quite ridiculous," Gupta said.With a dearth of medical facilities in Haiti's capital, ambulances had nowhere else to take patients, some of whom had suffered severe trauma -- amputations and head injuries -- under the rubble. Others had suffered a great deal of blood loss, but there were no blood supplies left at the clinic.

Gupta feared that some would not survive the night. He and the others stayed with the injured all night, after the medical team had left and after the generators gave out and the tents turned pitch black. Gupta monitored patients' vital signs, administered painkillers and continued intravenous drips. He stabilized three new patients in critical condition. At 3:45 a.m., he posted a message on Twitter: "pulling all nighter at haiti field hosp. lots of work, but all patients stable. turned my crew into a crack med team tonight."Are you in Haiti and safe? Share your photos

He said the Belgian doctors did not want to leave their patients behind but were ordered out by the United Nations, which sent buses to transport them. "There is concern about riots not far from here -- and this is part of the problem," Gupta said. There have been scattered reports of violence throughout the capital. "What is striking to me as a physician is that patients who just had surgery, patients who are critically ill, are essentially being left here, nobody to care for them," Gupta said. Sandra Pierre, a Haitian who has been helping at the makeshift hospital, said the medical staff took most of the supplies with them. "All the doctors, all the nurses are gone," she said. "They are expected to be back tomorrow. They had no plan on leaving tonight. It was an order that came suddenly."

She told Gupta, "It's just you."

A 7.0 magnitude earthquake flattened Haiti's capital city Tuesday afternoon, affecting as many as 3 million people as it fanned out across the island nation. Tens of thousands of people are feared dead. Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere, lacked adequate medical resources even before the disaster and has been struggling this week to tend to huge numbers of injured. The clinic, set up under several tents, was a godsend to the few who were lucky to have been brought there. Retired Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, who led relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina in 2005, said the evacuation of the clinic's medical staff was unforgivable. "Search and rescue must trump security," Honoré said. "I've never seen anything like this before in my life. They need to man up and get back in there."

Honoré drew parallels between the tragedy in New Orleans, Louisiana, and in Port-au-Prince. But even in the chaos of Katrina, he said, he had never seen medical staff walk away.

"I find this astonishing these doctors left," he said. "People are scared of the poor. All you can think is a click away is that type of a blog which brings you a lot of stuff which means that this blog is easy for you to entertain yourselves. This blog has a lot of stuff that is usefull for people around the world. This blog is about hottest informations and reviews all you need and how you implement in it as well. Share and enjoy God bless you all.

IMF chief: Global Recovery Stronger Than Expected

2010-01-18T20:34:00.000+05:00

TOKYO (AP) -- The head of the IMF said China and other developing Asian economies are leading a global recovery that is faster and stronger than expected, but warned that money rushing into emerging markets could lead to asset bubbles.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, strongly suggested Monday that the IMF would raise its 2010 global growth forecast from the 3.1 percent it projected in October.

China, India and other emerging Asian economies were close to returning to their pre-crisis growth rates, while rebounds in the U.S., Japan and other advanced economies remained "sluggish," he said.

"The forecasts we're going to release in a couple of days will show that this recovery is going faster and stronger than we expected" several months ago, Strauss-Kahn told reporters in Tokyo.

While the IMF doesn't forecast a "double-dip," or second recession, risks remain, he said. "We have to very cautious because this recovery remains very fragile."

While hundreds of billions in stimulus spending by governments around the world avoided another Great Depression, he said, the most important risk facing the global economy is deciding how and when to reverse those polices and deal with resulting debt burdens.

"Now we have to fix the consequences of the policy that has been put in place to fight against the crisis," he said. "Finding the right time to implement exit policies is really a difficult one."

"If you exit too late, you waste resources," he said. "If you exit too early, you have a risk of going back into recession."

The best indicators for timing fresh growth strategies are monitoring private demand and employment, he said. The IMF recommends that governments devise policies that will support the labor market given still-high joblessness, which could lead to social unrest in some countries.

A key lesson from the global financial crisis is that authorities need to beef up supervision -- more so than regulations -- of financial institutions, he said.

"You may have the best regulations in the world, but if it's not supervised correctly, it's no use."

Strauss-Kahan also said he was worried that the unified political will to tackle the crisis demonstrated at the Group of 20 summits last year will vanish as the world economy recovers.

The rush of money into major emerging markets such as China, Brazil and Russia reflects investors' recognition that these economies are growing rapidly.

But Strauss-Kahn said this could lead to "many problems," including asset bubbles and a sudden drop in foreign investment, much like Eastern European countries experienced during the global financial crisis.

Jennifer Aniston Gerad Butler Shows Off Thigh Cuddles (PHOTOS)

2010-01-18T20:30:00.000+05:00

Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler, her costar in the upcoming "The Bounty Hunter," presented at the Golden Globes. In the press room afterward Aniston's otherwise boring black dress revealed a high thigh slit when she walked. All you can think is a click away is that type of a blog which brings you a lot of stuff which means that this blog is easy for you to entertain yourselves. This blog has a lot of stuff that is usefull for people around the world. This blog is about hottest informations and reviews all you need and how you implement in it as well. Share and enjoy God bless you all.

Sexy Jessica Chobot

2010-01-18T20:23:00.000+05:00

Jessica Chobot became an overnight internet sensation when a tongue-in-cheek modeling photo of her appeared online licking the Sony PSP in 2005. The photo has been widely parodied since, even appearing on Sony-branded advertising.

Supplementing her love of videogames is an obsession with Japanese culture, specifically anime and manga. In 2006 Chobot was hired full-time by IGN.com to take over hosting responsibilities for the network's IGN Weekly show which is no longer running. Her segments included stand-up introductions as well as "woman-on-the-street" pieces. She now hosts a daily show entitled , "IGN Daily Fix", the first episode aired March 23, 2009. While Chobot is the main host of the show Fran Mirabella and more commonly Daemon Hatfield have been known to host as well. The show does a weekly Friday giveaway asking questions about random fun video facts, the winner receiving a video game. In addition, she contributes columns, features and reviews and her IGN blog is one of the most visited on the site. Chobot is also a former contributor to FHM UK, Mania.com and has made multiple appearances on G4's "Filter" and "Attack of the Show." She has also hosted a videogame preview segment for Fuel TV’s, “The Daily Habit,” and co-hosts on Lifeskool TV’s, “Gamer’s Dojo.” She also contributes as a weekly guest on Maxim Radio, where she answers caller questions for an hour each Monday.

Chobot has appeared on commercials for ADV’s Anime Network On Demand cable station, lent her likeness to Symbiote Studios Toy Company for two limited-edition anime-style sculptures. In addition, she has modeled for the J!NX female gamers clothing line. In 2006-2007, she co-wrote a sci-fi script with writer/director/creator of Tron, Steven Lisberger, for Soul Code. Current collaborations include an anime-style collectible figurine in development with Symbiote Studios, a representative of JiNX.com women's apparel line. Chobot is also writing the "Ask Jess, Dammit!" blog for Maxim[4].She was named the 88th most desirable woman of 2008 by AskMen magazine and 14th hottest woman of business 2009 by Business Pundit

Michelle Obama intensely jealous of Oprah Winfrey

2010-01-18T20:14:00.000+05:00

America’s First Lady Michelle Obama is jealous of her husband’s close friendship with Oprah Winfrey.

America’s First Lady Michelle Obama is jealous of her husband’s close friendship with Oprah Winfrey.Michelle and Barack Obama's marriage is under pressure due to the First Lady's ‘jealousy' of her husband's friendship with Oprah Winfrey, the National Enquirer reports. "Their marriage has been like a war zone lately," a source claims. "In public, they put on a united, smiling front but behind closed doors, the gloves come off. If they're not screaming at each other, they're glaring or stomping off in different directions. Michelle is intensely jealous of the time Barack spends with Oprah.
"Since the election, Michelle has privately given Oprah the cold shoulder. She once said: ‘There's only room for one First Lady in the White House - and that's me!' Believe me, she means it."
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Cameron's 'Avatar' Wins Best Drama Honor at Globes

2010-01-18T20:11:00.000+05:00

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - The science-fiction blockbuster "Avatar" won best drama at the Golden Globes and picked up the directing honor for James Cameron on Sunday, raising the "Titanic" filmmaker's prospects for another Academy Awards triumph.

It was a repeat of Cameron's Globes night 12 years ago, when "Titanic" won best drama and the directing prize on its way to dominating the Oscars.

This time, though, instead of being "king of the world," as Cameron declared at the Oscars, he has become king of an alien landscape, elevating space fantasy to enormous critical acclaim.

"'Avatar' asks us to see that everything is connected, all human beings to each other, and us to the Earth. And if you have to go four and a half light years to another, made-up planet to appreciate this miracle of the world that we have right here, well, you know what, that's the wonder of cinema right there, that's the magic," Cameron said.

Winning the dramatic-acting honors were Sandra Bullock for the football tale "The Blind Side" and Jeff Bridges for the country-music story "Crazy Heart." The crowd gave a standing ovation to Bridges, a beloved veteran generally overlooked for key Hollywood honors.

The acting prizes for musical and comedy went to Meryl Streep for the Julia Child story "Julie & Julia" and Robert Downey Jr. for the crime romp "Sherlock Holmes." The supporting-performance Globes were won by Mo'Nique as an abusive welfare mother in "Precious" and Christoph Waltz as a gleefully bloodthirsty Nazi in "Inglourious Basterds."

The Vegas bachelor bash "The Hangover" won for best musical or comedy, bringing uncharacteristic awards attention for broad comedy, a genre that often gets overlooked at Hollywood honors.

"I just want to thank my mom, who supported my decision to become a director when she realized I wasn't as smart as my two sisters," said "Hangover" director Todd Phillips.

As he accepted the directing Globe, Cameron had kind words for ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow, nominated as best director for "The Hurt Locker."

"Frankly, I thought Kathryn was going to get this. She richly deserves it," said Cameron, whose "Titanic" earned the directing and best-drama Globes 12 years ago on its way to Academy Awards triumph.

The blockbuster "Up" came away with the award for animated film.

While Streep is a perennial at awards shows, the prize marked a dramatic turning point for Mo'Nique, who was mainly known for lowbrow comedy but startled audiences with her ferocious performance in "Precious: Based on the Novel `Push' By Sapphire."

"First let me say, thank you, God, for this amazing ride that you're allowing me to go on," the tearful Mo'Nique told the crowd.

She went on with gushing praise for "Precious" director Lee Daniels and newcomer Gabourey Sidibe, a best dramatic actress nominee at the Globes with her first film role, playing Mo'Nique's abused, illiterate daughter.

"Lee Daniels, the world gets a chance to see how brilliant you are. You are a brilliant, fearless, amazing director who would not waver, and thank you for trusting me," Mo'Nique said. "To Gabby, sister, I am in awe of you. Thank you for letting me play with you."

Streep's competition for best actress in a musical or comedy included herself. She also was nominated for the romance "It's Complicated."

"I just want to say that in my long career, I've played so many extraordinary woman that I'm getting mistaken for one," Streep said. "I'm very clear that I'm the vessel for other people's stories and other people's lives."

Waltz, a veteran Austrian actor who is a relative newcomer in Hollywood, won the supporting-actor Globe as a gleefully bloodthirsty Nazi in Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds."

"A year and a half ago I was exposed to the gravitational forces of Quentin Tarantino," Waltz said. "He took my modest little world, my globe, and with the power of his talent and his words and his vision, he flung it into its orbit, a dizzying experience."

Though one of Hollywood's biggest parties, the Globes bore somber reminders of tragedy in the real world, many stars wearing ribbons in support of earthquake victims in Haiti.

Films from Pixar Animation, the Disney outfit that made "Up," have won all four prizes for animated movies since the Globes introduced the category in 2006. Past Pixar winners are "WALL-E," "Ratatouille" and "Cars."

"Up" features the voice of Ed Asner in a tale of a lonely, bitter widower who renews his zest for adventure by flying his house off under helium balloons to South America, where he encounters his childhood hero and a hilarious gang of talking canines.

"When it came to finding the heart of the film, we didn't have to look very hard," said "Up" director Pete Docter, whose film also won for musical score. "Our inspiration was all around us. Our grandparents, our parents, our wives, our kids. Our talking dogs."

Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner won the screenplay honor for "Up in the Air," which Reitman also directed. The foreign-language honor went to "The White Ribbon," a stark drama of guilt and suspicion set in a German town on the eve of World War I.

"Mad Men" won for best TV drama, while Michael C. Hall won for best actor in a TV drama for "Dexter," in which he plays a serial killer with a code of ethics, killing only other murderers. Hall's publicists revealed this past week that Hall is being treated for Hodgkin's lymphoma and that the cancer is in remission.

"It's really a hell of a thing to go to work in a place where everybody gives a damn. That's really the case with `Dexter,'" Hall said. "It's a dream job. I'm so grateful."

"Dexter" also won the supporting-actor TV honor for John Lithgow. Other TV winners included Juliana Margulies as best actress in a drama for "The Good Wife" and Toni Collette as best comedy actress for "The United States of Tara."

The rain-drenched red carpet was a rare sight for an awards show in sunny southern California, stars in their finery getting damp under umbrellas as storms swept the region.

The Globes got a makeover, featuring Ricky Gervais as master of ceremonies, the first time in 15 years the show had a host.

One of his most biting quips came as he sipped a beer on stage.

"I like a drink as much as the next man, unless the next man is Mel Gibson," Gervais wisecracked as he introduced Globe presenter Mel Gibson, who made an anti-Semitic rant a few years back during a drunken-driving arrest.

Gervais opened by mocking Steve Carell, star of the U.S. version of "The Office," based on Gervais' British comedy series. While a stone-faced Carell watched, Gervais yammered on about how fans love Carell and wonder where he gets his ideas from.

Carell then mouthed and pantomimed, "I will break you," to Gervais, an executive producer on the U.S. version of the show.

Gervais joked about the international causes near and dear to Hollywood stars.

"You can be a little Asian child with no possessions and see a picture of Angelina Jolie and you think, `mommy,'" he said.

With stars sharing dinner and drinks, the Globes traditionally are a loose and relaxed affair compared to the courtly Oscars. Celebrities sometimes are caught more in reality-show mode — Jack Nicholson once mooned the crowd for a laugh, and Christine Lahti had to rush from the restroom to collect her Globe for the TV drama "Chicago Hope."

Sunday's winners could get a last-minute boost for the Oscars, whose nominations balloting closes Saturday. Last year's big Globe winner, "Slumdog Millionaire," went on to dominate the Oscars.

The Globes are presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a group of about 90 reporters covering show business for overseas outlets. The show airs live on NBC.

Rubble in Haiti Australian Media Crews Pull Baby

2010-01-18T20:05:00.000+05:00

SYDNEY (AFP) – Rival Australian news crews said Monday that saving a life came before doing their jobs when they rescued an 18-month-old baby from underneath the rubble in earthquake-devastated Haiti.

The little girl was lying alongside the bodies of her dead parents who were killed in the 7.0 magnitude earthquake which hit Port-au-Prince on January 12 when the camera crews heard her moans and began to dig her out on Friday. Related article: Haitians pray in ruins Richard Moran, a cameraman with the commercial Nine Network, put down his camera and lifted pieces of concrete out of the way while Nine's interpreter and fixer Deiby Celestino climbed into the tangled mess to retrieve the child.

"And then, out of the ruins came this little girl, and I will never forget it. She did not cry. She looked astonished, almost as if she was seeing the world for the first time," Nine reporter Robert Penfold told The Australian.

The images of the child's rescue were captured by Nine's major rival Seven, and footage beamed around the world showed Seven's correspondent Mike Amor holding the dusty little girl and giving her water.

"That moment, it was beyond news," Amor said. "I haven't seen anything so remarkable since the birth of my own child. The emotion for all of us has been incredible."

Amor said the news crews and the locals who had helped locate the girl were concentrated on rescuing the child rather than news priorities.

"The focus of everybody on that hill was the little girl, and as any of us will tell you, it was Deiby who went into that hole, and dug, and dug, until he got that little girl out. He's the hero," he told The Australian.

Footage of the rescue is available on Seven's website, tagged: "Mike Amor's amazing rescue".

Channel Nine's news director Mark Calvert said while disasters can sometimes bring out the very worst in journalists, they can also produce the best.

"I'm proud of the Nine News team, who put the welfare of the little girl before their own safety, and placed their personal convictions before professional pressures," he said in a statement to AFP.

"Yes, they put down their camera to help. But they also filed their story. And most importantly, they helped save a life."
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Jon Hamm Still Sexy, Even With The Beard

2010-01-17T17:16:00.000+05:00

Not even growth that's a few weeks away from matching Brad Pitt's scraggly beard could stop Jon Hamm from being dashing as ever. The "Mad Men" hunk showed at the Motion Picture and Television Fund's premiere screening of Kirk Douglas' autobiographical film "Before I Forget" on Wednesday night in Los Angeles with actress and screenwriter Jennifer Westfeldt on his arm.

Hamm and Westfeldt chatted with the acting legend at a pre-screening reception hosted by Netflix, where the Golden Globe nominee mingled with the likes of Kellan Lutz and director-producer Adam Shankman. While Shankman was enthused over Douglas' retrospective flick, he imparted to me his all-time favorite performance from the master thesp:

"He's Spartacus, I'm a gay man. You do the math," Shankman said. How do you take your Hamm? Fuzzy or clean shaven? Tell me in comments!

Obama Confident Bank Tax Plan Will Pass Congress

2010-01-16T21:36:00.000+05:00

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama expressed confidence Saturday that lawmakers would approve his proposed tax on banks to recover bailout money, despite opposition from Republicans and the financial industry.
"Like clockwork, the banks and politicians who curry their favor are already trying to stop this fee from going into effect," he said, using his weekly radio and Internet addresses to promote the plan he announced this past week.
"The very same firms reaping billions of dollars in profits, and reportedly handing out more money in bonuses and compensation than ever before in history, are now pleading poverty. It's a sight to see."
If banks can afford to pay out all those bonuses, he said, then they can repay taxpayers, too.
We're not going to let Wall Street take the money and run. We're going to pass this fee into law," he said.

Congress must approve the tax and that's not assured, given the immediate opposition from Republicans. Democrats also could lose their 60-vote majority in the Senate, with Democrat Martha Coakley in an unexpectedly close race against Republican Scott Brown in Massachusetts to fill the seat held for decades by the late Democrat Edward M. Kennedy.
Brown opposes Obama's bank tax. Obama planned to campaign in the state on Sunday.
The White House's decision to use the address to speak about the proposed tax instead of the U.S. response to the suffering and devastation caused by the earthquake in Haiti suggested one line of attack Obama would use against Brown on Sunday.
The proposed 0.15 percent tax would last at least 10 years and generate about $90 billion over the decade, according to administration estimates. It would apply to about 50 of the biggest banks, those with more than $50 billion in assets, and include many institutions that accepted no money from the $700 financial industry bailout.
Obama said that although the banks were facing a "crisis of their own creation," the "distasteful but necessary" taxpayer-funded bailout prevented an "even greater calamity for the country."
Most of the banks have returned the money they borrowed, and Obama said that was "good news."
"But as far as I'm concerned, it's not good enough," he said. "We want the taxpayers' money back, and we're going to collect every dime."
Six of the biggest U.S. banks are on track to pay $150 billion in total executive compensation for 2009, slightly less than the record $164 billion in 2007 before the financial crisis struck, according to the New York state comptroller's office.
Obama challenged those who say banks can't afford the tax without passing the costs on to shareholders and customers.
"That's hard to believe when there are reports that Wall Street is going to hand out more money in bonuses and compensation just this year than the cost of this fee over the next 10 years," he said. "If the big financial firms can afford massive bonuses, they can afford to pay back the American people."
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Australian Open Tennis – Henin and Oudin On The Move

2010-01-16T21:21:00.000+05:00

At 18 years of age, Melanie Oudin’s physique is similar to Belgium’s 27-year old Justine Henin. They are both 5’6”. Melanie outweighs Justine by a muscular 4 pounds.

Henin has navigated the tour quite successfully, thank you. Even after her nearly two-year layoff, Henin has banked more than $19 million in tour earnings. After a limited year on the tour, Melanie Oudin banked a cool $450,000. She’s pretty happy about that.

All along Oudin has viewed Henin as her role model. Joined by their need to overcome their vertical challenges, the Georgia native sees to be mirroring Justine’s career path. Eventually, she will develop a serve that will be more offensive than defensive. With experience, she will learn the other competitor’s nuances.
En route to her seven Grand Slam titles, Henin has had to travel the same path. She learned to serve. She learned to spot weaknesses and turn disadvantage to advantage.

She is a first-rate fighter, a superior competitor with as strong a will to succeed as exists on the tour today. Justine Henin and Melanie Oudin embody the role of underdog, overachiever.
They do not whine, complain or suffer the fans to obnoxious prima donna outbursts. No, they lift their heads and go back to what they do best; chasing down shots from bigger, stronger athletes and using the momentum ad energy of those shots to keep those bigger, heavier competitors on the courts for ungodly lengths of time.
In the stifling Australian summer, that works. Even in the American fall, that works. Perhaps in Paris it is a problem, but this year, on these fast, hot surfaces, these two may go down, but their opponents will know they were in a dogfight and know they have to overcome all that passion on the other side of the net.
The two mighty mites have stern tests ahead. Unseeded and comparatively unheralded, it is not inconceivable that these two could meet in the finals. Unlikely, yes. Impossible, no.
Henin, who reached the finals in Brisbane before dropping a tight three setter to Clijsters last weekend, is in the toughest bracket in all of Melbourne.
Her path to the finals includes likely pairings with 5th seed Elena Dementieva (2nd round), Alisa Kleybanova (3rd round), Flavia Pennetta (4th round), Clijsters in the quarters and Sharapova in the semis. If Justine makes the finals, just maybe the former number one could be seeded in Paris, where she has won an astounding four times.
For Oudin to play Henin, she will have to manage underdog victories against Aggie Radwanska (2nd round), Francesca Schiavone (3rd round), Venus Williams (4th round), Caroline Wozniacki (quarters) and Serena Williams in the semis. By any standard, that is a tall order for a short teenager.
But, remember, the 17-year old knocked off Jankovic at Wimbledon, Dementieva, Sharapova and Kuznetsova in New York last year. It is safe to say that 2nd seeded behemoth Dinara Safina has never had a Grand Slam like that!
Go get ‘em mighty mites! Be perky, pesky and keep ‘em running side to side in that brilliant Australian sun. Keep your composure, honor the game and don’t be afraid to enjoy the moment. The world is your oyster.
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Kalika Moquin

2009-12-02T22:58:00.000+05:00

Kalika Moquin, Life & Style reports that Kalika Moquin, is the latest woman to be connected to Tiger Woods. Reports of Moquin follow rumors about Rachel Uchitel and Jaimee Grubbs, both of whom have been linked to Woods romantically in the past week. Here is the press release from the magazine:

Life & Style can exclusively reveal the identity of a woman who has quietly been seeing golf star Tiger Woods for months — as recently as late October.
Kalika Moquin, a marketing manager for The Bank nightclub in Las Vegas, hooked up with Tiger more than once at his Las Vegas hotel during the weekend of Oct. 23, an insider tells Life & Style. Kalika is the third woman to be publicly linked to Tiger. Club promoter Rachel Uchitel and Los Angeles cocktail waitress Jaimee Grubbs have also been named in shocking reports as women with whom Tiger has cheated on his wife of five years, Elin Nordegren.
When contacted by Life & Style, Kalika neither confirmed nor denied an affair with Tiger. “It’s not appropriate for me to comment one way or the other,” she said. “At this time, I’m just choosing to focus on my job.”
Reps for Tiger would not comment. But the insider tells Life & Style, “They’ve hooked up a bunch of times. Tiger told Kalika that married life isn’t all it’s built up to be. He said he wasn’t happy in his marriage or his home life and that there was just so much pressure on him.”

Tiger Woods Voice Mail To His Girl Freind Jamie Grubbs

2009-12-02T22:44:00.000+05:00

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Tiger Woods said he let his family down with "transgressions" he regrets "with all of my heart," and that he will deal with his personal life behind closed doors.

His statement Wednesday follows a cover story in Us Weekly magazine that reports a Los Angeles cocktail waitress claims she had a 31-month affair with the world's No. 1 golfer.

"I have not been true to my values and the behaviour my family deserves," Woods said on his website . "I am not without faults and I am far short of perfect. I am dealing with my behaviour and personal failings behind closed doors with my family. Those feelings should be shared by us alone."

Woods did not offer details of any alleged relationship.

The cocktail waitress, Jaimee Grubbs, told the magazine she met Woods at a Las Vegas nightclub the week after the 2007 Masters - two months before Woods' wife, Elin, gave birth to their first child. Grubbs claims to have proof in 300 text messages.
About three hours before Woods' statement, the magazine published what it said was a voicemail
provided by Grubbs - that Woods left on her phone on Nov. 24, three days before his middle-of-the-night car crash outside his home in Florida.

"I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart," he said in the statement.

"I will strive to be a better person and the husband and father that my family deserves," Woods said. "For all of those who have supported me over the years, I offer my profound apology."

Woods has been subjected to more media scrutiny over the last week than when he first won the Masters in 1997 and set off the first wave of Tigermania. He has spoken only three times through his website, although this was his longest posting.

"Although I am a well-known person and have made my career as a professional athlete, I have been dismayed to realize the full extent of what tabloid scrutiny really means," Woods said. "For the last week, my family and I have been hounded to expose intimate details of our personal lives."

And he continued to say accounts that physical violence played a role in his Friday morning car crash were "utterly false and malicious."

"Elin has always done more to support our family and shown more grace than anyone could possibly expect," he wrote.

His statement came one day after the Florida Highway Patrol closed its investigation into the accident - without Woods ever speaking to state troopers. He was charged with careless driving, which carries a $164 fine and four points on his driving record.

Armenia Marks World AIDS Day Danger Of Contracting The HIV Virus Stems Mostly From Gay and Lesbian people

2009-12-02T22:28:00.000+05:00

YEREVAN (Combined Sources)—Armenians marched through the streets of Yerevan on Tuesday to commemorate World AIDS Day and raise awareness of efforts to prevent the spread of the disease in Armenia.

The march, organized by a coalition of NGOs working in Armenia, was held under the banner of breaking the cycle of indifference and discrimination toward Armenians living with HIV/AIDS. Organizers held a press conference Tuesday to discuss their efforts and the challenges they face trying to raise awareness of the disease in Armenia.

“There are people who have done their research and they know they have the HIV virus, but they don’t take care of their health, fearing a negative reaction from the public,” explained Hovhannes Madoyan, head of the organization Real World, Real People.

Experts monitoring the spread of AIDS in Armenia warn that the number of people living with the disease in Armenia is growing faster than the development of preventive measures in the country. The disparity is largely attributed to the taboo nature of the subject in Armenia.

“There is a widely held belief in Armenia that the danger of contracting the HIV virus stems mostly from gay and lesbian people, when in reality, the virus is most often spread among heterosexual people,” said Mamikon Hovsepyan of Public Information and Need of Knowledge (PINK).

According to the Armenian Health Ministry’s Center for Prevention and Control of HIV/AIDS, the main method of transmission in Armenia is through intercourse between heterosexuals, while injection drug use accounts for 44 % of cases. Nearly half of the HIV/AIDS cases in Armenia are registered Yerevan.

“It is because of discrimination and intolerance, that they cannot go see a doctor or seek treatment,” he added. “In Armenia, people’s rights continue to be violated, while the accessibility of treatment continues to remain a dream.”

Treatment for the disease is limited in Armenia, as is education and awareness on preventative measures. According to experts, negative attitudes towards drug users, homosexuals, and prostitutes in Armenia prevent many people from taking advantage of free antiretroviral treatment, which can prolong an infected person’s life by many years.

The Health Ministry says that the first registered cases of the disease in Armenia came in 1988. There are currently 808 registered cases of people with HIV/AIDS in Armenia today, with 60 percent of the infected being adults ranging from 25 to 39 years old and nearly 75 percent being men. HIV/AIDS Prevention Center estimates that the real number of people infected in Armenia could be as high as 2,800.

AIDS has killed more than 25 million people between 1981 and 2007. An estimated 33.2 million people worldwide live with HIV as of 2007. Despite recent improvements in access to antiretroviral treatment and care in many regions of the world, the AIDS epidemic claimed an estimated 2 million lives in 2007, of which about 270,000 were children.

Thousands in PR hold vigil for murdered gay teen

2009-12-01T22:45:00.000+05:00

(San Juan, Puerto Rico) Thousands of people marched through Puerto Rico’s capital last Wednesday, celebrating the life of a gay teenager whose dismembered, burned body was found dumped along a road in a small mountain town.

The crowd, many of them carrying candles as a breezy dusk settled over San Juan, were also demanding that authorities invoke a law for the first time covering crimes based on sexual orientation in the U.S. territory
“We’re gay people, straight people, young people, old people. It is Puerto Rico that’s walking tonight,” Pedro Julio Serrano, a spokesman for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, said among the marchers gathered outside the island’s Department of Justice.The mutilated body of 19-year-old college student Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado was discovered Nov. 13 along a road in the town of Cayey. He was a volunteer for organizations advocating HIV prevention and gay rights, and Serrano said there have been vigils for him in a dozen cities, including Los Angeles and New York.Juan Martinez Matos, the 26-year-old suspect held in the case, allegedly met Lopez in an area known for prostitution, according to prosecutor Jose Bermudez Santos.The prosecutor said Martinez confessed to stabbing Lopez, who was dressed as a woman, after discovering he was a man.

It could not be immediately determined if Martinez is being represented by a lawyer. Officials for the island’s public defenders office could not be reached Wednesday evening.Gay activists have voiced outrage that Martinez wasn’t immediately charged with a hate crime. He has been charged with murder.Ana Quintero, a spokeswoman for Justice Secretary Antonio Sagardia, said the murder case was still under investigation and officials would pursue it as a hate crime if the evidence warrants. A 2002 hate crime law in this U.S. territory has not been applied to any cases involving sexual orientation or gender identity despite calls to use it more aggressively, Serrano said. A suspect convicted of a hate crime offense as part of another crime automatically faces the maximum penalty for the underlying crime. For murder, that would be life in prison.

Serrano said he has identified at least 10 slayings on the island over the last seven years that should have been investigated as hate crimes, including some in which the victims were sex workers. Two U.S. Congress members from New York, who are of Puerto Rican origin, have suggested prosecuting the case under new federal hate crimes legislation that extended coverage to sexual orientation. President Barack Obama signed it last month.

High Musical's Zac Efron Speaks on the "Craziest Ride of His Life"

2009-11-30T21:22:00.000+05:00

While Zac Efron is thankful for his star-making role in the High School Musical franchise, he's also excited to expand his movie resume and enter the realm of true Hollywood A-lister.

The young stud takes a step in that direction with Me and Orson Welles, a drama that opens next month. He spoke to Parade about the film - and his hair, of course - in a new interview. Excepts from it are below...

On choosing the movie: "I had never done anything like this before... I thought, 'Maybe this time I've bitten off more than I can chew because I'm not singing and dancing. It's all about acting.' I knew people wouldn't see it as a predictable next move in my career, but I'd like to be known for more than predictability."

On his character: "I really connected with Rick - the way he kind of lucked into an opportunity to act, and thanks to Orson Welles, doors were opening for him. It kind of resembled my life experience growing up in the theater. In school, my whole life was focused on theater, especially musicals, which were a creative outlet. I had no clue that I'd end up in Hollywood. I'm still on the craziest ride of my life."

On his hobbies: "I like very normal things, like hiking and camping. When it comes to sports I go skiing, surf boarding, snowboarding, and skateboarding. I guess at this point a perfect day for me is probably just relaxing and hanging out with friends. It's not always easy to be left alone, but I try not to think about it. You can't let fear control you."

On his hair: "It's pretty low maintenance, so it's appealing for lazy individuals like me. You don't have to do anything really, it just goes that way. You don't even have to put gel in it or anything. There is one thing: If you wash it at night and leave it damp, just towel dry it, you wake up in the morning and you're all set."

Hollywood Block Buster 'New Moon' keeps box office spot with $42.5M

2009-11-30T20:54:00.000+05:00

LOS ANGELES — Vampires and werewolves continued to howl at the box office with a $42.5 million weekend for "The Twilight Saga: New Moon."

"The Blind Side" had a great second weekend with $40.1 million coming in at No. 2 just behind "New Moon." Released by Warner Bros., the inspirational story of Baltimore Ravens tackle Michael Oher stars Sandra Bullock as a woman whose wealthy family takes in the homeless teen and enrolls him in private school.

The two movies propelled Hollywood to record revenues over the five-day Thanksgiving period. Wednesday-to-Sunday receipts came in at an estimated $275 million, according to Hollywood.com box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedian.

That surpassed the previous Thanksgiving record of $244.4 million set in 2000, when "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and "Unbreakable" topped the box office.

With 2009 domestic revenues at $9.5 billion, Hollywood is on the verge of breaking the record of $9.7 billion set in 2007. Studios have a month of prime holiday business ahead, so the industry should easily top the $10 billion mark domestically for the first time.

"We're going to buzz past it," Dergarabedian said.

New wide releases had so-so results this weekend. Disney's family comedy "Old Dogs," starring Robin Williams and John Travolta as single guys forced to mind 7-year-old twins one of them never knew he had fathered, came in at No. 4 with $16.8 million for the three-day weekend and $24.1 million since opening Wednesday.

The Warner Bros. action tale "Ninja Assassin" opened at No. 6 with $13.1 million over the weekend and $21 million since Wednesday. The movie features Korean pop star Rain and Naomie Harris in a thriller about a hit man on the run from his assassination clan.

"Fantastic Mr. Fox," the 20th Century Fox animated comedy with a voice cast led by George Clooney, expanded to nationwide release and pulled in $7 million to finish at No. 9.

"New Moon" raised its domestic total to $230.7 million after just 10 days. That's nearly $40 million more than the first movie, last year's "Twilight," took in during its entire 20-week run. The movie's worldwide gross stands at $473.7 million.

The "Twilight" movies star Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner in an adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's books about teen heartache among a school girl, a vampire and a werewolf.

"New Moon" is approaching numbers achieved by another teen fantasy sensation, the "Harry Potter" films, which had domestic totals ranging from $250 million to $317 million.

"We always hesitated to compare ourselves to `Harry Potter,' but the numbers do speak for themselves," said Richie Fay, head of distribution for Summit.

While the weekend haul for "New Moon" dropped a steep 70 percent from the movie's $142.8 million opening, "The Blind Side" actually went up 18 percent from its $34.1 million first weekend. Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros., said the movie is on track to top $200 million.

"The Blind Side" is drawing equal audiences among men and women and finding fans from ages 8 to 80, said Andrew Kosove, co-founder and co-chief executive officer of Alcon Entertainment, which produced the film.

"Even though Michael Oher is a football player, and football is a part of the story, the movie is really not a sports movie. It's a family movie," Kosove said.

"The Blind Side" lifted its 10-day total to $100.3 million and has generated Academy Awards buzz for Bullock.

In limited release, the Weinstein Co. apocalyptic drama "The Road" opened strongly with a $1.5 million weekend and $2 million since opening Wednesday. Adapted from Cormac McCarthy's novel, the film stars Viggo Mortensen as a father struggling to survive with his young son in the wasteland of America after an unspecified catastrophe.

Disney's animated musical "The Princess and the Frog" did huge business, debuting in two theaters with $712,000 over the weekend and $1.1 million since Wednesday. Updating the Brothers Grimm fairy tale "The Frog Prince" to jazzy New Orleans in the 1920s, the film expands nationwide Dec. 11.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," $42.5 million.

2. "The Blind Side," $40.1 million.

3. "2012," $18 million.

4. "Old Dogs," $16.8 million.

5. "Disney's A Christmas Carol," $16 million.

6. "Ninja Assassin," $13.1 million.

7. "Planet 51," $10.2 million.

8. "Precious: Based on the Novel `Push' By Sapphire," $7.1 million.

9. "Fantastic Mr. Fox," $7 million.

10. "The Men Who Stare at Goats," $1.5 million.

Community wanna Ban On Blood Donations From Gay Men

2009-11-30T20:44:00.000+05:00

Danny Chaviano is a relatively normal guy.

He loves pasta. He plays piano. He pays taxes.

He’s your neighbor, your classmate, your average civil engineering student. He speaks of his calculus class with an air of slight disgust, and he thinks one of the weirdest things about himself is his utter dislike of steak. But the Food and Drug Administration thinks this 18-year-old, piano-playing, pasta-eating, UF engineering student is a potential threat to blood banks everywhere. Chaviano is just one of the sexually active, gay American men who have been turned away from donating blood since 1983 when, in the light of the AIDS scare, the FDA enacted an umbrella ban on any man who has had sexual contact with another man since 1977.

“I couldn’t do something for someone just because of my sexuality,” Chaviano said. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

And he’s not the only one who doesn’t understand or agree with the 26-year-old ban. Jeremy Whitaker, now a 19-year-old UF student, was the vice president of his high school’s semiannual blood drive when he was turned away from donating blood. Although he helped sponsor the event that accrued about 60 quarts of blood, he was deemed ineligible for the same reason Chaviano was: He is a sexually active gay man.

“I was supposed to be a leader in something, and I couldn’t even contribute,” Whitaker said.

The ban, which also includes any woman who has had sexual contact with a man who might have had sexual contact with another man during the past 12 months, was designed two years after the first cases of AIDS in five gay Los Angeles men were reported to prevent the transfer of HIV or AIDS from “high-risk communities” through blood transfusions. And as people recognize the 21st World AIDS Day tomorrow, some blood bank officials are wondering why the FDA has not changed the policy when, according to the American Red Cross, someone in the United States needs blood every two seconds.

“It’s one of those policies that makes you scratch your head,” said Galen Unold, director of recruitment and retention at LifeSouth Community Blood Centers Inc. “But you have to understand why the policy was put in effect. At that time, this group was at the highest risk.”

The FDA insists the current policy that “defers” any sexually active gay man from donating blood is based on policies that assure the protection of the nation’s literal lifeline.

“Although this policy may disqualify some healthy individuals from donating blood, it has proven effective in protecting the nation’s blood supply,” the FDA states on its Web site.

And not everyone disagrees with the FDA.

“I agree with this policy [be]cause HIV or AIDS is high risk for that group, it has nothing to do with discrimination,” Melody Sansbury, a former American Red Cross employee, wrote in an e-mail. Jenni Schelble’s mouth gaped open, exposing the forkful of Hare Krishna lunch she was eating under the looming shadow of one of LifeSouth’s bloodmobiles on Turlington Plaza, when she found out the ban was still in effect.

“It’s blatant, horrible discrimination,” she said.

“By their logic, are they going to say black women can’t donate blood? Can you imagine if they started saying black women couldn’t donate blood?” Schelble’s comments allude to a 2007 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study that found about half of new AIDS diagnoses in the U.S. during that year were from the black community. Bobby Davis, HIV/AIDS program coordinator for the Alachua County Health Department, noted that although about half the new diagnoses in 2007 came from the black community, the black community is much larger than the gay community. As a result, the overall HIV/AIDS prevalence within the U.S. black community is still lower than that of the gay community.

After analyzing people by race, the CDC found the black community accounted for 46 percent of those infected in the U.S. with HIV or AIDS. The CDC also found that men who have sex with men account for 48 percent of those infected with HIV or AIDS in the U.S., according to the same 2006 study. The numbers in Alachua County seem to follow the same nationwide trend. Since the ACHD began keeping statistics in 1983, 56 percent of all reported AIDS infections have been from the black community and 41 percent of all reported AIDS transmissions have been through male-to-male sexual contact, according to a June 2009 report. “It’s really important to protect the nation’s blood supply,” said James Beaudreau, education and policy director for the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association. “But we think the policy needs to be re-examined.”

Unold agreed with Beaudreau, as he stressed the importance of a time-based deferral system for men who have sex with men similar to the current policy that allows any person who has had sexual contact with a prostitute more than 12 months ago to donate blood. “I would feel completely comfortable if the FDA reversed that policy,” Unold said. “I think our blood supply would still be safe.” The American Red Cross has been pressing the FDA to do just that. In a 2006 statement with America’s Blood Centers and the American Association of Blood Banks, the American Red Cross stated the current FDA-regulated lifetime deferral for any man who has had sexual contact with another man “is no longer medically and scientifically warranted.”

“We have always supported the use of scientific and rational deferral programs,” American Red Cross spokeswoman April Phillips said. “Given the science we have and given the sophistication we have, the main thing right now is for the sexual deferral policy to be applied equally to everyone and not just certain communities.” Although blood banks across the country test all donations for infections, the window period for HIV or AIDS, the time after exposure to the infection before it can be detected, and “imperfect testing measures” continue to be the main reasons the FDA has refused to adjust its 1983 policy. The GLMA addressed the issue in a 2008 statement to the FDA. “[The window period] is not a meaningful basis to establish policy either for the population as a whole or for men who have sex with men,” the statement read.

The statement also requested the FDA adopt “social behavior screening rules” to modify the current lifetime deferral program to allow men who have sex with men at a lower risk of infection, including those in monogamous HIV-negative relationships, to donate blood. Although Unold and Phillips both said the current FDA policy should be reexamined, the pair also addressed other ways a person who is deemed ineligible to donate blood can help with America’s blood shortage, including volunteering at a local blood drive or recruiting donors. “I understand the frustration, but don’t take it out on a community’s blood supply and the patients that it serves,” Unold said. “If you’re going to boycott the policy, don’t boycott the Blood Mobile. Don’t prevent someone from donating blood. Don’t prevent someone from giving the gift of life.”

Those who wish to get tested for HIV/AIDS should call 352-392-1161 ext. 4281 to schedule a free appointment from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Florida Gym.

Maurice Clemmons

2009-11-30T12:50:00.000+05:00

Maurice Clemmons, the 37-year-old Tacoma man being sought for questioning in the killing this morning of four Lakewood police officers, has a long criminal record punctuated by violence, erratic behavior and concerns about his mental health.
Nine years ago, then-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee granted clemency to Clemmons, commuting his lengthy prison sentence over the protests of prosecutors.

"This is the day I've been dreading for a long time," Larry Jegley, prosecuting attorney for Arkansas' Pulaski County said tonight when informed that Clemmons was being sought for questioning in connection with the killings.

Clemmons' criminal history includes at least five felony convictions in Arkansas and at least eight felony charges in Washington. The record also stands out for the number of times he has been released from custody despite questions about the danger he posed.

Huckabee, who ran for the Republican presidential nomination last year, issued a statement tonight calling the slaying of the police officers "a horrible and tragic event."

If Clemmons is found responsible, "it will be the result of a series of failures in the criminal justice system in both Arkansas and Washington State," Huckabee said.

He added that Clemmons' release from prison had been reviewed and approved by the Arkansas parole board.He was released from custody just six days ago, even though he was wanted on a fugitive warrant out of Arkansas and was staring at eight felony charges in all out of Washington state.

Chaka Khan

2009-11-30T12:40:00.000+05:00

Best known for Soul/Funk tracks like Tell Me Something Good and Sweet Thing as lead singer of the band Rufus. She later had solo success in the 80s, like with her 1984 cover of Prince’s I Feel for You R&B singer Chaka Khan enjoyed solo success as well as popularity as a member of the group Rufus.

Chaka Khan (born Yvette Marie Stevens on March 23, 1953), is a Grammy Award-winning American singer-songwriter best known for such hit songs as "I'm Every Woman", "Ain't Nobody", "I Feel for You" and "Through the Fire". She sang a modernized theme song for the popular children's TV show Reading Rainbow in the show's later years. Khan was featured vocalist in the funk band Rufus with hit songs, "Tell Me Something Good", "You Got The Love", "Once You Get Started", 'Sweet Thing", "Everlasting Love" and "Stay", before launching a solo career.

Khan was born Yvette Marie Stevens in North Chicago, Illinois. Her sister is dance music artist Taka Boom, and her brother is Mark Stevens of the band Aurra. Khan was raised on Chicago's South Side, and at the age of eleven formed her first group, the Crystalettes. She went to Calumet High School and Kenwood Academy on the city's south side and while in high school, she joined the Afro-Arts Theater group, which toured with Motown great Mary Wells. She adopted the African name "Chaka" while working as a volunteer on the Black Panthers' Free Breakfast for Children program in Chicago. During a naming ceremony at the Afro-Arts Theater, a Yoruba priest christened her Chaka Adunne Aduffe Yemoja Hodarhi Karifi (as stated on her official website). After quitting high school in 1969, Chaka joined the group Lyfe, before leaving to join another soul band, The Babysitters, replacing former lead singer Baby Huey. Neither group enjoyed mainstream success, but her fortunes changed when she teamed with ex-American Breed member Kevin Murphy and Andre Fischer to form Rufus. Around this time she married bass guitarist Hassan Khan.