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300 Internet Marketers Review

2011-03-24T20:50:00.000-07:00

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Philadelphia Marathon Results 2010

2010-11-22T01:56:00.000-08:00

Philadelphia Marathon Live Route Coverage аnd Winners – Thе Philadelphia Marathon іѕ аlѕο known аѕ thе Philadelphia Independence Marathon ѕіnсе іt wаѕ first ѕtаrtеd іn thе year 1954 аnd being organized tο schedule a rасе еνеrу year οn thе 3rd weekend οf November.

Apparently, іtѕ already 9:30 аm, аnd аѕ οf thіѕ writing, thе 17th Annual Philadelphia Marathon іѕ nearly completed. In јυѕt a short whіlе winners wіll bе proclaimed.

78459 news philadelphia mara g Latest Philadelphia Marathon Results 2010 and Winners Old Database News

Thе ѕtаrt/fіnіѕh line іѕ аt 22nd street аnd thе Parkway. Thе 26-mile course loops through Center City, Penn’s Landing, Manayunk аnd back tο 22nd аnd thе Parkway. Hοwеνеr, many roads wіll still bе closed until 4 P.M. despite thе morning fіnіѕh οf thе Marathon including thе Ben Franklink Parkway, Kelly Drive,аnd many others.

“Thе Philadelphia Marathon events showcase Philly аѕ a destination tο a group οf consumers whο аrе attractive tο thе local economy whеn уου hаνе thіѕ high socio-economic group coming tο ουr city,” Emily Sparvero οf Temple’s School οf Tourism аnd Hospitality Management ѕаіd. “Those аrе thе people wе want аѕ visitors tο boost аnd keep ουr economy going.”

Nevertheless , thе Philadelphia Marathon wіll bе full οf health events, lot οf prizes, discounts, аnd during thе rасе, more thаn 25 Cheer Zones fully stocked wіth music, entertainment аnd hot chocolate.

PHILADELPHIA MARATHON RESULTS:

Men’s results:

1. Daniel Vassallo, Wilmington, Mass., 2:21.28; 2. David Bedoya, Somerville, Mass., 2:23.37; 3. Raymond Bentley, Elverson, Pa., 2:24.53; 4. Ryan Bender, Charlotte, N.C., 2:25.10; 5. Ryan McGuire, Middleburg, Pa., 2:26.05; 6. Andy Allstadt, Albany, N.Y., 2:26.54; 7. Edward Callinan, Haddonfield, N.J., 2:26.29; 8. Kevin Borrelli, Dickson City, Pa., 2:27.24; 9. Ross Martinson, Conshohocken, 2:27. 35; 10. Rami Bardeesy, Canada, 2:27.58.

Women’s results:

1. Mariska Kramer, Netherlands, 2:38.55; 2. Ramilia Burangulova, Gainesville, Fla., 2:40.12; 3. Emily Hulme, Havertown, Pa., 2:44.30; 4. Meghan Ridgley, Reston, Va., 2:48.04; 5. Jennifer Modliszewski, Durham, N.C., 2:48.30; 6. Mary Kelly, Broomall, 2:49.30; 7. Jennifer Campbell, Watertown, Mass., 2:49.52; 8. Lara Johnson, Natick, Mass., 2:51.00; 9. Abby Dean, Philadelphia., 2:52.33; 10. Jillian Mastroianni, Nashville, Tenn., 2:52.51.

Twitter Hacked, Defaced By “Iranian Cyber Army”

2009-12-18T04:34:00.000-08:00

We’ve accustomed assorted tips appropriate about 10 pm that Twitter was afraid and defaced with the bulletin below. The armpit was offline for a while.

We’re attractive into this and apprehension on a acknowledgment from Twitter.

The bulletin read:

Iranian Cyber Army

THIS SITE HAS BEEN HACKED BY IRANIAN CYBER ARMY

iRANiAN.CYBER.ARMY@GMAIL.COM

U.S.A. Think They Controlling And Managing Internet By Their Access, But THey Don’t, We Control And Manage Internet By Our Power, So Do Not Try To Stimulation Iranian Peoples To….

NOW WHICH COUNTRY IN EMBARGO LIST? IRAN? USA?
WE PUSH THEM IN EMBARGO LIST
Take Care.

Update: – We accept aloof begin out that the aforementioned birthmark is actualization at at atomic one added site, mawjcamp.org. We are not able to see what was at this area before, but it is now announcement the aforementioned birthmark that Twitter was alone a few account ago.

Twitter does not have the best record with security issues. We have previously covered a number of incidents, and as recently as two months ago their web servers were misconfigured to reveal detailed internal network information. We also previously wrote about their admin interface having a password of ‘password’ on one account, and the well-known Twitter doc incident. It was hoped that with the hiring of a new COO, Dick Costolo, as well as a number of other high-level engineers, including security experts, that Twitter had grown out of the phase of being vulnerable to security incidents on such a large scale.

We do not know a lot about the group claiming responsibility for the attack as we haven’t heard their name before and they do not show up in any defacement mirrors or security sites. Similar Iranian groups were active during the election campaign in that country. We have emailed the group (they were kind enough to leave an address on the defacement) for a comment (also added them on Gchat – worth a shot).

Update 2.: Twitter.com is down, status.twitter.com is down. Some tweets are getting through at the moment because parts of the API are up. Search also seems to be working. The Firehose is up – Tweets are coming in from FriendFeed (all those tweets about ‘is twitter down’ are from third-party sites)

Update 3.: It is suggested that if you use the same password on your Twitter account with other accounts, now would be a good time to change your password on those other accounts.

Update 4.: There is a history between Iran and Twitter. It was well noted and covered in the media that Twitter was used as a tool during the Iranian election protests. The US government actually intervened to assure that Twitter was available to the protestors in Tehran and around the country. This attack may be an act of reprisal from groups who were not happy with the role that Twitter played during the protests.

Update 5.: There is speculation at the moment that this may be a DNS redirect, which means that the Twitter.com domain has been redirected to the defacement page. This doesn’t explain why some sub-domains are down, while others are currently still alive (such as search)

Update 6.: Twitter.com is back. The company updated its status blog saying: “Twitter’s DNS records were temporarily compromised but have now been fixed. We are looking into the underlying cause and will update with more information soon.”

Update 7.: Twitter’s Platform Lead engineer Alex Payne has a funnier update on the current status

Update 8.: Google was showing the below briefly when doing a search for Twitter (thanks Chris). The translation from Farsi/Persian reads:

“In the name of God, As an Iranian this is a reaction to Twitter’s interference sly which was U.S. authorities ordered in the internal affairs of my country…”

Update 9.: Biz Stone blogged:

"As we tweeted a bit ago, Twitter’s DNS records were temporarily compromised tonight but have now been fixed. As some noticed, Twitter.com was redirected for a while but API and platform applications were working. We will update with more information and details once we’ve investigated more fully."

As will we.

800,000 doses of kids` barbarian flu vaccine recalled

2009-12-15T09:06:00.000-08:00

ATLANTA – Health admiral are abandoning hundreds of bags of doses of barbarian flu vaccine afterwards tests adumbrated they may not be almighty abundant to assure adjoin the virus.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notified doctors about the anamnesis Tuesday. The anamnesis involves about 800,000 doses fabricated by Sanofi Pasteur. The doses are pre-filled syringes advised for adolescent children, ages 6 months to about three years.

Health officials recommend children those ages get two doses, spaced about a month apart.

Health officials say it's not clear how many doses have already been given, but they don't think children need to be re-vaccinated. The lots passed potency tests when they were first shipped, but tests indicate the potency waned after.

Why Animalism Matters

2009-12-15T09:00:00.000-08:00

I acclimated to be one of those women who assuredly altercate that lust, affection and sex aloof aren't all that important.

Wife #2: You know the conversation:

"Marriage changes things..."

"We have kids now. Sex just isn't a priority..."

"Lust fades. It's not what matters..."

I get it. I acclimated to alive that lie myself.

In my antecedent marriage, sex became a assignment performed to accumulate our brittle accord afloat. It wasn't done out of affection or alike love, abnormally in the after years. Over time, sex became beneath and beneath frequent, beneath and beneath affectionate. I arrested sex off my agitation account with the aforementioned activity as the dry charwoman -- animated that's done!

Don't misunderstand me. I tried. I bought lingerie. I planned date nights. We took up doubles tennis. I thought together time would bring us together. But I couldn't force a connection in or out of bed.

After all that, I opted for resignation. I believed I could live with my tepid sex life. I assumed it's simply what happens when you've been married for years, when kids barrel into your bedroom like a small army every morning.

I was wrong.

Here's what I learned:

When you lose sex, you lose a critical part of being a couple. Sex is that precious thing you share with one person only, the bond you have to your mate that exists nowhere else in your life. It's looking across a crowded room and knowing you have with him something no one else does.

When the sex evaporated, I was left with a roommate instead of a husband. And though sex was hard to live without, what I really missed was the warmth it creates in a marriage. What I missed was that connection.

I'm sure many of you are smugly thinking I'm deluded, that the sex will drop off with Husband #2 soon enough and I'll live to eat these words. I suppose the day will come when our sex life slows down. Maybe that's even started ... if you count not having sex in public places as slowing down. But years into being Wife #2, he still rocks my world in a way no one ever has. And the crazy OMG sex has lasted far longer than ever before. We'll probably settle into married sex like everyone else but our married sex is a whole other ball game.

Why? It's not because I'm a model or he's a rock star. It's that connection. The amazing sex, the sleeping entwined all night, the constant conversations about our childrens' well being, the way he knows exactly how I take my coffee -- they all come from the same place: devotion and honesty.

So I won't let happen this time what happened before. I won't let sex and passion and love take a perpetual backseat to getting the kids to soccer practice on time.

I didn't leave my marriage because I was starved for sex. I was starved for intimacy. Think about that the next time you're about to roll over and turn out the lights instead of seizing the moment.

Boeing bent 787 will assuredly fly

2009-12-15T08:56:00.000-08:00

EVERETT, Wash. (AP) -- Weather permitting, Boeing Co. affairs to assuredly get its fresh 787 jetliner into the air Tuesday, added than two years afterwards it had intended.

The analysis aircraft completed its arena tests during the weekend, including a 150-mph birr bottomward the aerodrome at Everett's Paine Field during which its adenoids accessory briefly aerial off the pavement. Tuesday morning, pilots Michael Carriker and Randall Neville achievement to booty the 787 on a four-hour flight over Washington state, alpha the all-encompassing flight analysis affairs bare to access the plane's Federal Aviation Administration certification.

Before landing at Seattle's Boeing Field, the two-member crew will perform a variety of basic tests and systems checks, said Boeing Commercial Airplanes spokesman Jim Proulx. "They will essentially make sure that the airplane under normal circumstances flies the way it's supposed to fly," he said.

Proulx said good visibility, no standing water at the two airports and gentle or no wind are needed for the initial flight, but he noted it was raining when Boeing's previous all-new airplane, the 777, made its first flight 15 years ago.

Tuesday's forecast called for rain, 10 mph winds and a cloud ceiling at about 1,500 feet, National Weather Service meteorologist Ted Buehner said -- nothing to prevent a modern jetliner from flying.

The plane is the first of six 787s Boeing will use in the flight test program, expected to last about nine months and subject the planes to conditions well beyond those found in normal airline service. Chicago-based Boeing, which has orders for 840 787s, plans to make the first delivery to Japan's All Nippon Airways late next year.

The 787 is a radical departure for Boeing: About 50 percent of the plane is made of lightweight composite materials, with large sections produced by suppliers around the globe and assembled by Boeing at Everett. The plane, Boeing says, will be quieter, produce fewer emissions and use 20 percent less fuel than comparable aircraft, while passengers will enjoy a more comfortable cabin with better air quality and larger windows.

But the program has been plagued by ill-fitting parts and other problems. The first flight was supposed to be in 2007 with deliveries the following year, but Boeing has been forced to push that back five times -- delays that have cost the company credibility, sales and billions of dollars. Most recently, Boeing said it needed to reinforce the area where the wings join the fuselage, with tests completed on that fix just two weeks ago.

An eight-week strike last year by Seattle-area production workers also hampered the program and was a factor in Boeing choosing North Charleston, S.C., in October as the site for a second 787 assembly line.

The 787 remains Boeing's best-selling new plane to date, though some airlines have been forced to cancel or postpone purchase plans due to the weak global economy.

The version being tested will be able to fly up to 250 passengers about 9,000 miles. A stretch version will be capable of carrying 290 passengers and a short-range model up to 330.

Boeing 787 First Flight Web site, including link to flight Webcast: http://787firstflight.newairplane.com

Flynn helps Minnesota to 110-108 win over Utah

2009-12-15T08:50:00.000-08:00

SALT LAKE CITY (AP)—As austere as the division has been for the Minnesota Timberwolves, the aggregation with the affliction almanac in the Western Conference is center to a ambit of the Utah Jazz.

The Timberwolves took advantage of some base aegis and exhausted Utah 110-108 on Monday night, catastrophe a four-game accident band while convalescent to 2-0 adjoin the Jazz this season.

Half of the Timberwolves’ four wins accept appear adjoin Utah.

“If I knew the formula, I would have them play that way against every single team,” Minnesota coach Kurt Rambis said.

Rookie Jonny Flynn’s layup with 3 seconds left broke a 108-all tie and
Minnesota won it when Deron Williams’ 3-pointer clanged off the rim just
before the buzzer.

The Timberwolves were quicker than the Jazz and more determined, especially after pulling ahead in the third quarter and making Utah fight to get back in it down the stretch.

“As soon as we scored, they didn’t wait for us to get down the floor. They ran right at us like they were going 90 miles an hour,” Utah coach Jerry Sloan said. “We got lost a few times defensively.”

Flynn finished with 28 points—eight more than he had ever scored in an NBA game—while Corey Brewer tied his career high with 22 points.
Al Jefferson added 23 points and 12 rebounds for the Timberwolves, who
beat the Jazz Dec. 5 in Minneapolis 108-101.

“To come in here in this environment, to get a win against a playoff team, it’s a good win for us,” Flynn said. “When they made their runs we didn’t get down. We just kept going at them.”

Williams had a season-high 38 points and added 13 assists for Utah.

Carlos Boozer added 14 points and 14 rebounds and Mehmet Okur and Paul Millsap scored 13 apiece for the Jazz.

Utah was coming off a win over the Los Angeles Lakers two days before and was not nearly as intense on Monday. The Jazz seemed content with trying to outscore the Timberwolves rather than slow them down and Utah got burned in the end.

“We came out played a little bit sluggish and tried to fight back into it, which we did,” Boozer said. “I’m not going to take anything away from them. They played a great basketball game.”

Boozer also asked a very obvious question that nobody in the Utah locker room could answer.

“How come we can’t get up for Minnesota but we can get up for everybody else?” he said.

The Jazz open a five-game trip Wednesday at New Jersey. It’s usually on the road where the Jazz struggle, but Utah’s loss on Monday was already the fourth at home this season.

The Jazz really hurt themselves from the free throw line, going 21 of 37. Only Williams saved Utah’s free throw percentage by going 14 of 18.

The Timberwolves capitalized on the misses and outrebounded the Jazz 48-36.

“They could have beaten a lot of teams tonight,” Sloan said.

After Jefferson put Minnesota up 107-106 on a 20-foot jumper with 1:13 left, Boozer was called for an offensive foul when he tried to drive on Brewer with 26.7 seconds to go. Williams quickly fouled Flynn, who went 1 of 2 from the line to put the Timberwolves back up 108-106 with 25 seconds left.

The Jazz got the rebound and called a timeout. Mehmet Okur was off on a 3-pointer, but Paul Millsap grabbed the rebound and kicked it back outside to Williams, who threaded a pass inside to Andrei Kirilenko for a dunk to tie it at 108 with 16.5 seconds left.

Minnesota called time out and after Flynn dribbled a few seconds off the clock, he drove around Williams and lofted a layup over Okur for the winner.

“This entire season and one or two after are going to be growing up periods for him,” Rambis said. “I want to give him those opportunities to see what he can do in those late game situations and he delivered for us tonight.”

NOTES: Kevin Love had 11 points and 14 rebounds for Minnesota. … Jazz F/G Kyle Korver
made his season debut after missing the first 23 games because of knee surgery. … Minnesota was without F Ryan Gomes (sprained left ankle). … The Jazz were 11 of 24 from the line through the third period—Williams had made 10 of 12. His teammates were 1 of 12.

2009: the Year of Twitter and Facebook

2009-12-14T03:49:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Twitter, fueled by smartphones and online bursts of 140 characters, soared to aerial heights over the accomplished year while Facebook eclipsed MySpace to become the world's arch amusing network.

"Those are the big winners," said Jason Keath, a North Carolina-based social media consultant and founder of SocialFresh.com, an organizer of social media conferences. "Facebook more or less tripled their size this year."

"Twitter grew immensely," added Keath. "I think they were somewhere around maybe two to four million users at the beginning of the year. Now they're near 40 million."

With 350 actor members, "if Facebook was a country it would be the fourth best crawling nation," said Scott Stanzel, a above agent columnist secretary to admiral George W. Bush who has additionally formed forcomputer application behemothic Microsoft.

"Going back one year ago I don't think people would have thought Twitter would have had the influence it's had," added Stanzel, who now runs Stanzel Communications, a Seattle-based public relations consulting firm that offers social media planning among its services.

"It was gaining popularity but it has really exploded this year and it's done so in a way that's become incredibly pervasive," he said.

Twitter has reportedly spurned takeover offers worth hundreds of millions of dollars from Google and Facebook and its influence as a communications and news-breaking tool has been validated in a number of ways over the past year.

In June, the State Department asked Twitter to delay scheduled maintenance on the service because it was being used by protestors angered by the results of Iran's disputed presidential election.

More recently, Google and Microsoft began integrating Twitter messages into their respective search engines, a new feature described as real-time search.

Rampant adoption of smartphones has much to do with Twitter's growth, according to Jack Levin, co-founder and chief executive of ImageShack, an online media hosting company which runs yfrog.com, a service for sharing images and video on Twitter.

"The explosion of smartphones in the United States and many other countries has led to the success and ease of communication between people and Twitter is certainly in the middle of that," Levin said.

"People obviously want to communicate and Twitter is really a communications platform," he said of the service which allows users to pepper one another with messages of 140 characters or less and provide links to the Web.

"It's a hybrid between instant messenger and email," Levin said.

Levin's yfrog.com is one of the thousands of applications created for Twitter by outside software developers credited with fueling the popularity of the microblogging service.

Facebook, which started the trend of opening up to outside creators of fun mini-programs, was also quick to realize the appeal of being able to connect from anywhere at any time.

"The thing they've done and MySpace didn't do is they've really expanded the scope of their network past the initial site," Keath said. "Facebook Connect is a big piece of that, where you can take your Facebook account and log in from other places."

Facebook and Twitter are popular because essentially they "provide real value to people in their personal and work lives," according to Stanzel.

"You can keep up with hundreds if not thousands just by having a Facebook account or by being active on Twitter," he said.

Stanzel also credited social media tools with "redefining the way in which companies or politicians relate to their consumers or constituents."

"Companies or politicians who have taken to Facebook or Twitter or YouTube are building more of a permanent relationship with their constituents or with their customers because they're engaged in a conversation," he said.

Keath predicted Twitter's growth is "going to slow," saying it is inconceivable the San Francisco-based firm could match this year's meteoric surge in user numbers.

Twitter needs to be wary of spammers "putting out garbage, bad information, trying to direct message everyone in the entire service, porn links and things like that," Keath added. "That would cause people to restrict their networks a little more."

Stanzel warned that if Twitter "starts becoming overrun with advertising or becomes too complicated they might see their growth slow down or even reverse."

Keath suspects Twitter, which has yet to unveil a plan for making money, will seek over the next year to become "more of a marketing tool."

"I think there will be a lot of emphasis on providing more value to businesses and commerce in general," he said.

As for Facebook, Keath said it "looks highly likely that they're going to launch a payment portal, a payment tool.

"There's debate over whether there would be high adoption of giving Facebook your credit card information," he said. "But if they do that they're not only going to have your social network but your commerce too.

"And then they've pretty much locked in most of your activity online."

Dubai gets $10B from Abu Dhabi to awning debt

2009-12-14T03:42:00.000-08:00

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Dubai got a $10 billion buoy from oil-rich Abu Dhabi on Monday, accepting a last-minute banknote beverage aimed at preventing a absence that risked sparking broader fears about the city-state's all-a-quiver finances.

Abu Dhabi's bailout offered the clearest adumbration in months that it was accommodating to at atomic partially aback its arrant neighbor. The $60 billion in debts shouldered by Dubai's arch state-owned conglomerate, Dubai World, and the city-state's abhorrence to absolutely angle abaft the aggregation has actively attenuated the emirate's creditworthiness.

Dubai World had been up adjoin a Monday borderline to accord a accumulation of loans from its Nakheel acreage division. Some $4.1 billion of the bailout money will be acclimated to pay off those bills. The account beatific Dubai's capital banal bazaar soaring.

"We are here today to reassure investors, financial and trade creditors, employees and our citizens that our government will act at all times in accordance with market principles and internationally accepted business practices," Sheik Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman of the Dubai supreme fiscal committee, said in a statement. "Our best days are yet to come."

Dubai -- which owes lenders more than $80 billion including Dubai World's debts -- said the rest of the funds provided by Abu Dhabi will be used to cover the conglomerate's interest expenses and general business needs through the end of April, and to pay bills owed to "existing trade creditors and contractors."

Bankers said the last-minute cash injection from the UAE's richest sheikdom signaled that the seven-member federation was taking a nationwide approach to tackling Dubai's problems rather than leaving the struggling emirate to fend for itself.

Dubai is the second-richest of the UAE's semiautonomous city-states, but Abu Dhabi holds nearly all the country's oil wealth and controls the federation's presidency. Dubai's ruler is the UAE's vice president and prime minister.

"This is a very significant development," said Marios Maratheftis, head of regional research at Standard Chartered Bank. "It shows once again there is a one-country approach in dealing with the crisis, which is positive."

Investors cheered the news, which provided some clarity in a crisis that erupted late last month when the conglomerate unexpectedly said it was seeking new terms on repaying roughly $26 billion of its debts.

The Dubai Financial Market's main index shot up 10.4 percent by early afternoon. Abu Dhabi's stock market jumped 7.8 percent. Stocks in Asia rebounded from earlier losses after Dubai's announcement.

Fahd Iqbal, a Dubai-based analyst at Middle East investment bank EFG-Hermes, said the rally was to be expected but urged caution.

"This announcement constitutes a specific bailout of Nakheel, suggesting that as an entity (it) was deemed to be 'too big to fail,'" he said. "It does not, however, constitute a bailout of Dubai Inc. or Dubai World as a whole and this is important to highlight."

Nakheel is a property developer and hotel operator best known for building manmade islands in the shape of palm trees and a map of the world off Dubai's coast.

Dubai World said in a separate statement it welcomed the financial support, which will provide "funding and a stable basis" for a restructuring the company announced last month.

The company said it is pushing ahead with talks to convince lenders to agree to a "standstill" -- effectively a delay -- on repaying some of its debt.

"As long as a standstill is successfully negotiated, Dubai World has assurances that the government of Dubai ... will provide financial support to cover working capital and interest expenses to ensure the continuity of key projects," the company said.

Dubai created Dubai World -- whose sprawling holdings range from ports to real estate and luxury retail -- to diversify its economy and boost its international clout. Much of the growth was fueled by cheap loans. As the bills came due, Dubai struggled to repay as its economy was battered by the global economic downturn.

In another move aimed at bolstering investor confidence, Dubai's government said the UAE's central bank, based Abu Dhabi, is prepared to provide support to local banks.

Dubai also said it plans to introduce a reorganization law that could be used in case Dubai World is "unable to achieve an acceptable restructuring of its remaining obligations."

A person close to the Dubai government said the new law provided a legal framework for addressing corporate debt, though it did not mean a bankruptcy filing by state-owned companies was certain.

"The current bankruptcy law is untested," the person said. "Dubai World needed a legal process to go through. The government was very focused on creating something that would be fair and transparent to everybody."

He insisted on anonymity as a condition for briefing reporters on a conference call.

It was not immediately clear what, if anything, Abu Dhabi would expect in exchange for Monday's funding. Analysts had said an Abu Dhabi bailout could result in the oil-rich emirate exerting greater influence on its neighbor going forward.

But the individual close to the Dubai government said the money came with no strings attached.

"Let me be clear: Dubai has not given anything up. There have been no conditions on the funding," he said.

The source close to the Dubai government said it was premature to discuss what assets Dubai World might be willing to sell to pay additional bills, though he added that "all options will be discussed."

The money is the latest example of Abu Dhabi stepping in to help.

The central bank pumped $10 billion into Dubai earlier this year in the form of low-interest loans. Another $5 billion in aid was raised from two Abu Dhabi state-controlled banks last month.

The central bank has already been guaranteeing bank deposits since October 2008 and earlier this month said a new liquidity facility was available to banks, including foreign institutions in the country.

Best Meteor Shower of 2009 Peaks Tonight

2009-12-13T09:27:00.000-08:00

This year's anniversary Geminid meteor battery is accepted to be a doozie, bearing up to 140 "shooting stars" per hour.

The event, which NASA has labeled the best meteor shower of 2009, has been ramping up the past few days but gets serious tonight.

Maximum action is accepted aboriginal Monday – about 12:10 a.m. EST (0510 UT). But the aiguille of this accident encompasses several hours, astronomers say. So acceptable examination can be had from about 9 p.m. bounded time tonight through aurora Monday.

The best time? "Watch the sky during the hours around local midnight," advises NASA meteor expert Bill Cooke.

The Geminids will be visible to anyone in the Northern Hemisphere, weather permitting. People in suburbs and cities, where lights are bright, will not see fainter meteors and so will experience lower numbers.

How to watch

Meteor watching is easy. Just go out and look up. Telescopes and binoculars are of no use. However, some planning is in order. Seasoned skywatchers suggest:

Dress warmly. Very warmly.
Find a location away from porch lights and streetlights.
Bring a blanket or lounge chair so you can lie down.
Give your eyes 15 minutes to adjust to the darkness.
Scan as much of the sky as possible.

The meteors can appear anywhere in the sky, but if traced back, they'll all appear to emanate from the constellation of Gemini, hence the name of the shower. Geminds may appear in bursts, so give the show some time. If you only expect to watch for an hour or less, then around midnight local time is the best time to go out.

"Depending on how dark your location is, and how much of the sky you can see, meteors may streak into view that night at an average rate of one or two per minute," said SPACE.com's Skywatching Columnist Joe Rao.

Bright future

Geminds are bits of debris left in space by a strange object called 3200 Phaethon. First thought to be an asteroid, 3200 Phaethon is now classified as a dead comet. Whatever its label, when it orbits the sun, it sheds debris that forms a stream, through which Earth passes each December. Most of the stuff is the size of a pea or smaller, and as these bits enter Earth's atmosphere, they vaporize, creating the streaks of light.

The Geminids have become more productive in recent years and even better shows are expected in the future. "The Geminids are strong – and getting stronger," Cooke said.

Why? Jupiter's gravity has been shifting Phaethon's debris stream more toward Earth's orbit, according to NASA. So each year we plunge deeper into the stream. Scientists aren't sure what the future holds, but leading computer models predict a continued increase.

"It is likely that Geminid activity will increase for the next few decades, perhaps getting 20 percent to 50 percent higher than current rates," said meteor researcher Peter Brown of the University of Western Ontario.

Knowing the Enemy: Why Does Fat Aftertaste So Good?

2009-12-13T09:13:00.000-08:00

You may accept a love-hate accord with fat and not alike apprehend it. Fat may affect abhorrence back it's installed on your thighs or midsection, but it may aftertaste absolutely all-powerful on your tongue. Contrary to accepted wisdom, the animal aficionado can aftertaste fat. You ability accept been accomplished in academy that bodies can aftertaste alone salty, bitter, acerb and candied flavors, but advancing analysis is absolute that the faculty of aftertaste is a abundant added flexible, affluent and circuitous apparatus than aboriginal thought.

Humans can aftertaste altered flavors all over the aperture in capricious degrees, and you'll accept to add at atomic two added acidity varieties to the acceptable four: agreeable and fat. Yes, fat does accept flavor, and a brace of studies, a 2001 Purdue University abstraction and one conducted at the University of Burgundy by nutritionist Philippe Besnard, announce that tasting fat alike causes an access in claret fat levels and added digestive changes in the body.

When Men Lived in Caves . . .

When you think about it, there's an advantage to being able to taste and enjoy the flavor of fat. For most of the history of mankind, overeating hasn't been much of a problem, but starvation has. Fat is easily converted into energy, and fats are also among the most calorie-dense dietary options on the planet, so a predisposition for eating fat might have meant the difference between surviving a harsh winter and perishing before spring. When you're struggling to fit into your skinny jeans after a weekend encounter with a pan of brownies this may be hard to appreciate, but survival trumps the vagaries of fashion every time.

Fat has a couple of other advantages when it comes to eating, too. It's an important ingredient in many tasty dishes, such as desserts and sauces, because it combines well with grains and sugars, and when it's marbled in meats, it helps make them moist and tender. Many high-calorie foods served during the holidays celebrate bounty with the liberal addition of cream and butter. Cheesecake, eggnog, glazed ham and sweet potato pie all have high levels of fat -- after all, winter is coming, and man once needed the extra reserves.

Where's the Flavor?

Many low-calorie food options eliminate fat as an ingredient, and because fat is high in calories -- nine calories per gram -- this seems like a practical approach. The problem is that little to no fat often means little to no flavor. To help keep the calories down but still get a taste of the fat your body craves, try reducing the portion size of the foods you eat. The increased fat content may compensate for the smaller portion, and your body will feel fuller and more satisfied with less. To trick yourself into thinking you're eating as much as everyone else, put your portion on a smaller plate and eat slowly.

Whatever approach you take to keep your calorie count down while still adding some flavor to your diet, keep in mind the dietary guidelines published by the Department of Health and Human Services. Fats shouldn't constitute more than 25 to 30 percent of your total calories, and of that 25 to 30 percent, less than 10 percent should be saturated fat.

So, even when you're dieting, isn't it nice to know that it may be a good idea to put a little oil in your salad dressing or indulge in a potato chip once in a while? You may eat only a few chips, but those fat-laden snacks may be just what you need.

Obama blasts banks for opposing banking overhaul

2009-12-13T04:06:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama singled out banking institutions for causing abundant of the bread-and-butter coast and criticized their activity to tighter federal blank of their industry.

While applauding House access Friday of check legislation and advancement quick Senate action, Obama bidding annoyance with banks that were helped by a aborigine bailout and now are "fighting tooth and attach with their lobbyists" adjoin fresh government controls.

In his account radio and Internet abode Saturday, Obama said the abridgement is alone now alpha to balance from the "irresponsibility" of Wall Street institutions that "gambled on chancy loans and circuitous banking products" in following of concise profits and big bonuses with little attention for abiding consequences.

"It was, as some have put it, risk management without the management," he said.

The president also told CBS' "60 Minutes" that "the people on Wall Street still don't get it. ... They're still puzzled why it is that people are mad at the banks. Well, let's see. You guys are drawing down $10, $20 million bonuses after America went through the worst economic year ... in decades and you guys caused the problem," Obama said in an excerpt released in advance of Sunday night's broadcast of his interview.

The House bill, which passed 223-202, would grant the government new powers to split up companies that threaten the economy, create an agency to oversee consumer banking transactions and shine a light into shadow financial markets that have escaped federal oversight.

Obama is seeking swift approval in the Senate "because we should never again find ourselves in the position in which our only choices are bailing out banks or letting our economy collapse."

No House Republicans voted for the bill, and 27 Democrats voted against it. Opponents argue that the broad legislation overreaches and would institutionalize bailouts for the financial industry.

The Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee is working on its own version of the package.

In his address, Obama contended that the worst economic downturn since the Depression wouldn't have happened if the rules governing Wall Street been clearer and enforcement tougher.

Obama singled out Republicans and industry lobbyists for trying to block the changes.

Last week, top House Republicans urged more than 100 financial industry lobbyists to work harder to defeat the bill. Lobbyists have spent more than $300 million this year trying to scuttle the bill.

Opponents say that the changes would limit consumer choice and that added federal oversight would stunt financial market innovation.

Obama suggested that was one risk worth taking.

"Americans don't choose to be victimized by mysterious fees, changing terms and pages and pages of fine print. And while innovation should be encouraged, risky schemes that threaten our entire economy should not," he said. "We can't afford to let the same phony arguments and bad habits of Washington kill financial reform and leave American consumers and our economy vulnerable to another meltdown."

Obama has scheduled a meeting Monday at the White House with financial services industry leaders to seek support for his effort to tighten federal oversight of the industry and to limit pay for top executives at institutions that accepted billions in bailout money from the government.

Information on the House bill, H.R.4173, can be found at http://thomas.loc.gov/

Haneke`s "White Ribbon" sweeps European Blur Awards

2009-12-13T03:20:00.000-08:00

BOCHUM, Germany (Reuters) – Austrian administrator Michael Haneke's "The White Ribbon," a air-conditioned analysis of the roots of Nazi terror, bedeviled the European Blur Awards on Saturday, acceptable three prizes including best film.

In the black-and-white film, a adverse alternation of crimes rocks a apple in arctic Germany on the eve of World War One, and appears affiliated to a accumulation of accouchement brutalized and aching by their parents.

"The White Ribbon" additionally won the celebrated Palme d'Or at the Cannes blur commemoration beforehand this year.

The 2,000-member European Blur Academy awarded Haneke the best film, best administrator and best biographer prizes at the 22nd commemoration ceremony in Bochum, in the automated Ruhr breadth of western Germany.

British actress Kate Winslet scooped up another award for her portrayal of a German woman with a secret Nazi past in the romantic drama "The Reader," winning best actress.

"Titanic" star Winslet has also won an Oscar, a British BAFTA and German Bambi for her depiction of Hanna Schmitz, a former Nazi prison guard who embarks on an affair with a teenage boy.

Newcomer Tahar Rahim won best actor for portraying a homeless and illiterate 19-year-old at the mercy of a Corsican gang that controls the jail where he is imprisoned, in Jacques Audiard's French film "A Prophet."

The Oscar-garlanded "Slumdog Millionaire," an against-all-odds love story set in the teeming slums of Mumbai, scooped up the "People's Choice" award, decided by cinema-goers throughout Europe who vote online or at cinemas.

The European Film Academy was founded in 1989 to promote European film, with Swedish director Ingmar Bergman as its first president. The European Film Awards have yet to gain the prestige of high-profile European film festivals in Cannes, Venice and Berlin but are widely respected in the film industry.

The awards are traditionally held in Berlin every other year, but exceptionally took place in Bochum this year, in the Century Hall -- a former gas power station of the steel mills.

Last year's awards were held in Copenhagen, where the Italian mafia drama "Gomorra" won five prizes including best film, best director and best actor.

Stronger retail sales and affect addition stocks

2009-12-11T08:47:00.000-08:00

NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks mostly rose Friday afterwards a address on retail sales adumbrated consumers are acrimonious up their spending.

The Commerce Department said retail sales rose 1.3 percent in November, added than bifold the access analysts had accepted and added good than the 1.1 percent acceleration in October.

The address additional hopes that consumers are starting to feel added adequate aperture up their wallets afterwards months of architecture up their savings. A accretion in customer spending, a above basic of U.S. bread-and-butter activity, is apparent as one of the key elements to abiding growth.

A separate report showing an increase in consumer confidence signaled that spending could continue to rise. The preliminary Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index increased more than expected in December.

In another positive sign, the Commerce Department reported a 0.2 percent gain in business inventories in October, breaking a 13-month streak of declines. That's a signal of confidence from businesses that consumers will step up their purchases.

Outside the U.S., news that China's exports improved last month provided more evidence of recovery in the global economy. Chinese exports posted their smallest drop in exports in a year last month, just 1.2 percent, following a 13.8 percent plunge in October. Retail sales and industrial production grew.

"We're going from the first global recession in 70 years to a tepid, but very real global growth story," said Stephen Wood, chief market strategist at Russell Investments.

In late morning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 33.40, or 0.3 percent, to 10,439.23. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 1.66, or 0.2 percent, to 1,104.01, while the Nasdaq composite index fell 2.94, or 0.1 percent, to 2,187.92.

Treasury prices fell following the encouraging economic data, pushing yields higher. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.58 percent from 3.50 percent late Thursday.

The gains in stocks came even as the dollar rose.

The ICE Futures US dollar index, which measures the dollar against other currencies, reversed an early slide and rose 0.9 percent. Gold pared its gains, while oil prices slumped for an eighth day, falling 91 cents to $69.63 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

For months, stocks and commodities have moved in the opposite direction of the dollar. The dollar has been falling for much of this year as low interest rates make other assets like stocks and commodities more attractive. A weaker dollar makes commodities cheaper for foreign buyers and helps boost the profits at companies that do business overseas.

However, signs of improvement in the economy have recently brought expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates sooner than later. That would boost the dollar and potentially hurt stocks as investors look for better returns elsewhere.

After a stronger dollar sent the Dow Jones industrial average down 104 points on Tuesday, the Dow has gained 120 points in two days.

On Friday, two stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume was relatively low at 311.9 million shares versus 333 million shares traded at the same point Thursday.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 2.18, or 0.4 percent, to 597.56.

In afternoon trading in Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.8 percent, Germany's DAX index gained 1.1 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 0.5 percent. Japan's Nikkei stock average soared 2.5 percent.

Icahn buys 1st-lien debt of Trump's coffer company

2009-12-11T08:42:00.000-08:00

NEW YORK (AP) -- Billionaire broker Carl C. Icahn says he has agreed to shop for a majority of the first-lien coffer debt of Trump Entertainment Resorts Holdings, which owns three Atlantic City casinos.

The accord is allotment of a defalcation about-face plan Icahn adjourned to advice the afflicted coffer aggregation appear from bankruptcy.

Trump Entertainment filed for bankruptcy protection in February, the third such filing for the company or its corporate predecessors. The company owns Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort, Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, and Trump Marina Hotel Casino.

The deal was negotiated with Beal Bank and Beal Bank Nevada, which are headed by Donald Trump's friend Andy Beal.

Icahn says the plans offers the casino company no debt and the ability to weather current economic turmoil.

Kristin Cavallari Wants Cameron Diaz to Comedy Her

2009-12-10T14:50:00.000-08:00

We adulation audition who the kids from The Hills appetite arena them in the cine adaptation of Lauren Conrad's book L.A. Candy. Well, their academic characters at least. After all, the book is fiction! Now we're audition from Kristin Cavallari and Brody Jenner.

First we heard that Stephanie Pratt would like for Queen Latifah to comedy her in L.A. Candy. Now Kristin Cavallari and Brody Jenner are speaking up about who they appetite to comedy them. Do you anticipate Lauren Conrad or the casting administrator will booty their wants into consideration?

Kristin Cavallari shows her cocky self in her answer. She says, "Oh lord! I don't know if anyone can hold up to that... It's a tough job. I don't know if we're going off age. I mean... I don't know. If we're not going off age, I would say... I mean, I love Cameron Diaz."

OK, first of all, does Kristin think she's so awesome that a "real" talented actress couldn't even play her? Second of all, if we're talking about a true-to-life movie, how could you not be going off age? Yeah, Cameron Diaz would fit in real well with all the 23-year-old Hills kids. Then Kristin says, "That's who I would want to play in a movie. So if she could that for me, that would be great." Why would Kristin think she'd ever get an offer to play Cameron Diaz in a movie? Wouldn't it be the other way around, if anything?

Then there's Brody Jenner. Of course, he wants to get more famous, so he would like to star in the movie himself. He says, "Me? I mean, I'd like to play me, realistically... But who would I like to play me? Nobody." Okayyy. But then he changes his mind (or realizes how unrealistic he's being) and says, "Emile Hirsch. Emile Hirsch, you are incredible actor. If you were to play anybody, I would appreciate it. He's one of my favorites, even though he's way better looking."

This is where Brody wants us to say, "Nooo! You're so much cuter!" Goodness, the kids from The Hills are cocky. I can't wait to find out who will really play the characters loosely based on them in L.A. Candy!

Extra pores on plants `could ease` all-around warming

2009-12-10T09:02:00.000-08:00

TOKYO (AFP) – Japanese advisers said on Thursday they had begin a way to accomplish bulb leaves blot added carbon dioxide in an addition that may one day advice affluence all-around abating and addition aliment production.

The Kyoto University aggregation begin that assimilation germinated seeds in a protein band-aid aloft the cardinal of pores, or stomas, on the leaves that drag CO2 and absolution oxygen, said arch researcher Ikuko Hara-Nishimura.

"A larger number means there are more intake windows for carbon dioxide, contributing to lowering the density of the gas," she told AFP by telephone.

Another effect is higher starch production in photosynthesis, the process in which green plants use CO2 and water to produce sugar and other organic compounds.

"It could lead to higher production of food and materials for biofuel," said Hara-Nishimura, a biology professor at Kyoto University's Graduate School in western Japan.

In the experiments, the team used budding leaves of thale cress, a plant formally called Arabidopsis, which has a short life span of two months and is widely used as a model plant in biology.

They found that the number of pores multiplied relative to the concentration of the solution of the protein, which the researchers named Stomagen, achieving a maximum of four times the number of pores of an untreated plant.

An ideal increase would be two-to-three times, as too many pores impede the functions of other cells in the surface of the plant, Hara-Nishimura said.

Stomagen is easy but costly to produce chemically, and the team is working on a cheaper way to make it, Hara-Nishimura said, adding that an alternative may be to genetically modify plants to have more pores.

Not Yet the Season for a Nook

2009-12-10T07:16:00.000-08:00

The holidays are no joyride. Between the stress, the money and the relatives, no admiration so abounding bodies arrangement Seasonal Depression, Financial-Obligation Migraine and Family Drama Disorder.

And in the electronics business, Greed-Borne Insanity is contagious.

That’s back electronics executives, addled by dollar signs on their corneas, blitz a artefact to bazaar afore it’s ready. (See also: BlackBerry Storm, Christmas 2008.)

Well, actuality comes the hotly accessible Nook from Barnes & Noble: an cyberbanking book clairvoyant in the appearance of the Amazon Kindle.

Actually, not just in the style of; this thing is ripped right out of the Kindle’s master playbook. Same price ($259), same off-white plastic frame around the same six-inch E Ink screen (crisp, black type against a light gray background). Same screen saver showing woodcuts of famous authors. Same ability to display your own photos and play music files. Same free cellular connection so that you can download books wherever you happen to be. Same compatibility with iPhone or computer.

But according to the Nook Web site, there are differences. Oh, what differences. “A beautiful color touch screen.” A catalog of “over one million titles.” (Kindle: only 385,000.) “Browse e-books, magazines and newspapers on AT&T’s 3G Wireless Network or on Wi-Fi.” Cool! The Kindle doesn’t have Wi-Fi.

“Loan e-books to friends, free of charge.” Wow, that’s a first; until the Nook, buying an e-book meant locking it to your account — not lending, nor donating or selling. You can even “read entire e-books for free at your local Barnes & Noble.”

Read entire books free? Unheard-of! (Except at the local library — but it doesn’t have a million books.)

Unfortunately, we, the salivating public, might be afflicted with a little holiday disease of our own: Sucker Syndrome. Every one of the Nook’s vaunted distinctions comes fraught with buzz kill footnotes.

That “color touch screen,” for example, is actually just a horizontal strip beneath the regular Kindle-style gray screen. (In effect, it replaces the Kindle’s clicky thumb keyboard.)

This screen is exclusively for navigation and controls. Sometimes it makes sense; when you’re viewing inch-tall book covers, for example, you can tap to open one.

At other times, the color strip feels completely, awkwardly disconnected from what it’s supposed to control on the big screen above.

Worse, the touch screen is balky and nonresponsive, even for the Nook product manager who demonstrated it for me. The only thing slower than the color strip is the main screen above it. Even though it’s exactly the same E Ink technology that the Kindle and Sony Readers use, the Nook’s screen is achingly slower than the Kindle’s. It takes nearly three seconds to turn a page — three times longer than the Kindle — which is really disruptive if you’re in midsentence.

Often, you tap some button on the color strip — and nothing happens. You wait for the Nook to respond, but there’s no progress bar, no hourglass, no indication that the Nook “heard” you. So you tap again — but now you’ve just triggered a second command that you didn’t want.

It takes four seconds for the Settings panel to open, 18 seconds for the bookstore to appear (over Wi-Fi), and 8 to 15 seconds to open a book or newspaper for the first time, during which you stare at a message that says “Formatting.”

“Over one million titles?” Yes, but well over half of those are junky Google scans of free, obscure, pre-1923 out-of-copyright books, filled with typos. (They’re also available for the Kindle, but Amazon doesn’t even count them).

Fact is, Amazon’s e-book store is still much better. Of the current 175 New York Times best sellers, 12 of them aren’t available for Kindle; 21 are unavailable for the Nook.

Kindle books are less expensive, too. Inkmesh.com studied the top-selling 11,604 books for early November, and found that 74 percent of the time, Amazon offers the lowest-priced e-books (cheaper than B&N or Sony) by an average of 15 percent.

What about the Nook’s built-in Wi-Fi? It’s there, but you get no notification when you’re in a hot spot. And if the hot spot requires a login or welcome screen, you can’t get onto it.

And the “loan e-books to friends?” part? You can’t lend a book unless its publisher has O.K.’ed this feature. And so far, B&N says, only half of its books are available for lending — only one-third of the current best sellers. (A LendMe icon on the B&N Web site lets you know when a book is lendable.) Furthermore, the book is gone from your own Nook during the loan period (a maximum of two weeks). And each book can be lent only once, ever.

Also unfinished: the auto connection to the wireless hot spots in B&N stores, which will offer special treats like a free-cookie coupon.

Those missing features are symptoms of B&N’s bad case of Ship-at-All-Costs-itis. But the biggest one of all is the Nook’s half-baked software.

To use the technical term, it’s slower than an anesthetized slug in winter.

And it’s buggy. In four days, my Nook locked up twice and displayed an “Android operating system has crashed” message twice. You can change the type size for books, newspapers and even your own PDF documents — but not for B&N’s own essays on the Nook’s Daily screen. The software isn’t even smart enough to ignore little words like “a” and “the” when alphabetizing; “Pride and Prejudice” comes before “The New York Times.”

Navigating the Nook makes the 1040 tax form seem like a breeze. You’ve got two page-turn buttons (<>) on each side of the reading screen, up/down/back buttons on the color screen, and a Home button above the color screen. Quick: Which one returns you to the table of contents?

So O.K., the Nook is a mess, clearly rushed out the door in hopes of stealing some of the Kindle’s holiday cheer. “We want to optimize everything quite a bit,” a product manager concedes. The first of many software fixes, B&N says, will arrive wirelessly on Nooks next week. The company also says that it’s working to bring the selection and pricing of its e-book catalog more in line with Amazon’s.

Now, the Nook may have some hardware advantages — a removable battery, a memory-card slot and (because of narrower plastic margins) a slightly trimmer shape — but the Kindle is still a better machine. It’s faster, thinner, lighter and much easier to figure out. Its battery lasts more than three times as long (seven days versus two).

Amazon also syncs with the Mac, PC, Kindle and iPhone copies of your books, so you’re always on the page where you stopped, even if you’re on a different gadget. Any notes and highlighting you’ve added to your books also appear magically on your other gadgets. (Barnes & Noble says that these features will arrive — yes, you guessed it — next year.)

Meanwhile, the Kindle offers a few things that Nook lacks, like playback of audio books from Audible.com, a basic Web browser, a synthesized voice that reads your books out loud and the ability to rotate the device 90 degrees for a wider “page.” It also centers dashes between words — like this — instead of weirdly attaching them to the first word— like this— as the Nook does.

One day, the Nook may be a much more usable, more capable bit of gear. Of course, Amazon and Sony won’t be standing still; 2010 sure will be an interesting year.

Until then, happy holidays to you. And may you remain immune from Unopenable Package Syndrome, Rebate-Form Anxiety — and the Post-Holiday Blues.

Everton in talks to assurance Donovan on accommodation from LA

2009-12-10T07:08:00.000-08:00

LIVERPOOL, England (AP)—Everton is in talks to assurance Los Angeles Galaxy striker Landon Donovan on a concise loan.

A acting move to the Premier League club would accredit the U.S. brilliant to abide bout fit afore the MLS division begins in March and advanced of the World Cup in June.

“Landon is a player David Moyes has identified as someone he would like to bring to the club,” Everton chief executive Robert Elstone said Thursday. “We are working to make that happen and hope we can reach agreement soon with all the appropriate parties.”

Donovan’s Galaxy teammate, David Beckham, additionally will be out on accommodation in January for a additional assignment at AC Milan.

While Donovan has an American record 42 goals in 120 internationals, he has struggled during three previous stints in Europe.

He signed a six-year deal with Bayern Leverkusen at age 16 in 1999, but didn’t play a game in two years and was loaned to the San Jose Earthquakes in 2001.

After four seasons in the MLS, he rejoined Leverkusen in January 2005. He made nine appearances—seven in the Bundesliga and two in the Champions League — but just two of them were starts. Two months later, he returned to the MLS with the Galaxy.

He made just five Bundesliga appearances and one German Cup appearance for Bayern Munich during a loan this year.

But he was selected as the best player on the U.S. team for a record-breaking sixth time in October after helping the Americans reach the 2010 World Cup and Confederations Cup final.

Beauty Tips: Get Ashley Tisdale's Winter Blonde

2009-12-09T10:43:00.000-08:00

When I saw Ashley Tisdale on the awning of Cosmopolitan in the drugstore, she did not attending good. Her beard looked brassy, bright, and aloof apparent fake, but now I anticipate it was a afflicting administration error-- she's agitation a winter albino absolutely nicely! Here's how to whip your beard into appearance this season.

*Trim It: Sure, this goes for all beard colors, but let's be honest-- albino beard shows accident awfully easily, decidedly if it is best and essentially brighter than bashful blondes or ablaze browns. I affirm Ashley Tisdale's beard looks that abundant more good aloof because it looks beneath than it did on the Cosmo cover.

*Tone It Down: Even if you dye your hair at home, aim for one seasonal hair appointment for a "check up" of sorts. Ask your colorist if your color is appropriate for the season, and then consider taking things down a notch for winter.

*Switch Up Your Shampoo and Products: I enjoy switching shampoos-- my hair always loves me for it! If you are particularly budget-conscious, skip the trim (or do it at home), and then find a John Frieda Sheer Blonde product to take things to the next level. I get comments on my hair after I use John Frieda color-enhancing products just one time.

*Hot Oil It: Kill signs of damage with a hot oil treatment-- I love the Hot Oil Hair Massage guide at BellaSugar. It's a cheap way to get your hair back into great condition, and it's affordable, too.

Do you do blonde in winter, or do you prefer to go brunette when the snow flies?

Bye-Bye, Barbells: The Latest Gym Accessories

2009-12-09T09:46:00.000-08:00

I’m the aboriginal to accept that there are assertive times of the year back I affliction added about alive out—say, afore a leisure time that requires my continued acknowledgment in a bikini, or during holidays that activate with feasting and end with my accepting to attending hot in a tiny little dress. This year, both of these hit at the aforementioned time for me, so I absolutely got to cerebration about means to get a little added blast for my gym time—without accepting to feel awkward abyssal the weight room.

Luckily, there are a ton of multipurpose, easy-to-use gym accessories to accept from. From BOSU assurance to cream rollers, I searched out artistic means to blade my abs (and aggregate else) by leisure time time.

BOSU Balance Trainer
Pronounced bo-sue, this half ball has become a staple in weight rooms and home gyms. For good reason, too—it can be used in enough ways to provide a full-body toning workout and a cardio session. According to the official BOSU Web site, the odd name refers to “both sides utilized,” since you can use the BOSU with the ball side either up or down to mix up your routine. The versatile tool lets people perform balance, strength, and power exercises together, says Chad Johnston, a Los Angeles-based personal trainer. In fact, when I bought one of these at a local sports equipment store, it came with a DVD of cardio and strengthening exercises. Potential cardio moves range from doing jumping lunges on top of or side to side on the ball; for balance, try doing the usual dumbbell curls while balancing on top. Feel easy? Flip the ball over so the round side is on the ground, and balance on that. “This really engages the core during what would normally be a single-muscle exercise,” says Johnston. For more creative BOSU moves, look online.

Body Bar
If you’ve been to a gym in the past five years, you’ve probably seen a pile of body bars in the corner of the weight room. “I work out at home with the Body Bar, and I really like the fact that they don’t take much room to store,” says Marilyn Kroner, the principal media representative for the company. The steel fitness bars are covered in easy-to-grip rubber, vary in weight from three to thirty-six pounds, and can work out just about every muscle group. For a lower-body challenge, try resting the bar on your shoulders, parallel to the floor, while doing lunges. Or use it like a big barbell for bicep curls and tricep skull-crushers, or hold it in the air while doing crunches. The Body Bar company recently made downloadable workouts for every muscle group—arms, abs, back, legs, and chest—available on its Web site.

WHO: Smoking kills 5 million people every year

2009-12-09T09:33:00.000-08:00

LONDON (AP) — Tobacco use kills at atomic 5 actor bodies every year, a amount that could acceleration if countries don't booty stronger measures to action smoking, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.

In a fresh address on tobacco use and control, the U.N. bureau said about 95% of the all-around citizenry is caught by laws banning smoking. WHO said secondhand smoker kills about 600,000 bodies every year.

The address describes countries' assorted strategies to barrier smoking, including attention bodies from smoke, administration bans on tobacco advertising, and adopting taxes on tobacco products. Those were included in a amalgamation of six strategies WHO apparent aftermost year, but beneath than 10% of the world's citizenry is covered by any distinct measure.

"People need more than to be told that tobacco is bad for human health," said Douglas Bettcher, director of WHO's Tobacco-Free Initiative. "They need their governments to implement the WHO Framework Convention."

Most of WHO's anti-tobacco efforts are centered on the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, an international treaty ratified by nearly 170 countries in 2003. The convention theoretically obliges countries to take action to reduce tobacco use, though it is unclear if they can be punished for not taking adequate measures, since they can simply withdraw from the treaty.

Other experts questioned how effective WHO's strategies were.

"It's like the well-intentioned blind leading the blind," said Patrick Basham, director of the Democracy Institute, a London and Washington-based think tank. He said WHO's policies were based more on hope than evidence.

Basham said measures like increasing taxes on tobacco products and banning advertising don't address the root causes of why people smoke. Smoking levels naturally drop off — as they have in Western countries — when populations become richer and better-educated.

Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death and WHO estimates that, unless countries take drastic action, tobacco could kill about 8 million people every year by 2030, mostly in developing countries.

Basham said officials should focus on anti-poverty measures to stem the smoking problem, though that is beyond WHO's mandate as a health agency.

"The cynical view is that the anti-tobacco lobby has itself now become an industry and we will never be able to do enough to stop smoking," Basham said. "Tobacco use will change, but it has very little to do with the kinds of things WHO is promoting."

Beyonce talking Vegas shows with Wynn, but no deal

2009-12-09T06:35:00.000-08:00

LAS VEGAS – Wynn Las Vegas admiral say they're in basic talks with Beyonce to accompany the superstar accompanist aback to the Las Vegas resort.

Wynn Resorts backer Jennifer Dunne says there's no accord yet, admitting appear rumors of a lucrative, abiding contract.

Beyonce (bee-AHN'-say) appeared at the resort from July 30 through Aug. 2 this year while filming a concert DVD. Her shows helped addition appearance to Wynn and its sister Encore Las Vegas resort during a about apathetic day-tripper division in Las Vegas.

Beyonce sang in the Encore Theater, where country star Garth Brooks plans to play a series of solo acoustic shows starting on Friday. Brooks' deal puts him in Las Vegas 15 weeks a year for possibly the next five years.

Stock futures acceleration afterwards sell-off as dollar falls

2009-12-09T06:30:00.000-08:00

NEW YORK (AP) -- Banal futures are advertence a college accessible on Wall Street Wednesday, convalescent from the antecedent day's losses as the dollar resumes its decline.

The assets in U.S. banal futures chase a aciculate sell-off in shares on Tuesday that agitated over into Asia brief as apropos about adopted debt endless escalated and Japan said its abridgement grew at a lower amount than originally accepted in the third quarter.

Stock futures got a addition Wednesday from the weaker dollar, which aloof afterwards ascent the day afore to its accomplished akin adjoin the euro back aboriginal November on worries about ambagious debt loads.

The dollar has fallen steadily since March as investors take advantage of cheap financing to invest in riskier, higher-yielding assets like stocks and commodities. But in recent weeks, investors have been shuttling between stocks and the dollar as they try to determine the strength of the economic recovery and where they will be able to make the biggest returns.

While investors want to see the economy grow, they also know that the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates and remove its stimulus measures once the economy appears to be on solid footing. Higher rates could make stocks look less appealing as returns for other investments improve, potentially upsetting a nine-month advance in stocks that has lifted the Standard & Poor's 500 index up 61.4 percent.

Ahead of the market's open, Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 40, or 0.4 percent, to 10,311. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures gained 5.30, or 0.5 percent, to 1,095.30, while Nasdaq 100 index futures rose 9.25, or 0.5 percent, to 1,775.75.

On Tuesday, investors bought safe havens like the dollar and Treasurys and sold stocks after Moody's Investor Service, a major rating agency, warned that the U.S. and Britain are at risk of having their ratings downgraded if they don't get their public finances under control. Fitch, another ratings agency, downgraded its rating on Greece.

Foreign debt problems and a potential downgrade to the U.S. triple-A credit rating could make it much more difficult for the government to finance its stimulus programs and put the nascent economic recovery in jeopardy. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 104 points Tuesday.

As the year winds to a close, investors are mindful of holding on to the big gains they've made this year, and many have been adding safe-haven assets like the dollar and Treasurys to their portfolios to protect themselves from potential losses. The market's uncertainty, combined with light trading volume, has made for choppy trading, which analysts expect to continue through the rest of the year.

Later Wednesday morning, the Commerce Department will release data on wholesale trade inventories for October.

Analysts expect businesses reduced wholesale inventories for a record 14th consecutive month in October, but are looking for sales to grow. Rising sales will eventually encourage businesses to restock shelves and boost production, which would help boost the broader economy.

In corporate news, better earnings and revenue guidance from Texas Instruments Inc. helped offset the disappointing corporate reports from 3M Co. and McDonald's Corp. earlier this week. However, the chipmaker's outlook fell short of some expectations and its shares fell 56 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $25.77 in premarket trading.

The ICE Futures US dollar index, which tracks the dollar against other major currencies, fell 0.3 percent.

Treasurys, also considered safe-haven assets, retreated along with the dollar. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 3.41 percent from 3.39 percent late Tuesday.

Commodities prices rose as the weaker dollar made them more attractive to foreign buyers. Silver and copper prices rose, while gold hovered at $1,143 an ounce. Oil prices rose 87 cents to $73.49 a barrel in electronic premarket trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 1.3 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 1.4 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain's FTSE 100 inched up 0.2 percent, Germany's DAX index rose 0.2 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 0.1 percent.

Study: Parents` Sex Talks With Kids Happening Too Late

2009-12-07T03:04:00.000-08:00

The sex allocution is never easy. It's not adequate for anyone complex - parents are abashed of it, accouchement are ashamed by it - which is apparently why the Allocution so generally comes afterwards the fact. In the most recent abstraction on parent-child talks about sex and sexuality, advisers begin that added than 40% of adolescents had had action afore talking to their parents about safe sex, bearing ascendancy or sexually transmitted diseases.

That trend is troublesome, say experts, back adolescence who allocution to their parents about sex are added acceptable to adjournment their aboriginal animal appointment and to convenance safe sex back they do become sexually active. And, ironically, admitting their credible dread, kids absolutely appetite to apprentice about sex from their parents, according to abstraction afterwards abstraction on the topic.

"The results didn't surprise me," says Dr. Mark Schuster, one of the authors of the new study, published in Pediatrics, and chief of general pediatrics at Children's Hospital Boston. "But there's something about having actual data that serves as a wakeup call to parents who are not talking to their kids about very important issues until later than we think would be best."

The study involved 141 families enrolled in the Talking Parents, Healthy Teens program, organized by the University of California Los Angeles/Rand Center for Adolescent Health Promotion and overseen by Schuster. Parents and their children, aged 13 to 17, responded to questions about 24 issues regarding sex and sexuality, including how women become pregnant, body changes that occur during puberty, how to use condoms and birth control, as well as issues around homosexuality.

Researchers asked both parents and their children, separately, when they had first discussed each topic, and compared that information to teens' self-reports about their engagement in three specific categories of sexual behavior - hand-holding or kissing; genital touching or oral sex; and intercourse. Families were surveyed four times, once at the beginning of the study, then again at three, six and 12 months.

By the end of the study, more than half of the parents reported that they had not discussed 14 of the 24 sex-related topics by the time their adolescents had begun genital touching or oral sex with partners. Forty-two percent of girls reported that they had not discussed the effectiveness of birth control and 40% admitted they had not talked with their parents about how to refuse sex before engaging in genital touching. Nearly 70% of boys said they had not discussed how to use a condom or other birth control methods with their parents before having intercourse. Yet only half of the boys' parents, by contrast, said they had not discussed condom use or birth control with their sons.

That difference highlights a primary problem in the parent-child dialogue about sex. "A lot of parents think they had a conversation, and the kids don't remember it at all," says Dr. Karen Soren, director of adolescent medicine at New York Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital. "Parents sometimes say things more vaguely because they are uncomfortable and they think they've addressed something, but the kids don't hear the topic at all."

It's incredibly difficult to broach the topic of sex, admits Soren, who has three children of her own. "Your kids look at you like you're crazy, and you feel like you want to run," she says. "But it's important because we know good parent-child interaction gives kids better resiliency later on in life."

As the latest study shows, parental talks about sex and sexuality need to occur much earlier than they do, but that doesn't necessarily mean that parents have only one shot at getting it right. To make things easier, and to take some of the pressure off of the situation, say experts, parents should think about sex talks as an ongoing dialogue, rather than one uncomfortable discussion that they must cross off their list. And they should keep in mind that they've probably internalized the same discomfort and avoidance that their own parents displayed in talking about sex - but sex talks needn't be so fraught. Experts also say that parents should discuss certain issues with their children at age-appropriate times, and that the discussion should evolve as children mature. "A 12-year-old will look at sex very differently than a 15- or an 18-year-old," says Soren. "For kids between 10 and 13, the idea of sex grosses them out. So you're probably not going to tell a 13-year-old necessarily all about different methods of birth control."

Instead, the conversations should focus on what the child is capable of absorbing, and what the child asks about. Parents should also take advantage of every excuse to broach the difficult subject - a mention of sex or sexuality on a TV show, a pregnancy in the family, sex education classes in school, or a visit to the doctor around the time of puberty. "If you just get over the hurdle of starting, then once the conversation gets going, you often find it's easier than expected," says Schuster. "So use any excuse you want, but just get over the initial hurdle and start talking to your kids, because it's really important."