Death Toll In Philippines Quake Jumps To 93

CEBU, Philippines (AP) — The death toll from a 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck the central Philippine island of Bohol on Tuesday rose to 93, as rescuers struggled to reach patients in a collapsed hospital. Centuries-old stone churches crumbled and wide areas were without power.

Bohol police chief Dennis Agustin said 77 of the deaths came from the province. At least 15 others died in nearby Cebu province and another on Siquijor Island.

The quake struck at 8:12 a.m. and was centered about 33 kilometers (20 miles) below Carmen city, where many small buildings collapsed.

Many roads and bridges were reported damaged, making rescue operations difficult. But historic churches dating from the Spanish colonial period suffered the most. Among them was the country's oldest, the 16th-century Basilica of the Holy Child in Cebu, which lost its bell tower.

Nearly half of a 17th-century limestone church in Loboc town, southwest of Carmen, was reduced to rubble.

The highest number of dead — 18 — were in the municipality of Loon, 42 kilometers (26 miles) west of Carmen, where an unknown number of patients were trapped inside the Congressman Castillo Memorial Hospital, which partially collapsed. Rescuers were working to reach them, said civil defense spokesman Maj. Reynaldo Balido.

As night fell, the entire province was in the dark after the quake cut power supplies. Windy weather and rain also forced back a military rescue helicopter.

Authorities were setting up tents for those displaced by the quake, while others who lost their homes moved in with their relatives, Bohol Gov. Edgardo Chatto said.

Extensive damage also hit densely populated Cebu city, across a narrow strait from Bohol, causing deaths when a building in the port and the roof of a market area collapsed.

The quake set off two stampedes in nearby cities. When it struck, people gathered in a gym in Cebu rushed outside in a panic, crushing five people to death and injuring eight others, said Neil Sanchez, provincial disaster management officer.

"We ran out of the building, and outside, we hugged trees because the tremors were so strong," said Vilma Yorong, a provincial government employee in Bohol.

"When the shaking stopped, I ran to the street and there I saw several injured people. Some were saying their church has collapsed," she told The Associated Press by phone.

As fear set in, Yorong and the others ran up a mountain, afraid a tsunami would follow the quake. "Minutes after the earthquake, people were pushing each other to go up the hill," she said.

But the quake was centered inland and did not cause a tsunami.

Offices and schools were closed for a national holiday — the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha — which may have saved lives.

The earthquake also was deeper below the surface than a 6.9-magnitude temblor last year in waters near Negros Island, also in the central Philippines, that killed nearly 100 people.

Aledel Cuizon said the quake that caught her in her bedroom sounded like "a huge truck that was approaching and the rumbling sound grew louder as it got closer."

She and her neighbors ran outside, where she saw concrete electric poles "swaying like coconut trees." It lasted 15-20 seconds, she said.

Cebu city's hospitals quickly moved patients into the streets, basketball courts and parks.

Cebu province, about 570 kilometers (350 miles) south of Manila, has a population of more than 2.6 million people. Cebu is the second largest city after Manila. Nearby Bohol has 1.2 million people and is popular among foreigners because of its beach and island resorts and famed Chocolate Hills.

President Benigno Aquino III said he would travel to Bohol and Cebu on Wednesday.

Regional military commander Lt. Gen. Roy Deveraturda said he recalled soldiers from holiday furlough to respond to the quake. He said it damaged the pier in Tagbilaran, Bohol's provincial capital, and caused some cracks at Cebu's international airport but that navy ships and air force planes could use alternative ports to help out.

The Philippine archipelago is located in the Pacific "Ring of Fire," where earthquakes and volcanic activity are common. A magnitude-7.7 quake killed nearly 2,000 people on the northern island of Luzon in 1990.

___

Associated Press writers Hrvoje Hranjski, Oliver Teves, Teresa Cerojano and Jim Gomez in Manila contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=234501180&ft=1&f=
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Berlin museum seeks return of ancient gold tablet

A Holocaust survivor's family urged New York's highest court Tuesday to let them keep an ancient gold tablet that their late father somehow obtained in Germany after World War II.

Attorney Steven Schlesinger argued that the estate of Riven Flamenbaum has a legal claim, whether the native of Poland bought the relic from a Russian soldier or simply took it to compensate for losing his family at Auschwitz, the concentration camp where he spent several years.

"Under the Soviet rules at the time, there was permission to pillage and plunder," Schlesinger said. "My client could have taken it in retribution."

The tablet was in the collection of the Vorderasiatisches Museum, a branch of the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, before the war. The family argued that the museum's failure to reclaim the tablet for 60 years was an unreasonable delay, undercutting its claim. Schlesinger said Flamenbaum had been told by Christie's in 1954 that the small tablet was a fake and kept it at home. It's now in a safety deposit box on Long Island.

Museum attorney Raymond Dowd said the absence of the 3,200-year-old relic was quickly noted by the museum, later reported by scholars and widely known.

"There's no such thing as a right of pillage," Dowd said. "Reparation has nothing to do with this case."

Who gets it is up to New York's Court of Appeals, where the seven judges grilled both lawyers Tuesday. A ruling is expected next month.

The 9.5-gram tablet was excavated a century ago by German archaeologists from the Ishtar Temple in what is now northern Iraq. It went on display in Berlin in 1934, was put in storage as the war began and later disappeared.

"It could fit in the palm of your hand," said Hannah Flamenbaum. "We played with it as children."

Her father met her mother, another Holocaust survivor, at a relocation camp after the war. By his accounts he traded cigarettes or a salami for it. The couple came to the U.S., where her father went to work for a Manhattan liquor store and later bought the store, settling in Brooklyn, raising three children and later moving to Long Island, she said.

"He never tried to sell it. ... This was sort of the legacy of his suffering in the camps," she said. "The thought was if we're allowed to retain it, put it on display in one of the museums, whether down here in Battery Park City in Manhattan or even in Israel. Use it as a way to talk about the Holocaust ... and my parents' story."

According to court documents, the tablet dates to 1243 to 1207 B.C., the reign of King Tukulti-Ninurta I of Assyria. Placed in the foundation of the temple of a fertility goddess, its 21 lines call on those who find the temple to honor the king's name.

The tablet was excavated by German archaeologists from about 1908 to 1914 in what was then the Ottoman Empire, with Germany giving half the found antiquities to Istanbul, Raymond Dowd, the museum's lawyer, said. The modern state of Iraq has declined to claim it, he said.

In 1945, the Berlin museum's premises were overrun, with many items taken by Russia, others by German troops and some pilfered by people who took shelter in the museum, Dowd said. The museum director was not in a position to say who took it, only that it disappeared.

One recent estimate put its value at $10 million, Schlesinger said.

Lower courts in New York were split on the decision, leading to the latest appeal.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/berlin-museum-seeks-return-ancient-gold-tablet-051519395.html
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Fey and Poehler will host Globes for next 2 years

Celebs

Ree Hines
TODAY contributor

2 hours ago

Paul Drinkwater / AP

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will take the Golden Globes stage again for the 2014 and 2015 awards shows.

They wowed the Golden Globes crowd at the 2013 awards show, and in news that sure to please viewers, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will have the opportunity to do so again — and again.

The pair has signed on to host NBC's coverage of the Golden Globe Awards on Jan. 12, 2014, and as it that weren't enough, they've also made a deal to return for the following year.

“Tina and Amy are two of the most talented comedic writer/performers in our business and they were a major reason the Golden Globes was the most entertaining awards show of last season,” Paul Telegdy, president of alternative and late night programming for NBC, said in a statement. “We’re elated they wanted to host together again and that they committed for the next two years.”

Theo Kingma, president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association — the organization behind the Globes — said that the return of Fey and Poehler "ensures that the Golden Globes will once again be the biggest, best and most entertaining awards celebration of the year.”

It's no wonder the deal with the comedy duo is getting such raves from those involved. The 2013 show proved to be the highest-rated Golden Globes in six years.

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/tina-fey-amy-poehler-host-golden-globes-next-two-years-8C11396354
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BBC to Name Head of VOD Service, Treat It Like Fifth TV Channel

LONDON – The BBC is planning to name a controller of its VOD service, the BBC iPlayer, to effectively establish it as a fifth network of the U.K. public broadcaster, director of television Danny Cohen said here Tuesday evening.

His comments came during a Royal Television Society event following a big vision speech last week, in which new BBC director general Tony Hall outlined his strategy and priorities.

Cohen, who previously ran flagship network BBC One and now oversees all TV output of the broadcaster except for news, on Tuesday discussed the implications of Hall's plans.

In his first major speech since taking charge of the BBC in April, Hall had pledged to  enhance the iPlayer on-demand and catch-up service, which is available online and on TV platforms, and simplify management structures, among other things. Hall was appointed last fall, less than two weeks after George Entwistle abruptly resigned as director general after only 54 days amid the fallout from the growing Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal.

Cohen said he would create a controller post for the iPlayer for an executive who will "sit alongside" the heads of the BBC's four TV channels. He added that he expects to know more about the role by January, with the BBC planning to "begin to see the iPlayer as our fifth channel."

Asked about Hall's plans to offer original content and channels on the iPlayer, Cohen said "we'll do a combination of permanent online channels and pop-up online channels." Pop-up channels would be tied to big events, such as the Wimbledon tennis tournament and the Glastonbury music festival, he explained. BBC's Radio 1 channel and arts could get a permanent channel on the iPlayer.

Original content on the iPlayer will come in the form of short-form content, mostly for younger audiences, among other things, Cohen said.

He said the need for original content on the iPlayer became apparent during a recent trip that Hall made to Silicon Valley. Executives from such tech giants as Facebook and Google told him that the BBC had the best video player in the world. But to retain that position in the coming years was key, Cohen explained. "Part of the answer is partly how we curate it," he said.

The BBC's head of television was also questioned where the broadcaster would cut costs to reach a target of $160 million (100 million pounds) in annual savings mentioned by Hall. Cohen said the broadcast department and BBC News would be key areas of costs, but added that he had no details to share yet.

Will broadband delivery of content  supersede broadcast delivery in Britain any time soon? Cohen said he expects a hybrid model in the coming years, but "I think it will eventually." But he argued that would only happen in 10 years, maybe even more.

Asked about the state of U.K. TV dramas amid the popularity of Danish shows, such as The Bridge and Borgen, and U.S. hits, such as Breaking Bad, he said Britain has Sherlock, Call the Midwife, Downton Abbey and other hits.

Americans also often tell him that they find British drama great. Cohen argued that the debate about the health of drama in various countries seemed to be a case of the grass always seeming greener on the other side.

Asked about the ratings struggle of The Voice UK on BBC One on Saturdays, Cohen said the first two seasons both saw audience drops during the live stage of the singing competition. Still, the ratings have made it the BBC's biggest entertainment show launch since Strictly Come Dancing. Plus, the show attracts young audiences.

"It's bloody, bloody good for us," Cohen concluded. I have no particular concerns about The Voice."

Asked about commercial rival ITV, which has such hits as Downton Abbey, Broadchurch and The X Factor, Cohen said: "I think it's in fantastic shape." But he said that BBC One is also doing really well.

With both networks getting up to 10 million viewers for big shows despite a much smaller population in the U.K. than the U.S., the two broadcasters compare well to U.S. networks, he said. And he said the strength of both makes both more competitive. "It is definitely good for the BBC to have a strong ITV," Cohen argued.

The BBC TV boss was also quizzed about Tuesday morning's news that hit baking competition The Great British Bake Off would next season move from BBC Two to the flagship BBC One network. When shows get a certain audience size, they can get even more viewers on BBC One, Cohen explained. The same phenomenon happens when an Andy Murray tennis match moves from BBC Two to BBC One, he said.

"They tend in general to be bigger" in terms of audience reach when moving to BBC One, Cohen said. "Channels do still matter. I don't know why that is still the case. It is just a click of a button."

So, will Bake Off top its current 7 million or so viewers once it airs on BBC One? "I think it has a very good chance of doing that," Cohen said, citing the success of past moves to the flagship channel of such shows as  The Apprentice and MasterChef.

Was BBC Two controller Janice Hadlow sad or mad about the show's move? "No channel controller likes it when that happens," Cohen said. "That's part of being a team player."

But he vowed not to dilute the show's voice and feel by moving it to the broader-based channel. "Our plan is not to change Bake Off at all," Cohen said.

E-mail: Georg.Szalai@THR.com
Twitter: @georgszalai

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O2 and HTC partner to give away 18ct gold HTC One

O2 HTC One customers who buy between Oct. 17 and 20 will be eligible to win

Remember that 18 carat gold-plated HTC One produced to celebrate the 18th MOBO awards — of which there are just five in existence? Well, HTC UK has partnered with British carrier O2 to give the £2,750-value handset away to one lucky customer. In a post on its official promotional site, HTC reveals that the blinged-out smartphone will be given away to one lucky customer who buys the HTC One from O2 between Oct. 17 and Oct. 20. One of the remaining four will be given away to the winner of the MOBO for best newcomer on Oct. 19.

As we saw during our time with the gold HTC One at a recent event in London, this is a really, really gold HTC One. But we suppose at least the winner will have their other HTC One for situations that demand a less lustrous smartphone.

More: Hands-on with the real gold HTC One

Source: HTC

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U.S. justices to hear race case; one side has two voices

By Joan Biskupic

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday will delve into a decades-old debate over university admissions policies that favor racial minorities, hearing a Michigan case that picks up where the justices left off last session in a dispute from the University of Texas.

Unlike the Texas case that tested a specific affirmative action practice, this new dilemma revolves around a broad state constitutional amendment.

In a twist, the two groups in the Michigan case that favor affirmative action to help minorities have put forward divergent views. They will split their side's half hour of oral argument, each taking a different tack in hopes of influencing a court dominated by ideologically conservative justices.

They so differentiated their positions in filings to the court last month that the justices took the rare step of granting a request for divided argument at the court's lectern.

Michigan, where voters in 2006 approved a ban on all "preferential treatment" based on race in education, will have the other half hour to itself.

The country's struggle with the issue traces back to the early 1960s when President John Kennedy first told federal contractors to take "affirmative action" to hire minorities.

The Supreme Court has been the arbiter of disputes over universities' consideration of applicants' race since the groundbreaking Bakke case in 1978, when it forbade quotas but said schools could weigh race with other factors.

The new Supreme Court case does not directly test Bakke, but it could determine how easily states can end the affirmative action that the 1978 case endorsed. A ruling could affect bans in place in Michigan and seven other states: Arizona, California, Florida, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and Washington.

While they vary in the breadth and tone of their arguments, those challenging the Michigan ban say it unconstitutionally altered the state political process related to admissions policies along racial lines.

Specifically, challengers say that because of the ban, advocates for racial preferences in admissions may not directly lobby universities the way those seeking to employ other advantages, such as family alumni status, can. Rather, such advocates must first undertake to win a new amendment to the state constitution, reversing the 2006 one.

It is difficult to predict how the justices might rule, but their acceptance of Michigan's appeal of a lower-court decision relying on the political-process theory and their increasing rejection of racial policies suggests they might be poised to uphold the ban.

DIVERGENT APPROACHES

One group opposed to the ban, from the University of Michigan, employs measured rhetoric, relies on more recent cases joined by conservative justices and tries to assure the court it can rule narrowly when striking down the Michigan ban.

The other group, a long-standing Detroit-based coalition advocating for minority rights, is pushing a more expansive legal rationale and, in more impassioned rhetoric, invokes the orations of two late champions of racial justice in the 1960s, Martin Luther King and President Lyndon Johnson.

The twin approaches offer a window into strategies used to address a court majority increasingly skeptical of racial-based remedies.

Usually when there are multiple parties on one side of a dispute, only one lawyer from their combination gets to argue, such as during last term when several civil rights groups were defending U.S. voting rights law and, in a separate case, challenging an Arizona measure that required people seeking to register to vote to prove citizenship.

In last term's affirmative action case, brought by a white student who asserted she was rejected at the University of Texas while minority students with lower scores were admitted, the justices sidestepped the constitutional challenge by a vote of 7-1. They returned the case to a lower court for review under a somewhat tougher standard for universities trying to justify giving blacks and Hispanics a boost in admissions.

The new case, like last term's, will be heard by only eight of the nine justices. Elena Kagan, who before her 2010 court appointment was the U.S. solicitor general and handled some affirmative action litigation, is not participating.

A ruling in the case, Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, is expected before the term ends in June 2014.

NEARLY 50 YEARS

Picking up the mantle of the assassinated Kennedy, Johnson in 1964 sought to counter the effects of long-standing race discrimination in America with executive orders and by signing several milestone laws including that year's groundbreaking Civil Rights Act.

As such measures proliferated, whites who believed they were rejected because of "reverse discrimination" sued. In the Supreme Court's first review of campus affirmative action, brought by white aspiring medical student Allan Bakke against the University of California, Davis, the court forbade racial quotas but said that universities could weigh race with other factors in admissions.

Three decades later, that legacy is on shaky political and judicial ground. Chief Justice John Roberts, now leader of the five-justice wing on the court's right, wrote in 2007 that "the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race."

Tuesday's dispute goes back a decade, to a 2003 Supreme Court decision upholding the University of Michigan's use of affirmative action. To try to stop the university's practices, voters then adopted Proposal 2, which among its sweeping prohibitions, targets "preferential treatment ... on the basis of race" in education.

The Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, a Detroit-based group led by lawyer George Washington, who acknowledges a "militant" approach to preserve racial policies, immediately sued. A second group, made up of University of Michigan students and faculty, known by the lead plaintiff Chase Cantrell, also sued.

After the cases were combined, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit ruled against Michigan, declaring Proposal 2 violates equality rights by changing the political process for minorities. In a broadly written opinion, the appeals court relied on Supreme Court decisions from 1969 and 1982 involving racial bias and political rights.

The Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action is seeking a sweeping decision along the lines of the appeals court, arguing that Proposal 2 broadly deprives blacks, Latinos and other minorities of their rights. In an interview, Washington said his group was trying to reach audiences beyond the marble-columned courthouse.

Several busloads of students will be traveling from Detroit for the case Tuesday, Washington said. "I think (the justices) have to understand that people feel very, very passionately about their own futures and their children's futures."

The Cantrell plaintiffs, represented by Mark Rosenbaum of the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, stressed in an interview that he will not ask the court to focus on blacks or Latinos hurt by the amendment, but rather to focus on the inequality of the process itself. In another difference, he emphasizes recent Supreme Court precedent targeting government use of race as a "predominant factor," for example, in drawing congressional districts deemed unconstitutional.

Michigan solicitor general John Bursch, who will present the state's side Tuesday, will argue that the state amendment does not advantage or disadvantage any race in the admissions process: "It prohibits making a racial classification in the first place."

(Reporting by Joan Biskupic; Editing by Howard Goller, Amy Stevens and Philip Barbara)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-justices-hear-race-case-one-side-two-050729792.html
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Apple hires Burberry CEO to spruce up its retail operation

Cupertino's latest hire is an interesting one, especially when we think that about all those cool wearables that could one day take pride of place in Apple's online and physical stores. Angela Ahrendts, currently CEO of Burberry, has been recruited to fill a position that will be created just for ...

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Anthony Hopkins writes 'Breaking Bad' love letter

TV

Kurt Schlosser
TODAY

6 hours ago

Getty Images, AMC

British actor Anthony Hopkins, left, has heaped high praise on Bryan Cranston for his work as Walter White on "Breaking Bad."

Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins is no slouch in the acting department, but after binge-watching all six seasons of "Breaking Bad" recently, he couldn't resist writing a letter to star Bryan Cranston to tell him it was the best acting he had seen — ever.

The letter showed up Sunday on the Facebook page of actor Steven Michael Quezada, who played DEA agent Steve Gomez on the AMC hit. It was quickly picked up across the web, but on Monday the post, along with a tweet about it from Quezada, disappeared.

Arnold Robinson, a publicist for Hopkins, confirmed to TODAY on Monday that the letter was indeed real. And a source at United Talent Agency, which represents both Hopkins and Cranston, told TODAY that Hopkins wanted to write Cranston because he admired his work so much. Hopkins was complimentary of the entire cast, and the UTA source said Cranston shared it, not expecting the letter to go viral.

Hopkins writes that he was compelled to reach out after what he refers to as two weeks of "addictive" viewing.

I have never watched anything like it. Brilliant!

Your performance as Walter White was the best acting I have seen — ever.

I know there is so much smoke blowing and sickening bull---- in this business, and I've sort of lost belief in anything really.

But this work of yours is spectacular — absolutely stunning. What is extraordinary, is the sheer power of everyone in the entire production. What was it? Five or six years in the making? How the producers (yourself being one of them), the writers, directors, cinematographers.... every department — casting etc. managed to keep the discipline and control from beginning to the end is (that over used word) awesome.

Hopkins is no stranger to portraying crafty monsters — he won his Academy Award for the role of Hannibal Lecter in 1991's "The Silence of the Lambs."

"Thank you," the 75-year-old actor writes. "That kind of work/artistry is rare, and when, once in a while, it occurs, as in this epic work, it restores confidence. You and all the cast are the best actors I've ever seen."

Cranston, 57, won three Emmys for his work as the high-school-teacher-turned-meth-kingpin Walter White. Last month he lost out to Jeff Daniels of HBO's "The Newsroom," but "Breaking Bad" won the Emmy for best drama series.

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/anthony-hopkins-binges-breaking-bad-writes-bryan-cranston-glowing-letter-8C11390530
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Officials: Attacks across Iraq kill at least 42

A young woman sweeps debris from the site of a car bomb attack in Basra, 340 miles (550 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2013. A string of bombings in mostly Shiite-majority cities across Iraq on Sunday killed and wounded dozens of people, officials said, a grim reminder of the government's failure to stem the uptick in violence that is feeding sectarian tensions in the country.(AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani)

A young woman sweeps debris from the site of a car bomb attack in Basra, 340 miles (550 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2013. A string of bombings in mostly Shiite-majority cities across Iraq on Sunday killed and wounded dozens of people, officials said, a grim reminder of the government's failure to stem the uptick in violence that is feeding sectarian tensions in the country.(AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani)

An Iraqi soldier inspects the site of a car bomb attack in Basra, 340 miles (550 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2013. A string of bombings in mostly Shiite-majority cities across Iraq on Sunday killed and wounded dozens of people, officials said, a grim reminder of the government's failure to stem the uptick in violence that is feeding sectarian tensions in the country.(AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani)

Civilians and security forces inspect the site of a car bomb attack in Basra, 340 miles (550 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2013. A string of bombings in mostly Shiite-majority cities across Iraq on Sunday killed and wounded dozens of people, officials said, a grim reminder of the government's failure to stem the uptick in violence that is feeding sectarian tensions in the country.(AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani)

Security forces inspect the site of a car bomb attack in Basra, 340 miles (550 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2013. A string of bombings in mostly Shiite-majority cities across Iraq on Sunday killed and wounded dozens of people, officials said, a grim reminder of the government's failure to stem the uptick in violence that is feeding sectarian tensions in the country.(AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani)

People and security forces inspect the site of a car bomb attack in Basra, 340 miles (550 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2013. A string of bombings in mostly Shiite-majority cities across Iraq on Sunday killed and wounded dozens of people, officials said, a grim reminder of the government's failure to stem the uptick in violence that is feeding sectarian tensions in the country.(AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani)

BAGHDAD (AP) — A string of bombings Sunday across Iraq, many in Shiite-majority cities, killed at least 42 people and wounded dozens, officials said, a grim reminder of the government's failure to stem the uptick in violence that is feeding sectarian tensions in the country.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest attacks, but waves of bombings are frequently used by al-Qaida's Iraq branch.

The Sunni militant group and other Sunni extremists often targets Shiite civilians in an effort to undermine the Shiite-led government. Al-Qaida's extremist ideology considers Shiites heretics.

The deadliest of Sunday's attacks, many of which struck busy commercial areas, happened in the southern city of Hillah, 95 kilometers (60 miles) south of Baghdad. Back-to-back car bombings hit an outdoor market there, killing eight people and wounding 22, police said.

Two parked car bombs ripped through a commercial area in the city of Suwayrah, 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Baghdad, killing five people and wounding 14. Two other car bombs exploded simultaneously in the city of Kut, 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Baghdad, killing four and wounded 16, according to police.

In the nearby city of Samawah, 370 kilometers (230 miles) southeast of Baghdad, four people were killed and 13 wounded when two car bombs exploded. Two other car bombs killed three and wounded 13 in the city of Diwaniyah, 130 kilometers (80 miles) south of the capital.

Samarra was struck twice Sunday, a day after a car bombing in the Sunni-dominated city left 17 dead. The memory of the 2006 bombing of the city's al-Askari Shiite shrine still haunts many Iraqis because it set off years of retaliatory bloodshed between Sunni and Shiite extremists.

Two people were killed and 15 were wounded in the morning when a car bomb exploded near a group of mourners at a funeral for some of the previous day's dead. A suicide bomber struck a security checkpoint near the shrine in the Sunni-dominated city later in the day, killing four and wounding 10, said Mizhar Fleih, the deputy head of the municipal council there.

In other violence Sunday, police reported five people killed and 34 wounded in the southern city of Basra and the central towns of Mahmoudiyah and Madain.

In the western Baghdad neighborhood of Sadiyah, police said a bomb went off near a row of shops, killing two people and wounding nine others. Three others were killed in a blast near a soccer field in Baghdad's mainly Shiite southeastern suburb of Nahrwan. Yet another bomb exploded in the western Amariyah neighborhood, killing two and wounding 10, police said.

Medical officials confirmed the causalities. The police and hospital officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

More than 5,000 people have been killed in Iraq since attacks began accelerating in April following a deadly security crackdown against a Sunni protest camp in the northern town of Hawija.

With today's death toll, at least 267 people were killed so far in October. The latest surge in violence has raised fears that Iraq could be returning to widespread sectarian killings similar to those that brought country to the edge of civil war in 2006 and 2007.

___

Associated Press writers Sameer N. Yacoub and Qassim Abdul-Zahra contributed to this report.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-10-13-ML-Iraq/id-6afecf9587ad4c37828ca9a45745caff
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FDA probing serious adverse events linked to Ariad's cancer drug

(Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it is investigating an increasing number of reports of serious and life-threatening adverse events in patients taking Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc's leukemia drug, Iclusig.

Ariad's shares fell 7 percent in early trade on Friday.

In a safety notice posted on its website, the regulator advised patients taking Iclusig to seek immediate medical attention if they experience symptoms suggesting a heart attack.

The notice comes after Ariad disclosed on Wednesday that the FDA asked the company to stop enrolling patients in clinical trials of Iclusig. The agency had identified a number of patients who had experienced blood clots and heart damage after taking the drug.

Iclusig was approved by the FDA in December 2012 to treat adults with two rare types of blood cancers - chronic myeloid leukemia and Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The drug's label contains information about the risks of blood clots.

The company is testing the drug in seven mid-stage studies for lung cancer, thyroid cancer and another form of blood cancer.

The FDA said that the most recent clinical trial data Ariad had submitted showed at least 20 percent of patients developed blood clots or narrowing of blood vessels.

The agency also said it recently received reports showing that patients treated with Iclusig experienced serious eye problems, including decreased vision and clots in blood vessels of the eye. (http://r.reuters.com/cup73v)

Postmarket reports show that Iclusig patients experienced heart attacks resulting in death, worsening coronary artery disease, stroke, narrowing of large arteries of the brain among others, the FDA said.

The company's shares were down 4 percent at $5.18 at 10:20 a.m. ET, recouping from a low of $5.05.

Ariad's stock lost three-quarters of its value on Wednesday to trade at a three-year low.

(Reporting by Zeba Siddiqui in Bangalore; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fda-probing-serious-adverse-events-linked-ariads-cancer-145043042--finance.html
Category: oakland raiders   survivor   alyssa milano   Polina Polonsky   Dennis Farina  

A Brief History of Speech Recognition's Glorious Retrofuture

In the two decades following World War II, it seemed there was no limit to technological growth. Sure, a computer was still the size of an entire room, and no one had telephones in their pockets. But techno-utopian ideas like flying cars and jetpacks and meal pills were all being taken very seriously as the inevitable fruits of science's labor.

Read more...

Source: http://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/a-brief-history-of-speech-recognitions-glorious-retrof-791905826

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Croatia celebrates its EU membership

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) ? Fireworks lit the sky and festive crowds gathered on the streets to mark Croatia's entry Monday into the European Union, a major milestone some 20 years after the country won independence in a bloody civil war that shook the continent.

Croatia became the 28th EU member, the bloc's first addition since Bulgaria and Romania joined in 2007. Though enthusiasm for the country's achievement has been dampened by the EU's financial turmoil, it is a historic turning point for the small Balkan nation of 4.2 million, which endured years of carnage after declaring independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991.

"As midnight struck, your country crossed an important threshold," European Council President Herman Van Rompuy told the cheering crowd in Croatia's capital Zagreb. "It will change the life of this nation for good."

"In the history of a nation, there are a few events such as this one," Croatia's President Ivo Josipovic said. "The accession of Croatia to the European Union is confirmation that each one of us belongs to the European democratic and cultural set of values."

A decade back, when Croatia started negotiating the entry, the once war-torn country was overjoyed at the prospect of becoming a member of the European elite. With the EU in deep financial trouble and Croatia's own economy in recession for five consecutive years, the excitement has dimmed.

Thousands of people waving small EU and Croatian flags nonetheless joined celebrations across the country, including in Zagreb's main square. There, artists performed for some 100 visiting foreign leaders until midnight when big fireworks and the singing of Beethoven's Ode to Joy ? EU's anthem ? marked the official entry into the bloc.

Customs posts were removed from Croatia's borders with EU neighbors Slovenia and Hungary, while EU signs and flags were put on its borders with non-EU states Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro.

The festivities were much more modest and less jubilant than when Bulgaria and Romania ? currently EU's poorest states ? became members. With the entry, Croatia becomes the third poorest country in the EU.

"There are not too many festivities because the general situation is not brilliant," Josipovic told The Associated Press in a recent interview. "We have to develop our economy, take care of those people who are jobless now, and there is no time and money for big celebrations."

With an unemployment rate hovering at around 20 percent, plunging living standards, endemic corruption among its political elite and its international credit rating reduced to junk, many Croats are not in the mood to celebrate.

Some economists have warned that Croatia could seek an EU financial bailout as soon as it becomes a member. But Croatia's Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic rejected those claims, saying that the country would qualify for bailouts only if it is a member of the eurozone, a separate 17-country group that uses the EU's common currency, the euro.

"Croatia is not a member of the eurozone, and will not become a member of the eurozone until all the conditions are met," she said.

President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz called Croatia's accession a "historic day."

"EU membership will offer no magic solution to the crisis," he said in a statement. "But it will help to lift many people out of poverty and modernize the economy."

Pro-EU voices in Croatia note that joining the bloc means Croatians could find jobs in more prosperous EU countries, that their country could attract more foreign investment, and that the EU's leadership in Brussels could help keep widespread corruption and economic mismanagement in check.

But protest movement Occupy Croatia argued in a statement that "the European Union is not a solution to our problems."

"The entry into the European Union is an economic genocide over the people living in our country," the group said, blasting the EU as a "union tailored for rich corporations and their politicians."

The EU is in the grips of a recession, with many countries struggling to stimulate growth while grappling with a debt crisis that has led governments to slash spending and raise taxes. The EU countries account for 60 percent for Croatia's exports, which has sent the Balkan country's economy into a steady decline.

"It's important that we remember that Croatia is joining at the strangest time for the European Union in history," said Paul Stubbs, a senior research fellow at the Institute of Economics in Zagreb. He said Croatians "might see some increased prices, some increased competition, I wouldn't expect some huge increase in investment overnight."

But for many Croatians, pragmatism is winning out.

"We really had no choice," said Nino Vidic, a Zagreb resident. "Croatia is a small country, and logically as a Catholic country, we strive toward the West."

___

Associated Press writers Jovana Gec and Raf Casert contributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/croatia-celebrates-eu-membership-101549636.html

Fathers Day Poems

Can watching an avatar translate to real-life weight loss?

July 1, 2013 ? An estimated two-thirds of all Americans are overweight or obese and many find it difficult to lose weight and keep it off. They've tried fad diets, exercise programs, diet pills and other methods but the battle continues. Now, a new study suggests that watching an avatar model weight-loss behavior in a virtual community might help some women shed pounds in the real world.

"This pilot study showed that you don't have to be a gamer to use virtual reality to learn some important skills for weight loss," said Melissa Napolitano, PhD, an associate professor of prevention and community health at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS). "This small study suggests that virtual reality could be a promising new tool for building healthier habits."

If proven effective, such a program might offer an inexpensive way to help millions of Americans -- including overweight men--learn the skills and behavior they need to lose weight over the long run.

Previous research had suggested that using virtual reality to model skills or provide reinforcement was effective. For example, people who watched an avatar that resembled them run on a treadmill were more likely to exercise the next day than if they watched an unfamiliar avatar, according to a Stanford University study.

Napolitano, who did the study while at Temple University's Center for Obesity Research and Education, in collaboration with Temple's Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, and her colleagues, wondered if avatars could be used as a tool to model weight loss behavior for overweight women.

To find out, the team first conducted a survey among 128 overweight women. Most of them had tried to lose weight during the last year and the majority had never used a virtual reality game. Despite the fact that most of these women had no experience using virtual reality or even playing online games, the researchers found that 88 percent said they would be willing to use a program with an avatar modeling habits that might give them an edge in the battle to lose weight.

Many of the study participants thought that watching an avatar could help them visualize and then put in place healthy behavior, such as taking a walk every day or picking healthy options when food shopping. And in fact, theory and research tells us that modeling or seeing the steps one needs to take in order to achieve a desired goal makes behavioral change easier to accomplish, Napolitano said.

But to test the concept, the team first had to create videos that showed an avatar in a variety of different situations such as walking on a treadmill or navigating a cart through the aisles of a grocery store. The end result was a partnership from the treatment side drawing on Napolitano's expertise as well as the experts on the technical programming front to show the avatars in action. Using their extensive expertise in virtual reality, Director Antonio Giordano, MD, PhD, and Giuseppe Russo, PhD, of Temple's Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, developed a virtual reality simulation featuring such an avatar.

"With our vast experience in creating custom virtual reality environments for eHealth, we were able to assist Dr. Napolitano in this pilot study from the technical point of view," said Russo. "This study is a perfect example of how virtual reality can be used in promoting human health."

Given that not all the woman who participated were avid tech users, the team created a DVD that showed the avatar in four real-world environments. The women did not have to manipulate the avatar, they just watched the video; however they did pick out the skin color and shape of the avatar to more closely resemble their own appearance--a feature that might help the study participants visualize and learn a new behavior, Napolitano said.

In the next part of the trial, the team enrolled eight overweight women in a four-week pilot test to see if watching the videos could help these women learn new skills that could lead to weight loss. The women came to the clinic once a week and watched a 15-minute DVD featuring an avatar demonstrating healthy weight loss behaviors.

For example, in one lesson the women watched the avatar sitting down for dinner and learned about portion sizes. Participants watched as the avatar viewed a plate with a serving size that was too large and one that was just right. In another lesson, they watched an avatar walk with moderate intensity on a treadmill and learned the walking pace needed to help with weight loss goals, Napolitano said. The women in this pilot study also set weight-loss and exercise goals and kept a food and exercise log.

Based on theory and previous research, the team thought that watching the avatar in the virtual world might make it more likely women would practice those skills in real life. The virtual "model" was the key to helping participants break healthy behaviors into manageable steps, Napolitano noted.

And after four weeks of treatment, the women in this pilot study had lost an average of 3.5 pounds, a fairly typical amount for traditional diet plans, Napolitano said. However, the researchers hope that by watching the avatar the women using this program will be much more likely to put healthy habits in place over the long run -- keep the weight off for good.

Additional studies must be conducted in order to solidify these early findings and show that men and women who use the tool really do lose weight and maintain that loss. "This is just the first step to show that women, even those who are not gamers, are interested in an avatar-based technology to help them with a weight-loss plan," said Napolitano. "We are excited by the potential of this technology as a scalable tool to help people learn the skills to be successful at weight loss over the long run."

The study, "Using Avatars to Model Weight Loss Behaviors: Participant attitudes and technology development," appears in the July 1 Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology. Other authors of the study include Sharon Hayes and Gary Foster, both at Temple's Center for Obesity Research and Education, and Giuseppe Russo, Debora Muresu and Antonio Giordano of Temple's Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/CnQsx7DuYJE/130701080840.htm

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WEATHER: Toppled the record highs once again in Central Texas, this time at Mab...

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Source: http://www.facebook.com/ynnaustin/posts/593726674005867

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The Real Housewives of New Jersey Recap: Angry Italians

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/06/the-real-housewives-of-new-jersey-recap-angry-italians/

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AT&T cuts smartphone prices in half, jumps on the discount bandwagon

If you're looking for a new smartphone, this is apparently the weekend to go shopping. Following Radio Shack's promise to chip in a $100 Google Play credit with purchase an HTC One and Walmart's deep iPhone discounts, AT&T has quietly tacked on a 50% discount to all smartphone purchases under $199. This puts devices like the HTC One, Samsung's Galaxy S4 (and the S4 Active), the Note II, both of BlackBerry's latest handsets and iPhone 5 at an enticing $100. Naturally, Ma Bell has attached the usual hooks: the deal necessitates a new 2-year agreement or contract renewal, and in-store purchases require a trade-in device to activate the discount. Not a bad deal if you're hankering for new hardware -- just make sure you don't walk away with buyer's remorse.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, AT&T

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Filmmakers and the scramble to make made-for-TV films accurate

TV

Maria Elena Fernandez TODAY

2 hours ago

The day before Lifetime began filming "Jodi Arias: Dirty Little Secret," its true crime movie about the Jodi Arias case, the now-convicted murderer shocked everyone by taking the stand at her trial. As Arias regaled the jury and public for 18 days with the minute details of her life and intimate relationship with Travis Alexander, the ex-boyfriend she killed, the movie's writers realized they could no longer end their story as they'd planned -- in a police interrogation room with Arias denying she'd even been at the scene.

As real life played out in a Mesa, Arizona, courtroom,it "was just too dramatic," to gloss over, said Arturo Interian, vice president of original movies for Lifetime Networks and A&E Networks. "To have [prosecutor] Juan Martinez suddenly becoming a hero in the public's eyes. And Jodi, now the villain of villains, going at it with Juan on the stand for multiple days?she was lying; he didn?t believe a word. He's nailing her and confronting her on her contradictions. You could not stop watching that. There's no way we could leave it out."

What to include and exclude in a true crime movie can be tricky business, especially when the case is not over. Legally, writers, producers and executives are bound by some of the facts as they reveal themselves in court but that doesn't mean that a movie has to wait to be made until all is said and done or that writers can't fill in the blanks. It depends on the point of the view the film is taking.

Lifetime's Arias film premieres Saturday at 8 p.m. -- the network began developing the movie 15 months ago, when no one expected the trial to last as long as it did or for the defendant to spend as much time trying to sell her self-defense claims. It put Jace Alexander, who was directing his first true crime movie, in the position of balancing artistic license with a story that was playing out in front of the world and simultaneously impacting real people. Her conviction meant that legally, producers could show her killing Alexander; without it, they would have had to focus on their rocky relationship and leave the conclusions to the audience.

"We are taking moments where no one knows or had access to the private closed-door moments of these people and imagining ourselves what happened," said Alexander who is not related to the victim. ?The minute that happens, we can't be held accountable for what other people think might be the truth. But there were a lot of facts we were privy to and we were faithful to those facts. Although I have nothing but the most respect for these people who have been living through this horrible tragedy, at the same time, we had to construct a narrative that may or may not sit well with them."

It was a first for Alexander but not for a network that built its brand when it seized on a gap left by the broadcast networks when they stopped making made-for-TV movies. Writer Teena Booth, who has written about 30 non-fiction movies, including Lifetime?s second biggest true crime hit, ?Drew Peterson: Untouchable,? says real life can get in the way of telling the story?even when the case is long over.

When she was writing a Lifetime movie that aired in 2008 about the murder of Las Vegas casino magnate Ted Binion, the court overturned the conviction of his girlfriend, Sandra Murphy, sending Booth into frantic re-write mode because she could no longer show Murphy killing Binion. Last year, as she wrote ?Fatal Honeymoon,? about Tina Watson, the newlywed wife who died while diving on her Australian honeymoon, the case against her husband was dismissed, though he had pleaded guilty to manslaughter in Australia.

?Those are real hair pullers,? Booth said. ?You can lose sleep. I am very committed to telling the truth as I understand it and what my research is showing. About 95% of the stories are pretty clear?you?re pretty sure that Jodi Arias did that. With Drew Peterson, I never had a doubt in my mind even though we were making the movie before he was convicted. But something like the Watson case is very ambiguous and there are many passionate conversations along the way with the network, producers and directors. Everyone wants to do the right thing and we also want to make a good movie.?

As a true crime writer, Booth researches her cases and follows a storytelling formula but her job is to dig beyond the facts and address a question that often is left answered in court?why? Trial watchers can surmise, for example, that Arias acted out in a jealous rage or that Peterson felt he owned his wife, but no one will ever know unless the murderers decide to reveal it. When preparing for a script, Booth reads whatever material she can find, but she also travels to where the crime occurred and interviews people who know the major players.

?My job is to understand the emotional content,? she said. ?I want to know who this person was. I feel a huge sense of responsibility toward the people I talk to because they?re sitting there telling me some of the most awful moments of their life, some of the most terrible things that have ever happened to them.?

Booth said she?s relieved not to have been charged with writing the Jodi Arias story because some stories ?are too upsetting too tackle.? When she wrote ?Amish Grace? for Lifetime about the 2006 Amish school shooting in Pennyslvania, Booth said she was on ?an emotional tear? for two months because it involved small children.

Michael Yarish / Lifetime

Rob Lowe starred in Lifetime's "Drew Peterson: Untouched," the network's second biggest true crime drama.

?Drew Peterson was a larger-than-life figure,? she said. ?You could keep a certain emotional distance from him because he?s like a clown. But Jodi Arias, there?s something more disturbing about her. She has this really dark side. It gives you a little bit of the creeps.?

At times, the horror of Arias' actions also got to Alexander who knew nothing about the case when he decided to direct his first Lifetime movie. The director opted to show the extreme violent nature of Arias? actions in spite of how difficult they are to even fathom because of what the horror reveals about the woman behind it.

?This man was brutally murdered and he shouldn?t have been and there are some deep emotions because of that,? Alexander said. ?There were 29 stab wounds and a gunshot and I felt it would be dishonest for me to just clip that and move forward. I want to show that it?s not OK. It?s hard for me to watch. I want people to watch this movie but you may need to cover your eyes a little bit.?

Those who followed the trial won?t be surprised by the gruesomeness of the murder, but critics have questioned whether Lifetime should be airing the movie so soon after the trial ended, especially because the sentencing portion has to be redone and the victim?s family will have to live through it again.

?When a story is as exposed in the public as this one, I feel like it?s open for people to interpret an artistic approach to these people because they are now in the public eye,? Alexander said. ?Whether that is fair or not, I?m still wrestling with. And believe me, I feel it. I?m not entirely comfortable with it at all.?

Booth said she?s never received a single complaint; in fact, often the families of the victims thank her for telling their story. ?I?ve never had a family come at me and say that it was horrible and they feel exploited,? she said. ?If that did happen, it would hurt. I would feel terrible.?

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/filmmakers-scramble-make-made-tv-films-accurate-6C10374594

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We're live from Samsung Premiere 2013 in London!

Live coverage of new Windows and Android announcements from Samsung

We're live from London's Earls Court exhibition center later today for Samsung Premiere 2013 -- the Korean manufacturer's big event where it's promising to show off new Galaxy (Android) and Windows (Ativ) devices. So we can certainly expect to see more of the Galaxy S4 Mini, Active and Zoom, as well as unannounced stuff like the Galaxy NX Android-powered mirrorless camera. On the Windows side, there's the possibility of more tablets and ultrabooks, and maybe some new Windows Phone devices too.

We'll be on the ground from 6pm local time, and the show kicks off at 7pm BST (2pm EDT, 11am PDT), so remember to bookmark this page for live coverage. You'll find our liveblog after the break!

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/DAIB6NAmZXA/story01.htm

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Life Unexpected: Our First Baby Shower...

It's been three weeks since we passed court and it feels like eternity. ?Every day that passes is one more day that we are away from Biruk, and we are not big fans of that! ?We are praying that we get submitted to embassy, pass, and travel as soon as possible. ?In the meantime, we are "prepping" to be parents, and basking in all of the "firsts" of pre-parenthood. ?I realized tonight that not only has it been three weeks since court, but it has also been almost three weeks since I last blogged. ?I am behind and so much has happened.

For starters, my family threw us the baby shower of the century and I haven't even had time to blog about it. Several months back, my mom and sisters came to me attempting to find a date that would work for all of us to have a baby shower. ?After a lot of debating, we chose a date, and then several weeks later, changed the date in fear that it would be too close to traveling for our first trip. ?Little did we know that our first trip would come a lot sooner than we thought. ?We came home from Ethiopia on a Thursday and the baby shower of the century was two days later on a Saturday. ?While it was a crazy busy time, it couldn't have been more perfect timing to celebrate the news that we were officially Biruk's parents. ?That makes for some serious celebration.

If you know anything about my family, than you know no one does anything halfheartedly. ?When my mom and sisters started making plans for the shower, I knew that it would not be a simple task. ?For weeks leading up, whenever I talked with them on the phone, they reminded me that it was going to be awesome. ?They had every detail planned out, they had invited friends and family from out of town, and they wanted to make sure it was amazing.

Nate and I had decided to just go home to my parent's house as soon as we got in from Ethiopia. ?Since my sister was in town, Nate's family was coming, and we had friends coming, we thought we would spend a few days home. ?Friday morning, I woke up and was completely jet lagged and groggy. ?I headed downstairs and found some coffee my Dad had made and then he informed me that he needed me to come to the airport that night and translate (in Spanish) for a pastor coming to visit from Cuba who didn't speak any English. ?At that point, I was so tired, I was lucky I could speak English. ?Regardless, I agreed, and that night my Dad and I set out to the airport.

We arrived at BWI and began searching for this Cuban pastor. ?I was frantically trying to remember every Spanish phrase I could think of, while asking my Dad over and over again a series of questions as we waited..."What does he look like? ?Are you sure he doesn't speak any English? ?What gate is he coming from? ?Are you sure he doesn't speak any English?" ?Finally, after about 30 minutes of waiting, my Dad blurted out, "It's Amy Hanes!" ?I was like, "What's Amy Hanes?" ?He said, "Amy...she is coming to surprise you for your shower but I have no idea where she is. ?Do you have your her number in your cell?" ?Amy is one of my friends, who is a missionary in Honduras. ?She had come to surprise me for my shower. ?I turned around and saw her right away and then started freaking out. ?The weekend was already off to an amazing start.

Saturday morning, we headed to the church and I was completely blown away by what I saw. ?My mom and sisters had truly out done themselves. ?There were pennants that were hanging with maps of Ethiopia, little kid party favors with pencils with mini flags on them, several of Biruk's little shirts hanging up, cupcakes that had cake pops in the center of them, food that was amazing every where, the cutest mason jars with Biruk's picture attached and yummy chocolate covered oreos and pretzels inside (thanks to my sister, Heather), and pictures of our trip pinned all over.

Side ?note on the pictures...so my Dad went to CVS to get 5 sets of about 20 pictures of Biruk developed. ?The CVS girl came over to him and said, "This is a beautiful baby!" ?My Dad tried to reply, "That's my new grandson," but in Dad fashion, broke down in tears overwhelmed by the goodness of the whole thing. ?The girl put her arm around him and said, "Sir, are you going to be ok?" ?Oh my...I would have paid to see that.

Mom had placed plain burp cloths everywhere along with fabric markers. ?She asked everyone to decorate one (which by the way, there were over 65 people there to support us!). ?She also asked everyone to write Biruk blessings, which totally blew us away. ?I can't wait until he is old enough for us to read them some day. ?My sister Kristen gave us this awesome wall hanging of Africa with the lyrics to a powerful Steven Curtis Chapman song. ?It's already hanging in Biruk's room ?My sister Heather had this beautiful necklace made that had a bunch of charms that represented our journey. ?I have been wearing it like crazy! ?Nate's mom and sister even made it down...driving 6 hours to stay for a few hours. ?It meant the world to us.

I had always imagined what it would be like to have a baby shower someday, but I could have never dreamed up the amount of encouragement and love we felt that day. ?It wasn't about gifts that we got (although, we got more than enough gifts...people were incredibly generous). ?It wasn't about the decorations (although I am pretty sure that my mom and sisters could easily go into the business of baby showers...it was that amazing). ?It wasn't even about us. ?It was totally about God's grace and faithfulness in a story that we could have never written or imagined if we tried. ?It was about a community of friends and family members who have been praying like crazy for a child they have never even met. ?It was about the celebration of a baby whose name not only means "blessed," but whose whole story has been a blessing in ways we could have never dreamed of. ?It was about a God who never stops loving us and a God who is constantly weaving the threads of our lives to make something beautiful. ?That is what blows us away. ?That is what we are grateful for. ?That is what makes the journey incredible. ?Thanks be to God.

Source: http://nateandandrealifeunexpected.blogspot.com/2013/06/our-first-baby-shower.html

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Longo goes yard twice as Rays roll Yankees

By HOWIE RUMBERG

AP Sports Writer

Associated Press Sports

updated 10:51 p.m. ET June 20, 2013

NEW YORK (AP) - Evan Longoria homered twice. Matt Moore pitched impressively into the seventh inning. From Desmond Jennings to Yunel Escobar, there were contributions throughout the Tampa Bay lineup.

That's how manager Joe Maddon imagined this pesky club would perform all year.

"That's the way it's supposed to look like," Maddon said after the Rays sent the New York Yankees to their seventh loss in nine game, 8-3 Thursday night.

Longoria reached 500 career RBIs with a sacrifice fly in the third inning. He connected against Andy Pettitte (5-5) leading off the sixth and again off Joba Chamberlain to open the eighth.

Escobar hit a two-run shot off Boone Logan later in the eighth as the Rays' won a second straight after losing six of seven.

"We've had some tough losses in the past week but the guys hung in there really well," Maddon said. "It's going to be the roller coaster AL East all summer."

Tampa Bay had 14 hits after amassing 15 in a 6-2 win over Boston on Wednesday night.

The 24-year-old Moore (9-3) snapped a three-start skid. The lefty opened the season 8-0 before yielding 20 runs over 12 1-3 innings in three starts this month. He blanked the Yankees until the sixth when two walks and a single loaded the bases with no outs.

A wild pitch scored one run, Robinson Cano had a sacrifice fly and Travis Hafner followed with an RBI grounder that pulled the Yankees to 4-3.

"Things were going well until the sixth inning," Moore said. "That was kind of the makey or breaky type of moment where it's either going to be a five-run inning with Robbie Cano up, bases loaded, no outs. Or you could keep the team in the game the way we were able to."

Moore then got an out in the seventh before being lifted following Lyle Overbay's ground-rule double to left field, only the fourth hit he allowed.

Jose Lobaton opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the second following a wild pitch by Pettitte. Ben Zobrist had an RBI single in the third in the Rays' first visit to the Bronx this year.

Jennings and Sean Rodriguez had consecutive two-out doubles in the seventh to chase Pettitte, making his first start as a 41-year-old - his birthday was Saturday.

"For me it's another frustrating night," Pettitte said. "We come back and score three runs and I go out there and give them right back. Joe (Girardi) trusts me to get out of the inning and I can't get Rodriguez out. I need to be able to shut these guys down."

Jennings put Pettitte in trouble on the first pitch of the game, hitting a double that landed on the left-field line for his first of his three hits.

The Rays started the third with three straight singles. Jennings led off with a single and went to second when the ball scooted under center fielder Brett Gardner's glove for an error. After Rodriguez singled, Zobrist, who came in 9 for 22 (.409) against Pettitte, drove in Jennings with a single.

Longoria's sacrifice fly made it 3-0 and gave the All-Star third baseman 500 RBIs in 710 games, eighth quickest to reach the mark in major league history.

"It's a pretty good amount of RBIs. It's something I'm pretty proud of," Longoria said. "Hopefully there'll be a ton more."

In 6 2-3 innings, Pettitte gave up five runs and nine hits. He has given up 14 runs in four starts since returning from the disabled list June 3.

Pitching coach "Larry (Rothschild) said for the first five innings he didn't make a lot of mistakes, but the ones he made they hit them," manager Joe Girardi said.

NOTES: Maddon said RHP Alex Colome will start Saturday. ... Tampa Bay played its 2,500th game in franchise history. The Rays, who started out as the Devil Rays in 1998, are 1,141-1,359 overall. Rothschild was Tampa Bay's first manager. Current Rays bench coach Dave Martinez singled for the team's first hit. ... Rays ace David Price (left triceps strain) is scheduled to make his first rehabilitation start Friday for Class A Charlotte. ... There was a moment of silence for actor and Yankees fan James Gandolfini, who died Wednesday. ... Yankees broadcaster and former catcher John Flaherty was in the Rays' first lineup. ... Yankees OF Vernon Wells went 0 for 3 and is 6 for 59 in June.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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??HBT Daily: O's teammates Chris Davis and Manny Machado lead the early AL MVP race. Who does Craig Calcaterra favor for the award?

Angels mount seven-run rally vs. Felix, M's

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - Staring at a seven-run deficit with Seattle's Felix Hernandez on the mound Thursday night, the Los Angeles Angels could have been excused for starting to think about the weekend.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/52270549/ns/sports-baseball/

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Obama sees Iran's election of moderate as hopeful sign

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Monday that Iran's election of a moderate as its next president is a sign that Iranians want to move in a different direction, but he was uncertain whether it would lead to a breakthrough over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

In an interview with public television anchor Charlie Rose, Obama said the United States and its allies would be willing to hold talks with Iran over its nuclear program, as long as Tehran recognized that international sanctions would not be lifted unless Iran proved it is not building a nuclear weapon.

"As long as there's an understanding about the basis of the conversation, then I think there's no reason why we shouldn't proceed," Obama said.

The surprise victory by Iran's Hassan Rohani in weekend elections to succeed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president was seen by the United States as positive, at least at first glance.

"I think it says that the Iranian people want to move in a different direction," said Obama. "The Iranian people rebuffed the hardliners and the clerics in the election who were counseling no compromise on anything any time anywhere. Clearly you have a hunger within Iran to engage with the international community in a more positive way."

Obama noted, however, that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei remains Iran's supreme leader "so we're going to have to continue to see how this develops and how this evolves over the next several weeks, months, years."

"I do think that there's a possibility that they decide - the Iranians decide - to take us up on our offer to engage in a more serious substantive way," he said.

The interview was taped on Sunday and broadcast on Monday on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).

It touched on many of the international challenges Obama is facing, including the question of how to assist Syrian rebels militarily after Washington determined last week that the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad had used chemical weapons against the opposition.

Obama sounded skeptical about the idea of establishing a no-fly zone over Syria, which his administration has been considering. He said it is possible that a no-fly zone "may not be actually solving the problem."

Whatever assistance the United States provides should be done carefully because "it is very easy to slip-slide your way into deeper and deeper commitments," he said.

Obama, who had face-to-face talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping this month in California, said he believes the Chinese recognize the U.S. desire for China to play a positive role on the world stage, but Beijing has yet to fully take on that responsibility.

The president engaged in a blunt conversation with Xi about cyber hacking and what American officials believe has been the theft of U.S. trade secrets by China.

"I think what you're seeing inside of (the) Chinese leadership is the desire to maybe continue not to be responsible, not to be a full stakeholder, work the international system on something like trade or intellectual property rights, get as much as they can, and be free-riders and let the United States worry about the big hassles and the big problems," Obama said.

(Reporting By Steve Holland; editing by Christopher Wilson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-sees-irans-election-moderate-hopeful-sign-030538159.html

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