U.N. calls for restraint on eve of Congo vote (Reuters)

KINSHASA (Reuters) ? International organizations appealed for calm on the eve of Democratic Republic of Congo's presidential election, after a run-up that has already been tainted by deadly street clashes and delayed poll preparations.

Concerns have been mounting about the central African country's readiness for its second post-war presidential contest, and what impact a troubled vote might have on efforts to stabilize the giant minerals-producing nation.

The European Union and the United Nations called for restraint after at least three people were killed on Saturday, the last day of campaigning, and the main opposition challenger said he would hold a rally later on Sunday despite a ban on political rallies the day before the vote.

"The security forces should refrain from any acts that could heighten tensions and create any difficulties on the eve of elections," Mounoubai Madnodje, spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping mission, said.

Election officials in Congo were scrambling to get remaining ballots to polling stations after delays at all stages of the process. But the head of the electoral body said he expected the election to go ahead as planned.

"We would like to assure you 99 percent of things are working perfectly, that's our commitment to you," electoral commission chief Daniel Ngoy Mulunda told reporters at a briefing in Kinshasa on Sunday.

The EU observer mission accused the police of denying President Joseph Kabila's main rival, Etienne Tshisekedi, his right to campaign in the capital after he was blocked by security forces at the airport on Saturday.

Police had earlier banned rallies after violence erupted in the sprawling capital Kinshasa. The confirmed death toll for Saturday's violence has risen to three, according to U.N. human rights sources.

Tshisekedi on Sunday accused international actors, including the head of the United Nations mission in Congo, of being against him, and said that, as his rally was blocked on Saturday, he would hold one later on Sunday.

"The international community has supported (in Congo) Africa's worst dictatorships for 51 years," he said, adding he wanted UN mission chief Roger Meece, a former U.S. ambassador to Congo during the last election, to step down.

SHOWDOWN

Congo's last war, in which millions died mainly of famine and disease, ended eight years ago. But the peace is fragile, with pockets of clashes across much of its east while ordinary Congolese complain of rampant corruption and slow development.

Resource firms like Freeport McMoRan and ENRC operate in Congo, a big copper and cobalt producer with ambitions of developing an oil industry, but the country is seen as one of the world's riskiest in which to do business.

U.N. peacekeepers failed to end a showdown on Saturday between veteran opposition leader Tshisekedi and the police, who blocked him at the airport and fired bullets to disperse his supporters.

Kinshasa is a Tshisekedi stronghold and Reuters reporters saw tens of thousands of his supporters on the streets of the capital after the 78 year-old called for them to try and reach the airport where he was blocked.

Tshisekedi was later driven home by the police, and Albert Moleka, one of his spokesmen, said at least 25 of his UDPS party supporters had been arrested.

Authorities had earlier canceled campaign rallies that were due to take place in close proximity of each other as violence flared in the teeming city of 10 million people.

The EU observer mission in Congo criticized the authorities for mishandling the end of the campaign period and called the police operation to prevent Tshisekedi from leaving the airport "a serious impediment" to his right to campaign.

Preparations for the poll have been marred by delays at all stages at the process, with ballot papers being delivered late and many voters unsure where they are meant to be voting.

There were reports of trouble elsewhere in Congo.

A security source said one soldier was killed when the Vangu military camp in the mining capital Lubumbashi was attacked overnight by unknown arsonists.

A government building was also attacked on Saturday in the southern town of Kananga by people suspecting local officials of hoarding ballot papers in preparation for rigging the poll, a U.N. official said.

(Writing by David Lewis; Editing by Richard Valdmanis)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/democrats/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111127/ts_nm/us_congo_democratic_election

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Butterfly wings inspire design of water-repellent surface

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

The brilliant blue wings of the mountain swallowtail (Papilio ulysses) easily shed water because of the way ultra-tiny structures in the butterfly's wings trap air and create a cushion between water and wing.

Human engineers would like to create similarly water repellent surfaces, but past attempts at artificial air traps tended to lose their contents over time due to external perturbations. Now an international team of researchers from Sweden, the United States, and Korea has taken advantage of what might normally be considered defects in the nanomanufacturing process to create a multilayered silicon structure that traps air and holds it for longer than one year.

The researchers used an etching process to carve out micro-scale pores and sculpt tiny cones from the silicon. The team found that features of the resulting structure that might usually be considered defects, such as undercuts beneath the etching mask and scalloped surfaces, actually improved the water repellent properties of the silicon by creating a multilayered hierarchy of air traps. The intricate structure of pores, cones, bumps, and grooves also succeeded in trapping light, almost perfectly absorbing wavelengths just above the visible range.

The biologically inspired surface, described in the AIP's journal Applied Physics Letters, could find uses in electro-optical devices, infrared imaging detectors, or chemical sensors.

###

"Multifunctional silicon inspired by wing of male Papilio ulysses" is accepted for publication in Applied Physics Letters.

American Institute of Physics: http://www.aip.org

Thanks to American Institute of Physics for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/115367/Butterfly_wings_inspire_design_of_water_repellent_surface

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After new leak, climatologist takes case to public

FILE - This is a Dec. 10, 2009 file photo showing the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England. East Anglia, where stolen emails caused a global climate science controversy in 2009 says those behind the breach have apparently released a second and potentially far larger batch of old messages. University of East Anglia spokesman Simon Dunford said that while academics didn't have the chance yet to examine the roughly 5,000 emails apparently dumped into the public domain Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011 a small sample examined by the university "appears to be genuine." (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)

FILE - This is a Dec. 10, 2009 file photo showing the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England. East Anglia, where stolen emails caused a global climate science controversy in 2009 says those behind the breach have apparently released a second and potentially far larger batch of old messages. University of East Anglia spokesman Simon Dunford said that while academics didn't have the chance yet to examine the roughly 5,000 emails apparently dumped into the public domain Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011 a small sample examined by the university "appears to be genuine." (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)

LONDON (AP) ? The British climatologist ensnared in a major new email leak took his case to the public Wednesday, arguing that he and his colleagues' comments have again been taken out of context.

The University of East Anglia's Phil Jones was one of the major players in the controversy that erupted two years ago over the publication of emails which caught prominent scientists stonewalling critics and attacking them in sometimes vitriolic terms.

The University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit is one of the world's leading centers for the study of how world temperatures have varied over time, and Jones came under particular scrutiny following the 2009 disclosures ? even receiving death threats over allegations that he was a leading a conspiracy to hype the dangers of climate change.

Jones and his colleagues have since been vindicated by a series of independent investigations, but the university's reputation has been dented by criticism that it refused to share data with skeptics.

Jones said that his "heart did sink a bit" when he heard about the most recent leak, which apparently consists of old messages held back the first time around.

The university and other climate scientists believe the leak was delayed until now "to cause maximum disruption" to the imminent U.N. climate talks next week in Durban, South Africa.

When quizzed about emails that captured him and other researchers disparaging each others' work or raising pointed questions about the accuracy of climate models, Jones framed it as part of "the cut-and-thrust of scientific debate."

Several excerpts also seemed to be aimed at how best to present scientific findings to the public, but Jones said it was "foolish to think that scientists don't think about the how their message is received."

Jones also was asked about a message he wrote suggesting that emails could be deleted to dodge freedom of information requests. Both he and his university have been criticized for obstructionist attitudes toward Britain's right-to-know law, and the university now says it's far more open about sharing its data.

In his response, Jones appeared to suggest that the public need not interest itself in the inner workings of groups such as the International Panel on Climate Change, which produces authoritative reports on the future of the world's weather.

"Why do people need to know who wrote what individual paragraph?" Jones said.

Other excerpts from the 5,000-odd emails being circulated seemed to cover some of the same ground as the 2009 release, which unleashed an international furor over allegations that scientists were working behind the scenes to manipulate the science behind climate change. Several inquiries have since refuted the charges.

University of East Anglia's Vice chancellor Edward Acton, who flanked Jones as he addressed journalists, predicted less of a storm this time around.

"There's is so much deja vu about it," Acton said.

___

Online:

University of East Anglia: http://www.uea.ac.uk/

Raphael G. Satter can be reached at: http://twitter.com/razhael

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2011-11-23-EU-Climate-Leaked-Emails/id-42921e06630a4b48b9ec37e0ec2d4226

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Islanders live in fear a year after NKorean attack (AP)

YEONPYEONG ISLAND, South Korea ? Pungent boxes of crabs piled at the dock for export confirm the revival of ancient daily routines a year after North Korean artillery turned this tiny island's downtown into an inferno. Under the surface, deep scars remain.

People on South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island say that even as rage over the North's attack dims, they still live in fear of another volley of shells from their unpredictable neighbor just 7 miles (11 kilometers) north across some of the Yellow Sea's richest crabbing waters.

"Whenever I hear something go 'boom!' I panic and assume somebody is attacking us again," said Jeong Soon-seon, a spry 79-year-old who has lived on Yeonpyeong since she fled fighting in her North Korean hometown during the Korean War six decades ago.

A year ago Wednesday, North Korea unexpectedly raised the stakes in the decades-long dispute over its maritime border with South Korea by launching the first attack on a civilian area since the war, and catapulting the neighbors to the brink of a new all-out conflict.

Jeong's house survived, but many of her neighbors' homes were reduced to rubble, scorched wood and twisted metal when North Korea fired 150 shells onto this front-line island shared by fishermen and South Korean military garrisons.

Even now, Jeong keeps a packed bag and flashlight near her bed in case she has to evacuate in the middle of the night.

"I have even asked myself why the shells didn't hit my house and kill me and sometimes regret that they didn't," she said.

North Korea's attack ? in response to what South Korea called routine firing drills near the disputed frontier ? killed two laborers and two marines and left destruction reminiscent of the earlier war. South Korea scrambled jets and evacuated residents to the mainland.

War seemed imminent at the time, but that is hard to believe now, especially when you see the island's coast at sunset. Rugged low mountains plunge into the water, their tops blanketed by green trees. A fishing boat carves a wake through calm, sun-sparkling sea.

The fish and crabs bobbing in the boiling red broth of the islanders' beloved and well-named "spicy soup" taste like they've been plucked from the Yellow Sea an hour earlier. In the evening, when fishermen bring home the crab haul, fellow islanders help out, squatting as they use knives to pry crabs from nets.

But reminders of the attack are everywhere: Newly painted walls are still pockmarked from shrapnel; a nationalist group's sun-faded banner at the port vows vengeance against the North; posters warn of unexploded shells.

Entire streets have turned into construction sites. Men in hardhats drink soju liquor during breaks from the incessant building, and hundreds of empty green bottles overflow from huge recycling bins. The attack completely destroyed nearly 50 houses and buildings, and damaged an estimated 250 others.

Families who lost everything live in tiny, temporary houses, sleeping together in a living room and sharing a bathroom with barely enough room for a toilet and shower nozzle.

Many speak of lingering shock from last year's attack, showing visitors the now-rusted shrapnel that nearly killed them or the mangled part of a home that burned to the ground.

Choi Eun-sook says her neighbors get scared by small amounts of smoke; they get upset more easily and raise their voices more often. Her 10-year-old granddaughter doesn't like to stay home by herself.

"Some people still struggle inside, even though they seem perfectly fine outside," said Choi, 65, who was born on Yeonpyeong. "I think they've become more sensitive because of the sudden loss and damage."

The island is dotted with camouflaged marine outposts. Lengths of coast are protected by submerged steel "dragon feet" staves to block invading ships. Since the attack, South Korea bolstered these defenses with sophisticated long-range artillery systems.

"We all know we now have new weapons here. We feel safe on one hand, but we're also afraid that they are preparing for another war," said Choi Ok-seon, who runs a homestay program on the island.

North Korea does not recognize the maritime line drawn by the U.S.-led U.N. Command at the close of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with a truce, not a peace treaty, technically leaving the peninsula in a state of war.

North Korea's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in an editorial Friday that deployments on Yeonpyeong Island are proof that "warlike South Korean forces are moving to mount a military provocation."

South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin said Friday that South Korea's "military has been gnashing its teeth with rage over the past year ... and we have to sternly punish an enemy provocation."

Despite the heated rhetoric, there are tentative moves toward diplomacy, with officials from the two Koreas, along with the United States, discussing ways to resume talks aimed a swapping aid for the North's nuclear disarmament.

People here grew up hearing North Korean claims to the waters around their island. They are used to violent sea battles between the rival navies. But last year's attack, targeting civilian areas as well as military installations, was a violent awakening.

Kim Sang-eun, a Vietnam War veteran, can't erase memories of the shelling that left an inn he owns a pile of rubble.

"I lost everything in one day, so I can't forget about it," the 66-year-old said. "Now I don't have confidence in anything."

___

AP writer Jiyoung Won contributed to this story. Follow Foster Klug on Twitter at http://twitter.com/apklug and Hyung-jin Kim at http://twitter.com/hyungjin1972.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/nkorea/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111121/ap_on_re_as/as_koreas_island_attacked

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Soyuz with three astronauts lands in Kazakhstan (AP)

MOSCOW ? A Russian Soyuz capsule carrying three astronauts back from the International Space Station touched down safely in the snow-covered steppes of Kazakhstan early Tuesday morning.

NASA astronaut Michael Fossum, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov and Satoshi Furukawa of Japan's JAXA space agency landed at the break of dawn some 90 kilometers (56 miles) north of the town of Arkalyk at 8:26 a.m. (0226 GMT) after spending 165 days in space.

The landing was close to its target point.

NASA spokesman Josh Byerly said in the NASA television broadcast that the recovery operation was swift despite the freezing weather and strong wind.

Video from the site showed the Soyuz capsule, blackened by the intense heat of re-entry, lying on its side as the astronauts were extracted.

The three men looked well and smiling, although Furukawa looked visibly exhausted. They were seated in chairs and wrapped in warm blankets to help them get adjusted to gravity after spending four months in space.

Valery Lyndin, spokesman for the Russian Mission Control Center, said all three astronauts are in good health.

NASA's Dan Burbank and Russians Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin remain onboard the International Space Station and are due to return to Earth in March. They arrived at the station on Wednesday. A launch next month will take the station back to its normal six-person crew.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111122/ap_on_sc/sci_space_station

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Galaxy Tab gets a taste of Kindle Fire, but things aren't all silky smooth

Did you jump on the bandwagon when the tablet craze hit by getting an original Galaxy Tab, but now you feel a tinge of jealousy seeing the more modern UIs on newer slates? Well, you can rid yourself of that envious feeling by loading the Kindle Fire's software onto that old Tab of yours. Giga OM did the deed, giving us an overview of the process -- it's mainly a matter of extracting the code from Amazon's slate and installing it on Sammy's -- along with its results. Turns out, the Tab doesn't have all of the Fire's functionality, though the basic bookshelf interface (which is akin to an app launcher), video app, books, and magazines are all available along with the Fire's custom Amazon Store. Unfortunately, the Silk browser has yet to be enabled, and the UI still crashes on the regular, but teaching an old dog new tricks isn't easy, okay? Head on down to the Source for the full rundown, and there's even more details at XDA-Developers for those daring enough to do this bit of software switcharoo themselves.

Galaxy Tab gets a taste of Kindle Fire, but things aren't all silky smooth originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Nov 2011 18:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/21/galaxy-tab-gets-a-taste-of-kindle-fire-but-things-arent-all-si/

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Gaddafi son held as Libyans wrangle on government (Reuters)

ZINTAN/TRIPOLI (Reuters) ? Saif al-Islam Gaddafi spent Sunday secreted in the militia stronghold of Zintan while in Tripoli the Libyan rebel leaders who overthrew his father tried to resolve their differences and form a government that can try the new captive.

With rival local militia commanders from across the country trying to parlay their guns into cabinet seats, officials in the capital gave mixed signals on how long the prime minister-designate, Abdurrahim El-Keib, may need to form his full team.

And though the Zintan mountain fighters who intercepted the 39-year-old heir to the four-decade Gaddafi dynasty deep in the Sahara said they would hand him over once some central authority was clear, few expect Saif al-Islam in Tripoli soon.

One senior member of the outgoing interim executive told Reuters he expected Keib to announce his line-up by Monday, ahead of a Tuesday deadline determined by a timetable that started with the killing of Muammar Gaddafi a month ago.

Members of the National Transitional Council (NTC), the self-appointed legislative panel of notables formed after February's uprising began, expect to vote on Keib's nominees, with keenest attention among the men who control the array of militias on the streets focused on the defense ministry.

One official working for the NTC said that the group from Zintan, a town of just 50,000 in the Western Mountains outside Tripoli that was a stronghold of resistance to Gaddafi, might even secure that ministry thanks to holding Saif al-Islam.

Other groups include rival Islamist and secularist militias in the capital, those from Benghazi, Libya's second city and the original seat of revolt, and the fighters from the third city of Misrata, who took credit for capturing and killing the elder Gaddafi and haggled with the NTC over the fate of his rotting corpse for several days in October.

"FINAL ACT"

"The final act of the Libyan drama," as a spokesman for the former rebels put it, began in the blackness of the Sahara night, when a small unit of fighters from the town of Zintan, acting on a tip-off, intercepted Gaddafi and four armed companions driving in a pair of 4x4 vehicles on a desert track.

It ended, after a 300-mile flight north on a cargo plane, with the London-educated younger Gaddafi held in a safe house in Zintan and the townsfolk vowing to keep him safe until he can face a judge in the capital.

The familiar sound of celebratory gunfire broke the nighttime silence but the town nestled in the rugged Western Mountains was otherwise quiet.

His captors said he was "very scared" when they first recognized him, despite the heavy beard and enveloping Tuareg robes and turban he wore. But they reassured him and, by the time a Reuters correspondent spoke to him aboard the plane, he had been chatting amiably to his guards.

"He looked tired. He had been lost in the desert for many days," said Abdul al-Salaam al-Wahissi, a Zintan fighter involved in the operation. "I think he lost his guide."

Despite a tense couple of hours on the runway on Saturday, when excited crowds rushed the plane that flew him from Obari, the Zintani fighters holding him said they were determined he would not meet the fate the Misratis reserved for his father.

Western leaders, who backed February's uprising against Gaddafi but looked on squeamishly as rebel fighters filmed themselves taking vengeance on the fallen strongman a month ago, urged Keib to seek foreign help to ensure a fair trial.

Keib, who taught engineering at U.S. universities before returning to Libya to join the rebellion, drove on Saturday the two hours from Tripoli to Zintan to pay homage to its fighters. He promised justice would be done but Saif al-Islam would not be handed over to the International Criminal Court at The Hague, which had indicted him for crimes against humanity.

DEATH PENALTY

The justice minister from the outgoing executive said the younger Gaddafi was likely to face the death penalty, though the charge sheet, expected to include ordering killings as well as looting the public purse, would be drawn up by the state prosecutor after due investigation.

Word of the capture set off rejoicing in the streets of cities across the vast, oil-rich nation of just six million. Streets echoed with gunfire, from rifles but also the anti-aircraft cannon mounted on civilian pick-up trucks that became the abiding image of an eight-month civil war that ended with the ousted leader's death in his home town of Sirte.

"Finally we beat him, after all his pointing at us with his finger on television and threatening us," Waleed Fkainy, a militiaman on patrol in Tripoli, said of Saif al-Islam, whose image as a potential reformer of his father's eccentric one-man rule evaporated with his venomous response to the uprising.

"Thank God," Fkainy said. "We lived under his threats and now we have the upper hand after this victory."

Saif al-Islam's fate will be a test for Keib's incoming government as it tries to stamp its authority.

Western leaders urged Libya to work with the ICC which has also issued an arrest warrant for Saif al-Islam, on charges of crimes against humanity during the crackdown.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch both called on Libya to hand him over to the ICC and guarantee his safety.

Keib said Libya would make sure Gaddafi's son faced a fair trial and called his capture the "crowning" of the uprising.

"We assure Libyans and the world that Saif al-Islam will receive a fair trial ... under fair legal processes which our own people had been deprived of for the last 40 years," Keib told a news conference in Zintan.

Saif al-Islam, who had vowed to die fighting, was taken without a struggle, possibly as he tried to flee to Niger, officials said.

"At the beginning he was very scared. He thought we would kill him," Ahmed Ammar, one of his captors, told Reuters.

Saif al-Islam told the Reuters reporter on his plane a bandaged hand had been wounded in a NATO air strike a month ago. Asked if he was feeling all right, he said simply: "Yes."

Libyans believe Saif al-Islam knows the location of billions of dollars of public money amassed by the Gaddafi family. There was no word of the other official wanted by the ICC, former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi.

(Additional reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian, Alastair Macdonald, Omar Younis, Hisham El-Dani and Francois Murphy in Tripoli and Taha Zargoun in Zintan; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Jon Boyle)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111120/wl_nm/us_libya_son

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Christina Gagnier: Suppressing First Amendment Rights at Our Nation's Laboratories: Police Action Against Students at the University of California (Huffington post)

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FDA revokes approval of Avastin for breast cancer

This undated photo provided Jan. 31, 2011, by California-based Genentech Inc., shows the blockbuster cancer drug Avastin. The blockbuster drug should no longer be used in advanced breast cancer patients because there's no proof that it extends their lives or even provides enough temporary benefit to outweigh its dangerous side effects, the Food and Drug Administration declared Friday, Nov. 18, 2011. (AP Photo/Genentech Inc., File)

This undated photo provided Jan. 31, 2011, by California-based Genentech Inc., shows the blockbuster cancer drug Avastin. The blockbuster drug should no longer be used in advanced breast cancer patients because there's no proof that it extends their lives or even provides enough temporary benefit to outweigh its dangerous side effects, the Food and Drug Administration declared Friday, Nov. 18, 2011. (AP Photo/Genentech Inc., File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The government delivered a blow to some desperate patients Friday as it ruled the blockbuster drug Avastin should no longer be used to treat advanced breast cancer.

Avastin is hailed for treating colon cancer and certain other malignancies. But the Food and Drug Administration said it appeared to be a false hope for breast cancer: Studies haven't found that it helps those patients live longer or brings enough other benefit to outweigh its dangerous side effects.

"I did not come to this decision lightly," said the FDA's commissioner, Dr. Margaret Hamburg. But she said, "Sometimes despite the hopes of investigators, patients, industry and even the FDA itself, the results of rigorous testing can be disappointing."

Avastin remains on the market to treat certain colon, lung, kidney and brain cancers. Doctors are free to prescribe any marketed drug as they see fit. So even though the FDA formally revoked Avastin's approval as a breast cancer treatment, women could still receive it ? but their insurers may not pay for it. Some insurers already have quit in anticipation of FDA's long-expected ruling.

However, "Medicare will continue to cover Avastin," said Brian Cook, spokesman for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The agency "will monitor the issue and evaluate coverage options as a result of action by the FDA but has no immediate plans to change coverage policies."

Including infusion fees, a year's treatment with Avastin can reach $100,000.

The ruling disappointed patients who believe Avastin is helping to curb their incurable cancer.

"It's saved my life," said a tearful Sue Boyce, 54, of Chicago. She's taken Avastin in addition to chemotherapy since joining a research study in 2003. Her breast cancer eventually spread to her lungs, liver and brain, but Boyce says she is stable and faring well.

"So I'm hoping the insurance company will grandfather me in to continue taking it," she said.

The Avastin saga began in 2008, when an initial study suggested the drug could delay tumor growth for a few months in women whose breast cancer had spread to other parts of the body. Over the objection of its own advisers and to the surprise of cancer groups, FDA gave Avastin conditional approval ? it could be sold for such women while manufacturer Genentech tried to prove it really worked.

The problem: Ultimately, the tumor effect was even smaller than first thought. Across repeated studies, Avastin patients didn't live longer or have a higher quality of life. Yet the drug causes some life-threatening risks, including severe high blood pressure, massive bleeding, heart attack or heart failure and tears in the stomach and intestines, the FDA concluded. In two public hearings ? one last year and one this summer ? FDA advisers urged the agency to revoke that approval.

"The science is clear: Breast cancer patients are more likely to be harmed than helped by Avastin," said Diana Zuckerman of the National Research Center for Women and Families in Washington.

Genentech had argued the drug should remain available while it conducted more research to see if certain subsets of breast cancer patients might benefit, and some patients and their doctors had argued passionately for the drug.

"There certainly are patients who benefit tremendously," said Boyce's oncologist, Dr. Melody Cobleigh of Rush University Medical Center. "We'll just be battling with the insurance companies."

"For those not fortunate enough to be on Medicare or an insurance plan that covers it, it's a death sentence," Christi Turnage of Madison, Miss., said of the FDA's decision. Her breast cancer had moved into her lungs before she began Avastin three years ago and the spreading stopped, but Turnage said her insurer is ending coverage and she will seek financial help from Genentech's access program.

Hamburg said that she considered those arguments but that scientifically there are no clues yet to identify who those rare Avastin responders would be ? putting a lot of people at risk in order for a few to get some as-yet-unknowable benefit. She urged Genentech to do that research, saying the FDA "absolutely" would reconsider if the company could find the right evidence.

Genentech, part of Swiss drugmaker Roche Group, pledged to begin that research.

"We are disappointed with the outcome," said company chief medical officer Dr. Hal Barron. "We remain committed to the many women with this incurable disease and will continue to provide help through our patient support programs to those who may be facing obstacles to receiving their treatment in the United States."

The breast cancer organization Susan G. Komen for the Cure said that it respected the FDA's decision and that it was time for researchers to concentrate on finding so-called biomarkers that would tell which drug is right for which patient.

"Each type of cancer is very different from another in important ways, and in the end it's no surprise that Avastin's effectiveness may not be equivalent against all types of cancer," said Dr. Neal Meropol of University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, who has long used Avastin for colon cancer.

___

Associated Press writer Marley Seaman in New York contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-11-18-FDA-Avastin/id-0aab0f80f4a54bce896ce68dde65d208

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Tim Burton's 'Peculiar Children,' 'Munsters' Live Again

"Dark Shadows" director Tim Burton will be adapting a haunted gothic novel about a dark family tragedy (shocking, we know), "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children."
The story comes from author Ransom Riggs' book of the same name that feels similar to Edward Gorey by way of a vintage photo nightmare depicting ? peculiar children [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2011/11/17/tim-burtons-peculiar-children-munsters-live-again/

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Angie's List soars on debut, but concerns linger (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Shares of consumer review website Angie's List surged as much as 44 percent on their market debut Thursday as investors continued to lap up internet offerings, but concerns about the company's profitability could loom on the stock.

The company saw its shares touch a high of $18.75, a day after pricing its IPO at the high end of its expected price range of $11-$13.

The stock's surge on day one mirrors equally solid debuts of other internet sites such as LinkedIn, Groupon Inc and Zillow, but their stocks have shed some gains since getting listed.

Angie's debut on the market could also turn the spotlight on competitors like Yelp, which is expected to go public soon.

Shares of Angie's were up 20 percent at $15.60 in afternoon trading.

However, some analysts were cautious about the stock's ability to sustain the momentum as the company is yet to turn a profit.

"The stock does not have a fundamental footprint that is going to give investors confidence over the longer term," IPOfinancial.com President David Menlow told Reuters.

For the nine months ended Sept 30, the company recorded revenue of $62.6 million, but posted a net loss of $43.2 million, compared with revenue of $42.9 million and a net loss of $19 million in the same period a year ago.

The Indianapolis-based company, which allows members to view, rate and review local businesses, offers services in more than 550 categories to over a million paid members in 175 local markets in the U.S.

"Penetration rates in some of the larger geographic markets lag the mid-sized markets... so maybe, the platform isn't really geared for the larger markets," Menlow said.

Angie's offering consisted of 8.8 million shares, of which the company sold 6.3 million shares. The rest were sold by stockholders, including some members of its senior management.

Angie Hicks and Bill Oesterle, who co-founded the company in Columbus, Ohio in 1995, were amongst the selling stockholders, diluting their ownership to 6.3 percent and 1.5 percent.

In its IPO filing, the company said it intends to use proceeds from the offering to fund its advertising strategy to drive membership growth.

The IPO, which was underwritten by a group of eight banks led by BofA Merrill Lynch, raised $114.3 million in proceeds.

(Reporting by Aman Shah and Brenton Cordeiro in Bangalore; Editing by Joyjeet Das and Anil D'Silva)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111117/wr_nm/us_angieslist

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House rejects balanced budget proposal (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The House has rejected a proposal to amend the Constitution to require a balanced budget, seen by many as the only way to force lawmakers to hold the fiscal line and reverse the flow of federal red ink.

The 261-165 vote was 23 short of the two-thirds majority needed to advance a constitutional amendment. Democrats, swayed by the arguments of their leaders that a balanced budget requirement would force Congress to make devastating cuts to social programs, overwhelmingly voted against it.

Four Republicans joined the Democrats in opposing the measure.

The first House vote on a balanced budget amendment in 16 years comes as the separate bipartisan supercommittee appears to be sputtering in its attempt to find at least $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade.

With the national debt now topping $15 trillion and the deficit for the just-ended fiscal year passing $1 trillion, supporters of the amendment declared it the only way to stop out-of-control spending. The government now must borrow 36 cents for every dollar it spends.

"It is our last line of defense against Congress' unending desire to overspend and overtax," Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said as the House debated the measure.

But Democratic leaders worked aggressively to defeat it, saying that such a requirement could force Congress to cut billions from social programs during times of economic downturn and that disputes over what to cut could result in Congress ceding its power of the purse to the courts.

Even had it passed, the measure would have faced an uphill fight in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

The Democratic argument was joined by 16-term congressman David Dreier of California, who broke ranks with his fellow Republicans to speak against the measure. The Rules Committee chairman said lawmakers should be able to find common ground on deficit reduction without changing the Constitution, and he expressed concern that lawsuits filed when Congress fails to balance the budget could result in courts making decisions on cutting spending or raising taxes.

The House passed a similar measure in 1995, with the help of 72 Democrats. That year, the measure fell one vote short of passing the Senate. This year, only 25 Democrats supported the proposal.

Constitutional amendments must get two-thirds majorities in both houses and be ratified by three-fourths of the states. The last constitutional amendment ratified, in 1992, concerned lawmaker pay increases.

The second-ranking Democrat, Steny Hoyer of Maryland, voted for the amendment in 1995 but said the situation has vastly changed since then. "Republicans have been fiscally reckless," he asserted, saying the George W. Bush administration would not cut spending elsewhere to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, major tax cuts and a Medicare prescription drug benefit.

"A constitutional amendment is not a path to a balanced budget," said Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas. "It is only an excuse for members of this body failing to cast votes to achieve one."

Conservatives had pressed for a tougher version of the amendment that would have also set tight caps on annual spending and required a supermajority to raise taxes.

The measure on the floor Friday, sponsored by Rep. Robert Goodlatte, R-Va., mirrors the 1995 resolution in stating that federal spending cannot exceed revenues in any one year. It would require a three-fifths majority to raise the debt ceiling or waive the balanced budget requirement in any year. But Congress would be able to let the budget go into deficit with a simple majority if there was a serious military conflict.

The Republicans' hope was that the Goodlatte version would attract more Democratic supporters, and the "Blue Dogs," a group of fiscally conservative Democrats, said they were on board. But there are now only 25 Blue Dogs, half the number of several years ago when there were more moderate Democrats, mainly from rural areas, in the House.

Rep. Peter DeFazio, an Oregon Democrat who is not a Blue Dog member, said he was supporting the amendment because "there's an infinite capacity in this Congress to kick the can down the road. ... We are going to have to force people to make tough decisions."

But other Democrats pointed to a letter from some 275 labor and other mostly liberal groups saying that forcing spending cuts or higher taxes to balance the budget when the economy was slow "would risk tipping a faltering economy into recession or worsening an ongoing downturn, costing large numbers of jobs."

Democrats also cited a report by the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimating that, if there is not an increase in revenues, the amendment could force Congress to cut all programs by an average of 17.3 percent by 2018.

The amendment would not have gone into effect until 2017, or two years after it was ratified, and supporters said that would give Congress time to avoid dramatic spending cuts.

Forty-nine states have some sort of balanced budget requirement, although opponents note that states do not have national security and defense costs. States also can still borrow for their capital-spending budgets for long-term infrastructure projects.

The federal government has balanced its budget only six times in the past half-century, four times during Bill Clinton's presidency.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111118/ap_on_go_co/us_balanced_budget_amendment

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Congress about to kill high-speed train program (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Congress is on the verge of killing funding for President Barack Obama's signature high-speed rail program, but it may have some life in it still.

Republican lawmakers are claiming credit for killing the program. But billions of dollars still in the pipeline will ensure work will continue on some projects. And it's still possible money from another transportation grant program can be steered to high-speed trains.

Obama had requested $8 billion in fiscal 2012 for the program, and $53 billion over six years. House and Senate negotiators agreed to a measure this week that eliminates any funding specifically for high-speed trains. Final passage of the bill, which funds day-to-day operations at the Transportation Department and several other agencies in fiscal 2012, is expected Thursday in the House and Friday in the Senate.

Republicans have made it clear since taking control of the House last year that they intended to eliminate the program, which they say is too costly.

The bill marks "an end to the president's misguided high-speed rail program, but it is not the end of American high-speed rail," said Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's railroad subcommittee.

Shuster and the Transportation Committee's chairman, Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., say the future of high-speed rail in the U.S. is in the Northeast rail corridor that connects Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, rather than the national network of trains envisioned by Obama.

"We are being given a chance to refocus and reform the high-speed rail program," Shuster said.

But Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., an Obama ally and high-speed rail supporter, said he is confident some money will be found to keep Obama's train program going through the Transportation Department's TIGER program, which makes grants to projects that achieve critical national objectives.

The 2012 spending bill includes $500 million for the TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) program. High-speed trains would have to compete with highway, transit, port and freight rail projects for money.

Since Obama took office in 2009, his administration has steered $10.1 billion to high-speed rail projects around the country. Some of the money is only now being used because of the time it takes to start up a major grant program and because the program suffered setbacks when several GOP governors canceled projects in their states that had been awarded funds.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Wednesday that he expects more than $1 billion in high-speed rail construction-related activity across the country next year.

The biggest project is in California, where the state is proposing Europe-style bullet trains traveling up to 220 mph between San Francisco and Anaheim. Planners hope to start construction of the first phase, from Fresno to Bakersfield, next year and complete it by 2017.

The project has been awarded $3.9 billion in federal aid so far. California voters also authorized $9 billion in bonds for high-speed trains in 2008. But at that time the project was forecast to cost $45 billion and be completed by 2020.

A new estimate and schedule released this month pegged the cost at just under $100 billion and pushed completion out to 2034. One reason for the cost increase is that it takes into account inflation over that period. But the price tag has strengthened the position of the project's opponents.

"What's frustrating about Congress passing no new funding this year is that it adds uncertainty to federal funding," said Petra Todorovitch, director of America 2050, an urban planning and infrastructure advocacy group. "That isn't helpful to projects like California that rely on a certain amount of federal funding."

The first phase of the California project is already funded.

"Some time in the next few years they will need Congress to vote for more money for rail, but it doesn't kill the project that Congress zeroed out funding this year," Petra said.

Mort Downey, the No. 2 Transportation Department official under President Bill Clinton and a former Obama campaign adviser, said Obama's high-speed rail plans depend on the California project.

"If California continues to go forward, we're still on life support," Downey said.

Anthony Perl, chairman of the Transportation Research Board's rail group, said that even if Obama's program collapses, it's "still highly likely" a national high-speed rail network will be built in coming decades, partly because the price of oil is expected to continue to increase.

"There is nothing that uses less oil than moving people than trains," Perl said. "Cheap oil equals more cars and planes; expensive oil equals trains."

California transportation officials estimate that if high-speed train service doesn't go forward, the state will need to spend $171 billion to construct more than 2,300 miles of freeways, four more airport runways and 115 additional airline gates to accommodate the travel demands of the state's population of 54 million people by 2050.

____

Follow Joan Lowy at http://www.twitter.com/AP_Joan_Lowy

____

Online:

Transportation Department: http://www.dot.gov

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111117/ap_on_go_co/us_high_speed_trains

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New drug combo targets multiple cancers: Sugar molecule primes cancer cells for early death from second compound

ScienceDaily (Nov. 16, 2011) ? Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Kyushu University Medical School say a novel combination of a specific sugar molecule with a pair of cell-killing drugs prompts a wide variety of cancer cell types to kill themselves, a process called apoptosis or programmed cell death.

The findings are reported online in the journal Cancer Research.

"The goal of targeted therapy is to stop the growth of cancerous cells while doing little or no harm to healthy tissue," said Guy Perkins, PhD, associate project scientist at the Center for Research in Biological Systems at UC San Diego. "Cancer researchers are always looking for new therapies to target a variety of cancers and kill tumor cells in various stages of development."

Unfortunately, added co-author Ryuji Yamaguchi, PhD, senior researcher at Kyushu University Medical School in Fukuoka, Japan, "even the best new drugs seem to be limited to specific cancer types and too often tumor cells develop resistance to these drugs, leading to eventual treatment failure."

The new two-part therapy described by Perkins and Yamaguchi focuses on depriving cancer cells of their fundamental need for sugar to fuel growth and multiplication. The first component is a modified glucose or sugar molecule called 2-deoxyglucose (2-DG). Although readily taken in by sugar-hungry cancer cells, it cannot be broken down to produce energy. Instead, it hampers cancer cell growth and primes the cells for early death by opening access to an internal protein that can trigger apoptosis.

Cells primed with 2-DG are then exposed to a pair of drugs, ABT-263/737, which signal the internal protein to initiate cell death. Researchers say only cancer cells sensitized for death by 2-DG and exposed to ABT-263/737 are broadly impacted. Healthy brain cells, which are also highly glycolytic like cancer cells, are protected because ABT-263/737 cannot cross the body's blood-brain barrier.

After first determining that in vitro cancer cells incubated with 2-DG and exposed to low concentrations of ABT-263/737 died, the researchers conducted animal studies. They found that when 2-DG was injected into animals, it predominantly accumulated in cancer cells that were subsequently killed by an injection of ABT-263/737. The two-step approach successfully induced apoptosis in leukemia, hepatocarcinoma, lung, breast and cervical cancers. Yamaguchi said it caused cell death at many stages of cancer development, including a difficult-to-treat, chemo-resistant, highly metastasized form of prostate cancer.

"Since the combination of 2-DG and ABT-263/737 induces rapid apoptosis through the intrinsic pathway, meaning through mitochondria, it leaves little room for interference by a cancer cell's highly active mutagenic programs," Perkins said.

The combined treatment, however, does not work on all cancers. "There are certain cancers that are resistant or in which this would cause lymphopenia and thrombopenia," said Yamaguchi. Lymphopenia and thrombopenia are a loss of white blood cells or platelets, respectively. The scientists are developing "workarounds" to counteract these adverse effects, possibly by using stored hematopoietic stem cells for transplant after treatment.

"We are now trying to initiate a clinical trial for the combination," said Yamaguchi. "Since both 2-DG and ABT-263 (Navitoclax) are already in Phase II clinical trials (for other treatments), we know something about the safety of these agents. Once we take precautionary measures, the 2-DG-ABT combination therapy may prove an effective alternative to some existing cancer therapies. We may have found a simple, partial solution to a very complex disease."

Funding for this research came, in part, from the National Center for Research Resources and National Institutes of Health.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - San Diego. The original article was written by Scott LaFee.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. R. Yamaguchi, G. Perkins. Finding a Panacea Among Combination Cancer Therapies. Cancer Research, 2011; DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-11-3091

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111116162246.htm

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Evaluation of Herman Cain's Platform -- Corporations Are Better Than You (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | With Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain, Ron Paul and Mitt Romney essentially tied for the front-runner position in the GOP nomination race it's apparent voters are divided. I'm here to translate their platforms from political speech into English so people can understand their positions. This article focuses on Herman Cain's documentation. You might interpret it like this:

National Security

I will let the military tell me what to do. We'll need to spend a ton of money on defense because terrorists, like slasher movie monsters, are unstoppable engines of destruction that will kill us all.

Immigration

Our southern border is like a sieve letting all kinds of evildoers through. I hate when people show up unannounced with a boxcar full of drugs and uninsured migrant workers who bankrupt our hospitals when they get sick.

Reducing Government Spending

The government sees citizens as piggy banks to tap for their liberal social programs. How dare it suck the money out of the people like that? Bleeding the people dry is supposed to be the corporations' and stock markets' job.

The Economy

When the government favors certain industries it hurts economic growth. All corporations need to be treated fairly so they can rule over the peasant work force with equal, unbridled power. My 9-9-9 plan will solve everything. Don't tax rich people. It's all those poor people who should carry the burden.

Energy

If there's something valuable under the ground dig it out. Anything that used to be a dinosaur and can power a motor is critical to our nation. If we cut down all the trees we can commoditize oxygen.

Industry Regulations

Someone get me a flamethrower so I can burn them all.

Entitlements

Grandma and Grandpa paid into guaranteed social programs for their entire lives. Let's make them gamble in the market anyway.

Health Care

Pay your own way. Employers shouldn't have to shell out for you to go to the doctor. Let the market handle it because that always takes care of the little guy.

Faith and Family

The 1950s were the "early years" of the United States. National greatness comes from God. Hard work on the part of the people has nothing to do with it.

Education

Let's corporatize schools. Whatever works in business will work in the classroom. Kids are products and teachers are the factory workers.

Cain should probably stick to running a pizza company.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20111115/us_ac/10445827_evaluation_of_herman_cains_platform__corporations_are_better_than_you

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Fair trade for Palestinians

A local Palestinian businessman has brought fair trade to the West Bank, buying olive oil and other produce from more than 1,500 West Bank farmers and guaranteeing them a higher price.

? A local, slice-of-life story from a Monitor correspondent.

Skip to next paragraph

When Nasser Abufarha looked for new products from Palestinian soil, he turned to old memories of his grandfather munching on dried figs dragged through sesame paste.

The result is a nutty fig-sesame spread. It is the latest offering from Canaan Fair Trade, which in six years has grown to be a $10 million empire and the largest Palestinian olive oil exporter to Europe and North America. Mr. Abufarha, founder and director, buys oil and produce such as almonds, tomatoes, and thyme from more than 1,500 West Bank farmers. The growers are fair-trade certified and nearly all organic. In exchange, Abufarha guarantees a higher market price.

?We build hope among farmers who know that people care about them and respect the product of their sweat,? Abufarha said.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/zTccNxOULpY/Fair-trade-for-Palestinians

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Moon May Outshine Leonid Meteor Shower Peak Tonight (SPACE.com)

The Leonid meteor shower peaks tonight (Nov. 17), but bright moonlight is threatening to wash out this year's light display.

The annual Leonid meteor shower is expected to reach peak activity tonight at approximately 10:40 p.m. EST (0340 GMT on Nov. 18), but a luminous third quarter moon could outshine even the brightest meteors, said Bill Cooke, head of the Meteoroid Environments Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

"The moon is going to be a major interference, but we could see a rate of about 20 per hour," Cooke told SPACE.com.

Meteor showers occur when Earth orbits through clouds of particles and dust on its path around the sun. Meteors are often referred to as "shooting stars," because of how they streak across the sky, but these dazzling streaks of light are really triggered by pieces of debris that hit Earth's atmosphere and burn up.

The Leonids are leftovers of the comet Tempel-Tuttle, which travels around the sun and leaves clouds of dust in its wake. This small, dusty comet was discovered in the late 19th century, and as Earth travels through the trails of debris left behind from the comet's previous passes through our orbit, fragments impact the atmosphere and blaze across the night sky. [Most Amazing Leonid Meteor Shower Photos ]

While Leonid meteors appear to rain from the constellation of Leo the Lion, they can actually be viewed in all parts of the sky. According to the editors of StarDate magazine, a bi-monthly publication from The University of Texas at Austin McDonald Observatory, the best way to view Leonid meteors is to face the darkest part of the sky, away from the moon and the constellation of Leo.

Every 33 years, the Leonids put on a truly spectacular display of more than a thousand meteors per hour in what is known as a meteor storm. This occurs when the comet dives close to the sun and Earth passes through the resulting thick concentration of cosmic debris.

The last Leonid meteor storm happened in 1999, but one of the most famous and most dazzling ever witnessed was the Great Leonid Storm of 1966, when skywatchers in central and western North America were treated to a hail of meteors that were too numerous to count.

Overall, Cooke said the 2011 meteor shower season has been somewhat subdued because of the brightness of the moon during many of the showers' peaks.

After the Leonids, skywatchers will be able to look forward to December's Geminid meteor shower, which is generally thought to be one of the best displays of the year. And while the shining moon may have lunar observers rejoicing, meteor shower enthusiasts can take comfort in early forecasts that show that next year's meteor shower season will be a much more dazzling affair.

"Next year will be better," Cooke said. "I think we're going to have to wait for next year to have a knock-your-socks-off meteor shower."

Editor's note: If you snap a photo of the Leonid meteor shower and would like to share it with SPACE.com for a possible story or gallery, please contact managing editor Tariq Malik at: tmalik@space.com.

You can follow SPACE.com staff writer Denise Chow on Twitter @denisechow. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/space/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/space/20111117/sc_space/moonmayoutshineleonidmeteorshowerpeaktonight

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Cain seeks support of key Fla. constituencies (tbo)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/162998194?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Techonomy?s David Kirkpatrick Thinks Most Leaders Still Don?t Get Technology

I am in Tucson, Arizona this week at the Techonomy conference, where I caught up with host and journalist David Kirkpatrick who thinks that technology and the empowerment of the individual is the biggest transformational force in the economy. But outside the tech bubble we live in, many of the world's business and political leaders truly are "almost completely unaware" of what's happening. In the video above, we talk about some the technology trends sweeping through politics and business.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/XOAn4gSlamU/

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Star witness for Jackson doc sanctioned by judge (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? A scientist who was the star defense witness in the trial of Michael Jackson's doctor was sanctioned Wednesday by the trial judge and fined $250 for violating a court order during his testimony.

Dr. Paul White, a pioneer in the use of the anesthetic propofol, said he didn't think he was doing anything wrong when he told jurors the judge had forbidden him to testify about conversations with Dr. Conrad Murray.

Murray's lawyer J. Michael Flanagan argued at Wednesday's hearing that White was inexperienced as a witness. But prosecutor David Walgreen accused White of purposely trying to sabotage the case.

"I had no idea your honor had told me not to go into this area," White told the judge. "I apologize profusely."

White portrayed himself as a novice at testifying.

"This is not something I do for a living," he said. "I did my best to answer questions as truthfully and honestly as I could."

Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor said his instructions to White and the lawyers were clear and repeated many times in chambers and in open court. He said White openly disobeyed.

Flanagan replied by criticizing the judge's rulings during the trial and said, "You didn't give me an opportunity to explain to him in more detail how you felt about the situation."

The judge snapped, "It's not about me, Mr. Flanagan."

White drew frequent prosecution objections during his testimony on Oct. 31 when he seemed to be referring to things Murray told him in confidence.

Pastor told White outside the jury's presence to stop trying to sneak in references to private conversations he had with Murray. The witness had suggested his opinions were partially based on what Murray told him, but those talks were not submitted as evidence.

"It's deliberate and I don't like it," Pastor said at the time. "It's not going to happen again."

But it did, when White told jurors: "I'd like to talk to you about this, but the judge told me I couldn't."

At that point, Pastor threatened to find the doctor in contempt of court and fine him $1,000. He changed his mind Wednesday and issued a civil sanction of $250. He gave White until Dec. 16 to pay the fine or appeal.

Murray, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's death, is in jail awaiting sentencing on Nov. 29.

Outside court, White told reporters he was disappointed by his experience during the trial.

"I think any fine at all is inappropriate," he said. "I didn't think I did anything wrong."

_______________

AP Entertainment Writer Anthony McCartney contributed to this story.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111116/ap_en_ce/us_michael_jackson_doctor_contempt

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Troops occupy Rio slum in "historic" operation (Reuters)

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) ? Three thousand troops backed by helicopters and armored cars occupied Rio de Janeiro's largest slum without firing a shot on Sunday, the biggest step in the Brazilian city's bid to improve security and end the reign of drug gangs.

The occupation of Rocinha, a notorious hillside "favela" that overlooks some of Rio's swankiest areas, is a crucial part of the city's preparations to host soccer's World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics two years later.

Security forces have occupied nearly 20 slums in the past three years but none as symbolically or strategically important as Rocinha, a sprawl of shacks, stores and evangelical churches located at a traffic choke point between the main city and western areas where most Olympic events will be held.

With large army helicopters thudding overhead, troops began climbing the slum's winding roads just after 4 a.m. and declared the operation a success within two hours after encountering no resistance.

The invasion of Rocinha and the nearby Vidigal slum was as much a media event as a military operation, as hundreds of reporters followed soldiers and police up through deserted, garbage-strewn streets. The authorities had announced their plans days in advance, giving gang members plenty of notice to flee.

According to TV news channel GloboNews, only one person was detained during the operation. There were no reports of casualties.

After years of living in fear of both gang members and the often-violent tactics of police, residents were wary of embracing the new reality.

"Let's hope for the best, but there's a lot more that needs to be done," said Sergio Pimentel, a funeral director sitting outside his business watching the operation unfold.

He pointed to an alley that he said poured raw sewage on to the street whenever it rained.

"We need basic sanitation, health, education. They have to come in with everything, not just the police."

"PACIFICATION" MOVES AHEAD

Rio state Governor Sergio Cabral said he had called President Dilma Rousseff to inform her of the operation's success, saying it was a "historic day" for the city.

"These are people who needed peace, to raise their children in peace," he told reporters. "... They want access to a dignified life."

The sprawling hillside community, home to about 100,000 people, has one of Brazil's worst rates of tuberculosis, officials say. It is often described as the largest slum in Latin America and is believed to be the main drug distribution point in Brazil's second-largest city.

Police captured the slum's alleged top drug lord, a 35-year-old with a taste for expensive whiskey and Armani suits, in the trunk of a car on Thursday as they tightened their grip around Rocinha.

On Sunday, a group of cops relaxed for a moment in the house of another captured drug boss and admired a huge fish tank, a rooftop swimming pool and a Jacuzzi in the bedroom.

Among the articles hastily left behind by the gang member, known as "Peixe" or "Fish", were chunks of meat ready for the barbecue and the book "The Art of War," by Sun Tzu.

Under a so-called "pacification" program, Rio authorities are following up invasions by handing slums over to specially trained community police and providing services such as health centers and formal electricity and TV supply. The aim is to foster social inclusion and give the city's one million or more slum residents a bigger stake in Brazil's robust economy.

Progress has sometimes been slow, however. A year after a similar operation to occupy a large slum called Alemao, the favela has yet to receive a community police force as the security forces struggle to train enough officers.

Most of the occupations have taken place in slums close to Rio's wealthier areas, leading to criticism that the program is aimed mostly at supporting the city's real-estate boom and preparing for the sports events. Huge slums in more distant areas are still controlled by gangs or militia groups made up of rogue off-duty police and firefighters.

(Editing by Philip Barbara)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111113/wl_nm/us_brazil_slum

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