94% Hugo

'Hugo'. Charming, touching, and simply beautiful. Thank you, Martin Scorsese, for a wonderful love letter to films and purpose.Asa Butterfield's Hugo Cabret had me caring for him from the first minute, and brings a huge amount of heart to the central character of this story. He's a lonely kid trying to find his place in the world, and I really felt for him. Film for Hugo is a chance to see dreams and the fantastical come alive, while at the same time providing a way to escape and forget, though it subsequently acts to reminisce Every mention of his father had the 3D getting a little blurry.The emotional punch isn't limited to Hugo though. Ben Kingsley delivers a fine supporting performance as Georges Melies, and the resolution of his secondary, but intertwined plot, impacts in an equally big way.Sacha Baron Cohen's Station Inspector is a barrel of laughs, especially his vernacular when it comes to insulting the various characters of the station, and Chloe Moretz shines once again.Being so passionate about movies, the Melies storyline and history carried even greater meaning to me, as I've recently been listening to Raphael Shargel's 'Understanding Movies', with the first chapter being devoted to the Lumiere brothers and Georges Melies. Getting more of the history behind, and actually seeing works such as 'Arrival of a Train' and 'A Trip to the Moon' had me invested that little bit more.This would make a perfect double feature with 'Cinema Paradiso'!

January 21, 2012

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hugo/

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Prostate-Cancer Treatment: Black Men Still Fighting for Access

Medical breakthroughs in curing sickle-cell anemia and treating prostate cancer and HIV/AIDS may dramatically improve life for the millions of people struggling with these diseases, but there are significant barriers that may keep African Americans from receiving this new, high-quality care. This article is the second in a series about how health care costs, policies and even the structure of the health care system may increase, rather than decrease, the health disparities we face. To read other articles in the series, click here.

Sometimes, falling in love can save your life. When Tony Howard, the coach, met Monica Moore, the fitness buff, they got to talking about health. "I didn't go to the doctor often because I was an athlete, so I thought I was OK," Howard says. "But Monica said, 'Let's prove it. Let's both get checkups and see,'" he recalls. "I knew I wanted to date her, so I was happy to stick to the deal."

A few days after his exam, Howard saw his doctor. "I knew something was terribly wrong as soon as I saw his face," he says. "My heart started skipping beats. I couldn't hear anything after he said 'prostate cancer.' I honestly think I was in shock."

Howard found himself in a position familiar to far too many black men: He had advanced prostate cancer early in life (he was only 40), he needed surgery immediately -- and he had no insurance.

A former local basketball star, team manager of the Harlem Globetrotters and teacher, Howard had recently decided to pursue his dream -- the Tony Howard Basketball Academy (pdf), a nonprofit he'd created to inspire young men -- full time. "I was doing OK, but I did not have benefits," Howard says.

"Of course I got a second opinion," Howard recalls. "The doctor, amazingly, offered to do the surgery for free, but his hospital wanted $8,000. There was no way I could afford it."

Howard returned to his first physician, Dr. Isaac Powell, a surgeon at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute and a professor at Wayne State University in Michigan. "They said there was a chance that I could qualify for a charitable program from the hospital," Howard says. "I had a modest income, so I didn't think they would help me, but they did the surgery for free. That was two years ago, and I'm OK now. I'm back to serving my community," Howard says, still overcome with gratitude.

Gambling on Getting Good Care

Howard was incredibly fortunate. When it comes to receiving the advanced, high-quality care needed for aggressive prostate cancer, young black men like Howard are often without options. Most hospitals have some form of charitable care, but such programs operate on a case-by-case basis, and coverage is never certain. And while Medicaid covers the indigent in some states and Medicare provides for men over 65, many specialists reject patients from both plans.

Source: http://www.theroot.com/views/fighting-prostate-cancer-good-news-bad-news

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Rand Paul blocked at airport after refusing TSA pat-down (The Ticket)

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky). (AP Photo)

Sen. Rand Paul, the Kentucky Republican and son of GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul, was blocked at Nashville airport Monday after refusing a TSA pat-down, his spokeswoman said.

"Just got a call from @SenRandPaul," his spokeswoman, Moira Bagley, wrote on Twitter Monday. "He's currently being detained by TSA in Nashville."

In a telephone interview with the Associated Press, Paul said that the incident occurred after an alarm went off when he passed through a scanner at Nashville Airport Monday. Paul said the alarm had apparently been triggered by his knee, though "the senator said he has no screws or medical hardware around the joint," the AP said.

TSA agents refused his request to walk through the scanner again to reconcile the anomaly, and he refused their demand for a pat-down, Paul said.

The Kentucky Senator said that "he asked for another scan but refused to submit to a pat down by airport security," the AP reported. Paul "said he was 'detained' at a small cubicle and couldn't make his flight to Washington for a Senate vote scheduled later in the day."

TSA officials disputed however that Paul was "detained," but said rather the Senator was "escorted out of the screening area by local law enforcement," ABC News reported.

"Passengers who refuse to complete the screening process cannot be granted access to the secure area in order to ensure the safety of others traveling," TSA said in a statement on the incident, according to ABC.

Paul was later "allowed to board another flight after a different screening," the AP report said, citing TSA sources.

At an impromptu news conference at the airport, "Paul told reporters....that he had no idea why his knee raised concerns with TSA," the AP reported.

"It was just a problem with their machine," Paul said. "But this is getting more frequent, and because everybody has to have a pat down it's a problem."

GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul joined his son's Senate staffers alerting the news media to the incident, writing on his Facebook page Monday: "Senator Paul is being detained at the Nashville Airport by the TSA...We will update you as the situation develops."

Sen. Paul, a libertarian Republican, has been a vocal critic of TSA, charging that the agency has gone overboard with overly intrusive screening procedures.

"You've gone overboard and you're missing the boat on terrorism because you're doing these invasive searches on six-year-old girls," Sen. Paul said at a Senate hearing last summer, according to MSNBC. "I think you oughta get rid of the random pat-downs. The American public is unhappy with them. They're unhappy with the invasiveness of them."

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? Finally, a real party at Gingrich HQ: Scenes from the victory party

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? Romney defeat exposes significant weaknesses for potential battle with Obama

? Romney rips into Gingrich (without uttering his name) in primary speech

Want more of our best political stories? Visit The Ticket or connect with us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, or add us on Tumblr.

Handy with a camera? Join our Election 2012 Flickr group to submit your photos of the campaign in action.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theticket/20120123/pl_yblog_theticket/senator-rand-paul-detained-after-refusing-tsa-pat-down

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'Winged' ancient Roman structure discovered

A recently discovered mysterious "winged" structure in England, which in the Roman period may have been used as a temple, presents a puzzle for archaeologists, who say the building has no known parallels.

Built about 1,800 years ago, the structure was discovered in Norfolk, in eastern England, just to the south of the ancient town of Venta Icenorum. The structure has two wings radiating out from a rectangular room that in turn leads to a central room.

"Generally speaking, (during) the Roman Empire people built within a fixed repertoire of architectural forms," said William Bowden, a professor at the University of Nottingham, who reported the find in the most recent edition of the Journal of Roman Archaeology. The investigation was carried out in conjunction with the Norfolk Archaeological and Historical Research Group.

The winged shape of the building appears to be unique in the Roman Empire, with no other example known. "It's very unusual to find a building like this where you have no known parallels for it," Bowden told LiveScience. "What they were trying to achieve by using this design is really very difficult to say."

The building appears to have been part of a complex that includes a villa to the north and at least two other structures to the northeast and northwest. An aerial photograph suggests the existence of an oval or polygonal building with an apse located to the east.?

The winged building
The foundation of the two wings and the rectangular room was made of a thin layer of rammed clay and chalk. "This suggests that the superstructure of much of the building was quite light, probably timber and clay-lump walls with a thatched roof," writes Bowden. This raises the possibility that the building was not intended to be used long term.

The central room, on the other hand, was made of stronger stuff, with its foundations crafted from lime mortar mixed with clay and small pieces of flint and brick. That section likely had a tiled roof. "Roman tiles are very large things, they?re very heavy," Bowden said.

Sometime after the demise of this wing-shaped structure, another building, this one decorated, was built over it. Archaeologists found post holes from it with painted wall plaster inside.

Bowden said few artifacts were found at the site and none that could be linked to the winged structure with certainty. A plough had ripped through the site at some point, scattering debris. Also, metal detecting is a major problem in the Norfolk area, with people using metal detectors to locate and confiscate materials, something that may have happened at this site.

Still, even when the team found undisturbed layers, there was little in the way of artifacts. "This could suggest that it (the winged building) wasn't used for a very particularly long time," Bowden said.

The land of the Iceni
Researchers are not certain what the building was used for. While its elevated position made it visible from the town of Venta Icenorum, the foundations of the radiating wings are weak. "It's possible that this was a temporary building constructed for a single event or ceremony, which might account for its insubstantial construction," writes Bowden in the journal article.

"Alternatively the building may represent a shrine or temple on a hilltop close to a Roman road, visible from the road as well as from the town."

Adding another layer to this mystery is the ancient history of Norfolk, where the structure was found.

The local people in the area, who lived here before the Roman conquest, were known as the Iceni. It may have been their descendents who lived at the site and constructed the winged building.

Iceni architecture was quite simple and, as Bowden explained, not as elaborate as this. On the other hand, their religion was intertwined with nature, something which may help explain the wind-blown location of the site. "Iceni gods, pre-Roman gods, tend to be associated with the natural sites: the springs, trees, sacred groves, this kind of thing," said Bowden.

The history between the Iceni and the Romans is a violent one. In A.D. 43, when the Romans, under Emperor Claudius, invaded Britain, they encountered fierce resistance from them.? After a failed revolt in A.D. 47 they became a client kingdom of the empire, with Prasutagus as their leader. When he died, around A.D. 60, the Romans tried to finish the subjugation, in brutal fashion.

"First, his (Prasutagus') wife Boudicea was scourged, and his daughters outraged. All the chief men of the Iceni, as if Rome had received the whole country as a gift, were stripped of their ancestral possessions, and the king's relatives were made slaves," wrote Tacitus, a Roman writer in The Annals. (From the book, "Complete Works of Tacitus," 1942, edited for the Perseus Digital Library.)

This led Boudicea (more commonly spelled Boudicca) to form an army and lead a revolt against the Romans. At first she was successful, defeating Roman military units and even sacking Londinium. In the end the Romans rallied and defeated her at the Battle of Watling Street. With the Roman victory the rebellion came to an end, and a town named Venta Icenorumwas eventually set up on their land.

"The Iceni vanish from history effectively after the Boudicca revolt in (A.D.) 60-61," said Bowden.

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But while they vanished from written history, archaeological clues hint that their spirit remained very much alive. Bowden and David Mattingly, an archaeologist at the University of Leicester, both point out that the area has a low number of villas compared with elsewhere in Britain, suggesting the people continued to resist Roman culture long after Boudicca's failed revolt.

This lack of villas, along with problems attracting people to Roman settlements in the area, "can be read as a transcript of resistant adaption and rejection of Roman norms," writes Mattingly in his book "An Imperial Possession: Britain in the Roman Empire" (Penguin Books, 2007).?

There is "still a fairly strong local identity," said Bowden, who cautioned that while local people may have lived at the complex, the winged building is out of character for both Roman and Iceni architectural styles, a fact that leaves his team with a mystery.

Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience and on Facebook.

? 2012 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46102508/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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What you wish your Japanese boyfriend/girlfriend would quit doing

By Ken Y-N ( January 23, 2012 at 00:10) ? Filed under Polls, Rankings

Today?s goo Ranking silliness is a look at what guys wish their girlfriend would quit doing and what girls wish their boyfriends would quit.

Demographics

Over the 25th and 26th of November 2011 1,074 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 57.4% of the sample were female, 11.6% in their teens, 14.7% in their twenties, 26.9% in their thirties, 25.0% in their forties, 11.1% in their fifties, and 10.7% aged sixty or older. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample.

Wifey tells me that the main thing she wanted me to stop when we were dating was farting?

It?s interesting that it appears that women have more complaints, and complain more about the same things, regarding their boyfriends. Is spitting really that common on dates that it gets to be the fourth most popular issue?

Ranking results

Q1: What do you wish your girlfriend would quit doing? (Sample size=458, male)

Rank	?	Score
1	Slagging off other people all the time	100
2	Uncouth use of words	96.0
3	Too violent mood swings	88.0
4	Moaning all the time every time we meet	79.2
5	Checking her mobile all the time during dates	73.6
6	Poor table manners	72.8
7	Being arrogant with shop staff	65.6
8	Going out for meals with other guys	60.0
9	Talking about stuff I?m not interested in	56.8
10	Wild driving	55.2
11	Slapping the make-up on thick	55.2
12	Forever asking ?Do you love me??	53.6
13	Soon appearing to be two-timing me	50.4
14	Pretending she understands when she doesn?t	39.2
15	Being too particular about beauty, fashion	34.4
16	Ogling other guys while on dates	33.6
17	Getting lovey-dovey in public	28.8
18	Asking if I sympathise with her talk	24.8
19	Always talking about herself	24.0
20	Randomly wanting to talk about stuff she has a vast knowledge of	20.0
21	Asking for a bite of my food at restaurants	18.4
22=	Always wanting to go for ramen on dates	16.8
22=	Slow to reply to my email	16.8
22=	No punchline to her conversation topics	16.8
25=	Looking like she?s hating every minute of the date	10.4
25=	Checking herself in the mirror at shops	10.4
25=	Going out with no make-up on	10.4

Q2: What do you wish your boyfriend would quit doing? (Sample size=616, female)

Rank	?	Score
1	Poor table manners	100
2	Being arrogant with shop staff	99.1
3	Slagging off other people all the time	97.3
4=	Uncouth use of words	96.8
4=	Spitting on the street	96.8
6	Wild driving	93.2
7	Moaning all the time every time we meet	91.0
8	Checking his mobile all the time during dates	80.5
9	Talking about stuff I?m not interested in	80.5
10	Pretending he understands when he doesn?t	78.7
11	Too violent mood swings	76.9
12	Getting lost in computer games when we?re together	71.9
13=	Soon appearing to be two-timing me	65.6
13=	Going out for meals with other girls	65.6
15	When out shopping, hanging about outside looking bored	62.0
16	Ogling other girls while on dates	61.5
17	Forever asking ?Do you love me??	57.0
18	Randomly wanting to talk about stuff he has a vast knowledge of	53.8
19	Always talking about himself	53.4
20	Being too particular about beauty, fashion	50.2
21	Getting lovey-dovey in public	46.2
22	Checking himself in the mirror at shops	40.3
23	Looking like he?s hating every minute of the date	32.6
24	No punchline to his conversation topics	27.6
25	Always wanting to go for ramen on dates	26.2
26	Asking if I sympathise with his talk	19.9
27	Asking for a bite of my food at restaurants	19.0
28	Slow to reply to my email	16.7
29	Using dialect	12.7
30	Going to a cafe for meals on dates	1.4

Read more on: gender,goo ranking,quit

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WhatJapanThinks/~3/Kw1ntZJTp4U/

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Forums: Absinthe Jailbreak, Android users with iPads

Yesterday we mentioned the A5 jailbreak was lingering and low and behold, today it has appeared.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/oVs9oibCpTU/story01.htm

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Romney stance on DREAM Act is magnified in Florida (AP)

MIAMI ? Mitt Romney's promise to veto a measure that would create a path to citizenship for some illegal immigrants threatens to turn off some Hispanic voters, whose support could be critical in a general election match-up against President Barack Obama.

The issue is gaining prominence as the Republican front-runner heads toward the Jan. 31 primary in Florida, even though most of the state's Hispanics are Puerto Rican or Cuban-American and, thus, aren't affected by U.S. immigration law, nor view it as a priority. Still, it's a state where 13 percent of registered voters are Hispanic, where the nation's largest Spanish-language TV networks are based and where the nation's third-largest number of illegal immigrants live ? intensifying the focus on Romney's position.

"Latino voters, like all voters in this country, are interested in America being an opportunity nation," Romney said Monday night during a debate in South Carolina, when asked if his promise to veto the so-called DREAM Act was alienating voters. "In my view, as long as we communicate to the people of all backgrounds in this country that it can be better, and that America is a land of opportunity, we will get those votes."

Maybe not.

His veto promise ? first made in the days before the Iowa caucuses ? has hit a nerve with prominent Hispanics, and some Republicans worry that the position will turn off the growing number of Latino voters in swing-voting states, particularly in the west, who are now on the fence after backing Obama in 2008. These Republicans suggest that Romney was trying to curry favor with hardline Republican primary voters at the expense of Hispanics whose support he would need come the fall.

"If Romney's the nominee, he's going to have to come to the center and make some decisions about how to resolve that issue," said Republican Herman Echevarria, a Cuban-American who is the chief executive of a Miami-based bilingual advertising agency and a longtime local political player. "He's trying to be a conservative candidate. And if you don't become a conservative candidate, you cannot be the candidate of the Republicans. But you cannot be elected president just as a conservative candidate."

Already, there are signs of backlash.

For Colombia native Ana Rodriguez, a Miami-based graphic designer who received political asylum and will become a U.S. citizen this year, Romney's comments are precisely what motivated her to vote ? against him. "Because of what I went through," Rodriguez said, "I want more people (elected) who are interested in supporting immigrants and want a more equal and fair system of immigration."

Florida DREAM Act activists, who have been among the most visible in the nation, also are promising to keep the heat on Romney as his campaign comes to the state.

And last week, at El Tropical restaurant in Miami, Florida Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, who has endorsed Romney, told a group of mostly Cuban-American GOP primary voters that the former Massachusetts governor was the only candidate who could fix the economy and protect U.S. security interests. Then, a young Colombian immigrant stepped forward and asked Diaz-Balart, who has championed immigrants' rights including the DREAM Act, how the congressman could support Romney.

"You have been such a friend to us, I just don't understand," said Juan Rodriguez, a student at Florida International University who was among a half-dozen students who walked from Miami to Washington in the winter to raise awareness of the legislation.

The exchange was caught on tape by several Spanish-language media outlets that reach viewers around the world.

Romney has arguably the toughest immigration position of any of the Republican candidates. Newt Gingrich would give legal status to illegal immigrants who have deep roots in the U.S. and lived otherwise lawfully.

Conversely, Romney has been adamantly opposed to any type of amnesty for illegal immigrants since his first White House run in 2008. Previously, he called reasonable a bipartisan proposal to allow immigrants to seek green cards in exchange for certain penalties, though he says he never officially supported such legislation.

Last year, Romney objected to the DREAM Act. But he went further in the days before the Iowa caucuses when asked if he would veto the measure.

"The answer is yes," Romney told voters then, and later referred to the measure as a handout.

While he said he does not oppose creating a path for those who serve in the U.S. military to become permanent residents, he also said he doesn't believe such individuals should be able to adjust their status by attending school, nor should they receive in-state tuition.

Since narrowly winning the Iowa caucuses, Romney has been sending Hispanics mixed messages.

He's working to woo Hispanics and convince them he's sincere in fighting for their causes, recently launching TV commercials in Florida featuring Cuban-Americans Diaz-Balart and fellow U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, as well as his son Craig speaking in Spanish.

But, in South Carolina, he's also been campaigning with Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the leading architect behind the tough Arizona-style immigration laws. Even many Latinos who support tougher immigration laws worry such measures will lead to racial profiling because they give broad leeway to law enforcement to stop anyone whom they suspect of being in the country illegally.

"This is all about his primary right now," said Benjamin Bishin, a University of California, Riverside political science professor who has long studied Cuban-American and other Latino political attitudes.

Jennifer Korn of the center-right Hispanic Leadership Network, which is co-hosting a GOP primary debate and Latino conference this month in Florida, said Romney took a risk in alienating Hispanic voters. But, she added, he's also made clear he wants to fix the broader immigration system.

"If he explains it correctly, he definitely has a chance to have the Hispanic community listen to what he has to say," she said.

He seemed to try to do just that during recent debates, saying: "I love legal immigration," but that "to protect our legal immigration system we have got to protect our borders and stop the flood of illegal immigration."

That appeared to be enough for Peter Gonzalez, a Cuban-American commercial attorney and fiscally conservative Democrat.

"It's nice to hear a guy who the media has said is taking a harsh turn to the right on immigration say they love legal immigration," he said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120121/ap_on_el_pr/us_romney_hispanics

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South Korea lifts ban on imports of Canadian beef (AP)

SEOUL, South Korea ? South Korea has lifted an eight-year ban on imports of Canadian beef.

Seoul imposed the ban after mad cow disease was found in a Canadian cow in 2003. Canada has since been recognized as a "controlled risk" country for beef by the World Organization for Animal Health. Canada filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization over the South Korean ban in 2009.

South Korea's Agriculture Ministry says the ban was lifted on Friday. But it says Seoul will only allow imports of Canadian beef from cattle younger than 30 months old. Younger cows are deemed less susceptible to mad cow disease.

The ministry also said the imports must exclude riskier parts such as the brain, skull and eyes.

South Korea was Canada's fourth-largest beef export market before the ban.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120121/ap_on_bi_ge/as_skorea_canada_beef

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For Mitt Romney, Could Jeb Bush Be a Ray of Sunshine? (ABC News)

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

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/189094094?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Video: Sanford: 'Open marriage' request calls into question Gingrich's personal side

Miracle baby born from single sperm

An Ohio man who made no sperm and his wife, who had few eggs, have become parents thanks to a first-ever Cleveland Clinic case in which a single sperm that was frozen and injected into an egg resulted in pregnancy. Here, Jason and Jennifer Schiraldi pose with Kenley,9 months.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/46062973#46062973

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EBay reports higher 4Q earnings, revenue (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO ? EBay reported on Wednesday that net income grew sharply higher in the fourth quarter, helped by a gain from the sale of its remaining investment in Skype. Its results beat Wall Street's expectations, aided by strong holiday sales at its namesake website and growth at PayPal, its online payments business.

The company said it earned $1.98 billion, or $1.51 per share, in the October-December quarter. That's up from $559 million, or 42 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier. Excluding special items, eBay Inc. says it earned 60 cents per share in the latest quarter, above the 57 cents that analysts were expecting.

Revenue grew 35 percent to $3.38 billion from $2.5 billion.

On average, analysts polled by FactSet expected revenue of $3.32 billion.

The e-commerce and online payments company said its PayPal business continued to grow, ending the quarter with more than 106 million active accounts. That's up 13 percent from a year earlier. Revenue jumped 28 percent to $1.24 billion and the business processed $33.4 billion worth of payments during the quarter. That's up 24 percent from a year earlier.

As more people used their smartphones and tablets to buy things online, payments made through mobile devices accounted for $4 billion of the total payments processed through PayPal ? a more than fivefold increase from the prior year.

EBay has been working on expanding PayPal's reach beyond the Web. In addition to mobile payments, the company is testing a service that will let people use their PayPal accounts to shop in brick-and-mortar stores.

The company's marketplaces business, which includes eBay.com and other e-commerce sites and businesses, saw its revenue grow 16 percent to $1.77 billion.

San Jose, Calif.-based eBay is forecasting adjusted earnings of 50 cents to 51 cents per share in the first quarter. That's below Wall Street's expectations of 54 cents.

The company's stock climbed 24 cents to $30.58 in after-hours trading after closing down 19 cents at $30.34.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120118/ap_on_hi_te/us_earns_ebay

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Sharing passwords: A dangerous new teen trend? (The Week)

New York ? The joy of intimacy, the thrill of tempting heartache, the angst of concerned parents: Is "pre-marital password sharing" the new teen sex?

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours" used to mean something risqu? between two kids in love. Now, according to The New York Times, it implies something more revealing but less exciting: Swapping passwords. A recent Pew survey found that 30 percent of teenagers ? and 47 percent of girls age 14-17? who use the internet have shared at least one personal online password with a friend or significant other. While such swaps can lead volatile and vulnerable teens to use humiliating online secrets against each other, young lovers aren't deterred. Exchanging email and Facebook passwords with her boyfriend is "a sign of trust," San Francisco high schooler Tiffany Carandang, 17, tells The Times. "I know he'd never do anything to hurt my reputation." Ooof. How dangerous is the new pressure to swap passwords?

Password sharing is "a spectacularly bad idea": You have to admit, "there is something pure and romantic about the idea of sharing everything," says Kashmir Hill at?Forbes. But letting your boyfriend read all your emails is, like Romeo and Juliet, romantic "in a tragic, horrible, everyone-is-miserable-and-dies-at-the-end kind of way." It may seem like a show of trust, but handing over the keys to your online privacy vault is "mutually assured trust destruction." Sex? Go ahead. But "kids, but I urge you to consider digital abstinence."
"Why sharing passwords... is a spectacularly bad idea"

But it's easy to see why teens do this: In a "horrifyingly sad" way, "pre-marital password sharing" is actually kind of like teen sex, says Cassie Murdoch at?Jezebel. "They're both forbidden, frowned upon by adults, and make you feel vulnerable." And teenagers know the risks, at least theoretically, but they still do it, "for the same reason teenagers do most anything, for the thrill." Besides, the kids have a point: In the fire of young love, exposing your online self so completely "is?kind of a big deal."
"Sharing passwords is the new teen sex"

Clearly, we need better protection for online accounts: "Teenagers are hardly experienced enough to make good decisions" about love and passwords, says Michael Santo at?Examiner. And they certainly won't heed the warnings of their elders ? teens all think they're smarter than their parents, maybe because "every tween/teen show" on TV "shows parents as complete idiots." So if we can't eliminate password-sharing, maybe we should kill passwords in favor of something less swappable, like biometrics (fingerprints, iris recognition, and other physical means of identification).
"Password sharing becomes the new teen 'promise ring'"

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HBT: GM says Rangers 'very unlikely' to sign Prince

Rangers GM Jon Daniels addressed the speculation that his team might be a serious suitor for free agent slugger Prince Fielder after Wednesday?s press conference announcing the Yu Darvish contract.

From MLB.com beat writer T.R. Sullivan:

Jon Daniels, off camera, on the Rangers chances of pursuing Fielder:??I?m intimately aware of our budget and it?s very unlikely.?

So while the door isn?t completely closed on a Fielder purchase, it sure sounds doubtful to happen. The Rangers just signed off on a commitment of nearly $112 million to Darvish and will soon have to engage in extension talks with outfielder Josh Hamilton and catcher Mike Napoli or risk losing them to free agency.

The Nationals still feel like the front-runner for Fielder, who possesses a sparkling .929 career OPS and slugged 38 home runs in 162 games last season for the National League Central champion?Brewers.

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/01/18/rangers-gm-says-signing-prince-fielder-is-very-unlikely/related/

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Chicago thief, 74, pleads guilty to racketeering (AP)

CHICAGO ? A 74-year-old reputed mobster notorious for stealing the 45-carat Marlborough Diamond from a London jewelry store in 1980 pleaded guilty Wednesday in a separate case in Chicago just as his trial was set to begin.

Joseph "The Monk" Scalise and one of his two co-defendants, 70-year-old Robert Pullia, pleaded guilty in federal court to racketeering and other charges. Under their plea deals, each will get a roughly nine-year prison term when they are sentenced in May. The third defendant, 73-year-old Arthur Rachel, is scheduled to proceed to a bench trial, starting Thursday.

The men were arrested in April 2010 after months of FBI surveillance. In addition to a long arrest record, the FBI said Scalise's resume included serving as a technical adviser on the movie "Public Enemies" about Depression Era gangster John Dillinger, which was filmed in Chicago in 2008.

Scalise and Rachel were convicted in a British court of being the two men who in 1980, using a hand grenade as a threat, robbed posh Graff Jewelers in central London of $3.6 million worth of goods including the big diamond. The gem was never found.

Asked by reporters outside court Wednesday if it could ever be located, Scalise said, "If Lloyd's wanted to pay enough money, maybe they could."

Carried out in daylight, the Marlborough diamond robbery was big news in Britain. Scalise and Rachel began serving 15-year prison terms in 1984 and were released in 1993.

Prosecutors have said Scalise and his two elderly cohorts plotted several robberies, including at the home of a late Chicago mob boss.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120118/ap_on_re_us/us_aging_robbers

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Brand says he's 'quite well' since Perry split

Russell Brand is ready to be uplifted.

On Sunday, the British comic was back to work, and back on U.S. soil, to promote "Strangely Uplifting," his new FX series, at a TCA panel in Pasadena, Calif.

PHOTOS: Katy and Russell's romance

As the Q&A session began, a reporter made a vague reference to Brand's headline-making Dec. 30 split from wife Katy Perry, asking Brand, 36, how he was doing.

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Story: What happened to the tiger Brand gave Perry?

"I'm quite well, thank you. Are you asking because of recent events?" he chuckled. "Well, I suppose what you're doing is you're making the mistake as seeing time as linear."

PHOTOS: Katy's cleavage-tastic outfits

His goal for the still-developing series, Brand said, is fairly simple. "All I want is for people to feel better than they do now. That's all I want," he mused. "All I want is to make people laugh and to make people happy. And as long as I stay in alignment with that, then I'm served by great forces."

Story: Perry's father apologizes for remarks about Jews

Will the series delve into his talked-about personal life? "I think there will be inevitable biographical elements because you can't speak from anyone's perspective but your own," he said. "Unless I was to bizarrely adapt some sort of avatar."

PHOTOS: Katy Perry's insane style

Brand conceded that he's frequently misunderstood in the press. But, to correct that, he told reporters, "I listen to others. I accept that you must be humble. It's very important to have humility.... I have a tendency to fly off. I'm tangential and also I'm narcissistic. I have to be very careful."

Slideshow: Russell Brand (on this page)

His estranged wife Perry, meanwhile, wasn't too far away from Pasadena on Sunday night ? but the "Firework" singer, 26, avoided the glitz and celeb crush of Golden Globes parties.

PHOTOS: What all the stars wore at the Golden Globes

A source tells Us Weekly that Perry watched the awards show from the comfort of her hotel room in the L.A. area.

"She has been very low key during her stay," a hotel source said, adding that Perry has been ordering room service and takeout food with pals.

Copyright 2012 Us Weekly

Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/46012906/ns/today-entertainment/

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Sign Into Your Google Account on Public Computers Without Typing Anything [Google]

If you ever want to log into your Google account when you're at a public computer, where you're unsure whether or not there's a keylogger installed, there's now a simple solution. And it's from Google!

First, point the (insecure) computer's browser at accounts.google.com/sesame. Now pull out your Android, iPhone, or other smartphone, open any app capable of reading QR codes (Google Goggles is a fine choice, for example) and take a shot of the QR code that generated at accounts.google.com/sesame. When your phone's browser (which will need to be signed into your Google account) visits the URL encoded in the QR code, that will signal to Google's servers that you're at this computer, and the browser of questionable security will automatically log you into your Google account without any typing on your part.

Of course, you're going to have to be logged into your Google account on your phone, but theoretically your phone is secure, while the terminal you're at is not. Also, make sure to log off when you're done!

accounts.google.com/sesame
Google Debuts Secure Password-Free Login via QR Code | Softpedia via Google Plus

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/f-Poye3obUU/sign-into-your-google-account-on-public-computers-without-typing-anything

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Hulu challenges cable with first original drama (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? Hulu, the popular online video service, has taken another step to becoming a full-fledged alternative to cable television by commissioning its first scripted original TV show to go live next month.

The new political documentary-style drama "Battleground" is set in Wisconsin and executive-produced by JD Walsh, Hagai Shaham and Marc Webb. It follows Hulu's first original documentary series Morgan Spurlock's "A Day In The Life."

The majority of Hulu's programming to date has been licensed from its parent companies, News Corp, Walt Disney Co and Comcast Corp's NBC Universal, as well as other program makers.

Andy Forsell, Hulu's programming executive, said Spurlock's show had been a success based on data it collected on its audience, but he declined to reveal the program's view counts.

Spurlock's series is being followed up with a second season and being joined by another six-episode documentary series called "Up to Speed" by Richard Linklater, who is perhaps best known for movies "Dazed and Confused" and "School of Rock".

The challenge for Hulu is to ensure it can generate a return on investment in expensive content like scripted drama, which is typically more costly than producing a documentary or reality show.

"We can make the economics work, I've got a budget for originals but there's not the same pressure as a traditional network since we don't have worry about filling airtime," Forsell said.

The original shows will be available on Hulu's free Web service rather than just to its paying Hulu Plus subscribers as the start-up increases its user base and builds its reputation for original programming. But Hulu Chief Executive Jason Kilar said the dual revenue model of advertising and subscription fees is key to Hulu's future.

"At scale, our model allows us to profitably pay content owners approximately 50 percent more in content licensing fees per subscriber when compared to other similarly priced online subscription services," Kilar said in a blog post on Friday.

PAYING SUBSCRIBERS

Hulu said on Friday it had more than 1.5 million paying subscribers at the end of 2011, and revenue grew 60 percent to $420 million.

Early last year, Kilar forecast that Hulu would generate around $500 million in revenue during 2011. The revenue miss was indirectly blamed on a "soft advertising market" in the second half of the year.

Like other Web companies trying to bring more TV shows and movies online, Hulu is in a race with rival Netflix Inc to buy and develop more content to add to and maintain its subscriber base.

Kilar said the company will spend around $500 million on content in 2012 covering new content acquisition, re-licensing existing content on the service and originals. It is an increase from the $375 million it said it spent last year.

Netflix, which has some 23 million U.S. subscribers, said last March it had secured exclusive rights to the 26-episode television series "House of Cards" a political thriller starring Kevin Spacey and directed by David Fincher.

It was reported last year that Netflix would spend around $100 million to produce the show.

Services like Netflix are increasingly being recognized as direct competition or replacements for premium cable channels such as Time Warner Inc's HBO and CBS Corp's Showtime.

(Reporting By Yinka Adegoke, editing by Maureen Bavdek)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120115/en_nm/us_hulu

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Romney: Scrap campaign finance laws

Essential News from The Associated Press

AAA??Jan. 16, 2012?11:56 PM ET Romney: Scrap campaign finance laws SHANNON McCAFFREYSHANNON McCAFFREY, Associated Press?? former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, left, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, second left, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, second right, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, right, talk at the end of the South Carolina Republican presidential candidate debate in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Monday, Jan. 16, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, Pool) former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, left, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, second left, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, second right, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, right, talk at the end of the South Carolina Republican presidential candidate debate in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Monday, Jan. 16, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, Pool) Republican presidential candidate former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks during the South Carolina Republican presidential candidate debate Monday, Jan. 16, 2012, in Myrtle Beach, S.C. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks as former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, left, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich listen at the South Carolina Republican presidential candidate debate in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Monday, Jan. 16, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, Pool) MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) ? Mitt Romney says he'd like to scrap campaign finance laws that have given rise to a war of independent attack ads from political action committees. Romney said he'd instead like to allow candidates to accept unlimited donations and take responsibility for their own words. The comment came as Romney sparred with Newt Gingrich over inaccuracies in ads being bankrolled by super PACs. Romney called the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law "a disaster." The law regulates campaign donations. The former Massachusetts governor said the solution was to "let people make contributions they want to make to campaigns; let campaigns then take responsibility for their own words." Gingrich has suggested he would also support unlimited donations to candidates so long as they had to report them the same day. Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-16-GOP%20Debate-Romney-Campaign%20Finance/id-83c4cac52de74b2cb8236759908f506e

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Paul fights Washington spending, flies first class (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul has been spending large amounts on airfare as a congressman, flying first class on dozens of taxpayer-funded flights to his home state. The practice conflicts with the image that Paul portrays as the only presidential candidate serious about cutting federal spending.

Paul flew first class on at least 31 round-trip flights and 12 one-way flights since May 2009 when he was traveling between Washington and his district in Texas, according to a review by The Associated Press of his congressional office expenses. Four other round-trip tickets and two other one-way tickets purchased during the period were eligible for upgrades to first-class after they were bought, but those upgrades would not be documented in the expense records.

Paul, whose distrust of big government is the centerpiece of his presidential campaign, trusts the more expensive government rate for Continental Airlines when buying his tickets. Paul chose not to buy the cheaper economy tickets at a fraction of the price because they aren't refundable or as flexible for scheduling, his congressional staff said.

"We always get him full refundable tickets since the congressional schedule sometimes changes quickly," said Jeff Deist, Paul's chief of staff. Paul might have to pay out of his own pocket for canceled flights in some cases if he didn't buy refundable tickets, Deist said.

But records show that most of the flights for Paul were purchased well in advance and few schedule changes were necessary. Nearly two-thirds of the 49 tickets were purchased at least two weeks in advance, and 42 percent were bought at least three weeks in advance, the AP's review found.

Paul charged taxpayers nearly $52,000 on the more expensive tickets, or $27,621 more than the average Continental airfare for the flights between Washington and Houston, according to the AP's review of his congressional expenses and average airfares compiled by the Department of Transportation.

The more expensive tickets have other benefits as well, including allowing Paul to upgrade to first class when his staff reserves a flight because his frequent government travel gives him membership in an elite class of Continental customers who earn travel perks. Upgrades to first-class with cheaper fares are possible, at times limited to available seats days before the flight. But those upgrades are not guaranteed and some require ticket changes at the airport, according to the airline's frequent flyer rules.

The AP reviewed congressional travel before the Iowa caucuses for the two members of Congress running at the time ? Paul and Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota. Bachmann later ended her presidential campaign.

House records show Bachmann, like most other congressional members, also paid the more expensive government rate for airfare. But her staff would not provide access to more detailed expense records that show when and what type of tickets were purchased.

Paul's congressional staff provided access to all expense records requested.

Congressional members don't have to pay the government rate for travel, but most do, including many like Paul and Bachmann who advocate cuts in federal spending.

"You could almost always beat the government rate," said Steve Ellis, vice president of the Washington-based Taxpayers for Common Sense, a federal budget watchdog group. "They need to be walking the walk, and one of the ways they can do that is to be fiscally responsible for how they spend their member office money."

Jesse Benton, Paul's campaign manager, didn't respond to a written request to explain how Paul's use of more expensive airfare, which allows him to fly first class, corresponds with his commitment to cut federal spending. Instead, he sent a statement that started, "No one is more committed to cutting spending than Dr. Paul."

But Paul's congressional travel conflicts with claims in campaign appearances that he's the most frugal and serious deficit hawk in the race.

"The talk you hear in Washington is pure talk, because there is nobody suggesting, the other candidates are not talking about real cuts," Paul said in a speech to supporters last week after his second-place finish in New Hampshire.

He has proposed cutting $1 trillion from the federal budget during his first year as president, and has confronted other candidates in public forums as "big government conservatives."

"You're a big spender, that's all there is to it," Paul told former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania during a GOP debate in New Hampshire.

Paul boasts on his website about declining other congressional perks, such as a pension and all-expense-paid travel "junkets" that other lawmakers take. And he says he regularly returns money from his congressional account to the treasury.

But when it comes to his congressional travel, Paul has opted not to search for cheaper airfares that could mean returning more of his office account to the treasury, which uses any money returned by House or Senate members to help reduce the federal deficit.

Paul paid $51,972 for his government-rate flights between Washington and Houston between May 2009 and March 2011, or more than twice the $24,351 average airfare on Continental for travel between Washington and Houston. The average airfare figure represents the price for all tickets purchased for Continental flights between Washington and Houston, including economy and first-class travel, according to the Transportation Department's Domestic Airline Fares Consumer Report, which collects airfare information for the nation's busiest travel routes.

Paul's staff regularly booked him in first class on flights when tickets were purchased, according to expense records. His office paid between $1,217 and $1,311 for each round-trip flight, compared to the average airfare for that trip ranging from $528 to $760, according to the airline fares consumer report.

The period reviewed by the AP was the most recent period for which complete congressional expense records were available.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120116/ap_on_el_pr/us_paul_travel

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Shannen Doherty Talks Kim Kardashian's Split: 'My Heart Goes Out To Her' (omg!)

Shannen Doherty's marriage to photographer Kurt Iswarienko was chronicled for "Shannen Says," premiering this spring on WEtv, but the former "90210" star says their relationship and marriage have nothing in common with Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries.

"He's not abnormally tall, which is really good. He's never going to question my friends about whether they're gay or straight and never drop it," Shannen laughed on Saturday at the Television Critics Association Winter Session when asked how her show -"Shannen Says" on WEtv -- compares to Kim's recent relationship.

PLAY IT NOW: Access Hollywood Live: Three Things You Don?t Know About? Shannen Doherty

Shannen, who married Kurt, a photographer in October, and had her big day documented for the upcoming series, insisted the couple's relationship is pretty solid and nothing like her past two marriages (the first was to Ashley Hamilton from 1993-1994, the second one, to Rick Salomon, in 2002, was annulled a little over a year later).

"Kurt will say we've known each other all our lives and we have dated for three-and-a-half years, so it wasn't a quickie marriage. I can't judge what happened in somebody else's marriage. God knows, my one or two other marriages... weren't so great and they were quickie," Shannen said.

VIEW THE PHOTOS: I Do! Celebrities Who Got Married On TV

"My heart goes out to her, I know that," the actress continued, referring to Kim. "And I also applaud anybody who gets out of something if it's not working, regardless of the terrible jokes and press that's going to come in there."

While not a fan of the reality TV format, Shannen said she does watch a few shows, including "Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood," starring her former "90210" co-star, Tori Spelling, and her husband, Dean McDermott.

"I personally love 'Tori & Dean,' and I do not like the reality show forum at all. I, for the most part, roll my eyes and go, 'Oh my God! That's so set up...' 'Tori & Dean' seems very real," she said. "You're getting to know them on a personal level and let's be honest, their kids are like, beyond adorable."

VIEW THE PHOTOS: I Do, Again? Access? Top 10 Most Marrying Celebs!

"Shannen Says" premieres Tuesday, April 3 at 9 PM EST/PST on WEtv.

Copyright 2012 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Original ?90210? Stars

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Santorum's past comments give Democrats fodder (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Rick Santorum is brash and blunt ? and proudly so ? but it's a trait that will make it easy for Democrats to use his own words against him if he becomes the Republican presidential nominee.

Far from apologetic, Santorum takes an "I-am-who-I-am" attitude. Lately, though, as he tries to emerge as the conservative alternative to front-runner Mitt Romney, the former Pennsylvania senator has been asking Republican voters to look beyond his verbal missteps.

"I'm a consistent conservative," Santorum often says these days. "I'm not a perfect conservative."

While his latest verbal miscue came as he campaigned in Iowa, his career is paved with them.

National civil rights groups recently thumped Santorum after video surfaced of him discussing Medicaid and food stamps. He appears to say: "I don't want to make black people's lives better by giving them somebody else's money. I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money."

He tried to take it back a few days later, telling CNN in an interview: "I'm pretty confident I didn't say `black' ... I started to say a word and sort of mumbled it and changed my thought."

Santorum's comments on sex and faith as well as race have led to controversy during his 16 years in the House and Senate and when he was an author, radio talk-show host, think-tank fellow and Fox News commentator.

Santorum once compared homosexuality to bigamy, incest and adultery, provoking a firestorm of protest from gay rights supporters. He also blamed Boston's liberal political culture for the clergy sex abuse scandal that shook its Catholic diocese, drawing a thunderous rebuke from Sen. Edward M. Kennedy on the Senate floor.

All that, and more, is sure to be resurrected if the GOP chooses Santorum to challenge President Barack Obama in the fall.

Santorum nearly defeated Romney in Iowa's caucuses but fared poorly in New Hampshire's primary. He's now barnstorming on friendlier turf in South Carolina, hoping for a come-from-behind victory in its Jan. 21 primary through his outreach to the GOP's statewide evangelical base.

A devout Catholic and a leading voice against gay rights and abortion, Santorum rose to prominence as an unabashed warrior in America's culture wars during his 12 years in the Senate. He lost a bid for re-election in 2006 by a 17-point margin.

Perhaps his most talked-about comment is one that came in a 2003 interview with The Associated Press.

Santorum angered gay rights advocates by saying states should have the right to ban gay sex and by comparing homosexuality to bigamy, incest and adultery. He cited a pending Supreme Court case over a Texas sodomy law and said: "If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery."

He went on to say: "In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That's not to pick on homosexuality. It's not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be."

Asked about those remarks by CNN recently, Santorum said he did not mean to draw a parallel between homosexuality and the other sexual behaviors he mentioned. "I didn't connect them. I specifically excluded them," he said.

Santorum previously has said his remarks to the AP were in the context of a past Supreme Court ruling on privacy and were not meant as "a statement on individual lifestyles."

It was another issue entirely that earned Santorum the wrath of many Democrats in Massachusetts.

In a July 2002 column for Catholic Online, Santorum wrote that promoting "alternative lifestyles" feeds aberrant behavior, such as priests molesting children.

"Priests, like all of us, are affected by culture," he wrote. "When the culture is sick, every element in it becomes infected. While it is no excuse for this scandal, it is no surprise that Boston, a seat of academic, political and cultural liberalism in America, lies at the center of the storm."

Massachusetts Democrats were outraged. Romney, then the state's governor, called the remarks unfortunate.

A few years later, Democrats went after Santorum during his 2006 re-election bid for statements in his book "It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Book" that they claimed were insensitive to the struggles of two-income families.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120114/ap_on_el_pr/us_santorum_words

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Kid Icarus: Uprising flies too close to the 3DS, gets bundled with a stand

D'ya know what'd make up for a nineteen-year wait? Well, Project Sora thinks the answer is a plastic peripheral. Yes the long, long awaited Kid Icarus: Uprising looks like it'll be bundled with an official "Nintendo 3DS Stand," according to a tweet by the game's maker. It's no doubt a practical addition, as those analog-plus-touchscreen controls look like they'd make your arms tired -- which is probably what got Icarus in trouble in the first place. No word on price for the goods at this time or even if it'll travel across the pacific, but we're keeping our primary feathers crossed.

Update: We've gotten word that the stand will only be available in the bundle, at least for now. We'll let you know if we hear otherwise, but don't hold your breath for a standalone purchase option.

Kid Icarus: Uprising flies too close to the 3DS, gets bundled with a stand originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Verge  |  Masahiro Sakurai  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/13/kid-icarus-uprising-flies-too-close-to-the-3ds-gets-bundled-wi/

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UN: Value of Afghan opium up 133 percent in 2011 (AP)

KABUL, Afghanistan ? Revenue from opium production in Afghanistan soared by 133 percent last year to about $1.4 billion, or about one-tenth of the country's GDP, according to a United Nations report received Friday.

The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime said the price rise was due to a plant disease that wiped out much of the opium crop in 2010. Although yields returned to pre-blight levels in 2011, the prices have remained high, the survey said.

Definitive statistics are hard to obtain in Afghanistan, but the survey said the value of the crop may now be the equivalent of nine percent of the country's GDP.

"Opium is therefore a significant part of the Afghan economy and provides considerable funding to the insurgency and fuels corruption," said Yury Fedotov, director of the Vienna-based agency.

He called for a stronger commitment from Afghan and international partners "to turn this worrying trend around."

Income from opium finances weapons and equipment purchases for the Taliban.

Afghanistan provides about 90 percent of the world's opium, the raw ingredient for heroin. The U.N. and the Afghan government have long tried to wean the country off the lucrative crop.

The largest areas of opium poppy cultivation are in the violent south of Afghanistan, where it can be hard to make money on legal crops and where criminal networks exist to buy and sell the poppy crop.

Most farmers surveyed said they were primarily motivated by the high prices gained by opium poppy cultivation, particularly in comparison with wheat, which suffered a fall in price last year.

The survey showed that 6,400 tons (5,800 metric tons) of opium were produced last year, in comparison with 4,000 tons (3,600 metric tons) in 2010.

It said rising opium prices drove Afghan farmers to increase cultivation of the illicit opium poppy plants by 7 percent in 2011, despite a major push by the Afghan government and international allies.

Most of the opium from landlocked Afghanistan is shipped through Iran and Pakistan. Russia, which has around 2 million opium and heroin addicts, is also a principal route for drugs headed for Europe.

Moscow has repeatedly urged the U.S. military to take stronger action against Afghan drug labs. Russia has also trained several hundred Afghan counternarcotics agents.

"Counternarcotics is not the exclusive domain of specialized units alone, but the shared responsibility of everybody concerned with security, stability, governance and development in Afghanistan and the wider region," Fedotov said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/un/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120113/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan_opium

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