Find Jessie Foster

SYDNEY (AFP) –
A colourful climate-change sceptic seized control of Australia's opposition on Tuesday, vowing to kill carbon trading legislation ahead of key UN talks in a step which could trigger snap polls.

Right-wing maverick Tony Abbott ousted Liberal Party leader Malcolm Turnbull by just one vote, 42-41, in a shock backroom result that should doom marathon attempts to pass emissions laws.

A second defeat of the government bill -- aiming to cut carbon pollution by between five and 25 percent of 2000 levels by 2020 -- would give the government powers to call an early election.

"We will oppose the legislation in the Senate -- that is the right thing to do," Abbott told reporters, adding that he was "not frightened of an election on this issue".

Abbott's victory comes after Turnbull sparked a party revolt by supporting the government's emissions trading legislation, which is strongly opposed by the industry and agriculture lobbies.

The 52-year-old Abbott, a super-fit ex-trainee priest who recently posed for the cameras in his swimming trunks, sought to brush off earlier comments that climate-change science was "crap" as "a bit of hyperbole".

"I think climate change is real," Abbot said, prompting laughter at his press conference.

"I think man does make a contribution. There's an argument as to how great that contribution is, and second, what should be done about it.

"The last thing we should be doing is rushing through a great big new tax just so (prime minister) Kevin Rudd can take a trophy to Copenhagen," he added.

Failure to pass the cuts ahead of the UN summit would be deeply embarrassing for Labor leader Rudd, who discussed climate change with US President Barack Obama on Monday.

"A failure to vote, or shall I say a vote to delay the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, is a vote to deny the climate-change science," he told reporters in Washington.

Abbott said the opposition would seek to stall the legislation by deferring it to a Senate committee, or otherwise he vowed to defeat it this week in the upper house, where neither side holds a majority.

"Many millions of Australians are concerned that the Rudd government's emissions trading scheme looks like a great big tax, to create a great big slush fund," he said.

The bills' defeat would give Rudd the power to call Australia's first "double dissolution" election since 1987, although the prime minister has played down the prospect.

Rudd has sought to place Australia, the developed world's worst per capita polluter, at the centre of the international climate debate despite its accounting for just 1.5 percent of global emissions.

The centre-left leader campaigned on a strong environmental platform during 2007 polls and ratified the Kyoto Protocol shortly after taking office.

He has been asked to be a "friend of the chair", a deal broker role, at the Copenhagen talks which aim to craft a new pact for curbing the gases that drive global warming.

In recent years this kind of operational definition proved inadequate as a result of contracts that had the form but not the substance of insurance. The essence of insurance is the transfer of risk from the insured to one or more insurers. How much risk a contract actually transfers proved to be at the heart of the controversy.

In most countries, life and non-life insurers are subject to different regulatory regimes and different tax and accounting rules. The main reason for the distinction between the two types of company is that life, annuity, and pension business is very long-term in nature — coverage for life assurance or a pension can cover risks over many decades. By contrast, non-life insurance cover usually covers a shorter period, such as one year.

Florida Life Insurance

NEW YORK – A federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered a disbarred civil rights lawyer convicted in a terrorism case to go to prison and said a judge must consider whether her sentence of a little more than two years behind bars was too lenient.
Lynne Stewart, 70, has been free on appeal since she was sentenced in 2006. The three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued its nearly 200-page ruling almost two years after hearing arguments in the case.
Stewart was sentenced to two years and four months in prison after she was found guilty of passing messages between her client, Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, and senior members of an Egyptian-based terrorist organization.
The appeals court suggested that the sentence was too lenient, especially when compared with the 20-month prison term given to her co-defendant, Mohammed Yousry, a translator who was working for her. The appeals court said the sentencing judge can also reconsider the sentences of Yousry and Ahmed Abdel Sattar, a former postal worker, depending on what the judge decides with Stewart.
The court also ordered Yousry to begin serving his sentence. Sattar is already serving his 24-year sentence.
In its ruling, the appeals court said Stewart must be resentenced because Judge John G. Koeltl declined to determine at sentencing whether Stewart committed perjury when she testified at her trial.
The appeals court said it was necessary for the judge to make the determination because of "the seriousness of her criminal conduct, her responsibilities as a member of the bar and her role as counsel for Abdel-Rahman."
It added: "We think that whether Stewart lied under oath at her trial is directly relevant to whether her sentence was appropriate. ... Any cover-up or attempt to evade responsibility by a failure to tell the truth upon oath or affirmation at her trial would compound the gravity of her crime."
In a partial dissent to the ruling, Judge John Walker complained that the appeals court did not go far enough, saying it should have rejected Stewart's sentence as "substantively unreasonable" and required resentencing on that basis.
Stewart's lawyer, Joshua Dratel, did not immediately return a call for comment. Prosecutors did not immediately comment.

LONDON (Reuters) –
The National Gallery in London, one of the world's great public collections, has put on display a seedy reconstruction of Amsterdam's Red Light District in a rare foray into contemporary installation art.

When plans to house Ed and Nancy Kienholz's "The Hoerengracht" were announced last year, critics asked whether the normally reserved National was "prostituting itself" to contemporary art designed, at least in part, to shock.

But at a press preview on Tuesday, curator Colin Wiggins defended the decision to feature the installation which recreates a street and buildings caked in grime where life-like models of scantily clad women display themselves in windows. He also underlined the links between the piece and famous Dutch paintings from the 17th century that belong to the gallery's permanent collection.

Wiggins also argued that the sordid subject matter, portrayed in all its "squalor," was not as out of place at the National as visitors may initially think.

"This is like walking into a 17th century Dutch painting of Amsterdam," Wiggins said.

"We have pictures of gang rape, we have pictures of incest, we have pictures of murder and torture and mutilation, but because people put them in gold frames and cover them in varnish ... they're safe, they're tame."

The Kienholzes began making The Hoerengracht in 1983, just over a decade after they met at a party in Los Angeles and married. It took them around five years to make.

By the time they met, Ed Kienholz was already famous for installations that were controversial for tackling subjects including mental illness, abortion and the sex trade.

REAL MODELS

The Hoerengracht was inspired by the Red Light District in Amsterdam and the result of what Nancy said were "countless trips" to the area to take photographs and gather material. Ed died in 1994 aged 66.

The National has installed the piece in a darkened room lit only by the red glow of colored light bulbs and lampshades.

Visitors walk along a "street" complete with bollards and old bicycles chained to them, and small alleys down which they can walk and view the women on display.

The prostitutes are modeled on the bodies of friends of the Kienholzes in Berlin, where the giant work of art was created.

Each has a glass box over her head with the lid open, suggesting that at any time she could close it and in so doing shut off the outside world and the "voyeur."

Notable is the attention to detail, particularly the Kienholzes' attempts to convey the sordid, grubby nature of the streets and building interiors, complete with half-filled ashtrays, dust-covered magazines and dirty windows.

"It is an extremely serious exhibition and it does not in any way glamorize or romanticize prostitution," said National Gallery director Nicholas Penny.

"I also think the connections with traditional art in the National Gallery are very genuine ones."

The exhibition runs until February 21, 2010.

(Editing by Steve Addison)

WASHINGTON – The Postal Service reported a loss of $3.8 billion last year, despite a reduction of 40,000 full-time positions and other cost-cutting measures.
The loss was $1 billion more than the year before despite job cuts and other efforts designed to save billions of dollars, postal officials said Monday.
"Our 2009 fiscal year proved to be one of the most challenging in the history of the Postal Service," Chief Financial Officer Joseph Corbett said.
"The deep economic recession, and to a lesser extent the ongoing migration of mail to electronic alternatives, significantly affected all mail products, creating a large imbalance between revenues and costs," he said.
The post office has been struggling to cope with a decline in mail volume caused by the shift to the Internet as well as the recession that resulted in a drop in advertising and other mail. Total mail volume was 177.1 billion pieces, compared to 202.7 billion pieces in 2008, a decline of almost 13 percent.
For the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 the agency had income of $68.1 billion, $6.8 billion less than in 2008. Expenditures were down $5.9 billion to $71.8 billion.
Postmaster General John Potter is seeking permission from Congress to reduce mail delivery from six days a week to five, a move that could save the agency $3.5 billion annually.
Potter has said the post office does not plan to raise rates next year on the items most commonly used by the public such as first-class mail.
"We realize our customers are facing the same economic challenges," said Potter.
In addition the agency is consolidating mail facilities, looking to close some offices and looking for new sources of income.
The post office is required to make an annual contribution of about $5 billion to pay in advance for medical benefits for future retirees. Congress reduced that by $4 billion for 2009, but that change was for one year only.
The agency's independent auditor, Ernst & Young, questioned whether the post office would have enough money to make the next payment on Sept. 30, 2010, when $5.5 billion will be due.
For the current fiscal year, the post office estimated it will have a further decline in income of $2.2 billion and a net loss of $7.8 billion even with expected cost reductions of more than $3.5 billion. It expects a reduction in mail volume of another 11 billion pieces.
While there are signs of economic recovery, Corbett said the post office tends to lag two quarters behind the economy. In addition, he said, economists say the recovery is likely to be slow to add jobs and mail volume generally rises when more people are working.
___
On the Net:
U.S. Postal Service: http://www.usps.com

GENEVA (Reuters) –
Iraqi refugees in Syria will this week start receive U.N. text messages they can redeem for fresh food in local shops, the World Food Program said on Tuesday.

The "virtual vouchers" worth $22 per family every two months will supplement traditional aid which rarely includes perishable goods, WFP spokeswoman Emilia Casella said, announcing the pilot project supported by the mobile company MTN.

"They will be able to exchange their electronic vouchers for rice, wheat flour, lentils, chickpeas, oil and canned fish, as well as cheese and eggs -- items that cannot usually be included in conventional aid baskets," she told a Geneva news briefing.

There are more than 1.2 million Iraqis now living in Syria, according to government figures. Many of those who fled war and insurgent violence in their homeland initially had some savings and possessions but are increasingly desperate, Casella said.

Virtually all the 130,000 Iraqis who now regularly receive WFP food assistance in Syria have mobile phones, and the U.N. agency often sends text messages to tell them where food staples will be distributed, the spokeswoman said.

The Rome-based WFP, which aims to feed 105 million people in 74 countries this year, has never before used mobile phones to deliver food vouchers.

The Syrian pilot will initially reach 1,000 beneficiaries in and around Damascus, and may be extended, the WFP said. Casella described it as a way to help refugees eat a more diversified diet while also supporting local farmers and businesses.

"We are not giving food away, we are actually creating an additional market for local shopkeepers," she said.

(Reporting by Laura MacInnis)

A mug is a sturdily built type of cup often used for drinking hot beverages, such as coffee, tea, or hot chocolate. Mugs, by definition, have handles and often hold a larger amount of fluid than other types of cup. In more formal settings a mug is usually not used for serving hot beverages, with a teacup or coffee cup being preferred. Shaving mugs can be used to assist in wet shaving.

Provides a handle: (i) for grasping, and (ii) provides a cool area of the mug that is insulated from the hot liquid by distance.

Photo Mugs

NEW YORK – In the midst of a career surge that has made him one of rap's biggest stars, Lil Wayne is bracing for a year behind bars after pleading guilty Thursday in a two-year-old gun case.
A glum Lil Wayne said little as he admitted illegally having a loaded gun on his tour bus in 2007, moving to end a case that had churned along as he collected Grammys and gold records. He's expected to get a year in jail at his sentencing, set for February.
The plea, which came as he boasted the country's No. 1 pop song, makes Lil Wayne the latest in a long line of rappers to face incarceration after topping the charts.
Arguably rap's most popular artist, Lil Wayne somberly answered his judge's questions with "yes, sir" and "no, sir" as he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of attempted criminal possession of a weapon.
He acknowledged he had a loaded .40-caliber semiautomatic gun when the bus was stopped shortly after a Manhattan concert on July 22, 2007. His lawyer had previously disputed the gun was the rapper's, in part by questioning the reliability of a highly sensitive DNA test that prosecutors said tied him to the weapon.
State Supreme Court Justice Charles Solomon warned Lil Wayne that he wouldn't be able later to withdraw the plea, as some people try to do.
"I'm not one of those people," said the rapper, who sat in court in jeans and a hooded parka. He pulled up the hood and didn't speak as he left the courthouse with members of his entourage, who piled into four black SUVs. He's due back in court Dec. 15 before his sentencing date, which has yet to be set.
He had faced at least 3 1/2 years in prison if convicted of the original weapons-possession charges against him.
Lil Wayne, 27, also is scheduled for trial in Arizona in March on felony drug possession and weapons charges stemming from a January 2008 arrest at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint. He has pleaded not guilty in that case.
In March, an Atlanta judge dismissed felony drug charges against Lil Wayne. His lawyer had said the rapper wasn't staying in the hotel room where police said the drugs were found in 2006.
Over the past two years, Lil Wayne — born Dwayne Carter — has emerged as the best-selling figure in music. His "Tha Carter III" topped all album sales in 2008 with 2.8 million copies sold off of such hits as the No. 1 smash "Lollipop." His Grammys include last year's best rap solo performance award, for "A Milli."
A rapper since he was a teen, Lil Wayne exploded in popularity thanks to his voluminous output on the mixtape circuit and collaborations with other artists. He currently has the No. 1 song in the country with Jay Sean, "Down."
While his lyrics sometimes are laced with violence, he's more known for clever wordplay and risque material.
The relationship between chronicling crime and living it has long been an issue in rap. Some of the genre's big names — including Tupac Shakur, Lil' Kim, Beanie Sigel, Shyne, Mystikal and C-Murder — have done a few months to several years behind bars for crimes committed after they became famous.
T.I., another of rap's top sellers, reported to a federal prison in May for his conviction on weapons charges. He's expected to serve a year and a day.
While some rappers haven't regained their chart status after prison or jail, Shakur became even more popular, and T.I. remains popular on the radio.
Police pulled over Lil Wayne's tour bus shortly after it left a concert venue, saying they had seen and smelled marijuana smoke wafting out the door when it was parked.
After ordering roughly a dozen or so other people off the bus, police found a freshly showered Lil Wayne in his boxer shorts in a bedroom at the back of the bus. Police said that as an officer approached, the rapper tossed away a Louis Vuitton bag containing the gun.

The Miami-based rapper wasn't licensed to carry a gun in New York, prosecutors said.

The Manhattan District Attorney's office said small amounts of DNA found on the gun connected it to Lil Wayne. Defense lawyer Stacey Richman had raised questions about the relatively new technique, used to derive the results from DNA samples that can consist of fewer than roughly 16 human cells.

A hearing on the method's level of scientific acceptance started Wednesday and had been expected to continue for days. After Lil Wayne's guilty plea, both prosecutors and Richman stressed that they stood by their contrasting positions on the technique.

But, Solomon said, "The issue is not going to be decided in this courtroom, in this case."

Meanwhile, another platinum-selling rapper, Ja Rule, still faces gun-possession charges stemming from his separate arrest after playing the same July 2007 show as Lil Wayne. Ja Rule, known to the court as Jeff Atkins, has pleaded not guilty. He has a court date next month.

Christening Gifts

"O Thou who, through holy Baptism, hast given unto Thy servant remission of sins, and hast bestowed upon him (her) a life of regeneration: Do Thou, the same Lord and Master, ever tgraciously illumine his (her) heart with the light of Thy countenance. Maintain the shield of his (her) faith unassailed by the enemy [i.e., Satan]. Preserve pure and unpolluted the garment of incorruption wherewith Thou hast endued him (her), upholding inviolate in him (her), by Thy grace, the seal of the Spirit, and showing mercy unto him (her) and unto us, through the multitude of Thy mercies..."

In the Roman Catholic Church, most of those born into the faith are baptized as infants. The traditional clothing for a child being baptised into the Roman Catholic faith is a christening gown, a very long, white infants' garment now made especially for the ceremony of christening and usually only worn then. They are in fact the normal, or at least "best", outer clothing of Western babies until about the 19th century.

TAIPEI (Reuters) –
Authorities in Taiwan said on Thursday they would investigate a private training center after receiving testimony and videos showing that children were made to swallow fire and step on glass to build up their courage.

Given videos and testimony from parents of the Mai-teh International Intelligence Research Institute, the city of Tainan in south Taiwan said in a statement it would probe the training center for possible violations of laws governing minors.

The center, licensed as a consultancy and about two years old, had admitted more than 100 people of varied ages to build up their courage via what parents said amounted to corporal punishment, a city government news official said.

A Tainan city councilor and several parents brought the case to local media, prompting the probe.

"My child was forced to split wood with his bare hands and wanted to die," one mother said via local television.

Students paid T$30,000 ($932) per half year for the after school courses, Taiwan's China Times newspaper reported.

"Because the company had always stressed that it was a confidence training school and that only with a strong heart could children see achievements, it had to do things to build up courage," the statement said.

"If there were violations of rules covering minors, we will handle the case according to law," it said.

The training center was closed on Thursday and phones went unanswered, complicating the probe, the city said.

Extreme confidence-building courses are generally reserved for military units, such as the U.S. Marine Corps, and involve challenging exercises designed to overcome fear of accidents.

(Reporting by Ralph Jennings; Editing by Sugita Katyal)

PHOENIX – Arizona Diamondbacks pitching prospect Jarrod Parker will have Tommy John surgery on his right elbow on Oct. 28.
The team said in a statement that the surgery will be performed by Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala.
The 20-year-old Parker, Arizona's first-round pick in 2007, went a combined 5-6 with a 3.14 ERA in 20 starts at Single-A Visalia and Double-A Mobile last season.
Parker had been a candidate to join the Diamondbacks' rotation in 2010. The club did not say when it expected him to pitch again.

WASHINGTON (AFP) –
US health officials warned Friday that deliveries of swine flu vaccine are likely to be delayed even as influenza deaths climb, with children hit particularly hard.

Eleven more children were reported to have died of flu in a single week, 10 of them from swine flu, bringing the number of pediatric deaths from H1N1 flu since April to 86, Anne Schuchat, a senior official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told reporters.

In the worst of the past three flu seasons in the United States, which usually run from August to March, 88 children died.

As of mid-week, 11.4 million doses of H1N1 vaccine were available and around eight million had been ordered by the states.

Inoculation clinics got under way in several US states last week, targeting children, health care workers, people who work with infants, and young, healthy adults.

Long lines have been reported outside the clinics, as parents rushed to get their children -- one of the most at-risk groups -- inoculated against swine flu.

"About half the deaths we've seen in children since September 1st have occurred in teens, between the ages of 12 and 17," said Schuchat, warning that deaths of older children from swine flu were likely to increase as the season progresses.

Overall, deaths in the United States from flu have leapt above the "epidemic threshold," and widespread disease from influenza has been reported in 41 of the 50 states. The remainder of the states are seeing higher-than-average rates of illness, Schuchat said.

"It's unprecedented for this time of year to have the whole country seeing such high levels of activity," Schuchat said.

But as deaths rose and flu spread across the United States, H1N1 vaccine manufacturers have warned of slow-downs in production, Schuchat said.

"It doesn't look like we're going to be able to make the estimates we had projected by the end of this month," she said, scaling back earlier projections of 40 million doses of vaccine by the end of October to 28-30 million.

The word physician φύσις (physis) and its derived adjective physikos, meaning "nature" and "natural". From this, amongst other derivatives came the Vulgar Latin physicus, which meant a medical practitioner. After the Norman Conquest, the word entered Middle English via Old French fisicien, as early as 1100. Originally, physician meant a practitioner of physic (pronounced with a hard C). This archaic noun had entered Middle English by 1300 (via Old French fisique). Physic meant the art or science of treatment with drugs or medications (as opposed to surgery), and was later used both as a verb and also to describe the medications themselves.

Around the world, the combined term "Physician and Surgeon" is a venerable way to describe either a general practitioner, or else any medical practitioner irrespective of specialty. This usage still shows the older, narrower meaning of physician and preserves the old difference between a physician, as a practitioner of physic, and a surgeon. The term may be used by state medical boards in the United States of America, and by equivalent bodies in provinces of Canada, to describe any medical practitioner.

Baltimore Joint Pain

MADRID (AFP) –
Authorities in southern Spain said Friday they are ready to open a mass grave that could contain the remains of Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca, although his relatives oppose any exhumation.

Garcia Lorca was shot by supporters of General Francisco Franco during Spain's 1936-39 civil war and is believed to have been buried in the grave at Alfaca, near Granada.

"Our aim is to look for him," said the minister of justice for the Andalucia region, Begona Alvarez, as she signed agreements to undertake the work.

"We will reveal the number of bodies discovered... Obviously the rest is up to the families -- whether the remains are identified or not identified," she said.

She added that work would begin "immediately".

The grave thought to contain the remains of Garcia Lorca and three other people shot along with him is one of six believed to be in Alfaca. Four of them will be dug up first.

Garcia Lorca's relatives have urged the Andalucia government not to exhume his remains, but asked to be allowed to identify the remains and dispose of them if they are found.

Lorca, Spain's most widely acclaimed 20th century poet, was 38 when he was killed. His poems and plays, which deal with universal themes such as love, death, passion, cruelty and injustice, are widely studied at universities.

MOSCOW (Reuters) –
A Russian court on Friday jailed a Serbian national for eight years for attempting to pass secrets about Russian missile and other defense projects to a Pentagon intermediary, Interfax news agency reported on Friday.

Aleksandar Georgijevic took his orders from a U.S. citizen who worked for a firm acting on behalf of the U.S. Department of Defense, Interfax reported.

In 1998, Georgijevic attempted to collect information on a number of Russian military projects, including the Iskander tactical missiles and the R-500, a supersonic cruise missile.

But only information on the "Arena" tank protection system was passed on to the U.S. agent, Interfax reported.

The Interfax report did not explain how a Serb was in a position to gather this intelligence information. When Reuters sought clarification from Interfax, the author said he did not have any further information to add.

"During the preliminary investigation, Georgijevic admitted his guilt, in particular confirming the factual circumstances of the collection, storage and passing on of information," Interfax quoted the FSB press service as saying.

The FSB intelligence agency declined comment when contacted by Reuters.

Georgijevic had been motivated by money and had knowingly passed on information through an acquaintance to the U.S. national, Interfax reported.

Georgijevic was only arrested in November 2007 as he tried to leave the country through a Moscow airport, when his name was already on a wanted list.

In a separate case on Friday, a Russian court sentenced an army sergeant to nine years in jail for passing on information to Georgia during the time of its war with Russia.

(Reporting by Conor Sweeney)

BLANTYRE, Malawi – Government fertilizer has made the difference between hunger and plenty for Rodrick Jesitala, a farmer and father of three in southern Malawi.
Thanks to fertilizer he couldn't afford without government help, Jesitala harvested enough corn to feed his family this year. A report released Friday praised Malawi's program, saying governments simply making agriculture a top priority and offering financial and other incentives to small farmers have seen some poor countries quickly move from importing food to producing surpluses.
In its report, ActionAid International ranked Malawi among the top five successful developing nations, with Brazil taking the lead, for cutting child malnutrition by 73 percent in six years.
"Who's Really Fighting Hunger" said Brazil succeeded at cutting child malnutrition by investing extensively in small-holder farmers and implementing strong social welfare policies.
In Malawi, the past two growing seasons have ended with impressive surpluses of the staple crop, corn. President Bingu wa Mutharika persisted with his program to help farmers buy fertilizer despite opposition from Western donor nations and agencies that see subsidies as contrary to free market principles.
During the 2008-09 growing season, the government spent $183 million on the farm subsidy program, which resulted in Malawi realizing a surplus of 1.3 million metric tons of maize. Under the program, a farming family gets two 50-kilogram bags of fertilizer and packets of seed.
Before he started using fertilizer, Jesitala harvested fewer than 15 bags of corn from his one-acre plot. This year, he harvested 40 bags, enough to feed his family for the year.
"We will also even sell some of the maize," he said.
Malawi, which has had acute food shortages in the past, has been a donor in recent times, giving 500 metric tons of corn each to Swaziland and Lesotho and selling some to Zimbabwe in the 2007-08 growing season. Talks are under way to sell to Kenya and Zimbabwe this year.
The World Food Program is warning that, because of drought, Malawians in some southern regions will need food aid this year despite the national surplus. But the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security says there's enough stock to respond to any food emergency.
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said in a report released Wednesday that the world's hungry reached 1.02 billion this year, attributing the steady rise in the number of undernourished people to governments reducing their spending on agriculture for more than a decade.
"It's the role of the state and not the level of wealth, that determines progress on hunger," said Anne Jellema, ActionAid's policy director.
"Every six seconds a child dies from hunger, but this scandal could easily be ended if all governments took determined action," said Jellema.
ActionAid's report ranks 29 developing and 22 developed nations to compare policies, laws and actions individual governments have taken with the aim of ending global hunger.
The report grades rich nations on the measures they have taken to end hunger such as how much agriculture aid they give or what they are doing to reverse the effects of climate change.
Luxembourg tops the list of 22 rich nations, followed by Finland and Ireland.
"Who's Really Fighting Hunger," ranks 51 countries where either ActionAid has a presence or have reliable data that makes comparisons possible. So, for example, Zimbabwe is not included because of doubts about data generated in that country.
___

Maliti contributed from Nairobi, Kenya.

WASHINGTON – It was the kind of legislation that rarely generates much debate in Congress: a bill to expand a local water recycling program.
However, the House spent more than three hours Thursday trying to decide whether to allow the creation of six recycling projects in the San Francisco area.
In the end, the bill passed easily, as everyone knew it would. The lengthy and often pointed debate amounted to a Republican gambit that increasing water supplies in Speaker Nancy Pelosi's backyard wouldn't go over very well with voters in California's parched farm belt — and could help tilt some congressional races in the GOP's favor next year.
Some of the nation's most productive farmland has been idled because of a water shortage caused by three years of drought, as well as restrictions associated with protecting a native fish. Lawmakers from the San Joaquin Valley have described the economic devastation as their Hurricane Katrina, citing unemployment rates as high as 40 percent in some of the hardest-hit communities.
GOP strategists believe they have a winning plan for the next election by tying the economic woes to Democratic lawmakers.
"Water is going to be the issue in all the congressional districts that are part of the Central Valley," said Joanna Burgos, spokeswoman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. "When you have 40 percent unemployment because of a court order that could be solved by Congress, it's hard to focus on any other subject."
Previous water recycling projects have been noncontroversial. For example, Republican lawmakers Ken Calvert, Brian Bilbray and Elton Gallegly all sponsored legislation expanding or establishing recycling programs in their California districts. Those bills all passed overwhelmingly in the House.
Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., didn't get such support. The recycling projects authorized through Miller's bill would be located in the Bay area and would turn more than 7 million gallons of wastewater daily into water for parks, golf courses and landscaping.
In the long run, the program helps the farm belt, Miller said. If parks in his district need less water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, then more water could be made available for other uses, such as meeting the needs of farmers, he said.
"If you want to make it more difficult in the valley, then kill all the recycling projects," Miller said. "If you want to make it less likely that water's going to come to the valley, kill all the recycling projects."
Opponents repeated the contention from San Joaquin Valley lawmakers that protections for fish are being given higher priority than people. Several mentioned San Francisco, Pelosi's home, in their arguments.
"We are watering lawns in San Francisco and diverting more water to San Francisco," said Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, "and throwing dust in the face of the hardworking people in the valley."
Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., made it a point to note that the legislation provides millions of dollars for the speaker's home turf. "All the while, tens of thousand of their fellow citizens suffer economic devastation just a few hours south and inland in the San Joaquin Valley."
Such arguments could make life difficult for Democratic representatives from the San Joaquin Valley, primarily Reps. Dennis Cardoza and Jim Costa. Republicans know that come Election Day, many of those voters will want to make a statement, said Dave Wasserman, an editor at the Cook Political Report.
"To the extent that these Democrats are voting with Nancy Pelosi on anything, Republicans are going to have leverage to tie them with her and to try to send her a message," Wasserman said.
The two Democrats seemed to take his point to heart. Both voted against Miller's bill.

Commissioner.com launched in January 1, 1997 and first offered a fantasy baseball commissioner service that changed the nature of fantasy sports with real-time stats, league message boards, daily updated box scores and other features -- all for $300 per league. Commissioner.com was sold to Sportsline late in 1999 for $31 million in cash and stock in a watershed moment for the fantasy industry. The sale proved fantasy sports had grown from a mere hobby to big business. By 2003, Commissioner.com helped Sportsline generate $11 million from fantasy revenue. Commissioner.com is now the fantasy sports engine behind CBSsports.com's fantasy area (after Sportsline was sold to CBS).

The bill specifically exempts fantasy sports games, educational games, or any online contest that "has an outcome that reflects the relative knowledge of the participants, or their skill at physical reaction or physical manipulation (but not chance), and, in the case of a fantasy or simulation sports game, has an outcome that is determined predominantly by accumulated statistical results of sporting events, including any non-participant's individual performances in such sporting events.

Fantasy Sports

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) –
A new study suggests that most cancer patients have seen ads for various drugs used against their disease, but it may ultimately have little impact on their treatment.

Consumer ads for prescription drugs have shot up since 1997, when U.S. regulators began allowing them to run on TV and radio.

The trend is controversial, with supporters arguing that the ads empower patients, and opponents worrying that the ads are misleading or spur unnecessary prescriptions.

Given that cancer drugs are highly specialized, expensive and can have significant side effects, the use of consumer ads in this area of medicine is particularly contentious.

To see how ads may be affecting cancer patients, researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston surveyed 348 patients treated at their center for breast cancer or blood cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma.

Overall, 86 percent said they had seen cancer-related drug ads, mostly on television. Often, the ads they remembered were for "supportive" therapies used to deal with the side effects of chemotherapy -- such as Procrit, which treats anemia, and Neulasta, which helps prevent infections in patients on immune-suppressing cancer drugs.

However, only 3 percent of study patients said they had ended up discussing a drug ad with their doctor and ultimately getting a prescription.

The findings should be "reassuring" to cancer specialists who worry about the potential negative effects of consumer drug ads, Dr. Gregory A. Abel and his colleagues report in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

In addition, the researchers found that patients typically had a positive attitude toward the ads they had seen. Two-thirds thought the ads presented information in a "balanced manner," and 57 percent said drug advertising helped them in discussing their treatment with their doctor.

On the other hand, Abel's team also found evidence that ads can change the doctor-patient relationship for the worse. Eleven percent of patients said that drug ads had made them "less confident" in their doctor's judgment.

What's more, the researchers write, even if ads only infrequently lead to changes in cancer treatment, those changes could have "serious implications" for individual patients.

They call for future studies that "include a rigorous assessment of the appropriateness of such changes."

SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Oncology, online August 3, 2009.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) –
Songwriter Ellie Greenwich, who helped shape pop music in the 1960s with such memorable tunes as "Chapel of Love" and "Da Doo Ron Ron," died of a heart attack at a New York hospital on Wednesday, her manager said. She was 68.

The Brooklyn-born writer joined forces with producer Phil Spector and her then-husband Jeff Barry to compose elaborately crafted "Wall of Sound" tunes for the likes of the Crystals and the Ronettes, just as the Beatles were about to lead a shift away from outside songwriters.

Working out of New York's famed Brill Building, a haven for singer/songwriters, she also shepherded a young performer named Neil Diamond, producing his early hits "Cherry, Cherry" and "Kentucky Woman."

All told, Greenwich's songs sold tens of millions of copies, and yielded 25 gold and platinum records, according to the Songwriters Hall of Fame, into which she was inducted in 1991.

During 1963 alone, a year after she graduated university with an English degree, the trio hit the top-10 list with such tunes as the Crystals' "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Then He Kissed Me," and the Ronettes' "Be My Baby." The following year, they hit No. 1 with the Dixie Cups' "Chapel of Love."

Their 1966 collaboration for Ike and Tina Turner, "River Deep, Mountain High" was a relative sales disappointment in the United States, but reached No. 3 on the U.K. charts. Barry and Greenwich also ended their four-year marriage that year.

Greenwich helped create the play "Leader of the Pack," a show about her own life in the music industry that had a run on Broadway in 1985.

In addition to Barry, she is survived by her sister, Laura Weiner and brother-in-law Bob Weiner, who was also her manager.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Dean Goodman and Eric Walsh)

WASHINGTON – Government health officials are urging people not to panic over estimates of 90,000 people dying from swine flu this fall. "Everything we've seen in the U.S. and everything we've seen around the world suggests we won't see that kind of number if the virus doesn't change," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
He made the comment in a C-SPAN interview taped Wednesday.
While the swine flu seems quite easy to catch, it so far hasn't been more deadly than the flu strains seen every fall and winter — many people have only mild illness. And close genetic tracking of the new virus as it circled the globe over the last five months so far has shown no sign that it's mutating to become more virulent.
Still, the CDC has been preparing for a worst-case flu season as a precaution — in July working from an estimate slightly more grim than one that made headlines this week — to make sure that if the virus suddenly worsened or vaccination plans fell through, health authorities would know how to react.
On Monday the White House released a report from a group of presidential advisers that included a scenario where anywhere from 30 percent to half of the population could catch what doctors call the "2009 H1N1" flu, and death possibilities ranged from 30,000 to 90,000. In a regular flu season, up to 20 percent of the population is infected and 36,000 die.
"We don't think that's the most likely scenario," CDC flu specialist Dr. Anne Schuchat said of the presidential advisers' high-end tally.
What's really expected this year? CDC won't speculate, finding a numbers game pointless as it tries to balance getting a largely complacent public to listen to its flu instructions without hyping the threat.
Along with how the virus itself continues to act, the ultimate toll depends on such things as vaccinations beginning as planned — currently set for mid-October — and whether the people who need them most get them. CDC also is working to help hospitals keep the not-so-sick from crowding emergency rooms and to properly target anti-flu drugs to the most vulnerable.
What is likely: A busy flu season that starts earlier than usual, Schuchat told The Associated Press. This new H1N1 strain never went away over the summer, infecting children at summer camps in particular. Already clusters of illnesses are being reported at some schools and colleges around the country.

NEW YORK (Reuters) –
U.S. stocks closed near break-even on Wednesday despite fresh signs of a modest economic recovery, while rising U.S. crude stockpiles led oil prices to extend sharp losses from the previous session.

News that China would act to restrict redundant investments underscored concerns about the global economy and triggered safe-haven buying of the U.S. dollar. For details:

Gold futures ended a tad lower, helped by the dollar's gains, while copper was little changed, weighed down by Chinese constraints on industrial overcapacity.

Investors remained cautious after a decent run-up in equity markets, leaving stocks to edge up on the day even after solid reports on U.S. housing and new orders of durable goods.

"It seems like traders have lost the momentum after a huge upward move and they are finally taking a breather," said Fred Dickson, market strategist at D.A. Davidson & Co in Lake Oswego, Oregon.

The MSCI all-country world index (.MIWD00000PUS) rose for six straight session through Tuesday, gaining 5.3 percent over the stretch. The index was down 0.4 percent on Wednesday, but still up about 4 percent in August.

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) closed up 4.23 points, or 0.04 percent, at 9,543.52. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) added 0.12 points, or 0.01 percent, to 1,028.12. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) ended up 0.20 points, or 0.01 percent, at 2,024.43.

Orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods registered the biggest advance since July 2007, but excluding transportation goods, orders for durables were slightly below expectations.

Slippage among global stocks that climbed to 10-month highs this week boosted money flows into less risky assets, such as European government bonds, which also gained from some modest month-end buying, traders said.

Economic data in Europe showed further signs of recovery, as did a report showing U.S. new home sales jumped in July to their fastest pace in 10 months.

"The market has come a long way, and the economics are still supportive," said Georgina Taylor, an equity strategist at Legal & General Investment Management.

"We're just seeing a little profit taking. Nothing has been derailed. Housing data is improving. The only area of concern is consumer spending."

U.S. stocks seesawed after market sell-offs on Monday and Tuesday, leading investors to turn skittish.

Oil pared early gains to drop to almost $71 a barrel, extending losses from the previous session, on the rise in U.S. stockpiles of crude.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the statistical arm of the Department of Energy, reported on Wednesday that crude stocks in the world's largest energy consumer rose by 200,000 barrels last week.

U.S. crude for October fell 62 cents to settle at $71.43 a barrel, after sliding $2.32 on Tuesday. Brent crude fell 17 cents to $71.65.

U.S. Treasuries edged higher as solid demand at a $39 billion auction of five-year government debt offset data suggesting the moribund U.S. housing market was stabilizing.

Treasuries held up well in the face of a large sale of five-year debt, with the auction results and placid market reaction suggesting the government was having no problems financing a burgeoning national debt.

"For such a large slug of money to be taken down in a quiet time of the summer it's pretty noteworthy. It's pretty strong on the whole," said George Goncalves, head of fixed income rates strategy at Cantor Fitzgerald LP in New York.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note was last trading up 1/32 on the day, yielding 3.44 percent.

U.S. December gold futures settled down 20 cents at $945.80 an ounce in New York.

Japan's Nikkei share average closed up 1.4 percent (.N225) to a fresh 10-month high, while the MSCI index of Asia Pacific stocks traded outside Japan rose 0.3 percent (.MIAPJ0000PUS).

(Reporting by Richard Valdmanis, Angela Moon, Stephen C. Johnson and Burton Frierson in New York; Brian Gorman, Kirsten Donovan and Simon Falush in London; writing by Herbert Lash)

CHILMARK, Mass. – President Barack Obama marked Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's death Wednesday by declaring his fellow Democrat "one of the single most effective senators" in U.S. history, praise that was hardly a shock to the partisan senses.
But Obama's predecessor, former President George W. Bush, also offered plaudits for Kennedy, leading a group of Republicans who exhibited bipartisan affection for a political figure loved by Democrats, reviled by some in the GOP, but missed by nearly all who knew and worked with him.
Bush was typical, noting that he and the 77-year-old Kennedy worked together on immigration, mental illness and public education issues, including joining forces on the "No Child Left Behind" law still derided by Democrats and their union allies.
"In a life filled with trials," Bush said, "Ted Kennedy never gave in to self-pity or despair."
His father, former President George H.W. Bush, echoed that thought.
"While we didn't see eye to eye on many political issues through the years, I always respected his steadfast public service," the elder Bush said.
The widow of another Republican president, Ronald Reagan, called Kennedy "an ally and a dear friend."
Nancy Reagan said: "Ronnie and Ted could always find common ground, and they had great respect for one another. In recent years, Ted and I found our common ground in stem cell research."
Obama led the nation in mourning, saying of Kennedy: "His ideas and ideals are stamped on scores of laws and reflected in millions of lives — in seniors who know new dignity, in families that know new opportunity, in children who know education's promise, and in all who can pursue their dream in an America that is more equal and more just — including myself."
Throughout Wednesday, the testimonials flowed from people and organizations whose causes Kennedy championed during a 47-year Senate career.
Kennedy "was simply the greatest champion American workers and the labor movement ever had in the U.S. Senate," said John Gage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the nation's largest federal employee union.
"He was a powerful voice and vote in the Senate during the development, debate and passage of every major piece of environmental legislation since the early 1960s," said the Conservation Law Foundation.
PETA, or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said: "Animals — and the people who care about them — have lost an advocate and a friend."
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called Kennedy "a legislator without peer" who "inspired generation after generation of young Americans to enter public service, to stand up for justice and to fight for progress." Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, praised Kennedy's "big heart, sharp mind and boundless energy," which he called "gifts he gave to make our democracy a more perfect union."
During a visit Wednesday to the West Bank town of Ramallah, former President Jimmy Carter spoke of the man he beat for the 1980 Democratic presidential nomination. He said Kennedy's life was devoted to improving "the status of life of those who are poor and deprived and persecuted and ignored and in need."
For the governor of California, the loss was personal.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose wife, Maria Shriver, was Kennedy's niece, came to politics after careers as a bodybuilder and actor. He credited Kennedy with helping him as governor.
"Teddy taught us all that public service isn't a hobby or even an occupation, but a way of life, and his legacy will live on," Schwarzenegger said in a statement.

Kennedy's death came just two weeks after that of Shriver's mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, one of the senator's siblings.

Vice President Joe Biden fought tears as he spoke about his friend and colleague of many decades in the Senate.

"I truly, truly am distressed by his passing," Biden said. "Teddy spent a lifetime working for a fair and more just America. For 36 years, I had the privilege of going to work every day and sitting next to him and being witness to history. ... He restored my sense of idealism."

Former Vice President Al Gore called Kennedy "a champion for those Americans who had no voice — the sick, the disabled, the poor, the underprivileged."

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a 2008 GOP presidential contender, recalled losing to Kennedy in a Senate race. Nonetheless, the two joined forces in 2006 to help pass a universal health insurance law in Massachusetts.

"He was the kind of man you could like even if he was your adversary," Romney said.

The Senate's top Democrat, Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, promised that Congress, while mourning Kennedy's loss, would renew the push for the cause of Kennedy's life — health care reform.

"Ted Kennedy's dream was the one for which the founding fathers fought and for which his brothers sought to realize," Reid said in a statement. "The liberal lion's mighty roar may now fall silent, but his dream shall never die."

Kennedy's junior colleague from Massachusetts, Sen. John Kerry, lauded him for his fight against cancer.

"He taught us how to fight, how to laugh, how to treat each other, and how to turn idealism into action. And in these last 14 months, he taught us much more about how to live life, sailing into the wind one last time," Kerry said.

"No words can ever do justice to this irrepressible, larger-than-life presence who was simply the best — the best senator, the best advocate you could ever hope for, the best colleague and the best person to stand by your side in the toughest of times."

ATLANTA – You're tired, hungry, have a cranky baby on your lap and all you want to do is get off the plane, but you can't because it's been on the tarmac for hours waiting to take off.
While such delays are rare, they can be more common during the hot summer due to thunderstorms and, this year, because of fewer flights to get you to your destination if your flight is canceled.
A six-hour delay with 47 people aboard a small Continental Express plane at a Minnesota airport this month is the extreme. In June, the most recent month for which data is available, there were 278 tarmac delays of 3 hours or more. That was the most this year but still only .05 percent of the total number of scheduled flights that month.
Information is the best ammunition in such situations. Experts advise that passengers be prepared. Here are answers to some questions travelers may ask.
Q. Can't I just get off the plane?
A. No. The captain has ultimate control of the plane and generally will determine if and when to return to the gate and allow passengers to get off.
"It's not a democracy," says Robert Mann, an airline industry consultant in Port Washington, N.Y.
Passengers can request that the aircraft return to the gate, or if they have a cell phone they can call airline customer service or their carrier's frequent flier hotline and exert pressure that way. If you have a medical condition or are ill, notify the crew immediately. But taking matters into your own hands is ill-advised. An FAA spokeswoman says unruly passengers who make a run for the aircraft door could be arrested for interfering with the crew.
Q. Why would the airline choose to keep the passengers onboard rather than let them get off?
A. It takes a lot of time to get passengers off a plane and then back on again. If the weather clears up at the airport where you are heading, the crew may have a limited opportunity to take off. Tarmac delays often occur because of bad weather, congestion and air traffic control issues. Further delays could be caused by allowing passengers to get off, which also could mean passengers with connecting flights might miss those connections.
Airline operations also are a factor. Because of weak demand for air travel due to the ailing economy, airlines have taken large chunks of seats out of the air and are offering fewer flights and frequencies to some destinations.
"It may add to the reason there are the tarmac delays and not the cancellations," says Terry Trippler, an airline and travel expert based in Minneapolis. "The airlines realize that there aren't a lot of flights to get them onto alternate flights, and that's why they rather just wait and get them out."
Q. How long can the crew keep me on the plane before heading back to the gate?
A. There's no law or rule mandating that the crew allow you to get off after a certain period. Legislation introduced in the Senate in July would require planes delayed more than three hours to return to a gate. A rule proposed by the Department of Transportation would require airlines to have contingency plans for dealing with lengthy tarmac delays. Some airlines have implemented customer commitments in recent years to try to appease passengers. JetBlue Airways vows to deplane passengers if an aircraft is delayed on the ground for five hours. That was instituted in 2007 after passengers on a JetBlue flight waited 11 hours on the tarmac at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Q. Will I get something to eat and drink while I wait?
A. Airlines generally only stock enough food and drinks for the length of the flight. Passengers on the Continental Express flight later complained about not being offered food and drink during their lengthy tarmac delay. Several airlines have procedures for dealing with onboard delays that include making sure the cabin temperature is appropriate and passengers have access to restrooms, and food and water.
After a recent AirTran Airways flight from Pittsburgh to Atlanta was diverted to Chattanooga, Tenn., flight attendants offered bottled water and pretzels to passengers during the 90-minute tarmac delay.
Delta Air Lines says on its Web site that in the event of onboard ground delays under certain circumstances, it promises to make timely announcements regarding the flight status, allow customers to use cell phones and laptop computers and provide snacks and beverages to customers when "reasonable and safe to do so." Experts advise that passengers should carry food and drink with them on flights in case of a delay while onboard.

"Instead of that extra pair of shoes in your carryon, you put an extra sandwich or an extra bottle of water," Trippler says.

Q. What can I do to pass the time during a tarmac delay?

A. On a long delay you might be hoping that you're not stuck next to someone who wants to share his life story. In that case on-flight TV or radio may be your salvation. What's more, it's always smart to carry something to read to get you through a delay no matter how long.

If you have a connecting flight that you might miss, use your cell phone to call airline customer service and rebook your next flight. The one thing experts agree on is that it is important to stay calm in those situations.

Q. What kind of compensation am I entitled to if I experience a tarmac delay?

A. Typically, circumstances beyond the control of an airline are not covered in terms of passengers being provided compensation, says aviation consultant Mark Kiefer of CRA International in Boston. However, airlines have discretion to help passengers out, and some even have policies for allowing for compensation when there are tarmac delays.

For instance, JetBlue customers who experience an onboard ground delay on arrival for two hours or more after scheduled arrival time are entitled to a voucher. The voucher is good for future travel on JetBlue in the amount paid by the customer for their roundtrip ticket.

Q. Where can I get more information about airline policies regarding tarmac delays?

A. Airline Web sites are a good place to start. Check the airline's contract of carriage, which outlines its responsibilities to customers and the action it will take in various situations.

The Federal Election Commission released a draft opinion Thursday that would allow Rep. Peter J. Visclosky to use campaign money to pay any current or former aides' legal expenses stemming from a federal investigation of a defense-related lobbying firm.

If approved by a vote of the six-member commission at its next meeting on Aug. 27, it would be the first time that lawmakers have been allowed to use campaign money to help pay the legal bills of aides.

The agency gave the Indiana Democrat a green light in June to use campaign money for his own legal expenses related to the federal investigation and House ethics committee inquiry into contributions made by the PMA Group, a defense lobbying firm, to members of Congress. It is not known whether any of Visclosky's current or former aides have been questioned in connection with the PMA probe, but some members of his office and campaign staffs have been subpoenaed to provide documents.

Visclosky campaign spokesman David St. John said the congressman "sought permission from the FEC to exercise his own discretion to use the campaign funds for the legal expenses of staff members in connection to the PMA matter."

If the FEC approves Visclosky's request, the decision potentially could cover dozens of former aides, including several who became lobbyists. But St. John said Visclosky's FEC request would not apply to aides who left the lawmaker's employ prior to this year.

"The congressman intends for this to cover those who are on his staff and those who were on his staff earlier this year when this matter became known," St. John said. He added that he does not know if any present or former staff members have actually asked for help with legal expenses.

At the end of June, Visclosky reported having at least $959,484 in his campaign fund.

Folding bikes generally come with a wider range of adjustments than conventional bikes for accommodating different riders, because the frames are usually only made in one size. Seatposts and handlebar stems on folders extend as much as four times higher than conventional bikes. For even greater range of adjustment, longer after-market posts and stems are available. While folding bicycles are usually smaller in overall size than conventional bicycles, the distances between center of bottom bracket, the top of the saddle and the handlebars, the primary factors in determining whether a bicycle fits its rider, are usually similar to that of conventional bikes. The wheelbase of many folding designs is also very similar to that of conventional, non-folding, bicycles. Some manufacturers are producing folding bikes designed around folding systems that allow them to utilize 26" wheels, for example the Montague Corporation which bases all its folding bicycles on the 26" wheel.

The A-bike is similar to the Strida but has tiny wheels and compacts a bit smaller. Bikes smaller than a Brompton are often called portable bicycles. They forgo the performance and easy ride benefits of their larger counterparts, acquiring characteristics similar to those of an adult folding kick scooter. Regardless of how each folds, the result is easier to transport and store than a traditional bicycle.

Tandem Bikes

LOS ANGELES – A Michael Jackson film built around rehearsal footage left behind after his death will be released in a limited two-week theatrical engagement worldwide.
Distributor Sony announced Thursday that the release date for "Michael Jackson: This Is It" has been moved up to Oct. 28, two days earlier than previously announced. Tickets go on sale Sept. 27.
The studio also announced longtime Jackson collaborator Kenny Ortega is directing "This Is It," which offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse of Jackson preparing for a series of London shows he was rehearsing when he died June 25.
Ortega had been working with Jackson on the "This Is It" concert tour, which had been planned as a colossal 50-show engagement at London's O2 Arena. His other credits include the "High School Musical" movies and an upcoming remake of "Footloose."
"This film is Michael's gift to his fans," Ortega said. "It's a very private, exclusive look into a creative genius's world. For the first time ever, fans will see Michael as they have never seen him before — this great artist at work. It is raw, emotional, moving and powerful footage that captures his interactions with the `This Is It' collaborators that he had personally assembled for this once in a lifetime project."
Sony paid $60 million for rights to the film, which will be drawn from more than 100 hours of footage shot in Los Angeles between April and June as Jackson prepared for the concerts that were to begin in July.
The filmmakers initially intended to include some 3-D footage but have dropped that plan. The film will show Jackson working with singers, dancers, musicians, choreographers and special-effects experts, Ortega said.

What separates Formula 1 from all other forms of open wheel racing, is the basic premise of F1 revolves around the very important issue that each team is a "constructor". That is, the chassis of the car must be designed and manufactured in-house, and chassis can not be supplied to competitors on a "customer" basis. Engines are usually funded and/or developed by established major motor manufacturers, and can be supplied exclusively to just one team, or may be offered as "customer" engines, often to the smaller, lower-ranked teams.

Touring car racing is a style of road racing that is run with production derived race cars. It often features exciting, full-contact racing due to the small speed differentials and large grids.

Visit Site

TRIPOLI (AFP) –
The terminally ill Libyan convicted over the 1988 Lockerbie bombing flew home from Scotland to a joyous reception Thursday after being freed on compassionate grounds despite fierce US opposition.

Ignoring a US warning against a "hero's welcome," hundreds of young people waving Libyan and Scottish flags greeted the aircraft carrying Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi as it landed in Tripoli amid heavy security.

He emerged from the plane wearing a dark suit, his hand held by Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's son Seif al-Islam, who was in the delegation that flew to Scotland to bring him home.

The only person found guilty of blowing up a US Boeing 747 airliner and killing 270 people, Megrahi said earlier he was "very relieved" to be freed but described his original conviction as a "disgrace."

Earlier, US President Barack Obama had called his release a "mistake."

"We have been in contact with the Scottish government, indicating that we objected to this, and we thought it was a mistake," Obama said.

Obama added that "we're now in contact with the Libyan government and want to make sure that if, in fact, this transfer has taken place, that he's not welcomed back in some way, but instead, should be under house arrest."

"We have said to Libyan officials quite clearly that he is not entitled to a hero's welcome," said State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley.

"We will be watching very carefully to see what they do upon his return and we have told them that this will be something that will potentially affect our future relations," he said.

But hours later loudspeakers pumped out patriotic music as hundreds of people celebrated the arrival of Megrahi's plane at Tripoli airport.

"At this historic moment, I would like to thank the Scottish government for its courageous decision and understanding of a special human situation," Seif al-Islam was quoted as saying in a statement posted on the website of his Kadhafi Foundation.

The Cairo-based Arab League welcomed Megrahi's release on health grounds.

And Assistant Secretary General Ahdmed Bin Hilli told the official MENA news agency he hoped that "Libya would receive compensation for its suffering during the years of ongoing sanctions as a result of this crisis."

In 2003, Libya agreed to pay 2.7 billion dollars in compensation to Lockerbie relatives, paving the way for a thawing of relations with the West.

Four hours before his arrival home, dressed in white from head to toe and covering his face with a scarf, the 57-year-old walked unaided up the steps of the Libyan jet sent from Tripoli to collect him.

His release from a prison near Glasgow came barely an hour after Scotland's justice minister said Megrahi was being freed because he was expected to die of prostate cancer within three months.

"Scotland will forever remember the crime that has been perpetrated against our people and those from many other lands," Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said.

"Our justice system demands that judgment be imposed but compassion be available. Our beliefs dictate that justice be served, but mercy be shown."

Later Thursday, however, US Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement: "The interests of justice have not been served by this decision.

"There is simply no justification for releasing this convicted terrorist whose actions took the lives of 270 individuals, including 189 Americans."

Megrahi, in a statement issued by his lawyers after his departure, said he was "obviously very relieved to be leaving my prison cell at last" -- but called his 2001 conviction "nothing short of a disgrace."

"This horrible ordeal is not ended by my return to Libya, it may never end for me until I die. Perhaps the only liberation for me will be death," he said.

Megrahi's wife Aisha, preparing to welcome him home at the start of the Islamic holy fasting month of Ramadan, told AFP: "I am overjoyed; it is indescribable. It is a great moment which we have been waiting for for nine years.

"The house is full to bursting; everyone who loves Abdelbaset is with us."

But many US relatives of Lockerbie victims were very angry on Thursday.

Susan Cohen, who lost her daughter Theodora, called the decision "appalling."

"You want to feel sorry for anyone, please feel sorry for me, feel sorry for my poor daughter, her body falling a mile through the air," Cohen told CNN. "This is 270 people dead; this is a convicted mass murderer and terrorist."

The bombing of Flight 103 over Lockerbie in Scotland on December 21, 1988, was the worst terrorist attack committed in Britain. Megrahi was convicted in 2001 after a trial held under Scots law in the Netherlands.

BALTIMORE – The Detroit Tigers bolstered their offense for a pennant drive by obtaining first baseman Aubrey Huff from the Baltimore Orioles for a minor leaguer.
"I've been in last place basically my whole career, so this is an exciting time for me," Huff said. "I'm looking forward to it."
The Tigers began Monday leading the Chicago White Sox by 2 1/2 games in the AL Central. The last-place Orioles obtained pitcher Brett Jacobson from Detroit and assigned the right-hander to Class A Frederick.
Huff is batting .253 with 13 homers and 72 RBIs. The 32-year-old Huff recently hit his 200th career homer and should fit in nicely in a Detroit lineup that ranks 11th in the AL in runs and seventh in home runs.
Still, with the non-waiver trading deadline passed and little talk of a deal, Huff expected to finish the season in Baltimore.
When he was summoned to manager Dave Trembley's office Monday afternoon, Huff figured it was for a pep talk. Then Huff saw Orioles president Andy MacPhail sitting with the skipper and suspected something was up.
"I didn't really expect anything," Huff said. "I cleared waivers and there wasn't a lot of interest I'd heard of. So this one kind of hit me out of left field."
Huff said he was sad to leave an Orioles team finally reaping the benefits of rebuilding through youth.
"This is probably the best young talent I've been around and I've been around some young talent. ... You got an All-Star in Adam Jones, and a superstar in Nick Markakis that nobody knows about," he said. "(Brian) Matusz, (Chris) Tillman, all these young guys coming up. It's a very exciting time here and Baltimore should have a lot to look forward to."
Huff spoke briefly with Detroit manager Jim Leyland by telephone Monday and said he expects to join the Tigers on Tuesday, when they open a three-game home series against Seattle.
Jacobson was 1-3 with six saves and a 3.74 ERA in 35 games with Class A Lakeland this season.
The Orioles didn't immediately replace Huff on their 25-man roster and were prepared to play a man short against the Los Angeles Angels on Monday.