Martinez wins the 'Dancing' mirrorball (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? Actor J. R. Martinez scored a come-from-behind victory over Rob Kardashian Tuesday to win the 13th edition of ABC's hit competition "Dancing With the Stars."

The Iraq war veteran hoisted the mirrorball trophy with his professional partner, Karina Smirnoff.

Host Tom Bergeron called Martinez an inspiration to the audience.

The all-male finale was set up halfway through the final show when talk show host Ricki Lake was voted off, finishing third. Judges' scores combined with viewer votes determined the winner.

Judges didn't provide much extra guidance during the final competition, a samba that the dancers had to perform with little preparation time. The three judges gave both teams perfect 30 scores for their final dances.

"For one of you, that was your victory dance, but I think both of you are winners," judge Carrie Ann Inaba said. "That was a great way to end this season."

Martinez came into Tuesday's episode tied with Lake for second place. He reprised his jive routine from week two, and though he made a few mistakes, judge Len Goodman said, "You've got such a sparkling personality, you just light up this room."

Their victory brings Smirnoff her first mirrorball in 10 seasons. On Monday, she said winning would be ""a perfect ending to a perfect story."

"With everything we went through ... it's like this mirrorball would justify everything," she said. "No matter what happens, I feel like it has been such a fulfilling experience overall. But the mirrorball trophy would make it that much better. It's the truth."

Tuesday's two-hour finale also included music from Lady Antebellum and appearances by this season's former contestants: TV personalities Nancy Grace and Carson Kressley, reality star Kristin Cavallari, actors David Arquette and Elisabetta Canalis, singer Chynna Phillips, activist Chaz Bono, basketball player Metta World Peace and soccer star Hope Solo.

Kressley performed a cheeky routine to Madonna's "Vogue" that included him taking a spin with one male dancer and being dipped by another. The openly gay contestant, paired with pro dancer Ana Trebunskaya, was a fan favorite this season and has returned several times since he was eliminated from the competition to consult on fashion and bring his sense of silliness to the show.

Phillips took advantage of a second opportunity to try a "Mission Impossible" routine that she had muffed the first time around, resulting in her elimination.

After being voted off partway through Tuesday's show, Lake said she loved every minute of her experience.

"I've done something I really didn't think I could do," said the talk show host, who lost a significant amount of weight during the competition. "For someone who's a middle aged mom, I hope I made my children proud, my fianc? and my family."

___

ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co.

___

AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/APsandy.

___

Online:

http://abc.go.com/shows/dancing-with-the-stars

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111123/ap_en_ce/us_tv_dancing_with_the_stars

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Ecologists Take the U.S.'s Environmental Pulse [Slide Show]

Features | Energy & Sustainability

A new nationwide project aims to monitor the environment of the U.S. and enable comparisons of large-scale problems and variables such as climate change, pollution and sprawl

By David Biello ?| November 21, 2011

ECOLOGICAL MONITORING: Sensors atop this tower in the Harvard Forest have provided the longest-term measure ever collected by scientists in the U.S. of the interactions between an ecosystem and the atmosphere. Image: Courtesy National Ecological Observatory Network

A new network of observatories aims to take ecological science to the continental scale in the next 30 years. The National Science Foundation?sponsored network, called the National Ecological Observatory Network, or NEON, will link 20 field stations selected to provide data from 20 distinct U.S. biomes as well as 40 portable stations that can be moved from site to site. NEON will monitor how large-scale problems such as climate change, pollution and urban sprawl affect ecosystems as diverse as the Great Lakes and Hawaii.

Construction needed to link all the stations will begin soon in the Mountain West and Northeast, including monitoring towers that will characterize each site. The full network should be in place and operational by 2016.

View a slide show of the different regions NEON will study.

In the near-term, sensors scattered in field and stream will begin to collect regional data in standardized ways that can then be compared nationwide. Readings will range from simple rain gauges to sophisticated measurements of air pollution levels. Samples will be taken of organisms ranging from microbes to ground beetles. And all measurements will be standardized to allow rigorous comparison of the effects of big environmental problems on different eco-regions. That is more ambitious and potentially more scientifically fruitful than the previous such foundation project?the Long Term Ecological Research Network begun in 1980?which largely answered specific questions about impacts in a specific region, albeit in a way that failed to allow comparisons with other sites.

Ultimately, NEON hopes to show how humans can maintain our quality of life on this planet by better understanding how ecosystems deliver vital services?clean water, air, pollination?and respond to our own impacts on these systems. In essence, NEON will light up the night of our own ecological ignorance.

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Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=937907d90d8364c546c316f97069fe2b

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Coffee drinkers show lower uterine cancer risk: study (Reuters)

REUTERS ? Women who drink four or more cups of coffee a day may have a reduced risk of developing cancer in the lining of their uterus, according to a U.S. study.

Researchers who looked at more than 67,000 U.S. nurses found that women who drank that much coffee were one-quarter less likely to develop endometrial cancer than women who averaged less than a cup a day, said the study, published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

The absolute risk that any one woman, coffee drinker or not, would develop the cancer was fairly small, with only 672 women -- or one percent of the study group -- being diagnosed with it over 26 years.

While researchers could also not say for certain that coffee was the reason for the lower risk among those who drank a lot of coffee, the study adds to several others with similar results.

Coffee itself may have some benefits, said senior researcher Edward Giovannucci, of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.

"It can lower insulin levels and may lower levels of free oestrogen circulating in the body," he added.

Higher concentrations of insulin and higher lifetime exposure to oestrogen have both been linked to a higher risk of endometrial cancer.

Researchers looked at a number of other factors, such as differences in women's weight, since obesity is also linked to a higher risk of endometrial cancer, but that did not account for the lower cancer risk seen among coffee drinkers.

Nor did differences in women's childbirth history or hormone use, though birth control pills or hormone replacement therapy after menopause.

Of course, downing four cups of coffee a day may not be a good idea, especially for someone sensitive to the effects of caffeine. The researchers found that while caffeinated coffee was tied to a lower cancer risk, there was no statistically significant link with decaf -- though there was a "suggestive" trend in that direction.

In theory, adding sugar and cream to coffee could be bad for the waistline. With obesity also tied to a higher risk of the cancer, that could wipe out any potential benefit of coffee drinking.

"It would be premature to make a recommendation that women drink coffee to lower their endometrial cancer risk," Giovannucci said.

The bottom line, he said, is that people who are already enjoying their coffee can probably continue to do so - but the biggest preventative for the cancer is maintaining a healthy weight through diet and regular exercise.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/tFGByG

(Reporting from New York by Amy Norton at Reuters Health; editing by Elaine Lies)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/india/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111123/india_nm/india606790

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Hezbollah Captured American Spies by Tracking Cellphone Data With Commercially Available Software [Spies]

The latest story seeping out of the Middle East claims Hezbollah has recently tracked down, arrested and outed a significant, but undislosed, number of American spies working for the CIA. And their techniques for discovering the cloak and daggar operatives? Disconcertingly simple. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/B3ZlehLvLO0/hezbollah-captured-american-spies-by-tracking-cellphone-data-with-commercially-available-software

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Blast, gunbattle kill 3 in Kazakh city: agencies (Reuters)

ALMATY (Reuters) ? At least three people were killed in an explosion and shootout on Saturday in the center of the Kazakh city of Taraz, Interfax news agency reported, the latest in a string of blasts in the usually peaceful central Asia state.

Interfax said the shootout and blast occurred outside the building of the National Security Committee in the city in southern Kazakhstan. It cited its correspondent at the scene as saying he had seen police removing a body in a black bag.

Quoting unspecified witnesses, RIA news agency also reported that three people had been killed in central Taraz. The agency reported that shooting had been heard and police helicopters were hovering over the city center.

Police officials could not be immediately reached for comment.

A recent series of blasts in Kazakh cities has unnerved the authorities and public of the normally calm, predominantly Muslim former Soviet country of 16.6 million.

Last week a militant Islamist group claimed responsibility for two explosions in the western Kazakh oil city of Atyrau, after earlier threatening violence.

The oil-producing nation, which is Central Asia's largest and most successful economy, had until this year not witnessed outbursts of Islamist militancy seen in other parts of former Soviet Central Asia.

(Reporting by Dmitry Solovyov and Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Peter Graff)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111112/wl_nm/us_kazakhstan_blast

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Russian, U.S. crew blast off for space station (Reuters)

KOROLYOV, Russia (Reuters) ? Three astronauts blasted off Monday to restore a full crew to the International Space Station (ISS) after the crash of a Russian cargo spaceship disrupted operations and undermined faith in the Russian space program.

The launch at 0414 GMT was the first since NASA ended its 30-year shuttle program in July, heralding a gap of several years when the 16 nations investing in the $100-billion space station will rely solely on Russia to ferry crews.

Once safely in orbit, the astronaut trio flashed a thumbs-up signal to onboard cameras and applause broke out at the cavernous Mission Control center in a northern Moscow suburb.

Monday's mission was delayed from September over safety fears after an unmanned Russian Progress craft taking supplies to astronauts broke up in the atmosphere in one of the worst Russian space mishaps in decades.

Any problem in reaching the ISS could leave the space station empty for the first time in more than a decade when the current three-man crew returns to Earth later this month.

For veteran NASA astronaut Daniel Burbank, it is the first voyage on board a Soyuz spacecraft from Russia's Baikonur launchpad in Kazakhstan, while cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Anton Shkaplerov are making their maiden space voyage.

But the crew shrugged off safety concerns before lift off from a snowbound Baikonur.

"We don't have any black thoughts. We have faith in our equipment," Shkaplerov said, quoted by Russian news agencies.

After a cramped two-day journey aboard the Soyuz TMA-22 capsule, the crew will dock with the space station on November 16, overlapping briefly with station commander Mike Fossum of NASA, Japan's Satoshi Furukawa and Russia's Sergei Volkov.

Russia's space agency chief said the August 24 rocket failure was an "isolated" glitch caused by a fuel pipe blockage.

But it added to a string of failures that marred this year's celebration of the 50 years since Yuri Gagarin's pioneering orbit and pointed to deeper troubles with Russia's space industry.

Moscow hopes a smooth mission will begin to restore its reputation after more trouble this week when a launch touted as post-Soviet Russia's interplanetary debut went awry.

Russia has likely lost the $165-million Phobos-Grunt probe, which is stuck in orbit and may drop to Earth after it failed to set a course toward Mars' moon after launch Wednesday.

Botched launches have also lost Russia a high-tech military orbiter, a costly telecommunication satellite and set back plans for a global navigation system to rival the U.S. GPS.

While NASA suffered the tragic loss of crews on its Columbia and Challenger shuttles in 2003 and 1986, Russia last suffered such an accident in 1971, when three cosmonauts died on their way back to Earth on the Soyuz-11 mission.

This year the United States turned over all crewed flight responsibilities to Russia, at a cost of about $350 million a year, until commercial firms can offer space-taxi rides.

NASA is seeking $850 million to help U.S.-based private companies develop human orbital transport capabilities with the goal of breaking Russia's monopoly on ferrying astronauts to the space station before the end of 2016.

(Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111114/sc_nm/us_russia_space_iss

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Obama urges help for veterans in radio address

President Barack Obama greets attendees before the Carrier Classic NCAA college basketball game between Michigan State and North Carolina aboard the USS Carl Vinson, Friday, Nov. 11, 2011, in Coronado, Calif. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy, Seaman Apprentice Zachary Bell)

President Barack Obama greets attendees before the Carrier Classic NCAA college basketball game between Michigan State and North Carolina aboard the USS Carl Vinson, Friday, Nov. 11, 2011, in Coronado, Calif. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy, Seaman Apprentice Zachary Bell)

Veteran Robert Flick holds an American flag during a Veteran?s Day ceremony attended by President Barack Obama Friday, Nov. 11, 2011, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Barack Obama, accompanied by Maj. Gen. Michael S. Linnington, Commander of the U.S. Army Military District of Washington, places a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns during a Veteran?s Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Friday Nov. 11, 2011, (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Barack Obama stands with Andy Katz of ESPN before his interview at the Carrier Classic NCAA basketball game between Michigan State and North Carolina on the USS Carl Vinson, Friday, Nov. 11, 2011, in Coronado, Calif. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

President Barack Obama places a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns during a Veteran?s Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Friday, Nov. 11, 2011. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

CORONADO, Calif. (AP) ? President Barack Obama says veterans of conflicts overseas should not struggle to find work once they return home, and he's urging the House to follow the Senate's lead and do something to help them.

"We ask these men and women to leave their families and their jobs and risk their lives to fight for our country. The last thing they should have to do is fight for a job when they get home," the president said in his weekly radio and Internet address. He recorded the message Friday, Veteran's Day, on board the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier anchored off the coast of San Diego, where Obama stopped en route to an Asia-Pacific economic summit that he was hosting beginning Saturday in Hawaii.

"Standing up for our veterans isn't a Democratic responsibility or a Republican responsibility ? it's an American responsibility. It's one that all of us have an obligation to meet," Obama said. "And the House should pass this bill as soon as possible so I can sign it into law."

Obama's beginning a nine-day trip through Hawaii, Australia and Indonesia aimed at strengthening ties and boosting economic opportunity back at home.

Before he left Washington, the Senate acted in unusual bipartisan accord to pass a small portion of the president's jobs bill, voting overwhelmingly to approve legislation to award tax credits of up to $9,600 to companies that hire disabled veterans who have been job-hunting for at least half a year, and strengthen employment counseling and training programs for vets and troops about to leave the military.

The House is expected to approve the bill next week, which would send it to Obama. The president's signature would make the veterans tax credits the first fragment of his $447 billion jobs package to be enacted ? although it will accomplish little to boost the sagging economy, or solve the deficit problems that a congressional supercommittee is struggling with. Those problems are sure to await Obama when he returns to Washington on Nov. 20, days ahead of a deadline for a proposal from the supercommittee.

Republicans also devoted their weekly media address to veterans, with Nevada Rep. Joe Heck, an Army reservist, calling for leadership from Obama to do more for veterans and support House-passed legislation to help them.

"We owe it to our veterans to ensure they come home to a strong economy, so they can transition into civilian life and support their family with a good paying job," Heck said.

"With unemployment still much too high, we just can't wait to take bipartisan action that will help put Americans back to work," he said.

___

Online:

Obama address: www.whitehouse.gov

GOP address: www.youtube.com/HouseConference

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-11-12-Obama-Veterans/id-92a18766969e4c68938e9be59a6064ab

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Keen On? Peter Bell: Yes, Silicon Valley is a Natural Meritocracy (TCTV)

I couldn?t resist it. When I bumped into Highland Capital General Partner Peter Bell at Fast Company?s Innovation Uncensored event last week, I had to slip in a question about the equality of opportunity in Silicon Valley. Bell, who is based in Menlo Park, didn?t shy away from this tricky issue. ?Totally," he replied, Silicon Valley is a ?natural meritocracy.? Unlike many more buttoned-down VCs, Bell was refreshingly frank in all his opinions. Describing Facebook as a ?juggernaut," he believes it is ?unstoppable in the short-term?. He sees Google as being ?behind? on social media and argued that it needs to ?innovate? to become a real player in the social space. And while acknowledging that he sees a ?lot of crap? in the social space, he is optimistic about social applications in the enterprise, arguing that we are still in spring training when it comes to opportunities here.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/QuIXMEqxZw8/

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Insurance brings security to Haiti's informal sector - Caribbean360

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Thursday, November 10, 2011 ? A grant agreement supporting catastrophe microinsurance programmes in Haiti was signed into effect recently to give more security to lending institutions and their low-income borrowers in that disaster-prone country.

The grant was signed at the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) last week between Nicholas Crichlow, corporate secretary for the Microinsurance Catastrophe Risk Organisation SCC (MiCRO) and the CDB?s acting Vice-President (Operations) Tessa Williams-Robertson.

MiCRO is an innovative platform that provides customised reinsurance coverage to help protect lending institutions and their low-income borrowers against losses resulting from natural disasters. The grant agreement provides claims-paying capacity to MiCRO for its Haiti programme via a multi-donor trust fund administered by the CDB and inaugurated in late-September 2011 following an initial contribution of US$1.5 million by DFID.

The 2010 earthquake and the preceding hurricanes of 2008 had a devastating effect on micro-entrepreneurs in Haiti, who suffered lost assets, suppliers and markets. The microfinance sector, which provides micro-loans to stimulate and sustain many of these businesses, also experienced extensive financial losses, hindering recovery at both the individual and institutional level. MiCRO was developed with the aim of helping individual microfinance clients protect themselves and their livelihoods against such impacts. MiCRO currently reinsures almost 60,000 micro-entrepreneurs in Haiti via Fonkoze, the country?s leading microfinance institution, and is to be expanded within the Caribbean region and beyond. Since programme inception early in 2011, over 4,000 Fonkoze clients have received about US$1.3 million following a number of severe rainfall events in Haiti.

Dr. Warren Smith said in his opening remarks that the CDB ?is very happy to be associated with this venture, since it represents a very good example of innovation in arriving at solutions to the challenges which confront micro-business and solutions to risk.? Dr. Smith added that it was particularly significant that the focus of the exercise is Haiti where there is a proliferation of micro-enterprises which he stated were ?a dynamic force for the future of the country?.

Dr. Simon Young, responding on behalf of MiCRO, thanked DFID and CDB for their support, stating that ?Public-private partnerships such as MiCRO serve as an excellent example of how innovative solutions can be developed and implemented to help protect the livelihoods of those most severely impacted by natural catastrophes.? He added that ?MiCRO has developed a product which we believe fills a gap in the risk management toolkit, with global application particularly in addressing growing catastrophe risk in the developing world due to urbanisation and climate change.?

MiCRO?s strategic founding partners include Mercy Corps, a global NGO; Fonkoze; CaribRM; Swiss Re, a leading global reinsurer; and GC Micro Risk SolutionsSM, a specialist division of global reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter & Company. The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation will be contributing additional resources to the trust fund in the coming weeks. Click here?to receive free news bulletins via email from Caribbean360. (View sample)

Source: http://www.caribbean360.com/business/516076.html

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Barclays downgrades RIM on product delays (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Research In Motion will lose more market share in the United States and see its international growth limited as the rollout of the Blackberry maker's new operating platform hits snags, Barclays said, downgrading the stock by a notch to equalweight.

Canada's most well-known company's shares fell to their lowest in seven years on November 2, as the market digested further evidence of the smartphone maker's declining share of the lucrative U.S. market. They closed at C$19.10 on Monday.

The stock has also been battered over the last year as RIM struggled to adapt its devices to a new operating platform known as QNX, which is still months away from being available on its smartphones.

"While near-term BB7 demand looks healthy, an uneven BBX/QNX migration including delays in Playbook 2.0 and likely pushout of BBX smartphones to mid 2012, is likely to prevent RIM from shaking its low multiple," Barclays said in a note to clients.

Barclays cut its price target on the stock to $23 from $40.

(Reporting by Aftab Ahmed in Bangalore; Editing by Don Sebastian)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111108/tc_nm/us_rim_research_barclays

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Herman Cain's defense in his own words

On Monday, after Sharon Bialek made new allegations about sexual harassment, Herman Cain released a statement attacking the media's coverage of his campaign.

On Monday afternoon, Herman Cain released an unusually long statement in which he excoriated the media (and particularly Politico - which first broke the story of sexual harassment allegations against him) for engaging in a ?hatchet job.? In a defiant tone, Mr. Cain declared he would not play by the media?s ?rules? because, as he put it, ?these rules stink.?

Skip to next paragraph

It?s by far the most lengthy, full-throated defense Cain has put forward in response to this whole series of allegations (though it does not address Monday?s press conference by Sharon Bialek). There are now reports that Cain will hold a press conference this afternoon (Tuesday) in Phoenix, to "set the record straight."

Here is Monday's statement in full:

"I am a serious person, seeking the opportunity to do a serious and very important job. Our nation has very serious problems, particularly of an economic nature, and Barack Obama does not have the skill, knowledge or will to solve them.

I do.

Unfortunately, the media-driven process by which one must seek this opportunity is fundamentally unserious. I have touched on this before ? the emphasis on ?gaffes,? gotcha questions and time devoted to trivial nonsense ? and everyone knows the process only became further detached from relevance this week as the media published anonymous, ancient, vague personal allegations against me.

Once this kind of nonsense starts, the media?s rules say you have to act in a certain way. I am well aware of these rules. And I refuse to play by them.

There are several reasons for this. One is that, lest anyone forget, we actually have serious matters to talk about. Since the media went bananas over this so-called story, my schedule has not changed in the slightest. I have continued to make all planned public appearances. I have continued to answer questions about my 9-9-9 tax reform plan. I have continued to do everything else that our strategy proscribes.

Another reason I refuse to play by these rules is that, by doing it my way, I?m getting much better results. My fundraising has skyrocketed since all this nonsense began. Just this weekend, the Washington Post has come out with a new poll ? taken since all this started ? showing me in the lead nationally, with my numbers on the rise.

The media may be obsessed with this business, but the voters are not. And I am not.

But there?s another crucially important reason I refuse to play by these rules: These rules stink. Can the process by which we pick the leader of our nation be any more absurd? I?m not talking about the primary process or the role of the electorate. There is nothing wrong with that. I am talking about the media?s trivializing of such an important matter.

Consider: I held various executive positions in corporate America for several decades. I had thousands of employees working for me. I can?t even begin to recall how many conversations I had with people during that time, how many directives I gave, how much friendly banter might have taken place.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/Tm2C3YupPrI/Herman-Cain-s-defense-in-his-own-words

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Aretha Franklin honored in Cleveland tribute (AP)

CLEVELAND ? Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin has been honored with a star-studded tribute at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

The Plain Dealer reports that Lauryn Hill, Dennis Edwards of the Temptations and Chaka Khan were among those who entertained. The 69-year-old soul singer was not scheduled to perform, but toward the end of the three-hour event she took a seat at a piano and traded verses with Edwards in a rendition of "A Song for You."

Franklin received a key to the city from Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson during the Saturday event and an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Case Western Reserve University.

The show ended a weeklong American Music Masters tribute to her.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/music/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111106/ap_en_mu/us_people_aretha_franklin

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Markets abandoning hopes for lasting euro zone solution (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? After another week of confusion and turmoil in Europe, investors are ditching whatever hopes they once had for a conclusive solution to the debt crisis.

That may foreshadow a gloomy holiday season in markets, especially if wary investors opt to reduce risk in their portfolios and take refuge in U.S. Treasuries and the dollar.

Just weeks after it seemed leaders had drafted a master plan to solve the crisis, doubts rose about whether Greece would back a 130 billion-euro bailout.

And as politicians in Athens struggled to form a consensus government, Italian bond yields spiked to a euro-era high of 6.4 percent, raising fears that the country may soon need to follow Greece and others in seeking an emergency bailout.

"At the end of the day, it does seem like a grand plan is elusive at best," said David Ader, head of government bond strategy at CRT Capital Group in Stamford, Connecticut.

"We've seen one European bank and one U.S. brokerage fail. We know there are strains for French banks. We're wondering how long it will be before Greek default worries spread to Italy and Spain," he said. "In a situation like that, money managers are going to decide to simply take their risk down."

Investors are betting the market will see evidence of that as soon as this week, as flight-to-safety flows help boost U.S. Treasury debt, lift the dollar against the euro and weigh on stock markets around the world.

The biggest fear is that a disorderly default in Greece or elsewhere would ripple across the global financial market the same way the Lehman Brothers collapse did in 2008. That, investors fear, would probably be enough to plunge the global economy into recession.

"This is going to be pretty negative news for risk markets," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in Chicago. "We are going to see a continued flight-to-quality tomorrow."

Benchmark U.S. 10-year note yields dropped more than 29 basis points in the past week and a half as worries about Europe overshadowed signs of economic improvement in America.

FADING RISK RALLIES

Ashraf Laidi, CEO of Intermarket Strategy in London, said he expected the euro to struggle again this week after losing nearly 3 percent against the dollar last week. By year end, he said it could fall below $1.30. It was around $1.38 Friday.

"This past week really raised some tricky questions," he said. "For the first time I can remember, the possibility that Greece really could leave the euro zone was being talked about in cafes and bars as well as on trading desks."

If Greece can cobble together a new unity government that backs the EU rescue plan, that might, "at least for a while, be a market-stabilizing factor," said Citigroup currency strategist Greg Anderson.

Prime Minister George Papandreou suggested Sunday he was ready to pass the baton.

But that is not likely to cheer investors much, meaning any rally in stocks or the euro will be shallow and brief.

"These 24-hour risk-on rallies, I don't know how much longer people are going to be willing to do that," said Ader. "Sell-offs are getting deeper because the rallies are only short-covering moves. People are not getting long and putting on bets that everything is suddenly OK."

FROM GREECE TO ITALY

Alan Ruskin, head of G10 currency strategy at Deutsche Bank in New York, said the focus is likely to shift from Greece to Italy fairly quickly in the weeks ahead, and that should mean more market volatility and unwillingness to take on risk.

Italy's debt-to-output ratio stands at 120 percent, second only to Greece in the 17-country euro zone, and its borrowing costs are rising.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi recently refused a loan offer by the International Monetary Fund and his government may be on the verge of collapse.

"Berlusconi says Italians are not feeling the crisis but that's because the European Central Bank has been providing high levels of liquidity at low interest rates and buying Italian bonds," Ruskin said. "That begs the question, should the ECB stop that to show them this is really a crisis?"

"I have to believe a lot of investors like me are thinking this could be the start of Italy week," said James Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Wells Capital Management in Minneapolis. "Italy is going to rapidly rise on investor radar screens and may be the bigger story."

(Additional reporting by Richard Leong, Daniel Bases, Karen Brettell and Julie Haviv in New York; editing by Bernard Orr)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111106/bs_nm/us_markets_europe_turmoil

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Analysis: Cain turmoil major distraction for GOP (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain's halting response to sex harassment allegations is causing a major distraction in the GOP race and drawing attention away from his rivals' efforts to gain ground or announce initiatives.

It's unclear how much the anonymous accusations will hurt Cain, a former pizza company executive and past head of the National Restaurant Association. But a fourth woman was prepared to change the dynamic on Monday by becoming the first to publicly accuse Cain of engaging in inappropriate sexual behavior.

For now, the allegations have heightened intra-party tensions, with Texas Gov. Rick Perry briefly having to deny that his campaign leaked damaging information, before Cain dropped that charge. And the controversy continued to dominate headlines Friday, when former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney made a detailed speech on spending and Medicare in Washington.

The focus on Cain seemed to freeze the campaign into place for a full week, when Perry was hoping to make progress in positioning himself as the top alternative to Romney.

"Perry has got 60 days to make his case," said Republican consultant Mike McKenna. Every day that Cain stays at the top of the polls or otherwise dominates the news, he said, "it's a day that Perry loses."

Many people in the Republican establishment always assumed Cain would fade, much as Rep. Michele Bachmann did when Perry entered the race in August.

Many still feel that way, and they assume the slow, messy unwinding of the charges and counter-charges won't help him.

"Fair or unfair, is anybody more likely to vote for Herman Cain as a result of these allegations? The answer is no," said Phil Musser, a GOP strategist unaffiliated with any campaign. "He was starting to build a bridge into establishment support," Musser said. "That bridge has largely been demolished."

But the harassment allegations, which Cain strongly denies, seem to have rallied some people to his side.

LaDonna Ryggs, Republican Party chairwoman in Spartanburg County, S.C., sees no reason to back away from Cain.

"You give me some substance to the questions and then we can talk," Ryggs said early last week. On Friday, after the weeklong parade of news, Ryggs said nothing had changed.

Many Democrats, meanwhile, are delighted. They say the focus on Cain supports their contention that the GOP base is outside the mainstream and eager to back unprepared candidates with unworkable policies. These Democrats hope the controversy and Cain's die-hard supporters will raise voters' doubts about the entire Republican field, including Romney, the GOP establishment's favorite.

"Herman Cain's rise says a lot more about how slow the Republican Party has been to coalesce behind Mitt Romney than anything else," said Bill Burton, a former spokesman for President Barack Obama.

New York-based Democratic consultant Rebecca Kirszner Katz said Cain's support is the latest evidence of the Republican base's conservative nature.

"Sarah Palin showed that large segments of the tea party Republican base will overlook anything as long as a candidate is ideologically pure," Katz said in an email. "The good news for Democrats is that Republican candidates are going so far to the extreme on social issues" including abortion and family planning.

In next year's showdown with Obama, Katz said, GOP candidates "are going to have a hard time winning back the national electorate."

Cain has never held public office or been a military hero. Americans in modern times have never elected a president without one of those credentials. Should he win the nomination, let alone the presidency, it probably would rank as a bigger political upset than Obama winning the presidency only four years after leaving the Illinois Legislature.

Both men are black. But Cain faces more barriers in the heavily white Republican Party.

The spotlight on Cain also serves as a reminder that Romney has been unable to pull away from a less-than-overwhelming field. He has been stuck at about 25 percent in the Republican polls, and now he's running about even with a candidate with big problems.

But some Republican insiders see Cain's travails as a two-edged sword for Romney. The longer Cain dominates political headlines, the harder it is for Perry ? who many see as having the most resources and skills to challenge Romney ? to get his campaign back on track.

Some prominent Republicans seem to be losing patience with the Cain distractions. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a former party chairman, told NBC's "Meet the Press" that "people need to know what the facts are." He said Cain should "get those out as quickly as possible."

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, another presidential contender, said on the same program: "it's up to Herman Cain to get the information out, and get it out in total."

Cain said Saturday he would speak no more about the allegations.

Georgia Republican Party Chairwoman Sue Everhart said Cain probably needs to have his anonymous accusers released from their confidentiality agreements with the National Restaurant Association if he wants the matter to go away.

"I think he has to completely put it behind him or it will continue to be a problem," Everhart said. "He's got to do the housekeeping duties and clean this up."

Everhart has often worked in politics with Cain, who lives in Atlanta.

"He always gives me a big hug," she said. "Otherwise I'd think he was mad at me. He's very outgoing, and sometimes people don't like to be touched."

___

Charles Babington covers politics for The Associated Press.

___

AP writers Shannon McCaffrey in Atlanta, Jim Davenport in Columbia, S.C. and Laurie Kellman in Washington contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111107/ap_on_an/us_cain_analysis

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/i0CHkZCfQrM/

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Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/hLGl7rJIcwc/this-weeks-top-web-comedy-video-top-chef-dads

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