Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Bust! Tobey Maguire Pays $80,000 in Poker Lawsuit

One of the reasons Tobey Maguire is such a great poker player is that he knows when to hold 'em, and he knows when to fold 'em. Taking the latter route, the 36-year-old Spider-Man star has agreed to pay $80,000 of the $311,000 he allegedly won from convicted Ponzi schemer Brad Ruderman in a series of high-stakes underground poker games.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/tobey-maguire-settles-poker-lawsuit/1-a-406214?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Atobey-maguire-settles-poker-lawsuit-406214

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Reporter: Tabloid agenda driven by sensationalism

British reporter Nick Davies of the Guardian newspaper arrives at the High Court, to give evidence to the Leveson Inquiry in central London Tuesday Nov. 29, 2011. Top journalists involved with the phone hacking scandal are expected to expose some secrets of the trade at the Leveson inquiry. Three are set to testify, including ex-News of the World reporter Paul McMullan and the Guardian's Nick Davies, who has exposed much of the press wrongdoing. The committee has heard about rampant abuse in its search for a new way to regulate the press. (AP Photo/John Stillwell/PA Wire) UNITED KINGDOM OUT

British reporter Nick Davies of the Guardian newspaper arrives at the High Court, to give evidence to the Leveson Inquiry in central London Tuesday Nov. 29, 2011. Top journalists involved with the phone hacking scandal are expected to expose some secrets of the trade at the Leveson inquiry. Three are set to testify, including ex-News of the World reporter Paul McMullan and the Guardian's Nick Davies, who has exposed much of the press wrongdoing. The committee has heard about rampant abuse in its search for a new way to regulate the press. (AP Photo/John Stillwell/PA Wire) UNITED KINGDOM OUT

LONDON (AP) ? A former reporter says the tabloid news agenda is driven by sensationalism rather than a desire to tell the truth.

Richard Peppiatt said "much of tabloid journalism is not truth-seeking primarily. It's ideologically driven and it's impact-driven."

Peppiatt worked for the downmarket Daily Star but has become a critic of underhanded tabloid practices.

Peppiatt and other journalists are giving evidence to the British media ethics inquiry Tuesday after a week in which celebrities and victims of crime described how their lives had been disrupted by media intrusion.

Prime Minister David Cameron set up the inquiry in response to the scandal that began with illegal eavesdropping by the News of the World tabloid.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-11-29-EU-Britain-Phone-Hacking/id-eca9341d82524d809faec2b9718d31e6

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PETA Anchorage Protest Causes Stir Among Alaskan Natives (ContributorNetwork)

PETA has caused a big stir in Alaska after two girls in Anchorage posed nude for the 'I'd rather go naked than wear fur campain'. Surprisingly it wasn't their public nudity that caused an uproar, but rather their message. This isn't the first year women have posed naked on the streets of the northern state, but this is the first year they seem to have crossed the line.

During an interview with local Anchorage station one of the two girls made a comment stating "It's not that warm anyways. People wear it for fashion nowadays." Evidently when hundreds of Native Americans around Alaska heard this comment they were sincerely offended.

As one local resident of a Yup'ik village said, "Fur has been a part of the culture here for hundreds of years. Beaver fur hats, seal skin mukluks, and rabbit fur parkas are not worn to make a statement, they're worn because they're the most logical accessory for our climate. If it weren't for fur there would be no people here - they would have frozen to death years ago. Fur is not a fashion sense to us, it's a way of life."

The resident went on to explain how the fur used by many people around America is actually a byproduct of food. With the American economy hitting a downfall many Americans are resorting to a subsistence lifestyle to survive. A rural Alaskan trapper also explained. "Everyone who traps in rural Alaska is usually doing so for the meat. The fur is a way to pay for the gas needed to travel to get that food. And what people don't eat, sled dogs do," he explains, "And it's the same all around the United States. It's not unheard of for fur trappers to eat the meat of their catch. Everything from raccoon to lynx is edible. In this day and age it's probably the best skill anyone could learn. Not only do trappers bring in much needed income with their catch they also literally provide food for their families. There's a lot of misconceptions related to this career and this isn't the first time PETA has spread misinformation regarding fur."

Some people in western Alaska have even come together in the hopes that PETA will hear their message. "We just want them to have their facts straight," Dawn Webb of Mountain Village states, "We could respect their opinions and even their protests if they would have the facts correct. It's hard to take them seriously when they aren't giving a serious argument. It's actually quite offensive and degrading of the local Eskimo and Indian culture."

PETA hasn't made a comment on the offensive statements of its nude representatives, but they did proudly advertise the girls' protest on its official website.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/pets/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20111130/us_ac/10560487_peta_anchorage_protest_causes_stir_among_alaskan_natives

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Cyber Monday on course for another record (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? "Cyber Monday" was on course to set another record for retail sales on Monday, as the strong start to the holiday shopping season continued online.

Online sales as of 6 pm Eastern time in the U.S. were up 15 percent versus the same period last year, IBM Benchmark, a unit of International Business Machines, said.

ChannelAdvisor, a software company that helps retailers sell more online, said its clients saw same-store sales rise 40.2 percent during the first half of Cyber Monday, versus the same period a year earlier.

Cyber Monday is traditionally the first Monday after Thanksgiving when employees return to offices and purchase items with their work computers.

"Consumers are responding to retail promotions and are doing a greater percentage of their holiday shopping from their desk," said Eric Best of e-commerce firm Mercent.

Retailers that have been Mercent clients for at least a year saw online sales jump 37 percent during the morning of Cyber Monday, compared to the same period last year.

"It's better than we were expecting," Best added. "But this may be a shift to people buying earlier, rather than an increase in the total volume of online sales for the whole holiday shopping period."

In 2010, Cyber Monday sales topped $1 billion, making it the heaviest day of online spending ever, according to comScore Inc. This year, the firm expects Cyber Monday sales to exceed last year's tally.

"This will be the biggest day for retail sales online ever," said John Squire of IBM's Smarter Commerce initiative. "Retailers are doing a great job promoting and discounting to consumers on the days they want to shop."

AMAZON

ChannelAdvisor said clients saw same-store sales via Amazon.com surge 51.4 percent during the first half of Cyber Monday, compared to a year earlier.

Amazon has done a lot of new promotions and emailing to its customer base this holiday season, which has increased visits to the company's website, Scot Wingo, chief executive of ChannelAdvisor, said.

Interest in the company's new Kindle Fire tablet computer has also driven consumers to the website, he added.

Amazon.com had 50 percent more visitors on Black Friday than any other retailer, according to comScore data.

"The site is very good at recommending other products to customers once they're there," Wingo said.

Amazon shares rose 6.4 percent to close at $194.15 on Monday.

EBAY

ChannelAdvisor clients saw same-store sales via eBay's online marketplace climb 17.1 percent during the first half of Cyber Monday, versus the same period last year.

Mercent clients saw same-store sales via eBay more than double early on Cyber Monday, compared to last year.

That was partly driven by new sellers on eBay that are growing quickly from a smaller start, Best said.

However, eBay has improved its marketplace this year to help fixed-price sellers, rather than the auction sellers for which the company used to be known, Best added.

Earlier this year, eBay introduced a new online checkout basket that lets shoppers purchase multiple products from different sellers at the same time, Best explained.

"The eBay shopping experience is becoming more Amazon-like every day," Best said.

EBay shares rose 5.1 percent to close at $29.66 on Monday.

(Reporting by Alistair Barr; editing by Carol Bishopric)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111129/wr_nm/us_usa_retail_cybermonday

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Hungary not playing "Turkish game" with IMF talks (Reuters)

BUDAPEST (Reuters) ? Hungary hopes that credit rating agencies Fitch and S&P will wait for the results of its talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Union (EU) before taking any rating action, a top government official said on Sunday.

The country, whose economy is seen among the most vulnerable in central Europe, returned to the IMF for help after more than a year without a financing backstop, only to see its debt downgraded to "junk" by Moody's this week, triggering a market selloff.

The right-of-center government, which called the downgrade part of a speculative attack against the country, performed a dramatic about-face and agreed on Friday to mend ties with the EU, the IMF and the country's banks to stabilize the economy.

Hungary expects to conclude the talks on a precautionary arrangement by late January or early February, to draw what it called a safety net around its currency and bond markets amid the turmoil in the euro zone.

"We are not playing the Turkish game," Economy Ministry State Secretary Zoltan Csefalvay told Reuters in an interview, referring to the stop-go game which helped Turkey retain market confidence some years ago.

Hungary is also on the brink of non-investment grade credit status at both Fitch and Standard & Poor's, both of which attach a negative outlook to their ratings.

"I hope that the two agencies will wait for the negotiation (with the IMF) and what the outcome will be and how this safety net will help Hungary in this turbulent time," Csefalvay said.

He said the spike in government bond yields, which rose above 9 percent across the curve on Friday, was temporary and said he was confident the yields would recede.

"I think it is an immediate reaction and certainly we should wait how the market will react on it," he said. "As we have seen in other countries, it will stabilize at a lower level."

He said it was up to the National Bank of Hungary as to whether it hikes interest rates at its next policy meeting on Tuesday, even if a hike would further hinder growth.

"The central bank is independent in Hungary," he said. "If it (hikes rates), it is the independent decision of the National Bank of Hungary. We accept it."

RATE HIKE

The government has criticized the central bank's rate increases between November 2010 and January 2011, which brought rates to their current 6 percent level.

The rate has been unchanged since January, but in the wake of the downgrade analysts expect the bank to hike the rate by 25 to 200 basis points on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban ended aid negotiations with the IMF last year in what he said was an economic "freedom fight."

Although it has been forced back to the international lender the government has insisted it will aim for as much flexibility on economic policy as possible during the talks.

However, Csefalvay said Budapest would not shy away from discussing controversial policies, including windfall taxes on banks, as well as other policies that hurt the financial sector, such as mandatory below-market exchange rates to repay foreign currency mortgages.

"We can discuss certainly ... these crisis taxes, the bank levy or the FX mortgage repayment scheme, whether this is right or not," Csefalvay said. "But all of Europe faces new problems and to solve these we need risk and burden sharing."

He noted that the crisis taxes, the bank levy and other such measures were temporary and the government was in the middle of executing reforms that he said would allow phasing out the taxes from 2013.

"The market sees some uncertainty as to what will happen when these (crisis) measures are abolished. We have more than one year to that time. We are in the middle of many important reforms, and we should push (them) through," he said.

Csefalvay said the government would continue to pursue a growth-centered agenda even as it planned next year's budget with a growth estimate in the 0.5 to 1 percent range, below a prior target of 1.5 percent.

However, if the cabinet sees any fiscal slippage next year, it will not hesitate to take steps to raise more revenue, much like September's excise tax hike, he said.

(Reporting by Marton Dunai; Editing by David Holmes)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111127/bs_nm/us_hungary_imf

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Norwegian study finds opening bars longer increases violence

Norwegian study finds opening bars longer increases violence [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 29-Nov-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Jean O'Reilly
jean@addictionjournal.org
44-207-848-0853
Wiley-Blackwell

A new study published today in the international journal Addiction demonstrates that even small changes in pub and bar closing hours seem to affect the number of violent incidents. The findings suggest that a one-hour extension of bar closing hours led to an increase of an average of 20 violent cases at night on weekends per 100,000 people per year. This represents an increase in violence of approximately 16 percent.

The results suggest that the effect occurs both ways. In other words, reducing trading hours by one hour leads to a decrease in violence of the same magnitude as the increase in violence seen if closing hours are increased by one hour.

Lead author Professor Ingeborg Rossow said "These findings echo the results from studies from around the world that you see more violence in cities when you extend trading hours."

The study is based on data from 18 Norwegian cities that expanded or restricted their closing hours by up to two hours in the decade 2000 2010. Researchers examined whether these changes affected violence in the city centre on weekend nights. Violence outside the town during the same time window, which was not likely to be affected by changes in closing hours, was used as a control for other factors.

In these 18 cities weekend closing hours were between one and three at night, early by comparison to many cities around the world.

These findings come more than a year after the Norwegian government proposed reducing sales hours for on-premises trading to reduce violence and public nuisance. The proposal was supported by police commissioners but rejected by alcohol businesses and right wing political parties who claimed that reduced sales hours would not reduce violence.

Study co-author Professor Thor Norstrm said "These findings hold important implications for communities around the world who are struggling to deal with the massive burden of alcohol-related harm. If you want to reduce alcohol-related harm, restricting trading hours of licensed venues seems to be an effective measure."

###

Full citation: Rossow I. and Norstrm T. The impact of small changes in bar closing hours on violence: The Norwegian experience from 18 cities. Addiction, 106: doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2011.03643.x

About Addiction

Addiction (www.addictionjournal.org) is a monthly international scientific journal publishing more than 2000 pages every year. Owned by the Society for the Study of Addiction, it has been in continuous publication since 1884.

Addiction is the top journal in the field of substance abuse and is number one in the 2010 ISI Journal Citation Reports Ranking in the Substance Abuse Category. Addiction publishes peer-reviewed research reports on alcohol, illicit drugs and tobacco, bringing together research conducted within many different disciplines, as well as editorials and other debate pieces.

Addiction's key findings webpage lists the key scientific advances reported in each monthly issue, article by article, in bite-sized chunks. To access this free service, visit www.addictionjournal.org/keyfindings


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Norwegian study finds opening bars longer increases violence [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 29-Nov-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Jean O'Reilly
jean@addictionjournal.org
44-207-848-0853
Wiley-Blackwell

A new study published today in the international journal Addiction demonstrates that even small changes in pub and bar closing hours seem to affect the number of violent incidents. The findings suggest that a one-hour extension of bar closing hours led to an increase of an average of 20 violent cases at night on weekends per 100,000 people per year. This represents an increase in violence of approximately 16 percent.

The results suggest that the effect occurs both ways. In other words, reducing trading hours by one hour leads to a decrease in violence of the same magnitude as the increase in violence seen if closing hours are increased by one hour.

Lead author Professor Ingeborg Rossow said "These findings echo the results from studies from around the world that you see more violence in cities when you extend trading hours."

The study is based on data from 18 Norwegian cities that expanded or restricted their closing hours by up to two hours in the decade 2000 2010. Researchers examined whether these changes affected violence in the city centre on weekend nights. Violence outside the town during the same time window, which was not likely to be affected by changes in closing hours, was used as a control for other factors.

In these 18 cities weekend closing hours were between one and three at night, early by comparison to many cities around the world.

These findings come more than a year after the Norwegian government proposed reducing sales hours for on-premises trading to reduce violence and public nuisance. The proposal was supported by police commissioners but rejected by alcohol businesses and right wing political parties who claimed that reduced sales hours would not reduce violence.

Study co-author Professor Thor Norstrm said "These findings hold important implications for communities around the world who are struggling to deal with the massive burden of alcohol-related harm. If you want to reduce alcohol-related harm, restricting trading hours of licensed venues seems to be an effective measure."

###

Full citation: Rossow I. and Norstrm T. The impact of small changes in bar closing hours on violence: The Norwegian experience from 18 cities. Addiction, 106: doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2011.03643.x

About Addiction

Addiction (www.addictionjournal.org) is a monthly international scientific journal publishing more than 2000 pages every year. Owned by the Society for the Study of Addiction, it has been in continuous publication since 1884.

Addiction is the top journal in the field of substance abuse and is number one in the 2010 ISI Journal Citation Reports Ranking in the Substance Abuse Category. Addiction publishes peer-reviewed research reports on alcohol, illicit drugs and tobacco, bringing together research conducted within many different disciplines, as well as editorials and other debate pieces.

Addiction's key findings webpage lists the key scientific advances reported in each monthly issue, article by article, in bite-sized chunks. To access this free service, visit www.addictionjournal.org/keyfindings


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-11/w-nsf112811.php

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Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Euro "Stability Union" could be achieved fast: Schaeuble (Reuters)

BERLIN (Reuters) ? Euro zone countries could create a Stability Union to secure deeper fiscal integration relatively quickly, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Sunday.

"One can do that quickly," he told ARD television, referring to changes to the Lisbon Treaty that Germany has wanted to allow much tighter budget controls in the 17 euro zone countries.

"The goal is for the member states of the common currency to create their own Stability Union and to concentrate on that," Schaeuble said.

In Brussels earlier on Sunday, EU officials said Germany and France are exploring radical methods of securing deeper and more rapid fiscal integration among euro zone countries, aware that getting broad backing for the necessary treaty changes may not be possible.

Germany's original plan was to secure agreement among all 27 EU countries for a limited change to the Lisbon Treaty by the end of 2012, a way of shoring up the region's defences against the debt crisis.

But in meetings with EU leaders in recent weeks, it has become clear to both German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy that it may not be possible to get all 27 countries on board, EU sources say.

Even if that were possible, it could take a year or more to secure the changes while market attacks on Italy, Spain and now France suggest bold measures are needed within weeks.

As a result, senior French and German civil servants have been exploring other ways of achieving the goal, either via an agreement among just the euro zone countries, or a separate agreement outside the EU treaty that could involve a core of around 8-10 euro zone countries, officials say.

Schaeuble said a Stability Union could be a decisive step to winning more confidence from the markets.

"The important signal, to convince financial investors in the world, is and remains a stable currency," Schaeuble said. That means that every euro zone member has to do its homework on its budget discipline.

"We want to ensure that through treaty changes," he said.

(Reporting by Erik Kirschbaum; editing by David Stamp)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111127/bs_nm/us_eurozone_germany_schaeuble

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Bachmann tries to regain SC tea party supporters (AP)

COLUMBIA, S.C. ? White House hopeful Michele Bachmann is questioning GOP presidential rival Newt Gingrich's consistency on the issues as she tries to reclaim tea party support in South Carolina.

Bachmann said Monday that she hasn't been a longtime Washington insider like the former House speaker and some other candidates. She notes that she founded the congressional Tea Party Caucus.

Bachmann listed a group of 37 South Carolina conservatives who are supporting her campaign. This, as Gingrich begins three days of campaigning in the first-in-the-South primary state. Polls suggest Gingrich has become one of the leading conservative alternatives to the frontrunner, Mitt Romney.

Bachmann will be in the state for three days beginning Friday as she promotes her new book.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111128/ap_on_go_ot/sc_bachmann_tea_party

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Adviser: Cain reassessing his campaign (AP)

ATLANTA ? Embattled presidential candidate Herman Cain told staffers Tuesday that he's reassessing his campaign a day after an Atlanta businesswoman alleged a 13-year extramarital affair with the Republican.

Cain has fiercely denied the affair as well as several other accusations of inappropriate sexual behavior that have surfaced over the past month and he has repeatedly vowed to stay in the race. He told senior staff in a mid-morning conference call lasting roughly 10 minutes that all public events will go forward this week but he will review the campaign's strategy over the next several days.

One participant on the call, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the private nature of the conversation, said that as part of that assessment, Cain's campaign is examining the impact of the newest allegations. This person described the tone as positive but also said there was some uncertainty coming from Cain.

"He said obviously it's taken an emotional toll on his family, but he's moving ahead with the campaign," said Steve Grubbs, Cain's Iowa campaign chairman. "He said that they will be reassessing the campaign."

Grubbs added: "He said this lady was a friend, someone he thought was a friend, that he was trying to help out financially and had been a friend for some period of time. But that nothing inappropriate occurred."

___(equals)

Associated Press writer Steve Peoples in New Hampshire contributed to this report. Beaumont reported from Iowa.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111129/ap_on_el_pr/us_cain

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DNC attacks Mitt Romney as a flip-flopper in new ad (The Ticket)

Democrats accuse Mitt Romney of behaving as if he's two men "trapped" in the same body in a new television attack ad set to air this week in several cities across the country.

In an effort to build on their decision to label Romney a "flip-flopper" this election season, the Democratic National Committee uses the commercial to question the former Massachusetts governor' position on health care and abortion. (You can view the ad above.)

"From the creator of 'I'm running for office for Pete's sake,' comes the story of two men trapped in one body," the ad's narrator states, spoofing a film trailer. The commercial, paid for by the Democratic National Committee, will be aired in Albuquerque, N.M., Raleigh, N.C., Columbus, Ohio, Pittsburgh, Penn., Milwaukee, Wis. and Washington, D.C.? The ad points viewers to website mittvmitt.com where visitors as of Monday were able to view a four-minute video building on the same flip-flopper theme.

The strategy feeds into Romney's campaign argument that President Obama and his supporters view Romney as their biggest threat for 2012.

Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul on Sunday turned the ad around on Democrats, arguing in a statement that Obama is the one who should be faulted for changing his positions:

President Obama will say and do anything to hold on to power. Despite what he said he would do for the middle class, President Obama has failed to create a single net new job and has wreaked more havoc on the middle class than any president in modern history. President Obama himself concedes he hasn't delivered on his campaign promises--however, he is still asking Americans to reward his failures with a second term. It is clear that this election is going to be about Candidate Obama running against President Obama.

Other popular Yahoo! News stories:

Want more of our best political stories? Visit The Ticket or connect with us on Facebook and follow us

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theticket/20111128/el_yblog_theticket/dnc-attacks-mitt-romney-as-a-flip-flopper-in-new-ad

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Dangerous drugs stolen from Fla. paramedics

By Associated Press

Palm Beach County authorities are searching for a stolen box of medications that includes some highly dangerous drugs.

The box was stolen from a fire rescue vehicle in West Palm Beach on Saturday.

Authorities told The Palm Beach Post??that the box contains drugs that could result in paralysis, unconsciousness and death if injected or ingested.

The box is orange, has the initials "RSI" and contains three vials of Ketamine, three syringes of Etomidate and two vials of Norcuron. Ketamine and Etomidate are anesthetics and Norcuron is a muscle relaxant.

Source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/27/9049425-highly-dangerous-drugs-stolen-from-fla-paramedics

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December is Cancer Related Fatigue Awareness Month

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J.?Between 70 percent and 100 percent of cancer patients receiving treatment suffer from fatigue related to their condition, according to the American Cancer Society, and up to one-half of all survivors have reported fatigue lasting months or even years after treatment. Fatigue can be one of the most distressing side effects of cancer treatment and can sometimes be overlooked by patients, caregivers and doctors.

Cancer-related fatigue can affect personal relationships, one?s sense of well-being, and even compliance with treatment. The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) is making experts available to discuss the symptoms, signs, and causes of cancer-related fatigue during this Cancer-Related Fatigue Awareness Month. CINJ is a Center of Excellence of UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

Signs of cancer-related fatigue include feeling tired or exhausted even after sleep, having trouble concentrating, feeling unmotivated and lacking interest in normal day-to-day activities. Cancer fatigue is very different from the fatigue of everyday life, because it is not relieved by rest and often hits unexpectedly, affecting a person?s ability to perform ordinary tasks.

Many patients believe that fatigue is a side effect from treatment that cannot be managed; however, while there is no cure, there are ways to cope with and reduce symptoms. A few ways to manage cancer-related fatigue are getting rest, but not too much rest, staying active with regular moderate exercise, planning ahead to save 0energy for when it will be needed most, eating well and getting a strong support system in line.

Source: Cancer Institute of New Jersey

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Source: http://www.endonurse.com/news/2011/11/december-is-cancer-related-fatigue-awareness-month.aspx

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Monday, November 28, 2011

Engadget's Cyber Monday 2011 roundup

Didn't feel like brawling for two-dollar waffle makers at Wally World this past Black Friday? Don't fret, because Cyber Monday is just a few hours away -- there are literally only a few clicks between you and some awesome online deals. Best of all, you don't even need leave your abode or bear lines in the cold. Just like we did for BF, we've spotted some deals in advance and thrown 'em just past the break -- sure, it's only Sunday, but don't tell that to the retailers whose sales are currently ongoing! Unless you want to miss out on some chances to save on the gadgets you've been pining for, join us past the break for our full rundown. And as usual, if you spot anything we've missed, be sure to let us know in the comments. Ready. Set. Save!

(pssst: Don't forget to keep checking back, as we'll be constantly updating this post with even more deals as we come across them!)

Continue reading Engadget's Cyber Monday 2011 roundup

Engadget's Cyber Monday 2011 roundup originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Nov 2011 09:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/9ZkVElW0phQ/

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Glenrock founder likes Hitachi, Gencorp, not Hasbro (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Japanese industrial giant Hitachi (6501.T) could double its earnings in the next couple of years, veteran investor Michael Katz told Barron's.

The founder and managing partner of Glenrock Asset Management also favors U.S. aerospace company Gencorp (GY.N) and French automaker Renault (RENA.PA), he said in an interview in the latest edition of the business weekly.

But he is negative about toymaker Hasbro (HAS.O).

Asked about some of Glenrock's positions, Katz said investor concerns about Gencorp in the face of defense spending cuts were "misplaced."

"As a rocket engine maker, Gencorp is relatively insulated from Defense Department cuts," Barron's quoted him as saying.

Katz said the company has annual sales of $900 million and an order backlog that has risen 11 percent from last year to $1.5 billion.

He said Gencorp's stock could rise as high as $15 from its current $4.78.

Katz also said he was positive about Hitachi, which makes everything from bullet trains to power plants and elevators.

Following a restructuring by Hitachi's new president last year, he said there was potential for further restructuring.

"We think earnings can easily double over the next couple of years and then keep on growing from there."

Katz told Barron's he was also positive about Renault, Florida land developer St Joe (JOE.N), Japanese airport operator Japan Airport Terminal (9706.T) and Canadian gold miner European Goldfields (EGU.TO).

But he was negative about Hasbro because the toymaker is facing a "problematic cultural shift" as children play less with games and puzzles and more with electronic video games.

"Earnings results in 2011 have been disappointing so far and we think estimates for 2012 remain too high."

Katz said he valued Hasbro in the mid-20's, putting a 10 times multiple on his estimate of $2.60 a share on 2012 estimates. Hasbro was trading at $34.26 last week.

(Reporting by Steve James; Editing by Diane Craft)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111127/bs_nm/us_glenrock

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Sunday, November 27, 2011

Former NYT columnist, author Tom Wicker dies

In this Sept. 13, 1963 photo, former New York Times reporter Tom Wicker stands in front of the White House in Washington. Wicker, who covered President John F. Kennedy?s assassination for the Times, went on to serve as the paper's Washington bureau chief and columnist has died at his home in Rochester, Vt. He was 85. (AP Photo/The New York Times, George Tames) MANDATORY CREDIT; NO ARCHIVE; FOR USE WITH TOM WICKER?S OBITUARY ONLY

In this Sept. 13, 1963 photo, former New York Times reporter Tom Wicker stands in front of the White House in Washington. Wicker, who covered President John F. Kennedy?s assassination for the Times, went on to serve as the paper's Washington bureau chief and columnist has died at his home in Rochester, Vt. He was 85. (AP Photo/The New York Times, George Tames) MANDATORY CREDIT; NO ARCHIVE; FOR USE WITH TOM WICKER?S OBITUARY ONLY

In this September 1971 photo, civil rights attorney William Kunstler, left, talks to Amsterdam News Publisher Clarence Jones, right, with New York Times reporter Tom Wicker, center, in the background outside Attica Prison in Attica, N.Y. Wicker, who covered President John F. Kennedy?s assassination for the Times, went on to serve as the paper's Washington bureau chief and columnist, has died at his home in Rochester, Vt. He was 85. (AP Photo/The New York Times, William E. Sauro) MANDATORY CREDIT; NO SALES; NO ARCHIVE; FOR USE WITH TOM WICKER?S OBITUARY ONLY

(AP) ? Tom Wicker, the former New York Times political reporter and columnist whose career soared following his acclaimed coverage of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, died Friday at his home in Rochester, Vt. He was 85.

Wicker died after an apparent heart attack Friday morning, his wife Pamela said.

"He'd been ill with things that come from being 85," she said. "He died in his bedroom looking out at the countryside that he loved."

Wicker grew up in poverty in Hamlet, N.C., and wanted to be a novelist, but pursued journalism when his early books didn't catch fire. He worked at weekly and daily newspapers in North Carolina before winning a spot as a political correspondent in the Times' Washington bureau in 1960.

Three years later, he was the only Times reporter to be traveling with Kennedy when the president was shot in Dallas.

Gay Talese, author of the major history of The New York Times, wrote of Wicker's coverage: "It was a remarkable achievement in reporting and writing, in collecting facts out of confusion, in reconstructing the most deranged day in his life, the despair and bitterness and disbelief, and then getting on a telephone to New York and dictating the story in a voice that only rarely cracked with emotion."

One year later, Wicker was named Washington bureau chief of the Times, succeeding newspaper legend James Reston, who had hired Wicker and called him "one of the most able political reporters of his generation."

In 1966, Wicker began his "In the Nation" column, becoming, along with colleague Anthony Lewis, a longtime liberal voice on the Op-Ed page. Two years later he was named associate editor of the Times, a post he held until 1985.

He ended his column and retired to Vermont in 1991 but continued to write. He published 20 books, ranging from novels about gritty, hard-scrabble life in the South to reflections on the presidents he knew.

Among his books was "A Time to Die," winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award in 1976, which recounted Wicker's 1971 experience as an observer and mediator of a prison rebellion at New York's Attica prison.

Wicker, the son of a railroad man, started in journalism in 1949 at the weekly Sandhill Citizen in Aberdeen, N.C., where he was paid $37.50 a week to report on such local news stories as the discovery of "the first beaver dam in anyone's memory on a local creek."

He moved on to a local daily and then to the larger Winston-Salem Journal, where he worked for most of the 50s, with time out in 1957-58 to serve as a Nieman fellow at Harvard University. He went to work for the Nashville Tennessean in 1959 but then a year later was hired by Reston.

In mid-1961, when Times veteran Bill Lawrence abruptly quit his post as White House correspondent in a dispute with management, Wicker got the assignment. He said it was a dream assignment ? "sooner or later most of the government's newsworthy business passes through the White House" ? and especially covering the excitement of the Kennedy era.

On Nov. 22, 1963, Wicker was in the first press bus following the Kennedy motorcade when the president was assassinated. He would later write in a memoir that the day was a turning point for the country: "The shots ringing out in Dealey Plaza marked the beginning of the end of innocence."

At that moment, however, all he knew was that he was covering one of the biggest stories in history. "At first no one knew what happened, or how, or where, much less why," he later wrote. "Gradually, bits and pieces began to fall together."

Wicker dictated his story from phones grabbed here and there, with most of his writing done at a desk in the upper level of the Dallas airport. "I would write two pages, run down the stairs, across the waiting room, grab a phone and dictate," Wicker later wrote. "Dictating each take, I would throw in items I hadn't written, sometimes whole paragraphs."

Although Wicker didn't even have a reporter's notebook that day and scribbled all of his notes on the backs of printed itineraries of the presidential visit, his story captured the detail and color of the tragic events.

Describing the president's widow as she left the hospital in Dallas, Wicker wrote: "Her face was sorrowful. She looked steadily at the floor. She still wore the raspberry-colored suit in which she greeted welcoming crowds in Fort Worth and Dallas. But she had taken off the matching pillbox hat she had worn earlier in the day, and her dark hair was windblown and tangled. Her hand rested lightly on her husband's coffin as it was taken to a waiting hearse."

In 1966, Wicker was named a national columnist, replacing retiring Times' icon Arthur Krock, who had covered 10 presidents. Wicker's first column reported on a political rally in Montana. He would later say that it was a huge step to move from detached observer to opinion holder ? and especially in the times he was writing.

"My own transition from reporter to columnist coincided roughly with the immense American political re-evaluation that sprang in the sixties from the Vietnam War and the movement against it, from the ghetto riots in the major cities, and from the brief flowering of the counterculture," Wicker wrote in his 1978 book, "On Press."

Wicker was not lacking in opinions, though, and over the years took strong and sometimes unpredictable stands, emphasizing such issues as the nation's racial divide.

On race, he said in a 1991 interview in the Times: "I think the attitudes between the races, the fear and the animosity that exist today, are greater than, let us say, at the time of the Brown case, the famous school desegregation decision in 1954."

Although Wicker was attacked by President Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew for his negative coverage during the Nixon administration, he argued in a 1991 book, "One of Us: Richard Nixon and the American Dream," that Nixon accomplished much in his presidency and deserves a high ranking in history.

In his final column, published Dec. 29, 1991, Wicker commented on the fall of the Soviet Union and urged President George H.W. Bush to "exercise in a new world a more visionary leadership" on non-military issues like the environment.

"As the U.S. did not hesitate to spend its resources to prevail in the cold war, it needs now to go forward as boldly to lead a longer, more desperate struggle to save the planet, and rescue the human race from itself," he wrote.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-11-25-Obit-Wicker/id-b9357d8fc10f453182189f5e33ce7796

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The Note?s Must-Reads for Friday, November 25, 2011 (ABC News)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/166277941?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Army says oldest 4-star general has died at 98 (Providence Journal)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/166112786?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Closer to a cure for eczema

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Scientists have found that a strain of yeast implicated in inflammatory skin conditions, including eczema, can be killed by certain peptides and could potentially provide a new treatment for these debilitating skin conditions. This research is published today in the Society for Applied Microbiology's journal, Letters in Applied Microbiology.

20% of children in the UK suffer from atopic eczema and whilst this usually clears up in adolescence, 7% of adults will continue to suffer throughout their lifetime. Furthermore, this type of eczema, characterized by dry, itchy, flaking skin, is increasing in prevalence. Whilst the cause of eczema remains unknown, one known trigger factor is the yeast Malassezia sympodialis.

This strain of yeast is one of the most common skin yeasts in both healthy individuals and those suffering from eczema. The skin barrier is more fragile and often broken in those suffering from such skin conditions, and this allows the yeast to cause infection which then further exacerbates the condition. Scientists at Karolinska Institute in Sweden looked for a way to kill Malassezia sympodialis without harming healthy human cells.

The researchers looked at the effect on the yeast of 21 peptides which had either; cell-penetrating or antimicrobial properties. Cell-penetrating peptides are often investigated as drug delivery vectors and are able to cross the cell membrane, although the exact mechanism for this is unknown. Antimicrobial peptides, on the other hand, are natural antibiotics and kill many different types of microbe including some bacteria, fungi and viruses.

Tina Holm and her colleagues at Stockholm University and Karolinska Institute, added these different peptides types to separate yeast colonies and assessed the toxicity of each peptide type to the yeast. They found that six of the 21 peptides they tested successfully killed the yeast without damaging the membrane of keratinocytes, human skin cells.

Tina commented "Many questions remain to be solved before these peptides can be used in humans. However, the appealing combination of being toxic to the yeast at low concentrations whilst sparing human cells makes them very promising as antifungal agents. We hope that these peptides in the future can be used to ease the symptoms of patients suffering from atopic eczema and significantly increase their quality of life."

The next step will be to further examine the mechanism(s) used by the peptides to kill yeast cells, in order to develop a potential treatment for eczema and other skin conditions.

###

Wiley-Blackwell: http://www.wiley.com/wiley-blackwell

Thanks to Wiley-Blackwell for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/115464/Closer_to_a_cure_for_eczema

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Saturday, November 26, 2011

Police: WA woman, 59, chases down purse snatcher (Providence Journal)

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Legal fallout bans Chernobyl zone tourism ? RT

A Kiev court has officially banned tours to Chernobyl and its surroundings.The popular ?radioactive? tourism was suspended back in June 2011, after a check-up by the prosecutor general.

Officials ruled that the Emergencies Ministry did not have the right to authorise trips to Chernobyl without permission from the Interior Ministry.

Since the early 2000s, Chernobyl, the scene of the world?s worst nuclear disaster, has been attracting a growing stream of adventurers hungry for a glimpse of its post-apocalyptic landscape.

Ukraine's Emergencies Ministry officially began licensing trips in February 2011. More than 10,000 tourists visit Chernobyl and its surroundings each year. Forbes magazine even named this dead zone one of the world?s most exotic tourist destinations.

Each tourist to the zone has payed around $600 for the trip adding up to a multi-million-dollar annual turnover for the organizers.

The Emergencies ministry says these trips are a vital way of educating the world on how to avoid such disasters. The money raised, stress the officials, could help fund new industrial projects on the contaminated land. The prosecutor general?s office, however, wasn't able to identify where the money actually went.

Still, extreme tourists can hope for a change of heart. After new, tightened, rules are drawn up, Chernobyl?s doors may reopen, said Volodymyr Holosha, head of the Ukrainian state agency for exclusion zone monitoring.

"We are not raising the issue of tourism at all,? the official said. ?We are talking about exercising the right to obtain information and to visit the zone. There will be no tourists in the zone, there will be visitors."

Source: http://rt.com/news/prime-time/chernobyl-tourist-destination-ban-227/

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Concurring Opinions ? On the New York Times and Legal Education

posted by Daniel Solove

Much has already been written about David Segal?s article in the N.Y. Times, What They Don?t Teach Law Students: Lawyering.? I join the strong critiques of this piece in condemning it as a lousy piece of journalism ? more of a one-sided hack job, riddled with errors.? It belongs on the op-ed page of a trashy paper.

Segal seems to believe that if law professors just wrote less theoretical scholarship and if law schools taught more skills, then suddenly, the legal market would become a bonanza once again for law students.? The problem with this argument is that a theoretical education and scholarship by faculty does not seem to have much connection to a student?s success in the job market.? If this were the case, then nobody would hire Yale Law School graduates.

But Yale Law School graduates are doing quite well in the legal marketplace, which demonstrates that despite all the grumblings we hear about too much theory being taught, legal employers are not behaving consistently with what they are saying.

I also think Segal?s article paints a very false picture of legal education ? there?s a lot of theory, but there?s also a lot of practical skills taught too as well as practical scholarship and law professors very involved in legal practice and policymaking.? One needs only to look at the many law professors who took leaves of absence from their law schools to work in government.? Countless members of my faculty have submitted briefs and argued cases.

Beyond this point, theory is not an irrelevant waste of time.? It is essential to practice.? True, there are lawyers out there who are nothing but glorified mechanics, but the best lawyers are often ones who think deeply, who are interested in legal scholarship and ideas,.? It is easy and glib to just brush aside all legal scholarship as ?irrelevant theory? but this seems to be just an excuse for laziness.? There are a lot of great scholarly pieces out there.? With anything, there?s a lot of bad stuff too.? I could readily find many practicing lawyers who aren?t very good.? That doesn?t mean that all aren?t good.? A member of the profession would say: ?Take a closer look and consider the best practitioners before you rush to judgment.??? The same holds true for legal scholarship.? It is far too easy to make glib generalizations and find one piece with an obscure title to illustrate the point.

There are certainly problems with legal education.? But when the thoughtful points being raised by Brian Tamanaha and others are misunderstood by ill-informed hacks, the discussion devolves into irrelevancies, and there isn?t a productive conversation about how to solve legal education?s problems.? There has been a lot of criticism of legal education of late, and although some of it is justified, it is important to note that a law school education actually is a good thing for many people.? There are a number of unfortunate cases where students would have been better off without having gone to law school.? But we shouldn?t forget that there are also many success stories ? students who went to law school and got the jobs they wanted.? Students should be given a more realistic picture going into law school ? there?s no guaranteed pot of gold at the end ? but there are students for whom law school is not a good investment.? It is a problem to entice students to law school when it isn?t a good investment, but it is also a problem to dissuade students for whom law school is a good investment.

?November 24, 2011 at 11:51 pm ? Posted?in:?Uncategorized ??Print This Post?Print This Post


Source: http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2011/11/on-the-new-york-times-and-legal-education.html

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GOP National Security Debate Went from Snooze to News (ContributorNetwork)

Yahoo! News is asking GOP voters in Iowa and New Hampshire for their impressions from the Republican debates. Here is a perspective from a voter.

COMMENTARY | Newt Gingrich was his usual academic self. I'm not a fan of Newt because his debating skills do not convince me that he is a conservative. His debating skills do not rid me of the feeling that Freddie Mac is more of a story than we know.

I'm an Iowa GOP conservative, and I like straight talk. I'd love Newt, Mitt, Huntsman, Bachmann, Paul or Santorum to provide a straightforward "yes" or "no" responses sometimes.

Newt's orating raised eyebrows when he started in on illegal immigration. He thinks if you have lived here for 20 years, you get to stay. He does not want to call it amnesty, but he does not want to punish them for breaking the law either. Instead of calling us heartless, Newt said we are inhumane.

Herman Cain does not get enough credit.

Herman Cain is a CEO, has a bachelor's degree in mathematics and computer science. He worked for the Department of the Navy. No one gives him credit for knowing anything about foreign affairs. CNNs John King misspoke when he said Cain did not answer the question about Syria. Cain's answer was short and sweet. He said that he would encourage countries that buy oil from Syria to boycott them. Since a third of Syria's revenue comes from oil, it would hurt their economy, and their potential to finance war and nukes.

Michele Bachmann was persistent.

Michele Bachmann impressed me in this debate. She finally got away from saying I or me. She called Perry out for wanting to stop aid to Pakistan. Bachmann would not let Newt off the hook for blanket amnesty. Newt denied it, but she stuck to her guns, and I appreciated her tenacity.

Wolf Blitzer was good humored and did a pretty good job of moderating. He did not go for gotcha questions and let the candidates talk. While it was not the best debate, I always learn something new about the candidates by watching.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20111123/us_ac/10511847_gop_national_security_debate_went_from_snooze_to_news

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Friday, November 25, 2011

Moroccans hold Arab Spring-inspired election

A Moroccan woman leaves a polling booth before casting her vote in a polling station in Rabat, Morocco, Friday, Nov. 25, 2011. Moroccans began voting for a new parliament Friday in Arab Spring-inspired elections that are facing a boycott by democracy campaigners who say the ruling monarchy isn't committed to real change. Small sign reads: voting booth. (AP Photo/Abdeljalil Bounhar)

A Moroccan woman leaves a polling booth before casting her vote in a polling station in Rabat, Morocco, Friday, Nov. 25, 2011. Moroccans began voting for a new parliament Friday in Arab Spring-inspired elections that are facing a boycott by democracy campaigners who say the ruling monarchy isn't committed to real change. Small sign reads: voting booth. (AP Photo/Abdeljalil Bounhar)

Abdelilah Benkirane, the secretary general of Morocco's Islamist Justice and Development Party, leaves the voting booth in Rabat, Morocco, Friday, Nov. 25, 2011. Moroccans began voting for a new parliament Friday in Arab Spring-inspired elections that are facing a boycott by democracy campaigners who say the ruling monarchy isn't committed to real change. (AP Photo/Abdeljalil Bounhar)

Moroccan Finance Minister Salaheddine Mezouar, tipped as possibly the next prime minister, casts his ballot in the affluent neighborhood of Souissi, Rabat. Moroccans voted on Friday Nov. 25, 2011 in parliamentary elections brought forward as part of the king's package of reforms to respond to the Arab Spring. (AP Photo/Paul Schemm)

A man clutching his car keys and smartphone votes in the affluent Rabat neighborhood of Agdal early in the morning Friday Nov. 25 2011. Moroccans voted Friday in parliamentary elections brought forward as part of the king's package of reforms to respond to the Arab Spring. (AP Photo/Paul Schemm)

A woman deposits her ballot paper after voting in Rabat, Morocco, Friday, Nov. 25, 2011. Moroccans voted for a new parliament Friday in Arab Spring-inspired elections that are facing a boycott by democracy campaigners who say the ruling monarchy isn't committed to real change. (AP Photo/Abdeljalil Bounhar)

RABAT, Morocco (AP) ? Moroccans voted for a new parliament Friday in Arab Spring-inspired elections that are facing a boycott by democracy campaigners who say the ruling monarchy isn't committed to real change.

A moderate Islamist party and a pro-palace coalition led by the finance minister are competing for the top spot, but a key test for the authorities' legitimacy will be how many voters cast ballots.

The king amended the constitution over the summer giving the prime minister new powers, including the ability to dissolve parliament and make certain appointments, in response to pro-democracy protests. But the ultimate authority remains with the king.

As the polls closed Friday night and the counting of ballots began, Morocco's U.S. and other Western allies were closely watching for the results to see how this North African kingdom is navigating its own Arab Spring. The election also was being monitored by the many European tourists who cherish Morocco's beaches and resorts.

In the affluent Agdal neighborhood of Rabat, a steady stream of professionals lined up early in the morning at a polling station to vote before work.

"I've always voted, but this time it is more important," said Dr. Mohammed Ennabli. "Before it was the king who chose, now it is the people who choose."

Many people, however, scorned a process they say has been going on for decades without any tangible effect on their lives.

"I won't vote, the promises are never kept ? with or without the new constitution, it is the same," said Abdallah Cherachaoui, an unemployed 45 year old in the lower income district of Akkari. "They are laughing at us."

In the working class city of Sale, across the river from the capital Rabat, there was a steady trickle of voters to the school acting as a polling station, but some stayed outside.

"I voted in 2007 because the candidate was a member of my family, but he also disappointed me and as soon as the elections were over, I never saw him again, so I'm not making that mistake again," said Brahim Errami, 25, from his seat in a nearby cafe. "I pity the people going in and out of that school."

Morocco's reputation as a stable kingdom in North Africa has taken a hit with this year's protests over government corruption and heavy handed security forces. And its once-steady economy is creaking from the amount of money the government has pumped into raising salaries and subsidies to keep people calm amid the Arab world turmoil.

The election campaign has been strangely subdued, unlike the lively politicking in nearby Tunisia when it held the first elections prompted by the Arab uprisings last month.

Morocco with its many political parties and regular elections under the tight control of an all-powerful monarch was once the bright star in a region of dictatorships.

But all that has changed with the Arab uprisings that toppled dictators in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt. Now a political system that holds elections but leaves all powers in the hands of a hereditary king does not look so liberal.

Some 31 political parties are fielding 5,392 candidates to compete for 395 seats in parliament, including 60 set aside for women and 30 for "youth," under 40.

A complex proportional system of representation means no party is likely to take more than 20 percent of the seats.

Under the new constitution, the king asks the party with the most seats to form the government, which could well be the Islamist Justice and Development party, known by its French initials PJD. But there's uncertainty over whether it can truly change anything in the face of the palace's power.

The Islamists' biggest rival for the top spot is Finance Minister Salaheddine Mezouar's Rally of Independents, which leads an alliance of seven other pro-palace parties.

"This is a very important election for the Moroccan people and it confirms the choice made for an open process of democratization that is being consolidated by this election," he told The Associated Press after voting. "This is really a moment of great emotion."

Like elsewhere in the Arab world, Moroccans hit the streets in the first half of 2011 calling for more democracy, and King Mohammed VI responded by amending the constitution and bringing forward elections.

But since then the sense of change has dissipated, and while the king remains a respected figure, few have much confidence in parliament or the politicians in it.

"I voted because we need to elect a new parliament, but I voted blank for the simple reason that there is no one I can trust from the people that are being elected," said Chamseddin Baba, the manager of an IT company who voted in the wealthy suburb of Souissi. "I would like to vote for the best, but the best are not there."

The 2007 elections, the first with widespread international observation, had just 37 percent turnout, and some fear it could be even lower this time around.

Now, however, the number of registered voters has dropped from 15 million to 13.5 million, despite population increases, so turnout will almost certainly be higher.

There will be 3,200 election observers, though they will likely only cover a fraction of the 40,000 polling stations scattered across the country.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-11-25-ML-Morocco-Elections/id-8ad992fce7164e9b87d9532934295df7

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