Plan would help military families take leave (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The Obama administration is proposing new rules to help military families care for service members when they are called to active duty or become injured.

First lady Michelle Obama was set to join Labor Secretary Hilda Solis on Monday to announce the plan that updates the Family and Medical Leave Act.

The proposal would let family members take up to 12 weeks of leave from work to help a service member deployed on short notice. Family caregivers could attend military functions, deal with child care issues, or update financial affairs without fear of losing their jobs.

It would also give family members up to 26 weeks of leave to care for a service member with a serious injury or illness.

Officials also are announcing other efforts to support military families.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_military_family_leave

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Drug trafficker sentenced to 16 years in San Diego (AP)

SAN DIEGO ? A former high-ranking member of the Arellano Felix drug cartel has been sentenced to 16 years in prison in San Diego for coordinating the shipments of tons of cocaine from Colombia to Mexico and eventually to the U.S.

U-T San Diego ( http://bit.ly/A0OS1S) reports that Rigoberto Yanez-Guerrero was sentenced Monday. He had been in prison in Mexico awaiting trial since 2001. He was extradited to the U.S. to face federal charges in 2010 for narcotics trafficking, money laundering and organized crime-related offenses and pleaded guilty in July.

Federal prosecutors say Yanez was the chief operator of the cartel in Mexico City between 1995 and 2001. During that time, he allegedly orchestrated the shipments of 5 to 10 tons of cocaine that made its way to the U.S.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mexico/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120131/ap_on_re_us/us_drug_trafficker_sentenced

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RBS CEO turns down bonus amid criticism of payout (AP)

LONDON ? Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive Stephen Hester will not be accepting a 1 million pound ($1.5 million) bonus that drew criticism from British public and politicians, the bank said Sunday.

Spokesman David Gaffney said Hester would not receive the bonus of 3.6 million shares he was awarded last week by the board of the largely state-owned bank.

The British government spent 45 billion pounds bailing out RBS three years ago. It still owns an 82 percent stake, and politicians had criticized the reward at a time when Britons face painful spending cuts and tax hikes.

The government ? which has insisted it has no control over the bank's bonuses ? welcomed the announcement.

"This is a sensible and welcome decision that enables Stephen Hester to focus on the very important job he has got to do, namely to get back billions of pounds of taxpayers' money that was put into RBS," Treasury chief George Osborne said.

The decision follows Saturday's announcement that RBS chairman Philip Hampton was waiving his own bonus of 1.4 million pounds in shares.

Hester and Hampton were brought in after Fred Goodwin, who led RBS's ill-fated takeover of Dutch bank ABN Amro, stepped down in October 2008 as the government was spending billions to prop up the bank.

The board of directors decided last week to award Hester a bonus of 3.6 million shares ? worth just under 1 million pounds at Friday's closing share price of 27.74 pence. That came on top of his annual salary of 1.2 million pounds.

Prime Minister David Cameron said Saturday that Hester's bonus was "a matter for him," but pointed out it was much less than last year's.

The government claimed it had no control over bonuses awarded by the bank, and said replacing Hester if he resigned would be more costly than paying the reward.

But many politicians were critical. London Mayor Boris Johnson, a Conservative like Cameron, said he found the bonus "absolutely bewildering."

Rachel Reeves, Treasury spokeswoman for the opposition Labour Party, said Sunday the sum was inappropriate "when families are feeling the pinch."

"It's time the government explained why they have allowed these bonuses to go through unchallenged," she said.

Before the bank's announcement, the Labour Party said it would force a vote in the House of Commons next month calling for Hester to be stripped of his bonus.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120129/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_britain_rbs

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Snedeker wins a shocker at Torrey Pines

Brandt Snedeker acknowledges the gallery after his birdie on the 18th hole during the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open golf tournament Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012 in San Diego. Snedeker eventually won on the second hole of a playoff against Kyle stanley. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi )

Brandt Snedeker acknowledges the gallery after his birdie on the 18th hole during the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open golf tournament Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012 in San Diego. Snedeker eventually won on the second hole of a playoff against Kyle stanley. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi )

Kyle Stanley looks at his wedge after hitting into the water on the 18th hole during final round of the Farmers Insurance Open Golf tournament in San Diego, Sunday, Jan., 29, 2012. Stanley lost to Brandt Snedeker in a playoff. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Kyle Stanley reacts after losing a playoff round to Brandt Snedeker during the Farmers Insurance Open golf tournament on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Kyle Stanley, left, and his caddie Brett Waldman walk off the 16th green where Stanley lost a playoff against Brandt Snedeker at the Farmers Insurance Open golf tournament on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Kyle Stanley moves to shake hands with fellow competitors after making a triple bogey on the 18th hole during the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open golf tournament Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012 in San Diego. Stanley blew a six shot lead and lost a playoff to Brandt Snedeker. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi )

SAN DIEGO (AP) ? Brandt Snedeker sat in the media center, resigned to the fact that his 67 in the final round Sunday at Torrey Pines would not be good enough to catch Kyle Stanley in the Farmers Insurance Open.

"I just was too far back. Kyle had too big a lead," Snedeker said, glancing at the television next to him as Stanley, with a three-shot lead, played a simple sand wedge from 77 yards for his third shot to the par-5 18th.

"Uh-oh," Snedeker said.

The ball landed behind the pin and zipped off the front of the green, tumbling slowly down the bank and into the water.

A sure thing suddenly became surreal.

In a meltdown that ranks among the most shocking in golf, Stanley three-putted from 45 feet for a triple bogey on his final hole, then lost on the second playoff hole when his 5-foot par putt caught the right edge of the cup.

"It's just crazy," Snedeker said. "To get my mind around what happened the last 30 minutes is pretty hard to do right now. My heart is out to Kyle. I feel bad for him to have to go through this."

Minutes away from a celebration, Stanley was in tears. His lip quivered as he tried to explain what went wrong, a sad ending to an otherwise spectacular week along the Pacific bluffs.

"It's not a hard golf hole," Stanley said. "I could probably play it a thousand times and never make an 8."

Stanley led by seven shots early in the final round, and he still had a four-shot lead as he stood on the tee at the par-5 18th, the easiest hole at Torrey Pines on Sunday. Just like that, the 24-year-old went from being anointed a rising star to being listed with Jean Van de Velde, Robert Garrigus and so many others who learned the hard way how cruel this game can be.

"I'm kind of in shock right now," Stanley said.

Snedeker, playing in the group ahead of Stanley, bogeyed the 17th to fall four shots behind. He hit wedge to a foot on the 18th hole for one last birdie to finish on 16-under 272.

Both made birdie on the 18th in the playoff, and it ended on the par-3 16th with another good break for Snedeker. His 5-iron bounced hard over the green and was headed into the canyon when it bounced off a television tower. He chipped to 5 feet and made par. Stanley left his 45-foot birdie putt about 5 feet short, and missed it for a bogey.

"You never want to see anybody go through that," Snedeker said. "I don't care who it is ? not even your worst enemy on the planet. Golf is such a funny game, and to have that kind of lead coming into the last hole and not to win is tough. It will be a tough night for him. But he's an unbelievably talented player, and the sky's the limit for him.

"And I hope he does not beat himself up too much over this."

Snedeker is making a habit of these comebacks. In all three of his PGA Tour wins, he trailed by at least five shots going into the last round. At Hilton Head last year, he came from six shots back and wound up beating Luke Donald in a playoff.

This one was handed to him.

"This one I kind of backed into," Snedeker said. "You never like winning a tournament that way. But you do like winning."

Stanley birdied his first two holes ? Snedeker was nine behind at that point ? and led by six shots at the turn until he started dropping shots from the sand. Even so, he made three straight par putts, starting with a 12-footer on the 14th, to seemingly regain control.

The kid knows heartache. Last summer, he was two shots ahead at the John Deere Classic until he bogeyed the final hole from a bunker, and Steve Stricker closed with two straight birdies to win.

This loss, however, put him in the wrong kind of company.

It was reminiscent of Van de Velde at Carnoustie, who made triple bogey on the last hole of the 1999 British Open and lost in a playoff; of Garrigus, who made triple bogey on the last hole of the St. Jude Classic in 2010 and lost in a playoff; and even of Frank Lickliter at Torrey Pines, who three-putted from 12 feet on the 17th hole in 2001 to make triple bogey in the third playoff hole in losing to Phil Mickelson.

"I know I'll be back," Stanley said, pausing to allow the words to come out of his mouth. "It's tough to swallow right now."

Stanley stood over a 25-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole with a four-shot lead, and it was matter of staying upright for the next 20 minutes to collect his first PGA Tour win.

If only it were that simple.

Snedeker made his tap-in birdie to finish. Stanley hit a 300-yard drive and kept it simple by laying up.

Then, he fell apart.

His sand wedge had too much spin and did not get high enough on the green, spinning quickly down the slope.

"We tried to lay it up close enough so that we wouldn't put that much spin on it," Stanley said. "Thought I had a pretty good shot, but just had too much spin."

Stanley showed little emotion, as he had done all week, and took his drop in the first cut to eliminate some of the spin. His fifth shot was safely on the back of the green, some 45 feet away.

With a putt down into the bowl of the green, he came up about 3 1/2 feet short, then missed it well to the left for a triple-bogey 8. He had to sign for a 74, without breaking the pencil, then head back to the 18th for a playoff.

Snedeker caught a minor break on the first extra hole when his second shot stopped directly in front of a loose divot. He managed to remove it without moving the ball, then hit sand wedge to 3 feet for birdie. Stanley went for the green in two this time, just over the green, and chipped down to the same spot as Snedeker and matched his birdie.

John Rollins had 235 yards to the green on the 18th hole, two shots behind Snedeker, two shots clear of fourth place. He elected to lay up and wound up with a par. It gave him a 71, and he finished alone in third at 14-under 274.

John Huh, the 21-year-old rookie out of Q-school, had a buried lie in a bunker, a duffed chip, a chip-in for birdie and an approached that nearly went over the cliff, all in the first four holes. He birdied the last for a 74, and while he was never a factor in the final group, he at least tied for sixth and earned a spot next week in the Phoenix Open.

But this was a two-man show at the end.

And for the longest time on a day filled with sunshine and hang gliders, it was a one-man show.

Staked to a five-shot lead, Stanley didn't let anyone close to him until early on the back nine and he was still six clear at the turn. Only when Snedeker began to creep up the board did the lead finally get under six shots, and then Stanley made it hard on himself.

Starting with the par-3 eighth hole, he was in five bunkers on the next seven holes, and three of them led to bogeys. But he made three straight par putts from 12 feet, 5 feet and 8 feet on the 16th hole, and it looked like a done deal.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-29-GLF-Farmers-Insurance/id-155b3b8cd92d444e894ba13ad616e3a4

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Research scientists illuminate cancer cells' survival strategy

Friday, January 27, 2012

A team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has discovered key elements of a strategy commonly used by tumor cells to survive when they spread to distant organs. The finding could lead to drugs that could inhibit this metastasis in patients with tumors.

A cell that breaks away from the primary tumor and finds itself in the alien environment of the bloodstream or a new organ, normally is destroyed by a process known as apoptosis. But tumor cells that express high levels of a certain surface protein are protected from apoptosis, greatly enhancing their ability to colonize distant organs. How this protein blocks apoptosis and promotes metastasis has been a mystery?until now.

"What we found in this study is that it's not the increased expression of the protein per se that protects a tumor cell, but, rather, the cleavage of this protein by proteolytic enzymes," said Scripps Research Professor James P. Quigley. "This cleavage triggers a signaling cascade in the tumor cell that blocks apoptosis." Quigley is the principal investigator for the study, which was recently published online before print by the journal Oncogene.

"We think that a reasonable strategy for inhibiting metastasis would be to try to prevent the cleavage of this surface protein using antibodies or small-molecule drugs that bind to the cleavage site of the protein," said Elena I. Deryugina, a staff scientist in Quigley's laboratory and corresponding author of the manuscript.

A Protein Linked to Poor Outcomes

The cell-surface protein at the center of this research is known as CUB Domain Containing Protein 1 (CDCP1). In 2003, a postdoctoral fellow in Quigley's laboratory, John D. Hooper, discovered and co-named CDCP1 as a "Subtractive Immunization Metastasis Antigen," also finding that it is highly expressed on the surfaces of metastasis-prone human tumor cells.

Quigley's laboratory and others soon found additional evidence that CDCP1 plays a major role in enabling metastasis. Clinical studies reported CDCP1 on multiple tumor types and linked its presence to worse outcomes for patients. Deryugina and Quigley reported in 2009 that CDCP1, when expressed in tumor-like cells, strongly promotes their ability to colonize new tissues and that unique monoclonal antibodies to CDCP1, generated in Quigley's lab, significantly block CDCP1-induced tumor colonization. Hooper, who now leads a laboratory at the Mater Medical Research Institute in Brisbane, Australia, reported in a cell culture study in 2010 that most of the CDCP1 protein on the cell membrane could be cleaved by serine proteases. This cleavage event seems to lead to the biochemical activation of the internal fragment of CDCP1 by a process called tyrosine phosphorylation, in this case involving the cancer-linked protein Src.

"What was missing was evidence in live animals that connected CDCP1 biochemically to the blocking of apoptosis and successful metastasis," said Deryugina.

In the new study, Deryugina and her colleagues in the Quigley laboratory, including first author Berta Casar, a postdoctoral fellow, set out to find such evidence.

In Pursuit of Evidence

Hooper supplied the Scripps Research scientists with transformed human embryonic kidney (HEK) cells, which don't naturally express CDCP1, but were forced to express the gene for CDCP1. Casar and Deryugina injected these CDCP1-expressing HEK cells into chick embryos, and found that the CDCP1 proteins on these HEK cells began to be cleaved by resident enzymes to the shorter form. After 96 hours, the proteins were no longer detectable in their full-size, pre-cleaved form. The CDCP1-expressing HEK cells were four times as likely to survive in the chick embryos than were control CDCP1-negative HEK cells. The same results were obtained with HEK cells that express a mutant, non-cleavable form of the CDCP1 protein.

The Scripps Research team then did experiments in live animals with human prostate cancer cells naturally expressing CDCP1 to show that the cleavage of CDCP1 by a serine protease enzyme is the key event that promotes tumor cell survival. "When we blocked CDCP1 cleavage using our unique anti-CDCP1 antibodies, or added a compound that selectively inhibits serine protease enzymes, CDCP1 was not cleaved, and the CDCP1-expressing cancer cells lost almost all their ability to colonize the tissues of chick embryos," said Casar.

Casar and Deryugina also confirmed that in live animals CDCP1's cleavage leads to the biochemical activation of its internal fragment by tyrosine phosphorylation involving the cancer-linked proteins Src and PKC?. This was followed by the downstream activation of the anti-apoptosis protein Akt and the inhibition of apoptosis-mediating enzymes. The team verified these results with a variety of experimental setups, including tests of tumor-cell lung colonization in mice and tests in which Src signaling was blocked with the anti-Src drug Dasatinib.

Another key experiment by Scripps Research scientists indicated that plasmin, a blood-clot-thinning serine protease, is the principal cleaver of CDCP1 in metastasizing tumor cells. In mice that lack plasmin's precursor molecule, plasminogen, CDCP1-bearing tumor cells showed an absence of CDCP1 cleavage and lost nearly all their ability to survive in lung tissue.

Toward a Promising Strategy

Breakaway tumor cells commonly travel to distant organs via the bloodstream, so their use of an abundant bloodstream enzyme such as plasmin as a survival booster makes sense. "Plasmin has long been linked to cancer," Quigley said. "Unfortunately, it has such an important function in thinning blood clots that using plasmin-inhibiting drugs in cancer patients might do more harm than good."

"Blocking the cleavage of CDCP1 using antibodies or other CDCP1-binding molecules seems to be a more promising strategy," said Deryugina. She and Casar are investigating.

###

Scripps Research Institute: http://www.scripps.edu

Thanks to Scripps Research Institute for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/117141/Research_scientists_illuminate_cancer_cells__survival_strategy

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US, Philippine officials: Cooperation but no military bases

By msnbc.com staff and news services

The Obama administration and Philippine officials are in talks about expanding military cooperation, including joint exercises in the Pacific, but?adding American bases to the island nation is off the table, both countries said on Thursday.

Talks with the Philippines, a U.S. ally which voted to remove huge American naval and air bases 20 years ago, follow Washington's announcement of plans to set up a Marine base in northern Australia and possibly station warships in Singapore. Those moves?come as?part of the Obama's administration plans to enhance American presence in Asia because of the region's economic importance and China's rise as a military power.

Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin told The Associated Press that any additional joint military activity would conform with the 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement, a bilateral accord that allows U.S. ship visits and American troops to hold joint military exercises in the Philippines. There would be no discussion on bringing back permanent U.S. military bases in the country, he said.

??U.S bases in the Philippines would be out of the question,? Peter Galvez, acting chief of staff to the secretary of national defense, told the New York Times on Thursday.

Pentagon spokesman Leslie Hullryde also denied talk of bases in the Philippines to Reuters.

"We are holding a bilateral strategic dialogue, during which we will discuss a broad range of issues, including our cooperation on counterterrorism, counter-proliferation, disaster preparedness, border security, and human rights," Hullryde said. ?? The idea that we are looking to establish U.S. bases or permanently station U.S. forces in the Philippines - or anywhere else in Southeast Asia - as part of a China containment strategy is patently false," Hullryde said.

The Washington Post ?first reported on Wednesday that negotiations that would lead to a return of U.S. bases to the Philippines were in the early stages. Officials from both governments were quoted as saying they were favorably inclined toward a deal.

The Obama administration describes the moves as part of a "pivot" toward economically dynamic Asia designed to reassure allies who felt neglected during the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, but China sees the deployments as part of a broader U.S. attempt to encircle it as it grows into a major power.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

More from msnbc.com and NBC News:

Source: http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/26/10244010-us-philippine-officials-cooperation-but-no-military-bases

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PFT: Irsay OK with paying Peyton $26M for nothing

AP

Though the Cleveland Plain Dealer still has not acknowledged the move on its website (other than to finally remove his name and face from the roster), Tony Grossi no longer covers the Browns as a beat writer, following the accidental publication of a private Twitter message that called Browns owner Randy Lerner? (pictured) ?pathetic? and an ?irrelevant billionaire.?

Browns spokesman Neal Gulkis tells PFT that the Browns have no comment on the situation.

There?s still no evidence that the Browns pressured the Plain Dealer to make the move.? Per a source with knowledge of the situation, however, both Lerner and president Mike Holmgren refused to accept calls from Grossi after the message was posted and deleted.? We?re also told that a meeting occurred Wednesday between Plain Dealer publisher Terry Eggar and Holmgren.

The Plain Dealer has been nearly as silent as the Browns.? Managing editor Thom Fladung called the Kiley & Booms radio show on 92.3 The Fan this morning to explain the decision, and Fladung?s explanation was less than persuasive, in our opinion.

The decision to remove Grossi from the beat was driven by this ?determining factor? articulated by Fladung:? ?Don?t do something that affects your value as a journalist or the value of your newspaper or affects the perception of your value and the perception of that newspaper?s value.?

That?s a pretty broad ? and vague ? rule.? And that?s the kind of standard that gives a news organization the ability to do pretty much whatever it wants whenever it wants, because there?s pretty much always something to which someone can point as proof of ?something that affects your value as a journalist or the value of your newspaper or affects the perception of your value and the perception of that newspaper?s value.?

Making Fladung?s ?determining factor? even more confusing is the fact that he admitted that Grossi could have deliberately expressed a strong opinion about Lerner in a column published and printed in the Plain Dealer without conseqeuence.? ?Let?s say Tony had written that Randy Lerner?s lack of involvement with the Browns and their resulting disappointing records over the years has made him irrelevant as an owner, that?s defensible,? Fladung said.? ?That?s absolutely defensible.?

What?s indefensible is the failure of the Plain Dealer to acknowledge the fact that Grossi never intended to make the statements available for public view.? He fell victim to the subtle but significant differences between a ?direct message? (which is private) and a ?reply? (which is public) on Twitter.? It was an accident.? A mistake.

Let?s go back to the days of typewriters and shorthand, and let?s say that Grossi?s editor has two boxes on his desk.? One is for article submissions and one is for proposed topics.? And let?s say that Grossi scribbled out a scathing column about Lerner as a proposed topic, but Grossi accidentally put it in the box of actual submissions for print.

That?s the low-tech version of what happened here.? Grossi accidentally put his message in the wrong box.

So when Fladung says he ?felt very strongly? that the Twitter message ?was inappropriate and unprofessional and . . . it?s not the kind of opinion a journalist covering a beat can express,? Fladung presumes that Grossi actually intended to articulate that opinion to the world.? He didn?t.? It was inadvertently blurted out, like a temporary case of Twitter Tourette?s.

Some have suggested that the Twitter blunder provided the Plain Dealer with a vehicle for addressing pre-existing concerns regarding Grossi?s overall job performance.? Undercutting that theory was Fladung?s assertion during the radio interview that Grossi is a ?very good? and ?very successful? beat writer.

I?m continuing to write about this because it?s the kind of mistake that could happen to anyone, and everyone should be entitled to the benefit of the doubt in a case like this, especially when newspapers and other media companies want their writers to engage with the audience through various new technologies and platforms.? It also just ?feels? like an unjust result, whether because the Plain Dealer is being obtuse or because the Plain Dealer is cowering to the Browns or because the Browns are remaining deliberately silent in order to secure the preferred outcome of having Grossi removed from the beat.

Regardless, we?re disappointed in the Plain Dealer, in Fladung, in the Browns, in Lerner, and in Holmgren.? And we hope that one or more of them will snap out of it and do the right thing, or at least let the rest of us know in far more convincing fashion why they believe the right thing was done.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/01/25/irsay-says-hes-not-upset-about-paying-peyton-26-million-for-nothing/related/

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Charlotte Bobcats exercise option on top scorer Henderson (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? The Charlotte Bobcats exercised a fourth-year option on top scorer Gerald Henderson that will keep the guard/forward with the club through the 2012-13 NBA season, the team said on Wednesday.

Henderson, taken in the first round of the 2009 NBA Draft by Charlotte, is averaging 15.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game this season with Bobcats.

Charlotte, the second-worst team in the league with a 3-15 record, currently is without guard and number two scorer D.J. Augustin, who is sidelined with a toe injury.

(Reporting By Gene Cherry in Salvo North Carolina; Editing by Frank Pingue; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120125/sp_nm/us_nba_bobcats_henderson

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Obama and GOP candidates offer a campaign preview (AP)

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. ? On a day that combined two campaigns into one, President Barack Obama on Wednesday challenged Republicans to raise taxes on the rich as GOP rivals Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich swiped at him on the economy and criticized each other over immigration.

With a week to go before the Jan. 31 Florida Republican presidential primary, the polls suggested a tight race, although Romney and his allies seized a staggering advantage in the television ad wars. They have reported spending $14 million combined on commercials, many of them critical of Gingrich, and a total at least seven times bigger that the investment made by the former House speaker and an organization supporting him.

Obama's political timeline was a different one, Election Day on Nov. 6. In a campaign-style appearance in Iowa, he demanded Congress approve a tax increase for anyone like Romney whose income exceeds $1 million a year.

"If you make more than a million dollars a year, you should pay a tax rate of at least 30 percent. If, on the other hand, you make less than $250,000, which includes 98 percent of you, your taxes shouldn't go up," he said after touring a manufacturing plant in Cedar Rapids and in a state that he won in 2008 that was expected to be a battleground in the fall.

"This is not class warfare," he said. "That's common sense."

As Obama surely knew, it was an offer Gingrich, Romney and the anti-tax Republicans in Congress are likely to find easy to refuse.

Referring to Obama's call in the speech for Congress to end tax breaks that encourage companies to ship jobs overseas, Romney said he didn't know of any.

Instead, he said the president presides over "the most anti-business, anti-investment, anti-job creator administration I've ever seen, and so, what I'll do ? I'll get America to work again. I spent 25 years in business."

Gingrich was far harsher at an appearance in Miami.

"If he actually meant what he said it would be a disaster of the first order," Gingrich said of the president's call for higher taxes on millionaires.

The former House speaker said the president's proposal would double the capital gains tax and "lead to a dramatic decline in the stock market, which would affect every pension fund in the United States."

"It would affect every person who has a 401(k). It would attack the creation of jobs and drive capital outside of the United States. It would force people to invest overseas. It would be the most anti-jobs single step he could take," he said.

Under current law, investment income is taxed as the rate of 15 percent, a fact that has come to the fore of the campaign in recent days with the release of Romney's income tax return.

Wages, by contrast, are taxed at rates that can exceed 30 percent.

Electability is the top concern for GOP primary voters, according to polls taken in the early primary and caucus states, so both Republicans were eager to paint a contrast with the president.

But Romney and Gingrich also focused on the Florida primary now seven days distant.

Romney has long led in the state's polls, but Gingrich's upset victory last Saturday in the first-in-the-South primary in South Carolina revitalized his candidacy and raised questions about the former Massachusetts governor's staying power.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum is also on the ballot, as is Texas Rep. Ron Paul.

But Santorum has been sinking in the polls as Gingrich rises, and Paul has indicated he intends to bypass the state to concentrate on caucuses to be held elsewhere.

That gives Florida the feel of a two-man race, and Romney and Gingrich are treating it that way. The two men sparred heatedly Monday night in a debate that virtually relegated Santorum and Paul to supporting roles.

A second debate is set for Thursday in Jacksonville. And if their separate appearances during the day on the Spanish-language television network Univision is a guide, it will be as feisty as the first.

Gingrich referred acidly to Romney describing a policy of "self-deportation" as a way of having illegal immigrants leave the country without a massive roundup.

"You have to live in a world of Swiss bank accounts and Cayman Island accounts and automatically $20 million income for no work to have some fantasy this far from reality," he said, referring to some of the details disclosed this week when the former Massachusetts governor released his tax returns.

"For Romney to believe that somebody's grandmother is going to be so cut off that she is going to self-deport, I mean, this is an Obama-level fantasy."

Romney's campaign swiftly produced evidence that aides to Gingrich had used the term "self-deport" approvingly, and the former governor attacked.

"I recognize that it's very tempting to come out to an audience like this and pander to the audience," Romney said. "I think that was a mistake on his (Gingrich's) part."

Gingrich also ran into trouble over a radio ad his campaign was airing that called Romney "anti-immigrant." Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who is neutral in the presidential race, criticized the commercial, and Romney said the term "anti-immigrant" was an epithet.

Gingrich made a stop in Cocoa, center of the state's now-withered space industry, and he cheered his audience by envisioning construction of the first permanent base on the moon. He also promised a "robust industry" of "commercial near-earth activities" to include science, tourism and manufacturing.

He said he hopes to stimulate investment by having the government offer prizes to private companies, but he did not elaborate. For Obama, Iowa was the first of five stops in three days following a State of the Union speech in which he stressed the theme of income equality that is expected to be one of the cornerstones of his re-election campaign. He also wove in proposals to help restore the U.S. manufacturing base that has withered in the course of the recession that began in 2008.

"Our economy is getting stronger, and we've come too far to turn back now," he told workers and guests at a conveyor manufacturing plant in Cedar Rapids. Speaking of Republicans, he said, "Their philosophy is simple: We're better off when everyone is left to fend for themselves and play by their own rules."

It's a message that may be received differently depending on the local economy.

Iowa's unemployment was most recently measured at 5.6 percent, well below the national average. In Arizona, which has its primary in four weeks, joblessness is 8.7 percent, while Nevada's at 12.6, the highest in the country. Its caucuses are Feb. 4.

___

Associated Press writers Brian Bakst, Kasie Hunt and Steve Peoples in Florida contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_el_pr/us_campaign_rdp

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Money talk dominating Romney, Gingrich contest

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks at National Gypsum Company in Tampa, Fla., Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks at National Gypsum Company in Tampa, Fla., Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, accompanied by his wife Callista, leave the Tick Tock Restaurant, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, gestures to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich during a Republican presidential debate Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidate former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum gestures during a Republican presidential debate Monday Jan. 23, 2012, at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) ? Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich's fight for Florida and the states beyond stayed at a high boil Tuesday as Romney released tax returns showing annual income topping $20 million ? including a now-closed Swiss bank account ? and Gingrich insisted his high-paid consulting work for a mortgage giant that contributed to the housing crisis didn't include lobbying.

After a night of mutual sniping in a debate, the two leading GOP presidential candidates tried to turn the arguments over their various business dealings to his own advantage. Romney's release of two years' worth of tax documents, showing him at an elite level even among the nation's richest 1 percent, kept the focus on the two men's money and how they earned it.

Romney's income put him in the top 0.006 percent of Americans, according to Internal Revenue Service data from 2009, the most recent year available. His net worth has been estimated as high as $250 million.

As the former Massachusetts governor relented to pressure and released more than 500 pages of tax documents, Gingrich kept up the heat, saying Romney was "outrageously dishonest" for accusing him of influence peddling for government-backed mortgage giant Freddie Mac.

"I don't own any Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stock. He does, so presumably he was getting richer," Gingrich told Fox News on Tuesday.

The specter of well-off Gingrich and wealthier Romney feuding over money matters pleased Rick Santorum, who lags in polls for next Tuesday's Florida primary but hopes to benefit from the dust-up as the race moves on. He told MSNBC: "The other two candidates have some severe flaws."

Striking out in two directions, Romney planned to offer advance criticism of President Barack Obama's Tuesday night State of the Union address, then focus on Florida's housing woes in an event sure to again highlight Gingrich's $25,000 monthly retainer from Freddie Mac.

The former House speaker said Romney's charges were ironic, given that it was revealed after Monday's debate that Romney himself was an investor in both Freddie Mac and its sister entity, Fannie Mae.

Gingrich, a candidate once left for dead, stood before thousands in a U.S. flag-draped airport hangar in Sarasota brimming with confidence about his chances of winning the GOP nomination. He barely mentioned Romney in two events, though he went hard at Obama as the president prepared for his big speech.

Gingrich said Obama should stop blaming his Republican predecessor for the country's economic woes.

"This is the fourth year of his presidency. He needs to get over it," Gingrich said. "A friend of mine says, 'He has shifted from Yes We Can to Why We Couldn't.'"

Gingrich's campaign also announced it had pulled in $2 million, mostly online, since winning the South Carolina primary on Saturday. Gingrich planned to pad his campaign account with a series of fundraisers this week.

Records released by Romney's campaign show he closed a bank account in Switzerland in 2010, as he was entering the presidential race. He also kept money in the Cayman Islands, another spot popular with investors sheltering their income from U.S. taxes. But Benjamin Ginsberg, the Romney campaign's legal counsel, said Romney didn't use any aggressive tax strategies to help reduce or defer his tax income.

"Gov. Romney has paid 100 percent of what he owes," Ginsberg said Tuesday.

Romney paid about $3 million on nearly $22 million in income in 2010 and indicated his 2011 taxes would be about the same, $3.2 million on nearly $21 million in income.

During the debate, Romney predicted his tax information would generate chatter but not any surprises, saying what he paid was "entirely legal and fair."

Romney had declined to disclose any tax releases until he came under mounting criticism from his rivals.

In 2010, he donated a combined $3 million to the Mormon Church and other charitable causes. His effective tax rate was about 14 percent, the records showed. For 2011, he'll pay an effective tax rate of about 15.4 percent, a level far lower than standard rates for high-income earners, reflecting the lower rate for long-term capital gains.

The tax records may silence Gingrich and others who argued that Republican voters should know the details of Romney's wealth before they select their presidential nominee and not after. But it also could open up new lines of attack.

After Gingrich's overwhelming victory in South Carolina, Romney can ill afford to lose Florida's Jan. 31 primary, and he showcased a new aggression from the opening moments of the debate. He said Gingrich had "resigned in disgrace" from Congress after four years as speaker and then had spent the next 15 years "working as an influence peddler."

In particular, he referred to the contract Gingrich's consulting firm had with Freddie Mac, a government-backed mortgage giant that Romney said "did a lot of bad for a lot of people and you were working there."

"I have never, ever gone and done any lobbying," Gingrich retorted emphatically, adding that his firm had hired an expert to explain to employees "the bright line between what you can do as a citizen and what you do as a lobbyist."

Rep. Ron Paul, who's bypassing Florida in favor of smaller, less expensive states, returned to Texas after Monday's debate. Santorum will appeal to the tea party to help revive his candidacy, appearing at two tea party events.

___

Associated Press writers Kasie Hunt and Brian Bakst in Florida and Connie Cass, Jack Gillum, Stephen Braun and Stephen Ohlemacher in Washington contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-24-GOP%20Campaign/id-05dddef32950456787d3db6770abb89d

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Video: Stem cells give glimpse of hope to blind

Stem cell research has held the hope for future cures and treatments. Now, two blind patients have regained some of their sight thanks to implants of the cells, taken from embryos. ITN?s Lawrence McGinty reports.?

Related Links:

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/46112091/

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Inflammatory mediator promotes colorectal cancer by stifling protective genes

Monday, January 23, 2012

Chronic inflammation combines with DNA methylation, a process that shuts down cancer-fighting genes, to promote development of colorectal cancer, scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center report today in the advance online publication of the journal Nature Medicine.

The team's connection of these two separate influences eventually may lead to better combination therapies for treating and preventing colorectal cancer.

In animal experiments, researchers found that prostaglandin E2, a chemical that promotes inflammation, accelerates the development of colorectal cancer by shutting down genes that suppress tumors and repair damaged DNA. They also found that while either an anti-inflammatory drug or a demethylating agent reduced the size and number of tumors in mice with colorectal cancer, the most powerful response occurred when both drugs were used together.

"We've known that chronic inflammation increases the risk of developing cancer and progression of disease," said senior author Raymond DuBois, M.D., Ph.D., provost and executive vice president at MD Anderson. "We've also known that tumor-suppressing genes are silenced in human colorectal cancer. However, nobody had made a molecular connection between these inflammatory mediators and changes in gene expression or silencing of genes through affects on DNA methylation."

Cancer prevention potential

The two drugs used in the animal experiments - the anti-inflammatory agent celecoxib (known commercially as Celebrex?) and the demethylating agent azacitidine (Vidaza?) - are both approved for human use.

"One potential application of our research would be a clinical trial for patients who are at extremely high risk for developing colorectal cancer, such as those with a genetic predisposition, to see if treatment with these agents would decrease their risk," DuBois said.

Prostaglandin E2 and methylation

Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) is a lipid mediator found at high levels at sites of inflammation where immune cells are aggregating. DuBois and colleagues looked for correlations between levels of PGE2 and a class of enzymes called DNA methyltransferases, which attach methyl groups (one carbon atom joined to three hydrogen atoms) to the promoter region of genes, blocking gene expression.

"We found that levels of PGE2 correlate with levels of two methyltransferases, DNMT1 and DNMT3, in human colorectal cancer specimens," DuBois said.

Subsequent experiments showed PGE2:

• Directly increased levels of both methylating enzymes in three human colorectal cancer cell lines;
• Increased the silencing by methylation of the tumor-suppressor gene CNR1 and the DNA repair gene MGMT;
• Also expanded methylation of a variety of other DNA repair genes, most importantly silencing CDKN2B and MLH1, which repairs DNA mismatches.

PGE2 silences protective genes in mice

Treating mice that are genetically altered to develop colon tumors with PGE2 increased:

• Levels of the methyltransferase gene expression in tumor cells;
• Methylation of the four tumor-suppressing genes, which reduced the expression of their corresponding messenger RNA and protein levels in tumor cells; and
• Size and number of precancerous polyps.

Giving those mice the demethylating agent azacitidine reversed the effect of PGE2 on tumor growth and on the silencing of tumor-suppressing and DNA repair genes.

Mice treated with azacitidine alone experienced a 60 percent reduction in tumors, and those treated with celecoxib alone, a 77 percent tumor reduction. Treatment with both drugs in tandem cut the number of tumors by 93 percent. All three regimens also reduced the average size of tumors; however, the combination therapy led to the greatest decrease, cutting the size of tumors by half.

Same correlations evident in human colorectal cancers

The researchers found that various processes observed in mice - such as inflammation promotion through PGE2 and another inflammatory agent called PTGS2, methlytransferases DNMT1 and DNMT3B, and the methylation of CNR1, MGMT and MLH1 - are all positively associated in human colorectal cancer, as well.

"These mouse studies make us optimistic that we can extrapolate our data to help treat humans," DuBois said. "Improved understanding of PGE2's roles in cancer progression and the regulation of DNA methylation may provide the basis for developing combination therapy to treat targeted groups of patients, and to prevent cancer from occurring or recurring in high-risk groups."

###

University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center: http://www.mdanderson.org

Thanks to University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center 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/116926/Inflammatory_mediator_promotes_colorectal_cancer_by_stifling_protective_genes_

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Mutual Fund Investing! | fito09.org

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Hello friends, if you are new to stock investing then you should read this post from the start to end. I am Rachel and I want to explain all the things.

Source: http://www.fito09.org/business-finance/personal-finance/mutual-fund-investing

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Costa CEO says captain misled company, crew (AP)

ROME ? The cruise captain who grounded the Costa Concordia off the Tuscan coast with 4,200 people on board did not relay correct information either to the company or crew after the ship hit rocks, the cruise ship owner's CEO said Friday as the search resumed for 21 missing passengers.

CEO Pierluigi Foschi told Italian state TV that the company spoke to the captain at 10:05 p.m. (2105 GMT; 4:05 p.m. EST), some 20 minutes after the ship ran aground on Jan. 13, but could not offer proper assistance because the captain's description "did not correspond to the truth."

Capt. Francesco Schettino said only that he had "problems" on board but did not mention hitting a reef.

Likewise, Foschi said crew members were not informed of the gravity of the situation.

Passenger video shown on Italian TV indicates crew members telling passengers to go to their cabins as late as 10:25 p.m. (2125 GMT; 4:25 p.m. EST). The abandon ship alarm sounded just before 11:00 p.m. (2200 GMT; 5:00 p.m. EST).

"That's because they also did not receive correct information on the gravity of the situation," Foschi said.

The $450 million Costa Concordia was carrying more than 4,200 passengers and crew when it slammed into well-charted rocks off the island of Giglio a week ago. Eleven people have been confirmed dead.

The Concordia shifted again on its rocky perch Friday, forcing the suspension of diving search operations for the 21 people still missing and raising concerns about the stability of the ship's resting place. But the search in areas above the waterline resumed in the evening after the ship was deemed stable.

The remarks by Costa CEO Foschi are the latest to indicate a lack of proper communication with authorities on land as the emergency unfolded.

An audiotape of the Concordia's first contact with maritime authorities has a Concordia office repeatedly replying that the ship had experienced a blackout, even though it had hit the reef more than half an hour earlier.

Italian media reported the officer on the call was Schettino, but that could not be independently confirmed.

Costa Crociere SpA, which offered support to the captain in the hours after the emergency, has now turned its back on the man who is under investigation for manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning his ship. Schettino, who was jailed after he left the ship, is under house arrest near Naples.

Costa in recent days has suspended Schettino, announced it is no longer paying his legal fees and has signed on as a civil party in the prosecution, a move that positions it as an injured party and would allow it to seek damages in the case of a guilty verdict.

Coast Guard spokesman Cmdr. Cosimo Nicastro said crews will evaluate the ship's stability Saturday morning to see if the diving operation can resume, focusing on an area where passengers would have sought lifeboats, Nicastro said.

It was not clear if the slight movements registered by sensors placed on board the Costa Concordia were just vibrations as the ship settles on the rocks off the Tuscan island of Giglio or if the massive ocean liner is slowly slipping off the reef. Salvage experts suggest it could be because of pockets of air gradually escaping.

The sensors detected that the ship's bow was moving about 15 millimeters (half an inch) an hour and the stern about 7 millimeters (one-quarter inch) an hour, said Nicola Casagli of the University of Florence, who was called in by Italian authorities to monitor the ship's stability.

The Concordia's movements are being watched since any significant shift could be dangerous for divers trying to locate those missing since the Concordia ran aground Jan. 13. An additional fear is that movement could damage tanks holding a 500,000 gallons of fuel oil and lead to leaks.

The sea floor drops off sharply a few meters (yards) from where the ship is resting, and Italy's environment minister has warned it risks sinking.

On Friday, relatives of some of the 21 missing were at Giglio's port getting briefings from rescue teams.

Casagli told Sky TG24 that some movement in the Concordia was only natural given the immense weight of the steel-hulled ship, which is being held in place by two huge rocks at bow and stern.

But the latest movements indicate it isn't stable, he said. "These are small, regular movements that are being monitored because they're going in the same direction," he told Sky.

Late Thursday, Carnival Corp., the U.S.-based company that owns Costa, announced it was conducting a comprehensive audit of all 10 of its cruise lines to review safety and emergency response procedures in the wake of the Costa disaster. The evacuation was chaotic and the alarm to abandon the ship was sounded after the Concordia had capsized too much to get many life boats down.

___

Colleen Barry reported from Milan. Andrea Foa contributed from Giglio, Italy.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120120/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_italy_cruise_aground

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UFC on FX 1 picks, Vegas-style: Could Guillard?s size be the difference?

Explosiveness against technique. It's a solid way to describe the main event tonight at UFC on FX 1.

Melvin Guillard can overwhelm his opponents, while Jim Miller can slowly pick you apart with his overall game. But there may be one other factor that determines the outcomes of this one. Guillard may simply be too big for Miller, one of the smaller fighters in the lightweight division.

Guillard tweeted this morning that he'll actually be over the welterweight limit as he steps into the Octagon tonight (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT) for this 155-pound tilt.

Kevin Iole and Frank Trigg joined myself on ESPN1100/98.9 FM in Las Vegas to make our picks using the Sin City betting odds. Iole likes Guillard and Trigg thinks the size disparity won't make a difference. He's worried about Guillard surviving if he doesn't finish the fight in the first few minutes.

UFC on FX 1 betting odds:
Best bets in bold

Melvin Guillard (+150) vs. Jim Miller (-170)
Duane Ludwig (-105) vs. Josh Neer (-115)
Mike Easton (-345) vs. Jared Papazian (+285)
Pat Barry (-155) vs. Christian Morecraft (+135)
Jorge Rivera (+130) vs. Eric Schafer (-150)
Kamal Shalorus (-140) vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov (+120)
Daniel Roberts (+265) vs. Charlie Brenneman (-325)
Daniel Pineda (-135) vs. Pat Schilling (+115)
Nick Denis (-255) vs. Joseph Sandoval (+215)

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/ufc-fx-1-picks-vegas-style-could-guillard-195512972.html

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Exit poll shows SC voters made up their minds late (AP)

South Carolina's late-deciding voters pushed Newt Gingrich to victory, according to exit polls in the state. The former House speaker's strong performances in the debates leading up to the contest plus a conservative-leaning electorate led to a sizable win for Gingrich.

LATE DECIDERS: A majority of South Carolina Republican voters said they decided on a candidate in the last few days, and they favored Gingrich by a double-digit margin. Santorum and Romney were about even for second among this group.

BROADLY CONSERVATIVE: About 7 in 10 voters in South Carolina said they tilt conservative on most political matters, according to exit polls. That group gave Gingrich a broad advantage over Mitt Romney. Moderate and liberal voters split between Romney and Gingrich.

RELIGIOUS VOTERS: Almost two-thirds of voters in South Carolina said they are born again or evangelical Christians, and about one-quarter said it was deeply important that a candidate share their religious views. Voters in both groups preferred Gingrich to Romney by wide margins.

SEEKING A WINNER: Almost half of voters said the most important trait they sought in a candidate was ability to beat President Barack Obama in November, and these voters favored Gingrich. That's a reversal from New Hampshire and Iowa, where voters prioritizing electability backed Romney. Only around 4 in 10 would support Romney enthusiastically should he win the nomination.

READING THE RESUME: About two-thirds of South Carolina voters said they had a positive impression of Romney's background investing in and restructuring companies, and Romney held a slim edge among those voters. However, he carried less than 5 percent of the vote among those with a negative view of his time as a venture capitalist.

FACING ECONOMIC CHALLENGES: Almost 8 in 10 voters said they were very worried about the future of the nation's economy, and about a third said someone in their household had lost a job since the start of Obama's term. These voters and those who called the economy their top issue tilted toward Gingrich.

These results are from an exit poll conducted for AP and the television networks by Edison Research as voters left their polling places at 35 randomly selected sites in South Carolina. The survey involved interviews with 2,381 Republican primary voters and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_campaign_voter_attitudes_glance

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Mark Wahlberg apologizes for 9/11 comments (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? Actor Mark Wahlberg apologized on Wednesday for saying events may have turned out differently had he been on one of the planes that crashed on 9/11, after incurring the wrath of critics and one victim's widow.

"If I was on that plane with my kids, it wouldn't have went down like it did. There would have been a lot of blood in that first-class cabin and then me saying, 'OK, we're going to land somewhere safely, don't worry,'" the actor said in an interview with Men's Journal magazine that was released one day earlier.

"The Fighter" star, 44, was scheduled to be on one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 and made the comments in that context, but after media outlets reported that a widow of one 9/11 victim called his comments "disrespectful," the actor issued a formal apology.

"To speculate about such a situation is ridiculous to begin with, and to suggest I would have done anything differently than the passengers on that plane was irresponsible. I deeply apologize to the families of the victims that my answer came off as insensitive, it was certainly not my intention," Wahlberg said in a statement.

The Oscar-nominated actor, who started his career in music as rapper Marky Mark, transitioned into film and is currently promoting "Contraband," a high-octane action movie in which he plays a former smuggler forced to protect his brother-in-law.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy, Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

(This version corrects date in paragraph 3 to 2001 from 2011)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120121/en_nm/us_markwahlberg

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Gingrich gets Perry nod, faces ex-wife allegations

Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, speaks at the Personhood USA forum in Greenville, S.C., Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, speaks at the Personhood USA forum in Greenville, S.C., Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich shakes hands with supporters while standing with his wife Callista Gingrich before speaking at Mutt's Barbeque in Easley, S.C. Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/The Independent-Mail, Nathan Gray) THE GREENVILLE NEWS OUT, SENECA NEWS OUT

BEAUFORT, S.C. (AP) ? In an up-and-down kind of campaign day, Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich picked up an endorsement Thursday from former rival Rick Perry but also faced new accusations from one of his former wives that he had asked her permission to have an "open marriage" after she learned he was having an affair.

The former House speaker also prepared to release his 2010 income tax returns, certain to bring fresh scrutiny to his campaign.

Two days before the pivotal South Carolina primary, Gingrich's political and private life were clashing just as new polls showed him rising as he looks to overtake GOP front-runner Mitt Romney in the third state to weigh in on the presidential race. Gingrich has seen his crowds grow in recent days after a strong performance in a debate Monday.

With the second debate of the week looming Thursday night, it was unclear how the new revelations from Marianne Gingrich would play in a state where religious and socially conservative voters hold sway.

Equally uncertain was whether Gingrich would get a boost from Perry's endorsement, given that the Texas governor had little support in the state, and get conservative voters to coalesce behind his candidacy. Complicating Gingrich's effort is another conservative, Rick Santorum, who threatens to siphon his support.

"Newt is not perfect but who among us is," Perry said as he bowed out of the race and called Gingrich a "conservative visionary."

It was all but certainly intended to counter the interview with Marianne Gingrich, her first on television since the divorce from Gingrich in 2000, that ABC News was set to broadcast Thursday night.

In excerpts the network released before the broadcast, Marianne Gingrich said that when she learned of Gingrich's affair with Callista Bisek, a congressional staffer, he asked his wife to share him.

"And I just stared at him and he said, 'Callista doesn't care what I do,'" Gingrich' second wife said. "He wanted an open marriage and I refused."

Gingrich brushed aside reporters' questions after a campaign event along the waterfront in Beaufort, S.C. on Thursday.

"Look, I'm not going to say anything about Marianne. My two daughters have already written to ABC complaining about this as tawdry and inappropriate," he said.

Gingrich has said in the past that tough questions are fair game for a candidate running for president. But on Thursday he referred all queries about his second marriage to his two daughters from his first marriage.

"I'm not getting involved," he said.

The television interview with Marianne Gingrich threw a wild card into the race in its final hours.

Its mere existence shines a spotlight on a part of Gingrich's past that could turn off Republican voters in a state filled with religious and cultural conservatives who may cringe at his two divorces and acknowledged marital infidelities.

Marianne Gingrich has said Gingrich proposed to her before the divorce from his first wife was final in 1981; they were married six months later. Her marriage to Gingrich ended in divorce in 2000, and Gingrich has admitted he'd already taken up with Callista Bisek, a former congressional aide who would become his third wife. The speaker who pilloried President Bill Clinton for his affair with Monica Lewinsky was himself having an affair at the time.

Underscoring the potential threat to his rise, Gingrich's campaign released a statement from his two daughters from his first marriage ? Kathy Lubbers and Jackie Cushman ? suggesting that Marianne Gingrich's comments may be suspect given the emotional toll divorce takes on everyone involved.

"Anyone who has had that experience understands it is a personal tragedy filled with regrets and sometimes differing memories of events," their statement said.

A CNN/Time South Carolina poll released Wednesday showed Gingrich in second place with support from 23 percent of likely primary voters, having gained 5 percentage points in the past two weeks. Romney led in the poll with 33 percent, but he had slipped some since the last survey. Santorum was third, narrowly ahead of Texas Rep. Ron Paul and well ahead of Perry.

Regardless of the South Carolina outcome, Gingrich was making plans to compete in Florida's primary on Jan. 31.

Confidence exuded from Gingrich, who rose in Iowa only to be knocked off course after sustaining $3 million in attack ads in Iowa from an outside group that supports Romney. Gingrich posted dismal showings in both Iowa and New Hampshire.

By the time the race turned to South Carolina, he was sharply criticizing Romney as a social moderate who is timid about attacking the nation's economic troubles. He also raised questions about Romney's experience as a venture capitalist, while a super PAC that supports Gingrich aggressively attacked Romney as a vicious corporate raider. Gingrich also ripped Romney for standing by as a super PAC run by former top Romney political aides continued to attack him in South Carolina.

Romney ended up on the defensive and by Monday night's debate, Gingrich was back in command. He earned a standing ovation when he labeled Democratic President Barack Obama "the best food stamp president in American history." The clip became the centerpiece of a television ad that began airing Wednesday as Gingrich worked to cast himself as the Republican with the best chance of beating Obama in the fall, stealing a page from Romney's playbook.

Said Gingrich senior adviser David Winston: "His taking on Barack Obama showed a toughness and an electability that the electorate is looking for."

Since then, Romney's campaign, sensing Gingrich's rise and working to deflect from its own troubles, has been trying to undercut Gingrich's claim that he helped President Ronald Reagan create millions of jobs in the 1980s, likening it to "Al Gore taking credit for the Internet."

Romney also dispatched supporters to make the case that Gingrich is erratic and unreliable. A new Romney Web video features former Republican Rep. Susan Molinari of New York saying Gingrich lacked discipline and labeling his time as speaker "leadership by chaos."

Gingrich, for his part, has been helped by the fact that Santorum has seemed unable to capitalize on the endorsement of a group of influential Christian conservatives. Those who aren't backing the former Pennsylvania senator seem to be coming Gingrich's way.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-19-Gingrich/id-7527ecfb9b8d4ebe9871d957b322a1c2

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Trial set for man accused of killing Hudson family (AP)

CHICAGO ? A judge says it's time for the man charged in the slayings of three members of Jennifer Hudson's family to face a jury.

Cook County Judge Charles Burns on Thursday set jury selection for April 9 in the trial of William Balfour.

Balfour is charged with first-degree murder in the October 2008 slayings of Hudson's mother, brother and nephew.

Balfour was the estranged husband of Jennifer Hudson's sister, Julia. Prosecutors allege he shot her family in a jealous rage because Julia Hudson was dating another man.

The bodies of 57-year-old Darnell Hudson and 29-year-old Jason Hudson were found in the family's home on the city's South Side. The body of 7-year-old Julian King was found days later in a sport utility vehicle on the city's West Side.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120119/ap_en_mo/us_jennifer_hudson_slayings

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Companies that will be most-profitable in 2012

Reuters

Apple is able to charge a premium for its products over those of its competitors like Samsung and HTC, which drives its impressive gross margins.

By Douglas A. McIntyre, 24/7 Wall St.

Each January, 24/7 Wall St. forecasts the publicly traded U.S. companies that will have the highest profits in the year ahead. This year, Apple is likely to pass Exxon Mobil as the most profitable corporation in the Fortune 500. It already passed the oil giant in market capitalization for a while last year. The market appears to anticipate rapid growth from Apple comparable to that of the past two years. The stock has reached several all-time highs recently and now trades around $425, up nearly 25 percent in the past year.

Most of the largest companies in the U.S. will not have large earnings swings from last year, with the notable exception of financial firms. The majority of?banks and investment houses will suffer earnings declines because of poor trading results and bad loans, notwithstanding?the fact that JPMorgan?Chase, arguably the best-run bank in America, is on this list, as is Wells Fargo. Corporations like IBM and Procter & Gamble have such huge customer bases worldwide that they can hardly outperform the global economy. What differentiates them is their ability to manage their operations better than peers as they keep expenses low and take all the advantages they can of their significant market shares.

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24/7 Wall St. looked at the top 200 companies in the Fortune 500 based on the revenue in the past reported year. We then reviewed earnings and earnings forecast from Thomson/First Call. There were some cases in which?earnings appeared to be too low or too high because of events in the past month. We took those into account when we produced the final numbers.

This is 24/7 Wall St.?s 10 Most Profitable Companies for 2012.

10. (tie) Wells Fargo

• Forecast 2012 revenue: Flat at $80 billion
• Forecast 2012 earnings: $14 billion, up 14 percent
• Stock price: $29.34
• Range: $29.00 - $29.38
• Market cap: $154.57 billion

Wells Fargo is one of a few large U.S. banks that has only modest exposure to mortgage problems. Because of its buyout of Wachovia, however, it is involved?in some of the government lawsuits regarding mortgage fraud. Wells Fargo does not have a large investment bank, so it will not suffer from the downturns in trading and M&A that have hurt other financials. Wells Fargo is the second largest bank in the U.S. by deposits and one of the largest credit card issuers.

10. (tie) Proctor & Gamble

• Forecast 2012 revenue: Flat at $90 billion by 4 percent
• Forecast 2012 earnings: $14 billion, up 9 percent
• Stock price: $66.64
• Range: $66.22 - $66.75
• Market cap: $183.35 billion

Procter & Gamble remains the world?s largest consumer products company. The company, which operates in 180 countries, owns global brands such as Tide, Charmin, Bounty and Cascade. P&G claims it has 24 brands worth $1 billion each. It also says its products reach 4.4 billion people a day. Compared to competitors such as Colgate, P&G?s size, brands and balance sheet give it a number of?advantages, including access to capital at low rates and brand equity. For some of P&G?s products, brand equity has been built up over several decades.

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10. (tie) Johnson & Johnson

• Forecast 2012 revenue: $68 billion, up 5 percent
• Forecast 2012 earnings: $14 billion, up 6 percent
• Stock price: $64.84
• Range: $64.41 - $65.09
• Market cap: $177.07 billion

Johnson & Johnson?s troubles in recent years primarily consisted of a number of massive recalls of its over-the-counter drugs. The recalls have not only hurt sales, but the company?s reputation as well. Fortunately, J&J is diversified enough that its many other products compensated for the lost sales. One of J&J?s large divisions is its medical device product line, which includes heart devices, joint replacements and diabetes treatments. Another large division handles R&D and the manufacturing of pharmaceutical drugs.

9. Berkshire Hathaway

• Forecast 2012 revenue: $136 billion, flat
• Forecast 2012 earnings: $15 billion, up 13 percent
• Stock price: $114,060.00
• Range: $114,000.00 - $115,088.00
• Market cap: $188.66 billion

The great ?Warren Buffett Mutual Fund Company? houses so many businesses and stock positions that it is difficult for analysts to estimate future numbers. The fact that it owns one of the largest railroads in the country ? Burlington Northern ? gives earnings some predictability. But Berkshire Hathaway also owns a number of financial services and insurance operations, for which earnings are less predictable. The same is true of Berkshire Hathaway?s exceptionally large stock portfolio, which includes many blue ribbon companies among its holdings.

8. IBM

• Forecast 2012 revenue: $110 billion, 2 percent
• Forecast 2012 earnings: $16 billion, up 11 percent
• Stock price: $181.07
• Range: $180.27 - $182.27
• Market cap: $213.41 billion

IBM is now, by many measures, the largest technology company in the world, having surpassed Hewlett-Packard in revenue last year. IBM?s advantages are twofold. The first is that it has diversified well beyond its core hardware base. While mainframes are still among the largest contributors to IBM?s revenue, the company sold its lower margin PC business to China-based Lenovo. The bulk of IBM?s sales currently come from high margin software and IT consulting. Management has also become adept at cost controls ? IBM?s second advantage point, especially when it comes to earnings.

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7. Wal-Mart

• Forecast 2012 revenue: $460 billion, up 3 percent
• Forecast 2012 earnings: $17 billion, up 9 percent
• Stock price: $59.14
• Range: $58.92 - $59.55
• Market cap: $202.54 billion

Wal-Mart remains the world?s single largest company by sales outside the oil industry. And with nearly 2 million workers, it may also be the largest employer. The retailer?s growth has stalled in the U.S., but that has largely been offset by improvements in emerging markets, which include Mexico and China. Wal-Mart plans to try to regain some of its market share in the U.S. by further promoting its low prices and by opening more modest-sized stores in urban areas.

6. Chevron

• Forecast 2012 revenue: $261 billion, up 3 percent.
• Forecast 2012 earnings: $18 billion, up 5 percent
• Stock price: $109.39
• Range: $108.33 - $109.44
• Market cap: $217.91 billion

Chevron?s 2012 fortunes will rely to a large extent on the price of oil. Most analysts believe that Brent crude will stay well above $100 because of political unrest in northern Africa and Iran. Demand may also rise because of a slight improvement in GDP in the U.S. and ongoing growth and energy demand in China. Chevron and most of its peers trade near 52-week highs, a sign there?s much enthusiasm about?the prospects of Big Oil.

5. JPMorgan Chase

• Forecast 2012 revenue: $100 billion, flat
• Forecast 2012 earnings: $19 billion, up 9 percent
• Stock price: $35.29
• Range: $34.99 - $35.68
• Market cap: $134.09 billion

JPMorgan?is not as burdened with mortgage woes like Citigroup and Bank of America. Its shares have appropriately outperformed those of the other two financial firms over the past six months. JPMorgan?s challenge will be to keep its consumer banking operation healthy because its investment bank and trading operations are likely to post mediocre results in 2012.

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4. Microsoft

• Forecast 2012 revenue: $80 billion, up 8 percent
• Forecast 2012 earnings: $23 billion, up 12 percent
• Stock price: $27.81
• Range: $27.73 - $28.10
• Market cap: $233.94 billion

Microsoft is often criticized because of the stock?s abysmal performance in the past decade. But with expected strong results for 2012, the direction of?the share price may change. The Windows PC, Business, and Server franchises are still widely profitable. The open questions are mostly tied to Microsoft?s search engine operations and its mobile smartphone?handset business, which is now part of its joint venture with Nokia.

(Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal.)

3. AT&T

• Forecast 2012 revenue: $127 billion, up 2 percent
• Forecast 2012 earnings: $22 billion, up 5 percent.
• Stock price: $29.59
• Range: $29.50 - $29.85
• Market cap: $175.29 billion

AT&T?s sales and earnings are a tale of two companies. The company?s wireless business, driven by the increasing use of data application and the expansion of?new 4G superfast networks, continues to grow. But AT&T?s plan to further expand its wireless division was thwarted when the government blocked a deal to buy T-Mobile, the number four wireless firm in the U.S. The company?s traditional landline home phone service business has also continued to shrink as more people rely on VoIP and cell service.

2. Exxon Mobil

• Forecast 2012 revenue: $450 billion, down 7 percent
• Forecast 2012 earnings: $28 billion, down 3 percent
• Stock price: $85.49
• Range: $84.97 - $85.64
• Market cap: $409.77 billion

Exxon Mobil is the world?s largest oil company. Both its refining and exploration operations contribute?equally to earnings. Exxon has also begun to move into the lucrative and rapidly growing oil sands business. The new competition in that business is as much from China as anywhere else. PetroChina has begun to aggressively acquire operations in oil sands centers like Canada. The biggest variable in Exxon?s earnings will be the price of oil. Most experts peg that above $100 for the balance of the year.

1. Apple

• Forecast 2012 revenue: $160 billion, up 48 percent
• Forecast 2012 earnings: $33 billion, up 60 percent
• Stock price: $422.76
• Range: $421.35 - $427.75
• Market cap: $392.92 billion

Apple?s earnings and sales growth continue to defy gravity. Apple should continue to hold wide leads over the competition, espcially in the smartphone?and tablet PC industry. Apple is able to charge a premium for its products over those of its competitors like Samsung and HTC, which drives its impressive gross margins. Apple also stands to benefit from its current low market penetration in developing nations such as China, which will improve as 3G networks are more broadly deployed.

Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/10/10099304-apple-exxon-att-likely-to-be-most-profitable-us-companies-this-year

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