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Chicago ? Federal criminal charges may be pending for key individuals involved in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that federal prosecutors are targeting several Houston-based engineers and at least one supervisor employed by BP, the British oil giant. BP is one of three parties blamed for the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in April 2010 resulting in 11 deaths and the release of 4.9 million barrels of oil (206 million gallons) into the Gulf.

The charges relate to false information given to federal regulators prior to the oil spill involving risks linked to certain drilling procedures. The Department of Justice may bring the charges next year. Convictions could result in fines and up to five years in prison.

BP has long claimed that Halliburton, the BP contractor responsible for the cement job designed to pressurize the well during the drilling process, and Transocean, the rig operator, share responsibility for the accident. The three companies published internal reports detailing the causes of the accident. Other reports were written by a presidential commission as well as independent groups of environmentalists and university scientists studying the spill.

IN PICTURES: Destructive oil spills

The most comprehensive report, made public in September, was a joint effort of the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement and the US Coast Guard.

In that report, blame is mostly directed at BP, which is criticized for violating federal regulations for offshore drilling and making a series of decisions that elevated risk. The report details some 35 steps BP made that led to the disaster, suggesting that the blowout of the Macondo well was the result of late-hour company restructuring and concerns about cost overruns.

The suggestion that criminal charges are afoot precedes a civil trial scheduled to start Feb. 27 in New Orleans.

The Department of Justice is suing BP, and eight other parties, in an effort to seek damages under the Clean Water Act and for eight of the defendants, including BP, to admit liability without limitation under the Oil Pollution Act for all damage costs.

The outcome of next year?s trial will determine the extent of the fines BP is facing, likely to range from $4 billion to $20 billion.

Louisiana lawmakers are embarking on an effort to ensure that 80 percent of Clean Water Act fines resulting from the spill benefit coastal restoration for all five Gulf states.

The bill, titled the Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economy of the Gulf Coast Act of 2011, was debated earlier this month before the US House of Representatives subcommittee on water resources and environment.

Subcommittee chairman Bob Gibbs, (R) of Ohio, criticized the bill, saying the Gulf Coast already received billions of dollars for flood control following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and that it benefits from royalties incurred from offshore drilling.

Louisiana lawmakers, including Rep. Steve Scalise (R), counter that federal dollars were simply used to correct the levee system around New Orleans, the failure of which caused 80 percent of the city to go under water, suggesting that the additional funds were not used to build anything new.

Rep. Scalise added that the Gulf Coast states will not receive royalty money from offshore drilling until 2017. When that happens, Gulf states will collectively share nearly 38 percent, which he said was insufficient compared to the ?billions in economic losses across all five Gulf states.?

If criminal charges are brought against employees of BP, it will set off a legal process that separate from next year?s civil trial.

Anthony Sabino, an attorney who specializes in oil and gas law and who teaches at St. John?s University in New York City, says it is not yet certain why federal prosecutors are targeting individuals for criminal wrongdoing when it already is making a separate case against BP and other companies.

He says that unlike a civil trial that targets companies that have ?deep pockets,? a criminal trial involving individuals will not help the ultimate goal of levying fines to help coastal restoration.

?If you already have an ongoing investigation and an assessment of liability against BP and you are handling it in a formal, regulatory manner, it begs the question for what purpose are the criminal charges,? Mr. Sabino says. 

IN PICTURES: Destructive oil spills

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/environment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20111229/ts_csm/442738

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If you?re a fan of LEGO, the popular construction toys from Denmark, you?ll definitely be interested by the Connect Design Block Case for the iPhone 4/4S. Inspired by LEGO blocks, this unique case is made of rubber and features bumps that allow you to easily add and remove interlocking pieces for you to customize it for whatever your intended purposes.

Need to keep your earphones neat and tidy? No problem, just wind them around the grooves and hold them in place with another piece. Need to use your case as a stand to watch videos on your iPhone with? Just place a piece on its side so it can prop the case up. And if you don?t need the extra pieces and just want to protect your iPhone from damage, you can easily remove and use it as a regular case.

The Connect Design Block Case is available in a selection of colors including blue, purple and orange, and works with your iPhone 4/4S. It comes with a price tag of $29 and is available now.

Source: http://www.ubergizmo.com/2011/12/connect-design-block-case-iphone-44s/

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In this undated image provided by NASA on Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011, shows two sides of the moon. Twin NASA probes traveling for the past 3 1/2 months are scheduled to arrive at the moon during the New Year's weekend to study lunar gravity. (AP Photo/NASA)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? The New Year's countdown to the moon has begun.

NASA said Wednesday that its twin spacecraft were on course to arrive back-to-back at the moon after a 3?-month journey.

"We're on our way there," said project manager David Lehman of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the $496 million mission.

The Grail probes ? short for Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory ? won't land on the lunar surface. Instead, they were poised to slip into orbit to study the uneven lunar gravity field.

Grail-A was scheduled to arrive on New Year's Eve, followed by Grail-B on New Year's Day.

Lehman said team members won't celebrate until both probes are safely in orbit.

It's been a long voyage for the near-identical Grail spacecraft, which traveled more than 2? million miles (3.22 million kilometers) since launching in September. Though the moon is relatively close at about 250,000 miles (402317.35 kilometers)away, Grail took a roundabout way to save on costs by launching on a small rocket.

Once at the moon, the probes will spend the next two months tweaking their positions before they start collecting data in March. The pair will fly in formation at an altitude of 34 miles (54.72 kilometers) above the surface, with an average separation of 124 miles (199.55 kilometers).

The mission's chief scientist, Maria Zuber of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said many aspects of the moon remain a mystery despite being well studied.

"We actually know more about Mars ... than we do about our own moon," Zuber said.

One puzzle scientists hope to solve is why the moon's far side is more hilly than the side that always faces Earth. Research published earlier this year suggested that Earth once had dual moons that collided and formed the moon that people gaze at today.

Despite the wealth of new knowledge expected from the mission, NASA has no near-term plans to send astronauts back to the moon. The Obama administration last year nixed the idea in favor of landing astronauts on an asteroid and eventually Mars.

___

Online:

Mission: http://grail.nasa.gov

___

Follow Alicia Chang's coverage at http://www.twitter.com/SciWriAlicia

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2011-12-28-NASA%20Moonshot/id-0573108694684b89a644defb253ffd27

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A recent article, ?SOPA is the end of us, say bloggers? (Politico, Dec. 27), ignores the facts and misleads readers. This kind of one-sided reporting lets down readers and brings into question the credibility of Politico as a news source.

Critics of the Stop Online Piracy Act cannot point to any language in the bill to back up their claims. Their concerns are based on speculation and hyperbole, rather than reality. There is no language that would criminalize actions by domestic political bloggers. There is nothing that would require Internet service providers or bloggers to ?censor? the Internet.

Since there is no basis for their complaints, one wonders what the bill?s critics are really worried about. Perhaps they don?t want to be held accountable for directing consumers to illegal websites. We know that?s the case with Google.

The search engine giant recently paid $500 million to settle a criminal case because of the company?s active promotion of foreign rogue pharmacies that sold counterfeit and illegal drugs to U.S. patients. Their opposition to this legislation is self-serving since they profit from doing business with rogue sites that steal and sell America?s intellectual property.

The Stop Online Piracy Act helps American innovators by protecting U.S. intellectual property from foreign criminals. The bill targets conduct that is already illegal. It applies only to foreign Websites, not domestic. No action can be taken against a foreign illegal Website without a court order from a federal judge.

SOPA makes it possible to enforce the law against foreign criminals and counterfeiters ? making it harder for foreign online thieves to profit from selling counterfeit goods to U.S. consumers.

Companies that benefit from working with rogue websites will likely continue to criticize the Stop Online Piracy Act. But they use fear instead of facts to discredit the bill.

We cannot let misinformation distract us from making the online marketplace safe for U.S. consumers.

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas)

Chairman

House Judiciary Committee

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/politico_rss/rss_politico_mostpop/http___www_politico_com_news_stories1211_70948_html/44031037/SIG=11mp2qg46/*http%3A//www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/70948.html

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When a star cardiologist at St. Joseph Medical Center was accused of performing hundreds of unnecessary medical procedures in 2009, it changed the course of the Towson hospital and now raises questions about its future.

St. Joseph plans to narrow its search for a new "strategic partner" in coming weeks, but analysts say it may not offer enough new paying patients and other immediate financial benefits to outweigh the liabilities ? including hundreds of lawsuits and declining revenue.

If other hospitals don't ally with or buy it, St. Joseph could close at least some of its operations, the analysts said.

The longer a deal takes, "the more the hospital loses volume and status, and that is not only lowering the sale price but making it more unlikely that anyone will be willing to buy it," said Gerard F. Anderson, director of the Center for Hospital Finance and Management in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

"Hospitals want to buy viable, successful entities, and St. Joseph is not appearing to be that," he said.

Anderson said that across the country, for-profit hospital systems don't shy away from distressed hospitals because they can add new customers, increase negotiating power with insurers and possibly get a tax break if there is debt. But Maryland has a unique rate-setting system that could prevent a buyer from raising prices and quickly reversing the revenue slide.

According to state records, St. Joseph's patient net revenue fell from $361 million in fiscal 2009 to $299 million in fiscal 2011, which ended June 30. Patient admissions dropped from 35,486 to 26,942 over the same period. The hospital has also told state officials it was losing doctors.

Without a buyer, Anderson said, he would expect the hospital to shut its expensive inpatient facilities, including 263 beds, and operate only outpatient services such as doctors' offices and surgical centers.

The outcome rests on the needs of other hospitals and the community, agreed Joshua Nemzoff, president of Nemzoff & Co., a New Hope, Pa.-based hospital acquisitions consulting firm. He said other hospitals may want to enter the area or keep someone else out. Or they may want insured suburban patients to offset their urban uninsured.

The buyers could cut costs by combining administrative functions and reducing staff. They could maintain all the services, eliminate some, or even close the facility entirely and try to steer patients to their hospitals, though he thought the last option was unlikely.

They will likely require that St. Joseph's parent, Denver-based Catholic Health Initiatives, a nonprofit faith-based 72-hospital system, assumes all responsibility for the lawsuits that followed accusations of unnecessary stent procedures.

"They'll find someone who wants it, even if they have to give it away," said Nemzoff, adding that other large hospital systems have left markets this way. "They'll say, 'Here are the keys.' Then, the buyers will decide what to do with it."

The analysts noted that changing needs in the region will also influence what happens to St. Joseph. For example, in the 1980s hospitals began providing more services on an outpatient basis. That's what led Liberty Medical Center in 1999 to transfer inpatient services to its sister hospital, Bon Secours, three miles away.

Other hospitals have bought facilities and improved them, including Johns Hopkins Medicine, which acquired distressed Baltimore City Hospital in 1984 and turned it into Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. More recently it acquired Howard County General Hospital, a deal that allowed the community hospital to expand services and Johns Hopkins to gain suburban patients.

But Baltimore-area hospitals already have a lot of capacity, perhaps too much, according to some observers. An official assessment this year by the Maryland Health Care Commission shows Central Maryland had the most excess in the state, with physical capacity for 583 more impatient beds than those now licensed.

St. Joseph makes up about a quarter of Baltimore County's 1,112 beds, but there are more than 4,000 in the city.

Still, potential buyers could see advantages in St. Joseph. U.S. News and World Report ranked seven specialties as high-performing and ranked the hospital 11th overall in the Baltimore area.

The suitors include the University of Maryland Medical System, MedStar Health, Greater Baltimore Medical Center, LifeBridge Health and St. Agnes Hospital, according the hospitals and others with knowledge of the negotiations.

Robert A. Chrencik, president and chief executive of the University of Maryland Medical System's 12-hospital system, said the St. Joseph's financial situation was troubling but his system has the "medical horsepower" to turn it around. And Greater Baltimore Medical Center's president, John B. Chessare, wrote in a blog post that his hospital and St. Joseph already work well together.

For its part, a St. Joseph spokeswoman said the hospital "is well-positioned for a strategic relationship, and other providers are taking a close look at the opportunity to form a relationship with an established, geographically desirable health care organization like ours."

Vivienne Stearns-Elliott said St. Joseph officials are pleased with the "quality of the submissions received and the level of interest expressed." The hospital is expected to choose finalists in January.

If the hospital were to close fully or partially, it would have to notify several state agencies ? and state officials stress that has not happened. They would have oversight over everything from the way bond debt is repaid to how operations are wound down and where patients would go. State law also requires a closure plan to be approved by the secretary of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

The state has helped some high-cost, underused hospitals close, including Liberty, Leland Memorial in Riverdale and Church Hospital in Baltimore, according to officials at the Health Services Cost Review Commission, which sets hospital rates. The closures save the state system money, said Stephen Ports, acting executive director of the commission.

The county-owned Prince George's Hospital Center in Cheverly, overwhelmed by costs from uninsured patients but deemed necessary to the community, was bailed out by state and local officials in a deal that involves the University of Maryland system. (Nemzoff, the consultant, said it could have been sold if officials had not insisted on a hefty infusion of money while refusing to allow staff or services to be trimmed.)

There's been no review of the community's need for St. Joseph because it has taken no steps to close, said Ben Steffen, acting executive director of the Maryland Health Care Commission.

The cost review commission did credit St. Joseph $5.5 million earlier this year for administration, information technology and other costs. Other liabilities remain unresolved.

The hospital's troubles stem from allegations that medically unnecessary stents were placed by Dr. Mark Midei, who has since lost his license in Maryland. A kickback scheme uncovered during a federal investigation resulted in a $22 million settlement and repayment of funds for questionable procedures. The hospital also agreed to greater federal oversight.

And hundreds of patients are seeking millions in lawsuits against the doctor, St. Joseph and its parent.

One plaintiffs' lawyer noted that the hospital remains profitable despite a drop in revenue and holds $158 million in medical malpractice insurance, enough to cover the potential liability and insulate a buyer.

Andrew G. Slutkin said he is still negotiating with the hospital, and though "we're far apart," he expects the lawsuits to be resolved quickly to aid the sale process.

"St. Joe's has to say they made a mistake and they're fixing it," he said. "Then someone can come in and take over. Everyone moves on."

meredith.cohn@baltsun.com

twitter.com/baltsunhealth

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Source: http://towson.patch.com/articles/debt-lawsuits-complicate-potential-st-joseph-sale

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'Hide it': Some NFL players still hide concussions

In a series of interviews about head injuries with The Associated Press over the last two weeks, 23 of 44 NFL players ? slightly more than half ? said they would try to conceal a possible

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Source: http://thetowntalk.com/article/20111225/NEWS/111225010/-1/rss01

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LOS ANGELES ? The moon has come a long way since Galileo first peered at it through a telescope. Unmanned probes have circled around it and landed on its surface. Twelve American astronauts have walked on it. And lunar rocks and soil have been hauled back from it.

Despite being well studied, Earth's closest neighbor remains an enigma.

Over the New Year's weekend, a pair of spacecraft the size of washing machines are set to enter orbit around it in the latest lunar mission. Their job is to measure the uneven gravity field and determine what lies beneath ? straight down to the core.

Since rocketing from the Florida coast in September, the near-identical Grail spacecraft have been independently traveling to their destination and will arrive 24 hours apart. Their paths are right on target that engineers recently decided not to tweak their positions.

"Both spacecraft have performed essentially flawlessly since launch, but one can never take anything for granted in this business," said mission chief scientist Maria Zuber of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The nail-biting part is yet to come. On New Year's Eve, one of the Grail probes ? short for Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory ? will fire its engine to slow down so that it could be captured into orbit. This move will be repeated by the other the following day.

Engineers said the chances of the probes overshooting are slim since their trajectories have been precise. Getting struck by a cosmic ray may prevent the completion of the engine burn and they won't get boosted into the right orbit.

"I know I'm going to be nervous. I'm definitely a worrywart," said project manager David Lehman of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the $496 million, three-month mission.

Once in orbit, the spacecraft will spend the next two months flying in formation and chasing one another around the moon until they are about 35 miles above the surface with an average separation of 124 miles. Data collection won't begin until March.

Previous missions have attempted to measure lunar gravity with mixed success. Grail is the first mission dedicated to this goal.

As the probes circle the moon, regional changes in the lunar gravity field will cause them to speed up or slow down. This in turn will change the distance between them. Radio signals transmitted by the spacecraft will measure the slight distance gaps, allowing researchers to map the underlying gravity field.

Using the gravity information, scientists can deduce what's below or at the lunar surface such as mountains and craters and may help explain why the far side of the moon is more rugged than the side that faces Earth.

The probes are officially known as Grail-A and Grail-B. Several months ago, NASA hosted a contest inviting schools and students to submit new names. The probes will be christened with the winning names after the second orbit insertion, Zuber said.

Besides the one instrument on board, each spacecraft also carries a camera for educational purposes. Run by a company founded by Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, middle school students from participating schools can choose their own lunar targets to image during the mission.

A trip to the moon is typically relatively quick. It took Apollo astronauts three days to get there. Since Grail was launched from a relatively small rocket to save on costs, the journey took 3 1/2 months.

Scientists expect the mission to yield a bounty of new information about the moon, but don't count on the U.S. sending astronauts back anytime soon. The Constellation program was canceled last year by President Barack Obama, who favors landing on an asteroid as a stepping stone to Mars.

___

Online:

Mission details: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/grail/news/index.html

___

Follow Alicia Chang's coverage at http://www.twitter.com/SciWriAlicia

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111226/ap_on_sc/us_sci_nasa_moonshot

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? The State Department said on Saturday it deplored Cuba's failure to free Alan Gross - a U.S. citizen serving a 15-year prison term in a case that has stalled progress in U.S.-Cuba relations - as part of an announced humanitarian release of some 2,900 prisoners.

"If this is correct, we are deeply disappointed and deplore the fact that the Cuban government has decided not to take this opportunity to extend this humanitarian release to Mr. Gross this holiday season, especially in light of his deteriorating health, and to put an end to the Gross family's long plight," Mark Toner, a State Department spokesman, said Saturday.

The Cuban government said on Friday it would free 2,900 prisoners in coming days for humanitarian reasons ahead of a visit next spring by Pope Benedict XVI.

Those to be pardoned do not include Gross, a government spokesman said in Havana. He was imprisoned after setting up Internet equipment as a subcontractor in a U.S.-funded program promoting political change in Cuba.

The Cuban government considered his work subversive. His arrest halted a brief warming in U.S.-Cuba relations that have been hostile since Fidel Castro embraced Soviet Communism after his 1959 revolution.

In a statement, Toner reiterated a U.S. call on Cuban authorities to release Gross "and return him to his family, where he belongs." The State Department has said in the past that Gross was merely providing Internet access for Jewish groups in Cuba and should be released immediately.

(Reporting by Jim Wolf; additional reporting by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Sandra Maler)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111224/ts_nm/us_cuba_usa_gross

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PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA ? North Korea hailed Kim Jong Il?s son as ?supreme leader? of the 1.2-million strong military, ramping up its campaign to install the young man as the nation?s next leader even as millions continue mourning the father a week after his death.

Kim Jong Un made a third visit Saturday to the palace where his father?s body is lying in state ? this time as ?supreme leader of the revolutionary armed forces? and accompanied by North Korea?s top military brass, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

The new title and public show of support from the military leadership sent a strong signal that the nation will maintain Kim Jong Il?s ?military first? policy for the time being.

Earlier Saturday, the newspaper Rodong Sinmun, mouthpiece of the ruling Workers? Party, urged Kim Jong Un to accept the top military post: ?Comrade Kim Jong Un, please assume the supreme commandership, as wished by the people.?

Kim Jong Un, who is in his late 20s and was unveiled in September 2010 as his father?s choice as successor, will be the third-generation Kim to rule the nation of 24 million. His father and grandfather led the country under different titles, and it remains unclear which other titles will be bestowed on the grandson.

Kim Il Sung, who founded North Korea in 1948, retains the title of ?eternal president? even after his death in 1994.

Son Kim Jong Il ruled as chairman of the National Defence Commission, supreme commander of the Korean People?s Army and general secretary of the Workers? Party.

Kim Jong Un was promoted to four-star general and appointed a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers? Party. He had been expected to assume a number of other key posts while being groomed to succeed his father.

His father?s death comes at a sensitive time for North Korea, which was in the middle of discussions with the U.S. on food aid and restarting talks to dismantle the North?s nuclear weapons program. Chronically short of food and suffering from a shortfall in basic staples after several harsh seasons, officials had been asking for help feeding its people even as North Koreans prepared for 2012 celebrations marking Kim Il Sung?s 100th birthday.

North Korea has emphasized the Kim family legacy during the sped-up succession movement for Kim Jong Un. State media invoked Kim Il Sung in declaring the people?s support for the next leader, comparing the occasion to Kim Jong Il?s ascension to ?supreme commander? exactly 20 years ago Saturday.

At the Kumsusan Memorial Palace, Kim Jong Un and senior commanders paid silent tribute to Kim Jong Il, ?praying for his immortality,? KCNA said. The military also pledged its loyalty to Kim Jong Un, the report said.

?Let the whole army remain true to the leadership of Kim Jong Un over the army,? KCNA reported ? a pledge reminiscent of those made when Kim Jong Il was named supreme commander.

The call to rally behind Kim Jong Un, dubbed the ?Great Successor? in the wake of his father?s death on Dec. 17 from a heart attack, comes amid displays of grief across North Korea. The official mourning period lasts until after Kim?s funeral Wednesday and a memorial Thursday.

In Pyongyang, mourners waited in line Saturday to bow and lay flowers at Kim?s portrait at plazas and government buildings, including the Pyongyang Circus Theater and the April 25 People?s Army House of Culture, even as temperatures dropped to 14 degrees below Celsius (7 degrees Fahrenheit).

Workers at beverage kiosks handed steaming cups of water to shivering mourners, including children bundled up in colourful thick parkas. A sign urged mourners to thaw out inside a heated bus. The order to provide food and warming huts for mourners came from Kim Jong Un, officials said.

Earlier, a throng of North Koreans climbed steps and placed flowers and wreaths in a neat row below a portrait of Kim Jong Il as solemn music filled the air and young uniformed soldiers, their heads shaved, bowed before his picture.

A sobbing Jong Myong Hui, a Pyongyang citizen taking a break from shovelling snow, told AP Television News that she came out voluntarily to ?clear the way for Kim Jong Il?s last journey.?

For days, life in Pyongyang had come to a standstill, with shops and restaurants closed. Downtown Koryo Hotel, one of several in Pyongyang catering to foreigners, was nearly empty.

But there are signs that the country is beginning to move on.

?Streets, buses and the metro are all crowded with people going to their work. They are not giving way simply to sorrow,? KCNA said. ?They are getting over the demise of their leader, promoted by a strong will to closely rally around respected Comrade Kim Jong Un.?

Among the mourners Saturday was a son of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, founder of the South Korean-based Unification Church, which has long-standing ties with North Korea. The Rev. Hyung-jin Moon helped carry a wreath to the main mourning site at Kim Il Sung Square in central Pyongyang.

The Korean Peninsula has remained in a technical state of war since the Koreas? 1950-53 conflict, but two groups from South Korea have permission from the South Korean government to visit the North to pay their respects, Unification Ministry spokesman Choi Boh-seon said Saturday in Seoul.

One group will be led by the widow of former president Kim Dae-jung, who held a landmark summit with Kim Jong Il in 2000, and the other by the wife of a late businessman with ties to the North.

Citizens in Pyongyang, meanwhile, received a last gift from the late Kim Jong Il: fish. State-run media said Kim was worried about the supply of fish and had looked into the matter the day before he died.

Rodong Sinmun showed a photo of a woman covering her mouth as she watched herring and walleye being distributed at a crowded grocery store where they were piled up in baskets.

Source: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1106798--kim-jong-il-s-son-called-supreme-leader-of-north-korean-military

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When you?ve got a car that you understand longer use you must imagine donating it to a just right cause. Many people are unaware that it?s even imaginable to donate cars. In flip they just end up taking their automobile to the junkyard instead. Why give your car to the junkyard for pennies, while you?ll be able to donate it to help folks which can be in want?

The benefit of donating an automobile is that there are a lot of advantages that pass along side it which you could no longer even take into accout of. First of all, it is important to recognise that you can donate your car even if it is not in perfect working condition. With somewhat bit of work your automotive can most likely get operating again and lend assistance in more ways than one. In addition, you never have to worry approximately driving your automotive to the donation heart or buying towing. They are going to at all times come to you to select the car up; no questions asked.

To take provider a step further, donation centers are also keen to paintings with you in an effort to ensure that the whole thing goes off easily from the start. They provide fast carrier and prompt attention in order that you would not have to head out of your approach to make sure that your automobile is picked up on time, etc. While you donate your automotive there could also be a minimal amount of bureaucracy that you need to maintain; this makes the process even quicker.

Donating an automobile will also be used as a large IRS tax deduction. Many of us are not aware of this, nevertheless it is without doubt one of the very best purposes to donate your car to charity or some other cause. Tax deductions can go a ways in ensuring that you don?t owe money at the end of the year.

And of course the most important advantage of donating an automobile is that you will be serving to other people that are in need. Your automotive would possibly pass to a family that doesn?t have any transportation, or the organization you donate it to might use it to ship garments, meals, or furniture. Both manner, you?ll be relax assured that your donation is going to be placed to excellent use.

To find a charity or group that accepts car donations you?ll simply go browsing or search the yellow pages. You should have no problems discovering a company to your space that would be ecstatic to take your car off your hands. And if you can?t to find anyone for your space, check out any person a bit of further out. Likelihood is that that they will be simply excited that will help you out.

General, in case you have an automobile that you just no longer use look into donating it. The advantages that cross together with this process are unending, and you?ll really feel much better about your self when the whole thing is over and done.

If you want further information with respect to scrap car prices, stop by Howard K Lalone?s website directly.

Source: http://fatbikezreview.com/donating-an-automotive-2/

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With a mounting docket of lawsuits filed against the NFL by former players who claim that the league concealed the risks of concussions and/or failed to adequately protect players from their ill effects, the NFL has opted to remain largely quiet, at least for now.? Though the league will justify its low profile by pointing to the fact that the matters are in litigation, the NFL had no qualms about making its positions known during the lockout, which featured as its centerpiece a high-profile antitrust lawsuit.

For now, here?s the league?s official statement regarding the concussion lawsuits, sent via email to PFT by NFL spokesman Greg Aiello:? ?The NFL has long made player safety a priority and continues to do so.? Any allegation that the NFL intentionally sought to mislead players has no merit.? It stands in contrast to the league?s actions to better protect players and advance the science and medical understanding of the management and treatment of concussions.?

The league doesn?t need to say much more in the near term, because folks aren?t paying attention to the concussion lawsuits.? Hardcore fans will be aware of the litigation, but most hardcore fans seem to be inclined to believe that football players are compensated to assume all known and unknown risks, that the risks of long-term injury should have been obvious, and that most players would have played even if all risks had been outlined in chapter-and-verse fashion.? More importantly, many hardcore fans simply hope at a certain level that the lawsuits will go away, given that they potentially could impact the game in a negative way.

As a result, the lawyers who are representing the players in these cases undoubtedly will be getting the word out regarding any and all evidence that arguably reveals an effort to hide the risks of head injuries.? While the concussion lawsuits currently represent a minor blemish in comparison to the festering sore that the work stoppage became, the league could in time have a major problem, both from a liability and a public relations standpoint.

The biggest risk, of course, is that increased sensitivity to the long-term health risks of playing football could choke off the supply of future NFL players by prompting parents to discourage or prohibit their children from playing the game.

That?s why the league will continue to make changes to the game aimed at making it safer.? Each tweak, however, will serve only to bolster the argument from the former players that more could have been done in the past.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/24/another-blowout-loss-moves-raheem-morris-closer-to-brink/related/

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The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has upheld a decision to remove the notorious Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) from the EU's list of terrorist organizations.

EU court upholds delisting Washington backed MKO terror group

In 2008, the ECJ's Court of First Instance ruled that the EU had been wrong in listing the MKO as a terrorist organization, since it had failed to provide the group with evidence that formed the basis of a decision to keep it on the terrorism list.

Following the court's ruling, the European Union removed the MKO from its list of terrorist organizations in 2009.

France appealed against the decision, saying some of Paris' closest allies still list the MKO as a terrorist organization. The ECJ, however, rejected the appeal.

MKO is designated as a terrorist organization under United States law, and has been described by State Department officials as a repressive cult.

The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it enjoyed the support of Iraq's executed dictator Saddam Hussein, and set up camp in Diyala Province, near the Iranian border.

MKO is known to have cooperated with Saddam in suppressing the 1991 uprisings in southern Iraq and the massacre of Iraqi Kurds.

The group has also carried out numerous acts of terrorism against Iranian civilians and government officials.

Source: http://www.nejatngo.org/en/post.aspx?ID=4091

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BEIJING (Reuters) ? North Korea will shift to collective rule from a strongman dictatorship after last week's death of Kim Jong-il, although his untested young son will be at the head of the ruling coterie, a source with close ties to Pyongyang and Beijing said.

The source added that the military, which is trying to develop a nuclear arsenal, has pledged allegiance to the untested Kim Jong-un, who takes over the family dynasty that has ruled North Korea since it was founded after World War Two.

The source declined to be identified but has correctly predicted events in the past, telling Reuters about the North's first nuclear test in 2006 before it took place.

The comments are the first signal that North Korea is following a course that many analysts have anticipated -- it will be governed by a group of people for the first time since it was founded in 1948. Both Kim Jong-il and his father Kim Il-sung were all-powerful, authoritarian rulers of the isolated state.

The situation in North Korea appeared stable after the military gave its backing to Kim Jong-un, the source said.

"It's very unlikely," the source said when asked about the possibility of a military coup. "The military has pledged allegiance to Kim Jong-un."

North Korea's collective leadership will include Kim Jong-un, his uncle and the military, the source said.

Jang Song-thaek, 65, brother-in-law of Kim Jong-il and the younger Kim's uncle, is seen as the power behind the throne along with his wife Kim Kyong-hui, Kim Jong-il's sister. So too is Ri Yong-ho, the rising star of the North's military and currently its seniormost general.

The younger Kim, who is in his late 20s, has his own supporters, but is not strong enough to consolidate power, analysts said.

"I know that he's been able to build a group of supporters around himself who are of his generation," said Koh Yu-hwan, president of the Korean Association of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

"So it is not entirely elders in their 70s, plus some like Jang in their 60s, who are backing him. These young backers will be emerging fairly soon."

Koh said the coterie was put in place by Kim Jong-il before he died. "The relative calm seen these few days shows it's been effective. If things were not running smoothly, then we'd have seen a longer period of 'rule by mummy,' with Kim Jong-il being faked as still being alive."

He said the younger Kim would accept the set-up, for now. "Considering the tradition of strongarm rule by his father and grandfather, things can't be easy for him," he said.

MAKES SENSE

Ralph Cossa, an authority on North Korea and president of the U.S. thinktank Pacific Forum CSIS, said it made sense that the ruling group would stick together.

"All have a vested interest in regime survival," he said. "Their own personal safety and survival is inextricably tied to regime survival and Kim Jong-un is the manifestation of this. I think the regime will remain stable, at least in the near-term."

He added in a commentary that the new group may be inclined to reform, but stressed this was far from confirmed.

"Over the long term, there appears to be some hope, primarily emanating from Beijing, that Kim Jong-un will take North Korea down the path of Chinese-style reform, apparently based on the belief that Jang is or will be a "reformer."

"Who knows, this may be true. While this could relieve the suffering of the North Korean people over time, it will do little to promote the cause of denuclearization, however."

The high-level source also said the North Korea test-fired a missile on Monday to warn the United States not to make any moves against it. Pyongyang however had no immediate plans for further tests barring an escalation of tensions.

"With the missile test, (North) Korea wanted to deliver the message that they have the ability to protect themselves," the source said.

"But (North) Korea is unlikely to conduct a nuclear test in the near future unless provoked" by the United States and South Korea, the source said.

The unpredictable North's nuclear program has been a nagging source of tension for the international community. Pyongyang carried out nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009, and has quit six-party talks with South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia on abandoning its nuclear program and returning to the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The high-level source also said Beijing was only notified of Kim's death earlier on Monday, the same day that North Korean state television broadcast the news. Kim died on Saturday.

A leading South Korean newspaper reported on Wednesday that China learned of Kim's death soon after it occurred.

China has given no official comment or even hints suggesting it was told of Kim's death before the public announcement.

Beijing, the North's closest ally and biggest provider of aid, has pulled out the stops to support the younger Kim. The government has invited him to visit, and in an unusual gesture, President Hu Jintao and Vice-President Xi Jinping also visited the hermit state's embassy in Beijing to express their condolences. Roads leading to the embassy were blocked.

Mainly, the prospect of instability on its northeastern border worries China and it sees the younger Kim and his coterie as the best prospect for keeping North Korea on an even keel.

North Korea has been pressed by China to denuclearize and is willing to do so on condition that North and South Korea, the United States and China sign an armistice replacing a 1953 ceasefire agreement, the source said.

The two Koreas have been divided for decades and remain technically at war since their 1950-53 conflict ended with an armistice but no peace agreement. The United States backed the South, while China supported the North in that conflict.

Pyongyang also is convinced there are U.S. nuclear weapons in South Korea and demands Washington pull them out, the source said.

(Additional reporting by Jack Kim in Seoul; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Jonathan Thatcher)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/nkorea/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111221/ts_nm/us_korea_north_exclusive

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NEW YORK ? A young Iowa man's plea for marriage rights for his lesbian parents drew 18.3 million views to become the most-watched political video of the year, according to YouTube's ranking of viral political videos.

President Barack Obama's speech to the White House Correspondents' Association dinner in April was second on the list, while Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry's ad criticizing gays in the military placed third and was the year's most-watched campaign commercial.

YouTube, the popular video-sharing site, released its 2011 list Tuesday. The company based its rankings on videos uploaded by users to the site's news and politics category.

Rounding out the top five: Obama's announcement of the death of Osama bin Laden on May 1, and "Brother Can You Spare a Trillion?" by Florida Republican activist Blaise Ingoglia, warning of the mounting federal debt.

Together, the top 10 political videos drew about 50 million views from January to mid-December 2011.

To be sure, the political offerings were much less popular than those on YouTube's Top 10 overall list, which was also released Tuesday.

"Friday," Rebecca Black's sing-songy paean to the weekend, was the most-watched video of the year with nearly 180 million views, YouTube announced. Even "Cat Mom Hugs Baby Kitten," which placed 10th on the overall list, had a whopping 37 million views.

But Ramya Raghavan, news and politics manager for YouTube, said public interest in political videos was already strong and would grow more so as the 2012 presidential campaign intensifies.

"A roller-skating baby is always going to get a lot of views," Raghavan said. "But the audience is also showing a big appetite for political news and content, and there is so much more of this presidential race to go."

A hearing in the Iowa House Judiciary Committee over a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage last winter generated the most-viewed political video of the year.

Zach Wahls, a student at the University of Iowa, stood before the panel to describe growing up as the son of two women. A handsome Eagle Scout, Wahls described a childhood similar to that of other Iowa families.

"In my 19 years not once have I ever been confronted by an individual who realized independently that I was raised by a gay couple," Wahls told the committee. "And you know why? Because the sexual orientation of my parents has had zero effect on the content of my character."

Iowa's state Supreme Court legalized gay marriage in April 2009. The proposed amendment would have revoked marriage rights.

The Iowa House passed the amendment despite Wahls' plea. But state Senate leaders decided against bringing up the matter, effectively killing it for the time being. Many gay rights activists credited the Wahls video for helping draw attention to the issue.

Obama appears twice on YouTube's list. His remarks at the April 30 correspondents' dinner, where he skewered real estate mogul Donald Trump for raising questions about his birth certificate, drew 9.1 million views.

Obama's speech announcing the U.S. mission that killed bin Laden came a day later, drawing 6.2 million views.

Campaign commercials for Perry, the Texas governor, appear twice on YouTube's list.

In "Stronger," which placed third on the political list, Perry vows action against Obama's "war on religion."

Perry says, "There's something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can't openly celebrate Christmas or pray in schools."

The ad drew 7 million views in less than two weeks. It also provoked controversy and sparked several parodies.

Perry's debut presidential campaign ad, "Proven Leadership," also made the list with 2.1 million views.

Other videos on YouTube's top 10: comedian Seth Myers' remarks to the White House Correspondents' Dinner; Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show" appearing on Fox News Channel with host Bill O'Reilly; Herman Cain's campaign ad featuring his chief of staff, Mark Block, smoking a cigarette; and a mock Obama campaign ad produced by the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

___

Follow Beth Fouhy on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bfouhy

___

Online:

http://www.youtube.com/user/politics

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111220/ap_on_el_ge/us_youtube_politics

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The fist-sized rocks looked completely pedestrian, like something one might find in the backyard. The only hint that they might be exceptional was their location in a gallery at Pasadena's Art Center College of Design, resting on pedestals inside individual display cases.

In fact, the rocks are anything but ordinary ? they're borrowed from the UCLA Meteorite Collection.

The university had wanted to loan fancier-looking specimens, but curator Stephen Nowlin deliberately chose the least impressive space debris he could find.

"I wanted to show that the stuff that comes from space looks just like the stuff you kick around on a hike," he said.

It's a typical juxtaposition for the "Worlds" exhibit, now on view at the Alyce de Roulet Williamson Gallery. The installation combines art, historical documents and visualizations of scientific data in an attempt to ponder how scientific knowledge, and the lack of it, shape humans' understanding of the world around them.

"We have an Earth focus. This show is about reinvestigating that perspective," Nowlin said. "It's a space object we live on."

To that end, Nowlin has hung black-and-white photos of run-of-the-mill stones, magnified so that they look like imposing boulders.

Nearby, reproductions of pages from early scientific works, many from the rare books collection of the Huntington Library, remind visitors how earlier generations interpreted what they could see of the heavens. An illuminated manuscript from 1568 places the Earth in the center of the universe; an engraving from Nicolaus Copernicus' "De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium" of 1566 depicts the sun at the center of the cosmos.

That art was science. Elsewhere in the exhibit, science becomes art.

For instance, Jonathan Cecil's 2010 "Basrah Zoom" manipulates Earth satellite imagery to create a portrait of our planet that looks decidedly extraterrestrial, with streets and other man-made features morphed into the craggy pits and protrusions of an asteroid.

New York artists Richard Selesnick and Nicholas Kahn turn space-themed imagery into surreal science fiction in their piece "Liftoff, from the Apollo Prophecies." Completed in 2006, the mixed-media projection imagines a system of travel between the Earth and the moon where rocket capsules grow from the lunar surface and space-suited elephants and monkeys wander about.

"The details in that piece mess with your sensibility of what's real and what's imagined," said Daniel Lewis, Dibner senior curator of the history of science and technology at the Huntington. "That's what art is ? it looks like something real, but it's constructed."

In another room, portraits of real moons generated from photos by various NASA craft are displayed on a long wall. Earth's moon is subtly tucked toward the middle of the series, among Mars' Phobos, Saturn's Enceladus and Jupiter's Io.

"I wanted to equalize it," Nowlin said.

Shows like "Worlds" fit well with the Art Center's mission, Nowlin said. The school trains industrial, transportation, graphic and other designers ? workers who innovate "at the boundary of art and science," he said.

Nowlin has been curating shows that superimpose the two disciplines for about 15 years, often working with local scientific institutions. In 2003, he and scientists from Caltech collaborated with artists on an exhibition that explored neuroscience.

A few years later, the Williamson Gallery jointly presented an exhibit with Caltech's Spitzer Science Center. That show invited artists to create visual works using infrared data, which can't be seen by the naked eye, collected from the Spitzer Space Telescope.

A major goal of all the gallery's work, Nowlin said, is to focus on the emotional connection people make with science. "That could come back to benefit science" by stoking public interest, support and funding, he said.

It can also create a moving experience, he added.

During opening night at "Worlds," opera singers performed arias in front of "Black Rain," a wall-sized video installation by a collaboration called Semiconductor that features real footage captured by a NASA probe as it traveled around the sun.

"It was goose bumps," Nowlin said. "Everybody was sort of stunned."

Thousands of stars tumbled slowly down the wall, punctuated by an occasional glowing planet or burst of reflected sunlight, as the two women sang.

"Worlds" is on display through Jan. 29, but will be closed for the holidays from Dec. 22 through Jan. 2. Admission and parking are free.

eryn.brown@latimes.com

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/news/science/~3/QGIFyccVEYc/la-sci-worlds-science-art-20111217,0,1987976.story

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George Clooney knows how to win over a lady's heart, and apparently he's also a master at how to earn a dog's love as well.

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"To every thing there is a season," proclaims the Book of Ecclesiastes. Using that biblical verse as a prism, 2011 achieves, if not quite a scriptural vision, then a poetic imperative. We have had the Arab Spring; the Summer of Europe's Indignation; Autumn was Occupied across the globe; and now, perhaps there is the onset of a long Russian Winter. Regime change swayed to the same rhythms as the seasons.

The meteorology of 2011 extended to an Indian Summer (the height of Anna Hazare's anticorruption campaign, which paralyzed New Delhi) and a yearlong Chinese deep freeze -- though it's always icy weather when it comes to democracy in the People's Republic. The only real warming Beijing has had recently was way back in 1989, when it was Spring in Tiananmen Square. (See "TIME's Person of the Year: The Protester.")

These designations, of course, do not strictly follow equinox and solstice. The Arab Spring began at the tail end of the fall of 2010, with the self-immolation of the Tunisian street vendor Mohammed Bouazizi on Dec. 17, four days before the official beginning of winter, a full season away from spring. The indignados first put their outrage on display in Spain on May 15, with Europe fully warming to their sentiments only later in the summer as tear gas wafted across central Athens and riots broke out in disparate districts of London. The beginning of the Occupy movement almost coincided with the start of the fall -- but it was mostly evicted a month before the season ended. As for the Russian winter, well ... it's still technically autumn.

But there is resonance when we associate certain revolutions with specific seasons. Spring, for example, cast an optimistic light on the Arab revolts. Indeed, the Arab Spring is known in its own region as the Arab Awakening. But is that not what spring is -- an awakening, a rebirth? And does not the word uprising, almost pictographically, bring to the mind's eye a germinating seed? Spring is hoping that the best is yet to come. (See photos of the Occupy Wall Street movement.)

As bright as it is, summer is ambivalent, with an abundance of both light and fire. Perhaps it was the right time of year for Europe's down-and-out youth to see things for what they were, leading to boiling-hot outrage and indignation. Summer is the season of torpor in the continent. But the heat can kill.

The cooling down that comes with autumn signals transition and suited the fate of the Occupy movement, at least in its first manifestation. While there were moments of peppery confrontation over territory, the Occupiers from Wall Street to Oakland, Calif., and from Los Angeles to London seemed impermanent. Even as many fretted about the rigors of January in the parks and squares they occupied, their lack of philosophical cohesion contributed to their melting away weeks before the arrival of winter.

As for winter, it is the knee-jerk metaphor for anything Russian. But in this case, perhaps reflecting the cycle that began with the Arab Awakening, an omen of hope can be detected. For spring must follow winter, even in the Russia of Vladimir Putin. (See photos of protests and counterprotests in Russia.)

But hold on. These are animistic projections, born of our pathetic fallacy that somehow the cosmos reflects and echoes what humanity feels. Definitions meld into one another when they shouldn't. Reality, however, quickly disabuses us of these notions -- and not just through equinoctial calculations. Occupy has transformed not transitioned away with the fall. And the Arab Spring is now the Arab Year. It has outlasted its schedule by many months. Libya's internal brawl extended it into the summer and fall; and Syria is dragging it into a bloody winter. Meanwhile, Egypt has realized that its revolution is incomplete. The awakening has lost its spring. In 2012, we will need a clutch of fresh metaphors.

Perhaps the significance of the seasons of 2011 will be gnawed away by think tanks and historians. But, right now, as it comes to an end, 2011 continues to resound like an epic. It was a year in which the cataclysms were more than political, with tsunamis and floods and earthquakes. But when men and women decide that it is time to brave revolution, are they not manifesting some cosmic imperative as powerful as those acts of God? Their deeds should be commemorated for all seasons.

See TIME's complete coverage of "The Middle East in Revolt."

See TIME's top 10 everything of 2011.

View this article on Time.com

December 14th, 2011 by Kara Malenfant in Scholarly Communication No Comments

Once again, ACRL will take its popular scholarly communications workshop on the road to five locations in 2012. New this year, the curriculum is revised and hosts will share part of the costs.

Now titled ?Scholarly Communication: From Understanding to Engagement,? the road show was originally offered to raise awareness about scholarly communications in the community. ACRL initially underwrote the full costs of the then-named ?Scholarly Communications 101 ? Starting with the Basics? program to support this goal. The program has evolved from this central goal of awareness building and three successful years later, the program now supports in-depth training as institutions are developing scholarly communications programming. As the workshop?s goals have moved from raising awareness to training, the road show program is transitioning into an established ACRL professional development program in alignment with ACRL?s other offerings.

In 2012, the program will be expanded and enhanced to a full day workshop with more applied programmatic elements while still retaining much of the ?101 basics? elements. The program will also move to a cost sharing model. ACRL is committed to underwriting the bulk of the costs for delivering the road show, and?the cost for successful host institutions is $2,000.

The application to host will be available Tuesday, January 3, 2012. The deadline to apply is 5:00 p.m. Central on February 7, 2012. Find out more on the program website.

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Source: http://www.acrl.ala.org/acrlinsider/archives/4423

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