Wednesday, November 30, 2011

UC research examines home births -- then and now

UC research examines home births - then and now [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 30-Nov-2011
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Contact: M.B. Reilly
reillymb@ucmail.uc.edu
513-556-1824
University of Cincinnati

A comparison of home-birth trends of the 1970s finds many similarities and some differences related to current trends in home births.

For instance, in the 1970s as now women opting to engage in home births tended to have higher levels of education. That's according to a 1978 survey by Home Oriented Maternity Experience (HOME) that was recently found by University of Cincinnati historian Wendy Kline in the archives of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).

That survey showed that in the late 1970s, one third of the group's members participating in home births had a bachelor's, master's or doctoral degree. Fewer than one percent did not have a high school education.

Also, according to the 2,000 respondents to HOME's 1978 survey, 36 percent of women engaging in home births at the time were attended by physicians. That is a much higher percentage than is the case currently for mothers participating in home births. (In research by Eugene Declerq, Boston University School of Public Health, and Mairi Breen Rothman, Metro Area Midwives and Allied Services, it was found that about five percent of homebirths were attended by a physician in 2008.)

These comparisons are possible because of historical information found by UC's Kline, including "A Survey of Current Trends in Home Birth" by the founders HOME and published in 1979.

Kline is also conducting interviews with and has obtained historical documents from the founders of and the midwives first associated with HOME, a grass roots organization founded in 1974, to provide information and education related to home births.

Kline will present this research and related historical information as one of only nine international presenters invited to the "Communicating Reproduction" conference at Cambridge University Dec. 6-7.

HISTORICAL RESEARCH LENDS PERSPECTIVE TO CURRENT DEBATE

The debate surrounding health, safety and home births rose to national prominence as recently as October 2011 during the Home Birth Consensus Summit in Virginia, held because of increasing interest in home births as an option for expectant mothers.

Overall, Kline's research of HOME and of ACOG counters the stereotypical view of the 1970s home-birth movement as countercultural and peopled by "hippies." In fact, the founders of HOME deliberately reached out to a broad cross section of women across the political and religious spectrum, including religious conservatives as well as those on the left of the political spectrum.

Said Kline, "In looking through the historical record, we find that many women involved in home births in the 1970s signed their names 'Mrs. Robert Smith' or 'Mrs. William Hoffman.' The movement included professionals, business people, farmers, laborers and artists. It defies simplistic categorization."

###

FUNDING
Kline's research is funded by an ACOG Fellowship in the history of American obstetrics and gynecology.


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UC research examines home births - then and now [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 30-Nov-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: M.B. Reilly
reillymb@ucmail.uc.edu
513-556-1824
University of Cincinnati

A comparison of home-birth trends of the 1970s finds many similarities and some differences related to current trends in home births.

For instance, in the 1970s as now women opting to engage in home births tended to have higher levels of education. That's according to a 1978 survey by Home Oriented Maternity Experience (HOME) that was recently found by University of Cincinnati historian Wendy Kline in the archives of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).

That survey showed that in the late 1970s, one third of the group's members participating in home births had a bachelor's, master's or doctoral degree. Fewer than one percent did not have a high school education.

Also, according to the 2,000 respondents to HOME's 1978 survey, 36 percent of women engaging in home births at the time were attended by physicians. That is a much higher percentage than is the case currently for mothers participating in home births. (In research by Eugene Declerq, Boston University School of Public Health, and Mairi Breen Rothman, Metro Area Midwives and Allied Services, it was found that about five percent of homebirths were attended by a physician in 2008.)

These comparisons are possible because of historical information found by UC's Kline, including "A Survey of Current Trends in Home Birth" by the founders HOME and published in 1979.

Kline is also conducting interviews with and has obtained historical documents from the founders of and the midwives first associated with HOME, a grass roots organization founded in 1974, to provide information and education related to home births.

Kline will present this research and related historical information as one of only nine international presenters invited to the "Communicating Reproduction" conference at Cambridge University Dec. 6-7.

HISTORICAL RESEARCH LENDS PERSPECTIVE TO CURRENT DEBATE

The debate surrounding health, safety and home births rose to national prominence as recently as October 2011 during the Home Birth Consensus Summit in Virginia, held because of increasing interest in home births as an option for expectant mothers.

Overall, Kline's research of HOME and of ACOG counters the stereotypical view of the 1970s home-birth movement as countercultural and peopled by "hippies." In fact, the founders of HOME deliberately reached out to a broad cross section of women across the political and religious spectrum, including religious conservatives as well as those on the left of the political spectrum.

Said Kline, "In looking through the historical record, we find that many women involved in home births in the 1970s signed their names 'Mrs. Robert Smith' or 'Mrs. William Hoffman.' The movement included professionals, business people, farmers, laborers and artists. It defies simplistic categorization."

###

FUNDING
Kline's research is funded by an ACOG Fellowship in the history of American obstetrics and gynecology.


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


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-11/uoc-ure113011.php

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Laura Brounstein: Why Are Vampires Such a Turn-On?

Not long ago, as I sat sipping a skim decaf latte, contemplating my 39th birthday and brooding over the demise of my most recent relationship, my thoughts turned to... vampires. This particular romance had started out effortlessly, even thrillingly. It ended because serious life responsibilities (mostly his) got in the way. Unlike us mortals, vampires have very few life responsibilities. When they want something, they go after it, get it and enjoy the hell out of it. Jessica, one of the characters on the HBO series True Blood, said it well this season, when she talked about feeling "more alive" as a vampire than she ever did as a human. More alive. That's an apt description of what being in love -- and lust -- feels like.

I was bitten by the vampire bug early. I've always loved supernatural stories. You could say that I like stretching my imagination the way some of my SELF coworkers like stretching their quads. I grew up an only child, and I filled the childhood spaces that siblings might have inhabited with close friendships -- some with people and some with characters from books and on screens big and small. It may seem odd, but my fictional companions were as important to me as my actual ones, and, in some ways, that's still true as an adult. When Buffy (the Vampire Slayer) longed for Angel, her vampire soulmate, I felt her pain. When True Blood's Sookie agonizes over Bill, I'm equally entranced. Recently, watching The Vampire Diaries, my heart broke for Elena's travails with her wayward swain, Stefan, and I empathized just as strongly for Bella when, in the latest of the Twilight series, Breaking Dawn, she finally mated with Edward, with thrilling and terrifying results.

Getting swept up in the romances of these lovers and fighters has always felt more seductive and less scary than embarking on romantic adventures of my own. Stories about vampires and demons may seem silly to the uninitiated, but when done well, these otherworldly elements heighten the drama, as in any good tale. Vampires may be unreal, but they serve as apt stand-ins for human beings, experiencing the same highs and lows that come with loving, losing and surviving. Take the example of Buffy having sex for the first time with her boyfriend, Angel. Afterward, he changed, becoming cruel and dismissive. In his case, the alteration was due to a gypsy's curse meant to prevent Angel from experiencing real happiness. But the reason isn't important: How many teenage girls (or grown women, for that matter) have experienced the same scenario and been betrayed after giving themselves over for love? We all relate to the fear of being rejected when we let down our defenses and open ourselves up to someone. Buffy, like many women, dared to stick out her neck -- and she got bitten. That's one of the reasons we love her.

In some cases, it's the vampire and not the human who is taking the greater risk in love, as Jessica's plight in True Blood makes clear. To truly connect with someone rather than experience only a superficial one-night stand, Jessica must reveal her authentic self: She has fangs, she cries blood-red tears, and she possesses superhuman strength -- she's a vampire. Like many of us, she struggles with the fear that if a man sees all of her -- her deepest self -- he'll find her too dark, intimidating, weird or frightening. In other words, if she dares to let her guard down, he'll find her unlovable and reject her. Scary! Yet Jessica keeps putting herself out there. And each time she takes a chance on love, she's braver about it. She's able to be more honest about who she is and what she desires, growing ever more confident that she can find love, vampire-style. Isn't that kind of courage the true definition of female empowerment?

There's a simple no-pain, no-gain lesson here. The only way to experience something amazing is to open up and be real. In my recent relationship, I found myself falling for a guy who, on paper, wasn't my type at all. But for once, I took the time to see who he was, paid attention to how he acted and listened closely to what he had to say. That's pretty rare for me. Fiction lover that I am, I often romanticize people, making them more like characters in the stories I love. Or I get caught up in the idea of someone rather than who he really is. This time, though, I saw the guy clearly, along with his issues, his challenges and all the qualities that made him wonderful. For my part, instead of holding back emotionally and showing him only what I wanted him to see (a prettied-up version of myself, which is my usual approach), I went all in. And it was grand. Being able to talk about vulnerabilities and joys, the small daily ones and the bigger, more meaningful ones, created a faster, deeper, more passionate intimacy than I'd experienced in a while. I felt vulnerable, yes, but I also felt utterly exhilarated.

And then it ended, abruptly, as if a spell had worn off. Except this time, it wasn't a gypsy's curse that foiled a good thing but bad timing and sticky, unavoidable life circumstances. Now that it's over, the safest, most self-protective move I could make would be to mold myself back into the shape of someone who is satisfied reading about love and fantasizing about it, rather than experiencing it full tilt. Instead, I think I'll admit that I'm hurting right now and allow myself to mourn the possibilities of what could have been.

I haven't let myself fall that hard in a long, long time. I wasn't even sure that I could anymore. But I did fall, and I know that's a good thing, despite the fact that it might not feel very good at the moment. If I was able to experience such an intense connection, even if it was ultimately severed, I know I'm capable of connecting to someone like that again. But that can happen only if, like Bella and Jessica and Buffy, I allow myself to take another risk.

Vampires are ruled by their appetites. That's one reason they continue to fascinate me as I near my 40s. They feel intensely and, even more important, trust those feelings enough to act on them. I might not be quite at that point yet, but if I stay open to the rush of attraction, to the sweetness of moonlit first kisses, along with the poignancy of unrealized expectations, then the next romance I swoon over will be one I'm living, not one I'm simply reading about.

?

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/laura-brounstein/why-are-vampires-such-a-t_b_1116782.html

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Jackson doctor called suicidal after verdict (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? A probation report says the doctor convicted of killing Michael Jackson was listed as suicidal in jail records before his sentencing. But a spokesman for Dr. Conrad Murray says the physician remains resilient.

The report was released Tuesday after Murray was sentenced to four years behind bars. It states that jail records showed the 58-year-old doctor was classified as "mentally disturbed" and "suicidal."

The doctor was not interviewed by probation officers.

Murray's spokesman Mark Fierro says a defense attorney visited the cardiologist in jail last week and found him upbeat.

He says the doctor may have been distraught after a jury convicted him of involuntary manslaughter, but that time is behind him.

Sheriff's officials say Murray will serve a little less than two years in a one-man cell.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

The doctor convicted in the overdose death of Michael Jackson was sentenced to the maximum four years behind bars Tuesday by a judge who denounced him as a reckless physician whose actions were a "disgrace to the medical profession."

Dr. Conrad Murray sat stoically with his hands crossed as Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor repeatedly chastised him for what he called a "horrific violation of trust" while caring for Jackson.

However, Pastor conceded his sentence was constrained by a recent change in California law that requires Murray to serve his sentence in county jail rather than state prison.

Sheriff's officials later said Murray will serve a little less than two years behind bars while housed in a one-man cell and kept away from other prisoners.

"This is going to be a real test of our criminal justice system to see if it's meaningful at all," District Attorney Steve Cooley said.

Cooley said he was considering asking the judge to modify the sentence to classify the crime as a serious felony warranting incarceration in state prison.

The judge was relentless in his bashing of the 58-year-old Murray, saying he lied repeatedly and had not shown remorse for his actions in the treatment of Jackson. Pastor also said Murray's heavy use of the powerful anesthetic propofol to help Jackson battle insomnia violated his sworn obligation.

"It should be made very clear that experimental medicine is not going to be tolerated, and Mr. Jackson was an experiment," Pastor said. "Dr. Murray was intrigued by the prospect and he engaged in this money for medicine madness that is simply not going to be tolerated by me."

Pastor also said Murray has "absolutely no sense of fault, and is and remains dangerous" to the community.

The judge said.one of the most disturbing aspects of Murray's case was a slurred recording of Jackson recovered from the doctor's cell phone.

"That tape recording was Dr. Murray's insurance policy," Pastor said. "It was designed to record his patient surreptitiously at that patient's most vulnerable point."

Defense attorney J. Michael Flanagan said after the sentencing that he was surprised the judge focused on the recording. The lawyer also contended that nothing said during the hearing would have changed the judge's mind about the sentence.

Michael Jackson's family told Pastor in a statement read earlier that they were not seeking revenge but wanted Murray to receive a stiff sentence that served as a warning to opportunistic doctors.

It included elements from Jackson's parents, siblings and his three children.

"As his brothers and sisters, we will never be able to hold, laugh or perform again with our brother Michael," the statement said. "And as his children, we will grow up without a father, our best friend, our playmate and our dad."

The family told The Associated Press after the sentencing that they were pleased with the results.

"We're going to be a family. We're going to move forward. We're going to tour, play the music and miss him," brother Jermaine Jackson said.

Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter after a six-week trial that presented the most detailed account yet of Jackson's final hours but left many questions about Murray's treatment of the superstar with propofol.

The jury heard the recording of Jackson during the trial but defense attorneys never explained in court why he recorded the impaired singer six weeks before his death.

"We have to be phenomenal," he was heard saying about his "This Is It" comeback concerts in London. "When people leave this show, when people leave my show, I want them to say, `I've never seen nothing like this in my life. Go. Go. I've never seen nothing like this. Go. It's amazing. He's the greatest entertainer in the world.'"

Before sentencing, lead defense attorney Ed Chernoff attacked Jackson, as he and his team frequently did during the doctor's trial. "Michael Jackson was a drug seeker," he said.

Murray did not directly address the court. After sentencing, he mouthed the words "I love you" to his mother and girlfriend in the courtroom.

Murray's mother, Milta Rush, sat alone on a bench in the courthouse hallway after the sentencing.

"My son is not what they charged him to be," she said quietly. "He was a gentle child from the time he was small. "

Of her son's future, she said, "God is in charge."

Jackson's death in June 2009 stunned the world, as did the ensuing investigation that led to Murray being charged in February 2010.

Murray told detectives he had been giving the singer nightly doses of propofol to help him sleep as he prepared for the series of comeback concerts.

Propofol is supposed to be used in hospital settings and has never been approved for sleep treatments, yet Murray acknowledged giving it to Jackson then leaving the room on the day the singer died.

Murray declined to testify during his trial but did opt to participate in a documentary in which he said he didn't consider himself guilty of any crime and blamed Jackson for entrapping him into administering the propofol doses. His attorneys contended throughout the case that Jackson must have given himself the fatal dose when Murray left the singer's bedside.

In their sentencing memorandum, prosecutors cited Murray's statements to advocate for the maximum term. They also want him to pay restitution to the singer's three children ? Prince, Paris and Blanket.

The exact amount Murray has to pay will be determined at a hearing in January.

"Anything over a couple of dollars, he's not going to be able to pay anyway," Flanagan said.

Murray was deeply in debt when he agreed to serve as Jackson's personal physician for $150,000 a month, and the singer died before Murray received any money.

Prosecutors said the relationship of Jackson and Murray was corrupted by greed. Murray left his practices to serve as Jackson's doctor and look out for his well-being, but instead acted as an employee catering to the singer's desire to receive propofol to put him to sleep, prosecutors said.

Murray's attorneys relied largely on 34 letters from relatives, friends and former patients to portray Murray in a softer light and win a lighter sentence. The letters and defense filings described Murray's compassion as a doctor, including accepting lower payments from his mostly poor patients.

"There is no question that the death of his patient, Mr. Jackson, was unintentional and an enormous tragedy for everyone affected," defense attorneys wrote in their sentencing memo.

___

AP Special Correspondent Linda Deutsch and writer Jeff Wilson contributed to this report.

Follow Anthony McCartney at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111129/ap_on_en_mu/us_michael_jackson_doctor

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US condemns storming of British embassy in Iran (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The White House says the U.S. condemns in the strongest terms the storming of the British Embassy in Tehran.

In a statement, the White House says Iran has a responsibility to protect the diplomatic missions in its country. The U.S. is urging Iran to condemn the incident, prosecute the offenders and ensure that no other incidents occur at either the British Embassy or any other mission in Iran.

Hard-line Iranian students stormed the embassy in Tehran on Tuesday, bringing down the Union Jack flag, burning an embassy vehicle and throwing documents from windows in scenes reminiscent of the 1979 attack on the U.S. embassy there.

The White House says the State Department is in close contact with the British government.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iran/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111129/ap_on_re_us/us_white_house_iran

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Bay Area couple at center of federal gay rights showdown (San Jose Mercury News)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/166992778?client_source=feed&format=rss

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No word from the sponsors for China's drama watchers (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) ? In a dose of reality television, Beijing-style, China has ordered a ban on advertisements during broadcasts of TV dramas in a bid "to unify thinking," the country's top broadcasting regulator said on Monday.

The government's latest move to clean up China's airwaves was announced by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) and will come into effect from January.

It followed the five-day annual meeting of the Communist Party Central Committee in October, which focused on enlivening the nation's "cultural system" as its state-run publishers, performance troupes and broadcasters struggle to balance the pull of the marketplace with the dictates of propaganda.

"Radio and television are important mouthpieces of the (Communist) Party and the people and are important battlefields in publicity and ideology," SARFT said on its website.

"They bear important responsibilities in the public cultural service system, they must fully play up their advantages and earnestly perform their duties," the agency said.

Growth in advertising sales by China's state television has softened to the slowest in at least six years, a sign of corporate caution and an indication that the pace of economic growth could slow further, too.

Still, CCTV's total ad sales for 2012 rose by 12.5 percent to a record high of 14.26 billion yuan ($2.245 billion) in an auction held in early November.

Ad spending in China has increasingly flowed to more daring provincial satellite channels, whose dating shows and talent contests are wildly popular.

In September, China ordered a popular television talent show off the air for a year after it exceeded broadcasting time limits, replacing it with programmes that "promote moral ethics" such as public safety and housework tips.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/oddlyenough/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111128/od_nm/us_china_tv_ads

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Tuesday, November 29, 2011

New Mass translation launches in American parishes

Richard Fiore of Montgomery, Ala., his son Oscar, mom Vicki, and son Phipps, from left, participate in Mass at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Montgomery, Ala. Catholics nationwide began using a new translation of the Roman Missal on Nov. 27, 2011. (AP Photo, David Bundy)

Richard Fiore of Montgomery, Ala., his son Oscar, mom Vicki, and son Phipps, from left, participate in Mass at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Montgomery, Ala. Catholics nationwide began using a new translation of the Roman Missal on Nov. 27, 2011. (AP Photo, David Bundy)

Walter Warren McGehee of Montgomery, Ala., participates in Mass Sunday, Nov. 27, 2011 at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Montgomery, Ala. Catholics nationwide began using a new translation of the Roman Missal on Nov. 27, 2011. (AP Photo, David Bundy)

Father Michael Ssenfuma, a visiting priest from Uganda, conducts the Catholic Mass Sunday, Nov. 27, 2011 at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Montgomery, Ala. Catholics nationwide began using a new translation of the Roman Missal on Nov. 27, 2011. (AP Photo, David Bundy)

A new translation of the Roman Missal sits on the altar after the Catholic Mass Sunday, Nov. 27, 2011 at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Montgomery, Ala. Catholics nationwide began using a new translation of the Roman Missal on Nov. 27, 2011. (AP Photo, David Bundy)

Father Michael Ssenfuma, a visiting priest from Uganda, conducts the Catholic Mass Sunday, Nov. 27, 2011 at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Montgomery, Ala. Catholics nationwide began using a new translation of the Roman Missal on Nov. 27, 2011. (AP Photo, David Bundy)

CLAYTON, N.C. (AP) ? English-speaking Roman Catholics who have regularly attended Mass for years found themselves in an unfamiliar position Sunday, needing printed cards or sheets of paper to follow along with a ritual many have known since childhood.

"I don't think I said it the right way once," said Matthew Hoover, who attends St. Ann Catholic Church in Clayton, a growing town on the edge of the Raleigh suburbs. "I kept forgetting, and saying the old words."

The Mass itself ? the central ritual of the Catholic faith ? hasn't changed, but the English translation has, in the largest shakeup to the everyday faith of believers since the upheavals that followed the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. A years-long process of revision and negotiation led to an updated version of the Roman Missal, the text of prayers and instructions for celebrating Mass, which originally was written in Latin. The new translation was rolled out across the English-speaking Catholic world on Sunday after months of preparation.

Mickey Mattox, a professor at Milwaukee's Marquette University, said he was happy with the idea that the bishops wanted the translations as accurate as possible.

Adapting to the changes "was a lot less difficult than I thought it might be," said Mattox, 55, adding, "even though probably all of us are going to end up holding our worship folders for a few weeks until we memorize all the new language."

The Rev. George Witt, pastor of the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola on New York's Park Avenue, started the 11 a.m. Mass by noting Sunday was not only the first day of Advent, but also the first day to use the new Missal. He directed parishioners to a pamphlet inserted into the back of the now-outdated hymnal that spelled out the new wording. A notable number of worshippers stumbled after the priest said, "Peace be with you." The new response is "And with your spirit" instead of "And also with you." But many others confidently gave the right response.

Kathleen McCormack, a church volunteer and former school teacher, said she didn't like the new translation and didn't understand why the church needed a translation closer to Latin.

"Consubstantial? What is that word?" McCormack said, referring to a term in the retranslated Nicene Creed that replaces language calling Jesus "one in being with the Father."

But she saw a cautionary tale in the many Catholics she saw distance themselves from the church over changes made after the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

"It's not shaking my church experience," said McCormack, as she handed out church bulletins. "You have the spirit between you and God and the words are insignificant."

Most of the changes are actually to prayers recited by the priest, but some of the changes for prayers spoken or sung by the congregation revise familiar words that for some people are spoken almost automatically after years of churchgoing.

Along with the new response and unfamiliar words, the affirmation "We believe" has been replaced with "I believe" in the Nicene Creed. Some of the language seems more formal or poetic: the word "cup" has become "chalice."

"It's more British in some ways," said Monsignor Michael Clay, pastor of St. Ann. "But this is the first time that every English-speaking country in the world will be using the same translation of the Mass."

Clay likes the new translation, finding it closer to the Latin text that is still the church's official language. But some priests and parishioners have been less enthusiastic, criticizing the new version as too ponderous or distant, and in some cases circulating petitions asking for a delay in introducing the new missal.

Maribeth Lynch, 51, a publisher from the Milwaukee suburb of Elm Grove, said she was "distraught" over the changes and would refuse to "learn the damn prayers."

"It's ridiculous. I've been a Catholic for 50 years, and why would they make such stupid changes? They're word changes. They're semantics," she said.

"It's confusion. All it's doing is causing confusion," she said. "You want to go to church and be confused?"

The roots of the new translation go back to that epochal council held at the Vatican in the 1960s, which allowed Mass in languages other than Latin. An English-language missal was produced by 1973, but that was intended to be temporary while improvements were made.

In 2001, the Vatican office that oversees worship issued a directive requiring translation of the English missal that would be closer to the Latin rather than to more familiar vernacular speech. Numerous revisions and bishops' meetings eventually produced agreement on the translation being used Sunday.

Parishes and dioceses around the country have spent months trying to prepare Catholics for the change. Descriptions of the new translation have been printed in weekly bulletins, seminars have been held and, since Labor Day, many parishes have been gradually introducing the new translation piece by piece, starting with the parts of the liturgy that are sung.

Most of those activities are for the benefit of the average Catholic, but it's priests who have more new material to master.

"I've had a new missal in my hands for about three weeks now, and I've been literally practicing the prayers," Clay said. "I've been doing this now for 31 years, and a lot of these prayers I actually know by memory. I have to make sure my brain isn't getting ahead of my mouth."

___

Associated Press writers Rachel Zoll in New York City and Dinesh Ramde in Milwaukee contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-11-27-New%20Mass/id-fcab961e7c43499485c748dcfcbbc4fe

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Pakistan PM: No more "business as usual" with U.S. (Reuters)

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) ? Pakistan's Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani ruled out "business as usual" with the United States on Monday after a NATO attack killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, and the army threatened to drastically curtail cooperation with Washington on Afghanistan.

Saturday's incident on Pakistan's border with Afghanistan has complicated U.S. attempts to ease a crisis in relations with Islamabad and stabilize the region before foreign combat troops leave Afghanistan.

"Business as usual will not be there," Gilani told CNN when asked if ties with the United States would continue. "We have to have something bigger so as to satisfy my nation."

Gilani's comments reflect the fury of the Pakistani government and military, and the pressure they are under from their own people. "You cannot win any war without the support of the masses," he said. "We need the people with us."

The relationship, he said, would continue only if based on "mutual respect and mutual interest." Asked if Pakistan was receiving that respect, Gilani replied: "At the moment, not."

Gilani's comments cap a day of growing pressure from the Pakistani military, which threatened to reduce cooperation on peace efforts in Afghanistan.

"This could have serious consequences in the level and extent of our cooperation," military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told Reuters.

Pakistan has a long history of ties to militant groups in Afghanistan so it is uniquely positioned to help bring about a peace settlement, a top foreign policy and security goal for the Obama administration.

Washington believes Islamabad can play a critical role in efforts to pacify Afghanistan before all NATO combat troops pull out in 2014, and cannot afford to alienate its ally.

Pakistan shut down NATO supply routes into Afghanistan in retaliation for the weekend shooting incident, the worst of its kind since Islamabad allied itself with Washington in 2001.

"We have been here before. But this time it's much more serious," said Farzana Sheikh, associate fellow of the Asia program at Chatham House in London.

"The government has taken a very stern view. It's not quite clear at this stage what more Pakistani authorities can do, apart from suspending supplies to NATO forces in Afghanistan."

Adding a new element to tensions and a diplomatic boost for Islamabad, Pakistan's ally China said it was "deeply shocked" by the incident and expressed "strong concern for the victims and profound condolences for Pakistan."

Russia, which has been seeking warmer relations with Pakistan as worry grows over the NATO troop pullout in Afghanistan, said it was "unacceptable" to violate the sovereignty of states even when hunting "terrorists."

On Saturday, NATO helicopters and fighter jets attacked two military outposts in northwest Pakistan, killing the 24 soldiers and wounding 13 others, the army said.

'TRAGIC, UNINTENDED'

NATO described the killings as a "tragic, unintended incident." U.S. officials say a NATO probe and a separate American probe will seek to determine what really happened.

"It is very much in America's national security interest to maintain a cooperative relationship with Pakistan because we have shared interests in the fight against terrorism, and so we will continue to work on that relationship," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.

A Western official and an Afghan security official who requested anonymity said NATO troops were responding to fire from across the border.

Pakistan's military denied NATO forces had come under fire before launching the attack, saying the strike was unprovoked and reserving the right to retaliate.

Abbas said the attack lasted two hours despite warnings from Pakistani border posts. "They were contacted through the local hotline and also there had been contacts through the director-general of military operations. But despite that, this continued," he said.

After a string of deadly incidents in the largely lawless and confusing border region, NATO and Pakistan set up the hotline that should allow them to communicate in case of confusion over targets and avoid "friendly fire."

Both the Western and Pakistani explanations are possibly correct: that a retaliatory attack by NATO troops took a tragic, mistaken turn in harsh terrain where differentiating friend from foe can be difficult.

An Afghan Taliban commander, Mullah Samiullah Rahmani, said the group had not been engaged in any fighting with NATO or Afghan forces in the area when the incident took place. But he added that Taliban fighters control several Afghan villages near the border with Pakistan.

A similar cross-border incident on Sept. 30, 2010, which killed two Pakistani service personnel, led to the closure of one of NATO's supply routes through Pakistan for 10 days.

The attack was the latest perceived provocation by the United States, which infuriated and embarrassed Pakistan's powerful military in May with a unilateral special forces raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

OBAMA EFFIGY BURNED

The main Pakistani association that delivers fuel to NATO forces in Afghanistan said it would not resume supplies soon in protest against the NATO strike.

In the Mohmand region, where the attack took place, hundreds of angry tribesmen yelled "Death to America." About 200 lawyers protested in Peshawar city, some burning an effigy of U.S. President Barack Obama.

Newspaper editorials were strident. "We have to send a clear and unequivocal message to NATO and America that our patience has run out. If even a single bullet of foreign forces crosses into our border, then two fires will be shot in retaliation," said the mass-circulation Urdu language Jang newspaper.

The NATO strike has shifted attention away from what critics say is Pakistan's failure to go after militants.

Pakistan joined the U.S. global war on militancy launched after al Qaeda's Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, and won billions of dollars in aid in return.

But the unstable, nuclear-armed country has often been described as an unreliable ally, and the United States has resorted to controversial drone aircraft strikes against militants on Pakistani territory to pursue its aims.

U.S. Senator John McCain, a leading voice of Republicans on military issues, voiced the frustration felt in many quarters of Washington when he called the loss of life "tragic" but said Pakistani intelligence still supported militants fueling violence in Afghanistan.

"Certain facts in Pakistan continue to complicate significantly the ability of coalition and Afghan forces to succeed in Afghanistan," he said.

(Additional reporting by Zeeshan Haider and Rebecca Conway in ISLAMABAD, Izaz Mohmand, Jibran Ahmad and Faris Ali in PESHAWAR, William Maclean in LONDON and Missy Ryan, Caren Bohan and Susan Cornwell in WASHINGTON; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by David Stamp and Vicki Allen)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/india/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111128/india_nm/india607609

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Strong global sales boost Tiffany's 3Q results

(AP) ? Tiffany & Co. says its fiscal third quarter profit rose 63 percent on strong sales globally, particularly in Asia.

The luxury retailer known for its iconic turquoise box is also raising its full-year forecast on the strong quarter.

Tiffany's results show the luxury shopper is continuing to spend freely. That segment has rebounded more quickly from the recession than others.

The New York company says net income rose to $89.7 million or 70 cents per share in the three months ended Oct. 31. That compares with $55.1 million, or 43 cents per share, a year ago. Analysts expected earnings of 60 cents per share.

Revenue rose 21 percent to $821.8 million. Analysts expected $801.8 million.

Sales rose in all regions, including a 17 percent increase in the Americas and a 44 percent rise in Asia-Pacific.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-11-29-Earns-Tiffany/id-4d5dc1168c674e84a98b074dff9eee75

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T-Cell Ability To Target Cancer Restored By Arginine ? New Drugs Info

In many cases, tumors suppress a patient?s immune system in a way that keeps the cancer safe from immune system attack. This is particularly true for patients with glioblastoma, a primary brain tumor that carries a prognosis of only 12-15 months survival after diagnosis.

A study at the University of Colorado Cancer Center, recently published as a featured article in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, shows that treatment with the over-the-counter amino acid arginine may reactivate cancer-fighting T-cells in patients with glioblastoma, thus potentially allowing the immune system to help cleanse the body of cancer.

T-cells are the primary agent responsible for anti-tumor immune responses.

?If you take T-cells from patients with glioblastoma and stimulate them in the lab, they aren?t effective (in killing cancer cells),? says lead author Allen Waziri, MD, investigator at the CU Cancer Center, assistant professor of neurosurgery at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. ?But when we add back arginine, we restore T-cell function.?

In part, function is restored through the activity of neutrophils ? an ancient and nonspecific type of white blood cell that kills invaders. After responding to inflammation, neutrophils stop the ongoing immune response. It?s as if once they arrive, they consider the infection treated and so suppress any response that exceeds what is needed ? a response that if left unchecked would lead to the destruction of healthy tissues.

Neutrophils stop the immune response by secreting an enzyme called arginase. And after they secrete arginase, commonly they die and are excreted by the body. However, in many glioblastoma patients, these neutrophils persist and continue to produce immune-suppressing arginase.

?Persistence of activated neutrophils and increased arginase in the circulation of glioblastoma patients is a fascinating phenomenon, particularly considering that under normal conditions, neutrophils are expected to have an average lifespan of just several hours after activation,? he says.

Waziri?s group has hypothesized that persistent arginase production from neutrophils suppresses the immune system and keeps cancers from becoming immune targets.

?From one perspective, it appears that glioblastoma is taking advantage of a simple, evolutionarily-ancient method for controlling out-of-control immunity to avoid the specific anti-tumor immune response,? Waziri says.

However, there is a step between increased arginase and immune system suppression, and this is where Waziri and colleagues intervene ? arginase, in fact, deletes the common amino acid arginine.

T-cells are critically dependent on arginine for activation and function. Therefore, it?s not the increase in arginase per se that is responsible for blunting T-cell activity, but rather the resulting lack of arginine that suppresses the immune systems of glioblastoma patients, Waziri?s group found.

Waziri and colleagues at the CU Cancer Center recently started a phase 0 clinical trial in newly diagnosed glioblastoma patients to explore whether a week-long, high-dose course of arginine before cancer surgery can allow an immune system that previously missed cancer cells to recognize and attack them. Waziri and his team will look at the effect of arginine on patients? immune systems as measured by T-cell function, immunological profile, and T-cell infiltration into resected tumor tissue.

?Our overall goal is to improve the efficacy of immunotherapy for glioblastoma,? he says. ?It?s likely that this will require a two-stage approach, including stimulation of the immune system with something like a tumor vaccine while simultaneously targeting the suppressive effects of tumors on the immune system.?

With positive results from this initial trial, Waziri hopes to further explore whether longer courses of arginine could help reduce the recurrence of glioblastoma and potentially offer a new strategy for patients with this otherwise incurable disease.

Waziri credits seed grants he has received from the AMC Cancer Fund (a fundraising arm of the CU Cancer Center), he Cancer League of Colorado, and an American Cancer Society Institutional Research Grant for contributing to the preclinical work that has led to this exciting clinical trial.

Source: http://drugs-today.info/2011/11/t-cell-ability-to-target-cancer-restored-by-arginine-8/

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US airline passenger denies child porn charge

(AP) ? A university professor has pleaded not guilty to viewing child pornography on his laptop during a flight from Salt Lake City to Boston.

Grant Smith, a professor at the University of Utah, was ordered held on $75,000 bail Monday and told to have no unsupervised contact with children.

Massachusetts State Police say the 47-year-old Smith was sitting in first class Saturday afternoon when another passenger saw pornographic images, alerted a flight attendant and emailed a relative who contacted law enforcement.

Smith was arrested after landing on a charge of possession of child pornography. His lawyer says he has no criminal record.

Smith is a professor in the materials science and engineering department at Utah. He has been placed on administrative leave.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-11-28-Plane%20Arrest-Child%20Porn/id-c46b398fc2f3466386dce1a22c12ecf2

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Monday, November 28, 2011

US tourist in critical condition in Cayman Islands

A 16-year-old girl from New York state is in critical condition after a jet ski collided with the banana boat on which she was riding in the Cayman Islands.

A police official who was not allowed to be named under department policy said Saturday that the unidentified girl will soon be airlifted to a hospital in Florida. Authorities said the banana boat that the teenager and a 24-year-old woman were riding on Thursday collided with a jet ski driven by a 17-year-old boy. The woman was released from the hospital.

Police said all three involved in the collision were cruise ship passengers.

The official did not know the girl's hometown and had no further details on how the collision occurred.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45444499/ns/travel-news/

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White House: US expresses condolences to Pakistan

(AP) ? The White House says senior U.S. civilian and military officials have extended condolences to their Pakistani counterparts following a NATO airstrike that Pakistan says killed 24 of its troops along a frontier area that serves as a haven for militants.

The unidentified officials also expressed a desire to work with Pakistan to investigate the deaths.

Friday night's airstrike dealt a huge blow to American efforts to rebuild its strained relationship with Pakistan.

In turn, Pakistan on Saturday blocked vital supply routes for U.S.-led troops in Afghanistan and demanded that the U.S. leave a base used by American drone aircraft within 15 days.

The White House statement did not address Pakistan's decision to block supply routes for the war in Afghanistan or its demand that the U.S. to vacate the base.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-11-26-US-Pakistan/id-ba5b17423a404f949f21be8fd0f0dc35

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Super Soul Sunday: Painting Straight From The Soul

"Would you describe your soul as more Matisse, or Picasso?" In this Sunday's new short from Rainn Wilson's production company "SoulPancake" the team asks people to step out of their head and paint straight from their souls.

For more programming to nourish your mind, body and spirit tune in to OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network's new "Super Soul Sunday," airing Sundays from 8-11 a.m. ET/PT with an encore at noon and visit
http://www.oprah.com/own-super-soul-sunday/soulpancake.html.

For more on SoulPancake please visit: http://soulpancake.com

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/26/super-soul-sunday-finding_n_1113885.html

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Sunday, November 27, 2011

Brother ordered held?in Halman slaying

updated 6:28 a.m. ET Nov. 25, 2011

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - Prosecutors say an investigating judge has ordered the brother of slain Seattle Mariners outfielder Greg Halman to be detained for a further two weeks on suspicion of murder or manslaughter.

Halman was stabbed to death early Monday morning at an apartment in the port city of Rotterdam. Police said his stabbing may have followed an argument about loud music.

Prosecution spokeswoman Jeichien de Graaff declined Friday to give further details of the investigation. She said an investigating judge ordered the extension of detention for Halman's 22-year-old brother on Thursday.

Halman hit .230 in 35 games and made starts at all three outfield positions for the Mariners in 2011 before being optioned to Triple-A Tacoma.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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CSN: Debunking three myths about Valentine

CSN: Bobby Valentine has been so many things ? standout amateur player, manager, broadcaster, competitive ballroom dancer ? it's difficult to get a clear picture of him.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45434447/ns/sports-baseball/

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Stockard Channing shrugs off pain to hit the stage (AP)

NEW YORK ? Stockard Channing has made a speedy ? some might say miraculous ? return to Broadway.

The 67-year-old Tony Award-winner performed in "Other Desert Cities" on Friday night and plans to continue in the show despite undergoing arthroscopic surgery on her right knee less than a week ago.

Channing felt her knee collapse backstage after the Nov. 18 show and missed seven performances. She plans to perform in Saturday night's show and Sunday's matinee. An understudy performed Saturday's matinee and will do Wednesday's matinee.

The Jon Robin Baitz play, about a dysfunctional family wrestling with a deep secret, opened Nov. 3.

In an interview Friday before her return, Channing said: "This is maybe stupid. I don't know. But if it doesn't blow up or get painful, I'm doing the right thing."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111126/ap_en_ot/us_theater_stockard_channing

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Sachin Tendulkar closing in on 100th hundred (Reuters)

MUMBAI (Reuters) ? Sachin Tendulkar was on course for his 100th international century while Rahul Dravid completed a milestone to lead India's strong reply in the third and final test against West Indies on Thursday.

The hosts, chasing an imposing first-innings total of 590 by West Indies, were 281 for three at the close of the third day with Tendulkar (67) and VVS Laxman (32) at the crease.

The 38-year-old Tendulkar, with 51 centuries in tests and 48 in one-dayers, needs one more to get to the coveted ton that has eluded him since he last made three figures in the 50-over World Cup in April.

Playing in front of a 20,000 crowd at his home Wankhede Stadium ground, the master batsman hit five boundaries and a six as he added 57 for the fourth wicket with Laxman.

"We will have a full house with the little master on 67 but the big crowd might have some broken hearts tomorrow," smiling West Indies captain Darren Sammy told reporters.

"This test match is really poised. We have someone who is about to cross a massive, special mark."

Tendulkar's only blemish came when he edged leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo on 58 but wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh failed to hold on to the tough chance.

Dravid (82) became the second player after Tendulkar to reach 13,000 runs in tests, and also brought up 1,000 runs in a year for the third time in his career as he made his 62nd half-century.

He added 86 runs for the third wicket with Tendulkar before being clean bowled while attempting to cut part-time spinner Marlon Samuels.

SUBLIME DRIVE

The 38-year-old Dravid also put on 71 for the second wicket with Gautam Gambhir (55) after India lost Virender Sehwag (37) before the lunch break.

Dravid went past the 13,000-mark with a sublime cover drive off Sammy, one of his 11 boundaries.

Gambhir hit eight boundaries before he edged to Baugh after trying to hook a high bouncer by paceman Ravi Rampaul.

The left-handed opener was optimistic India could still make it a 3-0 series whitewash.

"We all know things change very quickly in India and especially on red soil once the ball starts turning," Gambhir said. "We still feel there is a chance of winning the test match rather than just saving it.

"We've got two quality spinners in our line-up and once the ball starts turning it's very difficult for the opposition to handle."

Sehwag began in typically explosive fashion, striking three fours and a six before he was bowled by Sammy.

Medium-pacer Sammy, who was swatted for a six by Sehwag in his first over, managed to breach the batsman's defence with a ball that moved back off the pitch after the openers had put on 67.

Sehwag and Gambhir took India past 50 in 11 overs but the hosts slowed considerably after the fall of the first wicket, adding seven runs in 4.3 overs up to the break.

Earlier, India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin completed his second five-wicket haul in three tests as West Indies were finally bowled out in the morning.

Resuming on 575 for nine, the visitors added 15 runs in 3.1 overs before Bishoo was bowled for 12 by Ashwin.

Ashwin, 25, who grabbed a maiden five-wicket haul on his debut in the first test in Delhi, finished with five for 156 from 52.1 overs.

(Editing by Tony Jimenez; To query or comment on this story, email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/india/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111124/india_nm/india607043

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Saturday, November 26, 2011

Pakistan demands US vacate air base

The Pakistani government has demanded the United States vacate an air base within 15 days after blaming NATO air forces for the fatal attack on military outposts in northwest Pakistan.

The government issued the demand Saturday after NATO helicopters and jet fighters allegedly attacked two Pakistan army posts along the Afghan border, killing up to 28 Pakistani soldiers and plunging U.S.-Pakistan relations deeper into crisis.

Pakistan initially retaliated by shutting down vital NATO supply routes into Afghanistan, used for sending in nearly half of the alliance's shipments by land.?

Islamabad outlined its latest demand in a statement it sent to reporters following an emergency defense committee meeting chaired by Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

Shamsi Air Base is located in southwestern Baluchistan province. The U.S. is suspected of using the facility in the past to launch armed drones and observation aircraft to keep pressure on Taliban and al-Qaida militants in Pakistan's tribal region.

In a statement sent earlier to reporters, the Pakistan military blamed NATO for Friday's attack in the Mohmand tribal area, saying helicopters "carried out unprovoked and indiscriminate firing."

Masood Kasur, the governor of Pakistan's northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, said the raid was "an attack on Pakistan's territorial sovereignty."

"Such cross-border attacks cannot be tolerated any more. The government will take up this matter at the highest level and it will be investigated," he said.

The attack comes as relations between the United States and Pakistan ? its ally in the war on militancy ? are already strained following the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden by U.S. special forces in a secret raid on the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad in May.

"Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has condemned in the strongest terms the NATO/ISAF attack on the Pakistani post," Pakistan foreign ministry spokeswoman Tehmina Janjua said in a statement.

"On his direction, the matter is being taken (up) by the foreign ministry in the strongest terms with NATO and the U.S.," the spokesman said.

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'Cannot be tolerated'
The powerful Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, said in a statement issued by the Pakistani military that "all necessary steps be under taken for an effective response to this irresponsible act."

Two military officials told Reuters that up to 28 troops had been killed and 11 wounded in the attack on the Salala checkpoint, about 1.5 miles from the Afghan border in the Baizai area of Mohmand, where Pakistani troops are fighting Taliban militants.

However, a Pakistan Army statement put the death toll at 24 with 13 injured. It said that Pakistan troops had "responded immediately in self defense to NATO/ISAF's aggression with all available weapons."

The army statement said NATO helicopters and fighter aircraft were involved in the attack, which took place around 2 a.m. Saturday local time (4 p.m. Friday ET).

The commander of NATO-led forces in Afghanistan, General John R. Allen, said he had offered his condolences to the family of any Pakistani soldiers who "may have been killed or injured" during an "incident" on the border.

A spokesman for the force declined further comment on the nature of the "incident" and said an investigation was proceeding. It was not yet clear, he said, whether there had been deaths or injuries.

The raid is the largest and most serious incident of its kind. A similar incident on Sept 30, 2009, which killed two Pakistani troops, led to the closure of one of NATO's supply routes through Pakistan for 10 days.

U.S. regret
The U.S. embassy in Islamabad also offered condolences. "I regret the loss of life of any Pakistani servicemen, and pledge that the United States will work closely with Pakistan to investigate this incident," ambassador Cameron Munter said in a statement.

Colonel Gary Kolb, spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Kabul, said the aircraft were taking part in a strike that was a coordinated effort with ISAF, Pakistani military and the Pakistani border authorities, NBC News reported.

He said they had responded to small arms fire, according to NBC News. Asked to confirm that it was retaliatory, he said yes.

ISAF was still determining the exact circumstances. "This has the highest priority to ensure that we get all the facts straight," Kolb said, NBC News reported.

He noted that even if some of supply routes through Pakistan were closed, there were "contingencies built into the system" to deal with these types of disruptions.

About 40 Pakistani army troops were stationed at the outpost, military sources said. Two officers were reported among the dead.

A senior Pakistani military officer said efforts were under way to bring the bodies of the slain soldiers to Ghalanai, the headquarters of Mohmand tribal region.

"The latest attack by NATO forces on our post will have serious repercussions as they without any reasons attacked on our post and killed soldiers asleep," he said, requesting anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

40 trucks halted
NATO supply trucks and fuel tankers bound for Afghanistan were stopped at Jamrud town in the Khyber tribal region near the city of Peshawar hours after the raid, officials said.

"We have halted the supplies and some 40 tankers and trucks have been returned from the check post in Jamrud," Mutahir Zeb, a senior government official, told Reuters.

Another official said the supplies had been stopped for security reasons.

"There is possibility of attacks on NATO supplies passing through the volatile Khyber tribal region, therefore we sent them back towards Peshawar to remain safe," he said.

Much of the violence in Afghanistan against Afghan, NATO and U.S. troops is carried out by insurgents that are based just across the border in Pakistan.

Coalition forces are not allowed to cross the frontier to attack the militants, which sometimes fire artillery and rockets across the line.

American officials have repeatedly accused Pakistani forces of supporting ? or turning a blind eye ? to militants using its territory for cross-border attacks.

The Afghanistan-Pakistan border is often poorly marked, and differs between maps by up to five miles in some places.

Pakistan is a vital land route for 49 percent of NATO's supplies to its troops in Afghanistan, a NATO spokesman said.

NATO apologized for that incident, which it said happened when NATO gunships mistook warning shots by the Pakistani forces for a militant attack.

The attack is expected to further worsen U.S.-Pakistan relations, already at one of their lowest points in history, following a tumultuous year that saw the bin Laden raid, the jailing of a CIA contractor, and U.S. accusations that Pakistan backed a militant attack on the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.

An increase in U.S. drone strikes on militants in the last few years has also irritated Islamabad, which says the campaign kills more Pakistani civilians in the border area than activists. Washington disputes that, but declines to discuss the drone campaign in detail.

NBC News' Atia Abawi in Kabul, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this story.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45442885/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/

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Michelle Williams talks Marilyn, Matilda and musicals (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? Michelle Williams takes on the iconic role of Marilyn Monroe in the indie film "My Week with Marilyn." Currently in theaters, the film is based on Colin Clark's book of the same name and chronicles his time spent working with Monroe while she was in England shooting the romantic comedy "The Prince and the Showgirl" in 1956.

Williams sat down with Reuters to talk about portraying Monroe, the film, shooting her current role of Glinda the good witch in Sam Raimi's "Oz: The Great and Powerful" and her six-year-old daughter Matilda with late actor Heath Ledger.

Q: Did you have an awareness of Marilyn Monroe and her starpower when you were younger?

A: "I was interested in her, but then I kind of lost track of her over the last 10 years or so. I had a poster of her up in my room. It wasn't a picture of her as the icon, it was a picture of her looking like an ordinary joyful girl. So I definitely had some kind of connection. (Working on this film) reignited whatever initial, sort of, attraction I had to her when I was a teenager."

Q: Did you do your own singing in the film?

A: "Yes and my mother is going to be so excited when she sees this. She always wanted me to sing and dance. I had so much fun doing that!"

Q: So doing a musical could be in the cards for you?

A: "I would love to. What's so liberating about singing and dancing is that it turns your head off. You coast on this wave of muscle memory. You literally can't think while you're performing. There's a kind of transcendence to it. I think maybe that's why Marilyn was so especially talented at it. Her singing and dancing are unparalleled and her musical numbers are just breathtaking."

Q: The film used many of the same locations in shooting "Prince and the Showgirl." Did that add to the production?

A: "There was a lot of synchronicity. We shot in the actual Parkside house (that Marilyn lived in). My dressing room at Pinewood was Marilyn's actual dressing room. That was so special. The stage where she shot that song and dance number was the stage where I shot mine. So many of the props in our movie were in the original 'Prince and the Showgirl' movie."

Q: Did it ever feel ghostly?

A: "Well, it's all energy. And it's what you make of it. I like to make things out of nothing! (laughs) I like to spin things out of thin air, so that stuff works for me."

Q: Did you wear wigs for the part, or grow out your hair?

A: "I wore wigs, but I had to keep my hair really bleached underneath because it would show through the wigs. My eyebrows had to be dark and they were reshaped. You go through so many grotesque phases making movies (laughs). I never really feel quite like myself. I just feel like a mutant -- always halfway in between some other person and myself. I don't know what belongs to me and what doesn't!"

Q: After filming ended was it hard to let go of Marilyn?

A: "I think when you work in a way that really gets under your skin, its not an easy break. You make a little extra room for these people that you play and then they leave. You're left with this hollow space. I wish I could play her again."

Q: Does your daughter Matilda come to set?

A: "She comes with me everywhere."

Q: How do you balance getting into character and then going home at the end of the day to be a mom?

A: "What works for me is to have a commute from where we live to where I work. So that in the morning, I leave the house behind and walk clean and fresh into my professional life. And then the same thing on the way home. I find that a 20 or 30 minute commute makes a kind of passageway for me that I need."

Q: You're currently shooting "OZ," playing Glinda. Matilda must love coming to that set.

A: "It's the best thing professionally that's happened to us. It has brought her on board my work in a way that wasn't possible in a movie like 'Marilyn' or 'Blue Valentine.' On those, there was no space for a kid to come visit and be a kid. (With 'Oz') she comes every single day after school because it's like a playground. She says, 'There's only one good witch and it's my mom.' She's very excited about it."

Q: It's interesting that you said the project was the best thing to happen professionally to "us" not "me."

A: "Definitely. Every choice that I make is about how it's going to affect our life -- where it films, how long it is, what else is going on in her year, what's the last job I did, how much time I've had off in between, how much time we had to really deeply connect and how long can we sustain a period of time where I'm working. So when 'Oz' came along, it was very clear to me that it was the right decision for us."

(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111125/people_nm/us_michellewilliams

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Belarus jails rights activist for tax evasion (Reuters)

MINSK (Reuters) ? A Belarussian court on Thursday jailed leading human rights activist Ales Belyatsky for 4 1/2 years on tax evasion charges, sparking an outcry in the European Union and particularly in EU neighboring countries which unwittingly aided his prosecution.

Belyatsky, 49, heads Vesna-96, the best known rights group in the former Soviet republic, which has campaigned for scores of opposition activists prosecuted by the government of President Alexander Lukashenko.

Cries of "Shame!" rang out in the Minsk courtroom from his supporters when judge Sergei Bondarenko handed down sentence, saying it was impossible for him to pass a lesser punishment.

The outcome, in the face of fierce condemnation of the trial in the West, supported the view that Lukashenko has written off relations with the European Union for a while and is not relying

much on Western help to see him through a financial crisis.

With fresh loans from Moscow in his pocket, Lukashenko, once dubbed Europe's last dictator by the United States, appears to be signaling that he will not relax his hardline policies toward the political opposition in exchange for Western help.

High-ranking Belarus financial officials have expressed concern that Lukashenko's hardline policies could endanger possible credit of up to $7 billion from the International Monetary Fund.

But in the past few weeks Belarus has found financial help more forthcoming from Russia. Last week Sberbank and regional lender Eurasian Development Bank announced they would put up a loan of $1 billion to help it over its crisis, which was caused by excessive pre-election public spending.

Russian gas giant Gazprom has also agreed to lower the price of Russian gas to Belarus from next year in exchange for acquiring ownership of Belarus's gas pipeline network Beltransgaz.

"SENTENCE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS"

"Sentencing Ales Belyatsky is a sentence for human rights in Belarus. It confirms that the current regime does not respect basic standards of civil rights and freedoms," Poland's foreign ministry said in a statement.

"The charge of tax evasion was merely an excuse to again attack the non-governmental sector, which the regime wants to take full control of," it said.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audronius Azubalis said: "This case must be seen as part of a broader pattern of harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders in Belarus." He called for Belyatsky's release.

Belyatsky was arrested and charged after officials in Poland and Lithuania unwittingly helped his prosecution by supplying information about bank accounts held in his name after a request by Belarus's financial authorities.

The furor that ensued led to a public apology in August by Warsaw and also caused high-level embarrassment in Lithuania.

Senior European Union officials had earlier called for Belyatsky's release, saying the charges against him were "a politically motivated pretext to target his important work to the benefit of victims of repression."

The prosecution had asked for a five-year sentence to be handed down on Belyatsky, who listened to his sentence from inside a metal cage in the courtroom.

Vesna-96 says the money held by Belyatsky in Poland and Lithuania belonged to the organization and was set aside for paying for human rights activities and supporting political prisoners and their families.

It had latterly been used to support families of opposition activists arrested in a police sweep last December after mass street rallies against Lukashenko's re-election for a fourth term.

Two opposition leaders are still in jail for their part in those protests.

The EU and the United States introduced travel restrictions and other sanctions against Lukashenko and other officials after an election widely criticised as rigged.

(Reporting by Andrei Makhovsky; Writing by Richard Balmforth; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111124/wl_nm/us_belarus_belyatsky

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