Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/193632818?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Wednesday, February 1, 2012
SAG Awards Fashion Face-Off: Melissa McCarthy vs. Ashlee Simpson
Last night's SAG Awards brought out the best stars of film and TV.
Ashlee Simpson was there too! As you can see, Jessica's little sis is sporting short hair and a rail-thin frame these days. In a nice dress, sure, but she's looked better.
Contrast her with Melissa McCarthy, whose Bridesmaids quotes and Mike & Molly quotes leave us in stitches - and who proves you can be plus-sized and fashionable!
Which star looked better last night at the SAG Awards? Vote!
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Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Occupy protest rekindles debate about flag-burning (AP)
OAKLAND, Calif. ? Many in the crowd outside Oakland City Hall shouted "Burn it! Burn it!" as masked protesters readied to set fire to an American flag. That's when a woman emerged from the scrum, screaming for them to stop, that it would hurt the cause.
Moments later, the flames began, and suddenly a movement that seemingly vanished weeks ago was back in the spotlight, this time for an act of protest that has long divided the nation and now the movement itself.
The images of the flag-burning went viral in the hours after Saturday's demonstrations on Oakland's streets, with Occupy supporters denouncing the act as unpatriotic and a black mark on the movement. Others called it justified.
The flag-burning, however, raised questions about whether the act will tarnish a movement of largely peaceful protests and alienate people who agree with its message against corporate excess and economic inequality.
"I'm quite confident that the general view is that violence of this sort ? whether it's symbolic or otherwise ? is contrary to the spirit of the movement and should be renounced," Columbia University sociologist Todd Gitlin said.
Gitlin, who is writing a book about the movement, noted that flags have had a prominent place at the Occupy Wall Street encampments that sprang up last fall. They are typically pinned to tents or waving from wooden flagpoles.
"I was thinking how they have come to embrace the American flag as a hallmark of this movement; it's very common to see American flags honored and elevated at these encampments," he said.
Flag-burning has been a powerful symbol since the days of the anti-Vietnam War movement. Congress at the time passed a law to protect the flag in 1968, and most states followed suit.
In 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court decided such laws were unconstitutional restrictions on free speech. The court's decision set off a move in Congress to pass a constitutional amendment to prohibit desecration of the flag. An attempt in 2006 failed by only one vote in the Senate.
In Oakland, social activism and civic unrest have long marked the rough-edged city across the bay from San Francisco. Beset by poverty, crime and a decades-long tense relationship between the police and residents, its streets have seen many clashes, including anti-draft protests in the 1960s that spilled into town from neighboring Berkeley.
At Occupy Oakland, flag-burning is nothing new. A well-known Bay Area activist burned three during protests that temporarily shut down the Port of Oakland in November.
Troy Johnson, an Occupy Oakland member, said he arrived just in time Saturday to watch his friend, whom he would not name in order to protect his identity, emerge from City Hall with an American flag in tow.
"He asked the crowd, `What do you want us to do with the flag?'" Johnson recalled. "They said, `Burn it! Burn it! Burn it!'"
As many egged on the bandanna-masked men, lighters were passed around. A photographer on assignment for The Associated Press said a woman rose from among the crowd to urge against the flag-burning. She then threw the flag to the ground and tried to put out the fire, shouting at them that it would only hurt their cause.
The fire-starter is not an anarchist, but a typical member of Occupy Oakland who feels the system has failed them, said Johnson, who pulled out his cellphone to show his recording of the flag-burning.
"I would describe him as someone who loves his country, but also disappointed in the system that's running this country," said Johnson, who goes by the nickname "Uncle Boom" and was a sergeant in the U.S. Army.
Johnson said he wouldn't stop the flag-burning because the country is based on freedom of speech and expression.
"To the veterans who fought for this country, I wholeheartedly apologize," he said. "Because when they took the oath to join the military, they fought for the flag. But they also fought for the right to express ourselves."
Another Occupy member, Sean Palmer, who served in the Marines, said he opposed flag-burning. "I think they should've hung it upside down, because that's the international call for distress and that's what we are, in distress," Palmer said.
Saturday's protest culminated in rock- and bottle-throwing and volleys of tear gas from the police, as well as the City Hall break-in that left glass cases smashed, graffiti spray-painted on the walls and, finally, the flag-burning.
Police said more than 400 people were arrested; at least three officers and one protester were injured.
Police said Monday that they were still trying to determine how many of those arrested were from Oakland. In the past, the majority of those arrested in Occupy sweeps were not Oakland residents and this has rankled city officials. Mayor Jean Quan has called on the loosely organized movement to "stop using Oakland as its playground."
Officials said vandalism and activities related to Occupy Oakland have cost the financially strapped city $5 million since October.
Oakland Councilwoman Libby Schaaf said she was disgusted not to see the American and California flags atop the grand staircase inside City Hall on Monday. The destruction to her workplace couldn't have come at a worse time as the city is grappling with closing a $28 million budget deficit.
"To do this to us in a week were we have to lay off so many city workers is so unconscionable," Schaaf said.
Protester Julion Lewis-Tatman said he led the crowd in the plaza outside City Hall, but did not take part in the flag-burning.
"I love this country to death, but burning the flag means nothing to me," he said. "We're burning down the old system and we're starting a new country."
___
Beth Duff-Brown reported from San Francisco. Deepti Hajela contributed to this story from New York.
___
Online:
AP interactive: http://hosted.ap.org/interactives/2011/wall-street-protest/
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Monday, January 30, 2012
Nick Santino, Struggling Soap Opera Actor, Commits Suicide After Euthanizing Dog
Nick Santino, a struggling soap opera actor, apparently took his own life last week after he euthanized his dog due to pressure from his condo association.
Nick, who appeared on All My Children and Guiding Light, was found dead in his New York residence just a day after he put down beloved pit bull, Rocco
"Today I betrayed mand put down my best friend," Santino, 47, wrote in a suicide note. "Rocco trusted me and I failed him. He didn't deserve this."
Santino, who was raised in an orphanage and foster homes, adopted Rocco from a shelter several years ago, and wrote fondly of his dog on his Facebook page.
"I did not rescue Rocco, Rocco rescued me," he once wrote.
But in 2010, Santino began to have issues with residents in his building, after new strict dog regulations were announced, which included a ban on pit bulls.
The ban didn't affect residents who already had pit bulls in the building, many of Santino's neighbors reportedly weren't fond of Rocco, and complained.
"He felt like he was in this battle because he was the only guy in the building with a pit-bull mix," Santino's neighbor, Kevin Clearly, told the New York Post.
"He was distraught and remorseful about putting down his best friend."
It was much worse than anyone thought. After making a call to his former girlfriend at about 2 a.m. Wednesday, police found Santino's body in his bedroom.
He passed away from an apparent overdose on pills.
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Britain says Afghan withdrawal must be carefully phased (Reuters)
LONDON (Reuters) ? Foreign troops must carefully phase their withdrawal from Afghanistan ahead of an end-2014 deadline, British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Saturday, after France suggested giving Afghan forces full responsibility for security in 2013.
"I don't want to see some sort of cliff edge in 2014 when all of the remaining troops come out at once," Cameron said during talks in London with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
"But clearly, between now and 2014, the rate at which we can reduce our troops will depend on the transition to Afghan control in the different parts of Afghanistan..."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Friday France would pull its combat troops out at the end of 2013, a year before an end-2014 deadline fixed by the United States and its NATO allies for handing over responsibility for security to Afghan forces.
"We have decided, in agreement with President Karzai, to call on NATO to give some serious consideration to the Afghan army taking full charge of NATO combat missions in the course of 2013," Sarkozy said at a news conference with Karzai in Paris.
He said he would raise this at a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels on Feb 2 and 3.
However, some foreign troops, Sarkozy said, would stay on after 2013 to train the Afghan army - which western countries are building up with the aim of making it strong enough to maintain security without outside help after the end of 2014.
Foreign countries are already handing over responsibility for security in parts of Afghanistan to Afghan forces.
The idea of speeding up that transfer has been floated in the past, in part to provide a cushion to Afghan forces to take charge of security at a time when foreign troops would still be available to help in an emergency.
It was unclear whether Sarkozy's suggestion was meant merely to feed into this debate, or whether he was expecting the United States and its allies to agree to a serious acceleration in handing over to Afghan forces.
In Washington, U.S. defence officials said the United States, which has the lion's share of foreign troops in Afghanistan, was standing by NATO's goal of gradually handing over security responsibilities to Afghan forces by 2014.
"That transition has begun, and we have made considerable progress toward this goal over the past year, thanks to the gains of the military surge and the development of Afghan security forces," Pentagon press secretary George Little said.
Consultations on transition would continue at the meeting in
Brussels next week, he said, ahead of a NATO summit due in Chicago in May.
A U.S. defence official said that, "U.S. forces continue to plan to transition through to the end of 2014. Our policy has not changed."
In Brussels, a NATO spokeswoman echoed the Pentagon's comments, saying "transition is well on track to be completed by the end of 2014, as we all agreed."
SUPPORT AFTER 2014
Foreign countries have promised to support Afghanistan with aid and advice for years after combat troops leave.
But they have scaled back their ambitions for Afghanistan to seek a minimum level of stability that would prevent the country from again becoming a haven for al Qaeda.
The United States also began talks with Taliban insurgents in late 2010 in a slow-moving process to try to reach, or at least begin to shape, a political settlement by the end of 2014.
With the western troop presence becoming increasingly unpopular inside Afghanistan, some officials have said the withdrawal of troops might make it easier to reach a settlement with insurgents - who use their opposition to foreign forces to rally support.
Cameron plans to pull out 500 British soldiers this year but has not yet set out a timetable for further withdrawals.
He made clear, however, that British combat troops would stay to the end of 2014 - though Britain has said it will not expand its area of operations in southern Afghanistan to fill in for departing troops from other countries.
"We ... want to have a long-term relationship with Afghanistan, long after our combat troops come home, and that will happen at the end of 2014," he said.
Britain has some 9,500 troops in Afghanistan as part of the 130,000-strong NATO-led force. U.S. forces number some 90,000. France has 3,600 troops in Afghanistan.
Karzai and Cameron signed a partnership agreement setting out how their countries would work together after 2014.
Karzai said the agreement "will take us into a future where Afghanistan will benefit from the assistance and cooperation and help of Britain towards becoming a fundamentally strong democratic state." The Afghan president was asked no questions at a tightly controlled media event.
(Additional reporting by Tim Castle in London, David Alexander in Washington, John O'Donnell in Brussels; Editing by Myra MacDonald)
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Sunday, January 29, 2012
Beijing air pollution soars with fireworks smoke (AP)
BEIJING ? Clouds of smoke from Lunar New Year fireworks sent air pollution readings soaring in the more sensitive measurement system Beijing started using a little more than a week ago, reports said Sunday.
Readings of fine particulate matter called PM2.5 reached 1.593 milligrams per cubic meter on the Jan. 22 eve of the holiday, about 100 times worse than the amount considered good for 24-hour exposure, the city's environmental bureau said.
The reading drew wide publicity in the local media on Sunday. The popular Beijing Youth Daily praised the city government for taking a more critical look at air pollution, while urging residents to consider the environmental effects of setting off fireworks.
The readings moderated under relatively clear skies in recent days. By noon Sunday, before the weeklong holiday ends and people return to work, the level stood at a relatively good 0.039.
Beijing is frequently cloaked in yellow haze that obscures buildings a couple of blocks away. On particularly bad days, schools cancel outdoor activities and hospitals treat more people ? particularly the elderly ? for respiratory complaints.
The city began measuring the small particles in the air and releasing the readings on Jan. 21, as concern has grown over Beijing's air pollution from all sources. PM2.5 ? particles less than 2.5 micrometers in size, or about 1/30th the width of an average human hair ? are believed to be the greatest health risk because their smallness means they can lodge deeply in the lungs.
Beijing previously had only given PM10 measurements of coarser particles, which indicated pollution was "light," leading to accusations the true extent of the problem was hidden.
The U.S. Embassy since last year has released PM2.5 readings from a device on its rooftop and some residents have tested the air in their neighborhoods and posted the results online.
The embassy measured more pollution than the city on Sunday, but the sampling stations are 10 miles apart or more.
Beijing says its PM2.5 measuring station is about 4 miles (7 kilometers) west of central Tiananmen Square.
___
Associated Press researcher Henry Hou contributed to this report.
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Exclusive: Celine Dion on Madonna Super Bowl Show (omg!)
Celine Dion is sharing her thoughts on fellow music superstar Madonna performing in next week's Super Bowl halftime show, and disclosed why she herself won't be up on that stage.
Celine tells The Trend on Zappos Couture, "I'm not going to be performing at the Super Bowl because I'm pretty booked, I'm in Las Vegas right now at Caesars Palace doing a lot of shows so I won't be at the Super Bowl."
"But I love Madonna and know her well," she continued. "I know she'll do just fine, she doesn't need any luck. She's going to do her thing, she's going to do what she does best, she's going to give us something for us to remember. She's going to be great, just fine."
Madonna's Super Bowl Special Guest: Cee Lo!
Celine also opened up about how she's balancing life with twin one-year-olds Eddie and Nelson, and her Las Vegas show. "My schedule is hard because I sing at night and I want to be with my babies during the day and I have twins and they are not sleeping good," the working mom shared.
"They are in my room and they wake up five-six times a night. Two babies, so that mean 10 to 12 times a night. I can't let them cry," she says, breaking into Bob Marley's No Woman, No Cry. "I can't let them cry so I wake up, and [say], 'It's okay.' [They] want to be with mommy and mommy wants to be with them, and then the next day, sometimes it's hard, for me too."
Celine Dion Relives the Song that Made her a Star
Celine was interviewed in Montego Bay, Jamaica, where she performed at the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival with the support of the Jamaica Tourist Board.
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