'Live!' producer Gelman: Moving forward day by day (AP)

NEW YORK ? You can't hurry love. Nor, according to Michael Gelman, can you hurry up selecting a TV co-host.

A couple of months after 80-year-old Regis Philbin exited "Live! With Regis and Kelly" and took his name in the title along with him, Kelly Ripa has been welcoming a succession of fill-in co-hosts. A number of them ? no one's saying just who ? are auditioning on-the-air to land the job for keeps.

It's a process that Gelman, the show's executive producer, calls dating, and, as fans wait for the show to pop the question weeks or months from now, "Live!" is sowing its wild oats. ("Live! With Kelly," which airs in syndication weekdays at 9 a.m. EST in many markets, this week will feature guest co-hosts Daniel Radcliffe, Howie Mandel, Peter Facinelli and D.L. Hughley).

"We've just scratched the surface of people out there," Gelman says, adding, "We have enjoyed a lot of people who have already co-hosted, and we're bringing a bunch of them back for more `dates.'"

That first batch of callbacks will include Jerry O'Connell, Dana Carvey, Seth Meyers and Michael Strahan.

"But I'm not saying there's a short list," insists Gelman. "Every day we come up with new ideas, and we get new revelations about who the new host should or shouldn't be. The chemistry is key ? and not just with Kelly, but with the audience and the staff and the format."

In other words: Don't bother even asking how much longer these tryouts will take.

"I've been through it from the other side," noted Ripa, a party to the monthslong dating whirl a dozen years ago, during a phone interview. "I sort of understand how it works, and what it is they're looking for, and how this process can't be rushed."

In particular, the new hire must click with Ripa in the host chat, the morning set-piece where the co-hosts talk about what's going on out in the world and in their personal lives. It's deceptively skilled performance art, an impromptu signature of the show.

"This format, a sort of faux-husband and wife who sit down and chat, lets viewers vicariously experience the co-hosts' pains and pleasures," Gelman says. "The early-morning news shows have borrowed heavily from our success, and reality shows have taken a cue from how Regis would come on and just talk about his life.

"In some ways, it really was at the cutting edge of what a lot of television is now. I think the show broke ground with it, and continues to."

For this interview, Gelman is in his office, a pleasant jumble of show-related curios including a small desktop gong that long ago must have served as an on-the-air prop (though no one can remember how), with which he placidly summons staffers to meetings. His space is further appointed by grids of color-coded cards pinned to the wall inscribed with names of future guests, one of whom may end up taking up residence here at the show's Upper West Side Manhattan headquarters.

Since Philbin left, "it's been different, it's been sad," says Gelman. "But it's also been an exciting time. I think Kelly is enjoying `dating,' and so is the audience: Our numbers are trending higher than last year." (Five of the first seven "Kelly-only" weeks saw household audiences match or beat the same week a year earlier, and for the 2011-12 season to date, "Live!" viewership is averaging 3.7 million viewers daily, compared to 3.3 million viewers the season before.)

In Philbin's absence, Gelman, still boyish at age 50, has emerged as the grand old man of "Live!" He is the constant, the keeper of the flame. His tenure as executive producer reaches back a quarter-century, when the show was still a local New York telecast, not the nationally syndicated juggernaut it became after being rebranded "Live! With Regis & Kathie Lee."

Along the way, Philbin bagged the record for most hours spent in front of a TV camera (15,188, as certified by Guinness World Records back in 2004). But Gelman likely has his own claim to longevity.

"I may be the world record holder for the most hours of live television produced ? particularly for one show," he says. "And if I haven't broken the record, hopefully I will."

As he speaks, it's late morning. Another hour of "Live!" is under his belt, and now "the REAL work day begins," he says with a laugh. Meetings, bookings, planning, and, yes, thinking about a new co-host ? all that will consume him until 7 p.m. or thereabouts, when he heads home to his wife, TV personality Laurie Hibberd, and their two daughters. He had arrived at the office around 7 a.m. for rehearsals and briefings until, at the stroke of 9 a.m., "Live!" hit the air.

Gelman is a master of multitasking, especially the hour when the show is being broadcast. He stands just out of camera range (where he won unsought celebrity as "Gelman," the genial foil often called out by Philbin), while "a million things are going through my mind ? what I need to do, what's coming up later, what could go wrong," he says. "And at the same time, I'm warming up and prompting the studio audience."

Some of these duties, he says, have become automatic.

"Sometimes I'll be at a Broadway show or other live performance," he confides, "and when people start applauding and I want them to applaud more, I all of sudden do this" ? he raises a hand and feathers his fingers imploringly ? "before I catch myself. Very embarrassing."

Gelman has grown up on the job. He began as a freelance production assistant for what was then "The Morning Show." Then, when he became executive producer in 1987, he was somewhat of a surrogate son to the middle-age Philbin, a TV journeyman on the brink of a career renaissance. When Philbin left a quarter-century later, Gelman, still the steady steward of the show, was nearly as old as Philbin had been when the show began.

"Over the years, I've kind of backed away from behind-the-scenes things," Philbin said last fall as he prepared to leave. "Gelman rings a little gong, and everybody comes and they sit there for HOURS! I don't know WHAT the HELL they're TALKING about! But that's what an executive producer is supposed to do, I guess, and I think he's done a good job."

"Because he's so good at what he does, it goes unrecognized," Ripa said recently. "He's very calm, very even, and we move forward. Always. We're always looking to tomorrow. We do our live show, then we let it go, and then we move on to tomorrow's show. And he makes it look easy."

Gelman is ready to savor continued success for "Live!" He says he's signed another long-term deal, "and I plan on being here for a while.

"The show has a life of its own," he sums up, making it look easy, and knows it's time to move forward now. Tomorrow's show requires his attention.

___

Online:

http://dadt.com/live/

___

EDITOR'S NOTE ? Frazier Moore is a national television columnist for The Associated Press. He can be reached at fmoore(at)ap.org and at http://www.twitter.com/tvfrazier

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tv/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120131/ap_en_tv/us_ap_on_tv_live_s_michael_gelman

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Mexico cops nab suspect in 75 drug cartel killings (AP)

MONTERREY, Mexico ? Police in northern Mexico have captured an alleged member of the Zetas drug gang who confessed to killing at least 75 people, including many who were pulled off buses, authorities said Monday.

Enrique Elizondo Flores told investigators 36 of his victims were bus passengers traveling through the town of Cerralvo, near the border with Texas, said Nuevo Leon state security spokesman Jorge Domene.

Elizondo was detained Jan. 20 in the town of Salinas Victoria, but authorities delayed announcing his arrest so they could verify details of his confession, state Attorney General Adrian de la Garza said.

Domene said the 35-year-old suspect told investigators that he had been working in the area at least three years and that he was in charge of killing members of the rival Gulf drug cartel heading to the towns of Cerralvo and General Trevino.

Elizondo and other gunmen last January began pulling passengers off buses as they arrived at Cerralvo's bus station, Domene said. They are among at least 92 bus passengers the Zetas are accused of killing in three attacks in January and March 2011. Many the victims were originally from the central state of Guanajuato and had arrived in Cerralvo from the border city of Reynosa, Domene said.

Elizondo was known "for torturing, maiming and then killing his victims," Domene said.

Last year, authorities in the neighboring state of Tamaulipas unearthed 193 bodies from clandestine graves in the town of San Fernando. Security forces said they were led to the site by members of the Zetas who confessed to kidnapping and killing bus passengers traveling through the area.

The motive for the bus abductions remains unclear. Prosecutors have suggested the gang may be forcefully recruiting people to work for it or trying to kill rivals they suspected were aboard the buses.

Northeastern Mexico has been engulfed by a turf battle between the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas since they split in 2010.

More than 47,000 people have been killed nationwide since President Felipe Calderon launched a crackdown against drug traffickers in December 2006.

Global Financial Integrity, a program of the Center for International Policy, a Washington-based think tank, said Monday that its analysis found that $872 billion in proceeds from crime, corruption and money-laundering had flowed out of Mexico in the four decades from 1970 to 2010.

In the border city of Ciudad Juarez, police officers killed three men and detained a fourth Monday after being attacked at a gas station, authorities said.

The officers were refueling their patrol cars at a gas station a few blocks from the Zaragoza border crossing into El Paso, Texas, when they were attacked, a police statement said. The officers returned fire, killing three assailants, and they also seized two assault rifles, two handguns and a hand grenade, it said.

Last week, messages signed by the New Juarez drug cartel and left in several parts of the city claimed Police Chief Julian Leyzaola is favoring a rival cartel. It said that one officer would be killed daily if their members continue to be arrested. Five police officers have been killed since.

Leyzaola was not immediately available to comment on Monday's attack.

In a public appearance over the weekend, Mayor Hector Murguia said the recent string of attacks on law enforcement officers was a response from criminals affected by Leyzaola's work.

"Go downtown, there are no more brothels where drugs used to be sold," he said, referring to a police crackdown in downtown Juarez as part of the city's efforts to combat crime.

As a safety measure, police officers are now required to leave precincts wearing street clothes and are allowed to take their guns home. The city also is considering plans to rent hotels to quarter all the police force.

In 2009, then Police Chief Roberto Orduna quit after several police officers were killed and their bodies dumped along with messages saying more officers would be killed unless he resigned.

Leyzaola is no stranger to threats. Shortly after he was hired in 2011, the body of a tortured man was left in a street with a message to Leyzaola that read, "This is your first gift."

In April 2009, when he was police chief in western border city of Tijuana, drug traffickers took over police radio frequencies to say that if he didn't quit, many police officers would die.

A few days after, seven officers were killed in separate but coordinated attacks. Drug traffickers took over the police radio frequencies again to say their threat had been carried out.

___

Associated Press writer Juan Carlos Llorca in El Paso, Texas, contributed to this report.

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

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Democrats Take Lead in Congressional Ballot (Taegan Goddard's Political Wire)

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Hawaii-based Marine in hazing case goes to trial

KANEOHE BAY, Hawaii (AP) ? A Hawaii-based lance corporal accused of hazing a fellow Marine who committed suicide at their remote outpost in Afghanistan is appearing in court after agreeing to a plea bargain.

In October, Lance Cpl. Jacob D. Jacoby was referred to a general court-martial on charges that he assaulted, threatened, and humiliated Lance Cpl. Harry Lew, who killed himself on April 3.

Jacoby will instead appear Monday before a special court martial ? a venue for less serious crimes than a general court-martial? at a Marine base in Kaneohe Bay after reaching a plea agreement. The Marines didn't release details of the agreement ahead of the trial.

Two other Marines have also been accused of hazing Lew, 21, a nephew of U.S. Rep. Judy Chu of California, before he shot himself with his machine gun in his foxhole.

Sgt. Benjamin Johns, the leader of the squad the Marines belonged to, and Lance Cpl. Carlos Orozco III will each have their own separate courts-martial at later dates.

The case involves the actions of Marines at an isolated patrol base the U.S. was establishing to disrupt Taliban drug and weapons trafficking in Helmand province.

At an Article 32 hearing ? the equivalent of a grand jury hearing in the civilian world ? in September, Marines testified Lew had repeatedly fallen asleep while he was on duty. Squad members and officers had tried different methods to get him to stay awake, including referring him up the chain of command for discipline and taking him off patrols so he could get more rest.

But on Lew's last night, those efforts escalated into alleged acts of violence and humiliation, according to charges outlined at the hearing. The Marines were accused of punching and kicking him, making him do push-ups and pouring sand in his face.

A significant share of the questions raised at the Article 32 hearing focused on whether the accused intended to humiliate and harm Lew or discipline him so he would stop falling asleep while on watch duty.

Before Lew put the muzzle of his machine gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger, he scrawled a note on his arm: "May hate me now, but in the long run this was the right choice I'm sorry my mom deserves the truth."

A Marine commander in retrospect speculated Lew may have been nodding off because he suffered from depression or some other medical condition.

Chu discussed her nephew's death during a House Armed Services hearing on suicide prevention in September, held at the same time as the Article 32 hearing. She told military witnesses that Lew was "a very popular and outgoing young man known for joking and smiling and break dancing."

Chu also issued a statement saying no one deserves being "hazed and tortured" like her nephew was, and the military justice system must hold "any wrongdoers accountable."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-30-Marines-Alleged%20Hazing/id-0016d26ff954492aa2637e2221d0fc31

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Mitt Romney picks up Jon Voight?s endorsement?and jokes about Angelina Jolie (The Ticket)

(Charles Dharapak/AP)

PENSACOLA, Fla.?The run-up to Florida's Republican presidential primary has already been weird, thanks in part to an extended debate over whether there should be a colony on the moon. On Saturday, it got a little weirder.

Stumping at a seafood restaurant here along the Gulf coast, Mitt Romney picked up the endorsement of actor Jon Voight, the star of "Midnight Cowboy" who is perhaps best known these days as the father of actress Angelina Jolie. The actor has long been active in Republican politics, campaigning for Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign in 2008 and traveling with Mike Huckabee to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last year.

Voight told the crowd he was backing Romney because he was "strong" and "honest." He declared President Obama had "decided to follow his father's footsteps and take us to socialism."

The actor said Newt Gingrich "fell short" of being able to take on Obama. "We cannot afford another four years of rhetoric," Voight said.

While Jolie's name wasn't mentioned on the stump, Romney did manage to sneak in a reference to the actress's wild-child reputation.

Explaining to the audience that he wasn't sure how to "chit chat with a famous actor" when he phoned Voight to ask for his support, Romney said he decided to talk about his kids.

"I started talking about my five boys," the candidate explained. "I said, you know, it's easier to raise boys than girls. Well, after a long pause, he says, 'Tell me about it.'"

The line got a huge laugh from the crowd of several hundred people who turned out to see Romney stump with Voight, as well as Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and Sen. John McCain, who entertained the crowd with his own stand-up routine while introducing Romney.

The Arizona senator, who trained as a pilot at the naval base in Pensacola, joked that the money he spent as a young bachelor in the city had single-handedly kept the city's economy alive. And, in a repeat of a line he often repeated on the presidential campaign trail here four years ago, McCain joked about Zsa Zsa Gabor's sex life.

Noting the other dignitaries on hand, McCain said, "I feel a bit like Zsa Zsa Gabor's fifth husband. I know what I'm supposed to do, but I don't know how to make it interesting."

A few feet away, Romney let out an awkward giggle.

"I thought we only brought one actor and comedian here today," Romney told McCain when it was his turn at the mic. "Gosh, that was quite a repartee there, senator. That was fabulous."

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theticket/20120128/el_yblog_theticket/mitt-romney-picks-up-jon-voights-endorsement-and-jokes-about-angelina-jolie

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Video: McCain: Citizens United decision an ?outrage?

A Second Take on Meeting the Press: From an up-close look at Rachel Maddow's sneakers to an in-depth look at Jon Krakauer's latest book ? it's all fair game in our "Meet the Press: Take Two" web extra. Log on Sundays to see David Gregory's post-show conversations with leading newsmakers, authors and roundtable guests. Videos are available on-demand by 12 p.m. ET on Sundays.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032608/vp/46180827#46180827

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Explaining Modern Finance And Economics Using Booze And Broke ...

Courtesy of reszatonline, who brings us the following allegory by way of Tim Coldwell, we are happy to distill (no pun intended) all of modern economics and finance in a narrative that is 500 words long, and involved booze and broke alcoholics: in other words everyone should be able to understand the underlying message. And while the immediate application of this allegory is to explain events in Europe, it succeeds in capturing all the moving pieces of modern finance.

From reszatonline

Helga is the proprietor of a bar.

She realizes that virtually all of her customers are unemployed alcoholics and, as such, can no longer afford to patronize her bar.

To solve this problem, she comes up with a new marketing plan that allows her customers to drink now, but pay later.

Helga keeps track of the drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers? loans).

Word gets around about Helga?s ?drink now, pay later? marketing strategy and, as a result, increasing numbers of customers flood into Helga?s bar. Soon she has the largest sales volume for any bar in town.

By providing her customers freedom from immediate payment demands, Helga gets no resistance when, at regular intervals, she substantially increases her prices for wine and beer, the most consumed beverages. Consequently, Helga?s gross sales volume increases massively.

A young and dynamic vice-president at the local bank recognizes that these customer debts constitute valuable future assets and increases Helga?s borrowing limit.

He sees no reason for any undue concern, since he has the debts of the unemployed alcoholics as collateral!!!

At the bank?s corporate headquarters, expert traders figure a way to make huge commissions, and transform these customer loans into DRINKBONDS.These ?securities? then are bundled and traded on international securities markets.

Naive investors don?t really understand that the securities being sold to them as ?AA? ?Secured Bonds? really are debts of unemployed alcoholics.

Nevertheless, the bond prices continuously climb!!!, and the securities soon become the hottest-selling items for some of the nation?s leading brokerage houses.

One day, even though the bond prices still are climbing, a risk manager at the original local bank decides that the time has come to demand payment on the debts incurred by the drinkers at Helga?s bar.

He so informs Helga.

Helga then demands payment from her alcoholic patrons, but being unemployed alcoholics they cannot pay back their drinking debts.

Since Helga cannot fulfil her loan obligations she is forced into bankruptcy.

The bar closes and Helga?s 11 employees lose their jobs.

Overnight, DRINKBOND prices drop by 90%. The collapsed bond asset value destroys the bank?s liquidity and prevents it from issuing new loans, thus freezing credit and economic activity in the community.

The suppliers of Helga?s bar had granted her generous payment extensions and had invested their firms? pension funds in the BOND securities. They find they are now faced with having to write off her bad debt and with losing over 90% of the presumed value of the bonds.

Her wine supplier also claims bankruptcy, closing the doors on a family business that had endured for three generations, her beer supplier is taken over by a competitor, who immediately closes the local plant and lays off 150 workers. Fortunately though, the bank, the brokerage houses and their respective executives are saved and bailed out by a multibillion dollar no-strings attached cash infusion from the government.

The funds required for this bailout are obtained by new taxes levied on employed, middle-class, non-drinkers who have never been in Helga?s bar.

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Source: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/explaining-modern-finance-and-economics-using-booze-and-broke-alcoholics

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Rihanna's Tattoos: From Stars To 'Thug Life'

MTV News looks back at singer's extensive history with body art.
By Jocelyn Vena

Rihanna's "Thug Life" tattoo
Photo: Rihanna/Twitter

Rihanna had everyone buzzing this week when she debuted a tattoo with the words "Thug Life" scrolled across her famous fingers. The flesh-colored ink was done up by Los Angeles tat artist Mark Mahoney at the Shamrock Social Club parlor in Hollywood. While the body art pays tribute to late rapper Tupac, it is certainly not the first time that Rihanna has gotten a tattoo.

In fact, the singer is no novice. She's already covered in ink, ranging from the sugary sweet to the more hard-core.

She made headlines back in 2009 when she debuted a gun tattoo on her rib cage. Rihanna's tattoo was scandalous as it came only months after her Grammy-night altercation with her ex, Chris Brown. "People are going to react all different ways," tat artist BangBang explained to MTV News at the time, noting that it had been in the works long before the incident. "She's great. She's perfect. We had a blast, and we had a lot of fun."

BangBang and Rihanna have quite the history together when it comes to the many tats on her body. He is also responsible for the star tattoos on her back, the Roman numerals on her shoulder and the word "Shhh ... " on her finger.

But Rihanna hasn't stopped there. She has also been branded with a musical note on her ankle, a Pisces sign behind her right ear, the word "love" on her middle finger and a tribal tattoo on her hand. She reportedly has the birthday of her manager Melissa Forde written in Roman numerals on her shoulder: XI-IV-LXXXVI. As an homage to her perfume line she also has the French words for rebellious flower, "rebelle fleur," on her neck.

The singer also has a Sanatana Dharma Sanskrit prayer on her right hip.

Reportedly misspelled, the phrase was supposed to mean "forgiveness, honesty, suppression and control," but actually ends up meaning "long suffering, truthfulness, self-restraint, inward calm, fear and fearlessness."

On her rib cage, she also has the Arabic phrase "Al Hurria fi Al Maseeh," which means "Freedom in God." Proving to be some sort of billboard for sage advice, she also has the motto "Never a Failure, Always a Lesson" scrolled across her collarbone. Other Ri tats include a star in her ear and a skull and cross bone on her ankle.

In fact, Rihanna loves tattoos so much that in July 2009, she was spotted giving BangBang a tattoo at New York's East Side Ink, where he works. Owner Yadira said at the time, "We had a blast. It was so funny and cute."

When BangBang spoke to MTV News in 2009, he added this philosophy when it comes to tatting the singer: "You don't want to be staring at tats. You want to be staring at her face."

Related Photos

• Hip-Hop Celebrity Tribute Tattoos

Related Artists

• Rihanna

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1678043/rihanna-tattoos-thug-life.jhtml

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One million children in Sahel at risk, UNICEF warns (Reuters)

GENEVA (Reuters) ? More than 1 million children in the Sahel are at risk of severe malnutrition and urgent action is needed to avert starvation akin to that in Somalia, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned on Friday.

The agency appealed for $67 million for 8 countries in the region where it said instability fueled by increasing activities of al-Qaeda and Boko Haram was compounding humanitarian needs. They are Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and the northern regions of Cameroon, Nigeria and Senegal.

"In the Sahel we are facing a nutrition crisis of a larger magnitude than usual with over 1 million children at risk of severe, acute malnutrition," Rima Salah, acting UNICEF deputy executive director, told a news briefing.

"The countries in the Sahel, for example, if we do not now attend to their needs, it will become like Somalia and other countries," she said. "We have to prevent it before it becomes a disaster."

She was referring to the anarchic Horn of Africa country where the U.N. says 250,000 still live in famine conditions due to drought and conflict and a total of 4 million need aid.

More than nine million people in five countries in Africa's Sahel region face food crisis next year, following low rainfall, poor harvests, high food prices and a drop in remittances from migrants, aid agency Oxfam said last month.

The funds for the Sahel, for an initial six-month phase, will provide therapeutic feeding to malnourished children and campaigns to prevent the spread of epidemics including cholera. Some families will receive cash to cover higher food prices.

It is part of UNICEF's overall appeal of $1.28 billion for 98 million women and children in 25 countries. Somalia and other Horn of Africa countries (Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya) account for nearly one-third of the total amount sought.

"There is growing instability in the Sahel region, fuelled by the Arab Spring and increasing activities of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Boko Haram, all compounding the humanitarian needs of children and women in the region," UNICEF's report, "2012 Humanitarian Action for Children," said on Friday.

The Libyan civil war might have given militant groups in Africa's Sahel region like Boko Haram and al Qaeda access to large weapons caches, according to a U.N. report released in New York on Thursday.

The U.N. report on the impact of the Libyan civil war on countries of the Sahel region that straddle the Sahara - including Nigeria, Niger and Chad - also said some national authorities believe the Islamist sect Boko Haram, which killed more than 500 people last year and more than 250 this year in Nigeria, has increasing links to al Qaeda's North African wing.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay Editing by Maria Golovnina.)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/parenting/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120127/hl_nm/us_africa_sahel_un

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Microsoft launches MSN UK for iPad

Microsoft has launched another app for the iPad, this time it is MSN UK. MSN UK is brings all the latest news, sport and entertainment from the UK right to your iPad.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/7GUk7WHFTkg/story01.htm

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14 Indonesian, Korean crew rescued in Philippines (AP)

MANILA, Philippines ? A cargo ship loaded with iron ore has listed off the eastern coast of the Philippines, and passing boats rescued the 14-member crew.

Philippine coast guard operations officer Mark Angue says the Panamanian-registered M/V Sun Spirit began to list Saturday off Catanduanes province and sent a distress signal. The coast guard immediately deployed three ships and a helicopter for a search and rescue.

Angue says the coast guard later learned that the 12 Indonesian and two Korean crewmen abandoned their China-bound ship, which came from the central Philippine province of Leyte.

Coast guard Admiral Ramon Liwag says a passing Philippine cargo ship rescued 11 of the crewmen while a fishing boat saved three others. It's unclear whether the disabled ship sank.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_re_as/as_philippines_rescued_crewmen

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Santorum sticks around and gives grief to Gingrich (reuters)

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Oil above $99 in Asia amid Middle East jitters

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) ? Oil prices edged above $99 a barrel in Asia on Monday amid concerns that tensions in the Middle East could hurt crude supply but gains were tempered by jitters over Europe's ratings downgrade.

Benchmark crude for February delivery was up 48 cents to $99.16 a barrel at late afternoon Kuala Lumpur time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 40 cents to settle at $98.70 in New York on Friday.

Natalie Robertson, commodities analyst with ANZ Banking Group in Melbourne, said fears of supply disruption amid ongoing tension over Iran's nuclear program and a crippling nationwide strike in Nigeria supported crude prices but trade was subdued by headwinds from the declining debt crisis in Europe.

"The oil market is a bit mixed at the moment given all the uncertainties coming out of the Middle East as well as escalating issues in Europe," she said.

Standard & Poor's downgraded the government debt of nine countries that use the euro including France, Austria, Italy and Spain, making it harder for the European Union to raise funds to overcome massive debts. Germany's rating remained at the coveted AAA level.

A recession appears likely in Europe, and huge spending cuts will likely reduce European energy demand this year.

Robertson said there was a downward bias for crude prices given soft demand and weak sentiment in Europe but forecast a floor of $95 a barrel before sentiment improves in the second half of the year.

In other energy trading, heating oil was up 0.1 cent to $3.06 per gallon and gasoline futures rose 3.1 cents to $2.76 per gallon. Natural gas fell 14.3 cents to $2.55 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-16-Oil-Prices/id-bf0d736763c143c1be75de8ba85a9f95

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