Mexicans overcharged billions for phone, web: study (Reuters)

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) ? Mexicans have been overcharged $13.4 billion a year for phone and internet services as the industry dominated by billionaire Carlos Slim gouges customers and keeps the economy from growing, a study released on Monday said.

Mexico, the second-largest economy in Latin America, cannot reach its growth potential until the cost of phone and internet access comes down and more people have easy access to telecom services, the report from the Organization for Co-operation and Development said.

From 2005 to 2009, Mexican consumers paid $13.4 billion a year excess for phone and internet services, with high fees disproportionately hitting the poor, according to the report. In total, overcharging cost the economy $129 billion over the five-year period, the report found, nearly 2 percent of the country's economic output.

"Inefficient telecommunication markets impose a significant cost on the Mexican economy and the welfare of its population," according to the report that reviewed the country's telecom sector.

Mexican home phone service is dominated by Slim's Telefonos de Mexico, or Telmex, which provides about 80 percent of services while the billionaire controls about 70 percent of the cellphone market through his America Movil.

"This is a critical study...that exposes the weakness of the telecommunications sector in Mexico," Dionisio Perez-Jacome, minister of Communications and Transport, said at a press event accepting the report.

The report found Mexico had the lowest per capita public investment in telecommunications in the 34-member OECD, while Slim's Telmex had very high profit margins compared to other countries.

In 2008, Telmex had a profit margin of 47 percent, while the average for countries including Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States was 28 percent.

A Slim spokesman declined to comment on the findings of customers being overcharged, but pointed to other reports that Mexico enjoys a relatively-affordable broadband base.

The report found broadband internet speeds are low compared to the OECD average and comparatively expensive, while a three-minute call from a cellphone to a local phone would cost a Mexican travelling in another OECD country $8.65, compared to the OECD average of $6.76.

It suggested that Mexico eliminate restrictions on foreign investment in the telecom sector and cut judicial red tape that lets the telecom industry stall new rules, fines and restrictions.

Mexico's President Felipe Calderon, at a separate event, said that his government planned to auction strands of fiber optic cable that would increase broadband service across the country.

Mexico's cable giant, Megacable, is in a partnership with cellphone company Telefonica and television giant Televisa to share one fiber optic project that should deliver more high-speed internet and telecom services.

(Reporting by Patrick Rucker and Krista Hughes; Editing by Gary Hill and Matt Driskill)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120131/tc_nm/us_mexico_phone

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Street battles rage on edge of Syrian capital

By msnbc.com news services

Updated at 2:19 p.m. ET:?Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will join British and French foreign ministers at the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to?push an Arab-backed condemnation of Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime.

"The status quo is unsustainable," Clinton said in a statement. "The longer the Assad regime continues its attacks on the Syrian people and stands in the way of a peaceful transition, the greater the concern that instability will escalate and spill over throughout the region."

Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby and Qatar's prime minister are due to plead with the 15-nation Security Council to back the league's plan for Assad to transfer powers to his deputy to prepare for free elections.

Assad's regime is intensifying an assault against army defectors and protesters. The U.N. has said more than 5,400 people have been killed in violence since March. At least 190 additional people were killed in the past five days.

Updated at 7:40 a.m. ET: Street battles raged at the gates of the Syrian capital on Monday as President Bashar Assad's troops sought to consolidate their grip on suburbs that rebel fighters had taken only a few miles from the center of government power. Syrian forces also heavily shelled the restive city of Homs.

Russia, a U.N. Security Council member and one of Syria's few allies, said President Bashar Assad's government agreed to talks in Moscow to end the Syrian crisis, but a major opposition body rejected any dialogue with him, demanding he step down.

---

The new fighting and Russian diplomacy came as the Arab League and France prepared to lobby the Security Council to act on a peace plan that would remove Assad from power, in a bid to staunch the flow of blood from Syria's attempt to crush a popular uprising and armed insurgency against Assad.

Activists and residents said Syrian troops now had control of Hamouriyeh, one of several districts where they have used armored vehicles and artillery to beat back rebels who came as close as 5 miles to Damascus.

An activist said the Free Syrian Army - a force of military defectors with links to Syria's divided political opposition - mounted scattered attacks on government troops who advanced through the district of Saqba, held by rebels just days ago.

"Street fighting has been raging since dawn," he said, adding tanks were moving through a central avenue of the neighborhood. "The sound of gunfire is everywhere."

Updated at 4:58 a.m.?ET:Troops seized eastern suburbs of Damascus from rebels late on Sunday, opposition activists said, after two days of fighting only a few miles from President Bashar Assad's?center of power.

"The Free Syrian Army has made a tactical withdrawal," an activist named Kamal told Reuters by phone from the eastern al-Ghouta area on the edge of the capital. "Regime forces have re-occupied the suburbs and started making house-to-house arrests."

A spokesman for the Free Syrian Army of defectors fighting Assad's forces appeared to confirm that account.

"Tanks have gone in but they do not know where the Free Syrian Army is. We are still operating close to Damascus," said?Maher al-Naimi, who spoke to?Reuters from Turkey.

Meanwhile, Syria's state news agency reported Monday?that a "terrorist" group had blown up a gas pipeline.

The rising bloodshed added urgency to Arab and Western diplomatic efforts to end the 10-month conflict.

Checkpoints
In the past two weeks, army dissidents have become more visible, seizing several suburbs on the eastern edge of Damascus and setting up checkpoints where masked men wearing military attire and wielding assault rifles stop motorists and protect anti-regime protests.

Their presence so close to the capital is astonishing in tightly controlled Syria and suggests the Assad regime may either be losing control or setting up a trap for the fighters before going on the offensive.

Activists said earlier on Sunday soldiers had moved into the suburbs at dawn, along with at least 50 tanks and other armored vehicles. At least 19 civilians and rebel fighters were killed in that initial attack, they said.

NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin visits Zabadani, Syria, a once beautiful snowcapped resort town that has been deeply scarred by the recent military crackdown and speaks with members of the? anti-regime Free Syria Army.

Fighters had taken over districts less than five miles from the heart of the city. The areas have seen repeated protests against Assad's rule and crackdowns by troops?during the?uprising.

"It's urban war. There are bodies in the street," said an activist speaking from the suburb of Kfar Batna.

Residents of central Damascus reported seeing soldiers and police deployed around main squares.

The escalating bloodshed prompted the Arab League to suspend the work of its monitors on Saturday. Arab foreign ministers, who have urged Assad to step down and make way for a government of national unity, will discuss the crisis on February 5.

Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby left for New York where he will brief representatives of the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to seek support for the Arab peace plan.

He will be joined by Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, whose country heads the League's committee charged with overseeing Syria.

The Syrian government says the country is being attacked by extremists but some civilians say the only armed gangs in the city are the security forces. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.

Elaraby said he hoped to overcome resistance from Beijing and Moscow over endorsing the Arab proposals.

A Syrian government official said the Arab League decision to suspend monitoring would "put pressure on (Security Council) deliberations with the aim of calling for foreign intervention and encouraging armed groups to increase violence".

Assad blames the violence on foreign-backed militants.

The uprising against Assad, which began with largely peaceful demonstrations, has grown increasingly militarized recently as more frustrated protesters and army defectors have taken up arms.

The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 41 civilian deaths across Syria on Sunday, including 14 in Homs province and 12 in the city of Hama. Thirty-one soldiers and members of the security forces were also killed, most in two attacks by deserters in the northern province of Idlib, it said.

State news agency SANA reported the military funerals of 28 soldiers and police on Saturday and another 23 on Sunday.

After mass demonstrations against his rule erupted last spring, Assad launched a military crackdown. Growing numbers of army deserters and gunmen have joined the protesters in a country of 23 million people regarded as a pivotal state at the heart of the Middle East.

"The current battles taking place in and around Damascus may not yet lead to the unraveling of the regime, but the illusion of normalcy that the Assads have sought hard to maintain in the capital since the beginning of the revolution has surely unraveled," said Ammar Abdulhamid, a U.S.-based Syrian dissident.

"Once illusions unravel, reality soon follows," he wrote in his blog Sunday.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/30/10267572-gunfire-everywhere-street-battles-rage-in-damascus-suburbs

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Tiger falters as Rock wins Abu Dhabi Championship

Tiger Woods from the U.S. reacts after he walks on the 18th hole during the final round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Robert Rock held his nerve Sunday to beat U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods to win the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, recovering from an errant drive on 18 to clinch the biggest win of his career. Woods finished in a tie for third with Thomas Bjorn (68)and Graeme McDowell (68). (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

Tiger Woods from the U.S. reacts after he walks on the 18th hole during the final round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Robert Rock held his nerve Sunday to beat U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods to win the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, recovering from an errant drive on 18 to clinch the biggest win of his career. Woods finished in a tie for third with Thomas Bjorn (68)and Graeme McDowell (68). (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

Tiger Woods from U.S. tees off on the 4th hole during the final round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Shijilesh Ulleri)

Robert Rock from England holds the trophy after he wins the final round of Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

Robert Rock from England, left, shakes hands with Tiger Woods after he won the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Rock won the trophy, Woods taking a shared third place. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

England's Robert Rock , the winner of Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, left, and Tiger Woods from U.S. prepare for the play on the 3rd hole during the final round of Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) ? Tiger Woods talked all week about his improved ball control ? then it let him down when he needed it most.

Woods resembled the Tiger of old over the first three rounds at the Abu Dhabi Championship, stringing together a trio of rounds below par before shooting an even 72 in Sunday's finale to finish in a tie for third place behind winner Robert Rock and U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy.

The 117th-ranked Rock shot 70 for an overall 275 to beat McIlroy (69) by a shot. Woods was a further shot back with Thomas Bjorn (68) and Graeme McDowell (68). The 18-year-old Italian Matteo Manassero (69) and George Coetzee (70) of South Africa were another shot back.

"Today I just didn't give myself enough looks at it," Woods said. "Most of my putts were lag putts. I didn't drive the ball in as many fairways as I should have ... It was a day I was just a touch off the tee and consequently I couldn't get the ball close enough."

It marked the second straight time Woods hasn't won with at least a share of the lead after 54 holes. He failed to win the Chevron World Challenge in 2010 after going into the final round with a four-shot lead over McDowell.

The 14-time major winner appears to have recovered from a two-year victory drought in which he was sidelined by injuries and personal turmoil. But Woods must now face the fact that, at age 36, there are plenty of players ? known and unknown ? who can potentially beat him.

Woods, though, was looking for the silver lining out of his third-place finish. He insisted he has been steadily improving ? hitting a high percentage of fairways and greens until Sunday and putting much better.

"There's plenty of big events to go, but I'm pleased at the progress I've made so far," said Woods, who won the Chevron World Challenge last month to end his drought. "I just need to keep building, keep getting more consistent, and today was a day where I putted beautifully. Just didn't give myself enough looks."

Coming into Sunday, Woods was tied for the lead with the unheralded Rock and was the clear favorite to win. Rock had only one victory under his belt compared to 83 for Woods worldwide, but it was Rock ? battling his nerves over playing alongside one of his golfing idols ? who held it together down the stretch.

"It's pretty hard to believe that I managed to win today. Very surprised," the Englishman said. "I played good. So I guess I had a chance from early on, a couple of birdies made the day feel a little bit easier."

"But it's difficult playing with Tiger. You expect almost every shot to threaten to go in. It felt a lot of pressure and couldn't afford any lapses in concentration at all."

Woods started strong and it looked as though he might pull away from Rock, sinking a 40-footer on No. 2 for birdie and chipping to within a foot of the cup for a second birdie on the 3rd. But Rock didn't blink, making birdie on two of the first three holes to keep pace.

Then Woods began to unravel.

He started spraying his drives into the thick rough and fairway bunkers, resulting in bogeys on Nos. 4 and 5. When Woods wasn't missing the fairways, he was scrambling to save par as he did on 11 after overshooting the green. As he approached his shot in deep rough just off the 11th green, he sighed heavily and let out a stream of obscenities under his breath.

Woods managed to save par by sinking a 12-footer and Rock just missed a birdie putt. Woods pumped his fist and appeared to be regaining momentum as he pulled within one shot of Rock on No. 13 when the Englishman had one of his three bogeys. But the 34-year-old Rock birdied two of the next three holes to regain control.

Rock wobbled on the 18th when his drive landed in a pile of rocks near the water ? forcing him to take a drop ? but he recovered beautifully, reaching the green in four and two-putting for the win.

"I was just focusing on trying to hit fairways and then hit my iron shots as good as I have been and give myself chances at birdies," Rock said. "Both Tiger and Peter struggled on occasions on a few holes and I managed to keep my ball in the right position and didn't put myself under too much stress until the last, which was a relief."

It was a storybook ending for Rock, who rose from a club pro to join the European Tour in 2003 and only got his first tour win last year at the Italian Open. The victory will elevate him into the top 60.

"It doesn't get an awful lot harder than playing with Tiger Woods," Rock said. "So I guess barring a major championship, I know I can handle that again. So that's pretty nice to know."

While most of the attention was on Rock and Woods, several players surged into contention down the stretch.

McIlroy, playing ahead of Rock and Woods, birdied No. 18 to move to 12 under and give himself a chance. But he came up short with four rounds of par or better golf being undone by several costly mistakes ? the worst coming Friday when the third-ranked McIlroy was penalized two shots for brushing away sand in front of his ball in the rough of the 9th.

"You know, you've got to take the positives," McIlroy said. "It's the first week of the year, and you know, it looks like it's going to be the second year in a row here that I'll finish second. But still a very good start to the season and something I'll build on."

McDowell played the most exciting round of the tournament on Sunday, with an ace on No. 12, a chip-in on 13 and then a shot off the grandstand on the 18th that led to a birdie and a tie for third. For the 2010 U.S. Open champion, it was a good way to start the year after failing to win in 2011.

___

Follow Michael Casey on Twitter at https://twitter.com/mcasey1

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-29-GLF-Abu-Dhabi-Championship/id-0ff6b7c1358c47988b372c0f3563be31

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Russia's most powerful women in business ? RT

Bella Zlatkis (RIA Novosti / Ilya Pitalev)

They are the leaders of a new class of ambitious Russian women, breaking into the macho world of post-Soviet business.

They haven?t got the top places in a list of Russia?s 100 most influential women ? which is headed by politician Valentina Matvienko and singer Alla Pugacheva,??? but the women from the business world who got into the top hundred can be easily called the mighty queens of their industries.

The list, compiled by the leading Russian news agencies , RIA and Interfax, along with radio station Echo Moscow and Ogonek magazine, includes bankers Bella Zlatkis (ranking 37) and? Olga Dergunova (39), airline head Olga Pleshakova (46), Elena Baturina (55), who deals in construction, and Natalya Kaspersky (66), who started an international IT company.

Bella Zlatkis?? Deputy Chairwoman of Sberbank, Chairwoman of MICEX and the National Settlement Depository.

As a youngster Bella Zlatkis wanted to study together with her twin sister ? to become a physicist, but was persuaded by her parents to study economics instead. Since then she?s been one of the key figures in Russia?s world of finance. During her working life she?s been with just two organisations. Starting from 1970 she spent 34 years at the Ministry of Finance, and then in 2004 moved to Russia?s biggest bank Sberbank. She only takes one day off a week, and says that is always devoted to keeping her family happy. Her husband has always believed her main duty was weeding their vegetable garden. Now only roses grow at their country house and he doesn?t approve because they are inedible. She also used to be a pro on making pickled vegetables ? so there was no question what to serve when foreign guests are at the table. However pickles were never in her way when it came to work?? Honoured Economist of the Russian Federation with several state awards, she stood at the root of creating Russia?s financial system after the Soviet Union collapsed.

Olga Dergunova?? Member of VTB Bank Management Board

She used to be regional chair of Microsoft Russia and CIS, responsible for its $100 million operations across the country's nine time zones. The Wall Street Journal Europe placed her among the 25 most influential businesswomen in Europe. She was hired by Microsoft in 1994, soon after it founded a subsidiary in Moscow, and Olga Dergunova became its 13th employee. A year later the ?unlucky number? was promoted to be general director of the company and in July 2004 became its chair. In her own words, she was putting together the ?elite business special task force? of the IT industry in Russia. So it came as a huge surprise to everyone when after 15 years with the company she switched to VTB in 2007. Her previous life had been connected to IT ? and suddenly ? a state bank came into the picture. She started her banking career right in the beginning of the global financial crisis ? it seemed reforming a bank at such a time would have been a nightmare but she?s never abandoned her optimistic take on things. By the time she took up her new job her whole family was already working in banking ? so her daughter taught her the formulas and her husband explained the terms. One evening soon after she left Miscrosoft her household asked if she?d be offended if they ever betrayed Microsoft ? Dergunova only laughed. That?s how the family switched to Apple with its Ipods and IMacs. One of Russia?s top managers has been married for 20 years?? they tied the knot when they were students and soon had their first and only daughter. She says her only duty at home is feeding two fat and arrogant cats, and should her daughter have a child of her own some day, Dergunova reckons she will make a wonderful grandmother: 'I don't know how to cook, sew or knit. But I will teach the grandkid how to play golf, read, work on the computer and make the best use of their time.'

Olga Pleshakova ? General Director, Transaero Airlines

In 2001 Olga Pleshakova became the first woman to head a Russian airline. ?Nowadays no one gets surprised,?? she says?? but 10 years ago Russian civil aviation was a purely male sphere and my appointment came as a shock to the market. I have to admit my pilots still don?t want any female pilots on their team? they are very superstitious,? she told Russian Forbes. Olga Pleshakova?s background lies with the Moscow Aviation Institute so it seemed only logical she went through all the steps of the career ladder. However no one expected her appointment in 2001 to become such a success: within 10 years of her appointment as DG, the number of passengers using Transaero grew 17-fold, revenues ? 27-fold and more than 100 flights ? both domestic and international?? were added to the company?s routes. In 2007 it became the second largest airline in Russia and still remains an important player, despite the problems the company has experienced in the past few years. Some say, having a husband ? Alexander Pleshakov?? found the company and chair the board of directors ? helps. As well as having a mother-in-law who?s heading the Interstate Aviation Committee. However Pleshakova says she doesn?t work WITH her husband: ?I simply work in a company where my husband is the head of the board. We?ve known each other for 30 years ? since school ? and 25 of them we?ve been married. The most responsible moment is to switch into work or home ?mode?.? Olga and Alexander have two daughters and say they?ve never been deprived of their parents? attention.

Elena Baturina ? former owner of Inteco, wife of the ex-Mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov.

Her business empire grew out of the production of plastic washbowls and toilet brushes ? to become the largest construction company in Moscow producing prefab housing. In 2010 she ranked the third richest woman in the world with a fortune estimated at 2.9 billion dollars. One of Russia?s few female industrialists; she?s been Russia?s wealthiest woman for a long time (her fortune peaked in 2008 at an estimated $4.2bln according to Forbes). Now Elena Baturina lives in exile in London. She?s sought by a Moscow court as a witness in a corruption case?? Baturina claims she would happily testify and is ready to come back to Russia as soon as she receives an official invitation for questioning. However her husband, the once almighty Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov is against her returning to Russia. Last year he was ousted from his job after running the capital for 18 years. He fears she?d get arrested and leave their two daughters, who are now living and studying in London, without her motherly care.

Baturina met her future husband in 1987 when they both served on a municipal commission. In 1991 she married Luzhkov and the same year she founded Inteko, which used to produce plastic goods, including furniture and crockery but has since expanded into construction and construction materials. The fortunes of a one-time factory worker soared?? she was winning huge contracts in Moscow and soon became a billionaire and a power broker.?

After Luzhkov?s resignation Baturina started selling off her assets in Russia. In September 2011 she sold her main Russian business Inteco for about $1.2bln, followed soon by the sale of a cement plant in Southern Russia. Now she?s busy eyeing foreign assets, while her business transcends all the borders ? an office in Austria, business in Slovakia, Morocco and Kazakhstan, a hotel in the Czech Republic. Throughout her career she?s often been accused of abusing her family links. However she?s always denied it. In a recent interview to Rain TV she said,? If I worked in Moscow and my husband wasn?t Mayor, I would have worked much tougher, more recklessly, without looking back! ?

Natalya Kaspersky ? Director General, InfoWatch

Natalya Kaspersky also has a ?husband-factor? in her career. However if her husband Evgeny Kaspersky wrote/developed/created the anti-virus software and provided technical expertise, his ex-wife supplied the business acumen. She first worked at the KAMI Information Technologies Centre, and in 1997 that was turned into Kaspersky Lab. Natalya co-founded the company and became its first CEO. In 2007 she relinquished the role of chief executive to become chairman ? and at the same time assumed the CEO position at InfoWatch, a Kaspersky sister company, established in 2003. The company?s goal is to keep computers and data safe, by detecting information leakage and preventing it. She never thought that?s what she would be doing as a grown up. ?As a child I loved animals and seriously dreamt of becoming a pet vet. However when I grew older I had problems with chemistry at school ? there were insurmountable. So I had no other alternative but to follow in my parents? footsteps and become a ?technician,? she shared in her recent interview with Voice of Russia.

Her business status has never got in the way of family life. She has 2 sons from her first marriage with Evgeny Kaspersky. Working side by side, put a strain on the marriage and they divorced in 1998. Since then Natalia married again and had another two children. In 2011 her life took a dramatic turn when her 20-year old son was kidnapped on the way to his work experience job at InfoWatch. Her ex-husband?s fortune was estimated at 800 million dollars at the time. The story had a happy ending, and now Natalia impresses everyone with her four children and a continuously successful career.

Source: http://rt.com/business/news/powerful-women-business-673/

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WWE "David Otunga wins pro bono legal case" | January 27, 2012

David Otunga, who serves as the legal counsel to EVP of Talent Relations and Interim Raw GM John Laurinaitis, took to the courts on Thursday in a pro bono case against the New York State Department of Labor.?Otunga had been hired to represent a man who claimed he had been wrongfully terminated from his job and, as a result, was receiving no unemployment benefits.?After hearing arguments from both sides, the judge sided with the legal eagle WWE Superstar.?

"I smoked the witness during cross examination," Otunga told TMZ after the case had concluded.?His client subsequently won the appeal, and will now receive the appropriate benefits.?

While it may seem surprising for a WWE Superstar to accomplish such a feat, it's just business as usual for Otunga. The dapper Superstar is no stranger to balancing two workloads -- not to mention winning cases. "I actually worked as a full time trial lawyer in Boston while in my third year at Harvard Law School," Otunga told WWE.com. "Most people couldn?t have handled trying to graduate from the most prestigious law school in the world while trying cases full time, but I?m obviously not most people."

Otunga says he takes the pro bono cases simply to keep his skills up, and not necessarily because he needs the payday. "I don?t have time for a full caseload because I?m a globally recognizable WWE Superstar and Official Legal Counsel to Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and Interim Raw General Manager, Mr. John Laurinaitis," Otunga tells us, "But I like to stay sharp."

Adding to the accomplishment is that Otunga is undefeated in court cases, proving that if nothing else, Mr. Laurinaitis chose well in appointing his counsel and will be well-equipped when Chief Operating Officer Triple H evaluates Laurinaitis' job performance next Monday on Raw SuperShow.

"I?ve tried twenty cases and I?ve won them all," Otunga told WWE.com. "I have a perfect record. What else would you expect from someone like me?"

So if Otunga gives an especially emphatic slurp of his coffee at the Royal Rumble this Sunday, know he's got a pretty good reason.

Source: http://www.wwe.com/inside/overtheropes/david-otunga-wins-pro-bono-legal-case

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Strong quake jolts eastern Japan, no tsunami warning (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) ? A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.5 jolted eastern Japan on Saturday morning, but there were no immediate reports of injury or damage and no tsunami warning was issued.

The focus of the tremor was 20 km (12 miles) below the surface of the earth, in Yamanashi prefecture, west of Tokyo, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

The quake, at 7:43 a.m., was also felt in the capital.

Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world's most seismically active areas. The country accounts for about 20 percent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.

On March 11, 2011, the northeast coast was struck by a magnitude 9 earthquake, the strongest quake in Japan on record, and a massive tsunami, which triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years since Chernobyl. The disaster left up to 23,000 dead or missing.

(Reporting by Chris Gallagher, editing by Matthew Lewis)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120127/wl_nm/us_japan_quake

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Kepler telescope team finds 11 new solar systems

By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida | Thu Jan 26, 2012 5:45pm EST

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA's planet-hunting Kepler space telescope has found 11 new planetary systems, including one with five planets all orbiting closer to their parent star than Mercury circles the Sun, scientists said on Thursday.

The discoveries boost the list of confirmed extra-solar planets to 729, including 60 credited to the Kepler team. The telescope, launched in space in March 2009, can detect slight but regular dips in the amount of light coming from stars. Scientists can then determine if the changes are caused by orbiting planets passing by, relative to Kepler's view.

Kepler scientists have another 2,300 candidate planets awaiting additional confirmation.

None of the newly discovered planetary systems are like our solar system, though Kepler-33, a star that is older and bigger than the Sun, comes close in terms of sheer numbers. It has five planets, compared to our solar system's eight, but the quintet all fly closer to their parent star than Mercury orbits the Sun.

The planets range in size from about 1.5 times the diameter of Earth to five times Earth's diameter. Scientists have not yet determined if any are solid rocky bodies like Earth, Venus, Mars and Mercury or if they are filled with gas like Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

The Kepler team previously found one star with six confirmed planets and a second system with five planets, said planetary scientist Jack Lissauer, with NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.

Nine of the new systems contain two planets and one has three, bringing the total number of newly discovered planets to 26. All are closer to their host stars than Venus is to the Sun.

"This has tripled the number of stars which we know have more than one transiting planet, so that's the big deal here," Lissauer told Reuters.

"We're starting to think in terms of planetary systems as opposed to just planets: Do they all tend to have similar sizes? What's the spacing? Is the solar system unusual in those regards?" he said.

Kepler is monitoring more than 150,000 stars in the constellations Cygnus and Lyra.

The research is published in four different papers in Astrophysical Journal and the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

(Reporting By Irene Klotz; Editing by Jane Sutton and Sandra Maler)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/scienceNews/~3/9081eIRZ1AU/us-space-planets-idUSTRE80P27W20120126

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Video: First Read Minute

NBC?s Domenico Montanaro discusses the top political stories of the day, including the new NBC/WSJ poll that will be released tonight on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams at 6:30pmET.

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/46149655/

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Paula Deen Chows on Burger on Vacation

Paula Deen is on a vacation ... and going to TOWN on a burger!

The Food Network star, who recently revealed she has type 2 diabetes, was photographed eating a burger and fries Monday on a Caribbean cruise ship with her fans.

Deen, 65, is taking heat from critics, such as Anthony Bourdain, who say she has profited from her indulgent cooking and recipes while keeping her condition secret.

This story is not likely to douse that fire.

While diabetes isn't a sentence to life without burgers, eating a healthy diet is one way to manage it ... which makes Deen's admission all the more baffling to some.

As Deen made her announcement, she also partnered with drug maker Novo Nordisk to launch a new site, Diabetes in a New Light, offering diabetes-friendly recipes.

Then she turns around and inhales a juicy burger. Nice.

Deen says she's cut back on sugary/fatty foods, and that "I want to try to get across moderation," she says. If that's true, shouldn't she ... eh, forget it.

Tell us: Does Paula Deen set a terrible example?

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/paula-deen-chows-on-burger-on-vacation/

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Apple?s iPad not effected by Amazon?s Kindle Fire

As part of Apple's Q2 2012 conference call, CEO Tim Cook was asked what, if any effect low-cost, feature-reduced tablets like Amazon's Kindle Fire had on iPad 2 sales over the holiday quarter.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/XaTps23MNPU/story01.htm

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Murder charge for suspect in shooting of Ky. mayor (AP)

HICKMAN, Ky. ? A 30-year-old man who grew up in a small town in western Kentucky came to the police station in the middle of the night with chilling news: He told officers that he had just shot the mayor.

An officer rushed to Hickman Mayor Charles Murphy's house and found the side door broken in early Monday. In the bedroom, Murphy lay dead of a shotgun blast.

A day later, Thomas Joseph "Tommy" Lattus was due in court to face a murder charge. The 68-year-old Murphy was a well-liked former educator who had dated Lattus' stepmother on and off over the years.

The shooting stunned residents of the town of about 2,500 people, many of whom knew Murphy as their school principal.

"It wasn't random or anything like that; it's personal," Hickman Police Chief Tony Grogan told The Associated Press about the shooting. "As far as clear motive, I would assume that it's just that he didn't like him."

Multiple shots were fired, but Grogan wouldn't say how many times Murphy was hit. Jail records didn't indicate whether Lattus had an attorney.

Grogan said Lattus may have been upset with Murphy over the relationship with his stepmother, Carole Lattus.

"Sometimes they broke up, sometimes they got back together," Grogan said of the relationship.

The police chief added: "From Tommy's point of view, I think he might have had some friction, from things that happened in the past."

The mayor's brother and neighbor, Fred Murphy, said his nephew told him Monday that the mayor had asked his son to call periodically to check on his welfare when Lattus came to visit him in recent days.

Carole Lattus was out of the country Monday and couldn't immediately be reached. Thomas Lattus had been adopted by Carole Lattus when he was a boy, said Gerald Harris, whose niece is married to the mayor's son. The suspect's father, Carole Lattus' former husband, died years ago.

Another neighbor who had known Tommy Lattus since he was young said he appeared to be unstable. Melissa Somerfield, who has lived near Murphy for 22 years, said his odd behavior included a time when Lattus had a singing outburst at a church service.

"He just got up out of the blue and starting singing aloud. People went and started telling his mother that things were not right with him," she said.

Murphy's friends said Lattus had been living out of town but returned to Hickman in recent days. Grogan said Lattus had been staying at his stepmother's home.

Somerfield said she was awakened by her sister around 2:30 a.m. with the news that the man who once served as her elementary and junior high principal had been killed. Authorities were at Murphy's home until around 4:30 a.m.

"It's been really hard to wrap my head around this," Somerfield said.

Jason Sipes, pastor at West Hickman Baptist Church, said family members gathering at a house would not comment on the shooting.

The city in the extreme southwest corner of Kentucky is known for the Hickman-Dorena Ferry, the only connection for automobiles over the Mississippi River between Kentucky and Missouri. Violent crime there is rare.

"We have speeding tickets and running stop signs, but to have something of this magnitude, we may have something like this happen every five to 10 years," City Manager Larry Myatt said.

Morrison Williamson, manager at Hickman Hardware, said he first heard about the shooting early in the morning from his wife.

"Next thing I know, people started calling the store, saying `Did you hear what happened?'" Williamson said.

Murphy was in his second term as mayor. He previously served on the city board of commissioners. City Commissioner Charles Choate described Murphy as a small farmer who loved to spend time on his property.

Murphy was also proud that recent audits showed the city's financial situation was improving.

"He was very proud that the city was turning the corner and being more financially responsible," Choate said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_re_us/us_kentucky_mayor_killed

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New Genetic Clues to Breast Cancer? (HealthDay)

SUNDAY, Jan. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have identified three new genomic regions they believe are linked with breast cancer that may help explain why some women develop the disease.

All three newly identified areas "contain interesting genes that open up new avenues for biological and clinical research," said researcher Douglas Easton, a professor of genetic epidemiology at the University of Cambridge in England.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, with about 1 million new cases annually worldwide and more than 400,000 deaths a year.

Scientists conducting genome-wide association studies -- research that looks at the association between genetic factors and disease to pinpoint possible causes -- had already identified 22 breast cancer susceptibility loci. Locus is the physical location of a gene or DNA sequence on a chromosome.

"The three [newly identified] loci take the number of common susceptibility loci from 22 to 25," said Easton.

However, the three new susceptibility loci might explain only about 0.7 percent of the familial risks of breast cancer, bringing the total contribution to about 9 percent, the researchers said.

Michael Melner, scientific program director for the American Cancer Society, said this current research adds some important new clues to existing evidence, but he agreed that the number of cases likely associated with these three variants is probably low.

"So the total impact in terms of patients would be fairly small," Melner said.

The study is published online Jan. 22 in Nature Genetics.

To find the new clues, Easton's team worked with genetic information on about 57,000 breast cancer patients and 58,000 healthy women obtained from two genome-wide association studies.

The investigators zeroed in on 72 different single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). A SNP -- pronounced "snip" -- is a change in which a single base in the DNA differs from the usual base. The human genome has millions of SNPs, some linked with disease, while others are normal variations.

The researchers focused on three SNPs -- on chromosomes 12p11, 12q24 and 21q21.

Easton's team found that the variant on the 12p11 chromosome is linked with both estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer (which needs estrogen to grow) and estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer. The other two variants are only linked with ER-positive cancers, they said.

One of the newly identified variants is in an area with a gene that has a role in the development of mammary glands and bones. Easton said it was already known that mammary gland development in puberty is an important period in terms of determining later cancer risk. "But these are the first susceptibility genes to be shown to be involved in this process," he said.

One of the other SNPs is in an area that can affect estrogen receptor signaling, the researchers found.

Melner, noting some of the research is "fine tuning" of other work, said in his view the new understanding of the signaling pathways and their genetic links is the most important finding.

"When you delineate a pathway, you bring up new potential targets for therapy," he said. "The more targets you have, you open up the potential for having multiple drugs and attacking a cancer more easily, without it becoming more resistant."

Overall, Melner added, the results underscore the complexity of the different mechanisms involved in breast cancer development.

More information

For more about the genetics of breast cancer, visit the American Cancer Society.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20120123/hl_hsn/newgeneticcluestobreastcancer

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EU readies ban on Iran oil imports, central bank sanctions (Reuters)

BRUSSELS (Reuters) ? European Union governments are expected to agree Monday new economic sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, including plans to phase in an oil embargo.

The sanctions follow fresh financial measures signed into law by U.S. President Barack Obama on New Year's Eve, and will mainly target the oil sector, which accounts for some 90 percent of Iranian exports to the EU. Europe is Iran's second-largest oil customer after China.

"We want them to think 'This is really getting very, very serious now'," said one European diplomat.

Western countries believe Iran is seeking nuclear bombs; Tehran says its nuclear program is to generate electricity.

Other than the oil embargo, the EU measures are also expected to include sanctions against the Iranian central bank and a ban on trading in gold with the government, diplomats say.

But EU sanctions are likely to take effect slowly. During weeks of negotiations among the EU's 27 members, Greece and other southern European states pushed hard for a lengthy grace period to limit their own economic costs.

Greece, in particular, is heavily dependent on Iranian oil -- it sources nearly a quarter of its oil imports from Iran -- and has argued that it needs time to find alternative sources.

EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels are expected to agree to phase in the embargo, allowing existing contracts to be fulfilled for several months after the ban is imposed.

EU diplomats say the grace period will likely end on July 1, but ministers will also debate the idea of setting up a review beforehand to assess the impact and costs of the ban.

They will also reassure Athens that it will still be able to buy oil on reasonable terms after the ban goes into effect.

Greece, which relies on financial help from the EU and the International Monetary Fund to stay afloat, now gets Iranian crude on preferential financing terms.

"The financial situation of Greece at the moment is not the brightest one, and rightly they are asking us to help them find a solution," a senior EU official told reporters Friday.

With a significant part of EU purchases of Iranian oil covered by long-term contracts, the grace period will be an important factor in the efficiency of EU measures.

The unprecedented effort to take Iran's 2.6 million barrels of oil per day off international markets has kept global prices high, pushed down Iran's rial currency and caused a surge in the cost of basic goods for Iranians.

A diplomatic push is underway, officials say, to secure supplies from other producers. Saudi Arabia, the world's top producer, said this month it would increase production by about 2 million barrels per day.

(Additional reporting by Adrian Croft in London and Sebastian Moffett in Brussels; Editing by Myra MacDonald)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iran/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120122/ts_nm/us_iran_eu

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Spy Plane Pilots Look Like Badass Retro Astronauts [Image Cache]

Taking a spin in a U-2 spy plane isn't like hopping on a regional trip to grandma's house—pilots cruise at a staggering 70,000 feet. How high is that? High enough to require a spacesuit. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/fJyvbcidws8/spy-plane-pilots-look-like-badass-retro-astronauts

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Three Reasons Faster Smartphone Communications Are Important ...

You?ve seen the advertisements about 4G cell phone speeds all over, but Verizon Wireless will tell you that only their 4G LTE network is truly FAST.

Now, as reported by CNN, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile are getting their ?4G networks? just as fast as Verizon Wireless? 4G network.

The phone/tablet ?in this picture is the Samsung Galaxy Note, available on AT&T?s networks.

If you?re on a 4G network but are not experiencing fast speeds, here?s a few reasons why you might want to upgrade your phone to the faster 4G network.

Video conference ? While on the road it?s now even more practical to conduct a live video conference with one or more people.

Fast video download ? When you visit your next hot prospect or customer you can now safely download or stream video and know that it will look good when you show it to them. You can do more than show paper documents or talk to them, you can show them video.

Remote file access ? accessing remote files (from an online server or on premise service in the office) is even a better experience as the files will download fast

These are just three reasons why you might want to consider upgrading your phone to ensure it?s operating on the fasted 4G network possible. Keep in mind that being on a 4G network does not mean you?ll get 4G speeds all the time. If you?re in a place that only offers 3G ? that?s what you?ll get at that time.

Source: http://smallbiztechnology.com/archive/2012/01/three-reasons-faster-smartphone-communications-are-important-to-your-business-real-4g-comes-to-more-cell-carriers.html/

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3 dead in fire at NY house rented by students (AP)

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. ? A fire tore through a private home being rented by Marist College students near campus early Saturday morning, killing three people, authorities said.

The victims were identified as two female Marist students in their early 20s and one male, who was not a student at the school. Their names have not been released. Four other people in the house escaped without serious injuries.

Marist College postponed two basketball games "out of respect for the students affected by this tragedy," Deborah DiCaprio, Marist's vice president and dean for student affairs, said in a statement Saturday.

The off-campus house on Fairview Avenue was being rented by six female Marist students, Town Police Chief Thomas Mauro said.

At the time that the fire was initially called into 911 by a passer-by at about 1:30 a.m., Mauro said seven people were in the house ? four residents and three male guests.

The police chief said the group had gone to bed about an hour before the fire was called into authorities. "There was no issue that they were aware of in the house when they went to bed," he said, basing his comments on interviews with the four survivors.

At least two people jumped through a window to safety after realizing that the house was engulfed in flames, he said.

The first firefighters to respond to the emergency call tried to get into the house, but were forced back by the heat and flames, said Chris Maeder, chief of the Fairview Fire District, one of a handful of agencies that responded to the emergency call.

One victim was found on the second floor of the house, one was downstairs and the third was under "considerable collapsed debris," the police chief said. The four survivors were taken to a hospital, where they were treated and released.

They were treated for minor smoke inhalation and other minor injuries and were able to debrief police.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Maeder said the fire is believed to have started in the rear of the first floor.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_re_us/us_off_campus_house_fire

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African Union troops reach outskirts of Mogadishu

In this photo taken Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, a displaced Somali woman walks past an armored vehicle of the African Union (AU) peacekeeping force that was transporting journalists in Mogadishu, Somalia. Heavy fighting broke out in Somalia's capital on Friday as the African Union peacekeeping force encountered resistance as it pushed to Mogadishu's outskirts for the first time, the latest move in an offensive against Islamist insurgents. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

In this photo taken Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, a displaced Somali woman walks past an armored vehicle of the African Union (AU) peacekeeping force that was transporting journalists in Mogadishu, Somalia. Heavy fighting broke out in Somalia's capital on Friday as the African Union peacekeeping force encountered resistance as it pushed to Mogadishu's outskirts for the first time, the latest move in an offensive against Islamist insurgents. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

In this photo taken Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, a soldier from the African Union (AU) peacekeeping force mans the gun turret of an armored vehicle while transporting journalists in Mogadishu, Somalia. Heavy fighting broke out in Somalia's capital on Friday as the African Union peacekeeping force encountered resistance as it pushed to Mogadishu's outskirts for the first time, the latest move in an offensive against Islamist insurgents. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

In this photo taken Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, a displaced Somali man pushes a wheelbarrow past an armored vehicle of the African Union (AU) peacekeeping force that was transporting journalists in Mogadishu, Somalia. Heavy fighting broke out in Somalia's capital on Friday as the African Union peacekeeping force encountered resistance as it pushed to Mogadishu's outskirts for the first time, the latest move in an offensive against Islamist insurgents. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

In this photo taken Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, displaced Somali boys wave, seen through the plate glass window of an armored vehicle of the African Union (AU) peacekeeping force that was transporting journalists in Mogadishu, Somalia. Heavy fighting broke out in Somalia's capital on Friday as the African Union peacekeeping force encountered resistance as it pushed to Mogadishu's outskirts for the first time, the latest move in an offensive against Islamist insurgents. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

In this photo taken Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, a displaced Somali boy gestures towards a soldier from the African Union (AU) peacekeeping force providing security for visiting journalists in Mogadishu, Somalia. Heavy fighting broke out in Somalia's capital on Friday as the African Union peacekeeping force encountered resistance as it pushed to Mogadishu's outskirts for the first time, the latest move in an offensive against Islamist insurgents. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) ? Heavy fighting broke out in Somalia's capital on Friday with African Union peacekeepers encountering resistance as they pushed to Mogadishu's outskirts for the first time, the latest move in an offensive against Islamist insurgents.

Hundreds of residents fled a northern Mogadishu neighborhood after waking to the sound of mortars and gunfire. AU troops have largely pushed al-Shabab militants out of the city over the last year, but pockets of resistance remain.

Resident Abdirahman Ahmed said he was awakened by "noisy mortars" on Friday, said that al-Shabab fighters appeared to be moving back into the northern neighborhood of Heliwa.

"We want to flee now," he said, adding: "People are nervous."

Lt. Col. Paddy Ankunda, the spokesman for the AU force that is known as AMISOM, said Friday was the first time that AU forces moved outside of Mogadishu.

"We are moving out of the city now so we can defend the city from outside now. Our troops have captured strategic bases from al-Shabab," Ankunda said.

The nearly 10,000-strong AU force was confined in previous years to small slices of Mogadishu, but the push to expand their zones of control over the last year have been largely successful. The AU force is working side by side with Somali troops, but most of the gains have been made by the better trained and equipped troops from Uganda and Burundi.

Al-Shabab is also being pressured by Kenyan military forces in Somalia's south and Ethiopian forces in the west.

East African nations want the U.N. Security Council to authorize an increase in the number of troops inside AMISOM to 17,000. Kenya has also asked the U.N. for its forces inside Somalia to be integrated into the AU.

Militants continue to carry out suicide and roadside bomb attacks in Mogadishu. At least six bombs were found or exploded in the capital since Wednesday, including a blast on Thursday that killed six people.

Meanwhile, the AU force commander, Maj. Gen. Fred Mugisha, said that around 3,000 Somali troops had not received their wages for the past four months. The AU is supposed to pay them with money donated by Italy, but Mugisha said the Italians had not yet sent the cash. The delay in payment had caused some soldiers to desert their posts, he said.

"It will have an impact on morale," he said.

Around 7,000 other Somali soldiers are paid by the U.S. through a separate program.

Somalia hasn't had a functioning government in more than 20 years. The current transitional government, whose mandate ends in August, is paralyzed by political infighting. The U.N. is pressing government leaders to resolve their differences and expand the areas in the country the government provides services to.

Somalia has also been dealing with a famine the last six months that is estimated to have killed between 50,000 and 100,000 people. Friday was the six-month mark since the U.N. declared famine in Somalia on July 20.

___

Associated Press reporter Katharine Houreld contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2012-01-20-AF-Somalia/id-77764a0695af4b9ca4a8fc057e789b03

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Many Breast Cancer Patients Uninformed About Options: Study (HealthDay)

FRIDAY, Jan. 20 (HealthDay News) -- In too many cases, doctors aren't doing a good job of informing American women with early stage breast cancer about the disease or their options in terms of surgery, a new study suggests.

In the study, researchers at the University of North Carolina surveyed breast cancer survivors on their knowledge of the disease. Respondents typically answered only about half of the questions correctly, and less than half said their surgeons had even asked them about their personal preference for surgery -- a full mastectomy vs. breast-conserving lumpectomy -- prior to treatment.

"We found that breast cancer survivors had fairly major gaps in their knowledge about their surgical options, including about the implications for recurrence and survival," said study lead author Dr. Clara Lee, an associate professor of surgery and director of surgical research at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill.

The paper was published in the January issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

For the study, Lee and her colleagues sent surveys to 746 women who had undergone surgery for stage one or stage two breast cancer at one of four medical centers: the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston; the University of California, San Francisco; and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Among the 440 patients who responded to the survey, less than half (about 46 percent) knew that local recurrence risk is higher after breast-conserving surgery (lumpectomy) than after mastectomy, and only about 56 percent of women knew that survival rates are equivalent for both options.

The study also revealed that women who said they preferred mastectomy were less likely to have treatment that was in accordance with their goals. Lee said this was probably because "patients reported that their doctors were more likely to discuss breast conservation therapy and its advantages than mastectomy. And many women did not recall being asked for their preference. We know from other studies that doctors don't always know their patients' personal preferences, so they may not be fully aware when a woman truly prefers mastectomy."

The fact that less than half (48.6 percent) of the patients recalled being asked their preference was particularly concerning to Lee.

"It would be one thing if we were talking about decisions for which there is clearly a superior treatment, such as treatment for an inflamed gallbladder," Lee said. "In this case, it's reasonable and actually better for the surgeon to make a recommendation. But here we're talking about a decision where there is no medically right answer, and it really depends on the patient's preference. In that situation, it makes sense to ask the patient what she prefers."

Another breast cancer surgeon cautioned that the retrospective nature of the study (asking women to recall past events) and the fact that the women filled out the surveys an average of two and a half years following surgery makes it hard to draw firm conclusions.

"Clearly there are deficits in knowledge, but what we don't know for sure is if that's because the surgeon failed to convey this information, or the surgeon failed to convey it in a way that the patient could understand, or the patient has simply forgotten," said Dr. Leslie Montgomery, chief of breast surgery at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City.

"If anything, I'm actually surprised that the numbers were as good as they were," Montgomery added. "There's often a big difference between what a woman is told and what she actually absorbs at a time when she is so emotionally distressed."

Montgomery believes the study is valuable, however, because it "helps identify the scope of the problem" and will be useful for designing future prospective trials.

"As surgeons, we really need to make sure we convey the proper information to a woman at what is probably one of the most stressful times in her life," Montgomery said.

More information

Find out more about surgical options for treating breast cancer at the American Cancer Society.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/cancer/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20120120/hl_hsn/manybreastcancerpatientsuninformedaboutoptionsstudy

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Sum 41 Forced To Axe UK Shows Over Frontman?s Back Injury

Sum 41 Forced To Axe UK Shows Over Frontman’s Back Injury

Rockers Sum 41 have pulled out of the Kerrang! tour with New Found Glory because of their lead singer Deryck Whibley‘s bad back. The band [...]

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Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2012/01/20/sum-41-forced-to-axe-uk-shows-over-frontmans-back-injury/

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GOP candidates fail to get on some primary ballots (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Many of Mitt Romney's presidential challengers are having trouble fulfilling a fundamental requirement of running for public office: getting on the ballot.

Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry and Jon Huntsman have all failed to qualify for the ballot in at least one upcoming GOP primary. In other states, they have failed to file full slates of delegates with state or party officials, raising questions about whether these candidates have the resources to wage effective national campaigns.

And if one of them were able to marshal enough anti-Romney forces to challenge the front-runner, the ballot blunders could limit their ability to win delegates in key states.

The exception: Ron Paul, who appears to have avoided such pitfalls so far.

"This is why you need a real-life, no-kidding-around campaign," said Rich Galen, a GOP strategist and former Gingrich aide who is neutral in the 2012 race. "All these guys who have been crowing that they found a new way to run for president, it's like saying I'm inventing a new airplane, and it has only one wing."

Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, won the first two contests, in Iowa and New Hampshire, and he is leading in the polls in South Carolina and Florida, the next two states to have primaries. Romney raised $56 million in 2011 for his campaign, giving him big financial and organizational advantages over his GOP rivals.

Those advantages are on display as many of his competitors miss deadlines or fail to collect enough signatures to meet ballot requirements in upcoming contests.

Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator who came within a few votes of winning the Iowa caucuses, failed to get on the ballot in Virginia or the District of Columbia. His campaign also filed incomplete slates of delegates in Illinois and Ohio, which could limit his ability to win delegates in those key states.

Virginia has been a tough ballot to crack for several GOP candidates because the state requires campaigns to collect signatures from at least 10,000 registered voters. Romney and Paul were the only ones who made the ballot for the March 6 primary. Perry sued, and he has since been joined in the lawsuit by Gingrich, Huntsman and Santorum.

Santorum is the only major candidate who will be left off the ballot in the District of Columbia primary April 3, said Paul Craney, executive director of the DC Republican Committee. The party provides two ways to get on the ballot: Pay $10,000, or pay $5,000 and collect signatures from 296 registered Republicans in the heavily Democratic capital city.

"It's not easy, but it can be done, if you are a serious presidential candidate," Craney said. "All the presidential candidates who are serious about winning the nomination will be on the D.C. ballot."

Santorum adviser John Brabender acknowledged that Romney has more money and a larger campaign organization. But, he said, Santorum's campaign has gained resources and momentum since the close finish in Iowa. Romney, he said, has been running for president for the past six years, giving him more time to build his organization.

"It's a different campaign than it was earlier," Brabender said.

Huntsman, the former Utah governor, failed to get on the ballot in Arizona or Illinois.

The requirements to get on the GOP ballot in Arizona are pretty easy ? all you have to do is fill out a two-page form. Twenty-three candidates managed to do it properly, so they will be on the ballot for the state's Feb. 28 primary.

Huntsman, however, was left off the ballot because his filing had a photocopied signature and wasn't notarized, said Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett.

"If you can't get on the ballot around the country, you're a regional candidate, by definition," said Rich Beeson, the Romney campaign's political director. "Barack Obama is going to be on the ballot in all 50 states, and so will we."

Gingrich, the former House speaker, didn't make it on the ballot for primaries in Missouri or Virginia, though he has joined the lawsuit to get on the Virginia ballot and Missouri won't award any delegates based on its Feb. 7 primary. Instead, Missouri Republicans will hold caucuses March 17.

Perry, the Texas governor, made the ballot in Illinois, but he will only be eligible to win one delegate in the state's March 20 primary ? a contest in which 54 delegates will be up for grabs.

It will take 1,144 delegates to win the nomination at the Republican national convention this summer.

Illinois has a unique way of awarding delegates to candidates. The winner of the state's GOP primary doesn't necessarily get any delegates. Instead, Republicans will vote for the actual delegates, who are listed separately on the ballot but are identified by the candidate they support.

Each of the state's 18 congressional districts will elect three delegates, for a total of 54. To appear on the ballot as a delegate, candidates had to collect signatures from at least 600 registered voters in the district where they are running.

Only one Perry delegate filed signatures by the deadline, according to the Illinois State Board of Elections. Gingrich, Paul and Romney filed full slates, while only 44 Santorum delegates filed signatures.

The system is designed to keep fly-by-night candidates from crowding the ballot, said Christopher Mooney, a political science professor at the University of Illinois in Springfield.

"It keeps people who don't know what they're doing out of the arena," Mooney said.

___

Associated Press writers Paul Davenport in Phoenix and Ann Sanner in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120113/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_ballot_blunders

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