Serbia folk diva back in court (AP)

BELGRADE, Serbia ? Serbia's folk diva Svetlana Raznatovic on Monday denied charges of violent behavior she and another defendant are facing for allegedly insulting and beating up the manager of a football club.

Raznatovic claimed at a court hearing that it was she who was insulted.

"He (the manager) even wanted to attack me," she told the court. "I have never caused any incidents."

The hearing was briefly interrupted when the singer complained she was feeling ill and asked for a glass of water.

Raznatovic is already serving eight months under house arrest as part of a plea bargain for pleading guilty in an illegal sale of players from her late husband's football club.

The plea deal from May also envisaged that Raznatovic pay (EURO)1.5 million ($2 million) fine for embezzling millions gained from the players' transfer.

Raznatovic, better known as Ceca, is one of the most popular singers in the Balkans, known for her plunging necklines and hoarse voice.

She was married to the notorious warlord Zeljko Raznatovic, also known as Arkan, whose troops were accused of atrocities during the 1990s Balkan wars.

Arkan was gunned down in a Belgrade hotel in 2000, but Ceca continued to manage his football club while allegedly also maintaining connections with Serbian crime bosses and former paramilitary leaders.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/music/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111226/ap_en_mu/eu_serbia_folk_diva

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'Mr. O Canada' in concert

South Surrey's famed anthem singer Mark 'Mr. O Canada' Donnelly will have a showcase on his home turf this Christmas season.

Donnelly will be back in White Rock Dec. 29, 7:30 p.m. at the Coast Capital Playhouse, 1532 Johnston Rd., for Mark Donnelly and Friends, presented by Rock.It Boy Entertainment.

Tickets ($39.50, plus facility fee and service charges) are available at the Coast Capital? Playhouse box office (604-536-7535) or online at www.whiterockplayers.ca

?

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Source: http://www.bclocalnews.com/entertainment/136162373.html

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[OOC] Nowhere Girl

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wednesdaysun
Member for 2 years



I'm darting between trying Charlotte and the girl. Mhm....

The girl :D I'll get a partial sheet up soon? :P

? Life's not the amount of breaths you take; it's the moments that take your breath away. ?

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Imagine That!
Member for 2 years


My oh my, what a nice game you have set up here... sssssssssssssss

I'm leaning towards either Spike or Duncan, I'm tired of mystery characters for today and Whit seems like I'd play him all dark and mysterious like with the "Don't call me Whit" thing. Not because that's how he's supposed to be played, but because I assume that's what I'd do it like. Hmm, what to do.

DUNCAN. I'll have something up within the next couple days!

Word of Questionable Wisdom: Did you know there is a God? Well, it's a She, and Her name is Eris.

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Cypher
Member for 1 years


Gonna go right ahead and try for Iris again I think, if ya don't mind, Lee :))

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SilentButterflies
Member for 2 years



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Egypt releases prominent blogger pending investigation (Reuters)

CAIRO (Reuters) ? Egyptian authorities released a prominent blogger detained on charges of inciting violence against the armed forces, a court source said on Sunday, adding that prosecutors were still investigating his case.

Military prosecutors detained Alaa Abd El Fattah in October after deadly clashes broke out between the army and demonstrators in central Cairo.

The detention has outraged activists who saw it as part of a broader crackdown. Pressure has been growing on Egypt's ruling generals, who replaced deposed President Hosni Mubarak in February and have pledged to hand power to an elected president by July.

The blogger had refused to be questioned by military prosecutors over "inciting violence and sabotage" in connection with clashes on October 9, when more than 25 people were killed.

He said the army had no right to interrogate him and said he would only speak to a civilian official, prompting his detention.

The case was then transferred under pressure from human rights groups to the general prosecution. The ruling bans Abd El Fattah from leaving the country during the probe.

"The most important thing is that Alaa broke the will of the military junta, he refused interrogation by military prosecution and it didn't happen," activist Amr Ezzat said on Twitter after Abdel Fattah's release.

Abd El Fattah would be released pending the investigations into his case, the court source said, without adding details.

The clashes connected to Abd El Fattah's case erupted during a demonstration by Christians and are now commonly known as the "Maspero" events because they took place near the state television headquarters which are known by that name.

Twenty seven others accused of inciting violence in the case were released earlier this month pending trial.

Activists have accused the military council of mismanaging Egypt's transition and killing dozens of protesters calling for an end to their rule.

The latest round of violence broke out after the second stage of a six-week parliamentary election which starts a slow countdown to the army's return to barracks. Seventeen people died in the fighting and hundreds were wounded.

An army official said last week that Egyptian military personnel accused of taking part in violent clashes and human rights violations against protesters will be prosecuted by military courts.

(Reporting By Tamim Elyan Editing by Maria Golovnina)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111225/wl_nm/us_egypt_blogger

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Frankincense, Christmas staple, 'doomed': Scientists

If fire, grazing and insect attack, the most likely causes of decline, remain unchecked, then?frankincense?production could be doomed altogether.

Trees that produce frankincense, a fragrant resin used in incense and perfumes and a central part of the Christmas story, are declining so fast that production could be halved over the next 15 years, scientists said on Wednesday.

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In a study published in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Applied Ecology, ecologists from the Netherlands and Ethiopia looked at large-scale field studies and predicted that tree numbers could decline by 90 percent in the next 50 years.

If fire, grazing and insect attack, the most likely causes of decline, remain unchecked, then frankincense production could be doomed altogether, they warned.

Frankincense, best known in religious teachings as one of the gifts laid before the newborn Messiah, is obtained by tapping various species of Boswellia, a small, deciduous tree that grows across Africa from northern Nigeria to the highlands of Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Cutting the Boswellia's bark produces the frankincense resin, a white substance with a strong, sweet smell. The resin is burnt in churches, mosques and at ceremonies, as well as being used by the perfume industry and in herbal medicines.

Despite its economic importance, incense has been traded internationally for thousands of years, little is known about how tapping affects Boswellia populations.

Working in an isolated part of northwest Ethiopia near the source of the Blue Nile, a research team led by Frans Bongers of Wageningen University in the Netherlands studied 13 two-hectare plots, some where trees were tapped for frankincense and some where they were untapped.

Over two years, they monitored survival, growth and seed production of more than 6,000 Boswellia trees and used the data to build mathematical models to predict the fate of Boswellia populations in coming years. The forecasts suggest Boswellia populations are declining so dramatically that frankincense production could be halved in the next 15 years.

"Current management of Boswellia populations is clearly unsustainable," Bongers said in a statement. "Our models show that within 50 years, populations of Boswellia will be decimated, and the declining populations mean frankincense production is doomed."

The researchers found that all the Boswellia populations they studied are declining, not only those from tapped trees, a finding that suggests factors other than tapping are at the root of the problem.

Bongers said the main causes of the trees' decline are likely to be burning, grazing and attack by the long-horn beetle, which lays its eggs under the Boswellia's bark.

The scientists urged local authorities to introduce better management incentives to ensure farmers work harder to protect Boswellia trees. In the short-term this meant preventing fires and beetle attack, Bongers said, but in the longer-term, large areas should be set aside and protected for five to 10 years to allow Boswellia saplings to become established.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/0Y9G3Fx0E68/Frankincense-Christmas-staple-doomed-Scientists

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New FAA rules to help end flying while sleepy (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The government told passenger airlines Wednesday they'll have to do more to ensure pilots aren't too tired to fly, nearly three years after the deadly western New York crash of a regional airliner flown by two exhausted pilots.

The Federal Aviation Administration's update of airline pilot work rules, some of which dated to the 1960s, reflects a better understanding of the need for rest and how night shifts and traveling through time zones can increase errors.

"This is a big deal," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said. "This is as far as our government has ever gone" to protect the traveling public from pilot fatigue.

Carriers have two years to adapt to the new rules. The FAA estimated the cost to industry at $297 million over 10 years, a fraction of the $2 billion a year that an airline trade association had estimated the draft proposal released by FAA over a year ago would cost.

The airline industry had opposed the draft rule as too costly for the safety benefits it would achieve. But FAA officials made substantial changes to the final rule to lower the cost. Several expensive reporting and training requirements were eliminated.

Safety advocates have been urging FAA for over two decades to update pilot work rules, but previous efforts stalled after airlines and pilots unions were unable to agree on changes. Those efforts were revived after the February 2009 crash near Buffalo that killed 50 people. Families of the dead have lobbied relentlessly for more stringent regulations to fight pilot fatigue.

The rules would limit the maximum time a pilot can be scheduled to be on duty ? including wait time before flights and administrative duties ? to between nine and 14 hours. The total depends on the time of day pilots begin their first flight and the number of time zones crossed.

The maximum amount of time pilots can be scheduled to fly is limited to eight or nine hours, and pilots would get a minimum of 10 hours to rest between duty periods, a two-hour increase over the old rules. The minimum amount of time off between work weeks will be increased 25 percent, and there will be new limits on how many hours per month pilots can fly. Pilots flying overnight would be allowed fewer hours than pilots flying during the day.

But cargo carriers ? which do much of their flying overnight when people naturally crave sleep ? are exempted from the new rules. The FAA said forcing cargo carriers to reduce the number of hours their pilots can fly would be too costly when compared with the safety benefits.

Imposing the rules on cargo airlines like Federal Express or United Parcel Service would have added another $214 million to the cost, FAA officials said.

The exemption for cargo carriers, which runs counter to the FAA's goal of "one level of safety" across the aviation industry, drew strong criticism from pilots unions.

"To potentially allow fatigued cargo pilots to share the same skies with properly rested passenger pilots creates an unnecessary threat to public safety. We can do better," said Robert Travis, president of the Independent Pilots Association, which represents UPS pilots.

National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah Hersman, while calling the new rule "a huge improvement," also expressed dismay that cargo operations weren't included.

"A tired pilot is a tired pilot, whether there are 10 paying customers on board or 100, whether the payload is passengers or pallets," she said.

LaHood said he plans to invite top officials from cargo airlines to meet with him next month so that he can urge them to voluntarily follow the new rules.

The charter airlines that transport nearly 90 percent of U.S. troops around the world had also lobbied heavily for an exemption to the new rules, saying military missions could be jeopardized. But FAA officials rejected those pleas.

The rules will prevent about one and a half accidents a year and an average of six deaths a year, FAA officials predict. They should also improve pilots' health, officials said.

Jean Medina, a spokeswoman for the Airlines for America trade association, said the group is reviewing the new requirements. "We support changes to the rule that are science-based and that will improve safety," she wrote in an email.

Researchers say fatigue, much like alcohol, can impair a pilot's performance by slowing reflexes and eroding judgment.

The changes replace "rules that were dangerously obsolete and completely ineffective," said Bill Voss, president of the Flight Safety Foundation in Alexandria, Va. "The rule applies fatigue science in a way that makes sense."

Susan Bourque, who lost a sister in the Buffalo air crash, said she was particularly pleased that the rule will require pilots to sign a statement before each flight stating that they are rested and fit for duty. "It's a pretty good day," said Bourque, of East Aurora, N.Y.

Scheduling wasn't an issue in the Buffalo accident, but NTSB concluded that the pilots' performance was likely impaired by fatigue.

Neither pilot appeared to have slept in a bed the previous night. The flight's captain had logged onto a computer in the middle of the night from an airport crew lounge where sleeping was discouraged. The first officer had commuted overnight from Seattle to Newark, N.J., much of the time sitting in a cockpit jumpseat. They could be heard yawning on the ill-fated flight's cockpit voice recorder.

___

Follow Joan Lowy at http://www.twitter.com/AP_Joan_Lowy

___

Online:

Federal Aviation Administration: http://www.faa.gov/

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111221/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_tired_pilots

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ChristianPost: NYC Says Bronx Church Can't Rent Public Community Center http://t.co/W0Ag2Ana

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Iraq PM tells Kurds to hand over Sunni VP

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden look at each other as they participate in a ceremony at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2011, marking the return of the United States Forces-Iraq Colors and the end of the war in Iraq. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden look at each other as they participate in a ceremony at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2011, marking the return of the United States Forces-Iraq Colors and the end of the war in Iraq. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

FILE - In this Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007, file photo, Iraq's vice President Tariq al-Hashemi speaks to reporters during a news conference in Baghdad, Iraq. Iraq's Shiite-led government has issued an arrest warrant Monday Dec. 19, 2011, for Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, the country's highest ranking Sunni official, on alleged terrorism charges. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed, File)

FILE - In this Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009, file photo, Iraq's vice President Tariq al-Hashemi speaks during a news conference in Baghdad, Iraq. Iraq's Shiite-led government issued an arrest warrant Monday Dec. 19, 2011, for Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, the country's highest ranking Sunni official, on alleged terrorism charges. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim, File)

(AP) ? Iraq's Shiite prime minister told Kurdish authorities Wednesday to hand over the Sunni vice president, who fled to the semiautonomous region to escape an arrest warrant on charges he ran hit squads targeting government officials.

Then a Kurdish presidential spokesman ruled out handing Tariq al-Hashemi over to Baghdad, turning up the heat under what has become the worst Iraqi political crisis in years.

The charges, leveled a day after the last American troops left Iraq, have opened up a new round of the Shiite-Sunni sectarian tensions of the type that pushed the country to the brink of civil war just a few years ago.

Al-Hashemi, the country's highest ranking Sunni political figure, said Tuesday the allegations by his longtime rival, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, are fabricated and politically motivated. He accused al-Maliki of concentrating power in his hands and torpedoing national reconciliation between Sunnis and Shiites.

"I do not allow myself and others to bargain over Iraqi blood," al-Maliki said in his first public comments on the warrant. He said Iraq is a unified county, and the Kurdish authorities should hand over al-Hashemi to the Iraqi justice system. "If they will not hand him over or let him flee or escape, this will lead to problems," the premier said.

There has been speculation that al-Hashemi may try to flee the country to Turkey, which shares a border with the northern Kurdish region.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu offered his country's help in resolving the Iraqi political crisis, but he was cool to the idea of hosting al-Hashemi. "As an Iraqi statesman it would be more correct for him to remain in Iraq," he said.

The Sunni minority dominated Iraq under Saddam Hussein until he was ousted by the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. The Shiites have held power ever since, and many Sunnis feel the Shiite-led government is determined to keep the them from ever regaining positions of power.

The charges raised suspicions that al-Maliki ordered the arrest of al-Hashemi as part of a campaign to consolidate his hold on power out of fear that Sunnis inside and outside of Iraq are plotting against him. The conflict has sharpened the divisions in what is shaping up to be one of the most serious political confrontations in Iraq in years.

Al-Hashemi denied charges he paid his bodyguards to kill government officials during the heyday of Iraq's Sunni insurgency. Most of the accusations date back to the height of the internal war in 2006 and 2007, when neighbors turned on neighbors and whole sections of Baghdad were expunged of one Muslim sect or the other.

Al-Hashemi fled to the Kurdish region on Sunday, before the arrest warrant was announced and before purported confessions from his bodyguards aired on Iraqi television Monday evening. On Sunday he was barred from leaving the country.

Al-Maliki effectively runs the Interior Ministry, where the charges originated. Al-Hashemi's Sunni-backed party, Iraqiya, which shares power in al-Maliki's government, has repeatedly accused the prime minister of hoarding power and last weekend boycotted parliament because al-Maliki refused to give up control over key posts such as the defense and interior ministries. The prime minister has not appointed permanent ministers of defense or interior since he came to office a year ago.

Al-Hashemi has taken refuge in the Kurdish region, which is part of Iraq but has its own security forces. The Iraqi army and national police do not operate there.

As long as the Kurdish officials allow him to stay there, he is effectively immune from prosecution in Baghdad. The Kurds, who have been trying to work out a solution to the crisis, are also wary of al-Maliki's perceived authoritarian streak. But they have also clashed with Sunni politicians from Iraqiya over the future of disputed areas in northern Iraq claimed by both Baghdad and the Kurds.

For now at least, the Kurds appear to be siding with al-Hashemi in the increasing cycle of accusations and counter-accusations that has become a daily spectacle in Iraq.

Fuad Hussain, a spokesman for Massoud Barzani, the president of the three provinces that make up the Kurdish region, said al-Hashemi is a guest of the president, and handing him over to Baghdad is "not possible."

The charges have thrown Iraq into crisis just days after the last U.S. troops left the country and ended a nearly nine-year war.

Vice President Joe Biden called both al-Maliki and Osama al-Nujaifi, the speaker of the Iraqi Council of Representatives, late Tuesday. He stressed to al-Maliki the "urgent need" for him to meet with leaders of other political blocs to help resolve the crisis.

Al-Maliki is also pushing for a vote of no confidence against the Sunni Deputy Prime Minister, Saleh al-Mutlaq, also a member of Iraqiya.

Al-Hashemi addressed the charges against him at a news conference in the northern city of Irbil on Tuesday. He said the case was "fabricated" to embarrass him and Iraqiya.

When asked whether al-Hashemi could get a fair trial in Iraq considering that the confessions have already aired on television, al-Maliki defended the treatment of the vice president.

"We gave the dictator Saddam a fair trial, and we will guarantee a fair trial for al-Hashemi," he said.

Al-Maliki also threatened to appoint new Cabinet ministers if the ministers from Iraqiya do not attend Cabinet sessions. He said that Iraqiya would be able to keep those positions and nominate new people from within their ranks.

Iraqiya has not indicated whether it will pull out of the government, but al-Maliki seemed prepared for that eventuality. He did not address Iraqiya directly, but during his opening remarks raised the possibility of having a simple majority government.

Now Iraq has a unity government that includes all the major factions, including Iraqiya and al-Maliki's State of Law alliance. The unwieldy government makes it difficult to make decisions, but supporters say it lessens the risk of violence that could result if large segments of the population are cut out of power.

___

Associated Press writers Sinan Salaheddin and Rebecca Santana in Baghdad and Yahya Barzanji in Sulaimaniyah contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-12-21-ML-Iraq/id-d5d2b8ee5e4147e180497c5a56795a82

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Film details Jerry Lewis' 'Method to the Madness' (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? Gregg Barson is a documentarian, not a comedian. But when Jerry Lewis let him know that more than a dozen people were waiting in line to tell his story, Barson offered a persuasive punch line.

"Yeah, but they're not me," was Barson's comeback, followed by a momentary quiver of fear that he'd gone too far with the veteran star.

"He said, `I like that. You know why? Because you remind me of me,'" Barson recalled. That chutzpah-fueled exchange led to "Method to the Madness of Jerry Lewis," debuting 8 p.m. EST Saturday on Starz.

The film focuses on what makes the 85-year-old ? and still working ? Lewis tick as a performer and filmmaker. Those looking for dish on his family life or breakup with stage and screen partner Dean Martin or abrupt departure from the Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon he'd nurtured for six decades won't find it here.

Barson, who describes himself as "in heaven" when he caught a Lewis film on TV as a youngster, said his intent was to focus on Lewis' career from vaudeville on and his contributions to comedy and movies.

Younger people without exposure to Lewis' work likely consider him as "that telethon guy. Hopefully, the film will open their eyes as opposed to thinking he did one thing one day a year," Barson said.

During more than three years of filming, Barson had near-complete access as he followed Lewis from his yacht in San Diego to his home in Las Vegas to concert dates and to the Cannes Film Festival in France, the country that idolizes Lewis as a cinematic genius.

He was good company, Barson said. "He's always up, funny and playful. ... The sparkle, he didn't put in on for the camera. He's being real."

"Method to the Madness," which opens with Jerry Seinfeld, Eddie Murphy and other comedians anointing Lewis as comedy royalty, is an unabashed valentine. It is also a reminder that Lewis inspired rock-star levels of fan devotion, and of how impressively "The Bellboy" (1960) and many other films starring and written and directed by Lewis ruled the box office.

Barson, who made the well-received Phyllis Diller documentary "Goodnight, We Love You," sees parallels between Diller and Lewis, including their work ethic.

"She was 84 when she retired, and he's 85 and still working. They never rest on their laurels," Barson said. "They still care. They're not phoning it in."

And that, he said, is part of Lewis' method: Every aspect of his performance is planned.

"As Eddie Murphy says (in the film), slapstick looks simple but the reason it's been around so long is how well thought out it is," Barson said.

Lewis is pleased with the film. And his health is good, according to the filmmaker, who spills one appropriately quirky personal secret on his subject: "He drinks a lot of orange soda. Maybe that's the fountain of youth."

___

Online:

http://www.starz.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tv/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111216/ap_en_tv/us_tv_jerry_lewis

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