Saturday, December 31, 2011

Pigeons match monkeys in abstract counting skills

They are not renowned for their brainpower, but pigeons may be as smart as monkeys when it comes to arithmeticMovie Camera.

Three pigeons were shown a computer screen displaying images with one, two or three shapes and trained to list the shapes in ascending order. To receive a reward of wheat, the birds learned to peck the images in the correct order.

Moreover, after they had learned this skill, the birds could perform the task with pairs of images containing anything from one to nine objects.

Two rhesus monkeys were the first non-human animals to perform this task in an experiment in 1998. The pigeons are the first non-primates to manage it.

"We show they can apply what they have learned with a small set of numbers ? from one to three ? to numbers they've not seen before," says lead researcher Damian Scarf of the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. "The learning and applying of abstract numerical rules is not unique to primates."

Bird brains

"Their performance was indistinguishable from that of the two rhesus monkeys," adds Scarf.

"The machinery required for numerical competence is present in the pigeon brain ? a brain much different in structure from our own," says Scarf.

"Evidence from non-mammalian vertebrates, such as birds, is particularly valuable for examining the evolutionary history of cognitive processes," says Rosa Rugani of the University of Trento in Italy, who in 2010 showed that chicks could count from left to right.

Journal reference: Science, DOI: 10.1126/science.1213357

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Thursday, December 29, 2011

It's not a flying fish, it's a submarine-launched UAV

VTOL may be old news already, but here's another great USP for any UAV: the ability to launch from a submerged submarine. The technology is still in development, but the Navy wants to try it from periscope depth during exercises in the Pacific Ocean next year. If all goes to plan, a Switchblade folding-wing drone will be ejected from the submarine's trash disposal unit and then carried to the surface by an SLV ('submerged launch vehicle'), which will keep it dry, point it into the wind and then hurl it heavenwards so it can go a-snooping. Whether the experiment succeeds or fails, we've glimpsed a worrying possibility: submarines are capable of dumping their trash right into the ocean. Until now, we sort of assumed they took it home with them.

It's not a flying fish, it's a submarine-launched UAV originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Dec 2011 09:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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3 NATO troops killed by bomb in east Afghanistan (AP)

KABUL, Afghanistan ? Three NATO service members have been killed by a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan, the alliance said Wednesday. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the target was a U.S. military convoy.

NATO's statement said that the deaths occurred Tuesday, but provided no further details about the incident or the nationalities of the troops.

The Taliban said the attack took place in Paktiya province, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of Kabul.

The latest deaths bring December's toll of foreign troops killed in Afghanistan to 23, for a total of 539 deaths so far this year. The yearly tally is considerably lower than for 2010, when more than 700 troops died. The number of wounded has remained high, dipping only slightly from last year's total of more than 5,000 service members.

Also Tuesday, a community council leader in the Musa Qala district of restive Helmand province was shot and killed by insurgents along with his 20-year-old son and two-year-old grandson, the governor's office said.

A statement from the office said the attack occurred late in the evening, as council leader Adbdul Baqi was heading home from his office. There were no further details.

The U.S.-led coalition has started transitioning parts of Helmand to the government as part of a plan to cede full control of the country's security to Afghan forces by the end of 2014.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111228/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan

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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Teen obesity tied to poor mom-child relationship (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) ? Toddlers who have poor relationships with their moms are more likely to pack on extra pounds as they grow up, a new U.S. study shows.

Tracking nearly 1,000 kids into their teens, researchers found more than a quarter of those who scored lowest on mother-child relationship tests as toddlers went on to become obese at age 15.

By contrast, only 13 percent of the children who had a good relationship with their mother became obese.

While that doesn't prove cause and effect, researchers say other work has shown links between children's emotional and intellectual development and how they interact with their mother at a young age.

According to Sarah E. Anderson, who worked on the new study, it's possible that a stressful childhood could make a lasting impression on kids' brains.

"There is an overlap in the brain between the areas that govern stress and energy balance," said Anderson, of the Ohio State University College of Public Health in Columbus. "This stress response could be related to obesity through appetite regulation."

Dr. David Gozal, a pediatrician not involved in the new work, agreed. But he said unhealthy food and a lack of physical activity and sleep are likely to play a bigger role.

Still, he said, early childhood stress is known to take a toll later in life -- both via genetic reprogramming and behavioral changes -- and a poor mother-child relationship could be part of the equation.

"What you see in adulthood is obviously the cumulative effect of what has happened earlier in life," Gozal, physician-in-chief at the Comer Children's Hospital in Chicago, told Reuters Health.

Anderson's findings, published in the journal Pediatrics, are based on 977 kids who were videotaped while playing with their mother at about one, two and three years of age.

Researchers then assessed the toddler's relationship to their moms based on the mother's ability to recognize her child's emotional state and respond with warmth as well as the child's tendency to freely explore its environment, a measure of "attachment security."

A quarter of the toddlers had a "poor-quality" relationship to their mothers, whereas 22 percent scored perfect at each session. At 15 years, 26 percent of the kids with relationship trouble were obese -- twice as many as those without such problems.

However, the gap narrowed as more factors were taken into account, including maternal education and household income.

Today, 17 percent of all children and adolescents in the U.S. are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Even if the epidemic is fueled by poor relationships at home, there is no point in chiding mothers, Anderson said.

"Blaming parents is not likely to solve anything," she told Reuters Health. "It's important to recognize that there are many competing demands on parents."

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/rv1Bz3 Pediatrics, online December 26, 2011.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111227/hl_nm/us_teen_obesity

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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Vikings expect Peterson back for start of 2012 (AP)

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. ? The athletic abilities of star running back Adrian Peterson led the Minnesota Vikings to give him a seven-year, $100 million contract extension before the season started.

Now, they hope his recuperative abilities are just as good and he is able to live up to being the highest-paid running back in the NFL.

Minnesota expects Peterson to be recovered from left knee surgery for two torn ligaments in time to start the 2012 season.

"We expect most people to recover from this injury in eight to nine months and instead of comparing Adrian to any other player at any level that's had an anterior cruciate ligament, and they happen every day, I would really like Adrian to stand on his own merit because Adrian, I feel, is very unique," Vikings head trainer Eric Sugarman said Monday.

"Adrian has a great work ethic. Adrian has the DNA to heal quickly, which he has shown in the past. He certainly will have the desire and the mental toughness to be able to get through the rehab process, which will take months and months, as you know. So, I think if anyone can get better quickly and safely in that time period, it would be Adrian Peterson."

Peterson tore his ACL and MCL when he was hit in the side of the knee by Washington Redskins safety DeJon Gomes in the third quarter of Saturday's 33-26 win at Washington. An MRI on Saturday evening revealed the ligament tears and meniscus damage, and Peterson will undergo surgery within the next seven to 10 days.

Backup Toby Gerhart, who started three games earlier this season when Peterson was out with a high ankle sprain, will start Sunday in the season-finale against the Chicago Bears. A second-round pick in 2010, Gerhart has filled in well for Peterson and notched the first 100-yard rushing game of his career with 109 yards on 11 carries Saturday. But the Vikings expect Gerhart's time as the starter to be short-lived.

"He sets his goals extremely high and he's one of those guys who, when he puts his mind to it, there's no reason to ever doubt that he can achieve what he sets his mind to," Minnesota coach Leslie Frazier said of Peterson. "We're looking forward to his attacking this rehab like he's attacked every offseason, to come back and play and be even better than he was before. I know with Eric and our medical staff, they're going to do everything they can to get him back on the field and ready to go when we line up in that first football game next season."

Gerhart's emergence over the past month at least offers optimism if Peterson has to miss extended time next season.

Gerhart has had the top three rushing days of his career in the past four weeks. On his first carry after Peterson left Saturday's game, Gerhart showed some big-play ability of his own, busting free for a 67-yard run, the longest of his short career.

Believing Peterson will be ready for the first game of 2012 and knowing Gerhart is available if needed, Frazier said the team wouldn't change its run-first offensive approach.

"One of things about Adrian's absence earlier in the season, we had a chance to get Toby some extended snaps and we really haven't altered the offense by any means," Frazier said. "Toby has done a very good job in Adrian's absence. Did a great job (Saturday) of stepping in and performing and rushing for over 100 yards. So we really haven't had to alter things. We really don't plan to. We look forward to eventually getting Adrian back on the field, but we don't think we have to really alter the offense."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111226/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_vikings_peterson

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Monday, December 26, 2011

Jamie Dupree's Washington Insider: Only Romney & Paul on Virginia Ballot

By Jamie Dupree

Officials in the Commonwealth of Virginia have announced that only Mitt Romney and Ron Paul qualified for the Super Tuesday ballot, dealing a setback to the campaigns of both Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich.

Backers of both Perry and Gringrich submitted more than the 10,000 signatures needed, but not all were judged to be valid by Virginia elections officials.

?Only a failed system excludes four out of the six major candidates seeking access to the ballot," said Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond, referring to the fact that Michele Bachmann, Jon Huntsman and Rick Santorum also won't be on the Virginia ballot. ?

"Voters deserve the right to vote for any top contender, especially leading candidates," Hammond said in a Saturday morning statement.

While Hammond vowed to wage a write-in campaign, this news was clearly a victory for Mitt Romney's campaign, at least for now.

But what if Romney stumbles early? Then the Old Dominion could truly be up for grabs in early March.

Jamie Dupree

About Jamie Dupree

Jamie Dupree is the Radio News Director of the Washington Bureau of the Cox Media Group and writes the Washington Insider blog.

Connect with Jamie Dupree on:TwitterFacebook

Send Jamie Dupree an email.

Source: http://www.wsbradio.com/weblogs/jamie-dupree/2011/dec/24/only-romney-paul-virginia-ballot/

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Sunday, December 25, 2011

Egypt Islamists take two-thirds of 2nd-round vote (Reuters)

CAIRO (Reuters) ? Egypt's two leading Islamist parties won about two-thirds of votes for party lists in the second round of polling for a parliament that will help draft a new constitution after decades of autocratic rule, the election committee said Saturday.

The party list led by the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) won 36.3 percent of the list vote, while the ultra-conservative Salafi al-Nour Party took 28.8 percent, pushing the liberal Wafd party into third place.

The vote, staged over six weeks, is the first free election Egypt has held after the 30-year rule of President Hosni Mubarak, who routinely rigged polls before he was overthrown by a popular uprising in February.

The West long looked to Mubarak and other strongmen in the region to help combat Islamist militants, and has watched warily as Islamist parties have topped votes in Tunisia, Morocco and now Egypt.

Parliament's prime job will be appointing a 100-strong assembly to write a new constitution which will define the president's powers and parliament's clout in the new Egypt.

Second-round results for party lists gave the liberal Wafd Party 9.6 percent of the vote. The Egyptian Bloc of mostly liberal and leftist parties won 7 percent of the list vote.

Analysts say poor coordination among non-Islamist groups has divided the liberal vote, sometimes handing the majority to an Islamist by default.

TRANSITION

The election, which began on November 28 and ends on January 11, has been marred by a flare-up of clashes in Cairo between police and protesters demanding an immediate end to military rule.

At least 17 people were killed in the protests, in which troops clubbed women and men even as they lay on the ground.

The ruling army council fuelled suspicions it wanted to hang on to power, even after a new president was elected, when its cabinet last month proposed inserting articles in the new constitution that would have shielded it from civilian scrutiny.

The army took over after Mubarak was ousted and remains in charge until a presidential election in mid-2012, but parliament will have a popular mandate that the military lacks.

In the first round of the poll, the Brotherhood's FJP won about 37 percent of list votes and Nour about 24 percent.

The complex electoral system gives two-thirds of the 498 elected seats to lists and the rest to individuals.

The FJP said it had won 40 of the 60 individual seats up for grabs in the second round, similar to its first-round showing.

(Additional reporting by Omar Fahmy; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111224/wl_nm/us_egypt_election_results

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SEC requiring coal firms to report safety problems (AP)

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. ? A lawyer suing the former Massey Energy Co. says investors might have made better decisions about putting money into the coal company had it been required to report safety violations to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission before last year's Upper Big Branch mine disaster that killed 29 miners.

Instead, New York attorney Joel Bernstein says, shareholders relied on Massey's false claims that it had launched initiatives to make safety a priority after earlier accidents.

"They told the public, they told the employees and they told the investors they were doing it," he says, "and they didn't."

Earlier this week, the SEC announced new rules that require mining companies to start reporting any fatalities and all major health and safety violations, mine by mine, in their quarterly and annual financial reports. The filings are mandated in the wide-ranging Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which Congress passed to try to increase corporate accountability.

The rules take effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register. They require companies to report within four days any "significant and substantial" violations, citations, flagrant violations and imminent-danger orders issued by the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Coal operators must also include the dollar value of proposed fines, whether the company has been or may be designated a pattern violator by MSHA, and any pending cases with the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission.

The National Mining Association opposed the requirements when they were proposed and considers them duplicative, spokeswoman Carol Raulston said Friday.

"MSHA has a searchable database that is available to the public," she said, "so information is public for all mining companies, not just those that are publicly traded and regulated by the SEC."

Virginia-based Alpha Natural Resources bought Massey and its assets, including the Upper Big Branch mine near Montcoal, for $7.1 billion in June. Alpha spokesman Ted Pile said its legal team has known about the new SEC requirements, "and naturally, we will comply."

The Wall Street Journal (http://on.wsj.com/rOTLlR) reported Friday that Alpha will try to negotiate settlement of 18 wrongful death lawsuits in the Upper Big Branch disaster during a four-day mediation session set to begin Jan. 6 in Daniels.

Pile declined comment except to say Alpha is "hopeful we can resolve the legacy issues we inherited ... so we can move forward."

Earlier this month, Alpha reached a $210 million settlement with the Department of Justice that spares the corporation criminal prosecution for the 29 deaths in April 2010. Individuals, however, can still be prosecuted.

The settlement wiped out 370 safety violations related to the worst U.S. mine disaster in four decades.

It also includes $46.5 million in restitution to the victims' families, guaranteeing them and two survivors of the blast $1.5 million. Those who accept can still sue, but the $1.5 million will be deducted from any settlement or award. At least eight families of dead miners previously settled with Massey.

MSHA says Massey allowed highly explosive methane gas and coal dust to accumulate at Upper Big Branch, and that worn and broken cutting equipment created the spark that ignited the fuel on April 5, 2010. Broken and clogged water sprayers allowed a mere flare-up to turn into an inferno that ripped through miles of underground tunnels and killed men instantly.

In its final report, MSHA said the root cause of the explosion was Massey's "systematic, intentional and aggressive efforts" to conceal life-threatening problems. Managers went so far as to maintain two sets of pre-shift inspection books ? an accurate one for itself, and a fake one for regulators, MSHA said.

Still, in the year before the blast, MSHA issued more violation orders at Upper Big Branch than at any other U.S. mine. It shut the mine down 48 times that year but had to let it reopen when problems were fixed.

Between Jan. 1, 2009, and the day of the blast, MSHA cited Upper Big Branch for 645 violations and imposed penalties of more than $1.2 million.

Bernstein says investors didn't know about them.

He represents plaintiffs in a pending class-action lawsuit against Massey in U.S. District Court in Beckley, accusing Massey of violating the Securities Exchange Act. The investors say Massey repeatedly claimed to be one of the safest operators in the industry, regularly touting safety achievements and leading them to believe that safety was a corporate priority.

Three investigations of Upper Big Branch, however, have since concluded the company regularly put production and profits before the health and welfare of its workers.

Massey asked U.S. District Judge Irene Berger to dismiss the investors' case in April, but the plaintiffs ? led by the Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Trust ? argue that MSHA revelations about Massey's deceptive practices constitute new evidence. They want to refile their complaint.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111223/ap_on_bi_ge/us_mine_safety

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Saturday, December 24, 2011

Consumer, business spending point to slower growth (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? Consumer spending was tepid in November and a gauge of business investment fell for a second straight month, suggesting the economy lost some of its recent momentum.

Some analysts trimmed fourth-quarter growth forecasts after the weak consumption and factory data on Friday. But many still expected output to expand at an annual pace of more than 3 percent, faster than the 1.8 percent in the July-September period.

"The economy got off to a solid start this quarter, but it seems to have cooled a little bit in November. Growth is still going to be strong this quarter, but it's going to slow in the first half of 2012 because of Europe," said Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody's Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

Consumer spending ticked up 0.1 percent last month, the Commerce Department said, after rising by the same margin in October. Economists had expected spending, which accounts for two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, to rise 0.3 percent.

When adjusted for inflation, spending rose 0.2 percent last month after a similar gain in October.

In another report, the department said non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending, fell 1.2 percent last month after declining 0.9 percent in October.

Shipments of these so-called core capital goods, which go into calculations of U.S. gross domestic product, dropped for a third straight month.

This suggests that business spending, which has been robust since the start of the recovery in mid-2009, could slow considerably from the third-quarter's 15.7 growth percent pace.

Economists said uncertainty about fiscal policy at home and the debt crisis in Europe were causing businesses to becoming more cautious about spending.

The ability of U.S. consumers to keep on spending while incomes remain weak is also a potential drag on growth in early 2012.

"No one is putting themselves out there in terms of business expansion and capital equipment because it's a dangerous world out there and there are still a lot of risks in terms of Europe and China," said Steve Blitz, senior economist at ITG Investment Research in New York.

Still, the economy continues to show resilience in the face of slowing global demand. New orders for manufactured goods meant to last three years and more jumped 3.8 percent last month after being flat in October.

Excluding transportation, orders rose 0.3 percent after rising 1.5 percent in October. Order backlogs are building up and inventories at factories are not rising much, indicating that manufacturing activity will continue to expand.

Other data added to signs a tentative recovery in the housing market, which should also help to support growth.

Investors on Wall Street latched onto the positive aspects of the reports and pushed up stocks for a fourth straight day.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index turned positive for the year. Prices for long-dated U.S. Treasury debt fell sharply, while the dollar was broadly unchanged.

INCOME BARELY RISES

The weak consumer spending data stood in stark contrast with the robust sales reported for Black Friday, the traditional start to the holiday shopping season. Some retailers have been forced to offer heavy discounts to get shoppers to spend.

"Retail has been very promotional and consumers have been very value-conscious," Best Buy Co CEO Brian Dunn said on a conference call last week.

Income ticked up 0.1 percent, the weakest reading since August, as wages and salaries fell. Disposable income was flat.

A strengthening in the labor market has offered some hope income growth will quicken, but analysts said the report augured poorly for consumer spending at the start of the new year.

"The lack of real income growth really raises questions as to what is going to happen to the economy in the first quarter," said Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities in Charlotte, North Carolina.

HOUSING SHOWS A PULSE

While households may not be spending robustly, they are starting to show more interest in buying houses. Sales of new single-family homes rose 1.6 percent in November to a seasonally adjusted 315,000-unit annual rate.

That was the highest in seven months. In addition, the months' supply of houses on the market dropped to a 5-1/2 year-low, further signs of a budding recovery.

Data this week showed a rise in sales of previously owned homes and a surge in housing starts, but further progress will depend on the health of household finances.

Already, consumers have been saving less to prop up their spending. The saving rate, the percentage of disposal income socked away, dipped to a 3.5 percent annual rate last month from 3.6 percent in October.

On the bright side, the report confirmed an easing in inflation, which should help to support spending. Further help should also come from the temporary extension of payroll tax cut and benefits for the long-term unemployed.

A price index for personal spending was flat last month after falling 0.1 percent in October. In the 12 months through November, the PCE price index was up 2.5 percent, the smallest rise since April.

A core inflation measure, which strips out food and energy costs, edged up 0.1 percent last month after a similar gain in October. In the 12 months through November, it was up 1.7 percent after increasing 1.7 percent in October.

(Additional reporting by Chris Reese in New York)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111223/bs_nm/us_usa_economy

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BPR&D Investiture Ceremony and Dr. Anand Swarup Gupta Memorial Lecture, to be delivered by Shri Nikhil Kumar, Governor of Nagaland. MoS Home Shri Jitender Singh and Union Home Secretary Shri R.K. Singh will be present on the occasion.

Ravinder Singh?? ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????Press Information Bureau

Director (M&C) ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ???????????Government of India

Deptt. of Personnel & Training???????????????? ????????????????????????????????????????? Shastri Bhawan

?Ph: 23092692 (O)????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????? New Delhi

?

?

???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ????????????????????????????????????????????????December 22, 2011

?

?

INVITATION

?

Dear Sir/ madam,

?

You are cordially invited to cover the following event.

?

Event:? BPR&D Investiture Ceremony and Dr. Anand Swarup Gupta Memorial Lecture, to be delivered by Shri Nikhil Kumar, Governor of Nagaland. MoS Home Shri Jitender Singh and Union Home Secretary Shri R.K. Singh will be present on the occasion.

?

Date:?????????????? 23-12-2011

?

Time:?? ??????????? 09.30 a.m.

?

Venue: Hall No. 5, Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi

?

Yours sincerely.

?

?

(Ravinder? Singh)

?

Please note that Entry will be allowed on PIB accreditation card only.

?

To

All accredited Correspondents

All accredited Camerapersons (Still & Movie)

DG (News) Doordarshan

DG (News) AIR/ Reporting Unit

PPU / PIB Photo for releasing the Photos

Photo Division, Soochna Bhawan.

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Friday, December 23, 2011

U.S. "BBQ diplomat" wary of young North Korean leader (Reuters)

HACKENSACK, New Jersey (Reuters) ? Photographs of North Korean diplomats line the walls at Cubby's, a New Jersey barbecue restaurant whose owner says he bonded with officials from the secretive Communist state over baby back ribs.

Bobby Egan is one of few Americans who has travelled to North Korea. He claims friends among Pyongyang's former diplomats to the United Nations and said he used to go on occasional fishing and hunting trips with some of them in New Jersey.

But Egan said he had the same bewildered response as anybody else to Kim Jong-un, the 20-something son of Kim Jong-il who became North Korea's leader when his father died last weekend.

"He's got a pudgy face. You want to squeeze his cheeks and give him a kiss," said Egan, a charismatic, barrel-chested New Jersey native of Irish and Italian ancestry.

"Quite frankly, he doesn't look like he's been in a fist fight. How is he going to run the fifth-largest military in the world?" he said. "This is a rough and tumble world out there, especially for a dictator in 2011."

Egan's story goes back to the late 1970s, when he launched a personal crusade over U.S. prisoners of war unaccounted for in North Korea and Vietnam. He says he became friendly with several officials at the U.N. mission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, as North Korea is known.

Over the years, Egan held several unofficial roles, including head of the U.S.A.-D.P.R.K. Trade Council - a largely made-up group that made it possible for him to travel to North Korea.

The quirky relationship between Egan and several North Korean diplomats was the subject of a 2007 article in the New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/10/08/071008fa_fact_mead?currentPage=all).

Egan's memoir "Eating with the Enemy: How I Waged Peace with North Korea From My BBQ Shack in Hackensack" was published last year by St Martin's Press and HBO has bought the film rights.

But North Korea experts cast doubt on the significance of any relationship between Egan and North Korean officials.

Charles Pritchard, the U.S. special envoy for talks with North Korea in 2001-2003 and now president of the Korea Economic Institute in Washington, said Egan has embellished his role and the North Koreans saw him as nothing more than a "free meal."

"There is so much that is not true and so much that is exaggerated. It is more entertainment and fantasy than reality," he said in an interview. "I certainly got nothing from him."

Egan, 53, says North Korean diplomats ate for free at Cubby's, a short drive from midtown Manhattan, and some became regulars.

"Baby back ribs - well done, light on the sauce" was their favourite dish, Egan said. He added, in a hushed voice, the North Koreans' teeth cannot handle too much sweet sauce.

Egan eventually made several trips to the secretive state, beginning in 1994. But he said he never saw Kim Jong-un and knows little about him.

KEEP YOUR FRIENDS CLOSE

For Egan, who did not graduate from high school and describes himself as a former drug addict, his connection to North Korea offered the chance for some excitement.

"I was for a while our only in-country guy who was feeding back intelligence. I was our guy inside there. And I was also Pyongyang's guy in New Jersey," he said, summing up his diplomatic philosophy as "keep your friends close and your enemies closer."

Any connection between Egan and U.S. intelligence could not be confirmed.

John McCreary, a retired analyst for the U.S. Defence Intelligence Agency and a North Korea expert, said in an interview when Egan's book was published that the restaurateur's role had been one of personal diplomacy.

"On a local, personal level there was a breakthrough. That's a good thing," McCreary said, describing Egan as a friend. He added it was not clear Egan had accomplished any more than that.

A representative at North Korea's U.N. mission told Reuters last year he understood Egan had ties with the mission but gave no further information.

Egan said he now has only infrequent contact with North Koreans. His last trip there was about five years ago but he hopes to return to open a branch of his restaurant in Pyongyang.

"My dream is that (President Barack) Obama appoints me ambassador and then I'll open my Cubby's right next to the embassy," he said.

(Editing by Michelle Nichols, Claudia Parsons and John O'Callaghan)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111221/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_korea_north_usa_diner

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Floyd Mayweather Sentenced to 90 Days in Jail for Domestic Assault


Floyd Mayweather is undefeated in the boxing ring. But the multiple-time, multiple-weight class champion just lost a battle in court: a judge sentenced him to 90 days in prison.

Floyd Mayweather in Training

Mayweather was arrested in September of 2010 after ex-girlfriend Josie Harris, the mother of his children, accused the athlete of hitting her in the head in front of the former couple's kids.

Following the incident, this Grand Rapids, Michigan native agreed to a deal with prosecutors in which he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor domestic violence in exchange for lawyers dropping any felony charges. He also pleaded no contest to a pair of misdemeanor harassment charges stemming from an alleged threat to beat up his kids.

Mayweather must begin serving his sentence on January 3. He must also complete 100 hours of community service and a 12-month domestic violence program. So much for that spring bout with Manny Pacquiao.

[Photo: WENN.com]

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/12/floyd-mayweather-sentenced-to-90-days-in-jail-for-domestic-assau/

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Thursday, December 22, 2011

Increase in resting heart rate over 10-year period linked with increased risk of heart disease death

ScienceDaily (Dec. 20, 2011) ? In a study that enrolled nearly 30,000 apparently healthy men and women, those who had an increase in their resting heart rate over a 10-year period had an increased risk of death from all causes and from ischemic heart disease, according to a study in the December 21 issue of JAMA.

Some evidence indicates that a high resting heart rate (RHR) is associated with increased cardiovascular disease and death in the general population, independent of conventional risk factors. However, whether changes in RHR over time influence the risk of death from ischemic heart disease (IHD) is not known, according to background information in the article.

Javaid Nauman, Ph.D., of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway, and colleagues conducted a study to examine the association of changes in RHR with the risk of death from IHD in a population-based group consisting of 13,499 men and 15,826 women without known cardiovascular disease. Resting heart rate was measured on two occasions around 10 years apart, with the second RHR measurement taking place between August 1995 and June 1997. There was follow-up until December 2008. A total of 60 participants were lost to follow-up due to emigration from Norway.

During an average of 12 years of follow-up, a total of 3,038 people died. Among all deaths, 975 were caused by cardiovascular disease and 388 were due to IHD. The researchers found that compared with participants with a RHR of less than 70 beats/min at both measurements, participants with a RHR of less than 70 beats/min at the first measurement but greater than 85 beats/min at the second measurement had a 90 percent increased risk of death from IHD. Participants with RHRs between 70 and 85 beats/min at the first measurement and greater than 85 beats/min at the second measurement had an 80 percent increased risk.

The researchers also found that the association of changes in RHR with all causes of death were similar to those observed for IHD mortality, but the estimates of effect were generally weaker.

Analysis also suggested that a decrease in RHR showed no general benefit in relation to IHD mortality.

"As expected from the good general health of the study participants, the observed moderate-to-strong increases in relative risk corresponded to small risk increases in absolute terms. However, it is not clear to what extent we can extrapolate our findings to less healthy individuals in whom the underlying risk is likely to be higher," the authors note.

"Our findings provide further support for the hypothesis that RHR may be an important prognostic marker for IHD and total mortality. Information on RHR and its time-related changes are easy to obtain and follow-up and may be useful in identifying asymptomatic people who could benefit from measures of primary prevention, but further study in this area is warranted."

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Journal Reference:

  1. J. Nauman, I. Janszky, L. J. Vatten, U. Wisloff. Temporal Changes in Resting Heart Rate and Deaths From Ischemic Heart Disease. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 2011; 306 (23): 2579 DOI: 10.1001/jama.2011.1826

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111220172620.htm

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Monday, December 19, 2011

Cops: Woman set ablaze owed suspect $2,000

A man charged with dousing a woman in flammable liquid and tossing a Molotov cocktail on her in an elevator told police he set her on fire because he was angry that she owed him $2,000, authorities said Sunday.

Jerome Isaac, of Brooklyn, was arrested Sunday on murder and arson charges in the death of 73-year-old Deloris Gillespie. The 47-year-old Isaac reeked of gasoline when he entered a police station overnight and implicated himself in Gillespie's death, New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said.

Gillespie was ambushed in the elevator of her Brooklyn apartment building on Saturday afternoon, Browne said. The suspect had been waiting for her when the elevator doors opened to the fifth floor of her building in Prospect Heights, police said.

"It was apparent he knew she was on the elevator," Browne said.

After setting Gillespie ablaze, Isaac went to his apartment building just blocks away and set a fire there, Browne said. He then hid on a roof before turning himself in to police, Browne said.

Isaac told police that Gillespie owed him $2,000 from some work he had done for her, Browne said. The Brooklyn district attorney's office said they didn't know whether Isaac had an attorney.

The suspect was dressed as an exterminator, The New York Times reported.

The brutal attack happened shortly after 4 p.m., lasted about a minute and was recorded by two video cameras, including one inside the small elevator.

Odd smell
Brown said the video showed the elevator doors opening to the fifth floor where Gillespie's apartment was located and the assailant stepping in and spraying her.

Jaime Holguin, the manager of news development for The Associated Press and who lives on the same floor as Gillespie, said he and his girlfriend had taken the elevator on their way out of the building shortly before the attack. They didn't see anyone on the floor with them but did notice an odd smell, as if someone was painting, he said.

Holguin said police told them later that the assailant was already in the building and perhaps had hidden on another floor when they left their apartment.

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He remembered Gillespie as nice but sometimes a little off. "At least with me, some days she'd be very, very pleasant, and then the next time, she would almost ignore me," he said.

Gillespie also went through a period this year where she would place duct tape over her apartment door whenever she left.

He said the man in the photos released by police looked like a man who had lived with Gillespie for about 6 months or so toward the end of 2010.

"It seemed like during the time he was here, he was kind of helping her out in her apartment," Holguin said.

He said he had exchanged hellos with the man, and they talked occasionally about Holguin's dog.

'More disheveled'
The man seemed to stop staying there around the beginning of 2011, but Holguin said he spotted him on the street near the building months after that.

"When we started to see him on the street, he looked a lot more disheveled," Holguin said.

Holguin said that when he and his girlfriend saw the images of the suspect, "We were like, 'Oh, my God!'"

In the video, the elevator doors opens to the floor where Gillespie's apartment was located and the assailant steps in and sprays her, Browne said.

Gillespie, who had grocery bags in her arms, turned about 180 degrees and then crouched in an attempted to protect herself, he said. But the man sprayed her directly in the face and continued to spray her "sort of methodically" over her head and parts of her body as the bags draped off her arms. She turned around and retreated to the back of the elevator.

At some point, Browne said, the suspect then pulled out a barbecue-style lighter, used it to ignite a rag in a bottle and then waited for a few seconds before using the flames to set her afire, causing smoke to fill the elevator.

The man backed out as she fell to the floor of the elevator, Browne said, and seemed to pause before tossing the bottle inside the elevator and onto her.

Browne would not comment on the motive in the killing, but said the suspect knew his victim.

Surgical gloves
Investigators believe the suspect fled down the stairs of the building, he said.

Police released still images of the man Saturday night, showing him in a black jacket, wearing what appear to be surgical gloves and with a white dust mask perched atop his head like a pair of sunglasses. He is holding what appears to be a canister with a nozzle and spraying as he steps into the elevator.

The Times reported the suspect appeared to have suffered burns to his face and hands.

Neighbors reported a fire in the building, unaware that the woman was burning to death in the elevator.

Residents were evacuated from the six-story building for hours Saturday night.

One neighbor told the New York Daily News that he heard loud screams before smoke started filling the hallways.

"It was high-pitched yelling," said the 29-year-old neighbor, who identified himself as John. "It sounded like it was coming from the fifth floor."

'We all loved her'
Gillespie lived on the building?s fifth-floor for years and appeared to be mentally ill and extremely paranoid, neighbors told the Daily News.

She complained that upstairs tenants stole from her. Her son, who neighbors said is also mentally ill, was staying with her, the Daily News reported.

However, the Times quoted a neighbor as saying that Gillespie was a postal worker.

Heidi Matthews, 46, who also lives in Gillespie's building, told the Times that the victim "was a part of this neighborhood for years."

"It's hard to believe somebody would do that to her," she added. "We all loved her."

The Associated Press and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45711605/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

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Sunday, December 18, 2011

Pa. deputy attorney general cites PSU 'inaction'

Penn State assistant football coach Mike McQueary, right, arrives at Dauphin County Court surrounded by heavy security Friday, Dec 16, 2011, in Harrisburg, Pa. McQueary declined to speak to reporters Friday as he entered the courthouse in Harrisburg for the hearing for Gary Schultz and Tim Curley, who are set to appear for a preliminary hearing related to the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case. (AP Photo/Bradley C Bower)

Penn State assistant football coach Mike McQueary, right, arrives at Dauphin County Court surrounded by heavy security Friday, Dec 16, 2011, in Harrisburg, Pa. McQueary declined to speak to reporters Friday as he entered the courthouse in Harrisburg for the hearing for Gary Schultz and Tim Curley, who are set to appear for a preliminary hearing related to the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case. (AP Photo/Bradley C Bower)

Former Penn State Vice President Gary Schultz, right, arrives for a preliminary hearing at Dauphin County Court, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011, in Harrisburg, Pa. A judge is to determine after the hearing if there's enough evidence to send Schultz and former Penn State athletic director Tim Curley to trial on charges of failure to report abuse to authorities and lying to a grand jury related to the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case. (AP Photo/Bradley C Bower)

Former Penn State athletic director Tim Curley, right, arrives for a hearing at Dauphin County Court, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011, in Harrisburg, Pa. A judge is to determine after the hearing if there's enough evidence to send Curley and former university Vice President Gary Schultz to trial on charges of failure to report abuse to authorities and lying to a grand jury related to the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case. (AP Photo/Bradley C Bower)

FILE -- In a Nov. 7, 2011 file photo former Penn State athletic director Tim Curley, left, and former Penn State Vice President Gary Schultz, right, enter a district judge's office for an arraignment in Harrisburg, Pa. Curley and Schultz have been charged with perjury and failure to report under Pennsylvania?s child protective services law in connection with the investigation into allegations involving former football defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, the state attorney general?s office. (AP Photo/Bradley C. Bower/file)

Penn State Assistant Football Coach Mike McQueary, left, departs the Dauphin County Court Friday, Dec 16, 2011 in Harrisburg, PA. McQueary, speaking for the first time in public about the 2002 encounter in a Penn State locker room, said he believes that Jerry Sandusky was attacking a child with his hands around the boy's waist but said he wasn't 100 percent sure it was intercourse. (AP Photo/Bradley C Bower)

(AP) ? A graduate student waited a day after allegedly seeing a child being sexually assaulted on Penn State's campus before telling his supervisor, football coach Joe Paterno.

Paterno waited another day before calling the university's athletic director, who looped in a school vice president.

"It was a Saturday morning and I didn't want to interfere with their weekends," Paterno told a grand jury this year, recalling the unusual visit from graduate assistant Mike McQueary.

McQueary said he had seen former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky doing something "extremely sexual" with a young boy in a locker room shower.

On Friday, McQueary testified at a preliminary hearing for two Penn State officials ? athletic director Tim Curley and vice president Gary Schultz ? accused of covering up the story. He offered the most detailed public account yet of the child sex abuse allegations that have upended the university's football program and the entire central Pennsylvania campus.

Curley and Schultz are headed to trial on perjury charges after Friday's preliminary hearing, accused of lying to a grand jury about what McQueary told them.

Curly and Schultz waited another 10 days before meeting with McQueary to get more facts. Instead of calling police, they talked to two people: Sandusky and the executive director of his children's charity.

"I think it's a sad, sad, sad day, when you think about all of these victims, and you saw the inaction by a number of supposedly important, responsible adults. And there's a lot of inaction in this case," Marc Costanzo, a senior deputy attorney general, said after the preliminary hearing.

Besides the perjury charges, and the dozens of sex assault charges pending against Sandusky, Paterno and university president Graham Spanier have lost their jobs over the scandal.

Defense lawyers argued that McQueary "minimized" the alleged sexual assault when he talked to Paterno, ultimately leading their clients to believe that Sandusky's behavior was "inappropriate," but not criminal.

They say McQueary never relayed the seriousness of what he saw, leading them to think Sandusky was merely "horsing around."

"I didn't see any reason because I didn't think at the time it was a crime," Curley told the grand jury, according to testimony read into the record on Friday.

Curley, Schultz and Paterno have been criticized for not telling law enforcement about the 2002 charges. Prosecutors say Sandusky continued to abuse boys for six more years.

In about two hours on the witness stand, McQueary said again and again that what he saw was a sexual act, although he stopped short of saying he was sure that Sandusky, now 67, had raped the boy.

"I believe Jerry was sexually molesting him and having some type of sexual intercourse with him," McQueary said on Friday. He said later he "can't say 100 percent" that Sandusky and the boy were having intercourse because he was seeing Sandusky from behind.

He said after talking to his father, he went over to Paterno's home the next morning and said that what he had seen "was way over the lines, it was extremely sexual in nature." He said he would not have used words like sodomy or intercourse with Paterno, out of respect for the coach.

Paterno told the grand jury that McQueary said he saw Sandusky doing something of a "sexual nature" with the youngster but that he didn't press for details.

"I didn't push Mike ... because he was very upset," Paterno said. "I knew Mike was upset, and I knew some kind of inappropriate action was being taken by Jerry Sandusky with a youngster."

Paterno told McQueary he would talk to others about what he'd reported.

McQueary said he met about 10 days later with Curley and Schultz and told them he'd seen Sandusky and a boy, both naked, in the shower after hearing skin-on-skin slapping sounds.

"I would have described that it was extremely sexual and I thought that some kind of intercourse was going on," said McQueary.

McQueary said he was left with the impression both men took his report seriously. When asked why he didn't go to police, he referenced Schultz's position as a vice president at the university who had overseen the campus police

"I thought I was talking to the head of the police, to be frank with you," he said. "In my mind it was like speaking to a (district attorney). It was someone who police reported to and would know what to do with it."

The square-jawed, red-haired assistant coach spoke in a steady voice in his first public account of the alleged abuse, sometimes turning his seat and leaning in toward defense lawyers to answer questions. His voice rose a few times and he blushed once when describing the sexual encounter in the shower.

Defense lawyers for Curley and Schultz argued that a perjury charge in Pennsylvania cannot be based solely on one person's oath versus another's. The defense said uncorroborated testimony from McQueary is not enough, and sought to pick apart the ways he described the shower scene differently to different people.

The defense noted that McQueary admitted changing his description of the shower encounter when speaking with Paterno.

McQueary said he had stopped by a campus football locker room to drop off a pair of sneakers the Friday night before spring break, a quiet night on campus, when he saw Sandusky with a boy who looked to be 10 or 12 years old.

McQueary, 37, said he has never described what he saw as anal rape or anal intercourse and couldn't see Sandusky's genitals, but that "it was very clear that it looked like there was intercourse going on."

In its report last month, the grand jury summarized McQueary's testimony as saying he "saw a naked boy ... with his hands up against the wall, being subjected to anal intercourse by a naked Sandusky."

McQueary said he peeked into the shower three times ? the first via a mirror, the other two times directly. The last time he looked in, Sandusky and the boy had separated, he said. He said he didn't say anything, but "I know they saw me. They looked directly in my eye, both of them."

McQueary said the entire encounter ? from when he first entered the locker room to when he retreated to his office ? lasted about 45 seconds.

Curley told the grand jury that he couldn't recall his specific conversation with McQueary, but said McQueary never reported seeing anal intercourse or other sexual conduct. He said he spoke to Sandusky about it, who first denied having been in the shower with a boy, but later changed his story.

Schultz said he remembered McQueary and Paterno describing what the younger coach saw only in a very general way.

"I had the impression it was inappropriate," Schultz told the grand jury. "I had the feeling it was some king of wrestling activity and maybe Jerry might have grabbed a young boy's genitals."

Under cross-examination, McQueary said he considered what he saw a crime but didn't call police because "it was delicate in nature."

"I tried to use my best judgment," he said. "I was sure the act was over." He said he never tried to find the boy.

Paterno, Schultz and Curley didn't testify, but their entire grand jury testimony from January was read at the Dauphin County hearing.

Curley's attorney, Caroline Roberto, said prosecutors "will never be able to reach their burden of proof at a trial," in part because McQueary "minimized" the alleged assault to Paterno.

Schultz's attorney, Tom Farrell, predicted his client would be acquitted.

He also took a shot at Paterno, saying, "I'm an Italian from Brooklyn, and he may not have called the police but he may have done what I would have done, which is get the boys in the car with a few baseball bats and crowbars and take it to the fellow."

Sandusky says he is innocent of 52 criminal charges stemming from what authorities say were sexual assaults over 12 years on 10 boys in his home, on Penn State property and elsewhere.

Curley, 57, was placed on leave by the university after his arrest. Schultz, 62, returned to retirement after spending about four decades at the school, most recently as senior vice president for business and finance, and treasurer.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-12-17-Penn%20State-Abuse/id-529bf28d841848369de047cfbf28f53b

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Chinese Internet video firms tussle over copyright (Reuters)

SHANGHAI (Reuters) ? China's top online video firm, Youku.com, said on Friday it has initiated legal proceedings against rival Tudou Holdings for allegedly infringing on the copyright of its videos.

Tudou also said late on Thursday that it would take legal action against Youku for allegedly reposting episodes of a popular variety program on Youku's platform.

Cti TV, the legal copyright holder of "Kangxi is Coming," signed an exclusive agreement with Tudou in November to distribute the episodes of the program on its platform, Tudou said in an emailed statement.

Tudou and Cti TV allege that the episodes were then copied by Youku and uploaded onto Youku's platform.

Youku subsequently countered on Friday that Tudou had allegedly pirated more than 60 television serials from Youku and that the firm had initiated court proceedings against Tudou in Shanghai.

Youku said in a statement that legal mediation between the two sides had failed.

The battle for content in China's online video space has heated up this year with costs for programs rising significantly as online video players scramble for eyeballs to lure advertisers.

Advertising revenue in the domestic online video market, which was virtually non-existent five years ago, is now estimated to be worth 1 billion yuan ($156.90 million). This is expected to grow at a double-digit rate.

Many online video players have also signed deals with Hollywood studios to boost viewership.

Shares of Tudou closed 2.51 percent lower on the Nasdaq on Thursday, while Youku fell 3.75 percent on the New York Stock Exchange.

($1 = 6.3735 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Melanie Lee; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Matt Driskill)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111216/wr_nm/us_tudou_youku

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Saturday, December 17, 2011

Ex-cop held after claiming benefits for 19 fake kids

By Reuters

ATHENS -- A former?police officer?who invented 19 fictional offspring to claim benefits for what would have been the largest family in Greece has been arrested for fraud, police said.

The divorced man, who has no children of his own, quit his 1,000-euro-a-month ($1,300) job in 2001 and has been living solely on benefits ever since, police said Thursday.


Using photographs of children he found online, the 54-year-old forged birth certificates and other documents needed to claim benefits for at least one child a year since 1996.

Police estimate he made at least 150,000 euros in claims over 15 years, but the actual amount is probably much higher.

Authorities?only realized something was amiss when they noticed his was the only Greek family with that many children, police said. The average Greek family usually has two or three children.

"We have never seen (a scam) like this before," said a police official who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

The former police officer, who under Greek law cannot be named, was arrested Wednesday as he was about to collect 8,000 euros in benefits from an Athens branch of Greece's employment agency OAED. He was taken to the prosecutor's office Thursday.

Widespread fraud, a generous welfare state and a notoriously inefficient public sector have been blamed as root causes of Greece's financial trouble that threatens to break apart the euro zone.

A team of tax investigators recently discovered that a seemingly humble Greek farmer on the island of Thasos, who owned a red Ferrari and a Porsche, was in fact into loan sharking.

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Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/15/9468363-ex-cop-held-after-claiming-benefits-for-19-fake-kids

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