Ex-fiance of missing woman hires criminal attorney (AP)

ORLANDO, Fla. ? The ex-fiance of a Florida mother who vanished shortly after appearing on "The People's Court" hired a criminal defense attorney on Tuesday with a tie to the Casey Anthony case and the Tiger Woods scandal.

Dale Smith hired attorney Mark NeJame a day after Orlando's police chief named Smith the primary focus of detectives' investigation into the disappearance of 33-year-old Michelle Parker.

A spokeswoman for NeJame said the attorney has no immediate comment. NeJame was the attorney for Casey Anthony's parents for a time and also represented Woods after a late 2009 car accident outside the golfer's Florida home.

Parker was last seen Nov. 17, the day the previously-taped episode aired featuring her and the 40-year-old Smith. Parker and Smith were on the show to resolve a dispute over a $5,000 engagement ring. Smith had sued Parker for the value of the ring.

They had been together off and on since 2006 before appearing on the television show and are the parents of 3-year-old twins. Parker has an older child from another relationship.

Parker and Smith described to television Judge Marilyn Milian how their most recent reconciliation unraveled at a convention in Atlanta for science fiction and fantasy fans. Smith said he liked to dress up as a storm trooper or Captain America at these types of conventions.

They got into an argument when Smith brought up a past relationship of Parker's. During the argument Smith grabbed her, Parker told the judge, so she got a nearby police officer to escort her to her hotel room. The officer stayed at the room so Parker could pack up her belongings without being disturbed by Smith, she said.

When Smith demanded the engagement ring back, Parker said she took it off and threw it at him. But the ring slipped through a railing and landed nine floors below in the hotel atrium, she said. Smith was unable to find the ring.

"I threw it at him and he shouldn't put his hand on me and he shouldn't have put his hands on me prior," Parker told the judge, according to a transcript of the show. "It's been a hell of a rollercoaster ride, and it's poison and we're done."

The television judge said Parker was responsible for paying Smith for half of the value of the ring. But she also told them their relationship wasn't working and that they should move on to other people.

"You're like drugs to each other," Milian said. "You're addicted to each other but this is a very, very bad idea."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tv/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111129/ap_en_tv/us_tv_show_disappearance

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Palestinian president sets May 4 election (AP)

VIENNA ? Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has set May 4 as the date for general elections that are meant to end the division of between Hamas and Fatah.

The Palestinians have been divided between two governments since Hamas militants overran the Gaza Strip in 2007. Hamas controls Gaza, while Abbas' Palestinian Authority governs in the West Bank.

Abbas says a unity government of technocrats, chosen from both factions, will be formed to prepare for the elections. He spoke Monday in Vienna after meeting with Austrian President Heinz Fischer.

Fischer announced that Austria was upgrading the status of the Palestinian diplomatic representation. Now a PLO mission, it will be upgrade to a mission of the Palestinian Authority and be headed by an ambassador.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111128/ap_on_re_eu/eu_austria_abbas

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Bill Waxes Lyrical (TIME)

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Gunman hunted after fatal hospital shooting

By msnbc.com staff and The Associated Press

Updated 6:35 a.m. ET

A woman was shot dead at a hospital in Chicago late Thursday and a manhunt was launched to find the shooter, authorities told the Chicago Tribune.

An ambulance was not able to reach the wounded woman, who was shot in a parking garage at the University of Illinois at Chicago?Medical Center shortly before midnight, because the area was still dangerous, Chicago Fire Department?spokesman Larry Langford told the paper.?She later died.

Even though the suspect was not located, the hospital resumed normal operations at about 5 a.m. local time (6 a.m. ET), according to The Associated Press.

---

The Tribune reported a?text message was sent out by the medical center warning staff and students that there was "a man with a gun in the UIC Hospital, last seen on the second floor. Stay in a secure location and lock doors if possible. He is armed and dangerous."

A notice posted later on the UIC website said, "Police conclude multiple searches of hospital, no sign of gunman. Hospital, OCC open for normal operations."

SWAT teams, other police and a helicopter were all involved in the search.

A second victim, who was injured but not shot, was in police custody, an?unidentified?source told the Tribune.

The Tribune reported that the suspect was the 47-year-old former boyfriend of the slain woman.

The alert said the man being sought by police was black and?was wearing?a navy blue jacket with a fur-trimmed hood, navy blue cargo pants and white gym shoes at the time.

Source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/25/9012181-manhunt-after-fatal-shooting-at-chicago-hospital

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Ormie the Pig (Little green footballs)

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Researchers decode a puzzling movement disorder

ScienceDaily (Nov. 24, 2011) ? Neurodegenerative diseases represent one of the greatest challenges of our aging society. However, investigation into these diseases is made particularly difficult due to the limited availability of human brain tissue. Scientists from the Life & Brain Research Center and Neurology Clinic of Bonn University have now taken a roundabout path: They reprogrammed skin cells from patients with a hereditary movement disorder into so-called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) and obtained functional nerve cells from them. They subsequently decoded how the disease arises.

Their results have now been published in the specialist periodical Nature.

The so-called Machado-Joseph disease is at the center of the current Bonn study. This is a disorder of movement coordination which was originally described in inhabitants of the Azores of Portuguese descent and which represents the most frequent dominantly inherited cerebellar ataxia in Germany today. The majority of patients develop gait abnormalities and a series of other neurological symptoms between the ages of 20 and 40. The cause of the disease is a recurring genetic sequence in the ataxin-3 gene which leads to agglutination of the corresponding protein and as a result, the nerve cells in the brain become damaged eventually. Until now, it was not clear why the disease only affects nerve cells and how the abnormal protein agglutination is triggered.

"Jack-of-all-trades" from skin specimens of patients

In order to study the disease process on a molecular level, scientists working with the stem cell researcher Prof. Dr. Oliver Br?stle at the Institute for Reconstructive Neurobiology at Bonn University initially produced so-called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) from small skin specimens from patients. These induced pluripotent stem cells are cells which are returned to a very early, undifferentiated stage. These ?jacks-of-all-trades" -- once obtained -- can be multiplied to a nearly unlimited degree and they mature in all cells of the body. In the next step, the team working with Prof. Br?stle converted the iPS cells into brain stem cells from which the scientists were able to develop as many nerve cells needed for their investigations.

In particular: Since the nerve cells come from the patients themselves, they have the same genetic changes and can therefore serve as a cellular model of the disease. "This method allows us to research the disease in the cells that are actually affected and which we otherwise could not access -- almost as if we had placed the patient's brain into the cell culture dish," says Dr. Philipp Koch, a long-time colleague of Prof. Br?stle and one of the lead authors of the study. Together with his colleague Dr. Peter Breuer from the Neurology Clinic and Polyclinic of the Bonn University Medical Center, Koch electrically stimulated the artificially created nerve cells. In doing so, the researchers were able to show that the formation of the protein aggregates is directly correlated with the electrical activity of the nerve cells. "The enzyme calpain plays a key role in this; calpain is activated by the increased calcium content of stimulated nerve cells," says the biochemist Breuer. "This newly identified mechanism explains why the disease only affects nerve cells," Prof. Br?stle points out.

Reprogrammed nerve cells as a study objective for drugs

"The study illustrates the potential that this special type of stem cells has for neurological disease research," says Prof. Dr. Thomas Klockgether, Clinical Director of the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) and Director of the Bonn University Clinic for Neurology, whose team closely collaborated in this study with the scientists working with Prof. Br?stle. For Prof. Br?stle, this is reason enough to contemplate new configurations: "We need interdisciplinary departments in which scientists from stem cell biology and molecular disease research work together side by side." Prof. Dr. Dr. Pierluigi Nicotera, scientific chairman and chief executive of the DZNE, concurs: "The DZNE is very interested in cooperative arrangements. Because reprogrammed stem cells have enormous potential for understanding the pathology of neurodegenerative diseases."

As a next step, Prof. Br?stle and his colleagues from Life & Brain want to use reprogrammed nerve cells for the development of active substances to treat neurological diseases.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Universit?t Bonn, via AlphaGalileo.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Philipp Koch, Peter Breuer, Michael Peitz, Johannes Jungverdorben, Jaideep Kesavan, Daniel Poppe, Jonas Doerr, Julia Ladewig, Jerome Mertens, Thomas T?ting, Per Hoffmann, Thomas Klockgether, Bernd O. Evert, Ullrich W?llner, Oliver Br?stle. Excitation-induced ataxin-3 aggregation in neurons from patients with Machado?Joseph disease. Nature, 2011; DOI: 10.1038/nature10671

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/2011/11/111124150749.htm

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U.S. urges Bahrain to address 'disturbing' abuses (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? The United States urged its ally Bahrain, home to the U.S. Fifth Fleet, to quickly address abuses laid out in a report Wednesday that said Bahraini security forces used torture to obtain confessions.

A Bahraini government-commissioned panel charged with investigating abuses found that Bahrain's security forces used excessive force to suppress pro-democracy protests this year, saying five people were tortured to death.

The United States, which has been faulted by rights activists for not criticizing the island kingdom more sharply for the crackdown, appeared to carefully balance its demand for the abuses to be addressed with praise for its Gulf ally.

"We are deeply concerned about the abuses identified in the report and urge the Government and all elements of Bahraini society to address them in a prompt and systematic manner," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement.

"We believe the ... report offers a historic opportunity for all Bahrainis to participate in a healing process that will address long-standing grievances and move the nation onto a path of genuine, sustained reform," Clinton added.

Neither Clinton's statement, nor one from the White House, hinted at any distance between the Obama administration and the royal family that rules Bahrain, although Washington has said it will weigh human rights in decisions about military sales.

Clinton made a point of stressing the "strategic interests" that the two countries share, a likely reference to containing Bahrain's neighbor Iran, which the United States suspects of pursuing nuclear weapons and accuses of supporting terrorism.

Iran denies it is seeking nuclear weapons.

U.S. CONUNDRUM

The events in Bahrain have posed a conundrum for the United States, which has sought to maintain good relations with a country that is a cornerstone of its strategy to preserve the flow of oil from the Middle East while remaining true to its support for freedom of speech and peaceful protests.

The government-commissioned report, designed to help heal sectarian divisions between the island kingdom's Sunni rulers and majority Shi'ites, acknowledged five people had been tortured to death but said abuses were isolated incidents.

However the inquiry panel, led by Egyptian-American international law expert Cherif Bassiouni, dismissed Bahrain's allegation of Iranian interference in fomenting unrest, saying that was not supported by any evidence.

"In many cases security agencies in the government of Bahrain resorted to excessive and unnecessary force," Bassiouni said at the king's palace, adding that some detainees suffered electric shocks, and beatings with rubber hoses and wires.

Bahrain's Shi'ite-led opposition reacted coolly to the report, some saying it did not go far enough while others complained those responsible for abuses remained in office.

White House press secretary Jay Carney urged Bahrain's authorities to hold those responsible to account while praising its ruler, King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, for what he described as a "courageous" decision to commission the report.

"The report identifies a number of disturbing human rights abuses that took place during this period, and it is now incumbent upon the government of Bahrain to hold accountable those responsible for human rights violations and put in place institutional changes to ensure that such abuses do not happen again," Carney said in the statement.

(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed, Caren Bohan, Paul Eckert and Jeff Mason; editing by Anthony Boadle)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111123/pl_nm/us_bahrain_usa

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Attorney: Bad butt injection claims are false

Updated at 6 p.m. ET

By NBC Miami

MIAMI ?? A transgender woman accused of injecting a victim's buttocks with a substance consisting of cement, mineral oil and "Fix-a-Flat," is innocent , her attorney said Tuesday.

Attorney Michael Mirer told NBC Miami there is no proof that his client, 30-year-old Oneal Ron Morris received $700 from the woman as payment or performed the procedure on her.

"I can assure you that the state has no evidence other than what this alleged victim is saying. There is not going to be any proof or any documentation that shows that my client accepted any money or injected anybody with anything," Mirer said.

Mirer said he had no information on any other alleged victims.

By The Associated Press

MIAMI ? Several people?have come forward alleging a woman posing as a Florida doctor and promising buttocks enhancement pumped their behinds with a toxic concoction of cement, superglue and flat-tire sealant, state health officials said Tuesday.

Oneal Ron Morris ? who police say was born a man and identifies as a woman ? was arrested Friday after nearly a year of being sought and charged with practicing medicine without a license with serious bodily injury. Authorities say a victim who was looking to get a job at a nightclub and wanted a curvier figure paid Morris $700 for the injections in 2010. Morris allegedly used some type of tubing and inserted the toxic chemicals into her backside during a painful procedure.

The victim, who is not being identified due to medical privacy laws, suffered permanent scarring around the injection sites. Shortly after the surgery, she went to the hospital but left because she was too embarrassed to tell doctors about the procedure. The victim required multiple surgeries and had a 24-hour home health aide for an extended period of time, according to a statement from the Department of Health.

State health officials said Tuesday that several possible victims have since come forward alleging Morris performed similar procedures resulting in life-threatening injuries.

Morris, 30,?has?been released from jail on a bond. A phone listing for Morris could not be found, and it's unclear if Morris has an attorney. Police say Morris performed the same surgery on herself.

Source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/22/8957008-attorney-bad-butt-injection-claims-are-false

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Bachmann: Fallon song choice shows sexism, bias (AP)

ST. PAUL, Minn. ? GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann lashed out Wednesday at NBC for not apologizing or taking immediate disciplinary action for an off-color song played during her appearance on Jimmy Fallon's "Late Night."

In her first comments on the flap, Bachmann said on the Fox News Channel that the Fallon show band displayed sexism and bias by playing a snippet of a 1985 Fishbone song as she walked onstage for Tuesday's show. The title of the song is "Lyin' Ass B----."

"This is clearly a form of bias on the part of the Hollywood entertainment elite," Bachmann said. She added, "This wouldn't be tolerated if this was Michelle Obama. It shouldn't be tolerated if it's a conservative woman either."

She went further on a national radio conservative radio show hosted by Michael Medved, calling the incident "inappropriate, outrageous and disrespectful."

Fallon has tweeted an apology to Bachmann, saying he was "so sorry about the intro mess."

Bachmann told Minnesota Public Radio News that Fallon called her on Wednesday to further apologize. She said the comedian told her he was unaware that his show's band planned to play the song.

On Fox, Bachmann expressed surprise that she's heard nothing from the TV network. She suggested that discipline for the show's Roots band was in order. She said she believed Fallon's comments to be sincere.

One of Bachmann's congressional colleagues, New York Democrat Nita Lowey, had called on NBC to apologize for its "insulting and inappropriate" treatment of its guest.

An NBC spokeswoman didn't immediately return a phone message from The Associated Press.

The Roots' bandleader, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, has said the song was a "tongue-in-cheek and spur-of-the-moment decision."

Bachmann, who is lagging in presidential polls, has spent the week promoting her new autobiography in national television interviews.

___

AP Television Writer David Bauder contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111123/ap_on_en_tv/us_bachmann_song_choice

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Khodorkovsky hopes to see documentary on his fate (AP)

MOSCOW ? Jailed Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky has expressed hope of seeing a documentary about his conflict with the Kremlin that has premiered in Moscow.

Khodorkovsky said in a statement that he "hopes sooner or later" to see the film by German director Cyril Tuschi shown in Russia on Thursday, nine months after its European premiere.

The documentary describes the fate of Russia's richest man ? imprisoned since his arrest in 2003 on charges seen as punishment for challenging Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who was then president. A second conviction last year will keep Khodorkovsky incarcerated until 2016.

Tuschi said Russian distributors have refused to distribute his film due to "self-sensorship" and that the documentary will open in a handful of small, independent theaters.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111124/ap_on_en_mo/eu_russia_khodorkovsky_film

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Reggie Love: His Job's Perks (ABC News)

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GOP contenders square off on immigration (The Arizona Republic)

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Poll shows Romney leading Obama in Michigan (AP)

LANSING, Mich. ? A poll of likely Michigan voters shows Mitt Romney beating President Barack Obama in a hypothetical matchup but two other leading Republicans losing to the president.

The poll released Sunday shows the Michigan-born ex-Massachusetts governor getting 46 percent compared to 41 percent for Obama. The difference is just beyond the poll's 4 percent sampling error. Thirteen percent are undecided.

The poll showed Obama with an apparent lead over Newt Gingrich 45 percent to 40 percent, with 15 percent undecided. And it showed Obama leading Herman Cain 50 percent to 36 percent, with 14 percent undecided.

Obama carried Michigan in 2008.

The results of the poll by EPIC-MRA were reported in the Detroit Free Press (http://on.freep.com/rDwjJU ), which sponsored the poll along with television stations WXYZ, WOOD and WJRT.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111121/ap_on_el_pr/us_president_michigan_poll

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Video: Parents of phone hacking victim speak out

Emotional testimony today at the Levinson inquiry into the UK media's hacking scandal.The parents of murdered school girl Milly Dowler spoke about how her phone had been hacked into when she went missing, giving them false hope that she may still be alive. ITV's Damon Green reports.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/45387246/

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Ghost Incognito Automates Your Private Browsing [Chrome Extensions]

Chrome: Even though every browser has a private mode, it's not always easy to remember to enable it before visiting private sites. Ghost Incognito makes it so you don't have to by automatically opening sites of your choosing in incognito mode.

For most of your browsing experience, the icon sits unobtrusively on your tool bar. When you visit a site you don't want to keep a cache of for whatever reason, you click the icon and it opens in incognito mode. After using it once, it's stored, so every future visit does the same thing. It's a handy feature to have for sites like your bank, but with holiday shopping in full swing, it might work well to cover your tracks if you're ordering from a single retailer.

Ghost Incognito | Chrome Web Store via gHacks

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/UKKKSPaAVEE/ghost-incognito-automates-your-private-browsing-in-chrome

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Dodgers hearing on Fox Sports dispute canceled (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? A Los Angeles Dodgers bankruptcy court hearing on whether to dismiss the team's bankruptcy filing has been canceled without explanation, according to court documents.

Fox Sports, which has a contract to broadcast the team's games through 2013, on Friday asked the bankruptcy court to consider dismissing the bankruptcy case, saying that the team's bankruptcy was not valid and just an attempt to invalidate Fox's TV-rights contract.

The hearing was scheduled for Tuesday and no reason was given for its cancellation.

Fox Sports, a part of News Corp, is trying to hold on to the right to broadcast the team's games, which it currently carries on Prime Ticket, a regional sports network. Under its current contract, Fox Sports has another year during which it has the exclusive right to negotiate a new contract.

The Dodgers, meanwhile, have struck a deal with Major League Baseball in which it has agreed to sell the team -- including the media rights -- and it wants to begin those negotiations immediately rather than wait for the contract to expire.

A Fox Sports spokesman was not immediately available for comment on why the hearing was canceled. A Dodgers spokeswoman said that the Dodgers "look forward to the opportunity on November 30th to seek approval of the marketing procedures for the media rights."

The Dodgers filed for bankruptcy in June as its owner Frank McCourt struggled to meet the payroll. Major League Baseball fought McCourt's efforts to retain control of the team in bankruptcy court and eventually the team and the league agreed on terms for a sale.

BIDS DUE IN JANUARY

Financial information on the team and its assets is scheduled to go to potential buyers in December with initial bids due in January, sources familiar with the process told Reuters. The sale of the team inherently includes media rights -- whether or not it is free and clear of a Fox contract.

If a cable company wants to create a regional sports network for the team's games, it might do so in conjunction with other investors interested in buying the team, the sources said. A bid might be structured so that the different parties hold cross-ownerships in the team and the network, they said.

The sales process is expected to be wrapped up by the end of April, in time for the start of the 2012 Major League season, the sources said. The sale is expected to occur regardless of whether the issues with Fox are resolved, but those issues might affect the selling price, they said.

A hearing is scheduled for November 30 in which the debtors are looking for approval for the sales procedures for the team.

(Reporting by Caroline Humer, Susan Zeidler and Tom Hals; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/enindustry/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111121/media_nm/us_dodgers

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Reaction to bipartisan panel's failure to approve a deficit-slashing plan by its deadline (Star Tribune)

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Greek PM heads for Brussels to try to secure cash (Reuters)

ATHENS (Reuters) ? Greece's new prime minister headed to Brussels on Sunday to fight for the aid Athens needs to avoid bankruptcy, even as one of his coalition backers refused to give a written pledge to support reforms and a public sector union geared up for strikes.

Lucas Papademos must convince the International Monetary Fund and the European Union to give Greece the 8 billion euros it needs to avoid a mid-December default, but the conservative New Democracy party has refused to meet their most basic demand.

Representatives from the so-called "troika" of the EU, IMF and European Central Bank wrapped up initial talks with the conservative party and its partners, the Socialists of fallen Prime Minister George Papandreou and the far-right LAOS.

But during the visit, New Democracy head Antonis Samaras refused to give a written guarantee that he would continue to do whatever it took to meet the terms of the bailout no matter who wins an election tentatively set for February 19.

According to LAOS party head George Karatzaferis, who met the troika team on Sunday, the international lenders would not release Athens' sixth aid installment without the pledge.

"I believe there is no wiggle room at all and we have to find an arrangement so that the money can be released in time to cover the country's pressing needs," Karatzaferis told reporters, adding that he would sign the pledge.

Samaras told the troika officials on Sunday that a verbal vow not to oppose existing reforms should suffice.

But in what analysts say is a move to distance himself from painful austerity measures and win votes ahead of the election, he also said last week he wants to win a full majority so he can reverse reforms he disagrees with.

Samaras, a Harvard-educated economist, has long opposed the tax hikes and spending cuts backed by his bitter rival - and former college roommate - Papandreou, saying pro-growth measures would be more effective.

That has angered the international community, which has seen Greece's failure to meet its bailout targets help spread the crisis to other euro zone states and drive up debt yields in Italy, France, and even Germany.

According to a source close to the troika, the team was to depart Athens on Sunday. It is expected to return later to discuss whether it will release an 8 billion euro tranche of aid, without which Athens will default in mid-December.

RISKING AID

Along with the December aid tranche, the troika must also judge whether Greece is worthy of a 130 billion euro bailout agreed last month to replace the original 110 billion package that has made up its aid so far.

Papademos, a former vice president at the ECB, was due to fly to Brussels later on Sunday. He was scheduled to meet the EU's top leaders, Jose Manuel Barroso and Herman van Rompuy on Monday, at 1145 GMT (6:45 a.m. EST) and 1500 GMT (10 a.m. EST) respectively, according to a statement by his office.

On Tuesday, the Greek PM will travel to Luxembourg to meet Eurogroup President Jean-Claude Juncker at 0930 GMT (4:30 a.m. EST).

But Papademos's government faces a number of hurdles on implementing reforms, including staunch opposition by unions and an angry population hit by years of austerity measures that have pushed the country's economy into a fourth year of recession.

On Sunday, the union at Greece's biggest power producer PPC threatened to call a wave of strikes in opposition to plans to loosen the firm's grip over Greece's coal reserves.

Under its bailout, Athens needs to lift state-controlled PPC's de-facto monopoly on the production of lignite coal, the backbone of the country's power production, and to try to sell the state's stake in the generator.

But PPC labor Union GENOP said it would launch rolling strikes if the cabinet tries.

"This government of special interests, which was imposed on the Greek people against its will, has to know it will have to overcome many obstacles before it manages to sell off the Greek people's property," the union said in a statement.

Greek media -- often split along party lines -- were also divided over Samaras's stance, with the pro-New Democracy weekly Typos Tis Kyriakis saying he would eventually win a compromise from Athens' lenders and would not have to back down.

"New Democracy officials are satisfied because Samaras is winning his fight with the Europeans regarding the written assurances," the paper wrote.

But the left-leaning Eleftherotypia said Samaras, in trying to appease a "populist faction" in his party that disagreed with his moves over the past two weeks to join the coalition, could endanger next month's aid payment.

"Samaras's refusal to sign this commitment is putting the ... installment in danger and it might undermine all the moves he has made over the last 15 days," the paper wrote.

(additional reporting by Harry Papachristou; writing by Michael Winfrey; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111120/bs_nm/us_greece

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Church Organizes Clothing Drive To Help Tornado Victims

Thomasville, NC -- During tough times, people gain strength and communities come together to try and?rebuild. We saw an example of this on Saturday morning in Thomasville.

Caananland Church held a clothing drive to help those affected by last week's tornado.

Community members, from Thomasville and beyond, visited the church to make donations to help those in need.

The church is still accepting donations. They can be made at the church which is located at 139 Fannie Pullum Road in Thomasville.

WFMY News 2

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Source: http://www.digtriad.com/news/local_state/article.aspx?storyid=199714

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Man City maintains title charge

Jon Super / AP

Manchester City's Mario Balotelli, top center, celebrates with teammates after scoring from the penalty spot against Newcastle United during their English Premier League soccer match at The Etihad Stadium, Manchester, England, Saturday Nov. 19, 2011. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

updated 5:08 p.m. ET Nov. 19, 2011

LONDON - Manchester City stands as the last unbeaten team in the Premier League after a 3-1 victory over Newcastle on Saturday handed the Magpies their first loss of the season.

Mario Balotelli's first-half penalty was followed by a goal from Micah Richards three minutes later, both the result of errors from defender Ryan Taylor.

Sergio Aguero slotted in another penalty to put the Premier League leaders 3-0 ahead before Dan Gosling's late consolation for a Newcastle side that started the day in third place.

The victory leaves City with a record of 11 wins and one draw from their opening 12 games, the day after the club announced a record loss of 194.9 million pounds for its previous fiscal year.

That marks the best start to a season in Premier League history, with City also having scored 42 goals so far.

"I hope we continue like this," City manager Roberto Mancini said. "But I think in the 26 games we have left, we will reach a time when we lose a game, I'm sure of it.

"As players, as a team, we are very strong now but the season is long and there will be difficult moments ahead. For this reason, it's important we know we can score goals and win games in a row."

City was required to withstand a couple of bright moments from Newcastle, who had arrived in Manchester with the best defensive record in the top division, but effectively killed off the game with two goals in four minutes just before the interval.

Hatem Ben Arfa's decisive 33rd minute pass played Demba Ba through on goal but the Newcastle forward succeeded only in drawing a fine reaction save from the City goalkeeper Joe Hart.

That miss looked costly after 40 minutes when Balotelli's goalbound shot struck the arm of Ryan Taylor. Balotelli showed great composure in rolling a nonchalant penalty kick into the bottom right-hand corner of the Newcastle net, his sixth goal of the season.

Four minutes later, Ryan Taylor was again culpable when he failed to control Samir Nasri's pass, laying the ball into the path of Richards who delivered an impressive left-foot finish that doubled City's lead.

Nasri and Aguero continued to create major problems for the visitors but Newcastle should have reduced the deficit on the hour when a mistake by Joleon Lescott let in Ben Arfa whose tremendous shot beat Hart but not the left-hand post, the ball rebounding to safety.

Aguero continued to be in the thick of the action, forcing goalkeeper Tim Krul into one brave block and Hart did likewise in keeping out a shot from Danny Guthrie who had been allowed too much space in the City area.

But the outcome of the game was put beyond all doubt in the 71st minute when David Silva's pass sent Richards sprinting into the area only for the impressive full-back to be hauled down by Ben Arfa.

With Balotelli having been replaced by Silva, the task of penalty taker passed to Aguero who beat Krul with another calm and collected spot kick.

Newcastle continued to show self-belief, however, and claimed a deserved last-minute consolation goal when James Perch's pass was deflected into the path of Ba by Lescott. After Hart blocked the initial attempt, Gosling rolled the ball into the vacant goal.

"City are the best side we have played by some distance, they are very very powerful," Newcastle manager Alan Pardew said. "We're a good side and how we are going to evolve, how we are going to deal with the disappointment of this is still unknown."

City now turn their attentions to Tuesday's important Champions League group qualifying game against Napoli in his homeland.

"My feeling is good about the Napoli game because I think our team has improved a lot in the Champions League," Mancini said. "But I know what we will find in Naples and Napoli this season are playing very, very well at home.

"If we want to win in Naples we will have to play better than this, in the Premier League."

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45360770/ns/sports-soccer/

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SolarCycle, a Sun-Powered USB Port for You Bike

If you want to charge your gadgets while you ride your bike, then the best way has been to think ahead and get the bike fitted with a dynamo hub when you buy it. Now, there’s another option: a seat-post-mounted solar panel.
It’s called the SolarCycle Delux, and it comprises an aluminum rack along with the [...]

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Golf cart haves and have nots

A recent article in The News Herald ("New golf carts proposal floated in Lynn Haven," Nov. 9) shows the residents of Lynn Haven just who is supporting setting up a caste system in the city.

One day after the City Commission voted to deny a once-read ordinance on golf carts, the city manager/CEO/chief financial officer/head of the community/director of police entered into discussion with the city attorney to draft a new resolution/ordinance once more pitting the haves against the have nots. I don?t believe the commissioners were consulted on this "new golf cart law" or else The News Herald would have queried them on the subject.

This new resolution/ordinance supposedly differs slightly from its defeated predecessor in that it is supposed to limit the use of golf carts to only small, integrated communities (possibly gated), hinting to our one and only country club (the haves), while denying it to the overall general public (the have nots). Lynn Haven?s CEO believes that if a cart is involved in an accident the city is liable. That?s not totally true. The drivers/owners of these carts don?t realize their homeowner?s insurance does not cover this vehicle at any time.

Three of our commissioners are adamantly against the carts on the city?s streets, and are on record with some heated verbal comments. Two of our commissioners are joined at the hip in their support of the carts on the streets. The state has removed the laws governing the carts on roads/streets and leaves it up to the municipality. As it stands now (and possibly into 2012), unlicensed golf carts cannot be driven on any Lynn Haven street. That even means the crossings from green to green on the county club streets. The city?s CEO, who runs the police force, will have a field day with this law if they want to raise money by passing out tickets.

The answer to this is to have the golf carts street-ready and licensed in the state of Florida. Then they could drive on any street in the U.S. A drawback is that the license requires insurance and drivers must be licensed (not under 16 years of age).

Its going to be fun watching this political hot potato roll around the commission meetings and how may haves call City Hall and show up at commission meetings, and how many have nots show up to protect their fragile equal rights. This could get interesting.

RICHARD T. WALKER

Lynn Haven

Source: http://www.newsherald.com/articles/city-98485-golf-ordinance.html

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Kim Cattrall proves to be no coward on Broadway (AP)

NEW YORK ? Kim Cattrall was on stage recently when her past loudly interrupted.

"The curtain went up and somebody yelled out, `Love `ya, Sam!'" the actress says with a wry smile.

The "Sam" in question is, of course, the man-eater Samantha Jones from "Sex and the City." The trouble was that Cattrall wasn't playing Samantha on this night: She was trying to be Amanda in a production of Noel Coward's "Private Lives."

Momentarily shaken, Cattrall pressed on. "You just go to yourself, `Oh, that's sweet.' And then you go, `OK, let's go. Who's got the first line?' You're in character. It's just what you do."

Since putting down her last cosmopolitan in the second "Sex and the City" movie, Cattrall has politely been trying to shake off Samantha and remind people that she's also a veteran theater actress.

That mission will get easier when "Private Lives" opens Thursday at the Music Box Theatre. Cattrall steps into the role played by respected actresses including Gertrude Lawrence, Maggie Smith and Elizabeth Taylor.

It's the tale of a divorced couple who discover they have adjoining rooms while honeymooning with their new spouses and rekindle their romance. Cattrall stars opposite Paul Gross, star of the TV shows "Due South" and "Slings and Arrows."

Cattrall, 55, in person is as thoughtful and sincere as Samantha is not, a beauty with a regal air whose stunning appeal hasn't faded in the years since she was an ingenue in "Police Academy," "Mannequin" and "Porky's."

She's built a career switching from commercial films to theater, but the Samanthas in her career seem to stick more in the popular consciousness than her role in "Three Sisters." She's been in "View From the Bridge" at the Lee Strasberg Institute, in a Donmar Warehouse production of David Mamet's "The Cryptogram" and played a quadriplegic sculptor in a London production of "Whose Life Is It Anyway?"

"If you look at my resume, you'll see my theater and film ? they look like two different actors in a lot of ways," she says. "I knew from a very early age that if I wanted to be viable in the theater world, people know who you are if you have film credits."

Richard Eyre, the director of "Private Lives" and who helmed "Mary Poppins" and Indiscretions" on Broadway and also was head of the Royal National Theatre, has long been hoping to work with Cattrall.

"Quite often people think actors who have celebrity because of a TV career have not proved themselves on the stage. But she was a stage actress before she became a television actress," he says. "It doesn't go away."

The two didn't initially intend to team up for the Coward play. They actually planned to work on a production of Henrik Ibsen's "Ghosts," which created a sensation by raising the taboo topic of venereal disease. But they found out there was another production of "Ghosts" in the works that had booked a theater in London.

While searching for an alternative work, Cattrall was sent "Private Lives" by messenger. "I read like the first 15, 16 pages and I called Richard and I said, `We've got to do this. Let's leave syphilis behind,'" she says with a laugh.

"It really made me laugh. I loved the clip of it. I loved the barb of it. I loved the screwball comedy of it. I had been doing such heavy things and I thought this would be really, really great."

A successful run in London led to a stint in Toronto and now Broadway, a trans-national trip that has significance for Cattrall, who was born in Britain, grew up in Canada and now lives in New York. "This play is hitting every major stop. It's really quite astounding," she says.

While Coward plays are often considered to be frothy and mannered, Cattrall sees "Private Lives" to be ahead of its time. There are very dark elements, including allusions to wife-beating, and Cattrall's character has a feminist streak. "What he's really writing about is heterosexual relationships and the obsession of love," she says of Coward.

Cattrall, who made her Broadway debut in "Wild Honey" with Ian McKellen in 1986, has found plenty of work since "Sex and the City" began winding down. She was in a stage production of "Antony and Cleopatra" for director Janet Suzman, in the miniseries "Any Human Heart" on PBS, and in the films "Meet Monica Velour" and Roman Polanski's "The Ghost Writer" opposite Pierce Brosnan and Ewan McGregor.

The theater is where she feels happiest, though. For one thing, there are fewer Samantha Jones parts, which she now gets offered a lot. "The theater, for me, especially now, is where the best parts are," she says.

"I love Samantha but I don't think the writing could surpass what we were given on a weekly basis. And secondly, I feel like I did it to the best of my ability. To revisit it outside the actual creative team, I don't think would be that satisfying for me."

She likes to cite a lesson she learned from actor Jack Lemon. When they met, she asked him the secret of his longevity in show business. His reply is something she's taken to heart: Take things that scare you.

But she doesn't want to be preachy about it.

"I'm not interested in educating people about me and what I've done and haven't done. They can read it in the Playbill," she says. "What I want for them is, hopefully, to be entertained and have an experience that will possibly have them buy another ticket to a straight play."

___

Online:

http://www.privatelivesbroadway.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111117/ap_en_ce/us_theater_kim_cattrall

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GTA V Map Leaked? | DSOGaming | The Dark Side Of Gaming

PS3 fanboys come on saying shit all the time, yet everytime it?s always better looking on XBox, and size isnt even the issue. Look at Skyrim, doesnt even take a full Xbox DVD and it?s fine so stfu before you speak LOL. Dumb ass PS3 nerds that dont understand what they?re on about oh and, when it comes to multiplatform, which platform does it always sell most on? thats right, xbox.

Source: http://www.dsogaming.com/news/gta-v-map-leaked/

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The Best Virtual Pets

? November 16, 2011Posted in: Shows

May be during the past ten year since the new innovation of toys had been created, virtual pets.

What is virtual pet?

Then I would like you to imagine when you are having real pet, like dogs or cats that you have to tak cre of them, feed them and may be take them to sleep or take them to everywhere with you. Virtual pets are the same thing!!! Virtual pets has become very much popular among people long time ago and they have been rapidly developed in terms of technology that try to make them similar to the real pets but much more easier to look after. Particularly for children that would like to have a pet but parents seem not to agree to let them have the real pet due to some reasons. Therefore let the children enjoy with the virtual pets may be the better option. However, it is necessary to know more about this type of toys. Even though it has been introduced for a long time but still in the process of building awareness to the people. For parents who are considering to buy new one for their children may have to be enter to the world of virtual pet to ensure that they have enough information before making any decision.

Welcome to the place where make-believe is reality, at least, virtually! The Virtual pets world is a very unique place. Do you know why? This is because its members are furry, some have long tails, and others have snouts and whiskers and some have green skin! This is a jungle online with the best collection of animal dolls. These are waiting to be adopted by your child! So let us tell you more about our virtual pets right away! Virtual pets is a part of the Ganz group that deals with stuffed toys. Virtual pets is a new effort to bring back the magical world of pretend playmates for kids. If you are worrying that you can neither spend more time with your child nor get real pets for her to play with, this is the perfect solution. All you need is an Internet connection and you are all set to have a cool online pet for your little one. Each pet you see comes with a special secret code. One you decide to buy the pet, you can load your pet onto the web by using this code. Your child can freely choose any fancy name for her pet and even decide if it is going to be her or him!

The Kinzcash can be used to purchase the necessities for your kid?s pets. The kid now can select a smart home for the animal and feed it and take care of it for a whole year. This responsibility is an educational experience for the child. Virtual pets has a nice range of accessories as well. Pet parties can be arranged and your kid can even chat with the pet! There are exciting games as well. If your kid is a computer buff, then having an online pet will be a great idea.

There is more information available on nitric oxide there is a lot of information not outlined in this article, go to Author?s website to uncover extra information.

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About WemberSamperi546

Source: http://www.emmiemagazine.com/best-virtual-pets.html

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Report: 1 in 5 of US adults on behavioral meds

NEW YORK (AP) ? More than 20 percent of American adults took at least one drug for conditions like anxiety and depression in 2010, according to an analysis of prescription data, including more than one in four women.

The report, released Wednesday by pharmacy benefits manager Medco Health Solutions Inc., found that use of drugs for psychiatric and behavioral disorders rose 22 percent from 2001. The medications are most often prescribed to women aged 45 and older, but their use among men and in younger adults climbed sharply. In adults 20 to 44, use of antipsychotic drugs and treatments for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder more than tripled, and use of anti-anxiety drugs like Xanax, Valium and Ativan rose 30 percent from a decade ago.

The statistics were taken from Medco's database of prescriptions and is based on 2.5 million patients with 24 months of continuous prescription drug insurance and eligibility.

The company said women are twice as likely as men to use anxiety treatments, as 11 percent of women 45 to 65 are on an anxiety medication. Women are also more likely than men to take antipsychotic drugs like Zyprexa, Risperdal, and Abilify, which treat disorders like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. However, among men 20 to 64, use of the drugs has quadrupled over the last decade.

"There has been a significant uptick in the use of medications to treat a variety of mental health problems; what is not as clear is if more people ? especially women, are actually developing psychological disorders that require treatment, or if they are more willing to seek out help and clinicians are better at diagnosing these conditions than they once were," said Dr. David Muzina, a psychiatrist and national practice leader of Medco's Neuroscience Therapeutic Resource Center.

Pharmaceutical companies have also sought and received approvals to market their drugs to larger groups of people.

Drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are prescribed to boys more often than girls, but adult women now take the drugs more often than men. ADHD prescriptions to adult women grew 2.5 times from 2001. However ADHD prescriptions for children have been declining since 2005.

That reflects a decline in prescriptions for psychiatric and behavioral drugs for children. Medco found that prescriptions of those drugs for children have dropped since 2004, when the FDA warned they were linked to suicidal thoughts when used in people under 19. The company said less than 1 percent of children use antipsychotics drugs, although the figure has doubled since 2001.

In the "diabetes belt" states of Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi and Alabama, about 23 percent of people are on at least one psychiatric or behavioral disorder drug. Diabetes is particularly widespread in those states and the condition is associated with higher levels of depression and anxiety disorders. The lowest rate of prescriptions was found in Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Michigan, where less than 15 percent of people are using those medications.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2011-11-16-Mental%20Health%20Medications-Report/id-1260f1c0ab4c42bb95b5dea0f2ce1e67

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Pipelines at risk of failure in Montana, Wyoming (AP)

HELENA, Mont. ? Federal safety regulators disclosed problems Tuesday with oil and other hazardous liquid pipelines at seven major river crossings and hundreds of smaller crossings in Montana and northern Wyoming ? problems that could put the lines at increased risk of failure.

Problems found at the major river crossings must be fixed by spring or the companies that own them will face enforcement actions, said Chris Hoidal with the U.S. Department of Transportation.

That includes pipelines crossing the Missouri, Musselshell, Gallatin, Tongue and other rivers that are owned by three companies: Exxon Mobil, CHS and ConocoPhillips.

Many of the pipelines were installed decades ago in shallow trenches just a few feet deep beneath rivers and streams. Erosion caused in part by record flooding has since exposed the lines or left them buried under minimal cover. The consequences of one failing was highlighted by an Exxon Mobil pipeline break in July that spilled 1,000 barrels of crude into the Yellowstone River, fouling dozens of miles of riverbank.

"They've got to do something. If they can't fix them, then they will have to shut them down," said Hoidal, who oversees pipeline safety in 12 western states for the Transportation Department's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

He characterized the problems at the major crossings as putting them at a significant risk of failure. Information on the smaller crossings still is under analysis, and Hoidal said repairs to those would be scheduled on a case-by-case basis.

Hoidal said he has instructed his inspectors to take a similar look at pipelines elsewhere in the West, but the most detailed information has been collected for Montana and portions of northern Wyoming within the Missouri River basin.

Work already has been completed on one of the Montana lines, ConocoPhillips' Glacier pipeline along Belt Creek in central Montana.

Other upgrades are planned in the next several months. That includes $15 million in additional work along Exxon Mobil's Silvertip line, according to information obtained from Hoidal's agency.

A 1,700-foot section of Silvertip was buried approximately 70 feet beneath the Yellowstone in September. Sections crossing Rock Creek and the Clark's Fork are due to be replaced by late January.

An industry representative said pipeline companies have been closely examining their lines since the summer flooding and are anxious to avoid a repeat of the Silvertip break, which costs Exxon an estimated $135 million for cleanup and repair work.

"The incentive for us is these spills cost a lot of money," said Dave Galt, executive director of the Montana Petroleum Association. "All of these are being addressed and the companies take that responsibility. We don't want releases into the water."

Federal inspectors worked with state officials and the pipeline companies to survey the crossings. Initial results were delivered Tuesday to Montana's Oil Pipeline Safety Review Council, established by Gov. Brian Schweitzer in response to the Yellowstone spill.

"As long as those get fixed before the next high water, I'll feel a lot better about it," said council member Richard Opper, director of the Montana Department of Environmental Quality.

The council will meet again in February. Opper said attention will turn next to gaps in regulations governing the pipeline industry.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/environment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111115/ap_on_re_us/us_oil_spill_streams

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2 more arrested in Ramos kidnapping

/

By IAN JAMES

updated 11:40 p.m. ET Nov. 14, 2011

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelan police said Monday that two more suspects have been arrested in the kidnapping of Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos and that authorities are searching for several others.

The men, a Colombian and a Venezuelan, were detained Sunday in a car with several other people in the town of Moron, not far from where Ramos was held captive, national investigative police chief Humberto Ramirez told reporters.

Police seized revolvers from the men as well as a cellular phone "directly linked" to the kidnapping, Ramirez said at a news conference in the central city of Valencia. He said police are searching for other suspects.

Ramos was seized at gunpoint outside his family's home in Valencia last week and was rescued by police commandos two days later at a remote hideout in the mountains of Carabobo state. Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami has said four of the abductors escaped amid gunfire during the rescue.

Venezuelan authorities have now arrested eight suspects, including six men accused of direct involvement and a couple accused of providing the abductors with food.

Ramirez identified the Colombian arrested on Sunday as 26-year-old Alexander Moreno Bolanos, saying he is "linked with paramilitary groups." Ramirez didn't elaborate.

The other suspect, 32-year-old Venezuelan Arturo Francisco Rojas Yepez, is from the town of Tovar in the western state of Merida, Ramirez said.

He said authorities are searching for several other Colombians and have physical descriptions of some of the suspects as well as their nicknames.

"We're coordinating with Colombian authorities to acquire information" to help identify the men, Ramirez said.

The 24-year-old major leaguer recently returned to his homeland after his rookie year with the Nationals to play during the offseason for his Venezuelan team, the Aragua Tigers.

When he was abducted, Ramos was standing with his father and two brothers outside the front door of his family's home in their working-class neighborhood.

He said after his release that his kidnappers had carefully planned the abduction with the help of an informant who had studied his movements. Ramos said his abductors told him they were going to demand a large ransom.

It was the first known kidnapping of a Major League Baseball player in Venezuela. Kidnappings have risen sharply in the country during the past decade, and relatives of several major leaguers have previously been kidnapped for ransom.

___

Ian James on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ianjamesap

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Really worth $160 million?

PBT: One can debate whether Matt Kemp is the game?s best outfielder, but the Dodgers had to make him the game?s highest-paid to keep him beyond 2012.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45297317/ns/sports-baseball/

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