Man jailed for false claim against X factor’s Walsh (Reuters)

DUBLIN (Reuters) ? An Irish man who falsely accused television star and pop impresario Louis Walsh of groping him in a Dublin night club was jailed for six months on Wednesday. Walsh, who manages boy band Westlife and stars on the popular UK television talent show “X Factor,” was accused in June last year of …

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More seek unemployment aid, but trend is positive (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The number of people seeking unemployment benefits rose last week to a seasonally adjusted 377,000, up from a nearly four-year low the previous week. But the longer-term trend is pointing to a healthier job market. Applications have trended down over the past few months. The four week average has declined to 377,500. When …

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Was ‘Bridesmaids’ deserving of Oscar nod?

AP Debate continues over whether “Bridesmaids” deserves its Oscar nominations. By Christopher Bahn Did “Bridesmaids” get left behind at Oscar’s Best Picture altar? Or are the raunchy comedy’s two nominations already more than it deserves? Some early buzz suggested that Kristen Wiig’s R-rated wedding-disaster hit was a contender for the Academy Awards’ top prize, especially …

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Video: Can Gingrich take the GOP down?

Tanier: Patriots then hardly resemble Patriots now Tanier: But the 2011 Patriots are not the 2001 Patriots, or the 2007 Patriots, or any of the other teams that made the Super Bowl in the last 11 years. Tom Brady and Bill Belichick are the only real constants, yet they also have changed through the years. …

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Colbert gets wild with author Maurice Sendak

Comedy Central Children’s author Maurice Sendak didn’t hold back in his recent interview with Stephen Colbert. By Ree Hines Few can really stand up to Stephen Colbert when he’s in his full “Colbert Report” character, but as it turns out, ornery author Maurice Sendak gives as good as he gets. That’s the lesson “Report” viewers …

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Man jailed for false claim against X factor’s Walsh (Reuters) More seek unemployment aid, but trend is positive (AP) Was ‘Bridesmaids’ deserving of Oscar nod? Video: Can Gingrich take the GOP down? Colbert gets wild with author Maurice Sendak

Jan
27

Man jailed for false claim against X factor’s Walsh (Reuters)

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DUBLIN (Reuters) ? An Irish man who falsely accused television star and pop impresario Louis Walsh of groping him in a Dublin night club was jailed for six months on Wednesday.

Walsh, who manages boy band Westlife and stars on the popular UK television talent show “X Factor,” was accused in June last year of the assault by Leonard Watters, 24, who later retracted the allegations.

“The public must be protected from this type of untrue, unfounded allegations, he put the injured party through a lot of pain and anguish,” said District Court Judge Dermot Dempsey.

Watters said he would appeal against the sentence.

(Reporting by Conor Humphries, editing by Paul Casciato)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/music/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120125/music_nm/us_louiswalsh_xfactor_allegation

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Jan
27

More seek unemployment aid, but trend is positive (AP)

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WASHINGTON ? The number of people seeking unemployment benefits rose last week to a seasonally adjusted 377,000, up from a nearly four-year low the previous week. But the longer-term trend is pointing to a healthier job market.

Applications have trended down over the past few months. The four week average has declined to 377,500. When applications fall consistently below 375,000, it tends to signal that hiring is strong enough to lower the unemployment rate.

Some economists say the figures suggest further job gains ahead.

The nation has added at least 100,000 jobs for six straight months. And the unemployment rate has declined to 8.5 percent, its lowest in almost three years.

Separately, orders for long-lasting manufactured goods rose as companies spent more on computers, machinery and other equipment. The Commerce Department said Thursday that durable goods orders rose 3 percent last month.

Stock market futures rose after the durable goods report.

“There is more horsepower to this economy than most believe,” said Sung Won Sohn, an economics professor at California State University, Channel Islands. “The stars are aligned right for a meaningful economic recovery.”

The number of first-time unemployment applications rose 21,000 last week, the Labor Department said. Applications had plummeted two weeks ago to their lowest level since April 2008.

The average has fallen about 9 percent since Oct. 1.

Unemployment applications have been particularly volatile this month because employers have cut temporary workers hired for the holidays. The department adjusts for seasonal trends. But doing so accurately can be difficult.

But underneath all the volatility, applications have leveled off in recent weeks.

Steven Wood, an economist at Insight Economics, said the longer-term trend suggests that the January jobs report, to be released next week, will show a “solid gain” in hiring.

“The labor market is improving, albeit slowly,” Wood said in a note to clients.

Economists forecast that the nation will gain about 160,000 jobs a month in 2012, according to a survey of economists by the Associated Press. That’s up from an average of about 135,000 last year.

A better outlook for job growth has coincided with other signs of improvement in the economy. Factory output jumped in December, and consumer confidence and spending have risen. Even the battered housing market has shown some signs of slight improvement.

Still, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday that it expects growth to remain modest this year. And it forecasts only gradual declines the unemployment rate.

The Fed predicts the unemployment rate could fall as low as 8.2 percent by the end of 2012. The economy will likely expand about 2.5 percent this year.

The job market has a long way to go before it fully recovers from the damage of the Great Recession, which wiped out 8.7 million jobs. More than 13 million people remain unemployed. Millions more have given up looking for work and so are no longer counted as unemployed.

Growth could slow this year. Europe is almost certain to fall into recession because of its financial troubles. And wages aren’t keeping up with inflation. That makes it harder for consumers to spend more, potentially limiting growth.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_bi_ge/us_unemployment_benefits

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Jan
27

Was ‘Bridesmaids’ deserving of Oscar nod?

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AP

Debate continues over whether “Bridesmaids” deserves its Oscar nominations.

By Christopher Bahn

Did “Bridesmaids” get left behind at Oscar’s Best Picture altar? Or are the raunchy comedy’s two nominations already more than it deserves?

Some early buzz suggested that Kristen Wiig’s R-rated wedding-disaster hit was a contender for the Academy Awards’ top prize, especially now that the field is open to more than just five films. That didn’t happen, but “Bridesmaids” did score a supporting-actress nod for Melissa McCarthy, who played the endearingly obnoxious and sexually voracious Megan, and an original screenplay nomination for writers Wiig and Annie Mumolo.?

Best Picture was always going to be a long shot. The fact is that the Oscars have never been kind to comedies, as a look at recent years makes clear. Of the nine movies nominated for Best Picture this year, only Woody Allen’s “Midnight In Paris” is considered a comedy, and of the 10 nominations in 2010 and 2011, only the animated movies ?”Toy Story 3″ and “Up” qualify.?

Another thing to note is that all three of those films lean more toward the heartwarming than the edgy side, and the Oscars don’t tend to favor that kind of tone unless it’s in a serious, weighty drama. The bold use of gross-out humor in “Bridesmaids” surely didn’t work in its favor for the big nomination. Instead, it was honored in traditionally safe, relatively minor categories for envelope-pushers ? supporting actress and script.

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But in any case, along with successful showings for “Moneyball” and “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” the nominations for “Bridesmaids” are a victory for mainstream, populist entertainment in a race that usually leans too heavily toward the self-consciously serious.?

Some fans were thrilled for Melissa McCarthy.

McCarthy in particular makes an unusual Oscar choice ? her character is neither the long-suffering martyr or dainty model that usually gets picked. Megan is brassy, bawdy, and confidently sexual ? a testament to McCarthy’s fearless improv-comedy skills. But she’s much more likely, in the end, to be a crowd-pleasing favorite who’s mobbed on the red carpet, but?who doesn’t walk down the aisle at the Kodak Theater.?

Still, her nomination is winning acclaim among mainstream filmgoers ? based on a totally unscientific scan of Twitter, popular sentiment is solidly, maybe 80/20, in her favor. One commenter compared McCarthy’s performance to Nicole Kidman’s in “The Hours,” pointing out what the Oscars often miss: “Great comedy is harder than sticking on a prosthetic nose & looking morose.” Another took the opposite view, encapsulating the unease many feel about “Bridesmaids” and its raunchy, body-fluid-heavy humor being honored among the best achievements in cinema: “Dear God: Please don’t let Melissa McCarthy win an Oscar for pooping in a sink.”

Is “Bridesmaids” Oscar material? Does Melissa McCarthy have a chance in the supporting actress category? Tell us on Facebook.

Were two Oscar nominations right for ‘Bridesmaids’?

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Source: http://entertainment.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/24/10226027-was-bridesmaids-deserving-of-oscar-nod

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Jan
27

Video: Can Gingrich take the GOP down?

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Tanier: Patriots then hardly resemble Patriots now

Tanier: But the 2011 Patriots are not the 2001 Patriots, or the 2007 Patriots, or any of the other teams that made the Super Bowl in the last 11 years. Tom Brady and Bill Belichick are the only real constants, yet they also have changed through the years. To understand where the Patriots are now, it helps to remember, clearly, where they have been.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/46154554#46154554

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Jan
27

Colbert gets wild with author Maurice Sendak

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Comedy Central

Children’s author Maurice Sendak didn’t hold back in his recent interview with Stephen Colbert.

By Ree Hines

Few can really stand up to Stephen Colbert when he’s in his full “Colbert Report” character, but as it turns out, ornery author Maurice Sendak gives as good as he gets.

That’s the lesson “Report” viewers learned this week as?Colbert welcomed the man behind the kids’ classic “Where the Wild Things Are” to his show for a two-part interview.

In part one, which aired Tuesday night, Colbert and Sendak swapped a series of rapid-fire barbs largely focused on children.

“(Kids) are just biding their time until we’re gone and then they get our stuff,” Colbert explained. “They take our place.”

“It’s an interesting point of view,” Sendak said. “Not interesting to me, particularly ?”

Not that Sendak was sticking up for kids with his quip. As he later revealed, he likes them about “as few and far between” as he likes adults. If that seems an odd stance from a children’s author, he even grumped to Colbert that, “I didn’t set out to make children happy!”

Wednesday night’s follow-up made Tuesday’s moments seem tame. During part two of the interview, or as Colbert called it, “The Grim Colberty Tales,” the host inspired the 83-year-old author to argue, sing and give magic markers a magical try.

First Sendak gave his impressions of other writer’s kiddie classics. His take on “Green Eggs and Ham”? “Good.” And “Give a Mouse a Cookie”? “Ugh.”

“I’m with you on that one,” Colbert said. “You shouldn’t give a mouse a cookie. The mouse should earn the cookie.”

Or just go with Sendak’s option: “You should open the door and say, ‘Get the hell out of my house!’”

Later, Sendak set about the task of giving his interview rival some illustration tips, but even that took a strange turn.

“You ever sniff a marker?” Colbert asked.

“No. Is that a good thing?” Sendak responded while sniffing a marker.

“It’s a cheap high,” the host shot back.

Which might just explain Sendak’s sudden urge to break into a few bars of “I remember Pearl Harbor?yadda-da-da-da-da.”

What did you think of Colbert’s back-and-forth with Sendak? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page.

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Source: http://theclicker.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/26/10243290-stephen-colbert-gets-wild-with-author-maurice-sendak

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Jan
27

Fed adds more punch to low-rate pledge

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Larry Downing / Reuters

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has been a dominant force in pushing for more openness at the central bank.

By John W. Schoen, Senior Producer

New normal, meet the new Fed.

The Federal Reserve took two major new steps Wednesday to assure businesses and consumers that it intends to keep borrowing costs at record low levels for the foreseeable future ? at least three years.

For the first time in its 94-year history, the central bank opened its mind to the public, publishing a collection of charts that break down policymakers? forecasts on interest rates, inflation and unemployment. ?And for the first time ever, it set an explicit target for inflation, 2 percent a year, instead of an implied target.

Both steps are in keeping with Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke?s stated goal of making the Fed?s decisions ever more transparent. Economists welcomed the new moves but said they have their own risks.

The first headline to come out after central bankers ended their two-day meeting Wednesday was the news that policymakers do not expect to raise short-term interest rates until late 2014 at the earliest, rather than mid-2013 as they said a month ago.? Those record-low rates are still needed to help boost an improving but still sluggish economy, the Fed said in the new statement.??

“I think what they are seeing is that the rate of growth is not sufficient to bring down the unemployment rate,? said Brian Dolan, chief strategist at Forex.com. Unemployment stood at 8.5 percent at the latest reading in December, with 13 million Americans who would like a job unable to find one.

The latest data show the economy beginning to strengthen: Hiring has picked up, factories are increasing output and car sales are rising. Still, the threat of a recession in Europe continues to weigh on the global economy. U.S. consumers have been resorting to borrowing again to maintain spending levels that may not be sustainable.

In its latest forecast, the central bank cut its growth outlook this year but is now a bit more optimistic about the unemployment rate. It expects the U.S. economy to grow between 2.2 percent and 2.7 percent this year. That’s down from its November’s forecast of between 2.5 percent and 2.9 percent. But it sees unemployment falling as low as 8.2 percent this year, better than its earlier forecast of 8.5 percent. December’s rate was 8.5 percent.

By making its plans and expectations clear and explicit, the Fed is hoping to boost public confidence that interest rates will stay low. If the strategy works, that higher confidence will encourage investment and spending that would give the moribund economy a lift.

The plan could create problems for Fed officials down the road as economic conditions change. Though the disclosures are being billed as ?expectations,? investors have come to view the pronouncements as commitments. If events overtake the Fed?s current thinking, those expectations may have to be altered. That could undermine the credibility of these forecasts, according to Credit Suisse economists.

?Eventually, the Fed is bound to discover it cannot live up to the policy trajectory communicated to the market,? they wrote in a recent note explaining the changes in Fed?s communication strategy. ?When this happens the Fed will have enhanced its transparency at the expense of its credibility. And between those two assets, credibility is by far the more important.?

That, the economists argue, could have ?the perverse effect of encouraging greater volatility in the fixed income markets, especially when the FOMC eventually starts forecasting higher funds rate targets.?

Promising to keeping rates low to spur borrowing and spending may be a double-edged sword. Potential home buyers, for example, may be happy to sit on the fence as long as they don?t have to worry about missing out on record-low mortgage rates.

?It may take the floor away from the housing market,? said Douglas C. Borthwick, managing director at Faros Trading. ?With no apparent need for buyers to lock in lower rates today they may be more encouraged to wait a little while longer to pull the trigger. Why buy today when there may be more supply tomorrow?”

Since the Great Recession of 2007-09 and the biggest housing collapse since the 1930s, the Fed has thrown pretty much everything in its toolkit at the financial system, trying to revive the economy. Conventional moves targeting short-term lending have been followed by unorthodox schemes that included massive buying of mortgage bonds and a switch in the maturities of Treasury bonds to drive down longer-term rates. On Wednesday, the Fed announced no new plans to buy bonds.

Economists generally believe the Fed?s initial moves succeeded in heading off a deeper financial and economic collapse. But the economy is still growing slowly, and the job and housing markets are still badly broken.

The Fed has been debating for some time the idea of publishing its internal inflation and unemployment forecasts. The central bankers have been following an unofficial inflation target of about 2 percent of the last few years.

Part of the problem with publishing both inflation and unemployment targets is that, while they are both part of the Fed?s ?dual mandate,? managing the two objectives often call for conflicting policies. Controlling inflation often calls for tighter monetary policy, for example, which typically slows growth and raises the level of unemployment.

The Fed?s new rate-forecast policy may already be having the desired impact. As details of the Fed?s new policy have been disclosed, interest rates on U.S. Treasury bonds, a bellwether for borrowing costs from mortgages to corporate commercial paper, have been edging lower.

On Wednesday, Treasury yields fell on the news that the Fed plans no rate increase until late 2014 at the earliest. The yield on the 10-year note sank to 1.95 percent, down from 2.02 percent just before the Fed made its announcement.

Lower yields could help further reduce mortgage rates and possibly boost stock prices as investors shift out of lower-yielding Treasurys. Stocks, which had traded lower before the Fed announcment, quickly recovered their losses. The Dow Jones industrial average, which had been down about 60 points before the announcement, was up 81 points shortly before the close.

Is the Fed helping the economy with its latest actions?

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Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke says he will “not get involved in political rhetoric” and also shares insight on Dodd-Frank.

Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/25/10235144-fed-adds-more-punch-to-low-rate-pledge

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Jan
27

Sectarian attack kills 14 of same family in Syria (Reuters)

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AMMAN (Reuters) ? Militiamen loyal to President Bashar al-Assad killed 14 members of a Sunni family in the city of Homs on Thursday in one of the grizzliest sectarian attacks in the ten-month uprising raging in the Alawite-dominated country, activists and residents said.

Eight children, aged eight months to nine years old were among 14 Bahader family members shot or hacked to death in a building in the mixed Karm al-Zeitoun neighborhood of Homs, 140-km (88 miles) north of Damascus, they said.

The militiamen, known as ‘shabbiha’, entered the district after loyalist forces fired heavy mortar rounds on the area, killing another 16 people, residents and activists in the city told Reuters by phone.

YouTube video footage taken by activists, which could not be independently verified, showed the bodies of five children with wounds to the head and neck in a house. The bodies of three women and one man were also shown.

There was no comment from the Syrian authorities, who severely restrict independent media access to the country.

“Alawites who had remained in Karm al-Zeitoun mysteriously left four days ago, and the rumor was that they did so on orders by the authorities. Today we know why,” said a doctor in the district who did not want to be named.

“We also have seventy people wounded. Field hospitals themselves are coming under mortar fire,” he said.

Hamza, an activist in Homs said that the attack was “pure revenge” for shabbiha members being killed by army defectors loosely grouped under the Free Syrian Army.

He said Sunni families were fleeing Karm al-Zeitoun to other parts of the city, and several Sunni neighborhoods, such as Bab Sbaa, also came under fire.

Tit-for-tat sectarian killings began in Homs four months ago, following armored military assaults on Sunni areas of the city by forces led by members of Assad’s minority Alawite sect.

Mass killings have included Alawites in micro-buses on the way to their villages near Homs and Sunnis stopped at a roadblock while heading to work at a factory. Women from the two sects have been abducted and killed also, activists said.

The killings have raised the prospect of the pro-democracy protest movement against Assad turning into a civil war, as his opponents take up arms and fight back against loyalist forces cracking down on demonstrators.

The Alawite community, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam, has dominated the political system and the security apparatus in Syria, a mostly Sunni country of 20 million people, for the last five decades.

Unlike most Syrian cities, Homs has a large proportion of Alawites who moved to the city to take up jobs in the public sector and the security apparatus as Assad’s father, the late President Hafez al-Assad, shored up his power base by promoting members of his own community.

But thousands of Alawites, residents say, have left Homs for their home villages in the Alawite Mountains northwest of Homs following a spike in sectarian killings and kidnappings in the city of one million. Thousands of Sunni families have also left for other parts of Syria, and for Lebanon and Jordan.

The Revolution Council of Homs Province said in a statement that the attack on Karm al-Zeitoun “is a new tactic based on annihilating civilians to break the will the people.”

(Editing by Louise Ireland)

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

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Jan
27

Palestinian leader: Talks with Israel over

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The European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, left, and UNRWA Commissioner-General Filippo Grandi sign a financial agreement during a meeting in Gaza City, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012. Ashton is on a 3-day visit to Israel and Palestinian territories, part of her ongoing efforts to encourage the two sides to resume negotiations. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

The European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, left, and UNRWA Commissioner-General Filippo Grandi sign a financial agreement during a meeting in Gaza City, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012. Ashton is on a 3-day visit to Israel and Palestinian territories, part of her ongoing efforts to encourage the two sides to resume negotiations. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

The European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton speaks at a press conference in Gaza City, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012. Ashton is on a 3-day visit to Israel and Palestinian territories, part of her ongoing efforts to encourage the two sides to resume negotiations. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) ? A low-level dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians about a future border has ended without any breakthrough, the Palestinian president said Wednesday, reflecting the impasse plaguing the negotiations for at least three years.

President Mahmoud Abbas said he would consult with Arab allies next week to figure out how to proceed now. While frustrated with the lack of progress, Abbas is under pressure to extend the Jordanian-mediated exploratory talks, which the international community hopes will lead to a resumption of long-stalled formal negotiations on establishing a Palestinian state.

Israel said Wednesday it’s willing to continue the dialogue. Abbas didn’t close the door to continued meetings, saying he’ll decide after consultations with the Arab League on Feb. 4.

A Palestinian walkout could cost Abbas international sympathy at a time when he seeks global recognition of a state of Palestine in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, the territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.

The gaps between the leaders are vast, and Abbas believes there is no point in returning to formal negotiations without assurances, such as marking the pre-1967 war lines as a basis for border talks and halting Israeli settlement building on occupied lands. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says everything should be discussed in negotiations and insists he is serious about reaching a deal by year’s end.

Though there have been talks off and on, the last substantive round was in late 2008, when Israel informally proposed a deal and the Palestinians did not respond. When Netanyahu took office the next year, he took the proposal, including a state in most of the territories the Palestinians claim, off the table.

A round started in late 2010 by President Barack Obama quickly sputtered over the settlement issue.

Visiting EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is scheduled to meet separately over the next two days with Abbas and Netanyahu to try to salvage the exploratory talks. Two officials involved in the contacts said she is trying to put together a package of Israeli incentives that would keep the Palestinians from walking away.

“We need to keep talks going and increase the potential of these talks to become genuine negotiations,” Ashton said.

Before his meeting with Ashton, Netanyahu said, “We’ve been trying to make sure that the talks between us and the Palestinians will continue. That is our desire.”

Under Jordanian mediation, Israeli and Palestinian envoys have met several times over the past month, including on Wednesday. The Quartet of international mediators ? the U.S., the U.N., the EU and Russia ? said last fall that it expected both sides to submit detailed proposals on borders and security arrangements in these meetings.

Palestinian officials said they submitted their proposals, but that Israel did not. Abbas suggested that exploratory talks could continue if Israel presented a detailed border plan.

“If we demarcate the borders, we can return to negotiations, but Israel does not want to do that,” Abbas said Wednesday, after talks in Jordan with Jordan’s King Abdullah II. His remarks were carried by the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The Palestinians are flexible on security arrangements, but would object to any Israeli presence in a Palestinian state, he said.

Netanyahu has said he would not give up east Jerusalem, the Palestinians’ hoped-for capital, but has never outlined where he would draw a border.

Such a demarcation could set off a political firestorm in his governing coalition, particular among pro-settler parties, because it would spell out how many settlements would have to be dismantled at a minimum.

In the exploratory talks, Israel submitted a list of 21 issues that would need to be discussed, but didn’t present positions.

The Palestinians have accused Netanyahu ? a reluctant latecomer to the idea of Palestinian statehood ? of seeking negotiations as a diplomatic shield, with no real intention of reaching an agreement.

An Israeli government official said Israel is committed to reaching a full accord before the end of the year. “We hope that the Palestinians aren’t looking for an excuse to walk away from the table,” the official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters.

The two sides even disagree on how much time was set aside for these talks. The Palestinians said the deadline is Thursday, or three months after the Quartet issued its marching orders, while Israel believes it has until early April, or three months after the start of meetings.

In other developments Wednesday, the Geneva-based Interparliamentary Union protested the arrest of Hamas lawmakers by Israel in recent days. Five legislators have been arrested since last week, including Speaker Abdel Aziz Dwaik. The IPU, which represents 159 parliaments worldwide, said it is “extremely concerned” and demanded that the lawmakers be released.

Currently, 24 of 45 Hamas legislators from the West Bank are in Israeli detention on charges of membership in an illegal organization. Hamas lawmakers have been subject to arrest by Israel since the group defeated Abbas’ Fatah movement in the 2006 parliament election.

Hamas alleged that the arrests are meant to sabotage presidential and parliamentary elections, tentatively set for late spring. Hamas has said it would only participate in elections if its candidates are safe from arrest by Israel.

Israel says the arrests are not politically motivated.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-25-ML-Israel-Palestinians/id-5ea2b7e5923a408aa19eb427fe96a535

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Jan
27

AP Interview: Saudi warns of Mideast nuclear race (AP)

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DAVOS, Switzerland ? An influential member of the Saudi royal family warned Wednesday that unless the Middle East becomes a nuclear weapon-free zone, a nuclear arms race is inevitable and could include his own country, Iraq, Egypt and even Turkey.

Prince Turki Al Faisal said the five permanent U.N. Security Council members should guarantee a nuclear security umbrella for Mideast countries that join a nuclear-free zone ? and impose “military sanctions” against countries seen to be developing nuclear weapons.

“I think that’s a better way of going at this issue of nuclear enrichment of uranium, or preventing Iran from acquiring weapons of mass destruction,” the former Saudi intelligence chief and ambassador to the U.S. and Britain said in an interview with The Associated Press. “If it goes that route, I think it’s a much more equitable procedure than what has been happening in the last 10 years or so.”

Turki said establishing a nuclear weapons-free zone “deserves everybody’s attention and energy, more so than other activities which we see unfolding, whether it is redeployment of fleets in the area, whether Iranian or American or British or French, whether it is the sanctions efforts against Iran.”

The Security Council has imposed four rounds of sanctions against Iran, mainly targeting its defense and nuclear establishment, but Tehran has refused to suspend uranium enrichment and enter negotiations on its nuclear activities. It maintains its nuclear program is peaceful, aimed solely at producing nuclear energy, but the U.S. and many European nations believe Iran’s goal is to produce nuclear weapons.

Turki’s proposal could impose sanctions against Iran if there is evidence it is pursuing weapons of mass destruction, which include nuclear as well as chemical and biological weapons. But it could also put Israel under sanctions if it doesn’t come clean on its suspected nuclear arsenal.

Israel is widely believed to have an arsenal of hundreds of nuclear weapons but has avoided confirming or denying their existence.

An Arab proposal for a weapons of mass destruction-free zone was initially endorsed by the 1995 conference reviewing the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, but never acted on.

In May 2010, the 189 member nations that are party to the NPT called for convening a conference in 2012. Last October, the U.N., U.S., Russia and Britain announced that Finland will host the conference this year.

Israel is not a party to the NPT and has long said a full Arab-Israeli peace must precede such weapons bans. But at the 2010 NPT review conference, the United States, Israel’s most important ally, said it welcomed “practical measures” leading toward the goal of a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East.

It remains unclear, however, whether the U.S. or veteran Finnish diplomat Jaakko Laajava, who is serving as “facilitator” of this year’s conference, can persuade Israel to attend.

Turki said his answer to American and British diplomats who say Israel won’t accept a nuclear weapons-free zone is “So what?”

He said the five permanent members should make an announcement on the establishment of a Mideast zone free of weapons of mass destruction, or WMD, at this year’s conference in Finland.

Turki cautioned, however, that actually establishing a WMD-free zone will take negotiations in which all the underlying issues in the region, from the establishment of a Palestinian state to the future of the Golan Heights, “will have to be dealt with to make the zone workable.”

“So there are incentives there for everybody to be serious about establishing an overall peace so the zone can be put in place,” he said.

Turki warned that if there is no WMD-free zone in the Mideast, “inevitably” there is going to be a nuclear arms race “and that’s not going to be in the favor of anybody.”

The Gulf states are committed not to acquire WMD, he said. “But we’re not the only players in town. You have Turkey. You have Iraq which has a track record of wanting to go nuclear. You have Egypt. They had a very vibrant nuclear energy program from the 1960s. You have Syria. You have other players in the area that could open Pandora’s box.”

Asked whether Saudi Arabia would maintain its commitment against acquiring WMD, Turki said: “What I suggest for Saudi Arabia and for the other Gulf states … is that we must study carefully all the options, including the option of acquiring weapons of mass destruction. We can’t simply leave it for somebody else to decide for us.”

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_re_eu/eu_davos_forum_nuclear_mideast

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Jan
27

ABC Finally Admits Emily Maynard is The Bachelorette

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ABC finally confirmed the news we’ve been all but sure of for over a week: Emily Maynard is getting her second shot at love on The Bachelorette in 2012!

The 25-year-old single mom from North Carolina, will footsteps of Ashley Hebert … who she bested for Brad Womack’s love on The Bachelor last spring.

Maynard, who went on to split with Brad last summer, will begin filming in March, a source said, adding, “She’s looking for a man … not a little boy.”

An interesting comment, since Brad is more than a decade older than Em.

An Emily Maynard Photo

The West Virginia native, who resides in Charlotte, N.C., with her 6-year-old daughter Ricki, was previously engaged to NASCAR driver and owner Ricky Hendrick.

He died in a plane crash in October 2004 while Maynard was pregnant, but before she even realized it. She went on to name their daughter after her late fiance.

“Emily’s strength, passion and southern charm – as a mother and as a woman – would make anyone happy to make her his wife,” ABC says in a press release.

“She found love again with Brad and, even though it didn’t work out, she realized that the series can work. Among those 25 men, she is looking for someone who makes her laugh, doesn’t take himself too seriously and can be her best friend.”

“Emily Maynard is hoping that the third time is the charm.”

Emily Maynard as The Bachelorette: Good pick?

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/abc-finally-admits-emily-maynard-will-be-the-bachelorette/

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