'Smash': a TV drama mashed up with original songs (AP)

NEW YORK ? As TV series go, "Smash" does a smashing job of abstaining from the usual: no courtrooms, no operating rooms, no interrogation rooms.

Meanwhile, this new NBC musical drama puts a bright, sexy sheen on one of filmdom's most timeless tropes: Hey, kids, let's put on a show! Which "Smash" does, embedding original songs and dance into the TV drama's narrative.

Premiering Monday, "Smash" tracks the genesis of a Broadway musical from multiple perspectives, including those of composer and lyricist, producer and director-choreographer, and the two rival actresses competing for its title role: Marilyn Monroe.

Ah, Marilyn!

"There was something about her ? how much she wanted to love and be loved," says Debra Messing, who plays the lyricist, getting all dreamy-eyed as she imagines the project's possibilities.

Her early vision of Marilyn is soon turned into a number called "Let Me Be Your Star" ("To do what she can/ For the love of one man/ And for millions who love from afar"), with both would-be Marilyns performing it in an explosive finale to the first episode.

But "Smash" is no more single-minded about charting a Broadway show's long journey from raw concept to opening night than "The West Wing" was about obsessing over how a bill wends its way from Congress to the president's desk.

"Their day job happens to be putting together a show, but their lives aren't really about that," says Craig Zadan, who, with partner Neil Meron, is among the many "Smash" executive producers. "We also have adoption, divorce, infidelity and disapproving parents from the Midwest in our story lines. We've put in as many human, universal qualities as we can: It's a story about wish fulfillment."

Rest assured, no one solves a crime or diagnoses a disease. Even so, Meron suggests that "Smash" could still be called a procedural.

"The goal would be to have a Broadway show created every season, and have our characters involved with creating each of them," he says.

What "Smash" won't be, he quickly adds, is a sort of "Glee"-for-adults, as some viewers may have assumed.

"We don't think that it's anything like `Glee,'" Meron declares. "But we thank God for `Glee,' because it got viewers used to watching people sing on TV dramas."

One big difference: While "Glee" does covers of popular songs, "Smash" will introduce and compile original songs (splendidly conceived by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman of "Hairspray") for the "Marilyn the Musical" show-within-a-show. Then, possibly, that pretend musical might be mounted for real.

"By season's end, we're going to have at least 15 songs," Meron says, "and if we really like how the `Marilyn' musical is turning out, we might actually put it on Broadway. Why not?"

Presumably, this attempt would go better than the first shot, "Marilyn: An American Fable," which opened in 1983 and ran for 17 performances. "A huge flop!" composer Tom Levitt (Christian Borle) and his collaborator Julia Houston (Messing) say in unison.

And yet they can't resist giving Marilyn another chance.

In the large "Smash" ensemble, Messing plays perhaps the series' central character in Julia, who is torn between her happy domestic life with a loving husband and son, and the addictive, all-consuming demands of the musical.

"I hate the theater, I really do," says Julia's schoolteacher husband (Brian d'Arcy James) when he learns she has broken her promise to take some time off for the family, and instead has plunged into the Marilyn project.

As a youngster, Messing, best known for the long-running comedy "Will & Grace," had her own dreams of being a Broadway musical star. She remembers seeing "Annie" when she was 8 "and wanting to jump on stage and be in `It's the Hard-Knock Life' with all the other girls." Then she sang in high school musicals.

On "Smash," she finally has a taste of that professional world: "I got to sing a song my character wrote, and it was thrilling and terrifying, especially considering the company I'm keeping with this cast.

"The rest of the time, I get to watch the really talented singers, and enjoy."

Initially proposed a couple of years ago by Steven Spielberg (another "Smash" executive producer along with his DreamWorks colleagues Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank), the show quickly became a passion project of Robert Greenblatt, then head of pay-cable network Showtime, for which it was being developed. But when he jumped to NBC as its chairman last January, he wasn't about to leave "Smash" behind.

Greenblatt unveiled the finished product at a gala premiere party last week at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. There, in a refreshingly unguarded moment, he told the gathered what "Smash" means to him and the rest of the team: "You work hard on every single show, but your heart isn't always in it. Well, with `Smash,' everyone's heart is in it."

Of course, it's Greenblatt's best shot at redeeming his first year at NBC, which remains in the ratings cellar after a slate of lackluster fall premieres. There's no mystery why NBC is hyping "Smash" like mad.

Greenblatt's arrival with "Smash" at NBC pleased Zadan.

"Sometimes you have a series that you wish to be on cable, because you want the edge," he says. "But this is a universal-appeal show, and really works better on a network than on cable."

Zadan (whose many credits with Meron include the musical films "Hairspray" and "Chicago" and the Lifetime series "Drop Dead Diva") is talking with a reporter at "Smash" production headquarters in a converted factory in Brooklyn's Greenpoint neighborhood. He is in the rehearsal studio, which is both a set for the show and the actual rehearsal space where "Smash" dance numbers are created by the series' choreographer, Josh Bergasse. (As often happens with "Smash," reality and make-believe are intertwined.)

"This," says Zadan, "is a Cinderella story." But just who will be crowned, launched from unknown status to Broadway royalty, remains in flux the first season, as the characters Ivy (played by Megan Hilty) and Karen (played by Katharine McPhee) go head-to-head for the Marilyn role, their prospects alternately rising and falling. Week after week, viewers will surely be rooting for their favorite, as if this were a scripted version of "American Idol" (on which McPhee, of course, was runner-up in 2006).

"The show gives viewers a chance to see the behind-the-scenes deal when producers and writers have to choose between two people they think are both great," says McPhee.

She has been on the receiving end of such torturous choices.

"Karen is more naive than I am," McPhee says, "but her struggle ? trying to get attention, better representation, a casting person to see you, callbacks ? I know what that's like. I've lived it."

While Karen is talented but green, Ivy is experienced ? maybe a little too experienced ? but has never been able to escape the chorus line.

"I think a lot of people can relate to her, simply because everybody knows what it's like to be stuck in their career and desperate to make that next step," Hilty says. "Ivy is at the point where she's willing to do just about anything" ? a knowing laugh ? "to get there. The stakes are that high for her."

Like Ivy, Hilty grew up in the theater, and she starred on Broadway in "9 to 5: The Musical" in the Dolly Parton role. "I think we're both ambitious that way. I think Ivy's willing to do a little bit more than I am" ? another laugh ? "but I admire her for her aspirations."

"Smash" has radiant moments as a feel-good fantasy. But it boasts savvy footing. It's populated by Broadway pros on both sides of the camera (for example, creator-executive producer Theresa Rebeck, who wrote a number of the episodes, is currently represented on Broadway as writer of the new comedy "Seminar").

Observes Christian Borle (whose Broadway credits include "Legally Blonde: The Musical" and "Spamalot"), "There's a real theater pedigree among everyone on the `Smash' creative team. You have a sense they're trying to get all the details right for all the people who live in New York and work on Broadway, who will be watching to see if we get it right."

"Smash" gets it just right, according to show-biz veteran Anjelica Huston, who plays the Broadway producer spearheading "Marilyn The Musical."

"I think it's kind of right on the money," Huston says. "It's not without a certain gloss, but at the same time, I think it's very reflective of what goes on in show business, and in life. It captures how people move up ? and how people are moved out."

That's the drama of "Smash" ? honest, but dazzling and magic, with brand-new songs and dance. For the viewer, it borders on the miraculous. Who wouldn't want to get into this act?

___

EDITOR'S NOTE ? Frazier Moore is a national television columnist for The Associated Press. He can be reached at fmoore(at)ap.org and at http://www.twitter.com/tvfrazier

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_en_ot/us_ap_on_tv_smash

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Syrian troops push back in fight on Damascus edges (AP)

BEIRUT ? Syrian forces pushed dissident troops back from the edge of Damascus in heavy fighting Monday, escalating efforts to take back control of the capital's eastern doorstep ahead of key U.N. talks over a draft resolution demanding that President Bashar Assad step aside.

Gunfire and the boom of shelling rang out in several suburbs on Damascus' outskirts that have come under the domination of anti-regime fighters. Gunmen ? apparently army defectors ? were shown firing back in amateur videos posted online by activists. In one video, a government tank on the snow-dusted mountain plateau towering over the capital fired at one of the suburbs below.

As the bloodshed increased, with activists reporting more than 40 civilians killed Monday, Western and Arab countries stepped up pressure on Assad's ally Russia to overcome its opposition to the resolution.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and the British and French foreign ministers were heading to New York to push for backing of the measure during talks Tuesday at the United Nations.

"The status quo is unsustainable," Clinton said, saying the Assad regime was preventing a peaceful transition and warning that the resulting instability could "spill over throughout the region."

The draft resolution demands that Assad halt the crackdown and implement an Arab peace plan that calls for him to hand over power to his vice president and allow creation of a unity government to pave the way for elections.

If Assad fails to comply within 15 days, the council would consider "further measures," a reference to a possible move to impose economic or other sanctions.

Moscow, which in October vetoed the first council attempt to condemn Syria's crackdown, has shown little sign of budging in its opposition. It warns that the new measure could open the door to eventual military intervention, the way an Arab-backed U.N. resolution led to NATO airstrikes in Libya.

A French official said the draft U.N. resolution has a "comfortable majority" of support from 10 of the Security Council's 15 members, meaning Russia or China would have to use its veto power to stop it. The official said Russia had agreed to negotiate on the draft, but it was not yet clear if it would be willing to back it if changes were made.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with department rules.

The Kremlin said Monday it was trying to put together negotiations in Moscow between Damascus and the opposition. It said Assad's government has agreed to participate; the opposition has in the past rejected any negotiations unless violence stops.

Western countries cited the past week's escalation in fighting to pressure Moscow.

"Russia can no longer explain blocking the U.N. and providing cover for the regime's brutal repression," a spokeswoman for British Prime Minister David Cameron said, on customary condition of anonymity in line with policy.

The United Nations estimated several weeks ago that more than 5,400 people have been killed in Syria's crackdown on the uprising against Assad's rule, which began in March. It has been unable to update the figure, and more than 200 people have been killed in the past five days alone, according to activists' reports.

Pro-Assad forces have fought for three days to take back a string of suburbs on the eastern approach to Damascus, mostly poorer, Sunni-majority communities. In past weeks, army defectors ? masked men in military attire wielding assault rifles ? set up checkpoints in the communities, defending protesters and virtually seizing control.

Late Sunday, government troops retook two of the districts closest to Damascus, Ein Tarma and Kfar Batna, said Rami Abdul-Rahman, the London-based head of the Syrian Human Rights Observatory, which tracks violence through contacts on the ground.

On Monday, the regime forces were trying to retake the next suburbs out, pounding neighborhoods with shelling and heavy machine guns in the districts of Saqba, Arbeen and Hamouriya, he said.

At least five civilians were killed in the fighting near Damascus, according to the Observatory and another activist group, the Local Coordination Committees.

Regime forces also heavily shelled buildings and battled dissidents in the central city of Homs, one of the main hot spots of the uprising, activists said.

The Observatory reported 28 killed in the city Monday. The Local Coordination Committees put the number at 27.

The reports could not be independently confirmed. Syrian authorities keep tight control on the media and have banned many foreign journalists from entering the country.

The Syrian Interior Ministry, in charge of security forces, said Monday that its three-day operation in the suburbs aimed to track down "terrorist groups" that have "committed atrocities" and vowed to continue until they were wiped out. Damascus had remained relatively quiet while most other Syrian cities have slipped into chaos since the uprising began.

Regime forces, backed by tanks and armored vehicles, heavily outgun and outnumber the defectors, organized into a force known as the Free Syrian Army. However, the military can't cover everywhere at once, and when it puts down the dissidents in one location, they arise in another. The dissidents' true numbers are unknown.

The result has been a dramatic militarization of a crisis that began with peaceful protests demanding the ouster of the Assad family and its regime. The army defectors began by protecting protesters, but over the weeks they have gone more on the offensive.

The dissidents have seemed increasingly confident in hit-and-run attacks.

On Monday, they freed five imprisoned comrades in an assault on a military base in the northeastern province of Idlib, the Observatory and Local Coordination Committees reported. Other defectors attacked a large military checkpoint outside Hama, destroying several transport trucks and claiming to kill a number of troops, the two groups said.

Six government soldiers were killed in an ambush on their vehicles in the southern region of Daraa, the state news agency SANA reported. The Observatory reported two other soldiers and 10 defectors killed in fighting elsewhere.

Attackers also blew up a gas pipeline near the border with Lebanon, SANA reported, the latest in numerous attacks on Syria's oil and gas infrastructure.

Because of the upsurge in violence, the Arab League halted a month-old observer mission, which had already come under heavy criticism for failing to stop the crackdown. The League turned to the U.N. Security Council to throw its weight behind its peace plan, which Damascus has rejected.

The move resembles the turn of events before last year's NATO air campaign in Libya, when Western countries waited for Arab League support before winning U.N. cover for intervention.

But so far, there has been little appetite for a similar campaign in Syria. There is no clear-cut geographical divide between the regime and its opponents as there was in Libya, and the opposition is even more divided and unknown than it was in the North African nation. Syria is intertwined in alliances with Iran, Hezbollah and Palestinian militant groups, and borders Israel ? making the fallout from military action more unpredictable.

___

AP correspondents Bradley Klapper in Washington and Jamey Keaten in Paris contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/terrorism/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_syria

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Power paradox: Clean might not be green forever

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As energy demand grows, even alternative energy sources such as wind, solar and nuclear fusion could begin to affect the climate

"A better, richer and happier life for all our citizens." That's the American dream. In practice, it means living in a spacious, air-conditioned house, owning a car or three and maybe a boat or a holiday home, not to mention flying off to exotic destinations.

The trouble with this lifestyle is that it consumes a lot of power. If everyone in the world started living like wealthy Americans, we'd need to generate more than 10 times as much energy each year. And if, in a century or three, we all expect to be looked after by an army of robots and zoom up into space on holidays, we are going to need a vast amount more. Where are we going to get so much power from?

It is clear that continuing to rely on fossil fuels will have catastrophic results, because of the dramatic warming effect of carbon dioxide. But alternative power sources will affect the climate too. For now, the climatic effects of "clean energy" sources are trivial compared with those that spew out greenhouse gases, but if we keep on using ever more power over the coming centuries, they will become ever more significant.

While this kind of work is still at an early stage, some startling conclusions are already beginning to emerge. Nuclear power - including fusion - is not the long-term answer to our energy problems. Even renewable energies such as wind power will have to be used with caution, because large-scale extraction could have both local and global effects. These effects are not necessarily a bad thing, though. We might be able to exploit them to geoengineer the climate and combat global warming.

There is a fundamental problem facing any planet-bound civilisation, as Eric Chaisson of the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, points out. Whatever you use energy for, it almost all ends up as waste heat.

Much of the electrical energy that powers your mobile phone or computer ends up heating the circuitry, for instance. The rest gets turned into radio waves or light, which turn into heat when they are absorbed by other surfaces. The same is true when you use a mixer in the kitchen, or a drill, or turn on a fan - unless you're trying to beam radio signals to aliens, pretty much all of the energy you use will end up heating the Earth.

We humans use a little over 16 terawatts (TW) of power at any one moment, which is nothing compared with the 120,000 TW of solar power absorbed by the Earth at the same time. What matters, though, is the balance between how much heat arrives and how much leaves (see "Earth's energy budget"). If as much heat leaves the top of the atmosphere as enters, a planet's temperature remains the same. If more heat arrives, or less is lost, the planet will warm. As it does so, it will begin to emit more and more heat until equilibrium is re-established at a higher temperature.

See diagramm: "Earth's energy budget"

Over the past few thousand years, Earth was roughly in equilibrium and the climate changed little. Now levels of greenhouse gases are rising, and roughly 380 TW less heat is escaping. Result: the planet is warming.

The warming due to the 16 TW or so of waste heat produced by humans is tiny in comparison. However, if humanity manages to thrive despite the immense challenges we face, and keeps on using more and more power, waste heat will become a huge problem in the future. If the demand for power grew to 5000 TW, Chaisson has calculated, it would warm the planet by 3 ?C.

This waste-heat warming would be in addition to the warming due to rising CO₂ levels. What's more, since this calculation does not take into account any of the feedbacks likely to amplify the effect, well under 5000 TW may produce this degree of warming.

Such colossal power use might seem implausible. Yet if our consumption continues to grow exponentially - it has been increasing by around 2 per cent per year this century despite rising prices - we could reach this point around 2300.

Chaisson describes his work as a "back of the envelope" calculation done in the hope someone would prove him wrong. So far no one has. On the contrary, preliminary modelling by Mark Flanner of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, suggests that waste heat would cause large industrialised regions to warm by between 0.4 ?C and 0.9 ?C by 2100, in agreement with Chaisson's estimates (Geophysical Research Letters, vol 36, p L02801). Normal climate models do not include the waste-heat effect.

Does this mean human civilisation has to restrict itself to using no more than a few hundred terawatts of energy? Not necessarily. It depends on where the energy comes from. If you turn the sun's energy into electricity and use it to boil your kettle, it won't make the planet any warmer than if that same energy had instead gone into heating up the tiles on your roof. But if you boil your kettle using energy from fossil fuels or a nuclear power plant, you are adding extra heat. "The only energy that is not going to additionally heat the Earth is solar and its derivatives," says Chaisson, referring to sources driven by the sun's heat - wind, hydro and waves.

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Abbott wins 3rd US title with mesmerizing grace

Jeremy Abbott salutes the crowd after his routine in the men's free skate at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in San Jose, Calif., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Jeremy Abbott salutes the crowd after his routine in the men's free skate at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in San Jose, Calif., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Jeremy Abbott laughs while holding up his first place medal after winning the men's free skate event at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in San Jose, Calif., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Jeremy Abbott competes in the men's free skate at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in San Jose, Calif., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Jeremy Abbott competes in the men's free skate at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in San Jose, Calif., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Jeremy Abbott competes in the men's free skate at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in San Jose, Calif., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) ? Rust will no longer be Johnny Weir and Olympic champion Evan Lysacek's only worry if they come back.

Jeremy Abbott proved he's capable of contending with the best in the world ? past and present ? in winning his third title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on Sunday. Needing only to stay on his feet to claim the title, he put on a sublime display of quiet elegance and superior skill that was simply bewitching.

"I skate to give a performance like that and so I felt really good," Abbott said. "I was really nervous when I started, I was shaking a little bit. But from the second I set for the quad I was like, 'I'm going to do this.' I just really took it into my hands and made sure that I did what I needed to do."

His final score of 273.58 was the highest ever at the U.S. championships, and puts him within striking distance of world champion Patrick Chan. It was about 12 points better than 2006 Olympic champion Evgeni Plushenko scored in winning his seventh European title Saturday.

Adam Rippon, a two-time junior world champion, was second. Ross Miner finished third for a second straight year.

Earlier Sunday, Caydee Denney and John Coughlin won their first pairs title together after winning the previous two years with other partners.

The U.S. men have been in a bit of a funk without Lysacek and Weir the past two years. No one's come close to winning a medal at the world championships, and the Americans did so poorly last year they actually lost the third spot they've had since 2002.

Abbott is one of the most technically sound skaters in the world, with beautiful edges that carve the ice like a master craftsman and perfect body control. He's also one of the few skaters who has managed to maintain the balance between the performance quality that makes figure skating so entertaining and the tough physical tricks the system now demands. But he's never been commanded the international respect Lysacek and Weir did, flopping at the 2009 world championships and again at the Vancouver Olympics.

Even last year, when the U.S. title was there for his taking with Lysacek and Weir gone, Abbott struggled so mightily he failed to even make the world team.

But Abbott is a different man now, and the rest of the world ? Lysacek and Weir included ? would do well to take notice.

"When I was competing with (Lysacek and Weir), both had these larger-than-life personalities and took all the attention," Abbott said. "I really feel I've come into my own. I feel like, with them coming back, it would be just like any other competition. Personally I wouldn't feel any different with them than without them."

Abbott landed the only quadruple jump of the day, and his spins were so tight and perfectly centered that coaches will no doubt be asking for a DVD of them. But it was his presence that was truly spectacular. He picked the music for his free skate, a Muse song that he found on his iPod. He played a part in the choreography, too, resulting in perfect harmony between skater and song. It was as if he let the music wash over him and tell his skates what to do. The audience was so spellbound you could hear his blades carving the ice, and it wasn't until the final notes of his music faded that fans erupted in applause.

Abbott, meanwhile, was so caught up in his own moment that he stood at center ice for a good 10 seconds, not moving a muscle.

"I really at that moment was just feeling the energy of the audience. It was a cool moment to see," Abbott said. "I've won this twice before but both times it was a little surreal and I didn't get the opportunity to take it all in. This time I was lucid and calm. I got to take in the moment and the energy.

"No tears were shed," he cracked. "I was just really enjoying the moment."

The only damper on his day was news that his stepfather, Allen Scott, had blacked out during his performance. The 64-year-old Scott was taken to a hospital, and Abbott said he was able to talk with him.

"His heart rate is down. His blood pressure is really high, but he's coherent," Abbott said. "He's OK and my whole family is with him."

If Abbott comes remotely close to this performance at the world championships in March, it will go a long way toward regaining that third spot. Abbott and Rippon will need to finish with a combined placement of 13 or better.

"It's very important to our federation and other skaters," Rippon said. "But going into worlds, it won't be my focus. This competition was about getting all the monkeys off my back and being able to move forward from that. I know I'm capable of a lot more than I did today and hope that I can show that (at worlds)."

Rippon will need a bit more energy than he had Sunday, when he skated tentative and flat, as if he was trying to hold onto his spot on the podium rather than move up.

He's lucky he didn't get a ticket for loitering as he geared up for a triple axel-step-double toe combination, holding his edge on the entry for what seemed like forever and leaving no doubts about what was coming. Not only did he not do his planned quadruple salchow, he only did a double. A well-done double but a double nonetheless, with nowhere near the point value of a quad or even a triple.

What saved Rippon was his artistry. He has the extension of a ballet dancer, and he used every part of his body, from the tips of his toes to the top of his head, to express his music.

"It wasn't completely perfect, but I'm very proud of what I did," Rippon said.

Armin Mahbanoozadeh, a distant third after the short program, needed a strong effort to have any chance of overtaking Rippon and making the world team. He went the opposite direction, instead, dropping off the podium after taking a big splat on his quadruple toe attempt and turning out on the landings of two other jumps.

Miner took advantage, moving up a spot with a strong program that had only one error, a fall on a triple axel.

Denney and Coughlin had won the last two U.S. titles, each with a different partner. They teamed up in May and, even in a sport where couples have all the stability of Jell-O, their matchup came just three weeks after Coughlin and Caitlin Yankowskas finished sixth at the world championships.

Clearly, though, Denney and Coughlin knew what they were doing. As good as each other was with someone else, they're that much better together. Their performance Sunday was one of the best of the entire week in any discipline, any event. The highlight was their carry lift. Coughlin carried Denney three-quarters of the way around the rink, and did it with such speed and strength she looked as light as a feather pillow. Midway through, she switched positions, turning in the opposite direction of the way he was skating.

You know how tough it is to pat your head and rub your stomach at the same time? Try that, times 10.

"I've been dreaming all week about doing that carry after skating clean and that feeling from the audience," Coughlin said. "Oh, I had so much fun."

___

Follow Nancy Armour at http://www.twitter.com/nrarmour

Associated Press

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Information from Australian PM's aide led to clash (AP)

CANBERRA, Australia ? A clash between protesters and Australian police that forced bodyguards to rush Prime Minister Julia Gillard out of an event appears to have been set off by information released by one of Gillard's own aides.

The aide, media adviser Tony Hodges, resigned. Gillard's office said Friday that he told someone that opposition leader Tony Abbott would be at the awards ceremony where the clash occurred. A spokesperson said in a statement that the information was passed on to indigenous-rights protesters who were demonstrating nearby.

The protesters were angry about comments Abbott made about their movement, and about 200 of them surrounded the Canberra restaurant where the ceremony was being held. Gillard stumbled as she was rushed out and lost a shoe, which the protesters picked up.

Gillard said Saturday that Hodges acted alone, and that she accepted his resignation because she considered his conduct unacceptable. She said she was upset that protesters disrupted the awards ceremony, which honored Australians for their service and courage during recent natural disasters.

Abbott on Saturday demanded more details and an investigation into what he called a "serious security breach." He told Sky News the incident appeared to be an attempt to "trigger something potentially dire for political advantage."

"Trouble was triggered and it seems that someone from the prime minister's office had a very big hand in all of that," he said.

Gillard said the suggestion that she played a role in the clash was "deeply offensive" and added that "it is absolutely typical of Mr Abbott's negativity and his tendency to go too far."

The restaurant where Thursday's clash occurred is close to the so-called Aboriginal Tent Embassy, where the protesters had demonstrated peacefully earlier in the day. That long-standing, ramshackle collection of tents and temporary shelters is a center point of protests against Australia Day, which marks the arrival of the first fleet of British colonists in Sydney on Jan. 26, 1788.

The Tent Embassy celebrated its 40th anniversary on Thursday, and Abbott had earlier angered activists by saying it was time the embassy "moved on." Abbott said Friday that his comment had been misinterpreted, and that he never meant to imply the embassy should be torn down.

The blue suede shoe Gillard lost was handed to a security guard at Parliament House late Friday and taken to her office.

(This version corrects that adviser resigned rather than was fired.)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_re_as/as_australia_indigenous_protest

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Finance chiefs reassure CEOs over European crisis (AP)

DAVOS, Switzerland ? Leading finance chiefs sought to reassure anxious global business leaders on Friday that Europe is on track to solve its crippling debt crisis before it drags the world's economies down. Europe's top banker said investors, burned after trusting the region's governments too much, now trust them too little.

The finance chiefs said the picture in Europe has changed over the past two months as the European Central Bank has loaned billions of euros to fragile banks, indebted countries have pushed through convincing reforms and EU leaders have come near to building a closer fiscal union that would make their common currency stronger.

Several also signaled Friday that Greece is close to clinching a crucial debt-reduction deal with private bondholders ? a key element in Europe's efforts to stem a two-year debt crisis that is causing ripples around the globe. The crisis is a central topic at the World Economic Forum, a gathering of government and business leaders at the Swiss ski resort of Davos.

"They're making progress on reforms, they're changing the institutions of Europe to put better discipline on fiscal policy," said U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. "You have three new governments doing some very tough things. You have an ECB doing what central banks have to do. You see them move to try to strengthen the financial sector."

Mario Draghi, head of the European Central Bank, said a combination of actions ? including super-cheap, long-term loans to shaky banks on the continent and a couple of interest rate cuts ? have turned the crisis around.

"We have avoided a major credit crunch, a major lending crisis," he said.

Draghi said borrowing rates would remain high "for quite a while" because bond markets are overestimating the risk involved in holding European government debt after years of underestimating it. But he called market pressure "the most potent engine for reform in different governments."

Geithner said the fate of the U.S. economy ? and by extension of the rest of the world ? hinges on Europe's debt crisis, along with potential tensions with Iran. He said the main piece of unfinished business for Europe is building a bigger fund to help troubled economies survive.

But while French Finance Minister Francois Baroin said that fund needs to be increased to calm markets, his German counterpart, Wolfgang Schaeuble, indicated that his government is not prepared to do so. Germany, as Europe's biggest economy, would face the biggest bill.

"We must not give the wrong incentives," Schaeuble said. "You can make any figure. It will not work if the real problems will not be solved."

Both, together with Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos Jurado and European Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn, agreed that the idea of issuing "eurobonds" backed jointly by all eurozone governments is a non-starter for now. They didn't rule out the possibility that such bonds could be introduced once confidence in Europe's public finances is restored, with Guindos calling that a "final target."

Schaeuble said eurobonds would provide bad incentives by allowing debt-ridden countries to "spend money you don't have on the bill of others."

Many economists have said eurobonds are needed to solve the crisis as they could reduce the borrowing costs of heavily indebted countries by pooling them with bonds of stronger economies like Germany's.

European leaders have been especially concerned about Greece, whose borrowing costs are so high that it needs a second European bailout just to pay its interest, but the finance chiefs signaled Friday that a deal is at hand.

Greece has been negotiating with the a group representing banks and other lenders in the hopes that they will forgive half of Greece's debt in exchange for Greek assurances that it will pay back the other half without defaulting on its loans. The deal would also let Greece repay over a longer period at a lower interest rate ? negotiators have been trying to agree on what that rate will be.

Schaeuble said he is "quite optimistic" about a deal, while Rehn said he hopes a deal can be reached "if not today, maybe by the weekend."

Agreement between Greece and its creditors is needed before Europe and the International Monetary Fund agree to a second multibillion-euro bailout package.

At the heart of the problem is that the 17 countries that use the euro use a single currency but have different fiscal policies. That changes the nature of their debt, said Adair Turner, chairman of Britain's banking regulator the Financial Services Authority.

"That debt is more equivalent to the State of California debt than the U.S. federal debt," he said.

That's why all but one of the 27 EU countries ? the United Kingdom has refused to participate ? are discussing a closer fiscal union. On Monday, leaders meet in Brussels to work out the details of that new compact.

Schaeuble and Baroin noted that even the agreement in principle to forge closer ties has calmed markets since a December summit, as borrowing rates have dropped and stock markets have risen.

"It's amazing," Draghi said. "If you compare today with even five months ago, the euro area is another world."

The crisis threatens more than Europe: the U.N.'s refugee chief warned Friday that it is fueling conflicts around the world. Antonio Guterres told The Associated Press that rising food prices and growing unemployment are hitting those already at the bottom hardest, sparking conflict in places like South Sudan and exacerbating hotspots including Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia.

_____

Frank Jordans in Davos and David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany contributed to this story.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_davos_forum

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NBC objects to Mitt Romney?s ?history lesson? ad (Washington Post)

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World stocks slide as US growth data disappoint (AP)

LONDON ? World stocks turned lower on Friday after official data showed the U.S. economic recovery was not as fast as many had hoped.

The Commerce Department said that the U.S. economy, the world's largest, grew at a modest 2.8 percent in the final three months of last year. While that is the fastest growth in 2011, economists had expected growth of 3 percent.

A cut in government spending was offset partly by a rise in inventories, which are expected to slow back down in the early months of 2012, hurting growth. After that, "growth will pick up again by late spring," said Harm Bandholz, chief U.S. economist at UniCredit Bank.

With the data suggesting the U.S. recovery would continue to be a slow process, investors sold off stocks to cash in on gains made so far this month.

Britain's FTSE 100 was down 1.0 percent to 5,735.64 while Germany's DAX fell 0.5 percent at 6,508.98 and France's CAC-40 lost 1.2 percent to 3,322.46. The euro was up 0.3 percent at $1.3142.

Wall Street edged lower on the open ? the Dow Jones industrial average fell 44 points to 12,691 and the S&P 500 3 points to 1,315.

Other economic and corporate news released Friday contributed to sour market sentiment.

Consumer products maker Procter & Gamble Co. cut its earnings outlook and Ford Motor Co. fell short of Wall Street expectations, while Japanese games and electronics companies Nintendo and NEC issued profit warnings.

In Europe, traders digested grim statistics from Spain showing more than 5 million people without jobs. The National Statistics Institute said the jobless rate shot up from 21.5 percent ? already the highest in the eurozone ? to 22.8 percent in the fourth quarter.

Attention was also focused on the resumption of talks to reach a deal on how Greece can avoid a catastrophic default on its debt. Greece and its bailout rescuers ? other countries that use the euro and the International Monetary Fund ? are asking private creditors to swap their Greek bonds for new ones with a lower value, interest rate and much longer maturity.

The two sides have so far disagreed over what interest rate the new bonds should take. Some negotiators have said they hope to have a deal this weekend, in time for a European leaders' meeting on Monday.

While investors appear to expect a deal at some point ? the euro was up and eurozone borrowing rates were down, suggesting a steady increase in confidence ? some worried that the crisis was far from over.

Portugal's markets have worsened in recent days on fears that its austerity efforts will not be enough to achieve its deficit-reduction targets and that it may end up like Greece, needing a second bailout effort and possibly a debt writedown.

Getting economies like Portugal to grow is fast becoming a priority and is expected to be one of the main topics of discussion at the European leaders' summit in Brussels on Monday.

Earlier in the day, Asian markets showed little momentum ahead of the weekend.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 0.1 percent to close at 8,841.22 while South Korea's Kospi rose 0.4 percent to 1,964.83. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.3 percent to 20,501.67 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.4 percent to 4,288.40.

Japanese exporters continued to be hit by a strong yen, which reduces the value of repatriated profits. The dollar fell to 76.81 yen from 77.49 yen.

Nintendo Corp., the Japanese gaming giant behind the Super Mario and Pokemon games, plummeted 4.1 percent, a day after it lowered its annual earnings forecast to a 65 billion yen ($844 million) loss. The company blamed the strong yen for much of the loss.

Japanese electronics company NEC Corp. plummeted 7.1 percent after announcing Thursday that it was slashing 10,000 jobs worldwide and would slide into the red for the full year.

Benchmark oil for March delivery was down 20 cents at $99.50 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 30 cents to finish at $99.70 per barrel on the Nymex on Thursday.

___

Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/japan/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_bi_ge/world_markets

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ZTE Light Tab 2 hits the UK next month for ?235, still runs Android 2.3

ZTE may have shown off a 7-inch tablet running Android 4.0 at CES, but the company still has a bit of a backlog of previously announced devices to actually push out the door. The latest to resurface is the ZTE V9A Light Tab 2, which we first saw at Mobile Asia Congress back in November, and is now confirmed to be hitting the UK in late February for £235 (VAT included), which should translate to something less than the $365 direct conversion if it ever lands in the US. That buys you a 7-inch capacitive screen, a 1.4GHz single-core processor, WiFi and 3G connectivity, front and rear-facing cameras, and Android 2.3 for an OS (with no word on a possible ICS upgrade). Those curious for more can find the complete specs from retailer Clove at the link below.

ZTE Light Tab 2 hits the UK next month for ?235, still runs Android 2.3 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Shane L. Windmeyer: A Case of Denial: Pepperdine and Notre Dame Say 'No' to LGBT Students

Yes, indeed, we are everywhere. And, yes, we are even at private religious colleges like Pepperdine University and University of Notre Dame -- and why shouldn't we?

This week Pepperdine University once again denied a request by its LGBT students to create a support group called "ReachOUT." This was the fourth time LGBT students tried to establish such a group at the private university affiliated with the Churches of Christ. The Dean of Students, Mark Davis, said that the organization would conflict with the school's religious teachings on sexual morality and did not "believe it is possible for a LGBT student organization to maintain a neutral position."

Since 2007 the University of Notre Dame has also repeatedly refused to allow a gay/straight alliance on campus and has denied efforts by LGBT and ally students to add sexual orientation to the campus nondiscrimination clause. The Catholic university historically has held the opinion that having a group or adding the clause would conflict with the core beliefs of the church and "may not allow us to distinguish between sexual orientation and behavior, which is a distinction that we must maintain as a Catholic university."

These outright denials and history of exclusion would be enough for many LGBT students to not attend Pepperdine or Notre Dame. But for others, their choice of college may not be that simple. Faith is a part of many of our lives, and colleges that are religiously affiliated need to understand that LGBT people come from all religious backgrounds.

As private colleges, Pepperdine University and University of Notre Dame do have the right to deny a gay-straight alliance from forming on campus. The campuses also have the right to not pass LGBT-inclusive policies. However, the fact that these universities are home to out LGBT-identified students and a community of allies can no longer be ignored.

With visibility comes a moral responsibility for administrators to create a safe learning environment, regardless of sexual or gender identity. Public and private colleges are held responsible for the safety of all their students. It is not a surprise that the LGBT and ally students at both Pepperdine and Notre Dame give their negative experiences of bias and prejudice as reasons for forming a student group on campus. Ignoring these anti-LGBT incidents will only hurt the university and its students.

In 2010 Campus Pride reported in the "State of Higher Education for LGBT People" that nearly a quarter of LGB (and an even a greater percentage of transgender) students, faculty, and staff encounter harassment and discrimination on their campuses across the country. The percentage is even higher for religiously affiliated campuses.

Despite the failed attempts, University of Notre Dame's LGBT and ally students believe "the support is there." Recently, the students formed a new ally initiative titled the "4 to 5 Movement." The goal is to get the majority of the college students, at least 4 out of 5, to speak up in support of the rights of LGBT people on campus. The initiative is built on the notion that 4 out of 5 college-age students (18 to 30 years old) support the general civil rights package for LGBT people.

There is hope in these numbers. The UCLA Higher Education Institute recently reported that in 2011 a record-breaking 71.3 percent of the new students support same-sex marriage, and 42.8 percent of conservative freshman agree that gays and lesbians should be allowed to marry. The annual survey looks at more than 200,000 freshmen annually, and the numbers in support of gays and lesbians have only increased over the years.

I commend the LGBT and ally students at both Pepperdine University and University of Notre Dame for not giving up, despite the challenges posed by administrators. Faith empowers us to believe in something greater than ourselves. Your faith is strong and, on behalf of Campus Pride, I thank you for your courage and leadership.

Pepperdine University, University of Notre Dame, and other private, religiously affiliated colleges need to do the right thing. All students deserve support and safety at college. It is time to recognize your LGBT students as part of your faith community.

?

Follow Shane L. Windmeyer on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ShaneWindmeyer

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shane-l-windmeyer/pepperdine-notre-dame-lgbt-students_b_1230054.html

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Friend: Defendant tried to sell bloodstained rug (AP)

ALHAMBRA, Calif. ? A man who masqueraded as a Rockefeller and is now accused of murder was confronted in court Monday by witnesses who said he tried to sell them an Oriental rug with a blood spot.

Christian Gerhartsreiter, who is charged with murdering a San Marino man from whom he had rented a cottage in 1985, smiled slightly at witnesses Robert and Bettie Brown, an elderly couple who once welcomed him into their home for religious study classes and became his close friends.

Gerhartsreiter is charged with killing John Sohus, whose bones were found in 1994 in the backyard of his former home in San Marino, a wealthy suburb of Los Angeles, nearly 10 years after Sohus and his wife vanished.

Gerhartsreiter left town soon after they went missing. He is charged only with killing 27-year-old John Sohus. No sign of Linda Sohus has been found.

Robert Brown testified at a preliminary hearing about a day in 1985 when the man they knew as Chris Chichester showed up at their door with belongings he wanted to sell because he was going on a trip.

Brown said he called his wife to look at a small Oriental rug.

"She looked at it, and said, `Chris, this has blood on it.' He fairly quickly rolled it back up and left with it," Brown said, adding that his wife suggested a place he could take it to be cleaned.

Brown said Chichester, who was then pretending to be an instructor at the University of Southern California's film school, showed up on another occasion asking how to dispose of photo processing chemicals.

Chichester had told the Browns that he was descended from English peerage and was related to a famed British sailor of the same last name. He had also given them tea, saying it came from his family's Indonesian tea plantation.

About a week after the rug incident, Brown said Chichester disappeared, which was not surprising.

"He was something of a phantom. He was different, unusual. He was believable up to a point. You couldn't pin him down on details. Everything was loose and feathery," Brown said.

Another witness filled in the blanks of Gerhartsreiter's travels after he left San Marino. Gerhartsreiter was arrested in Boston in 2008.

Christopher Bishop, an Episcopal priest from Greenwich, Conn., testified that he met the man he knew as Christopher Crowe in 1985 when he appeared at the church where Bishop's father was the priest.

The younger Bishop said he was a film student at Columbia University at the time and his father told him there was a new parishioner who was also involved in film.

Crowe told Bishop that he was the brother of well-known film director Cameron Crowe and had been to film school in California. He said he was in Connecticut to produce the new "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" series, Bishop said.

"Did you believe it?" asked prosecutor Habib Balian.

"Yes," the witness said. "I gave him a screenplay I had written and he had critiqued it. He certainly was conversant in film."

In 1988, Crowe gave Bishop a truck, saying he had used it in a movie and didn't need it anymore. Bishop said he later found out there was a lien on the truck and it had fraudulent license plates. He dumped the truck at a train station, thinking he could get in trouble for it.

"I thought that was going to be the end of the story," Bishop said. "But one day, I was sitting at my parents' house and a Greenwich detective came to the door."

The detective asked about Crowe, saying he was involved in a missing person investigation. Bishop said he later asked Crowe who he really was.

"What was the defendant's response?" Balian asked, to which Bishop replied: "Gotta go, bye."

The truck was later found to be registered to John and Linda Sohus and had disappeared at the time Gerhardsreiter left the house, authorities said.

On the East Coast, Gerhartsreiter had claimed to be Clark Rockefeller, a member of the famous family, and married a woman with whom he had a daughter. She divorced him when she found out he had duped her.

Last year, Gerhartsreiter was convicted of kidnapping his daughter in Boston during a custody dispute. He is serving a four- to five-year prison sentence for that crime.

He would be eligible for parole this year if he was not facing the California charge, which could bring him 26 years to life in prison if he's convicted.

Other witnesses, including Linda Sohus' mother and her best friend, testified about the missing woman's life and the mystery of why she had disappeared. Susan Coffman said she and Sohus were best friends and that she kept a detailed diary of their conversations.

She said Linda Sohus had some unhappy romances before she met and married John Sohus, and that the woman said after the wedding she was happy for the first time.

Coffman testified that in February 1985, Sohus called to say she and her husband had to go to New York briefly for jobs. Both she and Linda Sohus' mother, Susan Mayfield, were told that Linda Sohus planned to be back in two weeks.

But the couple vanished and both women received cryptic postcards from Paris signed by John and Linda saying they had gone there instead of New York. Coffman found it suspicious and said many years later she was sure it was not her friend's handwriting.

She said she contacted the television show "Unsolved Mysteries" and had them investigate, as well as prodding police to do something. But until bones were dug up in the backyard of the Sohus home, she said there was little interest.

After the bones were found, she said, police promised to give the case another look but many years passed before anything happened.

Another neighbor in San Marino, Winslow Reitnouer, said she knew Gerhartsreiter as Chichester. She testified that she saw him visit the neighborhood in 1986.

She said she once got a phone call from him on a crackly line in which "he said he was in Stockholm and just calling to say hello."

The preliminary hearing will determine whether Gerhartsreiter is bound over for trial on the murder charge. The prosecutor estimated the hearing will end Tuesday.

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

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Tracy Morgan of '30 Rock' collapses at Sundance (AP)

PARK CITY, Utah ? Comedian and "30 Rock" cast member Tracy Morgan has been released from the hospital after a collapse during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

Publicist Lewis Kay confirms Morgan has left the Park City Medical Center after he suffered from "a combination of exhaustion and altitude" on Sunday. Park City's elevation is 7,000 feet.

Morgan was escorted from the Creative Coalition Spotlight Awards ceremony Sunday night at the festival.

Morgan posted a comment Monday on Twitter that the high altitude "shook up this kid from Brooklyn."

He also says he'll be back to work Tuesday on "30 Rock."

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

Comedian and "30 Rock" cast member Tracy Morgan has said he will be back at work Tuesday after being hospitalized while attending the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.

Morgan's publicist, Lewis Kay, said Monday that the actor suffered from exhaustion and altitude when he collapsed Sunday night in Park City, where the elevation is 7,000 feet.

Morgan posted a comment Monday on Twitter that the high altitude "shook up this kid from Brooklyn."

"Superman ran into a little kryptonite," he quipped.

He also said on Twitter that he would be back to work Tuesday on "30 Rock."

Ron Nyswaner, co-director of the Sundance film "Predisposed," in which the actor stars, said Morgan's collapse resulted from "altitude sickness combined with his diabetes. And he hadn't eaten. He hadn't had enough water."

Kay said hospital officials report no drugs or alcohol were found in Morgan's system.

Morgan had been attending an event for the Creative Coalition at which he had just received an award.

In "Predisposed," which stars Jesse Eisenberg and Melissa Leo, Morgan plays a drug dealer caught up in the push-and-pull between a piano prodigy and his troubled mother.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_en_ce/us_film_sundance_tracy_morgan

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Pippa Middleton's $2,100 Gucci Bag: All the Details! (omg!)

Pippa does high fashion!

It's no secret that Pippa Middleton is Britain's "It" girl, so naturally, she would need an of-the-moment bag to accessorize with.

PHOTOS: See Pippa's rise to fame

Ditching her eponymous "Pippa" satchel by Modalu (which she owns in several colors and finishes), Duchess Kate's younger sister stepped out in London on Tuesday carrying a Gucci "1970" medium shoulder bag. While the timeless Modalu bag retails for a hair over $300, the high fashion Gucci style costs $2,100 (gucci.com).

PHOTOS: Pippa Middleton's best style moments

Although available in eight different styles including python and crocodile (which will run you a cool $3,590 and $31,000 respectively), Middleton, 28, opted for the more modest choice in black nubuck leather, which is detailed with gold brass accents and measures 17.3" x 1.4" x 11.4".

PHOTOS: How Pippa gets her fabulous figure

She paired the linen-lined, metal snap closure bag with slate gray French Connection jeans, a grey toggle coat by Fay and her Knomo laptop case.

Get more Us! Follow us on Twitter, Friend us on Facebook, Subscribe to Us Weekly

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_pippa_middletons2_100_gucci_bag_details_223140231/44249108/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/pippa-middletons-2-100-gucci-bag-details-223140231.html

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Obama meets with Clinton and advisers Friday, attends campaign event (Star Tribune)

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Elton John's Husband Backtracks On Madonna Statements

David Furnish says his comments about Madge's Golden Globes win were 'blown way out of proportion.'
By Jocelyn Vena

Madonna
Photo: Steve Granitz/ WireImage

Consider that Elton John/Madonna score even, for now. After John's husband, David Furnish, made some off-the-cuff comments about Madge's Golden Globes win last weekend, he is issuing a statement about it, offering up a mea culpa of sorts.

"Wow! What a tempest in a teapot. My comments regarding The Golden Globes have been blown way out of proportion," he said on his Facebook page. The trouble started when the Queen of Pop nabbed the trophy for Best Original Song for her "W.E." track, "Masterpiece," and Furnish had some choice words for her at the time. She had been up against John and his "Gnomeo & Juliet" track, "Hello Hello."

"Madonna. Best Song???? F--- off!!!" he wrote on Facebook at the time. "Madonna winning Best Original Song truly shows how these awards have nothing to do with merit. Her acceptance speech was embarrassing in its narcissism. And her criticism of Gaga shows how desperate she really is." (Gaga is godmother to Furnish and John's son.)

Well, with nearly a week behind him, it seems that Furnish has changed his tune. "My passion for our film 'Gnomeo & Juliet' and belief in Elton's song really got my emotional juices going," he said. "But I must say for the record that I do believe Madonna is a great artist, and that Elton and I wish her all the best for next week's premiere of the film 'W.E.' "

With that feud behind her, Madonna now seems poised to redirect the attention back to her many forthcoming projects, including the February release of "W.E," which she wrote and directed, her Super Bowl performance, her music video for her M.I.A./Nicki Minaj-assisted "Gimme All Your Luvin," as well as the spring release of her album M.D.N.A.

Were David Furnish's comments about Madonna justified? Sound off below!

Related Artists

• Madonna
• Elton John

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677597/madonna-elton-john-husband.jhtml

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Apple starts selling interactive iPad textbooks (AP)

NEW YORK ? Apple Inc. on Thursday launched its attempt to make the iPad a replacement for a satchel full of textbooks by starting to sell electronic versions of a handful of standard high-school books.

The electronic textbooks, which include "Biology" and "Environmental Science" from Pearson and "Algebra 1" and "Chemistry" from McGraw-Hill, contain videos and other interactive elements.

But it's far from clear that even a company with Apple's clout will be able to reform the primary and high-school textbook market. The printed books are bought by schools, not students, and are reused year after year, which isn't possible with the electronic versions. New books are subject to lengthy state approval processes.

Major textbook publishers have been making electronic versions of their products for years, but until recently, there hasn't been any hardware suitable to display them. PCs are too expensive and cumbersome to be good e-book machines for students. Dedicated e-book readers like the Kindle have small screens and can't display color. IPads and other tablet computers work well, but iPads cost at least $499. Apple didn't reveal any new program to defray the cost of getting the tablet computers into the hands of students.

All this means textbooks have lagged the general adoption of e-books, even when counting college-level works that students buy themselves. Forrester Research said e-books accounted for only 2.8 percent of the $8 billion U.S. textbook market in 2010.

Pearson PLC of Britain and The McGraw-Hill Cos. of New York are two of the three big textbook companies in the U.S. market. The third one, Boston-based Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, also plans to supply books to Apple's store, but none were immediately available.

The new textbooks are legible with a new version of the free iBooks application, which became available Thursday.

The textbooks will cost $15 or less, said Phil Schiller, Apple's head of marketing. He unveiled the books at an event at New York's Guggenheim Museum. Schools will be able to buy the books for its students and issue redemption codes to them, he said.

Albert Greco, a professor of marketing at Fordham University in New York and a former high-school principal, said schools would need to buy iPads for its students if it were to replace printed books.

It wouldn't work to let students who can afford to buy their own iPads use them in class with textbooks they buy themselves, alongside poorer students with printed books.

"The digital divide issue could be very embarrassing. Because if you don't have the iPad, you can't do the quiz, you don't get instant feedback ... that is an invitation for a lawsuit," Greco said. "I would be shocked if any principal or superintendent would let that system go forward."

Greco said hardback high-school textbooks cost an average of about $105, and a freshman might need five of them. However, they last for five years.

That means that even if an iPad were to last for five years in the hands of students, the e-books plus the iPad would cost more than the hardback textbooks.

Apple also released an app for iTunes U, which has been a channel for colleges to release video and audio from lectures, through iTunes. The app will open that channel to K-through-12 schools, and will let teachers present outlines, post notes and communicate with students in other ways.

Greco called the new app "a shot across the bow" of Blackboard Inc., a privately held company that provides similar electronic tools to teachers. It, too, has applications for cellphones and tablets.

Apple also revealed iBook Author, an application for Macs that lets people create electronic textbooks.

According to biographer Walter Isaacson, reforming the textbook market was a pet project of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, even in the last year of his life. At a dinner in early 2011, Jobs told News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch that the paper textbooks could be made obsolete by the iPad. Jobs wanted to circumvent the state certification process for textbook sales by having Apple release textbooks for free on the tablet computer.

Jobs died in October after a long battle with cancer.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120119/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_apple_textbooks

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[OOC] Roommates/Boarding.

Forum rules
This forum is for OOC discussion about existing roleplays.

Please post all "Players Wanted" threads in the Roleplayers Wanted forum!

This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?Everest Academy?. Anything posted here will also show up there.

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Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.
Okeydokes, we have enough characters that I'm going to pick roommates now.
Teachers each have their own rooms in a hallway. Then there is a girl's wing and a boy's wing. All three open up in front of the hallway that leads to most of the school's residential section- library, kitchen, study room, etc. Every room has its own color assigned to it, for whatever reason, and that's the color of the room's label, nothing else.

Girls:
Room 1, Lavender Room: Willow Stevenson and Alexis Cody Evans.
Room 2, Scarlet Room: Callen and Miki Kunie

Boys:
Room 1, Aqua Room: Kage Kyo and Leonard F. Brooks
Room 2, Lime Room: Zen Kunie and Akro Masmora
Room 3, Maroon Room: Jacob Stevenson and Riku Shinra
Room 4, Ochre Room: Ernest Christian and ______________

AlyxtheStubborn

Member for 1 years

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