Love is in the air at the Sundance Film Festival! First Kirsten Dunst showed off her new romance with Garrett Hedlund -- and now Zoe Saldana and Bradley Cooper are going public with their relationship with their PDA-filled trip to the independent film festival.
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AP, Getty Images
By Kurt Schlosser
Reese Witherspoon stepped onto the chilly red carpet in London on Monday for the premiere of her new action/comedy film "This Means War."
Temps were reportedly just above freezing at the Odeon Kensington, but that didn't stop the actress from posing in a short, sequined Louis Vuitton dress.
Co-stars Chris Pine and Tom Hardy were also on hand. The spy-vs-spy flick features the two actors as CIA operatives battling for the affections of?a woman (Witherspoon) they are both dating.?That's sure to heat things up. Check out the trailer:
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GENEVA ? A high-profile U.N. panel headed by the presidents of Finland and South Africa hopes to spark an "ever-green" energy revolution later this year in Brazil using a general roadmap it presented Monday on how world leaders could wean the world off fossil fuels.
Its report links the world body's goals of reducing poverty and inequality to promoting the use of wind, solar and other renewable sources of energy to run the economies of nations rich and poor.
To do that, the panel urges that nations fully integrate the social and environmental costs of their commerce into the prices and measures of their economic goods and services. They also call for creation of a global education fund, improvements in human rights and more programs to empower women ? all with the aim of overhauling economies.
The report says governments and international organizations "should work to create a new green revolution ? an 'ever-green revolution' for the 21st century" by spending more on agricultural research, protecting imperiled plant and animal species, conserving land and water and fighting pollution.
It also encourages the creation of regional oceans and coastal management bodies that protect world fisheries supplying 170 million jobs and daily protein for about one in five people on the planet.
The U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon created the 22-member high-level panel in August 2010 to focus on one of his top priorities by providing the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development with a roadmap for its meeting in June at Rio de Janeiro.
The panel is headed by Finnish President Tarja Halonen and South African President Jacob Zuma. Other panel members include top officials from the United States, Russia, United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and some former world leaders.
The conference known as Rio+20 is a follow-up to the landmark 1992 Earth Summit in Rio that galvanized the global environmental movement.
It was at that gathering two decades ago that the world first agreed to accept voluntary controls on greenhouse gases. National leaders signed on to a treaty committing them to work "to protect the climate system for present and future generations."
Five years after Rio, negotiators added the Kyoto Protocol to the treaty. The Kyoto pact ordered cuts in emissions of heat-trapping cuts by 37 industrialized nations, but the U.S. rejected it. Subsequent climate summits have so far failed to craft a successor to Kyoto, which expires at the end of 2012.
Scientists have produced persuasive evidence that the carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases that industry, transport and farming pour into the atmosphere are trapping heat and raising global temperatures, with potentially damaging effects from a changing climate.
The panel's report, presented at an African Union meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, is billed as a new blueprint for sustainable development and "low-carbon prosperity," with 56 recommendations to help get those priorities mainstreamed into nation's economic policies.
"With the possibility of the world slipping further into recession, policymakers are hungry for ideas that can help them to navigate these difficult times," Zuma said in a statement. "Our report makes clear that sustainable development is more important than ever given the multiple crises now enveloping the world."
Jim Leape, director-general of Swiss-based WWF International, one of the world's largest conservation groups, said the recommendations are "the highest-level political signal yet of greater readiness" by world leaders to transition away from fossil fuels.
"This report makes the alarming point that while we are already exceeding the Earth's capacity to support us, by 2030 we will need 50 percent more food, 45 percent more energy and 30 percent more water than we do today," he said.
But in a statement the group also criticized the U.N. report because it "fails to suggest any concrete, time-bound commitments for progress, leaving policies open to governments to implement as they saw fit."
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Evi is like the iPhone 4S for Android and other iPhone devices running iOS 4.0 or later. It does the same tricks, like showing you coffee shops nearby when you speak or type "coffee," or providing the traditional answer "42" when you ask it for the meaning of life. It's search with an artificial intelligence twist. On iPhone ($.99) or Android (free).
Click here to view this gallery.[More from Mashable: Top 10 Twitter Pics of the Week [PICS]]
Facebook hogged tech headlines this week with news that it was pushing its Timeline to all users and will IPO next week. But while the 800-million-person social network was making news, there were also worthwhile launches from great startup apps that you might have missed. You could sort through the App Store's 500,000 apps and the Android store's estimated 300,000 apps in order to find them. Or you could check out our recap of the best new apps in the slideshow above. We've done our best to sort out the overly frivolous, the ugly and the downright impractical.
[More from Mashable: 10 Hilarious Animated GIFs that Took the Web by Storm]
The apps left standing include one that accomplishes a popular Photoshop trick in two simple steps, another that will pool contact info from your phone, social accounts and email to create one list to rule them all, another that works like Siri for people who don't have an iPhone 4S and long-awaited Android versions of two popular social service apps.
Have you seen any other apps this week you'd add to the list? Let us know in the comments.
This story originally published on Mashable here.
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This citizen journalism image provide by the Local Coordination Committees in Syria and released early Friday Jan. 27, 2012, purports to show a Syrian man, right, mourning over the dead body of his son, who was shot by the Syrian forces, in Idlib province, Syria, on Thursday Jan. 26, 2012. A "terrifying massacre" in the restive Syrian city of Homs has killed more than 30 people, including small children, in a barrage of mortar fire and attacks by armed forces loyal to President Bashar Assad, activists said Friday. (AP Photo/Local Coordination Committees in Syria) EDITORIAL USE ONLY, NO SALES, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS HANDOUT PHOTO
This citizen journalism image provide by the Local Coordination Committees in Syria and released early Friday Jan. 27, 2012, purports to show a Syrian man, right, mourning over the dead body of his son, who was shot by the Syrian forces, in Idlib province, Syria, on Thursday Jan. 26, 2012. A "terrifying massacre" in the restive Syrian city of Homs has killed more than 30 people, including small children, in a barrage of mortar fire and attacks by armed forces loyal to President Bashar Assad, activists said Friday. (AP Photo/Local Coordination Committees in Syria) EDITORIAL USE ONLY, NO SALES, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS HANDOUT PHOTO
This citizen journalism image provided by the Local Coordination Committees in Syria and released on Friday Jan. 27, 2012, purports to show the bodies of five Syrian children wrapped in plastic bags, with signs in Arabic identifying them by name. Activists say the children were killed in a shelling attack by Syrian forces, in the Karm el-Zaytoun neighborhood of Homs, Syria, on Thursday Jan. 26, 2012 A "terrifying massacre" in the restive Syrian city of Homs has killed more than 30 people, including small children, in a barrage of mortar fire and attacks by armed forces loyal to President Bashar Assad, activists said Friday. (AP Photo/Local Coordination Committees in Syria) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS HANDOUT PHOTO EDITORIAL USE ONLY
An anti-Syrian regime protester, gestures during a demonstration against Syrian President Bashar Assad, at Khalidya area in Homs province, central Syria, on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. Syrian troops stormed a flashpoint suburb of Damascus on Thursday, rounding people up in house-to-house raids and clashing with army defectors, activists said, as the 10-month-old uprising inches ever closer to the capital. (AP Photo)
Syrian army defectors stand guard on a rooftop to secure an anti-Syrian regime protest in the Deir Baghlaba area in Homs province, central Syria, on Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. Armed forces loyal to President Bashar Assad barraged residential buildings with mortars and machine-gun fire, killing at least 30 people, including a family of women and children during a day of sectarian killings and kidnappings in the besieged Syrian city of Homs, activists said Friday. (AP Photo)
Syrian army defectors secure a street near an anti-Syrian regime protest in the Deir Baghlaba area of Homs province, central Syria, on Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. Armed forces loyal to President Bashar Assad barraged residential buildings with mortars and machine-gun fire, killing at least 30 people, including a family of women and children during a day of sectarian killings and kidnappings in the besieged Syrian city of Homs, activists said Friday. (AP Photo)
BEIRUT (AP) ? The Arab League halted its observer mission in Syria on Saturday because of escalating violence that killed nearly 100 people the past three days, as pro-Assad forces battled dissident soldiers in a belt of suburbs on the eastern edge of Damascus in the most intense fighting yet so close to the capital.
The rising bloodshed has added urgency to new attempts by Arab and Western countries to find a resolution to the 10 months of violence that according to the United Nations has killed at least 5,400 people as Assad seeks to crush persistent protests demanding an end to his rule.
The United Nations is holding talks on a new resolution on Syria and next week will discuss an Arab peace plan aimed at ending the crisis. But the initiatives face two major obstacles: Damascus' rejection of an Arab peace plan which it says impinges on its sovereignty, and Russia's willingness to use its U.N. Security Council veto to protect Syria from sanctions.
Syria's Interior Minister Mohammed Shaar vowed the crackdown would go on, telling families of security members killed in the past months that security forces "will continue their struggle to clean Syria's soil of the outlaws."
Government forces launched a heavy assault on a string of suburbs and villages on the eastern outskirts of Damascus, aiming to uproot protesters and dissident soldiers who have joined the opposition, activists said.
Troops in tanks and armored personnel carriers attacked the suburbs of Kfar Batna, Saqba, Jisreen and Arbeen, the closest of which lie only a few miles from downtown Damascus, said the Local Coordination Committees activist network and the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Dissident troops were fighting back against the attackers, they said.
In a nearby suburb, Douma, gunmen ambushed a bus carrying army officers, the state-run news agency SANA, calling the attackers "terrorists." It said seven officers were killed.
The assault in the suburbs seemed to be a sign of the growing presence of dissident soldiers closer to the capital. Although the tightly controlled Damascus has been relatively quiet since the uprising began, its outskirts have witnessed intense anti-regime protests and army defectors have become more visible and active in the past few months.
"The fighting today is the most intense near the capital since the uprising began," said Rami Abdul-Rahman who heads the Observatory for Human Rights. "The Syrian regime is trying to finish the uprising militarily now that the case is being taken to the United Nations."
In Saqba, electricity and phone lines were cut off and mosque loudspeakers told residents to say in lower floors for fear high buildings might get hit in the fighting, said Omar Hamza, an activist in the district. "Random shelling and sound of explosions terrified the people," he told The Associated Press.
He said army defectors had managed to stop the advancing troops. The regime forces are putting all their force to finish the Free Syrian Army and protesters in the Damascus suburbs," Hamza said.
The Free Syrian Army force of anti-regime military defectors is based in Turkey, and its fighters frequently try to cross into Syria through the mountainous border area in the northwest. SANA reported that Syrian troops prevented gunmen from crossing in from Turkey on Saturday in fighting that it said left many of the infiltrators killed or wounded.
The LCC and the Observatory also reported intense fighting between troops and defectors in the town of Rastan near the restive central city of Homs.
The Observatory said at least 36 people, were killed across the country Saturday, including 17 civilians, three defectors and 16 troops, while the LCC said 20 died, half of them in Homs province, which has been one of the areas hardest hit by government crackdowns. The new deaths come after two days of bloody turmoil killed at least 74 people, including small children.
In the eastern oil-rich province of Deir el-Zour, an oil pipeline took a direct hit and caught fire as government troops shelled a nearby town, the two groups also said, reporting at least one person dead. State media blamed "terrorists" in the attack.
The month-old Arab League observer mission in Syria had come under widespread criticism for failing to bring a halt to the regime's crackdown. Gulf states led by Saudi Arabia pulled out of the mission Tuesday, asking the U.N. Security Council to intervene.
Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby said in a statement that the organization decided to halt the observers' work immediately because of the increasing violence, until the League's council can meet to decide the mission's fate.
He sharply criticized Damascus for the spike in bloodshed, saying the regime has "resorted to escalating the military option in complete violation of (its) commitments" to end the crackdown, Elaraby said. He said the victims of the violence have been "innocent citizens," in an implicit rejection of Syria's claims that it is fighting "terrorists."
Syria's state-run news agency quoted an unnamed official saying Damascus "regrets and is surprised" by the Arab League decision after Syria agreed to extend the observer's mission for another month. The official said the halt aims "to pressure the talks in order to call for external intervention in Syria's internal affairs," referring to the U.N. talks.
Elaraby's deputy, Ahmed Ben Heli, told reporters that the around 100 observers will remain in Damascus while their mission is "reevaluated." He suggested the observers could resume their work in the future...
Elaraby and the prime minister of Qatar were set to leave for New York on Sunday to seek U.N. support for the latest Arab plan to end Syria's crisis. The plans calls for a two-month transition to a unity government, with Assad giving his vice president full powers to work with the proposed government.
Syria has rejected the proposal, saying it violates its sovereignty. Elaraby had previously been due to travel Saturday, but his trip was pushed back to Sunday with no explanation.
The U.N. Security Council began closed-door negotiations Friday on a new Arab-European draft resolution aimed at resolving the crisis, but Russia's envoy said he could not back the current language as it stands.
Any resolution faces strong opposition from China and Russia, and both nations have veto power. Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters that the text introduced by new Arab Security Council member Morocco has "red lines" for Moscow, but he's willing to "engage" with the resolution's sponsors.
Churkin said those lines include any indication of sanctions, including an arms embargo. "We need to concentrate on establishing political dialogue," he said.
____
Batrawy reported from Cairo; Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, contributed to this report.
___
Bassem Mroue can be reached on twitter at http://twitter.com/bmroue
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Norm Barker's photographs lie at the interface of art and science
?| January 28, 2012
Petri Dishes
Image: Norm Barker
February's issue of Scientific American features a beautiful close-up image of a placenta taken by Norm Barker, associate professor of pathology and art as applied to medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Barker specializes in photo-microscopy and natural science photography, and his work appears in the permanent collections of more than 40 museums, including the Smithsonian, the American Museum of Natural History and the Science Museum in London.
Barker's most recent book, Paleobotanical Splendor, documents fossilized plant material. His next opus?to be published later this year?explores medicine and pathology.
Here, SA showcases several more of Barker's photographs, which reveal the hidden beauty of medical implements as well as bodily organs such as muscles, brains, livers and kidneys.
? View the Medical Imagery Slide Show
Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=223e3bf51169f11c7c95fc43a587b37a
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By Helen A.S. Popkin
via BuzzFeed
Our pre-caffeine roundup is a collection of the hottest, strangest, and most amusing stories of the morning. Here's everything that you need to know before taking that first sip of coffee today.
Apple CEO does not care for your comments about Apple not caring about worker abuse in China.
Twitter announced Thursday that it would begin restricting Tweets in certain countries, marking a policy shift for the social media platform that helped propel the popular uprisings recently sweeping across the Middle East.
But here's how you get around those restrictions.
Teens ages 13 and up in the U.S. can now join Google's social network, Google+, although the search giant said it is adding safety measures for younger users. What it didn't say is that it adds to Google's efforts to get more users on Google+, including an announcement earlier this week it will allow users to have alternate names.
Meanwhile, Federal Trade Commissioner Julie Brill didn't spare Facebook in her speech opening?a forum on Data Privacy Day ? even though the event was live-streamed by the social network, in conjunction with the National Cyber Security Counsel.
Meanwhile, Aerosmith's?Steven Tyler might've sung about a?"dude [who] looks like a lady," but Google's convinced that a lady?? yours truly?? has the Internet browsing habits of a dude.
The next time you make a particularly strange typo, don't throw your keyboard out the window ? instead just smile. Smile, because it's possible for a simple typo to lead to a marriage -- like it did there these two.?
In closing: "Facebook & Twitter For Seniors For Dummies" exists.?
???compiled by Helen A.S. Popkin, who invites you to join her on Twitter and/or Facebook.?Also, Google+.??
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ScienceDaily (Jan. 26, 2012) ? The AIRS infrared instrument that flies on NASA's Aqua satellite has been providing forecasters with the cloud top temperatures in the Southern Indian Ocean's ninth tropical cyclone, which has officially been renamed Iggy. AIRS data showed that the area of strong thunderstorms around Iggy's center has expanded in area over the last day.
The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument provided an infrared snapshot of Iggy's cloud top temperatures on January 26, 2012 at 0611 UTC (1:11 a.m. EST). The AIRS image showed a large and rounded area of high, cold clouds, around the entire center of circulation. The data also showed that strongest convection (rapidly rising air that condenses and forms the thunderstorms that make up the cyclone) is located slightly to the west of the center, because of easterly wind shear. The temperatures of those high cloud tops were colder than -63 Fahrenheit (-51.7 Celsius), which is a threshold scientists use to identify strong thunderstorms with heavy rainfall. This is an indication that Iggy will continue to strengthen.
The AIRS image also showed clouds to the southeast of Iggy that are associated with another low pressure area. That area of disturbed weather is over land and located south-southwest of Darwin.
Iggy is currently located in the Southern Indian Ocean, northwest of Western Australia. At 1500 UTC (10 a.m. EST), Tropical Cyclone Iggy was about 430 nautical miles (~495 miles/~796 km) northwest of Learmonth, Australia, near 16.8 South and 109.0 East. It was moving slowly to the southeast at 5 knots (~6 mph/~9 kph). Iggy's maximum sustained winds are near 45 knots (~52 mph/~83 kph) and it is classified as a tropical storm. Those tropical-storm-force winds extend out to 110 miles (177 km) from the center.
Iggy's approach has prompted the Australian Bureau of Meteorology to issue a cyclone and flood watch. Iggy is moving toward the Pilbara coast. The coastal communities between Whim Creek and Coral Bay will likely experience gusty winds and heavy rainfall on January 27 and 28. Rough surf is also expected along coastal areas including Christmas Island, the Kimberley and Pilbara coasts.
Iggy is forecast to continue strengthening as it moves southeast toward Western Australia. Sea surface temperatures along track are 28 to 29 degrees Celsius (~82 to ~84 Fahrenheit), which the Joint Typhoon Warning Center says is supportive of further development. It is expected to reach cyclone strength before moving to the south.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. The original article was written by Rob Gutro.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/jqHUIul0ScA/120126224518.htm
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Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2012/01/27/star-wars-phantom-menace-3d-preview/
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SEATTLE (AP) ? Starbucks Corp.'s fiscal first-quarter profit increased 10 percent as the coffee company added stores, customers and new products.
The Seattle-based company reported after the market closed Thursday that it earned $382.1 million, or 50 cents per share, for the quarter that ended Jan. 1. That's up from $346.6 million, or 45 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.
Its total revenue increased 16 percent to $3.44 billion.
The results beat analyst expectation 49 cents per share on revenue of $3.29 billion, according to FactSet. Starbucks said revenue from its stores open at least a year ? an important measure because it strips away the impact of recently opened or closed stores ? increased 9 percent, as more customers visited its cafes and spent more each trip.
Starbucks delivered major gains in its consumer products business, which makes Via instant coffee, Starbucks ice cream and other items for sale in grocery stores and other retailers. Revenue from this segment increased 72 percent.
The company also benefited from the addition of 241 new stores during the quarter. Starbucks now operates 17,244 stores worldwide.
Starbucks said that the company is still facing higher costs for coffee beans and other commodities, which cut into its margins during the period. But it expects those pressures to lessen in the second half of the year.
"Starbucks is firing on all cylinders and taking full advantage of the many global opportunities that lie ahead," Schultz added," CEO Howard Schultz said in a statement.
The company plans to open 800 new stores in the coming year. Starbucks said it expects to earn $1.78 to $1.82 per share for the full year.
The full-year guidance falls just short of analyst expectations of $1.83 per share. Shares of the company fell 54 cents to $47.80 in after-hours trading.
Starbucks shares rose 57 cents to close the day at $48.34.
Associated PressWASHINGTON ? The applause rolled through the big chamber, growing ever louder as hundreds of Republicans and Democrats suddenly realized Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was back in the House. But this time she had come to say goodbye.
Fellow lawmakers gave her a fitting send-off: cheers, hugs, a cascade of tributes and plenty of tears in a rare moment of political unity.
A year since that fateful Saturday morning when Giffords was severely wounded during a shooting rampage in her home district, the Arizona congresswoman resigned on Wednesday with a plea for civility ? and a hint that she'll be back on the national stage. For now, the 41-year-old said, her movements and speech still halting, she needs to focus on her recovery.
For all the kind words showered on her, Giffords reflected in her resignation letter about a level of respect that seems like an aberration these days in a bitterly divided Washington.
In her five years in Congress, she said, "Always I fought for what I thought was right. But never did I question the character of those with whom I disagreed. Never did I let pass an opportunity to join hands with someone just because he or she held different ideals."
Said Republican Rep. Ted Poe of Texas in the first of many tributes: "Gabby is the spirit of bipartisanship that we should all learn from."
Giffords' friend Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., became emotional before reading Giffords' resignation letter in the well of the House. Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., held Giffords' hand. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, cried after Giffords slowly made her way to the podium and handed him the envelope with her resignation letter.
Last January, a gunman opened fire at Giffords' "Congress on Your Corner" event in Tucson, killing six people, including a 9-year-old girl and a federal judge and wounding 13, including Giffords who suffered a gunshot wound to her head. She has spent the past year recovering, showing up in the House just once last August to vote on raising the nation's borrowing authority.
That appearance stirred speculation about her political future and whether she would seek another term or even pursue an open Senate seat.
Giffords put that talk to rest on Sunday, announcing in a Web video that she would resign this week. On Monday, she met with survivors of the shootings in Arizona, , finishing the event that she had started outside a supermarket. On Tuesday night, she received thunderous applause and a hug from President Barack Obama at his State of the Union address.
Colleagues and friends stood with her, Flake by her side. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., had her back.
On Wednesday, Republicans and Democrats turned a morning debate over Giffords' last bill into a forum to praise her work and perseverance.
"We haven't seen the last of Gabby Giffords," said Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas. "I believe ... whatever the future holds for her she has made this a better place."
Around 10 a.m., Giffords entered the chamber through the main door, the same one Obama used the previous night. Wasserman Schultz assisted her as she made her way down the aisle, greeted warmly by colleagues with kisses and hugs. She sat in the front row for a flurry of tributes. In the gallery sat her mother, Gloria, and husband, retired Navy Capt. Mark Kelly, the former astronaut.
"All of us come to the floor today ... to salute her as the brightest star among us, the brightest star Congress has ever seen," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said he received a call from Kelly on Sunday informing him of Giffords' plans to resign. He said Giffords' "strength against all odds serves and will continue to serve as a daily inspiration to all of us."
Said Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., "The House of Representative has been made proud by this extraordinary daughter of the House. Gabby, we love you, we have missed you."
Prolonged standing ovations and spontaneous whoops marked the tributes. Giffords briefly waved at Kelly and her mother when their names were mentioned.
Surrounded by colleagues and friends, Giffords stood in the well of the chamber to resign. Wasserman Schultz read her two-page letter to Boehner.
"Everyday, I am working hard," Giffords wrote. "I will recover and will return, and we will work together again, for Arizona and for all Americans."
She purposefully made it to the podium to deliver the letter to Boehner.
Moments later, the House, including Giffords, voted for her final piece of legislation ? a bill that would impose tougher penalties on smugglers who use small, low-flying aircraft to avoid radar detection and bring drugs across the Mexican border.
The vote was 408-0. The Senate, which recently passed a version of the bill, is expected to vote Thursday on the measure and send it to Obama for his signature.
Giffords submitted resignation letters to both Boehner and Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer. It falls to Brewer to set a date for a special primary and general election to fill the Arizona seat. That will probably happen in the spring or early summer. In November, voters will choose someone for the full two-year term.
After the tribute, Kelly said his wife realized stepping down was the right thing to do.
"But I'm more optimistic than anybody else about her future. She just needs some more time, whether it's a year or two years or three years, I'm very confident she's going to have a long and effective career as a public servant," he said.
Asked about her daughter's future, Gloria Giffords said, "I kind of think she's transcended Congress. I don't know where she's going to end up."
"She's remembered every boy she's ever kissed, every song she's ever sang, every bill she's ever passed," she said. "So upward and onward."
___
Associated Press writers Alan Fram and Jim Abrams contributed to this report.
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BRUSSELS/ATHENS (Reuters) ? Euro zone finance ministers will decide on Monday what terms of a Greek debt restructuring they are ready to accept as part of a second bailout package for Athens after negotiators for private creditors said they could not improve their offer.
Resolving the issue of a Greek debt swap is key to putting Athens' debt on a sustainable path and avoiding a chaotic default that could threaten the whole currency bloc.
After several rounds of talks, Greece and its private creditors are converging on a deal in which private bondholders would take a real loss of 65 to 70 percent on their Greek bonds, officials close to the negotiations said.
But some details of the debt restructuring, which will involve swapping existing Greek bonds for new, longer-term bonds to bring Greek debt down to a more sustainable 120 percent of GDP in 2020 from 160 percent now, are unresolved.
"What I am confident of is that our offer, that was delivered to the prime minister, is the maximum offer consistent with a voluntary PSI deal," Institute of International Finance chief Charles Dallara, who is negotiating on behalf of banks and insurers holding Greek debt, told Antenna TV on Sunday.
"We are at a crossroads and I remain quite hopeful," said Dallara, who left Athens on Saturday without a deal in place.
Once the guidance from the finance ministers, known as the Eurogroup, is clear, talks on the restructuring could be finalized later in the week.
"It is a very delicate moment," Greek government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis told Greek state radio.
"The only thing that I can say as a government spokesman is that tonight, there is a very important meeting at the Eurogroup and we hope that serious steps will be made towards a deal."
Talks on the extent of Private Sector Involvement (PSI) in the Greek debt restructuring are a vital part of a second financing plan for Athens that would keep it funded until 2014.
"We will listen to the report on the negotiations, see how far they have gotten and have the ministers say what is acceptable and what is not in terms of outcome of the negotiations," one Eurogroup official said.
Without the second bailout from the euro zone and the International Monetary Fund, Greece will not be able to pay back 14.5 billion euros in maturing bonds in March, triggering a messy default that would hurt the whole euro zone economy.
"We are working for a deal in time for the January 30 summit of EU leaders. The restructuring offer needs to be made in the course of February," the official said.
"Obviously there is a clear link between the PSI and the next program and what we will be focusing on in the Eurogroup is making the next program operational."
STICKING POINT
There are doubts that even with a new bailout Greece's mountainous debt can be reduced to a still-painful 120 percent of GDP by 2020.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Sunday the crucial factor was that Athens should have a level of debt that was sustainable by then. "This goal must be achieved," he told German public broadcaster ARD.
Euro zone leaders agreed in October that the second bailout would total 130 billion euros, if private bondholders forgave half of what Greece owes them in nominal terms.
But Greek economic prospects have deteriorated since then, which means either euro zone governments or investors will have to contribute more than thought. [ID:nL1E8CBE7W]
The main sticking point is coupon, or interest rate, the new Greek bonds would carry. Officials said the new bonds are likely to be 30 years in maturity and carry a progressively higher coupon, which would average out at around 4 percent.
"The euro zone ministers will examine the proposal and say whether we have a deal. If they say we don't, we're back to the negotiating table," a banking source close to the talks said.
Progress will be presented to euro zone ministers by Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos.
"We then expect a discussion about the coupon," a senior Greek banker close to the negotiations told Reuters.
"I believe that the private sector can accept a lower coupon than the 4 percent average, but the question then is: will the PSI still be on a voluntary basis?" he said.
The voluntary character of the debt restructuring is important to avoid triggering the pay-out of insurance against a Greek default.
While the sums of such insurance appear relatively small, euro zone officials said, such a "credit event" could trigger a chain reaction of events that would entail rapid and large scale contagion in euro zone debt markets, and is thus best avoided.
NEW RESCUE FUND
After dealing with Greece, euro zone ministers will choose a replacement for European Central Bank Board member Jose Manuel Gonzales Paramo, whose term ends in May.
The 17 ministers of the euro zone will then be joined by 10 ministers from the other European Union countries to finalize a treaty setting up the euro zone's permanent bailout fund - the 500 billion euro European Stability Mechanism (ESM). Its predecessor, the EFSF, is widely viewed as insufficient.
The ESM is another crucial element in the bloc's efforts to end the sovereign debt crisis that threatens to engulf Spain and Italy after claiming Greece, Ireland and Portugal.
The fund should boost market confidence in euro zone defenses should Spain or Italy need emergency financing. Separately, the IMF has launched a proposal to boost its war chest by $600 billion.
IMF head Christine Lagarde is to discuss this during a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday. She will make a speech on Monday in which she is expected to urge euro zone leaders to act quickly while acknowledging it is not merely Europe's problem because "innocent bystanders" will also be hit by a worsening debt crisis.
The 27 EU finance ministers will also prepare the final draft of another treaty to sharply tighten fiscal discipline in the euro zone, called the fiscal compact, that is designed to ensure another sovereign debt crisis cannot happen in future.
EU leaders are to sign off on both treaties on January 30, allowing the ESM to become operational in July.
To prepare for the January 30 summit, Merkel will meet European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy on Monday evening.
(Additional reporting by Lefteris Papadimas and Ingrid Melander in Athens; Reporting By Jan Strupczewski, editing by Mike Peacock)
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FILE - In this Aug. 6, 1999, file photo, Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno, right, poses with his defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky during Penn State Media Day at State College, Pa. In a statement made Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012, retired Penn State assistant coach Sandusky, who faces child sex abuse charges in a case that led to the firing of Paterno, says Paterno's death is a sad day. (AP Photo/Paul Vathis, File)
FILE - In this Aug. 6, 1999, file photo, Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno, right, poses with his defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky during Penn State Media Day at State College, Pa. In a statement made Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012, retired Penn State assistant coach Sandusky, who faces child sex abuse charges in a case that led to the firing of Paterno, says Paterno's death is a sad day. (AP Photo/Paul Vathis, File)
PHILADELPHIA (AP) ? Joe Paterno would no doubt have made a dramatic courtroom witness. But legal experts said his death will have little or no effect on the criminal or civil cases to come out of the Penn State child sex-abuse scandal.
"Obviously, you're taking away a great deal of the high-profile nature of this case, because it deals with Joe Paterno's football program," said Jeffrey Lindy, a criminal defense lawyer involved in a clergy-abuse case in Philadelphia. "But with regard to the legal impact of his death, there is none."
Paterno died Sunday at 85, two months after former coaching assistant Jerry Sandusky was charged with molesting boys and two university officials were accused of perjury and failing to report child sex-abuse allegations against Sandusky to police.
The criminal case against the two university officials may even become more streamlined without Paterno in the mix.
Former university vice president Gary Schultz and athletic director Tim Curley are charged with failing to report to police what graduate assistant Mike McQueary said he told them in 2002: that McQueary saw Sandusky sexually assaulting a boy in a locker room shower.
McQueary first told Paterno, who said he reported it to Curley and Schultz the next day. The administrators told the grand jury they were never informed that the allegations were sexual in nature.
With Paterno's death, though, a jury is free to focus not on what Paterno knew or did, but on the defendants' actions.
What McQueary told Paterno "was a distraction, and now that that part of the case is really gone, it will focus much more on his interaction not with Paterno, but with the Penn State officials," said Duquesne University law professor Nicholas P. Cafardi.
McQueary is also the more crucial witness in the case against Sandusky, who is charged with abusing 10 boys, at least two of them on the Penn State campus.
Paterno testified for just seven minutes last January before the grand jury. He gave only vague answers ? and was never pressed ? when asked what he knew about anyone accusing Sandusky of molesting boys.
"Without getting into any graphic detail, what did Mr. McQueary tell you he had seen and where?" Paterno was asked, according to the grand jury testimony read in court last month.
"Well, he had seen a person, an older ? not an older, but a mature person who was fondling, whatever you might call it ? I'm not sure what the term would be ? a young boy," Paterno replied.
He was asked if he ever heard of any other allegations against Sandusky, who had been the subject of a lengthy campus police investigation four years earlier after a mother complained Sandusky had showered with her young son at the football complex.
"I do not know of anything else that Jerry would be involved in of that nature, no. I do not know of it," Paterno said, adding, "You did mention ? I think you said something about a rumor. It may have been discussed in my presence, something else about somebody. I don't know."
Paterno's grand jury testimony cannot be used in court, because the defense never had the chance to cross-examine him.
"His passing deprives folks from finding out, directly from his lips, exactly what he knew and when he knew it, and what he did or didn't do. But the reality is, sometimes those things can be proved by other means," said Jeff Anderson, the St. Paul, Minn., lawyer who filed the first civil case against Penn State on behalf of a Sandusky accuser.
It's not unusual for a witness to die or become infirm before trial, especially in child sex-abuse cases, which can take years or even decades to surface. In Philadelphia, prosecutors won the right to question 88-year-old retired Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua on video last year to preserve his testimony before the spring trial of three priests and a church official. Bevilacqua suffers from dementia and cancer.
Prosecutors never got the chance to preserve Paterno's testimony, given his surprise cancer diagnosis and rapid decline after they filed the charges Nov. 4.
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AUCKLAND (Reuters) ? The founder of file-sharing website Megaupload was ordered to be held in custody by a New Zealand court on Monday, as he denied charges of internet piracy and money laundering and said authorities were trying to portray the blackest picture of him.
Prosecutor Anne Toohey argued at a bail hearing that Kim Dotcom, a German national also known as Kim Schmitz, was a flight risk "at the extreme end of the scale" because it was believed he had access to funds, had multiple identities and had a history of fleeing criminal charges.
"The FBI believes the sums located are unlikely to represent all the overseas bank accounts owned by Mr Dotcom," she said.
But Dotcom's lawyer said he posed no threat of absconding or restarting his businesses, arguing that his client had cooperated fully, his passports had been seized and his funds frozen, and also that he had a distinctive appearance.
"He is not the sort of person who will pass unnoticed through our customs and immigration lines and controls," said defense lawyer Paul Davison of the former hacker, reportedly 2 meters (6ft 6ins) tall and weighing more than 130 kg (285 lbs).
Judge David McNaughton said the bail application was too complicated for an immediate ruling, adding he would issue a written decision no later than Wednesday.
"Given the breadth of issues covered in this bail application and the seriousness of the issues, I am going to reserve my decision," the judge said.
U.S. authorities want to extradite Dotcom on charges he masterminded a scheme that made more than $175 million in a few short years by copying and distributing music, movies and other copyrighted content without authorization. Megaupload's lawyer has said the company simply offered online storage.
Prosecutor Toohey said two other men sought on global warrants for involvement in Megaupload had been arrested in Europe.
The shockwaves of the case appeared to be spreading among rival websites offering lucrative file-sharing. FileSonic, a website providing online data storage, said in a statement on its website that it had halted its file-sharing services.
"All sharing functionality of FileSonic is now disabled. Our service can only be used to upload and retrieve files that you have uploaded personally," it said.
BARRICADED IN SAFE ROOM
Dotcom, 38, and three others, were arrested on Friday after New Zealand police raided his country estate at the request of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Police cut Dotcom out of a safe room he had barricaded himself in, because, according to his layer, he was frightened and panicked.
Presenting the case for flight risk, the prosecutor said 45 credit cards in three wallets were found in the mansion under Dotcom's various names, while three passports were also found. But his defense lawyer said: "My client collects them (credit cards), most of them are out of date."
Dotcom smiled and waved at around 20 supporters who filled the courtroom and spoke to them after the judge's decision.
"Hey guys thanks for turning up, I appreciate it," he said, wishing a female supporter a "happy birthday".
Defense lawyer Davison said Dotcom was "realistic about what is happening".
"He would obviously prefer to be at large. He doesn't want to be there any longer than he absolutely has to be," he told reporters outside the court.
Media reported that Dotcom ordered around NZ$4 million ($3.2 million) of renovations to the sprawling mansion that he leased near Auckland, with its manicured lawns, fountains, pools, palm-lined paths and extensive security.
The case is being heard as the debate over online piracy reaches fever pitch in Washington, where Congress is trying to craft tougher legislation.
Lawmakers stopped anti-piracy legislation on Friday, postponing a critical vote in a victory for Internet companies that staged a mass online protest against the fast-moving bills.
The movie and music industries want Congress to crack down on Internet piracy and content theft, but major Internet companies such as Google and Facebook have complained that current drafts of the legislation would lead to censorship.
Critics of the U.S. Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, and Protect IP Act (PIPA), quickly showed their opposition to the shutdown of Megaupload.com, with hackers attacking the public websites of the Justice Department, the world's largest music company Universal Music, and the two big trade groups that represent the music and film industries.
Dotcom's New Zealand lawyer Davison said in court that Megaupload's business was being misrepresented and authorities were being aggressive to add drama to the case.
"His business did not reproduce or copy material as alleged," he told the court, adding that copyright holders had been given access to Megaupload to identify improper posting of material. He likened the site to the popular YouTube video site, where people "promoted their creativity".
In New Zealand, questions are being asked about how Dotcom, who moved to the country in 2010, could be given permanent residency under a business investor scheme despite criminal convictions for insider trading.
LAVISH LIFESTYLE
A legal expert said extradition arrangements between New Zealand and the United States were reasonably straightforward and standard, but there were some important factors.
"The offence for which extradition is sought must be an offence in the jurisdictions of both states," said Otago University law professor Kevin Dawkins, adding that an accused must be tried on the offence for which they are extradited.
New details emerged about Dotcom's lavish lifestyle and tastes, with reports that he had a heated lap pool built just off the master ensuite, with underwater speakers, imported spring water and a custom ladder worth around NZ$15,000.
"It's insane, and it gets more insane inside. When we were there we called it 'extreme home makeover, millionaire edition'," a source close to the teams that did renovation work the New Zealand Herald.
A film posted on the Internet shows Dotcom, surrounded by topless women and men spraying champagne on board a superyacht during a "crazy weekend" in Monaco reported to have cost $10 million.
"Fast cars, hot girls, superyachts and amazing parties. Decadence rules," said the commentary accompanying the so-called fun documentary, which Dotcom dedicated to "all my fans".
The FBI estimates that Dotcom personally made around $115,000 a day during 2010 from his empire. The list of property to be seized, includes nearly 20 luxury cars, one of them a pink Cadillac, works of art, and NZ$10 million invested in local finance companies.
(Additional reporting by Gyles Beckford in Wellington and Ed Davies in Sydney; Editing by Ed Davies and Alex Richardson)
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Here at Ashley Place, we love our pets!? As a matter of fact, the majority of our neighbors in the community have a pet!? This is why it is absolutely pertinent that all pet owners follow the pet policies that we have in place.? Please take a moment to review a few of the policies that you agreed to upon signing?the pet lease agreement:
**???? No more than 2 pets per apartment.
** ??? If pet is outside the apartment, it will be on a leash while accompanied by and under the control of the resident.? No pets are to be tethered outside the apartment.
**??? ?Resident agrees to clean up after pets.
**???? No tolerance for aggressive or disturbing pets.
**???? Any failure to comply with these terms and conditions could result in the removal of pet from the premises or termination of residents rights of occupancy.
**?????These policies are put in place for the sake of ALL residents, pets, children, staff and guests here at Ashley Place.? We love our furry friends just as much as you do, however, we take our pet policies very seriously.
Please do your part in helping us make Ashley Place an enjoyable home for everyone.? As always, feel free to contact the leasing office if you have any questions.? Thank you!
Source: http://my.homeisashleyplace.com/2012/01/important-reminder-about-your-pets/
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Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, stands with, from left, his wife Ann, obscured left, granddaughter Allie, son Tagg, son Matt, and granddaughter Chloe, as he speaks at his South Carolina primary election night reception at the South Carolina State Fairgrounds in Columbia, S.C., Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich won the Republican primary Saturday night. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, stands with, from left, his wife Ann, obscured left, granddaughter Allie, son Tagg, son Matt, and granddaughter Chloe, as he speaks at his South Carolina primary election night reception at the South Carolina State Fairgrounds in Columbia, S.C., Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich won the Republican primary Saturday night. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, leaves after a campaign event at Chick-Fil-A, in Anderson, S.C., Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, on South Carolina's Republican primary election day. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Republican presidential candidate former, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, campaigns at Tommy?s Country Ham House, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Greenville, S.C., on South Carolina's Republican primary election day. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
A man shelters himself from the rain prior to a scheduled campaign event for Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, outside a polling station at Powdersville Middle School, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Greenville, S.C., on South Carolina's Republican primary election day. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Strong backing from conservative and religious voters and people fretting about the uncertain economy fueled Newt Gingrich's victory Saturday in South Carolina's Republican presidential primary, an exit poll of voters showed Saturday.
The figures also showed that for the first time, the former House speaker had grabbed two constituencies that his chief rival, Mitt Romney, prided himself in winning in the year's two previous GOP contests in Iowa and New Hampshire. By a decisive 5 to 4 margin, Gingrich bested Romney among voters looking for someone to defeat President Barack Obama this November, and he led Romney by nearly as much among those who considered the economy the top issue in picking a candidate.
Gingrich benefited most from the campaign's final, tumultuous week, the figures showed.
Just over half said they'd chosen a candidate in the last few days, and they backed Gingrich over Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, by 2-1. By a slightly stronger margin, the roughly two-thirds who said campaign debates were an important factor also supported Gingrich. There were two GOP debates in South Carolina during the past week.
In the last days of the campaign, Romney stumbled badly when asked repeatedly whether he will release his income tax returns. Gingrich endured an allegation by one of his two former wives, Marianne, that he had asked permission for an open marriage while he was having an affair with the woman who is his current wife, Callista.
That accusation seemed to take only a slight toll on Gingrich.
He got less than 10 percent support from people who said what they most wanted in a candidate was strong moral character, but these voters were less than 1 in 5 of those who showed up Saturday at the polls. And Gingrich did slightly better than Romney among women and polled a bit more strongly among married than unmarried females.
Gingrich won healthy margins among the state's conservatives, who comprise more than 6 in 10 voters in the state, one of the country's reddest. While those results were bad news for Romney, they were even more damaging to Rick Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator who has been dueling with Gingrich to become the GOP's conservative champion and alternative to Romney.
Gingrich won among conservatives and tea party supporters by nearly 2-1 over Romney. Santorum was slightly behind.
Nearly two-thirds of voters Saturday said they are born again or evangelical Christians, and they backed Gingrich over Romney by 2-1 also.
More telling, 6 in 10 voters said it was important that their candidate share their religious beliefs. Nearly half of such voters backed Gingrich, while only around 1 in 5 chose Romney or Santorum.
About 8 in 10 voters said they were very worried about the direction of the country's economy, and they picked Gingrich over Romney by about a 4-3 edge.
South Carolina's unemployment rate of 9.9 percent is worse than the national average, and the exit poll provided evidence of the state's economic pain. About 3 in 10 said someone in their household has lost a job in the past three years. And about 1 in 5 said they are falling behind financially ? about double the proportion who said so in exit polling in the state's 2008 GOP presidential primary.
Romney's earlier career heading Bain Capital, a venture capital firm, clearly wounded his prospects. During much of the campaign, Gingrich and others accused Romney and his company of killing jobs in the companies they bought and restructured.
Those blows showed on Saturday. According to the exit polls, Gingrich and Romney broke about even among the 6 in 10 voters who said they had a positive view of Romney's activities at Bain. But among those who viewed Romney's work negatively, half picked Gingrich and almost none backed Romney.
Underscoring how poorly Romney fared in South Carolina, only about 4 in 10 voters Saturday said they could enthusiastically back Romney should he eventually win the GOP nomination.
Romney's defeat was so sweeping that he lost to Gingrich among voters of every age. The only income group that Romney won was people making above $200,000 a year ? 1 in 20 of those who voted Saturday.
The exit poll also showed that around two-thirds of voters approve of the job Nikki Haley is doing as governor, a job she won with strong tea party support. Haley endorsed Romney but 7 in 10 tea party backers gave her high marks anyway.
The survey was conducted for AP and the television networks by Edison Research as voters left their polling places at 35 randomly selected sites in South Carolina. The survey involved interviews with 2,381 voters and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
___
Associated Press global polling director Trevor Tompson contributed to this report.
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Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney greets supporters during a campaign rally, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, in North Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney greets supporters during a campaign rally, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, in North Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich meets with supporters, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, in Orangeburg, S.C. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? In the 11 days since Mitt Romney tried unsuccessfully to leave the rest of the GOP field behind in New Hampshire, the presidential race has served up a scattershot cast of angels and demons as the candidates try to strike a chord with different slices of the electorate.
Capitalism was in, then out, then in again. Insurance companies got a sideways sympathetic nod. Mike Huckabee and Betty White proved to have some cachet. The press was an ever-popular whipping child.
Europe and entitlements, felons, food stamps and French: All were on the outs with one candidate or another.
Newt Gingrich even ran an ad faulting Romney for his language skills: "Just like John Kerry, he speaks French," it warned ominously.
The GOP challengers went after Romney's venture capitalist credentials with a vengeance ? most memorably when Texas Gov. Rick Perry rebranded him a "vulture capitalist" ? then eased up somewhat when they caught grief from the defenders of free enterprise.
For a little while, even insurance companies ? typically a popular target for politicians of any stripe ? got a little love after Romney said he liked the idea of being able to fire them for poor performance. The other candidates summoned a chorus of outrage at the notion that Romney would relish firing anyone.
Republican strategist Terry Holt said it all adds up to "a blizzard of buzz words" as candidates try to deliver a headline-grabbing quote that will get people's attention.
But does it work?
"Ultimately, it all blends together into a general sense of the candidate," says Holt. "The back-and-forth is lost on most people."
And there's been a lot of back-and-forthing.
Romney and Gingrich both ran ads trying to claim a little luster from popular conservative Huckabee by rolling out nice things he'd said about them. But it turned out Huckabee hadn't endorsed either of them, and both got a scolding from the former Arkansas governor.
President Barack Obama, watching the GOP race from the sidelines, had to be hoping that a little of Betty White's uncanny popularity would rub off when he taped a video piece for her 90th birthday in which he joked that the actress looks so good she should cough up her long-form birth certificate to prove she's really that old.
The GOP candidates trotted out plenty of reliable enemies ? "Obamacare," federal regulations, big government, the Dodd-Frank financial regulations ? but added some new ones to the mix as well.
Gingrich, catering to South Carolina sensibilities and its port communities, singled out the Army Corps of Engineers, complaining in Thursday's debate that the corps "takes eight years to study ? not to complete ? to study doing the port. We won the entire Second World War in three years and eight months."
Candidates' messages zig-zagged all over in search of a winning line that would work with voters.
Earning money was good ? except if your name was Mitt Romney.
A super PAC supporting Gingrich made a half-hour movie attacking Romney for reaping "massive rewards for himself and his investors," complete with sinister music and a baritone-voice narrator.
Romney defended his capitalist credentials by lining himself up with the philosopher known as a father of capitalism, proudly announcing, "Adam Smith was right."
Perry managed to turn the news that U.S. troops had apparently been captured on video urinating on corpses in Afghanistan into an indictment of the Obama administration. The Texas governor accused the Obama team of piling on against "kids" who sometimes make "stupid mistakes."
It didn't do him much good: He was out of the race within days.
Then came the issue of infidelity: Gingrich chose not to comment on the details of his marriage to his second wife after she claimed that he'd asked her for an "open marriage" in which he could have both a wife and a mistress.
Gingrich managed to steer that conversation to the one enemy that all the candidates love to beat up on: the media.
"I think the destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to govern this country," he declared.
But even rival Rick Santorum saw through the tactic, urging voters not to be swept away by Gingrich's blast at the press.
Republicans should "get past the glib one-liners, the beating up of the media, which is always popular with conservatives," Santorum said.
Democratic strategist Karen Finney said the Republicans' random list of friends and foes has emerged as candidates "try to pick off pieces of the Republican electorate" with very targeted appeals that will add up to an overall win in each primary or caucus state.
"The narrative is shifting based on the audiences they're speaking to," she said.
"There's always, 'Who's the good guy and who's the bad guy,'" she said.
In this campaign, that lineup changes every day.
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MIAMI ? DirectTV Inc. and the owner of TV stations in Miami and Boston are in a standoff over fees the satellite provider pays to run broadcast programming. That's leaving tens of thousands of viewers unable to see shows ranging from "American Idol" to the NFL playoffs.
It's one of many disputes across the country between cable and satellite companies and local stations over what are known as retransmission fees. The latest dispute is between DirectTV and Sunbeam Television Corp.
In Miami, DirectTV viewers were unable to watch Fox's premiere of "American Idol" on Wednesday and last weekend's NFC playoff games.
Sunbeam also owns two stations in Boston. One of them would carry the Super Bowl ? possibly featuring the hometown New England Patriots.
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(Reuters) ? The league-leading Bulls shrugged off the absence of Derrick Rose to outclass the Cavaliers 114-75 on Friday, handing Cleveland their worst home loss in franchise history as Chicago continued to dominate on the road.
C.J. Watson scored 15 points and added seven assists in place of the injured league MVP Rose, who missed his third consecutive game with a strained big toe.
"C.J. is making us play with pace and is doing a great job of running the team," Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau told reporters.
"And our wings are doing a good job of running the floor and running through. That's allowing Carlos (Boozer) to get deep post ups in transition before the defense is set."
Chicago (14-3) seized control of the contest following a timeout late in the first quarter with the scores tied at 23-23, setting off on a 15-3 run that took the game away from the hosts.
"They did a great job defensively of making every shot we took pretty tough," Cavaliers guard Daniel Gibson said.
"We definitely have to fight a lot harder. We can't just allow it to keep going down. At some point, you have to push back."
Luol Deng led Chicago with 21 points while Boozer scored 19 and added 14 rebounds before the Bulls starters sat down early with the win that improved their road record to 8-3 already assured.
"We have 10, 11 guys who can really play," said Kyle Korver, who led the Bulls reserves with 14 points.
"In a season like this, guys are going to get hurt. Obviously, we'd prefer Derrick playing. But there's no reason for him to be out here playing hurt."
Anderson Varejao, with 14 points, and Kyrie Irving, 13, were the only two Cavaliers (6-8) to reach double digits.
The 39-point margin is four more than the previous heaviest defeats for the Cavs in Cleveland, set in 1990 and matched in 2001.
(Reporting by Mike Mouat in Windsor, Ontario; Editing by John O'Brien)
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