Wendy's stands by outlook amid transformation push

This undated image provide by Wendy's shows the fast food company's new logo. Wendy?s fiscal fourth-quarter net income grew more than sixfold as the hamburger chain continues to remodel restaurants. (AP Photo/Wendy's)

This undated image provide by Wendy's shows the fast food company's new logo. Wendy?s fiscal fourth-quarter net income grew more than sixfold as the hamburger chain continues to remodel restaurants. (AP Photo/Wendy's)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Wendy's is standing by its outlook for the year as it pushes ahead with restaurant remodeling plans intended to boost its image.

The company, based in Dublin, Ohio, says about 20 percent of its U.S. locations will be remodeled by 2015. The new look, which includes comfortable seating areas and flat-screen TVs, is intended to have a more inviting feel and is part of the company's goal of positioning itself on the higher end of the fast-food industry.

Wendy's has about 6,500 locations, primarily in North America.

In a conference call with analysts, Chief Financial Officer Steve Hare said sales at established restaurants in the first quarter of the year are off to a solid start after a modest performance a year ago. He declined to provide details, but the company said the new "Right Price, Right Size" value menu is resonating with customers.

Even as it tries to strengthen its image as a purveyor of more premium food, Wendy's is looking to step up its courtship of fast-food customers who are focused squarely on value. But the new menu has a tiered pricing strategy ranging from 99 cents to about $2 intended to sell items at more profitable price. Items on the previous menu all cost 99 cents, which was an issue for some franchisees because the profit margins were too thin.

The company's push to reinvent itself comes as people are increasingly eating at fast-casual chains such as Panera Bread Co., which offers food that's perceived to be higher quality for slightly higher prices. A better image could give Wendy's more wiggle room to raise prices without scaring off customers.

For the period ended Dec. 30, Wendy's Co. said its net income rose sharply because of a larger tax benefit and lower interest expense. It earned $26.4 million, or 7 cents per share, compared with $4 million, or 1 cent per share, a year ago.

The company revised its preliminary adjusted results showing earnings in January to reduce the estimate for charges related to discontinuing breakfast at certain locations and to reduce depreciation and amortization. It now says adjusted earnings were 9 cents per share in the period.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected 8 cents per share.

Revenue rose 2 percent to $629.9 million. Analysts expected revenue of $630 million.

Its shares rose 12 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $5.62 in trading 90 minutes before the market opening.

As previously reported, the company said sales at established restaurants slipped 0.2 percent, after a strong performance in the year-ago period that got a boost from the introduction of Dave's Hot 'n Juicy burgers. The measure is a key indicator of a financial health because it strips out the impact of newly opened and closed locations.

Looking ahead to 2013, the company affirmed its outlook for growth of 2 percent to 3 percent at restaurants open at least 15 months and remodeled restaurants open at least three months. It reaffirmed its forecast for adjusted earnings between 18 cents and 20 cents per share. Wall Street predicts 18 cents per share.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-02-28-US-Earns-Wendy's/id-2c4d69e0015945a3b9e254809ccb81ca

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Sea lamprey genome mapped with help from scientists at OU

Public release date: 28-Feb-2013
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Contact: Angela Startz
astartz@ou.edu
405-325-6664
University of Oklahoma

Researchers include McCauley and Clifton

Beginning in 2004, a group of scientists from around the globe, including two University of Oklahoma faculty members, set out to map the genome of the sea lamprey. The secrets of how this jawless vertebrate separated from the jawed vertebrates early in the evolutionary process will give insight to the ancestry of vertebrate characters and may help investigators more fully understand neurodegenerative diseases in humans.

David McCauley, associate professor in the Biology Department in the OU College of Arts and Sciences, and Sandra W. Clifton, with the OU Center for Advanced Genome Technology, collaborated with scientists from Japan, Germany, the United States, Canada and Great Britain.

McCauley isolated and prepared the liver tissue from the single adult female sea lamprey, from which genomic DNA was isolated for sequencing. Clifton was involved in management of the sea lamprey sequencing project at the Genome Institute at Washington University in St. Louis until her retirement in 2010. The project then was taken over by Patrick Minx. Clifton participated in the discussions regarding the paper preparation, and she is a senior author on the paper. Sequencing was performed at the Genome Institute and the project was directed by Weiming Li at Michigan State University with funding provided by the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health.

"The sea lamprey is a primitive jawless vertebrate that diverged from other jawed vertebrates early in the vertebrate ancestry," writes McCauley. "Because of its early divergence from other living vertebrates, the sea lamprey genome can provide insights for understanding how vertebrate genomes have evolved, and the origins of vertebrate character traits. Several important findings arise from sequencing the sea lamprey genome: Vertebrates have undergone two 'whole-genome' rounds of duplication, resulting in multiple copies of many genes present in vertebrates. One outstanding question has been the timing of these duplications in vertebrate history. Results from this project suggest that two rounds of duplication predated the divergence of the ancestral lamprey from modern jawed vertebrates. This result is important for understanding how vertebrate genomes have evolved, and in particular, for understanding if the organization of the genome is common to all vertebrates.

"Most vertebrates contain an insulating layer of cells that surround nerve cells. Cells that wrap around a nerve fiber, or axon, are enriched in a protein known as myelin. The insulating properties of myelin allow signals to be conducted rapidly along the nerve fiber, and the loss of myelin results in numerous neurodegenerative diseases in humans."

McCauley adds that lampreys lack these "wrapped" neurons, suggesting the insulated neurons are specific to jawed vertebrates. "Somewhat surprisingly, the sea lamprey genome contains multiple proteins involved in the synthesis of myelin, including its basic protein. This important finding suggests the origin of myelin predated the divergence of lampreys from the lineage leading to jawed vertebrates, but the role of these proteins in lampreys is not known. Other important findings shed light on evolution of the vertebrate adaptive immune system, and the evolution of paired appendages, such as fins in fish and fore-limbs and hind-limbs in tetrapod vertebrates such as humans and animals."

###

The findings recently were published in the March issue of Nature Genetics. To read the full article, visit www.nature.com/ng.

---

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 28-Feb-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Angela Startz
astartz@ou.edu
405-325-6664
University of Oklahoma

Researchers include McCauley and Clifton

Beginning in 2004, a group of scientists from around the globe, including two University of Oklahoma faculty members, set out to map the genome of the sea lamprey. The secrets of how this jawless vertebrate separated from the jawed vertebrates early in the evolutionary process will give insight to the ancestry of vertebrate characters and may help investigators more fully understand neurodegenerative diseases in humans.

David McCauley, associate professor in the Biology Department in the OU College of Arts and Sciences, and Sandra W. Clifton, with the OU Center for Advanced Genome Technology, collaborated with scientists from Japan, Germany, the United States, Canada and Great Britain.

McCauley isolated and prepared the liver tissue from the single adult female sea lamprey, from which genomic DNA was isolated for sequencing. Clifton was involved in management of the sea lamprey sequencing project at the Genome Institute at Washington University in St. Louis until her retirement in 2010. The project then was taken over by Patrick Minx. Clifton participated in the discussions regarding the paper preparation, and she is a senior author on the paper. Sequencing was performed at the Genome Institute and the project was directed by Weiming Li at Michigan State University with funding provided by the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health.

"The sea lamprey is a primitive jawless vertebrate that diverged from other jawed vertebrates early in the vertebrate ancestry," writes McCauley. "Because of its early divergence from other living vertebrates, the sea lamprey genome can provide insights for understanding how vertebrate genomes have evolved, and the origins of vertebrate character traits. Several important findings arise from sequencing the sea lamprey genome: Vertebrates have undergone two 'whole-genome' rounds of duplication, resulting in multiple copies of many genes present in vertebrates. One outstanding question has been the timing of these duplications in vertebrate history. Results from this project suggest that two rounds of duplication predated the divergence of the ancestral lamprey from modern jawed vertebrates. This result is important for understanding how vertebrate genomes have evolved, and in particular, for understanding if the organization of the genome is common to all vertebrates.

"Most vertebrates contain an insulating layer of cells that surround nerve cells. Cells that wrap around a nerve fiber, or axon, are enriched in a protein known as myelin. The insulating properties of myelin allow signals to be conducted rapidly along the nerve fiber, and the loss of myelin results in numerous neurodegenerative diseases in humans."

McCauley adds that lampreys lack these "wrapped" neurons, suggesting the insulated neurons are specific to jawed vertebrates. "Somewhat surprisingly, the sea lamprey genome contains multiple proteins involved in the synthesis of myelin, including its basic protein. This important finding suggests the origin of myelin predated the divergence of lampreys from the lineage leading to jawed vertebrates, but the role of these proteins in lampreys is not known. Other important findings shed light on evolution of the vertebrate adaptive immune system, and the evolution of paired appendages, such as fins in fish and fore-limbs and hind-limbs in tetrapod vertebrates such as humans and animals."

###

The findings recently were published in the March issue of Nature Genetics. To read the full article, visit www.nature.com/ng.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-02/uoo-slg022813.php

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Achieving A Flat Belly | eSHAPE

A flat belly represents strong core muscles, good posture, healthy balanced food choices, and a desirable percentage of body fat. All these are signs of optimal muscular strength, muscle endurance, and body composition.

?

They contribute to perfect overall health, fitness levels, and a healthy lifestyle. Apart from these health related issues, a flat belly is also a desirable attribute for improving your physical appearance.

A flat belly is indicative of a healthy percentage of fat in the body. A person?s body weight consists of body fat and lean body tissue. A healthy body fat percentage in women is 18 to 25%, while that in men is 8 to 15%.

Portrait of pretty young woman kneeling on Maui, Hawaii beach lifting up sweater.

Excess fat usually tends to accumulate in the abdominal area, leading to increased health risks, such as heart disease and diabetes. A flat belly also enhances your body posture and alignment.

A healthy alignment places less pressure on connective tissues and muscles around the joints, especially in the spinal region. A protruding belly causes curvature in the lower spine area, thus contributing to lower back pain and muscle fatigue.

Some people think that going to bed immediately after having a meal can cause tummy bulge. But this is not the only reason for having a fat belly. There may be several other reasons too:

Shocked? Most experts suggest drinking as much water as you can. But recent studies have revealed that drinking water before and during food can lead to belly bulge. The water you drink during this time remains in your stomach with food for several hours, causing belly stretch.

Certain foods such as refined wheat products and polished white rice are nothing but carbohydrates. Extra carbohydrates stored in your body turn into fat, which usually accumulates on your stomach.

If you eat your dinner after 10pm and then sleep immediately, then there are no chances of your calories being burnt, probably due to lack of any physical activity. Most of the calories that you consume with dinner turn into fat.

Development of computers, Internet and automated tools have minimized the physical exercise we should do daily. Shopping, banking, booking tickets and almost everything else can be done from our own PC at home.

We can reach the 11^th floor in a lift or escalator, and we do not go to the nearby grocery store without a car. So, there is no need to step out of the house, as everything can be done from the comfort of our home. So, there is lack of physical exercise in our daily routine, which ultimately leads to a fat belly.

The food that you eat has an important role to play in leaning out that midsection. If you also long to have a flat belly, here are a few sure-shot flat belly diet tips:

If you want to shed that belly bulge, you need to take your food consumption seriously. First of all, try to give up all calorie rich foods, such as fat and sugar. Also, cut out high calorie drinks such as alcohol, soda and sweet beverages like juice and sweet tea. Avoid fatty meats, dairy products and fried foods such as sausages, ribeye steaks, sugary foods, potato chips, candies, granola bars and cereals.

Most people believe that starving yourself or limiting your food intake can help in having a flat belly. But the fact is that if your body enters the starvation mode, it starts storing more fat than usual. So, instead of having 3 large meals in a day, try to eat every 2-3 hours. This keeps your metabolism high, burning a lot of fat from your midsection.

Sodium is a major contributor of bloating. So, keep a watch on your sodium intake. Ideally, you should bring your sodium intake down to 2400mg per day, no more. To minimize sodium intake, avoid processed and packaged foods, and limit visits to restaurants. In order to find the sodium content in a food, read its label carefully or simply find it online.

Once you know which foods you should avoid to have a flat belly, here is a list of foods that you should eat, as these can actually help in shedding belly bulge:

Eating eggs in breakfast can increase your metabolism and you may be able to burn 100 more calories per day.

Green tea is rich in powerful antioxidants, known as catechins, which are helpful in cleansing the system and increasing metabolism.

Its acidity can slow down your digestion and accelerate weight loss. If your food gets digested slowly, you feel fuller for longer, thereby decreasing your food intake.

This high potency berry is full of nutrients and antioxidants, which are helpful in increasing metabolism, suppressing cravings for snacks and removing excess waste and toxins from the body. Other berries like blackberries and blueberries are also equally helpful.

Rich in mono-unsaturated fats, these are specifically helpful in burning belly fat, and reducing digestive issues and bloating.

Low in fat and calories, the probiotic nature of yogurt is helpful in bolstering your digestion. When taken in combination with other low calorie foods it can help in achieving a flat belly fast.

Natural whole grains have slow-released complex carbs which are helpful in shedding that belly fat.

Highly rich in complex and starchy carbs, oatmeal is helpful in burning fat quickly. It remains in your stomach for several hours, constantly giving you a feeling of fullness.

It is a super-grain which has manganese, copper, fiber, magnesium and nine essential amino acids.

Low in calories and rich in nutrients and antioxidants, this low glycemic food can help in burning belly fat fast.

Dieting alone may not be as effective if you do not incorporate a flat belly exercise program into your routine. Some of the best and most effective flat belly exercises include:

Lie facing up on a mat, place hands behind your head and support it with your fingers. Bring knees towards the chest and lift your shoulder blades without pulling the neck. Straighten one leg, rotate to left and bring the right elbow towards your left knee. Switch sides and continue changing sides in pedaling like motion.

Captain?s chair is a chair like rack having padded arms. Stand on this chair and hold the handholds. Press back against its pad and contract your abs to raise your legs. Lift knees towards the chest, without arching the back or swinging up the legs.

exercising with a personal trainer

Lie on your back on an exercise ball. Place your arms behind the head or cross them over your chest. Contract abs while lifting your body off the ball and pulling your ribcage bottom down towards the hips. Try to keep the exercise ball stable while curling up.

On average, a person can flatten his or her stomach within a matter of weeks. All you have to do is to control your calorie intake, decrease fat consumption and increase your physical exercise level.

Source: http://eshape.org/weight-loss/achieving-a-flat-belly/

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Best Buy announces fourth quarter net loss of $377 million, no rescue bid coming from founder

It's a hard time to be in the tech-retail sector, a fact that Best Buy knows all too well. The business has announced a fourth quarter net loss of $377 million on revenues of $16.7 billion. Incoming CEO Hubert Joly was upbeat despite the bad numbers, saying that the company's domestic sales helped offset its failures overseas. At the same time, Best Buy announced that founder Richard Schulze's attempted bid to buy back his company had failed, as the deadline for his offer expired at the end of February. As such, the company will now concentrate on turning a profit without any Apple store-style reinvention.

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Syrian rebel put his dreams on hold in civil war

In this Saturday, Nov. 17, 2012 image taken from video obtained from the Beloved of Allah Brigade , which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, Syrian rebel Abdullah Qadi, foreground, addresses other fighters in the village of Orim, Syria. Qadi, a fresh graduate of veterinary school when Syria's conflict began, was killed this week while fighting the forces of President Bashar Assad.(AP Photo/Beloved of Allah Brigade via AP video)

In this Saturday, Nov. 17, 2012 image taken from video obtained from the Beloved of Allah Brigade , which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, Syrian rebel Abdullah Qadi, foreground, addresses other fighters in the village of Orim, Syria. Qadi, a fresh graduate of veterinary school when Syria's conflict began, was killed this week while fighting the forces of President Bashar Assad.(AP Photo/Beloved of Allah Brigade via AP video)

In this Saturday, Nov. 17, 2012 image taken from video obtained from the Beloved of Allah Brigade , which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, Syrian rebel Abdullah Qadi, second right, addresses other fighters in the village of Orim, Syria. Qadi, a fresh graduate of veterinary school when Syria's conflict began, was killed this week while fighting the forces of President Bashar Assad.(AP Photo/Beloved of Allah Brigade via AP video)

In this Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013 image taken from video obtained from Beloved of Allah Brigade, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, dead Syrian rebel fighter Abdullah Qadi lies on a floor before burial in Syria. Qadi, a fresh graduate of veterinary school when Syria's conflict began, was killed this week while fighting the forces of President Bashar Assad. (AP Photo/Beloved of Allah Brigade via AP video)

BEIRUT (AP) ? Abdullah Qadi stood apart from his fellow rebel fighters ? an educated young man from a poor farming town who managed to make it through veterinary school.

He was fresh out of school in March 2011, when Syria's uprising began and erased his career plans of treating animals and someday becoming a professor.

As the violence deepened into a civil war, Qadi worked as a medic but later took up arms when his brother was killed, becoming a field commander.

Qadi was leading fighters into battle against the government forces when I met him on two occasions last year, a 25-year-old who was swept up in events he didn't quite understand and didn't expect to survive.

"I try to ask myself where I'll be after the revolution, and I can't imagine myself anywhere but in the grave," Qadi told me the last time I saw him in person.

I saw Qadi again earlier this week: As I sat at my computer in Beirut, a YouTube video flashed across the screen showing his body after he had been killed in northern Syria during government shelling and airstrikes. The video, posted online by the rebels, declared him a "martyr" in the fight against President Bashar Assad.

___

EDITOR'S NOTE: Ben Hubbard, an Associated Press correspondent based in Beirut, interviewed rebel fighter Abdullah Qadi during reporting trips into Syria. Here is his remembrance of the young brigade commander who died this week while fighting in northern Syria.

___

Qadi's death was like many of the more than 70,000 in the civil war ? violent, fast and mostly invisible to the outside world, other than in a few posts on Facebook pages run by his friends.

For me, it was a moment of recognizing someone familiar in the stream of gruesome images from the nearly 2-year-old conflict.

Because the government bars most reporters from working in Syria, on-the-ground reporting can only be done on dangerous, clandestine trips into the country.

It was on one such trip in November that I spent several days with Qadi and his brigade in northern Syria, both in a simple farmhouse they used as a base near their hometown of Maaret Misreen and in a fancy villa where they squatted while planning to attack an army base.

Qadi fielded my questions about his group, answering softly and earnestly, laughing shyly at times without opening his mouth much to hide a chipped front tooth.

His college education made him different from most of his fellow fighters. He was shorter than many of his colleagues and he usually wore an army green sweater and camouflage pants. He had grown a beard in the revolutionary fashion, but it was too downy to harden his image.

When the political protests against Assad grew more violent, his future was changed forever. Instead of healing farm animals, his medical expertise was put to use in treating victims of the government crackdown.

Then, in December 2011, his brother, Mazen, was killed in a shootout with a pro-regime militia, and Qadi joined a new brigade called The Beloved of Allah, most of whose members were guys he grew up with.

Like most of those fighting Assad's forces, he was a devout Sunni Muslim who didn't fully agree with the jihadists and foreign fighters who had joined the civil war seeking to turn Syria into an Islamic state. But their presence didn't bother him enough to make him refuse their help in battle.

He was popular with his men and known for his caution, recalled Sair Schaib, another brigade member, in an interview via Skype.

Some chafed at times at Qadi's reluctance to push forward quickly, but they later appreciated it. They realized that despite all the talk of the glory of martyrdom, he really didn't want to get his men killed.

This week, Qadi's brigade was among the rebels who pushed into Khan al-Assal, a village east of Aleppo in northern Syria near a police academy that Assad's forces have turned into a military base that regularly fires shells at nearby villages.

Government forces heavily shelled the area and the rebels organized cars to evacuate the civilians, said Schaib, who was a few streets away from Qadi.

Then a government jet bombed them, damaging homes and wounding a number of fighters and civilians.

Once they had been evacuated, Schaib rejoined the rest of his group and found another fighter cradling Qadi's head in his lap and reciting the Muslim declaration of faith.

Qadi's colleagues announced his death on their Facebook page, telling his story in epic language that portrayed him as a model for all.

"He picked up his weapon and joined the valiant revolutionaries, a courageous hero who did not fear death, but instead asked Allah for it, seeking martyrdom and receiving it from Allah," it said. "You will live on in our presence and in or hearts as we continue the march until we reach one of two blessings, victory or martyrdom."

They also posted a video of his body, his face uncovered. His fellow rebels, their voices cracking with emotion, yelled "God is great!"

Qadi was buried Monday night in his hometown, next to his brother.

Months earlier, over a plate of chicken fingers and french fries, Qadi spoke of how he had deferred his dreams of work, graduate study and marriage to fight a war he didn't expect to see end.

But he didn't seem depressed at that late-night dinner. He had fully embraced his new life.

"I'm happy with the battles and the people I've gotten to know," Qadi said. "These are the best moments of my life."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-02-28-ML-Syria-Death-of-a-Rebel/id-2d226f68ee344be38d9945abf1fefed0

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Samsung picks Apple?s pocket, ends up with Wallet [video]

Feb 27 (Reuters) - Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki suffered one of her worst career defeats when she bowed out of the Malaysia Open to 186th-ranked Chinese qualifier Qiang Wang on Wednesday. The Dane, top seed at the event in Kuala Lumpur, cruised through the opening set of her first round clash and had a match point in the second before going down 2-6 7-6 6-1. Qualifier Wang, 21, allowed Wozniacki only one point in the second set tiebreak as she levelled the match and rolled through the decider to claim her biggest careeer win. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/samsung-picks-apple-pocket-ends-wallet-video-140053978.html

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Algerian in Jihad Jane plot faces US extradition

DUBLIN (AP) ? An Algerian man wanted by American authorities over the abortive "Jihad Jane" plot to assassinate a Swedish artist was arrested while leaving an Irish courthouse Wednesday and could face U.S. extradition demands within hours.

Ali Charaf Damache, 47, had just walked free from a court in Waterford, southeast Ireland, after three years in an Irish prison when detectives acting on an American extradition warrant rearrested and escorted him, handcuffed, to an unmarked police car. Court officials said his extradition proceedings could begin Thursday in Dublin High Court.

The FBI and U.S. Justice Department accuse Damache of being the ringleader behind an unrealized 2009 conspiracy to target artist Lars Vilks in Sweden over his series of drawings depicting the Muslim prophet Muhammad as a dog. Muslim extremists in Iraq had offered a $100,000 reward for anyone who killed Vilks, who was never attacked.

U.S. prosecutors say Damache, who has lived in Ireland since 2000, recruited two U.S. women via jihadist web sites to help him target Vilks. One of the women who billed herself as "Jihad Jane," Colleen LaRose, was arrested by the FBI soon after she returned from Ireland in September 2009. Damache married the other woman, Jamie Paulin Ramirez, in a Muslim ceremony on the day she arrived in Ireland from Colorado that same month. Ramirez and Damache were arrested in their Waterford home in March 2010; she voluntarily returned to the United States to face charges there.

Both LaRose, now 49, and Ramirez, now 34, have pleaded guilty ? LaRose to conspiring to kill Vilks, Ramirez to lesser charges of aiding terrorists ? and are imprisoned in the United States pending their sentencing, which has been repeatedly delayed. LaRose faces up to life in prison, Ramirez a maximum 15 years.

Irish detectives investigating Damache's links to both women trawled his telephone records and discovered he had telephoned a Michigan attorney, Majed Moughni, the lead organizer of an Arab-American protest in Detroit called to denounce Islamic extremists. Moughni told police he received a telephoned death threat the day after that January 2010 demonstration ? and taped it.

Damache had pleaded not guilty to Irish charges of making death threats until Tuesday, when prosecutors played the audiotape. A voice identified as Damache's could be heard telling Moughni: "If you were in front of me, I would shoot you. I would put a bullet in your head."

On Wednesday, Damache's lawyers said their client was changing his plea to guilty and wanted to say sorry to Moughni. The presiding judge in Waterford Circuit Court, Donagh McDonagh, described the threat as premeditated and frightening. He gave Damache a four-year sentence but suspended the final year, which meant he was eligible for immediate release given his jail time already served.

He was rearrested within minutes of leaving the courtroom.

Vilks is one of two Scandinavian artists to infuriate Muslims with illustrations denigrating Muhammad, the central figure of Islam, who isn't supposed to be depicted visually at all according to Muslim tradition. The other artist, Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, was threatened in 2010 by an ax-wielding Somali who broke into his home, but police shot and wounded the attacker while the artist hid in a specially barricaded panic room. Westergaard's 2005 newspaper cartoons depicting Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban sparked street protests and violence against Scandinavian embassies in several predominantly Muslim countries.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/algerian-jihad-jane-plot-faces-us-extradition-005941309.html

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