Twin explosions strike southern Syrian city

BEIRUT (AP) — Syria‘s state-run news agency says two large explosions have struck the southern city of Daraa, causing multiple casualties and heavy material damage.

SANA did not immediately give further information or say what the target of Saturday’s explosions was.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the blasts went off near a branch of the country’s Military Intelligence in Daraa.

The Observatory, which relies on a network of activists on the ground, says the explosions were followed by clashes between regime forces and rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad.

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Are Twitter’s Sports Trolls Out of Control?

The Los Angeles Lakers — a star-stacked superteam with four potential Hall of Famers — have struggled out of the gate this NBA season, and many have placed the blame squarely on new head coach Mike Brown, who was fired on Friday after just five games. Fan frustration, however, reached an ugly crescendo earlier this week, with sports trolls using Twitter to threaten Brown’s teenage son, according to an Orange County Register report.

That’s just the latest in a seemingly increasing series of harassments and even death threats against sports figures. When NFL player Kyle Wilson was hit with death threats in January, the incident was perceived as — if not unprecedented — novel and shocking. Since then, reports of players being threatened on Twitter have become more and more common. Sportscaster Erin Andrews was a high profile victim less than three weeks ago, and posted this response:

[More from Mashable: Twitter Hacked? Here’s How to Protect Your Account]

The growing frequency and severity of sports trolling has raised a number of relevant questions: Have Twitter’s sports trolls gone too far? Can anything be done about them? And, if not, what are the consequences?

A Spiraling Culture of Abuse

Bill Voth, whose company Spiracle Media helps with social media for a number of colleges as well as NBA star Stephen Curry and Olympic gold medalist Ricky Berens, says he’s seen a rise in venomous, execrable behavior by fans on Twitter. He also believes it could eventually lead athletes and celebrities — who played an integral role in raising the microblogging network to its current omnipresence and popularity — to migrate away.

“It just seems like it’s every week now, and it’s gone from just small trolling to threats of physical harm,” he told Mashable. “Trolls are getting louder and more powerful, and I think ultimately this is one of the biggest threats to Twitter itself.”

In addition to physical threats, players regularly receive racial abuse and overly harsh criticism after injuries or disappointing performances. According to Voth, Curry was inundated with “dozens” of messages, many of them vulgar, each day while dealing with nagging ankle problems that forced him out of fantasy basketball lineups last season.

“This sounds cheesy, but these athletes and celebrities are humans too,” Voth says. “When you keep picking at them and sending them messages that they suck, it could get out of hand and eventually affect Twitter’s business model.”

There’s also the question of what would happen if crazed but, by all appearances, delusional and harmless online troll actually carried out a tweeted threat of physical harm. That would obviously raise the stakes and attention paid to harassment, but likely not have any direct effect on Twitter, according to Bradley Shear, an attorney who specializes in social media issues.

“It would be very difficult to hold Twitter and/or any other social media liable for death threats made on their platform,” Shear told Mashable in an email. “However, under the right set of facts, it is conceivable that a digital platform would be liable if they knew or should have known about a potential danger and they did not properly warn others.”

Anti-Troll Legislation

A Twitter spokesperson pointed to the company’s terms of abusive behavior and law enforcement guidelines, but also emphasized the notion that social media doesn’t motivate people to express feelings they don’t already have. The company says it follows up on every reported case of abuse, and works to facilitate law enforcement investigations when applicable. Twitter, however, has also long been vocal about its stance on not moderating content.

While it may seem repulsive in the United States, where freedom of speech is a sacred trope of national identity, trolls who harass athletes in England can be prosecuted and land in jail. In one high-profile case this summer, British diver Tom Daley outed a hateful abuser during the Olympics, and the troll was later arrested. In March a racist Twitter troll was sentenced to 56 days in jail.

Voth, for one, doesn’t rule out the possibility that similar legislation could eventually be a necessity stateside.

“It’s gone from bad to worse in just a year or two, so what’s it going to be like in another year or two?” he says. “Is this something where we need to pass laws against trolls?”

Do you think sports trolls — or Twitter trolls in general — are out of control, or just an unfortunate reality that can’t be dealt with? How would you like to see the issue addressed, either by Twitter or legally?

BONUS GALLERY: Our Favorite Sports Social Media Moments of 2012

1. Devin McCourty Tweets While Playing in the Super Bowl (Sort of)

As New England Patriot Devin McCourty took on the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLVI, his followers were still able to receive real-time updates from his social feeds. But he wasn’t sneaking tweets between plays or during timeouts. Devin and twin brother Jason, who plays for the Tennessee Titans, share their Twitter and Facebook accounts. The Super Bowl showcased one of the more creative approaches to social media in the sports world.

Image courtesy of Devin and Jason McCourty’s Instagram.

Click here to view this gallery.

Thumbnail image credit: Mashable composite, iStockphoto asiseeit

This story originally published on Mashable here.

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Will Ferrell, Liam Neeson join voice cast for “Lego”

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Will Ferrell, Liam Neeson, Nick Offerman and Alison Brie have joined the voice cast for Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow’s “Lego: The Piece of Resistance,” Warner Bros. said on Friday.

Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett and Morgan Freeman were previously announced for the upcoming 3D animated feature. The first full-length Lego theatrical feature has a February 7, 2014 release date.

The story revolves around an average Lego figure (Pratt) who is mistakenly identified as having extraordinary abilities that would enable the character to save the world.

Ferrell will voice President Business, an enemy of the film’s hero, with Neeson as his powerful henchman, Bad Cop. Offerman is a pirate obsessed with revenge against the president.

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (“21 Jump Street,” “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs”) are directing from a script they wrote.

Ferrell, Neeson and Offerman all have films in current release: Ferrell in “Wreck-it Ralph,” Neeson in “Taken 2″ and Offerman in “Smashed.” Offerman is a regular on NBC’s “Parks & Recreation.”

The story was first reported by Deadline.com.

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Boehringer Ingelheim to start late-stage hepatitis C drug trial

BOSTON (Reuters) – Boehringer Ingelheim said on Saturday it plans to initiate a late-stage clinical trial of its experimental hepatitis C treatment following promising results from earlier studies.

The company announced final data from a mid-stage trial of its treatment regimen which showed that 69 percent of patients in the study were free of the virus 12 and 24 weeks following the end of treatment.

Hepatitis C is a blood-borne infectious disease of the liver that can lead to liver failure and transplant.

Historically, hepatitis C has been treated with pegylated interferon and ribavirin, but treatment lasts as long as 48 weeks and interferon is associated with flu-like side effects.

The goal of drugmakers now, including Boehringer, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc, Gilead Sciences Inc and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co is to develop products that do not need to be combined with interferon. Most analysts consider Gilead to currently be at the forefront of the race.

Full results from Boehringer’s trial, known as SOUND-C2, were presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases in Boston. Preliminary data were presented earlier this year.

Boehringer’s trial tested a combination of BI-201335, a protease inhibitor, BI-207127, a polymerase inhibitor, and ribivirin.

Boehringer is a privately held company headquartered in Ingelheim, Germany.

(Reporting By Toni Clarke; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

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FBI probe of Petraeus began with 'suspicious emails'

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The FBI investigation that led to the discovery of CIA Director David Petraeus' affair with author Paula Broadwell was sparked by "suspicious emails" that initially did not contain any connection to Petraeus, U.S. law enforcement and security officials told Reuters on Saturday.

But the CIA director's name unexpectedly turned up in the course of the investigation, two officials and two other sources briefed on the matter said.

It was "an issue with two women and they stumbled across the affair with Petraeus," a U.S. government security source said.

The Washington Post reported on Saturday that the FBI probe was triggered when Broadwell sent threatening emails to an unidentified woman close to the CIA director.

The woman went to the FBI, which traced the threats to Broadwell and then uncovered explicit emails between Petraeus and Broadwell, the Post said.

Attempts by Reuters and other news media to reach Broadwell, an Army reserve offer and author of a biography of Petraeus, have not been successful.

The FBI and CIA declined comment on Saturday.

Many questions in the case remain unanswered publicly, including the identity of the second woman; the precise nature of the emails that launched the FBI investigation; and whether U.S. security was compromised in any way.

Nor is it clear why the FBI waited until Election Day to tell U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who oversees the CIA and other intelligence agencies, about its investigation involving Petraeus.

The CIA director announced his resignation suddenly on Friday, acknowledging an extramarital affair and saying he showed "extremely poor judgment.

The developments likely ended the public career of one of the United States' most highly regarded generals, who was credited with helping pull Iraq out of civil war and led U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, new details emerged on Saturday about developments in the final days leading to Petraeus' departure from atop the CIA.

Clapper was notified by the FBI on Tuesday evening about 5 p.m. - just as returns in the U.S. presidential election were about to come in - about "the situation involving Director Petraeus," a senior intelligence official said. Clapper and Petraeus then spoke that evening and the following morning.

WHITE HOUSE NOTIFIED WEDNESDAY

"Director Clapper, as a friend and a colleague and a fellow general officer, advised Director Petraeus that he should do the right thing and he should step down," the official said.

Clapper is a retired Air Force lieutenant general; Petraeus served nearly four decades in the U.S. Army.

On Wednesday, Clapper notified the National Security Council at the White House that Petraeus was considering resigning and President Barack Obama should be informed, the official said.

U.S. law enforcement and intelligence officials agreed to discuss the Petraeus matter only on condition of anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity and because it is the subject of a law enforcement investigation.

Once Petraeus' name turned up in the investigation, the importance of the FBI inquiry was immediately escalated, as investigators became concerned the CIA chief somehow might have been compromised, the law enforcement official said.

However, the official and two sources briefed on the matter said no evidence has turned up suggesting Petraeus had become vulnerable to espionage or blackmail. At this point, it appears unlikely that anyone will be charged with a crime as a result of the investigation, the official said.

The FBI investigation began fairly recently - months ago rather than years ago, when Petraeus would still have been in uniform as one of the U.S. Army's top field commanders, the official said.

Representative Peter King, Republican chairman of the House of Representatives' Homeland Security Committee, said in an interview on MSNBC the FBI was "investigating or monitoring ... the director of the CIA for four or five months."

Several officials briefed on the matter said senior officials at the Pentagon, CIA and Congress knew nothing of the FBI's investigation of Petraeus until Thursday afternoon at the earliest, and some key officials were not briefed on the details until Friday.

There is no evidence at this time that anyone at the White House had knowledge of the situation involving Petraeus prior to the U.S. presidential election on Tuesday, which saw Obama elected to a second four-year term.

Another U.S. government security source said it was not until Friday afternoon that some members of the House and Senate intelligence oversight committees were notified about Petraeus' resignation by Clapper's office.

The congressional committees were told that it was a personal issue that Petraeus had to discuss with his wife. When pressed, a representative of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said it involved another woman.

(Writing by Warren Strobel; Additional reporting by Doug Palmer and Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Todd Eastham)

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Syria opposition bloc elects Christian as leader

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Syria‘s main opposition group in exile has elected a Christian Paris-based former geography teacher as its new president.

George Sabra said Friday that his election as head of the Syrian National Council is a sign that the opposition is not plagued by sectarian divisions.

Sabra says the SNC‘s main demand is to receive weapons from the international community. The U.S. and some other foreign backers of rebels fighting the regime of President Bashar Assad have so far refused to send weapons for fear they can fall into the wrong hands.

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Taylor Swift to headline “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve”

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Country-pop star Taylor Swift will ring in the New Year in the United States as the headline act on TV special “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve,” which will feature a two-hour tribute to late host Dick Clark, organizers said on Friday.

Swift, whose new album “Red” racked up more than 1 million copies in first week U.S. sales, will perform live in New York’s Times Square on December 31, just before the ball drops to bring in 2013.

The New Year’s Eve music special for ABC television was hosted for four decades by legendary TV and music producer Clark before his death in April at age 82.

This year the show will be helmed again by Clark’s recent co-host – “American Idol” host and radio DJ Ryan Seacrest – under the title “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest,” ABC and dick clark productions said.

The evening will kick off with a two-hour tribute to the host of TV dance show “American Bandstand” that will feature clips of Clark’s long career, and remembrances by musicians and industry celebrities.

The 5-1/2 hour show will also feature other musical guests, yet to be announced, and report on New Year celebrations around the globe.

(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Eric Walsh)

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California teen steps into rattlesnake nest, survives

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) – A teenage California girl searching for a cell phone signal to call her mother in a rural area outside San Diego inadvertently stepped into a nest of rattlesnakes and was bitten six times, but survived.

The 16-year-old, Vera Oliphant, spent four days in the intensive care unit of Sharp Grossmont Hospital, and doctors gave her 24 vials of antivenom after she was bitten by an adult rattlesnake and five young rattlers outside her uncle’s home.

“I was trying to find a signal to call my mom and text my boyfriend,” Oliphant said on Friday, a day after she was released from the hospital following the October 27 incident.

“I didn’t see them until I already stepped on their nest and I felt them biting me.”

“My vision started to go right away. First it looked like the snakes blended into the leaves and then I started seeing black spots around the edges and I started blacking out.”

She returned to her uncle’s home in Jamul, outside San Diego, and he immediately packed her into the car and rushed her to the emergency room, she said.

On the way, she talked to her mom and her boyfriend, who told her to stay calm so the venom wouldn’t spread.

“I told my mom and my boyfriend I love them in case I don’t get to see them again,” she said.

Doctors there administered 24 vials of antivenom to quash the dangerous toxins, according to a hospital spokesman. Snakebites usually aren’t fatal, although a handful of people die in the United States each year from snake bites, including bites from rattlesnakes.

Oliphant has recovered and will be returning to classes at Chaparral High School in El Cajon on Monday. She said the next time she can’t get a signal, she will handle it differently.

“Be careful where you step,” she said. “If you don’t need to, just wait until you are somewhere that you can call people.”

(Editing By Cynthia Johnston and Todd Eastham)

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Was Petraeus affair linked to lax Libya response?

CIA Director David Petraeus abruptly resigned Friday, citing an extramarital affair and the need to sort out the “personal and professional issues” involved.

The former commander of forces in Iraq and Afghanistan had built a stellar and nearly unassailable reputation – but mounting criticism of the Central Intelligence Agency’s response to the Benghazi, Libya, terrorist attack in September was beginning to tarnish that reputation.

Word of Mr. Petraeus’s resignation sent ripples of stunned surprise through both the intelligence and military communities, raising questions that revolved around how long the affair had been going on and how an officer known for his rigorous self-discipline – and attention to his reputation within the media — could have made such a lapse in judgment.

RECOMMENDED: 5 ways events overseas could shape Obama's second term

In a letter of resignation accepted by the White House, Petraeus said he had been married 37 years but had exercised “very poor judgment” in choosing to enter into an extramarital affair.

Petraeus, who was widely celebrated as a military commander and even occasionally mentioned as a potential presidential candidate, was sworn in as head of the CIA in September 2011 – and had kept a low profile since. Now speculation is sure to proliferate over whether that low profile resulted from Petraeus focusing on America’s intelligence gathering or on personal matters.

In particular, members of Congress and other officials demanding answers about the Benghazi attack on the US consulate that resulted in the deaths of four Americans – including the US ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stephens, and two CIA agents – will want to know if there was any link between Petraeus’s extramarital activities and what has been increasingly criticized as the CIA’s weak performance on the night of the Benghazi attack.

More broadly, the reason for Petraeus’s departure will raise questions about any compromising of US covert operations and intelligence. The potential for blackmail of intelligence officers is always a concern about the spy corps, but the involvement of the nation’s top spy in an extramarital affair takes the concern to a new level.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been probing Petraeus and the potential security risks posed by his affair, CNN reported late Friday afternoon.

In the weeks since the Benghazi attack, officials have leaked information, including how Petraeus kept information on the CIA’s role in Benghazi so private that even Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was left to call Petraeus as the attack unfolded to try to get intelligence information from him.

Last week, CIA officials revealed that in fact, the intelligence agency’s operations in Benghazi dwarfed diplomatic operations at the consulate and that the CIA maintained what was described as an “annex,” about a mile from the diplomatic mission.

State Department officials have said there was an informal understanding that the annex and its agents would come to the assistance of the consulate (which had private contractors providing security) if a need arose. CIA officials insist their agents responded to the consulate’s distress calls within a half-hour.

In a statement released Friday afternoon, President Obama praised Petraeus for his “extraordinary service” to the country, adding, “By any measure, through his lifetime of service, David Petraeus has made our country safer and stronger.”

In a statement, Sen. John McCain (R) of Arizona highlighted Petraeus’s role in Iraq, saying that his “inspirational leadership and his genius were directly responsible – after years of failure – for the success of the surge in Iraq.”

But Petraeus’s success in Iraq and Afghanistan was a result to a certain extent of his focus on a counterinsurgency strategy that involved large numbers of troops fighting the enemy by incorporating nation-building into the battle. When Mr. Obama named Petraeus to head the CIA, it was widely interpreted as the president’s signal that he intended to wind down America’s wars and shift from a counterinsurgency strategy to counterterrorism.

Obama did not cite Petraeus’s reason for resigning but did say, “Going forward, my thoughts and prayers are with Dave and Holly Petraeus, who has done so much to help military families through her own work. I wish them the very best at this difficult time.”

Mrs. Petraeus is the assistant director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where she supports veterans and troops facing difficulties as a result of the financial crisis.

Obama initially tried to convince Petraeus not to resign, according to some souces. “I am told that President Obama tried to talk Petraeus out of resigning, but Petraeus took the samurai route and insisted that he had done a dishonorable thing and now had to try to balance it by doing the honorable thing and stepping down as CIA director,” Tom Ricks reports in his blog “The Best Defense.”

Such a move is in keeping with the military culture in which Petraeus rose to the rank of four-star general.

Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, adultery is a punishable offense for soldiers if the conduct is shown to be detrimental “to good order and discipline in the armed forces or was of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces.”

Obama said that Michael Morell, deputy director of the CIA, would take over as acting director. Mr. Morell served briefly as acting director after Leon Panetta left the agency last year to become Defense secretary.

Petraeus was set to testify Thursday at a closed-door session of the Senate Intelligence Committee on the Benghazi attack, but it was unclear if his resignation would alter that schedule.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) of California, the Intelligence Committee chair, told NBC News that Petraeus’s personal mistake should not have led to his resignation.

“I would have stood up for him,” she said. “I wanted him to continue. He was good, he loved the work, and he had a command of intelligence issues second to none.”

Obama, after winning reelection Tuesday, was already expected to make some changes in his national security team for a second term, but early speculation had been that Petraeus would stay on at the CIA. Now the job of spy chief will be added to the new-team mix.

RECOMMENDED: 5 ways events overseas could shape Obama's second term

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Myanmar says Obama to visit later this month

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — President Barack Obama will make a groundbreaking visit later this month to Myanmar, an official said Thursday, following through with his policy of rapprochement to encourage democracy in the Southeast Asian nation.

The Myanmar official speaking from the capital, Naypyitaw, said Thursday that security for a visit on Nov. 18 or 19 had been prepared, but the schedule was not final. He asked not to be named because he was not authorized to give information to the media.

The official said Obama would meet with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi as well as government officials including reformist President Thein Sein.

It would be the first-ever visit to Myanmar by an American president. U.S. officials have not yet announced any plans for a visit, which would come less than two weeks after Obama’s election to a second term.

Obama’s administration has sought to encourage the recent democratic progress under Thein Sein by easing sanctions applied against Myanmar’s previous military regime.

Officials in nearby Thailand and Cambodia have already informally announced plans for visits by Obama that same week. Cambodia is hosting a summit meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and Thailand is a longtime close U.S. ally.

The visit to Myanmar, also known as Burma, would be the culmination of a dramatic turnaround in relations with Washington as the country has shifted from five decades of ruinous military rule and shaken off the pariah status it had earned through its bloody suppression of democracy.

Obama’s ending of the long-standing U.S. isolation of Myanmar’s generals has played a part in coaxing them into political reforms that have unfolded with surprising speed in the past year. The U.S. has appointed a full ambassador and suspended sanctions to reward Myanmar for political prisoner releases and the election of Nobel laureate Suu Kyi to parliament.

From Myanmar’s point of view, the lifting of sanctions is essential for boosting a lagging economy that was hurt not only by sanctions that curbed exports and foreign investment, but also by what had been a protectionist, centralized approach. Thein Sein’s government has initiated major economic reforms in addition to political ones.

A procession of senior diplomats and world leaders have traveled to Myanmar, stopping both in the remote, opulent capital city, which was built by the former ruling junta, and at Suu Kyi’s dilapidated lakeside villa in the main city of Yangon, where she spent 15 years under house arrest. New Zealand announced Thursday that Prime Minister John Key would visit Myanmar after attending the regional meetings in Cambodia.

The most senior U.S. official to visit was Hillary Rodham Clinton, who last December became the first U.S. secretary of state to travel to Myanmar in 56 years.

The Obama administration regards the political changes in Myanmar as a marquee achievement in its foreign policy, and one that could dilute the influence of China in a country that has a strategic location between South and Southeast Asia, regions of growing economic importance.

But exiled Myanmar activists and human rights groups are likely to criticize an Obama visit as premature, rewarding Thein Sein before his political and economic reforms have truly taken root. The military — still dominant and implicated in rights abuses — has failed to prevent vicious outbreaks of communal violence in the west of the country that have left scores dead.

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Dancing With The Stars Family Rallies On Twitter In Support Of Brooke Burke-Charvet Following Thyroid Cancer Diagnosis

Members of the “Dancing with the Stars” family Tweeted their well-wishes for the show’s co-host, Brooke Burke-Charvet, who revealed on Thursday she has thyroid cancer.

Helio Castroneves, who was recently eliminated from the “All-Stars” season, said he is confident she will overcome the disease.

PLAY IT NOW: Brooke Burke-Charvet’s Sexy Lingerie Shoot!

“Hi @brookeburke, I have sure that you will win this battle. My affection for you,” the Indy driver wrote.

Brooke revealed on Thursday that she will be undergoing thyroid surgery and a thyroidectomy, and Erin Andrews, who competed in Season 10, noted she was praying for the host.

VIEW THE PHOTOS: The Lovely Brooke Burke-Charvet

“Thinking about @DancingABC friend @brookeburke..Prayers and all the best your way Brooke,” Erin wrote.

Also sending her kind words was Sabrina Bryan, who was eliminated last week on the show.

“@brookeburke hey girl!! You’re in my thoughts and prayers! Always here for you during this fight! Stay strong,” Sabrina wrote.

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Dancing With The Stars: All-Stars — Week 6

Season 13 vet Ricki Lake wrote, “@brookeburke sending huge healing love your way.”

Current contender Melissa Rycroft shared her support, Tweeting, “You’re such a strong woman, and I admire your courage. I hope you feel all the love and support behind you…We love you!”

VIEW THE PHOTOS: ‘Dancing’s’ Derek Hough

And some of the professional dancers chimed in too.

Pro Derek Hough (Brooke’s Season 7 partner) Tweeted, “Love you Brookie B. [You're] in my prayers.”

Cheryl Burke Tweeted, “I love u @brookeburke!! Stay strong. Will be praying for u and sending u lots of positive energy!”

– Jolie Lash

Copyright 2012 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Lagerfeld says Ghesquiere with Arnault “not bad idea”

PARIS (Reuters) – Star designer Karl Lagerfeld said the departure of Nicolas Ghesquiere from Balenciaga as artistic director to create his own brand with backing from LVMH‘s Bernard Arnault would “not be a bad idea” as the group owned many old labels.

“Perhaps Nicolas wants to have his own label, which is not a bad idea,” Lagerfeld told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.

“And it would not be a bad idea if somebody such as Bernard Arnault would invest in a new label because there are so many old labels (within the LVMH group),” Lagerfeld said about the chief executive of the world’s biggest luxury group.

PPR, the French group which owns Balenciaga, shocked the fashion world by announcing this week the departure of Ghesquiere, who had been with the brand since 1997 and was the main architect of its revival.

The International Herald Tribune reported this week that one option for Ghesquiere was to create his own brand with the backing of Arnault, who controls LVMH, the world’s biggest luxury group, which owns many fashion brands including Louis Vuitton, Fendi and Celine.

Founded by Cristobal Balenciaga in 1919, his eponymous brand thrived until the late 1960s and then lay dormant until Ghesquiere took over as designer. The brand started to expand worldwide after PPR acquired it in 2001.

Balenciaga did not explain Ghesquiere’s departure clearly when it made the announcement on Monday but it suggested the designer was longing for a new creative adventure.

Lagerfeld, who runs his own brand on top of working as artistic director for LVMH’s Fendi and for privately owned Chanel, said he could not think about the succession.

“We (my team and I) only think in terms of one collection after the next collection,” he said. “In fashion, I am very much against projection in the far away future.”

Lagerfeld was speaking at the opening of an exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris of his photos of celebrities themed around Chanel’s “little black jacket,” who were styled by Carine Roitfeld, former editor of the French Vogue.

The celebrities include artist Yoko Ono, John Lennon’s widow, film maker Sofia Coppola and actresses Kirsten Dunst and Milla Jojovich.

“I am happy I can do both fashion and photography because there is a link between the two but it is a link which I refuse to analyze,” Lagerfeld said.

PAVLOVSKY

Also present at the exhibition’s opening was Bruno Pavlovsky, president of Chanel’s fashion division, who like Lagerfeld would not be drawn too long on the subject of the designer’s succession.

“Karl is in great shape, I work every day with him and I can assure you that he is doing very well,” Pavlovsky said, adding that relations between Chanel and him had always been excellent.

“Of course one day there will be an after-Karl but Karl will have made Chanel so strong, with such strong codes that Chanel will find solutions,” Pavlovsky said.

The executive said Chanel, owned by the Wertheimer family, was doing well overall and expected 2012 to be another “good year” in spite of the global downturn which has affected many of its rivals including LVMH, Burberry and Gucci owner PPR.

However, he said the Chinese market was becoming more mature with growth levels in big cities such as Shanghai or Beijing becoming similar to that of European capitals or New York where Chanel has been for decades.

“We are no longer in the 20-30 percent growth levels we had seen (in previous years in China),” he said. “It can be more than 10 percent,” he said, referring to growth levels in big European cities.

Pavlovsky said Chanel planned to finish the year with 10 boutiques in China and 182 globally.

(Reporting by Astrid Wendlandt; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)

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Home blood pressure monitors show mixed results: study

(Reuters) – Home blood pressure monitors may be useful to some older adults who have suffered a stroke, but little help to others, according to a UK study.

Past studies have found that home monitoring may aid blood pressure control, with a 2010 review of 37 clinical trials finding that, overall, people who used monitors shaved a few extra points from their blood pressure. They were also more likely to cut down on medication.

The new study, which appeared in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, focused on patients who’d recently had a stroke – a group that hasn’t really been studied when it comes to home blood pressure monitoring.

“Overall, home monitoring did not improve blood pressure control in patients with hypertension and a history of stroke,” wrote lead researcher Sally Kerry, a researcher at Queen Mary, University of London.

The exception, though, was patients whose blood pressure was poorly controlled at the study’s start, meaning it was above the standard high blood pressure cutoff of 140/90 mm Hg.

In that case, patients given a home monitor cut an average of 11 points from their systolic blood pressure – the top number in the reading. That compared with just under five points among patients who were not given the devices.

Kerry’s team randomly assigned the patients to either stick with standard care only or get a home monitor, along with instructions on how to use it and periodic phone calls from a nurse to check on how they were doing.

Over the next year, the results were mixed. Among the patients who didn’t seem to benefit were those who’d been left disabled by their stroke, while non-disabled patients cut about four points.

“Some patients had difficulty carrying out monitoring because they did not have a carer who lived with them to help,” said Kerry.

Many people with high blood pressure already have home monitors, and these findings don’t mean that stroke survivors can’t benefit, although a person left disabled by a stroke may be “not the best” candidate, said Hayden Bosworth, a professor of medicine at Duke University, who was not part of the study.

And for a monitor to benefit anyone, the numbers have to be put to good use, he added. That means a healthcare provider has to know what they are and make any needed adjustments to a patient’s medications.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/STMwU2

(Reporting from New York by Amy Norton at Reuters Health; editing by Elaine Lies)

Health News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Obama breaks down while speaking to staff, volunteers

The morning after he won re-election, an emotional President Barack Obama credited his youthful staff of several hundred with running a campaign that will "go on in the annals of history."

"What you guys have accomplished will go on in the annals of history and they will read about it and they'll marvel about it," said Obama told his team Wednesday morning inside the Chicago campaign headquarters, tears streaming down his face.

"The most important thing you need to know is that your journey's just beginning. You're just starting. And whatever good we do over the next four years will pale in comparison to whatever you guys end up accomplishing in the years and years to come," he said.

The moment, captured by the Obama campaign's cameras and posted online, offers a rare glimpse at the president unplugged and emotional. During the first four years of his presidency, Obama has never been seen publicly crying.

He first came to Chicago, he told the campaign staff, "knowing that somehow I wanted to make sure that my life attached itself to helping kids get a great education or helping people living in poverty to get decent jobs and be able to work and have dignity. And to make sure that people didn't have to go to the emergency room to get health care."

"The work that I did in those communities changed me much more than I changed those communities because it taught me the hopes and aspirations and the grit and resilience of ordinary people," he said, as senior strategist David Axelrod and campaign manager Jim Messina looked on. "And it taught me the fact that under the surface differences, we all have common hopes and we all have common dreams. And it taught me something about how I handle disappointment and what it meant to work hard on a common endeavor, and I grew up."

"So when I come here and I look at all of you, what comes to mind is, it's not that you guys remind me of myself, it's the fact that you are so much better than I was in so many ways. You're smarter, you're so better organized, you're more effective," he said.

Obama said he expected many of those who helped to re-elect him will assume new roles in progressive politics, calling that prospect a "source of my strength and inspiration."

Senior campaign officials said Thursday that the Obama campaign infrastructure - the field offices and network of hundreds of thousands of volunteers - would undergo a period of transition in the coming weeks to determine how to remain sustainable and influential.

"We have remarkable staff, and the campaign that Jim [Messina] put together, you know, is the best in history," said senior Obama adviser David Plouffe. "But the reason those people got involved was because they believed in Barack Obama. It was the relationship between them and our candidate."

Also Read

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Merkel says Germany, Britain must work together on EU

LONDON (Reuters) – Germany and Britain must cooperate to work round their differences on the European Union‘s long-term spending plans, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday.

“Despite differences that we have it is very important for me that the UK and Germany work together,” Merkel said through a translator before a meeting in London with Prime Minister David Cameron to discuss the EU‘s 2014-2020 budget.

“We always have to do something that will stand up to public opinion back home. Not all of the expenditure that has been earmarked has been used with great efficiency … We need to address that,” she said.

EU leaders meet in Brussels on November 22-23 to try to secure a seven-year budget for the 27-nation bloc amid signs of differences of opinion over what action should be taken.

(Reporting by Peter Griffiths; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

Europe News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Apple slides to five-month low, uncertainty grows

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Country duo Civil Wars cancel tour, cite discord

LONDON (Reuters) – Grammy Award-winning country-folk duo The Civil Wars have cancelled their British tour dates, citing “irreconcilable differences” via Twitter and Facebook.

The pair made the announcement shortly after performing at the Roundhouse in north London late on Tuesday, but they added that they hoped to record together soon.

“We sincerely apologize for the canceling of all of our tour dates,” said the band, which comprises Joy Williams and John Paul White.

“It is something we deeply regret. However, due to internal discord and irreconcilable differences of ambition we are unable to continue as a touring entity at this time … Our sincere hope is to have new music for you in 2013.”

The band said it would “do its best” to reimburse fans who had made travel reservations to see them.

The Civil Wars released their debut studio album “Barton Hollow” last year and went on to scoop two Grammy Awards – the highest prize in music – for best folk album and best country duo/group performance.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White)

Music News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Los Angeles mandates condoms for porn actors, industry threatens suit

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Los Angeles County voters passed a ballot initiative mandating that pornographic film actors wear condoms during sex scenes, prompting a trade group on Wednesday to threaten to sue and take production elsewhere.

Measure B, which was sponsored by the group AIDS Healthcare Foundation, won approval on Tuesday by a margin of 55.85 percent to 44.15 percent, according to the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder’s office.

“This is what democracy looks like; we took this to county government, and they didn’t act so we took it directly to the voters, and they spoke conclusively,” AIDS Healthcare Foundation President Michael Weinstein said.

The law requires adult film actors filming in Los Angeles County to use condoms during sex scenes. Most U.S. pornographic productions are made in the county’s San Fernando Valley.

Diane Duke, chief executive for the industry group Free Speech Coalition, told Los Angeles County supervisors in a letter on Wednesday that the law was unconstitutional and that it fell under state jurisdiction, not that of local government.

“Therefore, we will file suit and challenge this intolerable law in court,” Duke said in the letter. A copy was provided to Reuters.

She said the adult filmmakers had been approached to move elsewhere, adding: “In the upcoming weeks and months, we will provide a roadmap for adult production to move its over a billion dollar industry and its accompanying 10,000 jobs to these welcoming communities.”

David Sommers, a spokesman for the Board of Supervisors, declined to respond specifically to the letter, saying he had not read it. He said county health officials were still grappling with the law’s implications.

“This type of enforcement is a new thing for us and it’s a one-of-a-kind law and so how we move forward with its implementation is a conversation we’re just beginning to have given how the voters decided Measure B,” he said.

The initiative requires porn producers to get a health permit from Los Angeles County to make their movies showing explicit sex and nudity. Using condoms on set would be a condition of obtaining that permit.

California workplace laws mandate the use of condoms by porn performers, but AIDS Healthcare officials say the statute is not specifically aimed at the industry and is widely violated.

The Free Speech Coalition said in its letter that such requirements would impose “excessive costs of compliance.”

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Sexual Health News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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How did America become so polarized?

WASHINGTON (AP) — The election laid bare a dual — and dueling — nation, politically speaking, jaggedly split down the middle on the presidency and torn over much else. It seems you can please only half of the people nearly all of the time.

Americans retained the fractious balance of power in re-electing President Barack Obama, a Republican House and a Democratic Senate, altogether serving as guarantors of the gridlock that voters say they despise. Slender percentages separated winner and loser from battleground to battleground, and people in exit polls said yea and nay in roughly equal measure to some of the big issues of the day.

Democracy doesn't care if you win big, only that you win. Tuesday was a day of decision as firmly as if Obama had run away with the race. Democrats are ebullient and, after a campaign notable for its raw smackdowns, words of conciliation are coming from leaders on both sides, starting with the plea from defeated Republican rival Mitt Romney that his crestfallen supporters pray for the president.

But after the most ideologically polarized election in years, Obama's assertion Wednesday morning that America is "more than a collection of red states and blue states" was more of an aspiration than a snapshot of where the country stands.

"It's going to take a while for this thing to heal," said Ron Bella, 59, a Cincinnati lawyer who lives in Alexandria, Ky. He is relieved Obama won, but some of his co-workers are in a "sour mood" about it.

"They feel like the vast majority of the country wanted Romney, and the East and the West coasts wanted Obama," he said. "I'm not sure exactly why that is, but there just seems to be such hatred for Obama out there."

Compromise was a popular notion in the hours after Obama's victory and an unavoidable one, given the reality of divided government. But the familiar contours of partisan Washington were also in evidence, especially the notion that compromise means you do things my way.

As Democratic Rep. Steve Israel of New York put it, "If you refuse to compromise, we are going to beat you." Israel, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said the election showed "if you are an extremist tea party Republican, you are going to lose."

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said pointedly that Republicans will meet Obama halfway "to the extent he wants to move to the political center" and propose solutions "that actually have a chance of passing."

In New York's bustling Times Square, hope, skepticism and the usual polarities were all to be found when people talked about the president. "He may not have done a great job in my mind but I kinda trust him," said Jerry Shul. "I have faith he will get with the Republicans and get something done."

A less-flattering George Dallemand called this "a moment of truth" for the country. "I guess we have to wish for the best now, but I still think he is socialism."

In Miami, Karen Fitzgerald, 55, wore a black dress and said she was in mourning over Romney's defeat.

"It's an upsetting day," she said. But she took some comfort from her Democratic friends on Facebook, who have stopped chiding the other side in their posts. "Now they're all saying we need to work together and be united," she said. "Maybe we can."

In Springfield, Ohio, an "elated" Frank Hocker, 67, hoped Republicans would get the message to get out of Obama's way. "There was a backlash," he said. "For this obstructionist House and those tea party people, I hope they learned their lesson. I hope they learned their lesson: Don't stop the progress of this country."

In Chicago, Obama supporter Scherita Parrish, 56, predicted the president will reach out to Republicans but may not get much back.

"But the people have spoken," she said. "They need to lick their wounds, get on with it and start working with the president."

Unity is a challenge not just for Obama but for the Republicans, who won less than 30 percent of the growing Hispanic vote and not even one in 10 black voters. Obama built a strong Electoral College majority, if only a narrow advantage in the popular vote, despite losing every age group of non-Hispanic white voters.

Surveys of voters found Obama's health care law to be as divisive as ever, with just under 50 percent wanting it repealed in whole or part, and 44 percent liking it as is or wanting more of it.

But democracy doesn't care about exit polls, either, and the election almost certainly means Republicans can forget about trying to roll it back now.

In reaffirming divided government, though, Americans all but ensured colossal fights are ahead over the shape of government and Obama's agenda. He is out to break a wall of Republican opposition to tax increases on the wealthy — a move that about half the voters in exit polls thought was a good idea. And extraordinarily difficult negotiations are imminent as the president and Congress try to make a deal to avoid the "fiscal cliff" — steep spending cuts and a variety of tax increases in January.

In the end, voters split about equally on whether Obama or Romney would be better at handling the economy.

Then again, they were divided down the middle on whether Obama or his predecessor, George W. Bush, deserves most of the blame for the economy's problems.

So it goes in the 50-50 nation, give or take.

___

Associated Press writers Christine Armario in Miami, Michael Tarm in Chicago, David Martin in New York, Amanda Myers in Cincinnati and Ann Sanner in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report.

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Officials: New mass graves found in Ivory Coast

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — Up to 10 new mass graves have been discovered near the site of a July attack on a camp for displaced people, officials said Tuesday, amid allegations that initial casualty totals were downplayed to mask killings carried out by the national army.

Rights groups claim summary executions were carried out by the Republican Forces of Ivory Coast, known by its French acronym of FRCI. Last month, officials found six bodies in a well close to the former campsite in the western town of Duekoue.

Government, army and U.N. officials toured 10 more graves in the same area on Saturday, said Paul Mondouho, vice-mayor of Duekoue. He said the graves had first been identified by civilians, and that officials did not know the number of bodies they contained because they had not yet been properly exhumed.

“People were suspecting the presence of bodies in these graves because of the smell coming out of them and because of the shoes we saw nearby,” Mondouho said.

Prosecutor Noel Dje Enrike Yahau, who is based in the commercial capital of Abidjan, confirmed that multiple new graves had been discovered but could not provide details. U.N. officials and the local prosecutor in charge of investigating the suspected killings could not be reached Tuesday.

U.N. spokeswoman Sylvie van den Wildenberg confirmed that U.N. forces helped Ivorian authorities secure a perimeter around 10 wells “similar to the one in which six bodies were found,” and that “some of those wells are suspected mass graves.”

She stressed that Ivorian authorities were leading the investigation but that the U.N. was able to provide assistance.

Army spokesmen could not be reached Tuesday. The Justice Ministry has previously vowed to investigate the discovery of the initial grave.

On the morning of July 20, a mob descended on the U.N.-guarded Nahibly camp, which housed 4,500 people displaced by violence in Ivory Coast, burning most of the camp to the ground. Officials said at the time that six people were killed.

The attack was prompted by the shooting deaths of four men and one woman on the night of July 19, according to local officials and residents. In response a mob of some 300 people overran the camp on the morning of July 20 after the perpetrators of the shootings reportedly fled there.

The victims in the July 19 attack lived in a district dominated by the Malinke ethnic group, which largely supported President Alassane Ouattara in the disputed November 2010 election. The camp primarily housed members of the Guere ethnic group, which largely supported former President Laurent Gbagbo.

Gbagbo’s refusal to cede office despite losing the election to Ouattara sparked months of violence that claimed at least 3,000 lives.

Albert Koenders, the top U.N. envoy to Ivory Coast, said one week after the attack that U.N. security forces had been inside and outside the camp at the time but that no Ivorian security forces were present. He said the U.N. forces decided not to fire at a large group of people that were attacking the camp in order to avoid “a massacre.”

Several witnesses have said soldiers and traditional hunters, known as dozos, participated in the attack on the camp. Both military and dozo leaders have denied the claims, saying they had tried to protect the camp.

In a statement released Friday, the International Federation for Human Rights, known by its French acronym of FIDH, said it had information — including the preliminary results of autopsies — confirming that the six bodies found in October were men who had been summarily executed by the army.

“The disappearance of dozens of displaced persons after the attack, as well as confirmation of cases of summary and extra-judicial executions, suggest a much higher victim rate than the official figures report,” said the organization, which counts Ivorian civil society groups among its members.

Duekoue was one of the hardest-hit towns during the post-election violence. The U.N. has established that at least 505 people were killed in and around the town, including during a notorious March 2011 massacre that claimed hundreds of lives and was allegedly carried out by fighters loyal to Ouattara.

Duekoue residents belonging to ethnic groups that supported Gbagbo have long complained about abuses carried out by the FRCI, with some pointing to the direct involvement of the local commander, Kone Daouda. FIDH said in its statement that Daouda had been transferred following the discovery of the grave in October, and called for him to be interrogated over the matter.

The group also said two FRCI members were being “actively sought” after failing to return to their barracks on Oct. 16, noting that they are believed to have fled to neighboring Burkina Faso.

Africa News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Exclusive - Amazon to win EU e-book pricing tussle with Apple

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The Civil Wars cancel tour using divorce language

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Grammy-winning duo The Civil Wars have canceled their upcoming tour dates, citing irreconcilable differences.

The folk-pop duo Joy Williams and John Paul White released a statement Tuesday announcing that because of “internal discord and irreconcilable differences of ambition” they were unable to “continue as a touring entity at this time.”

Although they used the language of divorce, the duo added, “Our sincere hope is to have new music for you in 2013.”

Williams and White are both married, but to other people. Williams had a baby this summer with husband Nate Yetton, the duo’s manager.

Earlier this year the pair canceled part of their European tour.

The duo found unexpected success with their 2011 debut album, “Barton Hollow.” With backgrounds in gospel and rock, they met when they were both asked to contribute to a country project and found chemistry.

Back then, the pair framed their partnership in terms of courting. White told The Associated Press that after two songwriting sessions, “I finally got up the nerve to ask her out, as it were.”

“In a musical way,” Williams said.

Entertainment News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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