Madoff's son will 'never forgive' his father

NEW YORK ?? Bernie Madoff's surviving son Andrew insisted Monday that he was unaware that his father's successful investment business was really a $65 billion Ponzi scheme and said of Bernie, "I'll never forgive him."

1. 1. Andrew Madoff: I?ll ?never forgive? my dad
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Appearing on the TODAY Show to promote a new book, "Truth and Consequences," Andrew Madoff told TODAY anchor Matt Lauer he's cut off contact with his infamous father since turning him in to authorities, and has no interest in hearing his side of the story.

"There's no way to explain what he did, the damage he has caused," he told Lauer. "What possible explanation could there be?"

These harsh words could have been just as easily spoken by Madoff's numerous victims. It remains to be seen if they'll extend to Andrew that same chance to explain himself.

Madoff was sentenced in 2009 to 150 years in prison for orchestrating one of if not the biggest, longest-running Ponzi scheme in history. Despite employing nearly 100 people in addition to his two sons, Madoff said he acted alone and had never made a single legitimate investment on behalf of the individual and institutional investors he defrauded. Celebrities including actor Kevin Bacon, and organizations like the New York Mets, all lost money. Madoff's victims also included sophisticated investors and financial professionals, none of whom questioned the consistent, positive returns Madoff pretended to generate.

"I'm not hearing sincerity and remorse in there," Andrew said of the letters he's received from his 73-year-old father, who is serving a 150-year prison sentence for the largest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history. "I try to find it in my heart to forgive him but I?m not there yet.?

Neither Andrew nor his brother Mark, who committed suicide two years after the Ponzi scheme was revealed, were ever charged in connection with their father's crimes.

For years, Bernie Madoff's ill-gotten money was used not only for fictitious payouts that kept up the illusion of a successful business, but to provide his family with a lavish lifestyle. Now living in far humbler conditions, Ruth talked about being estranged from her sons after she stuck by Bernie following his guilty plea and imprisonment.

On Christmas Eve, 2008, Ruth said she and Bernie attempted suicide by swallowing Ambien, aspirin and blood pressure medication. "It just was very spur of the moment," she said, adding that the couple talked it over for about 15 minutes.

"I think it was my idea more than his," she said. Ruth said she didn't remember if she and Bernie said goodbye before going to sleep or what else the two did in what they thought would be their final moments. She told Lauer, "I remember feeling glad" that the plan had failed when she woke up the next day.

Ruth said she felt shame on a day to day basis, and that she recently cut off contact with her husband of 50 years. She told Lauer she no longer missed Bernie. "The villain of this tragedy is behind bars."

Lauer challenged Andrew, saying Bernie's secretiveness about his investing should have been a "red flag" for his son. Andrew said he grew up hearing his father referred to as a "legend" in the investing community, and had no reason to be suspicious that his privileged childhood and affluent lifestyle were funded with other people's money.

Story: 'Truth and Consequence': A look at life inside Madoff clan

Andrew used the word "horrible" multiple times in describing the family's ordeal after the fraud came to light. Ruth spoke of her shame and of being the target for victims' anger.
Neither of them will receive royalties from the new book, according to a CBS "60 Minutes" profile of the family, although Andrew's fiancee and co-author Catherine Hooper will.

"From the beginning we have not really been able to speak," Andrew told Lauer. "We were so vilified by the tabloids."

Andrew and Ruth both said they felt sorry for the victims, some of whom were close friends. "I completely understand the way people feel," Andrew said.

Related story:

Madoff's wife, son deny knowing about scheme

? 2011 msnbc.com.? Reprints

Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45103461/ns/today-money/

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'Occupy' to march on N.Y.C. banks (Politico)

Occupy Wall Street protesters will march to five banks in Manhattan on Friday and deliver thousands of letters to the companies ? in the form of a ?mass paper airplane throwing.?

According to the plans for the march detailed on the movement?s website, at 1 p.m., protesters will meet at Bryant Park in midtown and march to the headquarters of Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase.?

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Thousands of letters that were submitted to occupytheboardroom.org will be folded into paper airplanes, and at some of the banks, protesters will execute a ?mass paper airplane throwing event,? after which the planes will be collected in a large mailbag and left in the lobbies of the banks.

At another stop in their march, demonstrators will deliver a ?singing telegram? to the company?s CEOs by singing in unison the text of one of the letters. When the singing is over, protesters will once again try to leave letters in the lobby of the banks.

The march will end at the headquarters of JP Morgan and Chase, where protesters will hold a letter-reading activity, with JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon as the intended target.

The plans come days after violence broke out in the Occupy movement in Oakland, Calif., when police swept through an encampment with tear gas and over 80 people were said to have been arrested, according to reports.

An Iraq War veteran was injured during the raid, taken to the hospital for a fractured skull. Occupy movements across the country have voiced their outcry about Scott Olsen, and held vigils for the veteran Thursday evening.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/politico_rss/rss_politico_mostpop/http___www_politico_com_news_stories1011_67053_html/43418202/SIG=11m9c30ur/*http%3A//www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/67053.html

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Syria's Assad says intervention will burn region

BEIRUT (AP) ? Syrian President Bashar Assad has warned that a western intervention in Syria will lead to an "earthquake" that "would burn the whole region."

In an interview with Britain's Sunday Telegraph, Assad said that such an intervention against his regime will cause "another Afghanistan."

Assad's rare interview comes after an intensification of the seven-month uprising against his regime following the death of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

The unrest in Syria could send unsettling ripples through the region, as Damascus' web of alliances extends to Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah movement, the militant Palestinian Hamas and Iran's Shiite theocracy.

Syria "is the fault line, and if you play with the ground you will cause an earthquake," Assad said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-10-30-ML-Syria/id-b96e64ea759d4ab686d25dc01db6c484

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Lee: Brutality at Occupy Oakland (Politico)

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) said Thursday that she was outraged and concerned about ?police brutality? at the Occupy Oakland protests.

?I shared my outrage and grave concern about the police brutality in Oakland directly with the Mayor,? Lee, whose district includes Oakland, told POLITICO in a statement.

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Oakland has been the scene of over one hundred arrests and clashes between protesters and police that has left a former Marine in critical condition .

Lee said that she continued to support those who are protesting in downtown Oakland.

?I strongly support the occupy movement and continue to stand with the peaceful protesters in this struggle for economic justice and equality,? she said.

Occupy Oakland organizers held a vigil Wednesday afternoon for Scott Olsen, a soldier who was hit in the head by what might have been a tear gas canister, reports the L.A. Times.

Olsen, a former Marine who had served two tours in Iraq and who is a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, remains in critical but stable condition at Oakland?s Highland Hospital.

Lee told POLITICO Thursday that she was thinking about those injured in the protests, saying, ?My thoughts go out to the injured, and especially Scott Olsen.?

The Occupy Oakland demonstrations reached a turning point late Tuesday evening when riot police cleared the Occupy Oakland site of protesters. Later that evening, protesters marched back to the site to reclaim their encampment. Violence between police and protesters apparently escalated after demonstrators allegedly threw bottles, rock and paint at police officers, CNN reports the authorities as saying.

Police then fired tear gas to disperse the crowd, and eventually arrested 102 people for unlawful assembly and lodging.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/politico_rss/rss_politico_mostpop/http___www_politico_com_news_stories1011_67011_html/43410362/SIG=11mj3ldcr/*http%3A//www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/67011.html

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The nations weather (AP)

Weather Underground Forecast for Friday, October 28, 2011.

Wet and active weather will develop from the Lower Mississippi Valley to the Tennessee Valley on Friday. A low pressure system that moved off the Rockies and into the Southern Plains will continue moving eastward, into the Southeast. A cold front will lead the system eastward, extending from eastern Texas, over the Lower Mississippi River and Eastern Valleys, into the Southern Appalachians. The system will continue to pull moisture in from the Gulf of Mexico, producing scattered showers and thunderstorms throughout the day. Some of these storms may turn severe with strong winds and hail. Rainfall totals will range from 1 to 2 inches in most areas, with more rain possible in areas of severe storm development.

Meanwhile in the Northeast, a low pressure system will pull eastward and into the Atlantic Ocean. Thus, rain and snow showers will diminish across the Northeast as higher pressure builds in. However, this ridge of high pressure will create cool northern flow from Canada, allowing for cold temperatures to prevail. Expect daytime highs to range in the 40s and 50s, while overnight lows will remain in the mid-30s. Frost advisories have been issued from the Ohio River Valley to the Mississippi River Valley, while freeze and hard freeze advisories remain in effect for the extreme Northeast.

Out West, a low pressure system dips southward from the Gulf of Alaska and pushes a cold front into British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest. This will create scattered rain showers for Oregon and Washington, with snow showers developing at high elevations of the Cascades in the afternoon and evening. Meanwhile, high pressure to the south brings more sunshine and pleasant temperatures to California and the Southwest. Temperatures in the Lower 48 states Thursday have ranged from a morning low of -15 degrees at Laramie, Wyo. to a high of 92 degrees at Edinburg, Texas

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weather/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111028/ap_on_re_us/us_weatherpage_weather

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Jennifer Lopez Covers Glamour Women Of The Year Issue

'American Idol' judge is the magazine's 'All-Star Woman.'
By Christina Garibaldi

Jennifer Lopez on the December 2011 cover of <i>Glamour</i>
Photo: Conde Nast

Jennifer Lopez has had a roller coaster ride of a year. In January, the singer took over one of the vacant judges' seats on "American Idol," scored a hit single with "On the Floor" off her album Love? a few months later, and saw her seven-year marriage to Marc Anthony come to an end in the summer.

But it seems 2011 will end on a high note for Lopez as she'll grace the December cover of Glamour's annual Women of the Year issue. Lopez is being honored as an "All-Star Woman" for her numerous achievements this year in television, music, fashion and charity. The singer/actress/fashionista was interviewed for the magazine by another inspiring woman, actress Jane Fonda. Lopez talked candidly about what she's learned about love and relationships over this past year.

"I think I've finally learned the biggest lesson of all: You've got to love yourself first," Lopez says. "You've got to be OK on your own before you can be OK with someone else. You've got to value yourself and know that you're worth everything. And until you value yourself enough and love yourself enough to know that, you can't really have a healthy relationship."

So does that mean Lopez is ready to date again? Possibly, but this time she plans to try to keep her love life out of the tabloids. "I think to give something a chance, to really get to know somebody, you want to do it out of the public eye," Lopez says. "You know the media — they want to rush everything."

While Lopez's romances often make headlines, the "American Idol" judge has been also been known to turn heads with her style.

"The things I liked when I was, like, 16 and in the Bronx — jeans, cut-up T-shirts — I still like," she admits. "But I've been exposed to so much now from traveling the world and seeing couture clothes," Lopez added. "I used all of that when I created my new line for Kohl's. My style has come from everything, from where I started to where I am today."

Lopez and 10 other lucky ladies will be honored in Glamour magazine's Women of the Year issue, which hits newsstands November 1.

Who else do you think deserves Glamour's Women of the Year honor? Tell us in the comments!

Related Artists

• Jennifer Lopez

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1673289/jennifer-lopez-glamour-women-of-the-year.jhtml

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Reader: Give Gisele's son a big cookie

Our readers continue to contribute some funny, smart and incisive comments to our Today Entertainment Facebook page. Every Friday, we'll highlight those that really stood out. If you see a great comment throughout the week, click the ?Like? button underneath it to draw it to our attention.

1. On "Gisele: My toddler thinks broccoli is dessert"
Juanita Cross: " Didn't she also say her labor was completely pain and drug free? Yeah, I am not taking advice from her and if I ever see her son I am giving him a big cookie."

2. On "Steven Tyler talks tooth and consequences from his bathroom fall"
Peg Marston Trimper:? "OK, maybe now, Steven Tyler, you will think you're getting a little too old for concerts. Gee, you're my mom's age."

3. On 'Hours after release, Michael Lohan back in jail"
Daiv Ericksen:? "So this is the new father-daughter project. Hmm...nah, I pass. I would rather train her to play soccer."

4. On "Teenage Frances Bean Cobain is engaged"
Ripleigh Degenhardt: "I got married at 19 and 6 years later we're doing great! She doesn't have her mom in her life, a big bonus! If you take divorce off the table from the word go and you force yourself to work it out, then you can survive anything."

Story: Reader: Americans are violent prudes

5. On "Miley Cyrus to cover Bob Dylan on tribute album"
Teddy Quinn: "I love the fascist Dylan fans, 'she shouldn't be allowed to sing...' Really? Wow, what a bunch of uptight jerks. Of course Dylan knows who she is. He is extremely up on pop culture. He probably loves that she's covering him, as any songwriter would be. Leave the little girl alone, meanies."

Join the discussion, and help us find next week's Comment of the Week, on our Facebook page.

? 2011 MSNBC Interactive.? Reprints

Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45075976/ns/today-entertainment/

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Sports fans play the Washington game

If you're among the many Americans who believe lobbyists are part of what's wrong with this country, you should know this: If you've ever gone to a football, baseball, basketball or hockey game ? or even watched one on TV ? you have your own special interest groups pushing your agenda in Washington.

Even Ralph Nader is working for you.

"Ralph saw that there were more and more issues where the fans and participants were having little voice," which is why he recently revived his 1970s-era League of Fans, said Ken Reed, the organization's sports policy director.

"At the time, the NBA and NFL lockouts were on the horizon, and it was clear that there was going to be a power play and the fans were going to be left on the sidelines," Reed said.

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The League of Fans is one of a handful of lobbying and special interest groups that seek to "address the abuses of voiceless fans and participants," as Reed put it.

Another is the Sports Fans Coalition, which is "trying to shine a light on what the true costs of being a fan are," said Brian Frederick, the organization's executive director.

"We serve as a political voice here in the halls of power in D.C. on behalf of fans," Frederick said. "We try to raise awareness of the sorts of deals that are made and what happens as a result of them and what doesn't happen."

There's even a fully registered political action committee, Playoff PAC, which researches what it sees as the abuses of the college bowl system. It has brought to light numerous questionable financial practices by the committee that organizes the Fiesta Bowl; most recently, it has filed complaints with the IRS seeking to strip the bowls of their tax-exempt status, alleging financial improprieties that siphon off money that should go to participating schools.

"In general, we've provided a lot of publicity about how bad of a situation the bowls put a lot of schools in," said Bryson Morgan, a co-founder of the group. "College football as an organization can be unresponsive only so long."

Bringing political clout to the playing field
Nader is the most famous of the activists pushing a sports-fans agenda, but other groups have their own heavy hitters.

Sports Fans Coalition was founded in 2009 by David Goodfriend, deputy staff secretary in the administration of President Bill Clinton, and Bradley A. Blakeman, former president of the influential conservative group Freedom's Watch and a senior member of President George W. Bush's staff. Its board includes Dave Zirin, whose popular Edge of Sports column analyzes American sports from a liberal perspective, and Gigi Sohn, president of the digital rights advocacy group Public Knowledge.

Playoff PAC's volunteers, meanwhile, include more than a dozen former government officials and prominent Washington lawyers, notably Marcus Owens, former director of the IRS' Exempt Organizations Division (who submitted the group's tax complaints to his former agency), and Scott Thomas, former chairman of the Federal Election Commission.

Leaders of the groups push a number of different agendas ? fighting soaring ticket prices, league lockouts and television-rights deals that black out some fans, among others ? but they come together on one issue: what they see as the National Collegiate Athletic Association's exploitation of athletes and fans for profit.

Many believe the answer is to scrap the Bowl Championship Series, which purports to pit the two best college football teams in the country for the national championship, even though its postseason matchups are determined by pollsters and computers, not by on-the-field competition.

The NCAA didn't respond to a request for comment. In May, it told the U.S. Justice Department ? which was looking into whether the BCS violates antitrust law by favoring bigger universities from wealthier sports conferences ? that it "has no role to play in the BCS or the BCS system."

NCAA tells DOJ football playoff out of its hands

Morgan, the Playoff PAC co-founder, argued that playoffs "would generate a lot of revenue" ? not only from television networks, but also from recovery of money lost to what the group alleges is widespread corruption in the bowl system.

1. Playoff PAC

   Statement of purpose from Playoff PAC:

   Playoff PAC is a federal political committee dedicated to establishing a competitive post-season championship for college football.? The Bowl Championship Series is inherently flawed.? It crowns champions arbitrarily and stifles inter-conference competition.? Fans, players, schools, and corporate sponsors will be better served when the BCS is replaced with an accessible playoff system that recognizes and rewards on-the-field accomplishment.? To that end, Playoff PAC helps elect pro-reform political candidates, mobilizes public support, and provides a centralized source of pro-reform news, thought, and scholarship.

Playoff PAC was founded in 2009 as a standard political action committee, raising money with the idea of donating it to congressional candidates who agreed to push for playoffs if elected. But it found little traction there, raising less than $20,000 and making just one donation. So the group shifted direction to use its members' expertise in the ways of Washington to investigate the BCS.

Along the way, it began filing complaints with Arizona officials and the IRS after a 2009 Arizona Republic investigation indicated that the Fiesta Bowl, which is held in Glendale, Ariz., was laundering illegal campaign contributions. The bowl committee ended up firing its chief executive, citing information uncovered by the Playoff PAC 11 times in its public report (.pdf).

Anti-BCS group files complaint against Fiesta Bowl

More recently, Playoff PAC has filed complaints alleging that the Fiesta Bowl requires colleges playing in its game to buy a minimum number of hotel rooms through the Scottsdale Convention & Visitors Bureau. The PAC alleges that the convention bureau will "kick back" more than $8 million to the bowl committee over the 20-year life of the contract.

In a separate case, the PAC has asked the IRS to investigate whether the Fiesta Bowl and two other games in the BCS ? the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans and the Orange Bowl in Miami ? should be stripped of their tax-exempt status. Four members of Congress ? including Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, who has introduced legislation to require a football playoff ? signed a letter to the IRS endorsing the inquiry.

Sugar Bowl made improper campaign donations

"The BCS leaves so much money on the table for these universities," said Morgan, citing an independent report that tabulated that the University of Connecticut lost as much as $1.8 million on its trip to the Fiesta Bowl in January.

Money and its impact on colleges
The Sports Fans Coalition makes a similar argument.

1. Sports Fans Coalition

   Agenda declaration of the Sports Fans Coalition:

   The Sports Fans Coalition fights to make sure that fans have access to games both on television and in the stadium. Because fans have spent billions and billions of dollars financing sports stadiums, they deserve to see their local teams play. So we fight against all media blackouts and for affordable seating in public stadiums. In addition, we fight for a college playoff because of the corruption that exists in the BCS bowl system and the unfair way that revenues are distributed to our schools. Finally, we fight against work stoppages, such as the NBA lockout. Fans have spent billions on stadiums ? the least owners and players can do is play ball.

"The NCAA cannot control its own biggest sport ? college football ? and so the decisions that are being made right now ... are in pursuit of television revenue, and that's having a drastic effect on the entire higher education system," Frederick, the group's executive director, said in an interview.

The coalition's agenda extends well beyond college football's postseason, however. It frequently takes on the National Football League, accusing it of bullying taxpayers into financing palatial new stadiums and then charging them exorbitant ticket prices.

It sided with the NFL players union in a contract showdown this year that nearly led to a league lockout, going to court unsuccessfully to try to be in the room, representing fans, during negotiations over the collective bargaining agreement.

A spokesman for the NFL told msnbc.com simply that "we respect the views of all fans and appreciate their interest." But in June, the NFL told the Federal Communications Commission, which was considering a coalition challenge to the league's television policies, that the group was widely considered to be " a house organ for Dish Network." (.pdf)

The Sports Fans Coalition has been accused of being a front for cable and satellite TV interests ever since it set up shop.

Critics note that Goodfriend, a co-founder, is the former vice president for legal affairs for DISH Network, whose NFL package is one of its leading selling points, and they say it's no coincidence that the group has been especially aggressive in contesting the system under which the NFL and other leagues negotiate television rights.

(That system can lead to TV "blackouts" in some markets when a league and a network, or a network and the satellite and cable providers that carry it, can't agree on terms. That's what happened a year ago when subscribers of New York Cablevision couldn't watch the first two games of baseball's World Series.)

Frederick dismissed charges that the coalition lobbies for cable and satellite TV interests instead of fans, pointing to its activism on ticket prices, stadium deals and labor issues. But the doubts have continued to linger.

1. Msnbc.com and the NFL

   Msnbc.com has a significant interest in discussions of television rights to NFL games. It's a joint venture of Microsoft Corp. and NBC Universal, whose NBC Sports division pays the NFL $603 million a year to broadcast its Sunday night games. Those games are live-streamed from the msnbc.com home page.

   NBC Universal, meanwhile, is 51 percent owned by the cable giant Comcast Corp., which has had its own disputes with the NFL over rights to carry the NFL Network.

While the Sports Fans Coalition isn't, strictly speaking, a lobbying group itself, federal records show that it has paid more than $120,000 in the last two years to Emmer Consulting, a Bethesda, Md.-based lobbying group where Goodfriend went to work after he left DISH Network. DISH Network, as it happens, is one of Emmer's biggest clients.

And the coalition has accepted large contributions from Verizon, which operates the FiOS cable system, and from Time Warner.

Frederick said the coalition needed corporate donations to get up and running, saying, "Lord knows I would love every contribution we could get to keep this going." But despite his solicitations, no other cable or satellite companies have kicked in, he said ? not even DISH.

Filings with the Federal Election Commission confirm that.

"The folks that are skeptical are the ones that aren't in Washington and don't have experience in how Washington works," Frederick said. "I wouldn't be working for an organization that strictly existed to put forward a corporate interest."

Frederick's background would suggest that's true. An adjunct professor in sports management at Georgetown University in Washington, he was previously a research director for the liberal advocacy group Media Matters for America.

Most other members of the board of directors ? like Zirin, Sohn and Habiba Alcindor, communications director for The Nation ? are also associated with left-leaning institutions not usually considered friendly to corporations.

Going hard-core
Then there's Ralph Nader's group, which operates very much like a Ralph Nader group, with its own, occasionally idiosyncratic agenda.

Football playoffs are a part of the League of Fans' agenda. But in many respects, what it considers the best interest of the fan isn't necessarily what fans themselves might favor.

1. The League of Fans

   In its "Sports Manifesto," Ralph Nader's League of Fans lays out four main goals:

   1) To build momentum toward a vision in which all sports stakeholders are treated justly, fairly, and ethically.

   2) To ensure that all those who have a stake in sports ? including the millions of fans, sports consumers, sports participants, and taxpayers across the nation ? have a voice in how sports are operated in this country.

   3) To encourage sports stakeholders to become sports activists and reformers; and to take action to improve the world of sports, wherever they're at, in whatever way they can, in a collective effort to help sport serve the public interest.

   4) To increase the number of sports participants, at all ages in the United States, because of sport's numerous physical, mental and social benefits.

For one thing, the League of Fans wants to dismantle college sports as we know it, eliminating athletic scholarships because they turn students into "professional athletes," a proposal the NCAA has called "off-base on so many fronts it is hard to know where to start."

Ralph Nader calls for ending athletic scholarships

It also argues there should be no public funding for sports teams ? a position voters in numerous cities have chosen to disregard in approving public financing for stadiums.

The League does hold other positions that fans would likely applaud. It advocates for lower ticket prices, better safety standards for athletes and elimination of all doping. But its statement of core principles places much of its emphasis on de-corporatization campaigns long associated with Nader.

"In a way, 'League of Fans' is kind of a misnomer," acknowledged Reed, its sports policy director. "We're actively working on the whole sports reform thing."

Reed, who holds a Ph.D. in sports administration and has taught at the U.S. Sports Academy in Daphne, Ala., stressed that, like Nader, he is a devoted sports fan. For them, it's not a political agenda ? it's about "what's best for the games, the fans, the participants," he said.

"People ask, 'Why do you guys hate sports?'" Reed said. "It makes me mad and laugh at the same time. Probably no one person loves sports as much as I do.

"My father was a coach. I played two sports in college. I used to be on the sports marketing side and the sports professor side. ... I love sports. My response is, 'Why aren't you angry?'"

? 2011 msnbc.com Reprints

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44949131/ns/us_news-life/

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Python study may have implications for human heart health

Thursday, October 27, 2011

A surprising new University of Colorado Boulder study shows that huge amounts of fatty acids circulating in the bloodstreams of feeding pythons promote healthy heart growth, results that may have implications for treating human heart disease.

CU-Boulder Professor Leslie Leinwand and her research team found the amount of triglycerides -- the main constituent of natural fats and oils -- in the blood of Burmese pythons one day after eating increased by more than fifty-fold. Despite the massive amount of fatty acids in the python bloodstream there was no evidence of fat deposition in the heart, and the researchers also saw an increase in the activity of a key enzyme known to protect the heart from damage.

After identifying the chemical make-up of blood plasma in fed pythons, the CU-Boulder researchers injected fasting pythons with either "fed python" blood plasma or a reconstituted fatty acid mixture they developed to mimic such plasma. In both cases, the pythons showed increased heart growth and indicators of cardiac health. The team took the experiments a step further by injecting mice with either fed python plasma or the fatty acid mixture, with the same results.

"We found that a combination of fatty acids can induce beneficial heart growth in living organisms," said CU-Boulder postdoctoral researcher Cecilia Riquelme, first author on the Science paper. "Now we are trying to understand the molecular mechanisms behind the process in hopes that the results might lead to new therapies to improve heart disease conditions in humans."

The paper is being published in the Oct. 28 issue of the journal Science. In addition to Leinwand and Riquelme, the authors include CU postdoctoral researcher Brooke Harrison, CU graduate student Jason Magida, CU undergraduate Christopher Wall, Hiberna Corp. researcher Thomas Marr and University of Alabama Tuscaloosa Professor Stephen Secor.

Previous studies have shown that the hearts of Burmese pythons can grow in mass by 40 percent within 24 to 72 hours after a large meal, and that metabolism immediately after swallowing prey can shoot up by forty-fold. As big around as telephone poles, adult Burmese pythons can swallow prey as large as deer, have been known to reach a length of 27 feet and are able to fast for up to a year with few ill effects.

There are good and bad types of heart growth, said Leinwand, who is an expert in genetic heart diseases including hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the leading cause of sudden death in young athletes. While cardiac diseases can cause human heart muscle to thicken and decrease the size of heart chambers and heart function because the organ is working harder to pump blood, heart enlargement from exercise is beneficial.

"Well-conditioned athletes like Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps and cyclist Lance Armstrong have huge hearts," said Leinwand, a professor in the molecular, cellular and developmental biology department and chief scientific officer of CU's Biofrontiers Institute. "But there are many people who are unable to exercise because of existing heart disease, so it would be nice to develop some kind of a treatment to promote the beneficial growth of heart cells."

Riquelme said once the CU team confirmed that something in the blood plasma of pythons was inducing positive cardiac growth, they began looking for the right "signal" by analyzing proteins, lipids, nucleic acids and peptides present in the fed plasma. The team used a technique known as gas chromatography to analyze both fasted and fed python plasma blood, eventually identifying a highly complex composition of circulating fatty acids with distinct patterns of abundance over the course of the digestive process.

In the mouse experiments led by Harrison, the animals were hooked up to "mini-pumps" that delivered low doses of the fatty acid mixture over a period of a week. Not only did the mouse hearts show significant growth in the major part of the heart that pumps blood, the heart muscle cell size increased, there was no increase in heart fibrosis -- which makes the heart muscle more stiff and can be a sign of disease -- and there were no alterations in the liver or in the skeletal muscles, he said.

"It was remarkable that the fatty acids identified in the plasma-fed pythons could actually stimulate healthy heart growth in mice," said Harrison. The team also tested the fed python plasma and the fatty acid mixture on cultured rat heart cells, with the same positive results, Harrison said.

The CU-led team also identified the activation of signaling pathways in the cells of fed python plasma, which serve as traffic lights of sorts, said Leinwand. "We are trying to understand how to make those signals tell individual heart cells whether they are going down a road that has pathological consequences, like disease, or beneficial consequences, like exercise," she said.

The prey of Burmese pythons can be up to 100 percent of the constricting snake's body mass, said Leinwand, who holds a Marsico Endowed Chair of Excellence at CU-Boulder. "When a python eats, something extraordinary happens. Its metabolism increases by more than forty-fold and the size of its organs increase significantly in mass by building new tissue, which is broken back down during the digestion process."

The three key fatty acids in the fed python plasma turned out to be myristic acid, palmitic acid and palmitoleic acid. The enzyme that showed increased activity in the python hearts during feeding episodes, known as superoxide dismutase, is a well-known "cardio-protective" enzyme in many organisms, including humans, said Leinwand.

The new Science study grew out of a project Leinwand began in 2006 when she was named a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor and awarded a four-year, $1 million undergraduate education grant from the Chevy Chase, Md.-based institute. As part of the award Leinwand initiated the Python Project, an undergraduate laboratory research program designed to focus on the heart biology of constricting snakes like pythons thought to have relevance to human disease.

Undergraduates contributed substantially to the underpinnings of the new python study both by their genetic studies and by caring for the lab pythons, said Leinwand. While scientists know a great deal about the genomes of standard lab animal models like fruit flies, worms and mice, relatively little was known about pythons. "We have had to do a lot of difficult groundwork using molecular genetics tools in order to undertake this research," said Leinwand.

CU-Boulder already had a laboratory snake facility in place, which contributed to the success of the project, she said.

"The fact that the python study involved faculty, postdoctoral researchers, a graduate student and an undergraduate, Christopher Wall, shows the project was a team effort," said Leinwand. "Chris is a good example of how the University of Colorado provides an incredible educational research environment for undergraduates." Wall is now a graduate student at the University of California, San Diego.

###

University of Colorado at Boulder: http://www.colorado.edu/news

Thanks to University of Colorado at Boulder for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/114699/Python_study_may_have_implications_for_human_heart_health

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US reaches out to Iranians, warns Iran government (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The Obama administration is setting up an Internet-based embassy to reach out to Iranians hoping to broaden their understanding of the United States, while at the same time studying new sanctions to raise the pressure on Iran's government over its disputed nuclear program and alleged ties to terrorism.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in interviews Wednesday with Persian-language media that the U.S. wanted to affirm its friendship to the Iranian people even at a time of rising tensions with the regime in Tehran. As part of that effort, she said a "virtual embassy in Tehran" will be online by the end of the year, helping Iranians wishing to travel or study in the United States.

"We're trying to reach out to the Iranian people," Clinton said. "We've tried to reach out to the government, just not very successfully."

Clinton stressed that the U.S. was committed to its two-track approach of engagement and sanctions toward the Iranian government. But she said the outreach was being directed to ordinary Iranians who've suffered as a result of their government's "reckless" conduct regarding its uranium enrichment activities, fomenting of unrest in neighboring countries and its role in the alleged terror plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia's ambassador in Washington.

The U.S. hasn't had an embassy in Iran since breaking off diplomatic relations shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iran, likewise, has no embassy in Washington, but Clinton said President Barack Obama has tried to entreat Tehran into negotiations.

Separately Wednesday, Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., said the U.S. should kick out Iranian officials at the United Nations in New York and in Washington because many of them are spies. King said the move would be an appropriate response to alleged plot against the Saudi ambassador, but the State Department rejected the suggestion.

"First of all, we don't have any Iranian diplomats in Washington because we don't have diplomatic relations with Iran," department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. Concerning Iranian diplomats in New York, she said the U.S. as the host nation for the U.N. was obliged to allow diplomats from all countries that are members of the global body.

Clinton, who celebrated her 64th birthday Wednesday, spoke with the BBC and "Parazit," a Persian-language program run by Voice of America that follows the news satire format popularized in the U.S. by the "Daily Show." Yet she spoke seriously about her fears that Iran was becoming a more entrenched "military dictatorship" threatening countries in its region and beyond.

On Iran's uranium enrichment activities, Clinton said, "Everyone believes that the covert actions, the covert facilities, the misleading information is part of an attempt by the regime to acquire nuclear weapons." Iran says the program is solely for producing energy, but she claimed the evidence suggests otherwise.

The U.S. already has a series of sanctions on the Iranian economy, but Clinton said new measures were being examined to pressure the government into being a better global citizen. Iran's central bank and the economic activities of the hardline Revolutionary Guard Corps and Quds Force are possible targets, she suggested.

Clinton also spoke of Iran's efforts to jam Internet sites and track dissident activity on the Internet, part of a policy that she deemed an "electronic curtain." She said Iran's was the most effective government in the world in disrupting Internet and telephone communication.

"It's the 21st century equivalent of the barbed wire and the fences and the dogs that the old Soviet Union used, because they come at it from the same mentality," Clinton said. "They want totalitarian control over what you learn and what you say and even what you think and how you worship and all the things that go to the heart of human dignity and human freedom."

The U.S. is continuing work on creating new technologies to help dissidents and regime opponents circumvent censorship and monitoring, Clinton said. She called it one of her highest priorities.

Yet she also expressed some regret for the U.S. government's tepid support for the opposition Green Movement after Iran's disputed 2009 presidential election. Unlike in Libya, where the U.S. and other countries intervened to protect people protesting against Moammar Gadhafi's dictatorship, Clinton noted that the Iranian demonstrators insisted that they wanted no U.S. help.

"We were torn," she said. "It was a very tough time for us because we wanted to be full-hearted in favor of what was going on inside Iran and we kept being cautioned that we would put people's lives in danger, we would discredit the movement, we would undermine their aspirations.

"I think if something were to happen again, it would be smart for the Green Movement, or some other movement inside Iran, to say we want the voices of the world, we want the support of the world behind us."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111027/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_us_iran

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Summit by summit, EU slouches slowly toward unity (AP)

BRUSSELS ? The European Union's plan to solve the worst financial crisis in its 50-year history may prove the tipping point for the continent's political journey from a collection of sovereign states into what some leaders hope will be a single world superpower.

The struggle to keep the euro together has been creating huge tensions between countries, causing some to believe the currency union could not last much longer.

But in the early hours of Thursday morning, EU leaders reached an agreement that suggested they are so committed to their common currency that they would rather give up some of their sovereign decision-making powers than see their economic union unravel.

"Last night was a crucial step," EU President Herman Van Rompuy told the EU legislature Thursday.

And that crucial step involves, in part, giving EU headquarters in Brussels some budgetary powers that have so far been the prerogative of national capitals.

For a start, the leaders of the 17 nations using the euro put Greece and Italy in budgetary straitjackets for monetary mismanagement, making sure that every retiree in Milan and unemployed construction worker in Athens now knows that the key to their future may no longer lie in their nation's capitals but in faraway Brussels.

What started as a joint currency ten years ago, meant to facilitate tourism, promote trade and discourage competitive devaluations, has been turned by the financial crisis into a wedge to enforce the cooperation the proponents of a fully united Europe once envisioned.

"Monetary policy alone is not enough to deal with the situation," Van Rompuy said. "We cannot have a common currency, a common monetary policy, and leave everything else to the states involved. That's why the 17 will have to go further."

Even if those fighting words lead toward more euroskepticism in some member nations, it may in the end matter little. The leaders in charge of the weakest nations have looked over the edge of the financial abyss, and were happy to fall back into the forced embrace of the wealthier nations. United they may stand. Divided they would surely fall.

Rich countries like Germany and the Netherlands never hid their disdain from profligate neighbors but realized that cutting them loose would have undermined their joint currency ? and, even more, their national economies.

At the next summit, on Dec. 9, the EU leaders will assess a plan on how to reach that degree of economic governance. They say they may even consider treaty changes that will take more national sovereignty away from national capitals. With a market of 500 million citizens and economic juggernauts like Germany and France, the EU has the potential to remain a global power for decades to come.

Two things might undermine this scenario. Markets, which were buoyant on Thursday, might turn against the EU again if countries come under more fiscal pressure. And elections might intervene.

"We have saved the eurozone and that's the good news and that's why the markets are reacting positively," said Marc Touati, chief economist at Assya Compagnie Financiere in Paris. "But unfortunately we have only saved it temporarily. In other words, in a few months, the same problems will return."

The leaders of Italy and France are weak, but new leaders there would not necessarily harm the integration project.

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi only just averted a government collapse Tuesday over emergency measures demanded by Brussels, an issue so touchy that a fist fight erupted in parliament. If Berlusconi goes down, however, a new coalition might well be equally pro-EU.

The same goes for France. Sarkozy is down in the polls ahead of the May presidential elections, but Socialist challenger Francois Hollande could well take the same line if elected to take Sarkozy's.

And the diplomatic pressure in Europe often has the effect of turning opponents into, if not backers, at least neutral bystanders.

After pledging to let British voters have a say in any further expansion of European powers when he came into government, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron was forced into an embarrassing scramble this week to block a proposal to put the future of Britain's entire EU membership to a popular vote.

At the summit, he acknowledged that "it is very much in Britain's interest that we sort out these problems" of the euro crisis.

As one of the 10 EU nations outside the euro-area, Cameron has had the luxury to stand somewhat on the sidelines. Britain too has had to recapitalize its banks over years past, so placing all the blame on the euro and Brussels often misses the point.

At the grass roots level, though, the issues are different.

In Athens, prominent left-wing deputy Dimitris Papadimoulis said this week's agreement would doom Greeks to a deeper recession.

"The deal puts Greece in a eurozone quarantine," he said. "We are now locked in a system of continuous austerity, haphazard privatization, and continuous supervision by our creditors."

He also noted an inherent conflict of interest in the European debt plan.

"Those who monitor us do not have our interests in mind. Their priority is that we pay back our loans," Papadimoulis said.

___

Elena Becatoros in Athens and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111027/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_eu_integration

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Kik Debuts New Symbian, Windows Phone Messaging Apps At Nokia World

Exclusive - Kik is today launching new Symbian and Windows Phone apps at the Nokia World event in London. The nifty cross-platform messaging app is making its debut on Symbian, albeit in private beta, and the Windows Phone 7 has been updated and redesigned specifically for version 7.5 (Mango).

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/OkZdxzBCMcA/

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Ilan Grapel To Be Freed

JERUSALEM ? Twenty-five Egyptians left a jail in southern Israel on Thursday and were being bused to the border with Egypt ahead of a swap for a U.S.-Israeli citizen jailed in Cairo on suspicion of espionage.

The June arrest in Egypt of U.S.-born Ilan Grapel set off new fears in Israel that relations with the Egyptians would sour after the ouster of their longtime president, Hosni Mubarak, in February.

The swap deal was expected to help ease the strains that have developed between the two countries since Mubarak's departure.

Grapel, 27, was volunteering at a legal aid group in Cairo when he was arrested June 12 and accused of spying for Israel during the grassroots revolt that overthrew Mubarak. Israel denied the espionage allegations, as did Grapel's family and friends.

Grapel made no secret of his Israeli background and entered Egypt under his real name. His Facebook page had photos of him in an Israeli military uniform. Such openness about his identity suggested he was not a spy and the arrest was ridiculed even in Egypt, where hostility toward Israel runs high.

Under swap deal reached earlier this week, Grapel is to board a plane in Cairo later Thursday and fly to Israel. His sister, Michal, told Israel's Army Radio that their mother, who lives in Queens, N.Y., had flown to the region to meet Grapel and would fly back with him to the U.S., where he is studying law, at an unspecified date.

The Egyptian prisoners are to cross into Egypt through a land crossing with Israel. Israel says they are not militants and that most were involved in smuggling contraband and people into Israel.

Grapel moved to Israel, where his grandparents live, as a young man. He did his compulsory military service in Israel during its 2006 war in Lebanon and was wounded in the fighting. He later returned to the U.S. to study.

At the time of his arrest he was doing a legal internship with a local nonprofit organization in Cairo and planned afterward to return to the U.S. for his final year of law school.

Some Israelis have criticized their government for making a deal to free a citizen arrested in a friendly nation on what they think were trumped-up charges.

Since Mubarak was toppled, Egypt's military rulers have often warned against what they call "foreign" attempts to destabilize the country. And like other Arab states, Egypt has a long history of blaming internal problems on Israel.

Israel and Egypt signed their historic peace treaty ? the first between an Arab state and the Jewish one ? in 1979. Relations have been cool since, but Mubarak could be relied on to uphold the pact. While the military leaders that now rule Egypt have vowed to follow suit, they have unnerved Israel with overtures to Israel's enemy, the Hamas militant group that rules Gaza, a tiny patch of Palestinian territory that borders both countries.

Those improved ties appear to have helped Egypt finally broker a long-elusive prisoner swap between Israel and Hamas last week, in which Israel traded hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit, who had been held by Hamas in Gaza for more than five years.

Initially, the U.S. Embassy in Cairo had taken the lead in Grapel's case because he had entered Egypt with his U.S. passport. A former Israeli ambassador to Egypt, Eli Shaked, said the U.S. was a main player in clinching the swap deal.

The U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv had no comment on the affair.

A statement from U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman ? a Democratic congressman from New York for whom Grapel interned in 2002 ? said he had arrived Wednesday in Israel to bring home a constituent.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/27/ilan-grapel-deal_n_1034604.html

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London cathedral official quits over protest camp (AP)

LONDON ? The senior St. Paul's Cathedral priest who welcomed anti-capitalist demonstrators to camp outside the London landmark resigned Thursday, saying he feared moves to evict the protesters could end in violence.

Canon Chancellor Giles Fraser said on Twitter that "it is with great regret and sadness that I have handed in my notice at St. Paul's Cathedral."

He told The Guardian newspaper that he had resigned because he believed cathedral officials had "set on a course of action that could mean there will be violence in the name of the church."

Dean of St. Paul's Graeme Knowles confirmed Fraser had stepped down, saying officials were disappointed that he "is not able to continue to his work ... during these challenging days."

Protesters have been camped outside the building since Oct. 15. When police tried to move them the next day, Fraser said the demonstrators were welcome to stay and asked police officers to move instead.

Days later, cathedral officials shut the building to the public, saying the campsite was a health and safety hazard. It was the first time the 300-year-old church, one of London's best-known buildings, had closed since World War II.

Cathedral officials, and the bishop of London, have since asked the demonstrators to leave, but they are refusing to go.

Knowles said Wednesday the cathedral was considering all its options in response to the protest ? including legal action.

But in a victory for the protesters, he said the cathedral hoped to reopen Friday following changes to the layout of tents.

In a statement, the Occupy London protesters called Fraser a "man of great personal integrity."

The protesters said Fraser had "ensured that St. Paul's could be a sanctuary for us and that no violence could take place against peaceful protesters with a legitimate cause challenging and tackling social and economic injustice in London, the U.K. and beyond."

Fraser, 46, a high-profile and liberal Anglican clergyman, was appointed chancellor of the cathedral in 2009.

The role involves overseeing the work of the St. Paul's Institute, which "seeks to bring Christian ethics to bear on our understanding of finance and economics."

The cathedral and the protest tent city lie within London's traditional financial center, which is called the City.

Fraser, whose father came from a prominent London Jewish family, is well known through his newspaper and magazine columns and frequent appearances on BBC radio.

He has criticized the effects of the government's austerity measures.

"Should the church get stuck into the mucky world of politics? How ridiculous, of course it should," he wrote in the Guardian in June, going on to quote the late Brazilian bishop Helder Camara: "When I give to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist."

____

Associated Press writer Robert Barr contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111027/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_britain_wall_street_protests

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Pigs in Trees puts swine in the cockpit, with you at the controls

Here's a fun little time-waster that's one part Flight Control, one part reverse Angry Birds, and one part MiniSquadron. You control a pig in a plane, protecting a tree from woodpeckers' pecking. It's got 4 campaigns and 75 levels and is surprisingly easy and immersive. You draw a line from your plane to the woodpeckers, engage and take 'em out.

The game is free and ad-supported, but an easy in-app purchase of about $1.36 can remove them. Our only real complaint is that it the image quailty suffers on larger screens. We've got download links and a promo video after the break.

read more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/ASbXO3ERsEc/pigs-trees-puts-swine-cockpit-you-controls

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Former 'Bachelorette' DeAnna Pappas weds

DeAnna Pappas can finally shake off her ?Bachelorette? status!

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After a slew of whirlwind romances ? including rejecting Brad Womack and ending her engagement to Jesse Csincsak in 2008 ? the 29-year-old walked down the aisle with Stephen Stagliano over the weekend.

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Reality Stars In Their Swimsuits

According to People, DeAnna?s wedding style was country meets fairytale ? the bride wore cowboy boots under a strapless wedding gown from the Disney Bridal collection and a birdcage veil.

?They were giddy with excitement,? an observer told the mag. ?She looked incredibly happy.?

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Access Top 10: Most Shocking ?Bachelor? & ?Bachelorette? Moments!

The couple was originally set up by Stephen?s twin brother, Michael, who appeared on Jillian Harris? season of ?The Bachelorette,? and his then-girlfriend, Holly Durst, who fans will remember from Matt Grant?s season of ?The Bachelor.?

The former couple, who since split, went on to win last season?s ?Bachelor Pad.?

Stephen, a high school teacher, proposed to DeAnna in August 2010.

VIEW THE PHOTOS: I Do! Celebrities Who Got Married On TV

Copyright 2011 by NBC. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45019017/ns/today-entertainment/

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WikiLeaks says "blockade" threatens its existence (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) ? WikiLeaks will have to stop publishing secret cables and devote itself to fund-raising if it is unable to end a financial "blockade" by U.S. firms such as Visa and MasterCard by the end of the year, founder Julian Assange said on Monday.

After releasing tens of thousands of confidential U.S. government cables, WikiLeaks would need $3.5 million over the next year to continue operating, Assange said.

Visa and MasterCard stopped processing donations for WikiLeaks in December 2010 after the United States criticized the organization's release of sensitive diplomatic cables.

"If WikiLeaks does not find a way to remove this blockade, given our current levels of expenditure we will simply not be able to continue by the turn of the year," Assange told a news conference.

The blocking of donations by Bank of America Corp, Visa Inc, MasterCard Inc, eBay Inc unit PayPal and Western Union Co had cost Wikileaks 95 percent of its revenue.

In July, WikiLeaks filed a complaint to the Directorate-General for Competition of the European Commission, saying Visa and MasterCard had breached antitrust provisions set out by the EU Treaty.

Assange said he hoped the European Commission would make a decision to hold a full investigation by mid-November.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Roger Atwood)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/britain/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111024/ts_nm/us_britain_wikileaks

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TiPb Asks: What apps are on your main iPhone 4S home screen?

What apps have earned a coveted spot on your main iPhone 4S home screen? Is it still default, just as Apple shipped it? Or have you moved everything around just so, including the dock icons? Do you organize by function or type of app, or by aesthetics...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/c09_uXK7_7g/

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Argentine president looking at landslide victory (AP)

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina ? President Cristina Fernandez could rest easy ahead of Sunday's elections in Argentina, with polls suggesting a landslide victory over six rivals.

Not that she did: An irrepressible multitasker, she campaigned so hard that blood pressure problems repeatedly forced her to cancel events.

If she does win, she'll be the first woman president re-elected in Latin America. But it also will be a bittersweet victory for Fernandez, her first in a lifetime of politics without her husband and predecessor, Nestor Kirchner, who died of a heart attack last Oct. 27.

Since his death, Fernandez has reversed her negative numbers and proved her ability to govern on her own, ensuring loyalty or respect from an unruly political elite.

Many Argentines in pre-election polls said they would vote for her because their own financial situations have improved as the country's economy continues its longest spell of economic growth in history. Voters also said they supported Fernandez because she's best able to govern, which in Argentina often requires keeping union, corporate and social movement leaders in line.

Fernandez can win with as little as 40 percent of the vote if none of her rivals comes within 10 percentage points of her, but the latest polls suggested she could capture between 52 percent and 57 percent of votes. The surveys had error margins of plus or minus three percentage points.

If those trends hold, Fernandez could receive a larger share of votes than any president since Argentina's democracy was restored in 1983, when Raul Alfonsin was elected with 52 percent. She could even approach the 60 percent of ballots that her populist hero, Juan Domingo Peron, won in his last two elections. Her Front for Victory coalition also hoped to regain enough seats in Congress to form new alliances and regain the control it lost in 2009.

Fernandez, 58, chose her youthful, guitar-playing, long-haired economy minister, Amado Boudou, as her running mate. Together, the pair championed Argentina's approach to the global financial crisis: Increase government spending rather than impose austerity measures, and force investors in foreign debt to suffer before ordinary citizens.

Argentina has been closed off from most international lending since declaring its world-record debt default in 2001, but has been able to sustain booming growth ever since.

The country faces tough challenges in 2012, however. Its commodities exports are vulnerable to a global recession, and economic growth is forecast to slow sharply in the coming year. Declining revenues will make it harder to raise incomes to keep up with inflation. Trade with the economic powerhouse of Brazil is all important, but with the Brazilian real rising and the Argentine peso falling, there will be more pressure on Argentina's central bank to spend reserves to maintain the currency.

If his ticket wins, Boudou could win attention as a potential successor to Fernandez, but navigating these storms will require much skill and good fortune.

The president's rivals are Hermes Binner, 68, a doctor and socialist governor of Santa Fe province; Ricardo Alfonsin, 59, a lawyer and congressional deputy with the traditional Radical Civic Union party and son of the former president; Alberto Rodriguez Saa, 52, an attorney and governor of San Luis province whose brother Adolfo was president for a week; Eduardo Duhalde, who preceded Kirchner as president; leftist former lawmaker Jorge Altamira, 69; and Elisa Carrio 54, a congresswoman who came in second behind Fernandez four years ago but trailed the field this time.

Also at stake in the election are 130 seats in the lower house of congress, 24 senate seats and nine governor's offices as well as hundreds of local races.

Voting is obligatory in Argentina, and nearly 29 million citizens among the 40 million population are registered.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111023/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_argentina_election

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OU, Wisconsin fall and LSU-Bama set for 1 v 2 game

LSU head coach Les Miles, center, sings the LSU fight song with safety Eric Reid (1), wide receiver Armand Williams (81) and others after their NCAA college football game against Auburn in Baton Rouge, La. Saturday, Oct. 22, 2011. LSU won 45-10 to remain undefeated. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

LSU head coach Les Miles, center, sings the LSU fight song with safety Eric Reid (1), wide receiver Armand Williams (81) and others after their NCAA college football game against Auburn in Baton Rouge, La. Saturday, Oct. 22, 2011. LSU won 45-10 to remain undefeated. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Alabama running back Trent Richardson (3) leaps across the goal line past Tennessee defensive back Brent Brewer (17) and linebacker Austin Johnson (40) to score a touchdown in the third quarter of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Oct, 22, 2011, in Tuscaloosa Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

NEW YORK (AP) ? No. 1 LSU and No. 2 Alabama have locked in their spots for the biggest regular-season game in Southeastern Conference history.

The Tigers and Crimson Tide held the first two spots in The Associated Press Top 25 released Sunday after huge victories a day earlier. With both heading into an off week, LSU and Alabama are virtually assured of meeting on Nov. 5 in Tuscaloosa as the top two teams in the country.

It'll be the second 1 vs. 2 matchup involving SEC teams, but the first time came in the conference championship game.

Oklahoma, the preseason No. 1, dropped eight spots to No. 11 after its first loss of the season. The Sooners fell 41-38 to Texas Tech on Saturday night, snapping a 39-game home winning streak. The Red Raiders moved into the ranking for the first time this season at No. 19.

Wisconsin also dropped eight spots after its first loss of the season, falling to No. 12 following a 37-31 loss to Michigan State on the final play of the game. The Spartans moved up six spots to No. 9.

LSU received 49 first-place votes from the media panel. Alabama got nine and No. 5 Boise State had one.

Oklahoma State is No. 3, followed by fellow unbeatens Stanford, Boise State and Clemson. The Cowboys have their best ranking since Nov. 19, 1984, when they were also No. 3.

No. 6 Clemson has its highest ranking since 2000, when the Tigers spent four weeks at No. 5.

No. 7 Oregon, Michigan State, Arkansas and undefeated Kansas State round out the top 10.

Moving into the rankings this week along with Texas Tech were No. 20 Southern California, No. 21 Penn State and No. 24 Cincinnati, which is ranked for the first time this season.

Falling out after losses were Washington, Georgia Tech, Illinois and defending national champion Auburn.

Nos. 13-18 were Nebraska, South Carolina, Virginia Tech, Michigan and Houston, which has its best ranking since 2009.

Joining the four teams moving into the rankings at the bottom were No. 22 Georgia, No. 23 Arizona State and No. 25 West Virginia.

For Alabama and LSU, the No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup likely will decide which of the SEC West rivals plays in the conference championship and could ultimately determine which teams plays for the national title in New Orleans on Jan. 9.

LSU's only appearance in a 1-2 game was in the BCS title game in 2008. This will be Alabama's sixth No. 1 vs. No. 2 game, but first in the regular season.

The last time there was a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup in college football not played in a bowl or conference title game was 2006, when No. 1 Ohio State beat No. 2 Michigan on the final weekend of the Big Ten's regular season and went on to lose the BCS championship game to Florida. Earlier that season, top-ranked Ohio State also played No. 2 Texas.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-10-23-FBC-T25-College-FB-Poll/id-918e116ba5bc4032978f16a2aca1dfda

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