Pan-Asian girl band looks to Snoop Dogg for help (Reuters)

SINGAPORE (Reuters) ? The pan-Asian "girl band" Blush has been around for only 11 months but already has a track record more established groups might envy -- a single that hit number-three on the U.S. dance music charts and rapper Snoop Dogg in one of their songs.

This week, the English-singing group, whose members hail from Japan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Korea and India, will open for the Black Eyed Peas at their Manila concert. They appeared at a Justin Bieber concert in Hong Kong earlier this year.

"The goal for Blush is to become really the first Asian singers to make it big in the West," said John Niermann, a former president of Walt Disney Co's Asia-Pacific unit, who brought the band together last year after a broad talent search.

"The idea started several years ago when I was curious why an Asian singer had not really made it to the top of the charts in America," he told Reuters in Singapore.

The group is made up of Japan's Natsuko Danjo, Victoria Chan from Hong Kong, Korea's Ji Hae Lee, Alisha Budhrani from India and Angeli Flores from the Philippines.

Ranging in age from 19 to 28, most of the stylishly-slender group members sang and danced from childhood, dreaming of stardom, according to the group's website. But the 26-year-old Lee only began singing seriously after graduating from Korea's Hoseo University -- with a degree in law.

"Manufactured" pop groups have been around for over 20 years. But Blush is the first to be made up entirely of singers from across Asia who perform in English, in an attempt to broaden their global appeal. Blush is also unusual among Asian performers in the sense that it hopes to make it big in the United States before becoming popular in its home region.

To help the Hong Kong-based group gain a following, Niermann hired songwriters and producers who worked on tracks by artistes such as Bon Jovi and the Spice Girls.

Their first single, "Undivided," which featured American rapper Snoop Dogg in both song and video, made it to number three on the Billboard Dance Club chart.

CONCERTS, MERCHANDISE, SPONSORSHIPS

Niermann has also tried to popularize Blush through music videos and TV appearances as well as toys and computer games, tapping contacts made during his time at Disney and Electronic Arts Inc, another former employer.

"These days you monetize through live appearances like concerts, merchandise, sponsorships and endorsements. These are the key areas," he said.

Fans at recent Singapore events praised the group for their friendliness and style.

"Lots of energy and great vocals," said Andrew Teo, the event manager at The Butter Factory, a Singapore dance club where the group performed.

The group, though, spends much of its time in North America, targeting cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles and Vancouver where there are large ethnic Asian communities in hopes of building the fan base essential for success.

"Blush are wholesome enough to work with Disney yet at the same time are edgy enough to draw a crowd that might prefer to listen to Snoop Dogg or Black Eyed Peas," Niermann said.

But the group may find broad success hard, experts said.

"The difficulty about breaking into Western markets is the mindset ... Westerners do not bother about singers outside their country because they do not identify with them," said Dean Augustine, head of artistes and repertoire at Sense Music, a Japanese-Singaporean management and production house.

"When an artiste has a following, fans will comment on YouTube and this gives the media something to write about."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/japan/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111025/en_nm/us_japan_blush

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Phone foulup leaves Cards on World Series brink

In this photo taken Monday, Oct. 24, 2011, the visiting team's dugout phone to the bullpen is shown after Game 5 of baseball's World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas. Cardinals manager Tony La Russa is taking full responsibility for the bullpen phone mix-up that dearly cost the Cardinals Monday night. The Rangers won 4-2 and took a 3-2 edge in the Series. (AP Photo/Jamie Aron)

In this photo taken Monday, Oct. 24, 2011, the visiting team's dugout phone to the bullpen is shown after Game 5 of baseball's World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas. Cardinals manager Tony La Russa is taking full responsibility for the bullpen phone mix-up that dearly cost the Cardinals Monday night. The Rangers won 4-2 and took a 3-2 edge in the Series. (AP Photo/Jamie Aron)

In this photo taken Monday, Oct. 24, 2011, the visiting team's dugout phone to the bullpen, bottom, left is shown after Game 5 of baseball's World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas. Cardinals manager Tony La Russa is taking full responsibility for the bullpen phone mix-up that dearly cost the Cardinals Monday night. The Rangers won 4-2 and took a 3-2 edge in the Series. (AP Photo/Jamie Aron)

St. Louis Cardinals' Yadier Molina, left and Tony La Russa wait for relief pitcher Jason Motte to enter the game during the eighth of Game 5 of baseball's World Series against the Texas Rangers Monday, Oct. 24, 2011, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa answers a question during a news conference Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011, in St. Louis. The St. Louis Cardinals are scheduled to play the Texas Rangers in Game 6 of baseball's World Series Wednesday in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

A telephone hangs on the wall inside the St. Louis Cardinals' dugout Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011, at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. After Cardinals manager Tony La Russa wasn't able to properly communicate with his bullpen during Game 5 of baseball's World Series, perhaps it's time for baseball to consider upgrading from a device that's been around since Alexander Graham Bell invented it in 1876. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

(AP) ? Bobby Valentine thought about the bizarre events he had seen in Game 5 of the World Series, when 19th-century technology fouled up Tony La Russa and the St. Louis Cardinals.

"It's kind of stupid, isn't it?" said Valentine, who's managed more than 2,000 major league ballgames.

In the age of email, texting, iChat and Skype, baseball remains tied to the traditions established in the Civil War era of flannel uniforms. La Russa conveyed his decisions to the bullpen with a device born the same year as the National League: the telephone.

And when the instructions didn't get through to bullpen coach Derek Lilliquist ? twice! ? baseball lore was made with the Cardinals' 4-2 loss to the Texas Rangers on Monday night, a game that will be forever known as the "Phone Foulup."

Now St. Louis is trailing 3-2 in the Series and must win two in a row for the title.

"It's amazing," said baseball historian Keith Olbermann, a commentator on Current TV. "With all this technology here, they can't get a phone call completed from one part of the building to another part of the building? You go to an Apple store, the communications device the salesman is carrying is capable of launching a nuclear device. It's mind-boggling."

For all the high-tech scoreboards in each ballpark and computers in each clubhouse that track every pitch, decisions on which relievers to warm up are passed along on Alexander Graham Bell's invention of 1876. While there were 328 million wireless devices in the U.S. as of June, according to CTIA-The Wireless Association, baseball sticks with land lines, of which there are 114 million.

And because of that, the World Series rings fans were talking about Tuesday had nothing to do with the shiny ones on players' fingers, but rather the old-fashioned-sounding bells that sound off on bullpen phones.

After the game, with Rangers Ballpark nearly empty, the bullpen phone 400 or so feet away could be heard ringing when the narrow black handset with the gray pushbuttons was picked up in the visitors dugout on the third-base side. But with a crowd of 51,459 a few hours earlier, an unbelievable meltdown occurred.

With the score 2-all, right-hander Octavio Dotel replaced Chris Carpenter to start the eighth inning and Michael Young doubled. Adrian Beltre struck out and Nelson Cruz was intentionally walked.

La Russa said he had told Lilliquist to have the left-hander Marc Rzepczynski and right-hander Jason Motte warm up, but Lilliquist only heard "Rzepczynski" ? La Russa now thinks Lilliquist may have hung up after hearing the first name.

Going by the numbers (lefties hit .163 off Rzepczynski during the regular season and righties batted .275), La Russa brought in Rzepczynski to face lefty David Murphy.

Murphy hit a comebacker that could have become an inning-ending double play, but instead deflected off the reliever's bare hand for an infield single that loaded the bases and caused La Russa's head to snap back in shock. Then La Russa noticed that Motte was not warming up, and he called the bullpen again to have his closer start throwing. But Lilliquist said he thought he heard "Lynn," for right-hander Lance Lynn, who was supposed to be resting after throwing 47 pitches in Game 3.

With Motte (.162 vs. righties and .270 vs. lefties) still not warming up, La Russa left Rzepczynski in to face Mike Napoli, who sent a slider into the right-center gap for a two-run double.

Puzzled Cardinals fans Tuesday might have been thinking of the famous line from "Cool Hand Luke" ? "What we've got here is a failure to communicate."

"I said, man, this is stuff that I hope happens on a Wednesday game on the road someplace that nobody is there. Then of course it wouldn't have happened that way," La Russa recalled. "The phones are preventable. It's my fault for not handling it better and making sure. All I had to do was look in the bullpen ? repeat ? to make sure."

Managers are obsessive about their dugout phones, checking them before every game to make sure they're operational. The problem in Rangers Ballpark is you can't see the visiting bullpen from the third-base dugout. Cleveland and Toronto already have screens for the managers to monitor the pens.

"They need to put TV monitors in all the ballparks you can't see," said La Russa's good buddy, Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland. "I guarantee you they'll be a proposal made at the general managers' meetings. That's all that's going to come from this. You live and learn."

In other words, don't expect laptops in the dugouts. Major League Baseball isn't about to replace phones with Microsoft Communicator.

"I think that's getting a little too technical," Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "We've got enough tech stuff going on."

He has his own backup system in case the phones go down.

"You come up with signals, like one for get the big guy up, or another for the short fat guy or the guy with the long hair," he said. "But when you've got a stadium like that, if you can't see, then you don't really know what's going on."

Now an ESPN analyst, Valentine was manager of the Rangers when the ballpark was being planned.

"That's faulty design, and I helped design it, so it's my fault," he said.

Until now, communication between the dugout and bullpen hasn't really been an issue. The bullpen phone has been around since everyone in the game first walked into a ballpark.

Most stadiums have a couple of dugout phones, in fact. During the NL playoffs, Milwaukee manager Ron Roenicke intended to call the bullpen to get Chris Narveson loose. Instead, Roenicke mistakenly grabbed another phone at Busch Stadium and told the person who answered ? in the press box ? to "Get Narv up."

Oops, wrong number.

"The answer is baseball tradition. I really think that's it. I don't think anyone's looked into it in recent years," Boston Red Sox president Larry Lucchino said. "In the years I've been in baseball I can't remember it ever coming up as a topic."

Baseball's concern with phones focuses on advertising: Signs in both Busch Stadium bullpens for "U.S. Cellular," and frequent "AT&T Calls to the Bullpen" are heard on broadcasts.

Now, the nature of pitching changes has changed. Alongside all his accomplishments, La Russa will be remembered for this famous failure to communicate.

"Hey, it's my fault," he said. "Maybe I slurred it, whatever it is. It comes down to who has the responsibility when there's those kinds of miscommunications."

___

AP Sports Writer Howard Ulman contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-10-25-BBO-World-Series-Phone-Foulup/id-f30f0c5e05474c73b8e95adfbb37b246

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Comedian Patrice O?Neal Hospitalized After Suffering Stroke

Comedian Patrice O’Neal Hospitalized After Suffering Stroke

Comedian Patrice O’Neal reportedly suffered a stroke last week, according to fellow comic Jim Norton. Norton announced the news on the Opie and Anthony Show, [...]

Comedian Patrice O’Neal Hospitalized After Suffering Stroke Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2011/10/26/comedian-patrice-oneal-hospitalized-after-suffering-stroke/

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IBM names its first female CEO (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO ? IBM Corp. ushered in Virginia Rometty as the company's first-ever female CEO on Tuesday, as Sam Palmisano stepped down from the position.

Palmisano, who turned 60 this year, has been CEO for nearly a decade. He will stay on as chairman. Virginia "Ginni" Rometty, 54, is in charge of IBM's sales and marketing, and has long been whispered about by industry watchers as Palmisano's likely heir.

With Rometty's appointment, effective Jan. 1, women will be in charge of two of the world's largest technology companies.

Last month, Meg Whitman was named CEO of Hewlett-Packard Co. Whitman joined eBay Inc. when it was a fledgling startup during the dot-com boom and guided it to become an Internet auction powerhouse and later ran for California governor.

While Whitman's HP is a sprawling company in disarray, Rometty will inherit a finely tuned IBM whose focus on the high-margin businesses of technology services and software has helped it thrive.

IBM's move was unexpected. Palmisano had tamped down earlier talk of his retirement, insisting that he wanted to stay on as chief. In rare public comments, he said last year that he was "not going anywhere" and that there's no formal policy at IBM dictating when a CEO should retire.

Palmisano in a statement said that Rometty has led some of IBM's most important businesses, and was instrumental in the formation of IBM's business services division. She oversaw IBM's $3.5 billion purchase of PricewaterhouseCoopers' consulting business in 2002, which is a key element of a strategy that has made IBM a heavily copied company. She is "more than a superb operational executive," Palmisano said.

"She brings to the role of CEO a unique combination of vision, client focus, unrelenting drive, and passion for IBMers and the company's future," Palmisano said. "I know the board agrees with me that Ginni is the ideal CEO to lead IBM into its second century."

Investors had liked the idea of Palmisano staying at the helm.

IBM shares fell $1.59, or 0.9 percent, to $178.77 in extended trading, after the change was announced.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111025/ap_on_hi_te/us_ibm_ceo

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Man City humiliates United 6-1

'I'm shattered, I can't believe it,' Ferguson says after his worst loss ever at United

Image: Silva celebratesAFP - Getty Images

Manchester City's Spanish midfielder David Silva celebrates after scoring their fifth goal.

updated 12:34 p.m. ET Oct. 23, 2011

MANCHESTER, England - Manchester City thrashed fierce rival Manchester United 6-1 at Old Trafford on Sunday to hand Alex Ferguson his heaviest home defeat in 25 years in charge.

"I'm shattered, I can't believe it," a shocked Ferguson said after seeing his side's 37-match unbeaten run at home come to a crashing halt.

Mario Balotelli scored twice for a rampant City and Sergio Aguero added a third. Two late goals from Edin Dzeko and another from David Silva earned City its biggest win at Old Trafford since winning 5-0 in 1955 - the last time United lost by five in the topflight.

Jonny Evans, the United central defender who was at fault for Balotelli's opening goal, was shown a straight red card in the 46th minute for a foul on the Italian forward.

Darren Fletcher had given United a glimmer of hope when he scored in the 81st to make it 3-1, but with United piling forward in search of an unlikely point, City took full advantage with three goals in the last four minutes.

"It was an incredible disappointment," Ferguson said. "You have to recover. The history of Manchester United is 'another day' and we will recover. That kind of defeat will make an impact on the players.

"There's a lot of embarrassment in that dressing room and quite rightly so."

City, which won the last of its two topflight titles in 1968, leads the 19-time champions by five points after nine games, but manager Roberto Mancini sought to play down the importance of the win.

"This is only one game," the Italian said. "I still think United are one yard above us, still. I think we can only change this after we win the title in the end. After, maybe it will be different, but now United are better than us."

For the first hour, Balotelli took center stage, not least because of the latest bizarre off-field incident in which he had been embroiled over the weekend.

In the early hours of Saturday morning, two fire engines were sent to the 21-year-old Italy international's home to douse a fire caused by a firework in his bathroom.

"If we want to talk about Mario regarding a football player, I put him in the first five players in the world," said Mancini, who said he didn't know what happened at Balotelli's house, only that "he sleep in a hotel now."

Balotelli was selected ahead of Dzeko and rewarded that decision in the 21st minute when Silva's pass allowed James Milner to pull the ball back for Balotelli to convert an exquisite first-time right-foot finish from the edge of the penalty area.

Not content with the goal, Balotelli raised his jersey to display a T-shirt bearing the slogan "Why always me" which earned him a booking from referee Mark Clattenburg.

It hardly affected him, or City, and United's fate was sealed a minute into the second half when Evans pulled back the Italian on the edge of the area and was dismissed.

It took City until the hour mark to make United pay when Silva and Milner combined once more, the latter crossing for Balotelli to convert easily at the far post.

Chances continued to fall for City and Aguero was the next player on the scoresheet after 68 minutes as Milner's pass sent defender Micah Richards to the byline and he crossed into the six-yard area for the Argentine striker to convert from close range.

Balotelli was taken off, for fear that he might collect another yellow card, and replacement Dzeko might have scored before Fletcher exchanged passes with Javier Hernandez and curled in his team's consolation goal from 20 yards after 81 minutes.

However, City would not be denied and scored three times in as many minutes over the closing stages.

In the last minute of normal time, Gareth Barry flicked on a corner and Joleon Lescott pulled the ball back across goal and into the United goal via Dzeko's knee.

A minute later, Dzeko's pass freed Silva to advance half the length of the field and beat the exposed David de Gea. Then, in the final of the three minutes of stoppage time, the same pair combined, Silva this time passing to Dzeko who had time and space to advance before completing the victory with a strong finish past De Gea.

"The sending off was the killer blow," Ferguson said. "After that we kept attacking ... When we went to 3-1, 4-1 we should have settled for that."

? 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Man City humiliates United 6-1

Manchester City thrashed fierce rival Manchester United 6-1 at Old Trafford on Sunday to hand Alex Ferguson his heaviest defeat in 25 years in charge.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45006318/ns/sports-soccer/

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This one's on La Russa

Bullpen mixup, other questionable decisions open door for Rangers

Image: La RussaAP

St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa will one day be in the Hall of Fame, but Game 5 on Monday night was not his finest hour.

OPINION

By Tony DeMarco

NBCSports.com contributor

updated 2:29 a.m. ET Oct. 25, 2011

Tony DeMarco

ARLINGTON, Texas - The quick-and-easy story of the Texas Rangers' 4-2 victory in Game 5 is that catcher Mike Napoli ? for the second night in a row ? delivered the game's key hit.

This time, a two-run double to right-center off Marc Rzepczynski in the bottom of the eighth made the difference ? and put the Rangers one win away from their first-ever World Series title.

And when you add in that Napoli threw out two would-be base-stealers in Game 5, his three-run homer broke open a 4-0 victory in Game 4 ? and don't forget his two-run shot in Game 1 off Chris Carpenter ? you have your leader in the clubhouse for the World Series MVP award.

There's even an intriguing little strategy decision that makes this story line even better: Napoli settled into the sixth spot in the lineup mid-season, when his numbers started to take off, and he stayed there even when Nelson Cruz returned from the disabled list. But in this series, he was dropped to seventh for the first three games, and down to eighth for the last two.

Rangers manager Ron Washington's explanation for this is logical enough ? he wanted a right-handed hitter placed between left-handed batters David Murphy and Mitch Moreland at the bottom of the order, so that would force Cardinals manager Tony La Russa to use more relievers in late-inning match-up situations.

And wouldn't you know it, Napoli in the eighth spot keeps coming up in key situations. Not that he cares where he hits, of course.

"It doesn't matter to me,'' Napoli said. "Whatever Wash wants me to do, I'm going to do. We've got a deep lineup, and like I said, we all do it together.''

Ah, but there is a far more unusual ? and certainly hard-to-believe ? storyline from the other side of the field. And it's a big part of the reason why Napoli got to face the left-hander Rzepcynski in a situation that called for a right-hander ? specifically, Cardinals' closer Jason Motte, given it was a 2-2 tie in the eighth inning of a critical game.

Call it MotteGate or whatever you'd like, but ultimately, this craziness falls on future Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa:

After a leadoff double by Michael Young, a strikeout, and an intentional walk to Nelson Cruz, La Russa replaced right-hander Octavio Dotel with Rzepczynski, who has been very effective in this series, to face left-handed-hitting David Murphy.

La Russa said that during his first call to the bullpen, he asked for Rzepczynski and right-hander Jason Motte to get ready. But after the tough break of Murphy hitting a ball of Rzepczynski that deflected away for a single that loaded the bases for Napoli, there was no Motte warming up.

"I made the call (to bullpen coach Derek Lilliquist),'' La Russa said. "They heard 'Rzepczynski' and they didn't get 'Motte'. So I called back for Motte, and then they got (Lance) Lynn up.

Problem with that was Lynn was supposed to get the day off. So La Russa had to let Rzepcyznski pitch to Napoli, and you already know the result. Rzepcyznski then struck out Moreland, and it got even more bizarre.

La Russa called in Lynn, and knowing he didn't want to use him, he had him issue an intentional walk to Ian Kinsler ? all the while allowing Motte to finally get ready and come into the game three batters too late.

Not one, but two miscommunications with the bullpen? From the game's third-winningest manager all-time, second-winningest manager in postseason history? And never mind that 'Motte' sounds nothing like 'Lynn'.

"It's loud down there (in the bullpen),'' La Russa said. "And sometimes you call down there, and you have to wait until the crowd (quiets down), and so a (reliever) gets up late. I mean, this is not unusual. They just didn't hear.''

That's TLR's story, and he's sticking to it for now. But you have to wonder if maybe something else was amiss.

Because this was a night that won't go down on La Russa's Hall of Fame resume. Besides the bullpen communication snafus, there were a handful of other questionable decisions made: La Russa's explanations:

  • Trailing 4-2 in the top of the ninth, La Russa put Allen Craig in motion on three consecutive full-count pitches to Albert Pujols. After two foul balls, the worst-case scenario unfolded ? a strikeout/caught stealing double play in which Craig was gunned down by several feet, leaving two outs and nobody on against Rangers closer Neftali Feliz.

"I trusted Albert could put the ball in play,'' La Russa said. "The two swings that he fouled the ball off with the second baseman going over (to cover second on the stolen-base attempt), the hole was there, and all of a sudden, (it could have been) first and third and nobody out.

I liked sending (Craig) and having a chance to open that inning up. But it didn't work out.''

  • Leading 2-0 in the seventh, Craig took off a stolen-base attempt with Pujols at the plate ? clearly not called from the dugout, as even if successful, would have led to Pujols being walked intentionally.

Protecting his player, La Russa simply said, "it was a mix-up, and that's all I'm going to say.''

But in the clubhouse, the word was Pujols put the hit-and-run on himself by relaying a signal to third-base coach Jose Oquendo, who then flashed it to Craig. But then Pujols didn't swing at the pitch, which Ogando threw high and away.

  • Hoping to add to a 2-0 lead, La Russa called for sacrifice bunts in the third and fifth innings that successfully advanced base-runners to third base. But in both cases, that left first base open and led to intentional walks to Albert Pujols, and put it on Matt Holliday to come through. He failed twice, hitting into an inning-ending double play in the third, and inning-ending grounder to short in the fifth.

"They're not going to pitch to (Pujols),'' La Russa said. "So what you do is you get the base (with the sacrifice bunt that advances runners). This gives Matt a chance, and I'll take our chances with Matt.''

? 2011 NBC Sports.com? Reprints

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This one's on La Russa

DeMarco: Cardinals manager Tony La Russa will be in the Hall of Fame some day. But Monday's loss to the Rangers in Game 5 of the World Series was hardly his finest hour, not with a stunning miscommunication with the bullpen and a handful of other questionable decisions.

Rangers on brink of title after Game 5 win

Mike Napoli hit a tiebreaking two-run double in the eighth inning against Marc Rzepczynski, and the Texas Rangers rallied from a two-run deficit to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2 on Monday night and take a 3-2 World Series lead.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45026636/ns/sports-baseball/

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Clues to Gaddafi's death concealed from public view (Reuters)

MISRATA, Libya (Reuters) ? Libyan forces guarding Muammar Gaddafi's body in a cold storage room let in members of the public to view the deposed leader for a second day on Saturday, but the wounds that may hold the clue to how he died were covered up.

Gaddafi's body lay on a mattress on the floor of the cold room, as it did Friday when hundreds of members of the public filed in to see for themselves that the man who ruled Libya for 42 years was dead.

But unlike the previous day, Gaddafi's body was covered by a blanket that left only his head exposed, hiding the bruises on his torso and scratch marks on his chest that had earlier been visible.

And, crucially, a Reuters reporter who viewed the body said, Gaddafi's head had been turned to the left. That meant a bullet hole that earlier could be seen on the left side of his face, just in front of his ear, could no longer be seen.

Guards overseeing Gaddafi's body handed out green surgical masks to dozens of people filing in to take a look because of the stench of rotting flesh filling the room.

The bullet hole in Gaddafi's head, and the other wounds, could help solve the riddle of whether, as Libya's new rulers said, he was shot in crossfire in a battle or, as some accounts suggest, he was killed by the fighters who caught him.

A local military commander in the city of Misrata, where the forces which captured him took his body, said "over-enthusiastic" fighters took matters into their own hands when they came face to face with the man they despise.

"We wanted to keep him alive but the young guys, things went out of control," he said speaking on condition of anonymity.

Few people in Libya -- where thousands of people, including civilians, were killed by Gaddafi's forces in the seven-month rebellion -- say they are troubled by the manner of his death.

But if he was indeed killed by his captors, it will cast doubt on the promises by Libya's new rulers to respect human rights and prevent reprisals. It would also embarrass Western governments which gave their wholehearted backing to the NTC.

CAPTURED ALIVE, DEAD SHORTLY LATER

The dramatic minutes leading up to Gaddafi's death were chaotic, violent and gruesome -- as testified by the grainy mobile phone footage seen by the world of the former leader, bloodied and dazed, being dragged along by NTC fighters.

Gaddafi was still alive when he was captured hiding in a storm drain outside his hometown of Sirte, but he already had blood streaming down the side of his face and a wound close to his left ear very shortly after he had been seized.

Government fighters hauled him onto the bonnet of a Toyota pick-up truck with the intention, one of them said, of getting him through the crowd of fellow fighters and to an ambulance parked about 500 meters (546.8 yards) away.

Gaddafi can be heard in one video saying "God forbids this" several times as slaps from the crowd rain down on his head.

"This is for Misrata, you dog," said one man slapping him.

"Do you know right from wrong?" Gaddafi says.

"Shut up you dog," someone replies as more blows rain down.

Misrata, one of the heartlands of the anti-Gaddafi rebellion, suffered months of siege and artillery bombardment at the hands of his forces.

Another video shows Gaddafi being heaved off the bonnet of the truck and dragged toward a car, then pulled down by his hair. "Keep him alive, keep him alive!" someone shouts.

Another man in the crowd lets out a high-pitched hysterical scream. Gaddafi then goes out of view and gunshots ring out. One of the fighters present said Gaddafi was in a bad way but alive when he was put in the ambulance.

Yet the ambulance driver, Ali Jaghdoun, said Gaddafi was dead when he picked him up and he then drove the body to the city of Misrata. "I didn't try to revive him because he was already dead," Jaghdoun said.

In other video footage obtained by Reuters a convoy of vehicles is seen speeding along a desert road, horns blaring and men shouting "We have Muammar! It's Muammar!."

In later footage the convoy slows to a halt. Fighters rush to an ambulance shouting that Gaddafi is dead. In the back of the vehicle a body lies with a bandage over a wound on its upper abdomen, matching the spot where a bullet hole was seen on Gaddafi's torso after the body was put on display in Misrata. The head is covered with a white sheet, but a man beside it raises it briefly affording a glimpse of the former ruler's face.

A young man appears beside the ambulance, a bearded man beside him shouts out:

"He's the killer. And I am the witness who saw him."

The young fighter exclaims excitedly:

"We found him in a hole. He had somebody with him inside it."

Grinning and brandishing a handgun, the man is feted and embraced by fighters.

"This is the guy who killed Gaddafi. Using this, you see," the man with the beard shouts, holding up the young man's hand in which he has a gun.

"He did it in front of me. I saw it in front of me."

The new footage does not make clear whether Gaddafi died of wounds sustained before he was put into the ambulance or whether he suffered wounds while in the vehicle.

A journalist at the scene confirmed Gaddafi had a head wound before he was put into the ambulance.

WOUNDS STITCHED UP

In the cold store in Misrata, the body of one of Gaddafi's sons, Mo'tassim, had been moved from another location elsewhere in Misrata and placed next to his dead father.

The circumstances leading to the death of Mo'tassim, his father's national security adviser who was also captured in Sirte, are similarly murky.

A Reuters reporter was shown a one-minute segment of mobile phone footage in which a man, who resembled Mo'tassim, was squatting in a room. He was stripped to the waist, and smoking a cigarette. He did not appear badly wounded.

Someone could be heard telling him repeatedly: "Say Allahu Akbar, say Allahu Akbar." The phrase, which means "God is greatest," is a favorite mantra of the anti-Gaddafi fighters.

At some point after that, he died. When a Reuters reporter saw his body Thursday evening, it was laid out in a private house in Misrata. Wounds to his jaw and part of his neck were visible.

Saturday in the cold store, Mo'tassim's body was covered up to the neck with a blanket. The wounds to his jaw and neck had been stitched up.

Later in the day, the body of a third man, Abu Bakr Younus Jabr, was brought in and placed on a stretcher between Gaddafi and his son.

Head of Gaddafi's armed forces, by then just a handful of troops, Jabr was captured in Sirte alongside his leader. A bandage was tied under his chin and looped over the top of his head.

Bullet wounds could be seen to his chest and the top of his left arm. A Reuters reporter who was able to get close to the body said she could see gunpowder residue around the wounds -- which is often consistent with being shot at close range.

The people queueing outside the cold store, waiting to view the bodies, did not seem concerned about how their former leader and his entourage died.

Two Filipino nurses filed in to take pictures. Children were among the few dozen people waiting outside for their turn.

Abdullah al-Senussi, a man with a white beard, was so frail he had to be supported by people on either side of him as he made his way to the cold store.

"We wanted to know if it was true or not," he said. "We wanted to see him."

Two men arrived waving airline tickets, saying they needed to jump the queue to see Gaddafi or they would miss their flights.

Asked if it would not have been better for Gaddafi to stand trial, Abdulatif, a pilot waiting in line, said: "What would he tell the mother whose children were killed or the girls who were raped?"

"If he lived and was killed a thousand times, that would still only be a trifle."

(Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Elizabeth Piper and Matthew Jones)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111023/wl_nm/us_libya_gaddafi_finalhours

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BPA in pregnant women might affect kids' behavior (AP)

CHICAGO ? Exposure to the chemical bisphenol-A before birth could affect girls' behavior at age 3, according to the latest study on potential health effects of the compound used in the manufacturing of some plastic drink bottles and food can linings.

Preschool-aged girls whose mothers had relatively high urine levels of BPA during pregnancy scored worse but still within a normal range on behavior measures including anxiety and hyperactivity than other young girls.

The results are not conclusive and experts not involved in the study said factors other than BPA might explain the results. The researchers acknowledge that "considerable debate" remains about whether BPA is harmful, but say their findings should prompt additional research.

The researchers measured BPA in 244 Cincinnati-area mothers' urine twice during pregnancy and at childbirth. The women evaluated their children at age 3 using standard behavior questionnaires.

Nearly all women had measurable BPA levels, like most Americans. But increasingly high urine levels during pregnancy were linked with increasingly worse behavior in their daughters. Boys' behavior did not seem to be affected.

The researchers said if BPA can cause behavior changes that could pose academic and social problems for girls already at risk for those difficulties.

"These subtle shifts can actually have very dramatic implications at the population level," said Joe Braun, the lead author and a research fellow at Harvard's School of Public Health.

For every 10-fold increase in mothers' BPA levels, girls scored at least six points worse on the questionnaires.

The study was released online Monday in Pediatrics.

Linda Birnbaum, director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Toxicology Program, said the study contributes important new evidence to "a growing database which suggests that BPA exposure can be associated with effects on human health."

Grants from that federal agency helped pay for the study.

The Food and Drug Administration has said that low-level BPA exposure appears to be safe. But the agency also says that because of recent scientific evidence, it has some concern about potential effects of BPA on the brain and behavior in fetuses, infants and small children. The FDA is continuing to study BPA exposure and supports efforts to minimize use in food containers.

BPA has many uses, and is found in some plastic bottles and coatings in metal food cans. It was widely used in plastic baby bottles and sippy cups but industry phased out that use.

Braun said it's possible that exposure to BPA during pregnancy interferes with fetal brain development, a theory suggested in other studies, and that could explain the behavior differences in his study. Why boys' behavior wasn't affected isn't clear. But BPA is thought to mimic the effects of estrogen, a female hormone.

The researchers evaluated other possible influences on children's behavior, including family income, education level and whether mothers were married, and still found an apparent link to BPA.

But Dr. Charles McKay, a BPA researcher and toxicologist with the Connecticut Poison Control Center, said the researchers failed to adequately measure factors other than BPA that could explain the results.

For example, there's no information on mothers' eating habits. That matters because mothers' higher BPA levels could have come from eating lots of canned foods instead of healthier less processed foods, which might have affected fetal brain development.

The American Chemistry Council, a trade group whose members include companies that use BPA, said the research "has significant shortcomings ... and the conclusions are of unknown relevance to public health."

___

Online:

FDA: http://tinyurl.com/ya4d4ku

Info for parents: http://www.hhs.gov/safety/bpa/

___

AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111024/ap_on_he_me/us_med_bisphenol_children_s_behavior

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Clinton to Iran: Don't misread departure from Iraq (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Iran should not misread the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq as affecting the U.S. commitment to the fledgling democracy, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday.

President Barack Obama's announcement Friday that all American troops would return from Iraq by the end of the year will close a chapter on U.S.-Iraq relations that began in 2003 with the U.S.-led invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein.

Washington has long worried that meddling by Iran, a Shiite Muslim theocracy, could inflame tensions between Iraq's Shiite-led government and its minority Sunnis, setting off a chain reaction of violence and disputes across the Mideast.

Clinton said in a series of news show interviews that the U.S. would continue its training mission with Iraq and that it would resemble operations in Colombia and elsewhere. While the U.S. will not have combat troops in Iraq, she said the American presence would remain strong because of its bases in the region.

"Iran would be badly miscalculating if they did not look at the entire region and all of our presence in many countries in the region, both in bases, in training, with NATO allies, like Turkey," she told CNN's "State of the Union."

Asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" about fears of civil war in Iraq after U.S. troops leave, Clinton said, "Well, let's find out. ... We know that the violence is not going to automatically end."

She added: "No one should miscalculate America's resolve and commitment to helping support the Iraqi democracy. We have paid too high a price to give the Iraqis this chance. And I hope that Iran and no one else miscalculates that."

In an interview released Saturday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tehran has "a very good relationship" with Iraq's government, and said the relationship will continue to grow.

"We have deepened our ties day by day," Ahmadinejad said in the interview, broadcast Saturday on CNN.

The timeline for U.S. troop withdrawals had been agreed to by President George W. Bush and Iraqi leaders. Obama had campaigned for the presidency with the promise to end America's war in Iraq.

For months the Obama administration negotiated with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other Iraqi officials to extend the stay of troops and to build permanent bases. Both sides saw advantages to keeping several thousand U.S. troops in Iraq as part of a training mission, but there was also strong opposition in the U.S. and Iraq for the American troops to stay.

A sticking point was the U.S. demand that American troops be granted legal immunity to shield them from Iraqi prosecution, a flashpoint for Iraqi anger over the Americans' special status in their homeland.

In Iraq, cheers and fears greeted Obama's announcement as the country pondered another period of uncertain transition. While many celebrated what they viewed as the end of a foreign occupation, there was also apprehension over what would happen without U.S. troops on hand to help control political and social divisions that still spark shootings and bombings.

Arizona Sen. John McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the withdrawal decision "a serious mistake" that is viewed in the region as a victory for Iran. He also said the presence of U.S. bases elsewhere in the region will have little impact on Iraq.

"There was never really serious negotiations between the administration and the Iraqis," McCain told "This Week" on ABC. "I believe we could have negotiated an agreement. And I'm very, very concerned about increased Iranian influence in Iraq."

Sen. Lindsey Graham, who also serves on the committee, criticized Obama for "not being able to close the deal" with Iraq, and he said the Iranians remain emboldened with "a shot in Iraq they would never had otherwise." He also expressed concern over Iran's nuclear program.

"The Iranians don't fear us at all," Graham said on "Fox News Sunday." He added: "At a time when we need troops in Iraq to secure the place against intervention by Iran and the bad actors in the region, we are going into 2012 with none. It was his job, the Obama administration's job, to end this well. They failed."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iran/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111023/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_us_iran

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