Rutgers downs Iowa State 27-13 in Pinstripe Bowl (AP)

NEW YORK ? Chas Dodd hit Brandon Coleman for an 86-yard touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter and Jawan Jamison ran for two scores to lead Rutgers over Iowa State 27-13 in the Pinstripe Bowl on Friday.

The Scarlet Knights (9-4) ran their bowl winning streak to five and improved to 2-0 this season at Yankee Stadium, where they beat Army last month. Rutgers, which played in one bowl game before 2005, is 5-1 in the postseason under coach Greg Schiano.

The Cyclones (6-7) finished the season on a three-game losing streak, their last win coming on Nov. 18 in Ames, Iowa, when they pulled off the biggest upset of the season against Oklahoma State.

That night Jared Barnett threw for 376 yards. In this game, Steele Jantz relieved Barnett in the second quarter and helped pull the Cyclones within 20-13 in the fourth on Jeff Woody's 20-yard touchdown run with 10:00 left.

After an exchange of punts left Rutgers deep in its own end, Dodd went deep to Coleman. The 6-foot-6 redshirt freshman went over 5-7 cornerback Jeremy Reeves, then outran the corner to the end zone to make it 27-13 with 5:47 left.

It was Coleman's only catch, but it turned out to be the play of the game.

Jamison, another redshirt freshman giving Rutgers fans hope for more bowls to come, finished with 134 yards on 27 carries.

The Scarlet Knights missed the postseason last year for the first time since 2004, but rebounded this season to challenge for the Big East title behind a defense that came in ranked 14th in the nation.

There was also some inspiration from a fallen former teammate.

Eric LeGrand, who was left paralyzed from the shoulders down making a tackle during a game in 2010, went to all the Rutgers home games, worked on the radio broadcasts and was with the team in New York all week leading up to the bowl.

After the game, as the Scarlet Knights accepted the trophy at midfield, Schiano's acceptance speech was short: "Eric! Eric!" he shouted into the microphone, "this one's for you."

LeGrand was shown in his wheelchair on the jumbotron, beaming a wide grin and the crowd chanted, "Eric! Eric!"

Rutgers grabbed a 7-6 lead early in the second quarter when Jamison powered through a tackler and scored on fourth-and-goal from the 1.

On the next possession, Iowa State couldn't handle one of Rutgers' many blitzes, and Khaseem Greene and Wayne Warren swarmed and stripped Barnett. Scott Vallone scooped up the fumble and returned it 12 yards to the Iowa State 4. The Cyclones managed to hold Rutgers to San San Te's 21-yard field goal.

Jantz, who was Iowa State's starter the first half of the season, replaced Barnett after the sack.

The Cyclones' defense didn't hold up as well on Rutgers' next possession. The Scarlet Knights marched 66 yards, 49 on the ground, and Jamison juked his way into the end zone from 12 yards out to make 17-6.

Justin Francis finished Rutgers' strong second half by blocking Zach Guyer's 44-yard field goal attempt with 57 seconds left.

Iowa State jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first quarter, with Guyer kicking field goals of 40 and 46 yards on the Cyclones' first two possessions. Inaccurate throws by Barnett were key to stalling each drive.

The redshirt freshman was 2 for 7 before giving way to Jantz.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111231/ap_on_sp_co_ga_su/fbc_pinstripe_bowl

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NY Rep. King: Iraq releases 3 security contractors (AP)

NEW YORK ? Three security contractors including two Americans were released by Iraqi Army forces Tuesday after they were held for more than two weeks, the chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security announced as he demanded a full report on the episode.

Republican Peter King identified the men as Army veteran Alex Antiohos of West Babylon, N.Y., National Guardsman Jonas March of Savannah, Georgia and Kevin Fisher of Fiji.

King said they were working for a security firm when Iraqi Ministry of Defense officials rejected paperwork prepared on their behalf by the Iraqi Ministry of Interior and began holding them on Dec. 9.

The men weren't charged with any crimes and King said it appeared that the men were not injured.

He said Antiohos, who lives on Long Island, spoke to his wife Tuesday evening, and he was expected to be home later this week.

"She said he seems to be doing well," he said.

King said they were released after efforts by his office, the State Department, the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, the Defense Department and the White House.

He said he will demand answers from the Iraqis as well from U.S. authorities about how the incident was handled after they learned about the men.

"We're going to have thousands of contractors over there, including many Americans. Can the Iraqis just take them off the street and hold them? This is a terrible precedent. We have to get to the bottom of this," he said.

The New York congressman said he was concerned that U.S. military authorities had not been notified by the U.S. embassy that the men were being held and that embassy representatives had not visited the men when he learned about it from Antiohos' wife last week.

"We have to find out if there could have been better coordination between all the agencies to make sure something like this doesn't happen again," King said.

U.S. troops completed a full withdrawal this month after nearly nine years of war.

"This should be a bit of a wake-up call as to whether the situation really is deteriorating in Iraq," he added. "Iraq was supposed to be an ally. We liberated Iraq. Yet they hold these men for 18 days. ... It's inexcusable that they were treated this way by a supposed ally."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111228/ap_on_re_us/us_iraq_contractors_released

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Argentine leader's cancer forces her to delegate

(AP)? BUENOS AIRES, Argentina ? Argentina's president cracked jokes and sounded optimistic Wednesday after her thyroid cancer diagnosis was announced, but she's clearly struggling with the need to delegate power while she recovers from next week's surgery.

Cristina Fernandez's thyroid removal operation, scheduled for Jan. 4, is expected to be as routine as cancer surgery can be. Doctors predict a speedy recovery, since papillary thyroid carcinoma detected before it spreads is highly curable without chemotherapy.

Still, the idea of leaving her vice president in charge for 20 days appears to pose a daunting challenge for Fernandez, who has never been comfortable delegating.

She praised her constitutional successor, former Economy Minister Amado Boudou, for sharing her political ideas, but jokingly warned him to "be careful what you do" as interim president and made clear that she'll be keeping a close watch on things while recovering at her home in Patagonia.

"The truth is that I ? everything is too much. You can't be in charge of everything," Fernandez acknowledged. "The body can't handle it."

Indeed. Despite the doctors' assurances, simply combining the words "cancer" and "Cristina" had Argentines worried about the mortality of a leader who has been virtually alone at the top. Even before the death of her husband, Nestor Kirchner, of a heart attack last year, she had grown accustomed to ruling through emergency decrees after consulting only a small circle of loyal advisers.

"It affects me deeply," said Cecilia Maldonado, a young office worker in downtown Buenos Aires. "Because if you begin to think about her having to leave the presidency, or something happening to her ... there isn't anybody who could replace all the energy that she's put into raising up this government."

Fernandez and Kirchner were Argentina's ultimate power couple, whose fervent supporters say they've done more for the country during their combined two terms in office than anyone since legendary strongman Juan Domingo Peron and his wife, Evita, used the country's post-World War II riches to move a generation of working people into the middle class.

Fernandez, 58, dispelled doubts about her survival skills after Kirchner's death and won re-election by a landslide in October, in part because voters saw the grieving widow as indomitable ? the only one capable of containing Argentina's social pressures and keeping on track the economy, which grew at more than 9 percent this year.

Argentina has come back strong from its disastrous devaluation and debt default a decade ago, reducing poverty, unemployment and the wealth gap, and directing billions of dollars in revenue to the poor through social programs. But many worry that such achievements could disappear when Fernandez leaves office.

"Just when it seems like we're getting a little better," complained Maldonado, reacting to the news. "Ten years ago, I lived through 2001, and I really suffered. ... Only now can you see things improving, and plan for the future."

The cancer diagnosis worries Argentines precisely "because it's a one-person government ... where only the president makes decisions," said Mariel Fornoni, director of the Management & Fit consulting firm. "That's why there's so much doubt about what might happen."

Still, Fornoni said, it's clear that the president's planned medical leave is irrelevant, and that no real decision will be made without consulting her.

Fernandez spoke of her cancer diagnosis as she announced new revenue transfers to provincial governments, seeking to project an image of normalcy. Several of the gathered governors and ministers who gave her an extended standing ovation said they were relieved to see her in good spirits and fully in command.

"She seems optimistic, making jokes. Clearly she's not going to let anything slow her down these next four years," said Jorge Capitanich, governor of the northern state of Chaco.

Just behind her during her speech was an architect's rendering of an image of Evita Peron that now towers over the widest avenue in Buenos Aires. Comparisons weren't lost on Argentines, who learn as children that Evita died in 1951 because she neglected her own health while caring for the poor, letting uterine cancer spread until it was incurable.

The president's doctors said Fernandez was told of her cancer on Dec. 22, the same day that her newly inaugurated Senate majority, racing to approve new laws ahead of its summer recess, significantly increased several executive powers.

And while Fernandez talked of delegating on Wednesday, she reversed herself practically in the same breath.

"We're going to keep going with the same energy we've always had. We need to face things as we've always done, taking charge of everything that's our responsibility, and everything else as well," she said. "I'm going to keep working the same as always, for Argentina, for nothing other than her, and for all the Argentines."

___

Associated Press writer Almudena Calatrava in Buenos Aires contributed to this report.

Source: http://feeds.cbsnews.com/~r/CBSNewsGamecore/~3/yThs1EMUqIQ/

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New Microsoft Office 365 Security Features Highlight Cloud Computing Difficulties

Microsoft recently announced that it has succeeded in adopting a number of security certifications and standards for its Office 365 products. These new Office 365 security features are designed to help Microsoft expand into the international cloud computing space, as regulatory compliance and security become larger barriers preventing cloud app adoption.

The Issue With Worldwide Cloud Computing

Like many things in the business world these days, cloud computing has run up against a wall of regulation from a variety of sources. Since the cloud operates without borders, a company's information can be physically stored in one country while the company exists in another. This can cause some interesting regulatory issues, as data protection and privacy laws in one country may be broken by storing data in a second country where local law gives authorities unfettered access to stored data.

As this Wired article points out, the largest current sticking point is between European companies and U.S-based cloud providers, due to the amount of data control that the PATRIOT Act gives U.S. authorities. A recent anecdote from Microsoft tells of a U.K. company that was ready to adopt Office 365, when its lawyers pulled the plug over issues surrounding the PATRIOT Act.

Of course, the issue goes much deeper than one piece of legal code in one country, as this type of regulatory nightmare is only going to get larger as the cloud grows. The concept behind the cloud is that the data's physical location doesn't matter, only that the client has access to that information, but in reality, that data does exist on a physical server somewhere and thusly falls under local jurisdictions.

New Office 365 Security Features

As noted in this Seattle Times article, Microsoft is trying to allay fears of regulatory nightmares by announcing a number of new security features and standards. First, Office 365 received ISO/IEC 27001 certification, which requires a yearly independent audit centered around data security. Microsoft says that it's the first major cloud-based productivity service to achieve this certification, although Google Apps has a similar, albeit slightly different, certification.

Microsoft also announced the launch of the Office 365 Trust Center, which is designed, in part, to help health care organizations meet Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requirements. HIPAA involves reporting security breaches and ensuring business partners will safeguard the data they have access to.

Finally, Microsoft announced that Office 365 will meet the standard of the European "model clauses," which are designed to keep data secure even if that data is physically stored on servers outside of Europe. Additionally, as this ZDNet article states, the new Trust Center will allow companies to specify the physical location of their data, to allay concerns about competing regulation.

It should be noted that while issues with the PATRIOT Act are at the forefront of the overall problem, Microsoft never mentioned the regulation. This almost certainly means that these new security features are designed to reduce fear, rather than provide a true cure for the problem. It's unfortunate that certain regulations would cause so many problems in connecting the world together, but until businesses can prove to their governments how harmful these regulations are, the issue isn't going to go away.

In fact, with cloud computing growing exponentially, you can expect the issue to only get worse in the near-term, as governments are sure to be hesitant to change policies because of technologies they clearly don't yet understand. Microsoft may have taken a nice first step in this battle, but every company involved in cloud computing needs to step up and start protecting data from wayward regulation if this problem is to ever go away.

Source: http://www.theinfoboom.com/articles/new-microsoft-office-365-security-features-highlight-cloud-computing-difficultie/

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The Culture Gabfest, ?Writhing Around in Dirt? Edition

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Daniel Engber, Dana Stevens, and Julia Turner examine whether Steven Spielberg?s new animated Tintin movie lives up to its comic book roots. Next, they look at how the word processor changed the writing process. For their final segment, Gabfesters revel in the glories of Pina, the new 3-D dance documentary about the life and work of the late choreographer Pina Bausch.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=46dc8e1de2a0845ad531a162588497e0

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GOP presidential candidates count on good 'ground game' for South Carolina primary

With less than a month before South Carolina?s first-in-the-South primary, the presidential candidates are jumpstarting their Palmetto State organizations, opening offices, hiring workers and reaching out to potential backers.

Frontrunner Newt Gingrich is one of the state?s ?ground game? leaders thus far. The former speaker of the U.S. House has hired 12 full-time staffers who are working out of five offices in Bluffton, Columbia, Greenville, Myrtle Beach and North Charleston, according to his campaign.

Gingrich ? who is leading in the two latest S.C. polls although losing steam according to some national polls ? is also picking up his visits to South Carolina and ate shrimp and grits with supporters at a Columbia restaurant Thursday.

Gingrich has also picked up some S.C. Tea Party support ? to the chagrin of some factions of the movement.

This month, Tea Party groups in Myrtle Beach and Laurens County endorsed him. Gingrich also hired a couple of Tea Party members to work for his campaign.

That raised the ire of some S.C. Tea Party members who are supporting former Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and say Gingrich is a Washington insider who is trying to buy the Tea Party vote in the Palmetto state.

Gingrich's camp denies the claim.

?He?s just trying to hire the best people he can hire,? said Billy Wilkins, a former federal judge who is co-chairing Gingrich?s S.C. operation. ?I can assure you no one tried to buy anyone?s allegiance.?

Bachmann may be trailing in the polls, but she, too, has beefed up her S.C. team.

Read the full story on TheState.com

Source: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/12/27/134148/gop-presidential-candidates-count.html

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Metro Council/Community Services Agency Holiday Break

???

Where
Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO
888 16th St NW
Suite 520
Washington, DC??20006
202-974-8150

When
Dec 26 ?? 9:00 am - 5:00 pm

The offices of the Metro Council and Community Services Agency are closed for the annual holiday break beginning Friday, December 23 at 12 noon and re-opening at 9a on Tuesday, January 3.

Add To Outlook

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Source: http://www.dclabor.org/ht/d/EventDetails/i/100018

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Sudan army kills leader of main Darfur rebel group (AP)

KHARTOUM, Sudan ? The Sudanese army said Sunday that it killed the leader of the main Darfur rebel group in fighting earlier this week, touting his death as a key victory against a powerful rebel force that once threatened Sudan's capital.

Khalil Ibrahim led the Darfur-based Justice and Equality Movement, or JEM, the most organized and effective military force in Darfur, the western region torn by conflict since 2003. The group did not join a peace deal signed last year in Doha, Qatar between other Darfur rebel groups and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir's government in Khartoum.

The military said he was wounded Thursday during a military offensive in North Kordofan state, which borders Darfur. The government said he died of his wounds Saturday and that rebels quickly buried him. The government did not say how it confirmed his death.

JEM representatives could not immediately be reached for comment. If Ibrahim's death is confirmed by the group, it would be a serious blow to JEM, which has on several occasions threatened to bring down al-Bashir's regime in Khartoum by advancing toward the capital.

Sudanese Information Minister Abdullah Massar said Ibrahim's death sends a message to rebel groups "to listen to the voice of wisdom and join the peace process."

"Our doors are open and the Doha agreement is open," Massar said Sunday.

Darfur has been in turmoil since 2003, when ethnic African rebels accusing the Arab-dominated Sudanese government of discrimination took up arms against it. The Khartoum government is accused of retaliating by unleashing Arab militias on civilians ? a charge the government denies.

The conflict has tapered off since 2009, but the U.N. estimates 300,000 people died and 2.7 million have been displaced. The International Criminal Court in the Hague has issued an international arrest warrant for al-Bashir for his alleged role in crimes against humanity in Darfur.

Sudan's Information Minister told reporters Sunday that 30 people were killed with Ibrahim in the clashes. An army statement carried by Sudan's official SUNA news agency said Ibrahim and several associates were killed in Wad Banda, about 440 miles (700 kilometers) west of Khartoum in the North Kordofan region, which borders Darfur.

"The army cut all paths for the group as it was retreating and trying to cross into South Sudan to reorganize it forces," said Sudanese army spokesman Col. Sawarmy Khaled. "Our gallant armed forces were able to kill rebel Khalil Ibrahim along with some of his associates."

South Sudan seceded from the north in July to become the world's newest nation.

Fighting in Wad Banda had flared up in the past few days. On Saturday, the Sudanese army said Darfur rebels attacked three locations in neighboring North Kordofan, killing an unspecified number of civilians.

JEM has not claimed responsibility for the attack. However, in a dramatic push in 2008, hundreds of JEM fighters drove through the remote western region and attacked Khartoum's western outskirts. More recently, JEM spread its armed presence from Darfur into North Kordofan.

A security officer with the United Nations Mission in Darfur told The Associated Press that JEM mostly operates out of North Kordofan state and no longer has an official presence in Darfur. He said UNAMID officials have not confirmed Ibrahim's death. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

This year, UNAMID had nearly 26,000 troops and police stationed in Darfur, making it the largest UN peacekeeping operation.

Salma Turabi, daughter of longtime opposition leader Hassan Turabi, said she was at a gathering of mourners at Ibrahim's home in Khartoum when police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd.

Sudan state television broadcast images of Khartoum residents outside military headquarters, waving Sudanese flags and celebrating the news of his death.

Ibrahim is believed to have recently returned to Sudan after years in exile in neighboring Libya, where he enjoyed the patronage of Moammar Gadhafi before the longtime Libyan dictator was ousted and killed in October. Sudanese officials said the JEM has been trying to regroup since losing Gadhafi's reported support for the rebel movement.

Ibrahim once served in al-Bashir's government before joining the rebellion. He refused to join a peace agreement signed in Qatar and backed by the African Union that was meant to provide a basis for a cease-fire, power sharing, equal distribution of wealth and compensation for displaced people.

"He completely refused to come to the negotiating table, he never joined the peace talks," Ismail el-Haj Musa, Sudanese deputy speaker of the council of states, told the pan-Arab Al-Jazeera TV on Sunday. "He committed acts against the state."

On Sunday, Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamad, Sudan's interior minister, described the death of Ibrahim "as a message to all rebels and those carrying arms, calling on them to the negotiating table to resolve issues and reach a peaceful resolution for the best interest of the country," according the semiofficial Sudan Media Center.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111225/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_sudan

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Nigeria sect clashes kill at least 68: officials (Reuters)

KANO, Nigeria (Reuters) ? Gun battles between Nigerian security forces and an Islamist sect killed at least 68 people in two days of fighting in northern Nigeria, authorities and hospital sources said on Saturday.

Militant group Boko Haram, which wants to impose Islamic sharia law across the country split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims, has been blamed for scores of shootings and bombings in Nigeria's remote, semi-arid northeast, including a spate of attacks in the past few weeks.

Nigeria's army killed more than 50 members of the sect during fighting on Thursday and Friday in the northeastern city of Damaturu, the force's chief of staff Lieutenant General Azubuike Ihejirika said in comments published in local media.

Three soldiers also died, he added.

"There was a major encounter with Boko Haram in Damaturu and we overran their stronghold and their ammunition site," Ihejirika said.

"They came with sophisticated and heavy weaponry including GPMGs (machine guns) and bombs but our trained soldiers subdued them."

Hospital sources in Damaturu said they had counted 50 bodies so far, but most of the dead were civilians.

"So far 50 bodies have been deposited at the mortuary by the military and police operatives," a hospital worker told Reuters by telephone. "They were ... seven policemen, two soldiers and 41 civilians."

In a separate incident in the city on Friday, suspected sect members opened fire on a group of policemen shortly after prayers, killing four, police said.

Residents said Damaturu was quiet on Saturday, but surveyed by a heavy military and police presence.

"Everywhere is so tense here. There's nobody on the street except security men. The bodies of those killed are being removed from the mortuary ... Our town is virtually a ghost town," Usman Mamman, a Damaturu resident, said by telephone.

CLASHES INCREASING

At least 11 people were killed in another shootout in the remote northeastern city of Maiduguri, Boko Haram's heartland on the threshold of the Sahara and bordering Chad, Niger and Cameroon, on Thursday, a morgue official said.

Clashes between security forces and the sect, whose name roughly translates as "Western education is forbidden," have become increasingly frequent in the past couple of weeks, as the north's simmering conflict escalates.

There was no immediate comment from Boko Haram, which rarely makes public statements.

Before this year, the Islamist insurgency was largely contained in its heartland in Maiduguri. It has since has spread to other parts of the north, including neighboring Yobe state, where Damaturu lies.

The town was the scene of the most deadly Boko Haram assault to date, when 65 people were killed in a wave of shootings and bombings on November 5 that left churches, police stations and mosques reduced to smoldering rubble.

This year the Islamists struck the capital Abuja twice, including a suicide car bomb attack against the U.N. headquarters that killed 26 people.

President Goodluck Jonathan, a southern Christian who has dismissed the Islamist rebellion as "a temporary setback," made no mention of the violence in a statement on Saturday afternoon to mark this year's Christmas celebrations. He focused instead on his economic "promise of national transformation."

(Additional reporting by a reporter in Maiduguri; Writing by and additional reporting by Tim Cocks; Editing by Myra MacDonald)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111224/wl_nm/us_nigeria_violence

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CIA's watchdog: No problem with NYPD partnership

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The CIA said Friday its internal watchdog found nothing wrong with the spy agency's close partnership with the New York Police Department.

The agency's inspector general concluded that no laws were broken and there was "no evidence that any part of the agency's support to the NYPD constituted 'domestic spying'," CIA spokesperson Preston Golson said.

The inspector general decided to do a preliminary investigation after a series of stories by The Associated Press revealed how after the 9/11 attacks the CIA helped the NYPD build domestic intelligence programs that were used to spy on Muslims. A CIA officer also directed intelligence collection and reviewed reports, according to former NYPD officials involved.

The revelations troubled some members of Congress and even prompted the U.S. director of national intelligence, James Clapper, to remark that it did not look good for the CIA to be involved in any city police department. Thirty-four lawmakers have asked for the Justice Department to investigate but so far that request has gone nowhere.

New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has maintained the NYPD's relationship with the CIA was proper. Under an executive order the CIA is allowed to assist local law enforcement.

"Operating under this legal basis, the CIA has advised the police department on key aspects of intelligence gathering and analysis that have greatly benefited our counterterrorism mission and protected lives in New York City," Kelly said earlier this year.

David Buckley, the CIA's inspector general, completed his review in late October. It's not clear if his report opens the door for other municipal police departments nationwide to work closely with the CIA in the war on terror.

The CIA's deep ties to the NYPD began when CIA Director George Tenet dispatched a widely respected officer, Larry Sanchez, to New York, where he became the architect of the police department's secret spying programs. At the NYPD, Sanchez worked side by side with David Cohen, a former senior CIA officer who became head of the department's intelligence division just months after 9/11.

Sanchez also hand-picked an NYPD detective to attend the "Farm," the CIA's training facility where its officers are turned into operatives. The detective, who completed the course but failed to graduate, returned to the police department where he works today armed with the agency's famed espionage skills.

Sanchez was on the CIA payroll from 2002 to 2004 and then took a temporary leave of absence to become deputy to Cohen.

In 2007, Sanchez left the CIA, staying on at the NYPD until late 2010. He now works as a security consultant in the Persian Gulf region.

Earlier this year, one of the CIA's most experienced clandestine operatives was detailed to the NYPD as special assistant to the deputy commissioner of intelligence.

Kelly has said the CIA operative provides "technical information" to the NYPD but "doesn't have access to any of our investigative files."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-12-23-NYPD%20Intelligence%202nd%20Ld-Writethru/id-429c5dd4046b423191d86048f3cdb6df

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Robert De Niro is a dad again at 68

LOS ANGELES?? Actor Robert De Niro and his wife Grace Hightower have become the proud parents of a baby girl born via a surrogate, the actor's spokesman confirmed on Friday.

The child is the second for De Niro, 68, and Hightower, 56. She is named Helen Grace Hightower De Niro, and weighed a healthy 7 lbs 2 oz at birth.

The "Meet the Parents" star married actress Hightower in 1997, and the couple have a son, Elliot, born in 1998.

De Niro also has a son and adopted daughter with ex-wife Diahnne Abbott and two twin sons with former girlfriend Toukie Smith.

The actor can currently be seen in the star-studded, feel-good film "New Year's Eve."

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45780110/ns/today-entertainment/

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Payroll tax divide plays out in Minnesota as well as nation's capital (Star Tribune)

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Video: Best gameplay of 2011

The games that were the most fun to play and the hardest to put down in 2011. In-Game's Todd kenreck reports.

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/in-game/45770563/

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Dordt Football Has Scholar-Athletes Named

Dordt Football Has Scholar-Athletes Named

December 19, 2011

(Monday, December 19; Sioux Center, Iowa)? Seven Dordt College football players were named NAIA Scholar-Athletes for the 2011 season.

Matt Postmus (Senior; Kalamazoo, Michigan) and Will McClain (Senior; Miller, South Dakota) were all repeat selections after earning the honor in 2010.? Postmus missed much of this season with an injury and earned all-GPAC honors during his career while playing linebacker for the Defenders.? McClain played defensive back for the Defenders and earned Capital One/CoSIDA Academic NAIA All-American Second-Team honors.? McClain is majoring in biology.

Ben Dixon (Senior; Kingman, Kansas) and Sam Du Mez (Senior; Brookfield, Wisconsin) earned the honor for the first time this season.? Dixon is an education major and played linebacker for the Defenders this season.? Du Mez is an engineering major and leaves the Defender football program as the career leader in catches, receiving yardage and receiving touchdowns.

Jordan Huisman (Junior; Orange City, Iowa), Alex Hein (Junior; Brewster, Minnesota) and Jonathan Luetchens (Junior; Murdock, Nebraska) all earned the honor for the first time as well.? Huisman started at center for the Defenders this season and is a business administration major.? Hein was on special teams and was a defensive back for the Defenders and majors in education.? Luetchens, along with McClain earned Capital One/CoSIDA Academic NAIA All-American Second-Team honors.? Luetchens also earned honorable mention from the GPAC this season and is majoring in agriculture: biotechnology.

The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) announced 244 football student-athletes have been named 2011 Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes.

Student-athletes are nominated by their institution's head coach and must maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale and must have achieved a junior academic status in order qualify for the honor.
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Source: http://www.dordt.edu/cgi-bin/news/get_news.pl?id=5384

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Texas Rangers win negotiating rights to Yu Darvish

FILE - In this Aug. 23, 2008 file photo, Japan's Yu Darvish pitches against USA in their bronze medal baseball game at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing. USA won 8-4. Darvish ended months of speculation Thursday, Dec. 8, 2011 by saying he intends to make a move to Major League Baseball. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)

FILE - In this Aug. 23, 2008 file photo, Japan's Yu Darvish pitches against USA in their bronze medal baseball game at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing. USA won 8-4. Darvish ended months of speculation Thursday, Dec. 8, 2011 by saying he intends to make a move to Major League Baseball. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 5, 2007 file photo, Nippon Ham Fighters starter Yu Darvish pitches against the Orix Buffaloes in Osaka, western Japan. Darvish ended months of speculation Thursday, Dec. 8, 2011 by saying he intends to make a move to Major League Baseball. (AP Photo/Kyodo News, File) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING IN CHINA, FRANCE, HONG KONG, JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA

FILE - In this file photo taken on May 21, 2010, Nippon Ham Fighters starter Yu Darvish pitches against the Yokohama BayStars during their baseball game in Sapporo, northern Japan. Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish ended months of speculation Thursday Dec. 8, 2011 by saying he intends to make a move to Major League Baseball. The 25-year-old right-hander, considered the best pitcher in the Japanese professional leagues, wrote on his blog that he had decided to use the posting system, which allows MLB teams to bid for the negotiating rights to Japanese players who have yet to become free agents. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT MANDATORY FOR COMMERCIAL USE ONLY IN NORTH AMERICA

FILE - In this Aug. 13, 2008 file photo, Japan's pitcher Yu Darvish delivers during the first inning of a baseball game against Cuba at the Beijing 2008 Olympics. Darvish ended months of speculation Thursday, Dec. 8, 2011 by saying he intends to make a move to Major League Baseball. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 6, 2011 file photo, Nippon Ham Fighters pitcher Yu Darvish smiles at a press conference in Sapporo, northern Japan, after a new contract signing that makes him the highest-paid player in Japanese professional baseball. Darvish ended months of speculation Thursday, Dec. 8, 2011 by saying he intends to make a move to Major League Baseball. (AP Photo/Kyodo News, File) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING IN CHINA, FRANCE, HONG KONG, JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA

NEW YORK (AP) ? After losing a pair of aces in the last two years, the Texas Rangers are going global to land a new one.

Winner of consecutive AL pennants, Texas also won the Yu Darvish sweepstakes Monday night with a record bid of $51.7 million. Now, the Rangers get 30 days to negotiate a contract with Darvish that would put Japan's best pitcher at the top of their rotation.

"Obviously, it's a very exciting night for our organization, our fans and our community," general manager Jon Daniels said on a conference call.

Major League Baseball announced that the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters of Japan's Pacific League accepted the highest bid for Darvish. That sealed offer was submitted under the posting system by the Rangers.

"Our ownership went the extra mile on this one," Daniels said, declining to reveal specifics.

A person familiar with the details said the winning bid by Texas was $51.7 million ? more than the $51.1 million posting fee the Boston Red Sox paid for Daisuke Matsuzaka in 2006. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the figure was not made public.

Yahoo Sports and The New York Times reported the amount first.

Darvish is considered the best pitcher in the Japanese professional leagues and several of baseball's biggest spenders were thought to be interested in him.

If the Rangers can close the deal, the 25-year-old right-hander would join a rotation that already includes five starters: Colby Lewis, Derek Holland, Matt Harrison, Alexi Ogando and former closer Neftali Feliz, moved out of the bullpen when the club signed free-agent reliever Joe Nathan this offseason.

"If we're able to sign him (Darvish), then we'll have a very good problem on our hands," Daniels said.

It's a dynamic endeavor for the Rangers, buoyed by a lucrative television contract and back-to-back AL championships under a new ownership group led by Chuck Greenberg and his partner, Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan. But the team is still chasing its first World Series title ? and Texas knows all too well that nothing is done until it is done.

Despite a serious effort, the Rangers were unable to re-sign star pitcher Cliff Lee following the 2010 season. They made it back to the World Series anyway and were within one strike of winning it all ? twice ? before the St. Louis Cardinals rallied to take the trophy.

Then the Rangers lost their latest ace, C.J. Wilson, when the left-hander agreed to a $77.5 million, five-year contract with the AL West rival Los Angeles Angels this month.

"Our commitment of our ownership is to put the best team out there. The last couple of years we just haven't been able to close it out," Daniels said.

Bidding for the posting fee closed last Wednesday, and the Ham Fighters had until 5 p.m. EST on Tuesday to accept. The fee will be paid only if a contract agreement is reached with Darvish's agents, Arn Tellem and Don Nomura.

If no deal is finalized, Darvish returns to the Fighters for another season.

Two months ago, the Rangers let a championship slip away. They don't want the same thing to happen with Darvish.

In a statement released before the conference call, the Rangers said they were "pleased and excited" to win the rights to negotiate with Darvish.

"Our organization has scouted Mr. Darvish for the last several years and has been very impressed with his abilities and accomplishments. We believe he would be a great addition to the Texas Rangers pitching staff," the team said. "We look forward to beginning the next step of this process in the very near future."

Darvish, the son of an Iranian father and a Japanese mother, went 18-6 with a 1.44 ERA last season. He had 276 strikeouts to lead the Pacific League.

The Fighters gave him approval to negotiate with a major league club through the posting system. Matsuzaka and Ichiro Suzuki went to the majors under the same system.

Darvish pitched in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and was a member of the Japanese national team that won the 2009 World Baseball Classic.

The 6-foot-5 Darvish has superb control and throws seven effective pitches. It's expected he would make a front-line major league starter, though the MLB track record of Japanese aces is shaky.

"Darvish is the No. 1 pitcher in Japan, but we want him to become the ace of the world," Nippon Ham team representative Toshimasa Shimada said this month.

Darvish turned pro in 2005 at 18. His professional career got off to a rocky start when he was caught smoking in a pachinko parlor on an off day during his first spring training, despite not being old enough to legally smoke nor to gamble at the time.

In 2007, Darvish won the Eiji Sawamura Award presented to the top pitcher in Japanese professional baseball after posting a 15-5 record with a 1.82 ERA and a league-leading 210 strikeouts.

The Red Sox signed Matsuzaka in 2006 to a six-year, $52 million contract, taking the total package ? including the posting fee ? to more than $100 million.

___

Associated Press Writer Terry Wallace in Dallas and AP Sports Writer Jim Armstrong in Tokyo contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2011-12-20-BBA-Rangers-Darvish/id-bc1688188ca64408a7db36dd9549ccda

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Senate OKs $1T budget bill, payroll tax cut (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The Senate passed legislation Saturday extending a Social Security payroll tax cut and jobless benefits for just two months, handing President Barack Obama a partial victory while setting the stage for another fight in February.

It also brought a peaceful end to a year-long battle over spending by passing a $1 trillion-plus catchall budget bill that wraps together the day-to-day budgets for 10 Cabinet departments and military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The House passed the measure Friday, and the White House has signaled that Obama will sign it.

The renewal of the 2-percentage-point cut in the Social Security payroll tax for 160 million workers and unemployment benefits averaging about $300 a week for the additional millions of people who have been out of work for six months or more is a modest step forward for Obama's year-end jobs agenda.

As a condition for GOP support of the payroll tax measure, Obama has to accept a provision that forces him to decide within 60 days whether to approve or reject a proposed a Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline that promises thousands of jobs.

Obama didn't reference the pipeline issue in a brief appearance at the White House after the vote. He welcomed the Senate's passage of the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance extension and said it would be "inexcusable" for Congress not to extend them for the rest of 2012 when lawmakers return from their holiday break.

The budget bill, passed 67-32, heads to the White House for Obama's signature; the payroll tax measure won a 89-10 tally that send it back to the House ? where many Republicans only reluctantly support it ? for a vote early next week.

A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, would not predict whether the House would accept the Senate payroll tax measure, saying GOP leaders would have to discuss it with the rank and file. But Democrats assume Senate Republicans would not have allowed the short-term measure to advance without a signal from Boehner that the House would go along.

Democratic and GOP leaders opted for the short-term extension of the payroll tax and jobless benefits measure after failing to agree on big enough spending cuts to pay for a full-year renewal. The measure also provides a 60-day reprieve from a scheduled 27 percent cut in the fees paid to doctors who treat Medicare patients.

The $33 billion cost of the measure would be covered by raising fees on new mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The fees, drawn from a Treasury Department housing finance market reform plan, would effectively raise the interest rate on home loans guaranteed by the mortgage giants and the Federal Housing Administration by one-tenth of a percentage point.

The idea is to open up the market to private companies currently priced out by the implicit subsidies of Fannie and Freddie.

The White House says the fee would increase the monthly cost of a typical $220,000 mortgage by almost $15 a month. Over 30 years, the fees would increase the total cost of such a mortgage by more than $5,000.

In contrast, a worker making a $100,000 salary would reap a tax cut of about $330 through the two-month extension of the payroll tax cut. A worker with a typical $50,000 salary would get just a $165 tax cut.

Officials said that in private talks, the two sides had hoped to reach agreement on the full one-year extension of the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits that Obama had made the centerpiece of the jobs program he submitted to Congress last fall.

Those efforts failed when the two sides could not agree on enough offsetting cuts to blunt the measure's impact on the debt.

The failure tees up the issue again for early next year, but it won't get any easier to agree on spending cuts.

Neither House Speaker Boehner nor his aides participated in the negotiations, although McConnell said he was optimistic about the measure's chances for final approval. The payroll tax cut is unpopular in GOP ranks and another vote in two months could present a headache for GOP leaders.

On the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, the legislation requires the president to grant a permit unless he makes a determination that it is "not in the national interest." One senior administration official said the president would almost certainly refuse to grant a permit. The official was not authorized to speak publicly.

The White House on Friday backed away from Obama's earlier threat to veto any bill that linked the payroll tax cut extension with a Republican demand for a speedy decision on the proposed 1,700-mile pipeline. Obama said on Dec. 7 that "any effort to try to tie Keystone to the payroll tax cut I will reject. So everybody should be on notice."

The president recently announced he was postponing a decision on the much-studied pipeline until after the 2012 election. Environmentalists oppose the project, but several unions support it. The legislation puts the president in the uncomfortable position of having to choose between customary political allies.

The State Department, in an analysis released this summer, said the pipeline project would create up to 6,000 jobs during construction, while developer TransCanada put the total at 20,000 in direct employment.

The pipeline would carry oil from western Canada to Texas Gulf Coast refineries, passing through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma.

The spending bill locks in spending cuts that conservative Republicans won from the White House and Democrats earlier in the year.

Republicans also won their fight to block new federal regulations for light bulb energy efficiency, coal dust in mines and clean water permits for construction of timber roads.

The White House turned back GOP attempts to block limits on greenhouse gases, mountaintop removal mining and hazardous emissions from utility plants, industrial boilers and cement kilns.

___

Associated Press writers David Espo, Alan Fram, Donna Cassata and Jim Kuhnhenn contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111217/ap_on_bi_ge/us_congress_rdp

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Iran TV shows suspected US spy 'confessing' (AP)

TEHRAN, Iran ? Iran's state TV broadcast video of a young man Sunday it claimed was a CIA spy who sought to infiltrate Iran's secret services.

The TV identified the man, apparently in his late 20s, as Amir Mirzaei Hekmati, an American-Iranian who received special training and served at U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan before heading to Iran for his alleged intelligence mission.

"Their (US intelligence) plan was to initially burn some valuable information, to give it free so that (Iran's) Intelligence Ministry would see the good things and then would contact me," said in a part of the confession that was broadcast.

The voice of an unnamed announcer on the video said U.S. intelligence was certain that Iran's secret services would not ignore the data. Therefore, they provided a mix of correct and false information to mislead Iran's intelligence but tempt it at the same time.

"Iran's intelligence apparatus overcame the thirst and detected the deception, identified the intelligence corridors (Hekmati's alleged link to U,.S. intelligence) ... and contained the infiltration mission," it said.

The TV showed a card with writing in English identifying the bearer as an "army contractor." It also showed several photos of the man identified as Hekmati, some of them in military uniform, together with U.S. army officers.

There was no immediate comment from Washington.

The broadcast said Hekmati was born in Arizona in the U.S. but was of Iranian descent.

In a statement released Saturday, Iran's Intelligence Ministry said its agents identified Hekmati at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan. Bagram is the main base for American and other international forces outside Kabul.

In the video broadcast on several Iranian TV channels Sunday, Hekmati was shown saying he entered the U.S. Army after finishing high school in 2001 and received military and intelligence training.

Before beginning his mission to Iran, Hekmati said he served as an intelligence analyst in Iraq for two years. He said his key responsibility was to identify Iraqi politicians sympathetic to Americans.

His story could not be independently verified.

Iran periodically announces the capture or execution of alleged U.S. or Israeli spies, and often no further information is released.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iran/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111218/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran_us

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Samsung: 25 million phones with Carrier IQ; other devices have 'dormant' code

Samsung Mobile, in its response to U.S. Sen. Al Franken over the Carrier IQ saga, says that it's sold some 25 million cell phones preloaded with Carrier IQ software, which it's been using since 2007. Many of these phones are non-Android feature phones, and Samsung repeats the response we've already heard from HTC in that it's not a customer of Carrier IQ, therefore it doesn't see the data collected.

Interestingly, Samsung also echoes HTC by saying some of its phones also may contain components of Carrier IQ and therefore may trigger the various CIQ detector apps available, but that the software is "dormant." Unlike HTC, however, Samsung did not say whether it was working to remove these dormant components. Says Samsung:

"Because the CIQ agent and other required CIQ software components are not installed, however, these vestigial elements do not and will not function on these devices, and therefore, the devices do not transmit (and never have transmitted) any user data using any CIQ software functionality."

Samsung did not say which phones contain the dormant CIQ code.

Following are the Android smartphones Samsung says contain Carrier IQ:

• AT&T: Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket
• Sprint: Moment, Epic 4G, Intercept, Transform, Galaxy Tab (original 7-inch), Galaxy Prevail, Replenish, Conquer 4G, Transform Ultra (Boost Mobile), Epic 4G Touch
• T-Mobile: Samsung Galaxy S II, Exhibit II 4G

More: Samsung's response (pdf)

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/F9G0rg5Df0A/story01.htm

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