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TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Honduras' Supreme Court rebuffed a personal appeal from the Americas' top international diplomat Friday, refusing to restore ousted President Manuel Zelaya before a Saturday deadline.
Jose Miguel Insulza, who heads the Organization of American States, flew to Honduras in an attempt to persuade the forces that ousted Zelaya to take him back in the face of overwhelming international condemnation and economic sanctions.
He met for two hours with Jorge Rivera, president of the Supreme Court that authorized the military to seize Zelaya on Sunday and fly him into exile.
"Insulza asked Honduras to reinstate Zelaya, but the president of the court categorically answered that there is an arrest warrant for him," said court spokesman Danilo Izaguirre. "Now the OAS has to decide what it will do."
Insulza made no comments as he emerged from the meeting. He has said Honduras will be suspended from the organization, a move that could lead to further sanctions against one of the Americas' poorest countries, unless Zelaya is restored by Saturday morning. The OAS has called an emergency meeting in Washington for Saturday afternoon.
Insulza had conceded before traveling to Honduras that his mission was unlikely to succeed, saying: "It will be very hard to turn things around in a couple of days."
"We are not going to Honduras to negotiate. We are going to Honduras to ask them to change what they have been doing," he said.
Insulza later met with the two main candidates in Honduras' Nov. 29 elections, Elvin Santos of Zelaya's Liberal party and Porfirio Lobo Sosa of the National party, as well with the leftist Popular Block, an umbrella group of farm, labor and student groups that largely supports Zelaya.
But he said he would not see Roberto Micheletti, whom Congress named president after Zelaya's ouster, in order to avoid legitimizing the government.
Micheletti's foreign minister, Enrique Ortez, said that Insulza "can negotiate all he wants, except for Zelaya's situation."
"That is not negotiable because he cannot return to Honduras, and if he does he will be arrested and tried," Ortez said.
Zelaya, who was traveling in Central America, planned to return to Honduras on Sunday, according to Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. Zelaya has said he would be traveling with Insulza and the presidents of Argentina and Ecuador.
Contrary to assertions by the Micheletti government, Interpol on Friday released a statement saying it had not received any request to issue an arrest warrant for Zelaya.
Micheletti led a raucous chant of "Democracy!" before a giant crowd waving blue-and-white Honduran flags in front of the palace that Micheletti has occupied since Zelaya was seized by soldiers and flown into exile. He pledged to stand firm in the face of the international pressure.
"I am the president of all Hondurans," he proclaimed.
"They said we were afraid, but here is the proof that the people are not afraid," Micheletti yelled. "We are asking Hondurans to communicate with their relatives throughout the world to tell them that no coup took place here."
A rival rally by thousands of Zelaya backers marched to the offices of the OAS. Marchers carried a banner with a picture of Zelaya and the words: "Mel our friend, the people are with you!"
Despite feared violence, the two groups did not clash. Police helicopters circled overhead and dozens of soldiers and police guarded the palace.

Micheletti's supporters say the army was justified in ousting Zelaya — on orders of Congress and the Supreme Court — because he had called a referendum which they claim he intended to use to extend his rule. Zelaya denies that and has said he will no longer press for constitutional changes.

Nations around the world have promised to shun Micheletti, who was sworn in after the coup, and the nation already is suffering economic reprisals.

Neighboring countries have imposed trade blockades, major lenders have cut aid, the Obama administration has halted joint military operations and all European Union ambassadors have abandoned the Honduran capital.

On Friday, the U.S. Embassy in Honduras issued a statement expressing "deep concern over restrictions imposed on certain fundamental rights" by Micheletti's government, including a curfew in force since Sunday, and "reports of intimidation and censorship against certain individuals and media outlets."

Micheletti's government is so eager to find a friend that it announced it had been recognized by Israel and Italy — surprising the governments of those countries. Italy withdrew its ambassador to protest the coup, and Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said: "All rumors about Israeli recognition of the new president are wholly unfounded."

Micheletti asked Nobel Peace laureate Rigoberta Menchu to help mediate the conflict, and she arrived in Tegucigalpa on Friday.

"I come to try to talk with anyone who wants to listen to search for peace for this country," she said.

A suspension by the OAS could encourage other organizations and countries to suspend international aid and loans to Honduras.

Ousted Honduran Finance Minister Rebeca Santos on Friday told international finance ministers in Chile that the coup has already hurt the economy. The World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank have suspended between $300 million and $450 million in financing.

___

Associated Press writers contributing to this report included Freddy Cuevas in Tegucigalpa; Bert Wilkinson in Georgetown, Guyana; Filadelfo Aleman in Managua, Nicaragua; Angela Charlton in Paris and Mark Lavie in Jerusalem.

CARACAS, Venezuela – The head of Venezuela's telecommunications regulatory agency said Friday that 240 radio stations will have their licenses revoked for failing to update their registrations with the government.
A total of 86 AM radio stations and 154 FM stations have failed to turn in required documents, which will lead to the "recovery of all those concessions by the state," said Diosdado Cabello, who heads the telecommunications agency.
Cabello said the radio stations should "shut down their equipment right away because we're going to open administrative proceedings, and that involves seizure of equipment." He said stations using their frequency without government authorization could face sanctions.
The government last month began a process of updating the registration of TV and radio stations under a law regulating broadcasters, and demanded that all outlets file information with the regulatory agency by June 23 including details about assets and ownership.
Cabello, a close ally of President Hugo Chavez, said the radio stations that stand to lose their licenses "are not interested in updating their information" and aren't complying with the law. It remained unclear what recourse the stations might have.
The move comes amid tensions generated by investigations against opposition-aligned television channel Globovision that could lead to its closure.
Cabello said the government has also opened investigations into a group of unidentified broadcasters for airing segments by two non-governmental organizations supporting private property rights.
Regulatory officials notified Globovision on Friday that it is targeted in the new probe, the fifth in six months, said Ana Cristina Nunez, a lawyer for the channel. She said the agency ordered the channel to stop showing the commercials, calling it "one more act of intimidation."
Venezuela has many newspapers and radio stations that remain highly critical of Chavez's government. But Globovision has become the lone opposition channel on the open airwaves since another station, Radio Caracas Television, was forced off the airwaves in 2007 when Chavez refused to renew its license. That channel has since moved to cable.
Chavez has clashed repeatedly with private media outlets he accuses of plotting against him. He has also expanded the government's involvement in the media during his presidency.
The government now controls six television channels, including the Caracas-based international network Telesur, two national radio networks and other smaller media outlets including 600 radio stations and 72 community TV stations, said Marcelino Bisbal, a communications professor at Caracas' Andres Bello Catholic University.

[edit] Specialities Development of teeth sculpture is a major improvement among dentistry.
Development of teeth sculpture is a major improvement among dentistry.

Evidence has been found of teeth having been drilled dating back 9,000 years. The people of the Indus Valley Civilization, even from the early Harappan periods (c. 3300 BC), had knowledge of medicine and dentistry. A physical anthropologist that examined exhumed bodies from that time period, Professor Andrea Cucina from the University of Missouri-Columbia, made the discovery when he was cleaning the teeth from one of the men. Stone age people in India and Pakistan were using dental drills made of flint 9,000 years ago.

Los Angeles Dentist

Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music and literature. The meaning of art is explored in a branch of philosophy known as Aesthetics.

Traditionally, the term art was used to refer to any skill or mastery. This conception changed during the Romantic period, when art came to be seen as "a special faculty of the human mind to be classified with religion and science". Generally, art is made with the intention of stimulating thoughts and emotions.

Modern Art

The spider is usually made of a corrugated fabric disk, generally with a coating of a material intended to improve mechanical properties. Unusually, a German manufacturer, Klangfilm, used bakelite for spiders in some of its early drivers, and another German company currently offers a spider made of wood. The surround can be a roll of rubber or foam, or a ring of corrugated fabric (often coated), attached to the outer circumference of the cone and to the frame. The choice of suspension materials affects driver lifetime, especially in the case of foam surrounds which are susceptible to aging and environmental damage.

Very few manufacturers use electrically powered field coils as was common in the earliest designs. The size and type of magnet and details of the magnetic circuit differ, depending on design goals. For instance, the shape of the pole piece affects the magnetic interaction between the voice coil and the magnetic field, and is sometimes used to modify a driver's behavior. As well, a 'shorting ring' or cap is sometimes used near the magnetic gap to reduce adverse distortion effects of high current in the voice coil.

IPOD Speakers

MILWAUKEE – Mike Pelfrey bailed the New York Mets out of a season-worst losing streak, overcoming a career-high 12 strikeouts by young Milwaukee Brewers ace Yovani Gallardo in a 1-0 victory Wednesday.
Pelfrey (6-3) gave up six hits and two walks in 7 2-3 innings, and Ryan Church came through with an RBI single in the sixth as the Mets stopped a five-game losing streak and avoided a series sweep by the Brewers.
Gallardo (8-5) gave up five hits in seven innings. The Brewers completed a 5-4 homestand and will travel to Chicago for a four-game series against the Cubs beginning Thursday.
Pelfrey allowed a single and a walk with two outs in the eighth, but Sean Green got J.J Hardy to ground into a forceout at third. Francisco Rodriguez pitched the ninth, allowing a leadoff single to Ryan Braun before retiring the side for his 21st save.
New York (38-39), which backed Pelfrey with a pair of double plays, was coming off a 9-18 record in June, its worst month in nearly six years. The Mets are without injured stars Carlos Beltran (knee), Jose Reyes (calf, hamstring) and Carlos Delgado (hip).
Gallardo's 12 strikeouts were the most by a pitcher against the Mets since John Smoltz struck out 15 for the Braves on April 10, 2005, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The Mets also won that game, 6-1.
Gallardo had six strikeouts in first three innings — including a pair by David Wright in his first two at-bats, on his way to three strikeouts against Gallardo on an 0 for 4 afternoon.
It was a frustrating afternoon all around for Wright, who slammed his glove into the bench after making a throwing error in the second inning, then flung his helmet to the ground after taking a called strike three from Gallardo in the third.
But the Mets finally broke through in the sixth when Luis Castillo led off with a ground-rule double, losing a shot at a triple when a woman wearing a Hardy T-shirt fell onto the field trying to reach for the ball.
Gallardo then struck out Wright — Gallardo's 10th of the game and Wright's third in three at-bats. But Church sent a grounder past the outstretched glove of second baseman Craig Counsell for a single, scoring Castillo.
Church was thrown out trying to steal, but Gallardo walked Nick Evans before getting Daniel Murphy to fly out to the warning track in right field.
Prince Fielder led off the seventh with a single, then went to second on a balk by Pelfrey — Pelfrey's fifth balk of the season. But Fielder was thrown out trying to take third base on a missed bunt by Corey Hart. Pelfrey then got Hart to ground out, then struck out Gamel to end the inning.
NOTES: Plate umpire Brian O'Nora went to the dugout in the bottom of the fourth to have his eye looked at by a trainer but quickly returned. ... Gallardo struck out 11 in a victory over Pittsburgh on April 29.

Los Angeles (E! Online) –
We pretty much knew the basic details of what was going to be in Michael Jackson's will based on the scant details that trickled out yesterday.

One bombshell excepted.

The five-page, seven-year-old document, signed on July 7, 2002, was filed in Los Angeles court this morning. In it, the King of Pop gives custody of his three children to his mother, Katherine, and stipulates that all his estate and assets—which, as previously reported, hovered around $567 million in 2007, with a net worth of $236.6 million—be placed in the private Michael Jackson Family Trust.

As for that surprise…

In the document, Jackson names Diana Ross as his choice for alternate guardian of his kids in the event his now 80-year-old mother was unable to raise them.
"If any of my children are minors at the time of my death, I nominate my mother, Katherine Jackson as guardian of the persons and estates of such minor children.

"If Katherine Jackson fails to survive me, or is unable or unwilling to act as guardian, I nominate Diana Ross as guardian of the persons and estates of such minor children."

It's unclear if the choice is as much news to Ross as the rest of the world or if Michael Jackson had ever approached her about the responsibility.

The former Supreme certainly never let on, as the statement she released in the wake of her former Motown stable mate and Wiz costar's death simply said she was "in prayer for his kids and the family."

Also name-checked in the will is the (recently disputed) mother of his eldest two children, Deborah Rowe, of whom Jackson writes: "I have intentionally omitted to provide for my former wife."

According to the will, Jackson's estate "consists of non-cash, non-liquid assets, including primarily an interest in a catalog of music royalty rights which is currently being administered by Sony-ATV, and interests in various entities."

The document was written up by the late star's longtime lawyer John Branca and veteran music exec and family friend John McClain, both of whom were named as executors of both the will and the Jackson estate.

However, despite what's laid out in the will, during a probate hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court this morning, a judge ruled that Katherine Jackson will at least temporarily remain as special administrator of her son's estate.

Paul Hoffman, the attorney representing Branca and McClain, requested immediate control over the estate, stating that they were worried small items could possibly be removed from the house before the reins were handed over.

Hoffman also expressed concern that Katherine was "exceeding her powers" as administrator of the estate as it pertained to "accessing cash." He also indicated that Branca and McClain wanted to negotiate a deal on the $85 million in ticket sales for Jackson's would-be London comeback concerts before the ticket money is refunded.

A second probate hearing on the matter has been scheduled for Monday, with Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff opting not to rule on the request due to a lack of urgency...and, apparently, desire to avoid a nasty public battle.

"I would like the family to sit down and try to make this work so that we don't have a difficult time in court," the judge said.

Hoffman argued that the wait, which spans just one-and-a-half court days due to the holiday weekend, was unnecessary as he does not believe any other possibly contradictory will may surface.

"None of his financial advisors are aware of another will," he said.

As for the will his advisors are aware of...

"The most important element of Michael's will is his unwavering desire that his mother, Katherine, become the legal guardian for his three children," Branca and McClain said in a joint statement.

"As we work to carry out Michael's instructions to safeguard both the future of his children as well as the remarkable legacy he left us as an artist we ask that all matters involving his estate be handled with the dignity and the respect that Michael and his family deserve."

While the will was originally expected to be filed in court yesterday afternoon, it didn't make it to the courthouse until this morning to give the Jackson family time to review the document.

As for the Jackson estate, it's already under new management.

In the wake of not exactly well-received press conferences from Joe Jackson, the crisis management public relations firm of Sitrick and Company has confirmed to E! News that they are now representing the pop star's estate.

—Reporting by Claudia Rosenbaum and Ashley Fultz

(Originally published on July 1, 2009, at 9:36 a.m. PT)

______

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On 22 July 2005, Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead by police at Stockwell tube station. CCTV footage debunked claims made by the Metropolitan Police in defence of the shooting of an innocent man.

Industrial processes that take place under conditions dangerous for humans are today often supervised by CCTV. These are mainly processes in the chemical industry, the interior of reactors or facilities for manufacture of nuclear fuel. Use of thermographic cameras allow operators to measure the temperature of the processes. The usage of CCTV in such processes is sometimes required by law.

Security Camera Systems

Cap Cana is located in the Eastern region of the Dominican Republic known as Juanillo. The site was founded as a new and more ambitious touristic site with contributions from international investors and strategic partners such as Ritz-Carlton, Sotogrande, Donald Trump and many others. The site has a Marina, Large resorts, beaches, and many others. Primarily founded as a site to attract international visitors. The Cap Cana Championship, a Champions Tour golf tournament, is held at Punta Espada Golf Club in Cap Cana, a course designed by Jack Nicklaus.

Cap Cana is a tourism development with an investment of upwards of two billion dollars in the eastern lands of the Dominican Republic. This area renown for its great hotels and beaches, lacks exclusivity to the high upper class which Cap Cana hopes, in part, to offer. The area was conceived with the backing both financially and publicly of "elites" such as Donald Trump, Jack Nicklaus, and other holders.

Cap Cana Villa Rental

LOS ANGELES – The life of "Charlie's Angels" star Farrah Fawcett is being celebrated Tuesday at a private funeral held, fittingly, at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.
Her longtime companion, Ryan O'Neal, and her friend, Alana Stewart, both wore black as they entered the service, which was closed to media and the public.
Fawcett died Thursday at age 62 after a public battle with cancer. O'Neal and Stewart were at her side.
"After a long and brave battle with cancer, our beloved Farrah has passed away," O'Neal said in a statement last week. "Although this is an extremely difficult time for her family and friends, we take comfort in the beautiful times that we shared with Farrah over the years and the knowledge that her life brought joy to so many people around the world."
Diagnosed with a rare cancer in 2006, Fawcett's battle with the disease was documented in "Farrah's Story," which aired last month on NBC.
Stewart, a producer of the documentary, said Fawcett was "much more than a friend; she was my sister."
"Although I will miss her terribly, I know in my heart that she will always be there as that angel on the shoulder of everyone who loved her," Stewart said in a statement.
Fawcett and O'Neal, 68, have a son, 24-year-old Redmond, who has been jailed since April 5 on drug charges.
Last week, a judge granted his request to attend Fawcett's funeral. The order by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Jane Godfrey allows Redmond O'Neal to be released for three hours and wear street clothes to attend the funeral.

and the US currency was involved in 86.3% of transactions, followed by the euro (37.0%), the yen (16.5%), and sterling (15.0%) (see table). Note that volume percentages should add up to 200%: 100% for all the sellers and 100% for all the buyers.

Trading in the euro has grown considerably since the currency's creation in January 1999, and how long the foreign exchange market will remain dollar-centered is open to debate. Until recently, trading the euro versus a non-European currency ZZZ would have usually involved two trades: EUR/USD and USD/ZZZ.

Forex Online Trading System MT4

BETHESDA, Md. – Anthony Kim pressed a cell phone against his ear as he listened to Tiger Woods, the tournament host of the AT&T National, congratulate him on another impressive victory that seemed to mark the arrival of America's next great golfer.
That was one year and 25 tournaments ago.
Kim has yet to pose with another trophy he could call his own. Remember, the Ryder Cup is an exhibition, and no matter how thoroughly the 23-year-old dismantled Sergio Garcia in the leadoff singles match, it was a team effort.
Over the last year, Kim has made news for not remembering how many majors Woods had won, not being fully aware that the automobile industry was hurting, not realizing Colin Montgomerie had been selected Ryder Cup captain for Europe or not knowing Congressional once hosted a U.S. Open or two.
Trouble is, he has not made news for what matters.
Kim started the season with a runner-up finish at Kapalua. He has not finished in the top 10 anywhere in the world since. So perhaps it was not surprising Tuesday when someone asked him the best thing that has happened to him this year.
He thought about this briefly, then smiled.
"I made it to my 24th birthday," he said.
His age should count for something. When he unleashed a bogey-free 65 in the final round at Congressional last year for a two-shot victory, Kim became the first American under 25 since Woods to win at least twice on the PGA Tour in the same year.
Woods, who was home in Florida recuperating from reconstructive knee surgery, told him that day to keep working hard and there would be no limits on what Kim could achieve. And it appeared that Kim was headed in that direction.
He was in the mix Sunday at Royal Birkdale, his first taste of links golf. He was in the final group at the Canadian Open until he kept his foot on the accelerator through one too many construction zones, as Kim is prone to do. He was a birdie putt away from joining the playoff at the season-ending Tour Championship.
And there was that week at the Ryder Cup, where Kim was the life of the party in so many ways.
Still, celebrations for his golf have been rare.
Kim has dealt with more nagging injuries than he can recite, whether it was his jaw from a horseback riding in New Zealand to the most recent setback, an injury in his left thumb that kept him from making an aggressive pass at the ball.
He had to stick with fairway metals at long and soggy Bethpage Black, and he was pleased to finish tied for 16th with those kind of restrictions. He made 11 birdies in the second round at the Masters when he shot 65, but he didn't break par the other three rounds.
"It's probably been my toughest year on tour, the fact that I've had these little injuries that have held me back," Kim said. "But I'm learning more about myself when I'm not playing well. I'm learning how to play this game. I'm learning how to approach different situations when you're not playing you best, and it's going to help me when I do start hitting the ball well, and do start putting well, when my game comes together."
Kim isn't the only player who has struggled this year.
British Open and PGA champion Padraig Harrington has missed his last four cuts. Adam Scott had a hard time breaking 80 a few months ago. Ernie Els hasn't won in 16 months and has fallen out of the top 20.

The fact Kim has gone an entire year without winning is a reminder that winning is never easy on the PGA Tour.

"We live in the era of Tiger Woods, who makes winning look ridiculously easy," Paul Goydos said last week. "The more I think about it, the more I feel Tiger Woods is the most underrated player on this tour. You guys have no concept of what he accomplishes on a weekly basis when he plays. It's ridiculous how good he plays."

Even with 67 career victories and — pay attention, Anthony — 14 majors, Woods conceded that it's never easy.

"I certainly have won my share of tournaments, but I've lost more than I've won," he said. "And that's the nature of our sport. We do lose a lot of events."

Having turned 24 a few weeks ago, time is on Kim's side.

He is the defending champion at Congressional — remember, Anthony, it will host the U.S. Open in 2011 — and winning again will be more difficult this time with his health just now returning and Woods at full strength.

It would be easy to speculate that Kim is enjoying fruits more than labor, although only he knows how hard he is working. At least his objectives have not changed.

"I want to win golf tournaments. I'm here to do that," he said. "But at the same time, I have so much to look forward to. I heard you don't hit your peak at golf until 31, 33 years old. So I have a long way to go. I have a long career ahead of me. And as long as I stay positive and keep working hard, I should be in pretty good shape."

WASHINGTON – The Senate plans to hold a hearing next week looking into antitrust issues surrounding the Bowl Championship Series. It's the second time this year that Congress is shining a light on the polarizing system college football uses to crown its national champion.
The hearing will be held next Tuesday in the Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on antitrust, competition policy and consumer rights, according to a posting on the committee's Web site.
Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the subcommittee's top Republican and the lawmaker who sought the hearing, did not return telephone and e-mail messages left at his office Tuesday.
In an essay for Sports Illustrated being released Wednesday, Hatch wrote that the Sherman Antitrust Act prohibits contracts, combinations or conspiracies designed to reduce competition.
"I don't think a more accurate description of what the BCS does exists," Hatch wrote. He noted that six conferences get automatic bids to participate in series, while others do not. The system, he argued, "intentionally and explicitly favors certain participants."
Citing the money generated by the BCS, Hatch wrote, "If the government were to ignore a similar business arrangement of this magnitude in any other industry, it would be condemned for shirking its responsibility."
When asked about Hatch's comments, BCS coordinator John Swofford said the BCS' lawyers have "worked diligently to ensure that the BCS is in compliance with the law."
Football fans in Hatch's state were furious that Utah was bypassed for the national championship despite going undefeated in the regular season. Hatch noted that President Barack Obama and others have called for the BCS to be replaced with a playoff system.
"One thing is clear: No changes will take place if Congress does nothing," Hatch wrote.
Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, the top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has introduced legislation that would prevent the NCAA from calling a game a national championship unless it's the outcome of a playoff. At a May hearing, Barton warned that the legislation would move forward "if we don't see some action in the next two months" from BCS on switching to a playoff system.
David Frohnmayer, president of the University of Oregon and chairman of the BCS Presidential Oversight Committee, expressed a preference Tuesday for the current system, saying the proposals for a playoff system "disrespect our academic calendars, and they utterly lack a business plan."

WASHINGTON – On civil rights and campaign cash, the Supreme Court earned an "incomplete" grade in the term that just ended. There is a good chance the court will have a new member but the same right-of-center tilt when the justices return in late summer to deal with unfinished business.
The court suggested this week, but did not conclusively resolve, that it will be a conservative bulwark against both government and private efforts to promote diversity. Even parts of such iconic laws as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 could face a rocky road in the years ahead.
So could federal and state laws that seek to curtail the influence of money in elections.
The court's action Monday in a campaign finance case strongly hinted that its conservatives will be able to overturn longstanding limits on corporate and union money in federal elections. The justices scheduled a new round of arguments for Sept. 9 in a case they first heard in March concerning whether a movie critical of Hillary Rodham Clinton's candidacy for president should be regulated as a campaign ad.
By that time, President Barack Obama hopes the Senate will have confirmed his high court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, so that she can take part in the case, although her vote is not likely to affect the outcome. Sotomayor was named to replace retiring Justice David Souter, and her votes would be expected to track his in many cases.
The justices decided 75 cases in the term that began last October, including 22 by 5-4 votes and 12 more in which the votes were 6-3. Many of those 5-4 decisions, like Monday's ruling finding that white firefighters in Connecticut suffered discrimination on the basis of race, came out in the usual conservative-liberal alignment.
Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion that held that voluntary efforts by governments and private employers to promote diversity can be vulnerable to reverse discrimination claims.
In several big, contentious cases, the court unexpectedly reached consensus by ruling very narrowly. The voting rights decision was one such example.
Eight justices signed onto an opinion that left intact a key component of the landmark civil rights law but also acknowledged that its continued existence poses "a difficult constitutional question" that they chose not to answer this time around.
But in expressing concern about aspects of the law, and Congress' actions in renewing it in 2006, the court laid down a marker that could lead to a "later decision invalidating the statute if it is not amended," said Tom Goldstein, a Washington lawyer who follows the court closely.
Similarly, Justice Antonin Scalia, in a separate opinion in the firefighters case, predicted that the court soon would have to wrestle with whether a portion of the 1964 civil rights law is at odds with the Constitution. The court avoided the constitutional issue in Monday's decision.
More generally, this term's divided rulings demonstrated once more that the law is whatever Kennedy — a moderate conservative — says it is.
Two cases illustrate Kennedy's influence as the man in the middle on the nine-member court.
In a dispute over judicial ethics, the issue was whether the Constitution requires a judge to step aside from a case when one party has contributed significantly to his election. In a DNA case, a convict was seeking the right to test evidence that would conclusively demonstrate his guilt or innocence.
Kennedy sided with the liberals in the judicial matter, saying elected judges cannot take part in cases when large campaign contributions from interested parties create the appearance of bias.
"Just as no man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause, similar fears of bias can arise when — without the consent of the other parties — a man chooses the judge in his own cause," Kennedy said for the court.
Chief Justice John Roberts dissented, saying states should be allowed to make their own rules.
Roberts made essentially the same argument in the DNA case, refusing to grant defendants a constitutional right to test the evidence. And this time he had Kennedy's vote.

"There are a lot of these issues where Justice Kennedy's vote is absolutely critical," said Paul Clement, a lawyer with the Atlanta-based King & Spalding firm and a former solicitor general in the George W. Bush administration.

Another important area is executive authority, particularly concerning the power to detain terrorism suspects. There, the liberals, with Kennedy on their side, have held sway.

That is one reason, perhaps the main reason, the Obama administration moved terror suspect Ali al-Marri into the civilian criminal justice system after he had been held without charges for more than five years in a Navy brig. The court had agreed to hear al-Marri's case and the administration risked seeing the court imposing limits on presidential power.

This term, the justices also ruled against efforts by business interests to block state lawsuits and investigations by invoking federal laws and regulations. In two cases, the court ruled in favor of plaintiffs in civil lawsuits, including a woman who lost her arm as a result of a botched injection, and state attorneys general who wanted to investigate potential discrimination in lending by national banks.

In the latter case, Scalia joined with the liberal justices to form an unusual majority. The same alignment also prevailed in a case limiting searches of suspects' automobiles without warrants.

In more mundane cases with significant consequences to the legal system, the court's conservatives limited access to courthouses by making it harder for plaintiffs to file and win civil lawsuits. Those decisions went against environmentalists and a Pakistani Muslim man who sought to hold FBI director Robert Mueller and former Attorney General John Ashcroft to account for the harsh conditions of his detention in a federal jail cell following the Sept. 11 attacks.

WASHINGTON – A judge asked federal prosecutors in a major drug-dealing case Tuesday if they have a pattern of mishandling evidence after a second high-profile prosecution fell apart in his courtroom because of witness problems.
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said he saw similar prosecutorial mishandling in the dismissed corruption conviction against former Republican Sen. Ted Stevens this spring and now in the Justice Department's move to drop drug charges against Chinese-Mexican businessman Zhenli Ye Gon.
Ye Gon has been jailed for two years on charges of importing methamphetamine from Mexico into the United States. Authorities said they seized more than $205 million from his Mexico City mansion, which they called the largest drug-related cash seizure in history.
But since his arrest, prosecutors said one witness has recanted and another has refused to testify, and they have asked Sullivan to dismiss the case. Sullivan said he will throw out the indictment during a final hearing on July 30, when he'll also decide whether to allow prosecutors the option of charging Ye Gon again.
At the hearing, Ye Gon, wearing an orange-and-white striped jail jumpsuit, listened to a simultaneous translation as Sullivan criticized prosecutors for only revealing the witness problems last week even though they've known about them for at least six months.
He said the prosecution only belatedly revealed the witness problems, despite being required to do by Justice Department policy and the Constitution. Meanwhile, he said that without knowing of the problems he repeatedly delayed the trial at the prosecutors' request while Ye Gon was "essentially in solitary confinement" at a Washington jail.
"All of this raises legitimate questions about whether the government ever intended to abide by its constitutional obligations to provide that information to the defendant," Sullivan said.
Ye Gon has since been transferred to a federal lockup in Virginia. Mexico has requested that he be extradited to face organized crime, drug trafficking and weapons charges there.
Mexican officials say Ye Gon was involved in one of the Western hemisphere's largest networks for trafficking pseudoephedrine, the main ingredient in methamphetamines. Ye Gon said the chemicals imported by his company, Unimed Pharm Chem de Mexico SA, were legitimate and intended for use in prescription drugs.
Sullivan has ordered a criminal investigation into handling of evidence in the Stevens case. Prosecutors admitted after a jury returned a guilty verdict that they did not turn over important witness statements that could have aided the former senator's defense.
Sullivan gave prosecutors 10 days to file a written response answering his concerns about their handling of the Ye Gon case. Among his concerns was how their conduct fit with Attorney General Eric Holder's statement after dismissing the charges against Stevens that prosecutors should be more concerned with justice than winning cases.
He also asked whether the Justice Department's approach is to withhold information from defendants in criminal prosecutions and then dismiss the cases if they get caught.
"That would be shocking," Sullivan said.
Paul O'Brien, chief of the Justice Department's narcotics section, disputed Sullivan's characterizations of the prosecution and said he hoped a written response will help "educate the court."
"I believe some of the characterizations may not be accurate," O'Brien said. Sullivan responded that he wasn't making any legal findings yet, but raising points for the prosecutors to address.

3rd September 1665: Up, and put on my coloured silk suit, very fine, and my new periwig, bought a good while since, but darst not wear it because the plague was in Westminster when I bought it. And it is a wonder what will be the fashion after the plague is done as to periwigs, for nobody will dare to buy any haire for fear of the infection? that it had been cut off the heads of people dead of the plague.

In the 18th century, both men and women's wigs were powdered in order to give them their distinctive white or off-white color. Wig powder was made from finely ground starch that was scented with orange flower, lavender, or orris root. Wig powder was occasionally colored violet, blue, pink or yellow, but was most often used as white. Powdered wigs became an essential for full dress occasions and continued in use until almost the end of the 18th century.

http://www.maxwigs.com/long-wigs-c301/

MORONI, Comoros – A Yemeni jetliner carrying 153 people crashed into the Indian Ocean on Tuesday as it attempted to land amid severe turbulence and howling winds. Officials said a teenage girl was plucked from the sea, the only known survivor.
The crash in waters off this island nation came two years after aviation officials reported equipment faults with the plane, an aging Airbus 310 flying the last leg of a Yemenia airlines flight from Paris and Marseille to Comoros, with a stop in Yemen to change planes.
Most of the passengers were from Comoros, a former French colony. Sixty-six on board were French nationals.
Khaled el-Kaei, the head of Yemenia's public relations office, said a 14-year-old girl survived the crash, and Yemen's embassy in Washington issued a statement saying a young girl was taken to a hospital. It also said five bodies were recovered.
Sgt. Said Abdilai told Europe 1 radio that he rescued the girl after she was found bobbing in the water. She couldn't grasp the life ring rescuers threw to her, so he jumped into the sea, Abdilai said. He said rescuers gave the trembling girl warm water with sugar.
There were earlier statements from officials that a 5-year-old boy survived. El-Kaei said that was not known and the airline had lost contact with its office in Comoros because of bad weather.
Yemeni civil aviation deputy chief Mohammed Abdul Qader said the flight data recorder had not been found and it was too early to speculate on the cause of the crash. But he said winds in excess of 40 miles per hour were pummeling the plane as it was landing in darkness in the early morning hours Tuesday.
Turbulence was believed to be a factor in the crash, Yemen's embassy in Washington said.
"The weather was very bad," Qader said, adding the windy conditions were hampering rescue efforts.
The Yemenia plane was the second Airbus to crash into the sea this month. An Air France Airbus A330-200 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on June 1, killing all 228 people on board, as it flew from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.
Mohammed Moqbel, a Yemeni pilot who has flown to the Comoros, said the route can be difficult because of the geography and weather.
"The airport is also very poor in terms of equipment," said Moqbel. "They don't have advanced radars to guide planes."
The tragedy — and dwindling hopes that anyone else made it out alive — prompted an outcry in the Comoros, where residents complained of a lack of seat belts on Yemenia flights and planes so overcrowded that passengers had to stand in the aisles.
The Comoros, a former French colony of 700,000 people, is an archipelago of three main islands situated 1,800 miles south of Yemen, between Africa's southeastern coast and the island of Madagascar.
Gen. Bruno de Bourdoncle de Saint-Salvy, the senior commander for French forces in the southern Indian Ocean, said the Airbus 310 crashed in deep waters about nine miles north of the Comoran coast and 21 miles from the Moroni airport. Searchers encountered an oil slick at the site, the Yemeni Embassy statement said.
French aviation inspectors found a "number of faults" in the plane's equipment during a 2007 inspection, French Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau said on France's i-Tele television Tuesday. He did not elaborate
In Brussels, European Union Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani said the airline had previously met EU safety checks and was not on their blacklist. But he said a full investigation was being launched amid questions about why the passengers — who originated in Paris — were transferred on another jet in the Yemeni capital of San'a.
An Airbus statement said the plane that crashed went into service 19 years ago, and had accumulated 51,900 flight hours. It has been operated by Yemenia since 1999. Airbus said it was sending a team of specialists to the Comoros.

The A310-300 is a twin-engine widebody jet that can seat up to 220 passengers. There are 214 A310s in service worldwide, with 41 operators.

A crisis center was set up at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. Many passengers were from the French city of Marseille, home to around 80,000 immigrant Comorans, more even than Comoros' capital of Moroni.

Yemenia has long been a target of criticism for the poor condition of its passenger cabins, with recent passenger complaints about missing or faulty seat belts.

Still, analysts have cautioned against equating the condition of the passenger cabin on any airline with the aircraft's maintenance records.

Yemenia airways has a solid safety record. In 2008 it passed the International Airline Transport Association's operational safety audit, a rigorous set of inspections considered an indication of high quality for any airline.

One problem that does crop up with older aircraft, particularly when a certain model has been discontinued, is the issue of fake replacement parts, experts said.

Airline companies sometimes unwittingly purchase fake parts, which are then put into aircraft by their maintenance crews. Despite rigorous international efforts to root out counterfeit spares in the past decade, they are still believed to be in circulation.

"Pirate spare parts remain a big maintenance problem in aviation," said Capt. Harry Eggerschwiler, chief of operations for the African Civil Aviation Authority. "This is true everywhere in the world and not just in (developing) countries."

Some French Comorans insisted their complaints about the airline's safety weren't heeded by authorities.

Zalifa Youssouf, a member of SOS Voyages, which seeks to improve passenger conditions and safety, told France's i-Tele television that the Comoran community had complained about the flight from San'a to Comoros.

She said the planes were dirty, frequently did not have safety belts and that flight attendants often did not speak French, just Arabic which passengers did not understand. "We felt we were in danger," Youssouf said.

Mohamed Ali, a Comoran who went to Yemenia's headquarters in Paris to try to get more information about the doomed flight, said complaints about safety went unheeded. "Some people stand the whole way to Moroni," he said.

In France, school vacations began this week and many on the plane were heading home to visit.

Christophe Prazuck, French military spokesman, said a patrol boat and reconnaissance ship were sent to the crash site as well as a military transport plane. The French were sending divers as well as medical personnel, he said.

Yemenia airline officials said the 11-member crew was made up of six Yemenis, including the pilot, two Moroccans, an Indonesian, an Ethiopian and a Filipino.

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Al-Haj contributed to this report from San'a, Yemen. Associated Press writers Deborah Seward, Angela Charlton and Greg Keller in Paris, Sarah El Deeb in Cairo and Yoann Guilloux in Saint-Denis de la Reunion, Reunion Island, contributed to this report.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) –
A sizable minority of adolescents believe they are likely to die at a young age, and this perception is a powerful predictor of involvement in high risk behaviors and poor health outcomes, according to a report in the journal Pediatrics.

Dr. Iris Wagman Borowsky of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and colleagues analyzed data from interviews conducted in 1995, 1996 and between 2001 and 2002 as part of Add Health, a school-based, longitudinal study of health-related behaviors and outcomes of U.S. youth in grades 7 through 12. A total of 20,562 respondents were enrolled in the study.

In 1995, the researchers noted that 3018 (14.7 percent) of the subjects believed they had no more than a 50/50 chance of living to age 35. Of those who believed they would die early, 43.9 percent still held that belief in 1996, as did 17.2 percent between 2001 and 2002.

Further analysis, revealed that illicit drug use, suicide attempt, fight-related injury, police arrest, unsafe sexual activity, and a diagnosis of HIV/AIDS were linked with perceived likelihood of early mortality at the second or third time points, or both. Anticipating early death in 1995 was predictive of each of these behaviors and outcomes, except illicit drug use, in the other two time periods.

"Given the significant association of adolescents' belief in premature death with serious health behaviors and outcomes, the adults in teenagers' lives-parents, teachers, doctors, coaches, neighbors, and others -- must pay attention to this unusually common negative view," Borowsky said in an interview with Reuters Health.

"We know some things about how to promote optimism and hope in youth," Borowsky explained. "Parents matter -- involved, caring, connected parents," she said. "Schools matter -- school connectedness, creating a climate where students feel a part of their school and safe at school, and media matters -- given the power of media to convey both positive and negative messages to a large audience of young people."

SOURCE: Pediatrics, July 2009.

WASHINGTON – On civil rights and campaign cash, the Supreme Court earned an "incomplete" grade in the term that just ended. There is a good chance the court will have a new member but the same right-of-center tilt when the justices return in late summer to deal with unfinished business.
The court suggested this week, but did not conclusively resolve, that it will be a conservative bulwark against both government and private efforts to promote diversity. Even parts of such iconic laws as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 could face a rocky road in the years ahead.
So could federal and state laws that seek to curtail the influence of money in elections.
The court's action Monday in a campaign finance case strongly hinted that its conservatives will be able to overturn longstanding limits on corporate and union money in federal elections. The justices scheduled a new round of arguments for Sept. 9 in a case they first heard in March concerning whether a movie critical of Hillary Rodham Clinton's candidacy for president should be regulated as a campaign ad.
By that time, President Barack Obama hopes the Senate will have confirmed his high court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, so that she can take part in the case, although her vote is not likely to affect the outcome. Sotomayor was named to replace retiring Justice David Souter, and her votes would be expected to track his in many cases.
The justices decided 75 cases in the term that began last October, including 22 by 5-4 votes and 12 more in which the votes were 6-3. Many of those 5-4 decisions, like Monday's ruling finding that white firefighters in Connecticut suffered discrimination on the basis of race, came out in the usual conservative-liberal alignment.
Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion that held that voluntary efforts by governments and private employers to promote diversity can be vulnerable to reverse discrimination claims.
In several big, contentious cases, the court unexpectedly reached consensus by ruling very narrowly. The voting rights decision was one such example.
Eight justices signed onto an opinion that left intact a key component of the landmark civil rights law but also acknowledged that its continued existence poses "a difficult constitutional question" that they chose not to answer this time around.
But in expressing concern about aspects of the law, and Congress' actions in renewing it in 2006, the court laid down a marker that could lead to a "later decision invalidating the statute if it is not amended," said Tom Goldstein, a Washington lawyer who follows the court closely.
Similarly, Justice Antonin Scalia, in a separate opinion in the firefighters case, predicted that the court soon would have to wrestle with whether a portion of the 1964 civil rights law is at odds with the Constitution. The court avoided the constitutional issue in Monday's decision.
More generally, this term's divided rulings demonstrated once more that the law is whatever Kennedy — a moderate conservative — says it is.
Two cases illustrate Kennedy's influence as the man in the middle on the nine-member court.
In a dispute over judicial ethics, the issue was whether the Constitution requires a judge to step aside from a case when one party has contributed significantly to his election. In a DNA case, a convict was seeking the right to test evidence that would conclusively demonstrate his guilt or innocence.
Kennedy sided with the liberals in the judicial matter, saying elected judges cannot take part in cases when large campaign contributions from interested parties create the appearance of bias.
"Just as no man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause, similar fears of bias can arise when — without the consent of the other parties — a man chooses the judge in his own cause," Kennedy said for the court.
Chief Justice John Roberts dissented, saying states should be allowed to make their own rules.
Roberts made essentially the same argument in the DNA case, refusing to grant defendants a constitutional right to test the evidence. And this time he had Kennedy's vote.

"There are a lot of these issues where Justice Kennedy's vote is absolutely critical," said Paul Clement, a lawyer with the Atlanta-based King & Spalding firm and a former solicitor general in the George W. Bush administration.

Another important area is executive authority, particularly concerning the power to detain terrorism suspects. There, the liberals, with Kennedy on their side, have held sway.

That is one reason, perhaps the main reason, the Obama administration moved terror suspect Ali al-Marri into the civilian criminal justice system after he had been held without charges for more than five years in a Navy brig. The court had agreed to hear al-Marri's case and the administration risked seeing the court imposing limits on presidential power.

This term, the justices also ruled against efforts by business interests to block state lawsuits and investigations by invoking federal laws and regulations. In two cases, the court ruled in favor of plaintiffs in civil lawsuits, including a woman who lost her arm as a result of a botched injection, and state attorneys general who wanted to investigate potential discrimination in lending by national banks.

In the latter case, Scalia joined with the liberal justices to form an unusual majority. The same alignment also prevailed in a case limiting searches of suspects' automobiles without warrants.

In more mundane cases with significant consequences to the legal system, the court's conservatives limited access to courthouses by making it harder for plaintiffs to file and win civil lawsuits. Those decisions went against environmentalists and a Pakistani Muslim man who sought to hold FBI director Robert Mueller and former Attorney General John Ashcroft to account for the harsh conditions of his detention in a federal jail cell following the Sept. 11 attacks.

The coast and lowlands of the peninsula were still heavily populated with the descendents of the fallen civilization when the Spaniards arrived. Tulum, less than an hour south of Playa, was the last Mayan outpost and there are plenty of small ruins in Playa del Carmen. The Spanish focused their attention around the area of Mérida, where conditions were better for growing henequén (sisal), a fibre used to make rope. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Caribbean coast was considered a savage place with not much to offer for potential settlers.

In October 2005 Hurricane Wilma passed directly over Playa del Carmen, remaining in the vicinity for two days and causing significant damage and a temporary drop in tourist arrivals. Fortunately most of the damage was relatively superficial and repaired within a few weeks of the storm. Hurricane Wilma arrived from the Caribbean sea, passing over Cozumel before making landfall in Playa del Carmen. It then moved north along the Mexican coast, hitting Cancún especially hard.

Playa Del Carmen Condo Rental

ARLINGTON, Wash. – A woman accused of dipping into her ex-husband's bank account without permission blames her dog. Arlington, Wash., police spokeswoman Kristin Banfield said detectives filed court orders to follow the money trail. They learned the money disappearing from the 42-year-old Arlington man's account was being used to pay for utility bills and other items at his ex-wife's home.
Banfield told The Herald that the woman's first response was, "Her dog got into her purse and ate all her personal checks." The 50-year-old woman reportedly told police she had no choice but to take money from her former husband's account.
The women is under investigation for identity theft and forgery.
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Information from: The Herald, http://www.heraldnet.com

A passenger jet carrying 153 people en route to the island nation of Comoros crashed early Tuesday. Here is a closer look at the country:
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GEOGRAPHY:
The Comoros archipelago lies in the Indian Ocean between the southeast African coast and the island of Madagascar. The largest island of Grand Comore was formed by a still active volcano. The country comprises two other main islands and numerous coral reefs and islets.
___
PEOPLE:
The 700,000 residents are a mix of African, Arab and Malay descent and are overwhelmingly Muslim. French and Arabic are official languages but most people speak a mixture of Arabic and Swahili.
___
HISTORY:
France controlled the islands for 130 years before the Comoros declared independence in 1975.
___
ECONOMY:
The vast majority of Comorans are subsistence farmers and annual per capita income is about $300, making it one of the world's poorest nations. Even the dietary staple, rice, has to be imported. There is virtually no manufacturing. The only exports are vanilla, cocoa and ylang-ylang flower extract, which is used in perfume.
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POLITICS:
Comoros' first president, Ahmed Abdallah Abderrahmane, was overthrown in 1975, restored to power in 1978 and weathered several coup attempts before his assassination in 1989. The archipelago has undergone numerous coups and attempted coups since then.
The late Bob Denard, a notorious French mercenary, controlled the Comoros behind a figurehead leader for most of the 1980s, following a coup he led.
In February 2001, a mediated agreement brought more political stability to Comoros by giving each island greater control over its own affairs. Each of the main islands now has a regional leader under President Ahmed Abdallah Sambi, who won the May 2006 vote.

Staff and wire reports
With signs the economy is improving but still fragile, Federal Reserve policymakers held the Fed funds rate steady -- at zero to 0.25% -- on June 24, and maintained its pace of purchases of government debt at mortgage-backed securities.
The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee said at the end of its two-day meeting that indications are that the "pace of economic contraction is slowing," and financial markets have improved in recent months. Household spending is also stabilizing, the FOMC said, but remains hampered by continuing job losses, declines in household wealth, and tight credit. Businesses, meanwhile, are cutting back on spending and staffing, and are reducing inventory.
"Although economic activity is likely to remain weak for a time, the Committee continues to anticipate that policy actions to stabilize financial markets and institutions, fiscal and monetary stimulus, and market forces will contribute to a gradual resumption of sustainable economic growth in a context of price stability," the Fed statement said, adding that inflation is expected "to remain subdued for some time."
Driving Down Rates
In March, the Fed launched a bold $1.2 trillion effort to drive down interest rates to try to revive lending and get Americans to spend more freely again. It said it would spend up to $300 billion to buy long-term government bonds over six months and boost its purchases of mortgage securities. So far, the Fed has bought about $177.5 billion in Treasury bonds.
The Fed is on track to buy up to $1.25 trillion worth of securities issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by the end of this year or early next year. Nearly $456 billion worth of those securities have been purchased.
But slowing down the purchases carries risk, including that rates on mortgages and government debt could rise more than expected, which could hurt the economy's prospects for emerging from recession, economists said.
A recent runup in rates on mortgages and Treasury securities, if prolonged, could choke off prospects for an economic recovery. Some of those fears were eased last week, when rates on 30-year mortgages dipped to 5.38% after a string of weekly increases.
Paul Ashworth, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics in Toronto, said the Fed dropped a statement warning about too-low inflation. "We take those changes to mean that Fed officials are less worried about the threat of deflation now," Ashworth said in an e-mailed statement.

Free Kids Games

A video game, like most other forms of media, may be categorized into genres based on many factors such as method of game play, types of goals, and more. Because genres are dependent on content for definition, genres have changed and evolved as newer styles of video games are created.

Although departments of computer science have been studying the technical aspects of video games for years, theories that examine games as an artistic medium are a relatively recent development in the humanities. The two most visible schools in this emerging field are ludology and narratology. Narrativists approach video games in the context of what Janet Murray calls "Cyberdrama".

Beaulieu Carpet

Most speed dating events match people at random, and participants will meet different "types" that they might not normally talk to in a club. On the other hand, the random matching precludes the various cues, such as eye contact, that people use in bars to preselect each other before chatting them up.

Many sites are broad-based, with members from a variety of backgrounds looking for different types of relationships. Other sites are more specific, based on the type of members, interests, location, or relationship desired.

Christian Dating

MALMO, Sweden (AFP) –
A double by Sandro Wagner rounded off a stunning 4-0 success for Germany over England in the European Under-21 championship final to give them their first success in the tournament.

The Germans - who added this title to the ones presently in the hands of their Under-17 and Under-19 compatriots - also scored through Gonzalo Castro and the hugely impressive Mesut Ozil.

It was England's first appearance in the final since 1984 and brought to an end a run of having not lost open play in 21 matches and gave German coach Horst Hrubesch echoes of his major success as a player with the then West Germany in the senior 1980 European final over Belgium.

England Under-21 coach Stuart Pearce revealed he would stay on for the next campaign for the 2011 finals and try and improve on this performance.

"Just before the semi-final I signed a two year deal," said Pearce, who was suffering another disappointment against Germany having as a player lost to them in the 1990 World Cup semi-final - he missed one of the penalties in the shootout - and then again in the Euro '96 semi-finals.

"I enjoy where I work, my employers and the players I work with. Why would you walk away from that," added Pearce, who will also continue to work with England senior coach Fabio Capello, who was unable to attend the final having been at the Confederations Cup in South Africa.

England started brightly with Adam Johnson whipping in a couple of dangerous crosses while James Milner - who was playing his 46th and final Under-21 international - delivered a great freekick from the left only for Martin Cranie to head over under pressure.

Lone England forward Theo Walcott - all the other specialist strikers were suspended - then broke free seizing on Aston Villa midfielder in the third minute but shot wide.

Germany got in their first effective attack just after the quarter hour mark when the impresssive German captain Sami Khedira linked up well with Ozil but Micah Richards was on hand to deflect the shot away for a corner.

Ozil it was who created Castro's goal with a beautifully weighted pass which evaded Cranie and the German slotted it past Scott Loach, who had come in for the suspended first choice 'keeper Joe Hart.

The Germans looked to be in control of the match and deservedly doubled their lead in the just after half-time as he misjudged Ozil's long range freekick and he managed to only get a hand on it and see it spin into the net.

"The ball can react abnormally sometimes," said Hrubesch charitably of the Watford 'keeper's blunder.

England had to go for broke and midfielder Lee Cattermole came closest to reducing the deficit just before the hour with a finely-struck shot which clipped the crossbar.

England kept the pressure up and in the 62nd minute the impressive Milner turned leftback Sebastian Boenisch inside out and passed the ball to Johnson who failed to take advantage from three metres out.

Ozil was tormenting England all night and he set up Germany's third goal as he broke down the middle - right back Cranie was being treated for an injury - and his delightful pass outside to Wagner saw him shoot the ball between Loach's legs.

It made amends for a dreadful howler only minutes before when he failed to net from a metre out following another gem of a pass from Ozil.

However, he redeemed himself completely when he scores his second, a beautifully curled effort which gave Loach no chance and rounded off a humiliating night for England.

Branson Golf

There are at least twenty professional golf tours, each run by a PGA or an independent tour organisation, which is responsible for arranging events, finding sponsors, and regulating the tour. Typically a tour has "members" who are entitled to compete in most of its events, and also invites non-members to compete in some of them. Gaining membership of an elite tour is highly competitive, and most professional golfers never achieve it.

Women's golf does not have a globally agreed set of majors. The list of majors recognized by the dominant women's tour, the LPGA Tour in the U.S., has changed several times over the years, with the last change in 2001. Like the PGA Tour, the (U.S.) LPGA has four majors:

STUTTGART, Germany – Navy Adm. James Stavridis is taking over as head of the U.S. European Command in a changeover that also makes him NATO's top military commander.
Stavridis, who until now headed the U.S. Southern Command, is taking over from Army Gen. John Craddock at a ceremony in southern Germany Tuesday.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates and U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen are scheduled to attend.

In baseball, batting is the act of facing the opposing pitcher and trying to produce offense for one's team. A batter or hitter is a person whose turn it is to face the pitcher. The goals of batters are to produce runs, but the techniques and strategies they use to do so vary. The main three goals of batters are to become a baserunner, drive runners home, or advance runners along the bases for others to drive home.

The defense attempts to get the batter out. The pitcher's main role in this is to throw the ball in such a way that he or she either strikes out or cannot hit it cleanly so that the defense can get him or her out.

Batting Cages