Iranian exiles ready to leave Iraq camp (AP)

PARIS ? The head of an Iranian exile group says more than 3,000 of its members holed up in a camp in eastern Iraq are ready to leave if they get U.S. and U.N. security guarantees.

Paris-based leader Maryam Rajavi said in a statement Tuesday that Camp Ashraf residents are "in principle prepared to relocate to Camp Liberty" ? a recently vacated former United States military base ? if their safety can be guaranteed.

The armed People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran moved to the camp during the regime of Saddam Hussein, who saw them as a convenient ally against Tehran. They were disarmed by U.S. soldiers during the Iraq invasion in 2003, and have since become an irritant to Iraq's Shiite-led government, which is now trying to bolster ties with its neighbor.

The United Nations has said that at least 34 people were killed in an April raid on the camp by Iraqi security forces, and Iraq authorities have vowed to close the facility by Dec. 31.

The Obama administration ? hoping to avoid a possible violent standoff with Iraqi authorities ? urged the residents Monday to accept a U.N.-brokered deal to move to the temporary site near Baghdad airport where arrangements would be made for them to resettle elsewhere.

The Iranian dissidents have previously resisted leaving, saying they fear persecution at the hands of Iraqi authorities, and sought an extension to the Iraqi deadline.

But on Tuesday, Rajavi said for the move to Camp Liberty to be completed, the "minimum guarantees for the residents' safety and well-being in order to prevent a recurrence of violence and bloodshed until the residents are resettled in third countries" must be given.

The group said Rajavi had sent a letter Dec. 10 to President Barack Obama and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon outlining the guarantees the dissidents are seeking, including security protection during and after the move by the U.S., European or U.N. forces ? not by the Iraqi government.

U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said Tuesday that the top U.N. envoy in Iraq, Martin Kobler, has made helping the Iraqi authorities and camp residents find a workable solution "a top priority."

"The U.N.'s role here is to facilitate, to help the Iraqi government and the camp residents," Nesirky said. "It is very important to note that ultimately it is the responsibility of the Iraqi authorities to work to find a peaceful way out of this, and for the residents of the camp likewise to shoulder their responsibility."

U.S. officials said Monday that the new facility would remain under Iraqi government control, but come under U.N. supervision. Residents not wanting to return to Iran, or live in third countries to which they have family ties, would be able to apply for U.N. refugee status, they said.

The People's Mujahedeen has been branded a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S., a designation now under review by the State Department. It has been removed from similar blacklists in Europe.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iran/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111220/ap_on_re_eu/eu_france_iranian_exiles

osteopathy diphtheria diphtheria smokey robinson smokey robinson del rio del rio

AP-GfK Poll: Obama re-election odds roughly 50-50 (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Entering 2012, President Barack Obama's re-election prospects are essentially a 50-50 proposition, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll. It found that most Americans say the president deserves to be voted out of office even though they have concerns about the Republican alternatives.

Obama's overall standing in the poll suggests he could be in jeopardy of losing re-election even as the survey showed that public's outlook on the economy appears to be improving. For the first time since spring, more people said the economy got better in the past month than said it got worse. The president's approval rating on unemployment shifted upward ? from 40 percent in October to 45 percent in the latest poll ? as the jobless rate fell to 8.6 percent last month, its lowest level since March 2009.

But Obama's approval rating on his handling of the economy overall remains stagnant: Thirty-nine percent approve and 60 percent disapprove.

Heading into his re-election campaign, the president faces a conflicted public. It does not support his steering of the economy, the most dominant issue for Americans, or his overhaul of health care, one of his signature accomplishments, but it also is grappling with whether to replace him with Republican contenders Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich.

The poll found Americans were evenly divided over whether they expect Obama to be re-elected next year.

For the first time, the poll found that a majority of adults, 52 percent, said Obama should be voted out of office while 43 percent said he deserves another term. The numbers mark a reversal since last May, when 53 percent said Obama should be re-elected while 43 percent said he didn't deserve four more years.

Obama's overall job approval stands at a new low, with 44 percent approving and 54 percent disapproving. The president's standing among independents is worse: Thirty-eight percent approve while 59 percent disapprove. Among Democrats, the president holds steady with an approval rating of 78 percent while only 12 percent of Republicans approve of the job he's doing.

"I think he's doing the best he can. The problem is the Congress won't help at all," said Rosario Navarro, a Democrat and a 44-year-old truck driver from Fresno, Calif., who voted for Obama in 2008 and intends to support him again.

Robin Dein, a 54-year-old homemaker from Villanova, Pa., who is an independent, said she supported Republican John McCain in 2008 and has not been impressed with Obama's economic policies. She intends to support Romney if he wins the GOP nomination.

Obama, she said, "spent the first part of his presidency blaming Bush for everything, not that he was innocent, and now his way of solving anything is by spending more money."

Despite the soft level of support, many are uncertain whether a Republican president would be a better choice. Asked whom they would support next November, 47 percent of adults favored Obama and 46 percent Romney, the former Massachusetts governor. Against Gingrich, the president holds a solid advantage, receiving 51 percent compared with 42 percent for the former House speaker.

The potential matchups paint a better picture for the president among independents. Obama receives 45 percent of nonaligned adults compared with 41 percent for Romney. Against Gingrich, Obama holds a wide lead among independents, with 54 percent supporting the president and 31 percent backing the former Georgia congressman.

Another piece of good news for Obama: People generally like him personally. Obama's personal favorability rating held steady at 53 percent, with 46 percent viewing him unfavorably. About three-quarters called him likable.

The economy remains a source of pessimism, though the poll suggests the first positive movement in public opinion on the economy in months. One in five said the economy improved in the last month, double the share saying so in October. Still most expect it to stay the same or get worse.

"I suppose you could make some sort of argument that it's getting better, but I'm not sure I even see that," said independent voter John Bailey, a 61-year-old education consultant from East Jordan, Mich. "I think it's bad and it's gotten worse under (Obama's) policies. At best, it's going to stay bad."

Despite the high rate of joblessness, the poll found some optimism on the economy. Although 80 percent described the economy as "poor," respondents describing it "very poor" fell from 43 percent in October to 34 percent in the latest poll, the lowest since May. Twenty percent said the economy got better in the past month while 37 percent said they expected the economy to improve next year.

Yet plenty of warning signs remain for Obama. Only 26 percent said the United States is headed in the right direction while 70 percent said the country was moving in the wrong direction.

The president won a substantial number of female voters in 2008 yet there does not appear to be a significant tilt toward Obama among women now. The poll found 44 percent of women say Obama deserves a second term, down from 51 percent in October, while 43 percent of men say the president should be re-elected.

About two-thirds of white voters without college degrees say Obama should be a one-term president, while 33 percent of those voters say he should get another four years. Among white voters with a college degree, 57 percent said Obama should be voted out of office.

The poll found unpopularity for last year's health care overhaul. About half of the respondents oppose the health care law and support for it dipped to 29 percent from 36 percent in June. Just 15 percent said the federal government should have the power to require all Americans to buy health insurance.

Even among Democrats, the health care law has tepid support. Fifty percent of Democrats supported the health care law, compared with 59 percent of Democrats last June. Only about a quarter of independents back the law.

The president has taken a more populist tone in his handling of the economy, arguing that the wealthy should pay more in taxes to help pay for the extension of a payroll tax cut that would provide about $1,000 in tax cuts to a family earning about $50,000 a year. Among those with annual household incomes of $50,000 or less, Obama's approval rating on unemployment climbed to 53 percent from 43 percent in October.

The Associated Press-GfK Poll was conducted Dec. 8-12 by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications. It involved landline and cellphone interviews with 1,000 adults nationwide and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

___

Associated Press writer Stacy A. Anderson and News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this report.

___

Online:

http://www.ap-gfkpoll.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111216/ap_on_el_pr/us_ap_poll_obama

dramamine dramamine nba season we bought a zoo we bought a zoo iron bowl iron bowl

Berenson says she was barred from leaving Peru (AP)

LIMA, Peru ? Paroled U.S. activist Lori Berenson said Saturday that she and her toddler son were not permitted to leave Peru despite being granted permission in court to spend the holidays in New York with her family.

"They didn't let me leave and they're putting out this version that I arrived late," she said in a brief phone conversation with The Associated Press, referring to media reports citing unnamed airport officials.

Her lawyer, Anibal Apari, accused the government of making an arbitrary political decision to halt her departure. He said it had provided no official explanation for not allowing Berenson to board a New York-bound flight the previous night.

"An abuse of authority has been committed," Apari told the AP. "Administratively, you can't block a court order."

Phone calls to Interior Ministry officials seeking an explanatoin were not immediately returned.

Berenson, who was paroled last year after serving 15 years for aiding leftist rebels, was given permission to leave the country beginning Friday with the stipulation that she return by Jan. 11.

She had been denied such permission in October, but a three-judge appeals court on Wednesday overturned the lower court judge's ruling.

Peru's anti-terrorism prosecutor, Julio Galindo, told the AP that he had on Friday asked the court that approved Berenson's leave to nullify the decision because it violated a law prohibiting paroled prisoners from leaving the country.

He said he did not know if the court had acted on his appeal and Peru's courts spokesman, Guillermo Gonzalez, said he had no information on the matter.

Galindo's move was precisely the kind of action feared by Berenson's parents, who did not respond to phone calls seeking comment on Saturday.

The prosecutor had opposed letting Berenson out of prison before her 20-year sentence for aiding terrorism ends in 2015, arguing that it would set a bad precedent for the early release of others convicted of terrorism-related crimes.

Berenson's father Mark told the AP on Friday that he was "petrified" that negative local reaction could prevent the trip, including celebrating his 70th birthday Dec. 29.

"My worry is that there's going to be screaming to stop this," he said. Some Peruvians consider his daughter a terrorist and have publicly insulted her on the street.

Mark Berenson said his daughter had every intention of returning to Peru.

"As Lori says, if she doesn't come home, let Interpol arrest her," Mark Berenson said.

Peru could seek her extradition and return her to prison if she doesn't return in the allotted time, Gonzalez said.

A local TV station displayed video on Friday night of Berenson pacing nervously in front of a ticket counter, wearing a bulky black backpack, with Salvador in a stroller beside her. She wore pants and a brown polo shirt.

Berenson has been repeatedly hounded and mobbed by Peruvian news media, which has occasionally frightened young Salvador. Last month, one TV channel obtained her new address and showed video of her home.

"It was very dangerous," Mark Berenson said. "The (U.S.) Embassy complained."

"It's just not fair to Salvador or to her," he said. "They used her like she's a celebrity and she just wants to be a low-profile person and get on with her life and be a good citizen."

He said he would appeal to President Ollanta Humala to send his daughter home.

Humala could by law commute her sentence but has not indicated whether he might do so. The AP sought presidential palace comment but its calls were not returned.

Lori Berenson is separated from Salvador's father, Anibal Apari, whom she met in prison and who serves as her lawyer.

Mark Berenson said his daughter is looking forward to seeing relatives she hasn't met since her 20s, including his 96-year-old aunt, and that he wants his grandson, who loves trees, see the New York Botanical Garden's holiday display.

Since her initial parole in May 2010, Lori Berenson repeatedly expressed regret for aiding the rebel Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement.

Arrested in 1995, the former MIT student was accused of helping the rebels plan an armed takeover of Congress, an attack that never happened.

A military court convicted her the following year and sentenced her to life in prison for sedition. But after intense U.S. government pressure, she was retried in civil courts in 2001 and sentenced to 20 years for terrorist collaboration.

Berenson was unrepentant at the time of her arrest, but softened during years of sometimes harsh prison conditions, eventually being praised as a model prisoner.

Yet she is viewed by many as a symbol of the 1980-2000 rebel conflict that claimed some 70,000 lives. The fanatical Maoist Shining Path movement did most of the killing, while Tupac Amaru was a lesser player.

Berenson has acknowledged helping the rebels rent a safe house, where authorities seized a cache of weapons. But she insists she didn't know guns were being stored there. She denies ever belonging to Tupac Amaru or engaging in violent acts.

In an interview with the AP last year, Berenson said she was deeply troubled at having become Peru's "face of terrorism."

Its most famous prisoner, she also became a politically convenient scapegoat, she said.

___

Associated Press writer Franklin Briceno contributed to this report.

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

john edward psychic brandon marshall headless horseman headless horseman brandon lloyd brandon lloyd publishers clearing house

Strike shuts down Cyprus airports, gov't offices (AP)

NICOSIA, Cyprus ? Cyprus' airports and government offices shut down Thursday in a daylong strike by civil servants and air traffic controllers to protest a wage freeze and other austerity measures they say were unfairly taken without their say.

The work stoppage has forced the cancellation or rescheduling of 79 flights to and from the east Mediterranean island's two airports, said Adamos Aspris, an airport spokesman.

Around 16,000 government workers belonging to the PASYDY union also walked off the job. State-run hospitals are operating on reduced staff, but other essential services including police remain unaffected.

A parliamentary vote on the budget set for Thursday evening has been pushed back to Friday morning because of the strike. But municipal elections slated for Sunday will go ahead as planned, Interior Minister Neoklis Sylikiotis said, despite a PASYDY appeal to members not to staff polling booths or to cast their ballots.

On Wednesday, lawmakers passed the two-year wage freeze and other measures such as a sales tax hike and temporary levy on private sector salaries that aim to cut the deficit from 6.5 percent of gross domestic product this year to 2.4 percent in 2012.

Finance Minister Kikis Kazamias said he had little choice but to skirt drawn-out talks with trade unions because eurozone-member Cyprus needed swift measures to avoid EU sanctions it faced if the measures were not approved by the middle of this month.

"We've succeeded in implementing what we had promised," Kazamias told state-run radio Thursday.

The government is hard-pressed to restore investor confidence, following a following a series of credit rating downgrades ? mainly due to its banks' heavy exposure to debt-burdened Greece ? that have brought the country to the brink of junk status.

High interest rates on its government bonds are preventing Cyprus from borrowing on international markets. The country is relying on a euro2.5 billion ($3.25 billion) low-interest loan from Russia to see it through until the middle of next year.

Strikes are rare in this country of 800,000 people where powerful trade unions represent some 70,000 workers on the government payroll. Public sector wages and benefits take up a third of all government spending.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111215/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_cyprus_financial_crisis

clayton kershaw osu basketball dale sveum ny jets ny jets jets broncos thursday night football

Rite Aid 3Q loss narrows as sales climb (AP)

Rite Aid Corp. says its third quarter loss narrowed, as sales at stores open at least a year improved and the drugstore operator more than doubled the number of flu shots delivered.

The third-largest U.S. drugstore chain says it lost $54.5 million, or 6 cents per share, after paying preferred dividends in the latest quarter. That compares to a loss of $81.5 million, or 9 cents per share, a year ago.

Revenue climbed nearly 2 percent to $6.31 billion.

Analysts were expecting a loss of 12 cents per share on $6.29 billion in revenue.

The Camp Hill, Pa., company says sales at stores open at least a year climbed 2 percent, driven by an increase in pharmacy business.

Rite Aid had 4,679 stores as of Nov. 26, down 62 from a year ago.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111215/ap_on_bi_ge/us_earns_rite_aid

packers stock sale packers stock sale broncos broncos jason mayhem miller denver broncos newt gingrich

Off the Beam: Did a U.S. Radar Research Station Disable Russia's Phobos Probe?

News | Technology

Soon after the ill-fated Phobos-Grunt spacecraft stalled in Earth orbit, a former Russian official implicated "powerful American radars" in Alaska. Is there a basis to the claim, or is it just scapegoating?

By Jim Nash ?| December 14, 2011?|

HF ANTENNA ARRAY: A retired commander of Russia's ballistic missile early warning system implied that the U.S.'s High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) observatory in Alaska interfered with the Mars-bound Phobos-Grunt probe. HAARP is often a target of conspiracy theorists. Image: Courtesy of the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP)

After 19 attempts over 51 years, Russia has yet to chalk up a fully successful mission to Mars. That includes its ambitious Phobos?Grunt probe, launched November 8 from Kazakhstan and now stranded in low Earth orbit. Unable to regain control of the spacecraft, the Russians now expect it to fall back to Earth around January 9.

Responding to shame over the nation's Mars program, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has threatened to criminally prosecute those responsible if possible. Soon after Medvedev's comments, a former high-ranking Russian officer found a more convenient scapegoat in a remote Alaskan radar facility. But an analysis of the timing and physics involved shows that there is little basis for the claim.

Phobos?Grunt was to retrieve soil ("grunt" in Russian) from the Martian moon Phobos and return it to Earth for study. But the rocket engine intended to boost the spacecraft into a higher orbit failed. The probe itself has since communicated only sporadically with ground stations, and even then it has murmured only unintelligible noise.

To Lt. Gen. Nikolay Rodionov, a retired commander of Russia's ballistic missile early warning system, U.S. technology could have caused the rocket malfunction. In a November 24 interview with the Russian news agency Interfax, Rodionov said "powerful American radars" in Alaska "could have influenced the control systems of our interplanetary rover."

Rodionov was quoted saying the U.S. wants to use the ionosphere as part of its missile defense, although he did not elaborate. A subsequent article in India's The Hindu expanded on Rodionov's statement, indicating that he was likely referring to the U.S.'s High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) observatory established in 1993.

The HAARP research station sits on an Air Force?owned site in Gakona, Alaska, and falls under the aegis of a number of federal and state agencies, primarily the Air Force Research Laboratory's Space Vehicles Directorate. HAARP scientists have developed the project and the site's instrumentation with help from several U.S. universities and educational institutions?in particular, the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

HAARP performs active and passive radar experiments on the ionosphere, a layer of charged particles stretching from 50 to 1,000 kilometers above Earth. The main goal is to better understand the layer, which has been used almost since the invention of radio to bounce signals far past the horizon, extending a signal's range. The ionosphere does not always reflect signals in a predictable manner, however, which makes it a bit of a gamble for those wanting to use it to communicate critical information. Increasing, standardizing or augmenting that effect could have potent commercial and military applications, such as potentially using reflected signals to probe underground or underwater and even to communicate with submarines.

Given HAARP's main goal of studying how signals are reflected, in the hopes of improving long-range communications, the station fires a radar beam to excite a localized patch of the ionosphere and uses passive devices in Gakona and elsewhere to examine the effects. HAARP scientists essentially are examining the resonant interaction between the radio waves and charged particles. HAARP "is like sticking your finger in a river, and by watching the water flow around your finger you can learn things about the river," such as its flow speed and its temperature, says Morris Cohen, a research scientist at Stanford University whose Ph.D. thesis was about HAARP experiments.

Whereas similar radar facilities exist in Norway, Russia, Peru and other locations, HAARP is one of the most powerful. Its Ionospheric Research Instrument (IRI) puts out a maximum of 3.6 megawatts sending signals at 2.8 to 10 MHz?powerful enough heat up a small (on a global scale) but measurable part of the ionosphere. The energy being added to the area can be measured in several ways, including gauging how much the section expands when it is heated and how it glows. Both effects are incredibly subtle, requiring highly sensitive equipment to record it, and they're orders of magnitude less powerful than the effects of ordinary solar weather that constantly bombards the ionosphere.

But is the transmitter powerful enough to have fried the electronics of Russia's Mars mission?

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=d19e429977eeba709b580ca4f5bce4a6

grace potter grace potter ryan mathews the band perry faith hill cma awards 2011 cma awards 2011

RARE INTERVIEW WITH DORIS DAY IN PARADE

The December 25 issue of PARADE features a rare interview with legendary singer and actress Doris Day, who recently released a new album, My Heart. Here are some highlights: ON GOING SOLO… The first time I ever worked alone, I had two shows a night at the Little Club on East 55th St. in New [...]

Source: http://www.celebritymound.com/rare-interview-with-doris-day-in-parade/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rare-interview-with-doris-day-in-parade

ashram merce cunningham saints tim hightower tim hightower waldorf school waldorf school

Microneedle sensors may allow real-time monitoring of body chemistry

ScienceDaily (Dec. 13, 2011) ? Researchers from North Carolina State University, Sandia National Laboratories, and the University of California, San Diego have developed new technology that uses microneedles to allow doctors to detect real-time chemical changes in the body -- and to continuously do so for an extended period of time.

"We've loaded the hollow channels within microneedles with electrochemical sensors that can be used to detect specific molecules or pH levels," says Dr. Roger Narayan, co-author of a paper describing the research, and a professor in the joint biomedical engineering department of NC State's College of Engineering and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Existing technology relies on taking samples and testing them, whereas this approach allows continuous monitoring, Narayan explains. "For example, it could monitor glucose levels in a diabetic patient," Narayan says. Microneedles are very small needles in which at least one dimension -- such as length -- is less than one millimeter.

"The idea is that customized microneedle sensor arrays could be developed and incorporated into wearable devices, such as something like a wristwatch, to help answer specific medical or research questions," Narayan says. "It's also worth pointing out that microneedles are not painful."

In addition to its clinical applications, the new technology may also create opportunities for new research endeavors. For example, the microneedle sensor arrays could be used to track changes in lactate levels while people are exercising -- rather than measuring those levels only before and after exercise.

The researchers developed a proof-of-concept sensor array incorporating three types of sensors, which could measure pH, glucose and lactate. However, Narayan says the array could be modified to monitor a wide variety of chemicals.

Recommend this story on Facebook, Twitter,
and Google +1:

Other bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by North Carolina State University.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Philip R. Miller, Shelby A. Skoog, Thayne L. Edwards, Deanna M. Lopez, David R. Wheeler, Dulce C. Arango, Xiaoyin Xiao, Susan M. Brozik, Joseph Wang, Ronen Polsky, Roger J. Narayan. Multiplexed microneedle-based biosensor array for characterization of metabolic acidosis. Talanta, 2011; DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2011.11.046

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/xWSLSs3Ke5Q/111213110243.htm

terrell owens carrie ann inaba california earthquake california earthquake jenna lyons jenna lyons san francisco earthquake

Romney vows to visit Israel first if elected to White House (reuters)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/170809899?client_source=feed&format=rss

nextdoor premier fitness dan uggla kryptos student loan forgiveness amy winehouse cause of death amy winehouse cause of death

Obama embracing Roosevelt's middle-class appeal (AP)

WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama is channeling President Theodore Roosevelt, embracing a mantle of economic fairness for the nation's middle class Tuesday that draws parallels to the progressive reformer's calls for a "square deal" for regular Americans more than a century ago.

Obama intends to use a speech in small town Osawatomie, Kan. ? where Roosevelt delivered his "New Nationalism" address in 1910 ? to lay out economic themes of giving middle-class workers a fair shake and greater financial security, concepts the president will probably return to repeatedly during the 2012 campaign.

Only a month before Republican voters begin choosing a presidential nominee, the White House said Obama would describe this as a "make-or-break moment" for the middle class and those hoping to join it that demands balance and rules of the road to help strengthen working families.

"Now is not the time to slam on the brakes. Now is the time to step on the gas," Obama said Monday at the White House. "Now is the time to keep growing the economy, to keep creating jobs, to keep giving working Americans the boost that they need."

Obama is pressuring Congress to support an extension of a payroll tax cut that the White House says will give a $1,000 tax cut to a typical family earning $50,000 a year. The president is coupling that with efforts to renew a program of extended unemployment benefits set to expire Dec. 31.

Republicans and Democrats in Congress said a holiday-season package was beginning to take shape that would cost $180 billion or more over a decade. It would include not only the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefit renewals, but also a provision to avert a threatened 27 percent reduction in fees to doctors who treat Medicare patients.

House Republicans are developing legislation to extend an existing pay freeze for federal workers as partial payment for the tax cut and unemployment benefits. Other cost-savers are expected to include a proposal Obama advanced earlier this year to raise pension costs for federal employees, officials said. The bill may also include another presidential recommendation, this one for a surcharge on Medigap policies purchased by future Medicare recipients.

One of Obama's main Republican rivals, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, said Monday in a radio interview that he would like to see the payroll tax cut extended "because I know that working families are really feeling the pinch right now."

The president will be speaking at a high school about 50 miles southwest of Kansas City, not far from the presidential electoral prize of Missouri, which Obama narrowly lost to Republican John McCain in 2008. Obama is expected to compete feverishly for several Midwestern states that could hold the key to his re-election prospects.

In Kansas, Obama plans to show that the economic struggles many Americans currently face are similar to the conditions when Roosevelt spoke in Osawatomie on Aug. 31, 1910, about a year after he left the White House. Roosevelt declared in the speech that he stood for a "square deal," which he said did not only mean "fair play under the present rules of the games, but that I stand for having those rules changed so as to work for a more substantial equality of opportunity and of reward for equally good service."

Republicans noted that Roosevelt also used the speech to denounce broken promises in politics, saying Obama had fallen short of rebuilding the economy, reducing the debt and curtailing special interests. Republican National Committee spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski said the president was "desperately trying new slogans and messages to see what sticks because he can't figure out how to sell his last three years of high unemployment and more debt."

Obama has frequently turned to former presidents ? many Republicans ? to offer examples of why Congress should support his agenda.

In September, he said Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan understood the importance of immigration and argued the country lacked "that kind of leadership coming from the Republican Party."

Last week, the president told donors in New York that as a nation, "we all must have a stake in each other's success." He reminded supporters that President Abraham Lincoln launched the Transcontinental Railroad, the National Academy of Sciences and the first land-grant colleges while Theodore Roosevelt called for a progressive income tax.

Obama said President Dwight Eisenhower, a Kansas native, built the Interstate Highway System while Republicans worked with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to give "millions of returning heroes, including my grandfather, the chance to go to college on the G.I. Bill."

"Our politics may be divided, but most Americans still understand we will stand or fall together," he said in New York.

___

Follow Ken Thomas on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/AP_Ken_Thomas

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111206/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama

new jersey weather halloween movies halloween movies new york snow new york snow braxton miller braxton miller

Gingrich meets with Trump, begins first ad in Iowa

Donald Trump listens at left as Republican presidential candidate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich talks to media after their meeting in New York, Monday, Dec. 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Donald Trump listens at left as Republican presidential candidate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich talks to media after their meeting in New York, Monday, Dec. 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Donald Trump talk to media after a meeting in New York, Monday, Dec. 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, right, waves after meeting with Donald Trump, and talking to the media in New York, Monday, Dec. 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Donald Trump shake hands after they met and spoke to the media in New York, Monday, Dec. 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Surging in polls, Newt Gingrich declared confidently Monday that he plans to run a general election campaign in all 50 states should he win the Republican presidential nomination. But he also found himself defending comments he had made about poor children ? hinting at the potential troubles and new scrutiny he faces in the race.

"I do not suggest children until about 14 or 15 years of age do heavy, dangerous janitorial work," Gingrich told reporters, seeking to explain previous remarks that rivals have used to criticize him. "On the other hand, there are a number of things done to clean buildings that are not heavy or dangerous."

At issue is a remark Gingrich made last week in which he suggested that poor children as young as 9 should work at least part time cleaning their schools in order to learn about work.

The Republican said his original point had been "distorted" to make him look insensitive, and he twice tried to explain where he stood. The idea, Gingrich said, would be "to get them into the world of work, get them into the opportunity to earn money, to get them into the habit of showing up and realizing that effort is rewarded and America is all about the work ethic."

Trying to show sensitivity on the issue, Gingrich also said he had persuaded Donald Trump ? the real estate mogul with whom he met privately earlier in the day ? to mentor a group of children from New York City's poorest schools.

"I thought it was a great idea," said Trump, who hosts the reality show "Celebrity Apprentice." ''We're going to be picking 10 young wonderful children and make them 'apprenti.' We're going to have a little fun with it."

Gingrich spent the day in New York with a busy schedule of fundraisers and meetings as he looked to solidify his status at the head of the GOP pack alongside Mitt Romney in polls nationally and in Iowa, which holds the first presidential contest on Jan. 3.

The former Georgia lawmaker chose the heavily Democratic city to announce he planned to run in all 50 states ? not just traditionally Republican or swing states ? if he becomes the party nominee.

His campaign, meanwhile, debuted a new television ad in Iowa ? the first of his campaign.

"Some people say the America we know and love is a thing of the past. I don't believe that, because working together I know we can rebuild America," Gingrich says in the ad that's laden with Americana, down to the white picket fence, the Statue of Liberty and the American stars and stripes.

As the day began, Gingrich met privately with Trump, who flirted with a bid for the Republican nomination last spring.

But the candidate left without an endorsement. Trump said he would refrain from endorsing a candidate until after he hosts a televised debate in Iowa a week before that state's caucuses.

Even so, Gingrich praised Trump as a "true American icon." And Trump said he was impressed by the former House speaker's strong showing in the GOP presidential contest.

Gingrich said he would be pleased to participate in the Trump-hosted debate and dismissed criticism from rival Ron Paul that such a forum demeaned the presidency.

"This is a country that elected a peanut farmer to the presidency. This is a country that elected an actor who made two movies with a chimpanzee to the presidency," Gingrich said, referring to Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. "Donald Trump is a great showman; he's also a great businessman. I think one of the differences between my party and the other party is we actually go to people who know how to create jobs. We need to be open to new ways of doing things."

Trump has hinted he might run for president as an Independent if the Republicans nominate a candidate who can't beat President Barack Obama. Trump sidestepped questions about a potential run but said he believes Paul has "zero chance" of getting the nomination.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-12-05-Gingrich-Show%20of%20Force/id-0b35c02a74a4471ca083dc2d8ff96b8a

pay it forward haunted houses favicon.ico favicon.ico footloose best iphone 4 case best iphone 4 case

Video: Giant pandas fly from China to Scotland

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/45541393#45541393

tay sachs tay sachs watch the walking dead giuliana and bill giuliana and bill 2012 camry endometriosis

WikiLeaks' chief in vital extradition court fight (AP)

LONDON ? Julian Assange is making what could be a last throw of the legal dice in his battle to avoid extradition to Sweden over sex crimes allegations.

On Monday the WikiLeaks founder will ask judges to let him take his case to Britain's Supreme Court. If they say no, he could be on a plane to Stockholm within days.

The 40-year-old Australian behind the secret-spilling website has spent almost a year on bail in Britain fighting extradition for questioning over claims of rape and molestation made by two Swedish women. So far, two courts have ruled against him.

For his case to be considered by Britain's Supreme Court, Assange's lawyers must persuade two High Court judges that it raises a question of "general public importance."

According to a website devoted to arguing Assange's case, his lawyers will seek to argue two points ? that the European arrest warrant for Assange is invalid because it was not issued by the correct authority, and that he should not be extradited because he has not been charged with any crime.

Lower courts have already considered and rejected both arguments.

Assange's hearing on Monday will come on the same day as a parliamentary debate on Britain's extradition rules. The House of Commons will debate and vote on demands to change extradition agreements that require Britain to transfer individuals to the U.S. and Europe ? sometimes on insufficient evidence, critics say.

Assange declined to discuss his case, but told The Associated Press he was heartened that lawmakers are tackling the issue of extraditions.

"What we ask for is humble ? the right to not be shipped off to foreign lands without formal charges or the presentation of even the most basic evidence," he told the AP in an email.

A district judge ruled in February that Assange could be extradited, and the High Court upheld that decision last month, saying the alleged offenses amounted to crimes under British law and ruling that the arrest warrant had been properly issued.

If Assange is granted a Supreme Court appeal, his stay in Britain ? where he lives under curfew at an affluent supporter's rural mansion ? is likely to last for many more months.

If he is denied, his legal fight will move to Sweden. Last month Assange replaced his Swedish lawyer with two high-profile attorneys, Per E. Samuelson and Thomas Olsson. Samuelson has a long track-record as a defense lawyer in sex crime cases and has also represented one of the men behind file-sharing website The Pirate Bay.

The allegations against Assange stem from a visit to Sweden in August 2010, shortly after WikiLeaks released secret U.S. files from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Assange became involved with two women, one of whom later accused him of coercion and molestation. The other alleged that he had sex with her as she slept.

Swedish prosecutors have not charged Assange with any crime, but have demanded that he return to Scandinavia to face questions.

He denies wrongdoing and says the sex was consensual. He has insisted the sex crimes investigation is politically motivated by opponents of his organization.

Assange has become a global figure since WikiLeaks began releasing secret government documents, including hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables from U.S. missions around the world.

Vilified by U.S. authorities and other governments angry about their secrets being leaked, he has been hailed as a free-speech hero by many around the world.

But his expensive legal troubles ? and moves by U.S. financial companies to block donations to the site ? have taken a financial toll on WikiLeaks, which has been forced to suspend publishing to focus on fundraising. Assange has said the organization needs $3.5 million to keep it going into 2013.

Assange also faces potential legal action in the U.S., where prosecutors are weighing criminal charges, and where he could be dragged into the case of Bradley Manning, a U.S. Army analyst suspected of disclosing secret intelligence to WikiLeaks.

Manning remains in custody at Fort Leavenworth prison in Kansas. A military court hearing to decide whether he will stand trial is due to begin Dec. 16.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111204/ap_on_re_us/wikileaks

soulja boy jason campbell android ice cream sandwich shia labeouf teleprompter ashley greene mukesh ambani

Trump blasts Paul for smacking him in forum-skip (Politico)

Donald Trump apparently didn't take kindly to Ron Paul's decision to skip the NewsMax-hosted forum moderated by the developer and reality TV star, saying it created a circus-like atmosphere around the presidential race.

"As I said in the past and will reiterate again, Ron Paul has a zero chance of winning either the nomination or the presidency," Trump said in a statement in response to Paul, adding, "my poll numbers were substantially higher than any of his poll numbers, at any time."

Continue Reading

"Few people take Ron Paul seriously and many of his views and presentation make him a clown-like candidate," he said. "I am glad he and Jon Huntsman, who has inconsequential poll numbers or a chance of winning, will not be attending the debate and wasting the time of the viewers who are trying very hard to make a very important decision."

Trump referred to his book that's coming out and his claim he is worth more than $7 billion, and asked why he is "not the right person to lead this country out of economic chaos or at least to moderate a debate. I would like to see how Ron Paul would fair in the world of big business."

Paul was the first candidate competing in Iowa to reject the invitation for the Dec. 27 event. His move may give cover to other candidates to do the same - although Trump's comments are a reminder of the potential problem with skipping it.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/politico_rss/rss_politico_mostpop/http___www_politico_com_news_stories1211_69693_html/43794392/SIG=11m0bpcdm/*http%3A//www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/69693.html

blackhawks tigers tigers rangers nlcs nlcs josh beckett

Former conjoined toddlers continue recovery in Va. (AP)

RICHMOND, Va. ? Doctors expect two formerly conjoined toddlers from the Dominican Republic to return home by Christmas after recovering from separation surgery in Virginia.

Maria and Teresa Tapia underwent complicated, nearly daylong surgery on Nov. 8 at the Children's Hospital of Richmond at Virginia Commonwealth University. In a series of procedures, the surgical team divided the twins' liver, pancreas and other shared organ systems and reconstructed their abdominal walls.

"They are enjoying life now that they're separated," said their mother, Lisandra Sanatis. "They enjoy seeing themselves as individuals."

While they're getting accustomed to exploring their surroundings separately, they still stay near each other and hold hands when they walk.

After being in Richmond for several months now, Sanatis says she and her daughters are more than ready to leave the confines of the hospital and are anxious to return to their family in their native country.

"We're missing our family, and the girls miss their little brother, Lisander," Sanatis said.

They also haven't acquired a taste for American fare ? including hospital meals ? preferring instead to get takeout Dominican food, including the traditional beans and rice and other dishes.

Well-wishers have extended their support, including Rocio Castanos, a friend of the Dominican first lady who popped in Thursday for a visit on the twins' last full day in the hospital. Castanos, who lives in Richmond, brought each girl a stuffed animal and offered to cook them some sancocho, a traditional Dominican soup.

Dr. David Lanning, a surgeon and head of the medical team that is caring for the 20-month-old girls, says both children have been recovering well.

Maria, the smaller of the two, weighs about 19 pounds, and Teresa weighs about 26 pounds. Lanning expects the disparity in their weight, caused by the configuration of their small intestines and blood flow from the liver, to gradually even out.

Maria's pancreas is slow to produce digestive enzymes, but she is taking replacement enzymes. Teresa is undergoing treatment on the incision where the girls were separated.

The toddlers were scheduled to leave the hospital Friday. They will remain in Richmond while they undergo outpatient therapy to relearn walking and otherwise reorient their movements now that they're no longer attached.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111202/ap_on_re_us/us_conjoined_twins

mariska hargitay gmcr ohio news caracal beef wellington beef wellington ronnie brown

Even unconsciously, sound helps us see

ScienceDaily (Dec. 2, 2011) ? "Imagine you are playing ping-pong with a friend. Your friend makes a serve. Information about where and when the ball hit the table is provided by both vision and hearing. Scientists have believed that each of the senses produces an estimate relevant for the task (in this example, about the location or time of the ball's impact) and then these votes get combined subconsciously according to rules that take into account which sense is more reliable. And this is how the senses interact in how we perceive the world.

However, our findings show that the senses of hearing and vision can also interact at a more basic level, before they each even produce an estimate," says Ladan Shams, a UCLA professor of psychology, and the senior author of a new study appearing in the December issue of Psychological Science, a journal published by the Association for Psychological Science. "If we think of the perceptual system as a democracy where each sense is like a person casting a vote and all votes are counted (albeit with different weights) to reach a decision, what our study shows is that the voters talk to one another and influence one another even before each casts a vote."

"The senses affect each other in many ways," says cognitive neuroscientist Robyn Kim. There are connections between the auditory and visual portions of the brain and at the cognitive level. When the information from one sense is ambiguous, another sense can step in and clarify or ratify the perception. Now, for the first time, Kim, Megan Peters, and Ladan Shams, working at the University of California Los Angeles, have shown behavioral evidence that this interplay happens in the earliest workings of perception -- not just before that logical decision-making stage, but before the pre-conscious combination of sensory information.

To demonstrate that one sense can affect another even before perception, the researchers showed 63 participants a bunch of dots on a screen, in two phases with a pause between them. In one phase, the dots moved around at random; in the other, some proportion moved together from right to left. The participants had to indicate in which phase the dots moved together horizontally. In experiment 1, the subjects were divided into three groups. While they looked at the dots, one group heard sound moving in the same direction as the right-to-left dots, and stationary sound in the random phase. A second group heard the same right-to-left sound in both phases. The third group heard the identical sound in both phases, but it moved in the opposite direction of the dots. In the second and third conditions, because the sound was exactly the same in both phases, it added no cognitively useful information about which phase had the leftward-moving dots. In experiment 2, each participant experienced trials in all three conditions.

The results: All did best under the first condition -- when the sound moved only in the leftward-motion phase. The opposite-moving sound neither enhanced nor worsened the visual perception. But surprisingly, the uninformative sound -- the one that traveled leftward both with the leftward-moving dots and also when the dots moved randomly -- helped people correctly perceive when the dots were moving from one side to the other. Hearing enhanced seeing, even though the added sense couldn't help them make the choice.

The study, says Kim, should add to our appreciation of the complexity of our senses. "Most of us understand that smell affects taste. But people tend to think that what they see is what they see and what they hear is what they hear." The findings of this study offer "further evidence that, even at a non-conscious level, visual and auditory processes are not so straightforward," she says. "Perception is actually a very complex thing affected by many factors."

"This study shows that at least in regards to perception of moving objects, hearing and sight are deeply intertwined, to the degree that even when sound is completely irrelevant to the task, it still influences the way we see the world," Shams says.

The article is entitled, "How adding non-informative sound improves performance on a visual task."

Recommend this story on Facebook, Twitter,
and Google +1:

Other bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Association for Psychological Science.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111202155759.htm

peru earthquake peru earthquake big 12 last minute halloween costumes rum diary klipsch image s4 chris bosh

Pentagon F-35 chief calls for slower production (reuters)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/168868669?client_source=feed&format=rss

chris carpenter the brothers grimm the brothers grimm penn state football weather boston grimm fairy tales grimm fairy tales

?Kids Kicking Cancer? Helps Conquer Pain ? Detroit 2020

An amazing program started in the Detroit area is now being followed in other countries around the world. It?s called Kids Kicking Cancer?a non-profit program that teaches kids as young as 2 or 3 to use mind over matter when dealing with the pain of cancer treatment.

Over the next several months, Kids Kicking Cancer seminars will be held in communities throughout the Detroit area. See below for the locations.

Carolyn Clifford has a look at Kids Kicking Cancer?

?

Michael Hunt is 24 years old ? an age doctors told him he would never reach.?? When he was 9, Michael was diagnosed with muscle cancer.? Doctors removed four ribs and replaced them with plastic.? When his mom asked if they could replace the plastic as he grew, they said that wouldn?t be necessary because he wouldn?t live long enough to outgrow the original implant.

Michael was in the very first kids kicking cancer class at Children?s Hospital.? This non-profit provides weekly classed for children both in-patient and out-patient in the mind-body techniques found in martial arts.? The mission is to ease the pain of very sick children while empowering them to heal physically, spiritually and emotionally.

Through karate, these tiny cancer patients are taught how to deal with pain from needles, chemotherapy or radiation, even pain from depression.

Through breathing exercises and what they call pushing away the darkness, kids like Kate Michaels, who is only 5 and was recently released from the hospital, learn to deal with what most adults would find devastating.

Twelve years ago Robbi Elimelich Goldberg, who is fondly referred to as Rabbi G, started this program with ten kids.? Today it serves 2200.

31 years ago Rabbi G lost his own child to leukemia and realized children were being held down when a shot was needed.? He knew there must be a better way.? So the karate expert with more than 15 years of study began teaching kids suffering from cancer how karate could teach them how to cope with the pain.

The program has spread by word of mouth.? Now other hospitals, even in other countries, are calling to find out the magic of Kids Kicking Cancer.

Board president Lila Lazarus says it is exciting to see such a heartwarming program begin here in Detroit and then travel across the globe.

Kids Kicking Cancer used to rely on $600,000 in federal funds.? Today that money is gone.? So fundraising efforts are underway to preserve this program that has helped so many people like Michael, who has now gone from student to teacher.? He says he wants to give back, but working with the kids helps him continue on his own journey.

Kids Kicking Cancer seminars will be held in communities throughout the Detroit area.

Here is a list of upcoming seminars:

2011
December 12th ? LA SED Community Center in Detroit 5:30 p.m.

2012
January 30th ? The Berman Center for the Performing Arts 7:00pm

January 31st ? Ford Community and Performing Arts Center

February 16th ? Shenandoah Country Club

February 28th ? Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History

Times are not yet set for some of the seminars.? For more information, call the Kids Kicking Cancer office at (313) 557-0021

Click here to go to the Kids Kicking Cancer website.

Source: http://detroit2020.com/2011/12/01/kids-kicking-cancer-helps-conquer-pain/

pharrell pharrell silver bullet joshua komisarjevsky russell simmons russell simmons joseph kony

Paul's Iowa Rise Faces Hurdle (WSJ)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/167122016?client_source=feed&format=rss

thanksgiving recipes thanksgiving recipes mashed potato recipe mashed potato recipe cranberry sauce green bay packers packers

After centuries, Bethlehem church to get new roof

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) ? Preparations for a long-needed renovation of the 1,500-year-old Church of the Nativity are moving ahead in Bethlehem, the town of Jesus' birth, in the face of political and religious conflicts that have kept one of Christendom's holiest sites in a state of decay for centuries.

The first and most urgent part of the renovation, initiated by the Palestinian government in the West Bank, is meant to replace the building's roof. Ancient wooden beams pose a danger to visitors, officials say, and leaks have already ruined many of the church's priceless mosaics and paintings.

If the repairs go ahead as planned next year, it will be the first time the crumbling basilica has seen major renovation work in more than a century and a half.

Altering a building like the Church of the Nativity, built 1,500 years ago on the site of a church 200 years older than that, is never a simple affair. The building is shared by three Christian sects ? Catholics, Greek Orthodox and Armenians ? who have traditionally viewed each other with suspicion and are wary of upsetting the brittle status quo that governs the site.

To repair a part of the church is to own it, according to accepted practice, meaning that letting other sects undertake renovations or pay for them could allow one to gain ground at another's expense.

The resulting paralysis and disrepair has been a recurring theme at the church.

"In the roof the timbers which were constructed in ancient times are rotting, and this structure is falling daily into ruin," wrote one visitor. That was in 1461.

Some measure of the complications involved in a renovation of this type can be found in the Nativity's similarly ancient and fractious sister church, the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. When a 1927 earthquake badly damaged that building, it took the rival sects more than three decades to agree to major repairs and another three to complete them.

Today, the increasingly dire state of the Nativity's roof and the intervention of an external player in the form of the Palestinian Authority ? which has circumvented the old rivalries and allowed all to save face ? has led the three churches to agree to a renovation to be arranged and funded by the Palestinian government and international donors.

The Palestinian Authority, the Western-backed government that wields limited control in the West Bank under Israel's overall control, sees the church as its premier tourist attraction, with 2 million foreign visitors last year.

The PA and its president, Mahmoud Abbas, are eager to win recognition for the basilica from UNESCO as a world heritage site, but an earlier application was not accepted because UNESCO did not consider the Palestinian government a state. That changed last month, when, in a controversial decision that triggered a funding cutoff by the United States, the U.N.'s cultural arm decided to grant recognition.

The Palestinians are now hoping their application will be approved. The renovation is motivated, in part, by a desire on their part to prove they are responsible stewards of sites of global importance.

"Our president has issued a decree to restore the roof and to prepare for the restoration of the church on behalf of the three churches and in coordination with the three churches, which obviously cannot do it on their own," said Khouloud Daibes, the Palestinian tourism minister.

A high-tech survey by experts from Canada, Italy and elsewhere ended earlier this year. Palestinian officials hope the three churches will sign off on the plans and that the renovation itself will begin in 2012. It is expected to cost between $10 and $15 million.

The roof is in such poor condition that there is a "risk of collapsing beams within the wooden structure which could hurt people inside the church," said Issam Juha of the Centre for Cultural Heritage Preservation, one of the official Palestinian bodies in charge of the UNESCO application.

"We recognize that this is a necessity that goes beyond our different claims, and that this has to be done," said Father Athanasius, the Roman Catholic clergyman in charge of relations with other sects at shared sites in the Holy Land.

Archbishop Aris Shirvanian of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem said his church supported the plan, along with the other churches. A Greek Orthodox representative did not respond to requests for comment.

To someone standing on the worn marble floors of the basilica amid cassocked monks and busloads of tourists and looking upward, the roof appears as an aging latticework of wooden beams, some of them visibly warped.

The roof was first built, along with the rest of the basilica, by the Byzantine emperor Justinian in the 6th century A.D. following the destruction of the original church built on the site of the grotto where Jesus was believed to have been born. Some of Justinian's massive wooden beams are still in use.

In 1480, with Bethlehem under Muslim rule and the roof disintegrating, permission was granted to replace it. Philip, Duke of Burgundy, sent craftsmen, wood and iron. King Edward IV of England sent lead, and the Doge of Venice provided ships. Major work was carried out again two centuries later.

When the British controlled the Holy Land between 1917 and 1948, they recognized the urgency of replacing the roof but simply could not navigate the explosive rivalries between the sects in the church, traditionally backed by powers like France and Russia.

In the mid-1800s the tensions had become so fierce that Russian Czar Nicholas I actually deployed troops along the Danube to threaten a Turkish sultan who had been favoring the Catholics over the Orthodox.

The British managed only small repairs. The same went for the Jordanians, who ruled Bethlehem from 1948 to 1967, and for the Israelis, who captured the West Bank from the Jordanians and turned the city over to the Palestinian Authority in the 1990s.

A UNESCO report in 1997 found that because of water leaking from the roof, most of the mosaics and paintings, some dating from Byzantine times, had been "damaged beyond repair."

In the similar case of the renovation of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the sects put aside their differences only when they realized that their holy building was in danger of collapse, said Raymond Cohen of Hebrew University in Jerusalem, an international relations professor who wrote a book about that renovation project. There was also a measure of judicious outside intervention by a Jordanian official at the right time, he said.

Something similar appears to have happened here.

"The paradox is that everyone needs to repair it, but they can't agree," Cohen said. "When the place is about to fall down, it focusses the mind."

___

Follow Matti Friedman at www.twitter.com/MattiFriedman

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-11-27-ML-Palestinians-Ancient-Church/id-4e91a0cde7c14de7a3c008d20089d23d

koch brothers dash diet weather phoenix dippin dots lindsey vonn lindsey vonn triumph the insult comic dog