Jackson legacy expected to thrive after trial (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? The private world of Michael Jackson, fiercely shielded by the superstar in life, was exposed in the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray. But rather than suffering harm from revelations of drug use, experts say Jackson's legacy and posthumous earning power will survive any damage done and could actually grow after he was portrayed as a victim of a money-hungry doctor.

Jackson died before he could launch a series of highly anticipated comeback concerts in London as he tried to regain the towering status he enjoyed when he released the "Thriller" album in 1983.

But his death did breathe new life into record sales and boosted other projects to generate hundreds of millions of dollars for his estate, even as his already tarnished personal life took another hit by revelations about his drug use.

Jackson zoomed to the top of the Forbes Magazine list of highest earning dead celebrities and his executors are moving quickly on more projects designed to burnish the performer's image and expand the inheritance of his three children.

A Cirque du Soleil extravaganza, "Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour" opens in Las Vegas this weekend, a precursor to a permanent installation at the Mandalay Bay Hotel, and fans are expected to flock there for a "Fan Fest" exhibit of Jackson memorabilia.

After the trial, a judge made it clear that the defense effort to cast Jackson as the villain in the case had been a miserable failure. Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter, called a reckless opportunist and sentenced to the maximum four years in prison.

Judge Michael Pastor also blasted Murray for experimenting on the pop star with the operating-room anesthetic propofol to help him battle debilitating insomnia, even though the drug was never meant to be used in a private home.

Some experts say the revelations made the King of Pop look more like a regular person coping with a difficult challenge.

"In the final analysis, not a lot of damage was done," Jackson biographer J. Randy Taraborelli said. "I think the trial humanized Michael Jackson. It presented him as a human being with problems."

As evidence unfolded, "It definitely made our hearts go out to Michael Jackson. He was a person suffering a great deal and not getting the help he needed," the author said.

Taraborelli said the entertainer's family, fans and estate executors were concerned before the trial that testimony would paint Jackson as responsible for his own death while resurrecting past accusations of child molestation and bizarre behavior by the King of Pop.

But the judge limited testimony and evidence to Jackson's final months and specifically ruled out any mention of the 2005 molestation trial.

Thomas Mesereau Jr., the attorney who won Jackson's acquittal in that case, believes the Murray trial did damage Jackson's reputation but said the impact would likely be short term.

"It certainly didn't help to have all this testimony about drug use," Mesereau said. "But as time passes, people will focus more on his music and the negatives will fade."

While Murray was ultimately shown to be negligent, the portrait of his patient that emerged during the trial was one of an aging superstar desperate to cement his place in entertainment history while providing a stable home life for adored children, Paris, Prince and Blanket.

The image of Jackson as a caring father had never been illustrated quite so vividly. A probation officer who interviewed Jackson's mother, Katherine, said she told him: "Michael Jackson was his children's world, and their world collapsed when he left."

A leading expert on the licensing and branding of dead celebrities believes the trial engendered so much sympathy for Jackson that in the long run it will eclipse negative fallout from his past.

"I don't think any tawdry revelations that may have come out of the trial will have any impact on his lasting legacy," said Martin Cribbs, who is based in New York. "We as a society tend to give everyone a second chance. Michael's legacy will be like Elvis and the Beatles. It will be his music, his genius. and his charitable works "

Cribbs has represented the estates of such deceased luminaries as Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein, Steve McQueen and Mae West.

He is not involved in the Jackson estate but praised its executors' efforts. Beginning with the rapid release of the concert movie, "This Is It," he said, "They have done a brilliant job of reminding us of Michael's genius."

Taraborelli also cited the film based on rehearsals for Jackson's ill-fated concerts as a spectacular move setting the stage for a posthumous comeback of the Jackson entertainment empire.

"It made you want to embrace him," said the author of "Michael Jackson: The Magic and the Madness."

Jackson's eccentricities and bizarre behavior often made headlines. Whether it was traveling with a chimp named Bubbles, sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber or dangling his baby Blanket off a balcony, he managed to alienate many people. The molestation trial pushed him further from the mainstream.

"That all ended on the day the news was announced that Michael was dead," said Lance Grode, a former music executive and onetime attorney for Jackson who now teaches legal issues in music at University of Southern California.

"The public decided they prefer to remember Michael as this great superstar and music prodigy and to forgive and forget any negative things they had heard over the last 10 or 15 years," Grode said. "Nothing came out at the trial that was nearly as bad as things they had heard in the past."

Grode said evidence of public acceptance is seen in the Jackson estate's ability to generate a half-billion dollars in the wake of his death.

The Cirque show, which launched in Canada, is slated for 150 dates across North America through July and expected to run through 2014 internationally. The permanent Las Vegas show is due in 2013.

The year he died, Jackson sold 8.3 million albums in the U.S. ? nearly twice as many as second-place Taylor Swift ? and "This Is It" became the highest-grossing concert film and documentary of all time.

Joe Vogel, author of a new book on Jackson's music, and others said the most shocking part of the Murray trial was the playing of a recording of a drugged Jackson slurring his words while dreaming aloud about his future concert and his plans to build a fantastic state of the art children's hospital.

Vogel said the recording, found on Murray's cell phone, reveals the dark side of Jackson's world.

"Michael had a difficult life. He said once that you have to have tragedy to pull from to create something beautiful and inspiring. And that's what he did. His music has staying power," Vogel said.

Rich Hanley, a pop culture specialist who teaches journalism at Connecticut's Quinnipiac University, said Jackson had "complexities on top of complexities."

"There may be collateral damage to his reputation from the trial. His inner sanctum was penetrated for the first time," he said.

However, "his music is eternal. It brings universal joy to people and will continue as much as Elvis' work continues to attract new fans even though he's been gone for generations," Hanley said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111201/ap_en_ce/us_michael_jackson_legacy

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Ex-Wis. Gov. Thompson launches GOP bid for Senate (AP)

MADISON, Wis. ? The toughest opponent Tommy Thompson may have to overcome in next year's U.S. Senate race is Tommy Thompson himself.

The former Wisconsin governor and U.S. Cabinet secretary was set to formally launch his Senate bid with a rally Thursday, 13 years since he last appeared on a ballot.

Early in the campaign, Thompson has been criticized by Democrats and Republicans alike about his shifting position on President Barack Obama's health care reform law. And conservatives in his party say his record as governor and as President George W. Bush's first health and human services secretary was far too moderate.

"The world has changed since he was elected to office," said Chris Chocola, president of the conservative Club for Growth, which has endorsed one of his opponents, former U.S. Rep. Mark Neumann. "Now we're talking about how much less we'll spend rather than how much more we'll spend."

The growth in state spending and the size of government during his 14 years as governor are being cast as a liability by Thompson's rivals, and his consensus-building approach to politics seems almost quaint in the current bitterly partisan political environment.

But Thompson has some things the two more conservative GOP candidates in the race don't: More than 40 years in public life, unparalleled name recognition, and a vast reservoir of good will.

"It's going to be a very bloody, divisive primary where most of the fire is focused on Thompson and his big spending record and flip flopping on issues," said Matt Canter, a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

The seat, which has been in Democratic hands since 1957, is opening due to Herb Kohl's retirement. A victory in Wisconsin would be a major pickup for Republicans looking to regain control of the Senate.

One of those challenging Thompson is Jeff Fitzgerald, the conservative speaker of the Wisconsin state Assembly, who helped shepherd through the Legislature Gov. Scott Walker's proposal attacking union rights. The other is Neumann, who also has support from U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, a South Carolina Republican who is a favorite among tea party conservatives.

The only Democrat running is U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, a liberal from Madison.

Fitzgerald said his recent record delivering on the conservative agenda sets him apart from Thompson and Neumann.

"I'm kind of the outside guy, the dark horse," Fitzgerald said. "I have the clear cut message that I just delivered on these promises."

Fitzgerald said Thompson's former statements in support of health care reform are a liability.

"I think he's got a problem with that with our base," Fitzgerald said.

Neumann said repealing Obama's health care reform package is one of the top issues with conservative voters and his call for repealing it has been the most consistent message from Republican candidates.

Thompson declined to be interviewed but instead sent an email statement defending his conservative credentials, citing welfare reform and implementation of school choice programs.

"People said I was too conservative to run for governor," Thompson said in the email. "I won and we sparked a successful conservative revolution right here in Wisconsin."

The biggest issue Thompson's had to deal with in the nascent campaign, and one that could be pivotal as he tries to survive a Republican primary, is his position on Obama's health care reform law.

Thompson initially spoke favorably of the law and the need for health care reform, while also raising concerns about some parts of Obama's proposal, including the mandate forcing people to buy health insurance. As it was working its way through Congress, Thompson called Obama's proposal "another important step" toward achieving health care reform.

He now favors repeal of the law, saying it wasn't the right solution.

Just hours before Thompson's event Thursday, Club for Growth circulated computer screen shots showing Thompson as recently as 2010 was a board member for a coalition called America's Agenda, which included labor unions and others that advocated passage of Obama's health care reform law.

Thompson reiterated in his email that he was committed to repealing the Obama health care reforms.

Thompson was the strongest Republican advocate for the law at the time it was being debated, said Canter with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Obama himself even mentioned Thompson in 2009 as a supporter of health care reform, even though most congressional Republicans oppose it.

By now arguing for repeal, Thompson is "catering to what's in his best political interests," Canter said.

Thompson is facing a problem common to candidates who run for election after long absences from office, said Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College. Often the issues of the day and the focus of a party's agenda shift if there's a long gap between runs, he said.

"In the 1990s this country was in a time of great prosperity, and at least the federal budget was in surplus," he said. "It's a completely different situation now."

Thompson, who was first elected to the state Assembly in 1966 and was elected governor four times starting in 1986, has cultivated a base of supporters unlikely to leave him, while Fitzgerald and Neumann are fighting over largely the same pool of more conservative voters, said University of Wisconsin political science professor Charles Franklin.

"That divides the more conservative wing of the party which is probably to Thompson's benefit in a three-way race," Franklin said. "Anything he does to divide the competition is probably good."

___________

Henry C. Jackson in Washington contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/uscongress/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111201/ap_on_el_se/us_wisconsin_senate

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Why do some people never forget a face?

[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 2-Dec-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Divya Menon
dmenon@psychologicalscience.org
202-293-9300
Association for Psychological Science

"Face recognition is an important social skill, but not all of us are equally good at it," says Beijing Normal University cognitive psychologist Jia Liu. But what accounts for the difference? A new study by Liu and colleagues Ruosi Wang, Jingguang Li, Huizhen Fang, and Moqian Tian provides the first experimental evidence that the inequality of abilities is rooted in the unique way in which the mind perceives faces. "Individuals who process faces more holistically"that is, as an integrated whole"are better at face recognition," says Liu. The findings will appear in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, a journal published by the Association for Psychological Science.

In daily life, we recognize faces both holistically and also "analytically"that is, picking out individual parts, such as eyes or nose. But while the brain uses analytical processing for all kinds of objectscars, houses, animals"holistic processing is thought to be especially critical to face recognition," says Liu.

To isolate holistic processing as the key to face recognition, the researchers first measured the ability of study participants337 male and female studentsto remember whole faces, using a task in which they had to select studied faces and flowers from among unfamiliar ones.

The next two tasks measured performance in tasks that mark holistic processing. The composite-face effect (CFE) shows up when two faces are split horizontally and stuck together. It's easier to identify the top half-face when it's misaligned with the bottom one than when the two halves are fitted smoothly together. "That's because our brain automatically combines them to form a new"and unfamiliar"face," says Liu: evidence of holistic processing. The other marker of holistic processing is the whole-part effect (WPE). In this one, people are shown a face, then asked to recognize a part of itsay, the nose. They do better when the feature is presented within the whole face than when it stands on its own among other noses: again, we remember the nose integrated into the whole face. The researchers also assessed participants' general intelligence.

The results: Those participants who scored higher on CFE and WPEthat is, who did well in holistic processingalso performed better at the first task of recognizing faces. But there was no link between facial recognition and general intelligence, which is made up of various cognitive processesa suggestion that face processing is unique.

"Our findings partly explains why some never forget faces, while others misrecognize their friends and relatives frequently," says Liu. That's why the research holds promise for therapies for that second category of people, who may suffer disorders such as prosopagnosia (face blindness) and autism. Knowing that the mind receives a face as one whole thing and not as a collection of individual parts, "we may train people on holistic processing to improve their ability in recognizing faces," Liu says.

###

For more information about this study, please contact: Jia Liu at liujia@bnu.edu.cn.

The APS journal Psychological Science is the highest ranked empirical journal in psychology. For a copy of the article "Individual Differences in Holistic Processing Predict Face-recognition Ability" and access to other Psychological Science research findings, please contact Divya Menon at 202-293-9300 or dmenon@psychologicalscience.org.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 2-Dec-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Divya Menon
dmenon@psychologicalscience.org
202-293-9300
Association for Psychological Science

"Face recognition is an important social skill, but not all of us are equally good at it," says Beijing Normal University cognitive psychologist Jia Liu. But what accounts for the difference? A new study by Liu and colleagues Ruosi Wang, Jingguang Li, Huizhen Fang, and Moqian Tian provides the first experimental evidence that the inequality of abilities is rooted in the unique way in which the mind perceives faces. "Individuals who process faces more holistically"that is, as an integrated whole"are better at face recognition," says Liu. The findings will appear in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, a journal published by the Association for Psychological Science.

In daily life, we recognize faces both holistically and also "analytically"that is, picking out individual parts, such as eyes or nose. But while the brain uses analytical processing for all kinds of objectscars, houses, animals"holistic processing is thought to be especially critical to face recognition," says Liu.

To isolate holistic processing as the key to face recognition, the researchers first measured the ability of study participants337 male and female studentsto remember whole faces, using a task in which they had to select studied faces and flowers from among unfamiliar ones.

The next two tasks measured performance in tasks that mark holistic processing. The composite-face effect (CFE) shows up when two faces are split horizontally and stuck together. It's easier to identify the top half-face when it's misaligned with the bottom one than when the two halves are fitted smoothly together. "That's because our brain automatically combines them to form a new"and unfamiliar"face," says Liu: evidence of holistic processing. The other marker of holistic processing is the whole-part effect (WPE). In this one, people are shown a face, then asked to recognize a part of itsay, the nose. They do better when the feature is presented within the whole face than when it stands on its own among other noses: again, we remember the nose integrated into the whole face. The researchers also assessed participants' general intelligence.

The results: Those participants who scored higher on CFE and WPEthat is, who did well in holistic processingalso performed better at the first task of recognizing faces. But there was no link between facial recognition and general intelligence, which is made up of various cognitive processesa suggestion that face processing is unique.

"Our findings partly explains why some never forget faces, while others misrecognize their friends and relatives frequently," says Liu. That's why the research holds promise for therapies for that second category of people, who may suffer disorders such as prosopagnosia (face blindness) and autism. Knowing that the mind receives a face as one whole thing and not as a collection of individual parts, "we may train people on holistic processing to improve their ability in recognizing faces," Liu says.

###

For more information about this study, please contact: Jia Liu at liujia@bnu.edu.cn.

The APS journal Psychological Science is the highest ranked empirical journal in psychology. For a copy of the article "Individual Differences in Holistic Processing Predict Face-recognition Ability" and access to other Psychological Science research findings, please contact Divya Menon at 202-293-9300 or dmenon@psychologicalscience.org.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-12/afps-wds120211.php

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Clinton, Suu Kyi vow to promote Myanmar reforms (AP)

YANGON, Myanmar ? U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, two of the world's most recognizable women leaders, pledged on Friday to work together to bring democracy to Suu Kyi's long isolated and repressive nation.

Wrapping up a historic three-day visit to Myanmar, Clinton held hands with Suu Kyi on the porch of the Nobel peace laureate's lakeside home where she spent much of the past two decades under house arrest and thanked her for a her "steadfast and very clear leadership." The meeting was the second in as many days for the pair who appeared to have bonded almost as sisters after a private, one-on-one dinner in Yangon on Thursday.

"You have been an inspiration but I know that you feel you are standing for all the people of your country who deserve the same rights and freedoms as people everywhere," Clinton told Suu Kyi. "The people have been courageous and strong in the face of great difficulty over too many years. We want to see this country take its rightful place in the world."

Suu Kyi has welcomed Clinton's visit and tentatively embraced reforms enacted by Myanmar's new civilian government. She thanked the secretary and U.S. President Barack Obama for their "careful and calibrated" engagement that has seen the U.S. take some modest steps to improve ties.

"We are happy with the way in which the United States is engaging with us," she said. "It is through engagement that we hope to promote the process of democratization. Because of this engagement, I think our way ahead will be clearer and we will be able to trust that the process of democratization will go forward."

As she did in the capital of Naypyidaw on Thursday, Clinton said more significant incentives will be offered but only if the government releases all political prisoners, ends brutal campaigns against ethnic minorities, respects the rule of law and improves human rights conditions.

Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy party won 1990 elections that were ignored by the then-military junta but now plans to run in upcoming parliamentary elections, endorsed that approach and called for the immediate release of all political prisoners and cease-fires to end the ethnic conflicts..

"If we move forward together I am confident there will be no turning back on the road to democracy," Suu Kyi said, referring to her party, the government, the United States and other countries, including Myanmar's giant neighbor China. "We are not on that road yet, but we hope to get there as soon as possible with the help and understanding of our friends."

Suu Kyi, a heroine for pro-democracy advocates around the world, said Clinton's visit, the first by a secretary of state to Myanmar in more than half a century, represented "a historical moment for both our countries."

With U.S. assistance and pressure on the government, which is still backed by the military, she said she believed change was on the horizon for Myanmar

"There have been times that Naypyidaw has weakened but I don't think it has ever really broken," she said.

Clinton's meetings with Suu Kyi were the highlight of the U.S. secretary of state's visit to the long-isolated country known as Burma and forcefully underscored a U.S. challenge to Myanmar's leaders: The new civilian government must expand recent reforms, including the release of political prisoners, to improve relations as it emerges from more than a half-century of repressive military rule.

"We believe that any political prisoner anywhere should be released," the Clinton told reporters on Thursday. "One political prisoner is one too many in our view."

U.S. officials warned that even the modest incentives Clinton offered to Myanmar's new, military-backed leaders this week would come off the table if the country fails the political-prisoners and other tests of reform.

In meetings with top Myanmar officials in the capital of Naypyidaw and then with Suu Kyi in the commercial hub of Yangon, Clinton said the country's leaders must end violent campaigns against ethnic minorities and break military ties with North Korea

Clinton offered a small package of rewards for steps President Thein Sein and other leaders have already taken but said the U.S. was not ready to lift tough sanctions on the country. Removing some of those sanctions would require approval by Congress, where many lawmakers have criticized the Obama administration for rewarding Myanmar too quickly without enough evidence of change.

The modest first steps Clinton announced include Washington no longer blocking enhanced cooperation between Myanmar and the International Monetary Fund that could lead to the approval of much-needed loans and support for the poorest nation in the region. Also, the U.S. would support intensified U.N. health and microfinance programs and resume bilateral counternarcotics efforts.

Those steps could be followed by an upgrade in diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Myanmar, Clinton said, although U.S. officials stressed that concrete action on American concerns must be completed first. The U.S. has not had an ambassador in Myanmar since the early 1990s and is represented now by a charge d'affaires.

___

Associated Press writer Aye Aye Win in Yangon contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111202/ap_on_re_as/as_clinton_myanmar

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Biden urges Turkey to impose new sanctions on Iran (AP)

ANKARA, Turkey ? Vice President Joe Biden called on Turkey to impose new sanctions against Iran, while praising Ankara for its role in pressuring Syria to stop its bloody crackdown on protesters.

A top U.N. human right official warned Thursday that Syria has entered a state of civil war with more than 4,000 people dead and an increasing number of soldiers defecting from the army to fight President Bashar Assad's regime.

Turkey announced a set of economic sanctions against Syria earlier this week, as Assad continues with his attempts to crush an 8-month-old revolt against his autocratic rule.

Biden told the Turkish daily Hurriyet: "We look forward to the broadening of international sanctions as a means to bring about change in Syria."

Biden also urged Ankara to adopt further sanctions against Iran, which the West suspects is trying to develop nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful.

On Friday, Biden met President Abdullah Gul and Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek but was not expected to meet Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan who is recovering from a surgery.

Biden also said that the United States "will continue to work with Turkey on pursuing shared interests in the Middle East and North Africa."

"We continue to support a diplomatic solution to our concerns with Iran," Biden said. "However, we also believe that putting pressure on Iran's leadership is necessary to secure a negotiated settlement and that is why we encourage our partners, including Turkey, to take steps to impose new sanctions on Iran."

An Iranian general said Saturday that Tehran would target NATO's early warning radar in Turkey if the U.S. or Israel attacks the Islamic Republic after an International Atomic Energy Agency report said for the first time that Tehran was suspected of conducting secret experiments whose sole purpose was the development of nuclear arms.

Ankara agreed to host the radar in September as part of NATO's missile defense system, which is capable of countering ballistic missile threats from its neighbor, Iran. Turkey insists the shield doesn't target a specific country but Tehran says the radar is meant to protect Israel from Iranian missile attacks if a war breaks out with the Jewish state.

The U.S. and its Western allies suspect Iran of trying to produce atomic weapons, and Israel, which views Tehran as an existential threat, has warned of a possible strike on Iran's nuclear program.

Biden was also expected to encourage Turkey to repair ties with its formerly close ally Israel. As a long-serving member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Biden cemented his reputation as an unyielding supporter of Israel, winning the respect of many in the Jewish community.

Relations between Turkey and Israel remain strained following last year's Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla that killed eight Turkish citizens and a Turkish-American.

"It pains us to see the two of them at odds because they're both such close partners of the United States," Antony Blinken, national security adviser to Biden, told a teleconference briefing from Washington on Monday. "And the bottom line is that improved relations between Turkey and Israel would be good for Turkey, good for Israel and good for the United States and indeed good for the region and the world so that's something we will continue to encourage."

The leaders will also discuss Turkey's conflict with autonomy-seeking Kurdish rebels. The United States has deployed four Predator drones to Turkey from Iraq and also agreed to sell three helicopter gunships to help Turkey's fight against the rebels, who stage attacks on Turkish targets from their bases in northern Iraq.

Biden said the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of December would not leave "chaos behind."

"As the majority of U.S. forces have already withdrawn from Iraq, we do not expect that the security environment in northern Iraq will change dramatically," Biden said.

Biden, meanwhile, voiced concern over human rights issues in Turkey.

"We have made known our concerns over such issues as lengthy pre-trial detention and restrictions on the freedom of expression affecting journalists and the Internet," he said, adding that Turkey's plans for a new constitution should "deepen respect for human rights for all Turkish citizens."

Turkey is also under pressure to reopen a seminary that trained generations of Greek Orthodox patriarchs. The Halki Theological School on Heybeliada Island, near Istanbul, was closed to new students in 1971 under a law that put religious and military training under state control. The school closed its doors in 1985, when the last five students graduated.

"In many ways, Turkey has shown great tolerance toward minority religions. The continued closure of the seminary is an anomaly and an unnecessary mark against Turkey's international image," Biden said.

From Turkey Biden will travel to Greece, where he will meet with new Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, who took office earlier this month.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111202/ap_on_re_eu/eu_turkey_biden

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Conner River ? Dealing with your own Household pets in Moving

30November2011

When moving to a different location of house you?d probably surely not want your pets to be forgotten. In the end, they?ve been a part of the loved ones for a long and have spent time and also emotions together. In moving areas, pets also ought to be thought to be secondly following all of your things. Phoenix moving company tells that moving is usually a stressful matter for persons and it really is the same along with your pets. But somewhat understand how of this matter, the trip can be pleasant for each you and your pet.

Most moving company in Phoenix will allow pets within their automobiles. Prior to travelling, it really is much better to provide pets drinking water in the morning and also limit the amount of food you might let them have the night just before the travel. If travelling involves nighttime journey, limit also the food you might give them at night. Kennels of huge canines ought to be placed on the vehicle first, then put every canine one by one after the kennel is in its correct location. Don?t forget to bring along water and also food for pets so they may not get starved until eventually you reach house. Leashes of pets ought to be placed on the kennel door so it will be prepared after necessary. For a mess free travel, normally maintain a poop scooper prepared. As travel possibly as well a lot stressful for pets, be sure to provide them objects to maintain them cozy and also calm like blanket or favorite toys. Household pets ought to also be kept protected in their kennels or cages by making certain that the doors are locked securely and adequately. Household pets may well move around the vehicle and get into furniture and boxes that could result to injuries.

In the course of stopovers or when at rest location, it really is much better to walk canines and cats to relieve them from stress. If time permits that you just quit inside a hotel, give your pets little food. Enable canines out of their kennels and the cats outdoors of their cage. If the hotel includes a pet area, you can leave them there till you?ve enough rest and are set to continue your trip.

Source: http://www.connriver.net/dealing-with-your-own-household-pets-in-moving.html

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Border staff, teachers join major UK strike (AP)

LONDON ? Airline passengers face chaos at immigration halls and school closures may force parents to take children into work Wednesday as Britain's biggest strike in decades threatens to wreak havoc.

Labor union leaders have warned that the strike may just be the start of a wave of disruption, with public workers opposing government plans to reform pensions, demands that they work longer before receiving a pension and contribute more money each month.

The unions claim as many as two million border agency workers, teachers, garbage collectors, firefighters and other public sector staff will join the 24-hour strike which begins shortly after midnight, plunging air travel and many basic services into disarray.

Many strikers will also be motivated by Britain's painful austerity measures, which on Tuesday saw the government extend a limit on public sector pay rises through 2014.

Airport operator BAA, which runs London's Heathrow airport, has warned that passengers could face 12-hour delays as immigration staff leave their posts. Education officials say nine out of 10 schools will close.

"For most people, the size of this strike will be unprecedented in their lifetime," said John Kelly, a professor of industrial relations at the Birkbeck University of London.

Kelly said that if around 1.5 million to 2 million workers join the strike it would be the largest one-day walkout since the early 1970s. If the numbers exceed that, it could match Britain's 1926 General Strike, he said.

Prime Minister David Cameron has implemented an 81 billion pound ($126 billion) four-year program of public spending cuts, aiming to tackle debts he accuses the previous Labour Party government of racking up before the 2010 election.

The Office for Budget Responsibility ? Britain's national economic forecaster ? predicted Tuesday that 710,000 public sector jobs will be lost by 2017 under government spending cuts, higher than a previous estimate of 400,000.

"Not only is austerity hitting growth, the way it is being applied means unfairness is growing," said Dave Prentis, general secretary of UNISON, the country's largest trade union which represents about 1 million health, education and law enforcement staff.

"The government's cuts and austerity agenda is hitting women, the young, and making those who are less able to pay plug the deficit," he said.

Prentis has already warned that the strike could be followed by more industrial action in the new year ? particularly if no deal on pension reform is reached.

Ministers insist that Britain has no option but to reform its public pensions because people are living longer, and because the gap between contributions and pension payments could rise to 9 billion pounds per year by 2015.

Cameron insists that the deal being offered to public sector workers is fair and said his government wouldn't be swayed by the strike ? which ministers estimate will cost Britain as much as 500 million pounds ($770 million) in lost productivity.

"It is not going to achieve anything and it will be damaging to our economy," Cameron said Monday, during a visit to the northwestern English city of Manchester.

Education Secretary Michael Gove accused militant labor leaders of spoiling for a fight with the government ? evoking ex-Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher's battle with unions during the 1984-1985 miners' strike.

Gove said that some labor unions involved in the latest action had won the support of less than 50 percent of their members for the strike.

"They want scenes of industrial strife on our TV screens. They want to make economic recovery harder ? they want to provide a platform for confrontation just when we all need to pull together," Gove said Monday in a speech.

Kelly said that Wednesday's action will be large in scale because it is being limited to 24 hours. Many of the infamous disputes of the 1970s and 1980s were drawn out over weeks and months.

Ahead of the walkouts, Middle East carrier Etihad Airways and Greece's Aegean Airlines said they had already canceled some flights into London scheduled for Wednesday. British Airways, Virgin Atlantic Airways and Cathay Pacific have all agreed to waive fees for passengers who want to rebook flights.

Gatwick Airport has warned travelers to be prepared for "significant disruption." Other parts of London's transport network, including its subway, won't be affected.

Workers from across the public sector who are not planning to join the strike ? including some officials at Cameron's office ? are being drafted in to help staff immigration counters.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/britain/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111129/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_britain_strike

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Jackson's doctor to learn punishment for death (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? Michael Jackson's doctor will learn his punishment Tuesday for ending the life and career of one of pop music's greatest entertainers and for leaving his three children without a father.

Conrad Murray is set to be sentenced for involuntary manslaughter after a six-week trial that presented the most detailed account yet of Jackson's final hours but left many questions about Murray's treatment of the superstar with an operating-room anesthetic as he battled chronic insomnia.

Prosecutors want Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor to sentence Murray to a maximum four-year term that likely would be cut at least in half due to jail overcrowding. Defense attorneys want probation for the cardiologist, saying he will lose his ability to practice medicine and likely face a lifetime of ostracism.

Jackson's family members will have an opportunity to speak before Murray is sentenced, although it remained unclear if any planned to make a statement. The singer's mother Katherine and several siblings routinely attended the trial, and members of the family cried after Murray's verdict was read in court.

Jackson's death in June 2009 stunned the world, as did the ensuing investigation that led to Murray being charged in February 2010.

Murray told detectives he had been giving the singer nightly doses of propofol to help him sleep as he prepared for a series of comeback concerts. Propofol is supposed to be used in hospital settings and has never been approved for sleep treatments, yet Murray acknowledged giving it to Jackson then leaving the room on the day the singer died.

Murray declined to testify during his trial but did opt to participate in a documentary in which he said he didn't consider himself guilty of any crime and blamed Jackson for entrapping him into administering the propofol doses. His attorneys contended throughout the case that Jackson must have given himself the fatal dose when Murray left the singer's bedside.

In their sentencing memorandum, prosecutors cited Murray's statements to advocate that he receive the maximum term. They also want him to pay restitution to the singer's three children ? Prince, Paris and Blanket.

It's unlikely that Murray can pay any sizable sum, including the $1.8 million cost of his funeral. He was deeply in debt when he agreed to serve as Jackson's personal physician for $150,000 a month, and the singer died before Murray received any money.

During Murray's trial, a jury heard a slurred recording of Jackson found on Murray's cell phone. The doctor or his attorneys never explained in court why he recorded the impaired singer six weeks before his death, but it revealed the ambition of the entertainer who burst on the scene as a baby-faced member of the Jackson Five in the 1970s.

"We have to be phenomenal," he was heard saying about his "This Is It" concerts in London. "When people leave this show, when people leave my show, I want them to say, `I've never seen nothing like this in my life. Go. Go. I've never seen nothing like this. Go. It's amazing. He's the greatest entertainer in the world.'"

Jackson's comeback attempt came after he had been pushed into obscurity. Despite his acquittal of child molestation in 2005, Jackson went into seclusion, leaving his lavish manor Neverland Ranch and moving to the Middle East and Las Vegas, where he first met Murray.

Prosecutors said the men's relationship was corrupted by greed. Murray left his practices to serve as Jackson's doctor and look out for his well-being, but instead acted as an employee catering to the singer's desire to receive propofol to put him to sleep, prosecutors said.

Murray showed no emotion when he was convicted.

"The defendant has displayed a complete lack of remorse for causing Michael Jackson's death," prosecutors wrote in a filing last week. "Even worse than failing to accept even the slightest level of responsibility, (Murray) has placed blame on everyone else, including the one person no longer here to defend himself, Michael Jackson."

Murray's attorneys are relying largely on 34 letters from relatives, friends and former patients to portray Murray in a softer light and win a lighter sentence. The letters and defense filings describe Murray's compassion as a doctor, including accepting lower payments from his mostly poor patients.

"There is no question that the death of his patient, Mr. Jackson, was unintentional and an enormous tragedy for everyone affected," defense attorneys wrote in their sentencing memo. "Dr. Murray has been described as a changed, grief-stricken man, who walks around under a pall of sadness since the loss of his patient, Mr. Jackson."

Pastor also will review a report by probation officials that carries a sentencing recommendation. The report will become public after Murray is sentenced.

The report may also feature input from the doctor, who was heard during the trial in a lengthy interview recorded by police.

Murray's trial was closely watched by Jackson's fans in the courtroom, on social networking sites and via live broadcasts online and on television. Fan groups are planning to return to the courthouse and vie for the few public seats that will be made available for the sentencing.

___

Follow Anthony McCartney at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/music/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111129/ap_en_mu/us_michael_jackson_doctor

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Border staff, teachers join 1-day UK strike (AP)

LONDON ? Airline passengers arriving in Britain escaped chaos early Wednesday despite dire predictions of long waits, as border staff joined teachers, hospital workers and weather forecasters in the country's largest strike in decades.

The one-day strike has been called in protest at the government's plan to make public sector pensions less generous in the years ahead. The pension reforms are part of a package of austerity measures designed to get a grip on the country's high borrowing levels.

London's Heathrow Airport and scores of airlines had warned that international travelers could be held in lines for up to 12 hours at immigration halls as a result of staff shortages. But airport managers said flights arriving early Wednesday from the United States, Asia and Europe were largely unaffected, in part because of contingency plans which saw bureaucrats drafted in to staff border desks.

"Immigration queues are currently at normal levels," Heathrow's operator BAA said in a statement. "However, there still remains a possibility of delays for arriving passengers later in the day."

Labor unions said as many as 2 million public sector staff were expected to join the strike, called to oppose government demands that they work longer before receiving a public pension and contribute more money each month.

A government report found taxpayers contribute about 32 billion pounds ($50 billion) each year to public sector pensions, and warned the gap between contributions and payments could rise to 9 billion pounds ($14 billion) by 2015.

Strikers were also protesting sharp public spending cuts, which on Tuesday saw the government extend pay curbs further. When the current freeze runs out, the government has set a 1 percent limit on public sector pay rises through 2014.

Announcing an extension of austerity measures, Treasury chief George Osborne said the age for collecting state pensions would be raised to 67 in 2026, earlier than previously planned.

The decision followed an official forecast which marked down Britain's predicted growth to a feeble 0.7 percent next year, from the previous 2.5 percent prediction made in March.

Eleanor Smith, president of UNISON ? the country's largest trade union which represents about 1 million health, education and law enforcement staff ? said many of those joining the walkouts were striking for the first time.

"The government wants us to work longer, pay more and at the end get less. How fair is that?" said Smith, who joined a picket outside Birmingham Women's Hospital in central England, where she works as a theater nurse.

John Kelly, a professor of industrial relations at the Birkbeck University of London, said the strike was likely to be Britain's largest one-day walkout since the early 1970s. If the numbers exceed 2 million, it could match the 1926 General Strike, he said

"For most people, the size of this strike will be unprecedented in their lifetime," said Kelly.

However, at ports and airports the initial impact on services appeared limited.

Debbie Arnell, a 42-year-old apprenticeship assessor from Bournemouth, southern England, arrived at Heathrow early on Wednesday after a holiday in Philadelphia, and said conditions were good.

"I have used this terminal seven times before and today was better than usual," she said. "They were even giving out free fruit and water, which they don't usually do. It's almost like they have overcompensated."

Britain's government said at least half of England's 21,700 state schools were closed, and that around three-quarters of schools in the U.K. could eventually be forced to shut early.

Health officials said 60,000 non-urgent operations, outpatient appointments, tests and follow-up appointments had been postponed in England, while in Scotland at least 3,000 operations and thousands more hospital appointments were canceled.

Botanists, nuclear physicists and catering staff at the Houses of Parliament ? who formed picket lines outside the famous building ? joined the strike, while off Britain's northernmost tip, ferry services were suspended to the Shetland Isles as a result of the action.

"The strike is not going to achieve anything, it's not going to change anything," Osborne said. "It is only going to make our economy weaker and potentially cost jobs."

Earlier this week, Education Secretary Michael Gove accused militant labor leaders of ignoring Britain's economic reality and spoiling for a fight with the government ? evoking ex-Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher's battle with unions during the 1984-1985 miners' strike.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/britain/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111130/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_britain_strike

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Video: The Roadmap: Europe, AMR & Earnings

CNBC's Jim Cramer, Melissa Lee, David Faber, and Carl Quintanilla discuss today's market moving headlines, including Italian bond yields on the rise, AMR's bankruptcy filing, and earnings.

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Business & financial news headlines from msnbc.com

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/45476621/

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