Dwayne Wade admits he fathered a 'son' during break with Gabrielle Union

Yesterday news broke that Miami Heat point guard Dwayne Wade got a well-known Miami groupie pregnant while he and fiancee Gabrielle Union were on a 'break' early this year. The reports are true. The basketball player says he has nothing to hide and admits his new son was conceived during the few weeks he and girlfriend of 4 years actress Gabrielle Union were on a break. He said his son was born in late November.

Dwayne yesterday addressed the report during a press conference before the Heat game where he was asked about his new baby. He said:

“I’m in the public eye, so obviously that’s a part of it. But, it’s kind of … as I’ve always done my whole life, is always focus on what’s most important to me and my family, and that’s being a great father. I’ve always tried to show my importance in my kids’ lives and it doesn’t change now. But, yeah, I had a time, in our pain and our hurt, (but) a blessing came out of it in my life, having a son that was born healthy. So, I’m moving on.”

He said he and Gabby worked through the issue privately as a couple and that she was aware of the child before their engagement in December. Dwayne also has two sons with his ex-wife.

Hmmmm.. this doesn't sound right to me. They were on a short 'break' and he went and got another woman pregnant? How many of you females would have accepted his ring? Would you stay with a man who had a child with another woman during your relationship? Let's discuss this...

Sad News – Wole Soyinka’s Daughter Iyetade Soyinka Is Dead

Iyetade Soyinka the daughter of the great novelist and nobel prize winner Wole Soyinka is  dead. She was born June 6, 1965 and she passed on at the university teaching hospital Ibadan, the cause of her death hasn’t yet been disclosed  all we know is she died in the hospital where she was being treated for an undisclosed ailment.

Her death was disclosed in a statement signed by Jahman Anikulapo who is Wole Soyinka’s aide; In the statement we were made to know that Iyetade Soyinka was a student at staff School and Queens School, Ibadan and she later furthered her studies at  the University of Ibadan school of medicine. The statement described Iyetade Soyinka as  a “affable, intelligent and sometimes capricious,” woman adding that she “struggled with her health in recent years.” Despite her health woes, the late Iyetade Soyinka “greeted every day with a smile and doted on her two children.”

“Iyetade leaves behind two children, both parents, numerous siblings, nieces and nephews.” No funeral arrangements were announced in the statement.

Kanye West buys mini Lamborghini for 6 months daughter

Kanye bought a tiny replica of his Batmobile-styled Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4 for his six months old daughter, North West, as a Xmas gift. The child-size electric version of the rare $750,000 black supercar car is said to be worth thousands of dollars. A car North can't ride for years to come.

Kim posted the pic above on instagram yesterday, with the caption ''Like father like daughter''.

Apple and China Mobile sign deal to sell iPhones in January

Apple plans to offer the iPhone to more than 760 million China Mobile customers starting in  January, which could help it increase its share from the fifth position in this growing market.
The company already sells its phones in China through two other carriers in the country -- China Telecom and China Unicom -- but a deal with China Mobile, the largest in the country, had eluded it for some time. One reason is that China Mobile uses a different wireless telecommunications standard from its competitors.
As part of an agreement announced Sunday, Apple's iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C will be available from China Mobile and Apple retail stores in China on Jan. 17. Preregistration of the phones will begin on the carrier's website and through its customer service hotline from Wednesday.
The pricing of the iPhone 5S and 5C for China Mobile will be available at a later date, Apple said in a statement.
Apple's share of the Chinese smartphone market reached 8 percent in the third quarter, according to research firm Canalys. Samsung Electronics was the largest player with a 21 percent market share, followed by Lenovo with a 13 percent share. Local player Yulong Computer Telecommunication with 11 percent market share and Huawei with 9 percent share took the third and fourth places.
China issued 4G licenses in December to three local carriers including China Telecom, which has been deploying base stations across the country using a 4G technology known as LTE TDD (Long-Term Evolution Time Division Duplex). Apple had been unwilling previously to support China Telecom's TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access) 3G network technology, but on Sunday it announced that the iPhones would run on both the 4G TD-LTE and the 3G TD-SCDMA networks.
China Mobile's 4G services will be available in 16 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen by the end of this year, according to a joint statement by the two companies. By the end of 2014, China Mobile plans to complete the rollout of more than 500,000 4G base stations, which will cover more than 340 cities with 4G service, it added.
Apple added in September NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest carrier, to its list of customers for the iPhone.

World leaders attempt to pull South Sudan from brink of civil war

US President Barack Obama on Sunday firmly vowed to take more action in South Sudan if needed amid growing fighting after deploying extra US troops, as the United Nations (UN) promised to send more peacekeepers.
The announcements came as world leaders embarked on a diplomatic push to pull the world’s youngest nation back from the brink of all-out civil war.
Special envoys from the US and Nigeria were expected in the capital Juba following a mission by foreign ministers from east Africa and the Horn.
Mr Obama revealed that US troops attacked by unidentified gunmen on Saturday as they approached the rebel-held city of Bor aboard CV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft were part of a unit of about 46 troops sent that day to help evacuate Americans.
That contingent was in addition to another 45 troops sent this week to help protect US citizens, personnel and property at Washington’s embassy in the capital Juba.
"As I monitor the situation in South Sudan, I may take further action to support the security of US citizens, personnel and property, including our embassy, in South Sudan," Mr Obama wrote in a letter to Congress.
Foreign governments, including in Britain, Kenya, Lebanon, Uganda and the US, have been evacuating their nationals.
The US earlier safely evacuated US nationals from Bor, a day after the aborted mission in which four US servicemen were wounded.
Mr Obama has called for an end to the violence, warning the country was on the "precipice" of civil war and that any military coup would trigger an end to diplomatic and economic support from Washington and its allies.
Fighting has gripped South Sudan for a week, after President Salva Kiir accused his former deputy Riek Machar of attempting a coup. Mr Machar has denied the claim, and has accused Mr Kiir of carrying out a vicious purge of his rivals.
The clashes have left hundreds dead and sent tens of thousands of people fleeing for protection in UN bases or to safer parts of the country, which only won independence from Sudan in 2011, but remains blighted by ethnic divisions, corruption and poverty.
There are both ethnic and political dimensions to the fighting, as troops loyal to Mr Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, battle forces backing Mr Machar, a Nuer.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon called for an immediate end to the violence three days after two Indian peacekeepers were murdered when a UN compound where civilians were sheltering was attacked in the powder-keg state of Jonglei.
According to the UN, some 20 Dinka ethnic civilians were also killed in the assault.
The UN mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) announced plans to reinforce its military presence in Bor and Pariang to help protect civilians.
Forces loyal to Mr Machar are currently in control of Bor, the capital of Jonglei state situated about 200km north of Juba, although South Sudan’s army spokesman said government troops were advancing to retake the town.
Pariang is located in Unity state, the country’s main oil-producing area, which the government has acknowledged is currently in the hands of the rebels.
The UN said it had begun evacuating "non-critical" staff from Juba, where nearly 20,000 civilians have taken refuge at UN bases.
The world body’s humanitarian chief in South Sudan warned that the country has "unravelled." Toby Lanzer, who also serves as deputy head of UNMISS, said the crisis was the result of "an armed struggle within the ruling party with innocents stuck in the middle". A local official in Bentiu — the rebel-held capital of Unity state — said the area was littered with bodies following the fall of the town, which was speeded by the defection of a top government commander.
"There are so many bodies, over a hundred not yet buried," the local official, who asked not to be named, told AFP.
A witness from the area also said unidentified militiamen have been roaming the area for days, setting up road blocks and robbing passers-by.
The witness, who asked not to be identified, suggested fighters from nearby Darfur in Sudan may also have moved to the area to profit from the instability, adding there were unconfirmed reports of rapes.
Sudan People’s Liberation Army spokesman Philip Aguer confirmed that "Unity state is currently divided, with the SPLA and the loyalists to the government on one side and those who are supporting Riek Machar on the other." Oil production accounts for more than 95% of South Sudan’s fledgling economy, and the sector has been hit with oil companies also flying out their employees after the death of at least five South Sudanese oil workers Wednesday.
Juba’s ambassador to Khartoum, however, insisted that oil facilities had not been damaged and oil was still flowing.

India anti-graft crusader to be Delhi chief minister

India's anti-corruption crusader Arvind Kejriwal announced Monday he would head a state government for New Delhi in a stunning breakthrough for his fledgling party just months before a general election.

The former tax official is set to become chief minister in a minority administration after his Aam Aadmi (Common Man) Party won the second highest number of seats in the state assembly polls earlier this month.

The Congress party, which is in power at national level and ran New Delhi for years before being trounced in the state elections, said it would provide support for a Kejriwal-led government but would not join it.

"The people of Delhi want us to form the government. We are ready to form the government," he told reporters, as elsewhere AAP supporters danced in celebration and waved brooms -- the party's symbol for a clean sweep of graft-ridden politics.

Although the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the most seats in the assembly, it has declined to form government without a majority, in the fortnight since the results were announced.

Aam Aadmi won 28 of the 70 seats in the assembly, trouncing Congress whose share slumped to eight.

The BJP, which is expected to come out on top in a general election due in May, won 31 seats and a BJP ally took one.

Kejriwal had been wary of accepting support from either Congress or the BJP, given that many voters cited the two parties' record on corruption as their reason for siding with Aam Aadmi.

But an Aam Aadmi official said that 74 percent of supporters who took part in an informal poll had endorsed the idea of it forming a government.

The party, born out of an anti-corruption movement that swept India two years ago, has tapped into anger about everyday graft as well as scandals that have embroiled the national government.

Kejriwal, 44, only started the party a year ago but has indicated that he wants to field candidates across the country in the general election.

Although analysts say his party has no chance of winning at national level given its lack of finance and infrastructure, the showing in Delhi has underlined its potential to damage the BJP and Congress when the world's biggest democracy goes to the polls.

Kejriwal pledged in its manifesto this month to send corrupt politicians to jail and end the VIP culture of Delhi's political elite.

He has also promised to slash power prices for Delhi families by cracking down on falsely inflated bills and give households 700 litres of free water a month -- promises critics have dismissed as extravagant and unrealistic.

"We will start working (on our promises) immediately. The job of any government is to provide good governance and we are confident of living up to our pre-poll promises," AAP spokeswoman Shazia Ilmi told AFP.

Chandra Mohan Sharma, an AAP supporter who turned out to hear Kejriwal's announcement Monday, said unlike the major parties Aam Aadmi would never let the common people down.

"They (AAP) just have to remove the middlemen and change the corrupt system and prices will come down automatically," said Sharma, 45.

Former chief minister Sheila Dikshit, who oversaw Congress's defeat in the polls, said her party would give "issue-based support from outside" to Kejriwal's administration in Delhi.

"We are not going to be a part of the government," she told NDTV news network.

The BJP slammed Kejriwal's decision to form the government with support from Congress, accusing it of hypocrisy.

"The AAP has been accusing the Congress of being the most corrupt party in the whole world. And now just for the sake of attaining power, they have compromised with the same corrupt Congress," said Harsh Vardhan, the BJP's chief ministerial candidate for Delhi.

The Congress-led national government has been hit by a string of major corruption scandals, ranging from allegations of illegal distribution of cut-price telecom licences to the 2010 graft-tainted Commonwealth Games.

2 Members of Pussy Riot Freed Under Amnesty Law

  Two women from the punk group Pussy Riot serving two-year prison terms for staging a protest performance against President Vladimir V. Putin in Moscow’s main cathedral were released on Monday under a new amnesty law.

The case of Maria Alyokhina, who was set free from a prison in the western city of Nizhny Novgorod on Monday morning, and her co-defendant, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, who was released later in the day in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, had drawn international condemnation of Russia’s human rights record. Critics said their prosecution and relatively stiff sentences represented a brutal repression of free speech.

In a telephone interview on Monday, Ms. Alyokhina said she did not want amnesty and that officials had forced her to leave the prison. She said that the amnesty program was designed to make Mr. Putin look benevolent, and that she would have preferred to serve the remainder of her sentence.

“I think this is an attempt to improve the image of the current government, a little, before the Sochi Olympics — particularly for the Western Europeans,” she said. “But I don’t consider this humane or merciful.”

She added, “This is a lie.”

“We didn’t ask for any pardon,” said Ms. Alyokhina. “I would have sat here until the end of my sentence because I don’t need mercy from Putin.” The women had been jailed since March 2012 and would have been released within the next three months.

On Thursday, hours after the adoption of the amnesty law, Mr. Putin said that he would also grant clemency to Russia’s most famous prisoner, Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, the former Yukos oil tycoon. Mr. Khodorkovsky was released from a penal colony in northern Russia later that night and flown to Berlin, where he held a news conference on Sunday.

While Mr. Putin has described the amnesty law and Mr. Khodorkovsky’s pardon as efforts to make the Russian criminal justice system more humane, it has also underscored his singular authority in this country and, to critics, the very arbitrariness of the Russian legal process that rights groups have long denounced.

The two women were convicted, along with a third woman, Yekaterina Samutsevich, whose sentence was later overturned on appeal, of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred. The women had insisted repeatedly that they were motivated not by antireligious sentiment but by opposition to Mr. Putin and to Russia’s political system.

They said they had chosen the church, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, for their “punk prayer” to criticize the political support for Mr. Putin and the Kremlin shown by the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kirill 1.

The Russian Parliament, at Mr. Putin’s direction, passed the sweeping amnesty law last week, and it was also expected to bring the release of the Greenpeace activists recently arrested while protesting oil exploration in the Arctic.

Others who stand to benefit from the law include defendants accused of crimes in connection with an antigovernment protest that turned violent after Mr. Putin’s re-election as president.

The members of Pussy Riot, Mr. Khodorkovsky and the Greenpeace activists had all become international symbols for critics of the Russian system, and could well have been the subject of protests and demonstrations during the Winter Olympics, which will be held in the southern Russian city of Sochi in February.

It has not been clear, however, whether Mr. Putin was motivated by the Olympics or some other factors. About to enter his 15th year as Russia’s pre-eminent political leader, he seems increasingly confident and in control, though he may soon face serious challenges as a result of the country’s slowing economy.

Anticipation for the release of Ms. Tolokonnikova, the best-known of the Pussy Riot protesters, has been building since last week, when it became clear that the amnesty law approved by Parliament would cut short her sentence.

Ms. Tolokonnikova’s transfer to Siberia in November was not seen as an effort to punish her further. Instead, it brought her closer to her grandmother who lives in Krasnoyarsk, and where Ms. Tolokonnikova spent many summers as a child.

For a little more than a month, she has been held in a prison hospital on the edge of the city, where her husband, Pyotr Verzilov, and a handful of journalists arrived last week and have waited for news outside the prison gates in freezing temperatures.

More than 2,600 miles from Moscow, Krasnoyarsk has often been the site of exile for political opponents by Russia’s rulers dating to the Decembrist rebellion in the 18th century, when elites demanding a Constitution from the tsar were sent there.

Under Stalin, the city became a major hub in the gulag system; today there are seven prisons within the city limits and 23,000 inmates in the region. Heavy Soviet-era prison trucks regularly rumble through the streets, past the gingerbread wooden cottages that dot the landscape of former factories, many built by prisoners but now collapsed.

A sign on the front of the prison holding Ms. Tolokonnikova seeks to set the current correctional system apart from this history. It says, “Today the criminal penitentiary system is not a gulag — it’s a center of socio-psychological help for convicts and a system of transitional technology.”

Ms. Tolokonnikova’s official home address is in Krasnoyarsk, where she often lived in the summers with her paternal grandmother, Vera I. Tolokonnikova, in a typical, run-down Soviet apartment bloc. The apartment is located less than a half-mile from the prison-hospital, and family members indicated she would stay with her grandmother for a while after her release.

Man throws boy then self off NY highrise

A man involved in a custody dispute has thrown his three-year-old son off the roof of a 52-story Manhattan apartment building before jumping to his own death, police say.

Officers responding to an emergency call reporting two jumpers from the building on the Upper West Side around noon on Sunday found Dmitriy Kanarikov, 35, and the boy on the lower rooftops of two separate nearby buildings.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene and his son, Kirill Kanarikov, was pronounced dead at a hospital, police said. A witness said the boy was wearing Christmas pyjamas.

The boy's mother had custody of the child and the father, who had visitation rights, was supposed to hand the boy over to the mother at a police precinct Sunday afternoon, authorities said.

Luis Ortiz told the New York Post that he was at the hospital when paramedics rushed the boy there and that they were pumping his chest and working on him.
'You could tell he was slipping away. They said the father was up there, but they didn't bring anyone else in. It was just heartbreaking. I have two kids of my own. They tried to do the best they could,' Ortiz told the newspaper.
Ortiz told the New York Daily News that the tot was dressed in Christmas pyjamas.

It's the second time this year that a parent and child have been involved in a fatal plunge from a New York apartment building.
In March, a woman clutching her baby son in her arms plunged eight stories out of a Harlem apartment window to her death, but the 10-month-old survived. Authorities found a suicide note in her home.

Justine Sacco apologizes for offensive AIDS tweet after being fired

Justine Sacco, the PR Exec at InterActiveCorp, who tweeted "Going to Africa, hope I don't get AIDS' has issued a statement, apologizing for making the racist Tweet. She issued the statement today to South African paper, The Star, a day after she was fired by IAC. The apology below...

“Words cannot express how sorry I am, and how necessary it is for me to apologize to the people of South Africa, who I have offended due to a needless and careless tweet. There is an AIDS crisis taking place in this country, that we read about in America, but do not live with or face on a continuous basis. Unfortunately, it is terribly easy to be cavalier about an epidemic that one has never witnessed firsthand.

"For being insensitive to this crisis — which does not discriminate by race, gender or sexual orientation, but which terrifies us all uniformly — and to the millions of people living with the virus, I am ashamed.

"This is my father’s country, and I was born here. I cherish my ties to South Africa and my frequent visits, but I am in anguish knowing that my remarks have caused pain to so many people here; my family, friends and fellow South Africans. I am very sorry for the pain I caused.”

Deeper Life Kumuyi says Christmas is idolatrous, warns members against celebrating

The General Overseer of The Deeper Life Bible Church, Pastor W.F Kumuyi warned his church members during their annual National December Convention which held on Saturday Dec 21st, against celebrating Christmas, because according to him it is idolatrous and unscriptural.

Kumuyi said;

“We don’t celebrate Christmas. It actually came from idolatrous background. That is why you don’t hear us sing what they call Christmas carol, Never! We always say it is the December retreat. We are only gathering together because it is the holiday period and love the lord more, and rededicate ourselves more.

“When you find anybody coming in, or any leader, trying to introduce the idolatry of mystery Babylon, that they call Christmas and you want to bring all the Christmas carol saying that is the day that Jesus was born, and you don’t find that in the Acts of the Apostles or in the early church, then you don’t find that in the church either.  If you don’t know that before, now you know.

Well, let's all try to respect other people's beliefs. Meanwhile, other Christian leaders have replied Kumuyi, saying Christmas is not idolatrous but biblical. Continue..



A Catholic priest, Monsignor Gabriel Osu, said

“I don’t know what he means by saying the practice of celebrating Christmas is wrong. Is he saying that Christ wasn’t born? That he didn’t come to die for us? Does he not celebrate his own birthday? Do Kumuyi’s pastors not celebrate him? It is not everything I react to; some people just seek attention. If Kumuyi is a Christian, then he must believe in Christ.

“The celebration of Christmas didn’t just start today; it is too public an event for anyone to say that they don’t know what it is about. “If Kumuyi is condemning the commercialisation of Christmas, I can understand that. Christ came to redeem us from our lost state; this was actualised through his coming, his birth; that is why we celebrate Christmas. It is the fulfilment of God’s promise.”

"Kumuyi is just saying what he feels; he is not making any doctrinal statement.”

Centre to give Aam Aadmi Party a few more days to form govt: Sushilkumar Shinde

 "We will give some more days (to AAP) for government formation in Delhi. This a democratic process," he said.

The Centre today said it will give a few more days to Aam Admi Party (AAP) to explore the possibility of forming a government in Delhi where political uncertainty continues after the recent Assembly elections threw a hung verdict.
Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde told reporters that the Central government has asked the Lieutenant Governor as to how much time the AAP has sought for formation of government in Delhi.
"We will give some more days (to AAP) for government formation in Delhi. This a democratic process," he said.
Shinde's statement indicated that the Central government was not in a hurry to impose President's rule in Delhi and ready to wait at least till Monday when AAP, with 28 MLAs in its kitty, makes public its decision whether to form the government after eliciting views from the people.
AAP had sought time from Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung to take a decision whether to form government after Congress, with eight MLAs, offered outside support to the Arvind Kejriwal-led party.
The party had set 18 conditions for Congress and BJP before it can decide on taking their support to form a government. Congress had then put the ball in AAP's court, saying 16 of its 18 demands needed just administrative decisions and had nothing to do with Parliament or assembly.
However, AAP on Tuesday had announced that it would distribute 25 lakh copies of letters seeking people's views on the issue of government formation and then replies will be accepted till Sunday.
In a House of 70, BJP(31) and its ally Akali Dal(1) together have 32 seats, four short of majority while AAP has 28 seats.
The Lt Governor has already recommended that Delhi be put under President's rule with the new assembly in suspended animation among other options.
Imposition of central rule was was one of the options listed by Jung in his report submitted to the President after his consultations with BJP, the single largest party, followed by AAP

Devyani Khobragade row: India demands US apology

Government minister Kamil Nath urged the US to admit it had made a mistake.

US Secretary of State John Kerry's expression of "regret" over the incident was not enough, he said.
Deputy consul general Devyani Khobragade denies visa fraud and making false statements, after being accused of underpaying her Indian maid.

She was handcuffed and strip-searched last week - her arrest and alleged "humiliation" has led to a major diplomatic row between India and the US.

Ms Khobragade appeared in a Manhattan court last Friday and was freed on a $250,000 (£153,000) bail. She has in turn accused the maid, Sangeeta Richard, of theft and attempting to blackmail her.

Delhi has ordered a series of reprisals against the US. Security barricades around the US embassy in the city were removed and a visiting US delegation was snubbed by senior Indian politicians and officials.

'Not acceptable' On Wednesday, Mr Kerry spoke to Indian National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon, who had described the treatment as "despicable and barbaric".
He said the "unfortunate" incident should not damage US-Indian relations.
But on Thursday, India said nothing short of an apology would suffice.
"Just regretting and completing a formality is not acceptable. We are not happy. The way they have handled this case, their behaviour and attitude... they will have to apologise," Mr Nath, who is parliamentary affairs minister, told reporters in Delhi on Thursday.
"They should admit that they have committed a mistake and only then will we be satisfied."
Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid, however, said India wanted to ensure the row did not damage its "valuable relationship" with the US.

Most complete Neanderthal genome shows inbreeding

The most complete sequence to date of the Neanderthal genome suggests they inbred with their family members while occasionally interbreeding with modern humans, a new study has found.

The study, that used DNA extracted from a woman's toe bone that dates back 50,000 years, also reveals a long history of interbreeding among at least four different types of early humans living in Europe and Asia at that time.

University of California, Berkeley, scientists Montgomery Slatkin, Fernando Racimo and Flora Jay were part of an international team of anthropologists and geneticists who generated a high-quality sequence of the Neanderthal genome and compared it with the genomes of modern humans and a recently recognised group of early humans called Denisovans.

The comparison shows that Neanderthals and Denisovans are very closely related, and that their common ancestor split off from the ancestors of modern humans about 400,000 years ago. Neanderthals and Denisovans split about 300,000 years ago.

Though Denisovans and Neanderthals eventually died out, they left behind bits of their genetic heritage because they occasionally interbred with modern humans.

The team estimates between 1.5 and 2.1 per cent of the genomes of modern non-Africans can be traced to Neanderthals.

Denisovans also left genetic traces in modern humans, though only in some Oceanic and Asian populations.

The analysis finds that the genomes of Han Chinese and other mainland Asian populations, as well as of native Americans, contain about 0.2 per cent Denisovan genes.

The genome comparisons also show that Denisovans interbred with a mysterious fourth group of early humans also living in Eurasia at the time.

That group had split from the others more than a million years ago, and may have been the group of human ancestors known as Homo erectus, which fossils show was living in Europe and Asia a million or more years ago.

In another analysis, Jay discovered that the Neanderthal woman whose toe bone provided the DNA was highly inbred.

The woman's genome indicates that she was the daughter of a very closely related mother and father who either were half-siblings who shared the same mother, an uncle and niece or aunt and nephew, a grandparent and grandchild, or double first-cousins, scientists said.

Researchers also identified at least 87 specific genes in modern humans that are significantly different from related genes in Neanderthals and Denisovans, and that may hold clues to the behavioural differences distinguishing us from early human populations that died out.

BP of 150/90 new normal for people over 60

New guidelines suggest that people over 60 can have a higher blood pressure than previously recommended.

Until now, people were told to strive for blood pressures below 140/90, with some taking multiple drugs to achieve that goal.

But the guidelines committee, which spent five years reviewing evidence, concluded that the goal for people over 60 should be a systolic pressure of less than 150. And the diastolic goal should remain less than 90.

Systolic blood pressure, the top number, indicates the pressure on blood vessels when the heart contracts. Diastolic, the bottom number, refers to pressure on blood vessels when the heart relaxes between beats.

Essentially, the committee determined that there was not strong evidence for the blood pressure targets that had been guiding treatment, and that there were risks associated with the medications used to bring pressures down.

The committee, composed of 17 academics, was tasked with updating guidelines last re-examined a decade ago.

The group added that people over 60 who are taking drugs and have lowered their blood pressure to below 150 can continue taking the medications if they are not experiencing side effects.

But, it cautioned, although efforts to lower blood pressure have had a remarkable effect, reducing the incidence of strokes and heart disease, there is a difference between lowering blood pressure with drugs and having lower pressure naturally.

Senate bans same sex marriage in Nigeria

The Nigerian Senate have officially banned same sex marriage in Nigeria. Man + Man = Not allowed. Woman + Woman = Go to prison. :-). Only a union between a man and a woman in a recognized worship center is allowed.

The new bill states;

1. A marriage contract or civil union entered into between persons of same sex by virtue a certificate issued by a foreign country shall be void in Nigeria.
2. Marriage or civil union entered into between persons of same sex shall not be solemnized in any place of worship either Church or Mosque or any other place whatsoever called in Nigeria.
3. Only marriage contracted between a man and a woman either under Islamic Law, Customary Law or the Marriage Act is recognized as valid in Nigeria.
4. Persons that entered into a same sex marriage or civil union contract commit an offense and are jointly liable on conviction to a term of 14 years imprisonment each.
5. Any persons or group of persons that administers, witnesses, screens, abet and aids the solemnization of a same sex marriage contract or civil union or supports the registration, operation of gay clubs, societies and organizations, processions or meetings in Nigeria commits an offense and liable on conviction to a term of 10 years imprisonment.

The bill awaits the approval of President Goodluck Jonathan.

Disabled military retirees not exempt from pension cuts in budget deal

A provision cutting the pensions of military retirees in the bipartisan budget deal that the Senate will vote on this week does not exempt disabled veterans, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.

Disabled retirees were previously thought to be exempt from the changes to military retiree pay, which could cost servicemembers up to $124,000 over a 20-year period.
The Free Beacon previously reported that military retirees under the age of 62 would receive 1 percentage point less in their annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in the plan crafted by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Patty Murray (D., Wash.).
The section of the U.S. code that has been altered also applies to disabled servicemembers, many of whom have been wounded in combat.
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.), ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, called the change “unthinkable.”
“It has been asserted that the controversial change to military retirees’ pensions affects those who are ‘working-age’ and ‘still in their working years,’ with the clear suggestion being that these individuals are able to work,” Sessions said in a statement. “That’s why I was deeply troubled when my staff and I discovered that even individuals who have been wounded and suffered a service-related disability could see their pensions reduced under this plan.”

'Great Train Robber' Ronnie Biggs dies aged 84

 Biggs gained notoriety 50 years ago as one of an 11-member gang made off with 2.6 million pounds ($4.2 million), equivalent to about 40 million pounds in today's money.

Ronnie Biggs, one of Britain's most notorious criminals known for his role in the Great Train Robbery of 1963, died on Wednesday at the age of 84, his spokeswoman said.

Biggs gained notoriety 50 years ago as one of an 11-member gang that tampered with railway signals and stopped a Royal Mail night train, making off with 2.6 million pounds ($4.2 million), equivalent to about 40 million pounds in today's money.

Biggs was caught after the robbery and received a 30-year jail sentence but escaped from prison and spent 36 years on the run, leading a playboy lifestyle in South America. He finally surrendered to British police in 2001 but was freed in 2009 on health grounds.

India outraged by strip-search of diplomat in NYC

he U.S. State Department was scrambling to tamp down Indian outrage over the arrest of a diplomat in New York City who says she was stripped- and cavity-searched over charges that she didn't pay her housekeeper enough money.
"We don't want this to negatively impact our bilateral relationship (with India), and we'll keep talking about it with them on the ground and here," said Marie Harf, deputy spokeswoman at the State Department.
"The U.S. and India enjoy a broad and deep friendship, and this isolated episode is not in any way indicative of the close and respectful ties that we share," Harf said.
Devyani Khobragade, India's deputy consul general in New York, said the U.S. Marshals Service subjected her to an intrusive search and DNA swabbing following her arrest last week outside her daughter's Manhattan school on visa charges despite her "incessant assertions of immunity."
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described the diplomat's treatment as "deplorable" and protests have broken out in India.
The case has infuriated the India government, which revoked privileges and identification cards for U.S. diplomats in India to protest her treatment. Indian police also removed security barriers around the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi.
Harf said Tuesday that the safety and security of U.S. diplomats and facilities are "a top priority. We'll continue to work with India to ensure that all of our diplomats and consular officers are being afforded full rights and protections."
Among those assailing the arrest were Narendra Modi, a candidate for prime minister in upcoming national elections for the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, and Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Nehru-Gandhi family leading India's ruling Congress party, according to the Hindustan Times. They were among Indian leaders who snubbed a visiting U.S. congressional delegation over Khobragade's treatment.

Khobragade was arrested last Thursday in Manhattan on charges that she lied on a visa application about how much she paid her housekeeper, an Indian national.
Prosecutors say the maid received less than $3 per hour for her work, far less than U.S. minimum wage laws. In an e-mail published in India media, Khobragade said she was treated like a common criminal.
"I broke down many times as the indignities of repeated handcuffing, stripping and cavity searches, swabbing, in a holdup with common criminals and drug addicts were all being imposed upon me despite my incessant assertions of immunity," she wrote.
Khobragade was released on $250,000 bail but as a condition of her release must report to police in New York every week.
Khobragade was apprehended by the U.S. Department of State's diplomatic security team and then handed over to the U.S. Marshals Service, which confirmed that it had strip-searched Khobragade and placed her in a cell with other female defendants. It described the measures as "standard arrestee intake procedures."
In India, fear of public humiliation resonates strongly and heavy-handed treatment by the police is normally reserved for the poor. For an educated, middle-class woman to face public arrest and a strip search is almost unimaginable except in the most heinous crimes.
Prosecutors say Khobragade claimed on visa application documents she paid her Indian housekeeper $4,500 per month but that she actually paid her less than $3 per hour. Khobragade has pleaded not guilty and plans to challenge the arrest on grounds of diplomatic immunity.
Harf said Khobragade does not have full diplomatic immunity. Instead, she has consular immunity from the jurisdiction of U.S. courts only with respect to acts performed in the exercise of consular functions, she said.
The State Department notified India of allegations of abuse by the maid against Khobragade in September, Harf said. If convicted, Khobragade faces a maximum sentence of 10 years for visa fraud and five years for making a false declaration.
India has retaliated against U.S. diplomats by not only revoking diplomat ID cards but demanding to know the salaries paid to Indian staff in U.S. Embassy households. India has also withdrawn import licenses that allowed the commissary at the U.S. Embassy to import duty-free alcohol and food.
In a dangerous move, police removed the traffic barricades near the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi that are designed to prevent attacks. India said the barriers clogged up traffic.
On Wednesday, dozens of people protested outside the U.S. Embassy, saying Khobragade's treatment was an insult to all Indian women. In New Delhi, the lower house of Parliament had to be temporarily adjourned Wednesday after lawmakers noisily demanded that it adopt a resolution against the United States.
Arun Jaitely, leader of the opposition in the upper house, said the government had to register its "strongest protest" to the U.S. government for the "lack of respect for India." He called for a review of India's relations with the United States, a demand that was vociferously seconded by many lawmakers.

Print Email Mega Millions lottery: Waiting for winner of jackpot ticket bought in San Jose

Who is San Jose's newest multi-millionaire and what will that person do with all that money?
One of two winning tickets in Tuesday's Mega Millions lottery drawing was purchased in San Jose, lottery officials confirmed Tuesday night. The winning ticket in the $636 million drawing -- with numbers 8, 14, 17, 20, 39 and a mega number of 7 -- was sold at Jenny's Gift Shop at 1818 Tully Road, according to California Lottery spokesman Russ Lopez.
Two California Lottery officials arrived at Jenny's Gift & Kids Wear just before 8 a.m. today to congratulate the shop owner and deliver a sign which reads "millionaire made here. Are you next?"

John Reading, a supervisor with the California Lottery, said the owner of the winning ticket has not yet stepped forward.
"Some people wait a while and get their ducks in a row," Reading said. "Others come right away ready for that money."

A second winning Mega Millions ticket was sold in Atlanta, Georgia, according to lottery officials, though it was not immediately known if there were more winning tickets.

The winners can choose to be paid over time or in a cash lump sum, Mega Millions Executive Director Paula Otto said. Based on the $636 million figure, if there are only two winners, they could receive $318 million each over time or $170 million each in cash.

Social media was buzzing late Tuesday night as people wondered who bought the lucky ticket in San Jose.

Jenny's Gift Shop owner Thuy Nguyen, who said he had just taken over the store four months ago, said lottery sales had "been keeping me real busy" Tuesday. He planned to reopen the store at 9 a.m. today.
"The lottery called me and let me know (that the winning ticket was sold here), so then when I came and take a look, everybody (was) here, and whoa!" Nguyen said with a huge grin, jumping deliriously around the parking lot before heading out to celebrate.

Nguyen added with a laugh: "I am so happy, I feel good."
Mel Cruz, a security guard at the strip mall that includes Jenny's Gift Shop, said he had bought 15 tickets from the store where the winning ticket was sold but had only a few numbers.
But he remained optimistic.
"I bought two tickets for my girlfriend that she hasn't looked at," he said. "I told her to hold on to them -- don't lose your numbers! I said, 'If you win, you gotta give me something.' She said, 'I'd buy you a coffee, but just one.'"
Lottery officials said Nguyen would receive a prize of about $1 million for selling the winning ticket.
"This is a long time coming," Lopez said. "We have some of the best, most loyal players. We have some great people who spend a dollar or two and their lives are going to change overnight."
Peter Lai, 28, who owns a pho restaurant in the same strip mall, said people often congregate I'm the courtyard to "chill" and play the lottery.
"They'll hang out, go in and buy a scratcher, come out and scratch it," he said.
He added that he is excited for his shopkeeper neighbor.
"He was like 'Man, I wish I had some money, I would remodel this place.'"
Hai Nguyen, not related to the shopkeeper, said be played last week but not this time.
He said that some of the shopkeepers who play pool their money, and maybe there will be a group winner.
"They take their money and put it together in one big pot for tickets."
The jackpot was believed to be the second-highest in U.S. history. A March 2012 jackpot hit $656 million.
Two other states have yet to report if any winning tickets were sold, but in the San Diego County area, two tickets that matched five of the six numbers were also sold.
"This is a big deal," Lopez said. "We are excited when anybody wins money, but this is just huge."
Mega Millions changed its rules in October to help increase the jackpots by lowering the odds of winning the top prize. That means the chances of winning the jackpot are now about 1 in 259 million. It used to be about 1 in 176 million, nearly the same odds of winning a Powerball jackpot.
The Mega Millions revamp comes about two years after Powerball changed some of its game rules and increased the price of a ticket to $2 and added $1 million and $2 million secondary prizes. Mega Millions remains $1, and an extra $1 option has been expanded to allow up to $5 million as a secondary prize.
The Mega Millions lottery is available in 43 states and the District of Columbia.

Harvard undergrad arrested in bomb hoax

A Harvard student trying to get out of a final exam admitted to the FBI that he sent a bomb threat that forced the university to evacuate multiple buildings and rattled the campus, federal officials said Tuesday.
Instead of going home for winter break, 20-year-old Eldo Kim was arrested Tuesday and held overnight on federal bomb hoax charges. He is scheduled to appear in US District Court Wednesday, said US Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz’s office.
The FBI said Kim sent an anonymous e-mail to Harvard officials, campus police, and others at about 8:30 a.m. Monday warning of “shrapnel bombs” in four buildings.
“[Be] quick for they will go off soon,” the message warned, according to the FBI, which said Kim admitted to adding the word “shrapnel” because it sounded more dangerous.

The threat prompted the university to evacuate three buildings in Harvard Yard — Emerson, Sever, and Thayer halls — as well as the massive Science Center nearby, just as the 9 a.m. exams were beginning. Coming eight months after the Boston Marathon attack, the threat drew a swarm of law enforcement agencies and attracted international attention.

The search for possible explosives disrupted the campus for much of the day and forced a number of exams to be postponed.
According to an FBI affidavit, Kim used a disposable, temporary e-mail address and a temporary Internet Protocol to send his warning — with the subject line “bombs placed around campus” — to two university officials, Harvard police, and the student newspaper.
But university officials determined by the end of the day that Kim had used a Harvard wireless network to create the IP, prompting an FBI agent and a campus police officer to interview him in his dorm Monday night.
The agent, Thomas M. Dalton, said Kim admitted to authoring the hoax, picking Emerson Hall, the site of his exam, and three other targets.
Then he walked to his exam. “According to Kim, upon hearing the alarm, he knew that his plan had worked,” Dalton wrote in the affidavit.
The bomb-hoax charge under federal law carries a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine.
Harvard officials thanked law enforcement in a statement Tuesday, saying the hoax caused “significant disruption to our campus and a difficult time for many.”
“We are aware that a member of our community has been arrested in relation to this matter and are saddened by the details alleged in the criminal complaint,” officials said.
Kim’s family could not immediately be reached.

On an undated biography on the website for Harvard’s Institute for Quantitative Social Science, Kim identified himself as a research assistant helping to analyze “partisan taunting.” He also called himself a writer for the Harvard International Review and a dancer with the Harvard Breakers.
In addition, he claimed to enjoy “playing pool, trying new restaurants, watching terrible cult films, and playing with his Mini Schnauzer puppy.”
One of the editors in chief of the review, junior Mathilde Montpetit of Boston, said Kim went through an introductory process, writing an article and doing sample editing, as a freshman early last year, then resigned.
Montpetit said that most of her friends quickly assumed the bomb threat was a hoax and that few around her were on edge. But she called it a waste of Harvard time and taxpayer resources.
“I don’t know if he deserves five years in prison, but it was definitely stupid,” Montpetit said.

US judge rules phone surveillance program likely unlawful

The U.S. government's gathering of Americans' phone records is likely unlawful, a judge ruled on Monday, raising "serious doubts" about the value of the National Security Agency's so-called metadata counter terrorism program.

"I cannot imagine a more 'indiscriminate' and 'arbitrary invasion' than this systematic and high-tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every single citizen," U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, appointed by Republican President George W. Bush in 2002, wrote in a 68-page ruling.

The U.S. Department of Justice said it was reviewing the ruling in a case brought by Larry Klayman, a conservative lawyer, and Charles Strange, described in court documents as the father of a cryptologist technician for the NSA who was killed in Afghanistan in 2011. The judge ordered the government to stop collecting data about the two plaintiffs, who were Verizon Communications Inc customers. Verizon declined comment.

"We believe the program is constitutional as previous judges have found," Department of Justice spokesman Andrew Ames said in a statement.

Leon suspended enforcement of his injunction against the program "in light of the significant national security interests at stake in this case and the novelty of the constitutional issues" pending an expected appeal by the government. A U.S. official said an appeal was likely.

Leon expressed skepticism of the program's value, writing that the government could not cite a single instance in which the bulk data actually stopped an imminent attack.

"I have serious doubts about the efficacy of the metadata collection program as a means of conducting time-sensitive investigations in cases involving imminent threats of terrorism," he wrote.

That is important, he added, because for the program to be constitutional, the government must show its effectiveness outweighs privacy interests.

Leaks

Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed the massive phone record collection to U.S. and British media in June. Documents provided by Snowden showed that a U.S. surveillance court had secretly approved the collection of millions of raw daily phone records in America, such as the length of calls and the numbers that are dialed.

Snowden, in a statement sent by journalist Glenn Greenwald, applauded the ruling.

"I acted on my belief that the NSA's mass surveillance programs would not withstand a constitutional challenge, and that the American public deserved a chance to see these issues determined by open courts," he said. "Today, a secret program authorized by a secret court was, when exposed to the light of day, found to violate Americans' rights. It is the first of many."

In its defense, the NSA says the data collected are key to spotting possible terrorism plots and do not include the recording of actual phone conversations. Judge Leon wrote, however, that the program likely violated Americans' right to be free of unreasonable searches.

Gen. Michael Hayden, former director of both NSA and the Central Intelligence Agency, said the metadata made a contribution to weaving the "tapestry of intelligence" and that judges "are not really in a good position to judge the merits of intelligence collection programs."

An Obama administration official said that on 35 occasions in the past, 15 separate judges assigned to the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance court had declared bulk communications of telephone metadata lawful.

Judge Leon has issued headline-making rulings before. In 2011 he blocked cigarette-warning labels that showed graphic images such as a man with a hole in his throat, saying they were unlawful compelled speech, and this year he ruled that the Federal Reserve ignored the intent of Congress in a case about debit card swipe fees.

Greg Nojeim, senior counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology, a nonprofit group in Washington, said the ruling "means that the NSA bulk collection program is skating on thin constitutional ice."

In defending the data collection, U.S. Justice Department lawyers have relied in part on a 1979 ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court that said people have little privacy interest when it comes to records held by a third party such as a phone company.

Leon wrote that the latest circumstances were different.

"The government, in its understandable zeal to protect our homeland, has crafted a counter terrorism program with respect to telephone metadata that strikes the balance based in large part on a 34-year-old Supreme Court precedent, the relevance of which has been eclipsed by technological advances and a cell phone-centric lifestyle heretofore inconceivable," he wrote.

Greenwald, a former columnist for The Guardian who wrote about the metadata collection program based on documents leaked to him by Snowden, praised the court ruling.

"This is a huge vindication for Edward Snowden and our reporting. Snowden came forward precisely because he knew that the NSA was secretly violating the constitutional rights of his fellow citizens, and a federal court ruled today that this is exactly what has been happening," Greenwald said in an email.

A committee of experts appointed by the Obama Administration to review NSA activities is expected to recommend that the spy agency give up collection of masses of metadata and instead require telephone companies to hold onto it so it can be searched. But intelligence officials and the phone companies themselves are said to oppose such a plan

Japan hawks unveil sweeping defense upgrade

Japan unveiled a sweeping national security strategy Tuesday that will boost defense spending and see troops and equipment shifted to the nation's southwest islands — part of a move to develop the capability to wrest islands away from would-be attackers.

The plan is a reflection of Japan's growing concerns over China's increasing military assertiveness and territorial demands. And it marks another milestone in hawkish Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plans to strengthen Japan's defense establishment and ease postwar restrictions on the armed forces.

"The security situation around Japan has become even more severe and in order to maintain peace it is necessary to implement national security policies in a more strategic and structured manner," Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday. "This does not in any way change Japan's pacifist policies, which have been consistent throughout the postwar period," the ministry said.

The comments were made at a news briefing as officials introduced Japan's first National Security Strategy.
Under the plan, which sets out both policy and budget goals, Japan will spend some $240 billion over the next five years on new equipment and related costs.

Surveillance drones and long-range surveillance planes will be acquired to patrol the East China Sea and other waters surrounding Japan. Nearly half of Japan's ground forces will be reconfigured for rapid deployment.

Significantly, a special Marine Corps-like unit will be organized to guard Japan's southwest islands, which sprawl across a vast area of ocean south of Japan's main islands. For the first time, Japan will buy V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, amphibious assault vehicles and other equipment designed primarily for amphibious warfare.

"This is a sensible plan and it's long overdue," said Grant Newsham, a senior research fellow at the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies, in Tokyo, and a former Marine Corps liaison with the Japan Ground Self Defense Force.

"It lays out a road map of how the Japan Self Defense Force will transform into something more capable and more able to defend Japan. And it's one more step in the psychological change Japan has to make in order to play a part in its own defense. It doesn't call for replacing the Americans, but it does see Japan playing something closer to a proper role."

Under the 1960 U.S.-Japan Security Treaty, U.S. forces are obligated to defend Japan if its territory comes under attack. The Obama administration says it takes no position in territorial disputes, but has pointedly declared that the Senkaku Islands, called Diaoyu in China, fall under the treaty.

Some 50,000 U.S. troops and the powerful U.S. 7^th Fleet are based in Japan.

Japanese officials have voiced increasing concerns about Chinese military activity in the region in recent years, including creation of a new air defense zone last month that includes the disputed islands.

A spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry said last week that Japanese concerns are misplaced.

"China is closely watching Japan's security strategy," spokesman Hong Lei said. "Japan's hyping of the so-called China threat theory has ulterior political motives."

Boosting defense has been a longtime goal for Abe, a conservative blue blood whose first term in office, in 2006-2007, ended in less than a year. That was partly due to ill health, but also because Abe pushed a conservative agenda out of tune with the public.

But the mood changed with China's rapidly expanding military and aggressive claims in the East China Sea and elsewhere. Abe regained office in a landslide a year ago, promising to focus on Japan's flagging economy, but has begun recently to re-focus on defense.

Earlier this month, he established Japan's first National Security Council, which will concentrate decisionmaking in the prime minister's office, and last week pushed through a controversial national defense secrets law. He has his eyes set next on easing constitutional restrictions on the military.

The new plan is an important step forward, but does not signal a resurgence in Japanese militarism, said Narushige Michishita, director of the Security and International Studies Program, at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo.

"We've been talking about defending remote islands since 1994 but we haven't done anything about it. This is the first step in making that happen in the real world," Michishita said. "It's not about competing with China. We are trying to demonstrate our determination to maintain a balance of power in the region. I don't know if it's enough, but it's the best we can do."

Mega Millions jackpot hits $586 million, could grow to lottery record

A last-minute ticket-buying frenzy could make today's Mega Millions jackpot the biggest lottery prize in U.S. history, and odds are mounting for a winner just a week before Christmas, a game official said.

The prize swelled to $586 million on Monday, with another spike in sales expected today before the drawing at 10 p.m. Chicago time, said Paula Otto, Virginia's lottery director, who heads the multi-state Mega Millions game.

If the winner chooses to take the lump sum cash option, instead of payments over 30 years, the jackpot would be $316 million, according the Illinois lottery.

As much as 70 percent of tickets are typically bought the day of the drawing, she said.
Ticket buying reached a fever pitch over the weekend, with 20 percent more chances sold than expected, Otto said.

The spending tsunami pushed the prize closer to the record jackpot of $656 million in March 2012 in a Mega Millions drawing split between winners in Kansas, Maryland and Redbud, Ill. The second largest lottery jackpot was $590.5 million, won May 2013 in a Powerball game.

"If it doesn't surpass the record, we'll be close. It's growing a little faster than we thought," Otto said on Monday.

The more tickets sold, the better chance someone will match one of the 259 million possible number combinations that could land a jackpot. By Tuesday's drawing, players will have bought enough tickets to cover 65 percent to 75 percent of the possible number combinations to strike it rich, Otto said.

"You don't know you have a winner unless it's 100 percent covered, though," she said.

If no one picks the exact combination of numbers that appear on six randomly selected lottery balls, the prize will keep growing until the next drawing on Friday.

"We've never had a jackpot this high the week before Christmas," said Otto, who kept mum on whether she is hoping for the drama that a Christmas Eve drawing could bring.

"You like to see winners and you like to see big jackpots. I leave it in the hands of the bouncing balls," Otto said.

The odds of winning the jackpot used to be 1 in 176 million, but as of Oct. 22 the odds changed to 1 in 259 million as rules to the game changed, according to the Los Angeles Times. Players had been able to pick six numbers 1 through 56; now it's 1 through 75 and the Mega numbers have decreased from 46 to 15.
The game is played in 43 states, as well as the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

After US arrests, strip-searches Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade, UPA govt starts tit-for-tat campaign

The humiliation of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade has turned into a major diplomatic incident, with the UPA govt, with much support from Opposition, retaliating strongly by initiating series of steps to strip US diplomats and their families of privileges including withdrawing all airport passes and stopping import clearances for the embassy.

Devyani Khobragade was not only handcuffed and arrested by the New York police, but also reportedly strip-searched, giving the go-by to diplomatic immunity.

Asking all consulate personnel and their families to turn in their ID cards immediately, the government has also sought key information such as salaries paid to all Indian staff employed at the consulates and by consulate officers and families including as domestic helps.

"The government has asked for all US Consulate personnel's ID cards and that of their families immediately. These will now be downgraded on par with with what the US provides to our Consulates in US," sources said.

The government has asked the US to provide it with visa information and other details of all teachers at US schools and pay and bank accounts of Indians in these schools.

Apart from these measures, Government has stopped all import clearances for the US embassy including for liquor.

Also, the traffic barricades near the US embassy on Nyaya Marg here will be lifted except the picket.

India has reacted sharply to the arrest of Deputy Consul General Devyani Khobragade, who was handcuffed in public in New York on visa fraud charges last week. Earlier, Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh summoned US Ambassador Nancy Powell and issued a demarche in this regard.

The displeasure was also evident among leaders and officials of Indian government who cancelled their meetings with visiting US Congressional delegation. Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde today cancelled his meeting with the US team ostensibly as a mark of protest against the treatment meted out to Khobragade.
Yesterday, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar had cancelled her meeting with a senior US Congressional delegation due to the same reason.

National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon, who also had a scheduled meeting with the five-member US team, did not meet them, apparently for the same reason.
The delegation comprised

NSA Phone Program Probably Unconstitutional, U.S. Judge Says

The National Security Agency’s program of collecting telephone-call data is probably illegal, a federal judge ruled, allowing a lawsuit claiming it violates the U.S. Constitution to go forward.

In the first federal court decision to enable a challenge to the surveillance program, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington said the plaintiffs would probably prevail at trial on their claim that the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment right to privacy outweighs the government’s need to gather and analyze the information.

Leon granted a temporary order blocking the government from collecting what’s known as metadata from the Verizon Wireless accounts of the two plaintiffs, conservative legal activist Larry Klayman and Charles Strange, who in court papers said the U.S. government may have intentionally killed his son in Afghanistan. He also required the U.S. to destroy any such information in the NSA’s possession.

Leon froze the order while the government makes a likely appeal “in light of the significant national security interests at stake in this case and the novelty of the constitutional issues,” according to yesterday’s ruling.

The case marks the first time a district court judge has ruled on the NSA program, disclosed this year in leaks by the former agency contractor Edward Snowden. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which reviews government requests for permission to engage in electronic surveillance of foreign suspects who may be communicating with U.S. citizens, has said the data collection is constitutional.

Published Accounts

Leon’s ruling addressed motions made in two separate lawsuits, each filed by Klayman -- founder of the public interest group FreedomWatch -- in the wake of published accounts of NSA surveillance activities revealed by Snowden.

Snowden, sought by the U.S. on criminal charges, is in Russia, which has granted him temporary asylum.

Klayman said he was “elated” with Leon’s decision.

“There are very few judges who have the courage to do what Judge Leon did,” he said. “He’s an American hero.”

Klayman, a practicing lawyer, said the NSA’s actions had made the U.S. into a police state where “you can’t make one phone call, you can’t send any e-mails, because you think the government is watching.” That has chilled rights of free speech and free association, he said.

Justice Department

While he disagrees with Leon’s ruling, former NSA Director Michael Hayden told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” today that the upshot is the agency is “going to have to have more transparency to sustain these programs.”

White House press secretary Jay Carney said he hadn’t seen the ruling and referred questions to the Justice Department.

Andrew Ames, a spokesman for the department, said in an e- mail, “We believe the program is constitutional as previous judges have found.” The department is reviewing the decision, he said.

Ed McFadden, a Verizon spokesman, said the company couldn’t immediately comment on the ruling.

U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, a Democrat who heads the chamber’s Judiciary Committee, said in a statement that he welcomed the decision. His committee has held three hearings in recent months on issues addressed in the litigation, he said.

“This is a very significant ruling,” Kevin Bankston, policy director for the Washington-based Open Technology Institute, a policy and research organization, said in a phone interview. The ruling should have “significant implications” for how the White House and Congress deal with the NSA program, he said.

‘Talking Point’

“It robs the government of its talking point that the courts have never found there to be a meaningful privacy interest in phone records,” he said. “This decision absolutely should shift the debate.”

Leon, an appointee of President George W. Bush, rejected the assertion by President Barack Obama’s administration that Americans don’t have a right to privacy for records showing phone numbers called and the duration of the connection.

The administration, and the foreign intelligence court, have relied on a 1979 Supreme Court ruling that such data isn’t protected by the Fourth Amendment.

“The almost-Orwellian technology that enables the government to store and analyze the phone metadata of every telephone user in the United States is unlike anything that could have been conceived in 1979,” Leon wrote.

‘Surveillance Capabilities’

“When do present-day circumstances -- the evolution in the government’s surveillance capabilities, citizens’ phone habits, and the relationship between the NSA and telecom companies -- become so thoroughly unlike those considered by the Supreme Court 34 years ago that a precedent like Smith does not apply?” Leon asked. “The answer, unfortunately for the government, is now.”

The judge said that while he accepts without question the Obama administration’s position that combating terrorism is of “paramount importance,” the government offered no explanation as to how removing the records of the two plaintiffs from the NSA’s database would damage that effort.

He also said he was “not convinced at this point in the litigation that the NSA’s database has ever truly served the purpose of rapidly identifying terrorists in time-sensitive investigations.”

The case is Klayman v. Obama, 13-cv-881, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).

Will Google's robots soon rule the (tech) world?

What people are saying about the company's acquisition of Boston Dynamics and its impact on technology.

Robert Hof, Forbes: "Google ... has bought a military robot company called Boston Dynamics. ... Unlike the other robot-makers, this company makes machines by the names of BigDog, Atlas and Cheetah that can variously outrun Usain Bolt and hurl cinderblocks 17 feet. ... Google, like AT&T, IBM and Xerox in previous decades, has monopoly-like profits that it can use to do research into areas that go far beyond its current business. Whether robots or self-driving cars or wearable computers become significant businesses for Google is less important than the fact that today, it's willing to spend the big bucks to push forward in these seemingly unrelated areas."

Will Knight, MIT Technology Review: "Boston Dynamics creates legged robots with eerily life-like running and balancing abilities. These machines are more than just spectacular feats of engineering, though; they embody a powerful approach to robot locomotion that might have a big impact on the way future machines move around our world."

Shepard Ambellas,Before It's News: "While some see Google's rapid acquirement of robotics firms ... as a positive step for the firm that retains the slogan 'Don't be evil,' others like myself see this as the beginning of a long and dangerous road, a road which we likely shouldn't go down. The road, if traveled, will essentially lead us toward human extinction, leaving only those in power to decide the fate of humanity. ... Soon robots will take care of patients in hospitals and nursing homes, pump your gas, deliver books to your doorstep and more."

Nicholas Tufnell, Motherboard: "Google is actually getting pretty serious about this robot stuff. Earlier this year, the search giant hired Ray Kurzweil — futurist and artificial intelligence expert — to be their new head of engineering ... while Andy Rubin, former Android CEO, has been quietly buying out other robotics companies for Google. ... So what can we expect, exactly? If we piece together information about the companies that Google has acquired (easier said than done, as they've all shut down their websites since the buyouts), we can compose our own Frankenstein's robot-monster of the future. ... Clearly 2014 will be a fascinating year for robotics."

John Biggs,TechCrunch: "By depending on Google's data for our daily interactions, mapping, and restaurant recommendations ... we become some of the best Google consumers in history. But that's still not enough. Google is limited by, for lack of a better word, meat. We are poor explorers and poor data gatherers. We tend to follow the same paths every day and, like ants, we rarely stray far from the nest. Google is a data company and needs far more data than humans alone can gather. Robots, then, will be the driver for a number of impressive feats in the next few decades including space exploration, improved mapping techniques and massive changes in the manufacturing workspace."

Dylan Tweney,Venture Beat: "It may not be planning a defense business, but Google is certainly assembling an impressive array of real-world robots, so we're going to go ahead and call it an 'army,' in the metaphorical sense if not the military one. That's the perfect complement to its army of Internet bots — which, together with other companies' bots, now comprise a majority of the Internet's traffic."

Beyonce adds extra Dublin date after Irish tickets sell out in 20 minutes

 Disappointed fans that missed out on buying their tickets when they went on sale this morning will get a another chance to pick up the hottest tickets in town.

R&B superstar Beyonce has added an extra date to her tour stop in Ireland after the first three concerts sold out in 20 minutes this morning.

Disappointed fans that missed out on buying their tickets when they went on sale this morning will get a another chance to pick up the hottest tickets in town.

An extra date for the 12th of March has been added and will go on sale tomorrow at 9am.
Her dates for the 8th, 9th and 11th of March as part of The Mrs Carter Show World Tour at the 02 Dublin sold out.

The superstar's latest album has become the fastest ever seller on iTunes with more than 800,000 downloads in its first three days.

The self-titled album, the US superstar's fifth, was released out of the blue on Friday and includes 14 songs, 17 videos, and collaborations with husband Jay Z, Drake and Frank Ocean.

An Apple spokeswoman said the iTunes Store sold 828,773 albums in three days.

On the day of its release, iTunes - which is Apple's music download division - said the release was "an unprecedented strategic move by the artist to deliver music and visual content directly to her fans when she wants to and how she wants to, with no filter".

With no "middle man", fans are being encouraged to form their own opinions after listening to and watching the tracks.

Salman Khurshid says India finds US subjecting its diplomat to indignity unacceptable

External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said here today that the kind of indignity the Indian Diplomat Devyani Khobragade was subjected to in the United States was unacceptable and the Government of India was doing whatever it can to address the issue.

Speaking to the media, Salman Khurshid said that India had communicated to the United States its feelings both as a reaction to the steps taken by a country, which is 'friendly', and also its reaction to the extreme level of distress that the diplomat was subjected to. "This kind of indignity is unacceptable," said Khurshid.

"We have expressed our deep distress and sense of disquiet, that has been very strongly felt. Whatever could be done is being done. It is in process. We have not only put in motion of what would be an effective way of addressing to this issue," he said.

"There are some larger questions involved, but we are going to address the immediate concerns first. I do not want to say anything in haste. We are taking this case very seriously,' he added.

India's Deputy Counsel general Devyani Khobragade, 39, was on Thursday arrested for presenting false documents for a visa application for her Indian origin babysitter and housekeeper at her home in New York.
She was taken into custody after she dropped her daughter to school at around 9 am She was charged with presenting false documents and visa fraud, which has maximum sentence of five and ten years of imprisonment respectively.

The Indian Embassy in Washington reacted strongly on the issue and released a statement saying it "immediately conveyed its strong concern" to the US Government over the action taken against Devyani Khobragade.

The Indian Embassy in a statement said, "The US side have been urged to resolve the matter with due sensitivity, taking into account the Diplomatic status of the officer concerned."

Disappointing findings about multivitamins

 There’s more disappointing news about multivitamins: Two major studies found popping the pills did not protect aging men’s brains or help heart attack survivors.

Millions of people spend billions of dollars on vitamin combinations, presumably to boost their health and fill gaps in their diets. But while people who don’t eat enough of certain nutrients may be urged to get them in pill form, the government doesn’t recommend routine vitamin supplementation as a way to prevent chronic diseases.

The studies released on Monday are the latest to test if multivitamins might go that extra step and concluded they don’t.

“Evidence is sufficient to advice against routine supplementation,” said a sharply worded editorial that accompanied Monday’s findings in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.

After all, most people who buy multivitamins and other supplements are generally healthy, said journal deputy editor Dr. Cynthia Mulrow. Even junk foods often are fortified with vitamins, while the main nutrition problem in the US is too much fat and calories, she added.

But other researchers say the jury’s still out, especially for the most commonly used dietary supplement — multivitamins that are taken by about a third of US adults, and even more people over the age of 50.

Indeed, the US Preventive Services Task Force is deliberating whether vitamin supplements make any difference in the average person’s risk of heart disease or cancer. In a draft proposal last month, the government advisory group said for standard multivitamins and certain other nutrients, there’s not enough evidence to tell. (It did caution that two single supplements, beta-carotene and vitamin E, didn’t work). A final decision is expected next year.

“For better or for worse, supplementation’s not going to go away,” said Dr. Howard Sesso of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He helps leads a large multivitamin study that has had mixed results — suggesting small benefits for some health conditions but not others — and says more research is needed, especially among the less healthy.

Still, “there’s no substitute for preaching a healthy diet and good behaviours” such as exercise, Sesso cautioned.

As scientists debate, here are some questions and answers to consider in the vitamin aisle:

Q: Why the new focus on multivitamins?

A: Multivitamins have grown more popular in recent years as research showed that taking high doses of single supplements could be risky, such as beta-carotene.
Multivitamins typically contain no more than 100 percent of the daily recommended amount of various nutrients. They’re marketed as sort of a safety net for nutrition gaps; the industry’s Council for Responsible Nutrition says they’re taken largely for general wellness.

Q: What are the latest findings?

A: With Alzheimer’s on the rise as the population ages, Harvard researchers wondered if long-term multivitamin use might help keep older brains agile. They examined a subset of nearly 6,000 male doctors, age 65 or older, who were part of a larger study. The men were given either multivitamins or dummy pills, without knowing which they were taking.
After a decade of pill use, the vitamin-takers fared no better on memory or other cognitive tests, Sesso’s team reported Monday in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.

Q: Did that Harvard study find any other benefit from multivitamins?

A: The results of the Physicians Health Study II have been mixed. Overall it enrolled about 15,000 health male doctors age 50 and older, and the vitamin-takers had a slightly lower risk of cancer — 8 percent. Diet and exercise are more protective. They also had a similarly lower risk of developing cataracts, common to aging eyes. But the vitamins had no effect the risk for heart disease or another eye condition, Sesso said.

Q: Might vitamins have a different effect on people who already have heart disease?

A: As part of a broader treatment study, a separate research team asked that question. They examined 1,700 heart attack survivors, mostly men, who were given either a special multivitamin containing higher-than-usual doses of 28 ingredients or dummy pills. But the vitamins didn’t reduce the chances of another heart attack, other cardiovascular problems, or death.

Q: What about women?

A: Research involving postmenopausal women a few years ago also concluded multivitamins did not prevent cancer or heart disease. But it was not nearly as rigorous a study as Monday’s research, relying on women to recall what vitamins they used.

Q: What’s the safety advice for multivitamin users?

A: The preventive services task force cited no safety issues with standard multivitamins. But specialists say to always tell your doctor what over-the-counter supplements you use. Some vitamins interact with some medications, and Sesso said anyone worried about nutrition should be discussing their diet with their doctor anyway.

North Korea marks anniversary without Kim Jong Un's aunt

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's aunt was absent from a state memorial ceremony on Tuesday raising questions about her influence days after her husband, also a top state official, was executed.

The purging and execution of Jang Song Thaek on Friday was the biggest upheaval in years in North Korea, which has conducted three nuclear tests and this year raised the possibility of nuclear war with South Korea and the United States.

Jang was married to Kim Kyong Hui, a daughter of state founder Kim Il Sung and sister of the country's second leader, Kim Jong Il. She is an aunt of current leader Kim Jong Un, the third Kim to rule.
North Korea's KCNA news agency said last week Jang had been executed for trying to seize power and for driving the economy "into an uncontrollable catastrophe".

On Tuesday, his wife did not appear at a ceremony marking the second anniversary of the death of her brother, North Korea's second leader, Kim Jong Il.

Together, she and Jang had been considered the "Pyongyang power couple", the real force behind the North Korean leadership, before Jang was labelled a traitor and executed.

Kim Kyong Hui usually features prominently at important North Korean events alongside her nephew, the young new leader, Kim Jong Un, and other members of the North Korean elite.

North Korean state media did not say why she was absent from the commemoration at the Kumsusan Memorial Palace, in the capital, Pyongyang.

Political leaders, including Kim Jong Un and his wife, paid respects to the late Kim Jong Il, whose embalmed body lies in a glass coffin in the palace.

Kim Kyong Hui has been absent from such events in the past, stoking speculation that she was ill, only to reappear later.

OUT WITH THE OLD
Earlier in the day, the political and military elite publicly pledged their loyalty to Kim Jong Un at the memorial gathering, less than a week after the young leader ordered the execution of the powerful family ally, Jang.
The young Kim was the centre of attention at the gathering with state television showed him sitting centre stage beneath a big red mural of a flag emblazoned with a picture of his smiling father.

Kim, believed to be about 30, took over when his father died in December 2011.

Cheong Seong-jang, an analyst at the Sejong institute, a Seoul-based think tank, said by getting rid of his uncle, Jang, the young Kim had consolidated his position.

"By eliminating the only other faction, the power in North Korea is now fully concentrated on Kim Jong Un," Cheong said.

Since taking over as leader, the young Kim has followed his father's programme by ordering the North's third nuclear test and successfully launching a long-range rocket in the face of increasingly tight U.N. sanctions.
Jang was the only leadership figure who may have posed any real threat to him.

While North Korea has purged many officials in its 65-year history, it is rare that anyone as powerful as Jang has been removed so publicly - suggesting a recognition of internal divisions and competing factions around Kim Jong Un.

The young Kim has removed most of Pyongyang's old guard during his comparatively short rule, replacing ageing generals and cadres with figures closer to his age.

He has changed his Korean People's Army (KPA) chief of staff four times. The job changed hands three times during his father's 17 years in power.

Choe Ryong Hae, a party apparatchik who has been around the Kim family for decades but had kept out of the limelight until three years ago, now appears to be the most influential adviser to Kim Jong Un.

On Monday, Choe addressed a gathering of soldiers outside the Kumsusan Memorial Palace, stressing the army's unswerving loyalty to the young Kim.

"It will always remain the army of Kim Jong Un defending him unto death and upholding his leadership only," an official KCNA news agency dispatch quoted Choe as saying.